Among the counsel Avicenna offered to Abū Saʿīd Fadlallāh al-Mīhanī were these words: “Let Allah—exalted be He—be the first and last of your thoughts, the inner core and outer form of every reflection. Let your eye be kohl-lined by constant gaze toward Him, and your foot ever ready to stand before Him, while your intellect journeys through the highest kingdom and the majestic signs of your Lord it contains. When you descend once more to your earthly station, glorify Allah in His traces; for He is the Hidden and the Manifest, unveiling Himself to every thing through every thing. Remember your soul (1), bid it farewell, and remain with it as though you were not with it. The noblest movement is prayer; the finest stillness is fasting; the most beneficial act of goodness is charity; the purest secret is patient forbearance; and the most futile effort (2) is ostentation. The soul will never be freed from baseness so long as it busies itself with gossip and dispute. The best deed is that which springs from a sincere intention, and the best intention is that which opens out from knowledge. Knowledge of Allah is the very first of first principles; to Him the good word ascends.”

He also said: “Drink is to be forsaken as a matter of cheerful renunciation, not for mere gratification (3); do not fall short in the legally prescribed rites, and venerate the divine sunnahs (4).”

In my History of Islam I have already cited and abridged various matters concerning him. He is the foremost of the Muslim philosophers; since al-Fārābī no equal to him has appeared. Praise be to Allah for Islam and the Sunnah.

He composed the book The Healing and other works, along with doctrines that cannot be borne. Al-Ghazālī declared him an unbeliever in his book Deliverance from Error (5), and he passed the same judgment on al-Fārābī.