How many a dwelling upon the earth does a youth grow accustomed to, yet his yearning (1) is forever for the very first abode (2). (3)
So strive that your one concern be singular—and that it be God alone—for this is the summit of the servant’s happiness (4). Whoever attains this state (5) resides in a garden hastened before the Garden of the Hereafter and in immediate bliss (6). As one of those who have truly found it (7) said, “There are moments that pass over the heart when I say, ‘If the inhabitants of Paradise are in a condition like this, then indeed they are in pleasant living.’” (8) Another said, “There are times when the heart is so enraptured that it dances with joy.” (9) Yet another said, “How pitiable are the people of this world! They left it without ever tasting the sweetest… (10) of what it holds.” And it was said—
(1) Manuscript B leaves a blank in place of “and his yearning.”
(2) The two verses are by Abu Tammam and form part of a four-verse passage. See al-Khatib al-Tabrizi, Commentary on the Diwan of Abu Tammam, 2:290.
(3) The passage from “and he has no independence from it” to the end of the two verses is omitted from manuscript C.
(4) Manuscript C reads, “happiness,” instead of, “the servant’s happiness.”
(5) Manuscript B reads, “the state,” and manuscript C, “and its companion,” instead of, “and the companion of this state.”
(6) “Before the Garden of the Hereafter and in immediate bliss” is omitted from manuscript C, while “bliss” is omitted from manuscript B.
(7) Manuscript C reads, “some of them.”
(8) The author cites it in Rawdat al-Muhibbin, p. 165. In Madarij al-Salikin he writes, “One of the gnostics said” (1:454). This saying is attributed to a worshipper from Tarsus known as Abu Sulayman al-Maghribi; see Sifat al-Safwah, 4:238, and the following note.
(9) Ibn Kathir presents this saying and the preceding one as a single statement and attributes it to Abu Sulayman Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad ibn Atiyyah al-Darani. Al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, Dar al-Marifah ed., events of the year 205 AH, 10:698.
(10) The base text adds, “life.”