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The masters of this path and the entire people of the Sunna and the community have agreed that: 'It is permissible that an act contrary to the ordinary course of nature, like a miracle (mu'jiza) or a charism (karama), should appear at the hands of an unbeliever, provided that the causes of doubt are cut off from its manifestation, that no one is left in doubt about his falsehood, and that the appearance of that act itself testifies to his falsehood.' This was like Pharaoh, who lived four hundred years during which he had no illness, and the water would rise up behind him, and when he stopped the water stopped, and when he went on the water went on, and likewise other signs. Yet no rational person fell into doubt, for he was a liar and an unbeliever in his claim to godhood; because rational people are compelled to know that God Most High is neither corporeal nor composite, and even if many such acts had appeared through him, no doubt about the falsehood of his claim would remain for the rational person. And what they relate of Shaddad, lord of Iram, and of Nimrod is of the same kind—reason about them by this same analogy.

And like this, the truthful Informer (the Prophet) told us that at the end of time the Dajjal (Antichrist) will come forth and claim godhood, and two mountains, one on his right and one on his left, will move with him. The one on the right is a place of bliss, and the one on the left is a place of torment and punishment. He will summon the people to himself, and whoever does not believe in him he will punish. God Most High, by reason of his misguidance, will cause the people to die and bring them back to life, and He will have spread out unrestricted command in the world. Even if a hundred times as many acts contrary to the ordinary course appeared through him, no doubt would fall upon the rational person, because the rational person knows of necessity that God Most High does not sit upon a donkey and is not subject to change or variation; and this is judged to be istidraj (a gradual leading-on to ruin).

And it is also permissible that at the hands of one who falsely claims prophethood an act contrary to the ordinary course should appear, for it would be a proof of his falsehood, just as at the hands of a truthful one it is a sign of his truthfulness. But it is not permissible that an act should appear which casts anyone into doubt; for if the establishing of doubt were permissible, the truthful could not be distinguished from the liar, and then the seeker would not know whom to believe and whom to disbelieve, and the whole ruling of prophethood would be nullified.

And it is permissible that at the hands of one who claims sainthood (walaya) something of the kind of a charism should appear, provided that he is sound in religion, even if his conduct is not good; because by it he establishes the truthfulness of the Messenger and manifests the grace of the Truth, and does not attribute that act to his own power and strength. One who is truthful in the foundation of faith without proof is in every state truthful in belief in sainthood by proof; for in the description of his belief it is by the belief of the saint, even if his deeds do not accord with belief. The claim of sainthood is not contradicted by his abandoning [good] conduct—just as the claim of faith is not. In truth, charism and sainthood are of the gifts of the Truth, not of the acquisitions of the servant; thus acquisition does not become the cause of the reality of guidance.

And we have said before that the saints are not infallible, for infallibility ('isma) is not a condition for them; but they are preserved (mahfuz) from any affliction whose existence would entail the negation of sainthood, and the negation of sainthood—God forbid—is bound up with apostasy, not with [ordinary] disobedience. This is the doctrine of Muhammad ibn Ali, and from him of Junayd and Abu'l-Hasan al-Nuri and al-Harith al-Muhasibi and others besides them of the people of realities, may God's mercy be upon them.

But the people of [religious] practice, such as Sahl ibn Abdallah and Abu Sulayman al-Darani and Hamdun al-Qassar and others besides them, may God's mercy be upon them, hold that the condition of sainthood rests upon perseverance in obedience. When a grave sin passes over the heart of the saint, he is deposed from sainthood. And we said before that, by the consensus of the community, the servant does not go out of faith by a grave sin, and no sainthood is more excellent than another. Since the sainthood of gnosis (ma'rifa), which is the root of all charisms, is not removed by disobedience, it is impossible that what is less than it in nobility and honor should be removed.

This dispute among the masters has grown long. My purpose here is not to establish the whole of it; but the most important thing in the knowledge of this chapter is that you know with certain knowledge in what state this charism becomes manifest upon the saint—in the state of sobriety (sahw) or in the state of intoxication (sukr), in overpowering or in stability? The explanation of sobriety and intoxication I have brought in full in mentioning the doctrine of Abu Yazid, may God's mercy be upon him.

Abu Yazid, Dhu'l-Nun al-Misri, Muhammad ibn Khafif, Husayn ibn Mansur, and Yahya ibn Mu'adh, may God be pleased with them, and a group [of others], hold that the manifestation of a charism upon a saint is only in the state of his intoxication, and what is in the state of sobriety is the miracle of the prophets. This is a clear distinction between the miracle and charisms in their doctrine; for the manifestation of charisms upon the saint is in his intoxication, when he is overpowered and has no concern for [making a] claim, whereas the manifestation of the miracle upon the prophet is in the state of his sobriety, when he issues a challenge and calls the people to oppose it. The possessor of the miracle is given the choice between the two sides of the ruling: one, manifesting it where he wishes; the other, concealing it. But the saints do not have this; for there are times when they wish and it does not occur, and times when they do not wish and it occurs, because the saint is not a summoner [to himself] so that his state should be attributed to the subsistence of attributes; rather he is concealed and his state is joined to the passing-away (fana) of the attribute. Thus one is the possessor of the [revealed] Law (shar') and the other the possessor of concealment (satr). So the charism must not become manifest except in the state of absence and bewilderment, and all his acting is by the acting of the Truth; and one whose moment is this, all his speech is by the composition of the Truth—because the soundness of the attribute of humanity belongs either to one who is heedless (lahi), or to one who is forgetful (sahi), or to one who is absolutely divine. Now the prophets are neither heedless nor forgetful, and none but the prophets are absolutely divine. There remains here a wavering and variegation without any realization and stability; so long as they abide with themselves in maintaining the state of humanity they are veiled, and when they are unveiled they become dazed and bewildered in the reality of the Truth's kindnesses.

The manifestation of a charism comes about correctly only in the state of unveiling (kashf), which is the degree of nearness, and that is a time when stone and gold are equal in the sight of his heart; and this state does not become an attribute of any human except the prophets, save that in others it is a loan ('ariyat), and that is only in the state of intoxication. Just as Haritha one day was severed from the world and in the world was unveiled to the hereafter, and said, may God be pleased with him: 'My soul turned away from the world, so that its stone, its gold, its silver, and its clod became equal to me.' The next day they saw him working upon a date-palm. They said: 'What are you doing, O Haritha?' He said: 'Seeking a sustenance from which there is no escape.' So at that hour he was thus, and at this hour he is thus.

Thus the station of the sobriety of the saints is the degree of the common folk, and the station of their intoxication is the degree of the prophets. Whenever they return to themselves, they know themselves to be one of the individuals of mankind, and when they become absent from themselves and return to the Truth, their intoxication becomes their doctrine and they are made pure for the Truth. The whole world, in their regard, becomes like gold, as Shibli says, may God's mercy be upon him:

'Gold wherever we go, and pearls wherever we turn, and silver in the open space.'

And I heard from the master, the imam Abu'l-Qasim al-Qushayri, may God be pleased with him, that he said: Once I asked al-Tabarani about the beginning of his state. He said: 'Once I needed a stone from the river of Sarakhs; every stone I picked up became a jewel, so I threw it back down.' And this was because both were equal in his sight—nay, rather the jewel was still more contemptible, for his desire was for a stone and not for a jewel.

And I heard from Khwaja Imam Hizami at Sarakhs, who said: I was a child and had gone to a quarter, one of the quarters of the garden-district, seeking mulberry leaves to feed silkworms. I climbed a tree at midday and was striking its branches. Shaykh Abu'l-Fadl Hasan, may God be pleased with him, passed by that lane while I was on the tree; he did not see me. I had no doubt that he was absent from himself and present in heart with the Truth. In [a state of] expansion (inbisat) he raised his head and said: 'O Lord, it is more than a year that you have not given me a coin to shave the hair of my head—do you do this with your friends?' He said: at that very moment all the leaves and roots of the trees had turned to gold. Then he said: 'A wondrous affair! All our allusion is a turning-away...'