“The truth is what you and your companions follow; so enter Paradise with them.” (1)

Shaykh Abū Isḥāq said, “I used to repeat every qiyās (legal analogy) a thousand times; when I finished, I would pick up another qiyās and do the same. I would review every lesson a thousand times, and if the discussion included a line of poetry cited as proof, I would memorize the entire ode in which that line appeared.” (2)

The vizier Ibn Jahīr often said, “Imām Abū Isḥāq is the unrivaled scholar of his age, the unique figure of his time, and one whose supplication is answered.” (3)

Al-Samʿānī said, “When Abū Isḥāq departed for Nishapur, a number of his students accompanied him—among them Abū Bakr al-Shāshī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ṭabarī, Abū Muʿādh al-Andalusī, Qāḍī ʿAlī al-Mayānajī, the judge of Basra Ibn Fityān, Abū al-Ḥasan al-Āmidī, Abū al-Qāsim al-Zanjānī, Abū ʿAlī al-Fāriqī, and Abū al-ʿAbbās ibn al-Ruṭabī.” (4)

Ibn al-Najjār said, “Abū Isḥāq was born in Fīrūzābād—a small town in Fars—where he was also raised. He studied jurisprudence in Shiraz with Abū al-Qāsim al-Dārakī, with Abū al-Ṭayyib al-Ṭabarī, the disciple of al-Māsarjīsī, and with al-Zajjājī, the disciple of Ibn al-Qāṣṣ. He studied kalām with Abū Ḥātim al-Qazwīnī, the disciple of Ibn al-Bāqillānī. His handwriting was exceedingly poor.”

Qāḍī Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Jurjānī said, “Abū Isḥāq owned nothing; his poverty was such that he could find neither food nor clothing. We used to visit him while he was living in the Qaṭīʿa, …”