Aslam

Generosity of the Imam was great and the root of asceticism is generosity. Whoever loves a thing keeps it with him and everything is insignificant to one to whom the world is insignificant. This is asceticism which leads to God-fear. Once Sufiyan-b-Aynabat fell in swoon before the Imam. He was told that he had expired. He said: If he has died, the best man of his time has died. Omar-b-Nabatah said: I have not found more God-fearing man than Imam Shafeyi. I, he and Hares-b-Labeed went one day to the valley of Safa. Hares had a student with him and he was a Qari or reader of the Quran. He had a sweet voice and began to read: This is a day on which they will not speak and they will not be given permission to rise excuse-77:35, 1 saw that the colour of the face of the Imam became changed and he was trembling vehemently and then fell in swoon. When he recovered he began to say: O God, I seek refuge to Thee from the place of the liars and the scoffing of the heedless. O God, the hearts of gnostics have submitted and the necks of those who yearn for Thee bowed. O worshipped, bestow Thy bounty upon me and cover me with Thy mercy. Forgive my faults through the grace of Thy countenance. Then he along with us left the place.
When I reached Baghdad, he was then in Iraq. I was making ablution in the bank of the river for prayer. A man then was passing by me and said: O young man, make ablution well, God will then treat good with you both in this world and in the next. I followed him. He looked at me and said: Have you got any necessity? I said: Teach me something of what God has taught you. He said: Know that he who knows God as true gets salvation and he who fears his religion, remains safe from destruction. He who remains indifferent from the world, will be cool at seeing the rewards which God will give him tomorrow. Shall I give you

Vol-I KNOWLEDGE 41

more advice? I said: Yes He said: The faith of one who has got three characteristics is perfect-(l) to enjoin good to act according to it, and (2) to prohibit evil and to desist from it, (3) and to guard the limits of God. Shall I give you more advice? I said: Yes. He said: Adopt asceticism in the world, entertain hopes for the next world and believe God in all your affairs, you will then be among those who will get salvation. Then he went away. I asked: Who is he? They said: Imam Shafeyi. Such fear and asceticism are the result of nothing but for his knowledge of God and not for his knowledge of legal questions like advance payment, loan, wages etc. as are embodied in Fiqh.

Imam Shafeyi said: The knowledge of one who does not make himself perfect will come of no use to him. He also said:
Whose confesses his obedience to God through the help of his knowledge, his heart becomes illumined. He also said: Every one has got some persons who love him and some who hate him. If it be so, be among those who obey God.