Among those appointed to keep watch over him was Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUlayyah, but the caliph later distanced him, removed him, and expelled him from the camp.

In the same year ʿĀfiyah ibn Yazīd al-Azdī was made judge; he and Ibn ʿUlāthah rendered judgments in al-Mahdī’s encampment at al-Ruṣāfah.

That year a man known as al-Muqannaʿ rebelled in Khurasan, in one of the villages of Marw. He preached transmigration of souls (tanāsukh), and a great many people followed him. Al-Mahdī therefore equipped several of his commanders and dispatched numerous armies against him, among them Muʿādh ibn Muslim, the governor of Khurasan. The story of what took place between him and them will be recounted in due course.

During the same year the pilgrimage was led on behalf of the people by Mūsā al-Hādī, son of al-Mahdī.

Those who died in that year included:
• Isrāʾīl ibn Yūnus ibn Abī Isḥāq al-Sabīʿī;
• Zāʾidah ibn Qudāmah; and
• Sufyān ibn Saʿīd ibn Masrūq al-Thawrī (1).

He was one of the great Imams of Islam, a devout ascetic, and a model to be emulated—Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Kūfī. He transmitted hadith from several of the Successors, and a host of leading scholars and others transmitted from him.

Shuʿbah, Abū ʿĀṣim, Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah, Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn, and many others said, “He is the Commander of the Believers in hadith.”

Ibn al-Mubārak declared, “I wrote from one thousand teachers, and one hundred teachers, and he is the best of them.”

Ayyūb said, “I have never seen a Kufan whom I prefer to him.”

Yūnus ibn ʿUbayd said, “I have not seen anyone better than him.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Dāwūd stated, “I have not seen anyone more versed in jurisprudence than al-Thawrī.”

Shuʿbah remarked, “He gained precedence among the people through piety and knowledge.”

Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah observed, “The scholars of hadith are three (2): Ibn ʿAbbās in his time, al-Shaʿbī in his time, and al-Thawrī in his time.”

Imām Aḥmad said, “No one surpasses him in my heart,” and then added, “Do you know who the Imam is? The Imam is Sufyān al-Thawrī.”