God-consciousness of Sufyan ath-thawri

Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhàb said: "I never saw princes and rich men sit more meekly than in the gathering of Sufyàn al-Thawrï."

 Qabïsa said that no-one sat with Sufyàn except they remembered death.

Yusuf ibn Asbat. narrates that he once handed Sufyàn the ablution-pot in the evening and left him holding it pensively. At dawn, he had not moved and said: "I am still thinking about the next life." 

Ibn Mahdï said: "Night after night I would catch sight of Sufyàn sitting up and calling out: 'The Fire! The Fire! I cannot sleep nor feel pleasure anymore because I think of the Fire."

 Abu Nu'aym said that Sufyàn would be useless for days whenever this state overtook him.

Shuja' bin Walid said: "I performed the Hajj with Sufyan, and he would come and go with his tongue never ceasing to command the good and forbid the evil."

 When al-Mahdi came into power, he sent for Sufyan. When Sufyan entered, al-Mahdi removed his ring and threw it at Sufyan and said: "O Aba 'Abdillah, this is my ring. Work for this nation according to the Qur'an and the Sunnah." So, Sufyan took the ring and said: "Do you permit me to speak, O Commander of the Believers? Can I speak with your promise not to harm me?" He said: "Yes." So, Sufyan said: "Do not send for me again until I come to you myself, and do not give me anything unless I ask you for something." So, al-Mahdi become enraged and wanted to kill him, but his assistant reminded him that he had promised not to harm Sufyan. So, Sufyan was kicked out of the palace and his companions asked him: "What made you refuse? He only asked you to work according to the Qur'an and Sunnah!" So, Sufyan belittled their intellects due to their missing the point and he ran away as a fugitive to al-Basrah.

al-Mahdi later said : "I was unable to look at Sufyan out of haya' and intimidation from him."

Sufyan would reach states of anxiety about the Day of Judgment in which he urinated blood. He said: "I may see something against which I ought to speak out but I do not, then I urinate blood." 

Sufyan also said: "I felt the fear of God to a point I wondered how I could still be alive, then I would say to myself: I have a fixed term of life, but I wish it were made lighter for me. My fear is such that I fear losing my mind."

Sufyan once went to Abu Ja'far when they were at Mina and said to him: "Fear Allah! You are in this position and have this power due to the swords of the Muhajirin and Ansar, and their sons are dying of hunger! 'Umar made the Hajj and spent only fifteen dinars, and he used to shade himself under the trees!" So, Abu Ja'far said: "Do you want me to be like you?" Sufyan said: "No. Just be below what you are and above what I am." Abu Ja'far said: "Get out."

It was also related from Ibn Abi Hatim that there was a blind man who used to sit with Sufyan. When it was Ramadan, the man would go lead the people in prayer, and they would give him clothes and gifts as a reward for this. So, Sufyan said: "On the Day of Resurrection, the people of the Qur'an will come with their Qur'an, and it will be said to the likes of this person: 'You have already received your reward previously.'" So, the man said to him: "O Aba 'Abdillah, you say this while I am sitting right next to you?" Sufyan replied: "I fear that it will be said to me on the Day of Resurrection that you were sitting next to me and I did not advise you."