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
These people indeed seem to have invented a religion which they
named Sufism(al-ttJ!awwuj) , having abandoned that of their Prophet
Mu}:iammad (). We ask Allah's protection from the devil's deceptions.
Abu'l-l:lasan 'Ali lbn A}:imad al-Bari, slave of Sha'wanah, according
to which he had been told by a pious woman neighbour of hers,
having gone out one day to the market had been seen by a man, who
was captivated by her and followed her to the door of her house.
The woman asked him: What do you want from me?
He replied: I find you desirable.
She asked: What do you find attractive about me?
He replied: Your eyes.
So she went into her home, gouged her eyes out, threw them to
him, and said: Take my eyes, may Allah not grant you blessings."
Now consider, my brothers, how Iblis plays with the ignorant! The
man committed a minor sin by gazing at her, but she committed a
major sin, thinking that she has committed a virtuous act. Moreover
she ought not to have talked to a strange man.
She should have not spoken to a strange man in the first place.
Sufis are liberal at talking to strangers of the opposite gender.
Mu}:iammad lbn Ya'qub al-Faraji said: I heard Dhu'l-Nun say: I
saw a woman somewhere in the country of the Bajjah region (a city
in Iran) and called to her. She said: And what right have men to
address women? Were it not for your lack of intellect I would have
thrown something at you.
Abu Sa'id al-Kharraz said: "Once I went into the desert without
provisions, and felt the want. I saw my destination at a distance, and
rejoiced that I had reached it. Then I thought to myself: I have been
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