were searching for him, so he slipped into an orchard and hired himself out to guard its fruit (1). A certain tax collector passed by and asked, “Who are you, old man?”
He replied, “A man from Kufa.”
The officer said, “Which dates are sweeter, those of Basra or those of Kufa?”
He answered, “I have never tasted the dates of Basra.”
The man retorted, “How untruthful you are! Right now the righteous, the wicked, and even the dogs are eating those dates.”

The collector went back to the governor and told him the story to impress him. The governor exclaimed, “May your mother be bereaved of you! Go after him. If what you say is true, that was Sufyan al-Thawri. Seize him so that we may curry favor with the Commander of the Believers.” He set out to look for him again but could not catch him.

Shujaʿ ibn al-Walid said, “I used to perform Hajj with Sufyan, and his tongue would scarcely pause from enjoining good and forbidding evil, whether on the outbound journey or on the return.”

It is also related from Sufyan that he once traveled to Khurasan on account of a personal claim and hired himself out to some camel-drivers.

Ibrahim ibn Aʿyan said, “I was with Sufyan and al-Awzaʿi when ʿAbd al-Samad ibn ʿAli—who was the governor of Mecca—entered. Sufyan was performing ablution while I poured water over him; he seemed to be delaying, repeatedly saying, ‘Do not look at me; I am being tested.’ (2)

“ʿAbd al-Samad came in and greeted us. Sufyan asked, ‘Who are you?’
He replied, ‘I am ʿAbd al-Samad.’
Sufyan said, ‘How are you? Fear Allah, fear Allah, and when you pronounce the takbir, let the people hear it.’”

Yahya ibn Yaman said, “I heard Sufyan say, ‘I sometimes witness wrongdoing and keep silent, and then I end up urinating thick blood.’”

I say: Despite Sufyan’s great standing, he nevertheless deemed nabidh—the beverage whose large quantity intoxicates—to be permissible. (3)