Ja’far ibn Burqan reported: I heard that Yunus ibn Ubaid, may Allah have mercy on him, was virtuous and righteous, so I wrote to him saying, “O brother, write to me about what you do.” Yunus wrote back, “I received your letter asking me to write to you about what I do, and I will tell you. Verily, I encouraged my soul to love for people what it loves for itself, and to hate for them what it hates for itself, yet it is far from that. Then I encouraged it another time to not mention people except with what is good, but I found that fasting on an intensely hot day at its peak in Basra is easier for it than to abandon this matter. O brother, peace be with you.”
Source: Ḥilyat al-Awliyā’ 3097
عن جعفر بن برقان قَالَ بَلَغَنِي عَنْ يُونُسَ بْنِ عُبَيْدٍ رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ فَضْلٌ وَصَلاحٌ فَكَتَبْتُ إِلَيْهِ يَا أَخِي اكْتُبِ إِلَيَّ بِمَا أَنْتَ عَلَيْهِ فَكَتَبَ إِلَيْهِ أَتَانِي كِتَابُكَ تَسْأَلُنِي أَنْ أَكْتُبَ إِلَيْكَ بِمَا أَنَا عَلَيْهِ وَأُخْبِرُكَ أَنِّي عَرَضْتُ عَلَى نَفْسِي أَنْ تُحِبَّ لِلنَّاسِ مَا تُحِبُّ لَهَا وَتَكْرَهَ لَهُمْ مَا تَكْرَهُ لَهَا فَإِذَا هِيَ مِنْ ذَاكَ بَعِيدٌ ثُمَّ عَرَضْتُ عَلَيْهَا مَرَّةً أُخْرَى تَرْكَ ذِكْرِهِمْ إِلا مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَوَجَدْتُ الصَّوْمَ فِي الْيَوْمِ الْحَارِّ الشَّدِيدِ الْحَرِّ بِالْهَوَاجِرِ بِالْبَصْرَةِ أَيْسَرُ عَلَيْهَا مِنْ تَرْكِ ذِكْرِهِمْ هَذَا أَمْرِي يَا أَخِي وَالسَّلامُ
3097 حلية الأولياء لأبي نعيم يونس بن عبيد