Shaikh Abu Saeed Abul Khair (967 – 1049 CE) was an influential poet and Sufi mystic of Persia. He was born in the province of Khorasan, and lived most of his life in Nishapur. He used ordinary love poems to express his inner realisation, and this had a profound influence on subsequent Sufi poetry of Persia. The following is a record of his last advice to his followers as he prepared to leave this world.

A hundred years of praying is not worth as much
as making a heart happy

When I finished my studies with my teacher Muhammad Annazi and was ready to bid him farewell, I begged him to forgive any trespasses. In reply, he asked me the same, and then he bid me never to forget God; not even for a moment. Know that during my time, I did not invite you to myself. I declared that in reality we do not exist. I say that He exists and that is sufficient. He created us for non-being. Remember that a hundred years of praying is not worth as much as making a heart happy. Walk the path of God and see everything from His point of view. Look at the created beings from the Creator’s eyes.

Quoted in “Nobody, Son of Nobody”
Renditions by Vraje Abramian