Yet why does he not attempt the obstacle?He said:That is, ‘Will he not cross the Traverse (ṣirāṭ) and the obstacle (ʿaqaba) which is before it?’ In its inner meaning there are two obstacles. One of them is the sins that he has committed, which stand before him like a mountain and which he can only traverse by setting a slave free, or feeding someone who is either destitute (miskīn), or totally abject from exertion (jahd) and deprivation (fāqa), or an orphan who is related to him, on a day of hunger (majāʿa) and hardship (shidda). The other obstacle is gnosis (maʿrifa), which the mystic is incapable of attaining, unless it be that, with [the assistance of] the power (ḥawl) and strength (quwwa) of God, he emancipates the slave of his soul from desire.
