Original content

English translation

Know that these two terms are used among this community and current in their expressions, and common in the sciences and discourse of the verifiers; and the seeker cannot do without knowledge of this. This chapter is not the place to establish these definitions; yet there is no escape from making this known in this place, and God knows best.

Know that maqam, with the mim raised (maqam), means 'residing,' and with the mim voweled with fatha (muqam) it is the place of the servant's residing upon the path of Truth, and his fulfilling and observing that station until he attains its perfection, as far as it can take form in a human being. And it is not permissible that he pass beyond his station without having fulfilled its due; just as the beginning of the stations is repentance (tawba), then turning back (inaba), then abstinence (zuhd), then trust (tawakkul), and the like. And it is not permissible that without repentance he claim turning back, and without turning back he claim abstinence, and without abstinence he claim trust.

And God Most High informed us of Gabriel, peace be upon him, that he said: 'And there is none among us but has a known station' (al-Saffat 164). There is none of us but has a known station.

And the state (hal), on the other hand, is a meaning that is joined to the heart from the Truth, without one's being able to repel it by one's own effort when it comes, or to draw it by one's own contrivance when it goes.

So the station is an expression of the path of the seeker, and his standing-place in the field of striving, and his rank according to what he has acquired in the presence of the Truth, Most High. And the state is an expression of the bounty of God Most High and His grace to the heart of the servant, without any connection to his striving; because the station is among works and the state among graces, and the station is among things earned and the state among things bestowed. So the possessor of a station stands by his own striving, while the possessor of a state is annihilated from himself, his standing being by a state that the Truth Most High creates within him.

And the masters, may God be pleased with them, differ here:

One group holds the permanence of the state permissible, and another group does not; and Harith al-Muhasibi, may God be pleased with him, holds the permanence of the state permissible and says: love, longing, contraction (qabd), and expansion (bast) are all states. If their permanence were not permissible, the lover would not be a lover nor the longing one a longing one; and until this state becomes a quality of the servant, its name does not apply to him. For this reason he counts contentment (rida) among the states. And the allusion of what Abu Uthman said points to this: 'For forty years God has not established me in a state that I found hateful.'

And another group does not hold the subsistence and permanence of the state permissible; as Junayd, may God be pleased with him, says: 'States are like lightning flashes; if they subsist, they are the talk of the lower self (nafs).' States are like lightning that appears and does not last, and what subsists is not a state, for it would be the talk of the lower self and the caprice of nature.

And a group said concerning this meaning: 'States are according to their name; that is, just as they alight upon the heart, so they pass away.' The state is like its name; that is, in the moment of alighting it is joined to the heart, and in the next moment it vanishes. And whatever subsists becomes a quality, and the standing of a quality is upon the thing qualified, and the thing qualified must be more perfect than its quality — and this would be impossible.

And I brought this distinction so that in the expressions of this community and in this book, wherever you see 'state' and 'station,' you may know what is intended by them.

And in sum, know that contentment (rida) is the utmost of the stations and the beginning of the states, and it is a place one side of which is in earning and striving, and one side in love and its boiling over, and above it there is no station, and the cessation of striving is in it. So its beginning is from earnings and its end from bestowals. Now it may be that whoever at the beginning saw his contentment through himself said it is a station, and whoever at the end saw his contentment through the Truth said it is a state.

This is the ruling of al-Muhasibi's doctrine concerning the principles of Sufism; but concerning practices he has made no dispute, except that he would restrain the disciples from expressions and practices that were suspected of error, even though their basis was sound. As one day Abu Hamza al-Baghdadi, who was his disciple, came in to him — he was a man given to listening (sama') and a possessor of state — and Harith had a bird that would call out. At that moment it gave a call, and Abu Hamza cried out. Harith rose and took up a knife and said: 'You have disbelieved,' and made to kill him. The disciples fell at the shaykh's feet and separated him from him. He said to Abu Hamza: 'Submit, O outcast.' They said: 'O Shaykh, we all know him to be among the elect of the friends of God, and we count him among the people of divine unity. Whence is the shaykh's hesitation concerning him?' Harith said: 'I have no hesitation concerning him, and I see in him nothing but goodness, and I know his inward nothing but immersed in divine unity (tawhid). But why should he do something that resembles the acts of the incarnationists (hululiyan), so that there be in his practice a sign of their doctrine? A bird that has no reason and calls out according to habit and its own caprice — why should he fall into spiritual audition (sama') with the Truth through it? For the Truth Most High is not divisible, and His friends have no rest except in His speech, and no moment or state except with His peace. He has no descent or incarnation into things, and union and mixture with the Eternal are not permissible.'

When Abu Hamza saw the subtlety of the shaykh's insight, he said: 'O Shaykh, although I was sound in the principle, yet since my act resembled the act of a certain people, I repented and turned back.'

And of this kind he has many instances, and I have abridged. And this is a most praiseworthy path for the way of safety, without shattering, in sobriety (sahw) at its perfection. And the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: 'Whoever believes in God and the Last Day, let him not stand in the places of suspicion.' Whoever believes in God and in the Day of Resurrection, let him not stand in the places of accusation.

And I, who am Ali ibn Uthman al-Jullabi, ever ask of God Most High that He grant me such a practice; and this does not accord with the company of the pretenders of the age, for if you do not conform to their disobedience and hypocrisy, they become your enemy. So we take refuge in God from ignorance and error.