THE SCHOLARS OF THE SUFIS
THEY ARE THE GENUINE FOLLOWERS OF THE SALAF
Quotes from pages 59-61 & 164-165
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CHAPTER IX
A SELECTION OF THE WORDS OF THE SUFIS
ON SPIRITUAL STATIONS AND TRANSIENT STATES
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DIVINE ONENESS [TAWHĪD]
Yūsuf b. Husayn al-Rāzī29—may Allah have mercy upon him—said:
“Someone stood up in the presence of Dhū al-Nūn al-Misrī30—may Allah have mercy upon him—and enquired about Divine Oneness [tawhīd]. Dhū al-Nūn explained: „It is that you know that the power of Allah, the Exalted, is in all things without admixture, that He creates all things without difficulty, that He is the source of everything He produces, and that His act of creation is not caused by anything. There is no disposer over the affairs in the celestial realms or in the lower realms besides Allah, the Exalted. Whatever you may imagine, Allah, the Exalted, is totally dissimilar from it.‟”
Junayd—may Allah have mercy upon him—was asked about Divine Oneness.
He replied: “Rendering Allah One by realising fully His Uniqueness through the perfection of His solitude; that He is the One and Only who begets not, nor is He begotten; by negating opposites, rivals, and the like, and rejecting that which is worshipped besides Him; [affirming this Divine Oneness] without resemblance [to the creation], modality, image, or form.
29 He is: Yūsuf b. Husayn al-Rāzī, Abū Yaʿqūb—may Allah have mercy upon him. He was the Shaykh of Ray and Jibāl in his time. He was a scholar and man of letters. His spiritual path consisted of dropping all claims to prestige, abandoning ostentation, and practicing sincerity. He died in the year 334 Hijra… [continued on p. 164].
30 He is: Dhū al-Nūn al-Miṣrī, Abū al-Fayḍ Thawbān b. Ibrāhīm—may Allah have mercy upon him. He was a master of this discipline and one of the rarities of his time in Sacred Knowledge, scrupulousness, spiritual states, and etiquette. When the people of scrupulousness were mentioned in the presence of [the Caliph] al-Mutawakkil, he would cry and say: “When the people of scrupulousness are mentioned, they can‟t compare with Dhū al-Nūn.” He was thin and of reddish complexion. He died in the year 245 Hijra… [continued on p. 165].
[59]
“He is One deity, the Unique, to whom all turn in need, and there is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing and All-Seeing.”
The Sufis were in unanimous agreement that Allah, the Exalted, is described with every attribute with which He described Himself, and is named with every name with which He named Himself. He is Pre-eternal with His names and attributes and does not resemble the creation in any way whatsoever.
He is not a corporeal body [jism], shape [shabaḥ], image [ṣūra], atom [jawhar], or an accident [ʿaraḍ]. He is neither described with movement [ḥaraka] nor stillness [sakana].
Nothing is added or subtracted from Him.
He neither possesses dimensions [abʿāḍ] and parts [ajzā’], nor limbs [jawāriḥ] and appendages [aʿḍā’].
He is not located in directions [jihāt] or places [amkina] and He is not subject to imperfections. He is not overtaken by slumber and He cannot be delimited by allusions.
He is neither encompassed by a place nor subject to time. Spatial contact [with objects] is [rationally] impossible for Him, as is indwelling in locations.
He is not encompassed by thoughts, He is not covered by veils, and visions apprehend Him not. His Divine Entity is not qualified by a modality and His actions are not performed with burden.
The Sufis have said that the pillars of Divine Oneness are seven:
[1] singling out the eternal from the contingent,
[2] declaring the Pre-eternal [Allah] divinely transcendent above having the contingent comprehend Him,
[3] giving up attempts at equating the attributes,
[4] removing the principle of causality [ʿilla] from the Divine Lordship,
[5] Exalting the Real [Allah] above being subject to contingent power and bound by it,
[6] declaring Him divinely transcendent above being subject to [mental] discrimination and consideration, and
[7] exalting Him above analogy [qiyās].
THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES
The Sufis are in unanimous agreement that Allah, the Exalted, possesses real attributes by which He is described, such as: Knowledge, Omnipotence, Majesty, Mightiness, Pre-eternality, Life, Honour, Clemency [ḥilm], Wisdom, Will, and Speech. They unanimously agree that these attributes are not corporeal bodies,
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CHAPTER IX: SPIRITUAL STATIONS & TRANSIENT STATES
accidents, or atoms.
They believe that He possesses real Hearing, Sight, a Face, and a Hand—dissimilar from the hearing and sight of others and not resembling other hands and faces.
The attributes of Allah, the Exalted, are not physical limbs, parts, or appendages. When we speak of His attributes, we negate their opposites, affirm them in themselves, and maintain that they subsist with Allah, the Exalted.
The Sufis have differed about „coming‟ [ityān], „arriving‟ [majī’], and „descent‟ [nuzūl]. The majority of them said that they are attributes befitting Him and are not to be expressed any further than their recitation and narration.
They said that faith in them is obligatory and that it is unnecessary to investigate them.
Muḥammad b. Mūsā al-Wāsiṭī31—may Allah have mercy upon him—said:
“Just as His Divine Entity is not an effect [of something else], similarly, His attributes are not effects [of something else]. The manifestation of His timeless self-reliance [ṣamadiyya] causes [one to] despair from uncovering the realities of the attributes or the subtleties of the Divine Entity.”
The majority of them said that it is impossible that Allah, the Exalted, originates an attribute that He did not possess in beginningless pre-eternity [azal]. They said that He did not acquire the name „Creator‟ only after creating the creation, or the name „Originator‟ after originating existence, or the name „Fashioner‟ after fashioning images.
Had He only acquired those names after these acts, He would have been imperfect in beginningless pre-eternity and would have become perfect by the creation. Exalted and transcendent is Allah above that! All of His attributes by which He describes Himself are beginningless.
31 He is: Muḥammad b. Mūsā al-Wāsiṭī, Abū Bakr al-Farghānī —may Allah have mercy upon him. He was originally from Fergana and was from the Shaykhs of the folk and one of the senior companions of Junayd and Sufyān al-Thawrī—may Allah have mercy upon them. No one spoke about the fundamentals of Sufism quite like him. He was a scholar in theology and in the outward sciences. He entered Khorasan and settled in Merv. He died in the year 320 Hijra… [continued on p. 165].
[61]
which may appear in the passing whims of your heart—Allah, the Exalted is far removed from all of that and is Greater, more Glorious, and more Tremendous.”
He died in the year 291 after Hijra. May Allah have mercy upon him.
ʿABD AL-WĀḤID B. ZAYD
He is: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid b. Zayd, one of the notable companions of Hasan al-Basrī—may Allah have mercy upon both of them. For over forty years, he would pray the morning prayer with the ablution of the evening prayer. His statements include:
“The best state a servant can have with Allah, the Exalted, is compliance with Him; if He keeps him in this world due to his obedience, it is more beloved to him, and if He takes him [in death], it is more beloved to him.”
ABŪ YAʿQŪB AL-RĀZĪ
He is: Yūsuf b. Husayn al-Rāzī, Abū Yaʿqūb—may Allah have mercy upon him. He was the Shaykh of Ray and Jibāl in his time. He was a scholar and man of letters. His spiritual path consisted of dropping all claims to prestige, abandoning ostentation, and practicing sincerity. He died in the year 334 after Hijra. His statements include:
“O Allah! We spend the night as seedlings of Your bounty, so do not make us the harvest of Your chastisement!”
“He who wishes to be saved from the transgression of knowledge must engage in devout worship; and he who wishes to be saved from the transgression of wealth must engage in renunciation of it.”
“If you see an aspirant busying himself with dispensations and extraneous knowledge, know that nothing shall come of him!”
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APPENDIX: BIOGRAPHIES
DHŪ AL-NŪN AL-MISRĪ
He is: Dhū al-Nūn al-Miṣrī, Abū al-Fayḍ Thawbān b. Ibrāhīm—may Allah have mercy upon him. He was a master of this discipline and one of the rarities of his time in Sacred Knowledge, scrupulousness, spiritual states, and etiquette. When the people of scrupulousness were mentioned in the presence of [the Caliph] al-Mutawakkil, he would cry and say:
“When the people of scrupulousness are mentioned, they can’t compare with Dhū al-Nūn.”
He was thin and of reddish complexion. He died in the year 245 after Hijra. His statements include:
“Life is made good by keeping the company of the righteous and goodness is gathered in a pious companion: if you forget, he will remind you, and if you remember, he will assist you.”
“O assembly of aspirants! Whoever among you desires the spiritual path, let him meet with the scholars while displaying ignorance, meet with the ascetics while displaying covetousness [for the world], and meet with the Gnostics while displaying silence.”
He was once asked about the people of lowly character. He replied: “He who neither knows the path to Allah, the Exalted, nor seeks to know it.”
“From the signs of Allah’s Divine displeasure with a servant is when the servant fears poverty.”
“From the signs of being expelled from Allah’s Divine presence is being kept from His remembrance.”
“He who looks to the people’s faults will be blind to his own faults.”
ABŪ BAKR AL-FARGHĀNĪ
He is: Muḥammad b. Mūsā al-Wāsiṭī, Abū Bakr al-Farghānī—may Allah have mercy upon him. He was originally from Fergana and was from the Shaykhs of the folk and one of the senior companions of Junayd and Sufyān al-Thawrī—may Allah have mercy upon them. No one spoke about the fundamentals of...
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علماء الصوفية
هم السلفية الحقيقيون
THE SCHOLARS OF THE SUFIS
THEY ARE THE GENUINE FOLLOWERS OF THE SALAF
Shaykh ʿAbd al-Hādī Kharsa
Translated by Suraqah Abdul Aziz
With a Biography & Introduction
By Shaykh Gibril Fouad Haddad
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Sunni Publications © 2011
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