In The Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy.

Imam Sufyan Ibn Uyaynah, may Allah have mercy upon him.

He was born in Kufa in the year 107 AH. He pursued hadith while young — a boy. He met the great scholars and acquired abundant knowledge from them. He mastered and excelled in it, compiled and authored works, and lived a long life. People gathered around him and the highest chains of transmission reached him. People traveled to him from lands, and he connected the grandchildren with the forefathers.

He heard (Hadith) in the year 119 AH, the year 120, and after that. He heard from Amr ibn Dinar and narrated from him a lot, and from Ziya ibn ilaqah al-Aswad ibn Qays, Ubaydullah ibn Abee Ziyad Ibn Shihab Az-Zuhree, Āṣim ibn Abee al-Nujud, Abu Isḥaq al-Sabee’ee, Abdullah Ibn Deenaar, Zayd ibn Aslam, Abdul Malik ibn Umair, Muḥammad ibn al-Munkadir, Abu az-Zubayr, Ḥuṣayn ibn Abdur Raḥman, Salim Abu al-Naḍr, Shabeeb ibn Gharqadah, Abdah ibn Abee Lubabah, Ali ibn Zayd ibn Jud’aan, Abdul Kareem al-Jazree, ʿAṭaa ibn as-Saaʾib, Ayyoub As-Sakhtiyaanee, al-Alaa ibn Abdur Rahman, Qaasim Ar-Rijaal, Manṣur ibn al-Muʿtamir, Yazee ibn Abee Ziyaad, Hishaa ibn Urwah, Ḥumayd al-Ṭaweel, Yaḥya ibn Saʿeed al-Anṣaaree, Abu Ibn Ajlaan, Ibn Abee Layla, Sulaymaan al-Aʿmash, Musa ibn Uqbah, Suhayl ibn Abee Ṣaaliḥ, Abdullah ibn Abee Nujayḥ, Abdur rahman ibn al-Qaasim, Umayyah ibn Ṣafwaan al-Jumaḥee, Jaamiʿ ibn Abee Rasheed, Ḥakeem ibn Jubayr, Abdulah Ibn Abdir Rahman Ibn Abee Ḥusayn, Abu az-Zinaad, Abdullah ibn Dhakwaan, Abdul Azeez ibn Rufay, Isḥaq ibn Abdillah Ibn Abee Ṭalḥah, Ismaa’eel ibn Muḥammad ibn Saʿd…..And he was the sole narrator from a number of the great scholars.

Those who narrated from him include: al-Aʿmash, Ibn Jurayj, and Shuʿbah — and these were among his own teachers — as well as Hammam ibn Yaḥya, al-Ḥasan ibn Ḥayy, Zuhayr ibn Muʿaawiyah, Ḥammaad ibn Zayd, Ibraaheem Ibn Saʿd, Abu Isḥaq al-Fazaaree, Muʿtamar ibn Sulaymaan, Abdullah ibn al-Mubaarak, Abdur Rahmaan ibn Mahdee, Yaḥya al-Qaṭṭaan, Ash- Shaafi’ee, Abdur Razzaaq, al-Ḥumaydee, Saʿeed ibn Manṣur, Yaḥya ibn Maʿeen, Ali ibn al-Madeenee, Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Abu Bakr ibn Abee Shaybah, Isḥaq ibn Raahawayh, Yunus ibn ʿAbdil A’la, Az-Zubair ibn Bakkār, and many others.

Among his senior students who narrated abundantly from him were: al-Ḥumaydee, Ash-Shaafi’ee, Ibn al-Madeenee, Aḥmad, and Ibraaheem ar-Ramaadee. Imam al-Shaafi’ee said: “Had it not been for Malik and Sufyaan ibn Uyaynah, the knowledge of Hijaz would have vanished”.

Ḥarmalah said: I heard Ash-Shaafi’ee say: “I have not seen anyone who possessed the tools of knowledge similar to Sufyaan ibn Uyaynah, and I have not seen anyone more reluctant to give legal verdicts than him”.

Abdullah ibn Wahb said: “I do not know anyone more knowledgeable in Tafseer than Ibn Uyaynah”.

Ali ibn al-Madeenee said: “Among the companions of al-Zuhree, there is no one more precise than Sufyaan ibn Uyaynah”.

Ibn Uyaynah said: “My father took me for Hajj while Aṭaa ibn Abee Rabaḥ was still alive”.

Mujaahid ibn Musa said: “I heard Ibn ʿUyaynah say: ‘I never wrote anything except that I memorised it before I wrote it'”.

Ibn al-Madeenee said: “Yaḥya al-Qaṭṭaan said to me: ‘None of my teachers remain except Sufyaan ibn Uyaynah and has been an imam for forty years'”.

Sa’need ibn Daawud reported from Ibn Uyaynah: “Whoever’s sin is from desire, forgive him; and whoever’s sin is from pride, fear for him. Adam sinned out of desire and was forgiven, but Iblees sinned out of arrogance and was cursed”

From Ibn Uyaynah’s sayings: “Zuhd is patience and awaiting death. Knowledge, if it does not benefit you, harms you”.

Uthman ibn Zaa’idah said: “I said to Sufyaan ath-Thawree: ‘From whom should we learn?’ He said: ‘Depend on Ibn Uyaynah and Zaa’idah'”.

Ibn al-Madeenee said: “I heard Ibn Uyaynah say: ‘I sat with Abdul Kareem al-Jazree for two years, and he would say to the people of his town: ‘Look at this boy asking me questions while you do not ask me anything'”.

Abu Ḥaatim ar-Raazee said: “Sufyaan ibn Uyaynah was an imam, trustworthy, and more knowledgeable in the hadith of Amr ibn Deenaar than Shu’bah. He and Malik were the most reliable among the companions of al-Zuhree”.

An Except from Siyar A’lam An-Nubula 8/455

To be continued InShaAllah