339 – ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; my father narrated to us; ʿAwf ibn Jābir informed us, saying: I heard Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd, from his father, from Wahb, say:

“The disciples asked, ‘O Jesus, who are the friends of Allah, those upon whom there shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve?’

Jesus son of Mary answered, ‘They are the people who gazed upon the inner reality of the world while others looked only at its outward show; who considered the world’s ultimate end when others considered only its immediate gains. They put to death within themselves whatever of it they feared might slay them, and they abandoned what they knew would one day abandon them. Thus their amassing of it became, in their eyes, meagerness; their very mention of it signified its loss; and their rejoicing in what they gained from it was tinged with sorrow.

Whatever share of it presented itself to them, they cast aside; whatever honor it offered that was not rightful, they humbled. To them the world was worn out, so they would not refurbish it; it lay in ruins among them, so they would not rebuild it; it had died in their hearts, so they would not revive it. They demolish it and with its rubble build their Hereafter; they sell it and with its price purchase what will endure. They have renounced it, and in that renunciation they are the truly joyful.

They behold its people fallen, struck down, with warning lessons already apparent among them. They have revived the remembrance of death and laid to rest the remembrance of life. They love Allah and love to remember Him; they take light from His light and shine with it.

Theirs is a wondrous story, and with them is the wondrous story. Through them the Scripture stands, and by it they stand; through them the Scripture speaks, and by it they speak; through them the Scripture is taught, and by it they understand. They see no attainment beside what they have attained, no security short of what they hope for, and no fear short of what they dread.’”} ୟ