One of the most widely read Sufi treatises in Arabic, the Risala defines classical Sufism through the use of quotations from the Qur�an, the Prophetic Traditions and reference to the exemplary behaviour for the ascetics and saints. Al-Qushayri illustrates the principles of Sufism with tales and sayings of the first generation of Muslims and of the Prophet�s contemporaries in the 5/11th century. Readers are given a rich account of what Sufism as a way of life implied for the early Muslims.