Sayings of Abu 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami: Sufi quotations
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Abu ’Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami (937-1021), of Nishapur, is the historiographer of Sufism: his Genealogies of the Sufis (Tabaqat al-sufiyya) and his Qur’anic commentary remain references.
Shaykh al-Sulami: seeking the help of creatures…
One of the diseases of the soul is to seek the help of creatures, though they are powerless to deliver it from its misfortunes (durr); to hope (raja’) for a benefit from someone incapable of granting it; and to fret about one’s sustenance (rizq) when God guarantees it.
al-Sulami: holding fast to the truth
The futuwwa is to hold fast to the truth, far from all evasion. Junayd was asked: “What are the characteristics of the Sufis?” He answered: “…men who have been faithful to the pact they had concluded with God…” (Qur’an 33, 23). He was asked further: “How do you recognise them?” He answered: “…Their gazes will not turn back upon themselves and their hearts will be empty…” (Qur’an 14, 43).
al-Sulami: believing oneself at the gate of salvation
One of the diseases of the soul is to believe it has already reached the gate of salvation; it fancies it is knocking on it through the artifice of its prayers and acts of obedience, and imagines the gate will open. But in reality the murid has shut himself off from the gate of felicity by reason of the great number of his transgressions.
al-Sulami: emigration towards God
The futuwwa is the emigration towards God with one’s whole heart and one’s whole being, as God Himself, exalted be He, reports: Lot therefore believed in Him and said, “Yes, I am emigrating towards my Lord. He is the Powerful, the Wise” (Qur’an 29, 26).
al-Sulami: turning away from the things of this world
The futuwwa is a demand for sincerity towards oneself, such that one turns away from what occupies other men. It has been reported to me that Abu Bakr al-Tamastani said: he who establishes a sincere relation with God thereby turns away from the things of this world.
al-Sulami: being a true believer
The futuwwa is to treat people in the same way as one would wish to be treated oneself. A hadith of Bukhari reports these words of the Prophet (pbuh): “Wish for others what you would wish for yourself, and you will then be a true believer.”
al-Sulami: the faults of your brothers
The futuwwa is to stop being on the lookout for others’ shortcomings. The following has been reported to us: the messenger of God said: “In applying yourself to bringing out the Muslims’ faults, you in fact contribute to making them bad” (hadith reported by Ibn Hibban and Ibn Dawud).
al-Sulami: discerning good and evil, the licit and the illicit
The first step towards healing is therefore knowledge: on the one hand, knowledge of the divine decrees, so as to be able to discern good and evil, the licit and the illicit; on the other, knowledge of the soul and of its different facets.
al-Sulami
Passion and pride interpenetrate and form the root of the other diseases of the soul. These two ills are a form of association with God (shirk), that is, of idolatry.
al-Sulami
Passion shows itself through attachment and insatiability, and drives a man to prefer the world to God… Pride expresses itself in ambition and obstinacy, and drives a man to prefer himself to God… to underestimate and despise others.