How should the terms Sufi and faqir be judged rather than treated as automatic praise or blame?
2026-09-21
T82 · Ibn Taymiyyah
Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah
شيخ الإسلام أحمد بن تيمية
Selected explanation · Selected source passage(s) — fully translated
The selection includes the discussion at 10/370 and its concluding assessment. It preserves both the reported criticisms and Ibn Taymiyyah’s statement that the designation includes praiseworthy and blameworthy elements and righteous people. “As I believe” preserves his qualification concerning Mālik. The English translates every displayed Arabic paragraph; this selection is not the complete surrounding work. Square brackets identify translator-supplied clarification.
النص العربي
المقتطف
وقد تكلم بهذا الاسم قوم من الأئمة، كأحمد بن حنبل، وغيره، وقد تكلم به أبو سليمان الداراني وغيره، وأما الشافعي فالمنقول عنه ذم الصوفية، وكذلك مالك فيما أظن وقد خاطب به أحمد لأبي حمزة الخراساني، وليوسف بن الحسين الرازي، ولبدر ابن أبي بدر المغازلي، وقد ذم طريقهم طائفة من أهل العلم، ومن العباد أيضا من أصحاب أحمد، ومالك، والشافعي، وأبي حنيفة، وأهل الحديث، والعباد، ومدحه آخرون.
والتحقيق فيه أنه مشتمل على الممدوح والمذموم، كغيره من الطريق، وأن المذموم منه قد يكون اجتهاديا، وقد لا يكون، وأنهم في ذلك بمنزلة الفقهاء في الرأي فإنه قد ذم الرأي من العلماء والعباد طوائف كثيرة، والقاعدة التي قدمتها تجمع ذلك كله، وفي المتسمين بذلك من أولياء الله وصفوته، وخيار عباده ما لا يحصى عده. كما في أهل الرأي من أهل العلم والإيمان من لا يحصى عدده إلا الله. والله سبحانه أعلم.
English translation
English translation reviewed against the displayed Arabic by SalafAlSalih editorial preparation (AI-assisted); explanatory additions appear in square brackets or separate notes.
Selected explanation
Some of the imams, such as Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and others, used this name [Sufi]. Abū Sulaymān al-Dārānī and others also used it. As for al-Shāfiʿī, what is transmitted from him is criticism of the Sufis, and likewise Mālik, as I believe. Aḥmad addressed Abū Ḥamzah al-Khurāsānī, Yūsuf ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Rāzī, and Badr ibn Abī Badr al-Maghāzilī using it. A group of scholars and worshippers among the followers of Aḥmad, Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Abū Ḥanīfah, and among the people of hadith and worshippers, criticized their path, while others praised it.
The precise assessment is that it contains both praiseworthy and blameworthy elements, like other paths; and its blameworthy elements may result from scholarly judgment or may not. In this, they are like the jurists who use opinion, for many groups of scholars and worshippers have criticized opinion. The principle I previously set out encompasses all of this. Among those who bear this name are countless allies of Allah, His chosen ones, and the best of His servants, just as among those who use opinion are people of knowledge and faith whose number none but Allah can count. Allah, Glorified is He, knows best.
Source and editorial notes
Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā 10/370
مجموع الفتاوى
Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā
Arabic discussion and conclusion checked in the linked transcription of Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā. Both displayed paragraphs are translated in full.