‘Iṣmat al-Dawla’s epistle is found among many believers. Shaykh Ṣāliḥ ‘Alī Salmān (of al-Murayqib) possesses a copy transcribed from the original in an ancient Persian script. ‘Iṣmat al-Dawla was among those who witnessed Abū al-Khayr Salāma, spoke with him, and narrated from him, as he did from Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Sa‘īd ibn al-Hayyāj.

‘Iṣmat al-Dawla narrates:

"Ibn al-Hayyāj told me, from Abū Sa‘īd Maymūn, from al-Jillī, raising it to Al-Ṣādiq (may his glory be exalted), who said: 'Our Shia are not born of adultery, neither in the Age of Ignorance nor in Islam.'"

He explained: "The outward meaning is understood. The inward meaning is that a believer only hears this [esoteric] knowledge from a sound 'fatherhood'—meaning it is received through a legitimate spiritual lineage, not through spiritual 'fornication' or a lineage whose origin is unsound."

He also conversed with al-Ḥasan ibn al-Khiḍr al-Ghassānī, who narrated to him from Abū al-Qāsim ‘Alī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ‘Īsā al-Nu‘mānī, from al-Jillī, from al-Khaṣībī, raising it to Jābir al-Anṣārī (peace be upon him). This is the hadith of our Master Amir Almuminin (may his glory be exalted) after his return from Kufa and the battle against the Kharijites. It concerns his crossing of the Būrān bridge, his sighting of the Palace of Khosrow, his speech regarding the Unseen, and his passing by the skull of Khosrow—reviving it and addressing it. This account is well-known within the Egyptian Epistle.

He narrated extensively. He also spoke with Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad al-Naysābūrī, the preacher, during the last ten days of Jumada al-Akhira in the year 443 AH. Al-Naysābūrī was a scholar of Hadith in the outward sense and a Sufi master. He stated: