His shaykhs and students
The first subject: his sheikhs:
We knew from the foregoing that Ath-Thaʿlabiyy, may Allah have mercy upon him, lived in an era marked by flourishing and renaissance of knowledge, and that his homeland Naysābūr was rich in lessons of knowledge and scholars, as it had many of the masters of knowledge, the best of scholars, and it was truly the origin of the virtuous, and the source of scholars.
Al-Thaʿlabiyy, may Allah have mercy upon him, grew up in an environment that appreciated knowledge and scholars, so that the house in which he lived used to host lessons of knowledge, and was frequented by scholars and students of knowledge. 
We also learned that Ath-Thaʿlabiyy, with his diligence, resolution and amazing perseverance, made a successful investment in this thriving atmosphere of knowledge, which resulted in a strong and integrated personality in terms of knowledge.
However, among the greatest aspects of this investment was Ath-Thaʿlabiyy’s perseverance in the lessons of knowledge, his frequent attendance at the gatherings of scholars, his movement between those blessed circles, his sitting in the presence of those distinguished people, his visits to the prominent figures of the nation in his era, following the sources of knowledge, throwing buckets into the seas of scholars, and gaining knowledge from the treasuries of outstanding scholars, in various branches of knowledge, including interpretation of the Qurʾān, modes of recitation, hadith, jurisprudence, language, literature, and more. All of this with wondrous perseverance, high aspiration, and continuous pursuit, without fatigue or boredom, until the number of his shaykhs from whom he narrated in his Tafsir known as Al-Kashf wa Al-Bayān reached three hundred shaykhs. When a seeker of knowledge has many shaykhs with diverse branches of knowledge, this will have a great impact in building his knowledge personality and the breadth and comprehensiveness of his knowledge.
This breadth and diversity of knowledge and arts are apparent in the personality of Ath-Thaʿlabiyy, and noticed by everyone who reads his Tafsir, and roams about in the gardens of his Tafsir, moving between verses, hadiths, traditions, and poetic lines, sometimes in explaining the meaning of a verse, highlighting a mode of recitation readings, discussing a jurisprudential issue, or giving an ascetic admonition, as will be later presented in detail upon introducing the book.
Now, I am going to list the names of Ath-Thaʿalabiyy’s shaykhs whose narrations were included in this researched part, and provide the number of narrations for each of them:
-Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdullah ibn Aṭ-Ṭayyib. Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdullah ibn Ḥāmid Al-Asbahāniyy (died 389 AH). Number of narrations: 73.
- Abū Al-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn Al-Ḥasan ibn Ḥabīb An-Naysābūriyy (died 406AH). Number of narrations: 114.
- Abū ʿAbdullah Al- Ḥākim: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullah ibn Muḥammad ibn Ḥamduwayh ibn Nuʿaym ibn Al-Ḥakam Aḍ-Ḍabbiyy Aṭ-Ṭahmāniyy An- Naysābūriyy Ash-Shāfiʿiyy ibn Al-Bayyaʿ, author of Al-Mustadrak and Tārīkh Naysābūr (died 405 AH). Number of narrations: 18.
- Abū Ḥāmid Aḥmad ibn Al-Walīd Aṣ-Ṣūfiyy (died 418 AH). Number of narrations: 1.
-Abū Muḥammad Shaybah ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Ash-Shaʿbiyy Al-Muqriʾ (died 395 AH). Number of narrations: 1.
-ʿAliyy ibn Muḥammad ibn Saʿīd As-Sarkhasiyy Al-Khaṭīb. Number of narrations: 2.
- Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullah Al-Jawzaqiyy Ash-Shaybāniyy Al-Khurāsāniyy (died 388 AH). Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm
Al-Isfirāyīniyy Al-Mihrajāniyy (died 418 AH). Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Aḥmad Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Shādhān Ar-Rāziyy (died 415 AH). Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū ʿAbdullah Al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn Al-Ḥusayn Ath-Thaqafiyy Ad-Dīnawariyy (Ibn Fanjuwayh) (dies 414 AH). Number of narrations: 2.
-Abū Ḥanīfah Al-Qazwīniyy. Number of narrations: 1.
-Abū Al-Ḥasan ʿAliyy ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAliyy As-Saqqā Al-Isfirāyīniyy (died 414). Number of narrations: 2.
- Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbdūs An-Naysābūriyy (dies 396). Number of narrations: 6.
- Abū ʿAmr Aḥmad ibn Ubayy Al-Furātiyy. Number of narrations: 9.
- Abū Al-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn Al-Qāsim ibn Aḥmad Al-Māwardiyy Al-Fārisiyy Al-Faqīh (died 422 AH). Number of narrations: 11.
- Abū ʿAbd Ar-Raḥmān As-Sulamiyy: Muḥammad ibn Al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn Mūsā Al-Azdiyy As-Sulamiyy An-Naysābūriyy (dies 412 AH). Number of narrations: 7.
-Abū ʿUthmān Saʿīd ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Al-Ḥīriyy Az-Zaʿfarāniyy Al-Muqriʾ (427 AH). Number of narrations: 5.
- Abū Muḥammad Al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Al-Makhladiyy Ash-Shaybāniyy An-Naysābūriyy (died 389 AH). Number of narrations: 4.
- Abū Manṣūr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullah Al-Ḥamshādhiyy An-Naysābūriyy (died 388 AH). Number of narrations: 3.
-Abū ʿAbdullah Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Al-Aʿlā Al-Muqriʾ Al-Andalusiyy. Number of narrations: 1.
-Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm
 Al-Ushnāniyy Aṣ-Ṣaydalāniyy (died 416 AH). Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Al-Qāsim Ṭāhir ibn ʿAliyy ibn Al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿIṣmah Aṣ-Ṣufiyy Al-Muqriʾ. Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd As-Salām ibn Aḥmad ibn Dāwūd ibn ʿAbd Aṣ-Ṣamad Al-Hāshimiyy Al-Baghdādiyy. Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Sahl ʿAbd Ar-Raḥīm ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Aḍ-Ḍarīr. Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbdullah ibn Jaʿfar Al-Mustamliyy Al-Muqriʾ Al-Hamadhāniyy Al-Aʿwar (died 355 AH). Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Nuʿaym ʿAbd Al-Malik ibn Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Al-Azhar Al-Azhariyy Al-Isfirāyīniyy (died 400 AH). Number of narrations: 1.
-Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdullah ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAqīl Al-Ansāriyy. Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Al-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammd ibn Ibrāhīm As-Salīṭiyy At-Tamīmiyy, from the people of Naysābūr. Number of narrations: 1.
-Abū Al-Ḥasan ʿAliyy ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Al-Madīniyy, An- Naysābūriyy Aṣ-Ṣandaliyy Al-Muʾadhdhin (died 494 AH). Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Al-Qāsim ʿAbd Al-Khāliq ibn ʿAliyy ibn Isḥaq Al- Muʾadhdhin An-Naysābūriyy (died 405 AH). Number of narrations 1.
- Abū Al-Ḥasan ʿAbd Ar-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā ibn Yāsir At-Tamīmiyy Ad-Dimashqiyy Al-Jawbariyy An-Naysābūriyy (died 425 AH). Number of narrations 2.
- Abū Ṣāliḥ Shuʿayb ibn Muḥammad ibn Shuʿayb Al-ʿIjliyy Al-Bayhaqiyy (died 396 AH). Number of narrations: 2.
- Abū Al-Qāsim ʿAbdullah ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullah ibn ʿAliyy ibn Ziyād Al-Masariyy. Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Al-Ḥasan ʿAbd Ar-Raḥmān ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā Al-Muzakki An-Naysābūriyy (died 397 AH). Number of narrations: 7.
- Abū ʿAmr Saʿīd ibn ʿAbdullah ibn Saʿīd ibn Ismāʿīl Al-Ḥīriyy. Number of narrations: 1.
-Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Al-Jūriyy. Number of narrations: 3.
- Abu Al-Ḥasan ʿAliyy ibn Muḥammad ibn Al-Ḥasan Al-Khabbāziyy Al-Jurjāniyy, resident of Naysābūr (died 398 AH). Number of narrations: 8.
-Ibn Al-Muqriʾ: Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm
 ibn ʿAliyy Al-Asbahāniyy (381). Number of narrations: 4.
-Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān Aṭ-Ṭarāẓiyy Al-Baghdādiyy, resident of Naysābūr (died 385 AH). Number of narrations: 2.
- Abū ʿAliyy Zāhir ibn Aḥmad As-Sarkhasiyy (died 389 AH). Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn ʿAbdullah ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Al-Qāyiniyy. Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Muḥammad Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAliyy As-Sijiziyy Al-Khaṭīb. Number of narrations: 2.
- Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullah ibn Ḥamdūn (died 390). Number of narrations: 4.
-Abū Naṣr An-Nuʿmān ibn Muḥammad An-Nuʿmān. Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Al-Qāsim Al-ʿArūḍiyy. Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad At-Tammār. Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Zakariyyā Yaḥyā ibn Ismāʿīl Al-Ḥarbiyy An- Naysābūriyy (died 394 AH). Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Al-Makārim Nāṣir ibn Muḥammad Al-Anṣāriyy. Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Muḥammad Al-Muṭawwiʿiyy. Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū ʿAliyy Al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAliyy As-Suyūriyy An- Naysābūriyy (died 397 AH). Number of narrations: 1.
- Muḥammad ibn ʿAliyy ibn Muḥammad Al-Jurjāniyy. Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Al-Ḥasan ʿAliyy ibn Al-Ḥārith Al-Bayyāriyy. Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Saʿīd Muḥammad ibn Mūsā ibn Al-Faḍl ibn Shādhān Aṣ-Ṣayrafiyy An-Naysābūriyy (died 421 AH). Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Bakr Al-Ḥamshādhiyy. Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm
 Al-Kisāʾiyy An-Naysābūriyy (died 385 AH). Number of narrations: 2.
- Abū Al-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn ʿAliyy ibn Al-Ḥusayn As-Sunniyy. Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbdullah Al-Manṣūriyy. Number of narrations: 1.
- Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdullah ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Al-Ḥīriyy. Number of narrations: 1.

Second: His students:
This knowledge is indeed the inheritance of prophethood. Each generation receives it from those who preceded it and delivers it over to those after it.
The high status of the shaykh and his position and virtue are not clearly recognized except by seeing his impact on his students. Actually, a student is a tace of his shaykh and one of his fruits. By him, his fame spreads and his knowledge reaches far.
We would have known nothing about the earlier great imams had it not been for their students who spread their knowledge everywhere, and carried their traces to people in various parts of the world. Likewise, many are those imams whose mention has vanished, their impact diminished, and their reputation faded, after they had been widely famous during their lifetime. And that is only because they did not have students who would revive their mention and carry their knowledge.
Abū Isḥāq Ath-Thaʿlabiyy was the target of students of knowledge in his time who came to him from all areas.
Abū Al-Faḍl Al-ʿArūḍiyy, the shaykh of Abū Al-Ḥasan Al-Wāḥidiyy, a student of Ath-Thaʿlabiyy, blamed his student Al-Wāḥidiyy for being late in seeking knowledge from Ath-Thaʿlabiyy. He said to him: “Is not time due for you to devote yourself to the interpretation of the Book of Allah Almighty, by reading it upon this man whom strangers come to from the far corners of the lands,” meaning Abū Isḥāq Ath-Thaʿlabiyy. How could he not be of this outstanding rank when he was the imam of Tafsir during his time. If Ath-Thaʿlabiyy had no works but his Tafsir Al-Kashf wa Al-Bayān, he would still deserve to be the destination to which students made journeys. How about if we know that Ath-Thaʿlabiyy was an imam in other sciences, such as Qirāʾāt (reported modes of recitation of the Qurʾān), admonition and others?
He has more than five hundred parts, as stipulated by his student Al-Wāḥidiyy.  stated
However, the brief biography of Imam Ath-Thaʿlabiyy prevented a large number of his students from being identified.
It is sufficient honor for Ath-Thaʿlabiyy that Imam Abū Al-Ḥasan Al-Wāḥidiyy is one of his students, and I will now mention those of his students who I came across after research:
-Abū Al-Ḥasan ʿAliyy ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAliyy Al-Wāḥidiyy An-Naysābūriyy Ash-Shāfiʿiyy. The prominent scholar, who had knowledge of Arabic syntax and Qurʾān enterpretation. The author of the three books of Tafsir Al-Basīṭ, Al-Wasīṭ, and Al-Wajīz, in addition to Asbāb An-Nuzūl and other works.
Abū Al-Ḥasan Al-Wāḥidiyy is considered the most famous of Imam Ath-Thaʿlabiyy’s students, and he was the most special of them, as he adhered to him most closely, learned Qurʾān interpretation from him, and narrated from him his Tafsir Al-Kashf wa Al-Bayān.
ʿAbd Al-Ghāfir Al-Fārisiyy said in As-Siyāq li Tārīkh Naysābūr: “As for Abū Al-Ḥasan, he is the imam, the compiler, the commentator, the scholar of Arabic syntax, the master of his time, and the one of his life. He spent his adulthood and youth in learning knowledge, so he mastered the fundamentals of Islam which he learned from the imams, and made journies to acquire useful knowledge, and abided by the gatherings of Ath-Thaʿlabiyy in learning Tafsir.
We have previously mentioned that Al-Wāḥidiyy said in the introduction to his Tafsir Al-Basīṭ in the context of his speech about his shaykh Abū Al-Faḍl Al-ʿArūḍiyy, from whom he learned Arabic linguistics that his shaykh reprimanded him one day and said to him: “You did not leave a set of poems except that you studied it duly. Is it not time for you to devote yourself to the interpretation of the Book of Allah, the Mighty, so you read it upon this man whom the people come to from the farthest corners of the land, yet you neglect him despite your nearness to him.” Al-Wāḥidiyy said: “He referred to the master, Imam Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Ath-Thaʿlabiyy, may Allah have mercy upon him.” Al-Wāḥidiyy said: “Then I devoted myself to the master, Imam Abū Isḥāq Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Ath-Thaʿlabiyy, may Allah have mercy upon him… I read more than five hundred volumes from his compilations, his great Tafsir, and his book entitled Al-Kāmil on the science of Qurʾān, and others. 
It is noted that Al-Wāḥidiyy quotes a lot from Ath-Thaʿlabiyy, yet he does not mention his name, and does not attribute the reports to him, except when he narrates on his authority with a chain of transmission.
He, may Allah have mercy upon him, died in Naysābūr in 468 AH.
-ʿAbd Al-Karīm ibn ʿAbd Aṣ-Ṣamad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAliyy ibn Muḥammad Al-Qaṭṭān, known as Abū Maʿshar Aṭ-Ṭabariyy, the leading imam of famous and odd modes of Quran recitations (Qiraʾāt), and author of Ad-Durr, ʿUyūn Al-Masāʾil, Tabaqāt Al-Qurrāʾ and others. He was the teacher of Qurʾān recitation for the people of Makkah, and narrated Tafsir Ath-Thaʿlabiyy on the authority of its author. He also narrated the Musnad of Imam Aḥmad, as well as Tafsir An-Naqqāsh. As-Subki said about him that he was one of the excellent Shāfiʿi scholars. Ibn Al-Jazariyy also said about him: “He is a researcher with extensive knowledge, a full professor, righteous and reliable.” He died in Makkah in 478 AH.
-Abū Saʿīd Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAliyy ibn Numayr Al-Khawārizmiyy, the blind prominent Shāfiʿi scholar, one of the imams of the Shāfiʿi school of jurisprudence in Baghdad. Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baghdadiyy said: “He received knowledge from Abu Ḥāmid Al-Isfarāyīniyy and resided in Baghdad where he gave lesseons and issued Fatwa. He had a regular session for Fatwa and discussions in Al-Mansur Mosque. He was well-versed master of Islamic jurisprudence who none surpassed him in this area apart from Abū Aṭ-Ṭayyib Aṭ-Ṭabariyy. He was placed in rank above that of Abu Al-Qāsim Al-Karkhiyy and Abu Nasr Ath-Thabitiyy. He narrated from Abū Al-Qāsim Aṣ-Ṣaydalāniyy, and he was trustworthy. Al-Khawārizmiyy narrated Tafsir Ath-Thaʿlabiyy on the authority of his shaykh, then Imam Al-Baghawiyy, may Allah have mercy upon him, narrated it on the authority of Al-Khawārizmiyy as he stated in the introduction to his Tafsir known as Maʿālim At-Tanzīl. He died in 448 AH.
-Aḥmad ibn Khalaf Ash-Shīrāziyy: He narrated Tafsir Ath-Thaʿlabiyy on the authority of his shaykh, then Ibn Al-Athīr narrated it via Ash-Shīrāziyy in his book Usd Al-Ghābah fi Maʿrifat Aṣ-Ṣaḥābah.
-Abu Saʿīd Muhammad ibn Saʿīd ibn Muḥammad Al-Farkhardāriyy or Al-Farkhuwāriyy At-Ṭūsiyy, narrator of Tafsir Al-Kashf wa Al-Bayān on the authority of his shaykh, Ath-Thaʿlabiyy. A number of scholars narrated Tafsir Ath-Thaʿlabiyy on his authority, among them are Abū Saʿd As-Samʿāniyy in his book Al-Ansāb, and Abū Muḥammad Al-ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad ibn Abi Manṣūr At-Ṭabaraniyy Aṭ-Ṭūsiyy.