He is one of the ancient and principal Shaykhs, and was famed for his generosity and devoutness. This notice of him should have come earlier in the book, but I have placed it here in accordance with two venerable persons who wrote before me, one of them a relater of traditions and the other an independent authority (_ṣáḥib taṣarruf_)—I mean Shaykh Abú `Abd al-Raḥmán al-Sulamí, who in his work adopts the arrangement which I have followed, and the Master and Imám Abu ´l-Qásimal-Qushayrí, who has put the notice of Ma`rúf in the same order in the introductory portion of his book.[72] I have chosen this arrangement because Ma`rúf was the master of Sarí Saqaṭí and the disciple of Dáwud Ṭá´í. At first Ma`rúf was a non-Moslem (_bégána_), but he made profession of Islam to `Alí b. Músá al-Riḍá, who held him in the highest esteem. It is related that he said: “There are three signs of generosity—to keep faith without resistance, to praise without being incited thereto by liberality, and to give without being asked.” In men all these qualities are merely borrowed, and in reality they belong to God, who acts thus towards His servants. God keeps unresisting faith with those who love Him, and although they show resistance in keeping faith with Him, He only increases His kindness towards them. The sign of God’s keeping faith is this, that in eternity past He called His servant to His presence without any good action on the part of His servant, and that to-day He does not banish His servant on account of an evil action. He alone praises without the incitement of liberality, for He has no need of His servant’s actions, and nevertheless extols him for a little thing that he has done. He alone gives without being asked, for He is generous and knows the state of everyone and fulfils his desire unasked. Accordingly, when God gives a man grace and makes him noble, and distinguishes him by His favour, and acts towards him in the three ways mentioned above, and when that man, as far as lies in his power, acts in the same way towards his fellow-creatures, then he is called generous and gets a reputation for generosity. Abraham the Apostle possessed these three qualities in very truth, as I shall explain in the proper place. Footnote 72: This statement is not accurate. The notice of Ma`rúf Karkhí is the fourth in Qushayrí’s list of biographies at the beginning of his treatise on Ṣúfiism, and stands between the notices of Fuḍayl b. `Iyáḍ and Sarí Saqaṭí. In the _Ṭabaqát al-Ṣúfiyya_, by Abú `Abd al-Raḥmán al-Sulamí, the notice of Ma`rúf comes tenth in order, but occupies the same position as it does here in so far as it is preceded by the article on Abú Sulaymán Dárání and is followed by the article on Ḥátim al-Aṣamm. It appears from the next sentence that al-Hujwírí intended to place the life of Ma`rúf between those of Dáwud Ṭá´í and Sarí Saqaṭí (Nos. 14 and 15), but neither of the two above-mentioned authorities has adopted this arrangement.