Original content

English translation

Dhul-Nun al-Misri (may God's mercy be upon him) says: "The Sufi, when he speaks, his speech makes manifest the realities, and when he is silent, his limbs speak of him through the severing of attachments." The Sufi is he who, when he speaks, the exposition of his speech is the realities of his state; that is, he says nothing that he is not, and when he is silent, his conduct is the interpreter of his state, and by the severing of attachments his state becomes eloquent; meaning his speech is all upon a sound foundation and his deeds are entirely pure abstraction (tajrid). When he speaks, his word is all truth, and when he is silent, his act is all poverty (faqr). Junayd says (may God's mercy be upon him): "Sufism is an attribute in which the servant is established." It was asked: "Is it an attribute of the servant, or an attribute of the Truth?" He said: "Its reality is an attribute of the Truth, and its outward form is an attribute of the servant." Meaning its reality requires the annihilation of the servant's attribute, and the annihilation of the servant's attribute is through the subsistence of the Truth's attribute, and this is an attribute of the Truth; and its outward form requires the perpetuity of the servant's striving, and the perpetuity of striving is an attribute of the servant. And when you drive it toward another meaning, it is such that in the reality of divine unity (tawhid) no attribute is truly valid for the servant; because the attributes of creatures are not permanent for them, and the creature's attribute is nothing but outward form; for his attribute does not subsist, and it is the possession and act of the Truth. So in reality it belongs to the Truth, and its meaning is this: that God (mighty and glorious) commanded the servant: "Fast." And by the servant's fasting, the name of "faster" was given to the servant, and from the standpoint of outward form that fasting belongs to the servant; and again from the standpoint of reality it belongs to God; just as God said and the Messenger reported (peace be upon him): "Fasting is Mine, and I reward for it." Fasting is Mine; because His acts are all His possession, and the relating and attributing by all creatures of anything to themselves is outward form and metaphor, not reality. Abu'l-Hasan al-Nuri (may God's mercy be upon him) says: "Sufism is the abandonment of every pleasure of the self." Sufism is the relinquishing of all the pleasures of the self, and this is of two kinds: one outward form and the other reality. And this is that if he is the abandoner of pleasure, the abandonment of pleasure is itself a pleasure, and this is outward form; and if pleasure is the abandoner of him, this is the annihilation of pleasure, and its connection is to the reality of witnessing (mushahada). So the abandonment of pleasure is the act of the servant, and the annihilation of pleasure is the act of God (majestic is His majesty). The servant's act is outward form and metaphor, and the Truth's act is reality. And by this saying, the earlier saying of Junayd (may God's mercy be upon him) is made clear. And Abu'l-Hasan al-Nuri (may God's mercy be upon him) also says: "The Sufis are those whose spirits have become pure, so they came to be in the first row before the Truth." The Sufis are those whose souls have become free from the turbidity of humanity, purified from the affliction of the self, and delivered from caprice, until in the first row and the highest degree they have found repose with the Truth, and have fled from all other than Him. And he also says (may God's mercy be upon him): "The Sufi is he who neither possesses nor is possessed." The Sufi is he into whose bond nothing comes, and who comes into the bond of nothing, and this is an expression of the very essence of annihilation (fana); for one whose attribute is annihilated is neither owner nor owned; because the validity of ownership falls correctly upon existent things, and the intent of this is that the Sufi takes nothing as possession, whether of the goods of this world or the adornment of the hereafter, and himself does not come under the rule and possession of his own self. He severs the sovereign of his own will from all other, so that the other severs the greed of servitude from him. And this is a subtle saying for that group who speak of total annihilation, and we shall bring their point of error in this book so that it becomes known to you, God willing (mighty and glorious). Ibn al-Jalla (may God's mercy be upon him) says: "Sufism is a reality that has no outward form." Sufism is a reality that has no outward form, and what is outward form is the share of creatures in their dealings, and reality is the special province of the Truth. Since Sufism is turning away from creatures, inevitably it has no outward form. Abu Amr al-Dimashqi (may God's mercy be upon him) says: "Sufism is seeing the cosmos with the eye of deficiency, rather averting the gaze from the cosmos." Sufism is that you look upon the cosmos (kawn) only with the eye of deficiency, and this is a proof of the subsistence of the attribute; rather, that you close your eye to the cosmos, and this is a proof of the annihilation of the attribute; because the gaze is from the cosmos—when the cosmos remains not, the gaze too remains not—and averting the gaze from the cosmos is the subsistence of divine insight; meaning whoever becomes blind to himself becomes seeing through the Truth; because the seeker of the cosmos is himself a seeker, and his affair is from him to him, and he has no path out of himself. So one sees himself yet sees deficiently, and one closes his eye to himself and does not see; and the one who sees, although he sees deficiently, his very sight is a veil; and the one who does not see, sight becomes no veil for him. And this is a strong principle in the path of Sufism and the masters of inner meanings, but this is not the place to explain it. Abu Bakr al-Shibli (may God's mercy be upon him) says: "Sufism is polytheism, because it is the guarding of the heart from seeing the other, and there is no other." Sufism is polytheism; because it is the guarding of the heart from the vision of the other, and there is no other at all; meaning, in the affirmation of divine unity, the vision of the other is polytheism, and when there is no other in the heart, to guard it from the remembrance of the other is impossible. Al-Husri (may God's mercy be upon him) says: "Sufism is the purity of the innermost secret from the turbidities of oppositions." Sufism is the purity of the innermost secret (sirr) from the turbidities of opposition, and its meaning is that he guards the secret from opposition to the Truth; because love is agreement, and agreement is the opposite of opposition. And the lover has, in all the world, nothing but the keeping of the beloved's command, and when the desire is one, whence should opposition take form? Muhammad ibn Ali ibn al-Husayn ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib (may God be pleased with him) says: "Sufism is character; whoever exceeds you in character exceeds you in Sufism." Sufism is good disposition; whoever has the better disposition, he is the more a Sufi. And good disposition is of two kinds: one with creatures and the other with the Truth. Good disposition with the Truth is contentment (rida) with His decree, and good disposition with creatures is bearing the burden of their company for the sake of the Truth, and both of these return to the one who seeks them. The Truth (exalted) has the attribute of independence from the seeker's contentment and the seeker's wrath, and both of these attributes are bound up in the contemplation of His oneness. Murta'ish (may God's mercy be upon him) says: "The Sufi is he whose aspiration never at all precedes his step." The Sufi is he whose thought is level with his step, always. That is, all is present: the heart there where the body is, and the body there where the heart is, the speech there where the step is, the step there where the speech is. And this is a sign of presence without absence, contrary to those who say: "Absent from oneself, present with the Truth." No, rather: "Present with the Truth and present with oneself." And this is an expression of the union of union (jam' al-jam'); because as long as there is no vision of oneself, there is no absence from oneself, and when vision is lifted, it is presence without absence. And the connection of this meaning is to the saying of Shibli (may God's mercy be upon him): "The Sufi sees not, in the two worlds, with God, anything other than God." The Sufi is he who, in the two worlds, sees nothing except God (mighty and glorious). And in the entire existence of the servant is the other, and when he sees not the other, he sees not himself. And he becomes wholly free of himself in the state of negation and affirmation of himself. Junayd (may God's mercy be upon him) says: "Sufism is built upon eight qualities: generosity, contentment, patience, allusion, exile, the wearing of wool, wandering, and poverty. As for generosity, it is Abraham's; as for contentment, it is Isaac's; as for patience, it is Job's; as for allusion, it is Zechariah's; as for exile, it is John's; as for the wearing of wool, it is Moses'; as for wandering, it is Jesus'; and as for poverty, it is Muhammad's—the blessings of God be upon them all." He said: The foundation of Sufism rests upon eight qualities, in emulation of eight prophets (peace be upon them): in generosity, Abraham—and that was to such a degree that he sacrificed his son; in contentment, Isaac—for he offered up his head and consented to abandon his own dear life; in patience, Job—for he endured patiently in the affliction of the worms; in allusion, Zechariah—of whom God said: "When he called upon his Lord with a hidden call" (Quran 19:3); in exile, John (Yahya)—for he was a stranger in his own homeland and among his kin a foreigner to them; and in wandering, Jesus—for in his wandering he was so detached that he... [the text breaks off here].