Ahmad Sirhindi says: I learnt from my own shaykh that even those who have reached the end of the spiritual journey ... sometimes seek the [station] of intense longing for the Divine like the beginners do.

"The chase is better than the catch."

"The pain of separation (from the beloved) is greater than death sometimes."

— Ibn Taymmiyah

[Majmu al-Fatawa 35/299]

Ibn Taymmiyah masquerading like a Sufi.

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'Once Habib al-'Ajami was leading people in ritual prayer and Hasan al-Basri arrived but he was reluctant to join the prayer behind Habib because he was Persian as he mispronounced some letters in his recitation. That night Hasan saw God almighty in a dream and he beseeched Him, "My Lord, where can I find Your contentment and pleasure?" God replied, "You were not far off from My goodwill and pleasure, but you refused it." "How so, my Lord?" "If you had joined the prayer behind Habib last night, you would have found what you were looking for." '

— Ali bin Uthman al-Hujwiri, Uncovering the Veiled (Kasf al-Mahjuub).

¹ Narrated by Abu Dawud, al-Nasai in al-Sunan al-kubra, and Ibn Hibban in his Sahih.

² The intended meaning is that the recitation of this chapter of the Qur'an will help fulfil the intention, need, or supplication of the reciter.

Fakhr al-Hasan, literally meaning The Pride of Hasan, is more aptly rendered in English as A Testament to Hasan’s Eminence, given its polemical nature. This work was authored by the eminent Sufi scholar of the Chishti tradition, Shaykh al-Mashaykh Hazrat Khawaja Mawlana Fakhr ad+din Dehlvi (d.1783). Renowned for his spiritual excellence and scholarly depth, he became the eponymous founder of the Chishti Fakhri Sufi order.

The book Fakhr al-Hasan serves as a rebuttal to Shah WaliuLlah Muhaddith-i Dehlvi (d.1762), who questioned the legitimacy of the Chishti Sufi order’s spiritual lineage—specifically claiming that Imam Hasan al-Basri did not receive khilafat (spiritual authorisation) from Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, thereby rendering the chain weak. Fakhr ad-din Dehlvi’s treatise defends the integrity of this transmission and affirms the spiritual connection between these two towering figures of early Islam.

فخر الحسن اتصال ما بین حضرت علی اور خواجہ حسن بصری، ردِ رسالہ شاہ ولی اللہ محدث دہلوی

Islamic creed.

"On being asked what he possessed, Abu Hazim al-Madani answered, 'satisfaction with God and independence from people.' A certain Shaikh went to see him and found him asleep. When he awoke he said, 'I dreamed just now that the Apostle gave me a message for you. He bade me to inform you that is better to fulfil the duty which is owed to one's mother than to make the pilgrimage. Return, therefore, and try to please her.' The person who tells the story turned back and no longer proceeded to Mecca. This is all that I have heard about Abu Hazim."

—— Hujwiri, Kashf al-Mahjub (trans. Nicholson, 91).

THE SPRITIUAL BENEFIT OF THE MONTH OF RAJAB. From the book: Morals of the Heart (Fawa'id al-Fu'ad). This book contains the discourses of Shaykh Nizam ad-Din Awliya (d.1325), recorded by Hzt. Amir Hasan Sijzi.