His words, Exalted is He:

Blessed is He who revealed the Criterion…

Sahl said:

That is, Majestic and Exalted is He who privileged Muḥammad ﷺ by revealing to him the Criterion (furqān), that he may distinguish truth from falsehood, friend from foe, and the one who is close [to God] from the one who is remote [from Him]; to His servant, that is, to His purest servant, His most privileged Prophet, His closest beloved, and the foremost of His elect; that he may be to all the worlds a warner, that is, so that he may be a lamp (sirāj) and a light (nūr), by which We guide people to [follow] the rulings of the Qurʾān, so that they can proceed thereby according to the path of truth (ṭarīq al-ḥaqq) and the way of veracity (minhaj al-ṣidq).

His words:

…And We have made some of you a trial for others, will you be steadfast? Your Lord is ever Watchful.

He said:

Verily, God, Exalted is He, has commanded steadfastness (ṣabr) in the face of that in which He has placed a test (fitna) for mankind. From this [steadfastness] comes a diminishing in one’s coveting (iṭrāq) what [other] people possess. Abū Ayyūb related concerning the Prophet ﷺ that a man came to him ⸢and said ‘Give me a sermon, in a few words⸣’,^{1Added on the basis of Z515, f. 79b and F638, f. 36b.} so he said, ‘When you stand for prayer, perform the prayer of one who is bidding farewell;^{2i.e. bidding farewell to this world, that is, with the care you would take if it were the very last prayer you were able to make.} do not say anything which you will be sorry for saying tomorrow; and resolve to give up hope of [attaining] that which other people possess.’^{3Ibn Māja, Sunan, ‘Bāb al-Ḥikma’; Ibn Ḥanbal, al-Musnad, vol. 5, p. 412.}

Indeed our predecessors used to take full advantage of this [admonition], such that it is related of Ḥudhayfa that he said, ‘Truly, the most delightful day for me is the day on which I return home and my family complains to me of their need. This is because I heard the Messenger of God ﷺ say: “Verily God has kept the world from his believing servant, just as the family of a sick person keeps food and drink from him. Indeed, God promises the believer affliction (balāʾ) just as the father promises good things (khayr) for his son.”’

His words, Exalted is He:

Oh woe is me! Would that I had not taken so and so as a friend!

He said:

The soundest friendship is that which does not lead to regret (nadāma), and that is nothing less than intimacy (uns) with God, Exalted is He, and seclusion from people. The Messenger of God ﷺ used to observe seclusion (khalwa) for the sake of the knowledge that God had opened to his heart, for he liked to reflect upon it.

Everything will befriend the person whose prayer is good. Such a person will be stirred during sleep at the prayer times so that he awakes. This is done by his brothers among the jinn who have befriended him. They may also accompany him when he travels and give him priority over themselves. The angels may even befriend him.^{1All three MSS (Z515, f. 80a, F638, f. 37a and F3488, f. 253a) have bihim here instead of bihi in the published edition. However, the flow of the text suggests bihi.} Once a man made a request from Sahl saying, ‘I really want to keep your company.’ He said, ‘When one of us dies, let whomsoever keeps company with the one who survives, keep his company from then on.’^{2It appears, then, that when two righteous people become companions, one of them will inherit on the death of the other, all the jinn who had kept company with his companion. But Tustarī is here suggesting that they should benefit from the company of each other’s jinn even before either one of them dies.}

Al-Rabīʿ b. Khaytham was sitting on his porch one day when a stone came flying at him and struck his forehead making a gash in it, upon which he said, ‘Truly, you have been admonished, O Ibn Khaytham!’ Then he entered his home, shutting the door behind him and was not seen seated in that same position up to his death.^{3This was evidently a sign to him that he had not been enjoying the protection of the jinn. The tradition is listed in Bayhaqī, Shuʿab al-īmān, vol. 6, p. 264, and in Ibn al-Jawzī, Ṣifat al-ṣafwa, vol. 3, p. 67.}

His words:

Put your trust in the Living One who does not die…

Ibn Sālim was asked about trust (tawakkul) and earning (kasb), and through which of these [two] people should serve [God]. He said:

Trust (tawakkul) was the state of being (ḥāl) of the Messenger of God ﷺ and earning was his Sunna. He only established the Sunna of earning for them due to their weakness, after they fell from the rank of trust (tawakkul), which was his state of being. However he did not demote them from the rank of seeking a living through earning, which is his Sunna. Furthermore, had it not been for that [the Sunna of earning] they would have perished.^{1Iṣfahānī, Ḥilyat al-awliyāʾ, vol. 10, pp. 378–9; Sulamī, Ṭabaqāt al-ṣūfiyya, p. 431.}

Sahl said:

Whoever defames earning (kasb), has defamed the Sunna and whoever defames trust (tawakkul) has defamed faith.^{2The saying is cited in Makkī, Qūt al-qulūb, vol. 2, pp. 4 and 9–10. The latter citation has the variant: ‘discredited the oneness of God (tawḥīd)’ instead of ‘discredited faith (īmān)’. See also Iṣfahānī, Ḥilyat al-awliyāʾ, vol. 10, p. 195.}

His words:

…And when the ignorant address them they say [words of] peace…

That is, they say that which is correct and appropriate. Ḥasan al-Baṣrī رضي الله عنه said: ‘This was their way during the day. However, during the night they were as God describes them in the next verse, Those who spend the night [in adoration of] their Lord prostrating and standing [25:64].

His words:

Except for him who repents…

He said:

The repentance of not one of you is acceptable until he abstains from much of that which is permissible for fear that it will lead him into something which is not permissible, just as ʿĀʾisha رضي الله عنها said, ‘Put between you and what is forbidden (ḥarām), a screen of that which is permissible (ḥalāl). It was the practise of the Messenger of God ﷺ to keep away from us for three days after our purification [after menstruation or childbirth] until any possibility of renewed bleeding (fawra) had gone.’

His words:

And those who do not give false testimony…

He said:

False testimony (zūr) is the tribunal of the [heretical] innovators.^{1i.e. it is what they share.} But God knows best.