He said: I met with some of his seekers who used to accompany him and whom I left with him upon my departure. He was among those who recognized the Truth, so I asked him what he heard from him when he departed this world. He said: I entered upon him while he was shrouded, placed toward the Qibla. His soul had reached his chest and one of his eyes had failed. I drew near to him and whispered in his ear: "O my lord, O Abu Bakr, remember Oneness; remember your Master; say: 'There is no god but God.'"

He opened his eyes, looked at me for a long time, and said:

A house of which You are the inhabitant Has no need for a lamp.

A sick one whom You visit Has been granted relief by God.

Your auspicious face is our proof On the day God brings forth the proofs.

Then he passed away—may God have mercy on him. He said: I met al-Mubarak ibn al-Hasan, the jurist of Suruj, who was among the great masters of the Sufis. I said to him: "Have you met anyone who saw Abu Bakr al-Shibli?" He replied: Abu Bakr al-Muqim narrated to me—in what took place between us in Rajab of the year four hundred and thirty-two, when he was one hundred and twenty years old—saying: I saw Abu Bakr al-Shibli—may God have mercy on him—leaning against one of the pillars of the Great Mosque of Ramla while he was exhorting the people. Then he recited:

You gave me a cup to drink and made me drunk, So my drunkenness is from You, not from the cup.

You cast me into the depths of the sea of passion, Into waves that burn my breaths.

At times its abyss tosses me, And at times I fall upon my head.

I am a drowning man and passion is my killer, O my fortune, return from the beginning.