Part 1:

Tazkiyyah means to purify yourself from bad attributes, bad morals etc.

Some scholars like to call it Tassawuf.

Al Imam Ahmad Al Zarruq, Moroccan scholar who wrote it in the 9 th Hijri century.

What is Tassawuf, how did it improve, what happened to it throughout history, why don’t some
people like it?

Our Prophet Muhammad pbuh started to improve his followers faith when they were in Makkah.
Imam Malik in his Muwatta said that Prophet Muhammad said ‘I was sent to improve the noble
morals and attributes.‘, so there were already pre-existent noble morals and attributes in pre-islamic
arabia contrary to popular belief.

Arabs used to praise brave, generous, fatherly, neighbourly individuals, so they were a lot of things.

People used to drink wine & intoxicants so they become brave & don’t escape from the battles,
wives called Bint Al Karb (daughter of the generous). They used to call the trees Al Karb ( Generous ).
They used to battle one another for booty, and then give it around to be generous.

Islam came to regulate these traits, such as only being brave in certain wars & to assess certain
masaa’il before being brave etc.

A lot of arabs used to bury daughters alive. This was an exaggeration of jealousy. Muhammad pbuh
said ‘If anybody kills his wife because he accused her to commit adultery, he would be killed.’ That is
unjust, it needs a judge, you cannot loosely accuse. So these morals were to be improved by the
Prophet Muhammad pbuh.

Prophet Muhammad pbuh stayed 13 years in Makkah & a lot of faith, belief & worshipping Allah,
Surah Muzammil, Surah Mudathir, are some of the first revealed, they are focused on praying alone,
reciting the Qur’an, flying with your soul to Allah’s throne etc. This is how Prophet Muhammad pbuh
used to focus on training the Sahaba radhialahuanhum.

One of the great Tabi’een, Hasan Al Basri (he was the servant of Umm Salamah, the Prophet
Muhammad pbuh wife). They used to say his words were similar to that of the Prophets as. One of
his students that was trained by him, made a house called Duwayrat As Sufiyyah – (the house of the
sufi’s), where they used to gather people who wanted to train themselves. Abdul Wahid ibn Zayd
was the name of this student. They used to be called Al Fuqaraa (The needy, the poor – to Allah),
they used to call them in Ash Shaam, Al Ju’ioon (The hungry people – as they eat a very small
amount, so they are always hungry, as they took a lot of hunger strikes to strengthen their body). So
some of the Salaf refuted these exaggerations such as hunger strikes. These people started talking
about the heart and how to sweeten their faith. A lot of these people were Fuqaha, Muhaditheen,
but some of them only focused on Tassawuf, these people used to be part of a lot of Jihadi
movements and anything pertaining to Al Maslaha. They said anyone who does not recite the
Qur’an, memorise it and study Hadith are not part of them. They condemned Bid’ah, and anything
against the sunnah, some scholars of the Salaf called them As-Suf, because they were very far from
the beauties of life and far from enjoying their lives as they were so strict, as they used to wear these
wool clothes that were very soft etc. Others said that is not the origin of this name, but rather
because of the Saffa’ (purity) of their hearts, some said as they are similar to Ahlus Suffa (the
companions of prophet who loved fighting Jihad), but if that was true they would be called As
Saffiyoon, not Sufiyoon.
Al Bayrooni Abu Rayhaan (Indian Scholar) has a good book called Dhikri Barul Hindi.. that discusses
the ideologies in India, he says that the word Sufi comes from TheoSufi – the divine wisdom in
Greek/Latin. Ibn Taymiyyah and other scholars said it was because they wore wool solely.

These names started to change later on and people started thinking about the main idea of this
book. Later that was a Muhaddith, Faqih called Al Harith Abu Asad at the time of Imam Ahmad Ibn
Hanbal, he wrote several books, such as At Tawahhum (imagining-how you will deal with the grave
when you die). Imam Ahmad did not like this as he wished he would only write from the Qur’an and
Sunnah. Abi Li Al Kalabadhee (ghulabad-city of flowers-persian, when it becomes arabised it
becomes kalabadhee) he wrote a lot about these opinions and it was about anyone not writing from
the Qur’an and Sunnah not being one of them.

Abu Talib Al Makki was a Meccan scholar from Iraq, he went rioting and gathering the books of
Hathim Al Hasimi, and wrote a book called ‘the food of the heart’, a book about how to pray, fast
etc. but not like fuqaha speak about it, but ascetists and other spiritual figureheads perspectives,
and a lot of mistakes as he did not have knowledge about weak/strength ahadith.

Later on, Abu Habid Al Ghazali, and made a new book compiling all the previous work called Ihyaa Al
Ulum Ad Din, reserructing the ilm ud deen. He was weak in Hadith too so put a lot of fabricated
hadith etc. He was Ashari’ so he made a lot of mistakes, so a lot of scholars got angry at this book. He
was an encyclopedic scholar as he studied a lot of philopshy etc. a lot of scholars condemned it such
as Abu Bakr At Tatushi, Ibn As Salah etc. and they said he said wrong things about the Fuqaha, so
they burned the book in Morocco, Andalusia, Mauritania, Algeria, Africa.

Ibn Taymiyyah said we can be balanced about this book of Ghazali, he said we can be aware of the
weak ahaddith, astray sufi opinions and philosophist opinions, but there is benefit he said. A leader
said the book must be burnt. Later people started accepting the book, others spoke of the Ahadith in
the book, others summarised it such as Imam Al Ibn Al Jawzi, in his book Minhaj Al Qaasidee. A
student of Ibn Qudamah summarised it too. Scholars say Ibn Al Jawzi’s summary is much better and
practically a new book.

Abul Qasim Al Qushayree later came in Baghdad and wrote Al Risaala and wrote about the stations
when you travel to Allah, and a lot about previous sufi scholars such as Ibn Atta, a lot of scholars, too
many to mention, many Syrian, Egyptian, Iraq, iran etc. people started writing books like that, it was
condemned from many.

Imam Ahmad used to sit in the lectures of Harith ibn Hasimi and he had a student called Abu Hamza
As Sufi who used to respect him. Shafii’ was strict and said you’ll lose your sense if you go there.
Imam Malik highly condemned them.

Shaykh Al Islam Abu Ismail Al Harawi from Afghanistan wrote a book about the stations of leaving
this world.

This group went astray later on due to foreign ideologies that influenced them such as Christian
monks, Greek philosophy, Indian old philosophies (modern day buddishm), this created strange
ideologies such as God enters man and unites with him or the whole world is God.

This school used to exaggerate in worship, very fanatic, such as forbidding things for themselves and
their followers, Allah says this himself in Al Qur’an. They started using Gospel songs to rest from
Worship, these reminded people of the akhirah, and forgetting about this life, later on they started
dancing, and it changed from being a rest to becoming a worship. A lot of scholars condemned those
acts. The most dangerous acts came when they started getting influenced by Christians and Shia’ to
build shrines, grave worshipping etc. They then exaggerated in taking glory from them. They used to
believe that when you praise Allah and ask the dead prophets, they would accept it, then they
started asking these people at the graves and shrines. That’s how polytheism spread in ancient
nations etc.

Scholars needed to reform the sufi movements. Ibn Al Jawzi wrote in Baghdad about how Shaytaan
twisted people, where he spoke a lot about the problems of the Sufi’s, Ibn Taymiyyah wrote Al
Istiqaama about the mistakes of the Sufi’s. He wasn’t against it but against the mistakes of them. Ibn
Al Qayyim spoke about Abu Ismail and wrote other books on the Sufi’s too.

Ibn Al Hajja Al Abdaree, the farsi scholar who settled in Cairo wrote Al Madkhal condemning some
acts of the Sufi’s, as a Sufi himself. Imam Ash Shaatibi wrote a book in Ash Shaam condemning a lot
of Sufi acts, saying they will become like a specific sect.

Al Imam Ahmad Az Zarruq wrote Al Nasiha, he was known as the one who shows what is right and
wrong to jurisprudence and the Sufi’s, as a Sufi himself, he tasted Tassawuf himself but regulated it
to Sharii’ compliance. He settled in Libya, travelled from Morocco, to Algeria, to Egypt to Hijaz and
then to Libya eventually. He did it in a way as not to reject the other school, in a soft and friendly
manner. He was born in Fez, Morocco, Abul Abbas Ahmad, Ibn Esa, Ibn Ahmad, Al Fasi, he was called
Az Zarruq as his mothers grandfather had blue eyes – Al Azraq. He was originally from a tribe in
Northern Morocco, born in 846AH, his mother died while he was a baby, and his father a few days
after, he was born an orphan, his grandmother was a scholar who took care of him, she took him to
study in Fez, Al Qawawayyine. She trained him to be polite, she hung his heart with Allah, in 873AH
he decided to go on Hajj, so he passed Bijaya in Algeria and Cairo, then settled in Egypt for one year
to teach, then went to Morocco again and didn’t agree to the last Sultan being killed, and was
against the new movements, as he believed the Sunni creed was against rebelling and killing a king.
He then left Morocco and settled in Libya, died in 899AH. He studied with a lot of scholars, one of
them was a woman. He studied with a master of Tassawuf for Tassawuf, he met a lot of scholars in
Cairo who he studied with too. He wrote a lot of interesting books, which are still studied today,
most of them on Fiqh & Tassawuf. He had the same opinion of Ibn Al Hajj, and Ash Shaatibi and
agreed all innovations are bad.

Part 2:

Tassawuf started as a worship to Allah in a good way but eventually became falsified with a lot of
false ideas, acts and doctrines till it became an astray school.

Shaykh Az Zarruq used to condemn a lot of people who followed this school because of their ideas
and innovations etc.

The main idea of the book, is that we have to maintain Tassawuf with Fiqh, otherwise it is an astray
way as it cannot be good or accepted without the incorporation of Fiqh. He has a book called
Qawaaid Tassawuf (rules of Tassawuf). Because the main idea is that it is meant to make the religion
neat and easy to comprehend with accuracy.

The Faqih can condemn what the Sufi is doing but the Sufi cannot condemn what the Faqih is saying
as the Faqih knows the specific Islamic Law but the Sufi is a worshipper of Allah, but has no
knowledge of the Islamic Law, Maxims etc. The Sufi’s Tassawuf must be controlled by Fiqh and
cannot be separated from it at all. But the Faqih has to have Tassawuf/Tazkiyyah.

Shaykh Zarruq sent a letter to his friends where he said ‘beware of the Fuqaraa (Sufi) (this means the
poor guys-from an ayah about poor people compared to The All Rich, Allah). If they make mistakes,
don’t do what they are doing, but have good intentions of them and respect the
Jurisprudors/Fuqaha because they are the ones who have the Sharia’ inside their chests, but don’t
mix with them because their souls win them (ie the Fuqaha that are not trained with Tazkiyyah, they
are a bit arrogant). He says in another book, Qawaaid Tassawuf, that ‘some people made a lot of
people blame Tassawuf by being Sufi’s by saying so and so is complete, so and so is incomplete etc.
All of these types of things are a type of rude acts and impolite sayings and man has to be concerned
about himself rather than others.’ He mentioned that a lot of people wrote books condemning what
the Sufi’s did as a lot of astray people were among them. He said in another part of his books that
when a Sufi looks at his worship and actions, he sees something different to the Faqih, the Faqih
looks at the worship as it is according to the Sharia’ and in a way that doesn’t make people suffer.
The Sufi doesn’t look at it in this way but in the way as to improving the worship. The scholar of
Aqeedah looks at what is right about belief, but the Sufi looks at what makes the faith strong.

Is Sufism an astray way? Or does that mean you are a fine person? But to say that you need to look
at what is Tassawuf and what is Sufism?

If we look at a type of knowledge which improves you, purifies your heart and purifies your
intention, then everybody needs this knowledge, anybody who doesn’t is in a dangerous way. So the
scholars say Tassawuf is a stage of Ihsaan. Ihsaan is where you worship as if you are watching Him,
looking at Him, but at least you know that he is watching you. (Islam, Imaan, Ihsaan – 3 levels). Even
the Sufi’s today say that you could see a person that makes a lot of dhikr, ibaadah etc. being close
etc. but he may be against all innovations that Sufi’s do today. Sufism has become a sect not like a
school as it way previously.

Ibn Taymiyyah said that when we speak about Tassawuf we can speak about a type of knowledge
like we have Fuqaha, Mufasiroon etc. we have Sufiyyah, like every school we have righteous people
who are good, balanced, and then astray, misguided individuals. That’s just how Sufi’s are.

Abu Qasim Al Qushayr mentioned in his Risaala about Tassawuf and that a lot of Imam’s he knew
were Sufi’s. Ibn Jawzi didn’t like this when he condemned the works of the Sufi’s.

Ibn Taymiyyah said that Sufism is a school, and said that he benefiited a lot from the leaders of the
Sufi’s and respected them and their Imam’s, like Al Junayd. He even tried to excuse some of their
mistakes.

Ibn Al Qayyim, in Manaaris Salikeen, of Imam Al Harawi - Abu Ismail, he used to excuse him, and said
we love the Truth and Abu Ismail but we love the Truth more.

Even great Imams of Sunnah were Sufi’s, students of the 4 Imam’s even, especially where it started
in Egypt, the East and then the West, maybe in the 5 th 6th Hijri century. Al Misri, the Maliki Sufi, or Al
Shibli, one of the oldest Sufis that was well known in Iraq was Maliki Sufi. A lot of innovation started
entering this school, and started condemning these types of innovations, the Malikis were the first
ones to do that.

Ibn Abi Jamrah was a great person who made a summarised version of Imam Bukhari and wrote a 2
volume book Baajaun Nafoos that spoke about these Ahadith. His students later, Ibn Al Hajj wrote a
book called Al Madkhal, he condemned a lot of acts that were practiced by Sufi’s in his era.
Imam Shaatibi and a lot of scholars around him respected a lot of Sufi’s. Imam Abu Abdillah, one of
the professors of Imam Zarruq was a Sufi scholar too.

Ibn Taymiyyah respected scholars like Abdul Qadir Al Jeylani, who was a great student who taught
many prolific students.

In the Hanbali school, Ibn Abi Dawood, wrote a poem about calling to the Sunnah.

Ibn Qayyim derived a lot of his sayings from the books of the Sufi’s. Abul Farraj Al Jawzi, who
condemned books of Ghazali, still relied on books like Ihyaa Al Ulum Ad Din, to summarise it and
negate its false opinions etc.

Why did Imam Zarruq write this book and what are its main ideas?

Its not a big book, he tried his best to advise Muslims. Even the books of Maliki Fiqh he wrote like his
commentary on Risaala, Qurtubiyyah etc. he summarised them so they are easy to understand and
study.

150 pages long, it is an edited copy from Eastern Arabia. (the one we use). It is introduced by a
scholar from Tunisia, with good footnotes. It has 4/5 chapters. It is like a commentary on Ahadith.

Chapter 1 – Advising Allah (the advice for God)

Chapter 2 – The advice for Messenger pbuh

Chapter 3 – Advice for the Holy Book

Chapter 4 -Advice for all Muslims

Chapter 5 -Advice for Rulers/Leaders of Muslims

There are several commentaries on the book but there are 2 main ones, the first one is by a very
great scholar of Fez, Al Imam Abu Abdillah Muhammad Ibn AbdurRahman Ibn Zakri (the main
commentary), this family is known in Fez and Algeria, there were several scholars from this family.
This Shaykh passed in 1144 AH. It is the first commentary on this book ever to be written. It is the
source of another commentary summarised from it, the works of Shaykh Abi Median ibn Ahmad Ibn
Muhammad Ibn Abdul Qadir…the student of Ibn Zakri, he summarised it from the first Shaykh’s
work, which he says in his introduction for his commentary.

The best publish is by Shaykh Qays Al Mubarak, Jordan, Dar Al Fath. There are other editions but
they are poor copies. There are several translations of it to English however they have not been
proofchecked by Shaykh Hassan Al Kettani.

The Book Commentary:

It starts with Bismillah, praising Allah and sending blessings upon the Prophet pbuh. In the name of
Allah, Most Merciful, Most Beneficient, prayers of Allah upon our Lord, and salutes upon
Muhammad pbuh and his family. Thanks for Allah for all our blessings and we ask Allah to forgive us.
Prayers and salutes among the best of people, Muhammad pbuh, Ahlul Bayt and the Sahabah. This is
a traditional introduction to these books. We start with Bismillah because the Holy Book does, and
because all letters Muhammad pbuh sent to leaders/nations/anyone started with Bismillah. It means
that we start by invoking Allah. The All Merciful, The Specific Merciful. His Mercy is for everything,
but also specific as Allah is Merciful to believers. Scholars say that the Mercy of Allah is near your
mind when you start to write because it invokes the Glorious name of Allah, you are asking for Glory
and support from the Most High. Muhammad pbuh said that any people that gather and don’t
mention Allah or Praise him, they go away as if they did a sin. He sent salaams upon Ahlul Bayt (Bani
Hashim – Children of Hashim), all Hashimi’s are the Children of the Prophet Muhammad pbuh.

Part 3:

The books starts off by saying; the advise is part of faith and when you are always doing this advise
to your audience, this is a sign of real belief, because you are advising someone. The most ignorant
one is the one who doesn’t advise himself until he dies. Pbuh said that the smart person is the one
who guides himself and does all the acts he prepares himself for for the hereafter and the
madman/stupid one is the one who follows his desires and starts to will/imagine things such as he
will go to Jannah etc. A Hasan Hadith from Tirmidhi. Prophet pbuh said that the religion is
advice/nasiha ie. To God, His Messenger pbuh, His book, All Muslims and their leaders.

The advise to Allah is to follow his rules, the Advise to pbuh is to respect him and his family, pbuh,
and to follow the Sunnah, and to feel sorry for the Ummah of pbuh, which is the nation of Islam, the
advise to the Holy Book, is to pay attention to the book, its verses, knowing how to recite the Qur’an
properly ie. You go to a teacher who teaches you Tajweed. The advise to all Muslims is to support,
respect and love them no matter you give/defend them by being against their enemies. Anybody
who touches one of the Ummah is touching you as we are like one body. The Muslim to another
Muslim is like a firm building to another. Every brick helps the other to stand up as they are all
connected. The advise to the leaders of the Ummah is to obey the laws of the kings, governers,
chiefs etc. except when they order you to disobey Allah. Also follow the scholars as long as they
follow the Truth, if they are against the Book then we have no clergy to them. We follow the Holy
Book and Pbuh only, not those who follow their desires, the advise to the religious people ie. The
worshippers of Allah, then we have to respect them, try to make good intention about them. Al
Fuqara/Needy people, Allah calls his worshippers Fuqara as they are in need of Allah. We must
respect them and try to follow and correct them in heading to follow the right path.

The book is a commentary on the Hadith of the advice to those 5 things. The first chapter is the
Advise to Allah.

Chapter 1 – Obey the orders of Allah, among them is Purity/purifying yourself ie. By water etc.

Purifying yourself has several effects, from these things that effect it is 1 – when you suspect a lot ie.
Omds I didn’t wash my hands, omds my wudhu was not right ie. This is the sign of a person
neglectful of the Sunnah or a madman. This suspect/exaggeration happens to trustworthy people,
sincere people but it doesn’t continue with them unless they are ignorant or sick. The one who
follows it is an arrogant person who is praising himself or has a bad intention of Allah, is proud of
himself and is following shaytaan.