and ‘Uthmān ibn Abī al-ʿĀtikah is indeed a worthy man, while Abū ʿAmr al-Awzāʿī is the best person walking upon the face of the earth; and you will die on such-and-such a day.’

Muḥammad ibn Shuʿayb said, ‘The sun had not yet reached its zenith before he died; we performed the funeral prayer over him thereafter, and his bier was carried out.’ Ibn ʿAsākir reports this. ⦗1⦘

Al-Awzāʿī—may Allah have mercy on him—was devoted to worship: his prayer was beautiful, he was scrupulous and ascetic, and he spoke little. He would say, ‘Whoever lengthens his standing in the night prayer, Allah will lighten for him the lengthy standing on the Day of Resurrection.’ He derived this from the Almighty’s words: ‘And during part of the night, prostrate yourself to Him and glorify Him through a long night. These people love the fleeting life and leave behind them a Heavy Day’ (Sūrah al-Insān 26–27).

Al-Walīd ibn Muslim said, ‘I never saw anyone exert himself in worship more than al-Awzāʿī.’

Another narrated, ‘He made the pilgrimage and never slept on the mount; he was continually in prayer, and whenever drowsiness overtook him he leaned against the saddle-bow. Because of his intense humility, he seemed as though blind.’

A woman once entered upon al-Awzāʿī’s wife and noticed that the reed mat on which he prayed was wet. She said, ‘Perhaps the child has urinated here.’ The wife replied, ‘This is the trace of the shaykh’s tears from his weeping in prostration; it is like this every morning.’

Al-Awzāʿī said, ‘Hold fast to the legacy of those who preceded you, even if people abandon you; and beware of men’s opinions, no matter how they deck them out and beautify them, for the matter will become clear and you will be upon a straight path.’

He also said, ‘Remain patient upon the sunnah: stand where the people stand, say what they say, and refrain from what they refrained from; let what sufficed them suffice you.’

And he said, ‘Knowledge is what has come from the Companions of Muḥammad; whatever has not come from them is not knowledge.’

He would further say, ‘Love for both ʿAlī and ʿUthmān is found only in the heart of a believer. When Allah wills evil for a people, He opens for them the door of argumentation and closes for them the door of knowledge and action.’

They said, ‘Al-Awzāʿī was among the most generous and open-handed of men. He held a stipend in the public treasury granted by the caliphs during the Umayyad period, and from the Umayyad caliphs, their relatives, and later the ʿAbbāsids, some seventy thousand dinars reached him. Yet he kept none of it, acquired no property, and when he died he left only seven dinars, the provisions for his shroud; rather, he spent all of it in the path of Allah and upon the poor and the needy.’

When ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAlī—the uncle of al-Saffāḥ who expelled the Umayyads from Syria and by whose hand Allah, exalted is He, brought down their rule—entered Damascus, he summoned al-Awzāʿī. The latter hid from him for three days, then presented himself. Al-Awzāʿī related, ‘I entered upon him while he was seated on a couch, a khayzurānah (a thin bamboo cane) in his hand, and the musawwida (men clad in black) stood to his right and left with bared swords.’ ⦗2⦘