After this period, we looked and saw a boy of young age who came to us and alighted with us. We saw him in a form whose meaning, shape, perfection, and understanding we had never seen the like of. My Master inclined toward him and approached him with his whole being. The boy remained with us for three days, and my Master was with him, never parting from him or tiring of looking at him.

On the fourth day, we saw the ship approaching us. The Person who was in it descended; we approached him humble before him. My Master intended to rise with us but was unable due to the weakness of his strength. He ordered that he be carried and brought near to him. He was carried and brought to him.

He said to him: 'Your transition has drawn near. Your purity and your transfer to a station where you shall be with your soul have approached; from there you shall be liberated to the Subtle World, join the 'Joiners' (al-lāḥiqīn), and be in the neighborhood of the Ancient Eternal.'

My Master said to him: 'The matter is Allah’s; He does what He wills and decrees what He intends.'

I saw him inclining with his whole being toward the young boy I mentioned. The boy hurried to him, placed his chest against his chest and his mouth against his mouth; he did not move away until he (the Master) departed from this life.

Then he summoned a group of people and ordered them to wash and shroud him. They did so. Many people gathered and he prayed over him, then ordered his burial and he was buried.

Then the boy turned to me and said: 'O Abu al-Tahir, that is Abu al-Maymun al-Hasan ibn Harun al-Samarrai; he is eager to visit you and I wish to be in your company. Since you vanished from him until this limit, thirty years have passed; he is in longing for you, weeping for you, supplicating and entreating Allah the Exalted to gather him with you before you depart this life. Allah has answered his supplication and permitted that you two be gathered. What remains for you is a period of