Muhammad Abduh

“On the seventh day, I asked the shaykh: ‘‘What is your tarîqâh?’’ He replied: ‘‘Islam is my tarıqa.’’ I asked: ‘‘But are not all these people Muslims?’’ He said: ‘‘If they were Muslims, you would not see them contending over trivial matters and would not hear them swearing by God while they are lying with or without a reason.’’ These words were like fire which burned away all that I held dear of the baggage from the past.”