Sufyan ibn Abdullah al-Thaqafi

سفيان بن عبد الله الثقفي

A Thaqafi Companion of al-Ta'if who served as Umar ibn al-Khattab's governor over the city; he transmits 'say: I believe in God, then stand firm', the twenty-first hadith of al-Nawawi's Forty, included by Muslim in his Sahih through Hisham ibn Urwa from his father from him, the al-Zuhri route from Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Ma'iz adding his question 'what do you most fear for me?' answered by the Prophet taking hold of his own tongue and saying 'this'; his son Abdullah ibn Sufyan also narrates from him in Ahmad and al-Nasa'i.

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Istiqama (steadfast uprightness)

Standing firm upon faith and obedience after the words 'I believe in God'; in Sufyan ibn Abdullah al-Thaqafi's hadith he asked the Prophet for comprehensive words of Islam he would not need to ask anyone after him about and was answered 'say: I believe in God, then stand firm' — one route 'say: my Lord is God, then stand firm' — its meaning for Ibn Rajab drawn from 'those who say our Lord is God then stand firm' in Fussilat and al-Ahqaf; Abu Bakr is reported glossing 'then stood firm' three ways: 'they associated nothing with God', 'they did not turn to a god other than Him', and 'they stood firm that God is their Lord'; a weak al-Nasa'i route through Anas adds 'people have said it then most of them disbelieved, and whoever dies upon it is of the people of istiqama'; and in the hadith's continuation in al-Tirmidhi and al-Nasa'i, when he asked 'what do you most fear for me?' and 'what shall I guard against?', the Prophet took hold of his own tongue — 'this' — or gestured to it, making guarding the tongue among the greatest things istiqama watches.

Sufyan ibn Abdullah al-Thaqafi

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Istiqama (steadfast uprightness)