Yūsuf ibn Asbāṭ said, “Because of his prolonged sorrow and constant anxious thought, Sufyān would pass blood in his urine.”

ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated, “When Sufyān arrived, I cooked a pot of sikbāj (1) for him and he ate it. I then brought him Ṭāʾif raisins, which he also ate. After that he said, ‘O ʿAbd al-Razzāq! Feed the donkey and drive it on!’ (2) He then stood and prayed until dawn.

Aḥmad ibn Yūnus reported from ʿAlī ibn al-Fuḍayl: “I once saw al-Thawrī in prostration; I was able to circumambulate the Kaʿbah seven full circuits (3) before he raised his head.”

Muʾammal ibn Ismāʿīl said, “Sufyān stayed in Mecca for a full year, never easing off in worship except during the time between the afternoon and sunset prayers; at that hour he would sit with the hadith scholars—and that, too, is worship.”

Ibn Mahdī said, “I could not bear to listen to Sufyān’s recitation because of his copious weeping.”

Muʾammal also related, “I once entered upon Sufyān while he was eating tabāhij (4) with eggs. I objected, so he said, ‘I never forbade you to eat what is wholesome—earn what is wholesome and eat.’”

Aḥmad ibn Yūnus said, “I ate khushkanānj (5) in Sufyān’s company, and he remarked, ‘It was given to us as a gift.’”

ʿAbd al-Razzāq added, “On one occasion Sufyān ate dates with butter and then stood praying until the sun had moved past its zenith.”

It was also said that he travelled to Yemen with four thousand dirhams on a muḍārabah (6) arrangement and spent the entire profit.