Chapter on Explaining the Stations of Those Who Persist in Sins
He becomes angry, then seeks absence of the one who angers him and lies about him, and he regrets it afterward. Likewise, he becomes angry and does not allow himself to utter what he considers a grave lie, yet his soul does not consent to relinquishing what is lesser than a lie among sins. And if it was backbiting (ghība), then he spoke the truth, and if he said it as a lie [i.e., slander], then his soul does not consent to tawba (repentance) from the vileness of it. And he resolves that no one shall lie about him nor he about anyone.
Likewise, he backbites someone and slanders him, then he regrets the slander or the mention of his parents, but does not regret the backbiting.
Likewise, he boycotts someone and falls into [sin] regarding him, and he repents from mentioning him with evil, yet he is unable to abandon his boycott of him out of rancor and disdain, and [unable] to initiate reconciliation, speech, and greeting with him.
Likewise, he engages in trade involving what is not lawful for him, such as usury (ribā) and lying in haggling, or in praising his own merchandise or disparaging the merchandise of others. He repents from usury and lying but does not repent from the praising and disparaging.
He practiced murāqaba (vigilant awareness) of God, Exalted and Glorious, and observed His rights in repentance regarding some of what God, Exalted and Glorious, detests, yet he neglected observance regarding other things that God, Exalted and Glorious, detests, until he persisted in them and did not desist from them.
Chapter: Exposition of the Stations of Those Who Persist and Insist upon Sins, and Mention of What Spurs Them to Repentance and the Severing of Procrastination
I said: What is the station of one whose soul does not consent to desisting from [sin] and does not repent, and whose soul overcomes him?
He said: Those are of three stations:
As for the people of the first station: they persist in sins, seeking repentance on other than its true conditions, and they do not complete its pursuit. They weep and supplicate and reflect upon the threat [of punishment] and chastisement, hoping that their souls may become amenable to repentance. They attend gatherings of remembrance and reflect upon what they hear—or they do not attend gatherings of remembrance, but they reflect, weep, and supplicate. Yet they grow weary and do not persist in frightening their souls, [waiting only] for the moment when the stirring of fear arises that diminishes for them the pleasures of their sins. They do not persist in the remembrance of
an addiction by which they attain from khawf (fear) what spurs them to tawba (repentance), and their souls become generous in abandoning disobedience.
Because the nafs (soul) and the enemy — when the servant persists in seeking fear — call him to weariness, boredom, and turning away from reflection. The soul then finds trivial its distress from fear, and does not fear what diminishes its pleasure over it. But if the servant is rational, resolute, not growing weary, and persists in reflection until fear strengthens within him, he abandons what God, Exalted and Glorious, detests, and cuts off the postponement of repentance.
The people of the second station are not people of reflection in seeking fear, and their souls are not generous in that, because they detest what they are in, and they grieve over it, and they ask God, Exalted and Glorious, for the transfer. They do not intend to persist in sins until they die, but they procrastinate in repentance and set for it deadlines.
Like a man who says: "Until I acquire a livelihood that sustains me and suffices me from rising prices, or capital for trade." Or like a man who says: "Until my dependents die — perhaps they will die — so I can abandon what I am in, for I am not able to maintain repentance with dependents." Or: "Until my parents die." Or: "Until I leave this town, for I cannot work in it and I cannot abandon mixing with people and abandon earning from what is not lawful." This group persists upon
sins and procrastinates repentance, and does not turn toward seeking fear and has no strength for it.
The people of the third station are the people of blindness, ignorance, and waywardness toward God, Exalted and Glorious. They persist in sins, delighting in what they are in of their pleasures. They do not speak to their souls about repentance, nor do they procrastinate it. Among them is one who resembles the despairing person — not that he despairs of repenting, but because of the overwhelming of sins and the wretchedness of nourishment. Perhaps everything he is in is forbidden and vile, or he has committed offenses from which he is unable to extricate himself, such as usurping wealth and the like. Among them is one to whom it is made to seem that his sin is not grave, and that it is a trivial matter, because he is better — in what he sees — than one whose sin is greater than his. So they do not speak to their souls about repentance, nor do they set deadlines for it through procrastination. These are the worst of Muslims and the dissolute among them.
What Cuts Off Procrastination of Tawba (Repentance)
I said:
As for the people of the first two stations before these—they are those who persist in some [sins] and are anxious about some. And those who persist in all [sins] and procrastinate regarding all of them—yet «God loves repentance» [TN: cf. 2:222]—they are closer to repentance, and the demand upon them is easier than upon this third group. So by what do they cut off all procrastination?
He said: That by which they cut off procrastination, by God's permission, consists of two dispositions:
The first:
The khawf (fear) of being overtaken by death—that God, exalted and glorified, may decree his soul's term before the term he has set for his repentance. He then dies in his regret, not having reached his hope and not having repented from his sin. So he neither repented to God, exalted and glorified, nor attained what he desired of his pleasure, and he dies in the anguish of this world and the Hereafter.
The second disposition: The fear that God, exalted and glorified, may strike his heart with a punishment that prevents him from repentance—from hardness and rust, or the sealing, or sickness, or the locking up—while his term is deferred despite that. So his life is prolonged in stupor and bewilderment, and it turns out that He only grants him respite so that he may increase [in sin].
So when he fears that, he hastens to repentance out of fear that death may come upon him first, and he dies persisting in what God, exalted and glorified, detests.
And he hastens to repentance out of fear that death may come upon him first, and he dies persisting in what God, exalted and glorified, detests.
And he hastens to repentance out of fear that the punishment of God, exalted and glorified, may descend upon his heart, and he remains in this world bewildered, only increasing [in sin]. So if he feels no security from the sudden onset of death, or the swift coming of punishment through hardness, he dreads delaying it even an hour, lest he fall into one of these two dispositions. Thus khawf (fear) is what cuts off procrastination, because when fear of the consequence is strong, procrastination weakens. And when fear weakens, procrastination weakens [TN: likely intended "strengthens"]. And when fear is strong, procrastination is cut off from action [TN: i.e., procrastination, which itself cuts off from action, is eliminated].
Do you not hear the saying of Shaddad ibn Aws, may God be pleased with him: "I warn you!"?
And it was said to a man from ʿAbd al-Qays at the point of death: "Counsel us." He said: "I warn you against sawfa (procrastination: 'I shall do it later')."
And Ibn al-Mubarak relates: "We were told that the general supplication of the people of the Fire is: 'Woe to procrastination!' Yet their souls refuse to accept the counsel of sincere advisors."
Moreover, the one who procrastinates regarding tawba (repentance) will never be free from one of three perils: that death will cut him off before the appointed time he has delayed repentance to; or that he reaches the appointed time to which he delayed repentance, yet remains persisting in disobedience to his Lord—exalted and glorified—for he has acted with treachery, betrayal, and lying to his Lord, having promised Him and given Him his pledge that he would be protected from the sin upon which he had been persisting. So his Lord's promise was that if he reached that appointed time, he would repent to Him. Yet he reached it and did not desist from his sin, and thus increased in treachery and betrayal—not of the promise of his Lord, exalted and glorified, but rather because he had promised his Lord that if he reached the time to which he had delayed his repentance, he would surely withdraw from his sin toward Him and never return to what God detested. But he broke the promise and persisted in sin.
The third peril is that he reaches the time to which he had deferred repentance, and he who had been procrastinating repentance does repent to his Master—exalted and glorified. This is the best of his states, yet he will not escape the harm of procrastination, even if he repents to his Lord, for there is no deliverance for him from God—exalted and glorified—stopping him and questioning him about his sin, his persistence upon it, and the days of his procrastination. Even if he meets Him as a penitent who is forgiven, there must inevitably be questioning about those days in which he was sinning, persisting, until he reached the time of repentance to which he had been deferring repentance. It is as though he were a servant who was told: "Repent to God—exalted and glorified—and abandon acts of disobedience," and he replied: "I am repentant and abandoning—there is no doubt—abandoning my pleasures, except that I will remain persisting in sin until such-and-such a time, so that the days of my delay become for repentance at that time."
The likeness of this is as if he were to say—and this involves questioning and being held to account by God, exalted and glorified—this was nothing but delay in repentance. For if his soul had been sincere in renouncing its pleasures when the appointed time he had delayed repentance to arrived, then how can it not leave its pleasure from now? So if he is one who abandons pleasure—whether sooner or later—the questioning upon him during the days of delaying repentance would not apply, since his pleasure was diminished upon his soul and he abandoned it with the removal of questioning about it. Rather, the questioning is more fitting than abandoning it through the earning of questioning. So if he was one who abandoned his pleasure not out of exaltation [of God] but [merely at the appointed time], then let him profit by the removal of questioning from God—exalted and glorified—about the days of persistence, and let him reproach his soul for that, if the matter is as I have described.
And how can it be for one in this state? I fear that one of the other two states will overpower him. For one of the three states, combined with it, the motive for procrastination does not hold—if he reproaches his soul upon it with what I have mentioned to you of God's—exalted and glorified—questioning him about the days of persistence. So how about if he fears the other two states? These states are such that no rational person remains persisting while fearing them. And if—
He who comprehends this prepares himself with tawba (repentance) toward his Lord, fearing lest death come upon him suddenly while he is in his sin, for he has no assurance against death coming upon him unexpectedly while he persists in that which angers God, Mighty and Glorious, so that He meets him while He is wrathful toward him. No rational person would persist in this if he fears the sudden onset of death, since he has no assurance against it. And since he fears that in its sudden coming he will meet God, Mighty and Glorious, while He is wrathful toward him, no rational person who is solicitous for his body against the punishment of God, Mighty and Glorious, would be content with this condition.
Have you not heard the words of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Yazīd, when he said to a man whom he was admonishing: "O so-and-so, are you in a state in which you would be content for death to come?"
He said: "No."
He said: "Have you then hastened to transition to a state in which you would be content for death to come?"
He said: "No, I have not yet brought myself to do that."
He said: "Is there any opportunity to make amends after death?"
He said: "No."
He said: "And are you safe from the sudden onset of death?"
He said: "No."
He said: "I have never seen anyone of sound mind who is content with a condition such as this, one who is truthful in his hope of God. How can one be of sound mind who persists in that which angers God, Mighty and Glorious, and does not feel safe that death will overtake him in a state of heedlessness, with no return for him to this world, so that he might seek the pardon of his Lord, Mighty and Glorious, and seek the pleasure of his Master? God, Mighty and Glorious, has informed us as sincere counsel and as a warning, with the regret of those who regret at death, so that we might not be among those who regret over their neglect, those who ask at death for a return to repentance and tawba (repentance), and turning back from that which God, Mighty and Glorious, detests — yet we do not respond to that, and we abandon our boldness, and regret is not accepted from us, and the call is not answered from us."
God, Mighty and Glorious, said: «Until, when death comes to one of them, he says: My Lord, send me back» «that I may do righteousness in that which I left behind.» God, Mighty and Glorious, said: «No! It is but a word that he speaks» [al-Mu'minūn 23:99–100].