we know of that traditional image of sufism and usually link sufism with the khanqaah and peer faqeer sort of thing…
recently i’ve witnessed this new trend among muslim scholars to label other scholars as sufis…
just in a thread in another forum here we’ve seen shaikh hamza yusuf, a worldwide famous muslim mubaligh, labelled as a sufi…
and here in bahrain we have this leading religious figure, shaikh nizam yaqubi, who is also an authority on Islamic Economics…
recently some imam in the mosque has been saying that his aqayed r of sufism…
so whats this new trend???
and what sort of sufism is this without any peer, staying in the jungle, with friends and family and full-of-leisure life???
I have also observed the same thing. However I think that anyone who does not follow the views of Ahl asunnah wal Jamaa, he is automatically labelled sufi. In most cases it is those who are into music etc.
i think it’s harsh to label all sufis as not followers of ahle sunnat wal jamaa’ laeeqkhan.
my brother is bait into a sufi silsala there r lots of sufi’s in england {bradford/leeds/blackburn} i attend sufi mehfils from time to time… sufi’s here just have a peer sahab who they r bait 2 and get a wazeefa which they read just praising allah’s shaan and praising prophet :saw: in the khatam-e-khwajigaan shareef. sufi’s in england follow haz’ khwaja peer mohammed aslam sahab {ra} of taaaliyan walai jehlum, pak.
also sheikh nazim a respected sufi saint of cyprus r thought to be curently in a state of heavy muraqaba they r respected by many and r believed to be keeping themself in seclusion.
There are lots of confusion about sufism. I used to believe in some too, like they all believe in wehdat-ul-wajood and other beliefs of that sort.
But I recently have found few people who are in sufi orders and are practicing Islam in every breath they take. Litterally following sharia as a everyday manual. They marry and live a caring and loving life along with religion. Carying both deen and dunia in an ideal balanced way. Also no shirkiya kalamat, tughray, kissing saint's shrine and other famous things that some of the sufi followers do.
I also learned about some of the great sufis who were (most of them btw) were very strict followers of sharia and were married with normal family lives. They might have gone on a temporary chilla thing but its not like rehbaaniyat at all. It denounces rehbaaniyat and urges to keep best of both worlds together. Some majnoon cases are different though in which a person loses his consiousness. Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani of Baghdad taught sharia his whole life, used to have over 100,000 attendence in his weekly bayaan and reportedly never said a single lie (let alone shirk) in his life (wallaho alam).
The great scholar of our times, Molana Yousuf Ludhyanvi was also a sufi. Who was in a sufi order, liked and listened to poetry and naats in (closest halaqas) and his followers used to dhikar the whole night in loud voice until fajr. I was lucky to have listened to him and meet him numerous time.
Many of the tablighi jamat's top clerics are ba'it in sufi orders and have right beliefs, not shirkiya like others nor rigid like Saudis.
^
sheikh abdul qadir jilani (ra) was one of the most strict muwahid of all times....
i dont think he ever did shirk and nor did we find any shirk related stuff in his own books....
but ppl who write ABOUT him now, write a lot of shirk and associate things to him which r most probably lies and have nothing to do with him in reality....
then there is the sufi saint ibn al-arabi, whose work i have read and did not find any shirk (like what sufis r usually associated with) although the concept of Allah being a part of everything (or was it everything being a part of Allah????) is really echoing in all his writings....
but some sufis do openly commit shirk and not just shirk a whole lot other things that go against shariah....
while some sufis do apparently follow shariah but will say and believe in things that r totally against Islamic laws and fundamentals....
like this dr tahir ul qadri guy....
dr tahir ul qadri isn't a sufi armu pa jee, he is a edcuated man and ppl like him i feel can bring the much needed inkalaab in pakistan. i've just heard good stuff about him, read about his academic background the guy has masters and gold medals ki collection, but maybe u guys no more hence the alleged allegation.
^ Yeah, and he has quite conveniently immigrated to Canadia. He is the biggest piece of crap on this planet. (He is banned from visiting the US since 1999 - I know the folks who made it possible!).
Islam was spread in India by Sufis like Pir Fareed GangBaksh, Bahaul-Din Zakariah, etc. The only difference between Sufi Islam and Mullah Islam is that Sufi Islam doesn’t believe in killing infidels.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by armughal: *
we know of that traditional image of sufism and usually link sufism with the khanqaah and peer faqeer sort of thing....
recently i've witnessed this new trend among muslim scholars to label other scholars as sufis....
just in a thread in another forum here we've seen shaikh hamza yusuf, a worldwide famous muslim mubaligh, labelled as a sufi....
and here in bahrain we have this leading religious figure, shaikh nizam yaqubi, who is also an authority on Islamic Economics....
recently some imam in the mosque has been saying that his aqayed r of sufism....
so whats this new trend????
and what sort of sufism is this without any peer, staying in the jungle, with friends and family and full-of-leisure life????
any thoughts????
[/QUOTE]
very simple...when people don't like to drink regular pepsi you offer them diet pepsi.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by #let uz chat#: *
dr tahir ul qadri..... read about his academic background the guy has masters and gold medals ki collection,
[/QUOTE]
when u talk of a doctor (like tahir ul qadri) he has got more than masters in his academic background....
To the initial post and some comments following that... naturally there is a difference between sufi and majzoob. Some people use these interchangably. And then there are some people who may not be majzoob but will give up the worldly life and families to spend the rest of their life in prayers and zikr away from civilization. Though not something which is recommended in Islam, but then people make their own choices in life. Some of these may be sufis too.
A sufi, per se, however is not someone who has given up "normal" life.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Sadiqaan: *
Sufis have been persecuted by many mullahs throughout Islamic history, and the current trends are no surprise.
[/QUOTE]
if fake sufis hadnt introduced such heretical biddahs in islam like wahdatul wujood (every thing is God and God is everthing ) and denial of jihad, acceptance of kufr roman/greek phisolophy then they wouldnt have been persecuted. but the true sufi imams were good such as imam shamil of al sheeshan (chechnya) who was naqshbandi sufi but did not give up jihad when the time called for it. any i m sure many more true sufis practiced full islam with out biddah but these later day sufi wanna bees are the ones who are extreme in their biddah.
I've not studied sufiism and therfore will declare that I have a superficial impression of it - one that comes from some minimalist reading and talking to some of its adherents. Based on this my impression is that at its purest level, Sufiism represents/represented the spiritual side of faith - the deep, the thinking, the searching, the getting beyond materialist, the yearning for getting closer to God side of faith. However, in one of its modern manifestations, I can't help thinking that at its worst it is no more then cultism - the focus of which seems to be an authorotarian figure who has some extraordinary powers - the equivalent of 'my guru' becomes 'my sheikh'.
I've personally observed four acquaintences in the UK whose personal lives have been deeply influenced by 'their' sheikhs - much to the heartache and despair of their families. Quite coincidentally, I'v just finished reading a book which in one chapter described the authors experience of Sheikh Nazim, the Cypriot Sufi in the UK, who is mentioned in one of the posts above:
"..my brother..took biyah, accepted Sheikh Nazim as his teacher, and became his disciple. He started visiting the Sheikh frequently; first it was once or twice a week, then he was there almost every day. On the Sheikh's advice he resigned from his promising job as an econimist, and became a carpenter: 'It is much better to work with your hands' the Sheikh had said. In due course, my brother married a woman approved by the Sheikh; and..the Sheikh chose the names of his children. He withdrew from normal life and the Sheikh came to dominate every aspect of his existence..." (extract from 'Desperately Seeking Paradise, by Ziauddin Sardar)
The above is very close to the truth for the four people I've known who have adopted 'sheikhs'. What characterised all of them was their absolute subservience to their sheikh at the expense of all others including their nearest an dearests. Is this any different to the 'moonies' or the 'raj shrees' ?
These comments are not meant to be an offence to suffism - but an observation on 'sheikhism'.
^
THAT is the major problem in sufism....
once u give bai'aa to someone, then the sheikh is the absolute authority for u....
if he says wine is halal, it is, if he says u dont need to pray, u dont need to pray....
the mureeds fail to see ANY mistake the sheikh does....
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by armughal: *
^
THAT is the major problem in sufism....
once u give bai'aa to someone, then the sheikh is the absolute authority for u....
if he says wine is halal, it is, if he says u dont need to pray, u dont need to pray....
the mureeds fail to see ANY mistake the sheikh does....
[/QUOTE]
I don't think that is actually true. Ofcourse if you sample only folks of the lowest denominator who can not even decide on their own whether they want sugar in their chai or not, then yes, you will see blind obedience. But if you talk to educated people, they will consider it more as a teacher-student relationship. And if they don't agree with the teacher, they move on. Lots of people move on. Its not exactly unheard of.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by armughal: *
^
THAT is the major problem in sufism....
once u give bai'aa to someone, then the sheikh is the absolute authority for u....
if he says wine is halal, it is, if he says u dont need to pray, u dont need to pray....
the mureeds fail to see ANY mistake the sheikh does....
[/QUOTE]
I agree! most of the No. 2 type sufis and their followers are like that.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Faisal: *
I don't think that is actually true. Ofcourse if you sample only folks of the lowest denominator who can not even decide on their own whether they want sugar in their chai or not, then yes, you will see blind obedience. But if you talk to educated people, they will consider it more as a teacher-student relationship. And if they don't agree with the teacher, they move on. Lots of people move on. Its not exactly unheard of.
[/QUOTE]
Its not a teacher student relationship like among Ulema,if u have a shekh u have to obey him "whatever" he commands,thats the basic principle of Sufism.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Iconoclast: *
thats the basic principle of Sufism.
[/QUOTE]
I am not aware of that "basic principle" of Sufism. Maybe you are right. But what I have seen, a lot of people walk away after a while, if they are not mentally or emotionally satisfied by the "peer sahab". There is nothing that holds you bound to the "sheikh" if you feel he is not on the right path.
