ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad narrated to me; Qurād Abū Nūḥ narrated to me; he said:
“Shuʿbah noticed the shirt I was wearing and asked, ‘How much did you pay for that?’
I replied, ‘Eight dirhams.’
He said to me, ‘Woe to you! Do you not fear Allah? Could you not have bought a shirt for four dirhams and given the other four in charity? That would have been better for you.’
I answered, ‘Abū Bisṭām, we are among people for whom we must keep up appearances.’
He retorted, ‘What sort of “appearances” are we trying to keep up for them?!’

ʿAlī ibn Sahl al-Nasāʾī narrated to us; ʿAffān narrated to us; Ḥammād ibn Zayd narrated:
Ayyūb said, “A man from Wāsiṭ named Shuʿbah is about to arrive among you. He is a champion in hadith, so when he comes, take from him.” Ḥammād added, “When he arrived, we did indeed take from him.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿīd al-Kindī narrated to me; Walīd ibn Ḥammād narrated to us; I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn Idrīs say:
“I have not put between you and the transmitters anyone other than men like Sufyān and Shuʿbah.”

Ibn Zanjawayh narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us, from Abū Usāmah, who said:
“We found Shuʿbah in a good mood, so we said to him, ‘Narrate to us, and narrate only from a trustworthy authority.’ He replied, ‘Stand up.’ ”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar al-Qawārīrī narrated to us; I heard Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd say:
Shuʿbah told me, “Everyone from whom I have written down a hadith—I am his servant.”

Ibn Zanjawayh narrated to us; Yaʿqūb al-Ḥaḍramī narrated to us; he said:
Sufyān declared, “Shuʿbah is the Commander of the Faithful in hadith.”
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī also transmitted a similar statement from Sufyān.

Ibn Shabbūyah narrated to us; ʿAbdān ibn ʿUthmān narrated to us, from his father, who said:
“We appraised Shuʿbah’s donkey, together with its saddle and bridle, at a little over ten dirhams.”

Abū Bakr al-Aʿyan narrated to us; Qurād narrated that he heard Shuʿbah say:
“Anything in hadith that is not accompanied by the word ‘I heard’ is nothing but vinegar and vegetables (1).”