His words, Exalted is He:

Blessed be He in whose hand is all sovereignty…

He said:

That is, Exalted and Magnified is He above having likenesses, sons and rivals. He in whose hand is all sovereignty turns it over through His power (ḥawl) and strength (quwwa), granting it to whomever He will and removing it from whomever He will, and He is All-Powerful (al-Qādir) over it.

His words, Exalted is He:

…and He has power over all things, He who created death and life…

He said:

Death in this world is in disobedience, and life in the Hereafter is in obedience. It was for this reason that God, Exalted is He, addressed Moses عليه السلام saying, ‘O Moses, truly the first of my creatures to die was Iblīs, may God’s curse be on him, because he disobeyed Me, and I count the one who disobeys Me as being from among the dead.’

Then he said:

Death was created in the form of a handsome ram (kabsh amlaḥ). Whatever it passes by and [merely] catches a whiff of it, lives. It has been related in a tradition that the people of Paradise will fear death but the people of Hell will wish for death. It will be brought in the form of a handsome ram. Then it will be said, ‘This is death, so behold what God is going to do with it.’ Then it will be turned on its side and slaughtered. Thereupon God, Exalted is He, will [re] make it in the form of a horse which will be set free to graze in Paradise. Whoever among the inhabitants of Paradise sees it will enjoy its company, without realising that it is death.^{1i.e. the people of Paradise would fear death if they were aware of it. But since death has been turned into a freely grazing horse, they do not recognise it. The tradition is listed in Mundhirī, al-Targhīb, vol. 4, pp. 316–8.}

His words, Exalted is He:

…that He may try you [to see] which of you is best in conduct…

He said:

That is, I keep him from error and I purify him. If he is correct [in conduct] but not sincere, he will not be accepted; ⸢while if he is sincere, but not correct [in conduct] he will not be accepted either⸣.^{1Added on the basis of all three MSS: Z515, f. 119a, F638, f. 56b, F3488, f. 299b.} [He will not be accepted] until he is at the same time correct and sincere [in his conduct]. The one who is sincere (khāliṣ) is he who [lives] for God, Exalted is He, with the full intention (irāda) of his heart, while the one who is correct (ṣawāb) is he who is on the path of the Sunna and [lives] in accordance with the Book.

On another occasion he [Sahl] said:

that He may try you [to see] which of you is best in conduct, that is, in putting your trust in Us, being satisfied with Us and journeying [to Us] after the renunciation of this world. Truly, mindfulness of God (taqwā) and certainty (yaqīn) may be compared to the two scales of a balance, while trust (tawakkul) is the pointer, by which it indicates any increase or decrease.^{2The saying is cited in Makkī, Qūt al-qulūb, vol. 2, p. 4.}

Then it was asked of him : ‘What is trust?’

He replied:

It is to flee from trust, that is, from claiming to have trust.^{3Interestingly, the first part of this statement is cited in Makkī, Qūt al-qulūb, vol. 2, p. 9, where it is not attributed to Tustarī. In explaining the need to ‘flee from tawakkul’, Makkī mentions firstly the necessary abandoning of any dependence on the station of tawakkul, and secondly, that looking upon one’s tawakkul is a flaw in that tawakkul, for the person should continuously have their attention upon the Guardian (al-Wakīl) alone. This complies with several of Tustarī’s statements concerning the need not to feel complacent about one’s state.}

His words, Exalted is He:

…And He is the Mighty, the Forgiving.

He said:

This means that He is the Unassailable (al-Manīʿ) in His rule, the Wise (al-Ḥakīm) in His management of His creation, and the Forgiving (al-Ghafūr) with regard to the deficiency and faults which are apparent in His servants’ acts of obedience.

His words, Exalted is He:

Assuredly those who fear their Lord in secret…

That is, they fear their Lord in their innermost secret (sirr), and they keep their innermost secret pure from other than Him.

His words, Exalted is He:

Would He who has created not know…?

Does the One who created the heart not know what He deposited within it, [whether it be] the attestation of His oneness (tawḥīd) or denial (juḥūd). He is the Subtle, in His knowledge of the secrets concealed within the core of hearts (lubb al-qulūb), just as the Prophet ﷺ said, ‘Truly within hearts there is a concealed secret (sirr maknūn) pertaining to knowledge, which belongs to God, Exalted is He’; the Aware — He informs you of what is [hidden for] you in the unseen (fī ghaybik).

His words, Exalted is He:

It is He who has made the earth tractable for you…

He said:

God, Exalted is He, created the souls (anfūs) in a humble state. Whoever abases (adhalla) his self (nafs) by opposing it, actually saves it from temptations, tribulations and trials. However, whoever debases (adhalla) his self and follows it, will be brought to humiliation and destroyed by it.

His words, Mighty and Majestic is He:

Is he who walks prone upon his face, more rightly guided…?

He said:

Is he who is bent over [in pursuit] of the desire of his lower self, due to its natural disposition, and who is without guidance from his Lord, better guided?

…or one who walks upright on a straight way?

He said:

By which is meant: or one who follows the laws of Islam, and emulates the prophets, ⸢adhering to it [the straight path] (muqīman ʿalayhi)⸣?^{1Added on the basis of all three MSS: Z515, f. 119b, F638, f. 57a and F3488, f. 300a.} But God, Glorified and Exalted is He, knows best.