Iyās redirected the man to his own statement and then asked, “Do you recite the Quran?”
“Yes,” the man replied.
Iyās said, “Do you recall His words, ‘Today I have perfected for you your religion’ (al-Māʾidah 5:3)?”
“Yes.”
“And what comes before it and after it?”
“Yes, I know that as well.”
Iyās said, “Then has this verse left the household of Shubrumah any room for their own opinion?”

ʿAbbās relates from Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn ⦗1⦘: Saʿīd ibn ʿĀmir told us, ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī told us that a man once said to Iyās ibn Muʿāwiyah, “Abū Wāthilah, how long will people remain—how long will they go on being born and dying?”
Iyās turned to those seated with him and said, “Answer him.” They had nothing to say, so Iyās replied, “Until the two numbers are fulfilled: the number of the people of Paradise and the number of the people of Hellfire.”

Someone also said: Iyās ibn Muʿāwiyah hired transport in Syria on his way to the ḥajj, and in the same maḥārah ⦗2⦘ rode Ghaylān the Qadarī, neither man knowing who the other was. For three days they did not speak; when the three days had passed they conversed, recognised one another, and each marvelled that he should be travelling with someone whose doctrine on the Divine Decree was so opposed to his own. Iyās said to him, “The people of Paradise, when they enter Paradise, will say, ‘Praise be to Allah who has guided us to this; we would never have been guided had Allah not guided us’ (al-Aʿrāf 7:43). The people of the Fire will say, ‘Our Lord, our misery overwhelmed us’ (al-Muʾminūn 23:106). And the angels will say, ‘Glory be to You! We have no knowledge except what You have taught us’ (al-Baqarah 2:32).” He then cited to him lines of Arab poetry and Persian proverbs that affirmed the Divine Decree.

On another occasion Iyās and Ghaylān met in the presence of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. A debate ensued, and Iyās defeated him, cornering him until Ghaylān confessed his inability and professed repentance. ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz invoked Allah against him if he were lying, and Allah answered that prayer: Ghaylān was seized, executed, and crucified thereafter. To Allah belong all praise and favour.

Among Iyās’s fine sayings is this: “For a man’s deeds to exceed his words is better than for his words to exceed his deeds.”

Sufyān ibn Ḥusayn said: I once spoke ill of a man in the presence of Iyās ibn Muʿāwiyah. He looked me in the face and asked, “Have you fought the Romans?”
“No.”
“The Sindhis?”
“No.”
“The Indians?”
“No.”
“The Turks?”
“No.”
He said, “So the Romans, Sindhis, Indians, and Turks are safe from you, yet your Muslim brother is not?” After that I never repeated such behaviour.

Al-Aṣmaʿī reports from his father: I saw Iyās ibn Muʿāwiyah in the house of Thābit al-Bunnānī. He was ruddy-complexioned, long-armed, wearing coarse clothes, winding his turban ⦗3⦘ tightly. He dominated the conversation; no one spoke with him without being bested. And he once said to him—