Sawwar went blind toward the end of his life and died in Shawwal of the year 245 AH.

161 – al-Nakhshabī, Abū Turāb ʿAskar ibn al-Ḥusayn

The Imām, the exemplar, the shaykh of the fraternity: Abū Turāb ʿAskar ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Nakhshabī.

The city of Nakhshab lies in the district of Balkh and is also known as Nasaf.

He kept company with Ḥātim al-Aṣamm.

He narrated hadith from Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Numayr, and others.

Those who transmitted from him include al-Fatḥ ibn Shakhruf and his companion, Abū Bakr ibn Abī ʿĀṣim, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Yūsuf ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Rāzī, Aḥmad ibn al-Jallāʾ, and a number of others.

He devoted himself to writing and to the study of jurisprudence; thereafter he turned wholly to devotion and worship, wandering the land and renouncing worldly attachments.

When asked about the qualities of the gnostic he replied, “It is the one whom nothing perturbs, and through whom everything is refined.”

It is related from him: “When you see a Ṣūfī travelling without a water-skin, know that he has resolved to abandon the prayer.”

He also said: “Three traits belong to the virtues of faith: readiness for death, contentment with sufficiency, and entrusting one’s affairs to Allah. And three belong to the traits of disbelief: prolonged heedlessness of Allah, superstition, and envy.”

Yūsuf ibn al-Ḥusayn related: “We were in Mecca when Abū Turāb said, ‘I am in need …’”