TOPChristian monks in the Near East were to some extent characterized by their association with a woolen cloak—their version of the "religious habit" of Western Christendom—an association that at least suggests that "Sufism" owed more than a passing resemblance to Christian monastic practices on the Syrian steppe. Monks and monasticism are in fact mentioned in the Quran. In two of the citations it is not so much a question of the institution of monasticism as of praise for monks who "are not proud" (5:82) or the condemnation of those Christian monks "who devour the wealth of mankind wantonly" or "hoard up gold and silver and spend it not in the way of God" (9:34). If this were the end of it, one would assume that Muhammad neither admired nor condemned Christian monasticism as such. But there is another, somewhat longer passage on the subject that is far more problematic. It occurs in the midst of the now familiar history of God's revelation.
We sent Noah and Abraham, and we gave prophethood to their progeny and the Book, and some of them were well-directed, but many of them were disobedient. Then in their train we sent Our apostles, and succeeding them Jesus, son of Mary, and gave him the Gospel, and put into the hearts of his followers and caused Our messengers, God declares, to follow in their [that is, Noah and Abraham and their seed] footsteps; and We caused Jesus, son of Mary, to follow, and gave him the Gospel, and in the hearts of those who followed him we placed compassion and kindness. And monasticism, they created it, which had not been prescribed for them by Us except for seeking the pleasure of God; yet they did not observe it as it should have been rightly observed. (Quran 57:27)
And monasticism …: The meaning, and so the translation, of this bit of the verse is by no means certain. Is "monasticism" in parallel with "compassion and kindness," a virtuous practice begun by the Christians of their own volition, or is "monasticism" contrasted with what immediately precedes, a blameworthy human innovation? In Arabic the verse yields both meanings, and its inherent ambiguity is reflected in early Muslim comments upon it, as in this example from Muhasibi (d. 837C.E.).
God blamed those among the Israelites [that is, the Christians] who, having instituted the monastic life to which He had not previously obliged them, did not observe it in an exact fashion. And He said "this monastic life which they instituted; We ordained it not for them. …"
There is disagreement on this verse. Mujahid interprets it as "We have not ordained it for them only to make them desire to conform themselves to the divine pleasure," that is to say, "We have prescribed it. … God placed in them, for their own good, the seeds of the monastic life, and then reprimanded them for abandoning it." But Abu Imama al-Bahili and others comment upon it as follows: "We have not prescribed, that is to say, it was not We who ordained this. They instituted it only to please God and even so God blamed them for abandoning it." This latter opinion is the more probable and one which embraces most of the scholars of the community. [MASSIGNON 1968: 149]
We cannot say which in fact is the more probable interpretation, but Muhasibi is certainly correct in maintaining that the reading of the verse in a pejorative sense—namely, that monasticism is a Christian innovation, unrequired, even undesired, by God—became the common interpretation of this verse among Muslims. It is no surprise then that there soon began to circulate a tradition on the subject attributed to Muhammad himself. "No monasticism in Islam," the Prophet is reported to have said.