<center>Abu ‘l-Qasem al-Junaid al Baghdadi:ra: Taken from the translation of tadhkiratul awlia by A.J Arberry There was a sayyid called Naseri who was on the pilgrimage intent. When he reached Baghdad he went to visit Junaid. “Whence comes the sayyid?” Junaid enquired when greetings had been said. “From Gilan,” he replied. “Of whose sons are you?” asked Junaid. “I am descended from Ali the Prince of the Believers, God be well pleased with him,” the man answered. “Your forefather wielded two swords,” said Junaid. “One against the unbelievers, the other against himself. Now, sayyid, you who are his son, which of these two do you employ?” The sayyid wept bitterly when he heard these words and grovelled before Junaid. “Master, my pilgrimage is here,” he exclaimed. “Show me the way to God.” “Your breast is the private sanctuary of God,” said Junaid. “So far as you are able, admit naught unsanctified into the private sanctuary.” “That is all I want to know,” said the sayyid.
<center>Abu ‘l-Qasem al-Junaid al Baghdadi:ra: Taken from the translation of tadhkiratul awlia by A.J Arberry A thief had been hanged in Baghdad. Junaid went and kissed his feet. “Why did you do that?” he was asked. “A thousand compassions be upon him!” he replied. “He proved himself a true man at his trade. He did his work so perfectly, that he gave his life for it.”
<center>Abu ‘l-Qasem al-Junaid al Baghdadi:ra: Taken from the translation of tadhkiratul awlia by A.J Arberry “I learned sincere belief from a barber,” Junaid recalled, and he told the following story. Once when I was in Mecca, a barber was trimming a gentleman’s hair. I said to him, “For the sake of God, can you shave my hair?” “I can,” he said. His eyes filling with tears, he left the gentleman still unfinished. “Get up,” he said. “When God’s name is spoken, everything else must wait.” He seated me and kissed my head, and shaved off my hair. Then he gave me a screw of paper with a few small coins in it. “Spend this on your needs,” he said. I thereupon resolved that the first present that came my way I would give him in charity. Not long afterwards a bag of gold arrived from Basra. I took it to the barber. “What is this?” he asked. “I made up my mind,” I explained, “that the first present that came my way I must give to you. This has just arrived.” “Man,” he exclaimed, “have you no shame before God? You said to me, ‘For the sake of God, shave my hair.’ Then you give me a present. Have you ever known of anyone doing a deed for the sake of God and taking payment for it?”
<center>Abu ‘l-Qasem al-Junaid al Baghdadi:ra: Taken from the translation of tadhkiratul awlia by A.J Arberry A man brought five hundred dinars and offered them to Junaid. “Do you possess anything besides this?” Junaid asked him. “Yes, a lot,” the man replied. “Do you need more?” “Yes, I do.” “Then take it away,” Junaid said. “You have a better right to it. I possess nothing, and I need nothing.”