Junaid Baghdadi (830? – 910 CE) was a Persian mystic and Sufi saint who taught all his life in Baghdad. He had a deep influence upon the development of Sufi thought, and is an important figure in the lineages of a number of Sufi orders. He was also widely respected throughout the wider community, as this anecdote, from a moment when Junaid had been preaching, makes clear.

One day, recalled Hazrat Junaid, someone in the audience presented me with a purse of five hundred coins. I asked him if he had any more money with him to live upon. He answered in the affirmative. I asked him if he craved to earn more. He replied that he did. Then I told him to keep this five hundred also with him, as he was more poor than me, for although I had nothing with me, I desired for no more, whilst he had so much, he yet craved for more.