the fundamentals and subsidiary matters, and likewise between scholars and worshippers among whom Mosaic or Christian tendencies predominate, so that they retain a resemblance to the two communities, each of which said: “The other has no ground to stand on.” Thus, we find that a student of jurisprudence who holds fast to the outward acts of religion and a Sufi who holds fast to its inward acts each rejects the other’s approach and claims that the other is not among the followers of the religion, or disregards him as though his approach had no place in the religion. Enmity and hatred then arise between them.

The explanation is that Allah has commanded purity of the heart and purity of the body. Both forms of purity belong to the religion that Allah has commanded and made obligatory. He, the Most High, says:

“Allah does not intend to place you in difficulty, but He intends to purify you and complete His favor upon you.”

And He says:

“In it are men who love to purify themselves, and Allah loves those who purify themselves.”

And He says:

“Indeed, Allah loves those who repent and loves those who purify themselves.”

And He says:

“Take charity from their wealth to purify and cleanse them with it.”

And He says:

“Those are the ones whose hearts Allah does not intend to purify.”

And He says:

“Indeed, the polytheists are unclean.”

And He says:

“Allah intends only to remove impurity from you, O people of the household, and to purify you completely.”

We find many students of jurisprudence and devoted worshippers whose sole concern is purity of the body. In their attention to it and their practice, they go beyond what is prescribed, while neglecting the purity of the heart that they have been commanded to observe, whether as an obligation or a recommendation. They understand purity to mean nothing beyond bodily purity.

We also find many Sufis and mutafaqqira whose sole concern is purity of the heart, to the point that their attention to it and their practice exceed what is prescribed. Meanwhile, they neglect the purity of the body that they have been commanded to observe, whether as an obligation or a recommendation.

The former fall into blameworthy obsessive misgivings: pouring excessive amounts of water, treating as impure what is not impure, and avoiding what they are not prescribed to avoid, while their hearts harbor various forms of