He was raised an orphan, then took up the craft of weaving ʿattābī brocade, later turned to asceticism, and kept company with Abū ʿAlī al-Mugharbal, the servant of Shaykh Ruslān.

I read in the hand of al-Sayf al-Ḥāfiẓ: “Al-Ḥarīrī was among the most seductive and most harmful people to Islam. Heresy and mockery of the Sacred Law were evident in him. Reliable witnesses told me things of such outrageous unbelief and audacity toward God that merely mentioning them is daunting. He treated the obligatory prayers with contempt.”

Abū Isḥāq al-Ṣarīfīnī related to me: “I asked al-Ḥarīrī, ‘What proof is there for dancing?’ He replied, ‘When the earth is shaken with its quake (1).’”

He used to distribute food and spend freely, and every suspicious character attached himself to him. Many people testified against him with charges that warranted execution, yet the sultan did not put him to death; he merely imprisoned him twice.

The eminent scholar Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd informed us—on the authority of Ibn ʿAbd al-Salām, who heard him say about Ibn al-ʿArabī—“A wicked shaykh and a liar.” (2)

I possess a compilation of Shaykh al-Ḥarīrī’s own statements, among them: “If my disciple were to enter the lands of the Byzantines, convert to Christianity, eat pork, and drink wine, he would still be occupied with my business!”

A man once asked him, “Which path is closest to God?” He answered, “Abandon the journey—you have already arrived!”

And he said to his companions, “Pledge allegiance to me that we shall die as Jews and be gathered to the Fire, so that no one follows me for any ulterior motive.” (3)