and of their consensus and the matters over which the masters of jurisprudence differed in judgment.

His state—should you but look at it—(1) mirrored the states of the foremost friends of God.

Content with the meagerest share of this life, he was nonetheless deemed wealthy among the poor;

he would prefer what little he possessed for the wellbeing (2) of others over himself, without affectation.

Manifest scrupulousness (3), devoted worship, humility, and gratitude in both hardship and ease;

God-fearing restraint, chastity, and renunciation of the world were his adornment, and patience his companion in the face of affliction.

He never ceased striving for Allah, opposing every form of deviation and desire (4)

with a steadfast heart, firm resolve, and an unflinching mind amid the tumult of confrontation (5).

He drove back opponents’ doubts with decisive answers and presented luminous proof.

[ق 145] He held his soul in patience until Allah decreed for him what He has decreed for the prophets.

Yet certain people concealed evil toward him because of the hatred they bore;

they envied the distinctive favors with which Allah had clothed him among the virtuous.

So they deemed lawful against him what Allah had forbidden, driven by the rancor they hid within.

They twisted his words just as earlier peoples twisted the very texts of the Qur’an to lead others astray.