Later on, the scholar and jurist Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) criticized these aspects of the Post-Classical theosophy that they considered "extreme." Ibn Taymiyya is an interesting case in the history of Sufis and anti-Sufis. He himself was probably a Sufi, and he said that in his youth he had almost been "deluded by the works of Ibn al-Arabi." What he opposed was not Sufism in principle, but what he considered to be heretical interpretations that deviated from mainstream Islamic doctrine. Among the concepts considered heretical were monism (the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud), or esotericism, the idea that only a few had access to the truth about religious knowledge. Ibn Taymiyya was also famously opposed to some of the cultural aspects related to Sufi practice, namely the use of musical instruments, dance, and celebration of Saint's death-days at tombs.

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