and from him were narrated by Abū Aḥmad al-ʿAssāl, Abū Bakr al-Naqqāsh, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Shādhān, and others.

Al-Sulamī said: “He was the imam of his age; among the shaykhs no one matched him in humbling the ego and discarding status.”

Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī remarked: “He was peerless in casting off all affectation.”

It is related that he wrote to Junayd: “May Allah never let you taste the flavor of your own self; for if you ever taste it, you will never prosper.” (1)

He also said: “When you see a disciple occupying himself with legal concessions, know that nothing good will come from him.”

It was reported that he would hear a few lines of verse and weep.

He died in 304 AH.

On one occasion he heard a vocalist chant (2):

I see you always building upon my estrangement,
yet, were you resolute, you would tear down what you build. (3)

It is as though I behold you—your finest word is ‘if only,’
crying, ‘Alas, if only we had…,’ when ‘if only’ cannot avail you. (4)

He wept profusely and said to the singer, “My brother, do not blame the people of Rayy for calling me a heretic. From early morning I recite the Qur’an and not a single tear falls from my eyes, yet just now, when you sang, I was overtaken as you saw.”