It is not so. They are not more than the mütenâhi (finite) and those things which are not lâ-mütenâhi (infinite). (Futūḥāt, TI, 472)
With these ascetic disciplines, the dervishes become manifest
They annihilate their bodies for the subsistence of the soul
So that the seeker may make baqāʾ (subsistence in God) his way
Why does he make his body pale and weak?
In every deed, the hand does not reach out to give generously
Unless he sees that what is given is in exchange for the soul
Without recompense, who gives out of bounty and grace?
It is Allah, it is Allah, it is Allah!
O walī (friend of God), who is adorned with the character of God
He becomes light through the radiance of the mutlaq (the Absolute)
riyāḍa/riyāḍāt (ascetic discipline): He is the Rich, all else is poor
The poor does not give without recompense, nor does he bestow ihsan (spiritual excellence) in secret
(Mathnawī, III, 128)
For what purpose are these ascetic disciplines of the dervishes? Because the hardships and difficulties that befall the body ensure the health of the ruh (spirit)
If a seeker on the path of Truth did not find the baqāʾ (subsistence, immortality) of the ruh in ascetic discipline, would he torment and sicken his body by fasting excessively or engaging in exhausting acts of worship?
If a person's ruh does not see the recompense for what it gives, or does not know that it will be given as if it has seen it, would he open his hand to generosity and engage in worship?
Without hope of gain or benefit, only Allah gives—Allah, Allah, Allah!
Or it is the walī (friend of God) of the Truth, for he has adopted the akhlāq (character) of God and has become entirely light. (Mathnawī, III, 267)
Only He is rich. Everyone else besides Him is poor. Can the poor give away wealth, saying "Take!" without recompense? (Mathnawī, III, 268)
When the murshid (spiritual guide) sees that the murīd (disciple) inclines toward anger and shahwa (carnal desire), it is good for the murshid to strongly censure these two bad qualities in general terms, in order to bring him back to the middle path. The evidence that the aim of ascetic discipline is moderation is that sahā (generosity) is a quality desired by the sharia (the sacred law). Generosity is a middle ground between miserliness and extravagance. Allah has praised this state: "And those who, when they spend, do not do so excessively or sparingly but are ever, between that, [justly] moderate." (al-Furqān 25:67)
Know that moderation sometimes results from the perfection of fitra (innate nature). This is a gift from Allah. Many children are created truthful, generous, and gentle by nature. Sometimes it is acquired through discipline and ascetic practice, by imposing upon the nafs (lower self) the actions that bring about the desired character. Whoever wishes to acquire the character of generosity should strive to perform generous acts until this character becomes his nature! (Qudāma, 157)
Some authors have assigned mujāhada (spiritual struggle) to bodily activities and riyāḍa (ascetic discipline) to nafsānī (pertaining to the lower self) feelings (emotions). In my view, all of these are related to the affairs of the nafs. Praise be to Allah, in every ḥāl (spiritual state), we have drawn attention to these matters in a way that achieves the intended goal, and we have said:
Know that the ʿārif (gnostic) must pass through the maqāms (spiritual stations), which are stages of journeying to the presence of the Truth, one by one. When he ascends from one maqām to another, he turns to the next maqām, completes it so as to encompass its stages, and passes through its phases. He is characterized by three modes—Islam, iman (faith), and ihsan (spiritual excellence)—each with different degrees of virtue. Having surpassed the register of those modes, memorized their pages, and passed through all their forms, he stands firm with their qualities; his beginning is connected to his end. The collective does not distract him from the particular, nor the creation from the Truth. The door of absolute witnessing is never closed to him. His station is the maqām al-maḥmūd (the praised station). His essence is the mirror in which the manifestation of being occurs. If we were to enumerate the maqāms, their degrees, and the journeying through their stages, the book would be filled with pages of content and terms that would cover the horizon. (Rawḍa, 475)
Riyāḍa is to train the nafs to truthfulness. Its first subtlety is to beautify character with knowledge and actions with ikhlas (sincerity); its second subtlety is to protect oneself with knowledge while putting an end to division and distractions. Its third subtlety is to detach from witnessing and ascend to pure union without opposition. (Rawḍa, 478)
Riyāḍa consists in beautifying character, that is, purifying oneself from inappropriate things. Know that there is no praiseworthy character trait that, in relation to a certain ḥāl (spiritual state), does not require censure! Those who say that deliverance from blameworthy character is achieved by completely abandoning and never using them do not know the insānī (human) ḥaqīqa (inner reality). (Asfār, 101)
Riyāḍāt, in the bidāya (beginning), is to abandon pleasures and to accustom oneself to sufficing with rights by practicing actions in accordance with the rulings of the sharia and contrary to the demands of nature. In the abwāb (chapters), it is for the faculties to be dominant, for the world (dunyā) and its contents to be rejected, for the claims and verdicts of the nafs to be rejected, and for what is hidden within the nafs to be annihilated.
In transactions, it is to attach the qalb (heart) to the Truth and to avert one's gaze from creation. In character, it is to shed bad traits and nature and to be adorned with good character. In principles, it is to make all himmas (aspirations, concerns) into a single himma, which is to seek the intended goal, to behave with proper etiquette in the presence of the Beloved, and to consider all else as nonexistent and—