“…‘Ibn Isḥāq was one of the most capable memorizers. Whenever a man had five or more ḥadiths, he would entrust them to Ibn Isḥāq, saying, “Commit them to memory for me; if I should forget them, you will still have them preserved on my behalf.”’

Al-Khalīlī said: Ibn Idrīs al-Ḥāfiẓ declared, ‘How could Ibn Isḥāq not be reliable? He heard from al-Aʿraj and transmits from him; then he narrates from Abū al-Zinād on his authority; then he narrates from Ibn Abī al-Zinād, from his father, on that same authority.’

Al-Khalīlī then added: ‘Among his teachers who later transmitted from him were al-Zuhrī, Ṣāliḥ ibn Kaysān, ʿUqayl, and Yūnus.’

Ibn Abī Dhīb reported from Ibn Shihāb that—when he saw Ibn Isḥāq approaching—he said, ‘A great store of knowledge will remain in the Ḥijāz so long as this cross-eyed man is alive.’

Al-Nufaylī narrated from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Fāʾid: ‘Whenever we sat with Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq and he began on a particular branch of knowledge, he would devote the whole sitting to that branch.’

I say: In the subject of the maghāzī he was a recognized authority.

Al-Maymūnī said: ‘Abū ʿAbd Allāh related to us a ḥadith from Ibn Isḥāq that he deemed excellent. I remarked, “O Abū ʿAbd Allāh, how splendid are the narratives Ibn Isḥāq brings!” He smiled at me in amazement.’

Ibn al-Madīnī said: ‘I heard Sufyān—when he was asked about Ibn Isḥāq, “Why is it that the people of Medina did not transmit from him?”—reply: “I have been in the company of Ibn Isḥāq for some seventy-odd years, and none of the Medinans ever accused him of anything or spoke ill of him.”

‘I then asked him, “Did Ibn Isḥāq use to sit with Fāṭimah bint al-Mundhir?” He answered, “He informed me that she narrated to him and that he had entered her presence.”’

Muḥammad ibn al-Dhahabī (1) said: ‘In that he is undoubtedly telling the truth.’