He also tutored in Baghdad the caliph al-Mahdī’s son ʿAlī, and his standing rose greatly on that account.
A manuscript of his hadiths with an exceptionally short chain has reached us.
ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-ʿAlawī at al-Thaghr informed us; Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Qaṭīʿī informed us; Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-ʿAbbāsī informed us; and I read to ʿĪsā ibn Yaḥyā—from Abū al-Ḥasan ibn al-Muʿtazz by direct audition, and from al-ʿAbbāsī by written transmission—who said: al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Shāfiʿī informed us; Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Firās informed us; Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Daybulī (1) narrated to us; Abū Ṣāliḥ Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Azhar narrated to us; Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar narrated to us; ʿAbd Allāh ibn Dīnār informed me that he heard Ibn ʿUmar say:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Whoever purchases food must not resell it until he has taken possession of it.”
Muslim (2) included this report, transmitting it through several chains from Ismāʿīl.
We have therefore obtained, in exchange (3), an even higher chain.
ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī said, “Ismāʿīl is reliable.”
I add: he died in 180 AH.
Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Ibn Maʿīn, and Ibn ʿArafah all missed the opportunity to hear from him.