To make exclusive for union (jamʿ), to remove oppositions (objections) to Him, and to sever associations (sharing what belongs exclusively to the Real with others and expecting recompense) is its essence. (Manāzil, 10)
Riyāḍa (ascetic discipline) has four aspects: with respect to food, sleep, speech, and enduring the harm of people. By eating little, shahwa (carnal desires) are subdued. By sleeping little, the will is purified. By speaking little, one avoids calamities. By enduring harm, one attains ultimate goals. For the servant, there is nothing heavier in times of hardship than forbearance (ḥilm, gentle conduct) and patience (sabr) in the face of harm. (Iḥyāʾ, III, 81)
The benefit of khalwa (spiritual retreat) giving life is that it enables one to abandon distractions of the mind and to gain mastery over the ear and eye. For the ear and eye are channels to the qalb (the heart). The qalb is like a pool into which the rivers of sensation pour their dirty, impure, and turbid waters. The purpose of riyāḍa is to cleanse this pool of such waters and the mud they create, so that the pool itself becomes manifest and pure water is seen within it. How can one draw water from a pool when the rivers are flowing into it and polluting it? Thus, through riyāḍa, as every excess state is diminished, this pool is renewed. (Iḥyāʾ, III, 94)
Riyāḍa related to adab (proper conduct) is to depart from the nature of the nafs (the lower self); riyāḍa related to talab (aspiration) is the soundness of the nafs in what is sought. (Riyāḍa) is entirely the beautification of akhlāq (character traits). (Iṣṭilāḥ, 534)
According to some Sufis, riyāḍa is among the ḥāl (spiritual states), and is divided into two types: riyāḍa related to adab, which is departing from the nature of the nafs, and riyāḍa related to talab, which is the soundness of the nafs in what is sought.
According to us, riyāḍa is the beautification of character traits. It is not correct for the nafs to depart from its nature. Allah has clarified His dispositions regarding this nature because it is not correct (if it were correct for the nafs to depart from its nature, this would have been commanded; since it is not, what is commanded are the matters of the sharia). The nafs, in the domain of Allah's dispositions (limits), when it abides, gives praise and gratitude, but does not depart from its own nature. Their riyāḍa is to be content with the dispositions their Creator (Khāliq) has determined. Riyāḍa/riyāḍāt related to temperament:
If something is determined, it cannot remain outside its temperament. If something departs from its own nature, it ceases to be itself. Therefore, the statement that riyāḍa related to talab is the soundness of the nafs in what is sought is realized. For when something is sought, any state may occur.
The murīd (aspirant) finds that thing because of this command. It has been determined for him and taught to him. If he desires only this much and acts within that limit with his nature, he is a possessor of riyāḍa. For if he were to act contrary to what he desires, that action too would be in accordance with his nature. The beautification of character is only realized by restricting the absoluteness of disposition to a specific limit.
The one who says that riyāḍa related to adab is to depart from the nature of the nafs, its proponent, he...