Yahya ibn ʿUthman al-Baghdadi said: Baqiyyah narrated to us:

‘Ibrāhīm ibn Adham invited me to share his food. I came to him, and he sat down, tucking his left leg under his thigh, setting the right one upright and resting his elbow on it. Then he said, “This is how the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sat; he would sit like a servant. Begin, in the name of Allah.”

After we had eaten, I said to his companion, “Tell me the hardest thing you have gone through since you accompanied him.”

He replied, “We were once fasting and had nothing with which to break the fast. Morning came, so I said, ‘Abu Isḥāq, shall we go to al-Rastan (1) and hire ourselves out to the harvesters?’ He said, ‘Yes.’

“A man hired me for one dirham. I asked, ‘And my companion?’ He answered, ‘I have no need of him; he seems weak.’ I persisted until he hired him for two-thirds of a dirham. From my own wage I bought what I needed and gave the rest in charity. I then brought the provisions to him, and he wept, saying, ‘As for us, we have already taken our wages; but I wonder—have we given our employer his full due or not?’

“I became upset, and he said, ‘Can you guarantee that we have paid him in full?’ So I took the food and gave it away in charity. (2)”

With the same chain, Baqiyyah said: “We were with Ibrāhīm at sea when a wind sprang up, the ship lurched, and the people wept. We said, ‘Abu Isḥāq, what do you advise?’

He said, ‘Yā Ḥayy (O Ever-Living) when there was no living being, Yā Ḥayy before every living being, Yā Ḥayy after every living being; Yā Ḥayy, Yā Qayyūm (O Self-Subsisting), Yā Muḥsin (O Benefactor), Yā Mujmil (O Bestower of Beauty)! You have shown us Your power, so show us Your pardon.’ The ship calmed at that very moment. (3)”

Ḍamrah said: I heard Ibn Adham say, “I fear that I will not be rewarded for abstaining from tasty food, because I do not desire it.” Whenever he sat before wholesome food, he would pass it to his companions,