The Authority of Hadīts in Classical Sufi Literature: Negotiating Authenticity, Meaning, and Spiritual Legitimacy

Abstract

This article examines how the authority of hadith is constructed and negotiated in classical Sufi literature, focusing on the relationship among the text’s authenticity, interpretive meaning, and spiritual legitimacy. The use of hadith in Sufi works is often criticized for relying on da’if or non-canonical narrations. This article argues that the authority of hadith in Sufi discourse cannot be understood only through the formal criteria of hadith criticism. Drawing on classical Sufi works such as al-Qushayri’s Al-Risālah al-Qusyayriyyah, al-Sarraj’s al-Luma’, and al-Ghazali’s Iḥyā’ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn, this article employs a qualitative, library-based method grounded in literary studies, combining a historical approach with attention to hadith interpretation (tafsir al-hadith). The study shows that classical Sufi writers did not use hadith merely as a normative proposition, but also as a discursive instrument to form ethical discipline, articulate spiritual experience, and affirm the authority of Sufism within the broader framework of Islamic orthodoxy. Authenticity, in this context, is often negotiated through moral utility, symbolic depth, and pedagogical function rather than through sanad evaluation alone. The article concludes that hadith in classical Sufi literature functions simultaneously as a source of religious normativity, a medium of spiritual interpretation, and a foundation for claims to prophetic inheritance.