On which of your cheeks has decay begun & which of your eyes has started to run?
Great sorrow invaded his heart & all composure deserted’ him. In this state he went to lessons with his teacher Abu Hanifa.
"What has transpired with you?" Abu Hanifa asked. Dawood related to him the foregoing incident.
"The world has lost its attractions for me," he added.; "Something has happened inside of me which I cannot understand, nor can I discover an explanation of it in any book ort legal pronouncement."
"Turn away from other men," Abu Hanifa prescribed.
So Dawood turned his face from other men & shut himself up in his house. After a long interval, Abu Hanifa went to see him.
"This is not the solution, for you to hide in your house & utter not a word. The proper course is for you to sit at the feet of the imams & listen to them propounding novel ideas. You should attend to what they have to say patiently, uttering not a word. Then you will know those problems better than they."
Recognizing the good sense of what Abu Hanifa said, Dawood resumed his studies. For a year he sat at the feet of the imams, never opening his mouth & accepting their pronouncements with patience, being content simply to listen & not to reply.
"This one year’s patience," he remarked at the end of that’ time, "is equivalent to thirty year's strenuous work."
He then encountered Habib-e-Ra'i, who initiated him into the mystic path. He set forth upon it manfully. He flung his books into the river, went into retirement & cut off all expectation of other men.
Now he had received twenty dinars as an inheritance. These he consumed in twenty years. Certain of the shaikhs reproved him for this.
"The path stands for giving to others, not keeping to oneself."
"I hold on to this amount to secure my peace of mind," he explained. "I can make do with this until I die."
He then encountered Habib-e-Ra'i, who initiated him into the mystic path. He set forth upon it manfully. He flung his books into the river, went into retirement & cut off all expectation of other men.
Now he had received twenty dinars as an inheritance. These he consumed in twenty years. Certain of the shaikhs reproved him for this.
"The path stands for giving to others, not keeping to oneself."
"I hold on to this amount to secure my peace of mind," he explained. "I can make do with this until I die."
He spared himself no austerity, to such an extent that he would dip bread in water & then sip the water, saying, "Between this & eating the bread I can recite fifty verses of the Koran. Why should I waste my life?"
Abu Bakr-e Aiyash reports, "I went to Dawood’s chamber & saw him holding a piece of dry bread & weeping. "What has happened, Dawood?" I asked. "I want to eat this piece of bread," he replied, "& I do not know whether it is hallowed or unhallowed."
Another reports, "I called on him & saw a pitcher of water placed in the sun. I asked, "Why do you not place it in the shade?" "When I put it there, it was in the shade," he replied. "Now I am too ashamed before God to indulge myself."
"Why do you not repair the apartment?" he was asked.
‘I have made a covenant with God not to repair this world," he replied.
Gradually the whole palace collapsed, nothing remaining except the portico. On the night on which Dawood died, the portico also fell in.
"The roof of the apartment is broken,” remarked another visitor. "It is about to fall."
"I have not looked at this roof for twenty years,” answered Dawood.
"Why do you not marry?” Dawood was asked.
"I do not wish to deceive a believing woman,” he replied.
"How is that?”
"If I propose to a woman,” Dawood explained, “that will mean that I have undertaken to manage her affairs. Since I cannot attend both to my religious duties & the world, that means that I will have deceived her.”
"Well, at least comb your beard,” they said.
"That implies being at leisure to do it,” he answered.
One moonlit night Dawood went up on his roof & gazed at the sky. He fell to meditating on the splendor of God’s kingdom & wept until he was beside him-self. He fell off on to the roof of his neighbor. The latter, thinking that a thief was on his roof, rushed up with a sword. Seeing Dawood there, he took him by the hand.
"Who threw you down here?" he asked.
"I do not know," Dawood replied. "I was beside myself. I have no idea at all."
Once Dawood was seen running to prayers. "What is the hurry?" he was asked.
"This army at the gates of the city," he replied. "They are waiting for me."
"Which army?" they exclaimed. "The men of the tombs," he replied.
Haroon al-Rashid asked Abu Yousuf to take him to visit Dawood. Abu Yousuf went to Dawood’s house, but was refused admission. He begged Dawood’s mother to intercede.
"Admit him," his mother pleaded.
"What business have I with world-lings & evildoers?" Dawood replied, refusing to comply.
"I implore you, by the right of my milk, admit him," his mother said.
"O God," said Dawood, "Thou hast said, "Observe the right of thy mother, for My good pleasure is in her good pleasure." Otherwise, what business have I with them?
He then granted audience. They entered & seated themselves. Dawood began to preach & Haroon wept copiously. When he withdrew, he put down a gold moidore.
"This is hallowed," he said.
"Remove it," Dawood said. "I have no need of it. I sold a house which was mine by hallowed inheritance & live on the proceeds. I have asked God that when that money is spent He shall take my soul, so that I may not be in need of any man. I am hopeful that God has answered my prayer."
Haroon & Abu Yousuf then returned to the palace. Abu Yousuf went to see the keeper of the purse.
"How much is left of Dawood’s money?" he asked. "Two dirhams," the keeper replied. "He has been spending a silver penny daily."
Abu Yousuf calculated. Another day, standing with his back to the prayer-niche, he announced, "Today Dawood has died." Inquiry was made & it was found to be so.
"How did you know?" they asked.
"I calculated from his expenditure that today nothing remained to him," Abu Yousuf explained. "I knew that his prayer would be answered."
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