and a specialist in Arabic prosody, and he kept company with the fuqarāʾ (Sufi mendicants).

Shaykh Abū Isḥāq states in al-Tabaqāt: “Al-Ṣuʿlūkī was from Banī Ḥanīfa and a companion of Abū Isḥāq al-Marwazī. He died toward the end of 369 AH, and he was a jurist, a man of letters, a theologian, a Qur’an exegete, a Sufi, and a scribe.

His son Abū al-Ṭayyib and the jurists of Nīshāpūr studied under him.

I say: He is counted as a ṣāḥib wajh (an independent authority whose personal legal views carry weight within the school), and among his rarities is the opinion that a deliberate intention is obligatory when removing ritual impurity.

Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Nasawī said: “Abū Sahl al-Ṣuʿlūkī held a distinguished rank in the science of tasawwuf. He associated with al-Shiblī, Abū ʿAlī al-Thaqafī, and al-Murtaʿish, and he left fine observations on Sufism.”

I say: The merits of this Imām are innumerable.

Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī relates: “I heard Abū Bakr ibn Fūrak say: The Ustadh Abū Sahl was asked whether reason confirms the possibility of seeing Allah. He answered, ‘The evidence is the believers’ longing to meet Him; longing is an intense act of will, and the will does not fix itself upon the impossible.’”

Al-Sulamī reported: “I heard Abū Sahl say, ‘I have never fastened anything shut; I never owned a lock or a key, and I have never hoarded silver or gold—ever.’

“I also heard him asked about tasawwuf, and he replied, ‘It is to refrain from objecting.’

“And I heard him say: ‘Whoever says to his shaykh, “Why?” will never prosper.’”