And there is no doubt that this is following desire without guidance from Allah. It is among the things for which Allah condemned the Christians, whom the misguided among the Sufis and worshippers resemble in many of their ways. This is why Sahl regarded it as a gratification of the self.

This is also why Abū Yazīd found following religious knowledge so taxing. Most people are capable of struggling against their own desires, as exemplified by the devotions of polytheists and the People of the Book—monks, worshippers of rival deities, and others like them. All of this falls into the same category. They practise forms of asceticism and strenuous devotion that Muslims do not, yet these are invalid and not prescribed by Allah. Consequently, they yield only results commensurate with their nature.

When a sincere Muslim worships Allah as He has prescribed, Allah soon opens to him the lights of guidance. Thus, rightly guided shaykhs among worshippers and ascetics counsel adherence to knowledge grounded in revelation, just as upright scholars commend the knowledge they possess, which upright worshippers and ascetics follow. Those who deviate among either group, however, turn away from what is prescribed, whether in knowledge or in practice. These are the two paths: that of those who have incurred Allah’s anger and that of those who have gone astray.

Sufyān ibn ‘Uyaynah said: “They used to say: Whoever becomes corrupt among the scholars bears a resemblance to the Jews, and whoever becomes corrupt among the worshippers bears a resemblance to the Christians.”

This is why Abū al-Qāsim sought to refute these people in his Treatise. After mentioning the shaykhs whom he listed, he said: “Here I have mentioned a number of shaykhs belonging to this