Yahya ibn al-Mutawakkil related that Sufyan said, “When every single one of a man’s neighbors praises him, he is in fact a wicked man, for it may be that he sees them disobeying Allah yet never rebukes them, greeting them instead with a cheerful face.”

Fudayl transmitted from Sufyan: “If you notice that a man is loved by his neighbors, know that he is a compromiser who flatters them.”

Yahya ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abi Ghaniyah said, “I have never seen anyone more resolute for the sake of Allah than Sufyan.”

Sufyan also said, “These rulers have surrendered the Hereafter to you, so surrender the life of this world to them.”

ʿAbd al-Razzaq reported, “I heard al-Thawri say to Wuhaib, ‘By the Lord of this House, I long for death.’”

Ibn al-Mahdi recounted: “Sufyan was stricken with an intestinal illness. That night he performed ablution sixty times. When he perceived that the end had come, he climbed down from his bed, laid his cheek upon the ground and said, ‘O ʿAbd al-Rahman, how intense death is!’ When he died, I closed his eyes, and word spread; people arrived in the middle of the night.

ʿAbd al-Rahman said, ‘Sufyan used to wish for death so that he might be safe from these people, but once he fell ill he came to dislike it. He said to me, “Recite (Ya Sin*), for it is said that it eases the suffering of the sick.” I recited, and before I had finished, his light went out.’

It was further said that his bier was taken out to the people of Basra unexpectedly; the multitudes gathered, and ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Abjar al-Kufi led the funeral prayer over him, in accordance with Sufyan’s own bequest, because of his righteousness.