someone who says, “Only a person who neither seeks good nor flees evil is content.”

This and other considerations show that Shaykh Abū Sulaymān was far above making such a statement. He was among the most eminent and distinguished spiritual masters, and among the most faithful in following the Sharia. Indeed, he said:

“An insight of the kind known among the Sufis may occur to my heart, but I do not accept it without two witnesses: the Book and the Sunnah.”

How could someone who refuses to accept the insights of his own heart without two witnesses say such words?

Shaykh Abū Sulaymān also said:

“A person inspired to do something good must not act upon it until he hears a transmitted report supporting it. Once he hears such a report, it is light upon light.”

Indeed, even his companion Ahmad ibn Abī al-Hawārī was among the spiritual masters most faithful in following the Sunnah—how much more so Abū Sulaymān himself! The full vindication of Abū Sulaymān against the attribution of these words will become clear in the discussion of

“The Second Issue”

This concerns the statement, whoever its speaker may be: “Contentment means neither asking Allah for Paradise nor seeking His protection from the Fire.”

Before addressing this, we shall offer an introduction that explains the root of the confusion and inconsistency found in such statements. Many people among those versed in jurisprudence, Sufis, speculative theologians, and others have imagined that Paradise consists of enjoying created things: eating, drinking, sexual relations, clothing, hearing pleasant sounds, and smelling pleasant fragrances. They have not included any other kind of bliss within the meaning of Paradise.

They then divided into two groups: