In the name of God, the All-Merciful, the Most Merciful.
Chapter One Hundred and Eight: Knowing Trial and Desire, Keeping Company with Youths and Women, Receiving Assistance from Women, and When the Aspirant May Receive Assistance
Do not keep company with a youth if you are subject to occurrence,
nor with women; occupy yourself with God.
Beware the blind trial, for it has
a strong hold over the heart that grows heedless.
Beware the soul’s desire: how often it has slain
a master whose heart had understanding from his Lord.
None takes assistance from a woman
save one of God’s men who has attained perfection.
Know—may God strengthen you—that trial, fitnah, is testing. One says, “I tried silver with fire,” when testing it. He, exalted is He, said, “Your possessions and children are only a trial” [al-Taghabun 64:15]: We tested you through them to see whether they veil you from Us and from the bounds We set for you to stop at. And
Notes
Translator’s note TN4065-1: The opening line pairs ḥadath, a youth, with dhū ḥadath, one subject to occurrence or a newly arisen condition; the precise second sense is not fixed, and the word also has a ritual-impurity sense. Ahdāth later also denotes those introducing innovations. Irfāq is rendered assistance, as developed through receiving support and charity.
