Two important mistakes in quoting the words of Sufi sheikhs

Since the fourth century, Sufis have collected the sayings of Sufi elders in the style of hadith books, the reason for which was fear of innovations, confrontation with accusations, or education of disciples. The result of this was the creation of important books in Sufism such as: Al-Lama, Al-Ta’raf, Tabaqat al-Sufiya Salmi, Risalat al-Qushayriyyah, etc. in Arabic and works such as: Kashf al-Mahjoob, Asrar al-Tawhid, Tazkirat al-Awliya, Nafhat al-Ans, etc. in Persian. These works have mostly recorded the sayings of Sufi elders in a thematic classification, and some others, such as Tabaqat al-Sufiya Salmi and Ansari, have tried to narrate the important sayings of each of the elders in a section dedicated to him. By researching these sources, we find that there are many mistakes in them. In this article, we have attempted to point out and examine two common and important errors in the attribution of sayings to Sufi sheikhs. These two errors include: visual and auditory errors in recording the name of the speaker of a saying, and also attributing a saying to its narrator instead of the original speaker. Omitting the chain of narrators is the root of all these errors, as this has led to a lack of accuracy in the transmission of the sheikhs' sayings. This article will also examine the manner in which these errors occur, along with giving examples of them.