Dhul Nun al Misri (d. ca. 859 CE) was an early, very highly respected Sufi from Egypt. He travelled in Syria and Arabia, and Sahl al Tustari (the subject of this post and this) was one of his students; it is said that out of respect for the wisdom of his teacher, Sahl refused to engage in mystical discourse until after Dhul Nun had passed away. None of his written works have survived, but many attributed poems, like the following, survive orally.

The true Sufi becomes humbler every hour, for every hour takes him closer to God. True Sufis see without knowledge, without sight, without receiving any information, without observation, without description, without being veiled, without a veil. They are not themselves. If they can be said to exist at all, they exist in God. Every movement of theirs is caused by God; their words are God’s words spoken with their tongues; their sight is God’s, who has entered into their eyes. God the Glorious has said, “When I love a servant, I, the Lord, am his ear so he hears by Me; I am his eye so he sees by Me; I am his tongue so he speaks by Me; I am his hand so he grasps by Me.”

Translation Andrew Harvey and Eryk Hanut