He was born sometime after 180 AH.

His father devoted great care to him, took him on journeys, enabled him to meet the leading scholars, and he lived to an advanced age, becoming a singular authority.

He transmitted hadith from Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah, Yahya ibn Saʿid, Wakiʿ ibn al-Jarrah, Bahz ibn Asad, ʿAbd al-Razzaq ibn Hammam, Maʿn ibn ʿIsa, Yaʿla and Muhammad—the two sons of ʿUbayd—ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Walid al-ʿAdani, al-Husayn ibn al-Walid al-Naysaburi, ʿAli ibn al-Husayn ibn Waqid, Hafs ibn ʿAbd Allah, Hafs ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman, and a number of others.

Among those who reported from him were al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, Abu Bakr ibn Abi Dawud, Ibn Khuzaymah, Ibn Saʿid, Abu ʿAwanah al-Isfarayini, Makki ibn ʿAbdan, Abu Hamid ibn Bilal, Abu Muhammad al-Jarud, and many more.

One of his transmitters was the hadith master Abu Ahmad Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhab ibn Habib al-Farraʾ—the son of his father’s cousin—who said: “I heard ʿAbd al-Rahman, the son of my cousin, say: ‘We used to write in the gathering of ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Mahdi while his father was off playing with pigeons, and Ibn Bishr was known for the sweetness of his voice.’”

Makki ibn ʿAbdan recounted: “The governor ʿAbd Allah ibn Tahir would come by night, incognito, to ʿAbd al-Rahman’s mosque in order to listen to his recitation.”

ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Bishr said: “Yahya al-Qattan once made me stand up in his assembly and declared, ‘Whatever this lad relates to you from me, consider it reliable, for he is discerning.’”