I add: This Ibn Shujaʿ journeyed in search of knowledge and heard hadith from Makki ibn Ibrahim, ʿUbayd Allah ibn Musa, and Abu Mushir. He died in 244 AH.
Nasr ibn Zakariyya al-Marwazi said: I heard Qutaybah ibn Saʿid remark, “The promising young scholars of Khurasan are four: Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil, ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman—meaning al-Darimi—Zakariyya ibn Yahya al-Luʾluʾi (1), and al-Hasan ibn Shujaʿ (2).”
Muhammad ibn Abi Hatim related: I heard Jaʿfar al-Firabri say, “I heard ʿAbd Allah ibn Munir declare, ‘I am one of Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil’s pupils; he is my teacher, and I even saw him writing down hadith from Muhammad (3).’”
Muhammad said: Ḥashid ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Wahid narrated to us: I heard Yaʿqub ibn Ibrahim al-Dawraqi say, “Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil is this ummah’s jurist (4).”
Abu Jaʿfar al-Musnadi said: “The hadith masters of our time are three: Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil, Hashid ibn Ismaʿil, and Yahya ibn Sahl.”
Muhammad further reported: Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad al-Firabri told me that one of ʿAbd Allah ibn Munir’s students—may Allah have mercy on him—travelled to Bukhara on some personal business. When he returned, Ibn Munir asked, “Did you meet Abu ʿAbd Allah?” The man replied, “No.” Ibn Munir drove him away, saying, “There is no good left in you after this—you went all the way to Bukhara and yet failed to visit Abu ʿAbd Allah Muhammad ibn Ismaʿil.”