for some of the frontier garrisons; when the audience hesitated to contribute he felt pained and wept openly. Ibn Nujayd thereupon brought him two thousand dirhams, so the shaykh prayed for him. He then commended him and said, “I have great hope for Abū ʿAmr because of what he has done; he has stood in for the whole group and hasborne such-and-such a burden.”

Ibn Nujayd rose and said, “But I gave this from my mother’s wealth, and she was unwilling; it should be returned so that she may be satisfied.”

Abū ʿUthmān ordered that the purse be given back to him. When night fell, Ibn Nujayd came again with the purse and asked the shaykh to keep the matter hidden, whereupon the shaykh wept. Afterwards he would often say, “I am afraid of Abū ʿAmr’s spiritual resolve.”

Al-Ḥākim said: Abū ʿAmr inherited large sums from his forefathers, yet he spent every penny on scholars and ascetics. He kept company with Abū ʿUthmān al-Ḥīrī and al-Junayd, and he heard hadith from al-Kajji and others.

Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī said (1): “My grandfather had a distinctive method of safeguarding and concealing his inner state. I heard him say, ‘Every spiritual state that is not the fruit of knowledge—even if it appears lofty—harms its possessor more than it benefits him.’

“I also heard him say, ‘No one attains a pure footing in servitude until all of his deeds appear to him as mere ostentation and all of his states as mere claims.’

“And my grandfather said, ‘Whoever is able to let his reputation collapse in the eyes of people will find it easy to turn away from the world and its inhabitants.’”

I heard Abū ʿAmr ibn Maṭar say: I heard Abū ʿUthmān al-Ḥīrī—just after Ibn Nujayd had left his presence—remark, “People reproach me about this young man, yet I know no one else who walks his path; indeed, he may well be my successor after me.”