come upon him."" Quoth one of the sages， "The doing of good works expiates evil deeds." Quoth Ibrahim ben Adhem[FN#80]， "I sought assiduously of Bishr el Hafi that he should acquaint me with some of the theological mysteries； but he said， "O my son， it behoves us not to teach this knowledge to every one； of every hundred，five， even as the poor-rate upon money." I thought his answer excellent， and when I went to pray， I saw Bishr praying： so I stood behind him， inclining myself in prayer， till the Muezzin made his call. Then rose a man of poor appearance and said， "O folk， beware of truth， when it is hurtful， for there is no harm in beneficial falsehood， and in compulsion is no choice： speech profits not in the absence of good qualities nor is there any hurt in silence， when they exist." Presently I saw Bishr drop a danic[FN#81] so I picked it up and exchanged it for a dirhem，which I gave him. "I will not take it，" said he. Quoth I， "It is a fair exchange；" but he answered， "I cannot barter the riches of the world to come for those of this world."" It is reported also that Bishr"s sister once went to Ahmed ben Hembel[FN#82] and said to him， "O Imam of the Faith， we are a family that work for our living by day and spin thread by night； and oftentimes， the cressets of the watch of Baghdad pass by and we on the roof spinning by their light. Is this forbidden to us？" "Who art thou？" asked Ahmed. "I am the sister of Bishr el Hafi，" replied she. "O household of Bishr，" rejoined the Imam， "I shall never cease to quafl full draughts of piety and continence from your hearts." Quoth one of the learned， "When God wills well to any man， he opens upon him the gate of action." Malik ibn Dinar，[FN#83] when he passed through the bazaar and saw aught that he wished for， was wont to say， "O soul， take patience， for I will not accord to thee what thou desirest." He said also （may God accept of him）， "The salvation of the soul lies in resistance to its desires and its ruin in submission to them." Quoth Mensour ben Ammar，[FN#84] "I set out one year on the pilgrimage and was ****** for Mecca by way of Cufa， when， one overcast night， I heard a voice crying out from the womb of the night and saying，"O my God， by Thy power and Thy glory， I meant not by my disobedience to transgress against Thee， for indeed I am not ignorant of Thee； but my fault is one Thou didst foreordain to me from all eternity； so do Thou pardon me my sin， for indeed I disobeyed Thee of my ignorance！" When he had made an end of his prayer， he recited aloud the verse， "O ye who believe， keep yourselves and your households from the fire whose fuel is men and stones！"[FN#85] Then I heard a fall， but knew not what it was and passed on. On the morrow， as we went our way， we fell in with a funeral train， followed by an old woman， whose strength had left her. I questioned her of the dead， and she replied， "This is the funeral of a man who passed by us yesterday， whilst my son was standing at prayer. The latter recited a verse from the Book of God the Most High， when behold the man"s gall-bladder burst and he fell dead.""
Therewith the fourth damsel retired and the fifth， coming forward， spoke as follows： "I also will repeat what occurs to me in the way of devotional anecdotes. Meslemeh ben Dinar used to say， "The ****** sound the secret thoughts covers sins， both great and small， and when the believer is resolved to leave sinning， help comes to him." Also， "Every piece of good fortune，that does not draw one nearer to God， is a calamity， for a little of this world distracts from a great deal of the world to come and a great deal of the first makes thee forget the whole of the latter." It was asked of Abou Hazim，[FN#86] "Who is the most fortunate of men？" "He who spends his life in the service of God，" replied he. "And who is the most foolish of mankind？" asked the other. "He who sells his part in the world to come for the worldly goods of others，" answered Abou Hazim. It is reported that Moses （on whom be peace）， when he came to the waters of Midian， exclaimed， "O my Lord， indeed I am in need of that which Thou sendest down to me of good！" And he asked of his Lord and not of his folk. There came two damsels and he drew water for them and gave not precedence to the shepherds. When they returned to their father Jethro （on whom be peace！） they told him， and he said to one of them， "Haply， he is hungry： go back to him and bid him hither." So she covered her face and returning to Moses， said to him， "My father bids thee to him， that he may reward thee for having drawn water for us." Moses was averse to this and unwilling to follow her. Now she was a woman large in the buttocks， and the wind blowing upon her gown， discovered this；
which when Moses saw， he lowered his eyes and said to her， "Do thou walk behind me." So she followed him， till he came to Jethro"s house， where the evening meal was ready. "O Moses，" said Jethro， "I desire to reward thee for having drawn water for them." But he answered， "I am of a people who sell nothing of the fashion of the next world for earthly gold and silver." "O youth，" rejoined Jethro， "nevertheless thou art my guest， and it is my wont and that of my fathers to do honour to the guest by setting food before him." So Moses sat down and ate. Then Jethro hired Moses for eight pilgrimages， that is to say， eight years，and appointed to him for hire the hand of his daughter， and Moses" service to him was to stand for her dowry. As says the Holy Writ of him （quoth Jethro）， "I am minded to marry thee to one of these my daughters， on condition that thou serve me eight years， and if thou serve out the ten， it will be of thine own will， for I do not wish to press hardly on thee."[FN#87] A certain man once said to one of his friends， "Thou hast made me desolate， for that I have not seen thee this long while." Quoth the other， "I have been distracted from thee by Ibn Shihab； dost thou know him？" "Yes，" replied the first； "he hath been my neighbour these thirty years， but I have never spoken to him."
