and I have not begged people importunely, just as it was said: "Patience over calamities raises the degrees." And I have not followed a corrupt saying nor losing pathways, nor have I subjected my soul under oppression, nor have I cast myself into baseness, nor have I endured injustice or degradation, nor have I inhabited an oppressed place, nor taken it as my abode, nor have I taken for myself a humiliating helper, nor associated with a doubtful friend.

THE REFUTATION AGAINST THE WORSHIPPERS OF THE OUTWARD APPARENT WITHOUT THE INWARD HIDDEN

And know, O Sheikh, that I have abandoned these people and avoided them just as you avoid the separation of your soul from your body; yet you, O Sheikh, have made them helpers for the condition of your worldly life and the rectification of your affair, and you did not know that fate has betrayed you, until you composed a book and named it a Majlis (Council/Session), comprising a debate that took place among a group of the brothers—may God extend their success—regarding the outward meaning and its inward hidden [meaning].