You who don't know the manners of eating and speaking, do you know how to sleep?

You who don't know the manners of eating and speaking, do you know how to sleep?” “Yes, I know.” “How do you sleep?” “When I am finished with Salat (prayer)-e-Isha and reciting supplications, I don my sleepwear.” Then he described the manners of sleeping which were transmitted to him by the learned people of religion. “I understand that you do not know how to sleep either.” He wanted to get up, but Junayd caught hold of his garment and said, “O Bahlool!

I don't know; so for the sake of Allah teach me.” “You claimed knowledge and said you knew so I was avoiding you. Now that you confessed your lack of knowledge I will teach you. Know that whatever you described is secondary. The truth behind eating meals is that you eat lawful morsels.

If you eat forbidden food likewise, with one hundred manners, it won't benefit you, but will be the reason for blackening the heart.” “May Allah grant you great reward.” Bahlool continued, “The heart must be pure, and have good intentions before you begin to talk. And your conversation must be to please Allah. If it is for any worldly or useless work, then however you express yourself, it will become a calamity for you. That is why silence and quietude would be best.

Whatever you said about sleeping is also of secondary importance. “The truth of it is that your heart should be free of enmity, jealousy, and hate. Your heart should not be greedy for this world or its wealth, and remember Allah when going to sleep.” Junayd kissed Bahlool's hand and prayed for him. The students who saw this incident, and had thought that Bahlool was crazy, forgot their actions and started a new life.

The lesson is that if someone doesn't know something, then he shouldn't be ashamed of learning it; like Shaykh Junayd learned the ways and manners of eating, talking, and sleeping. Previous…