Ibrahim Satnaba said: “I was present at Bayazid’s meeting one day, when the elders were conversing. They were saying: ‘So-and-so has acquired knowledge from So and-so, and So-and-so has acquired knowledge from So-and-so…,” but Bayazid al-Bistami said:

“Those miserable wretches have acquired knowledge from the dead, but we acquired knowledge from Allah, the Ever-Living who never dies!”  – (ref: Nafahat al Uns.  trans: Holland)