Ibn al-Ṭarsūsī said, “Abū Saʿīd al-Kharrāz is the moon of the Sufis.”

He also transmitted from him the following outline of the path: “The first step is repentance (tawba); next one moves to the station of fear (khawf), then to the station of hope (rajāʾ), then to the station of the righteous (ṣāliḥīn), then to the station of the seekers (murīdīn), then to the station of the obedient (muṭīʿīn). From there one proceeds to the lovers (muḥibbīn), then to the station of the yearning (mushtāqīn), then to the station of the saints (awliyāʾ), and finally to the station of those brought near (muqarrabūn).” (1)

Al-Sulamī remarked, “The people of Egypt repudiated Abū Saʿīd and branded him a disbeliever because of certain expressions. In his book al-Sirr (The Secret) he wrote: ‘When any one of them is asked, “What do you say?” he replies: Allah. When he speaks, he says: Allah. When he looks, he says: Allah. If his very limbs could speak, they would say: Allah, for his members are filled with Allah.’ They found these words objectionable and expelled him from Egypt; he said, however, that he was later returned in honor.” (2)

It is related from al-Junayd that he said, “If Allah were to hold us accountable for the reality of the state in which Abū Saʿīd lives, we would perish.”

Someone asked Ibrāhīm ibn Shaybān, “What was his state?” He answered, “For years the Real never slipped from him, not even between two stitches.”

Al-Murtaʿish said, “When Abū Saʿīd al-Kharrāz speaks about the divine realities, all creatures are dependent on him.”

Al-Kattānī reported: “I heard Abū Saʿīd say, ‘Whoever thinks he will arrive without expending effort is merely indulging in wishful thinking, and whoever thinks he will arrive through effort alone is simply wearing himself out.’”