Reflections of a Traveler

The Sufis Do Not Make Up Their Own Aqidah or Fiqh

Imam Ahmad Zarruq says in his Rules of Sufism:

Rule 61: The knowledge of anything may only be taken from those who possess it.

” So a Sufi is not to be relied upon in jurisprudence unless his mastery of it is known. Nor a scholar of jurisprudence to be relied upon in Sufism unless his realization of it is known. Nor a hadith scholar to be relied upon in either unless he is competent in them. Thus the seeker in the path of Sufism must take knowledge of Sacred Law from scholars of jurisprudence; he but returns to those realized in tariqa in what concerns bettering his inner self regarding it [jurisprudence] and other than it [hadith]“ (Qawa‘id al-Tasawwuf, 36).

My Thoughts:

There is a misconception that exist among learnt and ignorant alike concerning those who travel the path of Tasawwuf. One of these misconception is that the Sufis have their owe fiqh and Aqidah. It is clear from the words of Imam Ahmad Zarruq, who was a Sufi Master, Maliki Jurist and Hadith scholar, that a Sufi cannot make up his own fiqh or Aqidah but rather he or she must follow the fiqh of one of the rightly guided jurists. And there is a consensus that one’s fiqh must conform to the fiqh of one of the four rightly guided Madhabs of Fiqh, namely, the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi and Hanbali. Along with fiqh, one’s Aqidah must conform to one of the rightly guided schools of Aqidah, which are the Asharis, Maturidis and Atharis (but not Salafi).

And this is the make up of Ahlus Sunnah Wa Jamaah and the rightly guided Sufis of Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah follow one of these schools of Fiqh and one of these schools of Aqidah.

And Allah knows best.