doors of hell and open those of paradise to all mankind.” It is the duty of
those who wish to be pious and righteous, firstly, to refrain from acting
oppressively towards others and, secondly, to carry out their obligations to
them in a sympathetic manner.
13
. Quoting Aishah, the Prophet’s wife, he
repeats a saying of the Prophet to the effect that human mistakes and
wrongdoing can be categorized thus: (a) sins one commits against oneself—
pardonable by God; (b) sins committed against God by entertaining
polytheism—unforgivable by God; (c) acts of tyranny carried out against
other human beings—God would not forgive even the most trifling
of such acts.
14
For him hypocrisy was no lesser a sin than polytheism
.
Hypocrites would
bring down God’s wrath upon themselves. Even a scholar
(‘alim)
who did
not live up to his knowledge was branded a hypocrite. In fact, the Shaykh
advised his followers to shun those who did not make proper use of their
knowledge. He is particularly vehement against those who are “like lambs
in appearance but are really wolves in thought and action.”
15
He advised his flock to live on what they earned by honest means and
by their own efforts, and to share what they earned with others. But he
advised them also neither to become completely dependent on those from
whom they gained their livelihood, nor to be too reliant on the arts and
crafts by which they earned their living. The Shaykh kept strictly away
from rulers, holding them to be unjust and exploitative. He necessarily
abhorred any dealings with temporal powers, seeing them to be counter to
the true spirit of religion. Although the Abbasid caliphs anxiously sought
his blessings, he resolutely discouraged any interaction with them. Sultan
13
Ghunyat, pp. 295-296
14
Ibid., pp. 262-263
15
Ibid., pp. 478-480
