thy children.“’ Then Fuḍayl said: ‘O Commander of the Faithful, I fear lest that handsome face of thine fall into Hell-fire. Fear God, and perform thy obligations to Him better than this.’ Hárún asked Fuḍayl whether he had any debts. He answered, ‘Yes, the debt which I owe to God, namely, obedience to Him; woe is me, if He call me to account for it!’ Hárún said, ‘O Fuḍayl, I am speaking of debts to men.’ He replied, ‘God be praised! His bounty towards me is great, and I have no reason to complain of Him to His servants.’ Hárún offered him a purse of a thousand dinars, saying, ‘Use the money for some purpose of thine own.’ Fuḍayl said, ‘O Commander of the Faithful, my counsels have done thee no good. Here again thou art behaving wrongly and unjustly.’ Hárún exclaimed, ‘How is that?’ Fuḍayl said, ‘I wish thee to be saved, but thou wouldst cast me into perdition: is not this unjust?’ We took leave of him with tears in our eyes, and Hárún said to me, ‘O Faḍl, Fuḍayl is a king indeed.’” Footnote 63: He died in 211 A.H. See Ibn Khallikán, No. 409. Footnote 64: Died in 168 A.H. See Ibn Khallikán, No. 266. All this shows his hatred of the world and its people, and his contempt for its gauds, and his refusal to abase himself before worldlings for the sake of worldly gain. 9. ABU ´L-FAYḌ DHU ´L-NÚN B. IBRÁHÍM AL-MIṢRÍ. He was the son of a Nubian, and his name was Thawbán. He is one of the best of this sect, and one of the most eminent of their hidden spiritualists (_`ayyárán_), for he trod the path of affliction and travelled on the road of blame (_malámat_). All the people of Egypt were lost in doubt as to his true state, and did not believe in him until he was dead. On the night of his decease seventy persons dreamed that they saw the Apostle, who said: “I have come to meet Dhu ´l-Nún, the friend of God.” And after his death the following words were found inscribed on his forehead: _This is the beloved of God, who died in love of God, slain by God_. At his funeral the birds of the air gathered above his bier, and wove their wings together so as to shadow it. On seeing this, all the Egyptians felt remorse and repented of the injustice which they had done to him. He has many fine and admirable sayings on the verities of mystical knowledge. He says, for example: “The gnostic (_`árif_) is more lowly every day, because he is approaching nearer to his Lord every moment,” inasmuch as he thereby becomes aware of the awfulness of the Divine Omnipotence, and when the majesty of God has taken possession of his heart, he sees how far he is from God and that there is no way of reaching Him; hence his lowliness is increased. Thus Moses said, when he conversed with God: “O Lord, where shall I seek Thee?” God answered: “Among those whose hearts are broken.” Moses said: “O Lord, no heart is more broken and despairing than mine.” God answered: “Then I am where thou art.” Accordingly, anyone who pretends to know God without