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English translation

And the masters of this group have more subtleties in the realization of love than can be enumerated, and I will bring a portion of their sayings so that I may fulfill the practice of seeking blessing (tabarruk).

Master Abu'l-Qasim al-Qushayri, may God's mercy be upon him, says: 'Love is the effacement of the lover through his attributes and the affirmation of the Beloved through His essence.'

Love is that the lover negates all his own attributes in seeking his Beloved, for the affirmation of the essence of the Truth; that is, since the Beloved is enduring, the lover must be annihilated; for the jealousy of love negates the lover's subsistence so that absolute sovereignty becomes His, and the annihilation of the lover's attribute is nothing but the affirmation of the Beloved's essence. It is not permissible that the lover subsist through his own attribute; for if he subsisted through his own attribute he would be independent of the Beloved's beauty. Since he knows that his life is through the Beloved's beauty, he necessarily seeks the negation of his own attributes; because it is known to him that with the subsistence of his own attribute he is veiled from the Beloved. So out of love for the Friend he has become his own enemy.

And it is well known that when Husayn ibn Mansur [al-Hallaj], may God have mercy on him, was crucified, his last words were: 'The due of the Finder is the singling-out of the One for Him.'

And it is enough for the lover that his existence be purified through the path of love, and that the sovereignty of the self reach into his ecstasy and be dissolved.

Abu Yazid, may God's mercy be upon him, says: 'Love is to regard much of yourself as little and little of your beloved as much.'

Love is that you deem much of your own as little and little of the beloved as much; and this is God's dealing with the servant; for He called the blessing of the world and what He has given the servant in the world little, and said: 'Say, the enjoyment of this world is little (4/al-Nisa). Say, O Muhammad: the enjoyment of the world is little, that which I have given you.' Then in this little life and little enjoyment and little place, He called their little remembrance much; His saying, exalted: 'and the men who remember God much and the women who remember (33/al-Ahzab)'; so that the people of the world may know that the Friend is in reality God, majestic is His majesty, and this attribute is not correct for creatures, and what is from the Truth to the servant is in no way little.

Sahl ibn Abdullah says, may God be pleased with him: 'Love is the embracing of obediences and the shunning of transgressions.'

Love is that you embrace the obediences of the Beloved and turn away from disobeying Him; because whenever love is stronger in the heart, the command of the Friend is easier for the friend. And this is a refutation of that group of heretics (malahida) who say: 'The servant reaches in love a degree at which obedience falls away from him.' And this is absurd, that in a state of soundness of intellect the ruling of religious obligation (taklif) should drop from the servant; because there is consensus that the law of Muhammad the Chosen, peace be upon him, will never be abrogated, and if it were permissible for one person for it to fall away in a state of soundness, it would be permissible for everyone; and this would be pure heresy (zandaqa). But for the overcome and the feeble-minded there is another ruling and another excuse.

But it is permissible that God, the exalted, may bring the servant in His love to a degree where the toil of performing obedience falls away from him; because the toil of the command takes shape according to the measure of love for the command. However much stronger the love, the easier the toil of obedience. And this is manifest in the state of the Prophet, peace be upon him, that when the oath came to him from the Truth 'By your life (72/al-Hijr)', he performed such worship by night and day that he was kept back from all affairs and his blessed feet became swollen; until God, the exalted, said: 'Ta Ha. We have not sent down the Qur'an to you that you should be distressed (Ta Ha 1-2).' And it is also permissible that in the state of performing the command the seeing of obedience falls away from the servant; as it was for the Prophet, peace be upon him: 'And indeed a cloud comes over my heart so that I ask forgiveness of God seventy times each day.' Every day I ask forgiveness seventy times for my deeds; because he did not look at himself and his deeds lest he become conceited. He looked at his obedience from the perspective of magnifying the command of the Truth and said: 'My obedience is not worthy of Him.'

Samnun the Lover, may God be pleased with him, says: 'The lovers of God have carried off the honor of this world and the hereafter; because the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: A person is with the one he loves.'

The lovers of God, exalted, are in the honor of this world and the hereafter; because the Prophet, peace be upon him, says: A man is with the one he takes as friend. So they are with the Truth in this world and the next, and error is not permissible with the one who is with Him. So the honor of this world is that the Truth is with them, and the honor of the hereafter is that they are with the Truth.

And Yahya ibn Mu'adh al-Razi, may God's mercy be upon him, says: 'The reality of love is that which does not decrease through cruelty and does not increase through kindness and giving.'

Love does not diminish through cruelty (jafa) and does not increase through kindness and giving; because these two are, in love, merely causes, and causes are dissolved in the state of direct vision (iyan), and the affliction of the Friend is sweet to the lover, and fidelity (wafa) and cruelty (jafa) are equal in the realization of love; when love is attained, fidelity is like cruelty and cruelty like fidelity.

And in the anecdotes it is well known that: Shibli was detained in the asylum on the charge of madness. A group came to visit him. He asked: 'Who are you?' They said: 'Your lovers.' He began to throw stones at them. All fled in defeat. He said: 'If you were my friends, why did you flee from my affliction? Be patient with my affliction.' If you are my friends, why do you flee from my affliction? For a friend does not flee from the affliction of the friend.

Much speech comes in this meaning, and I have contented myself with this measure. And with God is the granting of success (tawfiq).