He said (narrated by Ibn Abī al-Dunyā in al-Samt, p. 144, no. 231; also mentioned by al-Ghazālī in Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn 3:153): “There are three whose backbiting is not forbidden for you: the open sinner, the unjust imam, and the innovator.” (Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn 3:153.) He was told by a man: “People sit with you to find a means of slandering you.” He replied: “Take it lightly, my friend, for I have hoped for Paradise, and it has hoped for me; I have hoped to be saved from the Fire, and it has hoped for me. But I sought safety from people and found no way—people are never pleased with their Creator and Sustainer, so how could they be pleased with a creature like themselves?” (Abū Nuʿaym, Ḥilyat al-Awliyāʾ 6:305.) They used to say: “Whoever throws his brother’s sin in his face after that brother has repented will not die until he himself incurs that sin.” (Ibn Abī al-Dunyā, al-Samt, p. 170, no. 289.) Al-Ḥasan reported that Luqmān said to his son: “My son, beware of lying; it is as tempting as a sparrow’s flesh, but before long its owner will regret it.” (Ibn Abī al-Dunyā, al-Samt, p. 257, no. 538; also in al-Bayhaqī, Shuʿab al-Īmān 4:231, no. 4891.) Al-Ḥasan also said: “Judge people by their deeds and disregard their words, for Allāh does not leave a statement without placing evidence of an act that confirms or refutes it. If you hear a good word, hope in its speaker; if the word is matched by action, what a blessing—and what genuine felicity!—is his. Love him. But if words contradict deeds, what use are they? Beware of such, lest they deceive you as they have deceived the children of Adam. You have speech and action—action is more truly yours than speech. You have a hidden self and a public self—your hidden self is more truly yours. You have an immediate state and an ultimate state—your ultimate state is more truly yours.” (Ibn al-Mubārak, al-Zuhd, p. 26, no. 77; Ibn Abī al-Dunyā, al-Samt, p. 280, no. 626.) Ibn Abī al-Dunyā narrates (al-Samt, p. 281, no. 628; text in brackets supplied): Hamza ibn al-ʿAbbās told us, ‘Abdān ibn ʿUthmān informed us, [ʿAbdallāh informed us], Muʿammar, from Yaḥyā ibn al-Mukhtār, from al-Ḥasan, who said: “Whenever you will, you meet a man pale of complexion, iron of tongue and gaze, dead in heart and deed. You see bodies and no hearts, hear voices and no companionship—abundantly talkative, but barren of heart. He eats of what is not his and weeps over his dependents; when his belly aches, he says, ‘O maidservant—or O boy—bring me a laxative.’ And he says to the poor, ‘Have you purged anything but your religion?’” He also said: “Whoever’s garment is fine, his religion is fine; whoever’s body is well-fed, his religion is emaciated; whoever’s food is pleasant, his livelihood is foul.” He reported from al-Ājurrī: “The believer’s capital is his religion: wherever he stays, it protects him, does not leave him behind in his journeys, and men do not entrust it to another.” Commenting on the verse “By the self–reproaching soul” (Quran 75:2), he said: “You do not meet a believer who does not reproach his own soul—‘Why utter that word? Why eat that morsel? Why attend that gathering?’ But the wicked march on step by step without self-reproach.” (Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij al-Sālikīn 2:7.) He said: “Be patient and stand firm; these are but numbered nights, and you are a stationary caravan soon to be summoned—responding without turning back. So return with whatever good deeds you have. This truth has wearied people and stood between them and their desires; only the patient endure …” [text cuts off].