He was put to trial for the sake of Allah, bore it with patience, and his stature only rose. Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī relates in Miḥan al-Ṣūfiyyah:

Bunān the porter once confronted the vizier of Khumārwayh—the ruler of Egypt—who was a Christian. Bunān pulled him down from his mount and said, “You are not allowed to ride horses and show off; that is one of the conditions you accepted under the covenant (dhimma).” Khumārwayh therefore ordered that Bunān be seized and placed before a lion. They threw him in, left him overnight, and when they returned the lion was merely licking him while he sat facing the qibla. Khumārwayh released him and offered an apology.

Al-Ḥusayn ibn Aḥmad al-Rāzī said: I heard Abū ʿAlī al-Rūdhbārī say, “The reason I first entered Egypt was the story of Bunān the porter. He had enjoined right conduct upon Ibn Ṭūlūn, who in turn ordered that he be cast before a lion. The lion only sniffed him and did not harm him. When he was taken out, they asked, ‘What was on your mind while it was sniffing you?’ He replied, ‘I was thinking about the legal ruling on the remnants and saliva of predatory animals.’”

He added, “They then struck him seven times with a rod, and Bunān said to the ruler, ‘May Allah imprison you one year for every blow.’ Ibn Ṭūlūn was consequently confined for seven years—so he said. I have not heard of any imprisonment befalling Khumārwayh or his father.”

Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān reported that the judge Abū ʿUbayd Allah contrived to have Bunān given seven strokes with a rod, whereupon Bunān said, “May Allah detain you a year for every stroke.” Ibn Ṭūlūn then imprisoned him for seven years.

Al-Zubayr ibn ʿAbd al-Wāḥid said: I heard Bunān say, “A free man is a slave as long as he is covetous, and a slave is free as long as he is content.”

Among Bunān’s sayings is: “How can a man ever prosper when what pleases him is what harms him?!”

He also said: “Constantly focusing on secondary causes cuts one off from witnessing the Causer, yet turning away from causes altogether drives a person to embrace falsehood.”

It is related that one man owed another one hundred dinars, so the creditor sought the bond