Narrated from him were Ismaʿil al-Khattabi, Abu ʿAli ibn al-Sawwaf, Abu Bakr al-Shafiʿi, Abu al-Qasim al-Tabarani, Abu Bakr al-Ajurri, and al-Hasan ibn Jaʿfar al-Hurfi (1), along with many others.

Yahya al-Babtluti was his stepfather, and al-Awzaʿi had married al-Babtluti’s mother. Their grandfather was ʿAbd Allah ibn Muslim. Muslim had been taken captive in Samarkand and came into the possession of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAziz, who set him free. A son was later born to him; ʿUmar brought the child, named him ʿAbd Allah, and allotted him a stipend among the officially registered descendants. ʿAbd Allah lived for one hundred and twenty years (2).

Abu Shuʿayb was born in 206 AH.

Al-Sawwaf said: His audition from al-Babtluti occurred in 218 AH.

I say: Since al-Babtluti was his stepfather, he heard from him while still a youth.

Al-Daraqutni said: “Trustworthy, reliable.”

Ahmad ibn Kamil said: “He used to charge a fee for narrating hadith.” Nasr al-Saʿigh told me: “I asked Abu Shuʿayb to relate a hadith to me from ʿAffan. He replied, ‘Pay the water-carrier the price of a waterskin.’ So I gave him a daniq, and he narrated the hadith to me” (3).

Ahmad ibn Kamil also said: “He died in Dhu al-Hijjah of the year 295 AH—in Baghdad, that is—and he was the most senior transmitter still living there” (4).