129 – ‘Abd Allah narrated to us; he said: Abu Muhammad ‘Ali ibn al-Hasan related to me, from ‘Abd al-Quddus ibn Bakr ibn Khunays, from Mis‘ar, who said:

A man who was sitting with ‘Awn ibn ‘Abd Allah said to him, “Abu ‘Abd Allah, I am amazed by two kinds of people, and my astonishment at them has only grown.

One man spends his nights standing in prayer and his days fasting, scrupulously avoiding all that is forbidden; yet whenever you meet him he is forever weeping, anxious and sorrow-stricken.

Another man spends his nights asleep and his days in play, openly committing the forbidden; yet whenever you meet him he is forever swaggering, self-satisfied and laughing.”

‘Awn replied, “Indeed, it is something astonishing: this first man weeps and grieves because of the keenness of his intellect and the soundness of his knowledge, whereas that other struts, exults and laughs because of the shallowness of his mind and the weakness of his understanding.”