Ishāq ibn Abī Shaddād—though some said he was ʿAli ibn Muḥammad ibn Nubātah, others said Ibn Sharwā, and still others said Ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Kūfī, al-Ṭanāfisī.
He narrated from his maternal uncles—Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd and Yaʿlā ibn ʿUbayd—as well as from Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh, Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, Abū Muʿāwiyah, Ibn Wahb, Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth, Muḥammad ibn Fuḍayl, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Muḥāribī, Wakīʿ, and others of their generation.
Those who transmitted from him include: Ibn Mājah—who related many reports from him—, Ziyād ibn Ayyūb al-Ṭūsī, despite the latter’s seniority, Abū Zurʿah, Abū Ḥātim, Ibn Wārah, ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Junayd, Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb ibn al-Ḍurays, ʿAlī ibn Saʿīd ibn Bashīr, the men of Rayy, his son—the judge of Qazwin—al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī, Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbdal, and many others.
Abū Ḥātim said: “He was trustworthy and truthful. In virtue and piety he is dearer to me than Abū Bakr ibn Abī Shaybah, although Abū Bakr relates more hadith and has deeper understanding.”
Abū Yaʿlā al-Khalīlī remarked: “ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad and his brother settled in Qazwin, and the leading scholars travelled to them. They enjoyed a grand standing, yet their chains of transmission at that time were not especially elevated; they had heard Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah …” and he proceeded to name a number of others.
He further said: “al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad died in 222 AH, while Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī passed away in 233 AH.”
Tāj al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Khāliq told us; the imam Abū Muḥammad ibn Qudāmah informed us (Ḥ).
Abū Saʿīd al-Zaynī likewise told us, and ʿAbd al-Laṭīf ibn Yūsuf informed us; they said: Abū Zurʿah Ṭāhir ibn Muḥammad informed us, Abū Manṣūr Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Muqawwimī informed us, al-Qāsim ibn Abī al-Mundhir al-Khaṭīb informed us, ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm al-Qaṭṭān informed us, Muḥammad ibn Yazīd the ḥāfiẓ narrated to us, ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad narrated to us, Wakīʿ narrated to us, Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated to us, from