Imam Shafi’s statement regarding Tasawuff?

Answered by: Moulana Tahsin Alam

Question:

Assalamualaikum

There is a statement attributed to Imam Shafi’i that he said, “If a person exercised Sufism (Tasawafa) at the beginning of the day, he does not come to Dhuhur except an idiot.”

The same narration is found in Ibn Jawzi’s talbees iblis and in Imam Bayhaqi’s Manaqibush-Shafi’i.

My question is regarding the one found in the Manaqibush-Shafi’i. Is it authentic? Is the chain authentic?

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيْم

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Answer:

This statement is found in both talbīs iblīs[1] and its poem in dīwanal-Imām al-Shāfʿī but without any reference to the statement.[2]

As for the one in Imām Bayhaqī’s ‘Manāqib al-Shāfʿī’ it is brought with a chain of narration.[3] It is as follows:

Imām al-Shāfʿī->Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿalā ->Abū Abdullah al-Husayn->MuḥammadJaʿfar ibn Muḥammad->AbūʿAbdillāh al-Ḥafidh (ImāmḤākim, author of al-Mustadrak).

The narration is reliable, it is in reference to those Ṣūfī’s who are not in adherence to the Qur’ān and Sunnāh.

Only Allah knows best

Written by Moulana Tahsin Alam

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham