344 – Someone who had heard Aḥmad ibn Abī al-Ḥawārī related to me; he said, “I heard Abū Sulaymān al-Dārānī say, ‘Scrupulous piety is the first step toward asceticism, and self-sufficiency is the first step toward contentment.’”

Aḥmad added, “I asked Abū Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik al-Maghāzilī, ‘What, exactly, is asceticism?’ He replied, ‘Cutting off expectations, giving what is praiseworthy, and casting aside ease.’”

Abū Bakr said, “Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm claimed that Ayyūb ibn Shabīb told him: Muḥammad ibn Thawr narrated to me, from Abū Ḥanīfah— not the jurist known for legal opinion —from Abū Saḥmāʾ, who said:

‘While I was travelling between Alexandria and al-Fusṭāṭ, a man on horseback appeared and asked, “Abū Saḥmāʾ, what do you people consider asceticism to be?” I answered, “Abandoning this worldly debris.” He said, “No. Rather, it is for a man to withdraw to a place where he hopes Allah will see him and have mercy on him.”’