He was asked about His words, Exalted is He:

…And He creates what you do not know [about].

He said:

Regarding the outward meaning of the verse, it is as Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهم related, that the Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Among the things which God, Exalted is He, has created is an earth (arḍ) made from white pearl with a length of a thousand years and a width of a thousand years.^{1Presumably this indicates that it would take a thousand years to go from one end to the other and the same time to go across it.} There is a mountain on it made of red ruby and that planet is surrounded by a sky. On it there is an angel who has filled its space from East to West, who has 660,000 heads, each head having 660,000 mouths and each mouth having 660,000 tongues, and each of these tongues praises God, Exalted is He, 660,000 times a day. When the Day of Resurrection arrives he [that angel] will behold the greatness (ʿaẓama) of God, Exalted is He, and say: “By Your might and majesty, I have not worshipped You as You deserve to be worshipped.”’ God has said, Exalted is He: And He creates what you do not know [about]. The inner meaning of these words [is that] God, glorified be His majesty, has taught you to restrain yourself when your intellect (ʿaql) fails to grasp the effects of [His] creation and the multifarious dimensions of [His] knowledge (funūn al-ʿilm), so that it [your intellect] does not meet them with denial (inkār),^{2According to MS F638, f. 30a it is an tuqābilahu inkāran meaning that you should restrain yourself from meeting this with denial.} for He has created what you do not know about, neither you nor anyone else among His creatures, except those whom God has taught, Mighty and Majestic is He.^{3See above the commentary on 3:7 regarding different kinds of knowledge granted by God.}

He was asked about His words:

…and all kinds of fruit... [And He disposed for you the night and the day and the sun and the moon and the stars.] Surely in that there are signs…

He said:

This is because the crops [mentioned] are of one species [i.e. fruit], whereas the night and day are two kinds, and likewise are the sun and moon. And He said: …signs in this for people who understand (yaʿqilūn) [16:12]. Know that God, Exalted is He, when He wished to make His knowledge apparent, deposited His knowledge in the intellect (ʿaql). Then He ruled that no one could have access to any of it [His knowledge] except through the intellect. Thus whoever has been deprived of his intellect has also been deprived of knowledge.^{1Tustarī’s teachings concerning knowledge and the role of the intellect are discussed above in IT, pp. xlivff.}

His words:

They are dead, not living, and they are not aware…

Sahl said:

God, Exalted is He, created all creatures. Then He brought them to life by the name (ism) of life.^{1Here Tustarī is alluding to the power of the divine word, as when it is said in 36:82, His command, when He wills a thing, is just to say to it ‘Be’ and it is. There may also be in this comment an indication of the connection between the knowledge of things and their names, as is already indicated in 2:31: And He taught Adam the names of things, all of them, which commentators have usually understood to mean ‘He was taught the knowledge of things’, and also the connection between knowledge and life, as indicated by the next sentence. The power of the divine word is also discussed in Tustarī’s Risālat al-ḥurūf.} Then He caused them to die by their ignorance of themselves. Those who live through knowledge are the living; otherwise they are dead through their ignorance.

His words, Exalted is He:

And verily We sent forth among every community a messenger, [to say] ‘Worship God…’

He said:

Worship (ʿibāda) is the adornment of mystics (ʿārifūn). Furthermore, the best that one who is knowledgeable can do in the fields of worship [or servanthood, ʿubūdiyya] and service (khidma) is to give up that which is his [right] (mā lahu) for that which is his duty (mā ʿalayhi).^{1Compare Tustarī’s recommendation that we should give up that which is rightfully ours as well as that which is not, in his commentary on 9:112.}

His words:

Whatever grace you have, it is from God. Then when misfortune befalls you, to Him you cry for help.

Sahl said:

If God put to task the bearers of the Throne, and the angels below them [in rank], along with the prophets and messengers, concerning something they had disregarded among the blessings that He had bestowed upon them, He would punish [even] them for that, for God is not unjust.

Sahl was asked: ‘What does God do with His servant when He loves him?’ He said:

He inspires him to seek forgiveness for his shortcomings and show gratitude for blessings he has received. Truly, they desired with a [wholehearted] intention that they should come to know of the blessings that God, Exalted is He, had bestowed on them, that [their state of] gratitude might endure, and the increase [resulting from that gratitude] might continue.^{1See the comment on 14:7 above.}

…Then when misfortune befalls you, to Him you cry for help.

That is, to Him alone do you call in times of deprivation (faqr) and affliction (balāʾ). [Moreover] this may [itself] be a blessing from God upon you, for if He so wished He could have afflicted you with something severer than that, so in comparison to a severer affliction, it is a blessing, for [under a severer affliction] they would recoil in fear from it, and neither exercise patience (ṣabr) nor show gratitude.

It came to our knowledge that God, Exalted is He, revealed to David عليه السلام the words: ‘Be patient with the provisions (maʾūna) you have [from Me], and you will be granted help (maʿūna) from Me’.^{2Thus patience, which is often associated with gratitude, also brings increase. Again, see above, the commentary on 14:7 regarding gratitude’s increase.}

His words, Exalted is He:

…So enjoy, for soon you will know.

He said:

This is a promise from God, Exalted is He, to the disbelievers of Mecca that for their denial, in spite of the blessings that God had bestowed upon them in this world, they will come to know the penalty for that [disbelief] in the Hereafter. This verse is also a severe warning to those who are heedless (ghāfilūn), in accordance with the saying of the Messenger ﷺ: ‘Whoever gratifies his insatiable desire (nahma) in this world, will, in the Hereafter, be separated from [the object of] his desire. For that which was legitimate, there will be an accounting (ḥisāb), and for that which was forbidden, there will be punishment (ʿiqāb).’^{1Bayhaqī, Shuʿab al-īmān, vol. 7, p. 125.} Indeed, the believers are made to account for what they enjoyed legitimately in excess of their needs. Whoever takes of what is legitimate [only] that which suffices him, falls under the category mentioned by the Prophet ﷺ when he said, ‘Worldliness is not in the consumption of a piece of dry bread by which a person abates his hunger, a garment by which he covers his private parts and carries out what is legally binding upon him, or a house which shelters him from the sun and cold in winter.’^{2Mundhirī, al-Targhīb, vol. 4, p. 77, (with different wording); Ṭabarānī, al-Muʿjam al-awsaṭ, vol. 9, p. 136.}

His words, Exalted is He:

And of the fruits of date-palms and vines from which you draw wine and goodly provision.

He [Abū Bakr al-Sijzī] said, ‘This verse was abrogated by the verse on wine (khamr).^{1The verse concerning intoxicating drinks is 2:219.} Ibrāhīm^{2It is not clear who the person named as Ibrāhīm is, though the editor of the Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya edition states that this is Ibrāhīm b. Adham (d. 161/777), for which he gives no evidence.} and Shuʿabī also said this.’ Sahl said:

As far as I am concerned, wine (sakar)^{3The word sakar, derived from the root s-k-r meaning to become intoxicated, can mean an intoxicant, or by extension, wine.} is anything which intoxicates the lower self (nafs) in this world, and for which it [the nafs] does not believe it will be punished in the Hereafter.

Abū Ḥamza al-Ṣūfī^{4Böwering has identified him as Abū Ḥamza Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm al-Bazzāz (d. 289/902), a Sufi of Baghdad.} visited Sahl and he asked him: ‘Where have you been, Abū Ḥamza?’ He replied, ‘We were with such and such a person who informed us that intoxication is of four kinds.’ He said, ‘Tell me what they are.’ [Abū Ḥamza continued], ‘The intoxication of drink, the intoxication of youth, the intoxication of wealth and the intoxication of authority.’ Sahl replied, ‘There are two kinds of intoxication which he did not inform you about.’ He asked, ‘What are they?’ and Sahl answered, ‘The intoxication of the scholar who loves this world, and the intoxication of the worshipper who loves to be noticed.’

His words, Exalted is He:

…And made for you out of your mates, children (banūn) and grandchildren (ḥafada)…

He said:

The following saying is transmitted from Ibn Masʿūd رضي الله عنه: ‘Ḥafada are the in-laws.’ According to Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهم, children (banūn) refers to the children of the children, and grandchildren (ḥafada) refers to those among them who help their father in his work.

According to Ḍaḥḥāk, ḥafada are the servants devoted to God in willing compliance (ījāban), without their asking of anyone except Him.

His words:

…We shall add torment upon torment …

He said:

Jābir b. ʿAbd Allāh رضي الله عنه related that he asked the Prophet ﷺ about what this increase [in torment] was. The Messenger of God ﷺ replied: ‘The increase is in five rivers which come out from beneath the Throne and fall upon the heads of those among the people of the Hellfire who reject God and His Messenger. Three of them are proportionate to the night in measure, and two of them proportionate to the day in measure. They flow with fire forever, as long as they abide there.’

His words, Exalted is He:

Indeed, God enjoins justice (ʿadl) and benevolence (iḥsān) and giving to kinsfolk, (and He forbids you indecency (faḥshāʾ), abomination (munkar) and aggression. He admonishes you so that you may take heed).

He said:

Justice is professing ‘There is no god but God and Muḥammad is the Messenger of God’, and adhering to the Sunna of His Prophet ﷺ; and benevolence is that you do good to each other; and giving to kinsfolk means that whoever God has provided for in abundance should give to those among his relatives for whom God has made him responsible; indecency (faḥshāʾ), refers to calumny (kadhb), backbiting (ghayba), slander (buhtān) and all other offences of the tongue; and abomination (munkar), refers to the committing of transgressions in the form of actions. He admonishes you, means He instructs you in the finest conduct (adab), and draws your attention to the highest awareness (intibāḥ), so that you make take heed, that is, receive admonishment and refrain [from sins].

Sahl [also] said:

People are asleep and when they die they awaken.^{1The editor of the Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya edition notes that a variant of this saying is attributed to Tustarī in Bayhaqī, Kitāb al-Zuhd al-kabīr, vol. 2, p. 207, while in ʿAjlūnī, Kashf al-khafāʾ, vol. 2, p. 525, it is attributed to ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, in Munāwī, Fayḍ al-qadīr, vol. 5, p. 56 it is said to be a ḥadīth of the Prophet, and in Iṣfahānī, Ḥilyat al-awliyāʾ, vol. 7, p. 52 it is attributed to Luqmān.}

His words:

Whoever acts righteously, whether male or female, and is a believer, him verily, We shall revive with a good life, a new life…

He said:

Life (ḥayāt) is in the removal from the servant of his contrivance and management [of things] (tadbīr), and his turning back to God’s management of things for him.

His words:

Then indeed your Lord — towards those who emigrated after they were persecuted, and then struggled and were steadfast [will be most Forgiving and most Merciful].

Sahl said:

They emigrated means they left behind the evil company [they had been keeping] after it became clear to them that associating with them was a source of corruption for them. Then they struggled to keep themselves in the company of the people of goodness (khayr). Subsequently, they were steadfast in this and did not go back to the situation they were in at the beginning of events.

Once a man asked Sahl, ‘I have wealth and strength and I want to perform jihād. What do you command me to do?’ Sahl answered:

Wealth is knowledge (ʿilm), strength is intention (nīya) and jihād is the struggle with the lower self (mujāhadat al-nafs). No one is assured safety concerning what God has forbidden except a prophet or veracious person (ṣiddīq).

Abū ʿUthmān was asked the meaning of his [Sahl’s] saying, ‘Except a prophet or veracious one (ṣiddīq).’ He replied, ‘He does not enter into anything whose safety [or benignity] (ʿāfiya) is in question.

His words:

But towards those who did wrong out of ignorance, and afterwards, repent and make amends, your Lord is Forgiving and Merciful.

Sahl said:

No one ever disobeyed God, Exalted is He, save through ignorance, yet many an act of ignorance gives rise to knowledge. Knowledge is the key to repentance. Making amends (iṣlāḥ) is [a sign of] a sound repentance. Whoever does not make amends as ⸢a part of (fī)⸣^{1Added on the basis of all three MSS: Z515, f. 66b, F638, f. 31a; Fātiḥ 3488, f. 239a.} his repentance, [will find] his repentance is soon ruined, for God, Exalted is He, has said, and afterwards, repent and make amends.

Sahl was asked about the ignorant person [referred to in the verse]. He said:

He is the one who takes himself as his guide (imām), and has no virtuous guide (imām ṣāliḥ) whom he follows.

His words:

So be patient: and your patience is only by [the help of] God…

Sahl said:

Be patient and know that there is no helper (muʿīn) in your affairs except God, Exalted is He. ⸢And God, Exalted is He, knows best⸣.^{1The last sentence is present only in MS F638, f. 31a.}