Abi Habib, Thumamah ibn Shufay (1), ʿUbayd Allah ibn Abi Jaʿfar, al-Qasim ibn Qurman, and al-Sakan ibn Abi Karimah—he transmitted from them hadiths that, to the best of my knowledge, no one else related.
Among the senior scholars of Egypt who narrated from him were Yazid ibn Abi Habib and Qays ibn Abi Yazid.
Ibn Saʿd said: “Ibn Ishaq was the first to compile the campaigns of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Long ago he left Medina, and none of its scholars narrated from him except Ibrahim ibn Saʿd. He stayed with al-ʿAbbas ibn Muhammad in al-Jazirah, then went to Abu Jaʿfar in al-Hirah, where he wrote the Maghazi for him. Because of that, the people of Kufah heard from him, as did the people of Rayy; hence his transmitters from those regions are more numerous than his transmitters from Medina.”
Ibn ʿAdī said: “Had Ibn Ishaq possessed no merit other than turning kings away from engaging with books that yield no benefit and directing them instead to the Prophet’s campaigns, his mission, and the beginning of creation, that alone would have been a virtue in which he preceded others. After him, other authors composed works on the subject, but they never reached the level attained by Ibn Ishaq.”
I have scrutinized his narrations extensively and have not found any hadith of his that can decisively be declared weak. He may err or become confused now and then, just as others do; yet trustworthy authorities and leading imams did not refrain from transmitting from him. In short, there is no harm in him.
Al-ʿUqayli reported: “Al-ʿAbbas ibn al-Fadl al-Asfati told us; Sulayman ibn Dawud told us; Yahya ibn Saʿid told us; Wuhaib told us: I heard Hisham ibn ʿUrwah say, ‘Ibn Ishaq is a liar.’”