Quora Answer: What is the View of the 4 Major A’immah of Fiqh on Sufism?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “What is the view of the 4 major a’immah of fiqh on Sufism?” 

Sufism, otherwise known as taswawwuf, or ‘irfan, is the field of spirituality, one of the religious sciences.  It is neither a distinct sect, nor can it be divorced from Islam.  A Sufi is a master of this field of the religious science.  A practitioner of Sufism is not actually a Sufi, any more than any person who studies fiqh, jurisprudence, is automatically a faqih, jurist.  Almost every major scholar of Sunni Islam either subscribes to some of the doctrines of taswawwuf, or had teachers who did.  In effect, they were almost all Sufis. 

The founder of the Maliki madzhab, Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Malik ibn Anas (r.a.) said, “Whoever practices taswawwuf without learning shari’ah corrupts his faith, while whoever learns shari’ah without practicing taswawwuf corrupts himself.  Only he who combines the two proves true.”  This was a famous saying related by the muhaddits, Imam Ahmad ibn Ahmad az-Zarruq (q.s.), in Qawa’id at-Taswawwuf; the hafizh, Mulla Nur ad-Din Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn Sulthan Muhammad al-Hirawi al-Qari (r.a.), in Sharh ‘Ayn al-‘Ilm wa Zayn al-Hilm; the muhaddits, Imam ‘Ali ibn Ahmad al-‘Adawi ad-Dardir (r.a.), in Hashiyat al-‘Adawi ‘ala Sharh Abu al-Hasan li Risalat ibn Abu Zayd al-Muswammat Kifayat ath-Thalib ar-Rabbani li Risalat ibn Abu Zayd al-Qayrawani fi Madzhab Ma’alik; and Shaykh Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Ajibah (q.s.), in Iqaz al-Himam fi Sharh al-Hikam. 

Imam Abu Hanifah Nu’man ibn Tsabit (r.a.) is the founder of the Hanafi madzhab.  It was reported by Imam Muhammad Amin ibn ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn ‘Abidin (r.a.), in ad-Durr al-Mukhtar, that Imam Abu Hanifah (r.a.) said, “If it were not for two years, I would have perished.  For two years I accompanied Imam Ja’far asw-Swadiq and I acquired the spiritual knowledge that made me a gnostic in the Way.”  He was referring to Imam Ja’far ibn Muhammad asw-Swadiq (q.s.), who was his teacher, and the teacher of Imam Malik (r.a.). 

This was further explained by Imam ibn ‘Abidin (r.a.), “Abu ‘Ali Daqqaq received his path from Abu al-Qasim al-Naswirabadi, who received it from ash-Shibli, who received it from as-Sirr as-Saqathi who received it from al Ma’ruf al-Karkhi, who received it from Dawud ath-Tha’i, who received the knowledge, both the external and the internal, from the imam, Abu Hanifah.”  Shaykh Abu ‘Ali Hasan ibn ‘Ali ad-Daqqaq (q.s.) was the shaykh of Imam Abu al-Qasim ‘Abd al-Karim ibn Huzan al-Qushayri (r.a.). 

Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Idris ash-Shafi’i (r.a.) wrote, in his Diwan: 

“Be both a faqih and a Sufi; do not be only one of them.

Verily, by Allah’s Truth, I am advising you sincerely.” 

The muhaddits, Imam Isma’il ibn Muhammad al-‘Ajluni (r.a.) recorded, in Kashf al-Khafa wa Muzil al-Albas, that Imam ash-Shafi’i (r.a.) said, “Three things in this world have been made lovely to me: avoiding affectation, treating people kindly, and following the way of taswawwuf.” 

Imam Shams ad-Din Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr ibn al-Qayyim (r.a.), in Madarij as-Salikin; and Imam Abu al-Fadhl ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abu Bakr Jalal ad-Din al-Khuḍayri as-Suyuthi (q.s.), in Ta’yid al-Haqiqah al-‘Aliyyah, quoted Imam ash-Shafi’i (r.a.) thus: “I accompanied the Sufis and received from them but three lessons: their statement that time is a sword; if you do not cut it, it cuts you; their statement that if you do not keep your ego busy with truth it will keep you busy with falsehood; and their statement that deprivation is immunity.” 

Imam Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Ghumari (r.a.) wrote, in Tashnif al-Adzan, “The Sufis are often accused of bid’ah, but Imam ash-Shafi’i (r.a.) refuted these individuals: ‘Anything which has a support from the shari’ah is not bid’ah, even if the early Muslims did not do it.’” 

I Imam Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal (r.a.) founded the Hanbali madzhab.  It was related from Imam Ibrahim ibn ‘Abdullah al-Qalanasi (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 ibn Hanbal (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 Tanwir al-Qulub. 

As can be seen, Sufism has always been part of Islam.  There has never been any controversy of it until this recent age, both by its opponents and proponents, and primarily due to ignorance.  It is particularly galling when we encounter these so-called “Modern Sufis”, who play at spirituality, divorcing the science from the Qur’an and the Prophet (s.a.w.), which this is based on.