and he who claims to possess the former without the latter makes an absurd assertion. Knowledge of the nature of lordship depends on having right principles of servantship, and is not perfect without them. This is a very profound and instructive saying. It will be fully explained in the proper place. Footnote 88: “The Seal of Saintship.” Footnote 89: “The Book of the Highway.” Footnote 90: “Choice Principles.” Footnote 91: “The Book of Unification.” Footnote 92: “The Book of the Torment of the Tomb.” 43. ABÚ BAKR MUḤAMMAD B. `UMAR AL-WARRÁQ. He was a great Shaykh and ascetic. He had seen Aḥmad b. Khaḍrúya and associated with Muḥammad b. `Alí. He is the author of books on rules of discipline and ethics. The Ṣúfí Shaykhs have called him “The Instructor of the Saints” (_mu´addib al-awliyá_). He relates the following story: “Muḥammad b. `Alí handed to me some of his writings with the request that I should throw them into the Oxus. I had not the heart to do so, but placed them in my house and came to him and told him that I had carried out his order. He asked me what I had seen. I replied, ‘Nothing.‘ He said, ‘You have not obeyed me; return and throw them into the river.’ I returned, doubting the promised sign, and cast them into the river. The waters parted and a chest appeared, with its lid open. As soon as the papers fell into it, the lid closed and the waters joined again and the chest vanished. I went back to him and told him what had occurred. He answered, ‘Now you have thrown them in.’ I begged him to explain the mystery. He said: ‘I composed a work on theology and mysticism which could hardly be comprehended by the intellect. My brother Khiḍr desired it of me, and God bade the waters bring it to him.’” It is related that Abú Bakr Warráq said: “There are three classes of men—divines (_`ulamá_) and princes (_umará_) and dervishes (_fuqará_). When the divines are corrupt, piety and religion are vitiated; when the princes are corrupt, men’s livelihood is spoiled; and when the dervishes are corrupt, men’s morals are depraved.” Accordingly, the corruption of the divines consists in covetousness, that of the princes in injustice, and that of the dervishes in hypocrisy. Princes do not become corrupt until they turn their backs on divines, and divines do not become corrupt until they associate with princes, and dervishes do not become corrupt until they seek ostentation, because the injustice of princes is due to want of knowledge, and the covetousness of divines is due to want of piety, and the hypocrisy of dervishes is due to want of trust in God. 44. ABÚ SA`ID AḤMAD B. `ÍSÁ AL-KHARRÁZ.