His scholarly standing and the scholars’ praise of him
His scholarly standing:
Ath-Thaʿlabiyy, may Allah have mercy upon him, assumed a distinguished scientific position, and occupied a high position among the scholars of his time, to the point that people would come to him from far and near countries.
Whoever looks at the scholars’ praise and reverence for him will definitely realize that he enjoyed a high status and sublime rank.
Reading his Tafsir with the diverse branches of knowledge and various skills that it abounds in proves with certainty that Abū Isḥāq Ath-Thaʿlabiyy was an encyclopedic scholar and a shoreless sea of knowlege.
Branches of knowledge that he excelled in: 
Commentary on the Qurʾān: Sufficient to indicate his prominence in this field is his encyclopedic book: Al-Kashf wa Al-Bayān ʿan Tafsir Al-Qurʾān, through which he demonstrated his superiority in this area. Even Ibn Khallikān said about him: “He was unmatchable during his time in the field of interpretation of the Qurʾān. His student Al-Wāḥidi mentioned that people used to come to him from far and near countries in order to hear from him the Tafsir and learn it from him. Ath-Thaʿlabi’s prominence in the interpretation of the Qurʾān indicates his prominence in other branches of knowledge because the sciences of sharia are interconnected. An interpreter of the Qurʾān does not reach this degree until he acquires knowledge of other sciences that enable him to interpret it. He must, for example, be knowledgeable of the Sunnah in order to interpret the Qurʾān based on it, and to be knowledgeable of the Arabic language, including Arabic syntax, literature, and so on. He must have knowledge of Qirāʾāt, the sciences of the Qurʾān, jurisprudence, rulings, fundamentals of jurisprudence, and other sciences and knowledge, especially since our earlier scholars were not limited to one speciality field, but rather their quest for knowledge - at that time - included all sharia knowledge. Therefore, Ath-Thaʿlabiyy, may Allah have mercy upon him, excelled in other branched of knowledge such as:
Qirāʾāt:
Ibn Al-Jazari mentioned him in Ṭabaqāṭ Al-Qurrāʾ, as he said: “A well-known and accomplished imam, he narrated the Qirāʾāt on the authority of ʿAliyy ibn Muḥammad Aṭ-Ṭarāẓi, and Abū Al-Ḥasan ʿAliyy ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Al-Wāḥidi narrated from him these Qirāʾāt.” And those who wrote about his him described him as a Muqriʾ (teacher of Qurʾān recitation) as will come later come in the context of scholars’ praise of him.
He who looks into ath-Thʿlabi’s Tafsir and the Qirāʾāt it includes, and sees his analytic explanation for them knows the man’s position in this science.
Hadith sciences: Whoever investigates Ath-Thaʿlabi’s narrations and its chains of transmission in his Tafsir knows that this man was a true narrator. How could he not be so when he narrated from three hundred shaykhs as mentioned in the introduction to his Tafsir. His narrations were not limited to Hadith, but he also narrated the sayings of commentators through his own chains of transmission. In addition, he narrated lines of poetry and other sayings with his chain of transmission.
Despite the fact that he did not verify the authenticity of the Hadiths he narrated, as they included authentic, the inauthentic and even fabricated ones, yet this huge amount of narrations indicates the abundance of his Hadiths, the multiplicityof his shaykhs, and the vast scale of his narration. Therefore, many of those who wrote about him described him as a Ḥāfiẓ, as will come in the next topic.
Jurisprudence:
We have known from the previous topic that Ath-Thaʿlabiyy, may Allah have mercy upon him was a jurist who followed the Shāfiʿi school of jurisprudence, which is attested to by his Tafsir that abounded in issues related to jurisprudence and fundamentals. His presentation of jurisprudential issues, attribution of statements to those who said it, his ability to decide preponderance of opinions over others, and his answers to those who disagreed with him are all proofs of his firm knowledge. This will be later elaborated on in the context of speaking about his methodology.
Preaching: He was described as "the preacher". Adh-Dhahabi said that he was such a great preacher. He was a true preacher, may Allah have mercy upon him. The thing that best proves this is his authoring of a book on preaching entitles: Rabiʿ Al-Mudhakkirin, as will be mentioned later in listing his works. Remarkably, his Tafsir is loaded with preaching and reminders, and stories of ascetics and devout worshipers.
Linguistics and literature: He was referred to as "the man of letters" by some of those who wrote about him. He was also included in works authored on biographies of linguists and writers. For example, Al-Qifṭiyy mentioned him in his book "Inbāh Ar-Ruwāh fi Akhbār An-Nuḥāh," Yāqut Al-Ḥamawiyy in "Muʿjam Al-Udabāʾ," and As-Suyuṭi in Bughyat Al-Wuʿāh fi Ṭabaqāt Al-Lughawiyyin wa An-Nuḥāh."
Scholars highlighted that he was well-versed in the various ways of parsing and manners of Qurʾān recitation, and an erudite scholar of Arabic. His leading status in linguistics and literature is recognized by any one who looks into his Tafsir, and exploes his wonderful linguistic researches, along with the huge number of poetic lines that it contains.
Scholars praise of him:
One of the greatest proofs of the status of Imam Ath-Thaʿlabiyy and his high rank is the scholars’ praise and accreditation of him, and here are some of their statements in that regard:
1-ʿAbd Al-Ghāfir Al-Fārisiyy said in his book As-Siyāq li Tārīkh Naysābūr: “He is the professor, the reciter, the interpreter, the preacher, the writer, the trustworthy, the memorizer, the author of great works. His reports are authentic and reliable. He narrated a great number of Hadiths and had many shaykhs.”
2-His student Abū Al-Ḥasan A-Wāḥidī said: “He was the master and chief of scholars, the star of the virtuous, rather their full moon, the adornment of the imams, and their pride, and the one of a kind of the nation. Whoever met him and kept his company knew that he was unparalleled, and those who did not have the opportunity to meet him may look into his works to look into his works which indicate his limitless knowledge.”
3- Abū Al-Ḥasan Al-Qifṭī: “He is the great reciter, the commentator, the preacher, the reliable unfailing man of letters, who has deep knowledge of forms of parsing and Qirāʾāt.”
4-Ibn Khallikān: “He is the renowned exegte, the incomparable scholar of exegesis during his time.”
5-Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah: “Ath-Thaʿlaby was a good religious man.”
6-Adh-Dhahabi in As-Siyar: “He is the imam, Hafiz, shaykh of exegesis, one of the scholars of profuse knowledge. He was truthfull, reliable, well-versed in Arabic, and had huge efforts in preaching.”
7-The author of Al-ʿIbar: He was a great memorizer and preacher, a master in Qurʾān commentary and Arabic language. He was a firm adherent to Islam.”
8-As-Subkī: “He was the unique scholar of Qurʾān sciences in his time.”
9-Ibn Al-Jazarī: “He was a brilliant famous imam.”