99 – ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; Muhammad ibn al-Husayn transmitted it; ʿAmmar ibn ʿUthman al-Halabi passed it on; and Husayn ibn al-Qasim al-Wazzan said: I heard ʿAbd al-Wahid ibn Zayd say:

“I travelled to Syria in search of the devoted worshippers. I kept meeting one man after another whose striving in worship was intense, until a certain man said to me, ‘There was here someone of the sort you are looking for, but we think he has lost his mind. We do not know whether he only wishes to hide himself from people in that way, or whether something has truly afflicted him.’

“I asked, ‘What have you found strange about him?’ He answered, ‘Whenever anyone speaks to him he simply says, “al-Walid and ʿAtikah,” and nothing more.’

“I said, ‘How may I meet him?’ He replied, ‘This is the path he uses.’ So I waited until a man appeared—bewildered, unpleasant to behold, with a repellent face, long dishevelled hair and a sallow complexion. Children clustered around and behind him; he walked on in silence and they followed silently. He wore filthy, tattered rags.

“I stepped forward and greeted him. He turned toward me and returned the greeting. I said, ‘May Allah have mercy on you; I wish to speak with you.’ He replied, ‘al-Walid and ʿAtikah.’ I said, ‘I have already been told your story.’ Again he said, ‘al-Walid and ʿAtikah,’ and then proceeded to the mosque, the children who had followed him turning back.

“He withdrew beside a pillar, prayed, prolonging his bowing, then prostrated and remained in prostration for a long time. I drew near and said, ‘A stranger wishes to speak with you and ask you something. If you wish, prolong your worship; if you wish, shorten it, but I shall not leave until you talk to me.’ All the while, in prostration, he was pleading and imploring. I could make out that he was saying, ‘Your veil, Your veil.’

“He stayed in prostration so long that I became weary. I came closer but heard neither breath nor movement. I touched him, and he was dead—as though he had died long before.

“I went out to the man who had directed me to him and said, ‘Come and look at the one whose mind you thought was deranged.’ I told him what had happened, and together we prepared the body and buried him.”