The Kashf al-mahjúb: The oldest Persian treatise on Súfiism

He was a great Ṣúfí and of royal descent. Many signs and virtues were vouchsafed to him. He discoursed lucidly on the arcana of Ṣúfiism. It is related that he said: “He who desires (muríd) desires for himself only what God desires for him, and he who is desired (murád) does not desire anything in this world or the next except God.” Accordingly, he who is satisfied with the will of God must abandon his own will in order that he may desire, whereas the lover has no will of his own that he should have any object of desire. He who desires God desires only what God desires, and he whom God desires desires only God. Hence satisfaction (riḍá) is one of the “stations” (maqámát) of the beginning, and love (maḥabbat) is one of the “states” (aḥwál) of the end. The “stations” are connected with the realization of servantship (`ubúdiyyat), while ecstasy (mashrab) leads to the corroboration of Lordship (rubúbiyyat). This being so, the desirer (muríd) subsists in himself, and the desired (murád) subsists in God.