with chains of transmission—yet this treatise contains a substantial number of fabricated accounts whose falsity no one with even the slightest knowledge of the actual circumstances of those concerned would dispute.

As for the accounts he narrates with chains of transmission in the chapter on listening, most come from two books. One is al-Lumaʿ by Abū Nasr al-Sarrāj: he narrates from Abū Hātim al-Sijistānī, from Abū Nasr, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī al-Tūsī; he also narrates from Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tamīmī, from him. The other is the Book of Listening by Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān al-Sulamī, which he heard directly from its author.

If these words are authentically attributed to Dhū al-Nūn—may Allah have mercy on him—then they must be examined from two perspectives: whether the speaker may be cited as an authority, and how the reported words should be interpreted.

As for the first, they have related that Dhū al-Nūn attended this kind of listening gathering in Iraq.

Abū al-Qāsim subsequently mentioned an account without a chain of transmission, saying: “Ahmad ibn Muqātil al-ʿAkkī related: ‘When Dhū al-Nūn al-Misrī entered Baghdad, the Sufis gathered around him. With him was a singer who would sing something for them. They asked his permission for the singer to perform in his presence, and he granted it. The singer began:

Even a little love for you torments me;
What, then, when it takes hold