of the Hāshimites; they brought in the shaykhs as well and sent for me. I was inclined not to go, but I consulted my neighbour, and he said, “Go; perhaps he wants you to admonish him.”

So I entered the Mosque, and when I reached the Hijr I said to the one nearest me, “Which of you is the Commander of the Believers?”

He pointed to him, and I said, “Peace be upon you, O Commander of the Believers, and the mercy and blessings of Allah.”

He returned my greeting and said, “Sit down. We have only invited you to relate something to us and to admonish us.”

I turned to him and said, “O you of handsome face, the reckoning of all mankind rests upon you!”

He began to weep and sob, and I kept repeating my words while he wept until a servant came; they carried me out, and he said, “Go in peace.”

Muhraz ibn ʿAwn said: I was with Fudayl when Hārūn arrived, accompanied by Yaḥyā ibn Khālid and his son Jaʿfar. Yaḥyā said to him, “Abū ʿAlī, this is the Commander of the Believers; he greets you.”

Fudayl said, “Which of you is he?” They replied, “This one.”

He said, “O you of handsome face, you have been burdened with a tremendous affair”—and he repeated it.

Then he said, “ʿUbayd the secretary narrated to me from Mujāhid regarding Allah’s words, ‘and all their ties will be severed’ (al-Baqara 2:166): it means the bonds that had linked them in worldly life (1),” and he gestured with his hand toward them.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khuqayq reported that Fudayl said:

“Keep your distance from the Qur’an reciters; if they love you, they will praise you for what you do not possess, and if they become angry they will testify against you—and people will accept it from them.”