Abū Dāwūd reported from Shuʿbah, who said:

“Ayyūb would walk to the Mosque of Banū Ḍubayʿah to ask me about hadith. One day I related to him the narration of Qays ibn Muslim, from Ṭāriq ibn Shihāb, concerning ‘a woman who wanted to perform the pilgrimage.’

Ayyūb exclaimed, ‘Produce another isnād (chain of transmission) like that one!’

Yahyā ibn Saʿīd also related that Shuʿbah said:

‘Ibn ʿAwn and Sulaymān al-Taymī came to console me on the death of my mother. Sulaymān began, “Abū Naḍrah narrated to us …”

Ibn ʿAwn interrupted, “Have you actually seen Abū Naḍrah?”

Sulaymān retorted, “And what have you seen?!”’

ʿAffān said: Ḥammād ibn Salamah told us:

‘Shuʿbah went to Ḥumayd and asked him about a hadith of Anas, so Ḥumayd narrated it. Shuʿbah then asked, “Did you hear it directly from Anas?”

He replied, “As far as I reckon.”

Shuʿbah thereupon gestured with his fingers and said, “I do not want it,” then turned away. After he left, Ḥumayd said, “I have heard it from Anas many times, but I wanted to spoil it for him.”’

Aḥmad transmitted the same report from ʿAffān with the additional wording: ‘He was strict with me, so I wanted to be strict with him.’

Salm ibn Qutaybah narrated from Shuʿbah, who said:

‘I asked Mushāsh, “Did al-Ḍaḥḥāk ever hear from Ibn ʿAbbās?”

He answered, “He never even saw him.”’

Hushaym reported from Shuʿbah, who said: ‘Take knowledge from people of noble lineage, for they do not lie.’

Wakīʿ said that Shuʿbah remarked: ‘So-and-so from so-and-so, when they are merely equals, is not sufficient.’

Sufyān al-Thawrī said: ‘It is sufficient.’

ʿUthmān ibn Jabalah narrated from Shuʿbah, who said:

‘What is sweeter than to meet an elderly scholar in the pleasant breeze, a man who has met many people, and you draw knowledge out of him while alone with him?’

ʿAffān added: ‘Shuʿbah used to dye his beard red.’