Imam Shafi`i (d. 204)
Al-hafiz al-Suyuti relates in Ta’yid al-haqiqa al-`aliyya that Imam al-Shafi`i said:
- I accompanied the Sufis and received from them but three words: their statement that time is a sword: if you do not cut it, it cuts you; their statement that if you do not keep your ego busy with truth it will keep you busy with falsehood; their statement that deprivation is immunity.1
The muhaddith al-`Ajluni also relates in his book Kashf al khafa wa muzil al albas that Imam Shafi`i said:
- Three things in this world have been made lovely to me: avoiding affectation, treating people kindly, and following the way of tasawwuf.2
1 Suyuti, Ta’yid al-haqiqa al-`aliyya p. 152 al-`Ajluni, Kashf al-khafa wa muzil al-albas 1:341 (#1089).
Reproduced with permission from Shaykh M. Hisham Kabbani’s The Repudiation of “Salafi” Innovations (Kazi, 1996) p. 280.
Blessings and Peace on the Prophet, his Family, and his Companions
