Chapter XXIII — The Uncovering of the Ninth Veil : Concerning Companionship, Together with its Rules and Principles

CHAPTER XXIII. — THE UNCOVERING OF THE NINTH VEIL : CONCERNING COMPANIONSHIP, TOGETHER WITH ITS RULES AND PRINCIPLES.

The Apostle said : “ Good manners (ḥusn al-adab) are a part of faith.” And he also said : “ My Lord corrected me (addabaní) and gave me an excellent correction.” You must know that the seemliness and decorum of all religious and temporal affairs depends on rules of discipline (adáb), and that every station in which the various classes of mankind are placed has its own particular rule. Among men good manners consist in the observance of virtue (muruwwat) ; as regards religion they consist in the observance of the Apostolic custom (sunnat) ; and as regards love they consist in the observance of respect (ḥurmat). These three categories are connected with each other, because one who is without virtue does not comply with the custom of the Apostle, and whoever fails to comply with the custom of the Apostle does not observe due respect. In matters of conduct the observance of discipline is the result of reverence for the object of desire ; and reverence for God and His ordinances springs from fear of God (taqwá). Anyone who disrespectfully tramples on the reverence that is due to the evidences of God has no part or lot in the Path of Ṣúfiism ; and in no case are rules of discipline neglected by seekers of God, because they are habituated to such rules, and habit is second nature. It is impossible that a living creature should be divested of its natural humours : therefore, so long as the human body remains in existence men are bound to keep the rules of obedience to God, sometimes with effort (takalluf) and sometimes without effort : with effort when they are ‘sober’, but when they are ‘intoxicated’ God sees that they keep the rules. A person who neglects the rules cannot possibly be a saint, for ” good manners are characteristic of those whom God loves”. When God vouchsafes a miracle to anyone, it is a proof that He causes him to fulfil the duties of religion. This is opposed to the view of some heretics, who assert that when a man is overpowered by love he is no longer subject to obedience. I will set forth this matter more lucidly in another place.

Rules of discipline are of three kinds. Firstly, those which are observed towards God in unification (tawhíd). Here the rule is that one must guard one’s self in public and private from any disrespectful act, and behave as though one were in the presence of a king. It is related in the genuine Traditions that one day the Apostle was sitting with his legs drawn in (páy gird). Gabriel came and said : “O Muḥammad, sit as servants do in their master’s presence.” Ḥárith Muḥásibí is said never to have leaned his back against a wall, by day or night, for forty years, and never to have sat except on his knees. On being asked why he gave himself so much trouble he replied : ” I am ashamed to sit otherwise than as a servant while I am contemplating God.” I, ʿAlí b. ʿUthmán al-Jullábí, was once in a village called Kamand,[^p359-1] at the extremity of Khurásán. There I saw a well-known and very excellent man, whose name is Adíb-i Kamandí. For twenty years he had never sat down except in his prayers, when he was pronouncing the profession of faith. I inquired the reason of this, and he answered that he had not yet attained such a degree that he should sit while contemplating God. Abú Yazíd was asked by what means he had gained so high spiritual rank. He answered : ” By good companionship with God,” i.e. by keeping the rules of discipline and behaving in private as in public. All human beings ought to learn from Zulaykhá how to observe good manners in contemplating the object of their adoration, for when she was alone with Joseph and besought him to consent to her wishes, she first covered up the face of her idol in order that it might not witness her want of propriety. And when the Apostle was borne to Heaven at the Ascension, his observance of discipline restrained him from paying any regard either to this world or to the next.

The second kind of discipline is that which is observed towards one’s self in one’s conduct, and which consists in avoiding, when one is in one’s own company, any act that would be improper in the company of one’s fellow-creatures or of God, e.g, one must not utter an untruth by declaring one’s self to be what one is not, and one must eat little in order that one may seldom go to the lavatory, and one must not look at anything which it is not decent for others to see. It is related that ʿAlí never beheld his own nakedness, because he was ashamed to see in himself what he was forbidden to see in others.

The third kind of discipline is that which is observed in social intercourse with one’s fellow-creatures. The most important rule for such intercourse is to act well, and to observe the custom of the Apostle at home and abroad.

These three sorts of discipline cannot be separated from one another. Now I will set them forth in detail as far as possible, in order that you and all my readers may follow them more easily.

Chapter on Companionship and matters connected therewith.

God hath said : “Verily, the merciful God will bestow love on those who believe and do good works” (Kor. xix, 96), i.e., He will love them and cause them to be loved, because they do their duty towards their brethren and prefer them to themselves. And the Apostle said : “Three things render thy brother’s love toward thee sincere : that thou shouldst salute him when thou meetest him, and that thou shouldst make room for him when he sits beside thee, and that thou shouldst call him by the name that he likes best.” And God said, “The believers are brethren : therefore reconcile your two brethren” (Kor. xlix, 10) ; and the Apostle said, ” Get many brethren, for your Lord is bashful (ḥayí) and kind : He will be ashamed to punish His servant in the presence of his brethren on the Day of Resurrection.”

But companionship must be for God’s sake, not for the purpose of gratifying the lower soul or any selfish interest, in order that a man may be divinely rewarded for observing the rules of companionship. Málik b. Dínár said to his son-in-law, Mughíra b. Shuʿba : ” If you derive no religious benefit from a brother and friend, abandon his society, that you may be saved,” i.e. associate either with one who is superior or with one who is inferior to yourself. In the former case you will derive benefit from him, and in the latter case the benefit will be mutual, since each will learn something from the other. Hence the Apostle said, ” It is the whole of piety to instruct one who is ignorant ; ” and Yaḥyá b. Muʿádh (al-Rází) said, ” He is a bad friend to whom you need to say, ʿRemember me in thy prayersʾ ” (because a man ought always to pray for anyone with whom he has associated even for a moment) ; and he is a bad friend with whom you cannot live except on condition of flattering him (because candour is involved in the principle of companionship) ; and he is a bad friend to whom you need to apologize for a fault that you have committed (because apologies are made by strangers, and in companionship it is wrong to be on such terms). The Apostle said : ” A man follows the religion of his friend : take heed, therefore, with whom you form a friendship.” If he associates with the good, their society will make him good, although he is bad ; and if he associates with the wicked, he will be wicked, although he is good, because he will be consenting to their wickedness. It is related that a man said, while he was circumambulating the Kaʿba, ” O God, make my brethren good ! ” On being asked why he did not implore a boon for himself in such a place, he replied : ” I have brethren to whom I shall return ; if they are good, I shall be good with them, and if they are wicked, I shall be wicked with them.”

Z The Ṣúfí Shaykhs demand from each other the fulfilment of the duties of companionship and enjoin their disciples to require the same, so that amongst them companionship has become like a religious obligation. The Shaykhs have written many books explaining the rules of Ṣúfí companionship ; e.g., Junayd composed a work entitled Taṣḥíḥ al-irádát,[^p362-1] and Aḥmad b. Khaḍrúya of Balkh another, entitled Al-Riʿáyat bi-ḥuqúq[^p362-2] Allah,[^p362-3] and Muḥammad b. ʿAlí of Tirmidh another, entitled Ádáb al-murídín.[^p362-4] Other exhaustive treatises on this subject have been written by Abú ʾl-Qásim al-Ḥakím,[^p362-5] Abú Bakr al-Warráq, Sahl b. ʿAbdallah (al-Tustarí), Abú ʿAbd al-Raḥmán al-Sulamí, and Master Abú ʾl-Qásim Qushayrí. All those writers are great authorities on Ṣúfíism, but I desire that my book should enable anyone who possesses it to dispense with other books and, as I said in the preface, be sufficient in itself for you and for all students of the Ṣúfí doctrine. I will now classify in separate chapters their various rules of discipline relating to conduct.

Chapter concerning the Rules of Companionship.

Since you have perceived that the most important thing for the novice is companionship, the fulfilment of its obligations is necessarily incumbent on him. Solitude is fatal to the novice, for the Apostle said, ” Satan is with the solitary, but he is farther away from two who are together;” and God hath said, ” There is no private discourse among three persons but God is the fourth of them ” (Kor. lviii, 8). I have read in the Anecdotes that a disciple of Junayd imagined that he had attained to the degree of perfection, and that it was better for him to be alone. Accordingly he went into retirement and withdrew from the society of his brethren. At nightfall a camel used to appear, and he was told that it would take him to Paradise ; on mounting it, he was conveyed to a pleasant demesne, with beautiful inhabitants and delicious viands and flowing streams, where he stayed till dawn ; then he fell asleep, and on waking found himself at the door of his cell. These experiences filled him with pride and he could not refrain from boasting of them. When Junayd heard the story he hastened to the disciple’s cell, and having received from him a full account of what had passed, said to him : “To-night, when you come to that place, remember to say thrice, ‘There is no strength or power but in God, the High, the Great.’” The same night he was carried off as usual, and though in his heart he did not believe Junayd, by way of trial he repeated those words thrice. The crew around him shrieked and vanished, and he found himself seated on a dunghill in the midst of rotten bones. He acknowledged his fault and repented and returned to companionship.

The principle of the Ṣúfís in companionship is that they should treat everyone according to his degree. Thus they treat old men with respect, like fathers ; those of their own sort with agreeable familiarity, like brothers ; and young men with affection, like sons. They renounce hate, envy, and malice, and do not withhold sincere admonition from anyone. In companionship it is not permissible to speak evil of the absent, or to behave dishonestly, or to deny one another on account of any word or deed, because a companionship which is begun for God’s sake should not be cut short by human words or acts. The author says: “I asked the Grand Shaykh Abú ʾl-Qásim Gurgání what obligations were involved in companionship. He replied : ‘It involves this, that you should not seek your own interest ; all the evils of companionship arise from selfishness. Solitude is better for a selfish man. He who neglects his own interests and looks after the interests of his companion hits the mark in companionship.’” A certain dervish relates as follows : “Once I set out from Kúfa to visit Mecca. On the way I met Ibráhím Khawwáṣ and begged him to let me accompany him. He said : ‘In companionship it is necessary that one should command and the other should obey : which do you choose?’ I answered : ‘You be the commander.’ He said : ‘Now do not fail to comply with my orders.’ When we arrived at the halting-place, he bade me sit down, and himself drew water from the well and, since the weather was cold, he gathered sticks and kindled a fire, and whenever I attempted to do anything he told me to sit down. At nightfall it began to rain heavily. He took off his patched frock and held it over my head all night. I was ashamed, but could not say a word on account of the condition imposed on me. When morning came, I said : ‘To-day it is my turn to be commander.’ He said : ‘Very well.’ As soon as we reached the halting-place, he began to perform the same menial offices as before, and on my telling him not to disobey my orders he retorted that it was an act of disobedience to let one’s self be served by one’s commander. He continued to behave in this way until we arrived at Mecca ; then I felt so ashamed that I fled from him. He espied me, however, at Miná and said to me : ‘O son, when you associate with dervishes see that you treat them in the same fashion as I treated you.’”

Dervishes are divided into two classes : residents (nuqímán) and travellers (musáfírán). According to the custom of the Shaykhs, the travelling dervishes should regard the resident ones as superior to themselves, because they go to and fro in their own interest, while the resident dervishes have settled down in the service of God : in the former is the sign of search, in the latter is the token of attainment ; hence those who have found and settled down are superior to those who are still seeking. Similarly, the resident dervishes ought to regard the travelling ones as superior to themselves, because they are laden with worldly encumbrances, while the travelling dervishes are unencumbered and detached from the world. Again, old men should prefer to themselves the young, who are newer to the world and whose sins are less numerous ; and young men should prefer to themselves the old, who have outstripped them in devotion and service.

SECTION.

Culture (adab) really means “the collection of virtuous qualities”, though in ordinary language anyone is called “cultured” (adíb) who is acquainted with Arabic philology and grammar. But the Ṣúfís define culture as “dwelling with praiseworthy qualities”, and say that it means “to act with propriety towards God in public and private”; if you act thus, you are “cultured”, even if you are a foreigner (i.e. a non-Arab), and if not, you are the opposite. Those who have knowledge are in every case more honoured than those who have intelligence. A certain Shaykh was asked: “What does culture involve?” He said: “I will answer you by quoting a definition which I have heard, ‘If you speak, your speech will be sincere, and if you act, your actions will be true.’” An excellent distinction has been made by Shaykh Abú Naṣr Sarráj, the author of the Lumaʿ, who says: “As regards culture (adab), there are three classes of mankind. Firstly, worldlings, whose culture mainly consists in eloquence and rhetoric and learning and knowledge of the nightly conversations (asmár[^p365-1]) of kings and Arabic poetry. Secondly, the religious, whose culture chiefly consists in disciplining the lower soul and correcting the limbs and observing the legal ordinances and renouncing lusts. Thirdly, the elect (i.e. the Ṣúfís), whose culture consists for the most part in spiritual purity and keeping watch over their hearts and fulfilling their promises and guarding the ‘state’ in which they are and paying no heed to extraneous suggestions and behaving with propriety in the positions of search (for God), in the states of presence (with God), and in the stations of proximity (to God).” This saying is comprehensive. The different matters which it includes are discussed in several places in this book.

Chapter on the Rules of Companionship affecting Residents.

Dervishes who choose to reside, and not to travel, are bound to observe the following rules of discipline. When a traveller comes to them, they must meet him joyfully and receive him with respect and treat him like an honoured guest and freely set before him whatever food they have, modelling their behaviour upon that of Abraham. They must not inquire whence he has come or whither he is going or what is his name, but must deem that he has come from God and is going to God and that his name is ” servant of God ” ; then they must see whether he desires to be alone or in company : if he prefers to be alone, they must give him an empty room, and if he prefers company, they must consort with him unceremoniously in a friendly and sociable manner. When he lays his head on his pillow at night the resident dervish ought to offer to wash his feet, but if the traveller should not allow him to do this and should say that he is not accustomed to it, the resident must not insist, for fear of causing him annoyance. Next day, he must offer him a bath and take him to the cleanest bath available and save his clothes from (becoming dirty in) the latrines of the bath, and not permit a strange attendant to wait upon him, but wait upon him zealously in order to make him clean of all stains, and scrape (bikhárad) his back and rub his knees and the soles of his feet and his hands : more than this he is not obliged to do. And if the resident dervish has sufficient means, he should provide a new garment for his guest ; otherwise, he need not trouble himself, but he should clean his guest’s clothes so that he may put them on when he comes out of the bath. If the traveller remains two or three days, he should be invited to visit any spiritual director or Imám who may be in the town, but he must not be compelled to pay such visits against his inclination, because those who seek God are not always masters of their own feelings ; e.g., Ibráhím Khawwáṣ on one occasion refused to accompany Khiḍr, who desired his society, for he was unwilling that his feelings should be engaged by anyone except God. Certainly it is not right that a resident dervish should take a traveller to salute worldly men or to attend their entertainments, sick-beds, and funerals ; and if a resident hopes to make travellers an instrument of mendicancy (álat-i gadáʾí) and conduct them from house to house, it would be better for him to refrain from serving them instead of subjecting them to humiliation. Among all the troubles and inconveniences that I have suffered when travelling none was worse than to be carried off time after time by ignorant servants and impudent dervishes of this sort and conducted from the house of such and such a Khwája to the house of such and such a Dihqán, while, though apparently complaisant, I felt a great dislike to go with them. I then vowed that, if ever I became resident, I would not behave towards travellers with this impropriety. Nothing derived from associating with ill-mannered persons is more useful than the lesson that you must endure their disagreeable behaviour and must not imitate it. On the other hand, if a travelling dervish becomes at his ease (munbasiṭ) with a resident and stays for some time and makes a worldly demand, the resident is bound immediately to give him what he wants ; but if the traveller is an impostor and low-minded, the resident must not act meanly in order to comply with his impossible requirements, for this is not the way of those who are devoted to God. What business has a dervish to associate with devotees if he needs worldly things? Let him go to the market and buy and sell, or let him be a soldier at the sultan’s court. It is related that, while Junayd and his pupils were sitting occupied in some ascetic discipline, a travelling dervish came in. They exerted themselves to entertain him and placed food before him. He said : “I want such and such a thing besides this.” Junayd said to him : “You must go to the bazaar, for you are a man of the market, not of the mosque and the cell.” Once I set out from Damascus with two dervishes to visit Ibn al-Muʿalláʾ,[^p367-1] who was living in the country near Ramla. On the way we arranged that each of us should think of the matter concerning which we were in doubt, in order that that venerable director might tell us our secret thoughts and solve our difficulties. I said to myself: “I will desire of him the poems and intimate supplications (munáját) of Ḥusayn b. Manṣúr (al-Ḥalláj).” One of my companions said, “I will desire him to pray that my disease of the spleen (ṭiḥál) may become better;” and the other said, “I will wish for sweetmeat of different colours” (ḥalwá-yi gúnúní). As soon as we arrived, Ibn al-Muʿallá commanded that a manuscript of the poems and supplications of Ḥusayn should be presented to me, and laid his hand on the belly of the invalid so that his illness was assuaged, and said to the other dervish: “Parti-coloured sweetmeat is eaten by soldiers (ʿawánán); you are dressed as a saint, and the dress of a saint does not accord with the appetite of a soldier. Choose one or the other.”

In short, the resident is not obliged to pay attention to the travelling dervish unless the latter’s attention is paid entirely to God. If he is devoted to his own interests, it is impossible that another should help him to gratify his selfishness, for dervishes are guides (ráhbarán), not brigands (ráhburán) to each other. So long as anyone perseveres in a selfish demand, his friend ought to resist it, but when he renounces it, then his friend ought to satisfy it. In the Traditions of the Apostle it is related that he made a brotherhood between Salmán (al-Fárisí) and Abú Dharr Ghifárí, both of whom were leading men among the People of the Veranda (ahl-i ṣuffa) and eminent spiritualists. One day, when Salmán came to visit Abú Dharr at his house, Abú Dharr’s wife complained to him that her husband neither ate by day nor slept by night. Salmán told her to fetch some food, and said to Abú Dharr: “O brother, I desire thee to eat, since this fasting is not incumbent on thee.” Abú Dharr complied. And at night Salmán said: “O brother, I beg thee to sleep: thy body and thy wife have a claim upon thee, as well as thy Lord.” Next day Abú Dharr went to the Apostle, who said: “I say the same thing as Salmán said yesterday: verily, thy body has a claim upon thee.” Inasmuch as Abú Dharr had renounced his selfish pleasures, Salmán persuaded him to gratify them. Whatever you do on this principle is sound and impregnable. Once, in the territories of ʿIráq, I was restlessly occupied (tápákí míkardam) in seeking wealth and squandering it, and I had run largely into debt. Everyone who wanted anything turned to me, and I was troubled and at a loss to know how I could accomplish their desires. An eminent person wrote to me as follows : ” Beware lest you distract your mind from God by satisfying the wishes of those whose minds are engrossed in vanity. If you find anyone whose mind is nobler than your own, you may justly distract your mind in order to give peace to his. Otherwise, do not distract yourself, since God is sufficient for His servants.” These words brought me instant relief.

Chapter concerning their Rules in Travel.

When a dervish chooses to travel, not to reside, he ought to observe the following rules. In the first place, he must travel for God’s sake, not for pleasure, and as he journeys outwardly, so he should flee inwardly from his sensual affections ; and he must always keep himself in a state of purity and not neglect his devotions ; and his object in travelling must be either pilgrimage or war (against infidels) or to see a (holy) site or to derive instruction or to seek knowledge or to visit a venerable person, a Shaykh, or the tomb of a saint ; otherwise his journey will be faulty. And he cannot do without a patched frock and a prayer-rug and a bucket and a rope and a pair of shoes (kafsh) or clogs (naʿlayn) and a staff : the patched frock to cover his nakedness, the prayer-rug to pray on, the bucket to cleanse himself with, and the staff to protect him from attacks and for other purposes. Before stepping on the prayer-rug he must put on his shoes or clogs in a state of purity. If anyone carries other articles, for the sake of keeping the Sunna (Apostolic custom), such as a comb and nail-scissors and a needle and a little box of antimony (mukhula), he does right. If, however, anyone provides himself with more utensils than those which have been mentioned, we have to consider in what station he is : if he is a novice every article will be a shackle and a stumbling-block and a veil to him, and will afford him the means of showing self-conceit, but if he is a firmly grounded adept he may carry all these articles and more. I heard the following story from Shaykh Abú Muslim Fáris b. Ghálib al-Fárísí. “One day (he said) I paid a visit to Shaykh Abú Saʿíd b. Abi ‘l-Khayr Faḍlalláh b. Muḥammad. I found him sleeping on a couch with four cushions (takht chahár-bálish), one of his legs thrown across the other ; and he was dressed in fine Egyptian linen (diqqi Miṣrí). My garment was so dirty that it resembled leather, and my body was emaciated by austerities. On looking at Abú Saʿíd a feeling of scepticism overcame me. I said to myself: ‘He is a dervish, and so am I, yet he is in all this luxury and I in this sore tribulation.’ He immediately divined my thoughts and was aware of my vainglory. ‘O Abú Muslim,’ said he, ‘in what díwán have you read that a self-conceited man is a dervish? Since I see God in all things, God sets me on a throne, and since you see yourself in everything, God keeps you in affliction : my lot is contemplation, while yours is mortification. These are two stations on the Way to God, but God is far aloof from them both, and a dervish is dead to all stations and free from all states.’ On hearing these words my senses forsook me, and the whole world grew dark in my eyes. When I came to myself I repented, and he accepted my repentance. Then I said : ‘O Shaykh, give me leave to depart, for I cannot bear the sight of thee.’ He answered, ‘O Abú Muslim, you speak the truth ;’ then he quoted this verse :—

‘That which my ear was unable to hear by report My eye beheld actually all at once.’

The travelling dervish must always observe the custom of the Apostle, and when he comes to the house of a resident he should enter his presence respectfully and greet him ; and he should first take off the shoe on his left foot, as the Apostle did ; and when he puts his shoes on, he should first put on the shoe belonging to his right foot ; and he should wash his right foot before his left ; and he should perform two bowings of the head by way of salutation (in prayer) and then occupy himself with attending to the (religious) duties incumbent on dervishes. He must not in any case interfere with the residents, or behave immoderately towards anyone, or talk of the hardships which he may have suffered in travelling, or discourse on theology, or tell anecdotes, or recite traditions in company, for all this is a sign of self-conceit. He must be patient when he is vexed by fools and must tolerate their irksomeness for God’s sake, for in patience there are many blessings. If residents or their servants bid him go with them to salute or visit the townspeople, he must acquiesce if he can, but in his heart he ought to dislike paying such marks of respect to worldlings, although he should excuse the behaviour of his brethren who act thus. He must take care not to trouble them by making any unreasonable demand, and he must not drag them to the court of high officials with the purpose of seeking an idle pleasure for himself. Travelling, as well as resident, dervishes must always, in companionship, endeavour to please God, and must have a good belief in each other, and not speak ill of any comrade face to face with him or behind his back, because true mystics in regarding the act see the Agent, and inasmuch as every human being, of whatever description he may be—faulty or faultless, veiled or illuminated—belongs to God and is His creature, to quarrel with a human act is to quarrel with the Divine Agent.

Chapter concerning their Rules in Eating.

Men cannot dispense with nourishment, but moral virtue requires that they should not eat or drink in excess. Sháfiʿí says: “He who thinks about that which goes into his belly is worth only that which comes out of it.” Nothing is more hurtful to a novice in Súfiism than eating too much. I have read in the Anecdotes that Abú Yazíd was asked why he praised hunger so highly. He answered: “Because if Pharaoh had been hungry he would not have said, ‘I am your Supreme Lord,’ and if Qárún (Korah) had been hungry he would not have been rebellious.” Thaʿlaba[^p372-1] was praised by all so long as he was hungry, but when he ate his fill he displayed hypocrisy. Sahl b. ʿAbdallah (al-Tustarí) said : “In my judgment, a belly full of wine is better than one full of lawful food.” On being asked the reason of this he said : “When a man’s belly is filled with wine, his intellect is stupefied and the flame of lust is quenched, and people are secure from his hand and tongue ; but when his belly is filled with lawful food he desires foolishness, and his lust waxes great and his lower soul rises to seek her pleasures.” The Shaykhs have said, describing the Súfís : “They eat like sick men, and sleep like shipwrecked men, and speak like one whose children have died.”

It is an obligatory rule that they should not eat alone, but should unselfishly share their food with one another ; and when seated at table they should not be silent, and should begin by saying “In God’s name”; and they should not put anything down or lift anything up in such a way as to offend their comrades, and they should dip the first mouthful in salt, and should deal fairly by their friends. Sahl b. ʿAbdallah (al-Tustarí) was asked about the meaning of the verse : “Verily God enjoins justice and beneficence” (Kor. xvi, 92). He replied : “Justice consists in dealing fairly with one’s friend in regard to a morsel of food, and beneficence consists in deeming him to have a better claim to that morsel than yourself.” My Shaykh used to say : “I am astonished at the impostor who declares that he has renounced the world, and is anxious about a morsel of food.” Furthermore, the Súfí should eat with his right hand and should look only at his own morsel, and while eating he should not drink unless he is extremely thirsty, and if he drinks he should drink only as much as will moisten his liver. He should not eat large mouthfuls, and should chew his food well and not make haste ; otherwise he will be acting contrary to the custom of the Apostle, and will probably suffer from indigestion (tukhama). When he has finished eating, he should give praise to God and wash his hands. If two or three or more persons belonging to a community of dervishes go to a dinner and eat something without informing their brethren, according to some Shaykhs this is unlawful and constitutes a breach of companionship, but some hold it to be allowable when a number of persons act thus in union with each other, and some allow it in the case of a single person, on the ground that he is not obliged to deal fairly when he is alone but when he is in company ; consequently, being alone, he is relieved of the obligations of companionship and is not responsible for his act. Now, the most important principle in this matter is that the invitation of a dervish should not be refused, and that the invitation of a rich man should not be accepted. Dervishes ought not to go to the houses of rich men or beg anything of them : such conduct is demoralizing for Súfís, because worldlings are not on confidential terms (maḥram) with the dervish. Much wealth, however, does not make a man “rich” (dunyá-dár), nor does little wealth make him “poor”. No one who acknowledges that poverty is better than riches is “rich”, even though he be a king ; and anyone who disbelieves in poverty is “rich”, even though he be reduced to want. When a dervish attends a party he should not constrain himself either to eat or not to eat, but should behave in accordance with his feelings at the time (bar ḥukm-i waqt). If the host is a congenial person (maḥram), it is right that a married man (mutaʾahhil) should condone a fault ; and if the host is uncongenial, it is not allowable to go to his house. But in any case it is better not to commit a fault, for Sahl b. ʿAbdallah (al-Tustarí) says : “Backsliding is abasement” (al-zillat dhillat).

Chapter concerning their Rules in Walking.

God hath said : “And the servants of the Merciful are they who walk on the earth meekly” (Kor. xxv, 64). The seeker of God, as he walks, should know at each step he makes whether that step is against God or of God : if it is against God, he must ask for pardon, and if it is of God, he must persevere in it, that it may be increased. One day Dáwúd Ṭáʾí had taken some medicine. They said to him : ” Go into the court of this house for a little while, in order that the good result of the medicine may become apparent.” He replied : ” I am ashamed that on the Day of Judgment God should ask me why I made a few steps for my own selfish pleasure. God Almighty hath said : ‘And their feet shall bear witness of that which they used to commit’” (Kor. xxxvi, 65). Therefore the dervish should walk circumspectly, with his head bowed in meditation (muráqabat), and not look in any direction but in front. If any person meets him on the way, he must not draw himself back from him for the sake of saving his dress, for all Moslems are clean, and their clothes too ; such an act is mere conceit and self-ostentation. If, however, the person who meets him is an unbeliever, or manifestly filthy, he may turn from him unobtrusively. And when he walks with a number of people, he must not attempt to go in front of them, since that is an excess of pride ; nor must he attempt to go behind them, since that is an excess of humility, and humility of which one is conscious is essentially pride. He must keep his clogs and shoes as clean as he can by day in order that God, through the blessings thereof, may keep his clothes (clean) by night. And when one or more dervishes are with anyone, he should not stop on the way (to talk) with any person, nor should he tell that person to wait for him. He should walk quietly and should not hurry, else his walk will resemble that of the covetous ; nor should he walk slowly, for then his walk will resemble that of the proud ; and he should take steps of the full length (gám-i tamám nihád). In fine, the walk of the seeker of God should always be of such a description that if anyone should ask him whither he is going he should be able to answer decisively : “Verily, I am going to my Lord : He will direct me” (Kor. xxxvii, 97). Otherwise his walking is a curse to him, because right steps (khaṭawát) proceed from right thoughts (khaṭarát) : accordingly if a man’s thoughts are concentrated on God, his feet will follow his thoughts. It is related that Abá Yazíd said : “The inconsiderate walk (ravish-i bí muráḳabat) of a dervish is a sign that he is heedless (of God), because all that exists is attained in two steps : one step away from self-interest and the other step firmly planted on the commandments of God.” The walk of the seeker is a sign that he is traversing a certain distance, and since proximity to God is not a matter of distance, what can the seeker do but cut off his feet in the abode of rest ?

Chapter concerning their Rules of Sleeping in travel and at home.

There is a great difference of opinion among the Shaykhs on this subject. Some hold that it is not permissible for a novice to sleep except when he is overpowered by slumber, for the Apostle said : “Sleep is the brother of Death,” and inasmuch as life is a benefit conferred by God, whereas death is an affliction, the former must be more excellent than the latter. And it is related that Shiblí said : “God looked upon me and said, ‘He who sleeps is heedless, and he who is heedless is veiled.’” Others, again, hold that a novice may sleep at will and even constrain himself to sleep after having performed the Divine commands, for the Apostle said : “The Pen does not record (evil actions) against the sleeper until he awakes, or against the boy until he reaches puberty, or against the madman until he recovers his wits.” When a man is asleep, people are secure from his mischief and he is deprived of his personal volition and his lower soul is prevented from gaining its desires and the Recording Angels cease to write ; his tongue makes no false assertion and speaks no evil of the absent, and his will places no hope in conceit and ostentation ; “he does not possess for himself either bane or boon or death or life or resurrection.” Hence Ibn ʿAbbás says : “Nothing is more grievous to Iblís than a sinner’s sleep ; whenever the sinner sleeps, Iblís says, ‘When will he wake and rise up that he may disobey God?’” This was a point of controversy between Junayd and ʿAlí b. Sahl al-Iṣfahání. The latter wrote to Junayd a very fine epistle, which I have heard, to the effect that sleep is heedlessness and rest is a turning away from God : the lover must not sleep or rest by day or by night, otherwise he will lose the object of his desire and will forget himself and his state and will fail to attain to God, as God said to David, ” O David, he who pretends to love Me and sleeps when night covers him is a liar.” Junayd said in his reply to that letter : ” Our wakefulness consists in our acts of devotion to God, whereas our sleep is God’s act towards us : that which proceeds from God to us without our will is more perfect than that which proceeds from us to God with our will. Sleep is a gift which God bestows on those who love Him.” This question depends on the doctrine of sobriety and intoxication, which has been fully discussed above. It is remarkable that Junayd, who was himself a ” sober ” man, here supports intoxication. Seemingly, he was enraptured at the time when he wrote and his temporary state may have expressed itself by his tongue ; or, again, it may be that the opposite is the case and that sleep is actually sobriety, while wakefulness is actually intoxication, because sleep is an attribute of humanity, and a man is ” sober ” so long as he is in the shadow of his attributes : wakefulness, on the other hand, is an attribute of God, and when a man transcends his own attribute he is enraptured. I have met with a number of Shaykhs who agree with Junayd in preferring sleep to wakefulness, because the visions of the saints and of most of the apostles occurred during sleep. And the Apostle said : ” Verily, God takes pride in the servant who sleeps while he prostrates himself in prayer ; and He says to His angels, ʿBehold My servant, whose spirit is in the abode of secret conversation (najwá) while his body is on the carpet of worship.ʾ ” The Apostle also said : ” Whoever sleeps in a state of purification, his spirit is permitted to circumambulate the Throne and prostrate itself before God.” I have read in the Anecdotes that Sháh Shujáʿ of Kirmán kept awake for forty years. One night he fell asleep and saw God, and afterwards he used always to sleep in hope of seeing the same vision. This is the meaning of the verse of Qays of the Banú ʿÁmir[^p377-1]:—

“Truly I wish to sleep, although I am not drowsy, That perchance thy beloved image may encounter mine.”

Other Shaykhs whom I have seen agree with ʿAlí b. Sahl in preferring wakefulness to sleep, because the apostles received their revelations and the saints their miracles while they were awake. One of the Shaykhs says : “If there were any good in sleep there would be sleep in Paradise,” i.e., if sleep were the cause of love and proximity to God, it would follow that there must be sleep in Paradise, which is the dwelling-place of proximity ; since neither sleep nor any veil is in Paradise, we know that sleep is a veil. Those who are fond of subtleties (arbáb-i laṭáʾif) say that when Adam fell asleep in Paradise Eve came forth from his left side, and Eve was the source of all his afflictions. They say also that when Abraham told Ishmael that he had been ordered in a dream to sacrifice him, Ishmael replied : “This is the punishment due to one who sleeps and forgets his beloved. If you had not fallen asleep you would not have been commanded to sacrifice your son.” It is related that Shiblí every night used to place in front of him a bowl of salt water and a needle for applying collyrium, and whenever he was about to fall asleep he would dip the needle in the salt water and draw it along his eyelids. I, ʿAlí b. ʿUthmán al-Jullábí, have met with a spiritual director who used to sleep after finishing the performance of his obligatory acts of devotion ; and I have seen Shaykh Aḥmad Samarqandí, who was living at Bukhárá : during forty years he had never slept at night, but he used to sleep a little in the daytime. This question turns on the view taken of life and death. Those who prefer death to life must prefer sleep to waking, while those who prefer life to death must prefer waking to sleep. Merit belongs, not to the man who forces himself to keep awake, but to the man who is kept awake. The Apostle, whom God chose and whom He raised to the highest rank, did not force himself either to sleep or to wake. God commanded him, saying: ” Rise and pray during the night, except a small part : half thereof or less ” (Kor. lxxiii, 2-3). Similarly, merit does not belong to the man who forces himself to sleep, but only to the man who is put to sleep. The Men of the Cave did not constrain themselves to sleep or to wake, but God threw slumber upon them and nourished them without their will. When a man attains to such a degree that his will no longer exists, and his hand is withdrawn from everything, and his thoughts are averted from all except God, it matters not whether he is asleep or awake : in either case he is full of honour. Now, as regards the sleep of the novice, he ought to deem that his first sleep is his last, and repent of his sins and satisfy all who have a claim against him ; and he ought to perform a comely purification and sleep on his right side, facing the qibla ; and having set his worldly affairs in order, he ought to give thanks for the blessing of Islam, and make a vow that if he should wake again he will not return to sin. One who has set his affairs in order while he is awake has no fear of sleep or of death. A well-known story is told of a certain spiritual director, that he used to visit an Imám who was engrossed in maintaining his dignity and was a prey to self-conceit, and that he used to say to him : ” O So-and-so, you must die.” This offended the Imám, for “why (he said) should this beggar be always repeating these words to me?” One day he answered : ” I will begin to-morrow.” Next day when the spiritual director came in the Imám said to him : ” O So-and-so, you must die.” He put down his prayer-rug and spread it out, and laid his head on it and exclaimed, ” I am dead,” and immediately yielded up his soul. The Imám took warning, and perceived that this spiritual director had been bidding him prepare for death, as he himself had done. My Shaykh used to enjoin his disciples not to sleep unless overpowered by slumber, and when they had once awaked not to fall asleep again, since a second sleep is unlawful and unprofitable to those who seek God. Chapter concerning their Rules in Speech and Silence.

God hath commanded His servants to speak well, e.g. to acknowledge His lordship and to praise Him and to call mankind to His court. Speech is a great blessing conferred on Man by God, and thereby is Man distinguished from all other things. Some interpreters of the text, “We have honoured the sons of Adam” (Kor. xvii, 72), explain it as meaning “by the gift of speech”. Nevertheless, in speech there are also great evils, for the Apostle said : “The worst that I fear for my people is the tongue.” In short, speech is like wine : it intoxicates the mind, and those who begin to have a taste for it cannot abstain from it. Accordingly, the Ṣúfís, knowing that speech is harmful, never spoke except when it was necessary, i.e. they considered the beginning and end of their discourse ; if the whole was for God’s sake, they spoke ; otherwise they kept silence, because they firmly believed that God knows our secret thoughts (cf. Kor. xliii, 80). The Apostle said : “He who keeps silence is saved.” In silence there are many advantages and spiritual favours (futúḥ), and in speech there are many evils. Some Shaykhs have preferred silence to speech, while others have set speech above silence. Among the former is Junayd, who said : “Expressions are wholly pretensions, and where realities are established pretensions are idle.” Sometimes it is excusable not to speak although one has the will to do so, i.e. fear becomes an excuse for not speaking in spite of one’s having the will and the power to speak ; and refusal to speak of God does not impair the essence of gnosis. But at no time is a man excused for mere pretension devoid of reality, which is the principle of hypocrites. Pretension without reality is hypocrisy, and reality without pretension is sincerity, because “he who is grounded in eloquence needs no tongue to communicate with his Lord”. Expressions only serve to inform another than God, for God Himself requires no explanation of our circumstances, and others than God are not worth so much that we should occupy ourselves with them. This is corroborated by the saying of Junayd, “He who knows God is dumb,” for in actual vision (ʿiyán) exposition (bayán) is a veil. It is related that Shiblí rose up in Junayd’s meeting-place and cried aloud, “O my object of desire!” and pointed to God. Junayd said: “O Abú Bakr, if God is the object of your desire, why do you point to Him, who is independent of this? And if the object of your desire is another, God knows what you say: why do you speak falsely?” Shiblí asked God to pardon him for having uttered those words.

Those who put speech above silence argue that we are commanded by God to set forth our circumstances, for the pretension subsists in the reality, and vice versâ. If a man continues for a thousand years to know God in his heart and soul, but has not confessed that he knows God, he is virtually an infidel unless his silence has been due to compulsion. God has bidden all believers give Him thanks and praise and rehearse His bounties, and He has promised to answer the prayers of those who invoke Him. One of the Shaykhs has said that whoever does not declare his spiritual state is without any spiritual state, since the state proclaims itself.

” The tongue of the state (lisán al-ḥál) is more eloquent than my tongue,

And my silence is the interpreter of my question.”

I have read in the Anecdotes that one day when Abú Bakr Shiblí was walking in the Karkh quarter of Baghdád he heard an impostor saying: ” Silence is better than speech.” Shiblí replied: ” Thy silence is better than thy speech, but my speech is better than my silence, because thy speech is vanity and thy silence is an idle jest, whereas my silence is modesty and my speech is knowledge.” I, ʿAlí b. ʿUthmán al-Jullábí, declare that there are two kinds of speech and two kinds of silence: speech is either real or unreal, and silence is either fruition or forgetfulness. If one speaks truth, his speech is better than his silence, but if one speaks falsehood, his silence is better than his speech. ” He who speaks hits the mark or misses it, but he who is made to speak is preserved from transgression.” Thus Iblís said, “I am better than he” (Kor. xxxviii, 77), but Adam was made to say, “O Lord, we have done wrong unto ourselves” (Kor. vii, 22). The missionaries (daʿíyán) of this sect are permitted or compelled to speak, and shame or helplessness strikes them dumb : ” he whose silence is shame, his speech is life.” Their speech is the result of vision, and speech without vision appears to them despicable. They prefer silence to speech so long as they are with themselves, but when they are beside themselves their words are written on the hearts of men. Hence that spiritual director said : ” He whose silence to God is gold, his speech to another than God is gilt.” The seeker of God, who is absorbed in servantship, must be silent, in order that the adept, who proclaims Lordship, may speak, and by his utterances may captivate the hearts of his disciples. The rule in speaking is not to speak unless bidden, and then only of the thing that is bidden ; and the rule in silence is not to be ignorant or satisfied with ignorance or forgetful. The disciple must not interrupt the speech of spiritual directors, or let his personal judgment intrude therein, or use far-fetched expressions in answering them. He must never tell a lie, or speak ill of the absent, or offend any Moslem with that tongue which has made the profession of faith and acknowledged the unity of God. He must not address dervishes by their bare names or speak to them until they ask a question. It behoves the dervish, when he is silent, not to be silent in falsehood, and when he speaks, to speak only the truth. This principle has many derivatives and innumerable refinements, but I will not pursue the subject, lest my book should become too long.

Chapter concerning their Rules in Asking.

God hath said : “They ask not men with importunity” (Kor. ii, 274). Any one of them who asks should not be repulsed, for God said to the Apostle : “Do not drive away the beggar” (Kor. xciii, 10). As far as possible they should beg of God only, for begging involves turning away from God to another, and when a man turns away from God there is danger that God may leave him in that predicament. I have read that a certain worldling said to Rábiʿa ʿAdawiyya[^p382-1] : “O Rábiʿa, ask something of me that I may procure what you wish.” “O sir,” she replied, “I am ashamed to ask anything of the Creator of the world ; how, then, should I not be ashamed to ask anything of a fellow-creature?” It is related that in the time of Abú Muslim, the head of the (ʿAbbásid) propaganda, an innocent dervish was seized on suspicion of theft, and was imprisoned at Chahár Táq.[^p382-2] On the same night Abú Muslim dreamed that the Apostle came to him and said: “God has sent me to tell you that one of His friends is in your prison. Arise and set him free.” Abú Muslim leapt from his bed, and ran with bare head and feet to the prison gate, and gave orders to release the dervish, and begged his pardon and bade him ask a boon. “O prince,” he replied, “one whose Master rouses Abú Muslim at midnight, and sends him to deliver a poor dervish from affliction—how should that one ask a boon of others?” Abú Muslim began to weep, and the dervish went on his way. Some, however, hold that a dervish may beg of his fellow-creatures, since God says : “They ask not men with importunity,” i.e. they may ask but not importune. The Apostle begged for the sake of providing for his companions, and he said to us : “Seek your wants from those whose faces are comely.”

The Ṣúfí Shaykhs consider begging to be permissible in three cases. Firstly, with the object of freeing one’s mind from preoccupation, for, as they have said, we should not attach so much importance to two cakes of bread that we should spend the whole day and night in expecting them ; and when we are starving we want nothing else of God, because no anxiety is so engrossing as anxiety on account of food. Therefore, when the disciple of Shaqíq visited Báyazíd, and in answer to Báyazíd’s question as to the state of Shaqíq informed him that he was entirely disengaged from mankind, and was putting all his trust in God, Báyazíd said : “When you return to Shaqíq, tell him to beware of again testing God with two loaves : if he is hungry, let him beg of his fellow-creatures and have done with the cant of trust in God.” Secondly, it is permissible to beg with the object of training the lower soul. The Ṣúfís beg in order that they may endure the humiliation of begging, and may perceive what is their worth in the eyes of other men, and may not be proud. When Shiblí came to Junayd, Junayd said to him : “O Abú Bakr, your head is full of conceit, because you are the son of the Caliph’s principal chamberlain and the governor of Sámarrá. No good will come from you until you go to the market and beg of everyone whom you see, that you may know your true worth.” Shiblí obeyed. He begged in the market for three years, with ever decreasing success. One day, having gone through the whole market and got nothing, he returned to Junayd and told him. Junayd said : “Now, Abú Bakr, you see that you have no worth in the eyes of men : do not fix your heart on them. This matter (i.e. begging) is for the sake of discipline, not for the sake of profit.” It is related that Dhu ‘l-Nún the Egyptian said : “I had a friend who was in accord with God. After his death I saw him in a dream, and asked him how God had dealt with him. He answered that God had forgiven him. I asked him : ‘On account of what virtue?’ He replied that God raised him to his feet and said : ‘My servant, you suffered with patience much contumely and tribulation from base and avaricious men, to whom you stretched out your hands : therefore I forgive you.’” Thirdly, they beg from mankind because of their reverence for God. They recognize that all worldly possessions belong to God, and they regard all mankind as His agents, from whom—not from God Himself—they beg anything that is for the benefit of the lower soul ; and in the eyes of one who beholds his own want, the servant that makes a petition to an agent is more reverent and obedient than he that makes a petition to God. Therefore, their begging from another is a sign of presence and of turning towards God, not a sign of absence and of turning away from Him. I have read that Yaḥyá b. Muʿádh (al-Rází) had a daughter, who one day asked her mother for something. “Ask it of God,” said the mother. ” I am ashamed,” the girl replied, ” to ask a material want from Him. What you give me is His too and is my allotted portion.” The rules of begging are as follows: If you beg unsuccessfully you should be more cheerful than when you succeed, and you should not regard any human creature as coming between God and yourself. You should not beg of women or market-folk (aṣḥáb-i aswáq), and you should not tell your secret to anyone unless you are sure that his money is lawful. As far as possible you should beg un- selfishly, and should not use the proceeds for worldly show and for housekeeping, or convert them into property. You should live in the present, and let no thought of the morrow enter your mind, else you will incur everlasting perdition. You should not make God a springe to catch alms, and you should not display piety in order that more alms may be given to you on account of your piety. I once met an old and venerable Ṣúfí, who had lost his way in the desert and came, hunger- stricken, into the market-place at Kúfa with a sparrow perched on his hand, crying : ” Give me something for the sake of this sparrow ! ” The people asked him why he said this. He replied : ” It is impossible that I should say ʿ Give me some- thing for Godʾs sake ! ʾ One must employ the intercession of an insignificant creature to obtain worldly goods.”

This is but a small part of the obligations involved in begging. I have abridged the topic for fear of being tedious.

Chapter concerning their Rules in Marriage and Celibacy and matters connected therewith.

God hath said : ” They (women) are a garment unto you and ye are a garment unto them” (Kor. ii, 183). And the Apostle said : ” Marry, that ye may multiply ; for I will vaunt you against all other nations on the Day of Resurrection, even in respect of the still-born.” And he said also : ” The women who bring the greatest blessing are they who cost least to maintain, whose faces are comeliest, and whose dowries are cheapest.” Marriage is permitted to all men and women, and is obligatory on those who cannot abstain from what is unlawful, and is a sunna (i.e. sanctioned by the custom of the Apostle) for those who are able to support a family. Some of the Ṣúfí Shaykhs hold marriage to be desirable as a means of quelling lust, and acquisition (of sustenance) to be desirable as a means of freeing the mind from anxiety. Others hold that the object of marriage is procreation ; for, if the child dies before its father, it will intercede for him (before God), and if the father dies first, the child will remain to pray for him.[^p385-1] The Apostle said : ” Women are married for four things : wealth, nobility, beauty, and religion. Do ye take one that is religious, for, after Islam, there is nothing that profits a man so much as a believing and obedient wife who gladdens him whenever he looks on her.” And the Apostle said : ” Satan is with the solitary,” because Satan decks out lust and presents it to their minds. No companionship is equal in reverence and security to marriage, when husband and wife are congenial and well-suited to each other, and no torment and anxiety is so great as an uncongenial wife. Therefore the dervish must, in the first place, consider what he is doing and picture in his mind the evils of celibacy and of marriage, in order that he may choose the state of which he can more easily overcome the evils. The evils of celibacy are two : (1) the neglect of an Apostolic custom, (2) the fostering of lust in the heart and the danger of falling into unlawful ways. The evils of marriage are also two : (1) the preoccupation of the mind with other than God, (2) the distraction of the body for the sake of sensual pleasure. The root of this matter lies in retirement and companionship. Marriage is proper for those who prefer to associate with mankind, and celibacy is an ornament to those who seek retirement from mankind. The Apostle said : ” Go : the recluses (al-mufarridún) have preceded you.” And Ḥasan of Baṣra says : ” The lightly burdened shall be saved and the heavily laden shall perish.” Ibráhím Khawwáṣ relates the following story : ” I went to a certain village to visit a reverend man who lived there. When I entered his house I saw that it was clean, like a saint’s place of worship. In its two corners two niches (miḥráb) had been made ; the old man was seated in one of them, and in the other niche an old woman was sitting, clean and bright : both had become weak through much devotion. They showed great joy at my coming, and I stayed with them for three days. When I was about to depart I asked the old man, ‘What relation is this chaste woman to you?’ He answered, ‘She is my cousin and my wife.’ I said, ‘During these three days your intercourse with one another has been very like that of strangers.’ ‘Yes,’ said he, ‘it has been so for five and sixty years.’ I asked him the cause of this. He replied : ’ When we were young we fell in love, but her father would not give her to me, for he had discovered our fondness for each other. I bore this sorrow for a long while, but on her father’s death my father, who was her uncle, gave me her hand. On the wedding-night she said to me : “You know what happiness God has bestowed upon us in bringing us together and taking all fear away from our hearts. Let us therefore to-night refrain from sensual passion and trample on our desires and worship God in thanksgiving for this happiness.” I said, ” It is well.” Next night she bade me do the same. On the third night I said, ” Now we have given thanks for two nights for your sake ; to-night let us worship God for my sake.” Five and sixty years have passed since then, and we have never touched one another, but spend all our lives in giving thanks for our happiness. ’ ” Accordingly, when a dervish chooses companionship, it behoves him to provide his wife with lawful food and pay her dowry out of lawful property, and not indulge in sensual pleasure so long as any obligation towards God, or any part of His commandments, is unfulfilled. And when he performs his devotions and is about to go to bed, let him say, as in secret converse with God : ” O Lord God, Thou hast mingled lust with Adam’s clay in order that the world may be populated, and Thou in Thy knowledge hast willed that I should have this intercourse. Cause it to be for the sake of two things : firstly, to guard that which is unlawful by means of that which is lawful ; and secondly, vouchsafe to me a child, saintly and acceptable, not one who will divert my thoughts from Thee.” It is related that a son was born to Sahl b. ʿAbdalláh al-Tustarí. Whenever the child asked his mother for food, she used to bid him ask God, and while he went to the niche (miḥráb) and bowed himself in prayer, she used secretly to give him what he wanted, without letting him know that his mother had given it to him. Thus he grew accustomed to turn unto God. One day he came back from school when his mother was absent, and bowed himself in prayer. God caused the thing that he sought to appear before him. When his mother came in she asked, “Where did you get this?” He answered, ” From the place whence it comes always.”

The practice of an Apostolic rule of life must not lead the dervish to seek worldly wealth and unlawful gain or preoccupy his heart, for the dervish is ruined by the destruction of his heart, just as the rich man is ruined by the destruction of his house and furniture ; but the rich man can repair his loss, while the dervish cannot. In our time it is impossible for anyone to have a suitable wife, whose wants are not excessive and whose demands are not unreasonable. Therefore many persons have adopted celibacy and observe the Apostolic Tradition : ” The best of men in latter days will be those who are light of back,” i.e. who have neither wife nor child. It is the unanimous opinion of the Shaykhs of this sect that the best and most excellent Ṣúfís are the celibates, if their hearts are uncontaminated and if their natures are not inclined to sins and lusts. The vulgar, in gratifying their lusts, appeal to the Apostle’s saying, that the three things he loved in the world were scent, women, and prayer, and argue that since he loved women marriage must be more excellent than celibacy. I reply : ” The Apostle also said that he had two trades, namely, poverty (faqr) and the spiritual combat (jihád) : why, then, do ye shun these things? If he loved that (viz. marriage), this (viz. celibacy) was his trade. Your desires have a greater propensity to the former, but it is absurd, on that ground, to say that he loves what you desire. Anyone who follows his desires for fifty years and supposes that he is following the practice of the Apostle is in grave error.” A woman was the cause of the first calamity that overtook Adam in Paradise, and also of the first quarrel that happened in this world, i.e. the quarrel of Abel and Cain. A woman was the cause of the punishment inflicted on the two angels (Hárút and Márút) ; and down to the present day all mischiefs, worldly and religious have been caused by women. After God had preserved me for eleven years from the dangers of matrimony, it was my destiny to fall in love with the description of a woman whom I had never seen, and during a whole year my passion so absorbed me that my religion was near being ruined, until at last God in His bounty gave protection to my wretched heart and mercifully delivered me. In short, Súfiism was founded on celibacy ; the introduction of marriage brought about a change. There is no flame of lust that cannot be extinguished by strenuous effort, because, whatever vice proceeds from yourself, you possess the instrument that will remove it : another is not necessary for that purpose. Now the removal of lust may be effected by two things, one of which involves self-constraint (takalluf), while the other lies outside the sphere of human action and mortification. The former is hunger, the latter is an agitating fear or a true love, which is collected by the dispersion of (sensual) thoughts: a love which extends its empire over the different parts of the body and divests all the senses of their sensual quality. Aḥmad Ḥammádí of Sarakhs, who went to Transoxania and lived there, was a venerable man. On being asked whether he desired to marry, he answered : ” No, because I am either absent from myself or present with myself: when I am absent, I have no consciousness of the two worlds ; and when I am present, I keep my lower soul in such wise that when it gets a loaf of bread it thinks that it has got a thousand houris. It is a great thing to occupy the mind : let it be anxious about whatsoever you will.” Others, again, recommend that neither state (marriage or celibacy) should be regarded with predilection, in order that we may see what the decree of Divine providence will bring to light : if celibacy be our lot, we should strive to be chaste, and if marriage be our destiny, we should comply with the custom of the Apostle and strive to clear our hearts (of worldly anxieties). When God ordains celibacy unto a man, his celibacy should be like that of Joseph, who, although he was able to satisfy his desire for Zulaykhá, turned away from her and busied himself with subduing his passion and considering the vices of his lower soul at the moment when Zulaykhá was alone with him. And if God ordains marriage unto a man, his marriage should be like that of Abraham, who by reason of his absolute confidence in God put aside all care for his wife ; and when Sarah became jealous he took Hagar and brought her to a barren valley and committed her to the care of God. Accordingly, a man is not ruined by marriage or by celibacy, but the mischief consists in asserting one’s will and in yielding to one’s desires. The married man ought to observe the following rules. He should not leave any act of devotion undone, or let any “state” be lost or any “time” be wasted. He should be kind to his wife and should provide her with lawful expenses, and he should not pay court to tyrants and governors with the object of meeting her expenses. He should behave thus, in order that, if a child is born, it may be such as it ought to be. A well-known story is told of Aḥmad b. Ḥarb of Níshápúr, that one day, when he was sitting with the chiefs and nobles of Níshápúr who had come to offer their respects to him, his son entered the room, drunk, playing a guitar, and singing, and passed by insolently without heeding them. Aḥmad, perceiving that they were put out of countenance, said : “What is the matter?” They replied : “We are ashamed that this lad should pass by you in such a state.” Aḥmad said : “He is excusable. One night my wife and I partook of some food that was brought to us from a neighbour’s house. That same night this son was begotten, and we fell asleep and let our devotions go. Next morning we inquired of our neighbour as to the source of the food that he had sent to us, and we found that it came from a wedding-feast in the house of a government official.” The following rules should be observed by the celibate. He must not see what is improper to see or think what is improper to think, and he must quench the flames of lust by hunger and guard his heart from this world and from preoccupation with phenomena, and he must not call the desire of his lower soul “knowledge” or “inspiration”, and he must not make the wiles (bú ʾl-ʿajabí) of Satan a pretext (for sin). If he acts thus he will be approved in Ṣúfíism.