Sufyan al-Thawri

Sufyan ath-Thawri ibn Said (Arabic: سفيان بن سعيد الثوري‎) (716–778) was a Ṫābi‘ al-Ṫābi‘īn Islamic scholar, Hafiz and jurist, founder of the Thawri madhhab. He was also a hadith compiler, of whom a great number of anecdotes are recorded.

Biography

Imam Sufyan ath-Thawri was born in Kufa, Iraq, and in his youth supported the Shi'ites against the dying Umayyad caliphate. By 748 he had moved to Basra, "where he met ['Abdallah] ibn 'Awn and Ayyub [al-Sakhtiyani]. He then abandoned his Shi'i view." It is said that the Umayyads offered him high office positions but that he consistently declined. He even refused to give to the Caliphs moral and religious advice and when asked why, he responded "When the sea overflows, who can dam it up?". He was also quoted to have said to a friend of his "Beware of the rulers, of drawing close to and associating with them. Do not be deceived by being told that you can drive inequity away. All this is the deceit of the devil, which the wicked qurra' have taken as a ladder [to self promotion]."