18 – ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; Muḥammad b. Ḥātim b. Bazīʿ related; Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Ḥanbal transmitted; Ghawth b. Jābir said: I heard Muḥammad b. Dāwūd, from his father, from Wahb b. Munabbih, who said:
The disciples asked Jesus, son of Mary, “Who are the friends of Allah, those on whom there shall be no fear and who shall not grieve?” Jesus answered:
“They are the people who looked into the inner reality of this world when others were occupied with its outward show; who considered its final outcome when others cared only for its immediate pleasures. They put to death within it whatever they feared might put them to death, and they abandoned whatever they knew would surely abandon them. Thus even what abundance they acquired of it seemed trivial; whenever they mentioned it, they spoke of its passing; and their delight in whatever they gained from it was tinged with sadness.
Whatever worldly gain confronted them, they rejected it; and any elevation it offered them without right they cast down. In their eyes the world has grown old, so they do not renew it; it lies in ruins among them, so they do not rebuild it; it has died in their hearts, so they do not revive it. They demolish it and with its rubble build their Hereafter; they sell it and with its price purchase what will endure. They have cast it aside, and in casting it aside they rejoice; they have sold it, and by selling it they have profited.
They behold its people struck down, visited by exemplary punishments; so they revive the remembrance of death and extinguish the lure of worldly life. They love Allah, they love to remember Him, and they seek illumination through His light. Their story is truly wondrous, and in their company is the wondrous tale: through them the Book stands firm; by them the Book speaks, and through it they speak; by them the Book is understood, and through it they come to understand.
They see no attainment comparable to what they have attained, no security short of what they hope for, and no fear short of what they dread.”