The Principles of Sufism. 'A'ishah al-Ba'uniyyah

لم يزل. {هُنَالِكَ ٱلْوَلاَيَةُ لِلّٰهِ ٱلْحَقِّ هُوَ خَيْرٌ ثَوَابًا وَخَيْرٌ عُقْبًا} وإذا وقع بَذرُ التوبة في أَرض القلب وهَبَّت رياح الندم وهَمَت سحائب الأجفان بمطر الدموع {ٱهْتَزَّتْ} تلك الأرض {وَرَبَتْ وَأَنبَتَتْ مِن كُلِّ زَوْجٍ بَهِيجٍ} من أَزهار تجلِّيّات وثمار مشاهدات ورياحين وصال وفواكه اتّصال إلى غير ذلك ممّا لا تحيط به عبارة ولاتحويه إشارة.

      Know, may God show you mercy, that when God the Exalted wants to befriend one of His servants, He opens the door of repentance for him with His grace, and leads him into the anteroom of renunciation of all but Him. God raises him up with the ascension of vigilance against any except Him until he ends up in the presence of contemplation, where He seats him on the carpet of proximity with the generosity of attraction, and manifests Himself to him in beauty. Then what was not, is annihilated, and what always was, abides. «There, the protection of God, the True Reality, is the best reward and the greatest success!»⁵⁰ When the seed of repentance falls on the ground of the heart, and the breezes of remorse blow, and the clouds of the eyelids pour with the rain of tears, then that earth «will tremble, sprout, and grow verdant with delightful species»⁵¹ of the flowers of epiphanies and the harvest of contemplation, from the aromatic plants of union and the fruits of communion, and so on from what is beyond description and expression.

      1.34

      إذا تاب الله على عبد أنسى الحفظة ما كتبوه من سيّئاته وبدّل سيّئاته حسنات وكَتَبَه من أحبابه وإذا صَعِدَ أنينُه باهى الله به الملائكة. محبّة الله حَتمًا للتائبين لقوله تعالى {إِنَّ ٱللهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلتَّوَّابِينَ} فحَسبُ التائب شرفًا أنّه حبيب الله.

      When God turns to a servant with forgiveness, He causes the recording angels to forget what they recorded of the servant’s bad deeds; He exchanges his bad deeds for good, and registers him among His beloved ones. When the lamentations of His dear servant rise, God boasts about him to the angels. God’s love is especially for the penitents, as the Exalted has said, «Truly God loves those who turn in repentance!»⁵² Suffice for the penitent the honor that he is God’s beloved.

      1.35

      إذا لم تَتُبْ فلا فلاح وما عليك إذ أَصححتَ التوبة من كثير العمل. التوبة أساس دعائم السعادة لايصل العبد من مقامات القوم إلّا من بابها ولا يصل إلى مقصود إلّا بالتمسّك بها. أَبوك آدم عليه السلام مع وجاهته بالذنب أُهبط من دار النعيم إلى دار الشقاء فكيف حالك؟ {أَيَحْسَبُ ٱلإِنسَانُ أَن يُتْرَكَ سُدًى} كلاّ {كُلُّ ٱمْرِئٍ بِمَا كَسَبَ رَهِينٌ}. يوشكُ للمسوِّف أنْ يُؤخَذَ على بغتة فيقول حين يرى العذاب {لَوْ أَنَّ لِي كَرَّةً فَأَكُونَ مِنَ ٱلْمُحْسِنِينَ}. لا تظنّنّ أَنَّ المُهْلَة مع الإصرار على الذنب إكرام. بل هو أشدُّ الانتقام. قال الله تعالى {إِنَّمَا نُمْلِي لَهُمْ لِيَزْدَادُوۤاْ إِثْمًا}.

      If you do not turn to God in repentance, you will have no success. You must therefore validate your repentance with hard work. Repentance is the foundation for the pillars of happiness. The servant will enter the Sufis’ mystical stages only through the door of repentance, and he will attain his goal only by holding fast to repentance. Your forefather Adam, peace be upon him, with all of his prestige, still fell from the abode of felicity into the abode of misery due to sin. Then what of your condition? «Does the human being reckon that he will be left alone?»⁵³ Never! «Every man is held accountable for what he earned.»⁵⁴ The procrastinator will soon be taken by surprise, and when he sees his punishment, he will say, «Would that I had a second chance, I would be one of those who do good!»⁵⁵ Do not suppose that a delay in judgment is a blessing while you persist in sin. No, indeed! It is the harshest reckoning, as God the Exalted has said, «We give them a respite that they may increase in sin.»⁵⁶

      1.36

      نسأل الله العافية ونسأله أنْ يَمُنَّ علينا وعليكم بتوبة المخلصين وإنابة العارفين وأَوبة الموحِّدين بمَنّه وكَرمه إنَّه {أَرْحَمُ ٱلرَّاحِمِينَ}.

      We ask God for forgiveness, and we ask Him to bless us and you with the repentance of the sincere, the turning back of those who know, and the return of those who profess the unity of God by His grace and generosity, for He «is the most merciful of those who show mercy!»⁵⁷

      1.37

      وما أَحسنَ قول بعضهم [الطويل]:

لَئِنْ عَظَمَتْ مِنّي ذُنُوبِيَ كَثْرَةً	فَعَفْوُكَ عَنْ ذَنْبِي أَجَلُّ وأَكْبَرُ
وَإنْ وَسِعَتْنِي رَحْمَةٌ مِنْكَ هَاهُنَا	فَإِنّي إِليهَا في ٱلقِيامَةِ أَفْقَرُ

      How aptly someone said:

      Though my sins grow great and oppressive,

      Your forgiveness of sins is greater still.

      Yet as Your mercy holds me here,

      I will need it more at the Resurrection!

      1.38

      ومن فتح الله في المعنى قولنا نظمًا [الطويل]:

لَئِنْ أَسْقَمَتْ حَالي عَظِيمُ خَطِيئَتِي	فَإِنَّ ٱعْتِقَادِي في عُلاكَ صَحِيحُ
وَإِنْ ضَاقَ في وَجْهِي ٱلفَضَآءُ لِزَلَّتِي	فَإنَّ جَمِيلَ ٱلظَّنِّ فَيكَ فَسِيحُ

      God has inspired these verses of mine on this subject:⁵⁸

      Though my grave faults sicken my condition,

      my faith in Your grandeur is strong indeed.

      Though the wide world closes in on me for my sin,

      good thoughts of You are boundless indeed.

      1.39