2.9.2 - Shaykh Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Sharafi

This Shaykh used to pray all the five prescribed prayers in the Friday Mosque of “کUdais in Seville. He made his living from the sale of opium, which he collected in the proper season and sold to people known for their uprightness whose money was good. He used to stand so much in prayer that his feet would swell from it, and when he prayed the tears would fall down his face on to his beard like pearls. He occupied the same house for forty years without light or fire, devoting himself assiduously to worship.

One day he came upon me while I was looking at the local madman. I didn’t notice him until he took me by the ear, pulled me away from the crowd and said, ’Is this the sort of thing you indulge in?’ At his words I felt very ashamed and went off with him to the mosque.