Jarīr ibn Ḥāzim said, “I saw Ṭāwūs dyeing his hair with henna of a deep red color.”

Fiṭr ibn Khalīfah said, “Ṭāwūs used to draw his cloak over his head and color his hair with henna.”

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr al-Mulaykī said, “I saw Ṭāwūs, and there was a mark of prostration between his eyes.”

Sufyān al-Thawrī, reporting from an unnamed man, said: “Among the supplications of Ṭāwūs was: ‘O Allah, deny me an abundance of wealth and offspring.’ (1)”

Maʿmar narrated from the son of Ṭāwūs, from his father, who said, “I marvel at our brothers from Iraq who call al-Ḥajjāj a believer.”

I say: He is referring to the Murjiʾah among them, those who claim, “He is a believer of perfect faith,” despite his tyranny, blood-shedding, and reviling of the Companions. (2)

Ibn Jurayj said: Ibrāhīm ibn Maysarah related to us that Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf al-Thaqafī appointed Ṭāwūs over a portion of the alms-tax. I asked Ṭāwūs, “How did you handle the matter?”

He replied, “We would say to a man, ‘Will you purify—may Allah have mercy on you—some of what Allah has granted you?’ If he gave us anything, we took it; if he turned away, we did not say, ‘Come back.’ ”

We have also heard that Ibn ʿAbbās used to honor Ṭāwūs, admitting him into his private gatherings; and when ʿIkrimah came to Yemen, Ṭāwūs hosted him and presented him with a najīb (a well-bred riding camel). (3)

Ibrāhīm ibn Maysarah narrated from Ṭāwūs, who said, “Had the freedman of Ibn ʿAbbās feared Allah and curtailed his narrations, people would have mounted their beasts to travel to him.”

Ṭāwūs passed away in Mecca during the pilgrimage season, and whoever claims that his grave is in Baalbek,