39. `Amr b. `Uthmán al-Makkí.
He was one of the principal Ṣúfís, and is the author of celebrated works on the mystical sciences. He became a disciple of Junayd after he had seen Abú Sa`íd Kharráz and had associated with Nibájí.[[86]] He was the Imám of his age in theology. It is related that he said: “Ecstasy does not admit of explanation, because it is a secret between God and the true believers.” Let men seek to explain it as they will, their explanation is not that secret, inasmuch as all human power and effort is divorced from the Divine mysteries. It is said that when `Amr came to Iṣfahán a young man associated with him against the wish of his father. The young man fell into a sickness. One day the Shaykh with a number of friends came to visit him. He begged the Shaykh to bid the singer (qawwál) chant a few verses, whereupon `Amr desired the singer to chant—
Má lí mariḍtu wa-lam ya`udní `á´id
Minkum wa-yamraḍu `abdukum fa-a`údu.
“How is it that when I fell ill none of you visited me,
Though I visit your slave when he falls ill?”
On hearing this the invalid left his bed and sat down, and the violence of his malady was diminished. He said: “Give me some more.” So the singer chanted—
Wa-ashaddu min maraḍí `alayya ṣudúdukum
Wa-ṣudúdu `abdikumú `alayya shadídu.
“Your neglect is more grievous to me than my sickness;
It would grieve me to neglect your slave.”
The young man’s sickness departed from him. His father permitted him to associate with `Amr and repented of the suspicion which he had harboured in his heart, and the youth became an eminent Ṣúfí.