24. Abú Turáb `Askar b. al-Ḥusayn al-Nakhshabí al-Nasafí.
He was one of the chief Shaykhs of Khurásán, and was celebrated for his generosity, asceticism, and devoutness. He performed many miracles, and experienced marvellous adventures without number in the desert and elsewhere. He was one of the most noted travellers among the Ṣúfís, and used to cross the deserts in complete disengagement from worldly things (ba-tajríd). His death took place in the desert of Baṣra. After many years had elapsed he was found standing erect with his face towards the Ka`ba, shrivelled up, with a bucket in front of him and a staff in his hand; and the wild beasts had not touched him or come near him. It is related that he said: “The food of the dervish is what he finds, and his clothing is what covers him, and his dwelling-place is wherever he alights,” i.e. he does not choose his own food or his own dress, or make a home for himself. The whole world is afflicted by these three items, and personal initiative therein keeps us in a state of distraction (mashghúlí) while we make efforts to procure them. This is the practical aspect of the matter, but in a mystical sense the food of the dervish is ecstasy, and his clothing is piety, and his dwelling-place is the Unseen, for God hath said, “If they stood firm in the right path, We should water them with abundant rain” (Kor. lxxii, 16); and again, “and fair apparel; but the garment of piety, that is better” (Kor. vii, 25); and the Apostle said, “Poverty is to dwell in the Unseen.”