Original content

English translation

After faith, the first thing that becomes obligatory upon the servant is performing purification for the performance of prayer. And that is the purification of the body from impurity (najasat) and major impurity (janabat), and the washing of three limbs and wiping over the head in following the Sacred Law, or tayammum (dry ablution) in the absence of water or in severe illness or fear of illness; as the rulings of this are known.

Then know that purification is of two kinds: one the purification of the body and the other the purification of the heart.

Just as prayer is not valid without purification of the body, gnosis (ma'rifat) is not valid without purification of the heart. So for the purification of the body pure (unmixed) water is needed—troubled or used water will not do—and for the purification of the heart pure monotheism (tawhid) is needed—a mixed and troubled belief will not do. So this group are constantly outwardly in purity and inwardly in monotheism; as the Prophet, peace be upon him, commanded: 'Persist in ablution, and your two guardian angels will love you.' And His saying, the Exalted: 'Indeed God loves those who repent and loves those who purify themselves (Quran 2:222).'

So whoever persists outwardly in purity, the angels love him, and whoever stands inwardly in monotheism, God the Exalted loves him. And the Messenger, God bless him, continually said: 'O God, purify my heart from hypocrisy (nifaq). O my God, cleanse my heart of hypocrisy,' and in no state did hypocrisy take form in his heart; but the vision of his own miracles (karamat) affirmed 'other' to him, and affirming other is hypocrisy in the station of monotheism. Although one atom of the miracles of the shaykhs became the collyrium of the eyes of the disciples, yet in the station of perfection that honoring was a veil; because whatever is 'other,' the vision of it is a bane, whether one sees oneself or another.

And Abu Yazid said, may God be pleased with him: 'The hypocrisy of the gnostics is superior to the sincerity of the disciples.' The hypocrisy of those who have arrived is more excellent than the sincerity of the seekers; meaning that what for the disciple is a station, for the perfected one is a veil. The disciple's aspiration is that he attain miracles, and the perfected one's aspiration is that he attain the honor of nearness.

And in sum, the affirmation of miracles appears as hypocrisy to the people of Truth, because that is the embracing of 'other.' So the bane of the friends of God is the deliverance of all the people of disobedience from disobedience, and the bane of the people of disobedience is the deliverance of all the people of error from error; for if the unbelievers knew that their disobedience is displeasing to God, mighty and majestic, as the disobedient know, all would be delivered from unbelief, and if the disobedient knew that all their dealings are a place of defect, as the friends know, all would be delivered from disobedience and would become pure of all banes.

So the outward purity should conform to the purity of the innermost secret; meaning when he washes his hands he should wash his heart of the love of the world, and when he cleanses himself (istinja) then, just as he sought deliverance from outward impurity, he should inwardly seek deliverance from the love of 'other,' and when he takes water into his mouth he should empty his mouth of the remembrance of 'other,' and when he inhales water (istinshaq) he should forbid himself the scent of lusts, and when he washes his face he should turn away all at once from all familiar things and turn toward the Truth, and when he washes his hands he should sever his disposal from all his own shares, and when he wipes his head he should surrender his affairs to the Truth, and when he washes his feet he should intend to reside upon nothing except the command of God the Exalted, so that both purifications are attained by him; for all the outward matters of the Law are connected to the inward. As faith is the word of the tongue outwardly and affirmation by the heart inwardly, the reality of intention by the heart and the rulings of obedience upon the body. So the way of the purification of the heart is reflection and contemplation upon the bane of the world and seeing that the world is a treacherous abode and a place of annihilation; the heart is not emptied of it save by much striving (mujahadat), and the most important of strivings is guarding the outward proprieties (adab) and adhering to them in all states.

From Ibrahim Khawwas, God's mercy upon him, it comes that he said: 'I want from God the Exalted eternal life in the world, so that all creatures become occupied in the blessing of the world and forget the service of Truth, and I may stand in the affliction of the world upon guarding the proprieties of the Law and keep the Truth in remembrance.'

And it comes that Abu Talib Harami was a resident (mujawir) at Mecca for forty years; in Mecca he did not perform purification—each time he came out of Mecca to purify he would say: 'A land that God the Exalted has attributed to Himself, I dislike that my used water should pour upon that land.'

And from Ibrahim Khawwas, God's mercy upon him, it comes that he had a stomach ailment in the congregational mosque of Ray. In one day and night he performed sixty full ablutions (ghusl). At last his death was in the midst of water.

Abu Ali Rudbari, God's mercy upon him, was for a time afflicted with the affliction of obsessive doubt (waswas) in purification. He said: One day at dawn I went down into the water and remained until the time of sunrise. In the midst of that I became sick at heart and said: 'O my God, well-being (al-afiya).' An unseen voice called out: 'Well-being is in knowledge.'

From Sufyan Thawri, God's mercy upon him, it comes that he had performed purification sixty times for a single prayer, during illness at the time of departing from the world. He said: 'So that when the command comes I may be pure.'

They say Shibli, God's mercy upon him, one day performed purification intending to enter the mosque; he heard from an unseen voice: 'You have washed the outward, where is the purity of the inward?' He said: I turned back and gave away all my property and inheritance, and for a year I wore nothing but that measure of garment by which prayer was permissible. Then I came to Junayd. He said, may God be pleased with him: 'O Abu Bakr, this was a very beneficial purification that you performed. May God keep you ever pure.' He said: After that he was never without purity; to the extent that when he wished to depart from the world his purity was broken. He signaled to a disciple: 'Give me a purification.' The disciple gave him purification and forgot the combing-through (takhlil) of the beard. In that state he had no tongue to speak. He took the hand of that disciple and pointed to his own beard so that he performed the takhlil.

From him it comes that he said: I have never abandoned any propriety of the proprieties of purification without a knot appearing in my inward.

And from Abu Yazid, God's mercy upon him, it comes that he said: Whenever the thought of the world passes over my heart I perform an ablution (taharat), and when the thought of the hereafter passes I perform a full ablution (ghusl); because the world is originated (muhdath), so the thought of it is a minor impurity (hadath), and the hereafter is a place of absence and rest, and with that is major impurity (janabat). So from minor impurity ablution becomes obligatory and from major impurity full ablution.

And from Shibli it comes, God's mercy upon him, that one day he performed purification. When he came into the mosque, it was called to his innermost: 'O Abu Bakr, do you have the purity that with this boldness you wish to come to Our house?' He heard this and turned back. A call came: 'You turn back from Our threshold, where will you go?' He said: he gave a cry. A call came: 'Do you reproach Us?' He stood silent in his place. A call came: 'Do you claim to bear Our affliction?' He cried out: 'The one from whom help is sought against You is You (al-mustaghath bika minka).'

And the shaykhs, may God's mercy be upon them, have much discourse concerning this tale in the verification of purification, and they have commanded the disciples the persistence of outward and inward purity, and their aim was toward the threshold of the Truth. When someone outwardly intends service he should outwardly purify, and when he inwardly intends nearness he should purify the inward. Outward purity is by water, and that of the inward by repentance and returning to the threshold of the Truth, the Exalted.

Now I will bring forth in exposition the ruling of repentance (tawba) and its appurtenances, so that its reality may become known to you, God willing.