ʿAbd al-Munʿim ibn al-Farāwī, and others of their generation. He devoted himself to the study of hadith and secured the principal source-books.

Those who narrated from him include ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Hilāla, Shamkh the preacher of Darayya, Nāṣir ibn Manṣūr al-ʿArḍī, his disciple Sayf al-Dīn al-Bākharzī, and many others.

Ibn Nuqṭa (1) said: “He was a Shafiʿi, an Imām of the Sunnah.”

ʿUmar ibn al-Ḥājib observed: “He travelled far and wide, listening to hadith; then he settled in Khwarazm and became the shaykh of that region. He was a man of hadith and Sunnah, a refuge for strangers, of great prestige, and he feared no reproach when it came to Allah.”

Ibn Hilāla relates: “I spent time with him in solitary retreat on several occasions. I witnessed marvellous events and heard someone speak to me with pleasant words.”

I say: No one was addressing you in your seclusion—your excessive hunger merely caused you to ‘hear’ speech within a brain that had become dizzy and disordered, now rattling like an empty drum, just as happens to a man with pleurisy (2), to one consumed by fever, or to a madman. Be certain of this, and worship Allah through the established sunnahs; you will prosper!

It is said that he composed a twelve-volume commentary on the Qur’an. Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, the prolific author, went to see him and engaged in debate before him about the knowledge of Allah and His oneness. The discussion was prolonged. They then asked the shaykh about the science of maʿrifa (gnosis). He replied, “It consists of spiritual influxes that descend upon the soul, and the soul is powerless to repel them.” Fakhr al-Dīn asked, “How can one attain perception of that?”

He answered, “By abandoning the position of leadership and the personal interests in which you are engrossed.”

Fakhr al-Dīn said, “That is beyond my ability.”

As for his companion, he renounced worldly things, divested himself of attachments, and kept company with the shaykh.