Ibn Saʿd (1) said: “Mutarrif passed away at the very beginning of al-Ḥajjāj’s governorship.”

I say: Rather, he remained alive until (2) the rising of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ashʿath after the year eighty AH.

As for ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī and al-Tirmidhī, both dated his death to the year ninety-five, and that is the more likely view.

In al-Ḥilya (3) it is reported that Abū al-Ashhab transmitted from a man who said that Mutarrif ibn ʿAbd Allāh declared:
“To spend the night asleep and wake up remorseful is dearer to me than to spend the night standing (in prayer) and wake up self-satisfied.”

I say: By Allah, no one who praises himself or is pleased with himself will ever prosper.

Thābit al-Bunānī narrates from Mutarrif that he said:
“It is more pleasing to me that Allah Most High should ask me on the Day of Resurrection, ‘O Mutarrif, why did you not do (such-and-such)?’ than that He should say, ‘Why did you do it?’ (4)”

Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim reports: Ḥumayd ibn Hilāl told us that Mutarrif ibn ʿAbd Allāh said:
“I have found the servant cast between his Lord and Satan: if his Lord draws him near and rescues him, he is saved; but if He leaves him to Satan, the latter carries him off. (5)”

Jaʿfar ibn Sulaymān reports: Thābit told us that Mutarrif said:
“If my heart were taken out and placed on my left, while the good were brought and placed on my right, I would be unable to insert any of that good into my heart until Allah Himself placed it there. (6)”

Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī transmits from Qatādah, from Mutarrif, who said: “Indeed, this death has corrupted …”