Dawud al-Ta’i (d. 165/781-2) was an ascetic of Kufa who studied under Abu Hanifa and other members of the generation of tabi‘un. In the intellectual pedigree of the early Sufi movement he was a vital link, and a cultural icon in his own right, as attested in the numerous biographical reports collected by Abu Nu‘aym al-Isbahani and others. Reports of Dawud emphasize his aversion to society and his dedication to private isolation (‘uzla) as a way of life. In these reports, which are full of detail about Dawud’s household finances and cost of living, domestic slavery is a recurrent motif. Reconciling this figure's relationship to slaveholding with his ascetic withdrawal from society is the work of this paper.