Facing My Foe: Crafting a Response to Accusations
A Sufi saint Ajmal Hussain was constantly being criticised by scholars, who feared that his repute might outshine their own. They spared no efforts to cast doubts upon his knowledge, to accuse him of taking refuge from their criticism in mysticism, and even to imply that he had been guilty of discreditable practices. At length he said: "If I answer my critics, they make it the opportunity to being fresh accusation against me, which people believe because it amuses them to believe such things. If I do not answer them they crow and preen themselves, and people believe that they are real scholars. They imagine that we Sufi (saints) oppose scholarship. We do not. But our very existence is a threat to the pretended scholarship of tiny noisy one. Scholarship long since disappeared. What we have to face now is sham scholarship.' The scholars shrilled more loudly than even. At last Ajmal said: "Argument is not as effective as demonstration. I shall give you an insight into what t...