Abu’l-Waqt al-Sijzi said: “I entered Nishapur and attended the gathering of the Ustadh, Abu al-Maʿali al-Juwayni. He asked me, ‘Who are you?’
I replied, ‘A servant of Shaykh Abu Ismaʿil al-Ansari.’
Whereupon he exclaimed, ‘Ḥah! (1)’
I then remarked, ‘Listen to the discernment of this imam and stop abusing the rabble; they are nothing but cattle.’

Ibn Tahir said: “I heard Abu Ismaʿil say, ‘In my view, the book of Abu ʿIsa al-Tirmidhi is more beneficial than the collections of al-Bukhari and Muslim.’
I asked, ‘Why is that?’
He replied, ‘Because the benefit one may draw from those two is accessible only to someone possessing complete expertise, whereas this book explains and clarifies its hadiths; thus every jurist and every hadith scholar can profit from it.’ (2)

Abu Saʿd al-Samʿani said: “I asked the ḥafiz Ismaʿil ibn Muhammad about ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Ansari, and he answered, ‘He is an imam, a master memorizer.’ (3)

ʿAbd al-Ghāfir ibn Ismaʿil said: “Abu Ismaʿil al-Ansari possessed a perfect share of mastery in Arabic, hadith, history, and genealogy. He was a consummate imam in tafsir and of commendable conduct in Sufism. He engaged in no personal trade, but was content with what he distributed to the disciples and followers of his assembly once or twice a year, before the general public; at such times he might receive thousands of dinars together with quantities of garments and jewellery. He would take all of that, distribute it among the butcher and the baker, and spend from it. He accepted nothing from the Sultan or the grandees of the state, scarcely paid them any attention (4), never visited them, and did not concern himself with them; and thus he remained honoured.