Answered by Shaykh Hamza Karamali, SunniPath Academy Teacher
It’s reported that Imam Shafi’i made comments about Sufis such as: “If a person starts his day practicing Sufism, he comes to dhur as an idiot” and “Nobody who has accompanied the Sufis for forty days has ever had his brain return.” What did he mean by these statements? I find it hard to believe the external meanings which imply that Imam Shafi’i opposed Tasawwuf.
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate
assalamu `alaykum wa rahmatullah
None of these statements are authentically ascribed to Imam Shafi`i. The first one is a mistaken ascription, and the second one is a forgery. For more details, please see point number 7 in Shaykh Gibril Haddad’s excellent post Sufism in Islam.
Hamza.