Sufism (tasawwuf)….Abu l-Qasim Al-qushayri
The praise of purity (safaπ) is on everybody’s tongue, while its opposite,
impurity, deserves [nothing but] blame. ∏Abdallah b. Yusuf al-Isbahani informed
us: ∏Abdallah b. Yahya al-Talhi informed us: al-Husayn b. Ja∏far told us: ∏Abdallah
b. Nawfal told us: Abu Bakr b. ∏Ayyash told us on the authority of Ziyad b. Abi
Ziyad, on the authority of Abu Juhayfa, who said: “The Messenger of God
– may God bless and greet him – came out to us one day with the color [of his
face] changed, saying: ‘Purity has disappeared from this world, leaving nothing
but impurity. Therefore, today death is a blessing for every [faithful] Muslim!’ ”
With time, this name came to be applied to the entire group. They began
to say: “[This is] ‘a man of purity’ (rajul sufi) with [the word] sufiyya being the
plural.” As for the one who aspires to reach this [condition], he came to be called
mutasawwif, with mutasawwifa for its plural. No evidence for such an etymological
analogy can be found in the Arabic language. It is more likely that it is a nickname
of sorts. There are also those who claim that it is derived from the word “wool”
(suf); therefore, the verb tasawwaf would mean “to wear wool”, in the same manner as the verb taqammas means “to wear a shirt (qamis)”. This is possible.
However, this folk are not unique in wearing wool. There are also those
who argue that the Sufis derive their name from the covered room (suffa)[adjacent to] the mosque of the Messenger of God – may God bless and greet
him. However, the word “Sufi” could not possibly have derived from suffa. [The
same is true of] those who derive the word “Sufi” from “purity” (safaπ); this,
too, is far-fetched from the linguistic point of view. There are those who argue
that it is derived from the word “row” (saff), meaning that they [Sufis] are in the
front row [before God] with their hearts. This meaning is correct in principle,
albeit the language disallows that it be derived from the word saff. In all, however,
this group is too renowned to need any justification by attributing itself to any
[particular] word or etymology. People have had much debate over the meaning
of “Sufism” and “Sufi”. Each one of them has spoken from his own experience
(ma waqa∏ lah), so we cannot exhaust this topic without violating our [stated]
principle of being concise. We therefore will limit ourselves to mentioning some
of what they have said without going into details, God willing.
I heard Muhammad b. Ahmad b. Yahya al-Sufi say: I heard ∏Abdallah b. ∏Ali
al-Tamimi say: “Someone asked Abu Muhammad al-Jurayri about Sufism: ‘It
means assuming every sublime moral character trait and giving up every lowly
one.’ ” I heard ∏Abdallah b. Yusuf al-Isbahani say: I heard my father say: I heard
Abu ∏Abdallah Muhammad b. ∏Ammar al-Hamadani say: I heard Abu Muhammad
al-Maraghi say: “Someone asked my master about Sufism. He answered: ‘I
heard that when al-Junayd was asked about it, he responded: “It means that God
causes you to die for yourself, while endowing you with a life in Him.” ’ ” I heard
Shaykh Abu ∏Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami say: I heard ∏Abd al-Wahid al-Farisi
say: I heard Abu πl-Fatik say: I heard al-Husayn b. Mansur say, when someone
asked him about “Sufi”: “He is solitary in his essence: no one accepts him
and he accepts no one.”I also heard him [al-Sulami] say: I heard ∏Abdallah b.
Muhammad say: I heard Ja∏far b. Muhammad b. Nusayr say: I heard Abu ∏Ali
al-Warraq say: I heard Abu Hamza al-Baghdadi say: “One sign of the sincere
Sufi is that he is poor after having been wealthy, that he shows humility after
having been glorified, and that he seeks anonymity after having experienced
fame. As for the sign of the false Sufi, he enriches himself with [the things of]
this world after having been poor, aspires to glory after having been humiliated,
and seeks fame after anonymity.”
Someone asked ∏Amr b. ∏Uthman al-Makki about Sufism. He answered: “It
is that the servant of God’s behavior in each moment (waqt) is most appropriate
for that particular moment.” Muhammad b. ∏Ali al-Qassab said: “Sufism means
a noble moral character trait that a noble person shows in a noble moment in time (waqt) in the presence of a noble company.” Someone asked Samnun [al-Muhibb]
about Sufism. He responded: “It means that you own nothing and nothing owns
you.” Someone asked Ruwaym [b. Ahmad] about Sufism. He answered:
“Turning yourself over to God Most High, so that He may do with you what He
wants.” Someone asked al-Junayd about Sufism. He answered: “Remaining with
God Most High without any [physical] attachment (∏alaqa).” I heard ∏Abdallah
b. Yusuf al-Isbahani say: I heard Abu Nasr al-Sarraj al-Tusi say: Muhammad
b. al-Fadl informed me: I heard ∏Ali b. ∏Abd al-Rahman al-Wasiti say: I heard
Ruwaym b. Ahmad al-Baghdadi say: “Sufism rests on three characteristics:
sticking to poverty and being in need of God [alone]; achieving perfection in
generosity and altruism (ithar); relinquishing resistance [to divine decrees]
and [your] free choice.” Ma∏ruf al-Karkhi said: “Sufism means grasping divine
realities (haqaπiq) and despairing (yaπs) of what the hands of men hold.” Hamdun
al-Qassar said: “Keep the company of the Sufis. They find excuses for your errors,
while not glorifying you for your good deeds.” Someone asked [Abu Sa∏id]
al-Kharraz about the Sufis. He answered: “They are a folk who are provided for
[by God] until they rejoice and who are deprived [by God] until they are lost [to
themselves]. Then they are summoned from the depth of [divine] mysteries [by
a voice saying]: ‘Come on! Weep over us!’ ” Al-Junayd said: “Sufism is a struggle
with no truce.” He also said: “They are the inhabitants of one household, which
no one but they can enter.” He also said: “Sufism is the recollection of God at
a gathering [of like-minded people], ecstasy at the hearing [of this recollection],
and action in compliance with the Divine Law.” He also said: “The Sufi is like
a [fertile] soil: [all manner of ] base things (qabih) are cast onto it, yet it produces
nothing except beautiful (malih) things.” He also said: “He [the Sufi] is like
the earth which is trampled upon by both the righteous and the evildoers; he is
[also] like the cloud which casts its shade on all things; or like the raindrop that
quenches everyone’s thirst.” He also said: “If you see a Sufi who is concerned
about his appearance, you should know that his inner self is rotten (kharab).”
Sahl al-Tustari said: “The Sufi is he who does not care if his blood be spilled
and his property taken away from him.” Al-Nuri said: “One of the signs of a
[true] Sufi is [his] contentment during times of scarcity and generosity to others
during times of plenty.” Al-Kattani said: “Sufism (tasawwuf) is but good
morals (khuluq); whoever surpasses you in good morals surpasses you in purity
(safaπ).” Abu ∏Ali al-Rudhbari said: “Sufism is a vigil at the door of the Beloved,
even when you are being chased away.” He also said: “[Sufism] is the purity
of nearness [with God], after the filth of banishment.” It is also said: “There’s
nothing more repugnant (qabih) than a niggardly Sufi (sufi shahih).” It is also
said: “Sufism is an empty hand and a beautiful heart.” Al-Shibli said: “Sufism is
to sit with God [unperturbed] by any concern.” Ibn Mansur said: “The Sufi is
one who is appointed (mushir) by God Most High, while other creatures are pointers to (asharu) God Most High.” Al-Shibli said: “The Sufi is he who cuts
himself off from creatures to attach himself to God, for God Most High said [to
Moses], ‘I have chosen thee for My service’,thereby cutting you off from all
else; He then said to [Moses]: ‘Thou shalt not see Me.’ ” Al-Shibli also said:
“Sufis are children in the lap of God.” He also said: “Sufism is a lightning that
burns everything (barqa muhriqa).” He also said: “Sufism is a guarantee against
paying heed to creatures.” Ruwaym said: “The Sufis are on the right track as long
as they quarrel with one another. As soon as they make peace, they go astray.”
Al-Jurayri said: “Sufism is scrutinizing one’s spiritual states and maintaining
proper manners (adab).” Al-Muzayyin said: “Sufism is [full] obedience to God.”
Abu Turab al-Nakhshabi said: “The Sufi is not sullied by anything and is
purified by everything.” It is said: “The Sufi is not exhausted by [his] quest and
undisturbed by mundane things.” I heard Abu Hatim al-Sijistani say: I heard
Abu Nasr al-Sarraj [al-Tusi] say: “Someone asked Dhu πl-Nun al-Misri
about the Sufis. He answered: ‘They are the folk who have chosen God – may He
be great and exalted – over all else, and who God – may He be great and exalted
– has chosen over everyone else.’ ” [Abu Bakr] al-Wasiti – may God have mercy
on him – said: “At the beginning, the [Sufi] folk were guided by clear evidence
(isharat), which later turned into mere motions (harakat), and now they are left
with nothing but regrets (hasarat).” Someone asked al-Nuri about “Sufi”. He
answered: “It is one who has heard [divine commands] and who has chosen to
observe them.” I heard Abu Hatim al-Sijistani – may God have mercy on him –
say: I heard Abu Nasr al-Sarraj say: “I asked al-Husri: ‘What do you think about
“Sufi”?’ He answered: ‘It is he whom the earth cannot carry and whom the sky
cannot shade.’ ” The master Abu πl-Qasim [al-Qushayri]: said: “He [al-Husri]
referred to the [spiritual] state of ‘erasure’ (mahw).”It is said: “The Sufi is he
who, when presented with two good states or two moral qualities, always opts for
the better of the two.”
Someone asked al-Shibli: “Why are the Sufis (sufiyya) called so?” He
answered: “Because the traces of their [lower] selves still persist in them.
Otherwise, they would have no name at all.” I heard Abu Hatim al-Sijistani say:
I heard Abu Nasr al-Sarraj say: “Someone asked Ibn al-Jallaπ about the meaning
of ‘Sufi’. He answered: ‘We do not know him through the definitions of ordinary
knowledge. However, we know that he is one who is poor and deprived of any
means of sustenance (asbab), and who remains with God Most High no matter
where he is, yet God – praise be to Him – does not bar him from knowing any
place. Such a person is called “Sufi”.’ ” One Sufi said: “Sufism means that you
lose your social status (jah) and blacken your face in this world and the next.”
Abu Ya∏qub al-Mazabili said: “Sufism is a state in which human attributes are dissolved.” Abu Hasan al-Sirawani said: “The [true] Sufi concerns himself with
divine visitations (waridat), not with litanies (award).”
I heard the master Abu ∏Ali al-Daqqaq – may God have mercy on him – say:
“The best thing that has been uttered regarding this matter is the following:
‘This path is not appropriate except for those with whose spirits God cleans
the dunghills (mazabil).’ ” This is why Abu ∏Ali once said: “If the poor one had
nothing except for his spirit which he would offer to the dog guarding this door,
the dog would not even look at it.” The master Abu Sahl al-Su∏luki said: “Sufism
is an aversion to (i∏rad) any opposition (i∏tirad) [to God’s will].” Al-Husri
said: “The Sufi does not exist after his absence and is not absent after his existence.”
The master al-Qushayri commented: “This statement is complicated. By saying
that ‘he [Sufi] does not exist after his absence’, he implied that when the Sufi’s
faults (afat) fall away from him, they never return. As for his statement ‘he is
not absent after his existence’, it means that if he is preoccupied with God and
nothing else, he retains his [high] status [in the eyes of God], while the rest of
God’s creatures lose theirs, and that things of this world (hadithat) have no
impact on him.” It is said: “The Sufi is completely effaced by the glimpses of the
Divine.” It is also said: “The Sufi is forced to act (maqhur) according to God’s
dispensations and is protected [from error] by [his] acts of worship.” It is said:
“The Sufi is not subject to change. If, however, he undergoes any change, it
smears him not.”
I heard Shaykh Abu ∏Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami – may God have mercy on
him – say: I heard al-Husayn b. Ahmad al-Razi say: I heard Abu Bakr al-Misri
say: I heard al-Kharraz say: “I was in the mosque of Kairouan during the Friday
prayer, when I observed a man going around, saying: ‘Show me charity! I was
a Sufi, but have now become weak.’ I offered him some charity, but he told
me: ‘Go away and leave me alone! This is not what I ask for!’ And he refused my
donation.”
Seekersofsufiknowledge 
