No Better People Than the Sufis

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Imam Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal (r.a.) founded the Hanbali madzhab.  It was related, from Imam Ibrahim ibn ‘Abdullah al-Qalanisi (r.a.), that Imam Ahmad (r.a.) said, about the Sufis, “I do not know people better than them.”  This was recorded by Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ahmad as-Saffarini al-Hanbali (r.a.), in Ghidha’ al-Albab li Sharh Manzhumat al-Adab. 

Advising his son, Imam ‘Abdullah ibn Ahmad (r.a.), Imam Ahmad (r.a.) said, “O my son, you have to sit with the people of taswawwuf, because they are like a fountain of knowledge and they keep the remembrance of Allah (s.w.t.) in their hearts.  They are the ascetics and they have the most spiritual power.”  This was reported, by Shaykh Muhammad Amin ibn Fathullah Zadah al-Kurdi (r.a.), in his Tanwir al-Qulub.