Ahmad said: I once saw Abu Sulayman, and when he was about to chant the talbiyah—“Labbayk (Here I am, O Allah)”—he fell unconscious. When he revived he remarked, “I have heard that if a servant performs the pilgrimage by illicit means and then says, ‘Labbayk,’ it will be said to him, ‘You are neither welcomed nor made happy, until you cast away what is in your hands.’ What safety have we that the same will not be said to us?” Only then did he pronounce the talbiyah. (1)

Junayd said: There is a saying transmitted from Abu Sulayman that I very much admire:
“Whoever busies himself with his own soul is spared from the people, and whoever busies himself with his Lord is spared from both himself and the people.” (2)

Ibn Bahr al-Asadi relates: I heard Ahmad ibn Abi al-Hawari say, “I heard Abu Sulayman declare: ‘Whoever places his trust in Allah regarding his provision, his character is refined, forbearance overtakes him, his soul becomes generous, and the whisperings that distract him in prayer grow few.’” (3)

From him, too: “Futuwwa (true spiritual chivalry) is that Allah never finds you where He has forbidden you, nor misses you where He has commanded you.”

Ibn Sulayman has many other sayings in the same vein recorded in his biography in the History of Damascus and in al-Hilyah.

Musallam ibn Muhammad informed me, from al-Qasim ibn ʿAli; my father reported to us; Tahir ibn Sahl reported to us; ʿAbd al-Daʾim al-Hilali reported to us; ʿAbd al-Wahhab al-Kilabi reported to us; Muhammad ibn Khuraym narrated: I heard Ahmad ibn Abi al-Hawari say:

“I wished that I might see Abu Sulayman al-Darani in a dream. After a year I did see him, and I asked, ‘Teacher, what has Allah done with you?’ He answered, ‘Ahmad, I entered by the small gate, and there I met…’”