He was from the Asad tribe. His kunya was Abū ʿAlī. He was born in the year 190 of the Hijra.
He requested a hadith from Rawḥ b. ʿUbāda. He listened to many hadiths from Hawda b. Khalīfa, Ḥasan b. Mūsā al-Ashyab, Abū Nuʿaym, ʿAlī b. al-Jaʿd, al-Aṣmaʿī, and others. Ibn al-Munādī, Ibn Muḥallad, Ibn Saʿīd, Najjād, Abū ʿAmr al-Zāhid, Khuldī, al-Sulamī, Abū Bakr al-Shāfiʿī, Ibn al-Sawwāf, and others also heard hadiths from him and transmitted them.
Bishr was a thiqa (trustworthy) and reliable ḥadīth ḥāfiẓ (memorizer) and transmitter. Even when he lay down at night, his mind was always occupied with hadith. Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal used to honor him.
One of Bishr's poems is as follows:
"I have grown weak; one who surpasses eighty grows weak. Things once considered normal, like elephants, are now regarded with surprise. He walks slowly, like a prisoner in chains. He takes small steps, like one shackled in irons."