142 Notes on the oldest work on Sufism. [No. 2. 



heart, humility and contrition. These are all internal virtues, the 

 results of sentiments of the heart, but as soon as they have gained 

 strength, they will show their fruits through your hands and tongue, 

 for if the heart is truly pious there is no difference between senti- 

 ments and actions. 



On faith. 



The disciple said : Are not faith, intuitive knowledge and belief 

 in the unity of God, terms for one and the same thing ? Again, is 

 not the law of God for his servants and the law of the prophet for 

 his church equally identical ? The spiritual guide answered : No, 

 every one has a separate meaning. Belief in the unity of God 

 means the hsmjfy faith (see my Life of Mohammad, p. 169), Islam 

 means the church, faith (Yman) means belief [in the truth of the 

 religion] and acting up to its precepts, and intuitive knowledge is 

 the very essence of faith, and it shows itself by the purity of action 



lLjJ| (jc&kf aj'|<Xag/oj uUj^Ii. The law (Sunnat) of God for his 

 servants is stern and consists in hardship and misery in this world, 

 but the law of the prophet consists in mercy and blessing. 



[To represent the law of Mohammad as the law of mercy is a very 

 striking idea, but it is ancient and founded on the sayings of Mo- 

 hammad himself.] 



On the oounty of God. 



God has not created this world at random nor has he allotted it 

 to man for his dwelling-place without object. He has had a high 

 purpose in the creation. He has commenced the work of creation 

 by bounty, and he has thereby imposed the duty of thanksgiving 

 upon us, and has promised us an increase of his bounty if we are 

 grateful. His bounty is not confined to the pious, but it extends 

 also to the sinner, and it is of two descriptions : evident and secret. 

 Only the intelligent and those who study the mysteries of God 

 recognize the latter. Motion and rest, pleasure and misery, solitude 

 and society, laughing and weeping, privation and plenty, health and 

 sickness, all have a benevolent object, and for all we owe equal \y 7 

 thanks to our Creator. 



