The great Imam Sufyan bin Unaynah as a young boy

Ziyad ibn 'Ubaidullah ibn Khuzai ibn 'Abdullah ibn Mughaffal said: I heard Sufyan ibn Uyaynah say:

"My father was a money changer in Kufah and he fell into debt,so he brought us to Makkah. When we came to the Masjid for Zuhr prayer , I reached the door of the Masjid and found a Shaykh on a donkey.

He said to me, "O boy, hold on to my donkey until I enter Masjid and pray."

I said to him, " I will not do it unless you narrate to me."

He said, "And what will you do with hadith?".and he deemed me too young.

I said,"Narrate to me."

He said,"Jabir ibn 'Abdullah narrated to us, and ibn 'Abbas narrated to us," so he narrated eight hadiths to me. I then held on to his donkey, and began to memorize what he narrated to me.

Once he had prayed, he came out and said" What benefit did you acquire from what I narrated to you? You held me up."

I said," You narrated such and such." So I repeated to him all that he had narrated to me.

He said," May Allah bless you,come tomorrow to my gathering." And the Shaykh was none other than 'Amr ibn Dinar.

Shu'bah ibn al-Hajjaj said, "I saw ibn 'Uyaynah as a young boy with long tablets in the presence of 'Amr ibn Dinar ,and he was wearing a qurt(a ring place in the ears of the children) in his ear."

Ibn al-Madani said: I heard ibn 'Uyaynah say, "I sat with 'Abdul Karim al-Jazari for two years. He used to say to the people of his town,"Look at this young boy, he asks me while you do not asks me."

Ghayath ibnJafar said: I heard ibn 'Uyaynah saying," The first person to sit me against the pillar was Mis'ar ibn Kidam. I said to him, " But I am still young." He said," But you have narrations from az-Zuhri and 'Amr ibn Dinar."

The biography of Imam Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah by Salaahud-deen 'Ali Abdul Mawjood