The Principles of Sufism

Notes

167 167 Notes 1 Q Āl ʿImrān 3:173. 2 Q Nūr 24:31. 3 Q Hūd 11:90. 4 Q Taḥrīm 66:8. 5 Q Ḥujurāt 49:11. 6 Q Baqarah 2:222. 7 Cf. ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, Ghunyah, 1:129–30; Holland, Sufficient Provision, 2:105–7. 8 Cf. al-Qushayrī, Risālah, 1:276; Knysh, Epistle, 111. 9 Cf. al-Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:32; Stern, 89. 10 Cf. al-Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:44; Stern, 105. 11 Q Muṭaffifīn 83:14. 12 Cf. al-Qushayrī, Risālah, 1:284, who ascribes this saying to Dhū l-Nūn; Knysh, Epistle, 115. 13 Rābiʿah al-ʿAdawiyyah implies that while one may ask forgiveness for past sins with one’s tongue, the tendency toward sin remains within one’s selfish nature requiring further penance. Cf. al-Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:47, 49; Stern, 109, 113. 14 Cf. al-Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:12; Stern, 48. 15 Cf. al-Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:14; Stern, 52. 16 Cf. al-Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:14; Stern, 52. 17 Cf. al-Qushayrī, Risālah, 1:287; Knysh, Epistle, 117. 18 Cf. al-Kalābādhī, 93; Arberry, 83; al-Sarrāj, 68. 19 Cf. al-Sarrāj, 68; al-Qushayrī, Risālah, 1:283; Knysh, Epistle, 115. 20 Cf. al-Sarrāj, 69; al-Qushayrī, Risālah, 1:284–85; Knysh, Epistle, 115. 21 Cf. al-Kalābādhī, 93; Arberry, 83. 22 Cf. al-Qushayrī, Risālah, 1:281; Knysh, Epistle, 114. 23 Cf. al-Kalābādhī, 93; Arberry, 83. Also see al-Qushayrī, Risālah, 1:283; Knysh, Epistle, 115. 24 Cf. al-Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:3–4; Stern, 32. Also see comments on repentance by the Sufi master Sahl al-Tustarī (d. 283/896) in his commentary on Q Tawbah 9:112; Keeler, 85–86. 25 Cf. al-Sarrāj, 68; al-Qushayrī, Risālah, 1:282–83; Knysh, Epistle, 114–15. 26 Q Nūr 24:31. 27 The paragraph is nearly a verbatim quotation from al-Qushayrī’s commentary on Q Nūr 24:31; see al-Qushayrī, Laṭāʾif, 2:608. 28 Cf. al-Sulamī, Ḥaqāʾiq, 1:74. 168 168 Notes 29 See al-Qushayrī, Risālah, 1:286; Knysh, Epistle, 117. Also, cf. Q Tawbah 9:119: “So He turned to them that they might turn in repentance.” 30 A similar statement is ascribed to Dhū l-Nūn by ʿAṭṭār; see Losensky, 180. 31 Q Baqarah 2:222. 32 Q Tawbah 9:117. 33 Tradition has it that this occurred when Muḥammad was a young shepherd boy; see Guillaume, 71–72. 34 Cf. al-Sulamī, Ḥaqāʾiq, 1:290. 35 Cf. al-Tustarī’s statement in his commentary on Q Tawbah 9:112; Keeler, 85. 36 Probably the noted Sufi al-Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj. 37 Cf. al-Qushayrī, Risālah, 1:286; Knysh, Epistle, 116; ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, Ghunyah, 132–33; Holland, Sufficient Provision, 2:117; and al-Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:5; Stern, 35. 38 Cf. a similar account in al-Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, 4:51; Stern, 118. 39 Cf. al-Qushayrī, Risālah, 2:469 for a similar statement ascribed to al-Tustarī. 40 Also quoted by al-Iṣfahānī, 9:379. 41 The implication here is that if the sinner does not repent before death, he will have no second chance when he stands before God on Judgment Day. 42 For this last statement cf. al-Qushayrī, Risālah, 1:345; Knysh, Epistle, 144. 43 Cf. a similar account in al-Iṣfahānī, 9:365–66. 44 The poet alludes to a tradition of the prophet Muḥammad, who is reported to have said, “I know God better than you do, and I fear Him more than you do!” See al-Qushayrī, Laṭāʾif, 3:409. 45 The opening verses of this poem refer to the Hajj, whose stopping places include al-Khayf and Minā, as well as the Plain of ʿArafāt where pilgrims pray to God for forgiveness. 46 That is to say, the poet is not enamored of an earthly beloved, and so remembering the alighting places of the Hajj pilgrimage reminds him only of God. 47 Cf. al-Qushayrī, Risālah, 1:54; Knysh, Epistle, 18...