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English translation

It is related from Junayd, may God be pleased with him, that he said: 'Tawhid (declaring divine unity) is the separation of the Eternal (al-Qadim) from the temporally originated (al-hadath).'

Tawhid is to distinguish the Eternal from the originated; that is, that you do not regard the Eternal as the locus of originated things, nor the originated things as the locus of the Eternal, and that you make it known to yourself that God Most High is Eternal and you, of necessity, are a created being. Nothing of your kind attaches to Him, and nothing of His attributes mingles in you, for the Eternal has no homogeneity with the originated; because the Eternal was before the existence of originated things, and since before their existence the Eternal had no need of the originated in order to come into being, so too after their existence He has no need of them. This stands in opposition to those who assert the eternity of spirits, whose mention has already passed. And whoever declares the Eternal to descend into the originated, or supposes the originated to be connected with the Eternal, leaves no proof for the temporal origination of the world — and this the Dahriyya (materialists) have professed. So we take refuge in God from evil belief.

And in all the movements of originated things there is Tawhid, and a witness to the power of God, mighty and glorious, and an affirmation of His eternity.

In everything He has a sign indicating that He is One.

But the servant is heedless of all this, for he desires something other than Him, or takes rest in something other than the remembrance of Him. Since He needs no partner in bringing to nothing and bringing into being, it is impossible that He should need a partner in nurturing.

Husayn ibn Mansur (al-Hallaj), may God's mercy be upon him, says: 'The first step in Tawhid is the annihilation of tafrid (individuation).'

The first step in Tawhid is the annihilation of tafrid; because tafrid is the judgment that someone is set apart from afflictions, while Tawhid is the judgment of the oneness (wahdaniyya) of a thing. So in individuation the affirmation of another is admissible, and none but Him may be described by this attribute; whereas in oneness the affirmation of another is not admissible, and none but the Truth (Haqq) may be described by this attribute. Thus tafrid is a shared expression, while Tawhid negates any partnership. The first step of Tawhid is the negation of any partner, and the removal of admixture (mizaj) from the path (minhaj); for admixture on the path is like seeking the path by a lamp (in broad daylight).

Al-Husri, may God's mercy be upon him, says: 'Our principles in Tawhid are five things: the removal of the originated, the affirmation of the Eternal, the abandonment of homelands, separation from brethren, and the forgetting of what one knows and what one is ignorant of.'

Our principles in Tawhid are five things: first, the removal of the originated and the affirmation of the Eternal; the abandonment of homeland; separation from the brethren; and the forgetting of what one knows and does not know. Now, the removal of the originated is the negation of originated things from association with Tawhid, and the impossibility of originated events belonging to His decreeing Essence, exalted be His majesty. The affirmation of the Eternal is the belief in the everlasting existence of God, may He be pleased. By the abandonment of homelands is meant severance from all the familiar objects of the soul, the resting-places of the heart, and the dwelling-places of the natural disposition; and, for the disciples, migration from the customs of the world; and, for the one who has attained his goal, migration from lofty stations, splendid states, and exalted acts of grace. By separation from the brethren is meant turning away from the company of creatures and turning toward the company of the Truth; for every thought that passes over one bearing the reflection of another is a veil and an affliction, and to whatever measure a thought concerning any but the One passes over him, he remains veiled from Tawhid — because, by the agreement of the communities, Tawhid is the gathering of aspirations, and taking rest with another is the mark of the dispersion of aspiration. By the forgetting of knowledge and ignorance in Tawhid is meant that the knowledge of creatures is concerned with the 'how' and the manner, or with genus or nature; and whatever the knowledge of creatures affirms in the Tawhid of the Truth, Tawhid negates it; and whatever their ignorance affirms is contrary to their knowledge — because ignorance is not Tawhid, and knowledge, by verification, arrives at Tawhid only through the negation of interference (tasarruf). In knowledge and ignorance there is nothing but interference: the one upon insight and the other upon heedlessness.

One of the shaykhs, may God's mercy be upon him, says: I was in the assembly of al-Husri. I fell asleep, and I saw two angels who descended from heaven to earth and for a while listened to his words. One said to the other: 'What this man is saying is knowledge about Tawhid, not the very essence of Tawhid.' When I awoke, he was expounding upon Tawhid. He turned his face to me and said: 'O so-and-so, of Tawhid nothing can be spoken but the knowledge of it.'

It is related from Junayd, may God be pleased with him: 'Tawhid is that the servant become a phantom before God, upon whom the dispositions of His governance run in the courses of the rulings of His power, in the deep seas of His Tawhid, through annihilation from his own self, from creatures' calling upon him, and from his responding to them, by the realities of the existence of His oneness in the reality of nearness to Him, through the passing away of his sense-perception and his motion by the standing of the Truth for him in whatever He wills of him — and that is that the end of the servant return to his beginning, so that he becomes as he was before he came to be.'

The reality of Tawhid is that the servant becomes like a mere figure amid the flow of the interference of the Truth's decree within the courses of His power, empty of his own choice and will, in the sea of His Tawhid, through the annihilation of his own self, the severance of creatures' calling from him, and the effacement of his responding to the call of creatures, by the reality of the gnosis of oneness, in the station of nearness, through the passing away of his motion and sense-perception and the standing of the Truth for him in whatever is His will concerning him — until, in this station, the servant's end becomes like his beginning, and he becomes such as he was in the beginning, before he came to be.

What is meant by all this is that the one who declares unity retains no choice within the choice of the Truth, and has no beholding of himself within the oneness of the Truth; because in the station of nearness his self is annihilated and his sense-perception is taken away. The rulings of the Truth run upon him as the Truth wills, through the passing away of the servant's interference; until he becomes like a mote that was in pre-eternity within the Truth in the covenant of Tawhid — where the speaker was the Truth and the answerer was the Truth, and the mote was but its mark. And whoever is thus, creatures find no rest with him such that they might call him to anything, and he finds no intimacy with anyone such that he might answer their call. The allusion in this is to the annihilation of attribute and the soundness of surrender in the state of overpowering (qahr), the unveiling of majesty that annihilates the servant from his own attributes, so that he becomes an instrument and a subtle substance — such that if it strikes the liver of Hamza it passes through without interference, and if it falls upon the back of Musaylima it severs it without discrimination. In sum, when his person is annihilated from all, it becomes the depository of the secrets of the Truth; so that his speech is referred to Him, his act is attributed to Him, and his attribute subsists through Him — while the ruling of the Sacred Law remains upon him for the establishing of the proof, and he is annihilated from beholding all.

This is the attribute of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, who on the night of the Ascension (Mi'raj) was brought to the station of nearness. The station had distance, but the nearness was without distance; and his state became far removed from the kind known to creatures and cut off from imaginations — to such a degree that his own being lost him and he lost himself. In the annihilation of attribute he became bewildered, without attribute; the ordering of his natures and the balance of his temperament were thrown into disorder. His soul reached the level of the heart, his heart the degree of the spirit, his spirit the rank of the inmost secret (sirr), and the secret the attribute of nearness. In all he became separated from all. He desired that his structure should collapse and that his person should depart. But the Truth's aim in that was the establishing of the proof; the command came: 'Remain in your state.' By that he found strength, and that strength became his strength — so that from non-being through himself, being through the Truth appeared, until he returned and said: 'I am not like any of you; I spend the night with my Lord, who feeds me and gives me drink. I am not like one of you, for I have from the Truth a food and a drink by which my life and my subsistence are sustained'; as he said, peace be upon him: 'I have a time with God in which no angel brought near nor prophet sent can be contained with me.'

And it is related from Sahl ibn Abdullah, may God be pleased with him: 'The Essence of God is described by knowledge, not apprehended by encompassing, nor seen by the eyes in this abode of the world; it is existent through the realities of faith, without limit, without encompassing, and without indwelling. The eyes shall behold Him in the Hereafter, manifest in His kingdom and His power. He has veiled creatures from knowing the innermost reality of His Essence, and He has guided them to Himself through His signs; hearts know Him, and intellects do not apprehend Him; the believers gaze upon Him with their eyes without encompassing and without apprehending any end.'

Tawhid is that you know that the Essence of God Most High is described by knowledge, without its being apprehendable by sense-perception, or seeable in this world by the eye; and that by the reality of faith it is existent without limit or end, without apprehension or coming-and-going; and it is manifest in His own kingdom through His craft and His power. Creatures are veiled from knowing the innermost reality of His Essence, and He, through His manifestation... [text continues]