With the Master of the Successors

114 - ʿAbdullāh narrated to us, saying: ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿĪsā al-Ṭufāwī narrated to us in the year two hundred and twenty-four, saying: ʿUbaydullāh ibn Shumayṭ narrated to us, from his father Shumayṭ, that he heard Aslam al-ʿIjlī say: Abū al-Ḍaḥḥāk al-Jarmī narrated to me, from Haram ibn Ḥayyān al-ʿAbdī, who said: I arrived in al-Kūfa, and I had no concern except for Uways al-Qaranī, seeking him out and asking about him, until I came upon him sitting alone on the bank of the Euphrates at midday, performing ablution and washing his garment. So I recognized him by the description that had been given to me: he was a fleshy man, brown-skinned, deeply dark, hairy, with a shaved head, a thick beard, wearing a woolen waist-wrapper, barefoot, with a noble face and a very awe-inspiring appearance. I greeted him with peace, and he returned the greeting to me and looked at me, saying: "May God grant you life as a man!" I stretched out my hand to shake hands with him, but he refused to shake my hand, and said: "And to you, may God grant you life!" I said: "May God have mercy on you, O Uways, and forgive you. How are you, may God have mercy on you?" Then tears choked me out of compassion for him and tenderness toward him when I saw of his condition what I saw, until I wept and he wept. Then he said: "And you, may God have mercy on you, O Haram ibn Ḥayyān! How are you, my brother? Who directed you to me?" He said: I said: "God." He said: "There is no god but God: {Glory be to our Lord! Truly the promise of our Lord is fulfilled} (108)." I was amazed at him when he recognized me and named me, though by God I had never seen him before, nor had he seen me! I said: "From where did you know my name and my father's name? By God, I have never seen you before today!" He said: "{The All-Knowing, All-Aware informed me} (3). My soul recognized your soul when my self spoke to your self. Indeed, souls have selves like the selves of bodies. Verily, believers recognize one another and love one another through the spirit of God—Almighty and Glorious—even if they have not met, recognized each other, or spoken, and even if their homes are far apart and their dwellings separated."

I said: "Narrate to me a hadith from the Messenger of God, Peace and blessings of God be upon him, directly from him to you." He said: "I did not meet the Messenger of God, Peace and blessings of God be upon him, nor did I have companionship with him, but I have seen men who saw him, and some of his narrations have reached me as they have reached you. And I do not like to open this door upon myself; I do not like to be a narrator of hadith, nor a storyteller, nor a mufti. I am preoccupied with my own soul away from the people, O Haram ibn Ḥayyān." He said: I said: "O my brother! Recite to me verses from the Book of God—Almighty and Glorious—that I may hear them from you, for I love you in God with a strong love. Or make supplications for me, or leave me a bequest that I may keep from you." So he took my hand on the bank of the Euphrates, then said: "I seek refuge in God, the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing, from Satan the outcast. In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful." He said: Then he uttered a deep sob, then wept on the spot, then said: "My Lord has said—and the most truthful speech is the speech of my Lord, the most authentic narration is His narration, and the finest discourse is His discourse—: {We did not create the heavens and the earth and everything between them in play} (38) until he reached {Indeed, He is the Almighty, the Most Merciful} (42). He said: Then he uttered a deep sob, then became still, and I looked at him thinking he had fainted. Then he said: "O Haram ibn Ḥayyān! Your father has died, and you are about to die; Abū Ḥayyān has died—either to Paradise or to Hellfire. Adam has died, and Eve has died, O son of Ḥayyān! Noah has died, and Abraham, the intimate friend of the Most Merciful, has died, O son of Ḥayyān! Moses, the one who spoke intimately with the Most Merciful, has died, O son of Ḥayyān! David, the vicegerent of the Most Merciful, has died! Muhammad, the Messenger of God, Peace and blessings of God be upon him, has died! Abū Bakr, the caliph of the Muslims, has died, O son of Ḥayyān! And my brother, my friend, and my close companion ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb has died!" Then he said: "O ʿUmar!" May God have mercy on ʿUmar! And ʿUmar was alive on that day, near the end of his Caliphate. So I said: "May God have mercy on you! ʿUmar is alive and has not died!" He said: "Nay, my Lord has announced his death to me. If you understand, then you know what I said. You and I shall be among the dead tomorrow." Then he invoked blessings upon the Prophet, Peace and blessings of God be upon him, and offered light supplications. Then he said: "This is my bequest to you, O Haram ibn Ḥayyān: the Book of God—Almighty and Glorious—and the remnant of the righteous among the believers. I announce to you my death and your death, so adhere to the remembrance of death, and let it not depart from your heart for the blink of an eye as long as you remain. Warn your people when you return to them, advise all the followers of your religion, strive for your soul, and beware, beware of departing from the main body, lest you depart from your religion while you do not know, and enter the Hellfire on the Day of Resurrection, O Haram ibn Ḥayyān!" Then he said: "O God, this man claims that he loves me for Your sake and visited me for Your sake; for Your sake, let me recognize his face in Paradise, and admit him to me as a visitor in Your Abode, the Abode of Peace. Preserve him as long as he remains in this world wherever he may be, unite his affairs, make him content with the little of this world, and whatever You grant him of this world, make it easy for him, and make him among the thankful for the blessings You bestow upon him. Reward him on my behalf with the best reward. I entrust you to God, O Haram ibn Ḥayyān, and peace be upon you, and the mercy of God."

Then he said: "I shall not see you after today, may God have mercy on you, for I dislike fame, and solitude is more beloved to me, because I have much grief and severe anxiety as long as I am alive with these people in this world. Do not ask about me nor search for me, and know that you are on my mind even if I do not see you and you do not see me. So remember me and pray for me, for I shall remember you and pray for you, if God wills. Go that way so that I may go this way." So I was eager to walk with him for an hour, but he refused me. I parted from him while he was weeping and I was weeping, and I kept looking at his back until he entered one of the alleys. How often I searched for him after that and asked about him, but I found no one who could inform me of anything about him. May God have mercy on him and forgive him! Not a Friday passed by me except that I saw him in my sleep once or twice, or as he said.

End of Part One from the original text, and following it, if God wills, in Part Two:

ʿAbdullāh narrated to us, saying: Isḥāq ibn Ismāʿīl narrated to us, saying: Wakīʿ narrated to us.

Praise be to God, and may God bless Muhammad and his family and grant them peace. Written for himself after an hour by the weak servant, Aḥmad ibn ʿAbdillāh ibn Abī al-Ghanāʾim al-Muslim ibn Ḥammād ibn Maysara al-Azdī—may God forgive him, his parents, and all who seek forgiveness for them.