Al-Ḥākim said: I heard Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn Hāniʾ say, “I heard al-Faḍl al-Shaʿrānī say, ‘I heard al-Qawārīrī say, “I heard Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān say:

I saw Sufyān al-Thawrī in a dream, and between his shoulders, in lettering that was not black, were the words, ‘Allah will suffice you against them.’ (1) [al-Baqara: 137].”’”

ʿAbbās al-Dūrī said: I heard Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn say, “I heard Ibn ʿUyaynah relate—on the authority of Sufyān al-Thawrī—who said:

Whatever goal you set your sights on, once you have reached its very limit you wish you could escape from it with nothing owed, neither loss nor gain. (2)”

Abū Qudāmah al-Sarkhasī said: I heard Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal say:

Whenever Sufyān al-Thawrī was told, “Someone has seen you in a dream,” he would reply, “I know myself better than the dreamers do.”

Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh said: Sufyān used to denounce anyone who claimed that acts of worship are not part of faith, and anyone who preferred any Companion over Abū Bakr and ʿUmar—though he did give ʿAlī precedence over ʿUthmān.

Al-Ḥākim transmitted this report from Abū Bakr ibn Isḥāq, who said: al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Ziyād narrated to us; Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn narrated to us that he heard it from Abū Bakr (ibn ʿAyyāsh).

Muḥammad ibn Sahl ibn ʿAskar said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us: I heard Mālik, al-Awzāʿī, Ibn Jurayj, al-Thawrī, and Maʿmar all say, “Faith is both words and deeds; it increases and decreases.”

Al-Ḥākim said: Abū al-Faḍl Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Muzakkī narrated to us; Jaʿfar narrated to us