Abu Dawud al-Tayalisi said, “I was present at Dawud’s final moments, and I have never seen anyone endure harsher death-throes than he did.” (1)

Hasan ibn Bishr said, “I attended the funeral of Dawud al-Taʾi. He was borne on two—perhaps three—biers, each one splintering under the crush of the crowd.” (2)

Some asserted that Dawud kept company with Habib al-ʿAjami, but this is unsound: we have no evidence that Dawud ever travelled to Basra, nor that Habib ever came to Kufa.

Dawud’s merits were many; he was a leader in both knowledge and practice. No funeral like his had ever been heard of—people reportedly stayed awake for three consecutive nights, fearing they might miss the chance to attend it.

He died in 162 AH, though another opinion puts his death in 165 AH. (3)

I have already quoted a selection of his hadiths and reports in my History of Islam, and he left no one in Kufa comparable to him.

159 – Sulayman ibn Bilal al-Qurashi al-Taymi, their freedman * (ʿ)

The imam, jurist, and hadith master, Abu Muhammad al-Taymi, their freedman, of Medina.

Some say his kunya was Abu Ayyub and that he was the client of ʿAbd Allah ibn Abi ʿAtiq—Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr al-Siddiq.

Others say he was the client of al-Qasim ibn Muhammad.

He was born around the year 100 AH.