53 – ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; Muhammad ibn al-Husayn transmitted to us; Khalaf ibn Ismaʿil transmitted to us. He said: I heard Sufyan say, “There will come a time upon the people when none will be safe except whoever feigns stupidity.”

He added: Abu Jaʿfar al-Qurashi recited to me:

I see an age whose dullards make up most of its folk,
Yet every man of sense is the one who bears its yoke.
The feet stride on its surface while the head lies underneath;
The heights are overturned by the rising of the base and mean.