The Kashf al-mahjúb: The oldest Persian treatise on SúfiismHujviri, ‘Ali ibn ‘Usman
Islamic
The Kashf al-mahjúb: The oldest Persian treatise on Súfiism
Hujviri, ‘Ali ibn ‘Usman
Sufism -- Early works to 1800
19. ABÚ `ABD AL-RAḤMÁN ḤÁTIM B. `ULWÁN[73] AL-AṢAMM.
He was one of the great men of Balkh and one of the ancient Shaykhs of
Khurásán, a disciple of Shaqíq and the teacher of Aḥmad Khaḍrúya. In all
his circumstances, from beginning to end, he never once acted
untruthfully, so that Junayd said: “Ḥátim al-Aṣamm is the veracious one
(_ṣiddíq_) of our time.” He has lofty sayings on the subtleties of
discerning the cankers of the soul and the weaknesses of human nature,
and is the author of famous works on ethics (_`ilm-i mu`ámalát_). It is
related that he said: “Lust is of three kinds—lust in eating, lust in
speaking, and lust in looking. Guard thy food by trust in God, thy
tongue by telling the truth, and thine eye by taking example
(_`ibrat_).” Real trust in God proceeds from right knowledge, for those
who know Him aright have confidence that He will give them their daily
bread, and they speak and look with right knowledge, so that their food
and drink is only love, and their speech is only ecstasy, and their
looking is only contemplation. Accordingly, when they know aright they
eat what is lawful, and when they speak aright they utter praise (of
God), and when they look aright they behold Him, because no food is
lawful except what He has given and permits to be eaten, and no praise
is rightly offered to anyone in the eighteen thousand worlds except to
Him, and it is not allowable to look on anything in the universe except
His beauty and majesty. It is not lust when thou receivest food from Him
and eatest by His leave, or when thou speakest of Him by His leave, or
when thou seest His actions by His leave. On the other hand, it _is_
lust when of thy own will thou eatest even lawful food, or of thy own
will thou speakest even praise of Him, or of thy own will thou lookest
even for the purpose of seeking guidance.
Footnote 73:
LIJ. have عنوان [**Arabic] علوان.
20. ABÚ `ABDALLÁH MUḤAMMAD B. IDRÍS AL-SHÁFI`Í.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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