Hammād ibn Zayd narrated from Yazīd ibn Ḥāzim. He said:

Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik used to address us every Friday, and he never failed to say in his sermon: “Indeed, the people of this world are on a journey. No intention of theirs endures, nor do they find any repose, until the command of Allah and His promise come upon them while they are still in that state. Likewise, its bliss does not last, its sudden calamities are never safe, and the evil of its folk spares no one.” He would then recite:

“Have you considered: if We grant them enjoyment for years (205)
then there comes to them that which they were promised (206),
of what benefit to them will be the enjoyment they were given? (207)”
(Sūrah al-Shuʿarāʾ 26:205-207) (1).

al-Aṣmaʿī reported that the inscription on Sulaymān’s signet-ring read: “I believe in Allah, sincerely.”

Abū Mushir narrated—from Abū Muslim Salamah ibn al-ʿAyyār al-Fazārī—who said:

Muḥammad ibn Sīrīn would invoke mercy upon Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik and say, “He opened his caliphate with good and concluded it with good: he began by reviving the prayers at their prescribed times, and he ended by appointing ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz as his successor.” (2)

The scholars of biography and history are unanimously agreed that he led the pilgrimage in the year 97 AH while he was caliph (3).

al-Haytham ibn ʿAdī said: al-Shaʿbī related that Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik performed the ḥajj, and when he saw the multitudes at the season he said to ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, “Do you not see this throng—none can count their number but Allah, and none can provide for them but Him?” He replied, “O Commander of the Believers, these are your flock today, and tomorrow they will be your litigants before Allah.” Sulaymān wept profusely and then said, “By Allah, I seek His help.” (4)

Abū Bakr ibn Abī al-Dunyā said: Isḥāq ibn Ismāʿīl narrated to us, Jarīr narrated to us, from ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, who said:

ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was travelling with Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik when they were struck by thunder, lightning, darkness, and a fierce wind, so that they were alarmed by it, while ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (5) kept laughing. Sulaymān said to him, “What makes you laugh, O ʿUmar? Do you not see the state we are in?” He replied, “O Commander of the Believers, these are traces of His mercy, and within them we suffer the hardships we see. How, then, would it be with the traces of His wrath and anger?”

Among his fine sayings—may Allah have mercy on him—is his statement: “Silence is the slumber of the intellect, and speech is its wakefulness; neither is complete without the other.”

A man once came to him and spoke, and Sulaymān was impressed by his eloquence; then he tested him and found his judgement wanting. He said, “For a man’s eloquence to exceed his intelligence is a deception, and for his intelligence to exceed his eloquence is a defect. The best state is when each of the two resembles the other.”

He also said: “The intelligent person is more concerned with keeping his tongue upright than with seeking his livelihood.”