God has said: “_Those who strive to the utmost_ (jáhadú) _for Our sake, We will guide them into Our ways_” (Kor. xxix, 69). And the Prophet said: “The (_mujáhid_) is he who struggles with all his might against himself (_jáhada nafsahu_) for God’s sake.” And he also said: “We have returned from the lesser war (_al-jihád al-aṣghar_) to the greater war (_al-jihád al-akbar_)”. On being asked, “What is the greater war?” he replied, “It is the struggle against one’s self” (_mujáhadat al-nafs_). Thus the Apostle adjudged the mortification of the lower soul to be superior to the Holy War against unbelievers, because the former is more painful. You must know, then, that the way of mortification is plain and manifest, for it is approved by men of all religions and sects, and is observed and practised by the Ṣúfís in particular; and the term “mortification” (_mujáhadat_) is current among Ṣúfís of every class, and the Shaykhs have uttered many sayings on this topic. Sahl b. `Abdalláh Tustarí carries the principle to an extreme point. It is related that he used to break his fast only once in fifteen days, and he ate but little food in the course of his long life. While all mystics have affirmed the need of mortification, and have declared it to be an indirect means (_asbáb_) of attaining contemplation (_musháhadat_), Sahl asserted that mortification is the direct cause (_`illat_) of the latter, and he attributed to search (_ṭalab_) a powerful effect on attainment (_yáft_), so that he even regarded the present life, spent in search, as superior to the future life of fruition. “If,” he said, “you serve God in this world, you will attain proximity to Him in the next world: without that service there would not be this proximity: it follows that self-mortification, practised with the aid of God, is the direct cause of union with God.” Others, on the contrary, hold that there is no direct cause of union with God, and whoever attains to God does so by Divine grace (_faḍl_), which is independent of human actions. Therefore, they argue, the object of mortification is to correct the vices of the lower soul, not to attain real proximity, and inasmuch as mortification is referred to Man, while contemplation is referred to God, it is impossible that one should be caused by the other. Sahl, however, cites in favour of his view the words of God: “_Those who strive to the utmost for Our sake, We will guide them into Our ways_” (Kor. xxix, 69), i.e. whoever mortifies himself will attain to contemplation. Furthermore, he contends that inasmuch as the books revealed to the Prophets, and the Sacred Law, and all the religious ordinances imposed on mankind involve mortification, they must all be false and vain if mortification were not the cause of contemplation. Again, both in this world and the next, everything is connected with principles and causes. If it is maintained that principles have no causes, there is an end of all law and order: