Ruwaym ibn Ahmad

Abu Muhammad Ruwaym ibn Ahmad was a man of Baghdad whom al-Qushayri, in the Risala, counts "among the great shaykhs"; he says Ruwaym died in 303 AH and was a Qur'an reciter and a jurist of the school of Dawud. ¹

• Part of the wisdom of the wise is to be lenient with his brethren in rulings and strict with himself, for leniency towards them is following knowledge and strictness with himself is the rule of scrupulousness. ¹
• Asked by Abu 'Abd Allah ibn Khafif for counsel, he said: this affair is nothing but giving up one's soul; if you can enter it on that condition, do so, otherwise do not busy yourself with the trifles of the Sufis. ¹
• Sitting with any class of people is safer than sitting with the Sufis, for people sit on outward forms while this community sits on realities, demanding of themselves the reality of scrupulousness and constant truthfulness. ¹
• If God grants you both speech and deeds and then takes the speech and leaves the deeds, it is a blessing; if He takes the deeds and leaves the speech, it is a calamity; and if He takes both, it is a punishment. ²

Al-Qushayri relates that Ruwaym passed through a street in Baghdad in the midday heat, thirsty, and asked for water at a house; a girl opened the door with a jug, and on seeing him said: "A Sufi drinking by day!" After that he never broke his fast again. ²