between our bodies and stones? Had He not endowed us with understanding, we would have had none; and likewise, if He wills that stones understand, they will indeed understand.

It was said: No one was ever seen to shed more tears than Saʿīd ibn al-Ḥaddād. He kept the company of ascetics and remained of scant means until a brother of his died in Sicily, leaving him an inheritance of four hundred dinars. With two hundred he built his house, and with fifty he bought clothing for himself.

He was generous and forbearing.

Among those who reported from him was his own son, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh, the teacher of Ibn Abī Zayd.

He used to say, “To draw near to the ruler—even in times other than these—was a deadly peril; what, then, of today?”

And he said, “Whoever keeps long company with the world and with people only burdens his back.”

“Lost are those who have forgotten Allah, those who revel in worldly comforts.

Whoever tries to win the affection of people through acts of disobedience, Allah will make them hate him.

Never exchange solitude for anything, for people have turned into wolves.

Nothing diverts one from Allah like the pursuit of praise and the quest for eminence.”

Among his verses:
“After seventy years and eight
I have used up of life’s dates;
O my two friends, death draws near to me—
So weep for me, may you be guided, and announce my death.”

Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ said: Abū ʿUthmān died in the year 302 AH, at the age of eighty-three.