Original content

English translation

And the masters—may God have mercy on them—each has a symbolic expression in the verification of saintship (walaya). I will bring what is possible of the choicest of their symbols, so that the benefit may be more complete, God willing, the Mighty and Glorious.

Abu Ali al-Jawzajani said—may God's mercy be upon him: 'The saint (wali) is the one who is annihilated in his own state and subsisting in the contemplation of the Truth; he has no report of himself, nor rest with any other than God.'

The wali is the one who is annihilated from his own state and subsisting through the contemplation of the Truth. It is not possible for him to give report of himself or to find rest with any but God; because the servant's report is about the servant's state, and when the states are annihilated, giving report of himself is not sound. And he cannot find rest with any other than the Truth so as to inform it of his state; because informing another of the beloved's state is the disclosure of the beloved's secret, and disclosing the beloved's secret to other than the beloved is impossible. And also, when he is in contemplation, seeing another is impossible, and when there is no seeing of another, how can there be rest with created beings?

And Junayd said—may God be pleased with him: 'It is among the qualities of the wali that he has no fear; for fear is the anticipation of something disliked that will befall in the future, or the awaiting of something beloved that will be lost in what is to come. The wali is the son of his moment (ibn waqtihi); he has no future so that he might fear something. And as he has no fear, he has no hope; for hope is awaiting a beloved that will be attained or a disliked thing that will be uncovered, and that is in the second [instant] of the moment. Likewise he does not grieve, because grief is from the harshness of the moment. Whoever is in the light of contentment and the garden of accord, where would grief be for him? As God, the Exalted, said: Behold, the friends of God—no fear shall be upon them, nor shall they grieve (Yunus 10:62).'

And the meaning of this saying is: the wali has no fear; because fear is of some expected thing whose coming brings dislike to the heart, or a calamity to the body, or he fears for a beloved that it be lost, which he presently possesses. And the wali belongs to the moment; he has no fear so as to fear it. And just as he has no fear, he has no hope either; because hope is the expectation of a beloved that reaches him in the second state, or of a disliked thing that is repelled from him. And grief is not his either; because grief is from the turbidity of the moment—so he who is in the enclosure of contentment and the garden of accord, where would grief find him?

To the common people this saying takes the form that: when there is no fear, hope, or grief, in their place there would be security (amn). But security is not there either; for security is from not seeing the unseen (ghayb) and turning away from the moment, and this quality belongs to those who have no perception of their humanity and no rest with attribute. And fear, hope, security, and grief all return to the portions of the ego (nafs). When that is annihilated, contentment (rida) becomes the servant's attribute, and when contentment comes, the states become upright in the transferring vision, and from the states aversion appears. Then saintship is disclosed to the heart, and its meaning becomes manifest upon the secret (sirr).

And Abu Uthman al-Maghribi says—may God's mercy be upon him: 'The wali may be famous but is not put to trial (maftun). The wali is famous among people, but is not seduced.'

And another says: 'The wali may be concealed and is not famous. The wali is hidden and not famous.'

The one who guarded against the fame of the wali did so because in his fame there is temptation (fitna). So Abu Uthman said: it is permissible that he be famous, but his fame is without fitna; because fitna is in falsehood. Since the wali is truthful in his saintship, and the name of saintship does not fall upon a liar, and the manifestation of a miracle (karama) at his hand cannot be false, it must be that fitna falls away from his time. And these two sayings return to this difference: that the wali does not know himself to be a wali—for if he knew, he would be famous, and if he did not know, he would be put to trial. And the explanation of that is long.

And in the anecdotes it is [related] that Ibrahim Adham—may God's mercy be upon him—said to a man: 'Do you wish to be a wali among the friends of God, the Exalted?' He said: 'I wish [it].' He said: 'Do not desire anything of this world or the hereafter, empty yourself for God, and turn your face toward Him.' Do not desire this world or the hereafter; for desiring this world is turning away from the Truth to something transient, and desiring the hereafter is turning away to something eternal. When the aversion is to a transient thing, the transient perishes and the aversion becomes nothing. And when the aversion is to an eternal thing, annihilation is not permissible upon subsistence, nor is it permissible upon his aversion. Rather, make yourself free of the two worlds, aiming for the love of the Truth, the Exalted. Do not give this world or the hereafter a path into the heart, and turn the face of the heart toward the Truth. When these qualities exist in you, you are a wali.

And Abu Yazid al-Bastami—may God be pleased with him—was asked: 'Who is the wali?' He said: 'He is the one who is patient under command and prohibition.' The wali is the one who is patient under the command and prohibition of God; because the more the love of the Truth increases in the heart, the more magnified His command is upon the heart, and the farther his body is from His prohibition.

And they also relate from him—may God be pleased with him—that: they said that in such-and-such a city there is a wali among the friends of God, the Mighty and Glorious. I arose and set out to visit him. When I reached his mosque, he came out of his house and, in the mosque, cast spittle from his mouth onto the ground. I turned back from there without giving him greeting. I said: 'The wali must observe the sacred law upon himself, or the Truth must guard him. If this man were a wali, he would not have cast spittle upon the ground of the mosque, out of preserving reverence; or the Truth would have guarded him, for the soundness of his miracle.' That night I saw the Prophet—peace be upon him—in a dream, who said: 'O Bayazid, the blessings of what you did have reached you.' The next day I reached this rank that you see.

And I heard that someone came to Shaykh Abu Sa'id and first placed his left foot into the mosque. He said: 'Turn him back; for whoever does not know how to enter the house of the Friend does not suit us.'

And a group of heretics (malahida)—may God curse them—attached themselves to this perilous path and said: 'Service is needed only until the servant becomes a wali. When he has become a wali, service falls away.' And this is error, and there is no station on the path of the Truth where any pillar of the pillars of service falls away. And in its proper place we will explain this fully, God willing, He alone.