He is one of the great Imáms of the Ṣúfís and was unrivalled in his time. He has lofty sayings and admirable explanations in all spiritual matters. It is related that he said: “Leave me alone in my affliction! Are not ye children of Adam, whom God formed with His own hand and breathed a spirit into him and caused the angels to bow down to him? Then He commanded him to do something, and he disobeyed. If the first of the wine-jar is dregs, what will its last be?” That is to say: “When a man is left to himself he is all disobedience, but when Divine favour comes to his help he is all love. Now regard the beauty of Divine favour and compare with it the ugliness of thy behaviour, and pass thy whole life in this.” I have mentioned some of the ancient Ṣúfís whose example is authoritative. If I had noticed them all and had set forth their lives in detail and had included the anecdotes respecting them, my purpose would not have been accomplished, and this book would have run to great length. Now I will add some account of the modern Ṣúfís. CHAPTER XII. CONCERNING THE PRINCIPAL ṢÚFÍS OF RECENT TIMES. You must know that in our days there are some persons who cannot endure the burden of discipline (_riyáḍat_) and seek authority (_riyásat_) without discipline, and think that all Ṣúfís are like themselves; and when they hear the sayings of those who have passed away and see their eminence and read of their devotional practices they examine themselves, and finding that they are far inferior to the Shaykhs of old they no longer attempt to emulate them, but say: “We are not as they, and there is none like them in our time.” Their assertion is absurd, for God never leaves the earth without a proof (_ḥujjat_) or the Moslem community without a saint, as the Apostle said: “One sect of my people shall continue in goodness and truth until the hour of the Resurrection.” And he said also: “There shall always be in my people forty who have the nature of Abraham.” Some of those whom I shall mention in this chapter are already deceased, and some are still living. 1. ABU ´L-`ABBÁS AḤMAD B. MUḤAMMAD AL-QAṢṢÁB.