and sell it.’

So I went, took hold of the animal, but it kept bolting while a number of people stood there laughing at it. I said, ‘O Allah, by the blessing of the Ḥāfiẓ, make this easy.’ I then drove it along with two other buffalo; it calmed down at once, walked on, and I sold it in a nearby village.

His Passing:

I heard Abū Mūsā say (1): “In Rabīʿ al-Awwal my father fell gravely ill—so ill that he could neither speak nor stand—and the sickness lasted for sixteen days. I would often ask him, ‘What do you desire?’ and he would reply, ‘I long for Paradise; I long for Allah’s mercy,’ saying nothing more than that.

“I brought him hot water; he stretched out his hand and I performed ablution for him at the time of Fajr. He then said, ‘O ʿAbd Allah, rise and lead us in prayer, and keep it brief.’ I led the congregation while he prayed sitting. When I sat by his head he said, ‘Recite Yā-Sīn.’ I recited it, he began to supplicate, and I was saying ‘Āmīn.’

“I said, ‘Here is some medicine for you to drink.’ He replied, ‘My son, nothing remains now but death.’ I asked, ‘Do you yearn for anything?’ He said, ‘I yearn to behold the Face of Allah—exalted is He.’ I said, ‘Are you pleased with me?’ He answered, ‘Indeed, by Allah’ (2).

“I asked, ‘Do you bequeath anything?’ He said, ‘I owe nothing to anyone, and no one owes me anything.’ I said, ‘Do you have any advice for me?’ He said, ‘I counsel you to fear Allah and to persevere in obedience to Him.’

“A group then came to visit him; they greeted him, he returned the greeting, and when they began chatting he said, ‘What is this? Remember Allah—say, “There is no god but Allah.”’ When they rose to leave, he went on remembering Allah with his lips, signalling with his eyes. I stood to hand a man a book from the side of the mosque; when I returned, his soul had departed—may Allah have mercy on him. That was on Monday, the twenty-third of Rabīʿ al-Awwal, in the year six—”