Warning Against Many Falsehoods Found in Some Books, Such as the Book "Tabaqat al-Awliya" by al-Sha'rani.

The Shaykh : And similar to these karamahs, which are more deserving of being called insults, the pages of many books related to the biographies of men who claim affiliation with Sufism and righteousness are filled. Whoever wishes to see the marvel of marvels in this field should refer to the book "Tabaqat al-Awliya" by al-Sha'rani, which has been reprinted time and again; no book has been printed as many times as "Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim" has not been, because it is stuffed with misguidance and falsehoods under the title of karamahs. There, for example, a man is biographed—and every man there is biographed—his biography begins with the phrase: "And among them is so-and-so ibn so-and-so (may Allah be pleased with him)." Every person biographed there is one with whom Allah is pleased. "And among them is so-and-so ibn so-and-so (may Allah be pleased with him), who did such and such and such." In the case of some of these biographed individuals, it is said: "And he used to say: 'I left my saying to a thing, "Be, and it is," for twenty years out of etiquette with Allah'!!" "I left my saying to a thing, 'Be, and it is,' for twenty years out of etiquette with Allah." This is contradictory and self-contradictory. The man, first of all, in the apparent meaning of this phrase, reached the rank of Lordship, not just Divinity, but Lordship, where he says to a thing, "Be, and it is."
And the Arabs in the first age of ignorance did not disbelieve in this attribute; they believed that the One who says to a thing, "Be, and it is," is Allah alone, without partner. But they associated partners with Him when they worshipped others. As for us, in our books even today, this phrase is listed among the karamahs of that man: that he used to say, "I left my saying to a thing, 'Be, and it is,' for twenty years out of etiquette with Allah." So, when he was, by his claim, saying to a thing, "Be, and it is," was he neglecting etiquette with Allah? What is the matter with this wali who sometimes shows etiquette and sometimes does not? If there is nothing in this speech of explicit disbelief, it is sufficient that it contradicts itself; because the wali shows etiquette with Allah in all years. But he continued to say to a thing, "Be, and it is," for twenty years, then left it for twenty years out of etiquette with Allah. And before that? And after that? He was not showing etiquette with Allah!! This is what was mentioned among the karamahs of this man.
And another man, as the author of the book recounts from himself, said: "I went to visit a man from the awliya whom I had met. I stood at the door, and I heard a voice from above, from a balcony, like the recitation of the Qur'an. So I listened to it, and it was reciting a Qur'an other than our Qur'an. And he concluded it by saying: 'O Allah, bestow the reward of what I have recited from Your noble speech upon my Shaykh so-and-so and my Shaykh so-and-so and so-and-so, and so on.'" From this recitation or this phrase, the Shaykh himself became certain that this is a Qur'an other than the Qur'an that is in the hands of the Muslims. This, my brothers, is printed and is being printed in Egypt, where the Noble Al-Azhar is, and it has been printed repeatedly and over and over.
And what should I tell you?! This is a vast field, and very vast indeed. If this had become a thing of the past, I would not have been able to tell you anything of it. We say: his affair is ended, and praise be to Allah. But—my brothers—whoever among you knows, knows, and whoever does not, we know that these calamities are still flowing in the veins of the masses of Muslims today, among the common people and among the Shaykhs!! There was in Aleppo a noble man whom they wanted to appoint as the imam of a mosque. So they sent for him to test him. The tester asked him: "Do you believe in the karamahs of the awliya?" He asked this question because it had reached his ears that this imam, or the candidate for the imamate, was a man as they call it today, a Wahhabi; meaning he does not believe in the claimed karamahs. So he wanted to test him. The one being tested was clever. He said to him: "Like what?" He said to him: "Like what our Shaykh told us: a preacher went up on the pulpit, and while he was delivering the sermon, he was revealed to a student of his that he needed to relieve himself; meaning he was holding it in, and he was sitting listening to the Shaykh's sermon, embarrassed that he would withdraw among all the people, drawing the attention of the people. So the Shaykh, the preacher, extended his hand to him like this—and you know the Shaykhs' robes are wide—and gestured to him like this. He says: so the student entered the sleeve of the Shaykh [everyone laughs!], and he found there a garden, and in it a place—the place of relief, meaning the toilet—so he relieved himself, then he returned to his place!! He said to him: "As for this karamah, by Allah, I do not believe in it."
This is a noble man who is being tested with this superstition, and with this foolishness.