He answered, “The pleasures are wealth, children, spouses, and power. I severed them with worries, sorrows, fear, and the remembrance of death—the spoil-sport of every delight. I cut them off completely by retreating into seclusion and by abandoning concern for worldly affairs; I neither grieve over anyone who perishes in this world, nor do I fear anyone but Allah alone. What good is a pleasure when death is hot on its heels? And what dwelling is worse to live beside than a house of calamities?

Be like a man who sets out on a journey in search of bounty. While he is away, the enemy overruns the city he had left, afflicting its inhabitants in their wealth and their very lives. The traveller himself, however, is spared by being absent, and he praises Allah for the calamity averted.

Likewise, I have withdrawn to this house of mine, away from the people of sin. I keep death—so detested by others—constantly in mind, and in that remembrance I taste a sweetness in anticipation of meeting my Lord. I am truly astonished at the people of this world: how can they enjoy its pleasures when they are mixed with worries and sorrows, and when every sweetness is followed by a draught of bitterness?”