It is your understanding that, when the time comes, you will not set up the Balance (Mīzān) with your own hand. (Menāzil, 8)
The merchant's reckoning with his partner is to check the principal capital, profit, and loss so that any surplus or deficiency becomes apparent. If there is a surplus in profit, he gives it to his partner and thanks him. If there is a loss, he asks his partner to pay it and to make up for it in the future. Similarly, the servant's religious capital is the obligatory acts (farḍ), his profit is the supererogatory acts (nāfila) and virtues, and his loss is his sins. The season for this trade is the entire day.
The servant's constant dealing with the nafs (nafs, the lower self) that commands evil should be as follows: First, he calls his nafs to account regarding the obligatory acts. If he has performed the obligations on time, he gives thanks to Allah and encourages his nafs to similar acts of worship. If he has neglected to perform an obligatory act on time, he makes it up (qaḍāʾ). If he has performed it deficiently, he tries to make up for the deficiency with supererogatory acts. If he has committed a sin, he busies himself with punishing and reproaching his nafs, just as the merchant does with his partner to make up for a deficiency.
Moreover, just as one checks the profit and loss input by carefully calculating the grains and carats in the reckoning of the dunya (dunyā, the world) to avoid loss, so too must one save his day in his religion. At the same time, he must guarantee for his nafs the reckoning that others will look at on the Day of Resurrection (qiyāma), and in this way, he should check his gaze, what passes through his heart, his thoughts, his sitting, his standing, his eating, his drinking, his sleeping, and even his silence—why he is silent, his standing—why he stands, and so on.
After knowing all that his nafs must do and confirming how much he will fulfill, when he reckons that amount, the remainder becomes apparent. At that point, he should show steadfastness (thabāt) over it and, just as the merchant records the remainder in his account book after reckoning, he should write it on the page of his qalb (qalb, the heart). (Iḥyāʾ, 139)
Of the stations (maqāmāt)... self-reckoning (muḥāsaba) is to check the surpluses and deficiencies of the nafs, the things for and against it. (Ādāb, 20)
One who truly strives (gayrat) to resist his nafs is the possessor of struggle (mujāhada) and reckoning (muḥāsaba).
A thing, in its essence, becomes a ḥāl (ḥāl, spiritual state), then takes on the form of a maqām (maqām, spiritual station). The arising of a sense of reckoning in the servant's qalb, then its disappearance due to the dominance of nafsani (nafs-related) characteristics, and then its reappearance and disappearance at times—if the servant maintains the state of reckoning, this condition continues. The disappearance of the state of reckoning due to the emergence of nafsani attributes continues until divine aid arrives. With Allah's help, the state of reckoning dominates the servant, and the nafs is defeated. The state of reckoning encompasses him with all its effect, becoming the homeland, place of stability, and station of the nafs. (Other states are similar (Jāmiʿ))... (ʿAwārif, 273; Jāmiʿ, 138)
If this becomes constant and established in the servant, he is elevated from the station of reckoning (muḥāsaba) to the station of vigilance (murāqaba). When reckoning becomes the person's station, vigilance becomes his state. Then, the state of vigilance, due to the occasional dominance of error and heedlessness in the servant's inner world, leads to the overcoming of error and heedlessness. Allah supports His servant with His help. Thus, after vigilance becomes a state, it turns into a station. The station of reckoning only attains stability with the coming of the state of vigilance. When the servant is granted the possibility (imkān) of rising to the state of witnessing (mushāhada), his vigilance finds stability and becomes his station.
Reckoning (muḥāsaba) is to check the principal capital, profit, and loss so that any surplus or deficiency becomes apparent. The servant's religious capital is the obligatory acts, his profit is the supererogatory acts and virtues, and his loss is his sins. Therefore, he should first call his nafs to account regarding the obligations, and if he has committed a sin, he busies himself with punishing his nafs to make up for the deficiency. (Qudāma, 401)
Muʿāqaba al-nafs ʿalā taqṣīrihā (punishing the nafs for its shortcomings): Know that when the murīd (murīd, aspirant/disciple) calls his nafs to account and sees a deficiency in it, or when he commits a sin, he should not let it go. For at that moment, committing the sin is easy for him, and breaking away from it is difficult. In this case, a person should punish his nafs with a permissible punishment, just as he punishes his family and children. (Qudāma, 402)
There are three steps to reckoning. These are gathered after resolving to repent (tawba). In the step of Islam, the sālik (traveler) attains blessings and gathers the light of wisdom (ḥikma), suspicion towards the nafs, and the light that distinguishes blessing from tribulation. In the step of iman (iman, faith), he distinguishes what is for Allah or from Him from other things. In the step of ihsan (ihsan, spiritual excellence), he knows that the acts of obedience that please him may be against him, while the acts of obedience for which he blames his brother may be in his favor. (Rawḍa, 477)
Reckoning (muḥāsaba) at the beginning (bidāya) is to balance good and evil deeds. In the abwāb (doors), it is to compare good and evil and their importance, to submit to good and to destroy evil. In dealings (muʿāmalāt), it is to compare times of presence and observance with times of wakefulness and heedlessness.
In character, it is to compare virtues and vices, good and bad qualities. In principles, it is to compare determination with periods of suspension (fatrat), in the spiritual journey (sulūk), to gather himmas (himma, spiritual aspiration) and compare separation, to compare intimacy with Allah with the loneliness of being with people. In remedies, reckoning is, at the station of ihsan, to balance times by being close to the āyān (those with spiritual insight) and being illuminated by the light of ḥaqīqa (ḥaqīqa, inner reality), except for the tranquility of bāṭil (bāṭil, falsehood). In states, reckoning is to do so as long as the flashes surround or depart from the person, as longing and ecstasy are present or weak, and as taste appears or disappears.
In walāya (walāya, sainthood), reckoning is to pay attention to the balance between the presence and turbidity of the moment, between comforting the nafs and, if possible, removing distress. In realities (ḥaqāʾiq), reckoning is between the influxes of expansion and contraction (bast and qabḍ), times of manifestation and concealment, and between sobriety (ṣaḥw) until spiritual intoxication becomes dominant and established. In the final stages (nihāya), reckoning is between the states of fanāʾ (fanāʾ, annihilation in God) at the beginning of love and the emergence of talwīn (changing from state to state) until reaching fanāʾ, in union and separation, in the states of realization and individuation, in the gathering and separation of the muḥāsibiyyūn (muḥāsibiyyūn, practitioners of self-reckoning), and in the realization of absolute tawhid (tawhid, the oneness of God) at the station of aḥadiyya (aḥadiyya, the station of divine oneness). (Jāmiʿ, 274)
Self-reckoning (muḥāsaba) is related to acting, abandoning action, and speaking about the tastes and ecstasies attained through struggles. Then, this self-reckoning becomes established as a station in the servant, and the servant rises from this station to another. (Bughyat, 18)