Abstract:

Sufyan al-Thawri was one of the pioneers of compilations of hadith in the second century after hijra. He transferred the heritage of Islamic knowledge from the students of the Prophet Mohammad’s companions (tâbiûn) and also from their student (etbâ’ altâbiûn) to succeeding generations by both writing and teaching. He was one of the imams of Hadith who made significant contributions to the sciences of Tafseer (commentary), Kalâm (theology), Rijâl (biography) and particularly Hadith and Fıqh (Islamic law). Though Sufyan’s works did not survive until today, his rich knowledge which was transferred by his students was accepted as one of the primary sources in almost all Islamic sciences of narration. The objective of this study is to deal with what was said about Sufyan al-Thawri’s place in the hadith science which he described it as the most auspicious knowledge of the world, and assessments made about him. Additionally, is to show his deep knowledge about narration (riwayah) and narrators (rawî).