📘 Leave them to eat and enjoy [themselves]. Let them be diverted by [false] hope; for they will come to know.He [Sahl] said:If four [traits] come together in a servant, it will be said to him, �Truly, you will not attain anythingin this affair�: if he likes to eat tasty food, dress in fine clothes, see his command executed and his possessions increase. Of such a one it will be said, �Alas, this is the one who was cut off from God, Exalted is He, by the creation.� It has been related that God revealed to David the following: �Caution and warn your companions about the gratification [lit. consuming, akl] of one�s carnal desires (shahawāt), for verily if hearts are attached to the desires of this world, their intellects (ʿuqūl) will be veiled from Me.� Sahl [then] said:Hope (amal) is the soil of every transgression (maʿṣiya); cupidity (ḥirṣ) is the seed of every transgression, and procrastination (taswīf) is the water of every transgression. Strength (qudra) is the soil of every act of obedience (ṭāʿa), certainty (yaqīn) is the seed of every act of obedience and action (ʿamal) is the water of every act of obedience.He [probably Abū Bakr al-Sijzī] said:Sahl used to intensify his ecstasy (wajd) for seventy days, during which he would not eat anything, while he would order his companions to eat meat once a week so that they would not become too weak for worship. However for him, when he ate he would become weak, and when he became hungry he would gain in strength. He would sweat during the severe cold of winter while wearing only one shirt. If they asked him a question on knowledge he would say, �Don�t ask me questions, for you cannot benefit from my speech at this time.� ʿAbbās b. ʿIṣām came one day while Sahl was saying, �For thirty years I have been speaking to God while people imagine that I�m speaking to them.� His words, Exalted is He:

📘 [All] except those servants of Yours who are sincerely devoted to You. He [Sahl] said:All people are dead, except the learned (ʿulamāʾ) among them; all the learned are asleep, except those among them who act; all those who act are deluded, except the sincere (mukhliṣūn) among them, and the sincere are in great danger. His words, Exalted is He:

📘 �In their drunkenness they were bewildered.That is, in their ignorance (jahl) and error (ḍalāla) they disobey. Know that all acts of disobediencemay be attributed to ignorance, and [all] ignorance may be attributed to intoxication [with the world]. It is said that it [the world] is just like [an] intoxicating drink (muskir).His words, Exalted is He:

📘 Indeed, in that there are signs for those who take note (mutawassimīn).He [Sahl] said:That is, those of spiritual perception (mutafarrisīn). Indeed, it was related from Abū Saʿīd al-Khuḍrī that the Prophet said: �Beware of the spiritual perception (firāsa) of the believer, for verily he sees with the light of God.� Then he recited, �Indeed in that there are signs for those who take note.� His meaning was those who can see into (mutafarrisūn) the secrets (sarāʾir), and an example of this is when ʿUmar said to Sāriya: �The mountain, the mountain!� His words, Exalted is He:

📘 �So be forgiving with gracious forgiveness.He [Abū Bakr al-Sijzī] said, �Muḥammad b. Ḥanafiyya related from ʿAlī that regarding His words, So be forgiving with gracious forgiveness, he said: �It is contentment (riḍā) without reproval (ʿitāb).�� And Sahl said:[One should be] without resentment (ḥiqd) or censure (tawbīkh) after forgiving someone; this is to overlook [someone�s misdeeds] graciously (iʿrāḍ jamīl).His words, Exalted is He:

📘 Those who have reduced the Recitation (Qurʾān) to parts.He [Sahl] said:The outward meaning of the verse is as the commentators have explained. However, its inner meaning concerns the rules (aḥkām) that God, Exalted is He, sent down regarding our hearing, sight and heart[s] (fuʾād), [referred to] in His words, Exalted is He: Indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart, each of these it will be asked [17:36]. Thus, they turned away from acting by it, inclining towards the demands of their natural self (nafs al-ṭabʿ). His words, Exalted is He:

📘 By your Lord, We will question them all,He said:In this verse there is specificity (khuṣūṣ) [within the all]. For indeed there are among this nation (umma) those who are gathered up from their graves [and taken] directly to Paradise, who do not attend the reckoning (ḥisāb), or experience any of the horrors [of the day]. They are those of whom God, Exalted is He, says, they will be kept away from it [21:101]. And indeed the Prophet said: �Verily, the friends of God (awliyāʾ Allāh) leave their graves for Paradise and they do not stop for the reckoning, nor do they fear the length of that day. They are the first to reach Paradise. God is well-pleased with them and they are well-pleased with Him. That is the great triumph [5:119].�His words, Exalted is He:

📘 So, proclaim what you have been commanded�That is, �Recite the Qurʾān openly in the prayer, as We have revealed it to you.�He was asked: �What is revelation (waḥy)?� He said:It is clandestine [speech] (mastūr). God has said, Exalted is He: They suggest alluring words to each other [6:112], that is, they confide in one another. It can also carry the meaning of inspiration(ilhām), just as when God, Exalted is He, says: And your Lord revealed to the bee [16:68], meaning: He gave it inspiration. His words:

📘 And verily We know that your heart is [at times] oppressed by what they say,! But celebrate the glory of your Lord�That is, �Pray to God, Exalted is He, and remember Him�, for it is as if God, Exalted is He, had said to him: �If your heart is weighed down because of your proximity to the disbelievers and the calumny of that which they are ascribing to Us in the way of adversaries, rivals and partners through their ignorance and envy, then return to the state of witnessing Us (mushāhada) and proximity to Us (qurb) through remembering Us, truly it is with Us that you have proximity, and it is in remembering and witnessing Us that your happiness [lies]. Furthermore, have forbearance with this [suffering], for in it [that forbearance] is My good pleasure (riḍā). It was related that Moses said: �O my Lord! Guide me to an action by which I will gain Your good pleasure.�He continued:Then God sent the revelation to him: �O son of ʿImrān, truly My good pleasure is in [subjecting you to] what you detest, [but] you will not be able to bear that.�He then said:Then Moses fell down in prostration, weeping and said: �O Lord! You privileged me with [hearing] Your speech, for You did not speak to any human being before me, yet You have not guided me to an action by which I can gain Your good pleasure.� Then God, Exalted is He, revealed to him saying: �Verily My good pleasure is in your contentment with My decree (riḍāʾī fī riḍāka bi-qaḍāʾī).�He was asked about His words, Exalted is He:

📘 And verily We know that your heart is [at times] oppressed by what they say,! But celebrate the glory of your Lord�That is, �Pray to God, Exalted is He, and remember Him�, for it is as if God, Exalted is He, had said to him: �If your heart is weighed down because of your proximity to the disbelievers and the calumny of that which they are ascribing to Us in the way of adversaries, rivals and partners through their ignorance and envy, then return to the state of witnessing Us (mushāhada) and proximity to Us (qurb) through remembering Us, truly it is with Us that you have proximity, and it is in remembering and witnessing Us that your happiness [lies]. Furthermore, have forbearance with this [suffering], for in it [that forbearance] is My good pleasure (riḍā). It was related that Moses said: �O my Lord! Guide me to an action by which I will gain Your good pleasure.�He continued:Then God sent the revelation to him: �O son of ʿImrān, truly My good pleasure is in [subjecting you to] what you detest, [but] you will not be able to bear that.�He then said:Then Moses fell down in prostration, weeping and said: �O Lord! You privileged me with [hearing] Your speech, for You did not speak to any human being before me, yet You have not guided me to an action by which I can gain Your good pleasure.� Then God, Exalted is He, revealed to him saying: �Verily My good pleasure is in your contentment with My decree (riḍāʾī fī riḍāka bi-qaḍāʾī).�He was asked about His words, Exalted is He: