The first benefit is that I observed mankind and saw that everyone had a loved one and one passionately desired whom he loved and longed for; and certain of those loved accompanied him to the illness of death and others to the border of the tomb, then each returned and left him alone and lonely, and there did not enter with him into the tomb and comfort him in it {[one of them; so I considered and said, the most excellent beloved of man is what enters into the tomb and comforts him in it]}; and I found it to be nothing else than good works, so I took this as my beloved, [to be] a light for me in my grave, and to comfort me in it and not leave me alone.
Hatim al-Asamm was among the friends of Shaqiq al-Balkhi the mercy of Allah be upon them both. Shaqiq asked him one day, and said: “There thiry years you have associated with me—what have you gained in them?” He replied, “I have gained eight benefits. The above is just one of them.
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