al-Nussāk” (1). He was one of Junayd’s companions and one of the teachers (2) of Abū Tālib al-Makkī, and [was] (3) learned in hadith and other fields, as well as knowledgeable about reports concerning the ascetics and people of spiritual realization.
These two distinctions mentioned by Junayd—between the Eternal and what has come into being, and between what is commanded and what is forbidden—dispel the misguidance into which many Sufis have fallen. Hence, misguided Sufis such as Ibn Arabī and his ilk criticized Junayd for this. Ibn Arabī authored a book entitled “al-Isrā ilā al-Maqām al-Asrā” (4), the substance of which consists of inner fancies and satanic whisperings (5) that arose within him. He made this into an ascension like the ascension of the prophets (6), and proceeded to criticize Junayd and other spiritual masters for what they had said.
He faulted Junayd for saying:
“Tawhid is to distinguish what has come into being from what is eternal.”
He said, “I said to him: ‘Junayd, no one can distinguish between two things unless he stands outside them both, and you are either
(1) N reads: “Abū Sad al-Arābī.” He was Abū Saīd Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ziyād ibn al-Arābī. Born in 246 AH, he was a companion of Junayd and Abū al-Husayn al-Nūrī, and he died in 341 AH. Sezgin mentions his book *Tabaqāt al-Nussāk*, stating that Abū Nuaym drew upon it in *Hilyat al-Awliyā* and al-Dhahabī in *Tadhkirat al-Huffāz*. See his biography and sayings in *al-Risāla al-Qushayriyya*, 1:165; *Tabaqāt al-Sūfiyya*, pp. 427–430; *Shadharāt al-Dhahab*, 2:354–355; *Hilyat al-Awliyā*, 10:375–376; *Lisān al-Mīzān*, 1:308–309; *al-Alām*, 1:199; and Sezgin, vol. [0–9], pt. [0–9], pp. 155–156.
(2) N reads: “and one of the companions of.”
(3) “Was” is omitted from N.
(4) This work by Ibn Arabī appears in *Majmūat Rasāil Ibn al-Arabī*, Hyderabad, Deccan, 1367 AH/1948 CE.
(5) W reads: “and a whispering.”
(6) See *al-Isrā ilā Maqām al-Asrā*, pp. 9–10, where he says: “While I was asleep and the secret of my being stood keeping vigil in prayer, the messenger of divine aid came to guide me to the straight path. With him was the Burāq of sincerity, bearing the saddlecloth of triumph and the bridle of sincerity. He lifted away the roof of my dwelling, began dismantling and unbinding me, split open my breast with the knife of tranquility, and took me by night from the sanctuary of the created realms to the holy precinct of the Gardens. I tethered the Burāq to the ring of its gate, and wine and milk were brought to me. I drank the legacy of the milk in its fullness and left the wine, fearing that intoxication would cause me to disclose the secret.”