He was the mentor of Abū Bakr al-Duqqī (1) and ranked among those who strove tirelessly in worship.

Al-Duqqī said, “I never saw anyone who could project affluence the way he did. He would wear two white shirts, a cloak, trousers, clean sandals, and a turban, and he carried a key in his hand; yet he owned no house at all—he would simply lie in the mosques—and he could go five, even six nights (2) without eating.”

Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Rustumī said, “Al-Farghānī was one of a kind. He travelled with a small jug in which he kept a thin shirt; whenever he entered a town he would put it on. He also carried an engraved key that he would place in front of him when he prayed, giving people the impression that he was a merchant.”

ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Bakr relates: “Al-Duqqī told us, ‘I heard al-Farghānī say: I entered the monastery on Mount Sinai, and their metropolitan came to me accompanied by men who looked as though they had been raised from the graves.

He said, ‘Each of these men eats only one meal a week, and they take pride in that.’

I asked, ‘How long can your senior member endure?’

They replied, ‘Thirty days.’

So I sat in the middle of the monastery for forty days without eating or drinking (3).

Their metropolitan then came out to me and said, ‘Man, get up—you have corrupted the hearts of these people.’

I said, ‘Not until I have completed sixty days,’ but they insisted, so I left (4).’ ”

Al-Farghānī passed away in 331 AH.