The Tasawwuf of al-Shafi`i by Shaykh Gibril Fouad Haddad [click for pdf version] Bismillah al-Rahman al-Raheem was-salaat was-salaam `alaa Rasul-illah wa 'alaa alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam Did Imam al-Shafi`i disapprove of Tasawwuf ? Imam al-Shafi`i said: faqihan wa sufiyyan fa kun laysa wahidan fa inni wa haqqillahi iyyaka ansahu (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-Shafi`i, Diwan, (Beirut and Damascus: Dar al-fikr) p. 47] The derogatory remarks about tasawwuf attributed to Imam al-Shafi`i which some are heard quoting today must be understood in the context of the Imam's disavowal of certain people who called themselves Muslims or Sufis, when in reality they were nothing more than hypocrites, free-thinkers, and dissolute people. This should be born in mind by anyone who is approached by "Salafis" with narrations culled from Ibn al- Jawzi's Talbis Iblis and attributing sweeping disapproval of tasawwuf to Imam Shafi`i. How can they believe that Imam Shafi`i disapproves of tasawwuf and at the same time advises the fuqaha' to be sufis, as we quoted above? Have they no better opinion of him than one who gives two mutually exclusive advices? continued in the Knowledge Base here....
