Abu Bakr al-Kalabadhi

Abu Bakr al-Kalabadhi (d. 995) was a Persian Hanafi Maturidi Sufi scholar and the author of the Kitab at-ta'arruf, one of the most important works of Sufism composed during the first three-hundred years of Islam.

The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004)

 * The more inwardly pure a man is, the higher his rank and the nobler his station, so much he assiduously labors with sincere performance and a great fear (of God).
 * p. 83
 * The qualities of saintliness are; withdrawal from the world, inclining the soul awat from it, leaving all settled bodies, keeping constantly to travel, denying the carnal soul its pleasures, purifying conduct, cleansing the conscience, dilation of breast and quality of the leadership.
 * p. 83
 * Detachment from everything is avbsolutely necessary for the saint's unification with God. The meaning of detachment is that one should be detached outwardly from accidents, and inwardly from compensation.
 * p. 83
 * Intellectual knowledge is ordinary, limited to the human faculties. It deals with the finite objects of the world of the creation of God; it is not concerned with the Creator. Gnosis (Marifat) is higher knowledge and directly deals with the Creator and the Divine Attributes. It is a gift of God.
 * p. 84
 * The only guide to God is God Himself. Inspired by a great Sufi he believed; "God made us to know Himself through Himself, and guided us to knowledge of Himself through Himself, so that the attestation of gnosis arose out of gnosis through gnosis, after he who possessed gnosis had been taught gnosis by Him who is the object of gnosis.
 * p. 84
 * The mystic never returns to his selfhood after having experienced the state of Fana.
 * p. 84
 * The doctrine of Tawhid is; "God is One, Alone, Single, Eternal, Everlasting, Knowing, Powerful, Living, Hearing, Seeing, Strong, Mighty, Majestic, Great, Generous. He is qualified with attributes wherewith he has named Himself. There is no Eternal but He, and no god beside Him; that He is neither body nor shape nor form nor person, nor element, nor accident.
 * p. 84
 * The end of the gnostic is traceable 'when he is as he was where he was before he was.' The gnostic then has made easy effort to discharge his duty to God, and his gnosis is a realization of what God has given him; therefore he truly returns from things to God.
 * p. 84
 * Love is of two natures; the love which is tranquil, which is found among both the elect and the common folk, and the love which is rapture, which is found only among the elect. This is road which leads direct to God.
 * p. 84
 * The more inwardly pure a man is, the higher his rank and the nobler his station, so much the more arduously he labours, with sincerer performance and a great fear of God.
 * p. 84
 * There are two kinds of sainthood. The first is nearly a departure from anmity, and in this sense is general to all believers; it is not necessary that all individual should be aware of it or realise it. The second is a sainthood of peculiar election and choice, and this is necessary for a man to be aware of and realize. When a man possesses this, he is preserved from regarding himself, and does not fall into conceit. He does not take delight in any of the pleasure of the soul. Nevertheless he will not be divinely preserved from committing smaller or greater sins; but if he falls into either, sincere repentance will be close at hand to him
 * p. 85