Abū ʿAwanah said, “I once saw Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn in the marketplace; everyone who set eyes on him at once remembered Allah.” (1)

Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar al-Bāhilī related: “I heard Sufyān remark, ‘Among the people of Kūfa and Basra alike, no one equalled Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn in scrupulous piety.’”

Zuhayr al-Aqṭaʿ reported: “Whenever Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn spoke of death, it was as though every limb of his body died separately.” (2)

Ibn ʿAwn said, “Muḥammad held that the followers of deviant doctrines are the quickest of all people to relapse into unbelief, and that the verse, ‘When you see those who engage in idle talk about Our revelations, turn away from them until they turn to another topic’ (al-Anʿām 6:68), was revealed concerning them. I have never met anyone more generous of spirit than Ibn ʿAwn.” (3)

Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm narrated from Qurrah: “I ate in the house of Ibn Sīrīn, and he said, ‘Food is too insignificant a matter to make anyone hesitate to invite others to it.’” (4)

Thābit al-Bunānī said, “Al-Ḥasan (al-Baṣrī) was in hiding from al-Ḥajjāj when one of his daughters died. I hurried to him, hoping he would ask me to lead the funeral prayer. He wept so intensely that his sobbing rose, then he said, ‘Go to Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn and tell him to perform the prayer for her.’ When the true state of matters became clear, he realized that he would not prefer anyone over Ibn Sīrīn.” (5)

Al-Anṣārī reported: Ibn ʿAwn told us, “Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ḥasan was…"