502 – ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; my father narrated to me; Miskīn ibn Bukayr narrated to us; Sufyān informed us, from a man of Sanʿāʾ, from Wahb ibn Munabbih:

A man once visited a monk and said, “O monk, how often do you remember death?”

He replied, “I do not lift a foot nor set it down without imagining that I have already died.”

The visitor asked, “And how energetic are you in striving for the sake of Allah?”

He answered, “I cannot conceive that anyone who has heard of Paradise and Hell would allow an hour to pass without performing a prayer.”

The man said, “When I stand in prayer, I weep until the grass sprouts—or very nearly sprouts—from the tears that flow from my eyes.”

The monk responded, “If you were to laugh while acknowledging your sin before Allah, that would be better for you than to weep while feeling proud of your deeds; for the prayer of the conceited does not rise above his head.

“Let me advise you: practice zuhd (detachment) regarding this world and do not contend with its people over it. Be like the bee—when it eats, it eats what is pure; when it produces, it produces what is pure; and when it alights on a twig, it neither harms nor breaks it. I also counsel you to be sincerely devoted to Allah with the devotion a dog shows its master: they may starve it and drive it away, yet it refuses to do anything but guard them and remain loyal to them.”