went off in the company of the envoy of the Byzantine tyrant and, once in Constantinople, embraced Christianity. I was told by someone I trust that the two sons of Abū Bakr al-Shāshī stood up in his preaching circle and said to him, “If you lay claim to the Ashʿarī creed, stay where you are; otherwise, step down.” He shot back, “Sit down—may you never taste the delights of your youth!” I later heard from several people that both of them died before they had reached middle age (1).

I heard Sayyid Ismāʿīl ibn ʿAwaḍ al-ʿAlawī relate: “I heard Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb say to al-Faṣīḥ—who had once been among his disciples, then turned against him and pelted him with various objects—‘That man will be killed, and you will see it happen.’ Events unfolded exactly as he had foretold.”

My grandfather Abū al-Muẓaffar al-Samʿānī said, “No one who has come to us from Iraq compares to Yūsuf al-Hamadhānī. I discussed with him the question of the invalid sale, and we held seventeen sessions on that single issue …”

Abū Saʿd continues: I heard the Imām Yūsuf say, “I withdrew into several retreats, each one lasting a little more than five years—or a little less—but the love of disputation and controversy would not leave my heart until I reached such-and-such al-Simnānī. The moment I saw him, all of that departed from my heart; debate had been blocking my way.”

Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Maqdisī was asked, “Have you ever seen a friend of Allah?” He replied, “During my travels I encountered a non-Arab in Marw who preached and called the people to Allah; he was named Yūsuf.”

Abū Saʿd adds: When I resolved to set out on my journey, I went in to bid farewell to our shaykh Yūsuf. He approved my intention and said, “I counsel you: do not enter the courts of the rulers, and be watchful of what you eat, lest it be unlawful.”

I say: among those who transmitted from him were Abū al-Qāsim Ibn ʿAsākir, Abū Rūḥ ʿAbd al-Muʿizz, and a number of others.