What is the difference between the early Sufis and the later Sufis?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. You mentioned that Abu Yazid al-Bistami was among the early Sufis. Is he (may Allah have mercy on him) considered a scholar? And what is the difference between the early Sufis and the later Sufis?
Answer:
The early Sufis were predominantly characterized by worship and asceticism, and they did not have the eccentricities (shatihat) that the later Sufis had. They were worshippers and ascetics, and they did not have the eccentricities of the later Sufis. This is the difference between them. Yes.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. You mentioned that Abu Yazid al-Bistami was among the early Sufis. Is he (may Allah have mercy on him) considered a scholar? And what is the difference between the early Sufis and the later Sufis?
Answer:
The early Sufis were predominantly characterized by worship and asceticism, and they did not have the eccentricities (shatihat) that the later Sufis had. They were worshippers and ascetics, and they did not have the eccentricities of the later Sufis. This is the difference between them. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [41 -939] ما الفرق بين الصوفية القدماء والصوفية المتأخرين؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.