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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Summary of Bilal Phillips lecture on Sufism |
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| amatullah |
| 01/08/03 at 13:39:35 |
| [slm] This is not intended to start a discusison on Sufism. I just want us to benefit from the information in this video lecture from the perspective of Ahl assuna wal jama'a the followers of Quran and sunna as understood by the sahaba. Sounds like this video lecture was part of a series on deviation in religion. The earlier one must have established how to determine what is a deviation since they all say the follow Quran and Sunnah. The next was a case study on Shiasm, In this videotape he discusses another case study-Sufism. Modernist trend among Muslims who interpret in a methodology that is not in keeping with the sahaba. Sufism, although it represents a philosophy/part/movement within the Islamic ummah, its sources are outside the knowledge of the Quran and the sunnah. The term Sufism, is the Anglicized of sufi-ya or tasaw-wuf, the terms used coming from the root word soof = wool. Wearing the woolen robes was a symbol of devoting ones self to a mystic life and asceterism. Assufi as a title (alhanbali, alhanafi, etc) came originally from a Shia man in Kuffa in Iraq. His name was Jabir Ibn Hayyan. Assoofi-ya (the group as a whole) first used to refer to a semi-Shiite school of mysticism which also originated from Kufa. Within fifty years period it became a common term. The wearing of the cloak, even DURING its early stages in 1719, was a* foreign and reprehensible Christian practice*. Many like to claim at its start it was a good thing but look at the earliest examples Farqad Assabghi was reprehended by Hasan Albasri for wearing such a cloak. It was opposed by the Tabi’een. Ibn Sireen also condemned such practice he said: to follow the example of the prophet who clothed himself in cotton is better. No authentic hadeeth on how it is best to wear wool. They are all fabricated. Mysticism defined in dictionary as an experience of union with god and that man’s main goal is to seek that union. Origins of this thought is in Ancient Greek philosophy. Discussed by Plato in the dysposium (symposium). In Hinduism as well (rahman/atman principle). Basis for new age philosophy and gnostic views even in Christianity. When Islam entered Syria and that area, some people who converted brought in some of these principles using Islamic terminology/cloak. Ex. the word “Fana” (kullu ma 3alayha fan) the state where the person’s ego dissolves into Allah. And “wusool” a part of the process where one can be one with god. They identified stages of the journey and called them maqamat. Thikr is the instrument in which they achieve this with the help of their masters. Allah asked us to remember Him much in the Quran but what happened is that they devised certain modes outside of what following the Quran and sunnah entails. The prophet has given us the full instructions of how we are supposed to do this. The method of remembering Allah was defined by His messenger. The supplications, even prayer (aqim assalata li thikri) When one sets on their own path to decide how they want to do remembrance of Allah then we have now a process of deviation. Abdullah in Masood when he came to Damascus he came into a mosque and the people were in a circle and one person was the head of the circle and he would say subhan Allah then they would repeat after him, then alhemdulila and they would repeat. So he said to them what are you doing the prophet only just recently died and you are already innovating in this deen? They said this was not their intention, he replied: how many intentions never reach their goals. Intentions besides being sincere have to be in accordance with what the prophet saws taught us in order to reach the goal. (mine: i.e. You can’t say i love Allah and want to increase my worship and hence i will do 5 rakas for Asr instead of just 4!) Some people celebrate Isra and Miraj or the b-day of the prophet and if you say this is a deviation they will try to back up what they do from the Quran. They will say Allah praised the prophet and asked us to praise him and this is one form of doing that. BUT did the sahaba (they had a better understanding of the Quran than us) perform it in this way? The prophet saw said: I left nothing which brings you closer to Allah without instructing you to do it. There fore no one can come today and say they have a way of thikr or worship or whatever that is pleasing to Allah. If that were true the prophet saw would have shown us it already. That claim implies the prophet did not do it right, or lied in that statement and both are heretical statements. They have different orders developed around the different methodologies of thikr (ex. Tijani, Qadiri, Chisti, nakhshabandi, etc) usually named after the leading mystics of that order. And they developed like the Christian monks’ monasteries, they called them Zawiya. You will not find any instructions or examples of the prophet saws telling us just to repeat Allah’s name in thikr “Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah” Even if it is communication within humans it makes no sense. This is common practice with Hindus where they repeat sounds like Ohm, etc. The prophet had meaningful phrases. Not only do they say repeat. But they have actions that go along with it. Like swinging, dancing, or moving the head in full circle with the word Allah. Basically if you keep moving like that and repeatedly saying something you can hyperventilate you get a kind of high with this which is hyperventilation. The sahaba didn’t talk of such experiences. TO defend this kind of teachings they claim its sources if from Secret/sacred knowledge. (since they can’t find authentic sunnah or tab’ieen ex.) My sheikh got it from his sheikh who got it from his sheikh a chain is called a Silsila and eventually supposedly it reaches AbuBakre when he was with the prophet saw in the cave making hijra he revealed to AB a secret knowledge just to him. Alqubrisi and many other sheikh say that al-khadr is one of their silsila! They like Hasan Al-basri but his books and students will not be mentioned because their chains are fabricated. There is no authentic chain. Hasan al-basri had nothing to do with this. He simple lived a simple life as we are instructed to. There is a person in North America who claims to be the reviver of this. He studies in Mauritania. On the one hand he revives the concept of silsila (if the scholar which you studied under doesn’t have a silsila which is traced back to rasoolullah then he is useless, etc) and he promotes the madhab, following the maliki madhab.{ No classical book of Fiqh which traces scholarship in the sense of knowledge back to the prophet saws. } greatest evil is the principle of intermediacy. That they developed a hierarchy of saints (awleya’a) we have always mentioned in the Quran but they are said in the Quran only those who are pious, which is something only in the heart known to Allah alone. But they claim they are able to do certain things like being able to be in two places at once (sheikh Nazim claims to be in 11 different locations at the same time) other supernatural acts which make them intermediaries for the followers to Allah. He promotes the idea (even in his book: secrets behind secrets behind secrets) those who are true followers of his, the angle of death won’t take the soul, he will take the soul and handed it to the angle. Furthermore, in the grave when Munkar and Nakeer come, he will whisper to you the answers. Building shrines around the intermediant graves. Usually again they are trying to offer you quick short cuts to paradise. Kind of like the Christian concept right? The pope all through the middle ages used to give a certificate which says the bearer of this certificate has a place in paradise (people indulgences). In reality no shortcuts just one way, which is that of the prophet saws as understood by his companions. The prophet saws said: I left you on a clear white plain whose day is like its night (there is nothing hidden about it) and anyone who deviates from it, is destroyed. There is no secret knowledge. YES scholars who studied they might have a deeper understanding of something from the Quran or hadeeth from the sunnah, etc. but they have put together how this information is extracted and it is something which anyone who follows the principles can also extract. It is not something which supposedly depends on a revelation or something of this type. To go back to the point, to have a middle person between you and god is evil because one prays to and through them to get to Allah which is shirk. One such men is very popular called Abdulqadir Aljilani is referred to as "alghawth alatham" (the greatest source of help) and the people are encouraged in times of need to call upon him and say Ya Abdul Qadir aghithni (help me) instead of asking Allah, which goes directly against the teachings of the messenger of Allah. this is common practice in Sufism. Many zuhhad (pious, simple living, usually scholars of hadeeth, etc) are used as to attribute to them. But it is not true. What they were practicing was not Sufism today. Living like a traveler, avoiding access, taking only what you need, etc all the good things we get from hadeeth are good. But they did not innovate and deviate. So the term is not applicable to them, or it has to be put in a different context of zuhd but did not prescribe to the teachings mentioned above. Common book found on the market in the Muslim world is called the 99 names of Allah, they have turned Allah’s names into magical charms. like: if you repeat this name so many times while fasting then whatever you are seeking will be fulfilled! Ex. if you want to get pregnant then fast 7 and at iftar repeat three certain names into glass of water and then drink it then it will happen! Where did this come from? Now, the idea of union with Allah has been put into Islamic texts on the basis that the Islamic spirit is made from Allah. ( nafakhtu feehi min roo7ee, when I fashioned him and blew in him of my spirit) so each of Adam’s offspring has a piece of god in him. Of course this becomes problematic if you do believe in afterlife and what does it mean if some people go to hell. They use this argument that the human soul is divine and the goal is to try to reconnect that divine part with Allah. BUT when Allah says of my spirit…what does that mean? Does literally mean a piece of Allah spirit? Or that the spirit belongs to Allah?????? Because Allah refers to the houses which we pray in byoot Allah, and also the camel of sali7 naqatullah, etc. we don’t think of him as such obviously, but indicates they are possessions of Allah to give them an honor of special designation among other houses, or camels, or in that case spirits. This makes more sense and is more in line with the fact that we are told that an angle comes 40 days to the fetus and writes somethings and gives it spirit by Allah’s permission. What about “blowing” how do we understand it? Wa ma ramayta wa lakinna Allaha rama. When the prophet saws threw a handful of sand before the battle and they felt in their eyes. Ibn 3arabi he promoted the concept of wihdat alwujood. Everything is god and god is everything. He says he is the seal of sainthood. In his books he says you don’t need to pray to anything outside of you. Alhallaj well known for saying: I am the embodiment of truth. (when Allah subhana wa ta’ala described Himself as the Haq!) when he was brought to a Muslim court and asked to recant this statement he opened up his robe wide and said there is nothing inside of this robe except Allah. He was executed and his followers say his head as it rolled it kept saying I am the truth. I am the truth. Now even if that is true it is like the calf of Samiri (Musa’s story) they bowed to it because it made a noise which we in our limited understanding thought it shouldn’t have. What is known as Sufism includes many ideas, just as there are many religions in Hinduism under one heading. Many of the main ideas are in direct contrast with Islamic teachings. |
| 01/08/03 at 13:42:30 |
| amatullah |
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board |