Bishr grew up in Baṣra and later moved to Mecca (al-Bukhārī, al-Ta⁠ʾrīkh al-ṣaghīr, 252). In Baṣra, he studied under scholars such as Ḥammād b. Salama, and in Mecca he studied ḥadīth from scholars such as Muḥammad b. Muslim al-Ṭāʾifī, Nāfiʿ b. ʿUmar al-Jumaḥī and Ibrāhīm b. Ṭahmān. Bishr also studied with Sufyān al-Thawrī and Ibn al-Mubārak, presumably in Kūfa, where he may also have taken lessons from Misʿar b. Kidām (al-Dhahabī, Muḥammad, Mīzān, 317–318; al-Mizzī, 4/123).

Al-Layth b. Saʿd (94–175/713–791), the Egyptian traditionist and jurisconsult, is also named as o…