through his ignorance and his transgressing the prescriptions and limits of his master.
Abasement is a noble attribute[3] when it is abasement before God, whereas disgrace is a blameworthy attribute in every respect when it abides within the soul. All blameworthy and base character traits are disgraceful attributes before God and in custom, and all noble character traits are noble attributes in Real and creature.
Do you not see the saying of the Messenger of God, God's blessings and peace be upon him, ‘I was sent only to complete noble character traits’? He removed from them what is called base, assigning it appropriate outlets, so that it returned to being noble character traits.
When the servant is characterized by them in the dwelling places appointed for them, no disgrace therefore befalls him, nor does he possess a disgraceful attribute. There is nothing but noble character whenever the ruling of the soul's aim, contrary to the divine command and the prophetic temporal limit, disappears.
(The Ranks of Those Who Belong to God)
Those who belong to God are of different ranks. Some belong to God through God; some belong to God through themselves; and some belong to God neither through God nor through themselves, but through another, insofar as they are compelled by that other.
Whoever belongs to God through God is neither abased nor disgraced, for God is not described by abasement. Thus God said to Abū Yazīd[4] in one of his mutual encounters, ‘Draw near to Me through what I do not possess: abasement and need.’
Whoever belongs to God through himself is abased with a noble abasement, but is not disgraced. Whoever belongs to God neither through God nor through himself is such that he accepts compulsion;
Notlar
[3]
(The author qualifies this judgment by abasement before God, distinguishing it in the context from the disgrace he condemns.)
[4]
(This saying occurs in the text among Abū Yazīd's mutual encounters, as recounted by the author.)
