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English translation

Know that prayer is an act of worship in which, from beginning to end, the disciples find the path of the Truth and their spiritual stations are unveiled within it: just as, for the disciples, repentance stands in place of purification (wudu), attachment to the spiritual master (pir) in place of facing the qibla, standing firm in the struggle against the lower self in place of the standing (qiyam), perpetual remembrance (dhikr) in place of recitation, humility in place of bowing (ruku), knowledge of the self in place of prostration (sujud), the station of intimacy (uns) in place of the testimony (tashahhud), and detachment from the world and emergence from the bondage of the stations in place of the closing salutation (salam). And it was for this reason that when the Messenger (peace be upon him), being cut off from all sources of spiritual drink in the place of perfect bewilderment, became a seeker of longing and formed an attachment to a source of drink, he would say: 'Give us rest, O Bilal, through prayer. O Bilal, gladden us with prayer and the call to prayer.'

The shaykhs (may God be pleased with them) hold differing statements on this matter, each of them at a rank. One group says: 'Prayer is an instrument of presence.' Another group says: 'It is an instrument of absence.' Some who were absent became present in prayer, and some who were present became absent in prayer—just as in that world (the hereafter), in the place of the vision of God, some who behold God, being absent, become present, and some who are present become absent.

And I, who am Ali ibn Uthman al-Jullabi, say: Prayer is a command (amr), neither an instrument of presence nor an instrument of absence; for a command does not become an instrument of anything, since the cause of presence is presence itself, and the cause of absence is absence itself, and the command of God Most High is bound to no cause. For if prayer were the cause and instrument of presence, it would have to render the absent present; and if it were the cause and instrument of absence, the absent would become present by abandoning it. And since neither the absent nor the present has any excuse to abandon it, it is in itself a sovereign authority, not bound to absence or presence.

Thus the people of spiritual struggle (mujahada) and the people of steadfastness (istiqama) perform and enjoin prayer in greater measure—just as the shaykhs enjoin upon their disciples four hundred cycles (rak'ats) of prayer in a day and a night, to accustom the body to worship; and the steadfast likewise perform much prayer, in thanksgiving for their acceptance, remaining in the Divine Presence. Here there are the masters of mystical states, and they are of two kinds: one group whose prayers, in the perfection of their spiritual drink, stand in place of the station of union (jam'), and by it they are gathered; and another group whose prayers, in the severance of their spiritual drink, stand in place of the station of separation (tafriqa), and by it they are dispersed. So those who are gathered in prayer are in prayer day and night, while those who are dispersed perform little beyond the obligatory (fara'id) and customary (sunan) prayers.

And the Messenger (peace be upon him) said: 'The delight of my eye has been placed in prayer.' That is, all my comfort is in prayer; because the spiritual drink of the people of steadfastness lies in prayer. And it was thus: when the Messenger (God bless him and grant him peace) was taken on the Ascension (Mi'raj) and brought to the place of nearness, his self (nafs) was severed from all created being. He reached the degree at which his heart was: the self reached the degree of the heart, the heart the degree of the spirit (jan), and the spirit the place of the inmost secret (sirr); and the secret became annihilated from the degrees, effaced from the stations, and remained traceless of all traces; in contemplation it became absent from contemplation and fled from all otherness. The human draught dissolved, the substance of the lower self was consumed, the natural power became nothing, and the divine witnessings appeared in their own domain. He did not remain from himself by himself; meaning reached meaning, and he was effaced in the unveiling of the Eternal. Without his own choice he chose a longing and said: 'O Lord, do not bring me back to that abode of tribulation, and do not cast me into the bondage of nature and desire.' The command came: 'Our decree is that you return to the world to establish the sacred Law (shari'a), so that We may give you there what We have given you here.' When he returned to the world, whenever his heart longed for that exalted and sublime station, he would say: 'Give us rest, O Bilal, through prayer.' Thus every prayer was for him an ascension and a nearness. People saw him in prayer, while his spirit was in prayer, his heart in supplication, his secret in flight, and his self in melting—until prayer became the delight of his eye; his body was in the realm of dominion (mulk), his spirit in the realm of the heavenly kingdom (malakut); his body was in intimacy and his spirit in the place of intimacy.

And Sahl ibn Abdullah (may God be pleased with him) says: 'The sign of the truthful one is that he has a companion from among the jinn who, when the time of prayer enters, urges him to it and awakens him if he is asleep.' The truthful one is he upon whom God (Mighty and Majestic) has appointed an angel who, when the time of prayer comes, incites the servant to perform the prayer, and if he is asleep, awakens him. This was manifest in Sahl ibn Abdullah (may God be pleased with him); for he had grown feeble with old age, yet when the time of prayer came he became sound and strong, and when he had performed the prayer he would remain as he was.

One of the shaykhs (may God be pleased with him) says: 'The one who prays requires four things: the annihilation of the self (fana' al-nafs), the departure of the lower nature, the purity of the inmost secret, and the perfection of contemplation.' The one who prays cannot do without the annihilation of the self, and that comes only through the gathering of spiritual aspiration (himma); when aspiration is gathered, the sovereignty of the self comes to an end, for its existence is dispersion and cannot be brought under the term 'gathering.' And the departure of the lower nature comes only through the affirmation of the Divine Majesty (jalal); for the Majesty of the Truth is the passing-away of all otherness. And the purity of the secret comes only through love (mahabba), and the perfection of contemplation comes only through the purity of the secret.

It is related that Husayn ibn Mansur (al-Hallaj) used to perform four hundred cycles of prayer in a day and a night and held it as an obligation upon himself. They said to him: 'In the spiritual rank that you occupy, why so much toil?' He said: 'This toil and this ease leave their mark upon your state; but the true friends of God are annihilated in their attributes—neither toil nor ease leaves a mark upon them. Take care not to call laziness attainment, nor greed seeking.'

One said: I was praying behind Dhu'l-Nun (al-Misri). When he began the takbir and said 'God is greatest,' he fell down senseless, like a body in which there is no sensation.

And when Junayd (may God be pleased with him) grew old, he neglected none of the litanies (awrad) of his youth. They said to him: 'O Shaykh, you have grown weak; give up some of the supererogatory prayers (nawafil).' He said: 'These are the very things through which, in the beginning—after God's decree—I attained all that I have attained. It would be absurd that I should abandon them at the end.'

And it is well known that the angels are perpetually in obedience and worship: their spiritual drink is from obedience and their food from worship, for they are spiritual beings and have no lower self. And that which restrains and hinders the servant from obeying God is the self that commands to evil (al-nafs al-ammara); the more it is subdued, the easier the path of servanthood becomes. And when the self is annihilated, its food and drink become worship—as with the angels—if the annihilation of the self is truly realized.

And Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak says: I saw a woman among the devout worshippers whom, during prayer, a scorpion stung forty times, yet no change appeared in her. When she had finished her prayer, I said to her: 'O mother, why did you not drive that scorpion away from yourself?' She said: 'O my son, you are a child; how could it be proper for me, in the midst of the work of the Truth, to attend to my own affair?'

And Abu'l-Khayr al-Aqta' had gangrene fallen into his foot. The physicians said: 'This foot must be amputated.' He did not consent to it. His disciples said: 'His foot must be cut off during his prayer, for he himself will be unaware.' They did so, and when he finished his prayer he found his foot amputated.

And it is related of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may God be pleased with him) that when he performed the night prayer he recited softly, while Umar (may God be pleased with him) recited loudly. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: 'O Abu Bakr, why do you recite softly?' He said: 'The One whom I address hears me, whether I recite softly or loudly.' And he said to Umar: 'Why do you recite loudly?' He said: 'I awaken the sleeper and drive away the devil.' The Messenger (peace be upon him) said: 'It is incumbent upon you, O Abu Bakr, that you recite somewhat louder,' and he told Umar, 'Recite somewhat softer'—for the sake of breaking each one's habit.

So some of this group perform the obligatory prayers openly and the supererogatory ones in secret, desiring thereby to be freed from ostentation (riya); for when someone practices ostentation in his devotions, people grow suspicious of him and say: 'Even if we do not see the devotion, other people will see it, and that too would be ostentation.' And another group perform both obligatory and supererogatory prayers openly, saying: 'Ostentation is false, and obedience...'