He was counted among the great repositories of ḥadīth and one of the eminent shaykhs of Islam, like his father, his grandfather, and his brother ʿĪsā.
Those who narrated from him include: his brother, Ḥajjāj al-Aʿwar, Aḥmad ibn Khālid al-Wahbī, Ādam ibn Abī Iyās, ʿAbd al-Razzāq, Muḥammad ibn Sābiq, Shabābah, Isḥāq ibn Manṣūr al-Salūlī, Aḥmad ibn Yūnus, Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad al-Marwadhī, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rajāʾ, Abū Nuʿaym, Muḥammad ibn Kathīr al-ʿAbdī, Abū Ghassān al-Nahdī, Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf al-Firyābī, Abū Salamah al-Tabūdhakī, Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr, Wakīʿ, Yaḥyā ibn Ādam, ʿAlī ibn al-Jaʿd, Muʿāwiyah ibn ʿAmr al-Azdī, Abū al-Walīd al-Ṭayālisī, and many others.
Hārūn ibn Ḥātim reported from Dubays ibn Ḥumayd that Isrāʾīl was born in the year 100 AH.
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī narrated from ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus who said: “Isrāʾīl told me, ‘I used to have the ḥadīth of Abū Isḥāq memorised as perfectly as one memorises a sūrah of the Qurʾān.’”
Ibn al-Madīnī transmitted from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, who said: “Isrāʾīl is superior to Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh.”
Ḥarb al-Karmānī related that Aḥmad said: “He was trustworthy,” and he went on marvelling at his phenomenal memory.
Ṣāliḥ ibn Aḥmad reported from his father: “Concerning Isrāʾīl’s narrations from Abū Isḥāq there is some softness; he heard them from him only in later years.”
Abū Ṭālib said: Aḥmad was asked, “Who is more firmly grounded—Sharīk or Isrāʾīl?” He replied, “Isrāʾīl. He conveyed exactly what he heard; he is more reliable than Sharīk.”
I asked, “Which of the two do you prefer—Yūnus or his son Isrāʾīl—in their transmission from Abū Isḥāq?” He answered, “Isrāʾīl, because he possessed a written book.”
Al-Faḍl ibn Ziyād said: I asked Abū ʿAbd Allāh, “Which do you prefer—Yūnus or Isrāʾīl in their narration from Abū Isḥāq?” He replied, “Yūnus.”