God, Almighty and Glorious, has said: “_And those who walk meekly on the earth, and when the ignorant speak to them answer ‘Peace’_,” (shall be rewarded with the highest place in Paradise).[31] And the Apostle has said: “He that hears the voice of Ṣúfís (_ahl al-taṣawwuf_) and does not say Amen to their prayer is inscribed before God among the heedless.” The true meaning of this name has been much discussed and many books have been composed on the subject. Some assert that the Ṣúfí is so called because he wears a woollen garment (_jáma´-i ṣúf_); others that he is so called because he is in the first rank (_ṣaff-i awwal_); others say it is because the Ṣúfís claim to belong to the _Aṣḥáb-i Ṣuffa_,[32] with whom may God be well-pleased! Others, again, declare that the name is derived from _ṣafá_ (purity). These explanations of the true meaning of Ṣúfiism are far from satisfying the requirements of etymology, although each of them is supported by many subtle arguments. _Ṣafá_ (purity) is universally praised, and its opposite is _kadar_. The Apostle—on whom be peace!—said: “The _ṣafw_ (pure part, i.e. the best) of this world is gone, and only its _kadar_ (impurity) remains.” Therefore, since the people of this persuasion have purged their morals and conduct, and have sought to free themselves from natural taints, on that account they are called Ṣúfís; and this designation of the sect is a proper name (_az asámi-yi a`lám_), inasmuch as the dignity of the Ṣúfís is too great for their transactions (_mu`ámalát_) to be hidden, so that their name should need a derivation. In this age, however, God has veiled most people from Ṣúfiism and from its votaries, and has concealed its mysteries from their hearts. Accordingly some imagine that it consists merely in the practice of outward piety without inward contemplation, and others suppose that it is a form and a system without essence and root, to such an extent that they have adopted the view of scoffers (_ahl-i hazl_) and theologians (_`ulamá_), who regard only the external, and have condemned Ṣùfiism altogether, making no attempt to discover what it really is. The people in general, blindly conforming to this opinion, have erased from their hearts the quest for inward purity and have discarded the tenets of the Ancients and the Companions of the Prophet. _Verily, purity is characteristic of the Ṣiddíq,[33] if thou desirest a true Ṣúfí_—because purity (_ṣafá_) has a root and a branch: its root being severance of the heart from “others” (_aghyár_), and its branch that the heart should be empty of this deceitful world. Both these are characteristic of the Greatest _Ṣiddíq_, (the Caliph) Abú Bakr `Abdalláh b. Abí Quḥáfa, with whom may God be well-pleased! He is the leader (_imám_) of all the folk of this Path. Footnote 31: Kor. xxv, 64. Footnote 32: See Chapter IX. Footnote 33: