18. Abú Maḥfúẕ Ma`rúf b. Fírúz al-Karkhí.
He is one of the ancient and principal Shaykhs, and was famed for his generosity and devoutness. This notice of him should have come earlier in the book, but I have placed it here in accordance with two venerable persons who wrote before me, one of them a relater of traditions and the other an independent authority (ṣáḥib taṣarruf)—I mean Shaykh Abú `Abd al-Raḥmán al-Sulamí, who in his work adopts the arrangement which I have followed, and the Master and Imám Abu ´l-Qásimal-Qushayrí, who has put the notice of Ma`rúf in the same order in the introductory portion of his book.[[72]] I have chosen this arrangement because Ma`rúf was the master of Sarí Saqaṭí and the disciple of Dáwud Ṭá´í. At first Ma`rúf was a non-Moslem (bégána), but he made profession of Islam to `Alí b. Músá al-Riḍá, who held him in the highest esteem. It is related that he said: “There are three signs of generosity—to keep faith without resistance, to praise without being incited thereto by liberality, and to give without being asked.” In men all these qualities are merely borrowed, and in reality they belong to God, who acts thus towards His servants. God keeps unresisting faith with those who love Him, and although they show resistance in keeping faith with Him, He only increases His kindness towards them. The sign of God’s keeping faith is this, that in eternity past He called His servant to His presence without any good action on the part of His servant, and that to-day He does not banish His servant on account of an evil action. He alone praises without the incitement of liberality, for He has no need of His servant’s actions, and nevertheless extols him for a little thing that he has done. He alone gives without being asked, for He is generous and knows the state of everyone and fulfils his desire unasked. Accordingly, when God gives a man grace and makes him noble, and distinguishes him by His favour, and acts towards him in the three ways mentioned above, and when that man, as far as lies in his power, acts in the same way towards his fellow-creatures, then he is called generous and gets a reputation for generosity. Abraham the Apostle possessed these three qualities in very truth, as I shall explain in the proper place.
19. Abú `Abd al-Raḥmán Ḥátim b. `Ulwán[[73]] al-Aṣamm.
He was one of the great men of Balkh and one of the ancient Shaykhs of Khurásán, a disciple of Shaqíq and the teacher of Aḥmad Khaḍrúya. In all his circumstances, from beginning to end, he never once acted untruthfully, so that Junayd said: “Ḥátim al-Aṣamm is the veracious one (ṣiddíq) of our time.” He has lofty sayings on the subtleties of discerning the cankers of the soul and the weaknesses of human nature, and is the author of famous works on ethics (`ilm-i mu`ámalát). It is related that he said: “Lust is of three kinds—lust in eating, lust in speaking, and lust in looking. Guard thy food by trust in God, thy tongue by telling the truth, and thine eye by taking example (`ibrat).” Real trust in God proceeds from right knowledge, for those who know Him aright have confidence that He will give them their daily bread, and they speak and look with right knowledge, so that their food and drink is only love, and their speech is only ecstasy, and their looking is only contemplation. Accordingly, when they know aright they eat what is lawful, and when they speak aright they utter praise (of God), and when they look aright they behold Him, because no food is lawful except what He has given and permits to be eaten, and no praise is rightly offered to anyone in the eighteen thousand worlds except to Him, and it is not allowable to look on anything in the universe except His beauty and majesty. It is not lust when thou receivest food from Him and eatest by His leave, or when thou speakest of Him by His leave, or when thou seest His actions by His leave. On the other hand, it is lust when of thy own will thou eatest even lawful food, or of thy own will thou speakest even praise of Him, or of thy own will thou lookest even for the purpose of seeking guidance.