Chapter on What Attains Guarding Against Riyāʾ

Chapter on Knowing That by Which One Attains Wariness of Ostentation

I said: It has become clear to me that knowledge, together with detestation and refusal, when they come together, ostentation is negated, and that one attains that only through his soul's self-prohibition by his intellect, by means of what God, Mighty and Glorious, has entrusted in him of knowledge — the benefit of repelling ostentation from his heart on the day of his poverty — against the harm of the intruder of ostentation. And I have said: when they separate, one does not attain that such that ostentation is not negated. So how is their coming together possible for me? And from where does knowledge depart from the servant at the onset of the intruder of ostentation? And from where does detestation depart after knowledge? What causes one to employ it, and how does one attain its pursuit?

He said: As for knowledge, it departs only due to forgetfulness and the departure of remembrance. Remembrance departs only

Mention of Vigilance Against the Occurrence of Riyāʾ (ostentation), and Heedfulness and Alertness

If one becomes heedful, one is alert; and if one is alert, one is vigilant; and if one is vigilant, one takes heed; and when the branch of what one has come to know is recalled, one recognizes.

I said: By what does one attain heedfulness and vigilance?

He said: Through care.

I said: And how does one attain care?

He said: Through knowledge commensurate with the benefit of ikhlāṣ (sincerity) in this world and the Hereafter, from the reward of God, exalted and glorified, in the heart in the immediate life of this world, and His reward in the Hereafter of good pleasure and Paradise; and the harm of riyāʾ (ostentation) upon the qalb (heart) — in that it bequeaths hardness and suspicion, and the nullification of one's deeds tomorrow on the day of one's poverty and neediness, and exposure to the loathing of one's Lord, glorified and exalted.

When the magnitude of that is realized in one's heart, and one is moved by it, one becomes heedful through careful assessment of God's command, exalted and glorified, regarding sincerity, and one becomes vigilant against squandering one's affair therein by inclining toward ostentation.

When heedfulness and vigilance become constant in one's heart, they awaken it; and when alertness is stirred, one takes heed; and when heed is taken, one recognizes.

The likeness of that is the likeness of a thief who comes to a man's dwelling at night while he is asleep. If he awakens and with him is a means to fight him, he rebukes him. If he is strong, he overpowers him, and the thief flees from him and takes nothing from his house. But if he does not awaken, he does not even sense his being robbed .

Likewise is the heedless one: when he does not awaken.

I said: How did aversion become resolute? And what was attained after knowledge?

He said: It became resolute because, when the thought of ostentation occurs in the heart, it stirs the image of the soul's desire for praise and commendation and the attainment of worldly gain , and the sweetness of that overwhelms the heart. So aversion is dislodged and does not settle alongside the sweetness of desire.

The origin of vigilance is murāqaba (vigilant self-watchfulness), and its result is muḥāsaba (self-reckoning). When the servant watches his Lord, imagining that He is gazing upon him, he becomes vigilant; and when he becomes vigilant, he takes his nafs (self) to account over its passing thoughts; and from this, knowledge comes to be his.

So when joy courses through before the impulse [of desire], that which extinguishes it is the stirring of aversion and tribulation — when the intelligent servant reflects.

When the wise servant reflects from his intellect on the Day of Return, and recalls the nullification of his deeds and his need on that Day, and his poverty and want for the purest of good deeds, and that He accepts only what is sincere and pure of deed, and the fear of his soul from the wrath of God — exalted and glorified — at that very moment, that He may be aware of what is in his conscience, having already accepted what his Lord — exalted and glorified — detests in him, so He would despise him; and he feared what would cause his heart to accept the passing thought of riyā' (ostentation), out of severity of the tarnish and hardness of heart.

So when reflection is stirred by fear of the punishment of God — exalted and glorified — in the immediate life of this world and the deferred life of the Hereafter, if that passing thought is accepted, the bitterness of punishment is stirred through remembrance upon what had coursed through the heart from the surging of desire. Thus he was, through his intellect, a cause [of restraint] despite reluctance, and a repeller against his caprice and his enemy.

At that point, his deed becomes sincere.

I said: Do all servants intend this — this striving, struggling, and exertion?

He said: This is how it is at the very beginning of the aspirant's start, because ikhlāṣ (sincerity) has a beginning and an end.

As for its beginning — it is accompanied by striving and struggling, due to the strength of desire, the weakness of resolve, the scarcity of the habit of sincerity, and the prolonged habit of ostentation.

For the weak servant, from the time intellect [first appears] in childhood before maturity, has never ceased fashioning [his conduct] for the servants [i.e., people]. So when he wishes to wean his soul from that habit and break the strength of his desire through the weakness of his resolve and the scarcity of his habit of sincerity, the soul refuses and resists obstinately.

So he strives and struggles, until when he persists in refuting his soul and becomes accustomed to ikhlāṣ (sincerity) and banishes riyā' (ostentation), the reward of sincerity returns upon his heart from God — exalted — with light and insight, and the desire is broken when its deprivation of what it loves is prolonged, and the enemy despairs and slinks back, and watches for heedlessness and desire. And he turns [toward God]

He saw that he had patiently persevered in the constant pursuit of spiritual struggle, so God, Exalted and Glorious, [bestowed upon him] victory and assistance. At that point, the impulses of caprice (hawā) become still, and whatever of them arises, arises with weakness and scarcity. The impulses of the heart grow in taqwā (God-consciousness), and resolve is strengthened. So when a passing thought of riyā' (ostentation) arises, he dispels it quickly without struggle or exertion.

I said: There comes a state in which there is a severe trial and tempting circumstances, and passing thoughts multiply therein to the point that the servant can scarcely free himself from them — such as a great desire and a momentous matter of the heart that the generality of creation cannot attain — and the whisperings become as though entangled upon the heart. How does one repel that?

He said: When the servant is tested with that, let him remember God, Exalted and Glorious, and the greatness of His power, and the smallness of the power of created beings in comparison to the greatness of God's power, Exalted and Glorious. And let him remember that all benefits are in His hand, and that the power of creation over their own benefits is passing away from them, and that their powers are diminished. And let him recall God's awareness, Exalted and Glorious, after recalling the greatness of His power. For if he does that, the passing thoughts will clear away just as the winds tear the clouds from the sky, and just as the winds sweep the dust from the clear rock.