Al-Aʿmash said:

Shurayḥ once complained of pain in his leg, so he smeared it with honey and sat in the sun. When those who visited the sick came in, they asked, “How do you find yourself?” He answered, “In good shape.” They said, “Why do you not show it to a physician?” He replied, “I already have.” They asked, “And what did he tell you?” He said, “He promised good.”

In another report a sore appeared on his big toe, and they asked, “Why do you not show it to a physician?” He replied, “It is He who brought it out.”

Al-Awzāʿī related: ʿAbdah ibn Abī Lubābah told me that the turmoil of Ibn al-Zubayr lasted nine years, and during it Shurayḥ neither tested others nor asked to be tested.

Ibn Thawbān transmitted the same from ʿAbdah, from al-Shaʿbī, from Shurayḥ, who said: “When the strife broke out, I did not inquire about it.” A man remarked, “If I were in your place I would not mind when I died.” Shurayḥ replied, “Then what of what lies in my heart?”

Shaqīq ibn Salamah also narrated from Shurayḥ, who said: “During the fitnah I neither sought news nor conveyed it, and I never wronged a Muslim or a treaty-holder of a single dinar or dirham.” Abū Wāʾil said, “If I were in your state I would wish to have died.” Shurayḥ pressed his hand to his heart and said, “How can it ever be calm (1)?” In another wording: “What of what is in my breast when the two parties meet and one of them is dearer to me than the other?”

He once said to some people he saw playing, “Why do I see you playing?” They replied, “We have free time!” He said, “The one who has free time has not been instructed to do this.”

Suwār ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-ʿAnbarī said: Al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Jarīr al-ʿAnbarī narrated to us; Sālim Abū ʿAbd Allāh told me: I was present with Shurayḥ when a man stepped forward and said, “Where are you?” He replied, “Between you and the wall.” The man said, “I am a man from Syria.” He answered, “A distant land!” The man said, “I have married a woman.” He replied, “May you live together in harmony and be blessed with sons (2).” The man said, “I made it a condition that she keep her house.” He said, “The condition holds the stronger claim.” The man said, “Judge between us.” He said, “I already have (3).”

Sufyān reported: It was asked of Shurayḥ, “By what means did you acquire this knowledge?” He said, “By exchanging (4) with the scholars—I take from them and give to them.”

ʿUthmān ibn Abī Shaybah narrated from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Sālim, from Ibrāhīm ibn Yūsuf, from his father, from Abū Isḥāq, from Hubayrah, that he heard ʿAlī say: “O people! Let your jurists come to me; they will question me and I will question them.” The next morning we went to him until the courtyard was filled. He began to ask them, “What about such-and-such, what about such-and-such?” and they asked him the same. He informed them and they informed him. When the forenoon grew high they dispersed, all except Shurayḥ, who remained kneeling; there was nothing ʿAlī asked him about but that he answered it. ʿAlī then said, “Rise, O Shurayḥ, for you are the best judge among the Arabs (5).”