It is reported that Dhul Nun, returning from Jerusalem, saw a figure in the distance. and felt a desire to question whoever it was. Drawing near, he saw that it was an old woman clad in wool and with a stick in her hand.

“Where do you come from?” Dhul Nun asked.

“From God,” the woman replied.

“And whither do you go?”

“To God.”

Dhul Nun then offered her a gold coin, but she refused the gift. “What illusion has overcome you?” she said. “I work for God alone, and receive only what comes from Him. He only I worship, and I cannot receive what is not Himself.”

Having said this, the woman vanished.