—and with his constant remembrance, his attendance of the Friday congregation while being carried in a litter, and his journeys for the pilgrimage. He kept this up until he entered his nineties; when weakness overtook him, he withdrew.

He said: He possessed perfect chivalry and a magnanimous spirit; money held no value in his sight. Large sums—many thousands—passed through his hands, yet he never stored anything away, and he died without leaving even a shroud.

He was handsome in form and character, humble, and endowed with every beautiful quality.

I read to him at length and kept his company for a time. He was truthful and dignified. He authored a work on Sufism in which he explained the states of the spiritual folk, and he taught it on numerous occasions—namely ʿAwārif al-Maʿārif.

He added: Toward the end of his life he dictated a book refuting the philosophers, and he mentioned that he came to Baghdad after the death of the hadith scholar Abū al-Waqt.

Ibn Nuqṭah (1) said: In his time he was the shaykh of Iraq—a man of spiritual struggle, self-sacrifice, a commendable path, complete integrity, and regular litanies despite his advanced age.

Yūsuf al-Dimashqī said: I heard the sermons of Abū Jaʿfar, al-Suhrawardī’s father, in Baghdad at the Palace Mosque and at the Niẓāmiyyah. He served as judge of Suhraward and was killed.

Ibn al-Ḥājib said: Al-Suhrawardī and Ibn al-Jawzī share common ancestry in al-Qāsim ibn al-Naḍr.

Masʿūd ibn Ḥamūyah informed us, by way of authorization, that the Chief Judge Badr al-Dīn Yūsuf al-Sanjārī related on the authority of al-Malik al-Ashraf Mūsā:

Al-Suhrawardī once came to him as an emissary and, during their conversation, said, “Our master, I searched the Baghdad libraries for Ibn Sīnā’s al-Shifāʾ and washed every copy.” Then, in the midst of the conversation, he added, “It was the year …”