perhaps some of you will profit from it.

When I was still a boy I used to go back and forth to the market. On the way home I would oblige myself to remember Allah until I reached such-and-such a place; when I reached that spot, I would again bind myself to remember Allah in such-and-such a manner until I arrived at the house.

Al-Fallās said, “I heard Ibn Abī ʿAdī say: ‘Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind fasted for 40 years, and his own family never knew. He was a tailor; he would take his midday meal with him and give it away in charity along the road.’ ”

Ibn ʿUyaynah reported: “I heard Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind say:

‘The plague struck me and I lost consciousness. It was as though two beings came to me: one pressed the root of my tongue and the other pressed the arch of my foot. They asked, “What do you feel?” I replied, “I sense tasbīḥ (the words Subḥān Allah), takbīr (the words Allāhu akbar), a few steps on the way to the mosque, and a little recitation of the Quran.” At that time I had not yet learnt the Quran. Thereafter, whenever I went out on an errand I would say to myself, “Why not remember Allah until I reach my need?” I eventually recovered, turned my full attention to the Quran, and memorised it.’ ”

Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind also said: “There are two things—were they not to exist, people would gain no benefit from their worldly life: death, and the earth’s absorption of the dew.”

Ḥammād ibn Salamah said, “I visited Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind and saw that the furnishings of his house were dyed with safflower.”

Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind used to say, “I was born in Marw.”

Yazīd ibn Hārūn, Yaḥyā al-Qaṭṭān, and a number of others said that Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind died in 139 AH. Khalīfah said, “He passed away when the people were leaving from the ḥajj.” Ibn al-Madīnī and others held that he died in 140 AH.

Isḥāq al-Asadī informed us; Ibn Khalīl narrated to us; Abū al-Makārim al-Taymī narrated to us; Abū ʿAlī the reciter narrated to us; Abū Nuʿaym the ḥāfiẓ narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥasan and others said: Bishr ibn Mūsā reported to us; Hawdhah reported to us; ʿAwf narrated from Abū