For Abraham was forbearing, tender-hearted, and penitent.He [Sahl] said:God, Exalted is He, gave him [Abraham] a view into the [moments of] activity and repose (ḥaraka wa sukūn) of the natural self (al-nafs al-ṭabīʿiyya), but He did not give him a view of His knowledge, for he was either effaced from [the awareness of it] or abiding in it, so that neither fear nor hope should leave his soul. Thus, when he remembers it [that knowledge], he sighs, and keeps silent regarding the question of the knowledge of his end (khātima), since he has no [power of] choosing (ikhtiyār) with God, Mighty and Majestic is He.Then Sahl said:Fear is male and hope is female, and if one iota of the fear of the fearful (khāʾifūn) were divided among the inhabitants of the earth, they would all attain eternal happiness by it.Then he was asked, ‘If that is so, how much fear do the fearful have?’ He replied, ‘It is like a mountain,a mountain!’His words, Exalted is He:
