and travelling, riding, companionship, social relations and dealings with others, along with other noble manners in speech and action. No account should be taken of manners introduced by some Sufis that have no basis in religion, such as adhering to a particular style of dress or similar practices that Islamic law does not recommend. Proper manners are founded upon following the Sunnah. Nor should account be taken of the dismissal by some students of jurisprudence of prescribed manners which, owing to their limited knowledge, they believe are not part of Islamic manners merely because they are absent from the knowledge that has reached them or the books they have read. Rather, the standard for manners is what Islamic law has prescribed in speech, action and abstention, just as this is also the standard for obligatory duties and prohibitions.
The third condition for a Sufi is contentment with sufficient provision, such that he retains no worldly possessions beyond his needs. Anyone who accumulates surplus wealth is not among the Sufis for whom these stipends are intended, although such people may be permitted merely to reside in the lodges and similar places. Whoever possesses these three qualities is among the Sufis for whom the lodges and the endowments supporting them are intended.
Those above them—people of lofty spiritual stations and pure spiritual states, endowed with the realities of religion and divine gifts—are included within this general category. However, the endowment is not restricted to them, because they are few and because most people find it difficult to discern inward states. Entitlement to worldly support therefore cannot be made dependent on such states. Moreover, people of this kind may only rarely stay in the lodges.
Those who fall short of these qualities, confining themselves to mere outward forms in dress, gait and the like, are not entitled to the endowment and do not fall within the designation of Sufis, especially