“The elder has lived long enough to see the people performing the prayer exactly like this.” (1)

Al-Khuraybī related: ʿAlī ibn Ṣāliḥ told us, saying, “Suwayd ibn Ghafalah reached one hundred and twenty years of age; he was never seen sitting with his knees drawn up, nor reclining against anything. He even married a virgin bride—the very year in which he passed away.”

ʿĀṣim ibn Kulayb said, “Suwayd ibn Ghafalah married a virgin when he was one hundred and sixteen years old.”

ʿImrān ibn Muslim reported: “Whenever it was said to Suwayd ibn Ghafalah, ‘So-and-so has been granted an allowance,’ or, ‘So-and-so has been appointed to office,’ he would reply, ‘A crust of bread and a pinch of salt are enough for me.’”

ʿAlī ibn al-Madīnī said, “I entered the house of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and could liken it only to what has been described of the home of Suwayd ibn Ghafalah, on account of his asceticism and humility—may Allah have mercy on him.”

Maysarah narrated from Suwayd ibn Ghafalah, who said, “I prayed behind the Prophet’s charity-collector (muṣaddiq) when he came to us.”

Al-Walīd ibn ʿAlī narrated from his father: “Suwayd ibn Ghafalah used to lead us in the standing night prayer (qiyām) during Ramadan, and he was already one hundred and twenty years old.”

Abū ʿUbayd, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Numayr, and Hārūn ibn Ḥātim said, “Suwayd died in the year 81 AH.”

Abū Ḥafṣ al-Fallās said, “He died in the year 82 AH.”

He is mentioned in al-Ḥilyah in abridged form. (2)

ʿAbd al-Ḥāfiẓ ibn Badrān of Nablus informed us; ʿAbd Allah ibn Aḥmad the jurist informed us in 615 AH; Abū Shujāʿ Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Mādarāʾī (3)