Author: Louay Fatoohi
Subject: Sufism
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 164
Dimensions: 152 x 228
Book Idea
My interest in Sufism, both study and practice, spans over three and a half decades. In the middle of April 1988, I took the pledge of Ṭarīqa ʿAliyya Qādiriyya Kasnazāniyya (Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya) at the central takya in Baghdad, Iraq. At the time, Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān (may Allah sanctify his secret) (1938-2020) was the Master of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya.
My first involvement in a Sufi literary work was in 1989. Shaikh Muḥammad al-Muḥammad had edited manuscripts of the book Jilāʾ al-Khāṭir by Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, so I was asked to check and correct the proofs before the book went to press.
Since then, I have authored seven books about Sufism, most of which have been published in both Arabic and English. In addition to discussing Sufism in general, my books focus on the thought and practice of Ṭarīqa Kasnazāniyya and documenting the history of its Shaikhs, in particular, Muḥammad al-Muḥammad al-Kasnazān, whom I had the honour of closely accompanying.
I have also co-translated with my wife, Dr Shetha al-Dargazelli, Jilāʾ al-Khāṭir into English under the title Purification of the Mind. The book was first published in 1998, and it is currently in its third edition. In 2014, I edited and published manuscripts of an Arabic translation of a Persian book by Shaikh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī titled Khamsata ʿAshrata Maktūban, to which I added a commentary. The following year, I published an English translation of this book under the title Fifteen Letters.
In addition to my Sufi works, I have published, in both Arabic and English, books and research papers on Islamic studies. I have focused, in particular, on the historical miracles in the Qur’an and comparative Abrahamic religions. In each case, the idea of the publication was born out of my studies of the respective subject and new findings that I considered to be worthy contributions to the literature.
The source of the idea of this book, however, is completely different from all of my previous publications. Near dawn on Sunday 26 December 2021, I saw in a dream the Arabic phrase al-Tawḥīd ʿinda al-ṣūfiyya (the affirmation of Oneness according to Sufis). I understood it to be the title of a book that had not been written yet. I also realised that the book would consist of sayings by Sufi Shaikhs about tawḥīd. I felt that I had woken up just after seeing the dream. The first thing that occurred to me was that such a book would be merely a listing of similar sayings by different Sufis. I quickly realised that this would not be the case and that the title I saw could be made into an informative and enjoyable book. It was clear that the objective of the book would be to confirm the essentiality of tawḥīd for Sufis through their own words and refute the accusations against some Sufis that they held beliefs that contravened tawḥīd.
Implementing the idea went through the same process as my other works. I specified the objectives, identified the target readership, chose the subjects to cover, and designed a structure that presented the content in a logical way.
I hope that the book has aptly realised the dream.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Book Idea
The Content
Sufis and Sufism
Tawḥīd
Sufi Words
ʿAlī Ibn Abī Ṭālib
Jaʿfar Al-Ṣādiq
Aḥmad Ibn ʿĀṣim Al-Anṭākī
Al-Ḥārith Ibn Asad Al-Muḥāsibī
Dhū Al-Nūn al-Miṣrī
Abū Yazīd al-Basṭāmī
Sahl Ibn ʿAbd Allah Al-Tustarī
Abū Saʿīd Al-Kharrāz
ʿAmru Ibn ʿUthmān Al-Makkī
Ibrāhīm Ibn Aḥmad Al-Khawwāṣ
Abū Al-Ḥusayn Al-Nūrī
Al-Junayd Al-Baghdādī
Ruwaym Ibn Aḥmad Al-Baghdādī
Yūsuf Ibn Al-Ḥusayn Al-Rāzī
Aḥmad Abū ʿAbd Allah Ibn Al-Jallāʾ
ʿAlī Ibn Sahl Al-Aṣbahānī
Al-Ḥusayn Ibn Manṣūr Al-Ḥallāj
Aḥmad Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Al-Baghdādī al-Ādamī
Abū Muḥammad Al-Jurayrī
Abū Al-Ḥusayn Al-Warrāq Al-Naysābūrī
Abū Bakr Al-Wāṣiṭī
Muḥammad Ibn ʿAlī Al-Tirmidhī
Abū ʿAlī Al-Jūzjānī
Abū ʿAlī Al-Rūdhabārī
Abū Al-Ḥasan Khayr Al-Nassāj
Abū Al-Ḥasan ʿAlī Ibn Muḥammad Al-Muzayyin
ʿAbd Allah Ibn Muḥammad Al-Murtaʿish Al-Naysābūrī
Jaʿfar Abū Bakr Al-Shiblī
Muḥammad Ibn ʿAbd Al-Jabbār Al-Niffarī
Anonymous
Abū Ṭālib al-Makkī
Abū ʿAlī Al-Daqqāq
ʿAlī Al-Hajwīrī
Abū Ḥāmid Al-Ghazālī
Arslān Al-Dimashqī
ʿAbd Al-Qādir Al-Jīlānī
Aḥmad Al-Rifāʿī
Muḥyī Al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī
ʿAlī Abū Al-Ḥasan Al-Shādhilī
Abū Al-ʿAbbās Al-Mursī
Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allah Al-Sakandarī
ʿAlī Al-Khawwāṣ
ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Shaʿrānī
ʿAbd Allah Ibn ʿAlawī al-Ḥaddād
Muḥammad Muḥammad Al-Kasnazān
Epilogue
Glossary
References