any shaykh more radiant than Abū Ya‘qūb al-Nahrajūrī, nor any more awe-inspiring than Abū al-Hasan ibn al-Sā’igh.’”

Al-Qushayrī said: “Ibn al-Sā’igh was asked about inferring the unseen from the observable. He replied, ‘How can the attributes of one who has a likeness and a counterpart serve as evidence for the attributes of Him who has neither likeness nor counterpart?’”

Inferring the unseen from the observable to establish the divine attributes is the method of Abū al-Qāsim’s teachers among the speculative theologians. They treat the observable and the unseen alike with respect to definition, proof, condition, and knowledge, in order to establish life, knowledge, and the other attributes. Shaykh Abū al-Hasan thus rejected this method.

Further clarification comes from the fact that, among the shaykhs under whom Abū al-Qāsim studied, the foremost in collecting, compiling, and transmitting the statements of the Sufi shaykhs was Shaykh Abū ‘Abd al-Rahmān al-Sulamī. Al-Qushayrī never met a shaykh who had gathered their statements more comprehensively, or who pursued this task with greater care and eagerness. For this reason, he produced writings on the subject unmatched by those of his peers.