Imam al Ghazali said about Ihsan: Simply, Ihsan in the beginning of Islam was referred to as Ihsan or Zuhd which means doing without; a form of purification. Later it became known as Sunni Sufism in which participants have an unconditional discipline of following the Sunni Order (Way of the Prophet). Ihsan is mainly an ethical and spiritual course which respects and follows the scholars of Ihsan as well as the other two parties of scholars namely, the scholars of Iman (Aqeedah) i.e. Imam Ash’ari, Maturidi and the Salaf (first generations of muslims) as well as the scholars of Islamic Jurisprudence (Law) i.e. Imam Shafi’i, Hanball, Malik, and Imam Abu Hanifa.
Ihsan is based on three dimensions: For the sake of self cleansing, one asks Allah for forgiveness repeatedly, over and over again (throughout life). This is followed by the multi repeated remembrance of bearing witness that there is no god except Allah. Thirdly, by the abundant repeating of the praise of Allah, His angels and for the Prophet Muhammad as prescribed in the Qur’an – praise and peace be upon him. (From Foundations of Islamic Belief by Imam al Ghazali)
Allah in the Qur’an refers to those who Follow Islam by three names, these names give us the three levels of People in Islam.
He (Aza wa Jaal) calls People in the Qur’an “Muslim”, this is the first level and the lowest. Then He (Aza wa Jaal) Calls People in the Qur’an “Mu’min” for example Wal Muslimun, Wa Muslimat, Wal Mu’minun Wa Mu’minat (the male and female Muslim, the male and female believer), this is the second level and is higher than the first because He is calling them by the strength of their Iman.
He (Aza wa Jaal) then calls People in the Qur’an “Muhsin” (from the word Ihsan), this is Higher then a Mu’min (from the word Iman) because He is calling them by the perfection of their selfs.
Muhsin is the one who does Ihsan, Allah says “Those who believe and do righteous good deeds, there is no sin on them for what they ate (in the past), if they fear Allah, and believe and do righteous good deeds, and again fear Allah and believe, and once again fear Allah and do good deeds with Ihsan (perfection). And Allah loves the good-doers” (Muhsinnun) (5:93), this is the highest level, the word Muhsin is derived from the word Ihsan and means those who perfect themselves and their acts.
Allah gives us the steps and formula for becoming one of these people in verse 5:93, He says First believe and do Good deeds, then fear Allah, then again Believe and do Good deeds and Again Fear Allah, and once again fear Allah and do good deeds with Ihsan, meaning perfect the deeds you are already doing, then after that Allah will love you.
This is a Tariqa (method or path) outlined in the Quran for achieving Ihsan and becoming one of the Muhsinuun, those who perfect themselves because to fear Allah you have to be aware of him in your life, be able to perceive and know the thing you are to fear because of it’s status or nature.
So when Allah says “fear Allah and once again Fear Allah” He is saying to you be aware of Allah and then again increase that awareness so you come to know Him, or be one of the Arifeen (the knowers as the Quran states) “That is,
The aim of this awareness in the verse, in reality is to stop you from reverting back to a lack of perfection, and not back to a state of sinfulness, because if you have reached this point in the path you would have already rid your self of your sins at the start, and began the process of perfecting your Life, this is the path of Ihsan.
We are told in the Quran Jibril (as) took the form of a perfected human being, Rijaalun Sawiya (19:17) when he came to see Maryam (as), we can say the Angels are always perfect but then we have to ask why Allah emphasised this, it is become Jibril emphasised this in His appearance to Mary (as) so she could trust Him, so there is a difference in appearance between those who are perfected and those who are not.
In Islam’s history their have been many groups who have deviated in any one of the three areas of knowledge, Fiqh, Aqeedah and Tassawwuf or any combination of them, the most famous are the Khawarij, Rafidiyah, Kharijiya, Qadriya (the rejecters of destiny, not the Qadiri sufi tariqa) and Marjiyah, most sects which are not considered sunni muslims have deviated on the topic of Aqeedah which can take you out of Islam, in contrast you can deviate on matters of Fiqh (law) and Tasawwuuf (sufism) and still be considered a muslim, although some matters in both Fiqh and Tassawwuf touch on Aqeedah and these are more difficult to judge.
Just like any sect which deviated in Aqeedah others deviated in Tassawwuf and our Ullumah dealt with them just like any other sect, this never invalidated the existence of Tasawwuf only the beliefs of that sect but in the modern world where people have never heard of the word Ihsan or Tazkiyah, mentioned in both Ahadith and the Qur’an, they make takfir on more than half the muslim Ummah who practice sufism out of ignorance.
The result of getting rid of Tassawwuf, which some people want, is the Kufr in the last part of the hadith of Jibril, and all the commandments in the Qur’an to do Tazkiyah an Nafs. Our Ullumah did not leave a single thing in the Deen but they studied it systematised it and wrote about it, and explained what is part of it and what isn’t under specific Headings and labels, this is the same as any modern field of science that categorises and labels everything for the sake of ease in teaching it.
The Ullumah of the past reformed Tassawwuf from the various beliefs introduced by any number of heretical sects Islam had to face, and spoke about what is part of it and not part of it, they never made the Kufr claim that it wasn’t part of Islam. It was the people who only learned Fiqh (law) that thought all of Islam was just Fiqh and Aqeedah, but Rasul Allah (saws) himself said i have only come to perfect the character of Man.
This is what both Fiqh and Ihsan are supposed to lead to, that is their entire aim and purpose and Fiqh doesn’t deal with Ihsan it only sets the boundaries of what is or isn’t permissible while trying to achieve Ihsan. This is why Imam Malik said “He who practices Tasawwuf without learning Sacred Law (Fiqh) corrupts his faith (Iman, because the self and its perfection relate to Aqeedah which give the heart it’s direction in life), while he who learns Sacred Law (Fiqh) without practicing Tasawwuf corrupts himself (because fiqh sets the boundaries for what actions are acceptable, but Law alone hardens the heart and can corrupt it entirely). Only he who combines the two proves true.”
The Fitnah of modern sects that have sprung up in the past hundred years, is that they deliberately don’t mention the fact that all the fiqh they use comes from a madhhabs, Islams schools of Law who all accepted Tassawwuf (sufism), Saudi Fiqh for example is Hanbali Fiqh, they leave this portion of the equation out in their words so that their words sound like they are speaking for all of Islam, when no scholar in the entire History of Islam thought he Had a right to do so.
The Faqih (Judge) has an obligation to find out which madhhab a particular group of Tassawwuf He criticize’s is following, because unless he is blind and thinks they all follow the same school of law, which is impossible because the people of Tassawwuf make up more than Half of the entire Ummah, then he has no right to force his unique fiqh (rules) onto followers of another madhhab, this is common sense and understood by all Ullumah around the world.
In other words the Saudi people who follow Hanbali fiqh are not allowed to force their laws onto Turkish sufi’s who follow Hanafi fiqh, or the Salafi’s who follow Shafii Fiqh are not allowed to force their laws onto African sufi’s who follow Maliki fiqh.
The scholar has to also know his interpretation isn’t absolute and the end of the Matter unless He thinks He is an Absolute Mujtahid (highest level of Scholar) capable of starting his own school of Law like the four great Imams of this Ummah, if he isn’t any of that then he is a Mujtahid making Taqlid (imitation) of the methodology of his madhhab, and if He isn’t that then he is a scholar Making Taqlid of the Mujtahids of His Madhhab and that is where all the scholars are today since there are no more Mujatahid Imams alive.
If that is his situation then he is limited to the Law of His Madhhab alone, and can’t comment on the Law of another school which He isn’t qualified in, and again this is common sense among the Ullumah.