Abu Yazid on Will: I want not to want anything in the world

Ibn al-Qayyim reported: It was said to Abu Yazid, may Allah have mercy on him, “What do you want?” Abu Yazid said, “I want not to want.”

Ibn al-Qayyim said, “He wanted the lower-self to be cut off from its aims… so he guarded his will and restricted it from anything besides Allah Almighty.”

Source: Madārij al-Sālikīn 1/462

عن ابن القيم قِيلَ لأبي يَزِيد رحمه الله مَا تُرِيدُ فَقَالَ أُرِيدُ أَنْ لَا أُرِيدَ

قال ابن القيم يُرِيدُ انْقِطَاعَ النَّفْسِ عَنْ أَغْرَاضِهَا … فَيَصُونُ إِرَادَتَهُ وَيَقْبِضُهَا عَمَّا سِوَى اللَّهِ سُبْحَانَهُ

1/462 مدارج السالكين

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