the book "Al-Ta'arruf", The Medicine for Those Who Are Doubtful with Tasawuf by Al-Kalabadzi

One of the standard books whose authority is recognized in this science is the book "At-Ta'arruf li Madzhabi Ahli al-Tasawuf" written by Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Ishaq al-Kalabadzi al-Bukhari (died 380H / 990M). Or abbreviated as "Abu Bakr al-Kalabadzi". He was a hadith expert Sufi scholar who lived before Imam al-Ghazali. The distance between the years between the death of Abu Bakr Kalabadzi and the birth of Imam al-Ghazali is around 68 years (Imam al-Ghazali was born in 1058 AD). He has the title "Tajul Islam" (meaning: crown of Islam). Hanafi school of jurisprudence expert and hadith expert.

This book contains about 222 traditions. In terms of place of birth and growing up, al-Kalabadzi was born in Kalabadz a district in the city of Bukhoro, the birthplace of the greatest hadith imam, Imam al-Bukhari. Although not a contemporary of the previous Bukhari priest (al-Bukhari died in 870 AD, one 120 years apart from the death of al-Kalabadzi), it is possible that the influence of the tradition of hadith science is quite strong in al-Kalabadzi. In short, he was a scholar of Sufism who was an expert on hadith.

However, according to Abdul Halim Mahmud (Shaykh al-Azhar 1970-1978), the book "At-Ta'arruf" is the oldest, most detailed, purest systematic Sufism book concerning the understanding of Sufism, its teachings and its characters.

The strengths of this book include; it was written at the end of the 4th century H. That is the time when Sufism reached the peak of maturity and perfection. Both in terms of methodology and from the side of the characters. The previous phases were, the formation period. So naturally there are pros and cons.

Another advantage is that this book, although old, is presented in a language that is quite easy to understand, a uslub (language style) that is not too complicated and wingless, the order in which the theme is presented is systematic, and not too thick.

The number of chapters of this book is 75 chapters. With each chapter, the discussion is short, short, to the point. It begins with a very important theme in the issue of Sufism, namely the reason why this science is called Sufism. The discussion of the book "At-Ta'arruf" is shorter without reducing the importance of the discussion theme.

In this first chapter, al-Kalabadzi does not provide a specific definition of Sufism. However, he explained why a person is called a Sufi, who is a Sufi, and why amaliyah Sufi is called Sufism.

Sufi is a person whose behavior is purely sincere because of Allah and gets sincere glory from Allah.

There are two more important themes expressed by al-Kalabadzi in this book. Namely about sharia and tauhid (akidah). This study is no less important than explaining the meaning of Sufi in the first chapter. Because, on these two problems, Sufism is usually clashed.

Al-Kalabadzi explained that in fiqh the Sufis take the opinion of the most cautious (ahwath), most trusted and strong fiqh. Especially when there is a difference of opinion among the jurists' (fiqh experts).

Up to the case of praying al-Kalabadzi prayer, it is necessary to explain the attitude of the Sufis. According to him, the Sufi tradition has never underestimated and delayed the obligatory prayers. They agreed that obligatory prayers must be fulfilled immediately at the beginning of time. They do not belittle, end, let alone abandon it.

In the chapter on tawhid, al-Kalabadzi's creed is the same as that of the salaf scholars. There is no tajsim, tasybih, ta'thil, and others. His explanation of the creed is quite simple (especially for his era), not complicated, not too philosophical but systematic, there is no element of shirk. Not even the elements that can attract debate are in this book.