1. Khalwah: Seclusion by Al Muhasibi Part 1

الْخَلْوَةُ وَالتَّنَقُّلُ فِي الْعِبَادَةِ وَدَرَجَاتُ الْعَابِدِينَ

Al-Khalwatu wa-al-Tanaqqulu fī al-ʿIbādati wa-Darajātu al-ʿĀbidīna

Seclusion, Movement (advancement) within Worship, and the Degrees of the Worshippers

الْحَارِثُ بْنُ أَسَدٍ الْمُحَاسِبِيُّ

Al-Ḥārithu bnu ʾAsadin al-Muḥāsibiyyu

Al-Ḥārith ibn Asad al-Muḥāsibī

Source page 7

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ.

Bismi Allāhi al-raḥmāni al-raḥīmi.

In the name of God, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.

الْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ وَسَلَامٌ عَلَى عِبَادِهِ الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَى.

Al-ḥamdu li-llāhi wa-salāmun ʿalā ʿibādihi alladhīna iṣṭafā.

Praise belongs to God, and peace be upon His servants whom He has chosen.

بَابُ الِانْفِرَادِ وَالْخَلْوَةِ وَقِصَرِ الْأَمَلِ وَغَيْرِ ذٰلِكَ

Bābu al-infirādi wa-al-khalwati wa-qiṣari al-ʾamali wa-ghayri dhālika

Chapter on Withdrawal, Solitude, Shortening One's Expectations, and Related Matters

قَالَ الْإِمَامُ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللّٰهِ الْحَارِثُ بْنُ أَسَدٍ الْمُحَاسِبِيُّ رَضِيَ اللّٰهُ عَنْهُ:

Qāla al-ʾimāmu ʾAbū ʿAbdi Allāhi al-Ḥārithu bnu ʾAsadin al-Muḥāsibiyyu raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhu:

The imam Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥārith ibn Asad al-Muḥāsibī, may God be pleased with him, said:

اعْلَمْ رَحِمَكَ اللّٰهُ أَنَّ أَهْلَ طَاعَةِ اللّٰهِ قَدَّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيِ الْأَعْمَالِ لُطْفَ مَعْرِفَةِ الْأَسْبَابِ الَّتِي بِهَا يُسْتَدْعَى صَالِحُ الْأَعْمَالِ وَيَسْهُلُ عَلَيْهِمْ مَأْخَذُهُ، تَوْطِينًا مِنْهُمْ لِأَنْفُسِهِمْ عَلَى اسْتِصْحَابِهِ إِلَى انْقِضَا آجَالِهِمْ.

Iʿlam raḥimaka Allāhu ʾanna ʾahla ṭāʿati Allāhi qaddamū bayna yadayi al-ʾaʿmāli luṭfa maʿrifati al-ʾasbābi allatī bihā yustadʿā ṣāliḥu al-ʾaʿmāli wa-yas-hulu ʿalayhim maʾkhadhuhu, tawṭīnan minhum li-ʾanfusihim ʿalā istiṣḥābihi ʾilā inqiḍā ʾājālihim.

Know, may God have mercy on you, that those who obey God place before their deeds a subtle understanding of the means that call forth good deeds and make them easy to undertake. In this way they prepare themselves to persist in them until their appointed lives come to an end.

فَيَصِيرُ مَآلُهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا يَوْمًا وَاحِدًا وَلَيْلَةً، كُلَّمَا مَضَتْ اسْتَأْنَفُوا النِّيَّةَ وَطَلَبُوا مِنْ أَنْفُسِهِمْ حُسْنَ الصِّحَّةِ لِيَوْمِهِمْ وَلَيْلَتِهِمْ.

Fa-yaṣīru maʾāluhum fī al-dunyā yawman wāḥidan wa-laylatan, kullamā maḍat istaʾnafū al-niyyata wa-ṭalabū min ʾanfusihim ḥusna al-ṣiḥḥati liyawmihim wa-laylatihim.

Their remaining course in this world thus becomes a single day and night. Whenever it passes, they renew their intention and ask themselves to bring soundness to their present day and night.

فَكُلُّ مَا مَضَى عَنْهُمْ يَوْمٌ تَحْسُنُ مِنْهُمُ الصُّحْبَةُ لَهُ أَوْ لَيْلَةٌ رَاقَبُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ فِيهَا عَلَى جَمِيلِ الطَّاعَةِ كَانَ عِنْدَهُمْ غُنْمًا، وَذَكَرُوا الْيَوْمَ الْمَاضِيَ فَسُرُّوا بِهِ، وَصَبَّرُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ عَنِ الْمُسْتَقْبَلِ لِانْقِضَاءِ الْأَجَلِ فِيهِ أَوْ فِي لَيْلَةٍ.

Fa-kullu mā maḍā ʿanhum yawmun taḥsunu minhumu al-ṣuḥbatu lahu ʾaw laylatun rāqabū ʾanfusahum fīhā ʿalā jamīli al-ṭāʿati kāna ʿindahum ghunman, wa-dhakarū al-yawma al-māḍiya fa-surrū bihi, wa-ṣabbarū ʾanfusahum ʿani al-mustaqbali li-inqiḍāʾi al-ʾajali fīhi ʾaw fī laylatin.

Every day they have accompanied well, and every night in which they have watched over themselves in beautiful obedience, counts as a gain. They remember the past day and rejoice in it. They train themselves to forgo concern for the future, since their allotted life may end that day or in a night.

وَطَرَحُوا شُغْلَ الْقَلْبِ بِذِكْرِ غَدٍ، وَأَعْمَلُوا أَبْدَانَهُمْ وَجَوَارِحَهُمْ فِيهِ وَتَفَرَّغُوا لَهُ، فَقَصُرَتْ عَنْهُمُ الْآمَالُ وَقَرُبَتْ مِنْهُمُ الْآجَالُ، وَتَبَاعَدَتْ أَسْبَابُ وَسَاوِسِ الدُّنْيَا مِنْ قُلُوبِهِمْ، وَعَظُمَ شُغْلُ الْآخِرَةِ فِي صُدُورِهِمْ.

Wa-ṭaraḥū shughla al-qalbi bidhikri ghadin, wa-ʾaʿmalū ʾabdānahum wa-jawāriḥahum fīhi wa-tafarraghū lahu, fa-qaṣurat ʿanhumu al-ʾāmālu wa-qarubat minhumu al-ʾājālu, wa-tabāʿadat ʾasbābu wasāwisi al-dunyā min qulūbihim, wa-ʿaẓuma shughlu al-ʾākhirati fī ṣudūrihim.

They cast aside the heart's preoccupation with tomorrow, put their bodies and limbs to work in the present, and devote themselves to it. Their expectations grow short and their appointed ends seem near. The causes of worldly whisperings recede from their hearts, while concern for the next life grows great within their breasts.

فَنَظَرُوا إِلَى الْآخِرَةِ بِعَيْنٍ صَحِيحَةٍ بَصِيرَةٍ، وَتَقَرَّبُوا إِلَى اللّٰهِ بِأَعْمَالٍ زَاكِيَةٍ، فَاسْتَقَامَتْ لَهُمُ السِّيرَةُ حِينَ وَجَدُوا حَلَاوَةَ الطَّاعَةِ، فَأَحَبُّوا الْبَقَاءَ فِي الدُّنْيَا عُمُرَ الدُّنْيَا حِينَ سَاعَدَتْهُمُ الزِّيَادَةُ مِنَ التَّقْوَى.

Fa-naẓarū ʾilā al-ʾākhirati biʿaynin ṣaḥīḥatin baṣīratin, wa-taqarrabū ʾilā Allāhi bi-ʾaʿmālin zākiyatin, fa-istaqāmat lahumu al-sīratu ḥīna wajadū ḥalāwata al-ṭāʿati, fa-ʾaḥabbū al-baqāʾa fī al-dunyā ʿumura al-dunyā ḥīna sāʿadat-humu al-ziyādatu mina al-taqwā.

They look toward the next life with a sound and discerning eye and draw near to God through pure deeds. Their conduct becomes upright when they discover the sweetness of obedience. Once increasing reverence for God comes readily to them, they wish to remain in the world for the world's entire lifetime.

فَقَرَّتْ بِالْخَوْفِ أَعْيُنُهُمْ وَنَعِمُوا بِالْحُزْنِ فِي عِبَادَتِهِمْ حَتَّى نَحَلَتْ أَجْسَادُهُمْ وَقَلَّ مَعَ الْمَخْلُوقِينَ كَلَامُهُمْ وَتَلَذَّذُوا بِمُنَاجَاةِ سَيِّدِهِمْ.

Fa-qarrat bi-al-khawfi ʾaʿyunuhum wa-naʿimū bi-al-ḥuzni fī ʿibādatihim ḥattā naḥalat ʾajsāduhum wa-qalla maʿa al-makhlūqīna kalāmuhum wa-taladhdhadhū bimunājāti sayyidihim.

Fear becomes the comfort of their eyes, and they find delight in sorrow during worship, until their bodies grow thin. Their conversation with other creatures diminishes, and they take pleasure in intimate prayer to their Master.

Source pages 7–8

فَقُلُوبُهُمْ بِمَلَكُوتِ السَّمَاوَاتِ مُتَعَلِّقَةٌ، وَفِكْرُهُمْ بِأَهْوَالِ الْقِيَامَةِ مُقْبِلَةٌ مُدْبِرَةٌ، وَأَبْدَانُهُمْ بَيْنَ الْمَخْلُوقِينَ عَارِيَةٌ.

Fa-qulūbuhum bimalakūti al-samāwāti mutaʿalliqatun, wa-fikruhum bi-ʾahwāli al-qiyāmati muqbilatun mudbiratun, wa-ʾabdānuhum bayna al-makhlūqīna ʿāriyatun.

Their hearts are attached to the kingdom of the heavens, their thought moves back and forth among the terrors of the Resurrection, and their bodies are on loan among other creatures.

Source page 8

فَعَمُوا عَنِ الدُّنْيَا وَصَمُّوا عَنْهَا وَعَنْ أَهْلِهَا وَمَا فِيهَا، وَوَضَحَ لَهُمْ أَمْرُ الْآخِرَةِ حَتَّى كَأَنَّهُمْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَيْهَا.

Fa-ʿamū ʿani al-dunyā wa-ṣammū ʿanhā wa-ʿan ʾahlihā wa-mā fīhā, wa-waḍaḥa lahum ʾamru al-ʾākhirati ḥattā kaʾannahum yanẓurūna ʾilayhā.

They become blind and deaf to this world, its people, and all it contains. The reality of the next life becomes so clear to them that it is as though they are looking directly at it.

فَتَخَلَّصَ قَوْمٌ إِلَى ذٰلِكَ مِنْ طَرِيقِ الِاجْتِهَادِ، فَاجْتَهَدُوا فِي الصَّوْمِ لِهُدُوءِ الْجَوَارِحِ عَنْهُمْ وَلِتَذَلُّلِ الْأَنْفُسِ لَهُمْ وَتَخْضَعَ الْجَوَارِحُ.

Fa-takhallaṣa qawmun ʾilā dhālika min ṭarīqi al-ijtihādi, fa-ijtahadū fī al-ṣawmi lihudūʾi al-jawāriḥi ʿanhum wa-litadhalluli al-ʾanfusi lahum wa-takhḍaʿa al-jawāriḥu.

Some people have reached this freedom through strenuous devotion. They strive in fasting so that their limbs will quiet down, their selves will become submissive to them, and their limbs will yield.

وَاجْتَهَدَ قَوْمٌ فِي الصَّلَاةِ لِدَوَامِ الْخُشُوعِ عَلَيْهِمْ، وَاجْتَهَدَ قَوْمٌ فِي الْوَرَعِ لِيَطِيبَ لَهُمُ الْمَطْعَمُ، وَظَنُّوا أَنَّهُ لَا يَزْكُوا لَهُمْ عَمَلٌ مِنْ أَعْمَالِ الْبِرِّ إِلَّا بِطِيبِ مَطْعَمِهِمْ.

Wa-ijtahada qawmun fī al-ṣalāti lidawāmi al-khushūʿi ʿalayhim, wa-ijtahada qawmun fī al-waraʿi liyaṭība lahumu al-maṭʿamu, wa-ẓannū ʾannahu lā yazkū lahum ʿamalun min ʾaʿmāli al-birri ʾillā biṭībi maṭʿamihim.

Some strive in prayer so that humble attentiveness will remain with them. Others strive in scrupulousness to make their food lawful and wholesome, believing that no righteous deed of theirs can become pure unless their food is pure.

وَاجْتَهَدَ قَوْمٌ فِي تَرْكِ الشَّهَوَاتِ وَطَلَبِ الْقُوتِ وَمَا أَشْبَهَ ذٰلِكَ مِنْ رِيَاضَةِ النَّفْسِ حَتَّى أَفْضَوْا بِالْأَنْفُسِ إِلَى الْجُوعِ وَخُمُولِ الْجِسْمِ.

Wa-ijtahada qawmun fī tarki al-shahawāti wa-ṭalabi al-qūti wa-mā ʾashbaha dhālika min riyāḍati al-nafsi ḥattā ʾafḍaw bi-al-ʾanfusi ʾilā al-jūʿi wa-khumūli al-jismi.

Others strive to abandon appetites and the search for provisions, and to undertake similar disciplines of the self, until they bring themselves to hunger and bodily weakness [the construction could also mean that seeking provisions is itself part of their striving].

فَنَظَرْتُ فِي ذٰلِكَ فَلَمْ أَرَ شَيْئًا أَقْرَبَ فِي مَصْلَحَتِ (كَذَا) النَّفْسِ وَالْعَيْشِ مِنْ حِمْيَةِ النَّفْسِ عَنْ إِلْفِهَا وَقَطْعِهَا عَنْ مُزَاوَلَةِ الْمَخْلُوقِينَ بِمَنْعِ الْحَوَاسِّ عَنِ الْأَخْبَارِ الَّتِي فِيهَا تَهِيجُ الْقُلُوبُ بِالْحَرَكَاتِ وَاضْطِرَابِ الْجَوَارِحِ وَتَهْيِيجِهَا عَلَى الْعَمَلِ.

Fa-naẓartu fī dhālika fa-lam ʾara shayʾan ʾaqraba fī maṣlaḥati (kadhā) al-nafsi wa-al-ʿayshi min ḥimyati al-nafsi ʿan ʾilfihā wa-qaṭʿihā ʿan muzāwalati al-makhlūqīna bimanʿi al-ḥawāssi ʿani al-ʾakhbāri allatī fīhā tahīju al-qulūbu bi-al-ḥarakāti wa-iḍṭirābi al-jawāriḥi wa-tahyījihā ʿalā al-ʿamali.

I considered this and found nothing more conducive to the well-being of the self and one's life than withholding from the self what it is used to and cutting it off from dealings with other creatures. This is done by preventing the senses from receiving reports that stir hearts into motion, unsettle the limbs, and incite them to action [the edition marks the spelling of “well-being” as irregular].

وَإِنَّمَا أَعْنِي بِالْحَوَاسِّ السَّمْعَ وَالْبَصَرَ وَالشَّمَّ الَّذِي يُمْكِنُ تَحَسُّسُ الشَّيْءِ. فَإِذَا فَقَدَ الْقَلْبُ مَا تَجْتَلِبُ لَهُ الْحَوَاسُّ سَكَنَ عَنِ الْحَرَكَةِ، فَأَجَابَتْهُ الْجَوَارِحُ بِالْهُدُوءِ.

Wa-ʾinnamā ʾaʿnī bi-al-ḥawāssi al-samʿa wa-al-baṣara wa-al-shamma alladhī yumkinu taḥassusu al-shayʾi. fa-ʾidhā faqada al-qalbu mā tajtalibu lahu al-ḥawāssu sakana ʿani al-ḥarakati, fa-ʾajābat-hu al-jawāriḥu bi-al-hudūʾi.

By the senses I mean hearing, sight, and smell, through which a thing can be sensed. When the heart no longer receives what the senses bring it, it ceases its restless movement, and the limbs respond by becoming still.

فَعِنْدَ ذٰلِكَ يَتَفَرَّغُ الْقَلْبُ لِأَعْمَالِ الْبِرِّ وَيَصْغُرُ فِيهِ كَيْدُ إِبْلِيسَ، لِأَنَّ سِلَاحَهُ قَدْ تَعَطَّلَ عِنْدَ تَطَلُّعِ مَا تَجْلِبُ الْحَوَاسُّ عَنْهُ، وَوَهَنَ سُلْطَانُ الْهَوَى فِيهِ، وَقَوِيَتْ دَلَالَاتُ سُلْطَانِ الْعَقْلِ بِالتَّفَكُّرِ، وَاشْتَغَلَ وَغَلَبَ عَلَى الْقَلْبِ إِذْ ضَعُفَ ضِدُّهُ.

Fa-ʿinda dhālika yatafarraghu al-qalbu li-ʾaʿmāli al-birri wa-yaṣghuru fīhi kaydu ʾIblīsa, li-ʾanna silāḥahu qad taʿaṭṭala ʿinda taṭalluʿi mā tajlibu al-ḥawāssu ʿanhu, wa-wahana sulṭānu al-hawā fīhi, wa-qawiyat dalālātu sulṭāni al-ʿaqli bi-al-tafakkuri, wa-ishtaghala wa-ghalaba ʿalā al-qalbi ʾidh ḍaʿufa ḍidduhu.

The heart then becomes free for righteous deeds, and Iblīs's cunning has little power within it, for his weapon has been disabled “at the looking out of what the senses bring away from it” [the printed wording is unclear]. Desire's dominion within it weakens, while reflection strengthens the signs of reason's authority. Reason becomes active and takes control of the heart as its opponent grows weak.

فَعِنْدَ ذٰلِكَ يَغْلِي قَلْبُ الْعَبْدِ بِالْفِكْرِ، فَيَهِيجُ مِنْ ذٰلِكَ الْخَوْفُ، وَتَسَوَّرَتْ عَلَيْهِ طَوَارِقُ الْأَحْزَانِ، فَيَبْحَثُ عَنْ أَمْرِ الْآخِرَةِ وَيَتْرُكُ الدُّنْيَا وَمَا فِيهَا.

Fa-ʿinda dhālika yaghlī qalbu al-ʿabdi bi-al-fikri, fa-yahīju min dhālika al-khawfu, wa-tasawwarat ʿalayhi ṭawāriqu al-ʾaḥzāni, fa-yabḥathu ʿan ʾamri al-ʾākhirati wa-yatruku al-dunyā wa-mā fīhā.

Then the servant's heart seethes with reflection. Fear rises from this, and sudden sorrows climb over its walls. He searches into the reality of the next life and leaves this world and all it contains.

فَيُورِثُهُ ذٰلِكَ حُبَّ الْخَلْوَةِ فَيُحِبُّهَا وَيَلْزَمُهَا وَيَأْنَسُ بِهَا وَلِيَسْتَوْحِشْ مِنَ الْمَخْلُوقِينَ وَيَفْرَقْهُمْ، وَذٰلِكَ حِينَ جَرَتْ عُذُوبَةُ حَلَاوَتِهِ فِي أَعْضَائِهِ كَمَا تَجْرِي الْمَا فِي أَصْلِ الشَّجَرَةِ فَأَوْرَقَتْ أَغْصَانُهَا وَأَثْمَرَتْ عِيدَانُهَا.

Fa-yūrithuhu dhālika ḥubba al-khalwati fa-yuḥibbuhā wa-yalzamuhā wa-yaʾnasu bihā wa-liyastawḥish mina al-makhlūqīna wa-yafraqhum, wa-dhālika ḥīna jarat ʿudhūbatu ḥalāwatihi fī ʾaʿḍāʾihi kamā tajrī al-mā fī ʾaṣli al-shajarati fa-ʾawraqat ʾaghṣānuhā wa-ʾathmarat ʿīdānuhā.

This gives him a love of solitude: he loves it, keeps to it, and finds companionship in it. Let him feel estranged from creatures and fear them. This happens when the refreshing sweetness of it flows through his limbs as water flows through the root of a tree, so that its branches put out leaves and its boughs bear fruit.

وَلَصِقَ جَوْفُ مَا تَجِي بِهِ الْقِيَامَةُ بِمَا يَجِي بِهِ قَلْبُهُ فَخَالَطَ سُوَيْدَا قَلْبِهِ.

Wa-laṣiqa jawfu mā tajī bihi al-qiyāmatu bimā yajī bihi qalbuhu fa-khālaṭa suwaydā qalbihi.

The “interior of what the Resurrection brings” clings to what his heart brings, mingling with his heart's innermost core [the printed wording is uncertain in meaning].

فَيَهِيجُ مِنَ الْخَلْوَةِ فُنُونٌ مِنْ أُصُولِ الزُّهْدِ فِي الدُّنْيَا، لَوِ اجْتَهَدَ الْعَبْدُ فِي فَنٍّ مِنْهَا أَنْ يَسْتَحْكِمَ لَهُ مِنْ غَيْرِ هٰذَا الطَّرِيقِ عَظُمَتْ عَلَيْهِ فِيهِ الْمُونَةُ وَاشْتَدَّ عَلَيْهِ فِيهِ الْعِلَاجُ، فَإِمَّا عَازِمٌ عَلَى الصَّبْرِ وَإِمَّا عَائِدٌ إِلَى طِبَاعِهِ فِي التَّخْلِيطِ.

Fa-yahīju mina al-khalwati funūnun min ʾuṣūli al-zuhdi fī al-dunyā, lawi ijtahada al-ʿabdu fī fannin minhā ʾan yastaḥkima lahu min ghayri hādhā al-ṭarīqi ʿaẓumat ʿalayhi fīhi al-mūnatu wa-ishtadda ʿalayhi fīhi al-ʿilāju, fa-ʾimmā ʿāzimun ʿalā al-ṣabri wa-ʾimmā ʿāʾidun ʾilā ṭibāʿihi fī al-takhlīṭi.

Solitude stirs up diverse foundations of detachment from this world. If a servant tried to establish any one of them firmly by another path, its cost would weigh heavily on him and the struggle would be severe. He would either resolve to persevere or return to his habitual confusion.

فَإِذَا رَقِيَ الْعَبْدُ إِلَى دَرَجَةِ الْخَلْوَةِ بِالْكُرْوَةِ لِذٰلِكَ (×) وَالصَّبْرِ عَلَيْهِ وَدَاوَمَ عَلَى ذٰلِكَ وَاسْتَحْلَاهُ نَقَلَهُ ذٰلِكَ إِلَى حُبِّ الْخَلْوَةِ.

Fa-ʾidhā raqiya al-ʿabdu ʾilā darajati al-khalwati bi-al-kurwati li-dhālika (×) wa-al-ṣabri ʿalayhi wa-dāwama ʿalā dhālika wa-istaḥlāhu naqalahu dhālika ʾilā ḥubbi al-khalwati.

When the servant ascends to the degree of solitude through “al-kurwa” for that [an uncertain word marked in the edition] and patience with it, persists in it, and finds it sweet, this carries him into love of solitude.

فَأَوَّلُ مَا يَهِيجُ مِنْ حُبِّ الْخَلْوَةِ طَلَبُهُ الْعَبْدُ لِلْإِخْلَاصِ وَالصِّدْقِ فِي جَمِيعِ قَوْلِهِ وَفِعْلِهِ فِيمَا بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ رَبِّهِ، وَمَخْرَجُهَا مِنَ الصِّدْقِ.

Fa-ʾawwalu mā yahīju min ḥubbi al-khalwati ṭalabuhu al-ʿabdu li-al-ʾikhlāṣi wa-al-ṣidqi fī jamīʿi qawlihi wa-fiʿlihi fīmā baynahu wa-bayna rabbihi, wa-makhrajuhā mina al-ṣidqi.

The first thing awakened by love of solitude is the servant's pursuit of sincerity and truthfulness in all that he says and does between himself and his Lord. Its source is truthfulness [the printed construction of “the servant's pursuit” is irregular].

Source pages 8–9

فَوَرَّثَهُ حُبُّ الْخَلْوَةِ رَاحَةً لِلْقَلْبِ مِنْ هُمُومِ الدُّنْيَا وَتَرْكَ مُعَامَلَةِ الْمَخْلُوقِينَ فِي الْأَخْذِ وَالْإِعْطَاءِ، وَمَخْرَجُ ذٰلِكَ مِنْ صِحَّةِ الْعَقْلِ.

Fa-warrathahu ḥubbu al-khalwati rāḥatan li-al-qalbi min humūmi al-dunyā wa-tarka muʿāmalati al-makhlūqīna fī al-ʾakhdhi wa-al-ʾiʿṭāʾi, wa-makhraju dhālika min ṣiḥḥati al-ʿaqli.

Love of solitude gives him rest for the heart from worldly anxieties and frees him from dealing with creatures in receiving and giving. This springs from sound reason.

Source page 9

وَأَسْقَطَ عَنْهُ حُبُّ الْخَلْوَةِ وُجُوبَ الْأَمْرِ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَالنَّهْيِ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَمُدَاهَنَةَ النَّاسِ فِيمَا فِيهِ تَلَفُ دِينِهِ مِنْ تَرْكِهِ لِذٰلِكَ، وَيَخْلُوا لِيَتَشَبَّعَ أَمْرَ نَفْسِهِ.

Wa-ʾasqaṭa ʿanhu ḥubbu al-khalwati wujūba al-ʾamri bi-al-maʿrūfi wa-al-nahyi ʿani al-munkari wa-mudāhanata al-nāsi fīmā fīhi talafu dīnihi min tarkihi li-dhālika, wa-yakhlū liyatashabbaʿa ʾamra nafsihi.

Love of solitude removes from him the obligation to command what is right and forbid what is wrong, and the need to flatter people in situations where neglecting that duty would ruin his religion. He withdraws “to fill himself with the matter of his own self” [the final printed expression is unclear].

وَيَهِيجُ مِنْ حُبِّ الْخَلْوَةِ خُمُولُ النَّفْسِ وَالْإِغْمَاضُ فِي النَّاسِ، وَهُوَ أَوَّلُ طَرِيقِ الصِّدْقِ وَمِنْهُ الْإِخْلَاصُ.

Wa-yahīju min ḥubbi al-khalwati khumūlu al-nafsi wa-al-ʾighmāḍu fī al-nāsi, wa-huwa ʾawwalu ṭarīqi al-ṣidqi wa-minhu al-ʾikhlāṣu.

Love of solitude awakens the self's obscurity and a turning of the eyes away among people. This is the beginning of the path of truthfulness, and sincerity comes from it.

وَيَهِيجُ مِنْ حُبِّ الْخَلْوَةِ الزُّهْدُ فِي مَعْرِفَةِ النَّاسِ وَالْأُنْسُ بِاللّٰهِ وَاشْتِغَالٌ بِمُجَالَسَةِ غَيْرِ أَهْلِ ذِكْرِ اللّٰهِ.

Wa-yahīju min ḥubbi al-khalwati al-zuhdu fī maʿrifati al-nāsi wa-al-ʾunsu bi-Allāhi wa-ishtighālun bimujālasati ghayri ʾahli dhikri Allāhi.

Love of solitude awakens indifference to knowing people, companionship with God, and “occupation with sitting with people other than those who remember God” [the final phrase conflicts with the surrounding sense, but is preserved as printed].

وَيُورِثُ حُبُّ الْخَلْوَةِ طُولَ الصَّمْتِ مِنْ غَيْرِ تَكَلُّفٍ إِذَا كَانَ غَيْرَ مُصِيبٍ لَهُ مُتَكَلِّمًا وَغَلَبَهُ الْهَوَى وَالصَّبْرُ، وَمِنْهَا يَظْهَرُ الْحِلْمُ وَالْأَنَاةُ.

Wa-yūrithu ḥubbu al-khalwati ṭūla al-ṣamti min ghayri takallufin ʾidhā kāna ghayra muṣībin lahu mutakalliman wa-ghalabahu al-hawā wa-al-ṣabru, wa-minhā yaẓharu al-ḥilmu wa-al-ʾanātu.

Love of solitude produces long, unforced silence when one is not attaining it while speaking, “and desire and patience overcome him.” From it forbearance and deliberation appear [the middle clause is unclear as printed].

وَيَهِيجُ مِنْ حُبِّ الْخَلْوَةِ شُغْلُ الْعَبْدِ بِعُيُوبِ نَفْسِهِ وَقِلَّةُ شُغْلِهِ بِذِكْرِ غَيْرِهِ وَطَلَبُ السَّلَامَةِ مِمَّا فِيهِ النَّاسُ.

Wa-yahīju min ḥubbi al-khalwati shughlu al-ʿabdi biʿuyūbi nafsihi wa-qillatu shughlihi bidhikri ghayrihi wa-ṭalabu al-salāmati mimmā fīhi al-nāsu.

Love of solitude awakens the servant's concern with his own faults, lessens his concern with speaking of others, and makes him seek safety from what engrosses people.

وَيَهِيجُ مِنْ حُبِّ الْخَلْوَةِ كَثْرَةُ الْهُمُومِ وَالْإِخْوَانِ، وَمِنْهَا يَهِيجُ الْفِكْرُ وَهُوَ أَفْضَلُ الْعِبَادَةِ وَمَخْرَجُهُ مِنْ خَالِصِ الْفِكْرِ.

Wa-yahīju min ḥubbi al-khalwati kathratu al-humūmi wa-al-ʾikhwāni, wa-minhā yahīju al-fikru wa-huwa ʾafḍalu al-ʿibādati wa-makhrajuhu min khāliṣi al-fikri.

Love of solitude awakens an abundance of cares and “brothers” [the latter word is uncertain in context]. From these reflection arises, which is the best worship; its source is pure reflection.

وَتَهِيجُ مِنْ حُبِّ الْخَلْوَةِ الْأَعْمَالُ الَّتِي تَغِيبُ فِي أَعْيُنِ النَّاسِ وَتَظْهَرُ لِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ، وَقَلِيلُ ذٰلِكَ كَثِيرٌ وَمَخْرَجُهُ مِنَ الصِّدْقِ.

Wa-tahīju min ḥubbi al-khalwati al-ʾaʿmālu allatī taghību fī ʾaʿyuni al-nāsi wa-taẓharu lirabbi al-ʿālamīna, wa-qalīlu dhālika kathīrun wa-makhrajuhu mina al-ṣidqi.

Love of solitude awakens deeds hidden from people's eyes but visible to the Lord of all worlds. A little of this is much, and it springs from truthfulness.

وَيَهِيجُ مِنْ حُبِّ الْخَلْوَةِ التَّيَقُّظُ مِنْ غَفْلَةِ أَهْلِ الدُّنْيَا وَفَقْدُ أَخْبَارِ مَا يُذْكَرُ مِنْهَا الْخَاصُّ وَالْعَامُّ.

Wa-yahīju min ḥubbi al-khalwati al-tayaqquẓu min ghaflati ʾahli al-dunyā wa-faqdu ʾakhbāri mā yudhkaru minhā al-khāṣṣu wa-al-ʿāmmu.

Love of solitude awakens one from the heedlessness of worldly people and cuts off news of what is mentioned of the world, both the particular and the general [the printed syntax of the last phrase is irregular].

وَيُورِثُ حُبُّ الْخَلْوَةِ الْأَمْنَ مِنَ الرِّيَا وَتَرْكَ التَّزَيُّنِ لِلْمَخْلُوقِينَ، وَكُلُّ ذٰلِكَ مِنْ دَوَاعِي الْإِخْلَاصِ وَهُوَ مَحْضُ الصِّدْقِ.

Wa-yūrithu ḥubbu al-khalwati al-ʾamna mina al-riyā wa-tarka al-tazayyuni li-al-makhlūqīna, wa-kullu dhālika min dawāʿī al-ʾikhlāṣi wa-huwa maḥḍu al-ṣidqi.

Love of solitude brings safety from showing off and abandonment of self-adornment for other creatures. All of this calls forth sincerity and is pure truthfulness.

وَيُورِثُ حُبُّ الْخَلْوَةِ قِلَّةَ الْمِرَاءِ وَتَرْكَ الْخُصُومَةِ وَالْجَدَلِ، وَهُمَا يَنْفِيَانِ طَلَبَ الرِّيَاسَةِ وَيُسَلِّمَانِ إِلَى الصِّدْقِ.

Wa-yūrithu ḥubbu al-khalwati qillata al-mirāʾi wa-tarka al-khuṣūmati wa-al-jadali, wa-humā yanfiyāni ṭalaba al-riyāsati wa-yusallimāni ʾilā al-ṣidqi.

Love of solitude reduces disputation and brings abandonment of quarrels and argument. These dispel the pursuit of leadership and lead one safely to truthfulness.

وَيَهِيجُ مِنْ حُبِّ الْخَلْوَةِ إِمَاتَةُ الطَّمَعِ وَدَوَاعِي الْحِرْصِ وَالرَّغْبَةِ فِي الدُّنْيَا، وَفِيهِ قُوَّةُ الْعَقْلِ.

Wa-yahīju min ḥubbi al-khalwati ʾimātatu al-ṭamaʿi wa-dawāʿī al-ḥirṣi wa-al-raghbati fī al-dunyā, wa-fīhi quwwatu al-ʿaqli.

Love of solitude awakens the mortification of covetousness and of the impulses toward greed and worldly desire. In this lies the strength of reason.

وَيُورِثُ حُبُّ الْخَلْوَةِ قِلَّةَ الْخُلْفِ فِي الْمَوَاعِيدِ وَالتَّوَقِّيَ مِنَ الْحِنْثِ فِي الْأَيْمَانِ، وَمَخْرَجُهُ مِنَ الصِّدْقِ.

Wa-yūrithu ḥubbu al-khalwati qillata al-khulfi fī al-mawāʿīdi wa-al-tawaqqiya mina al-ḥinthi fī al-ʾaymāni, wa-makhrajuhu mina al-ṣidqi.

Love of solitude means fewer broken promises and greater care to avoid breaking oaths. This springs from truthfulness.

وَيُورِثُ حُبُّ الْخَلْوَةِ قِلَّةَ الْغَضَبِ وَالْقُوَّةَ عَلَى كَظْمِ الْغَيْظِ وَتَرْكَ الْحِقْدِ وَالشَّحْنَا وَالْغِلِّ لِلْأُمَّةِ لِسَلَامَةِ الصُّدُورِ وَرِقَّةِ الْقَلْبِ مِنْ طَرِيقِ الرَّحْمَةِ، وَهُمَا يَنْفِيَانِ الْغِلْظَةَ وَالْقَسْوَةَ وَهُمَا مِنْ دَوَاعِي الْخَوْفِ.

Wa-yūrithu ḥubbu al-khalwati qillata al-ghaḍabi wa-al-quwwata ʿalā kaẓmi al-ghayẓi wa-tarka al-ḥiqdi wa-al-shaḥnā wa-al-ghilli li-al-ʾummati lisalāmati al-ṣudūri wa-riqqati al-qalbi min ṭarīqi al-raḥmati, wa-humā yanfiyāni al-ghilẓata wa-al-qaswata wa-humā min dawāʿī al-khawfi.

Love of solitude lessens anger, gives strength to restrain rage, and brings abandonment of resentment, hostility, and rancor toward the community, through soundness of heart and tenderness born of mercy. These dispel harshness and hardness, and they call forth fear of God.

وَيَهِيجُ مِنْ حُبِّ الْخَلْوَةِ تَذَكُّرُ النِّعَمِ وَطَلَبُ الْإِلْهَامِ لِلشُّكْرِ وَالزِّيَادَةُ مِنَ الطَّاعَةِ.

Wa-yahīju min ḥubbi al-khalwati tadhakkuru al-niʿami wa-ṭalabu al-ʾilhāmi li-al-shukri wa-al-ziyādatu mina al-ṭāʿati.

Love of solitude awakens remembrance of blessings, the search for inspiration to give thanks, and an increase in obedience.

وَيَهِيجُ مِنْ حُبِّ الْخَلْوَةِ وُجُودُ حَلَاوَةِ الْعَمَلِ وَالنَّشَاطُ فِي الْبُكَا بِحُزْنٍ مِنَ الْقَلْبِ مَعَ تَضَرُّعٍ وَاسْتِكَانَةٍ.

Wa-yahīju min ḥubbi al-khalwati wujūdu ḥalāwati al-ʿamali wa-al-nashāṭu fī al-bukā biḥuznin mina al-qalbi maʿa taḍarruʿin wa-istikānatin.

Love of solitude awakens a taste for the sweetness of action and eagerness to weep with heartfelt sorrow, humble pleading, and submission.

وَيَهِيجُ مِنْ حُبِّ الْخَلْوَةِ الْقُنُوعُ وَالتَّوَكُّلُ وَالرِّضَا بِالْكَفَافِ وَالْعَفَافِ وَالِاسْتِغْنَا عَنِ النَّاسِ.

Wa-yahīju min ḥubbi al-khalwati al-qunūʿu wa-al-tawakkulu wa-al-riḍā bi-al-kafāfi wa-al-ʿafāfi wa-al-istighnā ʿani al-nāsi.

Love of solitude awakens contentment, trust in God, satisfaction with enough to live on and with restraint, and freedom from dependence on people.

وَيَهِيجُ مِنْ حُبِّ الْخَلْوَةِ عُرُوضُ النَّفْسِ عَنِ الدُّنْيَا وَاشْتِيَاقُهَا إِلَى لِقَاءِ اللّٰهِ تَعَالَى، وَهُوَ مِنْ طَرِيقِ حُسْنِ الظَّنِّ بِاللّٰهِ تَعَالَى وَخَوْفِ النَّقْصِ فِي الدِّينِ.

Wa-yahīju min ḥubbi al-khalwati ʿurūḍu al-nafsi ʿani al-dunyā wa-ishtiyāquhā ʾilā liqāʾi Allāhi taʿālā, wa-huwa min ṭarīqi ḥusni al-ẓanni bi-Allāhi taʿālā wa-khawfi al-naqṣi fī al-dīni.

Love of solitude awakens the self's turning aside from the world [the printed noun is unusual] and its longing to meet God Most High. This comes through thinking well of God Most High and fearing a decline in one's religion.

Source pages 9–10

وَيَهِيجُ عَنْ حُبِّ الْخَلْوَةِ حَيَا الْقَلْبِ وَضِيَا نُورِهِ وَنَفَاذُ بَصَرِهِ فِي عُيُوبِ الدُّنْيَا وَمَعْرِفَةُ النَّفْسِ وَمَعْرِفَتُهُ بِالنَّقْصِ وَالزِّيَادَةِ فِي دِينِهِ.

Wa-yahīju ʿan ḥubbi al-khalwati ḥayā al-qalbi wa-ḍiyā nūrihi wa-nafādhu baṣarihi fī ʿuyūbi al-dunyā wa-maʿrifatu al-nafsi wa-maʿrifatuhu bi-al-naqṣi wa-al-ziyādati fī dīnihi.

Love of solitude awakens the heart's modesty, the radiance of its light, the penetration of its sight into the world's faults, knowledge of the self, and awareness of decrease and increase in one's religion.

Source page 10

وَيَهِيجُ مِنْ حُبِّ الْخَلْوَةِ الْإِنْصَافُ لِلنَّاسِ وَالْإِقْرَارُ بِالْحَقِّ وَإِذْلَالُ النَّفْسِ بِالتَّوَاضُعِ وَقِلَّةُ الِاعْتِدَاءِ.

Wa-yahīju min ḥubbi al-khalwati al-ʾinṣāfu li-al-nāsi wa-al-ʾiqrāru bi-al-ḥaqqi wa-ʾidhlālu al-nafsi bi-al-tawāḍuʿi wa-qillatu al-iʿtidāʾi.

Love of solitude awakens fairness toward people, acknowledgment of the truth, humbling the self through humility, and less transgression.

وَيَهِيجُ مِنْ حُبِّ الْخَلْوَةِ خَوْفُ وُرُودِ الْفِتَنِ الَّتِي فِيهَا ذَهَابُ الدِّينِ وَالشَّوْقُ إِلَى الْمَوْتِ قَبْلَ وُقُوعِهِ خَوْفًا مِنْ سَلْبِ الْإِيمَانِ.

Wa-yahīju min ḥubbi al-khalwati khawfu wurūdi al-fitani allatī fīhā dhahābu al-dīni wa-al-shawqu ʾilā al-mawti qabla wuqūʿihi khawfan min salbi al-ʾīmāni.

Love of solitude awakens fear of the coming trials through which religion is lost, and longing for death before that happens, out of fear of being stripped of faith.

وَيَهِيجُ مِنْ حُبِّ الْخَلْوَةِ الْوَحْشَةُ مِنَ النَّاسِ وَاسْتِثْقَالُ كَلَامِهِمْ وَالْأُنْسُ بِكَلَامِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ الَّذِي جَعَلَهُ اللّٰهُ نُورًا وَشِفَا لِلْعَالَمِينَ وَحُجَّةً وَوَبَالًا عَلَى الظَّالِمِينَ.

Wa-yahīju min ḥubbi al-khalwati al-waḥshatu mina al-nāsi wa-istithqālu kalāmihim wa-al-ʾunsu bikalāmi rabbi al-ʿālamīna alladhī jaʿalahu Allāhu nūran wa-shifā li-al-ʿālamīna wa-ḥujjatan wa-wabālan ʿalā al-ẓālimīna.

Love of solitude awakens estrangement from people and a sense that their speech is burdensome, together with companionship in the speech of the Lord of all worlds. God has made it light and healing for the worlds, and evidence and a calamity against wrongdoers.

فَاجْعَلِ الْكِتَابَ مَفْزَعَكَ الَّذِي إِلَيْهِ تَلْجَأُ وَعِصْمَتَكَ الَّذِي بِهِ تَسْتَعْصِمُ وَحِصْنَكَ الَّذِي إِلَيْهِ تَأْوِي وَدَلِيلَكَ الَّذِي بِهِ تَهْتَدِي وَشِعَارَكَ وَدِثَارَكَ وَمَنْهَجَكَ وَسَبِيلَكَ.

Fa-ijʿali al-kitāba mafzaʿaka alladhī ʾilayhi taljaʾu wa-ʿiṣmataka alladhī bihi tastaʿṣimu wa-ḥiṣnaka alladhī ʾilayhi taʾwī wa-dalīlaka alladhī bihi tahtadī wa-shiʿāraka wa-dithāraka wa-manhajaka wa-sabīlaka.

Make the Book the refuge to which you turn, the protection to which you cling, the fortress in which you shelter, and the guide by which you find your way. Make it your inner garment and your outer covering, your course and your path.

فَإِذَا الْتَبَسَتْ عَلَيْكَ الطُّرُقُ وَاشْتَبَهَتْ عَلَيْكَ الْأُمُورُ وَصِرْتَ فِي حَيْرَةٍ مِنْ أُمُورِكَ تَضِيقُ بِهَا نَفْسُكَ فَعَلَيْكَ بِالرُّجُوعِ إِلَى عَجَابِ الْكِتَابِ الَّذِي لَا حَيْرَةَ فِيهِ.

Fa-ʾidhā iltabasat ʿalayka al-ṭuruqu wa-ishtabahat ʿalayka al-ʾumūru wa-ṣirta fī ḥayratin min ʾumūrika taḍīqu bihā nafsuka fa-ʿalayka bi-al-rujūʿi ʾilā ʿajābi al-kitābi alladhī lā ḥayrata fīhi.

When paths become confused, matters seem doubtful, and you fall into a bewilderment about your affairs that constricts your soul, return to the wonders of the Book, in which there is no bewilderment.

وَقِفْ عَلَى دَلَالَتِهَا مِنَ التَّرْغِيبِ وَالتَّرَهُّبِ وَالْوَعْدِ وَالْوَعِيدِ وَإِلَى مَا نَدَبَ اللّٰهُ تَعَالَى إِلَيْهِ الْمُؤْمِنَ مِنَ الطَّاعَةِ وَتَرْكِ الْمَعْصِيَةِ.

Wa-qif ʿalā dalālatihā mina al-targhībi wa-al-tarahhubi wa-al-waʿdi wa-al-waʿīdi wa-ʾilā mā nadaba Allāhu taʿālā ʾilayhi al-muʾmina mina al-ṭāʿati wa-tarki al-maʿṣiyati.

Attend to what its wonders indicate of encouragement and fear, promise and warning, and to the obedience and abandonment of sin to which God Most High has called the believer.

فَإِنَّكَ تَصِيرُ بَصِيرًا مِنْ حَيْرَتِكَ وَعَارِفًا مِنْ جَهَالَتِكَ وَمُسْتَأْنِسًا مِنْ بَعْدِ وَحْشَتِكَ وَقَوِيًّا بَعْدَ ضَعْفِكَ.

Fa-ʾinnaka taṣīru baṣīran min ḥayratika wa-ʿārifan min jahālatika wa-mustaʾnisan min baʿdi waḥshatika wa-qawiyyan baʿda ḍaʿfika.

Then you will pass from bewilderment to insight, from ignorance to knowledge, from loneliness to companionship, and from weakness to strength.

فَلْيَكُنْ وَلِيَّكَ مِنْ دُونِ الْمَخْلُوقِينَ نَفَرَ مَعَ الْفَائِزِينَ، وَلَا تَهُذَّهُ كَهَزِّ الشِّعْرِ وَلَا تَنْثُرْهُ نَثْرًا كَنَثِيرِ الرَّمْلِ.

Fa-l-yakun waliyyaka min dūni al-makhlūqīna nafara maʿa al-fāʾizīna, wa-lā tahudhdhahu kahazzi al-shiʿri wa-lā tanthurhu nathran kanathīri al-ramli.

Let it be your companion rather than creatures: “he went forth with the successful” [the printed phrase is unclear]. Do not rush through it as poetry is shaken off, or scatter it as sand is scattered.

وَقِفْ عِنْدَ عَجَايِبِهِ وَحُدُودِهِ، وَمَا أَشْكَلَ عَلَيْكَ فَكِلْهُ إِلَى عَالِمِهِ، وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللّٰهِ.

Wa-qif ʿinda ʿajāyibihi wa-ḥudūdihi, wa-mā ʾashkala ʿalayka fa-kilhu ʾilā ʿālimihi, wa-lā quwwata ʾillā bi-Allāhi.

Pause at its wonders and its limits. Entrust whatever you find difficult to the One who knows it. There is no strength except through God.

وَاعْمَلْ بِالْمُحْكَمِ وَآمِنْ بِالْمُتَشَابِهِ وَكِلْ عِلْمَهُ إِلَى اللّٰهِ تَعَالَى، وَاذْكُرِ الْعُلَمَا مَا حَمَّلَتْهُ مِنَ الْحُدُودِ وَالسُّنَنِ، وَخُذْ بِمَا أَجْمَعُوا عَلَيْهِ.

Wa-iʿmal bi-al-muḥkami wa-ʾāmin bi-al-mutashābihi wa-kil ʿilmahu ʾilā Allāhi taʿālā, wa-udhkuri al-ʿulamā mā ḥammalat-hu mina al-ḥudūdi wa-al-sunani, wa-khudh bimā ʾajmaʿū ʿalayhi.

Act upon what is unambiguous, believe in what is ambiguous, and entrust its knowledge to God Most High. Remind the scholars of the limits and practices it has laid upon them [the printed construction is uncertain], and follow what they agree upon.

وَمَا اخْتَلَفُوا فِيهِ فَخُذْ لِنَفْسِكَ بِالْحَزْمِ وَلَا تَحْمِلْ خَلْقَ اللّٰهِ تَعَالَى عَلَيْهِ وَلَا تَلُومْهُمْ نُصْحًا وَحُسْنَ نَظَرٍ.

Wa-mā ikhtalafū fīhi fa-khudh linafsika bi-al-ḥazmi wa-lā taḥmil khalqa Allāhi taʿālā ʿalayhi wa-lā talūmhum nuṣḥan wa-ḥusna naẓarin.

Where they disagree, take the prudent course for yourself, but do not impose it on the creatures of God Most High or blame them. Let sincere counsel and good judgment guide you.

وَاعْلَمْ أَنَّ الْأَقَاوِيلَ مَحْفُوظَةٌ وَالسَّرَائِرَ مَعْلُومَةٌ وَكُلُّ نَفْسٍ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ رَهِينَةٌ.

Wa-iʿlam ʾanna al-ʾaqāwīla maḥfūẓatun wa-al-sarāʾira maʿlūmatun wa-kullu nafsin bimā kasabat rahīnatun.

Know that sayings are recorded, secrets are known, and every soul is held in pledge for what it has earned.

وَقَدْ أَصْبَحَ النَّاسُ مَنْغُوصِينَ مَدْخُولِينَ إِلَّا مَنْ عَصَمَ اللّٰهُ، فَقَائِلُهُمْ بَاغٍ وَسَامِعُهُمْ عَائِبٌ وَسَايِلُهُمْ مُعِيبٌ وَمُجِيبُهُمْ مُتَكَلِّفٌ.

Wa-qad ʾaṣbaḥa al-nāsu manghūṣīna madkhūlīna ʾillā man ʿaṣama Allāhu, fa-qāʾiluhum bāghin wa-sāmiʿuhum ʿāʾibun wa-sāyiluhum muʿībun wa-mujībuhum mutakallifun.

People have become troubled and inwardly flawed, except those whom God protects. Their speaker transgresses, their listener finds fault, their questioner seeks defects, and their respondent affects what he does not possess.

يَكَادُ أَفْضَلُهُمْ رَأْيًا يَرُدُّهُ عَنْ أَفْضَلِ رَأْيِهِ أَدْنَى الْغَضَبِ، وَيَكَادُ أَصْلَبُهُمْ عُودًا تَنْكَؤُهُ اللَّحْظَةُ وَتَسْتَجِرُّهُ الْكَلِمَةُ.

Yakādu ʾafḍaluhum raʾyan yarudduhu ʿan ʾafḍali raʾyihi ʾadnā al-ghaḍabi, wa-yakādu ʾaṣlabuhum ʿūdan tankaʾuhu al-laḥẓatu wa-tastajirruhu al-kalimatu.

Even the soundest in judgment is almost turned from his best judgment by the slightest anger. Even the strongest in character is almost wounded by a glance and dragged along by a word.

فَلَا فَقْرَ أَشَدُّ مِنَ الْجَهْلِ، وَلَا مَالَ أَعَزُّ مِنَ الْعَقْلِ، وَلَا وَحْدَةَ أَوْحَشُ مِنَ الْعُجْبِ، وَلَا مُظَاهَرَةَ أَوْثَقُ مِنَ الْمَشُورَةِ، وَلَا عَقْلَ كَالتَّدَابِيرِ، وَلَا وَرَعَ كَالْكَفِّ، وَلَا حَسَبَ كَحُسْنِ الْخُلُقِ، وَلَا عِبَادَةَ كَالْفِكْرِ.

Fa-lā faqra ʾashaddu mina al-jahli, wa-lā māla ʾaʿazzu mina al-ʿaqli, wa-lā waḥdata ʾawḥashu mina al-ʿujbi, wa-lā muẓāharata ʾawthaqu mina al-mashūrati, wa-lā ʿaqla ka-al-tadābīri, wa-lā waraʿa ka-al-kaffi, wa-lā ḥasaba kaḥusni al-khuluqi, wa-lā ʿibādata ka-al-fikri.

No poverty is harsher than ignorance, no wealth more precious than reason, no solitude more desolate than conceit, and no support more dependable than consultation. There is no intelligence like careful planning, no scrupulousness like restraint, no nobility like good character, and no worship like reflection.

Source page 11

بَابُ مَعْرِفَةِ الْأَصْلِ الَّذِي يَتَفَرَّعُ مِنْهُ جِمَاعُ الْخَيْرِ

Bābu maʿrifati al-ʾaṣli alladhī yatafarraʿu minhu jimāʿu al-khayri

Chapter on Knowing the Root from Which All Good Branches Out

سَأَلَ سَايِلٌ عَنْ بَابِ مَعْرِفَةِ الْأَصْلِ الَّذِي يَتَفَرَّعُ مِنْهُ جِمَاعُ الْخَيْرِ، قَالَ: أَخْبِرْنِي عَنِ الْأَشْيَا الَّتِي يَتَفَرَّعُ مِنْ مَعْرِفَتِهَا جِمَاعُ الْخَيْرِ وَتَجْرِي بِهَا الْمَنَافِعُ وَيَصْلُحُ بِهَا الْأَعْمَالُ مِنْ بَعْدِ الْيَقِينِ بِاللّٰهِ تَعَالَى.

Saʾala sāyilun ʿan bābi maʿrifati al-ʾaṣli alladhī yatafarraʿu minhu jimāʿu al-khayri, qāla: ʾakhbirnī ʿani al-ʾashyā allatī yatafarraʿu min maʿrifatihā jimāʿu al-khayri wa-tajrī bihā al-manāfiʿu wa-yaṣluḥu bihā al-ʾaʿmālu min baʿdi al-yaqīni bi-Allāhi taʿālā.

A questioner asked about knowing the root from which all good branches out. He said, “Tell me about the things whose knowledge gives rise to all good, through which benefits flow and deeds become sound, after certainty in God Most High.”

فَقَالَ: اعْلَمْ أَنَّ أُصُولَ الْأَشْيَا الَّتِي مِنْهَا يَتَفَرَّعُ جِمَاعُ الْخَيْرِ وَتَجْرِي بِهَا الْمَنَافِعُ وَتَصِحُّ عَلَيْهَا الْأَعْمَالُ مِنْ بَعْدِ الْيَقِينِ، مَعْرِفَةُ النِّعَمِ وَالْعَمَلُ بِأَدَاءِ الشُّكْرِ.

Fa-qāla: iʿlam ʾanna ʾuṣūla al-ʾashyā allatī minhā yatafarraʿu jimāʿu al-khayri wa-tajrī bihā al-manāfiʿu wa-taṣiḥḥu ʿalayhā al-ʾaʿmālu min baʿdi al-yaqīni, maʿrifatu al-niʿami wa-al-ʿamalu bi-ʾadāʾi al-shukri.

He replied, “Know that the foundations from which all good branches out, through which benefits flow, and upon which deeds become sound after certainty, are recognizing blessings and acting to fulfill gratitude.

وَأَنْ يَصِحَّ عِنْدَكَ أَنَّ جِمَاعَ الْخَيْرِ مَوَاهِبُ مِنَ اللّٰهِ تَعَالَى وَهُوَ تَأْسِيسُ الْعَفْوِ وَهُوَ مِنْ طَرِيقِ الرِّضَا، وَأَنَّ جَمِيعَ الشَّرِّ مِنَ الْمَعَاصِي عُقُوبَةٌ وَهُوَ مِنْ طَرِيقِ الْخُذْلَانِ وَهُوَ عَلَامَةُ السَّخَطِ.

Wa-ʾan yaṣiḥḥa ʿindaka ʾanna jimāʿa al-khayri mawāhibu mina Allāhi taʿālā wa-huwa taʾsīsu al-ʿafwi wa-huwa min ṭarīqi al-riḍā, wa-ʾanna jamīʿa al-sharri mina al-maʿāṣī ʿuqūbatun wa-huwa min ṭarīqi al-khudhlāni wa-huwa ʿalāmatu al-sakhaṭi.

You must also become firmly convinced that all good consists of gifts from God Most High. It lays the foundation for pardon and comes by way of His pleasure. All the evil of sinful acts is punishment; it comes through abandonment and is a sign of displeasure.

فَإِذَا عَرَفْتَ ذٰلِكَ كَثُرَتْ حَسَنَاتُكَ وَقَلَّتْ سَيِّئَاتُكَ إِنْ شَاءَ اللّٰهُ، لِأَنَّكَ إِذَا عَرَفْتَ أَنَّ الْإِحْسَانَ نِعْمَةٌ وَمَوَاهِبُ مِنْهُ بَادَرْتَ فِي الشُّكْرِ، وَاسْتَقْلَلْتَ أَكْثَرَ شُكْرِكَ عِنْدَ أَصْغَرِ نِعَمِهِ عِنْدَكَ، فَجَرَيْتَ فِي مَيْدَانِ الزِّيَادَةِ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ وَطَمِعْتَ فِي الْعَفْوِ وَالرِّضَا.

Fa-ʾidhā ʿarafta dhālika kathurat ḥasanātuka wa-qallat sayyiʾātuka ʾin shāʾa Allāhu, li-ʾannaka ʾidhā ʿarafta ʾanna al-ʾiḥsāna niʿmatun wa-mawāhibu minhu bādarta fī al-shukri, wa-istaqlalta ʾakthara shukrika ʿinda ʾaṣghari niʿamihi ʿindaka, fa-jarayta fī maydāni al-ziyādati mina al-khayri wa-ṭamiʿta fī al-ʿafwi wa-al-riḍā.

When you recognize this, your good deeds increase and your bad deeds diminish, if God wills. Once you know that doing good is a blessing and a gift from Him, you hasten to give thanks. You regard even your greatest gratitude as small beside His smallest blessing to you, so you race across the field of increasing goodness and hope for pardon and acceptance.

وَإِذَا عَرَفْتَ أَنَّ الْإِسَاةَ مِنْكَ خُذْلَانٌ مِنْهُ إِيَّاكَ وَأَنَّهُ مِنْ طَرِيقِ السَّخَطِ فَزِعْتَ إِلَى التَّضَرُّعِ وَالِاسْتِكَانَةِ فَبَادَرْتَ بِالتَّوْبَةِ.

Wa-ʾidhā ʿarafta ʾanna al-ʾisāta minka khudhlānun minhu ʾiyyāka wa-ʾannahu min ṭarīqi al-sakhaṭi faziʿta ʾilā al-taḍarruʿi wa-al-istikānati fa-bādarta bi-al-tawbati.

When you recognize that your wrongdoing reflects His abandonment of you and comes by way of displeasure, you turn urgently to humble pleading and submission, and hasten to repent.

وَاسْتَحْيَيْتَ مِمَّا تَعْرِفُ مِنْ كَثِيرِ إِحْسَانِهِ أَنْ تَتَضَرَّعَ لَهُ بِقَلْبِكَ اسْتِكَانَةً سَرَادَكَ الْإِحْسَانَ جَهْرًا، ثُمَّ الْتَمَسْتَ لَطِيفَ الشُّكْرِ عَلَى انْتِقَالِكَ عَنِ الْإِسَاةِ ثُمَّ الشُّكْرَ عَلَى تَحْوِيلِكَ إِلَى الْإِحْسَانِ.

Wa-istaḥyayta mimmā taʿrifu min kathīri ʾiḥsānihi ʾan tataḍarraʿa lahu biqalbika istikānatan sarādaka al-ʾiḥsāna jahran, thumma iltamasta laṭīfa al-shukri ʿalā intiqālika ʿani al-ʾisāti thumma al-shukra ʿalā taḥwīlika ʾilā al-ʾiḥsāni.

Knowing how much kindness He has shown you, you feel shame as you plead with Him in your heart in submission: “sarādaka, kindness openly” [the printed phrase is corrupt or unclear]. Then you seek a subtle form of gratitude for having moved away from wrongdoing, and gratitude for having been turned toward doing good.

فَإِذَا أَنْتَ فِي جَمِيعِ أَحْوَالِكَ زَايِدٌ شَاكِرٌ، لَمْ تُعْجِزْكَ مَعْرِفَةُ الْإِحْسَانِ مِنْ أَيْنَ فَشَكَرْتَ وَلَا مَعْرِفَةُ الْإِسَاةِ مِنْ أَيْنَ فَاسْتَغْفَرْتَ.

Fa-ʾidhā ʾanta fī jamīʿi ʾaḥwālika zāyidun shākirun, lam tuʿjizka maʿrifatu al-ʾiḥsāni min ʾayna fa-shakarta wa-lā maʿrifatu al-ʾisāti min ʾayna fa-istaghfarta.

Then in all your states you are growing and giving thanks. You have not failed to recognize where good conduct comes from, and so you give thanks; nor have you failed to recognize where wrongdoing comes from, and so you seek forgiveness.

فَهٰذَا أَصْلٌ يَتَفَرَّعُ مِنْهُ فُنُونُ الْخَيْرِ وَتَعَلَّقَ بِهِ جِمَاعُ أَبْوَابِ الشَّرِّ، وَلَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللّٰهِ الْعَلِيِّ الْعَظِيمِ.

Fa-hādhā ʾaṣlun yatafarraʿu minhu funūnu al-khayri wa-taʿallaqa bihi jimāʿu ʾabwābi al-sharri, wa-lā ḥawla wa-lā quwwata ʾillā bi-Allāhi al-ʿaliyyi al-ʿaẓīmi.

This is a root from which the various forms of good branch out, and to which all the gateways of evil are connected. There is no power and no strength except through God, the Most High, the Magnificent.”

بَابُ الِاسْتِدْرَاجِ

Bābu al-istidrāji

Chapter on Being Gradually Led to Ruin

Source pages 11–12

وَسَأَلَهُ فَقَالَ: مَتَى يَكُونُ الْعَبْدُ كَثِيرَ الْإِسَاةِ غَيْرَ رَاجِعٍ عَنْهَا وَهُوَ لَا يَعْلَمُ؟ قَالَ: إِذَا كَانَ عَمِيًا عَنْ عُيُوبِ نَفْسِهِ كَانَ كَمَا وَصَفْتَ وَهُوَ لَا يَعْلَمُ.

Wa-saʾalahu fa-qāla: matā yakūnu al-ʿabdu kathīra al-ʾisāti ghayra rājiʿin ʿanhā wa-huwa lā yaʿlamu? qāla: ʾidhā kāna ʿamiyan ʿan ʿuyūbi nafsihi kāna kamā waṣafta wa-huwa lā yaʿlamu.

He asked him, “When does a servant do much wrong without turning back from it, while remaining unaware?” He replied, “When he is blind to his own faults, he is as you describe without knowing it.”

Source page 12

قَالَ: وَمَتَى يَكُونُ مُصِرًّا عَلَيْهَا وَهُوَ يَعْلَمُ؟ قَالَ: إِذَا عَرَفَ عُيُوبَ نَفْسِهِ فَعَرَفَهَا فَلَمْ وَهُوَ لَا يَنْزِعُ عَنْهَا، كَانَ مُصِرًّا عَلَى الذُّنُوبِ وَهُوَ يَعْلَمُ.

Qāla: wa-matā yakūnu muṣirran ʿalayhā wa-huwa yaʿlamu? qāla: ʾidhā ʿarafa ʿuyūba nafsihi fa-ʿarafahā fa-lam wa-huwa lā yanziʿu ʿanhā, kāna muṣirran ʿalā al-dhunūbi wa-huwa yaʿlamu.

He asked, “When does he knowingly persist in them?” He replied, “When he knows his own faults and recognizes them, but does not … and does not desist from them, he knowingly persists in sins [the printed clause after ‘but does not’ is incomplete].”

فَمَتَى يَكُونُ مَفْتُونًا تَايِبًا وَهُوَ يَعْلَمُ؟ قَالَ: حِينَ عَرَفَ عُيُوبَ نَفْسِهِ فَعَرَفَهَا فَلَمْ يَرْضَ بِهَا وَنَازَعَتْهُ نَفْسُهُ إِلَيْهَا فَجَاهَدَهَا فَغَلَبَهَا وَغَلَبَتْهُ كَانَ كَذٰلِكَ وَهُوَ يَعْلَمُ.

Fa-matā yakūnu maftūnan tāyiban wa-huwa yaʿlamu? qāla: ḥīna ʿarafa ʿuyūba nafsihi fa-ʿarafahā fa-lam yarḍa bihā wa-nāzaʿat-hu nafsuhu ʾilayhā fa-jāhadahā fa-ghalabahā wa-ghalabat-hu kāna ka-dhālika wa-huwa yaʿlamu.

“When is he knowingly both subject to temptation and repentant?” He replied, “When he knows his faults and recognizes them, refuses to accept them, yet his self pulls him toward them, he struggles against it, sometimes overcoming it and sometimes being overcome. He is then knowingly in that state.”

قُلْتُ: فَمَتَى يَكُونُ مُحْسِنًا وَهُوَ لَا يَعْلَمُ؟ قَالَ: فَإِنَّهُ إِذَا اشْتَدَّ خَوْفُهُ مِمَّا قَدَّمَ مِنَ الْإِسَاةِ ظَنَّ أَنْ لَا يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ مَعَهَا إِحْسَانٌ وَخَافَ عَلَى إِحْسَانِهِ أَنْ يَكُونَ إِسَاةً، فَإِنَّهُ يَكُونُ حِينَئِذٍ مُحْسِنًا تَايِبًا وَهُوَ لَا يَعْلَمُ لِغَلَبَةِ الْخَوْفِ عَلَيْهِ.

Qultu: fa-matā yakūnu muḥsinan wa-huwa lā yaʿlamu? qāla: fa-ʾinnahu ʾidhā ishtadda khawfuhu mimmā qaddama mina al-ʾisāti ẓanna ʾan lā yuqbala minhu maʿahā ʾiḥsānun wa-khāfa ʿalā ʾiḥsānihi ʾan yakūna ʾisātan, fa-ʾinnahu yakūnu ḥīnaʾidhin muḥsinan tāyiban wa-huwa lā yaʿlamu lighalabati al-khawfi ʿalayhi.

I asked, “When is he doing good without knowing it?” He replied, “When his fear of his past wrongdoing grows intense, he thinks that no good deed will be accepted from him alongside it, and fears that even his good conduct may be wrongdoing. He is then doing good and repenting without knowing it, because fear has overwhelmed him.”

قُلْتُ: فَمَتَى يَكُونُ ذَنْبًا وَهُوَ يَعْلَمُ؟ قَالَ: فَإِنَّهُ إِذَا كَانَ لَا يَعْرِفُ عُيُوبَ نَفْسِهِ فَعَرَفَهَا فَانْتَقَلَ عَنْهَا كَانَ تَايِبًا وَهُوَ يَعْلَمُ.

Qultu: fa-matā yakūnu dhanban wa-huwa yaʿlamu? qāla: fa-ʾinnahu ʾidhā kāna lā yaʿrifu ʿuyūba nafsihi fa-ʿarafahā fa-intaqala ʿanhā kāna tāyiban wa-huwa yaʿlamu.

I asked, “When is he ‘a sin,’ knowingly [the printed word is anomalous]?” He replied, “If he did not know his own faults, then recognizes them and leaves them behind, he is knowingly repentant.”

قُلْتُ: فَمَتَى يَكُونُ مُسْتَدْرَجًا وَهُوَ لَا يَعْلَمُ؟ قَالَ: إِذَا عَرَفَ عُيُوبَ نَفْسِهِ فَعَرَفَهَا وَلَمْ يَنْتَقِلْ عَنْهَا فَزِيدَ فِي بَصِيرَتِهِ وَفِي الْحُجَّةِ الظَّاهِرَةِ وَأُعْجِبَ [كَلِمَةٌ غَيْرُ وَاضِحَةٍ فِي الْأَصْلِ] بِهِ وَقَوِيَ عَلَى عِبَادَتِهِ، فَهُوَ مُسْتَدْرَجٌ وَهُوَ لَا يَعْلَمُ.

Qultu: fa-matā yakūnu mustadrajan wa-huwa lā yaʿlamu? qāla: ʾidhā ʿarafa ʿuyūba nafsihi fa-ʿarafahā wa-lam yantaqil ʿanhā fa-zīda fī baṣīratihi wa-fī al-ḥujjati al-ẓāhirati wa-ʾuʿjiba [kalimatun ghayru wāḍiḥatin fī al-ʾaṣli] bihi wa-qawiya ʿalā ʿibādatihi, fa-huwa mustadrajun wa-huwa lā yaʿlamu.

I asked, “When is he being gradually led to ruin without knowing it?” He replied, “When he knows his own faults and recognizes them without abandoning them, yet his insight and outward evidence increase, and admiration is felt [a word is unclear in the source] for him, and he grows stronger in worship, he is being led gradually to ruin without knowing it.”

قُلْتُ: فَمَتَى يَكُونُ مُسْتَدْرَجًا وَهُوَ يَعْلَمُ؟ قَالَ: هٰذَا مُحَالٌ لِأَنَّ الْمُسْتَدْرَجَ مَا لَمْ يَتَبَيَّنْ لَهُ مَا هُوَ فِيهِ لَا يَعْلَمُ مِنْ أَيْنَ اسْتُدْرِجَ.

Qultu: fa-matā yakūnu mustadrajan wa-huwa yaʿlamu? qāla: hādhā muḥālun li-ʾanna al-mustadraja mā lam yatabayyan lahu mā huwa fīhi lā yaʿlamu min ʾayna ustudrija.

I asked, “When is he being led gradually to ruin and knows it?” He replied, “That is impossible. Until the condition he is in becomes clear to him, a person being led gradually to ruin does not know how he has been drawn into it.

فَإِذَا عَرَفَ وَعَلِمَ فَقَدْ أُرِيدَ بِهِ خَيْرٌ لِأَنَّهُ اسْتَبَانَ عَمِيًا كَانَ عِنْدَهُ حَسَنًا، فَلَمَّا عَرَفَ وَعُرِّفَ رَاجَعَ وَخَضَعَ وَتَضَرَّعَ فَقُبِلَ وَاسْتُنْقِذَ مِنْ طَرِيقِ الِاسْتِدْرَاجِ وَهُوَ الْعَابِدُ الْمُضَيِّعُ لِلشُّكْرِ.

Fa-ʾidhā ʿarafa wa-ʿalima fa-qad ʾurīda bihi khayrun li-ʾannahu istabāna ʿamiyan kāna ʿindahu ḥasanan, fa-lammā ʿarafa wa-ʿurrifa rājaʿa wa-khaḍaʿa wa-taḍarraʿa fa-qubila wa-ustunqidha min ṭarīqi al-istidrāji wa-huwa al-ʿābidu al-muḍayyiʿu li-al-shukri.

Once he recognizes and knows it, good has been intended for him, because he has discerned a blind condition he previously regarded as good [the printed word is irregular]. When he recognizes it and is made aware, he returns, humbles himself, and pleads. He is accepted and rescued from the path of gradual ruin. This is the worshiper who has neglected gratitude.

وَالِاسْتِدْرَاجُ اسْمٌ لِمَعْنَيْنِ، فَمَعْنًى اسْتِدْرَاجُ عُقُوبَةٍ يُرْجَى مِنْهُ الْإِنَابَةُ، وَاسْتِدْرَاجُ سَخَطٍ لَا إِنَابَةَ فِيهِ وَلَا رُجُوعَ عَنْهُ.

Wa-al-istidrāju ismun limaʿnayni, fa-maʿnan istidrāju ʿuqūbatin yurjā minhu al-ʾinābatu, wa-istidrāju sakhaṭin lā ʾinābata fīhi wa-lā rujūʿa ʿanhu.

Gradual leading to ruin names two things: a punitive drawing onward from which a return to God is hoped for, and a drawing onward in wrath in which there is no return to God and no turning back.

وَاسْتِدْرَاجُ كُلِّ عَبْدٍ عَلَى مِقْدَارِ بُغْيَتِهِ، فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يُسْتَدْرَجُ فِي الدُّنُوِّ مِنَ الْمَلِكِ وَالْحُظْوَةِ عِنْدَهُ، وَمِنْهُمُ التَّاجِرُ يُسْتَدْرَجُ فِي التَّوَسُّعِ فِي تِجَارَتِهِ.

Wa-istidrāju kulli ʿabdin ʿalā miqdāri bughyatihi, fa-minhum man yustadraju fī al-dunuwwi mina al-maliki wa-al-ḥuẓwati ʿindahu, wa-minhumu al-tājiru yustadraju fī al-tawassuʿi fī tijāratihi.

Each servant is drawn onward in proportion to what he seeks. Some are drawn in through closeness to a king and favor with him. A merchant may be drawn in through the expansion of his trade.

وَمِنْهُمُ الْعَامَّةُ تُسْتَدْرَجُ فِي الْأَهْلِ وَالْوَلَدِ وَالْمَاشِيَةِ وَالتَّبَعِ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَيُوطَا عَقِبُهُ، وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يُسْتَدْرَجُ بِعِلْمِهِ إِذَا طَلَبَ أَنْ يُكْرَمَ عَلَيْهِ وَيُعَظَّمَ وَيُسْمَعَ قَوْلُهُ، وَذٰلِكَ حَظُّهُ مِنْ عِلْمِهِ وَفِيهِ اسْتِدْرَاجُهُ.

Wa-minhumu al-ʿāmmatu tustadraju fī al-ʾahli wa-al-waladi wa-al-māshiyati wa-al-tabaʿi fī al-dunyā wa-yūṭā ʿaqibuhu, wa-minhum man yustadraju biʿilmihi ʾidhā ṭalaba ʾan yukrama ʿalayhi wa-yuʿaẓẓama wa-yusmaʿa qawluhu, wa-dhālika ḥaẓẓuhu min ʿilmihi wa-fīhi istidrājuhu.

Ordinary people are drawn in through family, children, livestock, worldly followers, and having others tread in their footsteps. Some are drawn in through their knowledge when they seek honor and veneration for it and want their words to be heard. That is their portion of their knowledge, and within it lies their gradual ruin.

وَالْعَابِدُ يُسْتَدْرَجُ بِالزِّيَادَةِ فِي بَصِيرَتِهِ، وَجَمِيعُ مَنْ ذَكَرْنَا مِنَ الْمُسْتَدْرَجِينَ لَا يَخْلُونَ مِنَ الْعُجْبِ وَالرِّيَا، كُلٌّ مُزَيَّنٌ لَهُ مَا هُوَ فِيهِ لَا يَرَى إِلَّا أَنَّهُ مَقْبُولٌ مِنْهُ إِحْسَانُهُ وَقَدْ عَمِيَ عَنْ فِتْنَةِ الِاسْتِدْرَاجِ.

Wa-al-ʿābidu yustadraju bi-al-ziyādati fī baṣīratihi, wa-jamīʿu man dhakarnā mina al-mustadrajīna lā yakhlūna mina al-ʿujbi wa-al-riyā, kullun muzayyanun lahu mā huwa fīhi lā yarā ʾillā ʾannahu maqbūlun minhu ʾiḥsānuhu wa-qad ʿamiya ʿan fitnati al-istidrāji.

The worshiper is drawn in through increasing insight. None of the people we have mentioned is free of conceit and showing off. Each finds his own condition made attractive to him and sees only that his good conduct is accepted, while remaining blind to the trial of gradual ruin.

وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يُنَبَّهُ فَيَنْتَبِهُ فَيُرَاجِعُ الْإِنَابَةَ وَيَتَفَرَّغُ لِلِاسْتِكَانَةِ، وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يُمْهَلُ عَلَى ذٰلِكَ إِلَى حُضُورِ الْأَجَلِ.

Wa-minhum man yunabbahu fa-yantabihu fa-yurājiʿu al-ʾinābata wa-yatafarraghu lilistikānati, wa-minhum man yumhalu ʿalā dhālika ʾilā ḥuḍūri al-ʾajali.

Some are awakened and take heed, return to turning toward God, and devote themselves to humble submission. Others are left in that condition until their appointed end arrives.

يَقُولُ اللّٰهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ لِنَبِيِّهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: «لَا تَمُدَّنَّ عَيْنَكَ إِلَى مَا مَتَّعْنَا بِهِ أَزْوَاجًا مِنْهُمْ زَهْرَةَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا لِنَفْتِنَهُمْ فِيهِ»، فَهٰذِهِ فِتْنَةُ الِاسْتِدْرَاجِ.

Yaqūlu Allāhu ʿazza wa-jalla linabiyyihi ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallama: «lā tamuddanna ʿaynaka ʾilā mā mattaʿnā bihi ʾazwājan minhum zahrata al-ḥayāti al-dunyā linaftinahum fīhi», fa-hādhihi fitnatu al-istidrāji.

God, mighty and majestic, says to His Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace: ‘Do not stretch your eye toward what We have given some groups of them to enjoy, the blossom of worldly life, to test them through it’ [the quotation differs from standard Qurʾānic wording]. This is the trial of gradual ruin.

Source pages 12–13

وَقَالَ: «أَيَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّمَا نُمِدُّهُمْ بِهِ مِنْ مَالٍ وَبَنِينَ يُسَارِعُ لَهُمْ فِي الْخَيْرَاتِ بَلْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ»، وَهٰذِهِ فِتْنَةُ الِاسْتِدْرَاجِ.

Wa-qāla: «ʾayaḥsabūna ʾannamā numidduhum bihi min mālin wa-banīna yusāriʿu lahum fī al-khayrāti bal lā yashʿurūna», wa-hādhihi fitnatu al-istidrāji.

And He said: ‘Do they think that the wealth and sons We provide them with mean that He hastens good things for them? No, they do not perceive’ [the quotation differs from standard Qurʾānic wording]. This is the trial of gradual ruin.

Source page 13

قَالَ: «وَجَعَلْتُ لَهُ مَالًا مَمْدُودًا وَبَنِينَ شُهُودًا»، فَهٰذِهِ فِتْنَةٌ مِنَ الِاسْتِدْرَاجِ.

Qāla: «wa-jaʿaltu lahu mālan mamdūdan wa-banīna shuhūdan», fa-hādhihi fitnatun mina al-istidrāji.

He said: ‘I gave him abundant wealth and sons present with him.’ This too is a trial of gradual ruin.

وَالْمُسْتَدْرَجُ مَفْتُونٌ لَا يَشْعُرُ بِفِتْنَتِهِ مُزَيَّنٌ لَهُ ذٰلِكَ، مُسْتَحْسِنٌ مَا فِيهِ هُوَ طَالِبٌ لِلزِّيَادَةِ مِنْهُ وَهُوَ لَا يَعْلَمُ.

Wa-al-mustadraju maftūnun lā yashʿuru bifitnatihi muzayyanun lahu dhālika, mustaḥsinun mā fīhi huwa ṭālibun li-al-ziyādati minhu wa-huwa lā yaʿlamu.

The person being drawn onward is under a trial of which he is unaware. His condition is made attractive to him; he approves of it and seeks more of it without understanding.

فَاحْذَرُوا فِتْنَةَ الِاسْتِدْرَاجِ أَعَاذَنَا اللّٰهُ وَإِيَّاكُمْ مِنْهَا، فَإِنَّ الِاسْتِدْرَاجَ عُقُوبَةٌ لِلْمُضَيِّعِينَ شُكْرَ النِّعَمِ.

Fa-iḥdharū fitnata al-istidrāji ʾaʿādhanā Allāhu wa-ʾiyyākum minhā, fa-ʾinna al-istidrāja ʿuqūbatun li-al-muḍayyiʿīna shukra al-niʿami.

Beware, then, of the trial of gradual ruin. May God protect us and you from it, for it is a punishment for those who neglect gratitude for blessings.”

وَسَأَلْتُ: مَتَى يَكُونُ الرَّجُلُ غَيْرَ مُوقِنٍ وَهُوَ لَا يَعْلَمُ؟ قَالَ: إِذَا كَانَ فِيهِ أَعْمَالٌ ظَاهِرُهَا أَعْمَالُ الْمُوقِنِينَ وَبَاطِنُهَا أَعْمَالُ أَهْلِ الشَّكِّ، فَهُوَ يَعْمَلُ فِي الظَّاهِرِ بِأَعْمَالِ الْمُوقِنِينَ وَبَاطِنُهُ مُشْتَمِلٌ عَلَى تَكْذِيبِ ظَاهِرِهِ وَهُوَ لَا يَعْلَمُ أَنَّهُ كَذٰلِكَ.

Wa-saʾaltu: matā yakūnu al-rajulu ghayra mūqinin wa-huwa lā yaʿlamu? qāla: ʾidhā kāna fīhi ʾaʿmālun ẓāhiruhā ʾaʿmālu al-mūqinīna wa-bāṭinuhā ʾaʿmālu ʾahli al-shakki, fa-huwa yaʿmalu fī al-ẓāhiri bi-ʾaʿmāli al-mūqinīna wa-bāṭinuhu mushtamilun ʿalā takdhībi ẓāhirihi wa-huwa lā yaʿlamu ʾannahu ka-dhālika.

I asked, “When does a man lack certainty without knowing it?” He replied, “When he performs deeds whose outward form is that of people of certainty but whose inward reality is that of people of doubt. Outwardly he acts like those who possess certainty, while his inward self contradicts his outward conduct, and he does not realize it.

فَهُوَ حِينَئِذٍ غَيْرُ مُوقِنٍ وَلَا يَشُكُّ أَنَّهُ مُوقِنٌ، وَذٰلِكَ لِأَنَّ أَعْمَالَ بَاطِنِهِ أَوْلَى مِنْ أَعْمَالِ ظَاهِرِهِ، وَيُحَقِّقُ ذٰلِكَ قَوْلُ الْحَسَنِ: إِنَّ لَكَ سَرِيرَةً وَعَلَانِيَةً فَسَرِيرَتُكَ أَوْلَى بِكَ مِنْ عَلَانِيَتِكَ.

Fa-huwa ḥīnaʾidhin ghayru mūqinin wa-lā yashukku ʾannahu mūqinun, wa-dhālika li-ʾanna ʾaʿmāla bāṭinihi ʾawlā min ʾaʿmāli ẓāhirihi, wa-yuḥaqqiqu dhālika qawlu al-Ḥasani: ʾinna laka sarīratan wa-ʿalāniyatan fa-sarīratuka ʾawlā bika min ʿalāniyatika.

He then lacks certainty, though he has no doubt that he possesses it. This is because his inward deeds take precedence over his outward deeds. Al-Ḥasan's saying confirms it: ‘You have a private self and a public self, and your private self has a stronger claim upon you than your public self.’”

وَسَأَلْتُ: مَتَى يَكُونُ الرَّجُلُ غَيْرَ مُوقِنٍ وَهُوَ يَعْلَمُ؟ قَالَ: إِذَا عَرَفَ فُنُونَ الْيَقِينِ وَأَشْكَالَهُ وَأَعْمَالَ أَهْلِ الشَّكِّ وَأَشْكَالَهُ، فَرَأَى أَنَّ بَاطِنَهُ مُشْتَمِلٌ عَلَى أَعْمَالِ أَهْلِ الشَّكِّ، أَلْزَمَ نَفْسَهُ أَنَّهَا غَيْرُ مُوقِنَةٍ وَلَمْ يَلْتَفِتْ إِلَى ظَاهِرِ أَعْمَالِهَا.

Wa-saʾaltu: matā yakūnu al-rajulu ghayra mūqinin wa-huwa yaʿlamu? qāla: ʾidhā ʿarafa funūna al-yaqīni wa-ʾashkālahu wa-ʾaʿmāla ʾahli al-shakki wa-ʾashkālahu, fa-raʾā ʾanna bāṭinahu mushtamilun ʿalā ʾaʿmāli ʾahli al-shakki, ʾalzama nafsahu ʾannahā ghayru mūqinatin wa-lam yaltafit ʾilā ẓāhiri ʾaʿmālihā.

I asked, “When does a man knowingly lack certainty?” He replied, “When he recognizes the varieties and forms of certainty, and the deeds and forms of doubt, and sees that his inward self contains the deeds of people of doubt, he forces himself to acknowledge that he lacks certainty and pays no attention to his outward deeds.

يُحَقِّقُ ذٰلِكَ قَوْلُ الْحَسَنِ: لَقَدْ وَارَتِ الْأَرْضُ أَقْوَامًا لَوْ رَأَوْكُمْ قَالُوا مَا يُؤْمِنُ هَاؤُلَاءِ بِيَوْمِ الْحِسَابِ.

Yuḥaqqiqu dhālika qawlu al-Ḥasani: laqad wārati al-ʾarḍu ʾaqwāman law raʾawkum qālū mā yuʾminu hāʾulāʾi biyawmi al-ḥisābi.

Al-Ḥasan's saying confirms this: ‘The earth has buried people who, if they saw you, would say: These people do not believe in the Day of Reckoning.’”

وَسَأَلْتُ: مَتَى يَأْلَفُهُ الْيَقِينُ وَهُوَ لَا يَعْلَمُ؟ قَالَ: إِذَا عَرَفَ أَضْدَادَ الْيَقِينِ فَنَفَرَ مِنْهَا وَعَرَفَ بَاطِنَ أَعْمَالِ الْمُوقِنِينَ فَسَكَنَ إِلَيْهَا، وَهُوَ مُسْتَوْحِشٌ مِنْ جَمِيعِ أَعْمَالِهِ لِمَا دَخَلَهُ مِنْ رُعْبِ أَعْمَالِ أَهْلِ التَّكْذِيبِ.

Wa-saʾaltu: matā yaʾlafuhu al-yaqīnu wa-huwa lā yaʿlamu? qāla: ʾidhā ʿarafa ʾaḍdāda al-yaqīni fa-nafara minhā wa-ʿarafa bāṭina ʾaʿmāli al-mūqinīna fa-sakana ʾilayhā, wa-huwa mustawḥishun min jamīʿi ʾaʿmālihi limā dakhalahu min ruʿbi ʾaʿmāli ʾahli al-takdhībi.

I asked, “When does certainty become familiar with him without his knowing it?” He replied, “When he recognizes what opposes certainty and recoils from it, and recognizes the inward deeds of those who possess certainty and settles into them, while remaining uneasy about all his deeds because of the terror that has entered him concerning the deeds of those who deny the truth.

فَهُوَ مَشْغُولٌ بِمَا قَدْ رَاعَهُ مِنْ إِقَامَتِهِ عَلَى أَعْمَالِ أَضْدَادِ الْيَقِينِ، وَلَا يَبْعُدُ هٰذَا مِنْ أَنْ يَثْبُتَ فِيهِ الْيَقِينُ وَهُوَ لَا يَعْلَمُ.

Fa-huwa mashghūlun bimā qad rāʿahu min ʾiqāmatihi ʿalā ʾaʿmāli ʾaḍdādi al-yaqīni, wa-lā yabʿudu hādhā min ʾan yathbuta fīhi al-yaqīnu wa-huwa lā yaʿlamu.

He is preoccupied with his frightening persistence in deeds opposed to certainty. Such a person is not far from having certainty established within him without knowing it.”

قُلْتُ: فَمَتَى يَكُونُ مُوقِنًا وَهُوَ يَعْلَمُ؟ قَالَ: إِذَا عَرَفَ بَاطِنَ أَعْمَالِ أَضْدَادِ الْيَقِينِ وَظَاهِرَهَا فَجَانَبَهَا سِرًّا وَجَهْرًا فَبَلَغَ مَعْرِفَتَهُ كَانَ مُوقِنًا وَهُوَ يَعْلَمُ.

Qultu: fa-matā yakūnu mūqinan wa-huwa yaʿlamu? qāla: ʾidhā ʿarafa bāṭina ʾaʿmāli ʾaḍdādi al-yaqīni wa-ẓāhirahā fa-jānabahā sirran wa-jahran fa-balagha maʿrifatahu kāna mūqinan wa-huwa yaʿlamu.

I asked, “When does he possess certainty and know it?” He replied, “When he recognizes both the inward and outward deeds opposed to certainty and avoids them privately and publicly, attaining knowledge of it, he possesses certainty and knows it.

فَإِذَا فُتِنَ أَوْ زَلَّ أَوْ حَادَ عَنِ الطَّرِيقِ رَاجَعَ مِنْ قَرِيبٍ فَعَاوَدَ طَرِيقَ الْيَقِينِ بِالتَّوْبَةِ وَالنَّدَمِ.

Fa-ʾidhā futina ʾaw zalla ʾaw ḥāda ʿani al-ṭarīqi rājaʿa min qarībin fa-ʿāwada ṭarīqa al-yaqīni bi-al-tawbati wa-al-nadami.

If he is tried, slips, or strays from the path, he soon turns back and returns to the path of certainty through repentance and remorse.”

قُلْتُ: فَمَا بَالُ الْمُوقِنِينَ يَدِينُونَ؟ قَالَ: لِيُعَرِّفَهُمُ اللّٰهُ تَفَضُّلَهُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَإِحْسَانَهُ إِلَيْهِمْ عِنْدَ إِسَاءَتِهِمْ إِلَى أَنْفُسِهِمْ، فَتَجَدَّدَ عِنْدَهُمُ النِّعَمُ وَلِيَسْتَغْفِرُوا وَيَسْتَقْبِلُوا بِالشُّكْرِ فَيَرْتَقُوا بِذٰلِكَ إِلَى أَعْلَى دَرَجَاتِهِمْ.

Qultu: fa-mā bālu al-mūqinīna yadīnūna? qāla: liyuʿarrifahumu Allāhu tafaḍḍulahu ʿalayhim wa-ʾiḥsānahu ʾilayhim ʿinda ʾisāʾatihim ʾilā ʾanfusihim, fa-tajaddada ʿindahumu al-niʿamu wa-liyastaghfirū wa-yastaqbilū bi-al-shukri fa-yartaqū bi-dhālika ʾilā ʾaʿlā darajātihim.

I asked, “Why do those who possess certainty ‘practice religion’ [the printed verb is unexpected in this question]?” He replied, “So that God may make them recognize His graciousness and kindness to them when they wrong themselves. Their awareness of blessings is renewed, they seek forgiveness and begin again with gratitude, and through this they rise to their highest ranks.

وَاعْلَمْ أَنَّ لِلْمُوقِنِ عَلَامَةً وَاضِحَةً يَعْرِفُهَا، وَذٰلِكَ أَنَّ الْمُوقِنَ تَعْظُمُ عِنْدَهُ الذُّنُوبُ وَالْخَطَا وَالزَّلَلُ وَإِنْ كَانَتْ مَغْفُورَةً لَهُ لِغَفْلَتِهِ عَنْهَا وَهُجُومِ إِبْلِيسَ عَلَيْهِ فِيهَا وَطَمَعِ النَّفْسِ فِيمَا هُوَ أَعْظَمُ مِنْهَا.

Wa-iʿlam ʾanna li-al-mūqini ʿalāmatan wāḍiḥatan yaʿrifuhā, wa-dhālika ʾanna al-mūqina taʿẓumu ʿindahu al-dhunūbu wa-al-khaṭā wa-al-zalalu wa-ʾin kānat maghfūratan lahu lighaflatihi ʿanhā wa-hujūmi ʾIblīsa ʿalayhi fīhā wa-ṭamaʿi al-nafsi fīmā huwa ʾaʿẓamu minhā.

Know that the person of certainty has a clear sign by which he recognizes it. Sins, mistakes, and slips loom large to him, even when they have been forgiven, because of his heedlessness of them, Iblīs's assault upon him through them, and the self's craving for things worse than them.

وَأَصْغَرُ ذُنُوبِ الْعَبْدِ عِنْدَ الْمُوقِنِ كَبِيرُهُ، يَظُنُّ أَنَّ اللّٰهَ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ مَاقِتٌ عَلَيْهَا وَسَاخِطٌ عَلَيْهِ فِيهَا وَأَنَّهُ مَسْلُوبٌ بِهَا مَا أَنْعَمَ اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ نِعَمِهِ لِعِظَمِ خَطَرِ صَغِيرِ الْعَهْدِ عِنْدَهُ.

Wa-ʾaṣgharu dhunūbi al-ʿabdi ʿinda al-mūqini kabīruhu, yaẓunnu ʾanna Allāha ʿazza wa-jalla māqitun ʿalayhā wa-sākhiṭun ʿalayhi fīhā wa-ʾannahu maslūbun bihā mā ʾanʿama Allāhu ʿalayhi min niʿamihi liʿiẓami khaṭari ṣaghīri al-ʿahdi ʿindahu.

To the person of certainty, a servant's smallest sin is his greatest. He thinks that God, mighty and majestic, detests it and is displeased with him for it, and that through it he is stripped of the blessings God has bestowed on him, because even ‘the small part of the covenant’ has such grave importance for him [the printed phrase is uncertain].

Source pages 13–14

فَإِذَا كَانَ الْعَبْدُ كَذٰلِكَ كَانَ مُوقِنًا وَهُوَ يَعْلَمُ.

Fa-ʾidhā kāna al-ʿabdu ka-dhālika kāna mūqinan wa-huwa yaʿlamu.

When a servant is like this, he possesses certainty and knows it.”

Source page 14

قُلْتُ: فَمَتَى يَكُونُ الرَّجُلُ مُعْجَبًا وَهُوَ يَعْلَمُ؟ قَالَ: هٰذِهِ مَسْأَلَةٌ تَلْحَقُ بِجَمِيعِ الْمُسْتَدْرَجِينَ مِمَّا وَصَفْنَا.

Qultu: fa-matā yakūnu al-rajulu muʿjaban wa-huwa yaʿlamu? qāla: hādhihi masʾalatun talḥaqu bijamīʿi al-mustadrajīna mimmā waṣafnā.

I asked, “When is a man conceited and knows it?” He replied, “This question applies to all the people being drawn gradually to ruin whom we have described.

فَالْمُلُوكُ يُعْجَبُونَ بِمَا حَكَمَهُمْ وَالتَّبَعُ يُعْجَبُونَ بِحُظْوَتِهِمْ وَدُنُوِّهِمْ مِنْ مُلُوكِهِمْ، وَالتُّجَّارُ يُعْجَبُونَ بِمَا بُسِطَ لَهُمْ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا وَالْعَامَّةُ يُعْجَبُونَ بِمَا أُوتُوا مِنَ الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَوْلَادِ.

Fa-al-mulūku yuʿjabūna bimā ḥakamahum wa-al-tabaʿu yuʿjabūna biḥuẓwatihim wa-dunuwwihim min mulūkihim, wa-al-tujjāru yuʿjabūna bimā busiṭa lahum mina al-dunyā wa-al-ʿāmmatu yuʿjabūna bimā ʾūtū mina al-ʾamwāli wa-al-ʾawlādi.

Kings are conceited about ‘what has governed them’ [the printed expression is irregular], and their followers about their favor and closeness to their kings. Merchants are conceited about the worldly abundance spread before them, and ordinary people about the wealth and children they have been given.

وَالْعُلَمَا يُعْجَبُونَ بِمَا بُسِطَ لَهُمْ وَأُعْطُوا مِنْ عِلْمِهِمْ، وَالْقُرَّا يُعْجَبُونَ بِمَا نَالُوا مِنْ بَسْلِهِمْ وَسَمْتِهِمْ، وَالْعُبَّادُ يُعْجَبُونَ بِمَا قَوُوا عَلَيْهِ مِنْ عِبَادَتِهِمْ.

Wa-al-ʿulamā yuʿjabūna bimā busiṭa lahum wa-ʾuʿṭū min ʿilmihim, wa-al-qurrā yuʿjabūna bimā nālū min baslihim wa-samtihim, wa-al-ʿubbādu yuʿjabūna bimā qawū ʿalayhi min ʿibādatihim.

Scholars are conceited about the breadth of learning made available and given to them. Reciters are conceited about the ‘sternness’ and bearing they have attained [the first printed term is uncertain in context]. Worshipers are conceited about the devotions they have been given strength to perform.

فَلَيْسَ مِنْ هٰذِهِ الْأَصْنَافِ صِنْفٌ إِلَّا وَمِنْهُ الْعُجْبُ عِنْدَ تَضْيِيعِ الشُّكْرِ، وَلَيْسَ مِنْهُمْ صِنْفٌ إِلَّا وَالرِّيَا فِيهِ ثَابِتٌ، وَلَيْسَ مِنْهُمْ صِنْفٌ إِلَّا وَهُوَ يُحِبُّ التَّعْظِيمَ وَالْمَحْمَدَةَ عِنْدَ مَنْ هُوَ دُونَهُ.

Fa-laysa min hādhihi al-ʾaṣnāfi ṣinfun ʾillā wa-minhu al-ʿujbu ʿinda taḍyīʿi al-shukri, wa-laysa minhum ṣinfun ʾillā wa-al-riyā fīhi thābitun, wa-laysa minhum ṣinfun ʾillā wa-huwa yuḥibbu al-taʿẓīma wa-al-maḥmadata ʿinda man huwa dūnahu.

None of these groups is without conceit when gratitude is neglected. None is without entrenched showing off, and none is without a love of veneration and praise from those below it.

وَمَخْرَجُ ذٰلِكَ كُلِّهِ مِنَ التَّحَيُّرِ فَهٰذَا فُنُونُهُ، فَإِذَا نَبَتَ التَّحَيُّرُ فِي الْقَلْبِ نَبَتَتْ فُنُونُهُ جَمِيعُهَا.

Wa-makhraju dhālika kullihi mina al-taḥayyuri fa-hādhā funūnuhu, fa-ʾidhā nabata al-taḥayyuru fī al-qalbi nabatat funūnuhu jamīʿuhā.

All this springs from bewilderment, and these are its forms. When bewilderment takes root in the heart, all its forms grow there [‘bewilderment’ is the edition's repeated reading].

فَالتَّحَيُّرُ أَصْلٌ يَتَفَرَّعُ مِنْهُ جِمَاعُ الشَّرِّ مِنَ الْغَضَبِ وَالطَّمَعِ وَالْعُجْبِ وَحُبِّ التَّعَظُّمِ وَالرِّيَاسَةِ.

Fa-al-taḥayyuru ʾaṣlun yatafarraʿu minhu jimāʿu al-sharri mina al-ghaḍabi wa-al-ṭamaʿi wa-al-ʿujbi wa-ḥubbi al-taʿaẓẓumi wa-al-riyāsati.

Bewilderment is a root from which all evil branches out: anger, covetousness, conceit, and love of self-aggrandizement and leadership.

وَمِنْهُ السَّفَهُ وَالنَّزَقُ وَالطَّيْشُ وَالْعَجَلَةُ وَالْحِرْصُ وَالشَّرَهُ وَالْمَكْرُ وَالْخَدِيعَةُ وَالْجَرِيرَةُ وَالْغِشُّ وَالْخِلَابَةُ وَالتَّكَبُّرُ وَالْكَذِبُ وَالْغِيبَةُ وَالْقَسْوَةُ وَالْغِلْظَةُ وَالشُّحُّ وَالْجَفَا وَقِلَّةُ الْحَيَا، مَعَ جَمِيعِ فُنُونِ الشَّرِّ.

Wa-minhu al-safahu wa-al-nazaqu wa-al-ṭayshu wa-al-ʿajalatu wa-al-ḥirṣu wa-al-sharahu wa-al-makru wa-al-khadīʿatu wa-al-jarīratu wa-al-ghishshu wa-al-khilābatu wa-al-takabburu wa-al-kadhibu wa-al-ghībatu wa-al-qaswatu wa-al-ghilẓatu wa-al-shuḥḥu wa-al-jafā wa-qillatu al-ḥayā, maʿa jamīʿi funūni al-sharri.

From it come foolishness, impulsiveness, recklessness, haste, greed, voracity, scheming, deception, wrongdoing, fraud, trickery, arrogance, lying, backbiting, hardness, harshness, miserliness, callousness, and lack of shame, together with every other form of evil.

فَإِذَا نَبَتَ التَّوَاضُعُ فِي الْقَلْبِ ثَبَتَ مَعَهُ جِمَاعُ الْخَيْرِ مِنَ الرِّقَّةِ وَالرَّأْفَةِ وَالرَّحْمَةِ وَالِاسْتِكَانَةِ وَالْقُنُوعِ وَالرِّضَا وَالتَّوَكُّلِ وَحُسْنِ الظَّنِّ وَشِدَّةِ الْحَيَاءِ وَإِفْنَاءِ الطَّمَعِ وَإِذْلَالِ النَّفْسِ وَسَلَامَةِ الصَّدْرِ وَبَذْلِ الْمَعْرُوفِ وَالتَّشَاغُلِ بِالنَّفْسِ وَالْمُبَادَرَةِ بِالْخَيْرِ وَالِانْتِقَالِ عَنِ الشَّرِّ.

Fa-ʾidhā nabata al-tawāḍuʿu fī al-qalbi thabata maʿahu jimāʿu al-khayri mina al-riqqati wa-al-raʾfati wa-al-raḥmati wa-al-istikānati wa-al-qunūʿi wa-al-riḍā wa-al-tawakkuli wa-ḥusni al-ẓanni wa-shiddati al-ḥayāʾi wa-ʾifnāʾi al-ṭamaʿi wa-ʾidhlāli al-nafsi wa-salāmati al-ṣadri wa-badhli al-maʿrūfi wa-al-tashāghuli bi-al-nafsi wa-al-mubādarati bi-al-khayri wa-al-intiqāli ʿani al-sharri.

When humility takes root in the heart, all good becomes established with it: tenderness, compassion, mercy, submission, contentment, acceptance, trust, good expectations of God, deep shame, extinguishing covetousness, humbling the self, soundness of heart, giving kindness, attending to one's own self, hastening to good, and moving away from evil.

كُلُّ امْرِئٍ عَلَى قَدْرِ مَا فِيهِ مِنَ التَّرْكِيبِ يَكُونُ فِعْلُهُ عَلَى قَدْرِ ذٰلِكَ وَجَزَاؤُهُ عَلَى قَدْرِ ذٰلِكَ.

Kullu imriʾin ʿalā qadri mā fīhi mina al-tarkībi yakūnu fiʿluhu ʿalā qadri dhālika wa-jazāʾuhu ʿalā qadri dhālika.

Each person's actions correspond to the disposition within him, and his recompense corresponds to that.

وَإِنْ كُنْتَ تَسْأَلُ عَنِ الْعُجْبِ الَّذِي يَلْحَقُ بِأَصْحَابِ الْأَعْمَالِ مِنَ الْعُبَّادِ فَسَأُخْبِرُكَ بِعَظِيمِ فِتْنَتِهِمْ وَبَلِيَّتِهِمْ، فَتَوَقَّهَا وَاحْذَرْهَا وَاسْتَعِنْ بِاللّٰهِ تَعَالَى.

Wa-ʾin kunta tasʾalu ʿani al-ʿujbi alladhī yalḥaqu bi-ʾaṣḥābi al-ʾaʿmāli mina al-ʿubbādi fa-saʾukhbiruka biʿaẓīmi fitnatihim wa-baliyyatihim, fa-tawaqqahā wa-iḥdharhā wa-istaʿin bi-Allāhi taʿālā.

If you are asking about the conceit that overtakes worshipers who perform devotional works, I shall tell you about the enormity of their temptation and affliction. Guard against it, beware of it, and seek the help of God Most High.

فَإِنَّهُ لَيْسَ شَيْ أَعْجَبَ إِلَى عَدُوِّ اللّٰهِ تَعَالَى مِنْ فِتْنَةِ الْعَابِدِ، لِأَنَّ فِتَنَ أَهْلِ الدُّنْيَا مَكْشُوفَةٌ بِطَلَبِهِمُ الدُّنْيَا، فَالنَّاسُ قَدْ عَرَفُوهَا مِنْهُمْ فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَحْتَمِلُهَا وَهُوَ يَعْلَمُ أَنَّهُ مَفْتُونٌ بِهَا.

Fa-ʾinnahu laysa shay ʾaʿjaba ʾilā ʿaduwwi Allāhi taʿālā min fitnati al-ʿābidi, li-ʾanna fitana ʾahli al-dunyā makshūfatun biṭalabihimu al-dunyā, fa-al-nāsu qad ʿarafūhā minhum fa-minhum man yaḥtamiluhā wa-huwa yaʿlamu ʾannahu maftūnun bihā.

Nothing is more pleasing to the enemy of God Most High than the temptation of a worshiper. The temptations of worldly people are exposed by their pursuit of the world; people already recognize them. Some bear those temptations while knowing that they are ensnared by them.

فَأَمَّا فِتْنَةُ الْعَابِدِ فَأَعْظَمُهَا فِتْنَةً وَأَشَدُّهَا صَرْعَةً، لِأَنَّهُ قَدْ تَرَكَ عَمَاوَةَ الدُّنْيَا وَجَدَّ فِي طَلَبِ الْآخِرَةِ وَكَابَدَ الْمَفَاوِزَ وَالْعِقَابَ وَجَاهَدَ نَفْسَهُ عَلَى تَرْكِ الدُّنْيَا بِمَعْرِفَةٍ وَأَقْبَلَ عَلَى طَلَبِ الْآخِرَةِ إِيثَارًا لَهَا بِالتَّصْدِيقِ وَحُسْنِ الْإِرَادَةِ.

Fa-ʾammā fitnatu al-ʿābidi fa-ʾaʿẓamuhā fitnatan wa-ʾashadduhā ṣarʿatan, li-ʾannahu qad taraka ʿamāwata al-dunyā wa-jadda fī ṭalabi al-ʾākhirati wa-kābada al-mafāwiza wa-al-ʿiqāba wa-jāhada nafsahu ʿalā tarki al-dunyā bimaʿrifatin wa-ʾaqbala ʿalā ṭalabi al-ʾākhirati ʾīthāran lahā bi-al-taṣdīqi wa-ḥusni al-ʾirādati.

But the worshiper's temptation is the greatest trial and the most devastating fall. He has abandoned the world's blindness [the printed noun is unusual], earnestly sought the next life, endured deserts and mountain passes, and struggled knowingly against his self to abandon this world. He has turned to seeking the next life, preferring it through belief and a good intention.

غَيْرَ أَنَّ اللّٰهَ تَعَالَى يَمْتَحِنُ هٰذَا الْخَلْقَ فِي كُلِّ أَحْوَالِهِمْ، فِي تَمَسُّكِهِمْ بِالدُّنْيَا وَفِي تَرْكِهِمْ لَهَا وَفِي طَلَبِهِمُ الْآخِرَةَ، وَجَعَلَ فِي كُلِّ نَوْعٍ مِنْ ذٰلِكَ مَؤُونَةً مِنَ الصَّبْرِ.

Ghayra ʾanna Allāha taʿālā yamtaḥinu hādhā al-khalqa fī kulli ʾaḥwālihim, fī tamassukihim bi-al-dunyā wa-fī tarkihim lahā wa-fī ṭalabihimu al-ʾākhirata, wa-jaʿala fī kulli nawʿin min dhālika maʾūnatan mina al-ṣabri.

Yet God Most High tests these creatures in all their states: in their clinging to this world, in their abandonment of it, and in their pursuit of the next life. In each of these He has placed a burden requiring patience.

وَوَعَدَ إِبْلِيسَ وَعْدًا فَهُوَ مُنْجِزُهُ لَهُ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ بِأَنْ أَسْكَنَهُ وَذُرِّيَّتَهُ صُدُورَ بَنِي آدَمَ يَجْرُونَ مِنْهُمْ مَجْرَى الدَّمِ، فَذٰلِكَ الْمُطِيعُ وَالْعَاصِي وَأَنْبِيَايِهِ وَأَوْلِيَايِهِ.

Wa-waʿada ʾIblīsa waʿdan fa-huwa munjizuhu lahu ʾilā yawmi al-qiyāmati bi-ʾan ʾaskanahu wa-dhurriyyatahu ṣudūra banī ʾĀdama yajrūna minhum majrā al-dami, fa-dhālika al-muṭīʿu wa-al-ʿāṣī wa-ʾanbiyāyihi wa-ʾawliyāyihi.

He made Iblīs a promise that He will fulfill for him until the Day of Resurrection, allowing him and his offspring to dwell in the breasts of Adam's children and circulate through them like blood. This applies to the obedient and the disobedient, His prophets and His friends [the final printed construction is irregular].

Source page 15

وَذٰلِكَ فِي حَدِيثِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ حَيْثُ قَالَ: «مَا مِنْ أَحَدٍ إِلَّا وَلَهُ شَيْطَانٌ». قَالَ: وَلَا إِيَّاكَ؟ قَالَ: «وَلَا إِيَّايَ إِلَّا أَنَّ اللّٰهَ أَعَانَنِي عَلَيْهِ فَأَسْلَمَ».

Wa-dhālika fī ḥadīthi al-nabiyyi ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallama ḥaythu qāla: «mā min ʾaḥadin ʾillā wa-lahu shayṭānun». qāla: wa-lā ʾiyyāka? qāla: «wa-lā ʾiyyāya ʾillā ʾanna Allāha ʾaʿānanī ʿalayhi fa-ʾaslama».

This is in the report of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, in which he said, ‘There is no one without a devil.’ Someone asked, ‘Not even you?’ He replied, ‘Not even me, except that God helped me against him, and he submitted.’

فَلَيْسَ لِلْعَابِدِ فِي عِبَادَتِهِ أَنْ يَنْفِيَ الشَّيْطَانَ عَنْ قَلْبِهِ وَأَنْ يُزْعِجَهُ عَنِ الْمَسْكَنِ الَّذِي مُكِّنَ فِيهِ، غَيْرَ أَنَّهُ إِذَا كَانَ مُتَيَقِّظَ الْقَلْبِ يَئِسَ فَخَنَسَ، فَلَيْسَ لَهُ سَبِيلٌ إِلَّا مَعَ الْغَفْلَةِ مِنَ الْعِبَادِ.

Fa-laysa li-al-ʿābidi fī ʿibādatihi ʾan yanfiya al-shayṭāna ʿan qalbihi wa-ʾan yuzʿijahu ʿani al-maskani alladhī mukkina fīhi, ghayra ʾannahu ʾidhā kāna mutayaqqiẓa al-qalbi yaʾisa fa-khanasa, fa-laysa lahu sabīlun ʾillā maʿa al-ghaflati mina al-ʿibādi.

The worshiper cannot, through his worship, expel Satan from his heart or dislodge him from the dwelling in which he has been established. But when the worshiper is alert at heart, Satan despairs and retreats. He has no way in except through servants' heedlessness.

وَطَبَعَ الْخَلْقَ جَمْعًا عَلَى الْغَفْلَةِ وَالتَّيَقُّظِ وَأَيَّدَ الْعَبْدَ بِالْمَعُونَةِ لِمُكَايَدَتِهِ.

Wa-ṭabaʿa al-khalqa jamʿan ʿalā al-ghaflati wa-al-tayaqquẓi wa-ʾayyada al-ʿabda bi-al-maʿūnati limukāyadatihi.

He fashioned all creatures with both heedlessness and wakefulness and strengthened the servant with help to counter Satan's cunning.

فَلَيْسَ أَحَدٌ أَحْوَجَ إِلَى صِحَّةِ التَّرْكِيبِ مِنْ هٰذَا الْعَبْدِ الَّذِي قَصَدَ قَصْدَ خِلَافِهِ وَقَوِيَ عَلَى تَرْكِ الْأَسْبَابِ الَّتِي يَصِلُ بِهَا وَلَدَ آدَمَ مِنْ فُنُونِ الشَّهَوَاتِ، فَحَذَفَ ذٰلِكَ أَجْمَعَ وَخَلَّفَهَا خَلْفَهُ.

Fa-laysa ʾaḥadun ʾaḥwaja ʾilā ṣiḥḥati al-tarkībi min hādhā al-ʿabdi alladhī qaṣada qaṣda khilāfihi wa-qawiya ʿalā tarki al-ʾasbābi allatī yaṣilu bihā walada ʾĀdama min funūni al-shahawāti, fa-ḥadhafa dhālika ʾajmaʿa wa-khallafahā khalfahu.

No one needs a sound disposition more than this servant who has deliberately set himself against Satan and gained the strength to abandon the various appetites through which Satan reaches Adam's children. He has cast all of that aside and left it behind him.

ثُمَّ قَرُبَ مِنَ الْعَقَبَةِ الَّتِي إِنْ نَجَا مِنْهَا وَصَلَ إِلَى الْجَنَّةِ بِإِذْنِ اللّٰهِ، فَتَجَرَّدَ لَهُ إِبْلِيسُ وَعَلِمَ أَنَّهُ لَمْ يَبْقَ لَهُ إِلَّا هٰذِهِ الدَّرَجَةُ إِنْ سَلِمَ مِنْهَا نَجَا، وَعَلِمَ أَنَّهُ إِنْ أَضَلَّهُ فِيهَا أَضَلَّ خَلْقًا كَثِيرًا.

Thumma qaruba mina al-ʿaqabati allatī ʾin najā minhā waṣala ʾilā al-jannati bi-ʾidhni Allāhi, fa-tajarrada lahu ʾIblīsu wa-ʿalima ʾannahu lam yabqa lahu ʾillā hādhihi al-darajatu ʾin salima minhā najā, wa-ʿalima ʾannahu ʾin ʾaḍallahu fīhā ʾaḍalla khalqan kathīran.

Then he approaches the mountain pass from which, if he escapes safely, he will reach Paradise by God's permission. Iblīs devotes himself entirely to him, knowing that only this one stage remains: if the servant passes it safely, he is saved. Iblīs also knows that if he leads him astray here, he will lead many others astray.

فَلَا يَسْلَمُ مِنْهُ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ اللّٰهِ إِنْ شَا اللّٰهُ، وَإِلَّا أَعْطَبَهُ أَوْ يَسْتَعِدَّهُ اللّٰهُ تَعَالَى رَحْمَتَهُ.

Fa-lā yaslamu minhu ʾillā bi-ʾidhni Allāhi ʾin shā Allāhu, wa-ʾillā ʾaʿṭabahu ʾaw yastaʿiddahu Allāhu taʿālā raḥmatahu.

He can escape him only by God's permission, if God wills. Otherwise Satan destroys him, or God Most High ‘prepares him, His mercy’ [the final printed expression is unclear].

سَعْيٌ لِلْعَبْدِ أَنْ يَنْجَحَ لَهُ وَيَجْمَعَ لَهُ قَلْبَهُ وَذِهْنَهُ وَيُعَدِّدَ عَلَيْهِ بِمَا يَأْتِي وَمَا يُكْثِرُ مِنْ عِبَادَتِهِ وَيُنْفِذَ مَعْرِفَتَهُ بِمُكَايَدَةِ عَدُوِّهِ مِثْلَهُ وَيُورِدَ نَفْسَهُ مِنْ عَمَلِهَا لِطَلَبِ الثَّوَابِ.

Saʿyun li-al-ʿabdi ʾan yanjaḥa lahu wa-yajmaʿa lahu qalbahu wa-dhihnahu wa-yuʿaddida ʿalayhi bimā yaʾtī wa-mā yukthiru min ʿibādatihi wa-yunfidha maʿrifatahu bimukāyadati ʿaduwwihi mithlahu wa-yūrida nafsahu min ʿamalihā liṭalabi al-thawābi.

There is ‘effort for the servant’ that he may succeed, gather his heart and mind, enumerate for him what he undertakes and how much worship he performs, make his knowledge effective against an enemy like himself, and bring his self from its deeds to seeking reward [the subjects and connections in this printed sentence are uncertain].

وَيُلْزِمَهَا أَيْضًا لَوْ أَنَّهَا تَقَطَّعَتْ فِي عِبَادَتِهَا أَنَّهَا لَمْ تَبْلُغْ دَرَجَةَ الْعَفْوِ الْعَظِيمِ مَا جَنَتْ نَفْسُهُ مِنَ الْإِسَاةِ.

Wa-yulzimahā ʾayḍan law ʾannahā taqaṭṭaʿat fī ʿibādatihā ʾannahā lam tablugh darajata al-ʿafwi al-ʿaẓīmi mā janat nafsuhu mina al-ʾisāti.

He must also impress upon his self that, even if it were torn apart in worship, it would not attain the degree of great pardon for the wrongdoing it has committed [the connection before the final clause is defective in print].

وَلَوْ أَنَّ تِلْكَ الْعِبَادَةَ وَالْإِحْسَانَ كَانَتْ لِذَنْبٍ وَاحِدٍ مِنْ جَمِيعِ ذُنُوبِهِ لَاسْتَأْهَلَ ذٰلِكَ.

Wa-law ʾanna tilka al-ʿibādata wa-al-ʾiḥsāna kānat lidhanbin wāḥidin min jamīʿi dhunūbihi la-istaʾhala dhālika.

Even if all that worship and good conduct were offered for just one of his sins, that sin would deserve it.

وَلَوْ أَنَّهُ يَتَعَرَّضُ الْمَعْفُوَّ عَنْهُ بِمِثْلِ جَمِيعِ إِحْسَانِهِ مِثْلَ لَوْ يَقْطَعُ عُمُرَ الدُّنْيَا عِبَادَةً فَوَرَدَ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ الْمَوْقِفَ وَكَانَ جَمِيعُ عِبَادَةِ أَهْلِ ذٰلِكَ الْمَوْقِفِ فِي مِيزَانِهِ، ثُمَّ ذَهَبَ مِنْ ذٰلِكَ ذَنْبٌ مِنْ جَمِيعِ ذُنُوبِهِ وَشَفَعُوا فِيهِ لَكَانَ قَدْ أُعْطِيَ وَأُعْطُوا عَظِيمًا.

Wa-law ʾannahu yataʿarraḍu al-maʿfuwwa ʿanhu bimithli jamīʿi ʾiḥsānihi mithla law yaqṭaʿu ʿumura al-dunyā ʿibādatan fa-warada yawma al-qiyāmati al-mawqifa wa-kāna jamīʿu ʿibādati ʾahli dhālika al-mawqifi fī mīzānihi, thumma dhahaba min dhālika dhanbun min jamīʿi dhunūbihi wa-shafaʿū fīhi lakāna qad ʾuʿṭiya wa-ʾuʿṭū ʿaẓīman.

If he sought ‘what is pardoned’ with the equivalent of all his good conduct, as though he spent the world's whole lifetime in worship, then came to the gathering on the Day of Resurrection with all the worship of its people in his balance, and one of his sins was thereby removed while they interceded for him, both he and they would have been given something immense [the printed opening is disordered].

فَإِلَى اللّٰهِ نَشْكُوا غَفْلَتَنَا وَقِلَّةَ مَعْرِفَتِنَا بِمَا نَحْنُ إِلَيْهِ صَايِرُونَ، وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللّٰهِ.

Fa-ʾilā Allāhi nashkū ghaflatanā wa-qillata maʿrifatinā bimā naḥnu ʾilayhi ṣāyirūna, wa-lā quwwata ʾillā bi-Allāhi.

To God we complain of our heedlessness and our scant knowledge of what we are approaching. There is no strength except through God.

فَكَيْفَ بِجَمِيعِ إِسَاتِهِ وَعَظِيمِ ذُنُوبِهِ مَعَ قِلَّةِ مَا يَسْتَقْبِلُ إِضْرَارَ التَّوْبَةِ وَالْمُرَاجَعَةِ، ثُمَّ يُحَصِّلُ نَفْسَهُ مَا اسْتَطَاعَ.

Fa-kayfa bijamīʿi ʾisātihi wa-ʿaẓīmi dhunūbihi maʿa qillati mā yastaqbilu ʾiḍrāra al-tawbati wa-al-murājaʿati, thumma yuḥaṣṣilu nafsahu mā istaṭāʿa.

What, then, of all his wrongdoing and the enormity of his sins, together with how little he undertakes of ‘the harm of repentance and return’ [the printed phrase is unclear]? Then let him bring his self into order as far as he can.

فَإِنْ عَارَضَ إِبْلِيسُ أَوْ رَفَعَتْ نَفْسُهُ رَأْسَهَا لِتَذْكُرَ إِحْسَانَهَا بِمَا قَدْ عَرَّفَهُ اللّٰهُ تَعَالَى مِنْ قَدِيمِ إِسَاتِهَا وَحَدِيثِ عُيُوبِهَا فَانْقَمَعَتْ، وَزَجَرَ عَدُوَّهُ عِنْدَمَا أَرَادَ مِنْ خَدِيعَتِهِ لِيُوقِعَهُ فِي الْعُجْبِ وَالْبَاطِلِ.

Fa-ʾin ʿāraḍa ʾIblīsu ʾaw rafaʿat nafsuhu raʾsahā litadhkura ʾiḥsānahā bimā qad ʿarrafahu Allāhu taʿālā min qadīmi ʾisātihā wa-ḥadīthi ʿuyūbihā fa-inqamaʿat, wa-zajara ʿaduwwahu ʿindamā ʾarāda min khadīʿatihi liyūqiʿahu fī al-ʿujbi wa-al-bāṭili.

If Iblīs intervenes or his self raises its head to recall its good conduct, then, through what God Most High has taught him of its earlier wrongdoing and recent faults, it is subdued. He rebukes his enemy when the enemy seeks to deceive him into conceit and falsehood [a verbal connection is missing in the printed construction].

فَلَوْ كَانَ عُجْبٌ مِنْ حَقِيقَةٍ مِنْ إِحْمَالِ نَفْسِهِ طَاعَةَ اللّٰهِ بِاطِّرَاحٍ لَهَا وَمَقْتٍ كَانَ أَوْلَى الْأَشْيَا بِهِ مَعَ صِدْقِ النَّفْسِ فِي الطَّاعَةِ وَالرُّجُوعِ إِلَى الشُّكْرِ.

Fa-law kāna ʿujbun min ḥaqīqatin min ʾiḥmāli nafsihi ṭāʿata Allāhi bi-iṭṭirāḥin lahā wa-maqtin kāna ʾawlā al-ʾashyā bihi maʿa ṣidqi al-nafsi fī al-ṭāʿati wa-al-rujūʿi ʾilā al-shukri.

Even if there were conceit based on a reality, on making his self bear obedience to God, casting the self aside and detesting it would be more fitting for him, together with truthfulness in obedience and a return to gratitude [the printed syntax is compressed and uncertain].

فَكَيْفَ بِهِ إِذْ عَرَضَ لَهُ بِعُجْبٍ بَاطِلٍ لَيْسَ فِيهِ مُونَةٌ وَلَا احْتِمَالٌ؟

Fa-kayfa bihi ʾidh ʿaraḍa lahu biʿujbin bāṭilin laysa fīhi mūnatun wa-lā iḥtimālun?

What, then, when the enemy confronts him with false conceit involving neither effort nor endurance?

فَالْآنَ حِينَ أُعَرِّفُكَ بَاطِلَ مَا قَدْ عُوِّضْتَ بِهِ وَأَزْجُرُكَ بِعَوْنِ اللّٰهِ صَاغِرًا أَرْدُدُكَ عَلَى عَقِبِكَ نَاكِصًا مَحْسُورًا، وَأُلْزِمُهَا الذَّنْبَ وَالرِّيبَةَ قَدِيمًا وَحَدِيثًا.

Fa-al-ʾāna ḥīna ʾuʿarrifuka bāṭila mā qad ʿuwwiḍta bihi wa-ʾazjuruka biʿawni Allāhi ṣāghiran ʾarduduka ʿalā ʿaqibika nākiṣan maḥsūran, wa-ʾulzimuhā al-dhanba wa-al-rībata qadīman wa-ḥadīthan.

‘Now, when I make you recognize the falsehood with which you have been compensated [the printed verb is uncertain] and rebuke you with God's help, humiliated, I shall turn you back on your heel, retreating and exhausted.’ And I charge the self with sin and doubt, old and new.

Source pages 15–16

وَأَرْجِعُ إِلَى الَّذِي أَمْكَنَنِي مِنْ أَسْرِكَ وَعَرَّفَنِي عَدَاوَتَكَ وَقَوَّانِي عَلَى خِلَافِ نَفْسِي وَعَرَّفَنِي عُيُوبَهَا بِالشُّكْرِ لَهُ، مُعْتَرِفًا لَهُ بِالنِّعَمِ مُقِرًّا لَهُ بِالتَّقْصِيرِ مُسْتَجِيرًا بِهِ رَاغِبًا إِلَيْهِ فِي الْعِصْمَةِ مِنْكَ عَايِدًا مِنْ شَرِّكَ وَشَرِّ حِزْبِكَ وَخَيْلِكَ وَرَجِلِكَ وَمِنْ شَرِّ أَتْبَاعِكَ.

Wa-ʾarjiʿu ʾilā alladhī ʾamkananī min ʾasrika wa-ʿarrafanī ʿadāwataka wa-qawwānī ʿalā khilāfi nafsī wa-ʿarrafanī ʿuyūbahā bi-al-shukri lahu, muʿtarifan lahu bi-al-niʿami muqirran lahu bi-al-taqṣīri mustajīran bihi rāghiban ʾilayhi fī al-ʿiṣmati minka ʿāyidan min sharrika wa-sharri ḥizbika wa-khaylika wa-rajilika wa-min sharri ʾatbāʿika.

‘I return with gratitude to the One who enabled me to capture you, made me recognize your enmity, strengthened me to oppose my self, and showed me its faults. I acknowledge His blessings and confess my shortcomings to Him, seek shelter in Him, and ask Him to protect me from you, returning from your evil and the evil of your party, your cavalry and infantry, and your followers’ [“returning” preserves the printed reading].

Source page 16

فَإِذَا رَقِيَ الْعَبْدُ إِلَى هٰذِهِ الدَّرَجَةِ وَأُعْطِيَ هٰذِهِ الْمَعْرِفَةَ فَلَا يَكُونُ لَهُ هِمَّةٌ وَلَا بُغْيَةٌ وَلَا مَالُهُ وَلَا إِرَادَةٌ إِلَّا النُّقْلَةَ عَنْ ضِيقِ الدُّنْيَا وَغَمِّهَا، مَخَافَةَ أَنْ تُعَارِضَهُ فِتْنَةٌ مِنْ فِتَنِهَا تَحُولُ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ مَعْرِفَتِهِ، إِلَى رَاحَةِ الْآخِرَةِ وَرَوْحِهَا لِيَأْمَنَ فِيهَا مِنْ نَزَغَاتِ إِبْلِيسَ وَخِلَافِ نَفْسِهِ.

Fa-ʾidhā raqiya al-ʿabdu ʾilā hādhihi al-darajati wa-ʾuʿṭiya hādhihi al-maʿrifata fa-lā yakūnu lahu himmatun wa-lā bughyatun wa-lā māluhu wa-lā ʾirādatun ʾillā al-nuqlata ʿan ḍīqi al-dunyā wa-ghammihā, makhāfata ʾan tuʿāriḍahu fitnatun min fitanihā taḥūlu baynahu wa-bayna maʿrifatihi, ʾilā rāḥati al-ʾākhirati wa-rawḥihā liyaʾmana fīhā min nazaghāti ʾIblīsa wa-khilāfi nafsihi.

When the servant rises to this degree and is given this understanding, he has no concern, aim, ‘wealth of his,’ or desire except to move from this world's narrowness and grief to the rest and relief of the next life. He fears that one of this world's trials may confront him and come between him and his understanding; in the next life he will be safe from Iblīs's provocations and the opposition of his own self [“wealth of his” preserves an uncertain printed expression].

قَالَ بَعْضُهُمْ: أَخَافُ أَنْ يَهْجُمَ عَلَيَّ مَا يَحُولُ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَ الْإِسْلَامِ. وَهُوَ مِنَ الصَّفْوَةِ الَّتِي اخْتَارَهَا اللّٰهُ تَعَالَى لِصُحْبَةِ نَبِيِّهِ فِي زَمَانٍ لَمْ تَهِجْ فِيهِ الْفِتَنُ وَلَمْ تَخْتَلِفْ فِيهِ الْقُلُوبُ.

Qāla baʿḍuhum: ʾakhāfu ʾan yahjuma ʿalayya mā yaḥūlu baynī wa-bayna al-ʾislāmi. wa-huwa mina al-ṣafwati allatī ikhtārahā Allāhu taʿālā liṣuḥbati nabiyyihi fī zamānin lam tahij fīhi al-fitanu wa-lam takhtalif fīhi al-qulūbu.

One of them said, ‘I fear that something may assail me and come between me and Islam.’ He belonged to the elect whom God Most High chose to accompany His Prophet, in an age when trials had not yet erupted and hearts had not become divided.

خَافَ مَعَ سَابِقَتِهِ وَجِهَادِهِ مَعَ رَسُولِ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أَنْ يَهْجُمَ عَلَيْهِ أَقَلُّ مِمَّا أَنْتَ فِيهِ فَيَحُولَ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ مَا كَانَ يَعْرِفُ مِنْ حَلَاوَةِ الْإِسْلَامِ.

Khāfa maʿa sābiqatihi wa-jihādihi maʿa rasūli Allāhi ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallama ʾan yahjuma ʿalayhi ʾaqallu mimmā ʾanta fīhi fa-yaḥūla baynahu wa-bayna mā kāna yaʿrifu min ḥalāwati al-ʾislāmi.

Despite his early merit and his struggle alongside God's Messenger, may God bless him and grant him peace, he feared that something less than what surrounds you might assail him and come between him and the sweetness of Islam he had known.

فَكَيْفَ بِكَ بِلَا سَابِقَةٍ مِنْهَا إِلَّا فِي الشَّرِّ وَلَا حَلَاوَةٍ عَرَفْتَهَا قَدِيمًا مِنَ الْإِسْلَامِ إِلَّا حَلَاوَةَ الْمَعَاصِي، وَأَنْتَ نَازِلٌ فِي دَوْلَةِ الْفِتْنَةِ وَزَمَانِ الشَّرِّ تُحِبُّ الْبَقَاءَ طَمَعًا فِي الزِّيَادَةِ؟

Fa-kayfa bika bilā sābiqatin minhā ʾillā fī al-sharri wa-lā ḥalāwatin ʿaraftahā qadīman mina al-ʾislāmi ʾillā ḥalāwata al-maʿāṣī, wa-ʾanta nāzilun fī dawlati al-fitnati wa-zamāni al-sharri tuḥibbu al-baqāʾa ṭamaʿan fī al-ziyādati?

What, then, of you, with no earlier distinction except in evil and no sweetness long known to you from Islam except the sweetness of sins? You live under the reign of temptation and in an age of evil, yet you love to remain, hoping to increase your goodness.

فَهٰذِهِ خُدْعَةٌ مِنَ النَّفْسِ يُحِبُّهَا الْبَقَا لِتَجْنِيَ عَلَيْكَ الذُّنُوبَ وَتَزِيدَكَ ثِقْلًا عَلَى ثِقْلًا، فَهِيَ تُطْعِمُكَ فِي الْبَقَاءِ لِلزِّيَادَةِ وَهِيَ تَسْتَعْجِلُ مِنْكَ النَّقْصَ فِيهِ.

Fa-hādhihi khudʿatun mina al-nafsi yuḥibbuhā al-baqā litajniya ʿalayka al-dhunūba wa-tazīdaka thiqlan ʿalā thiqlan, fa-hiya tuṭʿimuka fī al-baqāʾi li-al-ziyādati wa-hiya tastaʿjilu minka al-naqṣa fīhi.

This is a trick of the self: ‘remaining alive loves it,’ so that it can bring sins upon you and add burden upon burden. It ‘feeds you’ on remaining alive for increase, while hastening your decline during that life [the two quoted phrases preserve irregular printed wording].

وَلَمْ تَفْهَمْ أَنْتَ عَلَيْهَا حُبًّا لِلْبَقَاءِ فَخَدَعَتْكَ فِيهِ وَأَنْتَ لَا تَعْلَمُ أَحْوَالَكَ.

Wa-lam tafham ʾanta ʿalayhā ḥubban li-al-baqāʾi fa-khadaʿatka fīhi wa-ʾanta lā taʿlamu ʾaḥwālaka.

Because you love remaining alive, you have not understood what it is doing. It has deceived you in this while you do not understand your own condition.

وَأَمَّا إِبْلِيسُ فَهُوَ يُخَوِّفُكَ مَعَ تَعْجِيلِكَ حُبَّ الْخُرُوجِ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا وَيُطْمِعُكَ فِي الْبَقَاءِ، فَتَخْوِيفُهُ إِيَّاكَ دَفْعٌ عَنْ خَيْرٍ تَنَالُهُ بِقَلْبِكَ وَطَاعَةٍ تَسْتَوْحِيهَا إِلَى قَلْبِكَ.

Wa-ʾammā ʾIblīsu fa-huwa yukhawwifuka maʿa taʿjīlika ḥubba al-khurūji mina al-dunyā wa-yuṭmiʿuka fī al-baqāʾi, fa-takhwīfuhu ʾiyyāka dafʿun ʿan khayrin tanāluhu biqalbika wa-ṭāʿatin tastawḥīhā ʾilā qalbika.

As for Iblīs, he frightens you as you hasten toward loving departure from the world, and makes you desire to remain. His frightening you pushes you away from a good your heart could attain and an obedience you could seek to have inspired in your heart.

مِنْ غَيْرِ أَنْ يَمْنَعَكَ ذٰلِكَ مِنْ خَيْرٍ تَدْفَعُهُ أَوْ شَرٍّ يُدْفَعُ عَنْهُ إِلَى بُلُوغِ أَجَلِكَ، وَلَيْسَ حُبُّكَ الْمَوْتَ بِالَّذِي يَنْقُصُ مِنْ عُمُرِكَ يَوْمًا وَاحِدًا وَلَا سَاعَةً وَاحِدَةً حَتَّى تَسْتَوْفِيَ أَقْصَى مُدَّتِكَ مِنْهَا وَتَبْلُغَ أَقْصَى عُمُرِكَ مِنْهَا.

Min ghayri ʾan yamnaʿaka dhālika min khayrin tadfaʿuhu ʾaw sharrin yudfaʿu ʿanhu ʾilā bulūghi ʾajalika, wa-laysa ḥubbuka al-mawta bi-alladhī yanquṣu min ʿumurika yawman wāḥidan wa-lā sāʿatan wāḥidatan ḥattā tastawfiya ʾaqṣā muddatika minhā wa-tablugha ʾaqṣā ʿumurika minhā.

This would not prevent you, before your appointed end, from ‘a good you push away or an evil that is pushed away from it’ [the printed wording is uncertain]. Your love of death will not shorten your life by a single day or a single hour: you will complete your full allotted span in this world and reach its furthest limit.

غَيْرَ أَنَّهُ خَوَّفَكَ شَرًّا هُوَ خَيْرٌ فَصَدَّقْتَهُ وَطَعِمْتَ، وَكَانَتْ عُقُوبَةُ مِثْلِكَ أَنْ يُحَالَ بَيْنَكَ وَبَيْنَ ذٰلِكَ الْخَيْرِ الَّذِي يَجْتَلِبُ فُنُونَ الْخَيْرِ فَلَمْ تَنَلْهُ وَلَمْ تَصِلْ إِلَيْهِ وَأَنْتَ تَعْرِفُ أَنَّ ذٰلِكَ كَذٰلِكَ.

Ghayra ʾannahu khawwafaka sharran huwa khayrun fa-ṣaddaqtahu wa-ṭaʿimta, wa-kānat ʿuqūbatu mithlika ʾan yuḥāla baynaka wa-bayna dhālika al-khayri alladhī yajtalibu funūna al-khayri fa-lam tanalhu wa-lam taṣil ʾilayhi wa-ʾanta taʿrifu ʾanna dhālika ka-dhālika.

But he frightened you with an evil that is really good, and you believed him and ‘tasted’ [the printed verb is unexpected]. The punishment for someone like you was to be kept from that good which brings many forms of good, so you neither attained nor reached it, although you know that this is so.

لَا يَسْتَطِيعُ بُلُوغَهُ حَتَّى يَذُوبَ مِمَّا صَدَّقْتَهُ فِي كَذِبِهِ مَا خَوَّفَكَ مِنَ الشَّرِّ الَّذِي هُوَ خَيْرٌ تَهْجُمُ عَلَيْهِ إِنْ أَحْبَبْتَ الْمَوْتَ إِلَّا أَنْ تَسْتَبْدِلَ بِهِ حُسْنَ الظَّنِّ بِاللّٰهِ تَعَالَى.

Lā yastaṭīʿu bulūghahu ḥattā yadhūba mimmā ṣaddaqtahu fī kadhibihi mā khawwafaka mina al-sharri alladhī huwa khayrun tahjumu ʿalayhi ʾin ʾaḥbabta al-mawta ʾillā ʾan tastabdila bihi ḥusna al-ẓanni bi-Allāhi taʿālā.

He cannot attain it until what you believed of his lie melts away: the evil with which he frightened you, which is really a good you would encounter if you loved death, unless you replace it with thinking well of God Most High [the printed shifts of person and the sentence's connections are disordered].

وَلَوْ وَرَدَ عَلَيْكَ الْمَوْتُ السَّاعَةَ رَضِيتَ وَتَنْصَرِفُ عَنْ طَمَعِهِ إِيَّاكَ الزِّيَادَةَ فِي الْبَقَاءِ إِلَّا أَنْ تُحِبَّ مُفَارَقَتَهُ السَّاعَةَ، مَعْرِفَةً مِنْكَ أَنَّهُ لَا يَسْلَمُ لَكَ مَعَهُ نَوْعٌ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ تَطْمَعُ بِأَنْ لَا يُعَارِضَكَ فِيهِ بِفَسَادٍ.

Wa-law warada ʿalayka al-mawtu al-sāʿata raḍīta wa-tanṣarifu ʿan ṭamaʿihi ʾiyyāka al-ziyādata fī al-baqāʾi ʾillā ʾan tuḥibba mufāraqatahu al-sāʿata, maʿrifatan minka ʾannahu lā yaslamu laka maʿahu nawʿun mina al-khayri taṭmaʿu bi-ʾan lā yuʿāriḍaka fīhi bifasādin.

If death came to you this very hour, you would accept it. You turn away from his making you desire an increase through remaining alive, only to love parting from him this very hour, knowing that no form of good is safe for you in his company: you cannot hope that he will refrain from confronting it with corruption [the printed connective is irregular].

Source pages 16–17

فَهَلْ سَمِعْتَ أَوْ رَأَيْتَ بِعَدُوٍّ يُحِبُّ أَنْ يُلَازِمَ عَدُوَّهُ وَهُوَ جَاهِدٌ فِي عَطَبِهِ وَهُوَ مُتَيَقِّنٌ أَنَّهُ عَدُوٌّ وَيَكْرَهُ مَعَ ذٰلِكَ مُفَارَقَتَهُ؟

Fa-hal samiʿta ʾaw raʾayta biʿaduwwin yuḥibbu ʾan yulāzima ʿaduwwahu wa-huwa jāhidun fī ʿaṭabihi wa-huwa mutayaqqinun ʾannahu ʿaduwwun wa-yakrahu maʿa dhālika mufāraqatahu?

Have you ever heard of or seen an enemy who loves to remain with his enemy, while that enemy strives to destroy him and he knows for certain that he is an enemy, yet still dislikes parting from him?

Source page 17

أَوْ هَلْ سَمِعْتَ أَوْ هَلْ رَأَيْتَ مَنْ يَدَّعِي أَنَّهُ مَسْجُونٌ يَكْرَهُ أَنْ يُرَاحَ وَيُفَرَّجَ عَنْهُ مِنْ سِجْنِهِ؟

ʾAw hal samiʿta ʾaw hal raʾayta man yaddaʿī ʾannahu masjūnun yakrahu ʾan yurāḥa wa-yufarraja ʿanhu min sijnihi?

Or have you ever heard of or seen someone who claims to be imprisoned but dislikes being given relief and released from his prison?

لَعَمْرِي إِنَّهُ مَنْ أَحَبَّ مُفَارَقَةَ صَاحِبٍ يَكْرَهُ فِرَاقَهُ إِنَّهُ لَنِعْمَ الصَّاحِبُ وَإِنَّ دَعْوَاهُ لَهُ عَدُوٌّ لَبَاطِلٌ.

Laʿamrī ʾinnahu man ʾaḥabba mufāraqata ṣāḥibin yakrahu firāqahu ʾinnahu laniʿma al-ṣāḥibu wa-ʾinna daʿwāhu lahu ʿaduwwun labāṭilun.

By my life, ‘whoever loves parting from a companion whose parting he dislikes’ must have an excellent companion, and his claim that the companion is an enemy is false [the printed wording is self-contradictory and grammatically irregular].

وَلَعَمْرِي إِنَّهُ أَحَبَّ الْمُقَامَ فِي سِجْنٍ وَهُوَ يَكْرَهُ الْخُرُوجَ مِنْهُ إِنَّهُ لَفِي غِبْطَةٍ وَسُرُورٍ وَإِنَّ دَعْوَاهُ أَنَّهُ فِي سِجْنٍ لَبَاطِلٌ.

Wa-laʿamrī ʾinnahu ʾaḥabba al-muqāma fī sijnin wa-huwa yakrahu al-khurūja minhu ʾinnahu lafī ghibṭatin wa-surūrin wa-ʾinna daʿwāhu ʾannahu fī sijnin labāṭilun.

By my life, if he loves staying in a prison and dislikes leaving it, he is surely in happiness and delight, and his claim to be in a prison is false.

وَلٰكِنَّ الْعُقُولَ تَتَفَاضَلُ وَتَتَمَايَزُ وَالتَّقْصِيرُ فِي شُكْرِ نِعَمِ الْعُقُولِ ظَاهِرٌ.

Wa-lākinna al-ʿuqūla tatafāḍalu wa-tatamāyazu wa-al-taqṣīru fī shukri niʿami al-ʿuqūli ẓāhirun.

But minds differ in excellence and distinction, and failure to give thanks for the blessings of reason is plain.

فَإِذَا كَانَ الْمُطِيعُ غَيْرَ عَالِمٍ بِمَا يُكْرَهُ مِنَ الطَّاعَةِ فِي عِبَادَتِهِ وَلَا عَارِفٍ بِمُكَايَدَةِ عَدُوِّهِ فَيَسْتَصْغِرُ الْمَخْلُوقِينَ وَتَكُونُ نَفْسُهُ عِنْدَهُ أَنَّهُ لَا عِدْلَ لَهَا فِي الْأَنْفُسِ زَكَاةً وَطِيبًا، وَلَعَلَّهَا أَخْبَثُ الْأَنْفُسِ وَأَنْتَنُهَا رَائِحَةً وَأَسْقَطُهَا مِنْ عَيْنِ بَارِيهَا.

Fa-ʾidhā kāna al-muṭīʿu ghayra ʿālimin bimā yukrahu mina al-ṭāʿati fī ʿibādatihi wa-lā ʿārifin bimukāyadati ʿaduwwihi fa-yastaṣghiru al-makhlūqīna wa-takūnu nafsuhu ʿindahu ʾannahu lā ʿidla lahā fī al-ʾanfusi zakātan wa-ṭīban, wa-laʿallahā ʾakhbathu al-ʾanfusi wa-ʾantanuhā rāʾiḥatan wa-ʾasqaṭuhā min ʿayni bārīhā.

When an obedient person does not know what is objectionable in the obedience within his worship, or understand his enemy's cunning, he looks down on other creatures. He thinks his self has no equal among selves in purity and goodness, though it may be the foulest of selves, the most offensive in odor, and the lowest in its Maker's sight.

فَكُلُّ مَا مَوَّلَتْ لَهُ نَفْسُهُ مِنْ عَمَلٍ فَاحْتَمَلَتْ لِصَاحِبِهَا مَعَ مُسَاعَدَتِهِ إِيَّاهَا وَشِدَّةِ رِضَاهُ عَنْهَا مَعَ خُمُولِ الْجِسْمِ وَطُولِ السَّهَرِ وَالصَّبْرِ عَلَى ظَاهِرِ الْعِبَادَةِ مَا فَنِيَ بِهِ التَّوَلِّي وَاسْتَالَتْ بِهِ الْمُوهِمِينَ مِنَ الْعُقَلَاءِ وَالطَّالِبِينَ دَرَجَ الطَّاعَاتِ.

Fa-kullu mā mawwalat lahu nafsuhu min ʿamalin fa-iḥtamalat liṣāḥibihā maʿa musāʿadatihi ʾiyyāhā wa-shiddati riḍāhu ʿanhā maʿa khumūli al-jismi wa-ṭūli al-sahari wa-al-ṣabri ʿalā ẓāhiri al-ʿibādati mā faniya bihi al-tawallī wa-istālat bihi al-mūhimīna mina al-ʿuqalāʾi wa-al-ṭālibīna daraja al-ṭāʿāti.

Whatever work his self ‘funds’ for him, it bears for its owner, with his assistance and intense satisfaction with it, despite bodily weakness, long vigils, and endurance in outward worship: ‘that through which turning away perished,’ and through which it ‘istālat’ those who create impressions among the intelligent and those seeking the degrees of obedience [several printed words and their connections are unclear].

فَامْتَدَّ لَهَا الذِّكْرُ فَامْتَنَّتْ فَاحْتَجَّتْ وَتَعَظَّمَتْ وَتَكَبَّرَتْ، فَلَمْ يُوصَلْ إِلَيْهَا إِلَّا فِي الْحِينِ وَلَمْ تَبْذُلْ نَفْسَهَا إِلَّا لِلْخَوَاصِّ.

Fa-imtadda lahā al-dhikru fa-imtannat fa-iḥtajjat wa-taʿaẓẓamat wa-takabbarat, fa-lam yūṣal ʾilayhā ʾillā fī al-ḥīni wa-lam tabdhul nafsahā ʾillā li-al-khawāṣṣi.

Its reputation spreads, so it boasts of its favors, argues its claims, aggrandizes itself, and grows arrogant. It becomes accessible only occasionally and makes itself available only to the select few.

فَإِذَا وَصَلَتْ إِلَى هٰذِهِ الْمَرْتَبَةِ وَحَلَّتْهَا الدُّنْيَا بِصُنُوفِ زَهْرَتِهَا لِأَهْلِهَا وَطُوِّقَتْ عَظِيمَ الْعِبَادَةِ اسْتِدْرَاجًا وَفِتْنَةً، اسْتَصْغَرَتْ أَعْمَالَ مَنْ كَانَ قَبْلَهَا مِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ وَطَعَنَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنْ جِهَةِ التَّقْصِيرِ.

Fa-ʾidhā waṣalat ʾilā hādhihi al-martabati wa-ḥallat-hā al-dunyā biṣunūfi zahratihā li-ʾahlihā wa-ṭuwwiqat ʿaẓīma al-ʿibādati istidrājan wa-fitnatan, istaṣgharat ʾaʿmāla man kāna qablahā mina al-ṣāliḥīna wa-ṭaʿanat ʿalayhim min jihati al-taqṣīri.

When it reaches this rank and the world adorns it with the various blossoms it offers its people, and it is garlanded with great worship as a gradual enticement and a trial, it belittles the deeds of the righteous who came before it and attacks them for falling short.

وَهِيَ عِنْدَ نَفْسِهَا أَزْهَدُ وَأَقْوَى عَلَى مَا هِيَ فِيهِ مِنْ كَثِيرٍ مِنْهُمْ، فَأُتِيَ مِنْهُ وَهُوَ لَا يَشْعُرُ وَصَرَعَهُ عَدُوُّهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَعْلَمُ.

Wa-hiya ʿinda nafsihā ʾazhadu wa-ʾaqwā ʿalā mā hiya fīhi min kathīrin minhum, fa-ʾutiya minhu wa-huwa lā yashʿuru wa-ṣaraʿahu ʿaduwwuhu min ḥaythu lā yaʿlamu.

In its own eyes it is more detached and stronger in its present practices than many of them. He is then attacked through this without realizing it, and his enemy throws him down from a direction he does not know.

فَيَا وَيْحَهَا مِنْ نَفْسٍ مَا أَشْأَمَهَا وَأَعْطَبَهَا لِمَنْ لَا يَعْرِفُهَا! إِنَّهُ لَيُخَيَّلُ إِلَيَّ أَنَّهُ لَا يَسْلَمُ مِنْهَا مَنْ يَعْرِفُهَا فَكَيْفَ مَنْ لَا يَعْرِفُهَا؟

Fa-yā wayḥahā min nafsin mā ʾashʾamahā wa-ʾaʿṭabahā liman lā yaʿrifuhā! ʾinnahu layukhayyalu ʾilayya ʾannahu lā yaslamu minhā man yaʿrifuhā fa-kayfa man lā yaʿrifuhā?

Alas for such a self! How ill-omened it is, and how destructive to anyone who does not know it! It seems to me that even someone who knows it may not escape it safely. What, then, of someone who does not know it?

وَصَاحِبُ هٰذِهِ الصِّفَةِ الَّتِي وَصَفْنَا أَنَّهُ أُتِيَ مِنْ قِلَّةِ مَعْرِفَتِهِ بِهَا فَحَادَ عَنْ طَرِيقِ الشُّكْرِ.

Wa-ṣāḥibu hādhihi al-ṣifati allatī waṣafnā ʾannahu ʾutiya min qillati maʿrifatihi bihā fa-ḥāda ʿan ṭarīqi al-shukri.

The person with the characteristics we have described comes to grief through his scant knowledge of the self and turns away from the path of gratitude.

فَلَيْسَ الْعَجَبُ مِمَّنْ لَمْ يُؤْتَ مَعْرِفَتَهَا كَيْفَ يَرْكَبُ، وَلٰكِنَّ الْعَجَبَ مِمَّنْ لَمْ يُؤْتَ مَعْرِفَتَهَا كَيْفَ يَسْلَمُ.

Fa-laysa al-ʿajabu mimman lam yuʾta maʿrifatahā kayfa yarkabu, wa-lākinna al-ʿajaba mimman lam yuʾta maʿrifatahā kayfa yaslamu.

The wonder is not how someone who has not been given knowledge of it embarks upon such a course. The wonder is how someone who has not been given knowledge of it can remain safe.”