‘I wish this milk would turn into tar.
Quraysh will end up trailing the tails of camels through these ravines, for Satan keeps company with the solitary person and is farther away from two.’ (1)

Al-ʿAttāf ibn Khālid narrated—through Ibn Ḥarmalah—from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib:

He once complained of an eye ailment. People said to him, ‘If only you would go out to al-ʿAqīq and look at the greenery, you would feel some relief.’ He replied, ‘But what would I do then about attending the isha and dawn prayers?’ (2)

Al-ʿAttāf—on the authority of Ibn Ḥarmalah—also said:

I asked Burd, the client of Ibn al-Musayyib, ‘How does Ibn al-Musayyib pray in his house?’ He answered, ‘I really do not know; he prays a great deal, but I have heard him recite: “Sad. By the Qur’an rich in reminder.”’ (3)

ʿAmr ibn ʿĀṣim said: ʿĀṣim ibn al-ʿAbbās al-Asadī narrated to us:

Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib used to exhort and warn the people. I heard him reciting at night while riding his mount, reciting at length; I also heard him raise his voice with “Bismillah al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm” (In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful). He liked to listen to poetry, though he would not recite it himself. I saw him walking barefoot in a coarse cloak (4); I saw him trim his moustache so closely that it was almost shaved; I saw him shake hands with everyone he met; and he disliked excessive laughter. (5)

Sufyān al-Thawrī narrated, through Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, from Saʿīd:

He recommended naming one’s children after the prophets. (5)

Ḥammād ibn Salamah—on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Zayd—reported:

He performed supererogatory prayers in his own quarters and wore an eastern cloak. (5)

Salām ibn Miskīn related to me, from ʿImrān ibn ʿAbd Allāh, who said:

‘I cannot count how many times I saw…’