“Highest of the Sufis”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Shaykha Camille Adams Helminski wrote, in her article, “Women & Sufism”, that when Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn ‘Isa al-Bisthami (q.s.), was asked who his master was, he said it was an old woman whom he had met in the desert.  This woman had called him a vain tyrant, and showed him why: by requiring a lion to carry a sack of flour, he was oppressing a creature Allah  (s.w.t.) himself had left unburdened, and by wanting recognition for such miracles, he was showing his vanity.  Her words gave him spiritual guidance for some time.  Another woman for whom Shaykh Bayazid (q.s.) had great regard for was Shaykha Fathimah an-Nishaburi (q.s.), of whom he said, “There was no station about which I told her that she had not already undergone.” 

Someone once asked the great Egyptian Sufi master, Shaykh Dzu an-Nun Abu al-Faydh Tsawban ibn Ibrahim al-Miswri (q.s.), “Who, in your opinion, is the highest among the Sufis?” 

He replied, “A lady in Makkah, called Fathimah an-Nishaburi, whose discourse displayed a profound apprehension of the inner meanings of the Qur’an.”  Further pressed to comment on Shaykh Fathimah (q.s.), he added, “She is of the saints of Allah (s.w.t.), and my teacher.” 

She once counselled him, “In all your actions, watch that you act with sincerity and in opposition to your lower self.”  She also said, “Whoever does not have Allah (s.w.t.) in his consciousness is erring and in delusion, whatever language he speaks, whatever company he keeps.  Yet whoever holds Allah’s (s.w.t.) Company never speaks except with sincerity and assiduously adheres to a humble reserve and earnest devotion in his conduct.”