To say that the Scholars did not develop a science around everything Allah and his messenger (saws) mentioned of Ihsan, Human perfection, just as they did with Islam and Iman, is to accuse them of kufr in the ayat (verses) of Allah and to say they have done nothing over the past 1400 years with the knowledge Allah gave them.
A ridiculous accusation as the Scholar’s where meticulous in their research and sifting through what the Quran and Sunnah mentioned, there is no other science in the history of Islam which deals with the topic of Ihsan except Tasawwuf (sufism).
This is very clear from our history, in Fiqh we have four madhhabs the Hanafi, Shafii, Maliki and Hanbali, in Aqeedah we have similar schools al Tahawi, Maturidi and Ahsari, and in Tassawwuf we also have Madhhabs (schools) the Naqshbandi, Shadhili, Rifai and Qadiri, other principal schools are the Ashrafiyya, Badawiyya, Bektashiyya, Chishtiyya, Darqawiyya, Dasuqiyya, Firdawsiyya, Khalwatiyya, Kubrawiyya, Mawlawiyya, Suhrawardiyya, Tijaniyya, and Yasawiyya, all named after a scholar from the region they were founded in.
“Although the practices, appearances and internal structures of different orders may vary from one to another, from region to region, there are no fundamental differences between the tariqas, since the ultimate goal is essentially the same. The variations have nothing to do with religious principles, the Sufi orders are essentially the same, just as the differences in schools of law refer to methods and not the essence of religion”.
Each one of the schools dealt with one of the sciences of the religion, mentioned in the hadith of Jibril, this is how our Ullumah treated the Knowledge Allah entrusted them to know and discover from what they learnt about the universe and our world, this is their legacy and our heritage from the past 1400 years.
The Ottoman Khalifah for example was officially Maturidi in it’s Aqeedah, the Ottoman Khalif Muhamad al Fatah who first conquered Constantinople by Consensus was Hanafi in Fiqh (law), Maturidi in Aqeedah (creed) and Naqshbandi in Tasawwuf (Ihsan).
To fight all the Finah (strife and troubles) being caused in the world today we have to know Ilm al Nafs (the science of the self) so we won’t become corrupted, because it is through these same sciences of the self that these fitnah’s (strife and troubles) are being caused, man self has been studied by the corporations and manipulated against him so they can profit from his weakness’s.
The Scholars throughout History understood this and acted accordingly, it was for example only after Salah al Deen Ayoubi, who conquered Jerusalem from the crusaders, repented from his old life and began practicing Tasawwuf did he see a need to fight for that city.
Imam al-Hasan al-Basri (d. 110 AH) was a Wali (friend) of Allah and one of the early people who practiced Tasawwuf and developed the science. He (ra) was the son of a freedwoman of Umm Salama’s (the Prophet’s wife) and a freedman of Zayd ibn Thabit’s (the Prophet’s stepson), this great Imam of Basra (Iraq),was known for his strict and encompassing embodiment of the Sunna of the Prophet. He was also famous for his immense knowledge, his austerity and asceticism. Ibn al-Jawzi wrote a 100-page book on his life and manners entitled Adab al-Shaykh al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan al-Basri.
The hadith master Abu Nu`aym al-Isfanahi (d. 430 AH) mentions in his biographies of companions, tabiin, saints and sufis entitled Hilyat al-awliya’ (The adornment of the saints) that it is al-Hasan’s student `Abd al-Wahid ibn Zayd (d. 177) who was the first person to build a Sufi khaniqa or guest-house and school at Abadan on the present-day border of Iran with Iraq (Abu Nu`aym, Hilyat al-awliya’ 6:155).
Imam Abu Hanifa (d.150 AH) who founded the Hanafi madhhab said “If it were not for two years, I would have perished.” He said, “for two years I accompanied Sayyidina Ja’far as-Sadiq (a great grandson of Imam Ali) and I acquired the spiritual knowledge that made me a gnostic in the Way” (Ad-Durr al-Mukhtar, vol 1. p. 43).
Imam Jaffar like Abu Bakr was called al Siddiq, He was a Major Imam of Ahl al Bayt, a descendant of Rasul Allah (saws) his lineage to the prophet (saws) goes back through his father Sayidina Muhammad al-Baqir (r.a), ibn (son of) Zayn al-Abdin (r.a), ibn Husayn (r.a) ibn Imam Ali (r.a).
Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 161 AH) was a Mujtahid Imam, “Commander of the Believers in Hadith” – He achieved the highest level in hadith Mastership from the first days of Islam, he also earned the qualifications (titles) of Shaykh al-Islam, the Imam of hadith Masters, and the leader of all the practicing Ulema in his time (al-Dhahabi). His father was a junior Tabi‘i (one of the early generations of muslims) Muhaddith and he thus began his scholarly career at home.
Abu Nu`aym in his Hilyat al-awliya’, states that Sufyan al-Thawri said: If it were not for Abu Hashim al-Sufi (d. 115 AH) I would have never perceived the presence of the subtlest forms of hypocrisy in the self… Among the best of people is the Sufi learned in jurisprudence (law).
Abu Hashim al-Zahid (the sufi) said: “Allah has stamped alienation upon the world in order that the friendly company of the muridin (seekers) consist solely in being with Him and not with the world, and in order that those who obey Him come to Him by means of avoiding the world. The People of Knowledge of Allah (ahl al-ma`rifa billah) are strangers in the world and long for the hereafter.”(Abu Nu`aym, Hilyat al-awliya)
Imam Malik who founded the Maliki Madhab said:
و من تصوف و لم يتفقه فقد تزندق من تفقه و لم يتصوف فقد تفسق و من جمع بينهما فقد تخقق
“He who practices Tasawwuf without learning Sacred Law (Fiqh) corrupts his faith, while he who learns Sacred Law (Fiqh) without practicing Tasawwuf corrupts himself. Only he who combines the two proves true.” (‘Ali al-Adawi , vol. 2, p 195.)
This is because trying to fix the self through Tassawwuf with out knowing the Law will distort the mind as it reflects upon itself, while practicing Law without knowing Tassawwuf will harden the heart until it’s rigid and stiff incapable of accepting anything outside it’s now narrow point of view.
Being able to accept and understand what is occurring around us and to us is the essence of what Islam is trying to achieve, Allah for instance will say to the people of Jannah (Heaven) just before they enter it, which is the moment they are about to experience the perfected life of Allah for the first time, “O soul made peaceful, return to your Lord, accepted and accepting” (89:28), because Allah is always revealing more of himself to creation a dead heart will be cut of from that place because they are not fit for it.
Imam Shafi’i (d.204) who founded the Shafii Madhhab said “I accompanied the Sufis for ten years and benefited from them two sayings
(“Narrated from Muhammad ibn Muh.ammad ibn Idris al-Shafi`i by al-Bayhaqi in Manaqib al-Shafi`i (2:208) cf. Ibn al-Qayyim in Madarij al-Salikin (3:128) and al-Jawab al-Kafî (p. 208-209) and al-Suyuti in Ta’yid al-H.aqiqat al-`Aliyya (p. 15)”)
The Imam also said “I accompanied the Sufi people and I received from them three (types of) knowledge: …how to speak; how to treat people with leniency and a soft heart, and they guided me in the ways of Sufism (Tassawwuf).” (Kashf al-Khafa, ‘Ajluni, vol. 1, p 341.)
And “Three things in this world have been made lovely to me: avoiding affectation, treating people kindly, and following the way of tasawwuf” (al-`Ajluni, Kashf al-khafa wa muzil al-albas 1:341 (#1089).)
Imam Shafii wrote in al Diwan, a work of the Imam’s poetry, as Imam Malik (r.a) himself said, “(Be both) a faqih and a sufi: do not be only one of them, Verily, by Allah’s truth, I am advising you sincerely. [al-Shafii, Diwan, (Beirut and Damascus: Dar al-fikr) p. 47)
Imam al-Shafi`i advised: “If a person did NOT exercise Sufism (Tassawwuf) at the beginning of the day, he would not reach Zuhr (noon) except an idiot.” (“Abu Nu`aym narrates this from Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Fadl, from Abu al-Hasan [Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Harith] ibn al-Qattat [al-Misri], from the thiqa Muhammad ibn Abi Yahya, from the thiqa Imam Yunus ibn Abdal-A’la, from the Imam.”)
Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal (d.241AH) who founded the Hanbali Madhhab said “O my son, you have to sit with the People of Sufism (Tassawwuf), because they are like a fountain of knowledge and they keep the Remembrance of Allah in their hearts, they are the ascetics and they have the most spiritual power.” (Tanwir al-Qulub p. 405)
Muhammad Ibn Ahmad al-Saffarini al-Hanbali (d. 1188 AH) relates from Ibrahim ibn `Abd Allah al-Qalanasi that Imam Ahmad said about the Sufis: “I don’t know people better than them.” (al-Saffarini, Ghidha’ al-albab li-sharh manzumat al-adab (Cairo: Matba`at al-Najah, 1324/1906) 1:120)
Abu Isma`il `Abd Allah al-Harawi al-Ansari (d. 481AH) a Sufi shaykh, hadith master (hafiz), and Qur’anic commentator (mufassir) of the Hanbali school, and a student of Khwaja Abu al-Hasan al-Kharqani (d. 425) the grandshaykh of the early Naqshbandi Sufi path. He was a prolific author of Sufi treatises among them are Kitab `ilal al-maqamat (Book of the pitfalls of spiritual stations), describing the characteristics of spiritual states for the student and the teacher in the Sufi path, and Kitab sad maydan (in Persian, Book of the hundred fields), a commentary on the meanings of love in the verse: “If you love Allah, follow me, and Allah will love you!” (3:31). This book collects al-Harawi’s lectures in the years 447-448 at the Great Mosque of Herat (in present-day Afghanistan) in which he presents his most eloquent exposition of the necessity of following the path of Tassawwuf. (documented by Dhahabi in his Tarikh al-islam and Siyar a`lam al-nubala’, Ibn Rajab in his Dhayl tabaqat al-hanabila, and Jami in his book in Persian Manaqib-i Shaykh al-Islam Ansari.)
Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi (d.606 AH) was a Shafi`i scholar of genius and a mujtahid Imam (one of the highest degrees of scholarship) in tenets of faith (Aqeedah), he was among the foremost figures of his time in mastery of rational and traditional Islamic sciences, and preserved the religion of Ahl al-Sunna from the deviations of the Mu`tazilites (a heretical sect), Shiites, Anthropomorphists (those who say Allah has a body), and other aberrant sects of his era. He said: “The way of Sufis for seeking Knowledge, is to disconnect themselves from this worldly life, and they keep themselves constantly busy with Dhikrullah, in all their actions and behaviors.” [‘Itiqadaat Furaq al-Muslimeen]
He wrote in his I`tiqadat firaq al-muslimin wa al-mushrikin: The summary of what the people of Tassawwuf say is that the way to the knowledge of Allah is self-purification and renunciation of material attachments, and this is an excellent way… The people of Tassawwuf are a folk who work with reflection and the detaching of the self from materialistic trappings. They strive in order that their inner being be solely occupied with the remembrance of Allah in all of their occupations and their actions, and they are characterized by the perfection of their manners in dealing with Allah. Verily these are the best of all the groups of human beings.
Imam Nawawi (d.676 AH) was one of the great Sufi scholars and a Wali of Allah, the strictest hadith master, and the most meticulous of jurists, he was Shaykh al-Islam, along with Imam al-Rafi`i he was the principal reference of the late Shafi`i madhhab. His books remain authoritative in the methodology of the law, in Qur’an commentary, and in hadith. His commentary of Sahih Muslim is second only to Ibn Hajar’s commentary of Sahih Bukhari. Allah gave his famous compilation of Forty Hadiths more circulation and fame than possibly any other book of hadith, large or small, and has allowed Imam Nawawi to be of immense benefit to the Islamic ummah, he was also the author of the famous Riyad al Salihin (Gardens of the Righteous).
He Said: “The specifications of the Way of the Sufis are … to keep the Presence of Allah in your heart in public and in private; to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet (s) … to be happy with what Allah gave you…” (Maqasid at-tawhid).
Imam Tajuddin as-Subki (727 – 771 AH.) a famous Mujtahid Imam said – “May Allah praise them [the Sufis] and greet them and may Allah cause us to be with them in Paradise. Too many things have been said about them and too many ignorant people have said things which are not related to them. And the truth is that those people left the world and were busy with worship. …They are the People of Allah, whose supplications and prayer Allah accepts and by means of whom Allah supports human beings” [Mu’eed an-Na’am, the chapter entitled Tasawwuf]
Imam Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi (d. 790) Was one of the foundational scholars of Usul al-fiqh, or methodology of law whose books, like Imam al-Ghazali’s, are required reading in that field, he laid great emphasis on the requirement of complete knowledge and erudition in the Arabic language, not merely correct understanding for those who practice ijtihad (legal reasoning). In his book al-Muwafaqat fi usul al-shari`a (The congruences of the sources of the Divine Law) he held that the language of the Qur’an and the Sunna is the key to the comprehension of such scholars, and that the ijtihad (legal judgment) of anyone (that is) deficient in this respect was unacceptable. Since the opinion of the mujtahid is a hujja or proof for the common person, this degree of authority necessitates direct access to the sources and full competence in Arabic. (al-Shatibi, al-Muwafaqa fi usul al-shari`a (Cairo:al-maktaba al-tijariyya al-kubra, 1975) 4:60)
He writes in his book al-Itisam: Many of the ignorant think that the Sufis are lax in conforming to Shari`a. Far be it from them to be attributed such a belief! The very first foundation of their path is the Sunna and the avoidance of what contravenes it!
Jalaluddin as-Suyuti (d.911) He was Shaykh al-Islam al-Suyuti, the Renewer (mujadid) of the Eighth Islamic century and a Mujtahid Imam, He said in his book on tasawwuf entitled Ta’yid al-haqiqa al-`aliyya wa-tashyid al-tariqa al-shadhiliyya (The upholding of the lofty truth and the buttressing of the Shadhili path): Tasawwuf in itself is a most honorable knowledge. It explains how to follow the Sunna of the Prophet and to leave innovation, how to purify the ego… and submit to Allah truly…I have looked at the matters which the Imams of Shari`a have criticized in Sufis, and I did not see a single true Sufi holding such positions. Rather, they are held by the people of innovation and the extremists who have claimed for themselves the title of Sufi while in reality they are not…Pursuit of the science of the hearts, knowledge of its diseases such as jealousy, arrogance and pride, and leaving them are an obligation on every Muslim. (al-Suyuti, Ta’yid al-haqiqa al-`aliyya wa-tashyid al-tariqa al-shadhiliyya, ed. `Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Siddiq al-Ghumari al-Hasani (Cairo: al-matba`a al-islamiyya, 1934), p. 56-57.)
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (d.974) was a student of Zakariyya al-Ansari, he represents the foremost resource for legal opinion (fatwa) in the entire late Shafi`i school. He was once asked about the legal status of those who criticizes Sufis: Is there an excuse for such critics? He replies in his Fatawa hadithiyya: “It is incumbent upon every person endowed with mind and religion not to fall into the trap of criticizing these folk (Sufis), for it is a mortal poison, as has been witnessed of old and recently.” (Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, Fatawa hadithiyya (Cairo: al-Halabi, 1970) p. 331).
Mulla `Ali al-Qari (d. 1014) Was one of the great Hanafi masters of hadith and Imams of fiqh, Qur’anic commentary, language, history and tasawwuf, he authored several great commentaries such as al-Mirqat on Mishkat al-masabih in several volumes, a two-volume commentary on Qadi `Iyad’s al-Shifa’, and a two-volume commentary on Ghazali’s abridgment of the Ihya entitled `Ayn al-`ilm wa zayn al-hilm (The spring of knowledge and the adornment of understanding). His book of prophetic invocations, al-Hizb al-a`zam (The supreme daily dhikr) forms the basis of Imam al-Jazuli’s celebrated manual of dhikr, Dala’il al-khayrat, which along with the Qur’an is recited daily by many pious Muslims around the world.
The last chapter of Imam Qari’s commentary on Imam al Ghazali, perhaps the most valuable of the entire work, is devoted to Imam Ghazali’s and Imam Qari’s explanations of the verse “If you love Allah, follow me, and Allah will love you!” (3:31) and is reminiscent of al-Harawi’s Kitab sad maydan on the same topic. In it Imam Qari cites al-Hasan al-Basri as saying: “Whoever (truly) knows his Lord loves Him, and whoever (truly) knows the world does without it.”
Imam Qari begins the chapter with a warning that the various spiritual states of love for Allah described by the people of Tassawwuf in their terminology all proceed from the same Qur’anic source and that it is not permitted to deny them unless one denies the source itself: Love and the discipline of the path (al-mahabba wa al-suluk) mean the path of love and longing, and whoever does not “scoop his drink from the ocean of gnosticism” (maarifa) does not know the reality of love, even if the genus, examples, and terminology are different. Love has no other meaning than the exhortation to obedience, and whoever denies love denies familiarity (uns) and passion (shawq) and taste (dhawq) and effacement (mahu) and clarity (sahu) and extinction (fana’) and subsistence (baqa’) and contraction (qabd) and expansion (bast) and all the rest of the necessary characteristics of love and longing, and the rest of the stations of the People of Gnosis. (al-Qari, Sharh `Ayn al-`ilm wa zayn al-hilm, Ibid. 2:354-355.)
Ibn ‘Abidin (d.1252) Nicknamed the Seal of Self-Realized Scholars (khatimat al-muhaqqiqin), the great scholar and faqih of the Hanafi madhhab and the late Ottoman Khalifah said in his fatwa on the permissibility of loud dhikr in assembly – “The Seekers in this Sufi Way don’t hear except from the Divine Presence and they don’t love any but Him. If they remember Him they cry, and if they thank Him they are happy; … May Allah bless them.” (Risa’il Ibn ‘Abidin)
From the first days of Islam, the science of Tasawwuf was developed, understood and practiced by the tabiin and those who came after them. Imam al Shatibi was one of the foundational scholars of Usul al-fiqh or methodology of law, he said regarding tassawwuf:
Their chief spokesman and the master of their ways and group, Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri, declared that they acquired the name of tasawwuf in order to dissociate themselves from the People of Innovation. He mentioned that the most honorable of Muslims after the Prophet did not give themselves, in their time, any other title than Companions, as there is no merit above that of being a Companion — then those who followed them were called the Successors. After that the people differed and the disparity of level among them became more apparent. The elite among whom prudence in belief was seen to be intense were then called zuhhad and `ubbad, (Zuhad or Zahid translates as Sufi). Subsequently all kinds of innovations made their appearance, and the elite of Ahl al-Sunna who observed their obligations with Allah, and preserved their hearts from heedlessness became unique in their kind under the name of tasawwuf. ( al-Shatibi, al-I`tisam min al-kutub, quoted in al-Muslim: majallat al-`ashira al-muhammadiyya (Dhu al-qi`da 1373).)