—al-Jarmī—who transmitted it from al-Faḍl ibn al-Rabīʿ with that very chain.

Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Shaqīq said: Abū Isḥāq related to us:

Fudayl said, “If I were offered the choice to live as a dog and die as a dog, never to behold the Day of Resurrection, I would choose it.”

Fayḍ ibn Isḥāq said: I heard Fudayl say,

“By Allah, to be mere dust is dearer to me than to inhabit the skin of the best man on earth. Nor would it please me to know the matter in its full reality; for were I to do so, my mind would be undone.”

Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ṭabarī said: I heard Fudayl say,

“If you were to tell me that you fear death, I would not accept it from you. Had you truly feared death, neither food nor drink—nothing at all—would profit you. It would not delight me to grasp the issue with complete understanding; for then my reason would reel and I would gain no benefit.”

ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Yazīd said: I heard Fudayl say,

“Do not appoint men as your executors. How can you blame them for neglecting your bequest when you yourself have neglected it during your lifetime?”

And I heard him say, “When Allah loves a servant, He multiplies that servant’s sorrows; but when He dislikes a servant, He makes the servant’s worldly life expansive.”

Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ashʿath said: I heard Fudayl say,

“Whoever loves to be mentioned will not be mentioned, and whoever dislikes to be mentioned will be mentioned.”

And I heard him say, “By His might! Even if He were to cast me into the Fire, I would never despair.”

I also heard him—after we had come down from ʿArafāt—say, “Alas for my disgrace before You, by Allah—even if You pardon.”

And I heard him say, “As long as a man is healthy, fear is better for him than hope; but when death approaches, hope is better.”