His words, Exalted is He:

To Him ascend the angels and the spirit (rūḥ)…

He said:

The angels ascend with the deeds of the children of Adam, as does the spirit, which is the intuition of the self (dhihn al-nafs).^{1Sic in the MSS and the published edition. Perhaps what is meant is the intuition of the spiritual self.} They [the angels and the spirit] ascend to God, Exalted is He, in order to testify to the sincerity (ikhlāṣ) in his [a man’s] deeds. They cover the distance to the Throne, which measures fifty thousand years, in the blinking of an eye. This is the inner meaning of the verse.

His words, Exalted is He:

So be patient with comely patience (ṣabran jamīlan).

That is, [with] contentment (riḍā) and without complaining (shakwā); for truly, complaints are a [form of] tribulation (balwā), and any claim to patience (ṣabr) that is accompanied by it [complaint] is merely a claim. [This notwithstanding], God, Exalted is He, has servants who complain through Him, from Him and to Him (bihi minhu ilayhi), as a proof of their restraining their natural self (nafs al-ṭabʿ) from turning its attention to anything other than the One for whose sake the patient show patience.^{1The prophet Jacob used the same words of this verse, when he said: Yet comely patience (ṣabr jamīl), and interestingly, in 12:86 he says, ‘I complain of my anguish and grief only to God’.}

His words, Exalted is He:

Lo! They see it as being far off, while We see it [to be] near.

He said:

This means that they see the death, resurrection and reckoning that are decreed for them as far away (baʿīd), due to the far-fetched nature (buʿd) of their hopes; while We see it [to be] near, for indeed everything in existence (kāʾin) is close and that which is distant does not even exist.^{1Here is another indication that one should be living in the present and be a ‘son of the moment’ (ibn al-waqt), which is clarified by the statement of Tustarī which follows.}

Then he said:

The scholars sought [the justification] for having scruples (waswasa), concerning the Book and the Sunna, but they could not find a basis for it except legitimate inquisitiveness (fuḍūl al-ḥalāl), and legitimate inquisitiveness is that the servant considers a time other than the time he is in. This, [however] is [on the basis of] hope (amal).^{2Because a hypothesis often assumes a future and a situation other than the one that a person is in.} It is related from Ḥubaysh on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهم that the Prophet ﷺ would pass water and then wipe himself with earth. So he [Ibn ʿAbbās?] said, ‘O Messenger of God, there is water near you!’, to which he replied, ‘I do not know, it may be that I won’t reach it.’^{3Ibn Ḥanbal, al-Musnad, vol. 1, p. 303. Makkī, Qūt al-qulūb, vol. 2, p. 33.} And [the Prophet ﷺ said to Usāma (b. Zayd)],^{4All the MSS have li-Usāma: Z515, f. 122b, F638, f. 59a and F3488, f. 303b.} ‘Our nearness to [obtaining water] is two months away. Indeed, Usāma has far-reaching hopes (ṭawīl al-amal)!’

Sahl was asked, ‘How does the world leave the heart?’ He replied:

By the shortening of hope.

[Then] he was asked: ‘What is it that shortens hope?’ He replied:

It is cutting off from concerns (humūm) with what is guaranteed (maḍmūn), and finding reliance (sukūn) on the Guarantor (al-Ḍāmin).

His words, Exalted is He:

Indeed man was created restless,

He said:

This means that he is turned this way and that by the impulses of his lusts (shahawāt) and pursuance of his desire (hawā).

When evil befalls him [he is] anxious and when good befalls him [he is] grudging,

He said:

If he experiences poverty (iftaqara) he grieves (ḥazana), but when he becomes wealthy (athrā) he withholds it from others (manaʿa).^{1lit. ‘He prevents [others from benefitting from it]’.}

except those who pray…

That is, those who have cognisance of (ʿārifūn) the [true] proportions (maqādīr) of things, since they do not find joy (faraḥ) in anything other than God. They do not repose in anything other than Him and they do not fear^{1That is, according to all three MSS (Z515, f. 122b, F638, f. 59a and F3488, f. 303b), which have khawf: The repetition in the published edition of the word faraḥ appears to be a misprint as it is only in the Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya edition.} anything other than Him, their [only source of] anxiety being the possibility of separation from Him, just as He says, and who are apprehensive of the chastisement of their Lord [70:27].

The saying is narrated from the Prophet ﷺ: ‘According to what the highest host in the highest ranks informed me, among the best of my nation are people who laugh out loud at the amplitude of the mercy of their Lord, and weep in secret out of fear of the severity of the punishment of their Lord. They remember their Lord morning and night in His blessed houses, and make supplications to Him with their tongues in hope and fear. They petition Him with their hands, lowering [their upturned palms] and raising them, and they long for Him constantly with their hearts. Their demands on people are light, but their demands on themselves heavy. They tread upon the earth [lightly] with their feet, as an ant would tread, without gloating, boasting or swaggering…’ to the end of the ḥadīth.^{2Nīsābūrī, al-Mustadrak, vol. 3, p. 19; Bayhaqī, Shuʿab al-īmān, vol. 1, p. 478. Compare Tustarī’s statement that one should become as the earth for people, in his commentary on 9:71, above.}

His words, Exalted is He:

who guard their private parts;

He said:

In its inner meaning [the verse refers to] all the bodily members, both exterior and interior. They preserve them from the manifestation of traces of the natural self (nafs al-ṭabʿ) in them.

and those who are keepers of their trusts and their covenant,

He said:

Its inner meaning refers to the trust (amāna) within the self, for it is God’s secret with His servants.^{1On amāna see p. 219, n. 6.} He confides with them (yusārruhum) due to His knowledge of all the suggestions (khawāṭir) and aspirations (himam) which are within it [the self].^{2Himma (pl. himam) can also mean ‘desire’, ‘intention’, ‘concern’, and ‘spiritual aspiration or energy’.} On the other hand, they confide in Him by showing their neediness for Him and seeking refuge in Him.

Furthermore, if the heart acquiesces in that which the evil whispering of the Enemy suggests to it, even though it may be the most insignificant thing, it will manifest itself in the breast, and from the breast to the body and thus will he have betrayed God’s trust (amāna), His pledge (ʿahd) and faith (īmān).

and who stand firm in their testimony,

He said:

[They are those] who stand firm (qāʾimūn), upholding that to which they have testified, namely that there is no god except God, and who do not shirk with regard to it in any of their deeds, words or states. Neither do they fabricate anything. But God knows best.