al-Murrī, ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ziyād, and others—passing on only anecdotal reports, and I do not believe he ever related anything supported by a continuous chain.
Excessive fear of Allah had seized him with terror.
A group narrated from Bishr ibn Manṣūr, who said:
“I asked ʿAṭāʾ al-Salīmī, ‘Imagine a fire were kindled and someone announced, “Whoever throws himself into it will be saved.” Do you think anyone would jump in?’
He answered, ‘If that were proclaimed, I would fear that my own soul would leave me in delight before I even reached the flames.’ ”
Nuʿaym ibn Muwarraʿ said: “We came to ʿAṭāʾ al-Salīmī, and he kept repeating, ‘Would that ʿAṭāʾ had never been born of his mother!’ He went on like that until the sun turned yellow.”
In his supplication he used to say: “O Allah, have mercy on my estrangement in this world, have mercy on my collapse at the moment of death, and have mercy on my standing before You.”
Aḥmad al-Dawraqī reported: ʿAlī ibn Bakkār told us, “I left ʿAṭāʾ al-Salīmī, and he remained forty years upon his bed—never rising out of fear, never going outside; he would even perform his ablution on his bed.”
Abū Sulaymān al-Dārānī said: “His fear intensified to the point that he no longer asked for Paradise; he asked only for pardon.”
It was also said that ʿAṭāʾ forgot the Qur’an because of his fear.
He would say, “Fetch me hadiths that mention concessions, so that what I feel might be eased.”
It was reported that when he wept, he would weep for three days and nights without pause.
Ṣāliḥ al-Murrī said: “I said to him, ‘O Shaykh, Satan has deluded you! Why do you not drink something that will give you strength for your prayer and for maintaining your ablution?’ He handed me three dirhams and said, ‘See that I am supplied every day with a draught of sawīq (roasted barley gruel).’ He drank it for two days, then gave it up and said, ‘O Ṣāliḥ, whenever I remember Hell, neither food nor drink can pass my lips.’ ”
It was said that he wept until his eyesight grew dim, and at times he would faint when hearing an exhortation.