124
“whose lusts master his manhood and whose mind exceeds in the pursuit of objects of high emprise, so that his knowledge increases and his excuse diminishes; and how excellent is what the poet says:
The freest of all men from need of the arrogant meddler am I, The fool who’s unguided of God and judges the folk all awry;
For wealth and good gifts are a loan and each man at last shall be clad As it were in a mantle, with that which hid in his bosom doth lie.
If thou enter on aught by a door that is other than right, thou wilt err; But the right door will dead thee aright, for sure, if thou enter there by.”
As for anecdotes of devotees (continued the maiden), quoth Hisham ben Besher, “I said to Omar ben Ubeid, ‘What is true devoutness?’ and he answered, ‘The Prophet (whom God bless and preserve) hath expounded it, when he says, “The devout is he who takes thought to death and calamity and prefers that which is eternal to that which passes away, who counts not the morrow as of his days, but reckons himself among the dead.”’” And it is related that Abou Dherr[1] used to say, “Poverty is dearer to me than riches and sickness than health.” Quoth one of the listeners, “May God have mercy on Abou Dherr! For my part, I say, ‘He who puts his trust in the goodness of the election of God the Most High should be content with that condition of which the Almighty hath made choice for him.’” Quoth one of the Companions (of the Prophet), “Ibn Ali Aqfa[2] prayed with us the morning-prayer one day. When he had done, he read the seventy-fourth chapter (of the Koran), beginning, ‘O thou that coverest thyself!’ till he came to where God says, ‘When the trumpet is blown,’ and fell down dead.” It is said that Thabit el Benani wept till he well-
