and Abū Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wāhid al-Maqdisī composed a treatise on the Companions whom al-Hasan had met (1). Accounts of al-Hasan are well known from works such as al-Bukhārī’s History. I have also recorded the chains of transmission for the initiatory cloak, since we possessed chains concerning it, and I set them out so that truth might be distinguished from falsehood.

They also have another chain of transmission (2) for the initiatory cloak attributed to Jābir, but it is severely disconnected.

It is known through mass transmission that neither the Companions nor the Successors invested their aspirants with an initiatory cloak or cut their hair. This was, however, done by some later shaykhs in the East.

Accounts of al-Hasan are recorded in many books through established chains of transmission, and what we have stated can be verified from them. Abū al-Faraj Ibn al-Jawzī also devoted (3) a separate book to his virtues and reports.

Even weaker than this is the attribution of futuwwa to Alī. Its chain contains unknown transmitters of whom no record can be found, which makes its falsity plain.

Anyone acquainted with the lives of the Companions and Successors knows that none of them observed rites involving the donning of trousers or being given salt to drink, and that none followed an exclusive path called futuwwa. Rather, the Successors met the Companions, learned from them, were refined by their example, benefited from them, and trained under their guidance. They kept close company with whichever of the Companions they accompanied, and they benefited from all the Companions.