I saw in Transoxania an old man who belonged to the sect of Malámatís. He neither ate nor wore anything in which human beings had a hand. His food consisted of things thrown away by men, such as putrid vegetables, sour gourds, rotten carrots, and the like. His clothes were made of rags which he had picked up from the road and washed: of these he had made a _muraqqa`a_. And I have heard that among the mystics of recent times there was an old man of flourishing condition (_qawí ḥál_) and of excellent character, living at Marv al-Rúd, who had sewn so many patches, without taking pains, on his prayer-rug and cap, that scorpions brought forth their young in them. And my Shaykh—may God be well pleased with him!—wore for fifty-one years a single cloak (_jubba_), on which he used to sew pieces of cloth without taking any pains. I have found the following tale among the anecdotes of the (holy) men of `Iráq. There were two dervishes, one a votary of the contemplative life (_ṣáḥib musháhadat_), and the other a votary of the purgative life (_ṣáḥib mujáhadat_). The former never clothed himself except in the pieces of cloth which were torn off by dervishes in a state of ecstasy (_samá`_) from their own garments, while the other used for the same purpose only the pieces torn off by dervishes who were asking forgiveness: thus the outward garb of each was in harmony with his inward disposition. This is observance of the “state” (_pás dáshtan-i ḥál_). Shaykh Muḥammad b. Khafíf wore a coarse woollen frock (_palás_) for twenty years, and every year he used to undergo four fasts of forty days’ duration (_chilla_), and every forty days he would compose a work on the mysteries of the Sciences of the Divine Verities. In his time there was an old man,[43] one of the adepts learned in the Way (_Ṭaríqat_) and the Truth (_Ḥaqíqat_), who resided at Parg[44] in Fárs and was called Muḥammad b. Zakariyyá.[45] He had never worn a _muraqqa`a_. Now Shaykh Muḥammad b. Khafíf was asked: “What is involved in wearing a _muraqqa`a_, and who is permitted to do so?” He replied: “It involves those obligations which are fulfilled by Muḥammad b. Zakariyyá in his white shirt, and the wearing of such a frock is permitted to him.” Footnote 43: This story is related in _`Aṭṭár’s Tadhkirat al-Awliyá_ (pt. ii, p. 125, l. 17 sqq.), where it is expressly said that the old man was _not_ “learned in the Way”. Footnote 44: I. in margin has Park. The _Nuzhat al-Quhúb_ gives the name as برک (Bark), and refers it to a village in the district of Kirmán. Footnote 45: B., I., and J. have Dhakariyyá (Zakariyya), L. ذكرى. The MSS. of the _Tadhkirat al-Awliyá_ vary between Dhakírí and ذكرى. SECTION.