The Devils Deception by Imam Ibn AL-Jawzi

T H E D E V I L ' S
D E C E P T I O N S
And further said: We have not learned Sufism (ttJ!aWWu/J from hearsay,
instead, we learned it through hunger, and abandoning worldly
matters, because ltJ!awwuf is all about purifying your dealings with
Allah, and its essence is abandoning woridly affairs.
Abu Bakr al-Shaqqaq said: Whosoever violates the rules of enjoining
and forbidding in externals (al-zdhit) is deprived of internal
(al-bd/in) witnessing (mushahada) of the heart.
Abu'l-I:Iusayn al-Niiri said: Have nothing to do with anyone who
claims that he has in his dealings with Allah a state which takes him
outside the bounds of knowledge of the sharlah. Suspect the religion
of one whom you see claiming a state for which there is no
evidence and which is unattested by any clear text that can be remembered.
Al-Jurirl said: Our whole system can be comprised in one article,
by that you should compel your heart to watchfulness (murdqaba),
while knowledge governs your external conduct.
And Abu Ja'far said: Whoever does not weigh his words and deeds
against the Qur'an and Sunnah, then do not record his name in the
record of men.
If these are ascertained sayings of their leading men, then some
of them too have committed errors owing to their lack of knowledge;
if such sayings are genuinely theirs, then the refutation falls on
them, since there can be no respect of persons in dealing with the
truth; if the sayings are not theirs, then let us be on our guard against
similar sayings and similar doctrine from whomsoever it proceeds.
As for those who do not belong to these people but only imitate
them, their errors are numerous; we will record some of those which
have come to our knowledge; Allah knows that our purpose in ex-
280