True Sufism

The truth about Sufism … حقيقة التصوف

This may come as a shock, but read it until the end:

1- Mohammad Ibn Abdul-Wahab al-Najdi said:
اعلم– أرشدك الله– أن الله سبحانه وتعالى بعث محمداً صلى الله عليه وسلم بالهدى الذي هو العلم النافع, ودين الحق هو العمل الصالح إذا كان من ينتسب إلى الدين: منهم من يتعانى بالعلم والفقه ويقول به كالفقهاء, ومنهم من يتعانى العبادة وطلب الآخرة كالصوفية فبعث الله نبيه بهذا الدين الجامع للنوعين…
“Those who adhere to the Religion include:
– those who concern themselves with acquiring [exoteric] knowledge and Fiqh and discuss its matters such as the Jurists (al-fuqahā’),
– and then there are those who concern themselves with devotion and worship of Allah as well as seeking the Hereafter such as the Sufis.
Allah thus sent His Prophet with this religion which encompasses BOTH these two kinds of knowledge.”
[“Fatawa wa Rasail”, p. 31].
https://al-maktaba.org/book/11324/27

2- Abdullah, the son of Mohammad Ibn Abdul-Wahaab said:
ولا ننكر : الطريقة الصوفية، وتنزيه الباطن من رذايل المعاصي، المتعلقة بالقلب والجوارح، مهما استقام صاحبها على القانون الشرعي
“And we do not reject the path of Sufism, the cleaning of the internal state of human beings from filth and sins, which affects both the heart and limbs – as long as the person remains within the bounds of the Shariah.”
[“Ad-Durar as-Saniyyah”, 1/228].
http://islamport.com/w/fqh/Web/2236/228.htm

3- Ibn al-Qayyim said:
الدين كله خلق . فمن زاد عليك في الخلق : زاد عليك في الدين . وكذلك التصوف .
“The religion itself is entirely good character, so whoever surpasses you in character has surpassed you in religion; likewise, the same is true of Sufism.”
[“Madarij al-Salikin”, 2/295].
https://islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&flag=1&bk_no=119&ID=342

4- Ibn Taymiyah said:
و ” أولياء الله ” هم المؤمنون المتقون سواء سمي أحدهم فقيرا أو صوفيا أو فقيها أو عالما أو تاجرا أو جنديا أو صانعا أو أميرا أو حاكما أو غير ذلك . قال الله تعالى : { ألا إن أولياء الله لا خوف عليهم ولا هم يحزنون الذين آمنوا وكانوا يتقون }
“And the Friends of Allah, they are the Muminoon (true believers) and Muttaqoon (those possessing Taqwa), whether they are known by names like Faqeer (ascetic), Sufi, Faqih (Jurists), Scholar, Trader, soldier, manufacturer, Ameer (nobleman) or ruler or something else, [quoting the Qur’an]: “Truly, the friends of Allah shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve. Those who have believed and have been fearful of Allah.” [10:62-63].
[“Majmu al-Fatawa”, 2/443].
http://islamport.com/d/2/ftw/1/30/2475.html

And he said:
أي الصوفي ـ في الحقيقة نوع من الصديقين فهو الصديق الذي اختص بالزهد والعبادة
“And the Sufi is in reality a kind of Siddiq [Truthful One], that Siddiq who specialized in Zuhd [Asceticism] and ‘Ibadah [Worship].”
[“Majmu al-Fatawa”, 5/11].
https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=651&idfrom=1093&idto=1112&flag=0&bk_no=22&ayano=0&surano=0&bookhad=0

And he said:
فطائفة ذمت ” الصوفية والتصوف ” . وقالوا : إنهم [ ص: 18 ] مبتدعون خارجون عن السنة ونقل عن طائفة من الأئمة في ذلك من الكلام ما هو معروف وتبعهم على ذلك طوائف من أهل الفقه والكلام .
وطائفة غلت فيهم وادعوا أنهم أفضل الخلق وأكملهم بعد الأنبياء وكلا طرفي هذه الأمور ذميم .
و ” الصواب ” أنهم مجتهدون في طاعة الله كما اجتهد غيرهم من أهل طاعة الله ففيهم السابق المقرب بحسب اجتهاده وفيهم المقتصد الذي هو من أهل اليمين وفي كل من الصنفين من قد يجتهد فيخطئ وفيهم من يذنب فيتوب أو لا يتوب .
ومن المنتسبين إليهم من هو ظالم لنفسه عاص لربه .
وقد انتسب إليهم طوائف من أهل البدع والزندقة ; ولكن عند المحققين من أهل التصوف ليسوا منهم
“Some people criticised Sufis and they said they were innovators, out of the Sunnah, and some people exaggerated in their matter and claimed them to be the best amongst the creation and the most perfect after the Prophets but the truth is they are striving in Allah’s obedienceas others of Allah’s People strove in Allah’s obedience. So from them you will find the Foremost in Nearness by virtue of his striving And some of them are from the People of the Right hand, but slower in their progress. For both kinds, they might make ijtihad and in that case they might be correct and they might be wrong. Among those who attribute themselves to them is he who oppresses his self and disobeys his Lord. A group from the people of innovation and heresy has also attributed themselves to them. However, according to the authentic people of Tasawwuf, they are not from them.”
[“Majmu al-Fatawa”, 5/11].
https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=651&idfrom=1093&idto=1112&flag=0&bk_no=22&ayano=0&surano=0&bookhad=0

And he said:
وكان المشايخ المصنفون في السنة يذكرون في عقائدهم مجانبة من يكثر دعوى المحبة والخوض فيها من غير خشية لما في ذلك من الفساد الذي وقع فيه طوائف من المتصوفة وما وقع في هؤلاء من فساد الاعتقاد والأعمال أوجب إنكار طوائف لأصل طريقة المتصوفة بالكلية حتى صار المنحرفون صنفين . صنف يقر بحقها وباطلها وصنف ينكر حقها وباطلها كما عليه طوائف من أهل الكلام والفقه . والصواب إنما هو الإقرار بما فيها وفي غيرها من موافقة الكتاب والسنة والإنكار لما فيها وفي غيرها من مخالفة الكتاب والسنة .
“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 al-Fatawa”, 2/353].

5- Imam Dhahabi said about himself:
ألبسني خرق التصوف شيخنا المحدث الزاهد ضياء الدين عيسى بن يحيى الأنصاري بالقاهرة، وقال: ألبسنيها الشيخ شهاب الدين السهروردي بمكة عن عمه أبي النجيب.
“I wore the khirqa’ (cloak) of Sufism from our shaykh, the muhaddith, the zahid, Dhiya al-Din I’sa bin Yahya al-Ansari of Cairo and he said: ‘I wore it from the shaykh Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi [author of Awarif al-Ma’arif] of Makkah, from his uncle Abul Najib.’”
[“Siyar A’lam al-Nubala”, 22/377].
https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=5900&idfrom=0&idto=0&flag=1&bk_no=60&ayano=0&surano=0&bookhad=0

—————————————————

So … what’s going on here?

Basically, there are two human states: Internal (باطِن) & External (ظاهر)…

1- The EXTERNAL human affairs deal with physical acts of the limbs ( اعمال الجوارح), like:
Prayer (الصلاة),
Fasting (الصيام),
Pelgrimage (الحج),
Charity (الزكاة),
Eating/drinking,
Cleanliness (الطهارة),
Washing (الغسل),
Jihad (الجهاد),
Hudud (الحدود),
Busines Transactions (بيع),
Marriage (النِّكاحِ), etc.
The jurists (الفقهاء) deal with these topics…. in the books of Fiqh.

2- The INTERNAL affairs are related to the heart (أعمال القلوب), for example attaining:
‘tranguility (الخشوع),
‘purity of intention’ (الإخلاص),
‘taqwa’ (التقوى),
‘reliance on God’ (التوكُّل),
‘being thankful to God’ (الشُّكر),
Or cleaning the heart of filthy diseases, like:
‘arrogance’ (الكبر),
‘jelousy’ (الحسد),
‘show-off’ (الرياء),
‘enmity’ (الحقد),
‘love of this world’ (حب الدنيا),
‘self-amazement’ (العجب), etc,
This is dealth with by Sufism/Tasawwuf, which is Tazkiyatul-Nafs (spiritualism).

Some people just focus on the external and ignore the internal … they become robotic, ‘halal & haram’… they lack spiritualism… they burn-out. That’s why you find certain people who are acting on the physical actions of the limbs, but they are still rude and arrogant. They may still fornicate and commit major sins. It’s because they have neglected the internal.

Others just focus on the heart and ignore the external affairs which the Shariah came with – they become negligent of God’s commandments.

Both these groups are wrong – the correct method is to focus on both the internal and external affairs. The Prophet emphasized on both of these.

It goes without saying that both these sciences are governed by the Shariah. They cannot go outside of it. The Shariah consists of the Qur’an and authentic Sunnah. Any teaching, or interpretation, or dream: related to internal or external affairs – which opposes the Qur’an and Sunnah is REJECTED. We are all governed by the Shariah. Nobody can abrogate the Shariah.

The heretical Sufis, whose creed and actions oppose the Qur’an and authentic Sunnah, do not represent Sufism, just like ISIS does not represent Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah, despite them falsely claiming to be part of us. Misguided Sufis always existed, but the fuqaha did not label them all as misguided.

Take the good and leave the bad… don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

We cannot ban all grapes, just because some people make wine out of it.

Allaahu A’alam