If Islamic philosophy mostly developed in Iran, its severest critics of philosophy also emerged there. The puritanical movement known as the Maktab-i Tafk?k (The School of Distinction) in the contemporary Sh?`a seminaries of Iran carries on a long tradition of opposition to philosophy and Sufism. We will discuss the history of its establishment, its arguments against philosophy and Sufism, the dimensions of its influence, and the opposition to it by adherents of philosophy and Sufism, especially by the “Shushtariya” order.  This aspect of modern Shi’ite intellectual history is almost unknown to scholarship.   Mirz? Mahd? I?fah?n?’s (1885- 1946) is the main figure and founder of the Maktab-i Tafk?k, though the tradition of opposition to philosophy and Sufism in the Mashhad madrasas goes back to al-?urr al-?mul? in the seventeenth century. Rather than merely making counter-arguments, I?fah?n? and his followers question the purity of the faith of philosophers and Sufis, accusing them of deviating from the path of Sh?’a Imams. I?fah?n? held that to fully grasp the teachings of the Imams, it was necessary not to be affected by alien knowledge such as philosophy and Sufism. His Abw?b al-Hud? (Gates of Guidance) explained the foundation of his opposition to philosophy and Sufism. The term Tafk?k in the works of his followers alludes to the way their school distinguishes true religious knowledge from foreign knowledge wrongly imported into the seminary education system. The Maktab-i Tafk?k aims to separate and purify, distinguishing the true mode of apprehension (shin?kht), namely the path and method of the Qur?n, from philosophy and Sufism (Irf?n), thus purifying the “Qur?nic apprehension” (fahm-i Qur?n?). There was another goal for “distinction”: gaining sound religious  knowledge that completely avoids Ta’w?l (esoteric exegesis) and Mazj, integration with other forms of human thought in order to prevent the “reality of revelation” and principles of the “sound knowledge” from being mixed with human thoughts and tastes.   The rival to the Maktab-i Tafk?k is the Sh?shtar?ya order, a counter-tradition in the seminary of adherents to philosophy and Sufism. This paper will discuss their response to the Maktab-i Tafk?k.   This paper is based on Persian texts by authors of the two schools.