أَخْبَرَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ الْبَلْخِيُّ -وَهُوَ رَافِعٌ كَفَّيْهِ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ- قَالَ: اللَّهُمَّ إِنَّكَ تَعْلَمُ أَنِّي لَمْ أَرَ أَعْلَمَ مِنَ الْمَنْصُورِ بِمَا أَنْزَلْتَهُ، وَلَا أَرْحَمَ مِنْهُ بِمَنْ خَلَقْتَهُ! كُنْتُ مَعَهُ وَنَحْنُ عَلَى شَاطِئِ جَيْحُونَ، فَأَخَذَ بِيَدِي وَقَالَ: يَا بُنَيَّ! اسْتَعْمِلِ الْعَقْلَ فِي أُمُورِكَ كُلِّهَا، وَلَا يَغْلِبَنَّكَ عَلَيْهِ عَادَةٌ وَلَا شَهْوَةٌ وَلَا تَقْلِيدٌ، وَقَالَ: اعْمَلْ عَلَى عَقْلٍ تُعَدُّ عَامِلًا، وَلَا تَعْمَلْ عَلَى عَادَةٍ وَلَا شَهْوَةٍ وَلَا تَقْلِيدٍ، فَإِنَّ مَنْ عَمِلَ عَلَى شَيْءٍ مِنْ ذَلِكَ كَانَ عَمَلُهُ كَرَمَادٍ اشْتَدَّتْ بِهِ الرِّيحُ فِي يَوْمٍ عَاصِفٍ، لَا يَقْدِرُونَ مِمَّا كَسَبُوا عَلَى شَيْءٍ، إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى يَقُولُ: ﴿وَقَدِمْنَا إِلَى مَا عَمِلُوا مِنْ عَمَلٍ فَجَعَلْنَاهُ هَبَاءً مَّنْثُورًا﴾[1].

Translation of the saying:

Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Balkhi informed us while raising his hands toward the heaven, he said: O Allah! You know that I have not seen anyone more knowledgeable than Mansoor about what you have sent down or more compassionate than him toward those whom you have created! I was with him while we were on the bank of the Jayhun River. Then he took my hand and said: “O my son! Use the intellect in all your affairs, and let neither habit nor desire nor imitation overtake you about it,” and said: “Act based on the intellect to be accounted as a (true) doer, and do not act based on habit, desire, or imitation; because one who acts based on any of these, his deed is like ashes on which the wind blows furiously on a stormy day; they gain nothing from what they earned! Indeed, Allah Almighty says: ‘And We turn to whatever deeds they did, then We make them as scattered dust.’”