then bring it here.’
He replied, ‘I do not know where it is.’
‘Oh, but I do,’ he retorted. ‘It is in your stomach—may Allah destroy you! (1)’

Ahmad ibn Abi al-Hawari (2)—whose given name (3) was ʿAbd Allah ibn Maymun ibn ʿAyyash ibn al-Harith, Abu al-Hasan al-Taghlibi al-Ghatafani—was one of the famed ascetics, celebrated devotees, and commendable righteous men (4), people of sound spiritual states and genuine miracles. He hailed from Kufah but took up residence in Damascus, and he was a pupil of Shaykh Abu Sulayman al-Darani, may Allah have mercy upon them both.

He related hadith from Sufyan ibn ʿUyaynah, Wakiʿ, Abu Usamah, and many others. Narrators from him included Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, Abu Hatim, Abu Zurʿah of Damascus, Abu Zurʿah al-Razi (5), and a great many more. Abu Hatim mentioned him and praised him. Yahya ibn Maʿin said, ‘I think that Allah waters the people of Syria because of him.’ Junayd ibn Muhammad used to say, ‘He is the fragrant blossom of Syria.’

The hadith master Ibn ʿAsakir (6) relates that he had pledged to Abu Sulayman al-Darani never to offend him [nor contradict him] (7). One day he came while the shaykh was addressing the people and said, ‘My master, the oven has been stoked—what do you command?’ Abu Sulayman, absorbed in teaching, did not answer. Ahmad repeated the question a second and a third time; on the third occasion the shaykh said, ‘Go and sit inside it.’ Abu Sulayman then resumed speaking. After a while he grew uneasy and said to those present, ‘I told Ahmad to sit in the oven, and I fear he has actually done so. Come with me to him.’ They went and found him sitting inside the oven, not a single hair on his body singed.

It is also reported (8) that one morning Ahmad ibn Abi al-Hawari had a newborn child but possessed nothing with which to provide for him. He said to his servant, ‘Go and borrow for us a measure of flour.’ While the servant was away, a man came to him with two hundred dirhams and set them down