those who have heard ḥadith?’ He answered, ‘Yes, he has received narrations from many people, and he possesses an excellence of his own. He is a man of hidden devotions. I have never seen him make a show of glorification (tasbīḥ) or of any other good deed, and whenever he ate with a group he was always the last to withdraw his hand. (1)

Abū Nuʿaym said: I heard Sufyān say, ‘Ibrāhīm ibn Adham resembled Abraham the Friend (of Allah), and had he lived among the Companions he would still have been counted an eminent man.’ (2)

Bishr al-Ḥāfī said, ‘I do not know a single scholar who did not earn a living through his religion, except Wahīb ibn al-Ward, (3) Ibrāhīm ibn Adham, Yūsuf ibn Asbāṭ, and Salm al-Khawwāṣ.’

Shaqīq ibn Ibrāhīm related: I said to Ibrāhīm ibn Adham, ‘Have you left Khurāsān?’ He replied, ‘I have only enjoyed life in Syria. I flee with my religion from one cliff-top to another: whoever sees me says, “He is afflicted with misgivings,” and whoever sees me says, “He is a camel-driver.” O Shaqīq! In our view a person’s nobility is not attained through jihad or pilgrimage, but through the discernment he shows about what enters his stomach. (4)

Khalaf ibn Tamīm said: I asked Ibrāhīm, ‘How long ago did you arrive in Syria?’ He answered, ‘Twenty-four years ago. I did not come for garrison duty or for jihad; I came so that I might be satisfied with bread that is lawful.’

It is also reported from Ibrāhīm that he said, ‘Zuhd (renunciation) is an obligation—and this is to renounce what is forbidden. There is the renunciation of safety, which is to avoid what is doubtful, and the renunciation of excellence, which is to refrain even from what is lawful.’ (5)