[en] Ibn Khaldoun stated that Sufism is the doctrine of the companions of prophet (peace be upon him ) and their followers and who so ever followed them , and when love of the world spread in the second century and after , the people of worship were the ones selected to be labeled as Sufis (See the preface of Ibn Khaldoun – Dar Aljeel – page 517).Abu Nuaym narrated in the start of his book (al-Ḥilya), in which he compiled the main famous figures of Sufism, began by mentioning the early models in which he included the four wise Khalifas/vicegerants and Fāṭima - the daughter of the generous messenger and al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn – the masters of the youth of Paradise .As for Ibn Nadīm (al-Fihrist) , he mentioned as he listed the Sufis : al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, Muḥammad b. Sīrīn, Mālik b. Dīnār, Mālik b. Anas, Sufyān al-Ṭawrī, al-Awza'ī and others (See al-Fihrist by Ibn Nadīm - the fifth article – the fifth section, page 260, Dār al-Ma'āref, Beirut).All this points to the early origins of Sufism which contained in it the meaning of the religion handed down from the prophet of Allah in it's three pillars (Islam, Īmān and Iḥsān).The prophet said : "My Ummah/nation is like the rain , God makes in it goodness in it's start and in it's end" (Al-Ṭabrānī in his book Al-Kabīr as in Kanz Al-'Ummāl / 34569 / as narrated by 'Ammār Ibn Yāser). Alhadeeth invites us to study the early models of Sufis because it was the true appearance of Sufism in it's spirituality and it's mannerism. Sufism nowdays is being distinguished by it's revival of knowledge and is gradually return to it's early sources so that the origins and the branches are connected.This research represents a deep study of the life of early Sufi models and extracts from it the large common denominators. The early model remains as the honest expression of Sufism and opens to contemporary Sufism the doors of originality.

[fr] Ibn Khaldoun a considéré que le taṣawwuf représentait l'école des Compagnons du Prophète, des Suivants et de ceux qui par la suite ont emprunté la même voie, car lorsque l'attrait pour les biens matériels devint dominant, à partir du iie siècle, on désigna ceux qui se consacraient à l'adoration par le terme ṣūfiyya.Abū Nu'aym a indiqué, dans l'introduction de sa Ḥilya, qu'il avait réuni dans cet ouvrage les noms des soufis, commençant par mentionner, comme leurs premiers représentants, les quatre califes bien guidés. Il a aussi cité Fāṭima, la fille de l'Envoyé d'Allāh, et ses petits-fils al-Ḥasan et al-Ḥusayn, les princes des jeunes gens du paradis.Quant à Ibn Nadīm, dans son Fihrist, il a mentionné pour les soufis : al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, Muḥammad b. Sīrīn, Mālik b. Dīnār, Mālik b. Anas, Sufyān al-Ṭawrī, al-Awza'ī et d'autres encore. Ceci montre que les fondements essentiels du taṣawwuf regroupent les sens du terme dīn tels que reçu de l'Envoyé d'Allāh, selon ses trois principes : islam, īmān et iḥsān.Dans un hadith, le Prophète dit : " Ma communauté est semblable à la pluie, Dieu l'a rendue bienfaisante au début comme à la fin. " Ce dire nous invite à considérer l'exemple des premiers soufis comme les représentants authentiques du soufisme comme voie et doctrine spirituelles. À notre époque, le taṣawwuf se distingue par son renouveau gnostique, renouant avec ses origines auxquelles il reste indissolublement lié.