Keep To What You Are Upon

73 - ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us: Hārūn ibn ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Yazīd ibn Khunays narrated to me, saying: Shuraḥbīl said: There was a man who was called Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Madīnī. It was said to him: "Is he Ibn Maymūn?" He said: "Yes." It was said to al-Ḥasan: "Here is a man whom we have never seen sitting with anyone; he is always behind a pillar by himself." Al-Ḥasan said: "When you see him, inform me of him." He said: So they passed by him one day while al-Ḥasan was with them, and they pointed him out to him, saying: "That is the man we informed you about." He said: "Go on until I come to him." When he reached him, he said: "O servant of God! I see that seclusion has been made beloved to you; so what prevents you from mingling with people?" He said: "That which occupies me away from people." He said: "Then do you come to this man called al-Ḥasan and sit with him?" He said: "That which occupies me away from al-Ḥasan and away from people." Al-Ḥasan said to him: "What is it, may God have mercy on you, that occupies you away from people and away from al-Ḥasan?" He said: "I enter the evening and the morning between a Sin and a favor; so I deemed it best to occupy myself away from people by Seeking forgiveness (Istighfar) for the Sin, and by gratitude to God for the favor." Al-Ḥasan said to him: "You, O servant of God, are more knowledgeable in Fiqh to me than al-Ḥasan; keep to what you are upon." (1)