Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Ḍiyāʾ composed a separate booklet on his life. Shaykh Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Kamāl and others informed me of it, having heard it from him, and he related:

Imām ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī al-Ḥasan al-Jubbāʾī said, “I went to visit Abū al-Ḥusayn the Ascetic in Aleppo, but my intention was not sincere. He said to me, ‘When you come to the shaykhs, let your intention in the visit be sincere.’

“I asked my uncle Abū ʿUmar, ‘Have you ever seen Abū al-Ḥusayn eat anything?’ He answered, ‘I saw him chew on wild carob—he would suck it and throw it away—and I saw him eat boiled greens.’

Abū Saʿd al-Samʿānī said: I heard Sinān ibn Mushayyaʿ al-Raqqī say, ‘I saw Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Maqdisī at Raʾs ʿAyn, in a certain spot, naked except for a shirt wrapped round his waist. He had a donkey with him and the people were crowding about him. He said, “Come.” I stepped forward, whereupon he took my hand and said, “Shall we become brothers?” I replied, “I do not have the strength.” He said, “What benefit do you hope for in this?” Yet he still made me his brother.

‘He then said to one of the crowd, “My donkey needs a lead-rope.” They said, “It costs four fals.” He pointed to a spot in the wall and said, “I passed here earlier and hid four fals there; buy me a rope with them.”

‘Next he said, “I want you to buy me fish with a dinar.” I said, “Gladly—but where do you have gold?” He replied, “Indeed, I have plenty of gold.” I said, “Gold is yellow.” He said, “Look beneath the grass.” I lifted the grass and a dinar appeared. I bought him fish with it; he cleaned it, roasted it, then fried it, removed the skin and bones, shaped it into small patties, dried them, placed them in his satchel, and went on his way—⦗1⦘ for years he had not eaten bread.

‘He used to live in the mountains of Syria, subsisting on acorns and carob.’

Al-Ḍiyāʾ said: I read, in the hand of Yūsuf ibn Muḥammad ibn Muqallad al-Dimashqī, that he heard