His words, Exalted is He:

…but if you revert, We too revert…

Sahl said:

It means, ‘If you revert to transgression, We revert to forgiveness; and if you revert to turning your backs on Us, We revert to advancing towards you; and if you revert to fleeing from Us, We revert to barring the ways [of escape] for you. Return to Us for the way (ṭarīq) is taken care of by Us.’^{1lit. the way (ṭarīq) is incumbent upon Us (ʿalaynā).}

His words:

And man prays for ill as [avidly] as he prays for good...

Sahl said:

The soundest of supplications is the remembrance (dhikr) [of God], and relinquishing the choice [that is made] through petitioning and supplication, for remembrance [itself] suffices. For it may be that when a person supplicates, he asks for something that will lead to his ruin without realising it. Do you not see that God, Exalted is He, says, And man prays for ill as [avidly] as he prays for good? The one who remembers [God] constantly, and who abandons choice (ikhtiyār), supplication (duʿāʾ) and petitioning (suʾāl), will be granted the best that could be desired, and the ills of petitioning and choice will fall away from him. For this reason the Messenger of God ﷺ said, ‘To those whose remembrance of Me kept them from petitioning Me, I will grant the best that petitioners ask for.’^{1Tirmidhī, Nawādir al-uṣūl, vol. 3, p. 64 and 259; Muḥammad b. Salāma al-Quḍāʿī, Musnad al-Shihāb (Beirut, 1986), vol. 1, p. 34, vol. 2, p. 326.}

His words, Exalted is He:

And We have attached every person’s omen to his neck…

He said:

[This means] his action[s],^{1All the MSS (Z515, f. 67a, F638, f. 31b and F3488, f. 239b) have ʿamalahu here instead of ʿilmahu.} that is, of whatever came to be of good or evil.

His words:

Read your record! This day your own soul suffices as your own reckoner.

He said:

The following saying is related from Ḥasan al-Baṣrī: ‘Prepare for the questioning with an answer, and [be ready] to respond with what is correct. Or else, prepare to have the Fire as your cloak.’ ʿUmar رضي الله عنه said: ‘Call yourselves to account before you are called to account. Weigh yourselves up before you are weighed up, and prepare for the great [Day of] Exposure before you are exposed.’^{1i.e. the Day of Resurrection, when humanity will be ‘exposed’ or ‘presented’ (the verb ʿ-r-ḍ can have both these meanings), before God, as for example in 17:83.}

Sahl was asked about the calling to account (muḥāsaba) and the weighing up (muwāzana). He said:

The calling to account is of two kinds: the accounting that concerns those matters which are between the servant and his Lord, and this is in secret; and the accounting that concerns matters that are between him and other people, and that is done openly. The weighing up is when you have before you [the possibility of] two obligatory acts, two Sunna acts, or two supererogatory acts (nafl). After reflecting on which of them will bring you closer to God and is weightier with Him, you start with that act.^{2It appears that in this passage, Tustarī is applying these two terms differently: the calling to account (muḥāsaba) here appears to refer to that to which the slave will be subjected in the Hereafter, whereas the weighing up (muwāzana) is referring to something to be done in this world. However, Tustarī clearly recommends an accounting (muḥāsaba) for this world, since he cited the saying of ʿUmar.}

His words:

Your Lord knows best what is within your souls (nufūsikum)…

That is, what is in your hearts (qulūb), because the heart includes the intellect (ʿaql), the self (nafs) and desire (hawā).^{1For a discussion of Tustarī’s understanding of the inner constitution of the human being, again see IT, pp. xxxviiiff. However, in this sentence it is possible that Tustarī is using the word ‘hearts’ (qulūb) more generally to refer to man’s inner world or soul.}

His words:

…If you are righteous, then truly He is Forgiving to those who keep turning [to Him] in repentance.

Ibn al-Musayyib said: ‘The one who turns again and again in penitence (awwāb) is the one who sins, then repents, then sins, then repents, and dies in a state of repentance’. Ḥasan al-Baṣrī said, ‘The awwāb is the penitent who repents without delay.^{2lit. ‘He doesn’t have two moments for this’, i.e. he does not imagine he has two opportunities for it.} Indeed he is ready (muhayyaʾ) for repentance at every instant and moment.’ It was related on the authority of Ḍamra b. Ḥabīb that the Prophet ﷺ said: ‘He for whom a door to goodness has been opened should seize [the opportunity] as he does not know when it will close on him.’^{3Quḍāʿī, Musnad al-Shihāb, vol. 1, p. 268.} This means that he should seriously consider his present moment (waqt) and not procrastinate.

His words, Exalted is He:

And do not pursue (lā taqfu) that of which you have no knowledge.

That is, ‘Do not desire (lā tabghī) that about which you have no knowledge’, just as the Prophet ﷺ said, ‘We are of the [tribe] of Banū al-Naḍīr b. Kināna. We do not try to trace our origins through our mother, nor do we deny our father.’ ^{1lit. ‘We do not ask about our mother’. The ḥadīth is listed in Ibn Ḥanbal, al-Musnad, vol. 5, pp. 211–2; Ṭabarānī, al-Muʿjam al-kabīr, vol. 1, p. 235 and vol. 2, p. 286; and Ibn Māja, Sunan, vol. 2, p. 871.} That is, the father of the Arabs.

His words, Exalted is He:

…and they hope for His mercy and fear His chastisement…

He said:

The outer meaning of His mercy is His Paradise, and its inner meaning is the reality of gnosis (ḥaqīqat al-maʿrifa).^{1Substituted for ḥaqīqat al-maʿrūf, on the basis of all three MSS: Z515, f. 68a, F638, f. 31b and F3488, f. 240a. Tustarī’s comment is in accordance with the Sufi teaching that true mystics do not have any hope or desire for the delights of Paradise; their only desire is to attain the unmediated experiential knowledge or beholding of God, otherwise expressed as union with God.}

Then he said:

Truly, fear and hope are two restraining ties (zamāmān)^{2Substituting the dual for the singular, on the basis of all three MSS: Z515, f. 68a, F638, f. 31b and F3488, f. 240a.} for mankind. If they have equal [sway], a person’s condition [lit. states aḥwāl] will be stabilised, but if one of them preponderates, the other will be cancelled out. Notice how the Prophet ﷺ said: ‘If a believer’s hope and fear were weighed they would balance each other.’^{3Ibn Abī Shayba, al-Muṣannaf, vol. 7, p. 178; Bayhaqī, Shuʿab al-īmān, vol. 2, p. 12. See above Tustarī’s commentary on 11:75 and p. 93, n. 13 on the need to retain both fear and hope and keep them in balance.}

His words, Exalted is He:

And when distress befalls you at sea, those whom you are wont to invoke are no longer present, except Him…

That is, those other than Him from whom you ask relief. Then [eventually] you give up all dependency on your own power (ḥawl) and strength (quwwa) and recognise His power and His strength. This verse is a refutation of the Qadarīs, who claim to have ability for themselves without [the need for] God, Exalted is He.^{1The term Qadarīs or Qādirites (Qādiriyya) was commonly applied to a group of theologians in early Islam who were advocates of free will. The term qadar means ‘power’, and therefore conversely, the term was also occasionally applied to those who held the opposite view and maintained the divine omnipotence, insisting that God was the Creator of all human acts. Tustarī is clearly applying the term in its former designation.} God, Exalted is He, has said, Do you feel secure that He will not cause a slope of land to engulf you, or unleash upon you a storm of pebbles? [17:68] And He said, or unleash upon you a shattering gale to drown you [17:69]. So, if they really have ability (istiṭāʿa), let them repel the punishment from themselves.

His words, Exalted is He:

And whoever has been blind in this [world] will be blind in the Hereafter…

That is, whoever is blind of heart in this world such that he does not show gratitude for the blessings, both outward and inward, that God, Exalted is He, has bestowed upon him, will be blind in the Hereafter such that he is prevented from seeing the Bestower of blessings (al-Munʿim).

His words:

And say, ‘My Lord make me enter with veracity…’ ^{1Verses 72–80 are directly addressed to the Prophet.}

That is, ‘Make me enter, by virtue of my conveying the Message (risāla), by an entrance of veracity. This signifies that I will not incline to anyone, and that I will not fall short in observing the limits and conditions in conveying it. Also grant me a safe exit [from this world], seeking Your good pleasure in [upholding] it with conformity (muwāfaqa) [to Your will]. And grant me from Yourself a supporting authority (sulṭānan naṣīran).’ That is, ‘Adorn me with the adornment of Your dominion (jabarūt), so that the authority of truth prevails over them and not the authority of desire.’

And on another occasion I heard Sahl say:

…And grant me from Yourself a supporting authority [refers to having] a tongue which speaks on the authority of (ʿan) You and no one else.

His words, Exalted is He:

…Those who were given knowledge before it, when it is recited to them, fall down on their faces in humble prostration.

Sahl said:

There is nothing which affects [man’s] innermost secret (sirr) like listening to the Qurʾān. This is due to the fact that when the servant listens, his innermost secret is humbled in submission (khashaʿa), and his heart is illuminated by this with truthful proofs (barāhīn ṣādiqa). Furthermore his bodily members are adorned with self-abasement (tadhallul) and obedient submission (inqiyād). But God knows best.