Here are the views of some scholars about Sufism.

Imam Abu Hanifa (85 H. - 150 H) "If it were not for two years, I would have perished." He said, "for two years I accompanied Sayyidina Ja'far as-Sadiq and I acquired the spiritual knowledge that made me a gnostic in the Way." [Ad-Durr al-Mukhtar, vol 1. p. 43]

Imam Malik (95 H. - 179 H.) "whoever studies Jurisprudence (tafaqaha) and didn't study Sufism [tasawwafa] will be corrupted; and whoever studied Sufism and didn't study Jurisprudence will become a heretic; and whoever combined both will be reach the Truth." [the scholar'Ali al-Adawi , vol. 2, p 195.)

Imam Shafi'i (150 - 205 AH.) "I accompanied the Sufi people and I received from them three knowledges: ... how to speak; .. how to treat people withleniency and a soft heart... and they... guided me in the ways of Sufism." [Kashf al-Khafa, 'Ajluni, vol. 1, p 341.]

Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal (164 - 241 AH.) "O my son, you have to sit with the People of Sufism, because they are like a fountain of knowledge and they keep the Remembrance of Allah in their hearts. they are the ascetics and they have the most spiritual power." [Tanwir al-Qulub p. 405]

Imam Nawawi (620 - 676 AH.) "The specifications of the Way of the Sufis are ... to keep the Presence of Allah in your heart in public and in private; to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet (s) ... to be happy with what Allah gave you..."[in his Letters, (Maqasid at-tawhid), p. 201]

Ibn Khaldun (733 - 808 AH.) "The way of the Sufis is the way of the Salaf, the preceding Scholars between the Sahaba and Tabi'een of those who followed good guidance..." [Muqaddimat ibn al-Khaldun, p. 328]

Tajuddin as-Subki (727 - 771 AH.) "May Allah praise them [the Sufis] and greet them and may Allah cause us to be with them in Paradise. Too many things havebeen said about them and too many ignorant people have said things which are not related to them. And the truth is that those people left the world and were busy with worship. ... They are the People of Allah, whose supplications and player Allah accepts and by means of whom Allah supports human beings" [Mu'eed an-Na'am p. 190, the chapter entitled Tasawwufl

Jalaluddin as-Suyuti (849 - 911 AH.) "At-Tasawwuf in itself is the best and most honorable knowledge. It explains how to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet (s) and to put aside innovation." [Ta'yid al-Haqiqat al-'Aiiyya,p 57]

lbn Qayyim (691 - 751 AH.) "We can witness the greatness of the People of Sufism, in the eyes of the earliest generations of Muslims by what has been mentioned by Sufyan ath-Thawri (d. 161 AH), one of the greatest imams of the second century and one of the foremost legal scholars. He said, "If it had not been for Abu Hisham as-Sufi (d. 115) 1 would never have perceived the action of the subtlest forms of hypocrisy in the self... Among the best of people is the Sufi learned in jurisprudence." [Manazil as-Sa'ireen.]

Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab (1115 - 1201 AH.) "My father Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab and I do not deny or criticize the science of Sufism, but on the contrary we support it, because it purifies the external and the internal of the hidden sins, which are related to the heart and to the outward form. Even though the individual might externally be on the right way, internally he might be on the wrong way. Sufism is necessary to correct it." [ad-Dia'at mukathaffa did ash-Shaykh Ibn Abdul Wahhab,p.85 ]

Ibn 'Abidin (1198 - 1252 AH.) "the Seekers in this Sufi Way don't hear except from the Divine Presence and they don't love any but Him. If they remember Him they cry, and if they thank Him they are happy; ... May Allah bless them." [Risa'il Ibn'Abidin p. 172 & 173]

Muhammad 'Abduh (1265 - 1323 AH.) "Tasawwuf appeared in the first century of Islam and it received a tremendous honor. It purified the self and straightened the conduct and gave knowledge to people from the Wisdom and Secrets of the Divine Presence." (Majallat al-Muslim, 6th ed. 1378 H, p. 24].

Abul Hasan 'Ali an-Nadawi (1331 AH b.) "These Sufis were initiating people on Oneness and sincerity in following the Sunnah of the Prophet (s) and to repent from theirsins and to be away from every disobedience of Allah 'Azza wa Jail. Their guides were encouraging them to move in the way of perfect Love to Allah 'Azza wa Jail. "...In Calcutta India, everyday more than 1000 people were taking initiation into Sufism. "...by the influence of these Sufi people, thousands and thousands and hundreds of thousands in India found their Lord and reached a state of Perfection through the Islamic religion."[Muslit-ns in India, p. 140-146]

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© Nuh Ha Mim Keller 1995

HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND TO THE CLAIM THAT SUFISM IS BID'A?

I would respond by looking to see how traditional ulama or Islamic scholars have viewed it. For the longest period of Islamic history--from Umayyad times to Abbasid, to Mameluke, to the end of the six-hundred-year Ottoman period--Sufism has been taught and understood as an Islamic discipline, like Qur'anic exegesis (tafsir), hadith, Qur'an recital (tajwid), tenets of faith (ilm al-tawhid) or any other, each of which preserved some particular aspect of the din or religion of Islam. While the details and terminology of these shari'a disciplines were unknown to the first generation of Muslims, when they did come into being, they were not considered bid'a or "reprehensible innovation" by the ulema of shari'a because for them, bid'a did not pertain to means, but rather to ends, or more specifically, those ends that nothing in Islam attested to the validity of.

To illustrate this point, we may note that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) never in his life prayed in a mosque built of reinforced concrete, with a carpeted floor, glass windows, and so on, yet these are not considered bid'a, because we Muslims have been commanded to come together in mosques to perform the prayer, and large new buildings for this are merely a means to carry out the command.

In the realm of knowledge, books of detailed interpretation of the Qur'an, verse by verse and sura by sura, were not known to the first generation of Islam, nor was the term tafsir current among them, yet because of its benefit in preserving a vital aspect of the revelation, the understanding of the Qur'an, when the tafsir literature came into being, it was acknowledged to serve an end endorsed by the shari'a and was not condemned as bid'a. The same is true of most of the Islamic sciences, such as ilm al-jarh wa tadil or "the science of weighing positive and negative factors for evaluating the reliability of hadith narrators", or ilm al-tawhid, "the science of tenets of Islamic faith", and other disciplines essential to the shari'a. In this connection, Imam Shafi'i (d. 204/820) has said, "Anything which has a support (mustanad) from the shari'a is not bid'a, even if the early Muslims did not do it" (Ahmad al-Ghimari, Tashnif al-adhan, Cairo: Maktaba al-Khanji, n.d., 133).

Similarly ilm al-tasawwuf, "the science of Sufism" came into being to preserve and transmit a particular aspect of the shari'a, that of ikhlas or sincerity. It was recognized that the sunna of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) was not only words and actions, but also states of being: that a Muslim must not only say certain things and do certain things, but must also be something. The shari'a commands one, for example, in many Qur'anic verses and prophetic hadiths, to fear Allah, to have sincerity toward Him, to be so certain in ones knowledge of Allah that one worships Him as if one sees Him, to love the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) more than any other human being, to show love and respect to all fellow Muslims, to show mercy, and to have many other states of the heart. It likewise forbids us such inward states as envy, malice, pride, arrogance, love of this world, anger for the sake of ones ego, and so on. Al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi relates, for example, with a chain of transmission judged rigorously authenticated (sahih) by Ibn Main, the hadith "Anger spoils faith (iman) as [the bitterness of] aloes sap spoils honey" (Nawadir al-usul. Istanbul 1294/1877. Reprint.
Beirut: Dar Sadir, n.d., 6).

If we reflect upon these states, obligatory to attain or to eliminate, we notice that they proceed from dispositions, dispositions not only lacking in the unregenerate human heart, but acquired only with some effort, resulting in a human change so profound that the Qur'an in many verses terms it purification, as when Allah says in surat al-Ala, for example, "He has succeeded who purifies himself" (Qur'an 87:14). Bringing about this change is the aim of the Islamic science of Sufism, and it cannot be termed bid'a, because the shari'a commands us to accomplish the change.

At the practical level, the nature of this science of purifying the heart (like virtually all other traditional Islamic disciplines) requires that the knowledge be taken from those who possess it. This is why historically we find that groups of students gathered around particular sheikhs to learn the discipline of Sufism from. While such tariqas or groups, past and present, have emphasized different ways to realize the attachment of the heart to Allah commanded by the Islamic revelation, some features are found in all of them, such as learning knowledge from a teacher by precept and example, and then methodically increasing ones iman or faith by applying this knowledge through performing obligatory and supererogatory works of worship, among the greatest of latter being dhikr or the remembrance of Allah. There is much in the Qur'an and sunna that attests to the validity of this approach, such as the hadith related by al-Bukhari that:
Allah Most High says: "....My slave approaches Me with nothing more beloved to Me than what I have made obligatory upon him, and My slave keeps drawing nearer to Me with voluntary works until I love him. And when I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he seizes, and his foot with which he walks. If he asks me, I will surely give to him, and if he seeks refuge in Me, I will surely protect him (Sahih al-Bukhari. 9 vols. Cairo 1313/1895. Reprint (9 vols. in 3). Beirut: Dar al-Jil, n.d., 5.131: 6502)--which is a way of expressing that such a person has realized the consummate awareness of tawhid or "unity of Allah" demanded by the shari'a, which entails total sincerity to Allah in all one's actions. Because of this hadith, and others, traditional ulama have long acknowledged that ilm or "Sacred Knowledge" is not sufficient in itself, but also entails amal or "applying what one knows"--as well as the resultant hal or "praiseworthy spiritual state" mentioned in the hadith.

It was perceived in all Islamic times that when a scholar joins between these aspects, his words mirror his humility and sincerity, and for that reason enter the hearts of listeners. This is why we find that so many of the Islamic scholars to whom Allah gave tawfiq or success in their work were Sufis. Indeed, to throw away every traditional work of the Islamic sciences authored by those educated by Sufis would be to discard 75 percent or more of the books of Islam. These men included such scholars as the Hanafi Imam Muhammad Amin Ibn Abidin, Sheikh al-Islam Zakaria al-Ansari, Imam Ibn Daqiq al-Eid, Imam al-Izz Ibn Abd al-Salam, Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi, Sheikh Ahmad al-Sirhindi, Sheikh Ibrahim al-Bajuri, Imam al-Ghazali, Shah Wali Allah al-Dahlawi, Imam al-Nawawi, the hadith master (hafiz, someone with 100,000 hadiths by memory) Abd al-Adhim al-Mundhiri, the hadith master Murtada al-Zabidi, the hadith master Abd al-Rauf al-Manawi, the hadith master Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti, the hadith master Taqi al-Din al-Subki, Imam al-Rafi'i, Imam Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, Zayn al-Din al-Mallibari, Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, and many many others.

Imam al-Nawawi's attitude towards Sufism is plain from his work Bustan al-arifin [The grove of the knowers of Allah] on the subject, as well as his references to al-Qushayris famous Sufi manual al-Risala al-Qushayriyya throughout his own Kitab al-adhkar [Book of
the remembrances of Allah], and the fact that fifteen out of seventeen quotations about sincerity (ikhlas) and being true (sidq) in an introductory section of his largest legal work (al-Majmu: sharh al-Muhadhdhab. 20 vols. Cairo n.d. Reprint. Medina: al-Maktaba al-Salafiyya, n.d., 1.1718) are from Sufis who appear by name in al-Sulamis Tabaqat al-Sufiyya [The successive generations of Sufis]. Even Ibn Taymiyya (whose views on Sufism remain strangely unfamiliar even to those for whom he is their "Sheikh of Islam") devoted volumes ten and eleven of his Majmu al-fatawa to Sufism, while his student Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya wrote his three-volume Madarij al-salikin as a detailed commentary on Abdullah al-Ansaris Manazil al-sairin, a guide to the maqamat or "spiritual stations" of the Sufi path. These and many other Muslim scholars knew firsthand the value of Sufism as an ancillary shari'a discipline needed to purify the heart, and this was the reason that the Umma as a whole did not judge Sufism to be a bid'a down through the ages of Islamic civilization, but rather recognized it as the science of ikhlas or sincerity, so urgently needed by every Muslim on "a day when wealth will not avail, nor sons, but only him who brings Allah a sound heart" (Qur'an 26:8. And Allah alone gives success.

© Nuh Ha Mim Keller 1995

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TASAWWUF:

Its meaning and significance

Shaykh Siraj Hendricks

Tasawwuf has been variously defined by various scholars. In his book "awaarif al Ma`aarif" (the Fragrances of Inner Knowledge), Suhrawardi mentions that more than a thousand definitions exist for Tasawwuf. However, a cursory study of some of these definitions will reveal that they differ mostly in their wording and their emphases. For the purposes of this essay I will provide three definitions.

Shaykh Abu Bakr ash-Shibli has defined Tasawwuf as follows:

"Its beginning is the knowledge (Ma`rifa) of Allah and its end is His unification (Tauheed)."

Junayd al-Baghdadi defines it as "... being dead to one`s self and alive in Allah".

And Shaykh ul-Islam Zakariyya Ansari has said:

"Sufism teaches one to purify one`s self, improve one`s morals, and build up one`s inner and outer life in order to attain perpetual bliss. Is subject matter is the purification of the soul and its end or aim is the attainment of eternal felicity and blessedness."

These three definitions - the first pertaining to the intellect (`aql), the second to a state of being (hal), and the third to ethics (akhlaq) - cover the major concerns of the Sufi quest.

The first definition therefore, sets out the ultimate nature of things viz. That everything subsists through and by the Will of Allah. The second emphasises the importance of renouncing the ego or lower self. Arrogance, conceit, and self-centredness are considered amongst the greatest veils between man and Allah.

It is this state of being or condition (hal) which Rabia al-`Adawiyya gave expression to when she said: "If I seek repentance of myself then I shall have need of repentance again". Rabia counted the mere acknowledgement of the individual ego amongst the greatest of sins. The third definition has in mind the development of the human personality along the best of moral values. This process is made possible through the twin processes of purification (Tazkiyyah) and adornment (Tahliyya). That is, purifying the self from all blameworthy qualities, and adorning it with all praiseworthy qualities.

Origin of the term "Sufi"

Lexicographers have identified a number of source words from which the term Sufi is derived. The most widely accepted word from which Sufi is derived is "suf" meaning wool. The earlier ascetics often donned woollen garments to express their inner detachment from the world and their rejection of the excessive materialism of the earlier Islamic dynasties, particularly the Umayyad dynasty.

Other terms that suggest themselves as source words are the following:

Safa, meaning purification.

Safwe, which means those who are selected.

Suffa, meaning a bench or low veranda. During the time of the Prophet (may the peach and blessings of Allah be upon him) a number of Companions disengaged themselves from normal worldly activities and devoted themselves to an ascetic way of life. They came to be known as the Ashaab us-Suffa or "Companions of the Bench". They spent the greater part of their lives in acts of devotion on a low veranda in the vicinity of the Prophet`s (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) mosque.

Saff, meaning rank, line, or row. The first row in congregational prayers in Islam has been accorded a special status for it symbolises those who are in the first rank of spirituality.



From the etymological point of view the only term that qualifies as a source word is "Suf". Nevertheless the other terms are normally included in discussions on the origin of the term "Sufi" for the simple reason that all of them convey one or another of the manifold dimensions of the Sufi Way.

The Sources of Tasawwuf

Earlier orientalist studies have been at pains to show the non-Islamic origins of Tasawwuf. Islam, according to these studies, have emerged form the dry wastelands of Arabia, could never contain within itself the seeds of such a profoundly inspiring wisdom. The beautific vision of the Sufis simply could not have its roots in the desert. This was one of the prejudices which blinded many western orientalists to the vision and insights contained within the Qur`an itself and within the Prophetic Traditions. The Qur`anic origins, however, have been conclusively proven.

Amongst the many Qur`anic verses which the Sufis turn to in support of their position are those contained in Surah Waaqiah. In these verses Allah classifies people into three categories:

The people of the left-hand (Ashaab al-Mash-amah).

the people of the right-hand (Ashaab al-Maymanah).

Those who are near to Allah (Muqarraboon); alternatively referred to as the "Foremost".

The first group are those who have rejected faith. The second group are the righteous ones who are consistent in the fulfilment of their duties towards Allah. They are described as "a multitude of those of old and a multitude of those of later times (Waaqiah :39-40). And finally their are the Muqarraboon. They are a special group of believers who have attained the highest rank in spiritual development. They are often described as the elect of the elect (Khawaas ul-Khaswaas) whose intensity of faith (iman) has bestowed upon them the special privilege of enjoying nearness to Allah.

They are described in this Surah as being "a multitude of those of old and a few of later times" (Waaqiah : 13-14). It is the attainment of this high level of faith and spiritual development that describes the aspirations of the Sufi.

This idea of nearness to Allah is similarly expressed in a Sacred Tradition;

"My servant continually seeks to draw near to Me through supererogatory acts until I love him. And when I love him I become the ears with which he hears, the eyes with which he sees, the hand with which he grasps, and the feet with which he walks" (Bukhari).

When the ideas of the nearness of Allah and His love are combined with the aspect of His beauty as expressed by the Prophetic Tradition:

"Indeed Allah is beautiful and loves beauty" (Muslim), then prayers of the previously quoted Sufi Saint, Rabia al-`Adawiyyah can more readily be comprehended,

"O Allah if I worship You for fear of Hell, burn me in Hell; and if I worship you in hope of Paradise exclude me from Paradise; but if I worship You for Your own sake, grudge me not Your everlasting beauty".

It is within the context of this spiritual longing that we come to appreciate the intensity of the devotional acts in which the Sufi engages.

Later development in Tasawwuf

During the formative period of Tasawwuf the Sufis were not strictly identifiable in terms of specific orders. Students would gather around a Shaykh - known for the depth of both his knowledge and his piety - where they would often devote themselves to years of learning.

Amongst the outstanding Sufi masters of this period were Hasan al-Basri (d.728), Ibrahim ibn Adham (d.777), Rabia al-`Adawiyyah (d.801), Fudayl ibn "Iyaad (d.803), Ma`ruf al`Karkhi (d.815), Abu "Abdullah al-Muhaasibi (d.857), Sar as-Saqati (d.867), Abu Yazid al-Bistaami (d.874), and Abul Qasim al-Junayd al- Baghdadi (d.910).

The shaykh - murid relationship entailed three important features. The first is the Ilbaas ul-Khirka. This entailed the donning of a patched frock that indicated the aspirant`s initiation into Tasawwuf. The second is known as the Talqin udh-Dhirk which was the shaykh`s instruction to the murid with regard to the type and nature of the dhikr (invocation) to be practiced. The third is the suhba which referred to the nature and quality of the murid`s companionship with the shaykh. These features formed an integral part of the Sufi Way righ from the outset. In fact most of these practises are traceable to the Sunnah of the Prophet (may the peace and blessings be upon him). The teachings of the Sufi masters, along with the different dhikr forms, were handed down from shaykh to murid in a continuous chain of transmission called a silsila. It is through these silsilas - accompanied by the ijaaza system - that the teachings of the Sufi masters were protected as part of our spiritual heritage. The Ijaaza simply refers to the right, or licence, granted to the student by the shaykh with a view to furthering the shaykh`s teachings.

It was, however, only during the 12th and 13th centuries that the Tariqah orders were formalised and officially adopted particular names by which they came to be identified. This does not mean though, that certain gorups were not identified previously with certain great masters. On the contrary, Hujwiri (d.1077) in his classic work the Kash al Mahjub already refers to the followers of some of the great masters by the names of these masters. The followers of Abdullah al-Muhaasibi, for example, he calls the Muhaasibis, those of al-Junayd the Junaydis and so forth.

Nevertheless, the institutionalisation of the Orders really only started with the followers of Sayyid `Abdul Qadir al-Jilani (d.1166). Later on a number of other Orders developed along similar lines such as the Suhrawardiyyah, the Shadhiliyyah, the Naqshabandiyyah, etc.

Despite this proliferation of Sufi Orders, the Sufi path has been identified by most scholars as a threefold process:

The Shari`ah - that is to acquaint oneself with and to meticulously follow the legal rulings of the Shari`ah.

The Tariqah - to engage in various spiritual excersises (such as dhirk) recommended by the Prophet (may the peach and blessing be upon him) and the established adepts of Tasawwuf.

The Haqiqah, that is the attainment of a spiritual consciousness or inner enlightenment that witnesses that all things ultimately come from and belong to Allah.

Shari`ah and Tasawwuf

During the first few centuries of Islam the Islamic world spawned a bewildering number of theological, philosophical, and legal schools of thought. All these tendencies seemed to be straining in mutually exclusive directions, to the point where the initial fabric of tolerance which had existed amongst Muslims was in danger of being torn apart. The increasing tensions, too, between the Jurists and the Sufis further exacerbated the situation. It was left to the celebrated scholar Abu Hamid al-Ghazaali (1058-1111) to restore a more balanced perspective to the situation. Amongst the great contributions left behind by Imam al-Ghazaali was his ability, and his success, in harmonising between the legal (or exoteric) and the sufic (or esoteric) strands of Islam. A rejection of either would have left Islam as nothing more than a caricature of itself.

The Chistiyyah Order

The contribution of the Sufi Orders to Islamic culture and civilisation - particularly in the fields of architecture, the arts, and literature - has been immense. The Chistiyya is one such order.

This order attained its fame under the leadership of the influential Indian Sufi Muhammad Mu`in al-Din Chisti (1142-1236). The order traces its roots to Hasan al-Basri. It is often alleged that Khwaja Mu`in at-Din Chisti is the founder of the order. This is a mistaken notion. The order was originally founded in Afghanistan in a town called Chist.

The teachings of Mu`in at-Din Chisti were further expounded and elaborated upon by his famous student Shaykh Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki (1236). Shaykh Qutbuddin was succeeded by an equally famous master Shaykh Farid al-Din Ganj-i Shakar (d.1265). It was left to Shaykh Farid`s student, Khawaja Nizaam al-din Awliyaa (d.1325) to consolidate the Chistiyya order in India, particularly in the North. In addition to being a great mystic, he also excelled as a theologian. Many acknowledged him as the spiritual leader of his age.

[...portion specific to South Africa left out]

Conclusion

Tasawwuf is non other than the inner, spiritual dimension of Islam. The Tariqah - as method - is the attempt to both preserve and penetrate that dimension. The Shari`ah is the divinely ordained mould within which that spirituality takes on its distinctive "shape". These three aspects of Islam are inseparable parts of an organic whole.

Imam Malik (RA) put it well when he said:

"He who learns jurisprudence and neglects Tasawwuf becomes a reprobate; and he who learns Tasawwuf and neglects jurisprudence becomes an apostate. But he who combines both will reach the Truth".

As for the many paths which have developed over the centuries the classical Sufi saying sums is up:

"Tawhid is one, but the paths to Allah equal the number of people since the time of Adam".

These "different ways have always been viewed as a mercy by the Ummah.

© el-Zawiya Mosque

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TASAWWUF
by Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

"IN THE TIME OF THE PROPHET TASAWWUF WAS A REALITY WITHOUT A NAME. TODAY TASAWWUF IS A NAME, BUT FEW KNOW ITS REALITY."

The Islamic Nation today is in need of good scholars who observe the correct teachings of Islam ('alimun 'aamil), trying their best to bring back what has been destroyed of the Islamic religion over the years and who are able to differentiate between right and wrong, halal and haram, and who believe in Haqq and oppose Batil, not fearing anyone on the way of Allah.

Muslims of today have no one to advise them nor guide them in the teaching of their religion and the good manners and behavior of Islam. On the contrary, we see only scholars pretending to know something, imposing their corrupted ideas and beliefs about Islam on everyone. They are at every convention, giving lectures and talks about Islam from a narrow and limited perspective, not according to the guidance the Sahaba of the Prophet nor of the great Imams of Islam nor the consensus of the majority of Muslims.

If scholars would listen to their consciences and return in loyalty and sincerity to Islam without the influence of governments or other powers that control Muslim countries with their money, devoting themselves only to da'wa and irshad and remembrance of Allah and His Prophet (s), then the situation in the Islamic world could change and Muslim life would improve tremendously. Our hope is that in this new Islamic year 1416, Muslims in America and throughout the world will come back together in unity, linked to one rope, Allah's Rope, to establish the Sunnah and the Shari'ah of Prophet Muhammad (s).

If people will look back deeply into history they will find that after the brave work of the Sahaba, (the Companions of the Prophet(s)), Islam spread East and West and to the Far East through the dawa' and irshad of the scholars and followers of Tasawwuf (Sufism), who followed the True Way of the Caliphs of the Prophet (s)--radi-Allahu 'anhum. They were the scholars of true Sufism, which upholds the teachings of the Qur'an and Sunnah and has never deviated from them.

Islamic zuhd (asceticism) flourished in the first Hijri century and developed into schools that had their foundation and basis of their teachings in the Sunnah and Shari'ah, propagated by zahid scholars who came to be known as the Sufis. Among them were the first four Imams, Imam Malik, Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Shafi'i and Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, as well as al-Imam Abi 'Abdallah Muhammad AL-BUKHARI, Abul Husain MUSLIM bin al-Hajjaj, Abu 'Isa TIRMIDHI. Others were Hasan al-Basri, al-Junaid, Imam Awzai' And later these included at-Tabarani, Imam Jalaluddin as-Suyuti, ibn Hajar al-Haythami, al-Jardani, ibn Qayyim al-Jawzi, Imam Muhyiddin bin Sharaf bin Mari bin Hassan bin Husain bin Hazam bin NAWAWI, Imam Abu Hamid GHAZALI, Sayyid Ahmad al-Farouqi Sirhindi, to name a few. The Muslim world has come to know Islam through the efforts of these zahid scholars who were known as Sufis because of their loyalty, sincerity and purity of heart.

We are not hiding the fact that at that time, some enemies of Islam came to take an extreme approach, using the name of Sufism, and pretending to be Sufis while spreading strange ideas in order to demolish the true Sufi teachings and poison Muslim ideas about Tasawwuf which the majority of Muslims were following. True Tasawwuf is based on zuhd and Ihsan (purity of the heart). The great Imams of the Muslim world, whose guidance was followed in all Muslim countries, were known to have Sufi masters. Imam Malik, Imam Abu Hanifa, (whose teacher was Ja'far as-Sadiq) Imam Shafi' (who followed Shayban ar-Rai') and Imam ibn Hanbal (whose teacher was Bishr al-Hafi) all embraced Tasawwuf.

All courts and universities of Muslim countries teach from the schools of these four Imams up to today. For example, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, Djibouti, and some other countries follow the Shafi'i madhhab. Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, Libya and Somalia follow the Maliki school. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and some other countries follow the Hanbali school. Turkey, Pakistan, India, Ceylon, and some of the Russian republics follow the Hanafi school. The Far Eastern Muslim countries follow the Shafi'i school. Most courts of Muslim countries depend for their fatwas on these four schools and all these four schools accepted Tasawwuf.

Imam Malik in his famous saying said, "man tasawaffa wa lam yatafaqa faqad tazandaqa, wa man tafaqaha wa lam yatasawaf faqad tafasaq, wa man tasawaffa wa tafaqaha faqad tahaqaq."

which means: " Whoever studied Tasawwuf without Fiqh is a heretic, and whoever studied Fiqh without Tasawwuf is corrupted, and whoever studied Tasawwuf and Fiqh will find the Truth and Reality of Islam."

At a time when travel was most difficult, Islam spread quickly through the selfless efforts of Sufi travelers well-schooled in the ascetic discipline (zuhd ad-dunya) required of those Allah had chosen for so noble a task. Their life was dawa' and their sustenance was bread and water. Through such abstinence they were able to reach the West and the Far East with the blessing of Islam.

In the 6th and 7th Hijri centuries, Tasawwuf flourished increasingly because of the progress and effort of the Sufi teachers. Each group came to be named after its Sufi teacher, to differentiate it from other groups. Similarly today, each person holds a degree named for the university from which he graduated. Yet it is obvious that Islam remains the same, never changing from one Sufi teacher to another, just as Islam is not changing from one university to another.

However, in the past students were influenced by the good manners and good morality of their teachers. Therefore Muslims were sincere and loyal. But today our scholars are dry and Islam is taught to them in non-Muslim universities by non-Muslims professors (if you are clever you can understand).

Sufi teachers asked their students to accept Allah as their Creator and the Prophet as His Slave and Messenger (s), to worship Allah alone and to leave the worship of idols, to repent to God, to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet, to purify their hearts, to clean their egoes from mistakes and to correct their beliefs in the Oneness of God. And they were teaching them to be honest and trustworthy in everything they did, to be patient and God-fearing, to love others, to depend on God, and all the other excellent manners demanded by Islam.

In order for them to reach all these stations of sincerity and purity they gave their students different prayers (du`a) that the Prophet (s), his Sahaba and the Tabi'een were practicing. They were teaching Dhikr-Allah, the remembrance of Allah, through the reading of Qur'an and dua' and tasbeeh from Hadith, and through the recitation of Allah's Names and Attributes in tahleel, tahmeed, takbeer, tamjeed and tasbeeh, according to many ayats and hadiths of the Prophet about Dhikr. (These can be found in all books of Hadith, including Bukhari, Muslim, Tabarani, Ibn Majah, Abu Dawud, etc., under the heading of Dhikr in Islam to which anyone can refer.)

These Sufi teachers (real scholars) refused fame and high positions and money and a materialistic life, not as scholars of our days who run after fame and money. Rather they were zahid and dependent on Allah following His saying: "ma khalaqtul Jinni wal Insi illa li-ya'budoon" -- "We did not create the Jinn nor Mankind except to worship Me."

As a result of their decency and zuhd, they were able to convince wealthy people to build mosques and dormitories (khaniqahs) throughout the Ummah of Islam, offering free food and free lodging. Thus Islam spread quickly from one country to another through khaniqahs and mosques. Such places, in which the poor could eat and sleep and the homeless could find shelter, were a cure for the hearts of the poor and were a connection between the rich and the poor, between black, yellow, red and white, between Arab and non-Arab.

The Prophet (s) said in hadith, "There is no difference between Arabs and non-Arabs except through righteousness."

These places made people to come together from all races and nations. Sufis kept the Sunnah and the Shari'ah. Their history is full of bravery and struggle in the way of Allah, jihad fi sabeell-illah, leaving their countries, seeking the hearts of people in every place to convert as many as possible through one method, which is love. To love everyone without distinctions of race, age and gender. They saw everyone as deserving of respect especially women, the downtrodden and the poor. Sufis were like bright stars, shining throughout the world, encouraging everyone to 'jihad fi sabeel-illah,' striving in the way of Allah, to spread Islam, to help the poor, the homeless and those in need, both far and the near. They reached with their iman, the middle of Asia, up to India, Pakistan, Tashkent, Bukhara, Daghistan, and other areas such as China, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.

True Sufi people never deviated from the Shari'ah and the Sunnah of the Prophet and the Qur'an, regardless of the exuberance of the ecstatic utterances of some Sufis and some explanations that revealed the Greatness of God and the mercy and purity of His Beloved Messenger, Beloved Muhammad (s).

The main two sources of tasawwuf were the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet (s) as it was conveyed through the understanding of Islam of Sayiddina Abu Bakr (radi-Allahu 'anhu) and Sayiddina Ali (karam-Allahu wajhah) who are considered the two sourcemasters of the Sufi orders. Sayiddina Abu Bakr (r) was representing one stream of Tasawwuf. The Prophet has said about him, "whatever God poured in my heart, I poured into the heart of Abu Bakr" "ma sab-Allahu fee sadree shayan illa wa sababtuhu fee sadree Abi Bakrin." (Hadiqa Nadiah published in Cairo, 1313 H. p. 9). Allah said in Holy Qur'an,

'...for God did indeed help him when the unbelievers drove him out: he had no more than one Companion: they two were in the cave.' (9, 40).

And the Prophet said in another hadith "the sun never rose on anyone better than Abu Bakr except the prophets." (see Suyuti, History of Caliphs, Cairo, 1952, p. 46).

There are many other hadiths explaining the station of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq. The other stream of Tasawwuf came through Sayiddina Ali (r), about whom there are very many hadiths that would take many pages to explain. Finally, the Sunnah of the Prophet and the Shari'ah, which represent obligations, and Ihsan, which represents good manners, were all embodied in the character of the Sufi scholars, beginning with Sayiddina Abu Bakr (r), the first caliph of the Prophet (s) up until today.

In the 13th Century Hijri (the 19th A.C.) a new school appeared, influenced by the teachings of two scholars of Islam of the 7th C. Hijri, (14th A.C.). This school was a new school in Islam, which though based in the Hanbali school was different from it in 'aqida. Though this school also accepted Tasawwuf, it kept a much more restrictive and narrow interpretation of what is allowed in Islam than the first Four Schools.

Lately, the followers of this school had deviated from the original teachings of the founders of the school and have exaggerated to great extremes in invoking accusations against Muslims based on the fatwas of modern scholars, who have taken the most literalist and restrictive view of Islam and come against the mainstream of Muslims. And these new beliefs have spread very quickly in this century with the support of a minority of Muslims who have their own beliefs and their own interpretation of the Qur'an and Sunnah.

These people are now fighting Sufism and trying to demean the bravery and efforts of the Sufis in spreading Islam througout the world during the preceding 1300 years.

As a Muslim Nation, we respect all schools in Islam without discrimination. But in return we don't accept that anyone impose his ideas on us, as we are following beliefs acceptable to the majority of Muslims, who accept Tasawwuf.

In America, we are surprised to see of 1400 years of Islamic history and culture denied and rejected by a minority of scholars with their own point of view, as if the past 1400 years of scholars' following the Sufi schools and the four madhahib did not exist and had never existed.

For our brothers and sisters information we are presenting the names of some of the countless modern scholars following Sufi schools and the four madhahib, who represent the majority of Muslims througout the Islamic world:

Mufti of Egypt, Hassanain Muhammad al-Mukhloof, member of Muslim World League,
Muhammad at-Tayib an-Najjar, president of Sunnah and Shariah Intl. and President of Azhar University,
Shaikh 'Abdallah Qanun al-Hassani, President of the Morocco Scholars and Deputy of the World Islamic League,
Dr. Hussaini Hashim, Deputy of Azhar of Egypt and General Secretary of the Research Institute of Mecca,
as-Sayyid Hashim al-Rafai, former Minister of Religion in Kuwait,
as-Shaikh Sayyid Ahmad al-Awad, Mufti of Sudan,
ash-Shaikh Malik al-Kandhalawi, President of the League of Islamic Scholars in Pakistan and President of Ashrafiya University,
Ustaz Abdul Ghafoor al-Attar, President of Saudi Arabian Society of Authors,
Qadi Yusuf bin Ahmad as-Siddiqui, Judge of the High Court of Bahrain,
Muhammad Khazraji, Shaikh Ahmad ibn Muhammad bin Zabara, Mufti of Yemen,
ash-Shaikh Muhammad ash-Shadili an-Nivar, President of Shariah University in Tunisia,
ash-Shaikh Khal al-Banani, President of the Mauritania Islamic League,
Shaikh Muhammad Abdul Wahid Ahmad, Minister of Religious Affairs of Egypt,
Shaikh Muhammad bin Ali Habashi, President of the Islamic League in Indonesia,
Shaikh Ahmad Koftaro, Mufti of Syria,
Shaikh Abu Saleh Mohammed al-Fattih al-Maliki of Ondurman, Sudan,
Shaikh Muhammad Rashid Kabbani, Mufti of Lebanon,
ash-Shaikh as-Sayyid Muhammad al-Maliki al-Hassani, Professor of Shari'ah and teacher in the two Holy Mosques, Makka and Madina,
and many many more throughout Arab and other Muslim countries.

Oh our beloved brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, Islam is tolerance (hilm), Islam is love, Islam is Peace. Islam is humbleness, Islam is perfection. Islam is zuhd, Islam is Ihsan. Islam means relationships. Islam means family. Islam is sisterhood and brotherhood. Islam means equality. Islam is one body. Islam is knowledge. Islam is spirituality. Islam has external as well as internal knowledge. ISLAM IS SUFISM. SUFISM IS ISLAM.

Finally, Islam is Light that Allah has sent to us through his final Messenger Muhammad (s), who is the True symbol of love, the symbol of external and internal knowledge, the symbol of mercy to all human beings. He is our means to God. He is the intercessor for everyone, without doubt and this is expressed in all books of fiqh.

May Allah forgive us for any mistakes or deficiencies in this presentation.

As-salaam alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu,
The poorest in front of Allah, servant of the Sunnah of the Prophet (s),

Shaikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani :
President - As-Sunna Foundation of America
607 A. West Dana
Mountain View, CA 94041

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Information by Ahl as-Sunna wal-Jamaat about the purification of the soul, the Islamic Science of Tasawwuf

Scholars On Tassawwuf see Link

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Scholars On Tassawwuf

al-Hasan al-Basri (d. 110)

Imam Abu Hanifa (d. 150)

Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 161)

Imam Malik (d. 179)

Imam Shafi`i (d. 204)

Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal (d. 241)

al-Harith al-Muhasibi (d. 243)

al-Qasim ibn `Uthman al-Ju`i (d. 248)

Imam al-Junayd al-Baghdadi (d. 297)

al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi (d. 320)

Imam Abu Mansur `Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi (d. 429)

Imam Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri (d. 465)

Shaykh Abu Isma`il `Abd Allah al-Harawi al-Ansari (d. 481)

Hujjat al-Islam Imam Ghazali (d. 505)

Abu al-Wafa' Ibn `Aqil al-Hanbali (d. 513)

Shaykh `Abd al-Qadir al-Gilani (d. 561)

Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597)

Imam Fakhr al-Din Razi (d. 606)

Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili (d. 656)

al-`Izz ibn `Abd al-Salam al-Sulami (d. 660)

Imam Nawawi (d. 676)

`Abd al-Salam b. Ahmad b. `Anim al-Maqdisi (d. 678)

Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728)

Ibn `Ata' Allah al-Iskandari (d. 709)

Taj al-Din al-Subki (d. 771)

Imam Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi al-Maliki (d. 790)

Ibn Khaldun (d. 808)

Imam al-Sakhawi (d. 902)

Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 911)

Zakariyya ibn Muhammad Ansari (d. 926)

Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (d. 974)

`Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha`rani (d. 973)

Mulla `Ali al-Qari (d. 1014)

Ibn `Abidin (d. 1252)

Abu al-`Ala' al-Mawdudi (d. 1399)

Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi

Conclusion

Response to a Misleading Article on Islam and Sufism

Assalamu alaikum,

The following is a response I wrote to an article, "SUFISM: The Deviated Path" by Yusuf Hijazi, which spreads many lies about Islam and Sufism. The conclusions I came to regarding this article are:

* Most of his sources criticizing the Sufis are in fact non-Muslim sources. This author seems to like to use non-Muslim sources to criticize and condemn Muslims, and to weaken the Muslim Ummah.
* Most of his claims are demonstrably false, and the author is therefore guilty of spreading lies and slander about other Muslims, an act which is strongly condemned by the Prophet (s.a.w.), and which has major consequences in the next life.
* The author accuses all Sufis of shirk and kufr. According to the Prophet (s.a.w.), if he is wrong in these claims, then the author of this article has himself left Islam.
* The author also lacks knowledge about Ibn Taymiyah's views of Tasawwuf. Ibn Taymiyah praised some Sufis, and criticized others, on the basis of his understanding of Shari`ah.
* The author also does not distinguish between authentic Tasawwuf and pseudo-Sufism, which is a major mistake.
* The author apparently is not aware of a number of hadiths which support saying dhikr in a circle, saying "La ilaha illa llah," and saying "Allah Allah" as part of dhikr.

Here is the full response, which includes many references....


>SUFISM: The Deviated Path
>By Br. Yusuf Hijazi

Insha-Allah, we will endeavour to answer every point explicitly.


The Prophet (s.a.w.) taught us that it is important to check and be very
careful about what you say, and that your tongue is one of the things
that can lead you into the Fire. It is unfortunate that, today, many
people spread lies about other Muslims. And what do they use as their
sources? They use the writings of non-Muslims!

The essay I am replying to is an example of this kind of writing. It
includes slander and lies about Muslims, and it uses as its source the
writings of non-Muslims to criticize Muslims. That this is done appears to
indicate that the author of this article considers himself closer to the
non-Muslims than to the Muslims, since he prefers to use non-Muslim
sources to slander his Muslim brothers in faith.

Insha-Allah, we will endeavour to point out the many errors which are
contained in this article. Insha-Allah, we will also endeavour to
clarify that most of the sources used in the article are in fact from
non-Muslims. Why would someone use non-Muslim sources to attack his
fellow Muslims? The only reason that comes to my mind is that such a
person may consider himself closer to the non-Muslims than to the
Muslims, and Allah knows best.

>Although many sects have appeared throughout the ages, none have outlasted
>as long and spread their effects into the homes of so many as Sufism has.

Only the first sentence, and already an error. Tasawwuf is not a
"sect." One of the great Sufis in history is Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi,
also known as Imam-i Rabbani, the great Renewer of Islam from India.
Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi wrote that the Shari`ah has three parts: knowledge,
actions, and sincerity. The role of Tasawwuf is to improve our practice
of the third aspect of the Shari`ah, namely sincerity.

Do Muslims who endeavour to improve their sincerity constitute a "sect"?
Certainly not.

>The emotional attachment that a countless number of Muslims have towards
>this sect is so powerful that any analysis should be purely from an
>objective perspective; thus this article takes an objective approach, and
>tries to be conservative rather than extreme in its analysis of Sufism.

The author seems to imply that "emotional attachment" is a negative
thing. Many people also have a strong "emotional attachment" to the
Final Religion of Allah, the religion of Islam. Is this a bad thing
too?

>Its
>conclusions however leave no doubt as to the alien nature of Sufi teachings
>that have infiltrated into the religion that our beloved Prophet (s.a.w)
>left us upon.

We shall see, insha-Allah.

>Sufism: Its Origins
> The word Sufi is most likely to be derived from the Arabic word "soof",
>meaning wool. This is because of the Sufi habit of wearing woolen coats, a
>designation of their initiation into the Sufi order.

A number of origins of the word "Sufi" have been given.

In the book "Secret of Secrets" (Sirr al-Asrar), which has been
attributed to Shaykh Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani, we read:

There is a group of people called the Sufis. Four interpretations
are given for this name. Some see, looking at their exterior, that
they wear rough woollen garb. In Arabic the word for wool is _suf_,
and they call them Sufis from this. Others, looking at their way
of life free from the anxieties of this world, and at their ease
and at peace, which in Arabic is _safa_, call them Sufis on that
account. Yet others, seeing deeper, look at their hearts, which
are purified of everything other than the Essence of Allah. Because
of the purity of those hearts, in Arabic _safi_, they term them
Sufis. Others who know call them Sufis because they are close to
Allah and will stand in the first row, in Arabic _saff_, before
Allah on the day of the Last Judgement.

[Shaykh Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani, Secret of Secrets, translated by
Shaykh Tosun Bayrak, p. 65.]

>The early Sufi orders
>considered the wearing of this coat as an imitation of Isa bin Maryam
>(Jesus).

Certainly some Sufis might have considered this, however it is certainly
far from universal. Others would say because the wearing of a simple
woollen garment is simple and unpretentious.

>In reply to this, Ibn Taymiyyah said: "There are a people who have
>chosen and preferred the wearing of woolen clothes, claiming that they want
>to resemble al-Maseeh ibn Maryam. But the way of our Prophet is more
>beloved to us, and the Prophet (s.a.w) used to wear cotton and other
>garments."1

Ibn Taymiyah did criticize some sayings and actions of some Sufis,
while on the other hand praising others. One of the Sufis he praised
was Shaykh Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani, the founder of the Qadiri tariqa.

Often, people today only show one side of Ibn Taymiyah's writings --
those where he criticizes *some* Sufis -- and ignores the other part of
his writings -- those where he *praises* some Sufis. It is important to
keep this balance in mind, when considering the truth about Ibn
Taymiyah.

Ibn Taymiyah's general attitude to Sufism is given in the following
statement:

"Some people accept everything of Sufism, what is right as well as
what is wrong; others reject it totally, both what is wrong as
well as what is right, as some scholars of _kalam_ and _fiqh_
do. The right attitude toward Sufism, or any other thing, is to
accept what is in agreement with the Qur'an and the Sunnah, and
reject what does not agree."

[Quote originally from Majmu` Fatawa Shaykh 'l-Islam Ibn Taymiyah,
compiled by `Abd 'l-Rahman 'l-Asimi and his son Muhammad,
Riyadh, Vol. X, p. 82. English translation of this statement
from "Sufism and Shari`ah: A Study of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi's
Effort to Reform Sufism" by Muhammad Abdul Haq Ansari,
published by the Islamic Foundation, 1986, p. 130.]

Ibn Taymiyah was certainly not opposed to Sufism, though he did oppose
some of the statements of some Sufis, such as Ibn al-Arabi, while on the
other hand greatly praising other Sufis, such as Shaykh Abdul-Qadir
al-Jilani. Ibn Taymiyah even wrote a commentary on Shaykh Abdul-Qadir
al-Jilani's collection of talks, "Futuh al-Ghayb," which he had much
praise for.

More details on Ibn Taymiyah and Sufism can be found in the book,
"Sufism and Shari`ah" by Muhammad Abdul Haq Ansari, published by the
Islamic Foundation in 1986, pp. 130-139.

>Sufism is known as "Islamic Mysticism," in which Muslims seek
>to find divine love and knowledge through direct personal experience of
>God2.

Reference 2 here which the author is using is Encyclopaedia Britannica.
It helps to demonstrate that he is relying on non-Muslim sources to
slander Muslims.

Regarding the statement, it is true that Tasawwuf is a path of
experience of getting closer to Allah. However, it is usually
non-Muslims who call it "Islamic Mysticism," and the author has decided
to copy the probably non-Muslim authors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica
in his use of the term.

>Mysticism is defined as the experience of mystical union or direct
>communion with ultimate reality, and the belief that direct knowledge of
>God, spiritual truth, or ultimate reality can be attained through
>subjective experience (as intuition or insight)3

This is a definition from a dictionary he has referred to. It is not
clear that it has any relevence, since he has not used any Muslim
sources so far, but instead the author prefers to follow the words of
non-Muslims.

>Both the terms Sufi and
>Sufism and Sufi beliefs have no basis from the traditional Islamic sources
>of the Qur'an and Sunnah, a fact even admitted by themselves.

The term "tafsir" and many other terms also have no basis from the Qur'an
and Sunnah. So what? It is the meaning which we are discussing. Clearly
there were commentaries on the Qur'an were a reality before such
commentary came to be known by the name "tafsir." The same also goes for
Tasawwuf, which is the science of perfecting your ikhlas (sincerity),
according to Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi.

>Rather,
>Sufism is in essence a conglomerate consisting of extracts from a multitude
>of other religions with which Sufi's interacted.

The author does not give a reference here, however this theory comes
from non-Muslim orientalists of late last century and early this
century. By following this theory, the author again shows that he
prefers to follow the words of non-Muslims rather than the words of
Muslims.

By the way, not even non-Muslim orientalists believe this any more.
This theory is nowadays only kept alive by those Muslims who find it
convenient, and use it to attack and slander other Muslims, and who like
to divide and weaken the Ummah.

Why do they do this, and constantly weaken the Muslim Ummah? I believe
it is from the ego.... by attacking others, the ego gets a sense of
self-gratification and superiority, like Iblis who refused to bow down
to Adam, because he thought he was superior, as he was made from fire,
while Adam was made from clay. May Allah protect us from such arrogance
and egotism, and help us to be humble.

>During the primary stages
>of Sufism, Sufis were characterised by their particular attachment to zikr
>(remembrance of Allah) and asceticism (seclusion), as well as the beginning
>of innovated practices to 'aid' in the religious practices. Yet even at the
>early stage of Sufism, before their involvement in innovated rituals and
>structured orders, the scholars warned the masses of the extremity of Sufi
>practices. Imam Al-Shafi' had the opinion that "If a person exercised
>Sufism (Tasawafa) at the beginning of the day, he doesn't come at Zuhur
>except an idiot".

No reference has been provided. You can provide all these references to
non-Muslim sources, but you cannot even provide a reference for a
supposed statement by Imam al-Shafi'i? Why can't you provide the
reference?

>Imam Malik and Ahmad bin Hanbal also shared similar ideas
>on this new movement which emanated from Basrah, Iraq.

Again, no references are provided for these claims.

On the other hand, we do have the reported saying of Imam Malik, who
said:

"He who practices Tasawwuf without learning Shari`ah corrupts his
faith, while he who learns Shari`ah without practicing Tasawwuf
corrupts himself. Only he who combines the two proves true."

[The English translation of this comes from the book "Islamic Beliefs
and Doctrine According to Ahl al-Sunna" by Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, p. 278.
The original references are given as: "It is related by the muhaddith
Ahmad Zarruq, the hafiz `Ali al-Qari al-Harawi, the muhaddiths `Ali bin
Ahmad al-`Adawi and Ibn `Ajiba, and others." More references are
listed in a footnote, for those who wish to find the complete
references.]

>Although it began
>as a move towards excessive Ibaadah, such practices were doomed to lead to
>corruption, since their basis did not come from authentic religious
>doctrines, but rather from exaggerated human emotions.

This is an incorrect exaggeration. There is no limit to dhikr, there
are hadiths to this effect. Are you claiming that there is a limit to
dhikr, in contradiction to the hadiths?

>Sufism as an
>organised movement arose among pious Muslims as a reaction against the
>worldliness of the early Umayyad period (AD 661-750)4.

This is incorrect. The earliest organized Sufi tariqa was the Qadiri
tariqa, which was founded by Shaykh Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (or, more
technically, by his sons). Shaykh Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani lived in the
12th Century CE. To my understanding, the organization of the Sufi
turuq was a reaction to the Mongol invasion, which destroyed and
disrupted everything in its path. The various turuq were organized
in the wake of the Mongol invasion to help preserve their teachings.

>The Sufis exploited
>the chaotic state of affairs that existed during the fifth and sixth
>centuries A.H. and invited people to follow their way, alleging that the
>remedy to this chaos was conformity to the guidance of their order's
>Sheikhs. Dar al-Majnoon was established during the reign of Khalifah
>Ma'moon, where he invited the scholars of the Romans and Greeks to meet
>with the Muslims and 'discuss' their respective positions. This provided
>the perfect breeding ground for the synthesis between Islam and Pagan
>theology, to produce the Sufism of the likeof Ibn Arabi.

No references have been given, however such theories usually come from
orientalists, who are not Muslims. I suggest it is probably likely that
the above story has come from non-Muslim orientalists, which the author
of this article seems to prefer to follow instead of the words of Muslims,
even though not even present-day orientalists believe in this any more.

>The Mixing Pot
>With the demise of the Companions and their successors, the door became
>open for the distortion of Islamic Principles. The enemies of Islam had
>already burrowed deep into the ranks of Muslims and rapidly caused Fitnah
>through their spreading of forged hadith and subsequently created new sects
>such as the Khawaarij and Mu'tazilah. Sufism gained its breeding ground
>during this period, whereby it gained its support from the Dynastic Rulers,
>who had deviated from Islam to the extent whereby magic was used as
>entertainment in their courts, even though magic is considered as Kufr in
>Islam.5

I have never heard of Sufis using magic in the courts! What a
ridiculous story. The reference (5) given here is a reference to a book
by Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips, a present-day writer. What was his
source? Please provide original sources, since I wouldn't be surprised
if the source for this also came from non-Muslim orientalists, which is
where many such stories originate from, until they are copied by Muslims
seeking ways of attacking other Muslims and wanting to divide and weaken
the Ummah, by following the words of non-Muslims.

>During this period, Sufism developed its Shi'a flavour, indeed the
>roots of contemporary Sufism have been traced back to Shi'a origins (see
>later). Sufi ideology and thinking flourished during the times of the
>likes of Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi, Jalal Ad Din Rumi, and Imam Ghazali. Their
>translation of Greek philosophical works into Arabic during the third
>Islamic century left an indelible mark on many aspects of Sufism, resulting
>in Greek pantheism becoming an integral part of Sufi doctrine. Pagan
>practices such as Saint worshipping, the use of magic and holding venerance
>towards their Sheikh overtook the Orthodox practices of Islam and had
>little resemblance to the Islam left by our Prophet (s.a.w). By examining
>the mystic doctrines of Christianity, Hinduism, Taoism and other religions,
>it becomes clear how closer Sufism is to these religions than to Islam. In
>fact, Sufism is never characterised under "Islam" in any system of
>catalogue, but rather under 'Mysticism'. Sharda highlights these
>unsurprising similarities by stating that:



Sharda is a Hindu, to my understanding. Again, we see the phenomenon of
trusting the words of non-Muslims more than the words of Muslims, which
perhaps shows with whom this author's true agreement lies.

The claim that Sufism originated in religions other than Islam comes
from non-Muslim orientalists, such as, for example, R. A. Nicholson and
others. The above paragraph is another clear example of how this author
has preferred the words of non-Muslims more than the words of Muslims,
using theories by people like Nicholson (a Christian) and quoting the
words of Sharda (a Hindu).

The traditional Islamic perspective on Tasawwuf (Sufism) is that it
originates in the Qur'an and the teachings of the Prophet (s.a.w.).
Each Sufi tariqa has a silsila (chain of authority) reaching back to the
Prophet (s.a.w.). Modern orientalists also consider that Tasawwuf
originated in Islam, in agreement with traditional Islamic views on the
topic, and it is only the orientalists of late last century and early
this century who proposed the theory the author of this article likes.
It is shameful that some Muslims today have reached a stage where they
prefer to follow non-Muslims even more than their own brothers in Islam.

>The following comparison
>demonstrates the non-coincidental similarity that Sufism shares with other
>religions:
>Concept of validity of all religions

<Things>

Here the author claims that Tasawwuf teaches the validity of all
religions. This claim is false and incorrect.

A clear discussion of this, from the viewpoint of traditional Islam
(of which Tasawwuf is a part), can be found in the article by Nuh Ha Mim
Keller,

"On the validity of all religions in the thought of ibn al-`Arabi and
Emir `Abd al-Qadir"

at the web page

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Nuh Ha Mim Keller shows that the belief in the universal validity
of all religions is not part of authentic Sufi teachings, and not part
of the teachings of Ibn al-Arabi (contrary to the claims of the author
of this article and some others, who take only a very selective reading
of the writings of Ibn al-Arabi, rather than a comprehensive one).

>Union with the Creator
>Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'aala is completely distinct from His Creation. He
>neither resembles His Creation, nor is He enclosed by it. Sufis however,
>with their deviant doctrine of Wahdat ul Wujood, believe contrary to this.

<Rest>

There are differing opinions regarding this matter among those of the
Sufi path, and the author incorrectly does not acknowledge this.

For example, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi (the great Shaykh I mentioned
earlier), criticized Ibn al-Arabi's doctrine of Wahdat al-Wujud as being
erroneous. This he has clearly stated in his writings. He considers
this doctrine to be an error of not having traversed far enough along
the path of spiritual experience. More information on this topic can be
found in the book "Sufism and Shari`ah" by Muhammad Abdul Haq Ansari.

On the other hand, others also interpret "Wahdat al-Wujud" to mean
that nothing exists of itself, independent of everything else, except
Allah. Such an understanding is certainly within Islam, since everything
which *isn't* Allah depends upon Allah for its existence. For more on
this understanding, see the article

"`Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi and Akram Safadi," by Ustadha Umm Sahl,

on the web page

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The approach taken by the author of the article I am responding to is
simply naive and incorrect, and certainly does not do justice to the
issue.

>Incorporation of Music in Rituals

Insha-Allah, I won't deal with this in great detail, as it is a lengthy
topic in itself, with much discussion already by others, such as in the
writings of al-Ghazali, for example.

>Music of all forms is forbidden by the majority of scholars, and remains
>attached to forbidden practices such as drinking, fornication and parties.

This is false, as there is a hadith that the Prophet (s.a.w.) permitted
the use of the drum at weddings, for example. Furthermore, if I recall
correctly, there are hadiths which mention that Prophet Dawud (a.s.)
played the flute.

A short answer on this topic is that:

- Many Sufi groups do not use any instruments or music whatsoever.
I have attended a Naqshbandi tariqa which never uses any music or
instruments, for example (I am speaking from experience).

- Some Sufi groups do utilize music, but with restriction, and this topic
has been discussed in detail by al-Ghazali.

- There are other opinions regarding the permissability of music, so
stating that there is only one viewpoint of the Islamic scholars is
incorrect.

I have written some articles on this topic, discussing the various
evidences and hadiths and viewpoints of the scholars, insha-Allah if
there is demand I would be happy to post my article on this e-list.
In brief, an example of a scholar who is not opposed to music in an
absolute way is Yusuf al-Qaradawi, in his opinion stated in his book,
"The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam."

>Sufi Sheikhs: Role Models or Deviants?
>Bayazid Tayfur al-Bistami Bayazid is considered to be "of the six bright
>stars in the firmament of the Prophet (s.a.w)"15, and a link in the Golden
>Chain of the Naqshibandi Tariqah. Yet his life reeks of Shirin all aspects.
> Bayazid al-Bistami was the first one to spread the reality of Annihilation
>(Fana'), whereby the Mystic becomes fully absorbed to the point of becoming
>unaware of himself or the objects around him. Every existing thing seems to
>vanish, and he feels free of every barrier that could stand in the way of
>his viewing the Remembered One.

Such a state is mentioned in a hadith qudsi:


On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with
him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: Allah
(mighty and sublime be He) said:

Whosoever shows enmity to someone devoted to Me, I shall be at
war with him. My servant draws not near to Me with anything
more loved by Me than the religious duties I have enjoined upon
him, and My servant continues to draw near to Me with
supererogatory works so that I shall love him. When I love him
I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he
sees, his hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he
walks. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it
to him, and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant
him it. I do not hesitate about anything as much as I hesitate
about [seizing] the soul of My faithful servant: he hates death
and I hate hurting him.

It was related by al-Bukhari.


>In one of these states, Bayazid cried out:
>"Praise to Me, for My greatest Glory!" Yet this concept is to be found
>nowhere in the Qur'an, nor Sunnah, nor in the behaviour in the Salaf us
>Saalih.

These statements are not considered to be statements of reality, but
rather statements of what they felt under ecstatic experience. The
experience is one of overwhelming experience of Allah.

If you read the above hadith carefully, you will see it refers to this
type of experience. The key is that on the authentic path of Tasawwuf,
these statements are not considered to be statements of reality, but
rather of experience, and it is what is also referred to in the hadith
qudsi quoted above.


>Bistami's belief in the Unity of all religions became apparent
>when asked the question: "How does Islam view other religions?" His reply
>was "All are vehicles and a path to God's Divine Presence."

I am not aware of such a statement. What is the reference? No
reference has been given.

<Some>

>But
>strangest of all was his obedience to a dog he once came across. The dog
>had apparently become upset at Bayazid's attempt to avoid him, to which the
>dog spoke to him and scolded him. So Bayazid pleaded "O dog, you are so
>enlightened, live with me for some time."17

You have left out most of the story!

Here is a summary of the story....

According to a Sufi teaching-story from Fariduddin Attar's "Tadhkirat
al-Awliyya," upon coming across a dog, Abu Yazid al-Bistami is reported
to have said to the dog,

"You are unclean outwardly, I am inwardly unclean. Come, let us
work together, that through our united efforts we may both become
clean."

The dog rejected this suggestion to work together, since the dog's
view was that

"You are not fit to travel with me and be my partner. For I am
rejected of all men, whereas you are accepted of men. Whoever
encounters me throws a stone at me; whoever encounters you greets
you as King of the Sufis. I never store up a single bone for the
morrow; you have a whole barrel of wheat for the morrow."

At this, Abu Yazid lamented,

"I am not fit to travel along with a dog, how then shall I travel
along with the Eternal and Everlasting One? Glory be to that God,
who educates the best of creatures by means of the least of
creatures!"

Abu Yazid al-Bistami was not too haughty to learn from a lowly
creature -- in fact, what he learned from the dog was simplicity and
humility, and to eschew haughtiness and fame. Avoiding haughtiness is
a very fundamental Islamic lesson, since haughtiness is in fact what
caused Satan to rebel against God (Qur'an 2:34). Those who are too
haughty to learn from a lowly creature are most likely in fact those
who need this lesson the most.

Unfortunately, by cutting out most of the story, the author of the
article I am replying to completely distorts the story, and the whole
meaning of the story is not given, which is about teaching humility, an
important teaching of Islam.

>Ibn Arabi

<Rest>

Insha-Allah, I won't discuss Ibn Arabi. For more, please refer to what
I said already regarding opinions on "Wahdat al-Wujud."

Also, insha-Allah, I won't discuss Hallaj, except to note that, among
the Sufis, there were also those who opposed him, such as his own
teacher, Junayd.

>Evidence Against their teachings: their beliefs and practices
>Position of the Sheikh and Wali
>The Sheikh or Wali is given a similar standing as that of a Catholic Saint,
>or the Dalai Lama himself. Complete obedience is enforced on his followers,
>and any questions are deemed as a betrayal of trust:

This is false, in my experience. The Shaykh is a teacher, and is obeyed
as one would obey or disobey a teacher, in accordance with the Qur'an
and Sunnah.

>The Sheikh is given
>the standing of a deity in Sufism.

This kind of statement is slander of the worst kind, and is absolutely
false. The relationship of a Shaykh and murid is just the relationship
of a teacher and student.

The Prophet (s.a.w.) condemned such statements in the strongest terms.

It is reported on the authority of Ibn `Umar that the Prophet (may
peace and blessings be upon him) said:

Any person who calls his brother: O Unbeliever! (then the truth
of this label) would return to one of them. If it is true,
(then it is) as he asserted, (but if it is not true), then it
returns to him (and thus the person who made the accusation is
an Unbeliever).

[Muslim]

By saying that the role of the Shaykh is that of a deity, this
person is calling all Sufis to be mushriks. According to the statement
of the Prophet (s.a.w.), if this person's claim is incorrect, then the
author of this article has, by his statement, left the religion of
Islam. By my own witness and experience, the statement of the author is
incorrect.

May Allah protect us from following the slanderous author of this
article in his fate.

>Distortion of the concepts of zikr, hadith, Qur'an
>Since the Qur'an and Saheeh Hadith cannot be changed, the Sufi's have
>reverted to Ta'weel, a method of changing the apparent meaning of the verse
>or hadith to have a hidden one. This provided them with sufficient lee-way
>to support any concept they desired, by simply stating that the
>verse/hadith had an inner meaning which only the Sheikh himself could know.

It is true that the Qur'an has depths upon depths of meaning. One does
not have to be a Shaykh to realize the incredible richness of the
Qur'an.

Say: "If the oceans were ink (wherewith to write out) the words
of my Lord, sooner would the ocean be exhausted than would the
words of my Lord, even if we added another ocean like it, for its
aid."

[Qur'an 18:109]

It is unfortunate if Allah has not given you the eyes to see it.


>The act of making Zikr in circles and jumping/moving
>frantically is also totally unfounded. Zikr in the true Arabic sense means
>"Remembrance of Allah." The Prophet's (s.a.w) method, which Muslims agree
>to be the best and only acceptable one, of zikr consisted in reciting
>Qur'an, discussing religion with his companions, and making Tasbeeh on his
>hands. Yet the act of sitting in circles and loudly or silently chanting
>"Allah, Allah" was never practised by the Prophet (s.a.w) nor the Salaf,
>and all hadith which state that the Prophet (s.a.w) did so (such as when he
>supposedly went into a room, told the companions to lift up their hands and
>chant "La Ilaha Illa Allah" ) are unanimously agreed upon to be forged.

There are a number of hadiths about making dhikr in a group, and making
dhikr saying "La ilaha illa Allah."

Hazrat Jabir relates that he heard the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.)
having said:

"The best remembrance of Allah is `La ilaha illa llah.'"

[Tirmizi, also related in the Riyadh us-Saliheen of Imam Nawawi]

Another relevent hadith is the following one...

Hazrat Abu Sa`eed Khudri relates that once Hazrat Mu`awiyah
visited the mosque and saw a circle (of reciters). He asked,
"What has made you sit?" The said, "We have assembled here to
remember Allah." He said, "By Allah you did not sit except for
this purpose?" They affirmed, "We did not sit except for this."
Hazrat Mu`awiyah then told them, "I did not ask you to swear
on account of any malice. None of you can match me for scanty
narration of the Prophet (s.a.w.) (and as such have narrated
very few traditions about him). The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.)
once visited a gathering of his companions and inquired,
`What has made you assemble here?' They answered, `We have
gathered to remember Allah and praise Him for having led us
to Islam and granted this favour to us.' The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.)
inquired, `Do you affirm by Allah that it is so?' The Holy
Prophet's Companions affirmed, `By Allah we are sitting here for
this purpose only.' He said, `I have not put you on oath on
account of any doubt, but angel Jibreel had visited me and told
me that Allah felt proud of you among the angels.'"

[Muslim, and also in the Riyadh us-Saliheen.]

This hadith shows clearly that

- In the time of the Prophet (s.a.w.), he approved of people
gathering in circles for dhikr (against the claims of the author
we are responding to),

- The hadith is from Sahih Muslim, so it is a sound hadith.

This tradition of making dhikr in a circle in assembly continues in
the Sufi turuq.

The Qur'an also says in meaning:

Lo! In the creation of the Heavens and the earth and in the night
and day are tokens (of His sovereignty) for men of understanding,
such as remember Allah, in standing, sitting, and reclining.

[Qur'an 3:190-191]

What this part of the Qur'an establishes is that posture is not
important in performing dhikr -- standing, sitting, or reclining.
Presumably other postures are also okay, so criticisms about posture
during dhikr is irrelevent.

Finally, the Qur'an also says

Say: "Truly Allah leaves to stray whom He will, but He guides
to Himself those who turn to Him in penitence -- Those who
believe, and whose hearts find satisfaction in the remebrance
of Allah, for without doubt in the remembrance of Allah do hearts
find satisfaction.

[Qur'an 13:27-28]

This part of the Qur'an suggests that if from your dhikr you are
finding peace in your heart, then there is something good about
your dhikr. It is for this experience of peace in your heart,
which is a reality which can be experienced, for which many on the
Sufi path do dhikr, to get closer to Allah.

>Ibn
>Taymiyyah stated that this practice opened the door to Shaytaan, whereby
>the Shaytaan would enter the gathering (since they were involved in
>innovation) and take the form of a pious person. He also stated that the
>recital of "Allah, Allah" was forbidden, as it was never declared to be a
>form of zikr, and has no attached word to complete it (such as Allahu
>Akbar, Subhaan Allah).26

The Prophet said, "The Hour will not arise before `Allah, Allah' is
no longer said on earth."

[Muslim]

This hadith clearly refers to repetition in saying, "Allah, Allah."

Much more discussion, based on clear hadith, regarding dhikr, can be
found on the web page

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>The stories also of Khidr and his meeting with
>the 'Awliyaa', the 40 Abdaal's who are always on the Earth and can be at
>any place in the wink of an eye, are derived from Jewish and Christian
>legends, not Islamic traditions.

Khidr is generally understood to be the one referred to in Qur'an 18:60
onwards, who meets Musa (a.s.), though he is not named.

>Innovation
>Imam Malik remarked: "That which was not religion at the time of the
>Messenger and his companions, may Allah be pleased with them all, is never
>to be religion today. He who introduces a Bid'ah (innovation) in the
>religion of Islam and deems it a good thing, claims by so doing that
>Muhammad (s.a.w) betrayed the Message." The Sufis are to be found
>indulging in and spending an enormous amount of resources defending
>innovated practices, declaring them to be "good innovations." These include
>celebrating the death of the Prophet (s.a.w) (a practice adopted from the
>reign of Fatamids, who began this innovation in order to seek the pleasure
>of the masses),

I have never heard of "celebrating the death of the Prophet." I wonder
where this came from???

>Why they still survive
>Emotional attachment
>The Sufi's have become such an integral part of the lives of so many
>Muslims that Muslims are finding it difficult to accept that the Sufi path
>is wrong, and accuse anyone who pinpoints the errors of Sufism as an
>extremist or a follower of some 'deviant' sect. Sufism calls to human
>emotions rather than intellect and Islamic evidence.

Well, I can only speak personally here. The reason I am in favour of
Tasawwuf, or Sufism, is because it is through the practice of dhikr
within a Sufi tariqa that I felt my heart open, and I really felt some
closeness to Allah.

In contrast to the understanding of Islam of some other Muslims -- which
is often dry and devoid of spiritual reality, and consists instead of
slandering anyone who disagrees with them -- the people of the Sufi path
I have known are soft-hearted, speak kind words, and seem to truly
manifest the authentic spirit of Islam.

>For example, poetry
>and music were the most popular form during the past hundreds of years,
>whereby "Sufi ideas permeated the hearts of all those who hearkened to
>poetry."27

Yes, it is true, much Sufi poetry is very beautiful. What is the
subject of this poetry? Usually the subject of this poetry is their
overwhelming love of Allah.

Those of faith are overflowing in their love for Allah.

[Qur'an 2:165]

>Today, Sufism is followed by masses of people who desire to
>leave behind the complexities of this world, instead of building the
>ability to challenge it. Sufism provides the perfect escape, where its
>followers can meditate instead of thinking about the other Muslims who are
>suffering, let alone help them.

These claims are very strange, since it is often Sufi organizations
which are active in helping other Muslims.

>Similarity with pagan beliefs
>Sufism is so similar to other religions, and as we noted earlier very
>tolerant of them,

As I pointed out earlier, this claim is false. The authentic Sufi
viewpoint considers Islam as the final religion.

The author does not distinguish between true Sufis and pseudo-Sufis,
which is a big mistake he makes. All the great Sufis condemned the
pseudo-Sufis, who use the words of the Sufis, but know nothing of the
reality of the path.

>that a change to Sufism does not involve a complete
>change of life, as Islam requires. So Buddhists, Sikhs, Taoists and mystic
>Jews and Christians looking for an easy alternative find solace in Sufism
>which perhaps only adds another dimension to their previous way of life,
>rather than uprooting it and starting afresh

This is often a hallmark of pseudo-Sufism, not authentic Tasawwuf.

>Sufism offers its
>followers a life carefree from fighting (Jihad),

What a strange claim! The Sufis have often been at the forefront of
Jihad. The founder of the Islamic independence movement in Chechnia was
Shaykh Shamil, a Naqshbandi Sufi Shaykh. The founder of the Chinese
Muslim independence movement in China last century was Ma Hualong, who
was also a Naqshbandi Sufi Shaykh. The founder of the Ikhwan
al-Muslimeen, Hasan al-Banna, was a Sufi of the Hasafiyya tariqa. And
there are many other examples in addition to this!

>politics,

Again, Hasan al-Banna was the founder of the Ikhwan al-Muslimeen, and he
was a member of the Hasafiyya tariqa. One of the founders of the
Islamic movement in Turkey was Shaykh Mehmed Zahid Kotku, a Naqshbandi
Shaykh. The man who was largely responsible to bringing much of India
back to authentic Islamic rule in the 17th Century CE, after the
pro-Hindu rule of Akbar, was Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi, a Naqshbandi Shaykh.
The man largely responsible for helping to bring Islam to West Africa was
Uthman dan Fodio, a Qadiri Shaykh. And there are many more!

The claims above, that Sufis are not involved with jihad or in bringing
the state to Islam, are clearly based on sheer ignorance of history.

>the initiative
>to seek knowledge and teach it, the work of Da'wah,

Again, this is complete ignorance. Tasawwuf was largely responsible for
bringing Islam to Central Asia, Chechnia, China, Indonesia and Malaysia,
the many countries of West Africa, and other places besides!

How can it be claimed that Sufis do not do Da'wah? It is simply a
statement based on complete ignorance of history.

>Support from the governments
>Any group which manages to gain the support of an anti-Islamic Government
>must be suspicious. During the reign of the tyrant Mustafa Kemal, under
>whose leadership thousands of scholars were executed and Islamic practices
>banned, special permission was granted by the Turkish government in 1954
>allowing the Mawlawi dervishes of Konya to perform their ritual dances.

What this statement ignores is that *all* the Sufi turuq were banned by
Mustafa Kemal. So to claim that Kemal approved of the Sufis is again
based on complete ignorance of the history of Turkey.

In fact, it was *especially* the Mevlevi tariqa which was persecuted,
because the Mevlevi Sufis were close to the Ottomon Sultans, and a
number of the Ottoman rulers of history were actually members of the
Mevlevi tariqa.

As for the "special permission," it was not permission for the tariqa to
function, but just permission to give a show as a tourist attraction.
It was probably a further plot to try to kill the tariqa, and certainly
not a favour.

>The
>Sheikh of the Naqshibandi's of America has greeted and received praises
>from the President of America Bill Clinton himself. And why shouldn't he,
>since the 'Islam' he portrays is one of pacifism and unity with the
>Kuffar.

To my understanding, the Shaykh in question is inviting people to Islam,
including Bill Clinton. This is in the tradition of the Prophet
(s.a.w.), who dictated letters which were sent to various rulers,
inviting them to Islam.

It is a shame that this author's knowledge of Islamic history seems to
be so amazingly poor.

<Some>

>For example, Ibn
>Taymiyyah is attributed to have been a member of the Qadiri order and had
>been initiated, and spoken great words on Bistami and his likes. Yet Ibn
>Taymiyyah spent the majority of his life fighting against the teachings of
>Sufism, was imprisoned because of them, and bluntly stated "...Ibn Arabi
>who wrote "Al-Fousous," and other slandering atheists such as Ibn Sab'een
>and his like. They even witness that they are simultaneously the worshipers
>and the ones being worshiped."

It is unfortunate that the writings of Ibn Taymiyah are not studied by
the above author.

Ibn Taymiyah divided Sufis into three groups.

The first group were those who, according to Ibn Taymiyah, were never
"intoxicated" and did not lose their sense of discrimination, and who
never said or did anything even remotely against the Qur'an and Sunnah.
In this group, Ibn Taymiyah included Ibrahim ibn Adham, Junayd, and
Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani, for example.

The second group were those whose experience of _fana_ ("annihilation")
and intoxication (_sukr_) weakened their sense of discrimination, and
made them say words which they later realized were incorrect (in their
outer sense) when they became sober. However, he does not condemn their
experiences or what they said or did, and he offers apology for them on
account that they were in an intoxicated state, and had lost control
over reason. In this group, Ibn Taymiyah includes Abu Yazid al-Bistami
and Abu Bakr 'l-Shibli.

The third group are those who Ibn Taymiyah strongly criticized. Those
in this group include al-Hallaj and Ibn al-Arabi.

This is reported in the book, "Sufism and Shari`ah," by Muhammad Abdul
Haq Ansari, pp. 130-132. A large portion of chapter 5 of this book is
devoted to discussing Ibn Taymiyah's views of Sufism.

Therefore, to say that Ibn Taymiyah uncritically condemned Sufism is
completely incorrect. Rather, he supported some Sufis, and condemned
some, based on his understanding of Shari`ah.

>Conclusion
>Sufism was doomed to destruction from when it first emerged, because of its
>deviation from the teachings of the Qur'an and Sunnah. The small excess,
>the little innovation, led to the snowball effect, such that it emerged as
>a movement for well-meant increased Ibaadah and Zuhd, to Kufr and
>Innovation.

These claims have certainly not been proved in this article. Rather,
what we have mostly seen are a mixture of lies about the Sufis, based on
non-Muslim sources, lack of knowledge about many hadiths and lack of
knowledge about history. We have also seen accusations of shirk and
kufr, however, we have also seen that, according to a hadith, if this
author is incorrect in his claims, then he is in fact the one who has
left Islam, and will pay for leaving Islam in the life to come.

>In truth, Islam is sufficient for us, and it is only Shaytaan
>who wishes to turn us away from our religion, to make us exceed the limits,
>and fall into his trap. The only sure way to avoid this is to grasp tightly
>onto what was left to us by our beloved Prophet (s.a.w), the Qur'an and
>Sunnah, as understood and believed and acted upon by the best people to
>have lived: the Salaf us Saalih, the Companions and those who followed
>their footsteps.

In conclusion, we note:

- Most of his sources criticizing the Sufis are in fact non-Muslim
sources. This author seems to like to use non-Muslim sources to
criticize and condemn Muslims, and to weaken the Muslim Ummah.

- Most of his claims are demonstrably false, and the author is
therefore guilty of spreading lies and slander about other Muslims,
an act which is strongly condemned by the Prophet (s.a.w.), and
which has major consequences in the next life.

- The author accuses all Sufis of shirk and kufr. According to the
Prophet (s.a.w.), if he is wrong in these claims, then the author
of this article has himself left Islam.

- The author also lacks knowledge about Ibn Taymiyah's views of
Tasawwuf. Ibn Taymiyah praised some Sufis, and criticized others,
on the basis of his understanding of Shari`ah.

- The author also does not distinguish between authentic Tasawwuf
and pseudo-Sufism, which is a major mistake.

- The author apparently is not aware of a number of hadiths which
support saying dhikr in a circle, saying "La ilaha illa llah,"
and saying "Allah Allah" as part of dhikr.


May Allah bless and reward those who seek closeness to Him sincerely.


Wassalam,

Fariduddien Rice

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The Place of Tasawwuf in Traditional Islam

©Nuh Ha Mim Keller 1995

Perhaps the biggest challenge in learning Islam correctly today is the scarcity of traditional ‘ulama. In this meaning, Bukhari relates the sahih, rigorously authenticated hadith that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,

"Truly, Allah does not remove Sacred Knowedge by taking it out of servants, but rather by taking back the souls of Islamic scholars [in death], until, when He has not left a single scholar, the people take the ignorant as leaders, who are asked for and who give Islamic legal opinion without knowledge, misguided and misguiding" (Fath al-Bari, 1.194, hadith 100).

The process described by the hadith is not yet completed, but has certainly begun, and in our times, the lack of traditional scholars—whether in Islamic law, in hadith, in tafsir ‘Qur'anic exegesis’—has given rise to an understanding of the religion that is far from scholarly, and sometimes far from the truth. For example, in the course of my own studies in Islamic law, my first impression from orientalist and Muslim-reformer literature, was that the Imams of the madhhabs or ‘schools of jurisprudence’ had brought a set of rules from completely outside the Islamic tradition and somehow imposed them upon the Muslims. But when I sat with traditional scholars in the Middle East and asked them about the details, I came away with a different point of view, having learned the bases for deriving the law from the Qur'an and sunna.

And similarly with Tasawwuf—which is the word I will use tonight for the English Sufism, since our context is traditional Islam—quite a different picture emerged from talking with scholars of Tasawwuf than what I had been exposed to in the West. My talk tonight, In Sha’ Allah, will present knowledge taken from the Qur'an and sahih hadith, and from actual teachers of Tasawwuf in Syria and Jordan, in view of the need for all of us to get beyond clichés, the need for factual information from Islamic sources, the need to answer such questions as: Where did Tasawwuf come from? What role does it play in the din or religion of Islam? and most importantly, What is the command of Allah about it?

As for the origin of the term Tasawwuf, like many other Islamic discliplines, its name was not known to the first generation of Muslims. The historian Ibn Khaldun notes in his Muqaddima:

This knowledge is a branch of the sciences of Sacred Law that originated within the Umma. From the first, the way of such people had also been considered the path of truth and guidance by the early Muslim community and its notables, of the Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), those who were taught by them, and those who came after them.

It basically consists of dedication to worship, total dedication to Allah Most High, disregard for the finery and ornament of the world, abstinence from the pleasure, wealth, and prestige sought by most men, and retiring from others to worship alone. This was the general rule among the Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and the early Muslims, but when involvement in this-worldly things became widespread from the second Islamic century onwards and people became absorbed in worldliness, those devoted to worship came to be called Sufiyya or People of Tasawwuf (Ibn Khaldun, al-Muqaddima [N.d. Reprint. Mecca: Dar al-Baz, 1397/1978], 467).

In Ibn Khaldun’s words, the content of Tasawwuf, "total dedication to Allah Most High," was, "the general rule among the Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and the early Muslims." So if the word did not exist in earliest times, we should not forget that this is also the case with many other Islamic disciplines, such as tafsir, ‘Qur'anic exegesis,’ or ‘ilm al-jarh wa ta‘dil, ‘the science of the positive and negative factors that affect hadith narrators acceptability,’ or ‘ilm al-tawhid, the science of belief in Islamic tenets of faith,’ all of which proved to be of the utmost importance to the correct preservation and transmission of the religion.

As for the origin of the word Tasawwuf, it may well be from Sufi, the person who does Tasawwuf, which seems to be etymologically prior to it, for the earliest mention of either term was by Hasan al-Basri who died 110 years after the Hijra, and is reported to have said, "I saw a Sufi circumambulating the Kaaba, and offered him a dirham, but he would not accept it." It therefore seems better to understand Tasawwuf by first asking what a Sufi is; and perhaps the best definition of both the Sufi and his way, certainly one of the most frequently quoted by masters of the discipline, is from the sunna of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) who said:

Allah Most High says: "He who is hostile to a friend of Mine I declare war against. My slave approaches Me with nothing more beloved to Me than what I have made obligatory upon him, and My slave keeps drawing nearer to Me with voluntary works until I love him. And when I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he seizes, and his foot with which he walks. If he asks me, I will surely give to him, and if he seeks refuge in Me, I will surely protect him" (Fath al-Bari, 11.340–41, hadith 6502);

This hadith was related by Imam Bukhari, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Bayhaqi, and others with multiple contiguous chains of transmission, and is sahih. It discloses the central reality of Tasawwuf, which is precisely change, while describing the path to this change, in conformity with a traditional definition used by masters in the Middle East, who define a Sufi as Faqihun ‘amila bi ‘ilmihi fa awrathahu Llahu ‘ilma ma lam ya‘lam,‘A man of religious learning who applied what he knew, so Allah bequeathed him knowledge of what he did not know.’

To clarify, a Sufi is a man of religious learning,because the hadith says, "My slave approaches Me with nothing more beloved to Me than what I have made obligatory upon him," and only through learning can the Sufi know the command of Allah, or what has been made obligatory for him. He has applied what he knew, because the hadith says he not only approaches Allah with the obligatory, but "keeps drawing nearer to Me with voluntary works until I love him." And in turn, Allah bequeathed him knowledge of what he did not know, because the hadith says, "And when I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he seizes, and his foot with which he walks," which is a metaphor for the consummate awareness of tawhid, or the ‘unity of Allah,’ which in the context of human actions such as hearing, sight, seizing, and walking, consists of realizing the words of the Qur'an about Allah that,

"It is He who created you and what you do" (Qur'an 37:96).

The origin of the way of the Sufi thus lies in the prophetic sunna. The sincerity to Allah that it entails was the rule among the earliest Muslims, to whom this was simply a state of being without a name, while it only became a distinct discipline when the majority of the Community had drifted away and changed from this state. Muslims of subsequent generations required systematic effort to attain it, and it was because of the change in the Islamic environment after the earliest generations, that a discipline by the name of Tasawwuf came to exist.

But if this is true of origins, the more significant question is: How central is Tasawwuf to the religion, and: Where does it fit into Islam as a whole? Perhaps the best answer is the hadith of Muslim, that ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab said:

As we sat one day with the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace), a man in pure white clothing and jet black hair came to us, without a trace of travelling upon him, though none of us knew him.

He sat down before the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) bracing his knees against his, resting his hands on his legs, and said: "Muhammad, tell me about Islam." The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said: "Islam is to testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and to perform the prayer, give zakat, fast in Ramadan, and perform the pilgrimage to the House if you can find a way."

He said: "You have spoken the truth," and we were surprised that he should ask and then confirm the answer. Then he said: "Tell me about true faith (iman)," and the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) answered: "It is to believe in Allah, His angels, His inspired Books, His messengers, the Last Day, and in destiny, its good and evil."

"You have spoken the truth," he said, "Now tell me about the perfection of faith (ihsan)," and the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) answered: "It is to worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you see Him not, He nevertheless sees you."

The hadith continues to where ‘Umar said:

Then the visitor left. I waited a long while, and the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said to me, "Do you know, ‘Umar, who was the questioner?" and I replied, "Allah and His messenger know best." He said,

"It was Gabriel, who came to you to teach you your religion" (Sahih Muslim, 1.37: hadith .

This is a sahih hadith, described by Imam Nawawi as one of the hadiths upon which the Islamic religion turns. The use of din in the last words of it, Atakum yu‘allimukum dinakum, "came to you to teach you your religion" entails that the religion of Islam is composed of the three fundamentals mentioned in the hadith: Islam, or external compliance with what Allah asks of us; Iman, or the belief in the unseen that the prophets have informed us of; and Ihsan, or to worship Allah as though one sees Him. The Qur'an says, in Surat Maryam,

"Surely We have revealed the Remembrance, and surely We shall preserve it" (Qur'an 15:9),

and if we reflect how Allah, in His wisdom, has accomplished this, we see that it is by human beings, the traditional scholars He has sent at each level of the religion. The level of Islam has been preserved and conveyed to us by the Imams of Shari‘a or ‘Sacred Law’ and its ancillary disciplines; the level of Iman, by the Imams of ‘Aqida or ‘tenets of faith’; and the level of Ihsan, "to worship Allah as though you see Him," by the Imams of Tasawwuf.

The hadith’s very words "to worship Allah" show us the interrelation of these three fundamentals, for the how of "worship" is only known through the external prescriptions of Islam, while the validity of this worship in turn presupposes Iman or faith in Allah and the Islamic revelation, without which worship would be but empty motions; while the words, "as if you see Him," show that Ihsan implies a human change, for it entails the experience of what, for most of us, is not experienced. So to understand Tasawwuf, we must look at the nature of this change in relation to both Islam and Iman, and this is the main focus of my talk tonight.

At the level of Islam, we said that Tasawwuf requires Islam,through ‘submission to the rules of Sacred Law.’ But Islam, for its part, equally requires Tasawwuf. Why? For the very good reason that the sunna which Muslims have been commanded to follow is not just the words and actions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), but also his states, states of the heart such as taqwa ‘godfearingness,’ ikhlas ‘sincerity,’ tawakkul ‘reliance on Allah,’ rahma ‘mercy,’ tawadu‘ ‘humility,’ and so on.

Now, it is characteristic of the Islamic ethic that human actions are not simply divided into two shades of morality, right or wrong; but rather five, arranged in order of their consequences in the next world. The obligatory (wajib) is that whose performance is rewarded by Allah in the next life and whose nonperformance is punished. The recommended (mandub) is that whose performance is rewarded, but whose nonperformance is not punished. The permissible (mubah) is indifferent, unconnected with either reward or punishment. The offensive (makruh) is that whose nonperformance is rewarded but whose performance is not punished. The unlawful (haram) is that whose nonperformance is rewarded and whose performance is punished, if one dies unrepentant.

Human states of the heart, the Qur'an and sunna make plain to us, come under each of these headings. Yet they are not dealt with in books of fiqh or ‘Islamic jurisprudence,’ because unlike the prayer, zakat, or fasting, they are not quantifiable in terms of the specific amount of them that must be done. But though they are not countable, they are of the utmost importance to every Muslim. Let’s look at a few examples.

(1) Love of Allah. In Surat al-Baqara of the Qur'an, Allah blames those who ascribe associates to Allah whom they love as much as they love Allah. Then He says,

"And those who believe are greater in love for Allah" (Qur'an 2:165), making being a believer conditional upon having greater love for Allah than any other.

(2) Mercy. Bukhari and Muslim relate that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, "Whomever is not merciful to people, Allah will show no mercy" (Sahih Muslim, 4.1809: hadith 2319), and Tirmidhi relates the well authenticated (hasan) hadith "Mercy is not taken out of anyone except the damned" (al-Jami‘ al-sahih, 4.323: hadith 1923).

(3) Love of each other. Muslim relates in his Sahih that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, "By Him in whose hand is my soul, none of you shall enter paradise until you believe, and none of you shall believe until you love one another . . . ." (Sahih Muslim, 1.74: hadith 54).

(4) Presence of mind in the prayer (salat). Abu Dawud relates in his Sunan that ‘Ammar ibn Yasir heard the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) say, "Truly, a man leaves, and none of his prayer has been recorded for him except a tenth of it, a ninth of it, eighth of it, seventh of it, sixth of it, fifth of it, fourth of it, third of it, a half of it" (Sunan Abi Dawud, 1.211: hadith 796)—meaning that none of a person’s prayer counts for him except that in which he is present in his heart with Allah.

(5) Love of the Prophet. Bukhari relates in his Sahih that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, "None of you believes until I am more beloved to him than his father, his son, and all people" (Fath al-Bari, 1.58, hadith 15).

It is plain from these texts that none of the states mentioned—whether mercy, love, or presence of heart—are quantifiable, for the Shari‘a cannot specify that one must "do two units of mercy" or "have three units of presence of mind" in the way that the number of rak‘as of prayer can be specified, yet each of them is personally obligatory for the Muslim. Let us complete the picture by looking at a few examples of states that are haram or ‘strictly unlawful’:

(1) Fear of anyone besides Allah. Allah Most High says in Surat al-Baqara of the Qur'an,

"And fulfill My covenant: I will fulfill your covenant—And fear Me alone" (Qur'an 2:40), the last phrase of which, according to Imam Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, "establishes that a human being is obliged to fear no one besides Allah Most High" (Tafsir al-Fakhr al-Razi, 3.42).

(2) Despair. Allah Most High says,

"None despairs of Allah’s mercy except the people who disbelieve" (Qur'an 12:87), indicating the unlawfulness of this inward state by coupling it with the worst human condition possible, that of unbelief.

(3) Arrogance. Muslim relates in his Sahih that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, "No one shall enter paradise who has a particle of arrogance in his heart" (Sahih Muslim, 1.93: hadith 91).

(4) Envy,meaning to wish for another to lose the blessings he enjoys. Abu Dawud relates that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, "Beware of envy, for envy consumes good works as flames consume firewood" (Sunan Abi Dawud, 4.276: hadith 4903).

(5) Showing off in acts of worship. Al-Hakim relates with a sahih chain of transmission that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, "The slightest bit of showing off in good works is as if worshipping others with Allah . . . ." (al-Mustadrak ‘ala al-Sahihayn, 1.4).

These and similar haram inward states are not found in books of fiqh or ‘jurisprudence,’ because fiqh can only deal with quantifiable descriptions of rulings. Rather, they are examined in their causes and remedies by the scholars of the ‘inner fiqh’ of Tasawwuf, men such as Imam al-Ghazali in his Ihya’ ‘ulum al-din [The reviving of the religious sciences], Imam al-Rabbani in his Maktubat [Letters], al-Suhrawardi in his ‘Awarif al-Ma‘arif [The knowledges of the illuminates], Abu Talib al-Makki in Qut al-qulub [The sustenance of hearts], and similar classic works, which discuss and solve hundreds of ethical questions about the inner life. These are books of Shari‘a and their questions are questions of Sacred Law, of how it is lawful or unlawful for a Muslim to be; and they preserve the part of the prophetic sunna dealing with states.

Who needs such information? All Muslims, for the Qur'anic verses and authenticated hadiths all point to the fact that a Muslim must not only do certain things and say certain things, but also must be something, must attain certain states of the heart and eliminate others. Do we ever fear someone besides Allah? Do we have a particle of arrogance in our hearts? Is our love for the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) greater than our love for any other human being? Is there the slightest bit of showing off in our good works?

Half a minute’s reflection will show the Muslim where he stands on these aspects of his din, and why in classical times, helping Muslims to attain these states was not left to amateurs, but rather delegated to ‘ulama of the heart, the scholars of Islamic Tasawwuf. For most people, these are not easy transformations to make, because of the force of habit, because of the subtlety with which we can deceive ourselves, but most of all because each of us has an ego, the self, the Me, which is called in Arabic al-nafs, about which Allah testifies in Surat Yusuf:

"Verily the self ever commands to do evil" (Qur'an 12:53).

If you do not believe it, consider the hadith related by Muslim in his Sahih, that:

The first person judged on Resurrection Day will be a man martyred in battle.

He will be brought forth, Allah will reacquaint him with His blessings upon him and the man will acknowledge them, whereupon Allah will say, "What have you done with them?" to which the man will respond, "I fought to the death for You."

Allah will reply, "You lie. You fought in order to be called a hero, and it has already been said." Then he will be sentenced and dragged away on his face and flung into the fire.

Then a man will be brought forward who learned Sacred Knowledge, taught it to others, and who recited the Qur'an. Allah will remind him of His gifts to him and the man will acknowledge them, and then Allah will say, "What have you done with them?" The man will answer, "I acquired Sacred Knowledge, taught it, and recited the Qur'an, for Your sake."

Allah will say, "You lie. You learned so as to be called a scholar, and read the Qur'an so as to be called a reciter, and it has already been said." Then the man will be sentenced and dragged away on his face to be flung into the fire.

Then a man will be brought forward whom Allah generously provided for, giving him various kinds of wealth, and Allah will recall to him the benefits given, and the man will acknowledge them, to which Allah will say, "And what have you done with them?" The man will answer, "I have not left a single kind of expenditure You love to see made, except that I have spent on it for Your sake."

Allah will say, "You lie. You did it so as to be called generous, and it has already been said." Then he will be sentenced and dragged away on his face to be flung into the fire (Sahih Muslim, 3.1514: hadith 1905).

We should not fool ourselves about this, because our fate depends on it: in our childhood, our parents taught us how to behave through praise or blame, and for most of us, this permeated and colored our whole motivation for doing things. But when childhood ends, and we come of age in Islam, the religion makes it clear to us, both by the above hadith and by the words of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) "The slightest bit of showing off in good works is as if worshipping others with Allah" that being motivated by what others think is no longer good enough, and that we must change our motives entirely, and henceforth be motivated by nothing but desire for Allah Himself. The Islamic revelation thus tells the Muslim that it is obligatory to break his habits of thinking and motivation, but it does not tell him how. For that, he must go to the scholars of these states, in accordance with the Qur'anic imperative,

"Ask those who know if you know not" (Qur'an 16:43),

There is no doubt that bringing about this change, purifying the Muslims by bringing them to spiritual sincerity, was one of the central duties of the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace), for Allah says in the Surat Al ‘Imran of the Qur'an,

"Allah has truly blessed the believers, for He has sent them a messenger of themselves, who recites His signs to them and purifies them, and teaches them the Book and the Wisdom" (Qur'an 3:164),

which explicitly lists four tasks of the prophetic mission, the second of which, yuzakkihim means precisely to ‘purify them’ and has no other lexical sense. Now, it is plain that this teaching function cannot, as part of an eternal revelation, have ended with the passing of the first generation, a fact that Allah explictly confirms in His injunction in Surat Luqman,

"And follow the path of him who turns unto Me" (Qur'an 31:15).

These verses indicate the teaching and transformative role of those who convey the Islamic revelation to Muslims, and the choice of the word ittiba‘ in the second verse, which is more general, implies both keeping the company of and following the example of a teacher. This is why in the history of Tasawwuf, we find that though there were many methods and schools of thought, these two things never changed: keeping the company of a teacher, and following his example—in exactly the same way that the Sahaba were uplifted and purified by keeping the company of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and following his example.

And this is why the discipline of Tasawwuf has been preserved and transmitted by Tariqas or groups of students under a particular master. First, because this was the sunna of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) in his purifying function described by the Qur'an. Secondly, Islamic knowledge has never been transmitted by writings alone, but rather from ‘ulama to students. Thirdly, the nature of the knowledge in question is of hal or ‘state of being,’ not just knowing, and hence requires it be taken from a succession of living masters back to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), for the sheer range and number of the states of heart required by the revelation effectively make imitation of the personal example of a teacher the only effective means of transmission.

So far we have spoken about Tasawwuf in respect to Islam, as a Shari‘a science necessary to fully realize the Sacred Law in one’s life, to attain the states of the heart demanded by the Qur'an and hadith. This close connection between Shari‘a and Tasawwuf is expressed by the statement of Imam Malik, founder of the Maliki school, that "he who practices Tasawwuf without learning Sacred Law corrupts his faith, while he who learns Sacred Law without practicing Tasawwuf corrupts himself. Only he who combines the two proves true." This is why Tasawwuf was taught as part of the traditional curriculum in madrasas across the Muslim world from Malaysia to Morocco, why many of the greatest Shari‘a scholars of this Umma have been Sufis, and why until the end of the Islamic caliphate at the beginning of this century and the subsequent Western control and cultural dominance of Muslim lands, there were teachers of Tasawwuf in Islamic institutions of higher learning from Lucknow to Istanbul to Cairo.

But there is a second aspect of Tasawwuf that we have not yet talked about; namely, its relation to Iman or ‘True Faith,’ the second pillar of the Islamic religion, which in the context of the Islamic sciences consists of ‘Aqida or ‘orthodox belief.’

All Muslims believe in Allah, and that He is transcendently beyond anything conceivable to the minds of men, for the human intellect is imprisoned within its own sense impressions and the categories of thought derived from them, such as number, directionality, spatial extention, place, time, and so forth. Allah is beyond all of that; in His own words,

"There is nothing whatesover like unto Him" (Qur'an 42:11)

If we reflect for a moment on this verse, in the light of the hadith of Muslim about Ihsan that "it is to worship Allah as though you see Him," we realize that the means of seeing here is not the eye, which can only behold physical things like itself; nor yet the mind, which cannot transcend its own impressions to reach the Divine, but rather certitude, the light of Iman, whose locus is not the eye or the brain, but rather the ruh, a subtle faculty Allah has created within each of us called the soul, whose knowledge is unobstructed by the bounds of the created universe. Allah Most High says, by way of exalting the nature of this faculty by leaving it a mystery,

"Say: ‘The soul is of the affair of my Lord’" (Qur'an 17:85).

The food of this ruh is dhikr or the ‘remembrance of Allah.’ Why? Because acts of obedience increase the light of certainty and Iman in the soul, and dhikr is among the greatest of them, as is attested to by the sahih hadith related by al-Hakim that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,

"Shall I not tell you of the best of your works, the purest of them in the eyes of your Master, the highest in raising your rank, better than giving gold and silver, and better for you than to meet your enemy and smite their necks, and they smite yours?" They said, "This—what is it, O Messenger of Allah?" and he said: Dhikru Llahi ‘azza wa jall, "The remembrance of Allah Mighty and Majestic." (al-Mustadrak ‘ala al-Sahihayn, 1.496).

Increasing the strength of Iman through good actions, and particularly through the medium of dhikr has tremendous implications for the Islamic religion and traditional spirituality. A non-Muslim once asked me, "If God exists, then why all this beating around the bush? Why doesn’t He just come out and say so?"

The answer is that taklif or ‘moral responsibility’ in this life is not only concerned with outward actions, but with what we believe, our ‘Aqida—and the strength with which we believe it. If belief in God and other eternal truths were effortless in this world, there would be no point in Allah making us responsible for it, it would be automatic, involuntary, like our belief, say, that London is in England. There would no point in making someone responsible for something impossible not to believe.

But the responsibility Allah has place upon us is belief in the Unseen, as a test for us in this world to choose between kufr and Iman, to distinguish believer from unbeliever, and some believers above others.

This why strengthening Iman through dhikr is of such methodological importance for Tasawwuf: we have not only been commanded as Muslims to believe in certain things, but have been commanded to have absolute certainty in them. The world we see around us is composed of veils of light and darkness: events come that knock the Iman out of some of us, and Allah tests each of us as to the degree of certainty with which we believe the eternal truths of the religion. It was in this sense that ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab said, "If the Iman of Abu Bakr were weighed against the Iman of the entire Umma, it would outweigh it."

Now, in traditional ‘Aqida one of the most important tenets is the wahdaniyya or ‘oneness and uniqueness’ of Allah Most High. This means He is without any sharik or associate in His being, in His attributes, or in His acts. But the ability to hold this insight in mind in the rough and tumble of daily life is a function of the strength of certainty (yaqin) in one’s heart. Allah tells the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) in Surat al-A‘raf of the Qur'an,

"Say: ‘I do not possess benefit for myself or harm, except as Allah wills’" (Qur'an 7:188),

yet we tend to rely on ourselves and our plans, in obliviousness to the facts of ‘Aqida that ourselves and our plans have no effect, that Allah alone brings about effects.

If you want to test yourself on this, the next time you contact someone with good connections whose help is critical to you, take a look at your heart at the moment you ask him to put in a good word for you with someone, and see whom you are relying upon. If you are like most of us, Allah is not at the forefront of your thoughts, despite the fact that He alone is controlling the outcome. Isn’t this a lapse in your ‘Aqida, or, at the very least, in your certainty?

Tasawwuf corrects such shortcomings by step-by-step increasing the Muslim’s certainty in Allah. The two central means of Tasawwuf in attaining the conviction demanded by ‘Aqida are mudhakara, or learning the traditional tenets of Islamic faith, and dhikr, deepening one’s certainty in them by remembrance of Allah. It is part of our faith that, in the words of the Qur'an in Surat al-Saffat,

"Allah has created you and what you do" (Qur'an 37:96);

yet for how many of us is this day to day experience? Because Tasawwuf remedies this and other shortcomings of Iman, by increasing the Muslim’s certainty through a systematic way of teaching and dhikr, it has traditionally been regarded as personally obligatory to this pillar of the religion also, and from the earliest centuries of Islam, has proved its worth.

The last question we will deal with tonight is: What about the bad Sufis we read about, who contravene the teachings of Islam?

The answer is that there are two meanings of Sufi: the first is "Anyone who considers himself a Sufi," which is the rule of thumb of orientalist historians of Sufism and popular writers, who would oppose the "Sufis" to the "Ulama." I think the Qur'anic verses and hadiths we have mentioned tonight about the scope and method of true Tasawwuf show why we must insist on the primacy of the definition of a Sufi as "a man of religious learning who applied what he knew, so Allah bequeathed him knowledge of what he did not know."

The very first thing a Sufi, as a man of religious learning knows is that the Shari‘a and ‘Aqida of Islam are above every human being. Whoever does not know this will never be a Sufi, except in the orientalist sense of the word—like someone standing in front of the stock exchange in an expensive suit with a briefcase to convince people he is a stockbroker. A real stockbroker is something else.

Because this distinction is ignored today by otherwise well-meaning Muslims, it is often forgotten that the ‘ulama who have criticized Sufis, such as Ibn al-Jawzi in his Talbis Iblis [The Devil’s deception], or Ibn Taymiya in places in his Fatawa, or Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya, were not criticizing Tasawwuf as an ancillary discipline to the Shari‘a. The proof of this is Ibn al-Jawzi’s five-volume Sifat al-safwa, which contains the biographies of the very same Sufis mentioned in al-Qushayri’s famous Tasawwuf manual al-Risala al-Qushayriyya. Ibn Taymiya considered himself a Sufi of the Qadiri order, and volumes ten and eleven of his thirty-seven-volume Majmu‘ al-fatawa are devoted to Tasawwuf. And Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya wrote his three-volume Madarij al-salikin, a detailed commentary on ‘Abdullah al-Ansari al-Harawi’s tract on the spiritual stations of the Sufi path, Manazil al-sa’irin. These works show that their authors’ criticisms were not directed at Tasawwuf as such, but rather at specific groups of their times, and they should be understood for what they are.

As in other Islamic sciences, mistakes historically did occur in Tasawwuf, most of them stemming from not recognizing the primacy of Shari‘a and ‘Aqida above all else. But these mistakes were not different in principle from, for example, the Isra’iliyyat (baseless tales of Bani Isra’il) that crept into tafsir literature, or the mawdu‘at (hadith forgeries) that crept into the hadith. These were not taken as proof that tafsir was bad, or hadith was deviance, but rather, in each discipline, the errors were identified and warned against by Imams of the field, because the Umma needed the rest. And such corrections are precisely what we find in books like Qushayri’s Risala,Ghazali’s Ihya’ and other works of Sufism.

For all of the reasons we have mentioned, Tasawwuf was accepted as an essential part of the Islamic religion by the ‘ulama of this Umma. The proof of this is all the famous scholars of Shari‘a sciences who had the higher education of Tasawwuf, among them Ibn ‘Abidin, al-Razi, Ahmad Sirhindi, Zakariyya al-Ansari, al-‘Izz ibn ‘Abd al-Salam, Ibn Daqiq al-‘Eid, Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, Shah Wali Allah, Ahmad Dardir, Ibrahim al-Bajuri, ‘Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi, Imam al-Nawawi, Taqi al-Din al-Subki, and al-Suyuti.

Among the Sufis who aided Islam with the sword as well as the pen, to quote Reliance of the Traveller, were:

such men as the Naqshbandi sheikh Shamil al-Daghestani, who fought a prolonged war against the Russians in the Caucasus in the nineteenth century; Sayyid Muhammad ‘Abdullah al-Somali, a sheikh of the Salihiyya order who led Muslims against the British and Italians in Somalia from 1899 to 1920; the Qadiri sheikh ‘Uthman ibn Fodi, who led jihad in Northern Nigeria from 1804 to 1808 to establish Islamic rule; the Qadiri sheikh ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza’iri, who led the Algerians against the French from 1832 to 1847; the Darqawi faqir al-Hajj Muhammad al-Ahrash, who fought the French in Egypt in 1799; the Tijani sheikh al-Hajj ‘Umar Tal, who led Islamic Jihad in Guinea, Senegal, and Mali from 1852 to 1864; and the Qadiri sheikh Ma’ al-‘Aynayn al-Qalqami, who helped marshal Muslim resistance to the French in northern Mauritania and southern Morocco from 1905 to 1909.

Among the Sufis whose missionary work Islamized entire regions are such men as the founder of the Sanusiyya order, Muhammad ‘Ali Sanusi, whose efforts and jihad from 1807 to 1859 consolidated Islam as the religion of peoples from the Libyan Desert to sub-Saharan Africa; [and] the Shadhili sheikh Muhammad Ma‘ruf and Qadiri sheikh Uways al-Barawi, whose efforts spread Islam westward and inland from the East African Coast . . . . (Reliance of the Traveller,863).

It is plain from the examples of such men what kind of Muslims have been Sufis; namely, all kinds, right across the board—and that Tasawwuf did not prevent them from serving Islam in any way they could.

To summarize everything I have said tonight: In looking first at Tasawwuf and Shari‘a, we found that many Qur'anic verses and sahih hadiths oblige the Muslim to eliminate haram inner states as arrogance, envy, and fear of anyone besides Allah; and on the other hand, to acquire such obligatory inner states as mercy, love of one’s fellow Muslims, presence of mind in prayer, and love of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). We found that these inward states could not be dealt with in books of fiqh, whose purpose is to specify the outward, quantifiable aspects of the Shari‘a. The knowledge of these states is nevertheless of the utmost importance to every Muslim, and this is why it was studied under the ‘ulama of Ihsan, the teachers of Tasawwuf, in all periods of Islamic history until the beginning of the present century.

We then turned to the level of Iman, and found that though the ‘Aqida of Muslims is that Allah alone has any effect in this world, keeping this in mind in everhday life is not a given of human consciousness, but rather a function of a Muslim’s yaqin, his certainty. And we found that Tasawwuf, as an ancillary discipline to ‘Aqida, emphasizes the systematic increase of this certainty through both mudhakara, ‘teaching tenets of faith’ and dhikr, ‘the remembrance of Allah,’ in accordance with the words of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) about Ihsan that "it is worship Allah as though you see Him."

Lastly, we found that accusations against Tasawwuf made by scholars such as Ibn al-Jawzi, and Ibn Taymiya were not directed against Tasawwuf in principle, but to specific groups and individuals in the times of these authors, the proof for which is the other books by the same authors that showed their understanding of Tasawwuf as a Shari‘a science.

To return to the starting point of my talk this evening, with the disappearance of traditional Islamic scholars from the Umma, two very different pictures of Tasawwuf emerge today. If we read books written after the dismantling of the traditional fabric of Islam by colonial powers in the last century, we find the big hoax: Islam without spirituality and Shari‘a without Tasawwuf. But if we read the classical works of Islamic scholarship, we learn that Tasawwuf has been a Shari‘a science like tafsir, hadith, or any other, throughout the history of Islam. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,

"Truly, Allah does not look at your outward forms and wealth, but rather at your hearts and your works" (Sahih Muslim, 4.1389: hadith 2564).

And this is the brightest hope that Islam can offer a modern world darkened by materialism and nihilism: Islam as it truly is; the hope of eternal salvation through a religion of brotherhood and social and economic justice outwardly, and the direct experience of divine love and illumination inwardly.

Rumi: True and False Sufis
Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

True and False Sufis


True and False Sufis, from Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi (Allah be pleased with him)

False Sufis steal the words of the Sufis and present them as their own, and thus trick people with the beautiful teachings, which they are merely imitators of. They do not have true knowledge of that which they are speaking. Many of the great Sufi Shuyukh speak of deceptive false Sufis - these people take the title of "Sufi" because it gives them a certain amount of prestige and power, and they take advantage of those who cannot tell false Sufism from the real thing.

On the topic of false Sufis, Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi says:

A disciple who is trained by a man of God will have a pure and purified spirit. But he who is trained by an imposter and hypocrite and who learns theory from him will be just like him: despicable, weak, incapable, morose, without any exit from uncertainties, and deficient in all his senses. "As for the unbelievers -- their protectors are idols, that bring them forth from the light into the shadows." (Qur'an 2:257).

[From the "Fihi ma fihi," translated by W. C. Chittick in "The Sufi Path of Love: the Spiritual Teachings of Jalaluddin Rumi," p. 145]

Furthermore, on the topic of false Sufis and the harm they do, Jalaluddin Rumi says (in poetry):

You are the disciple and guest of someone who in his vileness will steal away all your attainments.

He is not victorious -- how will he make you victorious? He will not give you light, he will make you dark.

Since he has no light, how can others receive light through associating with him?

Like a blind man who cures eyes: With what will he anoint your eyes other than wool? [...]

He has no scent or trace of God, but his claims are greater than those of Seth or Adam.

The devil himself is embarrassed to appear before him; he keeps on saying, "We are of the saints and even greater."

He steals many of the words of the dervishes, so that people may think he really is someone.

In his talks he even cavils at Bayazid; Yazid himself is ashamed of him. (*)

He is destitute of the bread and provisions of heaven: God has not thrown him a single bone.

[From the Mathnawi of Jalaluddin Rumi, Book I, vv. 2265-68, 72-76, translated by W. C. Chittick in "The Sufi Path of Love: the Spiritual Teachings of Jalaluddin Rumi," p. 145-6.]

(*) Bayazid refers to the great Wali Allah, Bayazid al-Bistami; Yazid refers to the oppressive ruler.

Therefore we see that a great Shaykh such as Jalaluddin Rumi warns us of the false Sufis. False Sufis may even be more prevalent today than they were in the past. We must distinguish between true Sufis, who follow the Shari`ah, and false Sufis, who often do not.

Wassalam,
Fariduddien Rice

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Tasawwuf and Sharia
Shafiq ur-Rahman


All praises are due to Allah. We praise Him, seek His help, and ask His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil in our souls and from our wrong actions. Whoever Allah guides, no one can mislead. And whomever Allah misguides, no one can guide. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah. He is One, having no partner. And I testify that Muhammad is His servant and messenger. May Allah bless him and give him peace, with his family and Companions. Verily the best speech is the Book of Allah. And the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).

With this opening invocation, I turn my attention to Tasawwuf - a realm of the Islamic sciences that is easily misunderstood without qualified instruction. Any discussion and/or comments on Tasawwuf must be backed by the knowledge of scholars in this field. Tasawwuf is one of the several Islamic sciences (ulum). Like most of the other Islamic ulum, it was not known by name, or in it's later developed form, during the time of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). This does not make it less legitimate. There are many Islamic sciences that only took shape many years after the Prophetic age; principles of jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh), for example, or the hadith methodology (ulum al-hadith). The essence of Tasawwuf is purely Islamic. To make this point, I will, in sha Allah, limit myself to reproducing opinions of scholars and taking extracts from several authentic sources.

I begin with a description of Tasawwuf in a recently published comprehensive work on Islam, The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Modern Islamic World, edited by Professor John L. Esposito, Oxford University Press, Oxford, May 1995, 4 vols.: "in a broad sense, Sufism can be described as the interiorization and intensification of Islamic faith and practice. The original sense of sufi seems to have been 'one who wears wool.' By the eighth century the word was sometimes applied to Muslims whose ascetic inclinations led them to wear coarse and uncomfortable woolen garments. Gradually it came to designate a group who differentiated themselves from others by emphasis on certain specific teachings and practices of the Quran and the sunnah. By the ninth century the gerund form tasawwuf, literally 'being a sufi' or 'sufism,' was adopted by representatives of this group as their appropriate designation.

Understood as Islam's life-giving core, sufism is co-extensive with Islam. Wherever there have been Muslims, there have been sufis. If there was no phenomenon called 'sufism' at the time of the Prophet, neither was there anything called 'fiqh' or 'kalam' in the later senses of these terms. All these are names that came to be applied to various dimensions of Islam after the tradition became diversified and elaborated. In looking for a Quranic name for the phenomenon that later generations came to call sufism, some authors settled on the term ihsan, 'doing what is beautiful,' a divine and human quality about which the Quran says a good deal, mentioning in particular that God loves those who possess it. In the famous Hadith of Gabriel, the Prophet describes ihsan as the innermost dimension of Islam, after Islam ('submission' or correct activity) and iman ("faith" or correct understanding)." [vol. 4, pp. 102-104.]

The link between Ihsan and Tasawwuf is reiterated in the English translation of Sahih Muslim by Abdul Hamid Siddiqi in a footnote to the above hadith: "Ihsan means beneficence, performance of good deeds, but in the religious sense it implies the doing of good deeds over and above what is just and fair. It is indicative of the intense devotion of man to his Creator and Master and his enthusiasm for virtue and piety. What is implied by the term tasawwuf in Islam is nothing but Ihsan. The aim of Ihsan is to create a sense of inner piety in man and to train his sensibilities in a way that all his thoughts and actions flow from the fountainhead of the love of God." [vol. 1, pp. 3-4.]

In his work, The Cultural Atlas of Islam, Macmillan Publishing Co., New York, 1986, Professor Ismail R. al Faruqi, a modern Islamic scholar and activist, devoted a chapter to sufism. The introduction to the chapter states: "Tasawwuf, or the donning of wool, is the name given to a movement that dominated the minds and hearts of Muslims for a millennium, and is still strong in many circles of the Muslim world. It nourished their souls, purified their hearts, and fulfilled their yearning for piety, for virtue and righteousness, and for closeness to God. It grew and rapidly moved to every corner of the Muslim world. It was responsible for the conversion of millions to Islam, as well as for a number of militant states and socio-political movements." [p.295.]

In his work, The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, HarperCollins, New York, Cyril Glasse describes Tasawwuf as "the mysticism or esotericism of Islam." He writes: "The word is commonly thought to come from the Arabic word suf ('wool'): rough woolen clothing characterized the early ascetics, who preferred its symbolic simplicity to richer and more sophisticated materials. The essence of sufism is purely Islamic. Sufism is found everywhere in the Islamic world; it is the inner dimension of Islam, from which the efficacy and force of Islam as a religion flow. Historically, the sufis have been grouped into organizations called tawa'if (sing. ta'ifah), or turuq (sing. tariqah, 'path'), the latter word being used more commonly in the later period, from the time of the Qadiriyyah order. Tariqah is now also a technical term for esotericism itself. Turuq are congregations formed around a master, meeting for spiritual sessions (majalis), in zawiyahs, khanaqahs, or tekkes, as the meeting places are called in different countries. These spiritual meetings are described in the words attributed to the Prophet: "Whenever men gather together to invoke Allah, they are surrounded by Angels, the Divine Favor envelopes them, Peace (as-sakinah) descends upon them, and Allah remembers them in His assembly."

Sufism may take many forms, but it always contains two poles: doctrine and method. Doctrine can be summarized as intellectual discrimination between the Real and the unreal, the basis for this being found essentially in the shahadah: "there is no god but God" or "there is no reality but the Reality." Methods can be summarized as the concentration upon the Real by the "remembrance of God" (dhikr Allah), the invocation of the Divine Name (dhikr means "remembrance", "mention", "invocation"). Both doctrine and method must, however, be complemented by perfect surrender to God and the maintenance of an equilibrium through the spiritual regime, which is Islam. In scholastic terms this is a movement from potency to act - in effect to the realization of the Oneness of God (tawhid), which is the goal of sufism. The Qur'an often underlines the importance of invocation in words such as these: "Remember God standing and sitting. . ." (3:191); " . . . Those who believe and do good works, and remember God much. . . " (26:227); and "Surely the Remembrance of God is Greatest" (wa ladhikru-Llahi akbar) (29:45). The principle of reciprocity between God and man is expressed by God's revealed words: "Therefore remember Me; I will remember you" (fadhkuruni adhkurum) (2:152).

All spiritual method also necessarily involves the practice of the virtues, summarized in the concept of ihsan, the surpassing of self, which a Sacred Hadith defines thus: "Worship God as if you saw Him, for if you do not see him, nevertheless, He sees you." To this, the sufis add: "And if there were no you, you would see,' and make the summation of mystical virtue the quality of "spiritual poverty" (faqr). By faqr they mean emptying the soul of the ego's false "reality" in order to make way for what God wills for the soul. They seek to transform the soul's natural passivity into re-collected wakefulness in the present, mysteriously active as symbolized by the transformation of Moses' hand. Humility and love of one's neighbour cut at the root of the illusion of the ego and remove those faults within the soul that are obstacles to the Divine Presence. "You will not enter paradise," the Prophet said, "until you love one another." The disciple should live in surroundings and in an ambience that are aesthetically and morally compatible with spiritual interiorization, in the sense that "The Kingdom of God is within you." The need of such supports for the spiritual life can be summed up in the Hadith: "God is beautiful and He loves beauty." [pp. 375-8]

In his Al-Maqasid, Imam Nawawi, the great Shafi'i scholar, discusses sufism at great length. His conclusions may be summarized as follows: "The basic rules of the way of sufism are five:

1. having godfearingness privately and publicly,
2. living according to the sunna in word and deed,
3. indifference to whether others accept or reject one,
4. satisfaction with Allah Most High in scarcity and plenty, and
5. turning to Allah in happiness or affliction.

The foundations of all of these consist of five things:

1. high aspiration,
2. keeping Allah's reverence,
3. giving the best of service,
4. keeping one's spiritual resolves, and
5. esteeming Allah's blessings.

The principles of sufism's signs on a person are also five:

1. seeking Sacred Knowledge in order to perform Allah's command;
2. keeping the company of sheikhs and fellow disciples in order to see with insight;
3. forgoing both dispensations from religious obligations and figurative interpretations of scripture, for the sake of cautiousness;
4. organizing one's time with spiritual works to maintain presence of heart; and
5. suspecting the self in all matters, in order to free oneself from caprice and be safe from destruction.

One reaches Allah Most High by

1. repenting from all things unlawful or offensive;
2. seeking Sacred Knowledge in the amount needed;
3. continuously keeping on ritual purity;
4. performing the prescribed prayers [fard] at the first of their times in a group prayer (and praying the confirmed sunnas [sunna mu'akkada] associated with them);
5. always performing eight rak'as of the nonobligatory midmorning prayer (al-duha), the six rak'as between the sunset (maghrib) and nightfall ('isha) prayers, the night vigil prayer (tahajjud) after having risen from sleeping, and the witr prayer;
6. fasting Mondays and Thursdays;
7. reciting the Qur'an with presence of heart and reflecting on its meanings;
8. asking much for Allah's forgiveness (istaghfar);
9. always invoking the Blessings on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace); and
10. persevering in the dhikrs that are sunna in the morning and evening.

These include, among others, the following verses of the Qur'an:

1. Al-Bakarah: 285-6,
2. At-Tauba: 129,
3. ar-Rum: 17-19,
4. Surah Ya-Sin,
5. Al-Hashr: 21-24,
6. Sura Al-Ikhlas,
7. Sura al-Falaq, and
8. Sura al-Nas.í [pp. 85-92]

Let me turn to another scholarly work of the Muslim world and the most recognized and authentic English translation of Quran by Abdullah Yusuf Ali: "The soul of mysticism and ecstasy is in the Quran, as well as the plain guidance for the plain man which a world in a hurry affects to consider as sufficient." Preface to first edition of The Meaning of the Holy Quran, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Amana Corporation, Maryland, 1991, p. xi. "Then came philosophy and the mystic doctrine of the Sufi schools. The development of the science of kalam (built on formal logic), and its further offshoot, the Ilm al-aqa'id (the philosophical exposition of the grounds of our belief) introduced further elements on the intellectual side, while ta'wil (esoteric exposition of the hidden or inner meaning) introduced elements on the spiritual side, based on a sort of transcendental intuition of the expositor. The Sufi mystics adhered to the rules of their own Orders, which were very strict. But many of the non-Sufi writers on ta'wil indulged in an amount of licence in interpretation which has rightly called forth a protest on the part of the more sober Ulama." Commentaries on the Quran, The Meaning of the Holy Quran, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, p. xv.

The origin of sufism was also discussed by a great scholar of sufism, Ali Ibn Uthman al-Hujwiri, in his book Kashf al-Mahjub (English translation by Reynold A. Nicholson, Luzac and Company, London, 1976): "Some assert that the sufi is so called because he wears a woolen garment (jama'i suf); others that he is so called because he is in the first rank (saff-i awwal); others say it is because the sufis claim to belong to the Ashab-i Suffa, with whom may God be well-pleased! Others, again, declare that the name is derived from safa (purity)." [p. 30]. He then describes Ashab al-Suffa or Ahl al-Suffa (the People of the Veranda) in the following words: "Know that all Moslems are agreed that the Apostle had a number of Companions, who abode in his Mosque and engaged in devotion, renouncing the world and refusing to seek a livelihood. God reproached the Apostle on their account and said: 'Do not drive away those that call on their Lord morning and evening, seeking only to gain His Face' (Qur'an 6:52). . . . . . It is related by Ibn Abbas that the Apostle passed by the People of the Veranda, and saw their poverty and their self-mortification and said: Rejoice! for whoever of my community perseveres in the state in which you are, and is satisfied with his condition, he shall be one of my comrades in Paradise.' [p. 81]. The Ahl al-Suffa included, among others, Bilal ibn al-Rabah, Salman al-Farisi, Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah, Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, Khabbab ibn al-Aratt, Abdullah ibn Umar, and Abdullah ibn Masud (RadiyaíLlahu anhum)" [p. 81].

No discussion of Tasawwuf would be complete without mentioning the work of Imam al-Ghazzali. In his essay on Abu Hamid al-Ghazzali in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, Professor Muntansir Mir writes: ". . . Abu Hamid al-Ghazzali, medieval Muslim theologian, jurist, and mystic. Few individuals in the intellectual history of Islam have exerted influence as powerful and varied as did Abu Hamid al-Ghazzali. When he died at the age of fifty-two, he had attempted, with an exceptionally perspicacious mind and a powerful pen, a grand synthesis of the Islamic sciences that has ever since evoked the wonder and admiration of scholars, both Muslims and non-Muslims. He gained distinction in the court of the Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Mulk, and at the age of thirty-four he was appointed professor at the Nizamiyah College at Baghdad. After teaching there for several years, al-Ghazzali suffered a crisis of confidence. Losing faith in the efficacy and purpose of the learning he has acquired and was now disseminating, he searched for the truth and certitude that alone could set his moral doubt at rest. He left his position at the Nizamiyah, withdrew from practical life, and spent eleven years in travel, meditation, and reflection. When he returned he had found the object of his search - in sufism. The details of al-Ghazzali's quest for knowledge that would give certitude are found in his autobiography, Al-munqidh min al-dalal (Deliverer from Error). Al-Ghazzali tells us that, of the four groups of people who claimed to be in possession of the truth, only the sufis, who walked the right path, because they combined knowledge with action, had sincerity of purpose, and actually experienced the serenity and contentment that comes from direct illumination of the heart by God.

Al-Ghazzali's critique of the philosophers, the esotericists, and the theologians constituted the critical aspect of his work, but there is a constructive aspect to it also; in fact the two aspects are closely linked. In a sense the principal motif of all al-Ghazzali's work is spiritualization of religious thought and practice; form must be imbued with spirit, and law and ritual with ethical vision. Taking salvation in the hereafter as the final goal, and therefore the ultimate point of reference, he set out to identify and analyze the aids and impediments to that goal. This resulted in his best-known work, Ihya ulum al-Din, an attempt to integrate the major disciplines of Islamic religion - theology and law, ethics and mysticism. Here as in other works, al-Ghazzali seeks to demystify Islam. He maintains, for example, that in order to be a Muslim it is sufficient to hold the beliefs that have been laid down by God and his Prophet in the Quran and sunnah, and that knowledge of the complex arguments advanced by the theologians is not requisite of faith. The essence of religion is experience, not mere profession, and the sufis are the ones who are able to experience the realities that theologians only talk about. [vol. 2, pp. 61-63].

Recently one of the leading Muslim journals in US, the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, [a joint publication of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS) and the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)], vol. 12, no. 4, Winter 1995, published a paper titled "Al Ghazali between Philosophy and Sufism" [authored by Professor Yasin Ceylan]. The author describes al Ghazali's experience with sufism in these words: "Al Ghazali embarked on his investigation of four different schools of thought that were influential in his time - Batinism, theology, philosophy, and Sufism - in order to find truth in them. The first three did not satisfy him, while Sufism provided him the truth for which he had been searching. There have always been notable Sufis of varied backgrounds throughout the history of Islamic thought. Whereas most of them received the traditional education, some had so much interest in logic and philosophy that they pursued these fields in depth. However, none of them penetrated into these sciences as far as al Ghazali, who acquired an intimate knowledge of both philosophy and theology. Al Ghazali himself discloses why he was frustrated by philosophy in his quest for truth and why he choose to adopt Sufism instead. His account may be summed up as follows: His disillusionment with philosophy was derived from its destructive effect on the fundamentals of religion, while his attraction to Sufism was rooted in the fact that ethical refinement and the purification of the soul were necessary conditions in this discipline." [p. 584] "Al Ghazali mentions three fundamental features related to his mystical experience: a) the purification of the soul from those evils and worldly desires that hinder moral perfection; b) those spiritual dispositions or explorations that occur after the process of purification reaches the level of maturity (described as extraordinary intellectual intuitions); and c) that these dispositions are not explicable through reason." [p. 587]

In his work, The Cultural Atlas of Islam, Professor Ismail R. al Faruqi writes, "Reaffirming his view that Tasawwuf is both knowledge and action, al-Ghazali chastised those who sought to reach the mystical experience in a hurry. He also rejected the sufi claim that in the mystical experience one reaches God through fusion into or unity with the divine Being. Such a claim he regarded as blasphemous. The true perception of God is always perception of the presence of the transcendent as a commanding being; knowledge of Him is never a knowledge of His self but of His will. Al-Ghazali therefore could not countenance the preaching of Mansur al Hallaj who went about Baghdad claiming that through the mystical experience he and God had become one. By reaffirming that Islam implies action, al-Ghazali meant to repudiate those sufis who preached monkery and withdrawal from society, any form of asceticism or mortification, or nonobligation to observe the rituals and all other laws of the shariah. Al-Ghazali thus made Tasawwuf respectable and conformant with the shariah and spirit of Islam.

Thus al-Ghazali built his system on God as starting point and foundation, unlike the philosophers who started with senses or reason. He anchored reason in iman, whence it drew its ultimate postulates; and then gave it the freedom to be as critical as it wished. Without such anchoring, reason is fallible and untrustworthy. God is knowable through His works, His order and design of nature, His ubiquitous providence - all of which reason is capable of discerning in tentative but not definitive form. Between God and the world stands the realm of malakut and amr, by which al-Ghazali meant the realm of values constituting the ought of all that is or will be, a realm that is absolute, a priori and transcendent (malakut), as well as normative and imperative (amr). Knowledge of it is yaqin (apodeictic certainty) and such knowledge is the ground of all other knowledge. Al-Ghazali, we may concede, taught the primacy of axiological knowledge, which relates man to God, over the knowledge of the world, which would be faulty and groundless without the first." [pp. 300-1]

Contrary to beliefs often held in the West, to set out on the path of sufism it is absolutely necessary to be a Muslim, for sufism's methods are inoperative without this religious affiliation, and may even prove destructive to the individual who lack the protective and normative devotion of the religion of Islam, which is its vehicle. Ahmad Zarruq, the fifteenth century Maliki scholar and hadith specialist, states: "So there is no sufism except through comprehension of Sacred Law or Shariah, for the outward rules of Allah Most High are not known save through it, and there is no comprehension of Sacred Law or Shariah without sufism, for works are nothing without the sincerity of approach, as expressed by the words of Imam Malik (Allah have mercy on him): 'He who practices sufism without learning Sacred Law or Shariah corrupts his faith, while he who learns Sacred Law or Shariah without practicing sufism corrupts himself. Only he who combines the two proves true.'" (Iqaz al-himam fi sharh al-Hikam, Ibn Ajiba, Ahmad ibn Muhammad, and Ahmad ibn Muhammad Ibn Ata Illah, Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi wa Awladuhu, Cairo, 1972, pp. 5-6).

Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, one of the most influential and prolific of contemporary Muslim scholars, echoed the same view. In his seminal introduction to Islam, Risalah-yi Diniyat (later translated as Towards Understanding Islam, Khurshid Ahmad, The Islamic Foundation, U. K., 1980 and The Message Publications, Islamic Circles of North America [ICNA], New York, 1986), he defined Shariah as "the detailed code of conduct or the canons comprising ways and modes of worship, standards of morals and life, laws that permit and prohibit and rules that judge between right and wrong." [p. 95] He then explained how Fiqh and Tasawwuf complement each other in Shariah. He writes: "Fiqh deals with the apparent and the observable conduct, the fulfilling of a duty in practice. The field which concerns itself with the spirit of conduct is known as Tasawwuf. For example, when we perform salat, Fiqh will judge us only by the fulfillment of physical requirements such as cleansing, facing towards the Kabah and the timing and the number of rakaahs. Tasawwuf, on the other hand, will judge our prayers by our concentration, devotion, purification of our souls and the effect of our prayers on our morals and manners. Thus, the true Islamic Tasawwuf is the measure of our spirit of our obedience and sincerity, while Fiqh governs our carrying out commands to the last detail. An Ibadah devoid of spirit, though correct in procedure, is like a man handsome in appearance but defective in character and an Ibadah full of spirit but defective in execution is like a man noble in character but deformed in appearance. The above example makes clear the relation between Fiqh and Tasawwuf. Tasawwuf, in the true sense, is an intense love of Allah and Muhammad (blessings of Allah and piece be upon him) and such love requires a strict obedience to their commands as embodied in the Book of God and the Sunnah of His Prophet. Anyone who deviates from the divine commands makes a false claim of his love for Allah and His messenger." [p. 97]

This point was further emphasized by Professor Muhammad Abul Qasim in his book, Salvation of the Soul and Islamic Devotions, Kegan Paul International, London, 1983. He succinctly summed up the mutual relation of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and sufism. He writes: "The Quran teaches that the means to salvation in the Hereafter on the human side are belief or faith (iman) and action (amal): salvation cannot be achieved without these two means. Both of them are mentioned in most of the verses of the Quran containing references to salvation; in a few verses, however, only faith is mentioned explicitly, but action is implicit in them. That faith and action are the requirements of salvation on the human side is also the teaching of the prophetic tradition which is but an elaboration of what is briefly taught by the Quran. The prophetic tradition presents us with details of faith and action as means to salvation. Closely following this teaching of the Quran and Tradition, Islamic jurisprudence, theology and sufism have unanimously agreed that faith and action are the only two means to salvation. In working out the details of these means, however, they differ slightly among themselves. Thus jurisprudence accepts the outward meanings of the teachings of the Quran and Tradition, without feeling the need to explore their deep, inward meanings. Sufism, in addition to outward meanings, looks for inward meanings; it also adds material learnt from experience but not inconsistent with the Quranic teachings." [p. 29]

"Sufis put a great emphasis upon the Quranic teaching that faith and action are both needed if a man is to ascend from the rank of lower animals to that of those who behold the beauty of the glorious face of God." [p. 30] "Islam is a religion which enjoins moderation or the mean state of all affairs. In Islam there is place neither for too much of hardship nor for too much of lavishness, neither for excess nor for deficiency. Moderation is considered by Islam to be the most reasonable course of action and to enable man to achieve that at which the Islamic religion aims. A man has an outward aspect and an inward aspect, and moderation is to be observed in relation to both. His outward aspect is mainly the concern of Islamic law (fiqh) and hence in this field one often finds the prescription of moderation and middle course. The inward aspect of a man is mainly dealt with in sufism and Islamic philosophy and hence in these two discipline also we find that moderation or the mean is taught emphatically." [Footnote no. 14, p. 54]

In fact, true sufis perform obligatory prayers and other duties (fard) which the Shariah has placed on them, and observe the sunnah of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) which he has recommended. They never think that they can any time dispense with the Shariah. Those who violate the Shariah and commit sins are rather impostors, who use sufism to justify their evil deeds. There is general agreement among sufis that the only way to know what things are legal or illegal, and what acts are right or wrong is the Quran, the Sunnah of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), the ijtihad of qualified jurists (mujtahidin), and their consensus (ijma). These are also the means for knowing the degrees of obligation, whether a thing is obligatory (fard/wajib) or forbidden (haram), commendable (mandub), undesirable (makruh), or permissible (mubah). The inspiration (ilham) or the kashf of the sufi has no rule in this regard, neither in determining the legality or otherwise of things, nor in fixing the degree of their obligation. Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi, the great seventeenth century Indian sufi and religious reformer, states the common view in the clearest terms: ìIt is commonly agreed that in determining the rules (ahkam) of the Shariah, what counts is the Quran, the Sunnah of the Prophet, the qiyas of a qualified jurist (mujtahid) and the consensus of the Ummah. No other principle apart from these four is to be taken into consideration to determine the legality of rules. Inspiration (ilham) does not determine whether something is right or wrong, and the kashf of a sufi does not establish the degree of a rule, whether it is obligatory or desirable. The saints (awliya) have to follow, like an ordinary Muslim, the opinions of the mujtahids. Their revelations (kushuf) and inspirations (ilhamat) do not elevate their status and relieve them from following the judgments of the jurists (fuqaha). . . . They have to follow the judgments of the jurists (mujtahidin) in matters of ijtihad.' [Maktubat Iman Rabbani, vol. II, p. 1041]. In the above statement, Sirhindi uses the term waliyat in the sense of nearness and intimacy with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.

This vital Islamic science of sufism has been consistently expounded by the greater Muslim scholars of all time. The overwhelming majority of the Muslim scholars were actively involved in sufism. In fact, almost all the great luminaries of medieval Islam: al-Suyuti, Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani, al-'Ayni, Ibn Khaldun, al-Subki, Ibn Hajar al-Haytami; tafseer writers like al-Baydawi, al-Sawi, Abu'l-Su'ud, al-Baghawi, and Ibn Kathir, aqidah writers such as Taftazani, al-Nafasi, al-Razi: all wrote in support of sufism. Ibn Khaldun, Muslim statesman, jurist, historian, and scholar of the fourteenth century, devoted a long section of in his monumental work, al-Muqaddimah, to discuss the science of sufism. He writes: "Sufism belongs to the sciences of religious law that originated in Islam. It is based on the assumption that the practices of its adherents had always been considered by the important early Muslims, the men around Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and the men of the second generation, as well as those who came after them, as the path of true and right guidance. The sufi approach is based upon constant application to divine worship, complete devotion to God, aversion to false splendor of the world, abstinence from the pleasure, property, and position to which great mass aspires, and the retirement from the world into solitude for divine worship. These things were general among the men around Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and the early Muslims. Then, worldly aspirations increased in the second (eighth) century and after. At that time, the special name of sufis (Sufiyah and Mutasawwifah) was given to those who aspired to divine worship.

The sufis came to represent asceticism, retirement from the world, and devotion to divine worship. They developed a particular kind of perception which comes about through ecstatic experience. When the sciences were written down systematically and when the jurists wrote works on jurisprudence and the principles of jurisprudence, on speculative theology, Quran interpretation, and other subjects, the sufis, too, wrote on their subject. Some sufis wrote on the laws governing asceticism and self-scrutiny, how to act and not act in imitation of model (saints). Al-Ghazzali, in the Ihya ulum al-Din, dealt systematically with the laws governing asceticism and the imitation of models. Then, he explained the behavior and customs of the sufis and commented on their technical vocabulary. Thus, the science of sufism became a systematically treated discipline in Islam. Before that, mysticism had merely consisted of divine worship, and its laws had existed in the breasts of men. The same had been the case with all other disciplines, Quran interpretation, the science of tradition, jurisprudence, the principles of jurisprudence, and other disciplines." Ibn Khaldun's al-Muqaddimah, translated from the Arabic into English by Franz Rosenthal, 3 Vols., Princeton University Press, Princeton, N. J., 1967 [vol. 3, pp. 76-81].

Even Shaykh Ibn Taymiyah and his theological successors, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, the founder of Wahhabisim, and Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya, could not at their time avoid being associated at one point with sufi tariqah. In his book, "Natural Healing with the Medicine of the Prophet," (English translation of Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya's Tibb an-Nabbi), Pearl Publishing House, Philadelphia, 1993, the translator, Muhammad al-Akili, writes: "Later on, he (Ibn al-Qayyim) pursued his quest for knowledge at the hands of renowned masters and scholars of his epoch, as well as he studied the works and teachings of sufi masters known in his time." [p. xi] "He (Ibn al-Qayyim) compiled a large number of studies besides his own books, including: 1. Tahthib Sunan Abi Dawoud (Emendation of Sunan Abi Dawoud); 2. Al-Kalam al-Tayyib wa-al-'Amal al-Salih (The Essence of Good Works and Deeds); 3. Commentaries on the book of Shaikh Abdullah al-Ansari: Manazil-u Sa'ireen (Stations of the Seekers), which is considered the epitome of knowledge of sufi books; and Zad al-Ma'ad (Provisions of the Hereafter).' [p. xiii]

Ibn Taymiyah's views on Tasawwuf have been discussed in greater detail in the book titled "Sufism and Shariah : A Study of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi's Effort to Reform Sufism" by Dr. Muhammad Abdul Haq Ansari, The Islamic Foundation, U. K., 1986. Dr. Ansari quoted from three well-known works of Ibn Taymiyah, Majmu Fatawa Shaykh al-Islam, compiled by Abd al-Rahman b. Qasim and his son Muhammad, Riyadh, 1398 A. H, 39 vols., Majmu'at al-Rasa'il wa ël-Masa'il, compiled by Rashid Rida, Cairo, 4 parts in 2 vols., and Al-Furqan bayn Awliya Allah wa Awliya' al-Shaytan, edited by M. Abd al-Wahhab Fa'ir, Beirut, Dar ël-Fikr. Dr. Ansari writes "The popular image of Shaykh Ibn Taymiyah, which early Western writers on Islam in modern times have considerably helped to build up, is that he criticizes sufism indiscriminately, is totally against the sufis, and sees no place for sufism in Islam. Nothing of this, however, is correct. Ibn Taymiyah, to be sure, is a most thorough and most incisive critic of sufism; and his criticism is not limited to a few philosophical doctrines or some popular practices, as some writers have held, but covers the entire field of sufi thought and life. But he is certainly not indiscriminate; at times, he is bitter, but on the whole sympathetic. And far from saying that sufism has no place in Islam, he moves to define the perimeters of an Islamic sufism. Ibn Taymiyah's general attitude to sufism is disclosed in this passage: 'Some people accept everything of sufism, what is right as well as what is wrong; others reject it totally, both what is wrong and what is right, as some scholars of kalam and fiqh do. The right attitude towards sufism, or any other thing, is to accept what is in agreement with the Quran and the Sunnah, and reject what does not agree'" [Majmu Fatawa Shaykh al-Islam, vol. 10, p. 82].

Ibn Taymiyah applies this principle of judicious criticism to sufi ideas, practices and personalities. He divides the sufis into three categories. In the first category of sufis whom he calls mashaikh al-Islam, mashaikh al-Kitab wa al-Sunnah and a'immat al-huda, [Majmu'at al-Rasa'il wa al-Masa'il, vol. 1, p. 179, and Majmu Fatawa Shaykh al-Islam, vol. 10, pp. 516-7 and vol. 11, p. 233] he mentions Fudayl b. Iyad, Ibrahim b. Adham, Shaqiq al-Balkhi, Abu Sulayman al-Darani, Maruf al-Karkhi, Bishr ëa-Hafi, Sari al-Saqati, al-Junayd b. Muhammad, Sahl b. Abd Allah al-Tustari and Amr b. Uthman al-Makki. Later sufis whom he places in this category are: Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, Shaykh Hammad al-Dabbas, and Shaykh Abu al-Bayan. These sufis, Ibn Taymiyah says, were never intoxicated, did not lose their sense of discrimination, or said or did anything against the Quran and the Sunnah. Their lives and experiences conformed with the Shariah (mustaqim al-ahwal) [Majmu Fatawa Shaykh al-Islam, vol. 10, pp. 516-7].

The second category consists of those sufis whose experience of fana and intoxication (sukr) weakened their sense of discrimination, and made them utter words that they later realized to be erroneous when they became sober [Majmu Fatawa Shaykh ël-Islam, vol. 10, pp. 220-1]. Some of them also did things [Majmu Fatawa Shaykh ël-Islam, vol. 10, pp. 382, 557] under intoxication of which the Shariah does not approve, but sooner or later they became sober and lived well. In this category Ibn Taymiyah mentions the names of Abu Yazid al-Bostami, Abu al-Husayn al-Nuri and Abu Bakr al-Shibli. But he neither censures their experience of fana and sukr, nor condemns what they said or did in that state. Instead, he offers apology for them on the ground that they were intoxicated (sukran), and had lost control over reason. [Majmu'at ël-Rasa'il wa ël-Masa'il, vol. 1, p. 168; Majmu Fatawa Shaykh ël-Islam, vol. 10, pp. 382, 557].

His criticism is directed to the third category of sufis who have believed in ideas and expounded doctrines which contradict Islamic principles, or who have indulged in practices which are condemned by the Shariah. The first sufi in this group is al-Hallaj [Majmu'at ël-Rasa'il wa ël-Masa'il, vol. 1, pp. 81, 83; Majmu Fatawa Shaykh ël-Islam, vol. 11, p. 18]. . . . Next to al-Hallaj, the sufis who draw strong criticism from Ibn Taymiyah are the ones who expound the doctrine of One Being (wahdat al-wujud), such as Ibn ël-Arabi, Sadr ël-Din ël-Qunawi, Ibn Sab'in and Tilimsani. . . . . Ibn ël-Arabi, who is the central figure in this context (of wahdat ël-wujud ), Ibn Taymiyah subjects him to detailed criticism. He is, however, fair to recognize that of all the exponents of wahdat ël-wujud he is closer to Islam, that many of his ideas are correct, that he distinguishes between the Manifest (al-Zahir) and the objects of manifestation (mazahir), and accepts the commands and the prohibitions (of the Shar') and other principles as they are. He recommends many things in suluk which sufi leaders have prescribed concerning good behavior and devotion. This is why a number of people draw upon his writings in their suluk and benefit from them, even though they do not know their real import. [Majmu'at ël-Rasa'il wa ël-Masa'il, vol. 1, p. 176]

Ibn Taymiyah does not oppose the tariqah of the sufis as such, neither their concentration on some approved ways, nor adoption of new ones, provided they do not fall into the category of unauthorized innovation (bid'at). He does not object, for instance, to the experience of fana and union; what he requires is that one should not make it the goal of sufism, or entertain mistaken ideas about it. He would not object to intensification of some approved forms of dhikr, or reliance on some methods for purifying the soul, with the neglect of others, provided it is within the limits of the Shariah [Majmu'at ël-Rasa'il wa ël-Masa'il, vol. 4, pp. 86-87]. A sufi may, for instance, withdrew temporarily to a cloister (khalwah) [Majmu'at ël-Rasa'il wa ël-Masa'il, vol. 4, pp. 84-6, 92-3], provided he observes the salat in assembly and the Friday prayer, and renders his essential obligations. Ibn Taymiyah would insist that these practices should not change or alter the values of things which the Shariah normally attaches to them [Majmu Fatawa Shaykh ël-Islam, vol. 11, pp. 398-400]. "There is no way to God", he says, "except following the Prophet externally and internally" [Al-Furqan bayn Awliya Allah wa Awliya' ël-Shaytan, p. 145].

It is worthwhile to note that Al-Hallaj was executed in Baghdad in 922 for saying "Ana al-Haqq" ("I am the Truth," i.e., God), and his former teacher, al-Junayd, was among those who gave the verdict that he should die. [See Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami, in Tabakat al-Sufiyya, Edited by Nur al-Din Shariba, Maktaba al-Khanji, Cairo, 1986, pp. 307-8, for details.]

It is proper to discuss how Tasawwuf played a significant role in shaping two Islamic movements - the Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun) and the Tablighi Jamaat. In his essay on Muslim Brotherhood in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World,, Professor Nazih N. Ayubi wrote: ìFounded in Ismailiyah, Egypt, in 1928 by Hasan al-Banna (1906-1949), the Muslim Brotherhood (al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun) is the parent body and the main source of inspiration for many Islamist organizations in Egypt and several other Arab countries, including Syria, Sudan, Jordan, Kuwait, Yemen, and some north African states.' [vol. 3, pp. 183-7]

In his essay on Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, Professor Denis J. Sullivan writes: ìHasan al-Banna was born in October 1906 in Buhayrah Province, northeast of Cairo. His father was imam and teacher at the local mosque. By his early teen years, al-Banna was committed to sufism, teaching, organizing for the cause of Islam, nationalism, and activism. As an organizer, he worked with various societies. At the age of twelve, in his hometown of Mahmudiyah, he became the leader of the Society for Moral Behavior and soon thereafter, a member of the Hasafiyah sufi order. At age thirteen, he was named secretary of the Hasafiyah Society for Charity, whose goals were to preserve Islamic morality and resist Christian missionaries. Ahmed al-Sukhari, head of the order, later helped al-Banna develop the idea of the Ikhwan. Combined with the extracurricular influences of sufism, the thought of Muhammad Rashid Rida and the Salafiyah movement, nationalism, and his father's instruction, al-Banna developed a diverse intellectual basis for his own mission.' [vol. 3, pp. 187-191]

ìAl-Banna was involved with the tariqah (of sufi shaykh, Hasanayn al-Hasafi) for twenty years and maintained a respect for this strict style of sufism throughout his life. It appears to have influenced his organizational thinking in terms of the methods of instruction in his Muslim Brotherhood and the daily rituals required of its members.' [vol. 4, p. 115]

In his essay on Tablighi Jamaat in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, Professor Mumtaz Ahmad, writes: ìThe Tablighi Jamaat of the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent, also variously called the Jamaat (Party), Tahrik (Movement), Nizam (System), Tanzim (Organization), and Tahrik-i Iman (Faith Movement), is one of the most important grassroots Islamic movements in the contemporary Muslim world. From a modest beginning in 1926 with dawah (missionary) work in Mewat near Delhi under the leadership of the sufi scholar Maulana Muhammad Ilyas (1885-1944), the Jamaat today has followers all over the Muslim world and the West. Its 1993 annual international conference in Raiwind near Lahore, Pakistan, was attended by more than one million Muslims from ninety-four countries. In fact, in recent years the Raiwind annual conference has become the second largest religious congregation of the Muslim world after the Hajj.

The pietistic and developmental aspects of the Tablighi Jamaat owe their origin to the sufi teachings and practices of Shaykh Ahmed Sirhindi, Shah Wali Allah, and the founder of the Mujahidin movement, Sayyid Ahmad Shahid (1786-1831). These sufis, who belonged to the Naqshbandiyah order, considered the observance of the Shariah integral to their practices. It is in this sense that the Tablighi Jamaat has been described, at in its initial phase, both as a reinvigorated form of Islamic orthodoxy and as a reformed sufism. Maulana Ilyas, an Islamic religious scholar in the tradition of the orthodox Deoband seminary in the United Province and a follower of the Naqshbandiyah, . . . . .

In matters of religious beliefs and practices, the Tablighi Jamaat has consistently followed the orthodox Deoband tradition and has emphasized taqlid (following the established schools of Islamic law) over ijtihad (independent reasoning). It rejects such popular expressions of religions as veneration of saints, visiting shrines, and observing the syncretic rituals associated with popular sufism. The Jamaat can thus be considered an heir to the reformist-fundamentalist tradition of Shah Wali Allah, with its emphasis on reformed sufism and strict observation of the sunnah of the Prophet.' [vol. 4, pp. 165-169]

In his book, The Faith Movement of Mawlana Muhammad Ilyas, George Allen and Unwin Ltd., London, 1972, M. Anwarul Haq dwelt a great deal on the life, work, and thought of Maulana Muhammad Ilyas, with an exclusive focus on the sufi origin of his movement. More evidence on the link between Tasawwuf and Tablighi Jamaat can be found in ìFaza'il-e-A'maal,' Muhammad Zakariya, Waterval Islamic Institute, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1994. Faza'il-e-A'maal, a revised edition of Tablighi Nisab (Islamic Teachings), is a collection of treatises by a scholar of hadith (Shaikhul Hadith), patron, and close relative of the founder of the Tablighi Jamaat, Maulana Muhammad Ilyas. The book is part of the instruction readings of the Jamaat. I will present a few excerpts from this book: ìRequisites of good salaat suggested by sufis: The sufis write: There are twelve thousand virtues in salaat, which can be achieved through twelve points. If a person is to acquire full benefit from salaat, then, he must take care of these points. Sincerity is of course essential at every step. These points are as follows: 1. knowledge, 2. Wudhu, 3. Dress, 4. Time, 5. Qiblah, 6. Intention, 7. Takbeer Tahreemah, 8. Qiyaam, 9. Qiraat, 10. Ruku, 11. Sajdah, and 12. Qadah.' [pp. 95-97] Salaat of few Sahaabah, Taabiees and sufis:' [pp. 98-103] ìAn Important Note: According to the sufis, salaat is in fact a supplication to and speech with Allah, and therefore needs through concentration.' [p. 103]

With all this, we observe a contradiction. Why is it, if sufism has been so respected a part of Muslim intellectual and political life throughout our history that there are, nowadays, angry voices raised against it? Apparently there are two reasons. First, there have been deviant manifestations of true devotional sufism. In his work, The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, Cyril Glasse describes this issue as follows: ìAn offshoot of popular devotional sufism seeks reassurance above all in psychic phenomena, communication with spirits, or jinn, trance dancing, magic, prodigies such as eating glass, piercing the body with knives, and so forth. In psychic powers and extraordinary mental states it finds proofs of spiritual attainment. It has given rise to the European use of the word fakir (which comes from the word for an authentic sufi disciple, a dervish, or faqir, literally a ìpoor one') to mean a market-place magician or performer, and has attained notoriety not only among Western observers, but also in Islamic societies.' [p. 380]

ëAbd al-Karim Jili, the fourteenth century scholar of Sacred Law or Shariah, describes such an experience: ìMy brother, Allah have mercy on you, I have traveled to the remotest cities and dealt with all types of people, but never has my eye seen, nor ear heard of, nor is there any uglier or farther from presence of Allah Most High than a certain group who pretend they are accomplished sufis, claiming for themselves a lineal spiritual tradition from the perfected ones and appearing in their guise, while they do not believe in Allah, His messengers, or the Last Day, and do not comply with the responsibilities of the Sacred Law or Shariah, depicting the states of the prophets and their messages in a manner that no one with a particle of faith in his heart can accept, let alone someone who has reached the level of those to whom the unseen is disclosed and who have gnostic insight. We have seen a great number of their luminaries in cities in Azerbaijan, Shirwan, Jilan, and Khurasan, may Allah curse them all.' (Idah al-maqsud min wahdat al-wujud, ëAbd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi, Matba'a al-'Alam, Damascus, 1969, pp. 17-1.

Second, there is the emergence of what is known as ìfolk' sufism. Some people are baffled by the dress, terminology, or demeanor of the sufis. They imitate the sincere sufis externally without experiencing spiritual struggle or self-discipline. Rather, they pounce upon and quarrel over wealth that is unlawful, doubtful, or from rulers, rending each other's honor whenever they are at cross-purposes. In his Concise Encyclopedia of Islam, Cyril Glasse describes it and contrasts it with true devotional sufism in the following words: ìMetaphysical' sufism, as taught by the great spiritual masters, is different from ìfolk' sufism. In some countries hundreds of thousands of disciples have at times been attached to a single master, more than could possibly have had a true vocation for an integral spiritual path. A kind of sufism has evolved which reflects a popular idea of spirituality. As happens in every civilization, this popular spirituality confuses piety (augmented by great zeal and a multiplication of ritual practices) with pure spiritual intuition and lustral, transcendent knowledge. Needless to say, folklore hawked as the ìwisdom of idiots' may be exactly that, but it has nothing to do with sufism of any kind, nor is it a ìself-development' divorced from its religious framework. Metaphysical, or true, sufism is a spiritual way at the heart of Islam. Its starting point is discrimination between the Real and the unreal, its method is concentration upon the Real, and its goal is the Real. In the words of a Sacred Hadith: ìMy servant does not cease to approach Me with acts of devotion, until I become the foot with which he walks, the hands with which he grasps, and the eye with which he sees.' Bayazid al-Bistami said: ìFor thirty years I went in search of God, and when I opened my eyes at the end of this time, I discovered that it was really He who sought me.' [p. 380]

The rightly guided sufis very strongly oppose and condemn practices such as excessive veneration of saints, calling upon saints for aid or protection, praying to saints, annual celebrations and feasts at the grave of a saint (ëurs), and observing the syncretic rituals. It is stressed that the excessive veneration of a saint would probably lead to the worship of something other than Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala - to polytheism or associating partners with Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala (shirk) and that showy attractions during feasts are definitely contrary to shariah and should therefore be prohibited. A person who prays to a saint is probably attributing to the saint powers that should only be attributed to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. Professor William C. Chittick writes, ìAlthough the great sufi authorities set down many guidelines for keeping sufism squarely at the heart of the Islamic tradition, popular religious movements that aimed at intensifying religious experience and had little concern for Islamic norms were also associated with sufism. Whether or not the members of these movements considered themselves sufis, opponents of sufism were happy to claim that their excesses represented sufism's true nature. The sufi authorities themselves frequently criticized false sufis.' [The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, vol. 4, p. 104]. It is noteworthy that more recently hundreds of volumes have been published in the West on sufism and most of these were written by people who have ìadopted' sufism to justify teachings of questionable origin, or who have left the safeguards of right practice and right thought - Islam and iman - and hence have no access to the ihsan that is built upon the two.

Scholars have strong warning for these pretenders to sufism. Imam Ghazali says: ìWhen anyone claims there is a state between him and Allah relieving him of the need to obey the Sacred Law or Shariah such that the prayer, fasting, and so forth are not obligatory for him, or that drinking wine and taking other people's money are permissible for him - as some pretenders to sufism, namely those ìabove the Sacred Law or Shariah' (ibahiyyun) have claimed - there is no doubt that the imam of the Muslims or his representative is obliged to kill him. Some hold that executing such a person is better in Allah's sight than killing a hundred unbelievers in the path of Allah Most High.' (Hashiya al-Shaykh Ibrahim al-Bajuri, Dar al-Fikr, Beirut, 1925, Abu Shuja' al-Asfahani, Ahmad ibn al-Husayn, Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Bajuri, and Muhammad ibn Qasim al-Ghazzi, Dar al-Fikr, Beirut, 1925, vol. 2, p. 267).

ëIzz ibn ëAbd al-Salam, a Shafi'i scholar and mujtahid Imam, writes: ìIf one sees someone who can fly through the air, walk on water, or inform one of the unseen, but who contravenes the Sacred Law or Shariah by committing an unlawful act without an extenuating circumstance that legally excuses it, or who neglects an obligatory act without lawful reason, one may know that such a person is a devil Allah has placed there as a temptation to the ignorant. Nor is it far-fetched that such a person should be one of the means by which Allah chooses to lead men astray, for the Antichrist (al-Dajjal) will bring the dead to life and make the living die, all as a temptation and affliction to those who would be misled (al-Iman al-'Izz ibn Abd al-Salam wa atharuhu fi al-fiqh al-Islami, Ali Mustafa al-Faqir, Mudiriyya al-Ifta' li al-Quwat al-Musallaha al-Uduniyya, Amman, 1979, vol. 1, p. 137). Al-Junayd, ìthe master of all the sufis' (Shaykh al-ta'ifah) was once told, ìThere is a group who claim they arrive to a state in which legal responsibility (such as salaat, siyam) no longer applies to them.' ìThey have arrived,' he replied, ìbut to hell' (Iqaz al-himam fi sharh al-Hikam, Ibn Ajiba, Ahmad ibn Muhammad, and Ahmad ibn Muhammad Ibn Ata Illah, Mustafa al-Babi al-Halabi wa Awladuhu, Cairo, 1972, p. 210).

Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi reiterates the same view : ìIt is the misfortune of the Muslims that as they sank in knowledge and character with the passage of time, they also succumbed to the misguided philosophies of nations which were then dominant. They partook of these philosophies and patched Islam with their perverted ideas. They polluted the pure spirit of Islamic Tasawwuf with absurdities that could not be justified by any stretch of imagination on the basis of the Quran and the Hadith. Gradually, a group of Muslims appeared who thought and proclaimed themselves immune to and above the requirements of the Shariah. These people are totally ignorant of Islam, for Islam cannot admit of Tasawwuf that loosens itself out of the Shariah and takes liberties with it. No Sufi has the right to transgress the limits of the Shariah or treat lightly the primary obligations (Faraid) such as daily prayers, fasting, zakah and the hajj.' [Towards Understanding Islam, p. 97]

I have stated views of scholars on sufism as faithfully as I could. These opinions of scholars are a real testimony to the Islamic character of the sufism. I hope that this presentation will remove many wrong notions that people have about sufism. It will not be difficult now for anyone to see that sufism, properly conceived, has a rightful place in Islam. And Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala knows best. I ask Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala for His forgiveness. May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala guide us all to what is correct and pleasing to Him. Aameen!

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Mashallah very good post great read jazakAllahkhair

salam, the quotes by the jursits of the four school is indeed strongly pro-sufism. but how do i reply to someone who says that the quotes have been put out of context?