| Early Scholars on Sufism
The following quotations of the scholars of
Shariah regarding the precedence of the knowledge and science of Tasawwuf
(Purification of the Self).
Imam Abu Hanifa
(85 H. - 150 H)
"If it were not for two years, I would have perished." He said,
"for two years I accompanied Sayyidina Ja'far as-Sadiq and I acquired
the spiritual knowledge that made me a gnostic in the Way."
[Ad-Durr al-Mukhtar, vol 1. p. 43]
Imam Malik
(95 H. - 179 H.)
"whoever studies Jurisprudence [tafaqaha] and didn't study Sufism [tasawwaf]
will be corrupted; and whoever studied Sufism and didn't study
Jurisprudence will become a heretic; and whoever combined both will reach the Truth."
['Ali al-Adawi , vol. 2, p 195.]
Imam Shafi'i
(150 - 205 AH.)
"I accompanied the Sufi people and I received from them three
knowledges: ...how to speak; how to treat people with leniency and a soft
heart... and they... guided me in the ways of Sufism."
[Kashf al-Khafa, 'Ajluni, vol. 1, p 341.]
Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal
(164 - 241 AH.)
"O my son, you have to sit with the People of Sufism, because they
are like a fountain of knowledge and they keep the Remembrance of Allah in
their hearts. they are the ascetics and they have the most spiritual
power."
[Tanwir al-Qulub p. 405]
Imam Ghazzali
(450 - 505 AH.)
"I knew verily that Sufis are the seekers in Allah's Way, and their
conduct is the best conduct, and their way is the best way, and their
manners are the most sanctified. They have cleaned their hearts from other
than Allah and they have made them as pathways for rivers to run receiving
knowledge of the Divine Presence."
[al-Munqidh, p. 131].
Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi
(544 - 606 AH)
"The way of Sufis for seeking Knowledge, is to disconnect themselves
from this worldly life, and they keep themselves constantly busy with
Dhikrullah, in all their actions and behaviors."
['Itiqadaat Furaq al-Muslimeen, p. 72, 73]
Imam Nawawi (620 - 676 AH.)
"The specifications of the Way of the Sufis are ... to keep the
Presence of Allah in your heart in public and in private; to follow the
Sunnah of the Prophet (s) ... to be happy with what Allah gave
you..."
[in his Letters, (Maqasid at-tawhid), p. 20]
Ibn Taymiyya (661 - 728 AH)
"Tasawwuf has realities and states of experience which they talk
about in their science. Some of it is that the Sufi is that one who
purifies himself from anything which distracts him from the remembrance of
Allah and who will be so filled up with knowledge of the heart and
knowledge of the mind to the point that the value of gold and stones will
be the same to him. And Tasawwuf is safeguarding the precious meanings
and leaving behind the call to fame and vanity in order to
reach the state of Truthfulness, because the best of humans after the
prophets are the Siddiqeen, as Allah mentioned them in the verse:
"(And all who obey Allah and the Apostle) are in the company of those
on whom is the grace of Allah: of the prophets, the sincere lovers of
truth, the martyrs and the righteous; Ah! what a beautiful
fellowship." (an-Nisa', 69,70)
"...some people criticised
Sufiyya and Tasawwuf and they said they were innovators, out of the
Sunnah, but the truth is they are striving in Allah's obedience [mujtahidin
fi ta'at-illahi], as others of Allah's People strove in Allah's obedience.
So from them you will find the Foremost in Nearness by virtue of his
striving [as-saabiq ul-muqarrab bi hasab ijtihadihi]. And some of them are
from the People of the Right hand [Ahl al-Yameen mentioned in Qur'an
in Sura Waqi'ah], but slower in their progress.... And this is the origin
of Tasawwuf. And after that origin, it has been spread and [tasha'abat wa
tanawa'at] has its main line and its branches.
[Majmu'a Fatawa Ibn Taymiyya al-Kubra, Vol. 11, Book of Tasawwuf, p. 497].
"The miracles of saints are
absolutely true and correct, by the acceptance of all Muslim scholars. And
the Qur'an has pointed to it in different places, and the Hadith of the
Prophet (s) has mentioned it, and whoever denies the miraculous power of
saints are only people who are innovators and their followers." [al-Mukhtasar
al-Fatawa, page 603]. Ibn Taymiyya says, "what is considered as a
miracle for a saint is that sometimes the saint might hear something
that others do not hear and they might see something that others do not
see, while not in a sleeping state, but in a wakened state of vision. And
he can know something that others cannot know, through revelation or
inspiration."
[Majmu'a Fatawi Ibn Taymiyya, Vol. 11, p. 314].
Ibn Khaldun
(733 - 808 AH.)
"The way of the Sufis is the way of the Salaf, the preceding Scholars
between the Sahaba and Tabi'een of those who followed good
guidance..."
[Muqaddimat ibn al-Khaldun, p. 328]
Tajuddin as-Subki (727 - 771 AH.)
"May Allah praise them [the Sufis] and greet them and may Allah cause
us to be with them in Paradise. Too many things havebeen said about them
and too many ignorant people have said things which are not related to
them. And the truth is that those people left the world and were busy with
worship. ...They are the People of Allah, whose supplications and prayer
Allah accepts and by means of whom Allah supports human
beings"
[Mu'eed an-Na'am p. 190, the chapter entitled Tasawwuf]
Jalaluddin as-Suyuti
(849 - 911 AH.)
"At-Tasawwuf in itself is the best and most honorable knowledge. It
explains how to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet (s) and to put aside
innovation."
[Ta'yid al-Haqiqat al-'Aliyya,p 57]
Ibn Qayyim (691 - 751 AH.)
"We can witness the greatness of the People of Sufism, in the eyes of
the earliest generations of Muslims by what has been mentioned by Sufyan
ath-Thawri (d. 161 AH), one of the greatest imams of the second century
and one of the foremost legal scholars. He said, "If it had not been
for Abu Hisham as-Sufi (d. 115) I would never have perceived the action of
the subtlest forms of hypocrisy in the self... Among the best of
people is the Sufi learned in jurisprudence."
[Manazil as-Sa'ireen.]
Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab (1115 - 1201 AH.)
"My father Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab and I do not deny or criticize
the science of Sufism, but on the contrary we support it, because it
purifies the external and the internal of the hidden sins, which are
related to the heart and to the outward form. Even though the individual
might externally be on the right way, internally he might be on the wrong
way. Sufism is necessary to correct it."
[ad-Dia'at mukathaffa did ash-shaykh ibn Abdul Wahhab, p. 85]
Ibn 'Abidin
(1198 - 1252 AH.)
"The Seekers in this Sufi Way don't hear except from the Divine
Presence and they don't love any but Him. If they remember Him they cry,
and if they thank Him they are happy; ... May Allah bless them."
[Risa'il Ibn 'Abidin p. 172 & 173]
Muhammad 'Abduh
(1265 - 1323 AH.)
"Tasawwuf appeared in the first century of Islam and it received a
tremendous honor. It purified the self and straightened the conduct and
gave knowledge to people from the Wisdom and Secrets of the Divine
Presence."
[Majallat al-Muslim, 6th ed. 1378 H, p. 24].
Maulana Abul Hasan 'Ali an-Nadawi
(1331 AH b.)
"These Sufis were initiating people on Oneness and sincerity in
following the Sunnah of the Prophet (s) and to repent from their sins and
to be away from every disobedience of Allah 'Azza wa Jall. Their guides
were encouraging them to move in the way of perfect Love to Allah 'Azza wa
Jall.
"...In Calcutta India, everyday more than 1000 people were taking
initiation into Sufism. "...by the influence of these Sufi people,
thousands and thousands and hundreds of thousands in India found their
Lord and reached a state of Perfection through the Islamic religion."
[Muslims in India, p. 140-146]
Maulana Abul 'Ala Maudoodi (1321
- 1399 AH.)
"Sufism is a reality whose signs are the love of Allah and the love
of the Prophet (saw), where one absents oneself for their sake, and one is
annihilated from anything other than them, and it is to know how to follow
the footsteps of the Prophet (s). ..Tasawwuf searched for the sincerity in
the heart and the purity in the intention and the trustworthiness in
obedience in an individual's actions."
"The Divine Law and Sufism: "Sufism and Shariah: what is the
similitude of the two? They are like the body and the soul. The body is
the external knowledge, the Divine Law, and the spirit is the internal
knowledge."
[Mabadi' al-Islam, p. 17]
In sum, Sufism, in the present, as in the
past, is the effective means for spreading the reality of Islam, extending
the knowledge and understanding of spirituality and fostering happiness
and peace. With it,
Muslims can improve, transform, and elevate themselves and find salvation
from the ignorance of this world and the misguided pursuit of some
materialistic fantasy.
with permission from:
compiled by the Shaykh of Sabri Chishtiyya Silsila
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