[3:17] the patient, sincere, obedient, expenders, imploring God's pardon at daybreak'.
Patience is restraint of the lower self and consists of three levels: patience with what the servant has been commanded to do, patience with what has been prohibited him, and patience standing under the flow of His decree (ḥukm) according to what He desires, either in the passing away of what you love or in the onslaughts (hujūm) outside of your control. When you rise beyond this quality in your being unaffected by any difficulty or comfort received, it is through contentment (ri?ā), not patience (ṣabr).
It is said the patient with the command of God, sincere in what they have promised God, obedient with their selves in pursuing the straight way in love of God, imploring God's pardon from all they have done because they see how much they have fallen short with God.
It is said the patient in their hearts, sincere in their spirits, obedient in their lower selves, and imploring God's pardon by their tongues.
It is said the patient with sincerity of seeking (quṣūd), sincere in contracts (ʿuhūd), obedient in protecting the limits (ḥudūd), and imploring God's pardon for their acts and states when the authority of divine unity (tawḥīd) takes over.
It is said the patient are those who are patient in seeking (?alab), not looking to escape (harab), not ashamed to face toil (taʿab), and they renounce every comfort and intense emotion (?arab). They are patient in tribulation (wa-ṣabarū ʿalā'l-balwā) and reject complaining (wa-rafa?ū'l-shakwā) until they come to the Protector (ḥattā waṣalū ilā'l-mawlā). Nothing cuts them off in the present world and the world to come (al-dunyā wa'l-uqbā).
The sincere are those who are firm and bold (ṣadaqū) in seeking. They proceed with purpose (qaṣadū) and with firmness and boldness (ṣadaqū) until they arrive (waradū), then they are firm and bold until they witness (shahidū), then they are firm and bold until they find (wajadū), then they are firm and bold until they are lost (faqadū). Their sequence is seeking (quṣūd), then arriving (wurūd), then witnessing (shuhūd), then finding (wujūd), then extinction (khumūd).
The obedient are those who stay at the door (bāb), persevering in drinking sorrow (iktiÌāb). They abandon things which they love (maḥābb) and reject companions (aṣḥāb) in order to recognize the truth by drawing near (iqtirāb).
The expenders are those who give generously of themselves in their works (aʿmāl), then they give generously of their prosperity in wealth (amwāl), then they give generously of their hearts in the sincerity of states (aḥwāl), then they give generously by abandoning every portion belonging to them in the present and the future. They are utterly consumed at the moment of drawing near and communion (wiṣāl) through their experience of eradication and extirpation (istiÌṣāl).
Imploring God's pardon from all of that [intoxicating experience of communion] when they return to sobriety and wakefulness at daybreak (asḥār), i.e., at the appearance of white dawn (isfār). It is the dawn of hearts, not a dawn appearing in earthly regions (aq?ar).