He replied, "He belongs to an early generation."

ʿAbbās transmitted from Yaḥyā who said, "He definitely heard Abān ibn ʿUthmān, ʿAṭāʾ, Abū Salamah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, and al-Qāsim. He also heard from Makḥūl and from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Aswad."

Ibn al-Madīnī related—from Sufyān, from al-Zuhrī—that the latter said, "There will continue to be knowledge in Medina so long as this man remains," meaning Ibn Isḥāq.

ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī said, "The corpus of the Messenger of Allah’s hadith ultimately rests upon six narrators …; the learning of those six then came to twelve men, one of whom is Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq."

Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād quoted Sufyān as saying, "I saw al-Zuhrī when Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq came to him. Al-Zuhrī thought he was late and asked, ‘Where have you been?’ He replied, ‘How can anyone reach you with your doorkeeper standing guard?’ So al-Zuhrī called for the doorkeeper and said, ‘Do not bar him whenever he comes.’"

Sufyān also said that Abū Bakr al-Hudhalī reported: "I heard al-Zuhrī say, ‘A great store of knowledge will remain in Medina as long as Ibn Isḥāq is among them.’"

ʿAlī (ibn al-Madīnī) reported from Ibn ʿUyaynah that Ibn Shihāb, when asked about the Maghāzī, said, "This man is the most knowledgeable of people about them," referring to Ibn Isḥāq.

Ḥarmalah narrated from al-Shāfiʿī who said, "Whoever wishes to plunge deeply into the Maghāzī is dependent on Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq."

Ibn Abī Khaythamah said, "I asked Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn about Ibn Isḥāq, and he replied that ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn Qatādah had said, ‘Knowledge will continue among the people so long as Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq lives.’"

Ibn Abī Khaythamah also related: "Hārūn ibn Maʿrūf told us, ‘I heard Abū Muʿāwiyah say…’"