Thereafter al-Khaṭīb set out a section quoting the praises that al-Shāfiʿī’s teachers and contemporaries lavished upon him, and then he gathered some remarks in which certain imams were maligned—the disparager spoke as offensively as he pleased, I mean the one doing the disparaging.

Sayings attributed to Imām al-Shāfiʿī have reached us—some may not be fully authenticated, yet they remain wise maxims. Among them are the following:

(1) “No seeker of knowledge ever prospers except through frugality.”

(2) He said, “I have never lied, never sworn an oath by Allah, never omitted the Friday bath, and for the past sixteen years I have never eaten to satiety—save once, and I cast off that fullness immediately.”

(3) He said, “Whoever is not ennobled by taqwā (piety) will never have any honor.”

(4) And he said, “I have never been alarmed by poverty. Chasing the excesses of this world is a punishment with which Allah afflicts the people of pure monotheism.”

Someone asked him, “Why do you so often carry a staff when you are not weak?” He replied, “So that I may remember I am but a traveler.” (5)

He also said, “Whoever clings to his desires becomes a slave to the devotees of this world.”

And he said, “Goodness is found in five things: contentment of the soul, refraining from harm, earning lawful wealth, taqwā (piety), and trust in Allah.” (6)