He was the first who explained the doctrine of annihilation (faná) and subsistence (baqá). He is the author of brilliant compositions and sublime sayings and allegories. He had met Dhu ´l-Nún of Egypt, and associated with Bishr and Sarí. It is related that concerning the words of the Apostle, “Hearts are naturally disposed to love him who acts kindly towards them,” he said: “Oh! I wonder at him who sees none acting kindly towards him except God, how he does not incline to God with his whole being,” inasmuch as true beneficence belongs to the Lord of phenomenal objects and is conferred only upon those who have need of it; how can he who needs beneficence from others bestow it upon anyone? God is the King and Lord of all and hath need of none. Recognizing this, the friends of God behold in every gift and benefit the Giver and Benefactor. Their hearts are wholly taken captive by love of Him and turned away from everything else.
45. Abu ´l-Ḥasan `Alí b. Muḥammad al-Iṣfahání.
According to others, his name is `Alí b. Sahl. He was a great Shaykh. Junayd and he wrote exquisite letters to one another, and `Amr b. `Uthmán Makkí went to Iṣfahán to visit him. He consorted with Abú Turáb and Junayd. He followed a praiseworthy Path in Ṣúfiism and one that was peculiarly his own. He was adorned with acquiescence in God’s will and self-discipline, and was preserved from mischiefs and contaminations. He spoke eloquently on the theory and practice of mysticism, and lucidly explained its difficulties and symbolical allusions. It is related that he said: “Presence (ḥuḍúr) is better than certainty (yaqín), because presence is an abiding state (waṭanát), whereas certainty is a transient one (khaṭarát),” i.e., presence makes its abode in the heart and does not admit forgetfulness, while certainty is a feeling that comes and goes: hence those who are “present” (ḥáḍirán) are in the sanctuary, and those who have certainty (múqinán) are only at the gate. The subject of “absence” and “presence” will be discussed in a separate chapter of this book.
And he said also: “From the time of Adam to the Resurrection people cry, ‘The heart, the heart!’ and I wish that I might find some one to describe what the heart is or how it is, but I find none. People in general give the name of ‘heart’ (dil) to that piece of flesh which belongs to madmen and ecstatics and children, who really are without heart (bédil). What, then, is this heart, of which I hear only the name?” That is to say, if I call intellect the heart, it is not the heart; and if I call spirit the heart, it is not the heart; and if I call knowledge the heart, it is not the heart. All the evidences of the Truth subsist in the heart, yet only the name of it is to be found.
46. Abu ´l-Ḥasan Muḥammad b. Ismá`íl Khayr al-Nassáj.
He was a great Shaykh, and in his time discoursed with eloquence on ethics and preached excellent sermons. He died at an advanced age. Both Shiblí and Ibráhím Khawwáṣ were converted in his place of meeting. He sent Shiblí to Junayd, wishing to observe the respect due to the latter. He was a pupil of Sarí, and was contemporary with Junayd and Abu ´l-Ḥasan Núrí. Junayd held him in high regard, and Abú Ḥamza of Baghdád treated him with the utmost consideration. It is related that he was called Khayr al-Nassáj from the following circumstance. He left Sámarrá, his native town, with the intention of performing the pilgrimage. At the gate of Kúfa, which lay on his route, he was seized by a weaver of silk, who cried out: “You are my slave, and your name is Khayr.” Deeming this to come from God, he did not contradict the weaver, and remained many years in his employment. Whenever his master said “Khayr!” he answered, “At thy service” (labbayk), until the man repented of what he had done and said to Khayr: “I made a mistake; you are not my slave.” So he departed and went to Mecca, where he attained to such a degree that Junayd said: “Khayr is the best of us” (Khayr khayruná). He used to prefer to be called Khayr, saying: “It is not right that I should alter a name which has been bestowed on me by a Moslem.” They relate that when the hour of his death approached, it was time for the evening prayer. He opened his eyes and looked at the Angel of Death and said: “Stop! God save thee! Thou art only a servant who has received His orders, and I am the same. That which thou art commanded to do (viz. to take my life) will not escape thee, but that which I am commanded to do (viz. to perform the evening prayer) will escape me: therefore let me do as I am bidden, and then do as thou art bidden.” He then called for water and cleansed himself, and performed the evening prayer and gave up his life. On the same night he was seen in a dream and was asked: “What has God done to thee?” He answered: “Do not ask me of this, but I have gained release from your world.”
It is related that he said in his place of meeting: “God hath expanded the breasts of the pious with the light of certainty, and hath opened the eyes of the possessors of certainty with the light of the verities of faith.” Certainty is indispensable to the pious, whose hearts are expanded with the light of certainty, and those who have certainty cannot do without the verities of faith, inasmuch as their intellectual vision consists in the light of faith. Accordingly, where faith is certainty is there, and where certainty is piety is there, for they go hand in hand with each other.
47. Abú Ḥamza al-Khurásání.
He is one of the ancient Shaykhs of Khurásán. He associated with Abú Turáb, and had seen Kharráz.[[93]] He was firmly grounded in trust in God (tawakkul). It is a well-known story that one day he fell into a pit. After three days had passed a party of travellers approached. Abú Ḥamza said to himself: “I will call out to them.” Then he said: “No; it is not good that I seek aid from anyone except God, and I shall be complaining of God if I tell them that my God has cast me into a pit and implore them to rescue me.” When they came up and saw an open pit in the middle of the road, they said: “For the sake of obtaining Divine recompense (thawáb) we must cover this pit lest anyone should fall into it.” Abú Ḥamza said: “I became deeply agitated and abandoned hope of life. After they blocked the mouth of the pit and departed, I prayed to God and resigned myself to die, and hoped no more of mankind. When night fell I heard a movement at the top of the pit. I looked attentively. The mouth of the pit was open, and I saw a huge animal like a dragon, which let down its tail. I knew that God had sent it and that I should be saved in this way. I took hold of its tail and it dragged me out. A heavenly voice cried to me, ‘This is an excellent escape of thine, O Abú Ḥamza! We have saved thee from death by means of a death’” (i.e. a deadly monster).
He was asked, “Who is the stranger (gharíb)?” He replied, “He who shuns society,” because the dervish has no home or society either in this world or the next, and when he is dissociated from phenomenal existence he shuns everything, and then he is a stranger; and this is a very lofty degree.