Sufyan al-Thawri

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Sufyan ibn Sa'id ibn Masruq Abu 'Abd Allah al-Thawri al-Mudari al-Kufi 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan (d.161H/778CE)

Sufyan al-Thawri al-Mudari al-Kufi [97-161], the Godfearing, wise, grief-stricken, Mujtahid Imam, "Commander of the Believers in Hadith" – the highest level in hadith Mastership –, "Shaykh al-Islam, the Imam of hadith Masters, the leader of the practicing Ulema in his time, the author of the Jami' " (SHAMS AL-DIN AL-DHAHABI). His father was a junior Tabi'i Muhaddith and he thus began his scholarly career at home. Abu Ishaq al-Sabi'i recited when he saw Sufyan coming: (And We gave him wisdom when a child) (19:12). His Shuyukh number 600. Ibn al-Jawzi claimed that his students number over 20,000 but al-Dhahabi said: "This is preposterous, they hardly reached 1,000. I know none of the hadith Masters from whom more narrated than Imam Malik, and those number 1,400 – including the liars and the unknown!"

Among the praises related about him:

• "I wrote from 1,100 Shaykhs, but from none better than Sufyan." (IBN AL-MUBARAK)
• "I never saw better than Sufyan." (Yunus ibn 'Ubayd – he had seen Sa'id ibn Jubayr, Ibrahim al-Nakha'i, 'Ata', and Mujahid.)
• "If 'Alqama and al-Aswad were present they would stand in need of Sufyan." (ABU HANIFAH)
• "I never saw one resemble the Tabi'in more than Sufyan al-Thawri" (Ibn Abi Dhi'b).
• "I never saw stronger in hadith memorization than al-Thawri, nor more ascetic than Shu'ba, nor more intelligent than Malik, nor of better counsel to the Umma than Ibn al-Mubarak…. Sufyan is the most knowledgeable of them." "I could not look at Sufyan directly, he was too intimidating and full of majesty." (Ibn Mahdi)
• "I never saw anyone more knowledgeable in the halal and the haram than Sufyan al-Thawri" (Ibn 'Uyayna).
• "This is the most knowledgeable (afqah) of people on earth." (Za'ida)
• "I never saw anyone like Sufyan al-Thawri" (Ibn Wahb). Ibn Wahb narrates that he saw Sufyan prostrate after Maghrib and not raise his head until the call for 'Isha'.
• "By Allah! Sufyan was more knowledgeable than Abþ H.anifa" (Fudayl ibn 'Iyad.). "He is above Malik in all things." (Yahya ibn Sa'id al-Qattan) "If these two concur on something – al-Thawri and Abu Hanifa – then this is a strong position." (Ibn al-Mubarak)
• "Al-Thawri for us was the Imam of all the people…. Sufyan in his time was like Abu Bakr and 'Umar in theirs." (BISHR AL-HAFI)
• "If I were asked to choose someone to lead this Umma I would have chosen Sufyan al-Thawri" (al-Awza'i).
• "I never saw a man who follows the Sunna more rigorously or in whose body I would love to be more than Sufyan al-Thawri." (Al-Shafi'i)
• "Do you know who is the Imam? The Imam in my view is Sufyan al-Thawri. No-one comes before him in my heart!" (Ahmad to Abu Bakr al-Marwadhi)
• "Sufyan is the 'alim of the Umma and its Worshipper" (Al-Muthanna ibn al-Sabbah.).
• "Truly, if I see a person accompany Sufyan, that person becomes great in my view." (Abu Bakr ibn 'Ayyash)

The TASAWWUF of Sufyan at-Thawri

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya relates in 'Madarij al-salikin', and Ibn al-Jawzi in the chapter entitled "Abu Hashim al-Zahid" in his Sifat al-safwa after the early hadith master Abu Nu'aym in his Hilyat al-awliya', that Sufyan al-Thawri said:

If it were not for Abu Hashim al-Sufi (d. 115) I would have never perceived the presence of the subtlest forms of hypocrisy in the self... Among the best of people is the Sufi learned in jurisprudence.

Ibn al-Jawzi also narrates the following:

Abu Hashim al-Zahid said: "Allah has stamped alienation upon the world in order that the friendly company of the muridin (seekers) consist solely in being with Him and not with the world, and in order that those who obey Him come to Him by means of avoiding the world. The People of Knowledge of Allah (ahl al-ma'rifa billah) are strangers in the world and long for the hereafter."