Shaykh Salih relating from his shaykh, Sayyid Muhammad al-Sharif:
‘I heard from my teacher and shaykh, who was the reason for much good and who I took the covenant with over thirty-five years ago [around 1347 AH, when he was nineteen years old]. I accompanied and served him a lot and saw miracles and blessings from him. He is Sayyid Muhammad ʿAbd al-ʿĀlī, titled “al-Sayyid al-Sharīf”. He used to say, ‘There are three that should be wary. The son of the shaykh, his wife, and his close student. As for his son, he relies on the status of his father and becomes lazy in working. But if he follows his father, he attains two blessings – that of hard work and that of familial relation. As for the wife, it is feared that she disobeys the command of the shaykh and incites his anger. If she obeys him, then she attains two blessings – that of acting by the prescribed litanies and the blessing of spousal relation. As for the close student of the shaykh, he may come upon some of the worship of the shaykh and consider it little or see something that does not impress him and thus think badly and fall into destruction. However, if they are sincere, they attain two blessings also – that of their litanies and that of service to the shaykh.’
