His words, Exalted is He:

…then detailed from One Wise, Informed^{1The first part of this verse reads: Alif Lām Rā, a Book whose verses have been set out clearly.}

That is, He has made clear His promise [of reward] for obedience and His threat of punishment for disobedience and for persistence therein.

His words:

Ask forgiveness of your Lord, and turn to Him in repentance...

He said:

Seeking forgiveness (istighfār) [entails] the response (ijāba), then contrition (ināba), then repentance (tawba), followed by the seeking of forgiveness. The response is [made] outwardly, the turning [to God] is through the heart, and repentance is through constantly seeking forgiveness for one’s deficiency in these.^{1A similar saying is cited in Makkī, Qūt al-qulūb, vol. 1, p. 335.} …He will give you fair enjoyment. He said, ‘Renunciation (tark) of creatures (khalq) and drawing near (iqbāl) to God.’

His words:

He who desires the life of this world and its adornment, We shall repay them their deeds...

Whoever aspires by his actions (ʿamal)^{1This correction was made on the basis of all three MSS (Z515, f. 55b, F638, f. 26b and F3488, f. 228b). In the published edition it is bi-ʿilmihi instead of bi-ʿamalihi in the manuscripts.} to [attain] something other than God, will be granted by God the reward of his actions in this world, but there will remain nothing for him in the Hereafter. For such a person does not devote his actions purely to God, due to his desire for [having] a position in this world. If he but knew that God has placed the world and its people at the service of those who desire the Hereafter, he would not be ostentatious about his acts.

Sahl was asked, ‘What is the hardest thing for the lower self (nafs)?’ He replied, ‘Sincerity (ikhlāṣ).’ He was asked why this was so, and he said, ‘It is because the lower self cannot have a share in it.’ He was asked, ‘Does ostentation (riyāʾ) penetrate the obligatory acts?’ He replied:

Yes, it may even penetrate faith, which is at the root of obligatory acts, so that [faith itself] is falsified and becomes hypocrisy. So how then will the acts be? Anyone whose outward conduct is not found fault with by a single person but whose real state in his inner self God knows to be the contrary, is being ostentatious without a doubt.^{2In other words, a person may appear to be impeccable as regards his outward conduct, but if God knows his inward intentions to be impure, then his conduct amounts to hypocrisy and ostentation.}

His words, Exalted is He:

…and humble themselves before their Lord…

That is, their hearts were humbled before their Lord, this being [an indication of] fear (khashiya). Thus humility is its outward [manifestation] and fear its inner state just as the Messenger ﷺ said, ‘If his heart had become humble his bodily members would have been subdued.’^{1Tirmidhī, Nawādir al-uṣūl, vol. 3, p. 210; vol. 4, p. 24.}

It was related of Moses عليه السلام that he was once castigating the Children of Israel, when a man from amongst them tore his shirt apart. Then God, Exalted is He, inspired Moses to say to him [on behalf of God], ‘Do not tear your garment for Me; tear your heart for Me!’

His words, Exalted is He:

…and the oven gushed forth...^{1According to Thaʿlabī, scholars interpreted the oven gushed forth in different ways. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib stated that it meant, ‘the dawn arose and filled the morning with light’; Ibn ʿAbbās identified the oven as the surface of the earth, since the Arabs call it ‘oven’ (tannūr). Ḥasan, however, said that it was an oven of stone which had belonged to Adam and was then passed on to Noah. Noah was told that when he saw water gushing from the oven, he should embark with his companions. See Thaʿlabī, ʿArāʾis al-majālis, p. 61; trans. Brinner, pp. 95–6. There is a belief among the inhabitants of Iraq that the Masjid of Kufa is the site of the oven, see ʿAlī al-Harawī, Kitāb al-Ishārāt ilā maʿrifat al-ziyārāt (Damascus, 1953), p. 78; English trans. J. W. Meri as A Lonely Wayfarer’s Guide to Pilgrimage (Princeton, 2004), p. 200.}

It was an oven of stone, belonging firstly to Adam and then passing on to Noah, and God made the gushing forth of water from it a sign of His punishment.^{2This is a reference to Noah’s flood.} However, He made the gushing forth of the wellsprings of the heart of Muḥammad ﷺ with the lights of knowledge of different kinds a [sign of] mercy for his nation, because God, Exalted is He, honoured him with this honour. For the light of the prophets عليهم السلام is from his [Muḥammad’s] light, the light of the heavenly dominions is from his light and the light of this world and the Hereafter is from his light.^{3Regarding the light of other prophets being derived from Muḥammad’s light, see also Maybudī, Kashf al-asrār, vol. 10, p. 202.} Whoever truly desires [God’s] love must follow him. God said to His Prophet ﷺ: Say: ‘If you love God, follow me, and God will love you’ [3:31]. Thus has He made love [consist] of following him [the Prophet], and has made the reward for His servants who follow him His love, which is the highest honour (aʿlā al-karāma).

It is related on the authority of Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī that he said: ‘While we were with the Messenger of God ﷺ, he approached us and [turned to] face us as if he wished to tell us something. Then he fell into prostration and we prostrated with him at the beginning of the day until around midday, such that some of us could taste the earth through our noses and we remarked to each other, “The Messenger of God ﷺ has died.” But then he raised his head and said, “God is Great!”, so we said, “God is Great!”. Then someone said to him, “O Messenger of God, we thought you had died and if that had been the case we would not have cared if the sky fell onto the earth.” He said, “My beloved, the Angel Gabriel عليه السلام came to me and said to me, ‘O Muḥammad, your Lord greets you with peace and gives you the choice between a third of your nation entering Paradise and the right to intercession.’ As I hoped for more than a third, I chose intercession and then he rose up and I turned to face you and wanted to inform you of it, but he came to me again and said, ‘Your Lord greets you with peace and gives you the choice between two thirds of your nation entering Paradise and the right to intercession.’ As I hoped for more than two-thirds I chose intercession. Then he rose up and I turned to face you intending to inform you of it, but he came to me again and said to me, ‘O Muḥammad, verily you Lord has granted you intercession for two thirds [of your nation] but has not responded to your request regarding the other third.’ Upon this I prostrated in gratitude to God, Exalted is He, for what He had granted me.”’^{4Al-Ḥākim al-Nīsābūrī, al-Mustadrak ʿalā’l-Ṣaḥīḥayn (Beirut, 1996), vol. 1, pp. 60 and 137; Ibn Ḥanbal, al-Musnad, vol. 4, pp. 404 and 410, and vol. 6, pp. 23, 28 and 29.}

Sahl said:

The aspirations (himam) of mystics reach the veils, where they stop and knock and are given admission. They enter and offer greetings, upon which He confers upon them His support (taʾyīd), and [a list] of exemptions are written for them on a parchment. However, the aspirations of the prophets عليهم السلام circle around the Throne and are bedecked with lights. Their ranks are raised and they are connected with the Compeller (al-Jabbār) who erases their own portions (ḥuẓūẓ),^{5That is, whatever pleasure or ‘share’ for themselves there might be in anything (other than God).} removes their will and makes them [entirely] at His disposal and for Him.

He also said:

The endmost ranks of the veracious (ṣiddīqūn) are the initial states of the prophets عليهم السلام, and indeed our Prophet ﷺ worshipped God, Exalted is He, in all the states (aḥwāl) of the prophets. Furthermore, there is not a leaf among the leaves of the trees in Paradise that does not have the name Muḥammad ﷺ inscribed on it. It is with him that all things were initiated and it is with him that God brought them to a close, and thus he was called the Seal of the Prophets.

His words, Exalted is He:

For Abraham was forbearing, tender-hearted, and penitent.

He [Sahl] said:

God, Exalted is He, gave him [Abraham] a view into the [moments of] activity and repose (ḥaraka wa sukūn) of the natural self (al-nafs al-ṭabīʿiyya),^{1Or, ‘everything that it does’, as explained above, p. 66, n. 17.} but He did not give him a view of His knowledge, for he was either effaced from [the awareness of it] or abiding in it,^{2i.e. subsisting through God’s knowledge, that is, wholly in a state of oneness, beyond the duality that implies a knowing subject and object of knowing. Tustarī is here implying the concept of annihilation and subsistence, for which later Sufis would consistently use the terms fanāʾ and baqāʾ. However here Tustarī is not using these terms but rather the words maḥw and muthbit. See above, p. 47, n. 36 and IT, p. lix, n. 269.} so that neither fear nor hope should leave his soul.^{3It is common for Sufis to emphasise the need for the seeker to maintain a balance between fear and hope, for which the words usually used are khawf and rajāʾ. At a certain stage, the aspirant will continually alternate between these states. See for example Qushayrī, Risāla, p. 319; ʿAbd Allāh al-Anṣārī, Ṣad maydān, text and French translation in Serge de Laugier de Beaurecueil, ‘Une ébauche persane des Manāzil as-Sāʾirīn: Le Kitāb-e Ṣad maydān de ʿAbdullāh Anṣārī’, Mélanges Islamologues d’Archéologie Orientale 2 (1954), p. 61 [30], where Anṣārī describes fear and hope as the two wings of certainty (yaqīn), or as being the two pans of the scales of faith. Both Qushayrī and Anṣārī refer to the tradition that fear and hope are like the two wings of the bird of faith; unless it has both wings it cannot fly. In his commentary on 17:57 below Tustarī also cites a ḥadīth emphasising the need to balance fear and hope.} Thus, when he remembers it [that knowledge], he sighs, and keeps silent regarding the question of the knowledge of his end (khātima), since he has no [power of] choosing (ikhtiyār) with God, Mighty and Majestic is He.

Then Sahl said:

Fear is male and hope is female, and if one iota of the fear of the fearful (khāʾifūn) were divided among the inhabitants of the earth, they would all attain eternal happiness by it.

Then he was asked, ‘If that is so, how much fear do the fearful have?’ He replied, ‘It is like a mountain, a mountain!’

His words, Exalted is He:

…Here are my daughters, they are purer for you...^{1In reference to the Prophet Lot addressing his people.}

That is, they are more legitimate for you if you marry them, than [your] committing abominable acts.^{2In this case, it refers to homosexuality.}

His words, Exalted is He:

…And I do not desire to be different from you in what I forbid you to do...^{1These are the words of the prophet Jethro (known in Islam as Shuʿayb), and they are generally understood to mean ‘I do not wish to be inconsistent by doing myself what I have forbidden you to do.’}

He [Sahl] said:

Every possessor of knowledge (ʿālim) who has been given knowledge of evil but does not avoid it is not a [true] possessor of knowledge. Similarly, whoever has been given knowledge of the acts of obedience but does not practise them is not a [true] possessor of knowledge.

Somebody asked Sahl, ‘O Abū Muḥammad, with whom do you instruct me to sit?’ He replied, ‘With one whose limbs [i.e. bodily actions] will guide you, not his tongue.’

His words, Exalted is He:

…And were it not for your clan (rahṭ), we would have stoned you...

He said: ‘Muḥammad b. Sawwār related on the authority of Abū ʿAmr b. al-ʿAlāʾ that he said, “A rahṭ is a group of people while a nafr, is a group of men among whom there are no women.”^{1According to Lane’s lexicon, both the rahṭ and the nafr would comprise between three and ten men.}

His words, Exalted is He:

And do not incline toward the evildoers…

That is, ‘Do not rely on anything regarding your religion except my Sunna.’