He sat in the company of Bishr al-Ḥāfī and Imām Aḥmad, and he accompanied al-Sarī ibn al-Mughlis. He was thoroughly versed in the qirāʾāt (canonical Qur’anic readings). He often performed ribāṭ (frontier watch) and took part in military expeditions.

Those who narrated from him include Khayr al-Nassāj, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Kattānī, and a number of others.

Among his words are these: “The sign of a truthful Sufi is that he becomes poor after wealth, humbled after honor, and obscure after fame; the sign of a false Sufi is that he grows rich after poverty, attains eminence after humiliation, and becomes notorious after anonymity.”

Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAlī al-Murīdī said, “I heard Abū Ḥamzah say: ‘It is impossible for you to love Him and yet not remember Him; impossible for you to remember Him and yet not taste the sweetness of that remembrance; and impossible that He then occupy you with anything other than Himself.’” (1)

I say: Abū Ḥamzah did exhibit certain deviations and ecstatic utterances (2) that allow for interpretation.

In Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ it is related from ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Bakr, who said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz narrated to us; I heard Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ramlī say, “Abū Ḥamzah spoke in the great mosque of Ṭarsūs, and the people kissed him. A crow then cawed, whereupon Abū Ḥamzah cried out, ‘At Your service! At Your service!’ They thereupon accused him of zandaqa (heresy), saying, ‘He holds the doctrine of ḥulūl (indwelling).’ (3) They testified against him, he was expelled, and his horse was auctioned off at the mosque gate.”