Original content

English translation

Among them: the Sheikh of Islam, and after the prophets the best of creatures, who was the successor (caliph) of the Prophet and the imam and master of the people of detachment (tajrid), and the guide of the masters of solitary devotion (tafrid), and far removed from the afflictions of the ego (nafs): Abu Bakr Abdullah ibn Uthman, al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him. He has renowned miracles (karamat) and manifest signs and proofs in his dealings and realities. And in the 'Chapter on Sufism' a portion of his life has been recounted. The sheikhs have held him foremost among the masters of contemplation (mushahada) for the fewness of his narration, and Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, foremost among the masters of striving (mujahada) for his firmness and conduct. And it is recorded in the authentic reports and famous among the people of knowledge that when he prayed at night he recited softly, and when Umar prayed he recited loudly. The Messenger, peace be upon him, asked Abu Bakr: 'Why do you recite softly?' He said: 'I make the One I confide in hear me; for I know that He is not absent from me, and to His hearing, reciting softly and loudly are the same.' And he asked Umar. He said: 'I awaken the drowsy and drive away Satan.' This one gave a sign of striving and that one of contemplation, and the station of striving beside the station of contemplation is like a drop in a sea; and it was for this reason that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: 'Are you anything but one of the good deeds of Abu Bakr?' So when he was one of the good deeds of Abu Bakr, through whom came the glory of Islam, consider then how the people of the worlds must be. It is related from him that he said: 'Our dwelling is perishing, our states are borrowed, our breaths are numbered, and our laziness is present.' Our dwelling is transient and our states in it are borrowed and our breaths are counted and our laziness is manifest. So to build up the perishing house is from ignorance, to rely on a borrowed state is from foolishness, to set the heart on numbered breaths is from heedlessness, and to call laziness religion is from self-deception; for what is borrowed will be reclaimed, what is transient will not remain, what comes in a number will be exhausted, and for laziness itself there is no cure. He gave us a sign, may Allah be pleased with him, that the world and worldly things are not of such consequence that one should occupy the mind with them; for whenever you become occupied with the perishing you are veiled from the everlasting. Since the ego and the world became the seeker's veil from the Truth, His friends turned away from both, and since they knew it to be borrowed, and that the borrowed thing belongs to another, they withdrew the hand of possession from the property of others. And also it is related from him — they reported his intimate supplication (munajat), may Allah be pleased with him: 'O Allah, expand the world for me and make me abstain from it.' First he said: 'Make the world abundant for me,' then 'Guard me from its harm.' And beneath this lies a subtle allusion; that is: first give the world so that I may give thanks for it, then grant me the success to withdraw my hand from it for Your sake and turn my face from it, so that I may attain both the rank of gratitude and giving and the station of patience, and so that I am not driven into poverty by compulsion, but that my poverty is by choice. And this is a refutation of that elder of the practice who said: 'One whose poverty is by compulsion is more complete than one whose poverty is by choice; for if it is by compulsion he is the handiwork of poverty, and if it is by choice poverty is his handiwork, and since his earning is cut off from attracting poverty, that is better than affecting a rank for himself by pretension.' We say: the handiwork of poverty is more manifest when, in a state of wealth, the will for poverty prevails over his heart and acts so far as to take from him the beloved of Adam and his progeny — and that is the world; not that in a state of poverty the desire for wealth prevails over his heart and acts so far that, for the sake of a paltry sum, he must resort to the court of oppressors and sultans. They call the handiwork of poverty that one falls from wealth into poverty, not that in poverty one seeks leadership. And al-Siddiq al-Akbar, may Allah be pleased with him, is foremost of all creatures after the prophets, and it is not permissible that anyone set his foot before him — he gave precedence to poverty by choice over poverty by compulsion. And all the Sufi sheikhs hold this, except that one elder whose argument and statement we mentioned and against whom we brought a refutation. Then al-Siddiq al-Akbar affirmed this and made it a clear proof. And al-Zuhri narrated from him that when they gave him the oath of allegiance for the caliphate, he, may Allah be pleased with him, ascended the pulpit and delivered a sermon, and in the midst of it said: 'By Allah, I was never eager for the office for a single day or night, nor was I desirous of it, nor did I ever ask it of Allah in secret or openly, and I have no ease in the office.' — By God, I am not and never was eager for command, and never did the desire for it pass over my heart for a day or a night, and I had no inclination toward it, and I did not ask it of Allah Most High in secret or in the open, and I have no ease in it. And when a servant is brought by Allah, mighty and majestic, to the perfection of sincerity, and is honored with the station of stability (tamkin), he awaits what comes from the Truth to see in what manner He disposes of him: if the command comes he is poor, and if the command comes he is a commander; in this he exercises no interference or choice — as al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, did in the beginning, and in it displayed nothing but submission, as he did in the end. So this group's emulation in detachment (tajrid) and stability (tamkin) and eagerness for poverty and the longing to abandon leadership derives from him; beyond which he is the imam of the religion of all Muslims in general, and the imam of the people of this path (tariqa) in particular, may Allah be pleased with him.