Iblīs: “I will never seek to mislead you again after today. Ask me whatever you wish, and I will tell you.” He said: “And you will be truthful?” Iblīs replied: “Ask me nothing except that I speak truthfully to you about it.” He said: “Tell me, which of the moral traits of the children of Adam do you most rely on to lead them astray?” He answered: “Three things: harshness (al-Ḥidda), miserliness (al-Shuḥ), and intoxication (al-Sukr).” (Abū Nu‘aym, Ḥilyat al-Awliyā’, vol. 4, pp. 44–45.) Wahb reported: Moses asked, “O Lord, which of Your servants is the most wretched?” God replied: “He whom admonition does not benefit, and who does not remember Me in private.” Moses asked, “My Lord, what reward awaits the one who remembers You with his tongue and his heart?” God said: “O Moses, I will shade him on the Day of Resurrection with the shade of My Throne and place him in My presence.” (Abū Nu‘aym, Ḥilyat al-Awliyā’, vol. 4, p. 45—here the second half of the report is presented before the first.) Wahb related that a scholar encountered another who was greater in knowledge. He said to him, “May God have mercy on you: what is that measure in which there is no excess?” He replied: “That which shields you from the sun and shelters you from rain.” The scholar asked: “And what food admits no excess?” He said: “That between hunger and satiety, without affectation.” He asked: “And what garment admits no excess?” He answered: “That which covers the ‘awrah (intimate parts) and protects against heat and cold, without variety or embellishment.” He asked: “And what laughter admits no excess?” He said: “That which lights up your face without raising your voice.” He asked: “And what weeping admits no excess?” He replied: “Never grow weary of weeping out of the fear of God, and do not weep for anything worldly.” He asked: “Which of my deeds should remain hidden?” He said: “I do not think you have ever failed to perform a good deed.” He asked: “Which of my deeds should I publicize?” He answered: “Enjoining good and forbidding evil, and whatever the conscientious adhere to—yet beware of looking at people.” (Abū Nu‘aym, Ḥilyat al-Awliyā’, vol. 4, p. 45, abridged.) He also said: “Everything has two extremes and a middle path. If you hold one extreme, the other deviates; if you hold the middle, they remain balanced. So adhere to the middle in all matters.” (Ibid.) He said there are four admonitions in the Torah: “He who does not consult will regret; he who is self-sufficient will conceal; poverty is the red death; as you judge you will be judged; and he who trades commits immorality.” (Abū Nu‘aym, Ḥilyat al-Awliyā’, vol. 4, p. 48. The final phrase is not found in the earlier version.) ‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak wrote in al-Zuhd (p. 514; also in Abū Nu‘aym, Ḥilyat al-Awliyā’, vol. 4, p. 48): “Bukkar ibn ‘Abd Allāh reported that he heard Wahb ibn Munabbih say: There was a man among the best of his time whom people visited for admonition. One day they gathered around him and said: ‘We have renounced the world, forsook family and wealth for fear of tyranny, yet we fear that in our present state a greater tyranny may befall us than that afflicting the wealthy in their riches or kings in their kingdoms. We find that we love for our needs to be granted, for whatever we purchase to be favored because of our piety, and for us to be honored when meeting people because of our faith.’ He then recounted the afflictions of scholars and worshippers who let pride and reverence enter their religion. Word of this spread until it reached the king of that land. The king was intrigued and told his courtiers, ‘This man must be visited.’ They prepared to visit him, and one day the king rode out to greet him. The ascetic—an accomplished scholar aware of the pitfalls of knowledge, practice, and the soul—saw the ground before him packed with horses and riders. He asked, ‘What is this?’ He was told, ‘The king is coming to greet you because of the reputation of your eloquence.’ He exclaimed, ‘Truly we belong to God! What shall I do with him? Woe to us if we fail to be armed with God’s proof against this man, and he departs hating us!’ He then asked his servant, ‘Do you have food?’ The servant said, ‘Yes.’ The ascetic said, ‘Bring it and place it before us.’ The servant brought fruits, vegetables, and olives. The ascetic ordered his companions to gather around the food and said: ‘When this man enters, let none of you turn toward him or stand in his honor. Face the food voraciously, and let no one raise his head, so that perhaps God may turn him away from us in his dislike. For I fear the trial of fame and its filling our hearts—then we shall not escape except by the fire of Hell.’ They wept, and so did he...