The sincere one advances; the hypocrite, however, remains fixed for forty years as he was. I say regarding the meaning of this statement: The ṣādiq (truthful one) returns to God (al-Ḥaqq) as he is. When he sees a virtue in an act according to the sharia (the sacred law), even if it goes against his habit, he acts upon it. If there is something in the religion more virtuous than that, and it is not possible to do both, he turns to the more virtuous. He always acts thus and persists in this way. Sometimes, in a single day, he may experience a hundred or a thousand spiritual states (ḥāl), or even more, according to the maʿrifa (gnosis, experiential knowledge of God) and graces he attains.
As for the hypocrite, he remains in only one ḥāl. If an important matter arises in which the religion prefers a certain ḥāl, he does not fulfill it; rather, he tries to preserve his current state. This is because he is a hypocrite in his worship, presenting himself to creation (i.e., he acts not for Allah, but for the approval of people). He fears change and the loss of his love for worldly things, and strives to maintain them. The ṣādiq, on the other hand, seeks Allah's riḍā (contentment with God's decree) through his worship. He prefers what the religion prefers. He does not present himself to creation. (Bustān, 26)
Ṣidq (truthfulness) is a term referring to the reality of a thing. Its first subtlety is the ṣidq of intention. The second is to desire life solely for God (al-Ḥaqq). The third is ṣidq in maʿrifa (gnosis)—to seek and live by true knowledge. (Rawḍa, 484)
Ṣidq is to conform to God's riḍā (contentment with God's decree) in both secret and open circumstances. (Jāmiʿ, 54)
Ṣidq is of three kinds: the ṣidq of the common people is in words; the ṣidq of the elite (khawāṣṣ) is in actions; the ṣidq of the elect of the elite is in spiritual states (ḥāl). (Jāmiʿ, 61)
Ṣidq, in language, is the opposite of kizb (lying). In the terminology of the people of reality, it is to speak the truth even in times of danger. It is said that ṣidq is when word and essence are one. It is also said that ṣidq is loyalty and purity, to be upright. (Isāf)
Junayd said: "Ṣidq is to speak the truth even when only a lie would save you."
Abū ʿAlī Daqqāq said: "It is to appear to people as you are, or to be as you appear to them."
It is also said: The ṣādiq does not desire people to become aware of his deeds.
The ṣādiq prepares himself for death; even if he possesses unveiling (kashf), he is not ashamed of his secret (for there is nothing in his inner world to be ashamed of). Allah has praised and commanded ṣidq. (Jāmiʿ, 244)
The essence of ṣidq is that which corrects one's intention on the path of walāya (friendship with God). Its form at the beginning (bidāya) is ṣidq in words and deeds. Its form at the entrance (abwāb) is ṣidq in intentions and causes. Its form in dealings (muʿāmalāt) is ṣidq through observance (murāqaba) and conformity, and in the acts of the heart between these two.
Its highest rank in the fundamentals (uṣūl) is to excel in good deeds and not to pay heed to dispensations. Its form in remedies (adwiya) is ṣidq in the loftiness of firāsa (spiritual insight) and himma (spiritual aspiration). In spiritual states (aḥwāl), it is for the ruling of the state, not knowledge, to prevail.
In walāya (the stations of sainthood), it is to purify the moment from material impurities and to return to the states required by the rulings. In realities (ḥaqāʾiq), its form is ṣidq in annihilation through the light of the Sacred. In the final stages (nihāyāt), its form is ṣidq in the effacement of one's traces in the Essence of God (al-Ḥaqq). (Jāmiʿ, 284)
Ṣidq, as stated in Jawharī's Ṣiḥāḥ dictionary, linguistically means to report a thing as it is; its opposite is kizb (lying). In the religious sense, ṣidq encompasses ṣidq in intention, word, and deed.
Abū'l-Qāsim Qushayrī said: The lowest degree of ṣidq is for the inner and outer to be one. The ṣādiq is one whose words are truthful. The ṣiddīq is one who is truthful in all words, deeds, and states. Ṣidq comes immediately after prophethood. As can be seen, the gnostics (ʿārifūn) have stated that the degree of ṣiddīqiyya is such that only the station of prophethood is above it.
It is said that ṣidq is to speak the truth even in times of danger. Junayd said: The reality (ḥaqīqa) of ṣidq is to speak the truth even when only a lie would save you.
Abū ʿAlī Daqqāq said: Ṣidq is to appear to people as you are, or to be as you appear to them.
Ibrāhīm Hawwāṣ said: The ṣādiq is one whom you see only performing an obligatory act or a virtuous deed.
ʿAbd al-Wāḥid Zayd said: Ṣidq is to show loyalty to Allah through action.
Sahl said: Whoever adorns his own nafs (the lower self) or another's nafs cannot even smell the scent of ṣidq.
Yūsuf Asbāṭ said: For me, acting with ṣidq towards Allah in the silence of the night is more beloved than fighting with my sword in the path of Allah.
Muḥāsibī said: The ṣādiq is one who, even if all his reputation among people were to vanish—because his qalb (the heart) has found complete righteousness—would not care; even if he had good deeds weighing as much as a mithqāl, he would not wish people to know of them; nor would he be displeased if his bad deeds became known to people. For to be displeased at this is a sign of desiring increased reputation among people, which is not from the character of the ṣiddīqūn (the utterly truthful).
Dhū'n-Nūn said: Ṣidq is the sword that Allah has placed over a thing to cut it absolutely.
When Fath al-Mawṣilī was asked what ṣidq is, he put his hand into a blacksmith's bellows, took out a red-hot iron, and held it in his palm, saying: This is ṣidq.
Another said: The ṣādiq is the captive of his word. (Nabhānī, II, 62)
ṣidq al-nūr (the truthfulness of light): This is an unveiling (istitār, the state of being veiled) without subsequent veiling. This unveiling is like lightning that is followed by rain: if it rains, the person is called ṣādiq; if not, he is called kādhib (liar). When a seeker experiences successive unveilings and veiling, doubt arises in his state, but when the unveiling brings him to the station of union (jamʿ), it is called ṣidq al-nūr, for after that, there is no more veiling or concealment. (Kāshānī, 140; Jāmiʿ, 88)
(See also: kashf/kushūfāt; tajallī-stitār)
ṣifa/ṣifāt (divine attributes): The meaning of the Prophet's attributes is his outward aspect; the meaning of his secret is his inward aspect. (Lumaʿ, 161)
An attribute (ṣifa) is something that does not separate from the described (mawṣūf). However, it cannot be said that it is the same as the mawṣūf, nor that it is something other than the mawṣūf. (Lumaʿ, 427)
An attribute does not accept a predicate, because it does not subsist by itself. (Hujwīrī, 468)
An attribute is something that needs a locus but is not necessary in itself. The Necessary Existent (wājib al-wujūd) is not the locus of attributes. It is not permissible for the Essence to possess attributes in itself, for a thing is not affected by its own essence. (Hayākil, 59)
An attribute is something that seeks meaning, as in the name 'ʿĀlim' (the All-Knowing). (Iṣṭilāḥ, 540)
After the attribute in manifestation, there is only the Essence; in this respect, it is the highest rank of the Name. (Insān, I, 5)
The attribute leads you to the described (mawṣūf). This means: you cannot be characterized by the attributes of anyone but yourself, nor can you attain any knowledge of its quality by gathering it in your understanding, imagining it, explaining it in your thought, or approaching it with your intellect. Know that you are the very thing being described.