Sufyan ath-Thawri ibn Said (716–778) was a tabi'i Islamic scholar, Hafiz and jurist

Jurist

A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...

, founder of the Thawri madhhab. He was also a hadith

Hadith

The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....

 compiler, of whom a great number of anecdotes are recorded.

Biography

Imam Sufyan ath-Thawri was born in Kufa

Kufa

Kufa is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000....

,Iraq and in his youth supported the Shi'ites against the dying Umayyad

Umayyad

The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...

 caliphate

Caliphate

The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...

. 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]."

Ath-Thawri's jurisprudential thought (usul al-fiqh), after his move to Basra, became more closely aligned to that of the Umayyads and of al-Awza'i. He is reported to have regarded the jihad as an obligation only as a defensive war.

Ath-Thawri was one of the 'Eight Ascetics,' who included (usual list) Amir ibn Abd al-Qays

Amir ibn Abd al-Qays

Amir ibn Abd al-Qays was a tabi`i of Basra who died at Damascus, where he had become famous within the Muslim community for his austere and eloquent speeches. Numerous miracles are recorded of him; it is said that he lived in the desert where wild beasts came tamely to him. He was also known for...

, Abu Muslim al-Khawlani

Abu Muslim al-Khawlani

Abu Muslim Al-Khawlani was a well known tabi'i and a very prominent religious figure in Damascus, Syria. He was one of the 'Eight Ascetics,' who included Amir ibn Abd al-Qays, Abu Muslim al-Khawlani, Uways al-Qarani, Al-Rabi ibn Khuthaym, al-Aswad ibn Yazid, Masruq ibn al-Ajda', Sufyan al-Thawrt...

, Uways al-Qarani, al-Rabi ibn Khuthaym

Al-Rabi ibn Khuthaym

Al-Rabi ibn Khuthaym al-Thawri was a pupil of Abdullah ibn Abbas and a famous tabi'i ascetic of Kufa. Constantly ill with a form of palsy, in later generations he became a symbol of endurance in the face of suffering. He emphasized the importance of silence, scrupulousness in religious...

, al-Aswad ibn Yazid

Al-Aswad ibn Yazid

Al-Aswad ibn Yazid was a well-known scholar from among the taba'een and pupil of Abd-Allah ibn Mas'udHe was one of the narrators of hadith.-References:...

, Masruq ibn al-Ajda'

Masruq ibn al-Ajda'

Masruq ibn al-Ajda was a well-known and respected tabi'i , jurist and muĥaddith . Chiefly a resident of Kufa he was among the many students of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud...

, and Hasan al-Basri.

He spent the last year of his life hiding after a dispute between him and the caliph al-Mahdi

Al-Mahdi

Muhammad ibn Mansur al-Mahdi , was the third Abbasid Caliph who reigned from 158 AH to 169 AH . He succeeded his father, al-Mansur....

. On his death the Thawri madhhab was taken up by his students, including Yahya al-Qattan. His school did not survive, but his juridicial thought and especially hadith transmission are highly regarded in Sunnism, and have influenced all the major schools.

Works

Of his books, perhaps best known is his Tafsir of the Qur'an, one of the earliest in the genre. An Indian MSS purports to preserve it up to Q. 52:13, as published by Imtiyâz ʿAlî ʿArshî in 1965; also Tabari's tafsir quotes extensively from the whole text. He also preserved the books of his Umayyad predecessors.