Abū al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzī mentions similar reports in his work on the merits of the months, yet states in al-Mawdūʿāt (Fabricated Hadiths) that they are lies and fabrications. Those who compile hadiths on asceticism and heart-softening exhortations include whatever has been narrated on these subjects. Among the most distinguished and exceptional works in this field is Kitāb al-Zuhd (The Book of Asceticism) by ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak, though it contains very weak hadiths. The same applies to the books on asceticism by Hannād ibn al-Sarī, Asad ibn Mūsā, and others.

The finest work in this field is al-Zuhd by Imam Ahmad. However, it is arranged by individuals’ names, whereas Ibn al-Mubārak’s al-Zuhd is arranged by subject. These books describe the asceticism of the prophets, the Companions, and the Successors.

Later authors fall into two groups. Some describe the asceticism of both earlier and later generations, such as Abū Nuʿaym in al-Hilya and Abū al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzī in Sifat al-Safwa. Others confine themselves to later figures, beginning with the emergence of the designation “Sufis,” as Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān al-Sulamī does in Tabaqāt al-Sūfiyya (The Generations of the Sufis), and his associate Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī in al-Risāla (The Epistle). As for those who relate these stories on their own, such as Ibn Khamīs and others like him, they recount accounts without chains of transmission: some are authentic and others false.