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“Question: If the ma’arif of tasawwuf had come from Rasulullah, there should not have been any differentiation. Contrarily, there are various branches of tasawwuf. Why are the ahwal and ma’arif in each of them different?
{pullquote position=left;}Rasulullah صلي الله عليه و سلم taught the ma’arif, secret sciences, to his companions in different degrees{/pullquote}“Answer: This difference is due to the difference in men’s abilities and the conditions they are in. For example, though there may be a specific remedy for a disease, the prognosis and medical treatment varies with the patient. It is like the difference between photographs of a person taken by different photographers.
Every perfection has been taken from Rasulullah (sall-Allahu ta’ala ’alaihi wa sallam). There have been small differences due to power and manner of reception. Rasulullah (sall-Allahu ta’ala ’alaihi wa sallam) taught the ma’arif, secret sciences, to his companions in different degrees.
As a matter of fact, he declared in a hadith sharif, ‘Tell each person as much as he can understand!’
One day while he was imparting some subtle knowledge to Hadrat Abu Bakr, Hadrat ’Umar came in and Rasulullah changed his way of expression. When Hadrat ’Uthman joined in, he did the same again. When Hadrat ’Ali came, he changed the way of his expression again. He spoke in different ways suitably with their talent and nature (radi-Allahu ta’ala anhum ajma’in).

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Muhammad Ma’sum (rahmat-Allahi ta’ala ’alaih) wrote in his sixty-first letter of the second volume:{pullquote position=right;}Oh my Rabb! From You, I want iman the end of which is not disbelief{/pullquote}
“The most valuable and most beneficial thing in this world is to attain the ma’rifa of Allahu ta’ala, that is, to know Him. Allahu ta’ala can be known in two ways.

• In the first one, one can know Him as the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna (rahimahum-Allahu ta’ala) communicated. The second one is the understanding of the great men of tasawwuf.
{pullquote position=left;}Be at enmity with your nafs! It bears enmity against Me{/pullquote}• The former knowledge can be gained as a result of study and meditation.  The second one is attained through kashf and shuhud of the heart.

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[What about the great madhab scholars ? What were their views on tasawwuf?]{pullquote position=right;}What about the great madhab scholars ? What were their views on tasawwuf?{/pullquote}Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (rahimah-Allahu ta’ala), in order to attain this ma’rifa, although he was at a high degree in knowledge and ijtihad, ran to be in the service of Hadrat Bishr al-Hafi (rahimah-Allahu ta’ala). When he was asked why he kept close to Bishr al-Hafi, he answered, ‘He knows Allah better than I do.’ {footnote}He was the most superior scholar of his time in fiqh and hadith. He was at a very high level in wara’ and in following the Sunna. He was born in Baghdad in 164 and died there in 241 A.H.  It is written in Farid ad-din al-Attar’s (rahimah-Allahu ta’ala) Persian Tadhkirat al-awliya’ that Ahmad ibn Hanbal attended the lectures of many mashayikhs, for example, Dhu ’n-Nun al-Misri’s and Bishr al-Hafi’s (150-227). A crippled woman sent her son to Imam Ahmad and asked him to pray for her. The Imam performed an ablution (wudu’) and salat and prayed. The son found his mother welcoming him at the gate when he returned home. She recovered her health through the blessing of Imam Ahmad’s prayer.{/footnote}

 “Al-Imam al-a’zam Abu Hanifa (rahimah-Allahu ta’ala) gave up the work of ijtihad in his last years. He attended Hadrat Ja’far as-Sadiq’s (rahimah-Allahu ta’ala) suhba for two years. When he was asked why he had done so, he answered, ’Nu’man{footnote}Hadrat al-Imam al-A’zam’s name was Nu’man.{/footnote} would have perished if it weren’t for those two years.’