Ayah 3
His words, Exalted is He:
Nay indeed! You will come to know.
Sahl said:
The one who turned away from Me shall come to know that he will not find any like Me. Then he cited the following verse [in the wāfir metre]:
You’ll remember Me if you try out someone other than Me,
And you will realise I was for you a treasure.
Ayah 5
His words, Exalted is He:
No indeed! If you were to know with certainty,
Certainty (yaqīn) is the fire, affirmation on the tongue is the wick (fatīla) and the deed is its oil (zayt).1These all being parts of the lamp. See above Tustarī’s commentary of Āyat al-Nūr (The Light Verse), 24:35. Certainty begins with unveiling (mukāshafa), then [comes] visual beholding (muʿāyana) and witnessing (mushāhada).
Notes
These all being parts of the lamp. See above Tustarī’s commentary of Āyat al-Nūr (The Light Verse), 24:35.
⟦ muāyana ⟧
Ayah 7
His words, Exalted is He:
You will certainly see it with the eye of certainty (ʿayn al-yaqīn).
He said:
The eye of certainty (ʿayn al-yaqīn) is not an aspect of certainty, but it denotes the thing itself and its entirety (kulliyya).1Or perhaps, ‘the wholeness [of its vision]’, as in our translation of this word as it occurred in Tustarī’s commentary on 2:40. On ʿayn al-yaqīn see also IT, pp. xlviii–xlix and n. 209.
Notes
Or perhaps, ‘the wholeness [of its vision]’, as in our translation of this word as it occurred in Tustarī’s commentary on 2:40. On ʿayn al-yaqīn see also IT, pp. xlviii–xlix and n. 209.
⟦ ayn ayn ayn ⟧
Ayah 8
Then on that Day you will assuredly be questioned about the comforts [of the world].
He said:
Not an hour of the night or day passes by the jinn and men among creation that does not contain a right (ḥaqq) which God holds over them, and which it is incumbent on them [to fulfil], whether they know it or are ignorant of it. And He ascertains their states on the Day of Resurrection.
Then he [Sahl] recited: Then on that Day you will assuredly be questioned about the comforts [of the world].