A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Imam Abu al-Qasim al-Junayd ibn Muhammad al-Baghdadi ( q.s. ) visited Shaykh Abu al-Hasan Sirri ibn Mughallis as-Saqathi ( q.s. ) and found him in a state of contraction.   He asked, “What is wrong, Shaykh ?   Why are you in contraction?”   He replied, “A young man came to me and asked me, ‘What is the reality of repentance?’   I told him, ‘That you do not forget your wrong action.’   The young man said, ‘Rather repentance is that you forget your wrong action.’   Then he left me.”   Imam Junayd ( q.s. ) continued, “I said, ‘What the young man said is correct, because when I was in a state of concealment and then He Moved me to witnessing purity, remembering concealment in the state of purity is concealment.’”   Shaykh Sirri ( q.s. ) looked at the people of the beginning while Imam Junayd ( q.s. ) looked at the people of the end.   Each is correct, and Allah ( s.w.t. ) knows best.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Imam Abu al-Qasim ‘Abd al-Karim ibn Huzan al-Qushayri ( r.a. ) recorded, in his Risalah al-Qushayriyyah , Shaykh Abu al-Hasan Sirri ibn Mughallis as-Saqathi ( q.s. ) was Imam Abu al-Qasim al-Junayd ibn Muhammad al-Baghdadi’s ( q.s. ) maternal uncle and teacher and a disciple of Shaykh Abu Mahfuzh Ma’ruf ibn Firuz al-Karkhi ( q.s. ).   He was unique in his age as regards pious scrupulosity and the knowledge of the Prophet’s ( s.a.w. ) custom and Divine Oneness.   Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Husayn ( r.a. ) say, he heard Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Ali ath-Thusi ( r.a. ) say, he heard Shaykh Abu ‘Amr ibn ‘Alwan ( r.a. ) say, he heard Shaykh Abu al-‘Abbas ibn Masruq ( r.a. ) say, “I heard that Sirri as-Saqathi was plying his trade at the bazaar, while he was a companion of Ma’ruf al-Karkhi.   Once, Ma’ruf came to him with an orphan boy.   He said, ‘Clothe this orphan!’   Sirri said, ‘I clothed him.’   Ma’ruf rejoiced a...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Abu al-Hasan Sirri ibn Mughallis as-Saqathi ( q.s. ) was the shaykh of Imam Abu al-Qasim al-Junayd ibn Muhammad al-Baghdad ( q.s. ).   Imam Junayd al-Baghdadi ( q.s. ) said, “The fake Sufi steals the words of the real Sufis and present them as their own; they trick people with these beautiful teachings which they are merely imitators of.  They do not have true knowledge of that which they speak of.  Many of the great Sufi shuyukh speak of the deceptions of false Sufis.  These people take the title ‘Sufi’ because it gives them a certain amount of prestige and power, and they take advantage of those who cannot tell false Sufism from the real.  There are many who are ‘ ‘Abdullah ’ in this world, but the true and sincere ‘ ‘Abdullah ’ is he, who is ‘ 'Abd al-Muswthafa ’.  If it is not so, then he is surely an ‘ ‘Abd ash-Shaythan ’.   Shaykh Sirri as-Saqathi ( q.s. ) said, “May Allah first Make you a muhad...