I answered, “I am Sufyān ibn Saʿīd ibn Masrūq.”
He asked, “Al-Thawrī?”
I said, “Al-Thawrī.”
He said, “You are the one the Commander of the Believers is looking for.”
I replied, “Indeed.”
He lowered his head for a moment and then said, “Remain as long as you wish, and leave whenever you wish. By Allah, even if you were beneath my foot, I would not lift it to harm you.”

I read this report to Isḥāq ibn Ṭāriq, who informed us; Ibn Khalīl informed us; Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad informed us; Abū ʿAlī the reciter informed us; Abū Nuʿaym informed us; Abū al-Shaykh informed us; Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan narrated to us; Aḥmad ibn Sulaymān ibn Abī Shaybah narrated to us; I heard Ṣāliḥ ibn Muʿādh al-Baṣrī say, “I heard ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī say, ‘I heard Sufyān … ,’” and he related the story.

Wakīʿ reports from Sufyān: “I have wrestled with nothing harder for me than my own self—at times it is against me, and at times for me.”

Al-Khuraybī narrates from Sufyān concerning the words of Allah, “We shall draw them on step by step” (al-Aʿrāf 7:182; al-Qalam 68:44): “We drape them in blessings while preventing them from giving thanks.”

Abū Isḥāq al-Fazārī reports from Sufyān: “Weeping is ten parts: one part is for Allah, and nine parts are for other than Allah. If the part that is for Allah comes to a person even once in the year, it is abundant.”

Khalaf ibn Tamīm said, “I heard Sufyān say, ‘Whoever is fond of women’s thighs will never succeed.’”

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Rustah said, “I heard Ibn Mahdī say, ‘Sufyān spent the night with me and began to weep.’ He was asked about it and replied, ‘My sins, in my own estimation, are lighter than this,’ and he picked up something from the ground and added, ‘I fear that faith may be taken from me before I die.’”

And from Sufyān: “Safety lies in not wishing to be known.”

Rustah also narrated from Ibn Mahdī, who said: “Sufyān arrived in Basra, and the authorities …”