120 – ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us. He said: Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn informed me; Ismāʿīl ibn Ziyād related to me:

“A monk from Syria came to us in Abadan and lodged in the monastery of Abū Kabsha. People spoke to me of the wisdom of his words, which moved me to meet him. I went to him while he was inside the monastery, surrounded by a gathering of people, and he was saying:

‘Allah has servants whose aspirations have risen toward tremendous treasures, so they belittle everything short of that. They seek, by the grace of their Master, enabling success that will carry them to the loftiest heights of resolve. If you are able, O you who will soon depart, then take hold of at least part of their way.

They are a people whose hearts the Hereafter has filled; they regard their stay in this world as a long confinement. Sorrow is their constant discourse; tears and unremitting striving are their means; wary concern is their occupation; and a good opinion of Allah is their offering. They grieve over the length of their sojourn in the world when its people rejoice, for here they are imprisoned while ever looking toward the Hereafter. Never has an admonition been heard that gripped a heart more forcefully than this.’”