my heart; may Allah reward you for that which He alone knows to be in you. ⦗1⦘

Al-Dawraqī said: Muḥammad ibn Shujāʿ narrated to me, from Sufyān, from ʿUyaynah, who remarked, “I have never seen anyone more filled with fear (of Allah) than al-Fuḍayl and his son.”

Ibrāhīm al-Ḥarbī reported: Ibn Abī Ziyād told us, from Shihāb ibn ʿAbbād, who said, “People used to visit ʿAlī ibn al-Fuḍayl as one visits a sick man, even while he was still able to walk, and he would say, ‘Had I thought I would live until the noon prayer, it would have weighed heavily upon me.’ ”

Al-Fuḍayl said, “O Allah, I have exerted myself to discipline ʿAlī but have not been able; so discipline him for me.” ⦗2⦘

Abū Sulaymān al-Dārānī said, “ʿAlī ibn al-Fuḍayl could not bring himself to recite al-Qāriʿah (The Calamity), nor would he allow it to be recited in his presence.” ⦗3⦘

Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Jarawī reported: Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿUthmān told us, “ʿAlī ibn al-Fuḍayl was once with Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah when Sufyān related a hadith that mentioned the Fire. ʿAlī let out a gasp, collapsed, and fell unconscious. Sufyān turned and said, ‘Had I known you were here, I would not have narrated it.’ He did not come to until Allah willed.”

With the same chain, it is related that al-Fuḍayl said to his son, “If only you would help us cope with our circumstances.” So ʿAlī picked up a basket and went off to the market to work as a porter. A man came and informed me, so I went after him, brought him back, and said, “My dear son, this is not what I meant—certainly not all of this.” ⦗4⦘