Say, ‘No one in the heavens or on earth knows the unseen, except God...’He said:He [God] has concealed His unseen [mystery] (ghayb) from creatures (makhlūqūn) in His [realm of] dominion (jabarūt), lest any of His servants feel secure from His ruse (makr). Thus, no one knows what has been predestined for him by God, lest their concern be with deluding themselves (īhām) concerning the final outcomes (ʿawāqib) and predestined events (majārī al-sawābiq), and, lest they claim for themselves that of which they are not worthy, such as claims of [having attained the station of] love (maḥabba), gnosis (maʿrifa) and so on.He said:There were in Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis) a hundred thousand veracious ones (ṣiddīqūn) publicly known to people, such that the sound of water flowing from the roof gutters could not be heard due to the [noise] of those who were making their spiritual devotions at night [lit. spiritually striving (mujtahidūn)]. But when two things appeared [from them] they asked God, Exalted is He, and He caused them to die. They were: the claim to love (maḥabba) and claim to have trust [in Him] (tawakkul). He was asked about the saying of al-Ḥārith, who stated, ‘I stay up at night and thirst during the day.’ He replied:He means, ‘I have no need for disclosure (kashf) for this is the lot of the disbelievers in this life, and I do not share with them their lot. This is why I said, “I am a believer”’. He [Sahl] was asked about those who say something similar to that which was said by al-Ḥārith. He replied:Their claim is false. How can their claim be acceptable when Abū Bakr and ʿUmar y did not allow themselves to do such a thing, and a hair on their chests is better than al-Ḥārith. However, al-Ḥārith did not say that by himself, rather God brought that out [of him] as a test (fitna) for all those pretentious people (muddaʿūn) who came after him. So how then is it acceptable for these people to claim such things for themselves?His words, Exalted is He:
