From the stories of the Sufis.

The Shaykh : There is no harm in mentioning a story that took place in Damascus between some individuals, in which I had a part. One of the shaykhs gave a lesson in one of the months of Ramadan, and in his lesson he mentioned a story that aligns with the previous story in terms of directing the murids to submit to their shaykhs. The story he narratedThe Shaykh : in the mosque, during Ramadan, goes like this: ... A shaykh from the shaykhs of the path said to one of his followers: "Go and bring me your father's head. Kill your father and bring me his head." So the murid went and severed his father's head from his body, and came toThe Shaykh : rejoicing and delighted, because he had carried out the orderThe Shaykh : , and he smiledThe Shaykh : laughing in his face—and here is the deception and malice—he said: "Do you think you killed your father?" He said: "Then you ordered me, and I executed your order." He said: "Did I order you to kill your father? This is your mother's companion. As for your father, he is traveling. As for this one whom I ordered you to kill, he is only your mother's companion who is committing adultery with her, and that is why I ordered you to kill him." He saidThe Shaykh : this story, and then built upon it the following: He said: "And among the things to be taken is that if the murid is ordered byThe Shaykh : to do something, and this order appears to contradict the Shari'ah on the surface, then he must execute it, becauseThe Shaykh : sees what the murid does not see. Then he said: "And based on that, if the murid sees the cross on the neck ofThe Shaykh : it is not permissible for him to disapprove of it, becauseThe Shaykh : sees what the murid does not see."
In this story, there was a listener to it =
-- ... ... ... - And upon you be the peace of Allah and His mercy and blessings, welcome, and upon you be the peace, welcome --
= In the gathering whereThe Shaykh : the Sufi narrated that story, there were two young men, one of whom was from our brothers of the people of the Sunnah and the community, and the other was from the students ofThe Shaykh : . It was our custom in Ramadan that we would pray the tarawih in a mosque according to the Sunnah, eleven rak'ahs, and then we would gather at a place I had there in Damascus for repairing watches. There was a center for da'wah there, so my companion came to me and told me whatThe Shaykh : had told him of that false myth, and while we were with him in this conversation, the other young man, who was from the students ofThe Shaykh : and was a relative of his, passed by, so he called him =
-- And upon you be the peace of Allah and His mercy and blessings, and upon you be the peace of Allah and His mercy and blessings --
= So he entered, and my companion began to discuss with him. He said to him: "What do you think of the lesson tonight?" He said to him: "Masha'Allah! This is how they are pleased with mythical stories." He said to him: "What is your opinion of the story he narrated aboutThe Shaykh : who ordered his murid to kill his father?" He said: "What is wrong with that? The karamat of the shaykhs are not to be denied." So they began to argue, and they were approximately on the same level in terms of knowledge, with no real knowledge as it should be. So I saw that I should speak with this man, the murid ofThe Shaykh : , whose name at that time was Abu Yusuf. I tried to explain to him that this story is fabricated, and that its falsity and contradiction with the Shari'ah are very clear. I gave him an exampleThe Shaykh : at the beginning of the story, where the murid who came with his father's head, on the surface, was told: "This is not your father, this is your mother's companion; so he is an adulterer; so he deserves to be killed. Did I order you to kill your father?!"
I seek refuge in Allah! Well; so how is the fabrication refuted? He ordered the killing of the adulterer and left the adulteress? Knowing that both of them deserve the same ruling; whereas the adulterer may not be a married person; so he does not deserve to be killed, but the mother of the child is undoubtedly a married person; so she must be killed; so why did he kill, or order the son to kill, the adulterer and leave the mother the adulteress? It is as clear as the sun that it is fabricated. And the intention here is not everything, although it is a clear myth. I spoke a lot with the man to convince him that such stories invalidate the creed, and make a person's submission to the shaykh and not to Allah (Mighty and Majestic), but he did not respond or become convinced. Finally, I said to him—and here is the point: "O Abu Yusuf, if we were to be frank with each other now; ifThe Shaykh : you were ordered to slaughter your father, would you do it?" So he jumped up in anger and said: "I have not reached that station yet!" Consider this: he hopes that one day he will reach a station where ifThe Shaykh : says to him: "Go and slaughter your father," he would do it, but he admits his inability, and that he has not reached this rank. I said to him, using the Syrian expression: "May Allah will that you never reach it!!" All of this is from the deception of these mythical stories, among which is the story we mentioned earlier, quoted from the book "Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din" by al-Ghazali.
The third aspect—and the last: I mentioned that—may Allah have mercy on you—I mentioned that "Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din" has that good behavioral guidance, but it has defects, it has criticisms. I mentioned first that in terms of creed, it is Ash'ari, then I mentioned that in terms of methodology, it is Sufi, and I told you the story of the man who saw his shaykh in a dream saying to him: "Why?" So his shaykh boycotted him for a month.
The third aspect—and the last—and this is the main point of this speech, as it is said: that it contains many weak and fabricated hadiths. Therefore, whoever is interested in reading this book must, above all, have a sound creed on the methodology of the Salaf, and secondly, be far from adopting the morals of the Sufis, and thirdly and finally, he must buy the book "Ihya'" that has the takhrij mentioned earlier; which is "Al-Mughni 'an Haml al-Asfar fi al-Asfar li-Takhrij ma fi al-Ihya' min al-Akhabar"; because he undertook the takhrij of every hadith found in "Ihya'" and explaining its rank in terms of authenticity or weakness.
This is what the occasion brought up for mention.