When the servant embarks on the path of servanthood (ʿubūdiyya), the first duty incumbent upon him is to seek the amount of knowledge necessary to correct his belief in the Oneness [of Allah].

Hadith 1: Abū Muḥammad Janāḥ ibn Nadhīr ibn Janāḥ informed us in Kūfa: Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Duḥaym al-Shaybānī narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn narrated to us: [Al-Qushayrī relates a separate chain]. Abū Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yūsuf al-Aṣbahānī informed us: Abū Saʿīd ibn al-Aʿrābī informed us: Jaʿfar ibn ʿĀmir al-ʿAskarī narrated to us: Both said: al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAṭiyya narrated to us: Abū ʿĀtika narrated to us on the authority of Anas ibn Mālik, who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “Seek knowledge, even as far as China. Indeed, seeking knowledge is a duty upon every Muslim.”

Hadith 2: Sayyid Abū ʾl-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Ḥasanī – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Ayyūb ibn Salmawayh informed us: Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Sulamī narrated to us: Ḥafṣ ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Malik narrated to us on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha that she heard the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – say: “Indeed, Allah has revealed to me that whoever treads a path seeking knowledge, a path to Paradise shall be made easy for him. And whoever is deprived of his eyesight, He shall grant him Paradise in their stead. Excellence in knowledge is better than excellence in worship and the cornerstone of religion is scrupulousness.”

Once the servant has rectified his conviction in the Oneness [of Allah] and has made his intention exclusively for Allah, the first station of his spiritual journey is repentance.

Hadith 3: Sayyid Abū ʾl-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Ḥasanī – may Allah have mercy on him – has reported to us, he said: Abū ʾl-Qāsim ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Bālawayh narrated to us, he said: Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf al-Sulamī narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us: Maʿmar narrated to us on the authority of Hammām ibn Munabbih, who said: This is what Abū Hurayra narrated to us, he said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – said, “Would one of you be delighted if his mount were to break loose from him and then he found it?” They said, “Yes, O Messenger of Allah.” He said, “By the One in Whose Hand my soul lies, Allah is more delighted with the repentance of His servant when he repents than one of you would be upon finding his lost mount.”

The Shaykh, the teacher, Imam Abū ʾl-Qāsim al-Qushayrī – may Allah have mercy on him – said: “Delight, as an attribute of Allah, the Glorified and Exalted, is to be understood as His beneficence and generosity towards His servant.”

Hadith 4: Abū Nuʿaym ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Ḥasan al-Isfarāyinī, – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Abū ʿAwāna Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq informed us: al-Ṣawmaʿī narrated to us: Ḥajjāj ibn Minhāl and ʿAmr ibn ʿĀṣيم narrated to us, they said: Ḥammād ibn Salama narrated to us on the authority of Isḥāq ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī ʿAmra, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, on the authority of the Prophet – may Allah bless him and his family and grant him peace – who said, speaking on behalf of his Lord: “A servant committed a sin so he said, ‘O Allah, forgive me.’ So He, the Blessed and Exalted, replied: ‘My servant has committed a sin. He knows that he has a Lord who forgives sin and punishes for sin.’ Then the servant returned and committed another sin and said, ‘O Allah, forgive me.’ So He, the Blessed and Exalted, replied: ‘My servant has committed a sin. He knows that he has a Lord who forgives sin and punishes for sin.’ Then he returned and committed another sin and said, ‘O Allah, forgive me.’ So He, the Blessed and Exalted, replied: ‘My servant has committed a sin. He knows that he has a Lord who forgives sin and punishes for sin. Do as you wish, for I have forgiven you.’”

One of the factors that prompts sincere repentance from the servant is his being shy at the Real observing him in all of his states.

From the perfection of his repentance is to appease his adversary to the best of his ability.

Hadith 6: Abū Muḥammad Janāḥ ibn Nadhīr ibn Janāḥ ibn Isḥāq al-Muḥāribī informed us in Kufa: my uncle Aḥmad ibn Janāḥ ibn Isḥāq narrated to us: Abū ʾl-Ḥarīsh Aḥmad ibn ʿĪsā ibn Makhlad al-Kilābī narrated to us: Isḥāq ibn Wahb al-Ṭahramasī narrated to us: Ibn Wahb narrated to me on the authority of Mālik, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – that he said, “Returning a dāniq’s worth of unlawful wealth is equivalent to seventy accepted pilgrimages in the sight of Allah.”

Hadith 7: Abū Nuʿaym ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Ḥasan al-Isfarāyinī, – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Abū ʿAwāna Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq informed us: Shuʿayb ibn ʿAmr al-Dimashqī narrated to us: Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna narrated to us on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār who heard Nāfiʿ ibn Jubayr al-Ḥasanī report from Abū Shurayḥ al-Khuzāʿī that the Prophet – may Allah bless him and his family and grant them peace – said: “Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should behave kindly towards his neighbor. Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should be generous to his guest. Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should speak what is good or remain silent.”

A complete repentance entails forsaking evil companions.

Hadith 8: Sayyid Abū ʾl-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Ḥasani – may Allah have mercy on him – informed us: Abū ʾl-Aḥraz Muḥammad ibn Jamīl al-Azdī narrated to us: Abū Bakr ibn Abī ʾl-ʿAwwām narrated to us: Saʿīd ibn ʿĀmir narrated to us: Shubayl ibn ʿAzra narrated to us on the authority of Murra, on the authority of Anas ibn Mālik, who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – said: “The example of a righteous companion is that of a perfume vendor. If you don’t receive any of his perfume, you are still struck by his fragrance. The example of an evil companion is that of a blacksmith. If he does not burn your clothes, you are still struck by his [foul] odor.”

One of the finest manners of the aspirant, by which his journey along the path of seeking is made complete, is his leaving aside what does not concern him.

Hadith 9: Abū ʾl-Ḥasan ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad informed us: Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd ibn Sulaymān al-Zāhid narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Qutayba informed me: Aḥmad ibn Abī Ṭāhir al-Khurāsānī narrated to us: Yaḥyā ibn al-ʿAyzār narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf al-Firyābī narrated to us on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Ajlaḥ, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Burayda, on the authority of Abī ʾl-Aswad al-Duʾalī, on the authority of Abī Dharr who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – said: “From the beauty of a man’s Islam is his leaving aside what does not concern him.”

Hadith 10: Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn al-Faḍl ibn Laṭīf al-Miṣrī informed us in Mecca: Abū Ṭāhir Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Miṣrī narrated to us in Egypt: Abū ʿImrān Mūsā ibn Sahl ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd al-Jawnī al-ʿAbdī narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn Ghiyāث narrated to us: Qazaʿa ibn Suwayd al-Sadūsī narrated to us: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar narrated to us on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn, on the authority of his father who said: The Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – said: “From the beauty of a man’s Islam is his leaving aside what does not concern him.”

Among their etiquettes is abandoning what distracts one from Allah, The Most High; they forsake what brings greed close to the heart and distracts one from proximity to the Lord.

Hadith 11: Abū ʾl-Ḥوسayn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Khaffāf – may Allah have mercy on him – reported to us, he said: Abū ʾl-ʿAbbās Muḥammad ibn Isḥāق al-Sarrāj narrated to us: Abū Yaḥyā narrated to us: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Rajāʾnarrated to us: Saʿīd ibn Yaḥyā ibn Salama informed us on the authority of Abī l-Ḥusām: Muslim ibn Abī Maryam narrated to me on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sarjis that the Messenger of Allah – may Allah bless him and grant him peace – was praying one day while wearing a striped cloak (namira). He then said to a man from among his companions: “Give me your cloak and take my cloak.” So the man said, “O Messenger of Allah, your cloak is better than my cloak.” He responded, “Yes indeed, but it has red stripes on it. I was afraid that I would look at it and it would distract me from my prayer.”

The teacher, the Shaykh – may Allah have mercy on him – said: “A namira is a striped cloak (shamla). Its plural forms are anmār and namirāt.”