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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.’