Criticisms of early sufism

Sufism is the science that has been subjected to the most criticism in terms of its source, method and practices among the basic Islamic sciences. After some events that have taken place today, Sufi anti-Semitism has increased. However, it has been seen that the said negative attitude is not new, it is a situation that has been going on since the first century of the hijra, and the first Sufi authors handled the criticism in all its aspects. Some of the criticisms against Sufism are directly related to Sufism, and it is possible to encounter many criticisms attributed to Sufism. In these criticisms, there are many topics in which the people of apparent science, especially the Salafi scholars, differ from the Sufis of the first period. In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the topics mentioned and to discuss the criticisms from the point of view of today, based on the works of the first period Sufi authors. It has been seen that the issues such as the source of knowledge of Sufism, its view of evil, and the ricâlü'l-ghayb are the real topics of discussion and can be discussed within the scientific framework as much as possible. However, it has been determined that subjects such as the origin of Sufism, asceticism, custody, begging are open to speculation and are often manipulated. In the criticisms of the Zahir scholars and the Sufis in their defense, the issues that they are consistent or contradicted have been tried to be put forward in an objective way.