He transmitted ḥadith from: Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, Abū Umāmah, Mālik ibn Yakhāmir, Abū Sayyārah al-Mutāʿī, and Wāthilah ibn al-Asqaʿ—though the bulk of these narrations are mursal (missing a direct link to the Prophet).
He also reported from Kathīr ibn Murrah—most likely he actually met him—as well as from Ṭāwūs, Nāfiʿ ibn Jubayr, Kurayb, al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad, ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, Nāfiʿ, ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, Makhḥūl, Ibn Shihāb, Nuṣayr the client of Muʿāwiyah, and many others.
Among those who took ḥadith from him were: Ibn Jurayj, Thawr ibn Yazīd, Rijāʾ ibn Abī Salamah, Zayd ibn Wāqid, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥārith al-Makhzūmī, Muḥammad ibn Rāshid al-Makḥūl, al-Awzāʿī, Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, Abū Muʿīd Ḥafṣ ibn Ghailān, Ibn Lahīʿah, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd ibn Jābir, Masarrah ibn Maʿbad, Muʿāwiyah ibn Yaḥyā al-Ṣadafī, Hammām ibn Yaḥyā, al-Zubaydī, and a great many others.
Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz said, “After Makhḥūl, Sulaymān ibn Mūsā was the most knowledgeable person in Syria; and if I were asked, ‘Who is the finest of people?’ I would take Sulaymān by the hand.”
Whenever Sulaymān ibn Mūsā arrived, ʿAṭāʾ would say, “Refrain from asking questions, for the one who can answer them for you has come.”
Abū Mushir narrated: Saʿīd ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz said to me, “Since Sulaymān ibn Mūsā, I have not seen anyone pose a better question than you.”
Saʿīd also related that Sulaymān ibn Mūsā used to say, “A well-framed question is half of knowledge.”
Ibn ʿUyaynah remarked, “We know of no one left by Makhḥūl in Syria equal to Yazīd ibn Yazīd—except for what Ibn Jurayj has mentioned about Sulaymān ibn Mūsā.”
Muṭʿim ibn al-Miqdām said: I heard ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ declare,
“The leader of the young scholars of the Ḥijāz is Ibn Jurayj;
the leader of the young scholars of Iraq is al-Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāh;
and the leader of the young scholars of Syria is Sulaymān ibn Mūsā.”