a share such that, were He to cast me into the Fire, I would be content with that.’” This saying is transmitted from Abū Sulaymān with a chain of transmission. Accordingly, al-Qushayrī related it from him through his teacher Abū ‘Abd al-Rahmān, unlike that other saying, which was not related from him through a chain of transmission. There is therefore no basis for attributing it to Shaykh Abū Sulaymān.

Al-Qushayrī then paired this second saying of Abū Sulaymān with a better one, for before relating it he said:

“Abū ‘Uthmān al-Hīrī al-Naysābūrī was asked about the words of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ‘I ask You for contentment after the decree.’ He replied, ‘Because contentment after the decree is true contentment.’”

These words of Shaykh Abū ‘Uthmān are fine and sound.

After this, it was related through a chain of transmission that Shaykh Abū Sulaymān said:

“I hope that I have come to know some measure of contentment. Were He to admit me into the Fire, I would be content with that.”

This makes clear that what Abū Sulaymān spoke of is not contentment, but only a resolve to be content. Contentment is only that which follows the decree. If this is a resolve, then resolve may endure or come undone. How often resolutions come undone—especially those of the Sufis!

Thus, one of them was asked, “How did you come to know your Lord?”

He replied, “Through the undoing of resolutions and the thwarting of aspirations.”

Allah Most High said to those superior to these shaykhs:

“And you had certainly wished for death before you encountered it, and you have now seen it while you were looking on.”

And He Most High said: “O you who believe, why do you say what you do not