How are Abu Yazid al-Bistami's ecstatic sayings, such as "Glory be to me", to be understood?

Sayings are reported from Abu Yazid al-Bistami that he spoke in states the Sufis call shath (ecstatic utterance), the best known being "Glory be to me, glory be to me, how great is my state". ¹ Scholars disagreed over whether they are authentic, what they mean, and how their speaker is to be judged. This card sets out the views as their sources report them, beginning with Sunni scholars of the Hanbali school and then the Sufi views, each named, without deciding between them.

Ibn al-Jawzi, in Talbis Iblis, relates with his chain from Tayfur the Younger, from his uncle, Abu Yazid's servant, that he heard him say "Glory be to me, glory be to me, how great is my state", and then: "Enough for me of myself, enough." ¹ In the section on ecstatic sayings and claims he then gives other sayings attributed to him with chains through al-Sahlaki, Abu Nu'aym and others, among them that while circling the Ka'ba he saw the House circling him, that he was the Preserved Tablet, and that he was "all seven" of the Substitutes (abdal). ^{2 5}

Before the "Glory be to me" report, Ibn al-Jawzi quotes Ibn 'Aqil on the story that Abu Yazid said of the Fire that if he saw it he would put it out with the edge of his patched robe: whoever says this, "whoever he may be, is a heretic who must be killed", for making light of a thing is the fruit of denying it. ¹ On the same page this is preceded by Ibn al-Jawzi's account of the fear of the Fire shown by angels, prophets and Companions, in answer to a claimant who made light of it. ¹

Ibn al-Jawzi comments on the "Glory be to me" report: if it is authentic, perhaps the narrator did not understand, for Abu Yazid may have been mentioning God's glorification of Himself and said it as a quotation of God, not of himself. ¹ He notes that al-Junayd interpreted it in some way, and that unless that interpretation comes back to this one "it is nothing"; after relating al-Junayd's interpretation he calls it "among the fables". ^{1 2} Of the other claims he has related he says: "As for the claims cited above, their ugliness is not hidden", and he answers another saying attributed to him about the punishment of the Fire on three grounds. ⁶

Ibn al-Jawzi relates from Ja'far al-Khuldi that al-Junayd was told that Abu Yazid says "Glory be to me, glory be to me", and al-Junayd said that the man was absorbed in witnessing majesty and spoke of what absorbed him; God made him oblivious of seeing himself, so he witnessed only God and described Him. ²

In al-Luma', Abu Nasr al-Sarraj gives a chapter to explaining phrases reported from Abu Yazid for which Ibn Salim at Basra used to declare him an unbeliever. ³ He heard Ibn Salim say in his circle that Pharaoh never said what Abu Yazid said: Pharaoh spoke his word recorded in Surat al-Nazi'at, and "lord" is a name given to creatures, as in "lord of the house", whereas subhan is a name that may be given to none but God. ³ Al-Sarraj asked him whether it was established for him that Abu Yazid's belief was like Pharaoh's: if he could not testify to what Abu Yazid believed, then declaring him an unbeliever fails, since the words may have had a preamble in which he was quoting God, just as if we heard a man recite the verse of Surat al-Anbiya' we would not doubt that he was reciting the Qur'an. ³

Al-Sarraj adds that he went to Bistam and asked members of Abu Yazid's family about the story, and they denied it, saying "We know nothing of that"; had it not spread among people and been written in books, he would not have bothered to mention it. ⁴ He says that Ibn Salim, for all his standing, went too far in attacking Abu Yazid, also declaring him an unbeliever for saying "I pitched my tent facing the Throne", and that he answered him that the scholars of his region seek blessing at Abu Yazid's grave and count him among the greatest worshippers and ascetics, so how could unbelief be believed of him on a report whose intent is unknown. ⁴

Ibn al-Jawzi quotes the same debate between al-Sarraj and Ibn Salim, with his chain from 'Abd Allah ibn 'Ali al-Sarraj, including the possibility of quoting God and the denial by the people of Bistam. ² The possibility Ibn al-Jawzi accepts for "Glory be to me" is thus close to al-Sarraj's answer; they differ in their judgement of Abu Yazid's other claims and of al-Junayd's interpretation. ^{1 2}