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Know that the shaykhs, may God be pleased with them, have much disagreement on this matter. According to one group it is not permissible for the disciple (murid) to sleep except in a state of being overcome, when he can no longer keep sleep away from himself; for the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: 'Sleep is the brother of death.' Thus life is a blessing from God Most High, and death is affliction and tribulation; inevitably the blessing is nobler than the affliction.

And it is related from Shibli, may God's mercy be upon him, that he said: 'The Truth revealed Himself to me and said: Whoever sleeps is heedless, and whoever is heedless is veiled.'

And according to another group it is permissible for the disciple to sleep by choice and to exert himself in sleep after he has fulfilled the duties of the Truth; for his saying, peace be upon him: 'The pen is lifted from three: from the sleeper until he awakens, from the child until he reaches puberty, and from the insane until he regains sanity.' And when the pen is lifted from the sleeper until he awakens, and people are safe from his evil, and his volition is cut off from him, and his soul is deposed from its desires, and the noble recording angels rest from writing, and his tongue is bound from claims and refrains from lying and backbiting and is severed from all sins — 'he possesses for himself neither harm nor benefit, nor death nor life nor resurrection'; as Ibn Abbas, may God be pleased with them both, said: 'Nothing is harder upon Iblis than the sleep of the sinner, for when the sinner sleeps he says: When will he wake and rise so that he may disobey God?'

And this is the disagreement of Junayd with Ali ibn Sahl al-Isfahani, may God's mercy be upon them both, and on this matter there is a very fine and subtle letter that Ali wrote to Junayd, which I have heard. Ali ibn Sahl says that the purpose of this letter is: 'Sleep is heedlessness and rest is turning away. The lover should have neither sleep nor rest by day or night; for if he slumbers, in that state he remains cut off from his goal and lost from himself, heedless of himself and of his time, and cut off from the Truth Most High; as God Most High sent revelation to David, peace be upon him, and said: He lies who claims My love, for when night covers him he sleeps away from Me. He lied who claimed love of Me and, when night came, slept and abandoned My friendship.'

And Junayd, may God's mercy be upon him, says in reply to that letter: 'Our wakefulness is our own doing on the path of the Truth, and our sleep is the act of the Truth upon us. So what comes to us from the Truth without our choice is more complete than what goes from us to the Truth by our choice. And sleep is a gift from God Most High upon the lovers, a bestowal from the Truth Most High upon the friends.'

And this matter is connected to sobriety (sahw) and intoxication (sukr), and I have spoken of it fully; but the wonder is that Junayd, may God be pleased with him, was a master of sobriety, yet here he gave strength to intoxication, and it seems that at that time he was overcome and it was the 'moment' that spoke on his tongue. And it may also be the opposite of this: that sleep itself is the very sobriety and wakefulness the very intoxication; because sleep is an attribute of humanity, and as long as man is under the shadow of his own attributes he is ascribed to sobriety, whereas not-sleeping is an attribute of the Truth, and when man passes beyond his own attribute he is overcome.

And I saw a group of the shaykhs who preferred sleep over wakefulness in agreement with Junayd; because the visions of the saints and the great ones and most of the prophets, God's blessings and pleasure be upon them, are connected to sleep; for his saying, peace be upon him: 'God takes pride in the servant who sleeps in his prostration, and says: Look, My angels, at My servant — his spirit is in the place of intimate discourse and his body is upon the carpet of worship.' And his saying, peace be upon him: 'Whoever sleeps in a state of purity, his spirit is given leave to circumambulate the Throne and prostrate to God Most High. Whoever sleeps in purity, his spirit is granted permission: Go and circumambulate the Throne and prostrate to the Lord, Most High and Holy.'

And in the tales I found that Shah Shuja al-Kirmani was awake for forty years. When one night he slept, he beheld the Lord Most High in a dream; thereafter every night he slept in hope of that. And on this matter Qays al-Amiri says, may God's mercy be upon him: 'Indeed I feign drowsiness though there is no drowsiness in me, Perhaps an image of you may meet my image.'

And I saw a group who preferred wakefulness over sleep in agreement with Ali ibn Sahl, may God's mercy be upon him, because the revelation of the messengers and the miracles of the saints were connected to wakefulness. And one of the shaykhs says, may God's mercy be upon them: 'If there were good in sleep, there would be sleep in Paradise.' If there were any good in sleep, or if it were the cause of love and nearness, there would need to be sleep in Paradise, which is the abode of nearness; since there is no sleep and no veil in Paradise, I knew that sleep is a veil.

And the people of subtleties say: When Adam, peace be upon him, slept in Paradise, Eve appeared from his left side. And all his tribulation was from Eve.

And they also say: When Abraham said to Ishmael: 'O my son, I saw in a dream that I am sacrificing you' (37:102), Ishmael said: 'O father, this is the recompense of one who sleeps away from his beloved; had you not slept, He would not have commanded the sacrifice of the child.' This is the recompense of one who sleeps and becomes heedless of the Friend; had you not slept, they would not have commanded that the son be slain. So your sleep left you without a son, and me without a head. My pain is for one hour, and your pain is forever.

And it is related from Shibli, may God's mercy be upon him, that: every night he set before him a vessel of salt with water and a kohl-stick; when he was about to fall asleep he would draw a stick of it into his eye.

And I, who am Ali ibn Uthman al-Jullabi, saw an elder who, when he finished performing the obligatory duties, would sleep; and I saw Shaykh Ahmad Samarqandi the carpenter, who for forty years had not slept at night and by day slept a little. And the resolution of this matter returns to this: that when death is dearer to someone than life, sleep should be dearer to him than wakefulness; and when he holds life dearer than death, wakefulness should be dearer to him than sleep. So the worth is not in one who is awake by exertion; the worth is in one whom they have awakened without exertion; just as God, Mighty and Majestic, chose the Prophet and raised him to the highest degree — he exerted himself neither in sleep nor in wakefulness — until the command came: 'Arise the night, save a little' (73:2).

And the worth is not in one who sleeps by exertion; the worth is in one whom they cause to sleep; just as God, Mighty and Majestic, chose the People of the Cave and raised them to the highest station and stripped the garment of unbelief from their necks — they exerted themselves neither in sleep nor in wakefulness — until the Truth Most High cast sleep upon them and, without their choice, nurtured them; for His saying, Most High: 'And you would think them awake while they were asleep, and We turned them to the right and to the left' (18:18). And both of these were in a state of choicelessness; and when the servant reaches a degree where his choice is cut off and his hand is severed from all and his aspiration turns away from other-than-God, whether he sleeps or is awake, in whatever state, he is honored and great.

So the condition of sleep for the disciple is that he first regard his sleep as the last of his covenant: he should repent of sins, satisfy his adversaries, make pure ablution, and lie down on his right side facing the qibla, having set his worldly affairs in order; and give thanks for the blessing of Islam, and make it a condition that if he awakens he will not return to sins. So whoever has set his affairs in order by wakefulness fears neither sleep nor death.

And it is well known in the tales that a certain elder used to come to a certain imam who was caught up in the conceit of the soul in regard for rank and cap, and would say: 'O so-and-so, one must die.' And the imam would feel pain in his heart at that speech, thinking: 'This beggar keeps saying this to me every time.' One day he said: I will begin tomorrow. The next day that elder came in. The imam said: 'O so-and-so, one must die.' And...