sirr= secret
sirr Allah= the secret of Allah
Unitarianism (tawhid)= doctrine of Oneness of God
A question from Abu Sa'id ibn Abi 'l-Khayr:
Answering the question, "What is sincerity (ikhlas)?" he said:The Prophet has said tha ikhlas is a divine sirr in man's heart and soul, which sirr is the object of His pure contemplation and is replenished by God's pure contemplation thereof. Whosoever declares God to be One, his belief in the divine Unity depends on that sirr.Being asked to define it, he continued as follows:That sirr is a substance of God's grace (latifa) --- for He is gracious (latif) unto His servants (Koran, 42, 18) --- and it is produced by the bounty and mercy of God, not by the acquisition and action of man. At first, He produces a need and longing and sorrow in man's heart; then He contemplates that need and sorrow, and in His bounty and mercy deposits in that heart a spiritual substance (latifa) which is hidden from the knowledge of angel and prophet. That substance is called sirr Allah, and that is ikhlas .... That pure sirr is the Beloved of Unitarians. It is immortal and does not become naught, since it subsists in God's contemplation of it. It belongs to the Creator: the creatures have no part therein, and in the body it is a loan. Whoever posseses it is "living" (hayy), and whoever lacks it is "animal" (hayawan). There is a great difference between the "living" and the "animal".Source:Studies in Islamic Mysticism, by Reynold Alleyne Nicholson Page 51
