Hazrat,
This statement cannot be ascribed to Imam Malik (RA) as per Shaykh Moulana Muhammad Abasoomer Hanafi Deobandi (HA) let alone Malikees who have long said that Imam Malik (RA) never said anything like this at all.
Jzk
Question: The one who practices At-Tasawwuf without Al-Fiqh will destroy his religion. And the one who practices Al-Fiqh without At-Tasawwuf will destroy himself. (Join between the two). Has this statement that is often credited to Imam Malik been authentically narrated back to him?
Answer: The statement is as follows:
من تصوف ولم يتفقه فقد تزندق ومن تفقه ولم يتصوف فقد تفسق ومن جمع بينهما فقد تحقق
“Whoever practices Sufism without jurisprudence becomes a heretic. Whoever learns jurisprudence and not Sufism becomes a sinner. Whoever gathers between them attains the truth.”
This statement has not been authentically traced back to Imām Mālik. In fact, there is appentantly no existing chain of narration for this. None of his students or those who narrated Hadith from him have reported this.
It seems this attribution to Imām Mālik did not appear until approximately seven hundred years later by Shaykh Aḥmad Zarrūq who passed away in 899 AH which he mentioned in the fourth principle of his book Qawā‘id Al-Taṣawwuf without any chain of transmission. Interestingly enough, the famous Hadith scholar Al-Murtaḍā Al-Zabīdī (1250 AH), also quoted this very statement in his commentary on Al-Ghazālī’s Iḥyā stating that “someone said…” without claiming it to be the statement of Imām Mālik or anyone else which indicates that he could not trace it back to anyone in spite of his vast knowledge concerning Hadith transmission and the different statements of the Salaf.
However, it seems that this statement is mistakenly derived from a similar statement of the Sufi Imām Abū Bakr Al-Warrāq of Balkh (280 AH) because the Hadith scholar Abū Nuʿaim Al-Iṣbahānī (430 AH) reported in his Ḥilyah Al-Auliyāʾ (a collection of sayings and virtuous deeds of the early Muslims) with a chain of narration going back Abū Bakr al-Warrāq of Balkh that he said:
من اكتفى بالكلام دون الزهد تزندق ومن اكتفى بالزهد دون الكلام والفقه ابتدع ومن اكتفى بالفقه دون الزهد والورع تفسق ومن تفنن في هذه الأمور كلها تخلص
“Whoever suffices with asceticism without theology and jurisprudence becomes an innovator, and whoever suffices with jurisprudence without asceticism and God-fearingness will become a sinner. Whoever learns all these things saves himself.”
Thus it seems that this attribution to Imām Mālik is a mistake which apparently seems to be from Shaykh Aḥmad Zarrūq (may Allah have mercy on him).
And Allah Ta’ala knows best.
Verified by: Moulana Muhammad Abasoomer
References: Qawā‘id Al-Taṣawwuf (the fourth principle), Ḥilyah Al-Auliyāʾ of Abū Nuʿaim Al-Iṣbahānī (10/236), Al-Murtaḍā Al-Zabīdī’s commentary on Al-Ghazālī’s Iḥyā (1/174)
That is a different subject altogether but Justice and Fairness (as a believer) demands that you retract your ascription of a statement to the great Imam and it is also inline with Islamic Shariah.
You can quote Malfoozat of later day ofcourse but the significance of it is instantly diminished (ofcourse).
Regardless of your actions, I have asked you and everyone else to show me ONE EXAMPLE of where my error has been pointed out and I have not retracted so I can correct myself.
Jazakallhu Khayran and request for duas.
This cannot be undone and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.
Please wait...