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
The name _zaddíq_ (an Aramaic word meaning “righteous”) was given to
the ascetics and spiritual adepts among the Manichæans. Its Arabic
equivalent, _siddíq_, which means “veracious”, is a term that is
frequently applied to Ṣúfís.
[The author then relates how, on Muḥammad’s decease, when `Umar
threatened to decapitate anyone who asserted that the Prophet was
dead, Abú Bakr stepped forth and cried with a loud voice: “Whoever
worships Muḥammad, let him know that Muḥammad is dead; but whoever
worships Muḥammad’s Lord, let him know that HE is living and dieth
not.” Those who regarded Muḥammad with the eye of mortality ceased to
venerate him as soon as he departed from this world, but to those who
regarded him with the eye of reality his presence and absence were
alike, because they attributed both to God; and looked, not at the
particular change which had come to pass, but at the Author of all
change; and venerated Muḥammad only in proportion as God honoured him;
and did not attach their hearts to anyone (except God); and did not
open their eyes to gaze upon mankind, inasmuch as “he that beholdeth
mankind waneth, but he that returneth unto God reigneth” (_man naẕara
ila ´l-khalq halak wa-man raja`a ila ´l-ḥaqq malak_). And Abú Bakr
showed that his heart was empty of this deceitful world, for he gave
away all his wealth and his clients (_mawálí_), and clad himself in a
woollen garment (_gilím_), and came to the Apostle, who asked him what
he had left for his family. Abú Bakr replied: “Only God and His
Apostle.” All this is characteristic of the sincere Ṣúfí.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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