Kitâbü'l-Luma': Sûfînin Ledünnî Marifeti

The scholars and the jurists acknowledge the truth of these verses and Traditions without studying them closely and drawing forth their inmost meaning, but the Sufis realize the qualities and feelings referred to, so that each of these 'states' is represented by a special class of persons who attain to diverse degrees therein. Again, the Sufis are distinguished by self-knowledge, for they examine themselves in order to detect any trace of hypocrisy and secret lust and latent polytheism, that they may escape from those evils and take refuge with God. Finally, they have derived from the Koran and the Traditions mystical sciences which it is hard for the jurists and 'ulama to understand. The Sufis are distinguished from the rest of the 'ulama by grappling with these recondite questions and solving them and speaking about them with the certainty that comes of immediate experience. The whole of Sufism is to be found in the Koran and the Traditions of the Prophet, a fact which is not denied by the 'ulama when they investigate it.