—the craving for hadith; the only thing I feared for him was his love of hadith.

I (the author) say: Loving the very substance of hadith and putting it into practice for Allah’s sake is a provision required for the journey to the Hereafter. Loving its narration, however—pursuing lofty chains and taking pride in one’s breadth of knowledge—is blameworthy and dangerous. That is what Sufyān, al-Qaṭṭān, and the people of self-accountability feared, for much of that becomes a burden on the hadith scholar.

Mūsā ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī narrated that he heard his father say, “I saw al-Thawrī in a dream and asked him, ‘What have you found to be best?’ He answered, ‘Hadith.’”

Al-Firyābī said, “I heard him say, ‘No deed is better than hadith, provided one’s intention in it is sound.’”

Ḍamrah said: Sufyān would sometimes teach in ʿAsqalān, opening the session by saying, “The springs have burst forth!”—marveling at himself.

Muhannā ibn Yaḥyā reported: ʿAbd al-Razzaq told us that one of our companions said to Sufyān, “Narrate to us exactly as you heard.” He replied, “By Allah, that is impossible; what remains are only the meanings.”

Zayd ibn Ḥubbāb said: I heard Sufyān say, “If I claim that I relate things to you exactly as I heard them, do not believe me.”

Aḥmad ibn Sinān related: Ibn Mahdī said, “When we were with Sufyān it was as though he stood before the Reckoning, and we dared not speak to him. Then we would hint at hadith, and that awe would disappear, for he would simply begin: ‘He narrated to us… he narrated to us…’ (1)”

ʿAbd al-Razzaq said: I saw Sufyān in Ṣanʿāʾ dictating to a young boy, who would prompt the narration for him.