He also said: “Everything that distracts you from Allah—whether family, wealth, or children—is a curse upon you.” (1)

He said: “One night I was in the mihrab, supplicating with both hands outstretched. The cold overcame me, so I drew one hand in and kept the other extended while I continued to pray. Sleep then overtook me, and I dozed off. A caller addressed me: ‘O Abu Sulayman, We have placed in this hand what it has received; had the other remained outstretched, We would have placed in it as well.’ I therefore swore never to supplicate except with both hands extended, whether in heat or in cold.” (2)

Abu Sulayman said: “One night I overslept and missed my daily portion of worship. I then saw a ḥūrāʾ who said to me, ‘You sleep while I have been nurtured for you in the private chambers for five hundred years?’” (3)

Ahmad ibn Abi al-Hawari related: I heard Abu Sulayman say, “In Paradise there are rivers whose banks are lined with tents containing the ḥūrīs. Allah fashions one of them anew (4); when her creation is complete, the angels pitch the tents around her. She sits (5) upon a throne a mile by a mile, her backside protruding (6) from the sides of the throne. The people of Paradise come forth from their palaces to stroll about as they wish, after which each man retires with one of them.” Abu Sulayman added, “What then should be the state in this world of someone who longs to deflower (7) virgins on the riverbanks of Paradise (8)?”

Ahmad ibn Abi al-Hawari also said: I heard Abu Sulayman al-Darani say, “At times I may spend five nights reciting nothing after al-Fātiḥah except a single verse, contemplating its meanings. Occasionally a verse of the Quran strikes me so powerfully that the mind almost takes flight—glory be to Him who brings it back.” (9)

I also heard him say: “The root of every good in this world and the Hereafter is fear of Allah—exalted is He—while the key to worldly life is satiety, and the key to the Hereafter is hunger.” (10)