Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā al-ʿAnazī narrated to us: Mutahhir ibn al-Haytham al-Ṭāʾī related, from his father, who said:

“Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik came on pilgrimage. His chamberlain stepped outside and announced: ‘The Commander of the Believers says, “Look for a jurist so that I may ask him about certain rites.”’

“Tāwūs happened to pass by, and they said, ‘Here is Tāwūs al-Yamānī.’ The chamberlain seized him, saying, ‘Answer the summons of the Commander of the Believers.’

“Tāwūs replied, ‘Excuse me,’ but the chamberlain refused and ushered him in.

“Tāwūs recounted: ‘When I stood before Sulaymān I said to myself, “This is a gathering for which Allah will call me to account.” Then I spoke: “Commander of the Believers! There was a rock perched on the brink of a pit in Hell. It tumbled down for seventy years before it came to rest at the bottom. Do you know for whom Allah has prepared it?”

“He said, ‘No—woe to you, for whom has He prepared it?’

“I answered, ‘For the one to whom Allah grants a share in His ruling, and who then deals unjustly.’ At that, Sulaymān collapsed in shock.”

Abū ʿĀṣim al-Nabīl said: Sufyān related to me:

“Once a son of Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik came and sat beside Tāwūs, yet Tāwūs did not even look his way. People said, ‘The son of the Commander of the Believers is next to you, and you pay him no attention!’ He replied, ‘I wished him to know that Allah has servants who care nothing for what he possesses.’”

Abū Umayya narrated from Dāwūd ibn Shābūr:

“A man said to Tāwūs, ‘Pray to Allah for us.’ He answered, ‘I feel no reverent awe in my heart at this moment, so how could I supplicate for you?’”

It is also reported that Tāwūs came in the pre-dawn hours looking for a man. When told, ‘He is asleep,’ he said, ‘I never imagined anyone would be sleeping at this hour.’

Ibn ʿUyaynah narrated from Ibn Abī Najīḥ, from his father, that Tāwūs said to him, “Abū Najīḥ, is the one who speaks and fears Allah better than the one who keeps silent and fears Allah?”

Ibn ʿUyaynah also narrated from Hishām ibn Ḥujayr, from Tāwūs, who said: “A young man’s devotional rites are not complete until he marries.”

Sufyān al-Thawrī narrated from Saʿīd ibn Muḥammad that among the supplications of Tāwūs was: “O Allah, keep me from an excess of wealth and children, and grant me faith and righteous action.”