Mantic uttaïr, Anecdote about Junaïd

The Imam of the faith, Junaïd, that deep ocean of wisdom, was giving discourses one evening in Baghdad so excellent that the heavens themselves listened eagerly. Now Junaïd, this spiritual guide, had a son, a young man as beautiful as the sun. It came to pass that his head was cut off, a grievous thing! and that it was cast contemptuously into the midst of the assembly over which Junaïd presided. When this virtuous man saw the head, he did not complain, but instead calmed the consternation of the gathering. Then he said: “This night I had set the great cauldron of my soul upon the fire: it greatly needs divine favour for the ancient secrets to be revealed therein; but what has just happened will make no difference, one way or the other.”