He also said: “We observed every rule of Arabic grammar when we spoke and made no verbal slips, yet in our deeds we lapsed into error and showed no correctness at all.”

He said: “Whenever we saw a young man take the floor and speak in a gathering, we despaired of any good in him.”

He said: “Keep your distance from people, but never abandon the Friday prayer or the congregational prayer.”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Khaṭīb reported: “Qāḍī Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥusayn ⦗1⦘ ibn Muḥammad ibn Rāmin ⦗2⦘ al-Istrābādhī informed us; he said: ‘ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Shīrāzī related to us; Qāḍī Aḥmad ibn Maḥmūd ibn Kharrzād al-Ahwāzī related to us; ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Qaṣrī told me; Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥalabī told me:

I heard Sarī al-Saqaṭī say: I heard Bishr ibn al-Ḥārith al-Ḥāfī say: Ibrāhīm ibn Adham said:

‘I once came upon a monk; when he looked down at me I said, “Admonish me.” So he recited:
Withdraw from people to one side, that they may deem you a monk;
An age has overhung me and shown me marvels.
Turn mankind over as you please—you will find them scorpions.’

Bishr continued: I said to Ibrāhīm, “That is the monk’s counsel to you; now counsel me yourself.” So he recited:
Shun companions; seek no one to keep you company,
Take no intimate friend, desire no comrade.
Be, in deed, like the Samaritan though you are of Adam’s line;
Be solitary, as far as you can, withdrawing.
For companions, love, and brotherhood are all corrupt—
You will see nothing but a venomous fellow⦗3⦘ and a liar.
I said, “Were it not that people would call me a madman⦗4⦘ and censure my state, I would surely have become a monk.”’

Sarī said: I then said to Bishr, “That is Ibrāhīm’s admonition to you; now admonish me yourself.” He replied, “Keep yourself obscure and remain in your house.” I said, “It has reached me that al-Ḥasan said, ‘Were it not for the night and for meeting the brethren, I would not care when I died.’”

Thereupon Bishr began to recite:—