Shuʿayb narrated, on the authority of al-Zuhrī: “Makhḥūl comes to us, but—by Allah—Sulaymān ibn Mūsā has the better memory of the two.”
Marwān al-Ṭāṭarī said: “I heard Ibn Lahīʿah declare, ‘I have never met anyone like him,’ meaning Sulaymān ibn Mūsā. I asked, ‘Not even al-Aʿraj?’ He replied, ‘I have never seen anyone comparable to Sulaymān ibn Mūsā.’
Zayd ibn Wāqid related: “Sulaymān ibn Mūsā lived for two years after Makhḥūl. When Makhḥūl died we used to sit with him, and each day he would take up a single chapter of knowledge. He would not leave it until he had completed it, then he would begin another.” On one occasion I said to him, “Abū al-Rabīʿ, may Allah reward you on our behalf. You relate to us what we ask for and what we do not yet understand. Had you remained with us, we would have had no need of anyone else.”
Abū Mushir stated: “The foremost of Makhḥūl’s pupils was Sulaymān ibn Mūsā, followed by Yazīd ibn Yazīd ibn Jābir.”
Duḥaym said: “He is trustworthy.”
Ahmad ibn Abī Khaythamah reported from Yaḥyā that Sulaymān ibn Mūsā’s reports from Mālik ibn Yakhāmir are mursal, and his reports from Jābir are likewise mursal.
Abū Mushir also said: “Sulaymān did not meet Kathīr ibn Murrah or ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ghanm.”
ʿUthmān al-Dārimī recounted: “I asked Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, ‘What is the status of Sulaymān ibn Mūsā in his narrations from al-Zuhrī?’ He replied, ‘He is reliable.’”
Abū Ḥātim observed: “He is essentially truthful, though there is some inconsistency in his ḥadīth. I know of no one among Makhḥūl’s companions who is more versed in fiqh than he, or more firmly grounded.” He added: “Among the Syrians, after al-Zuhrī and Makhḥūl, the jurist I prefer is Sulaymān ibn Mūsā.”
Al-Bukhārī remarked: “He has some irregular reports.”
Al-Nasāʾī said: “He is one of the jurists, but he is not strong in ḥadīth,” and on another occasion, “There is something questionable in his narrations.”
Ibn ʿAdī commented: “He is a jurist and a transmitter; trustworthy narrators took ḥadīth from him, and he is one of the scholars. He narrated traditions for which he is the sole source; no one else relates them. In my view he is reliable and truthful.”