When the sheikh and the group saw him, they rose to him, received him, greeted him, and he greeted them. Then he turned to us and said: "O my brothers, I want to take my portion from you and heal my heart through you." He stepped forward to us and began to kiss each of us and kiss the neck, then he would leave him and return to him with a laughing, cheerful face and a beautiful character. He did not cease thus until we feared we had annoyed him, and he feared the same, so he left us and sat. He said to us: "I have not had my fill of greeting you nor taken my portion from you. I am indeed sorrowful over your Indian brother who passed away, for I did not attain my desire from him nor heal my thirst by witnessing him." We thanked him for that and rewarded him with good.

Then he turned to the sheikh and said: "Make known to me, my master, how was the discourse of this Indian man and the speed of his departure?" The sheikh said to him: "Do you not know that Allah — Exalted Glory — loves His believing servant and loves to fulfill his desires, and He dislikes questioning him? The believer loves death and dislikes staying. When the believer contemplates the world and recognizes its lords, its kind, and those who love it, and knows that it is the paradise of the disbeliever and the prison of the believer, he dislikes it and dislikes staying in it. He chooses departure for fear of inclining toward it. This Indian recognized that and feared for his soul that it might seek to return to the world of murkiness. He saw clearly with the eye of his insight what he is proceeding toward of a goodly return. So, he desired the departure, and Allah fulfilled his desire and hastened his departure." He [Abu al-Tahir] said: Then the sheikh rose, stepped forward, and prayed over him, with the group behind him. We buried him and sat around the grave.

When our sitting was established, the youth who had guided us to the valley—the owner of the garden—turned to the young man who came last and said to him: "O my master, I am in great wonder of you: how were you patient with solitude and loneliness? And how do you find