would, when they learned, put their knowledge into practice; when they acted on it, they became wholly absorbed; when they were thus absorbed, they vanished from public view; once they were missed, people set out in search of them, and when they were sought, they fled.

He also said: “Allah is enough as the One we love, the Quran is enough as a companion, death is enough as a preacher, fear of Allah is enough as knowledge, and self-delusion is enough as ignorance.”

He said as well: “Two traits harden the heart: too much talk and too much food.”

He said: “What do you think of the condition of one whose sins are many, whose knowledge is feeble, whose life is nearly spent, and who has prepared nothing for his final return?”

He said: “Poor soul! You do wrong yet fancy yourself righteous; you are ignorant yet deem yourself learned; you are stingy yet imagine that you are generous; you are foolish yet suppose you are wise. Your term is short, but your hopes are long.”

I said: “Yes, by Allah, he has spoken the truth—and you are an oppressor yet think you are the one oppressed; you consume the unlawful yet judge yourself scrupulous; you live in open sin yet believe yourself upright; you seek knowledge for worldly ends yet think you are seeking it for Allah.”

ʿAbbās al-Dūrī reported: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Anbārī narrated to us; he said:
“I heard Fudayl say: ‘When Hārūn al-Rashīd arrived in Mecca, he sat in the Hijr (1) with his sons and a group of…’”