Several travelers were united in their journey and shared hardships and comforts. I wanted to accompany them, but they did not agree. I said: It is strange for the generosity of great men to turn away from the companionship of the poor and to withhold benefit and blessing, for I recognize in myself the ability and swiftness to be a helpful companion to men, not a burden on their minds.

If I am not a rider of livestock,

I will strive for you as a carrier of covers/saddles.

One of them said: Do not be saddened by what you have heard, for in these days a thief has appeared in the guise of dervishes and has joined our company.

How do people know who is in the house?

The writer knows what is in the letter.

And because of the apparent integrity of the dervishes, they did not suspect him and accepted him as a companion.

The outward appearance of the mystics is a patched garment,

This is enough, since there is a presence among people.

Strive in action and wear whatever you want,

Put a crown on your head and a banner on your shoulder.

Renunciation is the abandonment of the world, desires, and lusts,

Piety is not just the renunciation of clothing.

One must be a man in the battlefield,

What use is a weapon of war to an effeminate man?

One day we traveled until night, and at night we slept at the foot of a fortress wall when a hapless thief took a companion's ewer, pretending to go for ablutions but intending to plunder.

See the pious man who put on a cloak,

And made the Kaaba's garment a donkey's covering.

As soon as he was out of sight of the dervishes, he went up to a tower and stole a box. By the time it was dawn, that dark one had traveled a considerable distance, and the innocent companions were asleep. In the morning, they were all brought into the fortress, beaten, and imprisoned. From that day on, we abandoned companionship and chose the path of seclusion.

And safety is in solitude.

When one of a group acts ignorantly,

Neither the elder's status nor the younger's remains.

Have you heard that a cow in a pasture

Contaminates all the cows of the village?

I said: Thanks and gratitude to God, may He be glorified and exalted, that I was not deprived of the blessing of the dervishes, even though I was outwardly separated from their company. I benefited from this story you told, and this advice will be useful to people like me for a lifetime.

With one uncouth person in a gathering,

The hearts of many wise people are offended.

If a pool is filled with rosewater,

If a dog falls into it, it turns it into a mire.