Tasawwuf: What it is and what it is not.....

[umme ahmed]

What is Tasawwuf?

"There is no doubt that Tasawwuf is an important branch of Islam. The word itself may have been derived form the Arabic word "Soof" (Wool) or from "Safa" (cleanliness), but its foundation lies in one’s personal sincerity in seeking Allah’s nearness and trying to live a life pleasing to Him. Study of the Quran, the Hadith, and the practical life of the holy Prophet Muhammad-saws and his faithful Companions provide unmistakable support to this reality."

(Tasawwuf - An Objective Appraisal by Shaikh Allah Yar Khan)



What is not Tasawwuf?

“Kashf (visions) and Karamah (wondrous acts) are not essential to Tasawwuf though charlatans claim such gifts as Sufism, in order to gain personal advantage in business, or win cases in the courts of law. Nor is Sufism in any way involved in hocus pocus and talisman trading. Sufism has also nothing to do with prostration on tombs or the lighting of lamps on them. To predict future is not Sufism either, nor is calling the Aulia (Saints) in absentia (with the belief that they hear such a call), nor the belief that they have the power to deliver mankind from its sufferings. No Tawajjuh (spiritual attention) of a mentor can edify and enlighten a disciple and direct him toward the Straight Path without his own efforts and his own adherence to the Prophet’s Sunnah. Claims for the veracity of Kashf and Ilham are not Sufism, nor are taken to be essentials of Sufism, whereas in fact they are its opposite!”

(Tasawwuf - An Objective Appraisal by Shaikh Allah Yar Khan)


Any action against the Sunnah (Prophet’s way of life) cannot be called Sufism. Singing and dancing, and the prostration on tombs are not part of Sufism. Nor is predicting the future and predicting the outcome of cases in the courts of law, a part of Sufism. Sufis are not required to abandon their worldly possessions or live in the wilderness far from the practical world. In fact these absurdities are just its opposites. It is an established fact that Tazkiyah (soul purification) stands for that inner purity which inspires a person’s spirit to obey the holy Prophet-saws. If a false claimant of Sufism teaches tricks and jugglery, ignoring religious obligations, he is an impostor. A true Shaikh will lead a believer to the august spiritual audience of the holy Prophet-saws. If you are fortunate enough to be blessed with the company of an accomplished spiritual guide and Shaikh of Sufism, and if you follow his instructions, you will observe a positive change in yourself, transferring you from vice to virtue.

[Arifa]

Excellent post

[Arsalan]

JazakAllah khair. Very much.

[Abu Hasim]

Not every sufi believes in worshipping "auliya of allah" or singing or dances but a large number of sufis have throughout history. They have become known for dancing and music, worshiping auliya and saints, and sufi chants. To say these things are contrary to sufism is an insult to our intelligence. The fact is among sufi's there are those more extreme and others closer to the sunnah, nobody will deny this. But many of those innovations and deviances have been traits of the sufis throughout history. what your practicing is really watered down sufism, if this isnt the case then please tell me what distingueshes a sufi from someone who prays 5 times a day and follows the sunnah according to sahih bukhari and muslim (a non sufi).

[al-ghazalli]

As Salam Alikum

Not every sufi believes in worshipping "auliya of allah"

If you mean Istighata such as saying "Ya Muhammad" or "Ya Abu Bakr" then their is khilaf in this matter the Maliki Ulema and Hanbali Ulema have forbidden it.

While the Hanafis and Shafi's allow it, it is noteworthy though that the Deobandi Hanafi's do not allow Istigatha from outside the vicinity of the grave, although from their works it is clear that they establish the asl al jawaz. It would not be fair to state that Deobandis permit it nor would it be fair to state that they prohibit it fi aslihi.

sufi chants

What is a Sufi chant? if you mean wird or wazifa then it is permissible one has just to read al-akhdar by Imam Nawawi to figure out that many of these wirds go back to the Prophetic Sunnah while others are based on the ijtihad of the Mujtahids.

Ibn Khaldun (Rahimullah) describes Sufi's best in his magnus opous Muqaddima.

للمتكلمين واصلها كتاب الإرشاد وما حذوه ومن أراد إدخال الرد على الفلاسفة في عقائد فعليه بكتب الغزالي والإمام ابن الخطيب فإنها وإن وقع فيها مخالفة للإصلاح القديم فليس فيها من الاختلاط في المسائل والالتباس في الموضوع ما في طريقة هؤلاء المتأخرين من بعدهم وعلى الجملة فينبغي أن يعلم أن هذا العلم الذي هو علم الكلام غير ضروري لهذا العهد على طالب العلم إذ الملحدة والمبتدعة قد انقرضوا والأئمة من أهل السنة كفونا شأنهم فيما كتبوا ودونوا الأدلة إنما احتاجوا حين دافعوا وانصرفوا وأما لأن فلم يبق منها إلا كلام تنزه البارئ عن كثير إيهامه وإطلاقه ولقد سئل الجنيد رحمه الله عن قوم مر بهم بعض المتكلمين يفيضون فيه فقال ما هؤلاء فقيل قوم ينزهون الله بالأدلة عن صفات الحدوث وسمات النقص فقال نفي العيب حيث يستحل العيب عيب لكن فائدته في آحاد الناس وطلبة العلم فائدة معتبرة إذ لا يحسن بحامل السنة الجهل بالحجج النظرية على عقائدهم والله ولي المؤمنين الفصل الحادي عشر في علم التصوف هذا العلم من العلوم الشرعية الحادثة في الملة وأصله أن طريقة هؤلاء القوم لم تزل عند سلف الأمة وكبارها من الصحابة والتابعين ومن بعدهم طريقة الحق والهداية واصلها العكوف على العبادة والانقطاع إلى الله تعالى والإعراض عن زخرف الدنيا وزينتها والزهد فيما يقبل عليه الجمهور من لذة ومال وجاه والانفراد عن الخلق للعبادة وكان ذلك عاما في الصحابة والسلف فلما فشا الإقبال على الدنيا في القرن الثاني وما بعده وجنح الناس ف إلى مخالطة الدنيا اختص المقبلون على العبادة باسم الصوفية والمتصوفية

- Tasawwuf one of the latter-day sciences of the Law in the Islamic Community. The foundation of tasawwuf, however, is (more ancient, as seen in the fact) that these folk and their way have always been present among the Salaf and among the most senior of the Companions and the Successors, and their way is the way of truth and guidance. The foundation of the way of the Sufis is self- restraint in the world and utter dependence on Allah; shunning of the adornment and beauty of the world; self- deprivation of pleasure, money, and title in the manner agreed upon by the vast majority of the scholars; and isolation from creatures in seclusion and devotion to worship. All these aspects were widespread among the Companions and the Salaf, but with the pervasiveness of worldliness in the second century and the next, and the general inclination of the people towards the world, those who remained attached to worship became know under the name of Sufis.

[umme ahmed]

Sufi Orders

Origin

Islam, as a complete code of life or Deen, was perfected during the life of the holy Prophet Muhammad-saws. He was the sole teacher and his mosque was the core institution for the community. Although Islam in its entirety was practiced during that blessed era, the classification and compilation of its knowledge into distinct branches like ‘Tafsir’ (interpretation of the Quran), Hadith (traditions or sayings of the holy Prophet-saws), Fiqh (Islamic law), and Sufism (the soul purification) were undertaken subsequently. This Deen of Allah passed from the holy Prophet-saws to his illustrious Companions in two ways: the outward and the inward. The former comprised the knowledge defined by speech and conduct, i.e., the Quran and Sunnah. The latter comprised the invisible blessings or the Prophetic lights transmitted by his blessed self. These blessings purified the hearts and instilled in them an ardent desire to follow Islam with utmost love, sincerity and devotion. Sufism is the effort to acquire these Barakah (Blessings).

The Companions handed down his-saws teachings as well as blessings to the Taba’in. Their strong hearts were capable of infusing these blessings into the hearts of their followers. Both aspects of Islam were similarly passed on by the Taba’in to the Tab’a Taba’in. The compilation of knowledge and its interpretation led to the establishment of many schools of religious thought; famous four being the Hanafi, the Hanbali, the Maliki, and the Shafa'i, all named after their founders. Similarly, in order to acquire, preserve and distribute his blessings, an organized effort was initiated by four schools of Sufism: The Naqshbandiah, the Qadriah, the Chishtiah, and the Suharwardiah. These schools were also named after their organizers and came to be known as Sufi Orders. All these Orders aim at purifying the hearts of sincere Muslims with Prophetic lights. These Sufi Orders also grew into many branches with the passage of time and are known by other names as well.


Objective

The holy Quran has linked success in this life and the Hereafter with Tazkiyah (soul purification).

He, who purified, is successful. (87: 14)

Sufi Orders of Islam are the institutions where the fundamentals of Tazkiyah (soul purification) and its practical application are taught. They have graded programs in which every new seeker is instructed in Zikr-e Lisani (oral Zikr) and is finally taught the Zikr-e Qalbi (Remembrance in heart). However, in the Naqshbandiah Order, Zikr-e Qalbi is practiced form the very beginning.

Adherence to the Sunnah (Prophet’s way of life) is greatly emphasized in this Order, because the seeker achieves greater and quicker progress through its blessings. The essence of Zikr is that the Qalb should sincerely accept Islamic beliefs and acquire the strength to follow the Sunnah with even greater devotion.

‘If the heart is acquainted with Allah and is engaged in His Zikr; then it is filled with Barakaat-e Nabuwwat (Prophetic blessings) which infuse their purity in the mind and body. This not only helps in controlling sensual drives but also removes traces of hatred, greed, envy and insecurity from human soul. The person therefore becomes an embodiment of love, both for the Divine and the corporeal. This is the meaning of a Hadith, “There is a lump of flesh in the human body; if it goes astray the entire body is misguided, and if it is reformed the entire body is reformed. Know that this lump is the Qalb”.’

[Eemaan]

sums it up really well :up:



*sufi whirl* :D

[CELT ISLAM]

Tasawwuf or Sufism is not esoteric Islam. Tasawwuf is the science of the path to Allah. Tasawwuf is the science of conforming the path of Islam through the direct experience of the Real instead of through the tongue or learning from books. This implies the abandonment of any theology. Tawhid is not theo-logical. In this sense Tasawwuf is the protector of Tawhid: La ilaha illallah. [ there is no god , only ALLAH . ]
The Muslim affirms: La halwa wa la quwwata illa billah.[ There is no power and no strenth except ALLAH ] It implies that there are not two forces in the universe. There is only Allah. It is typical of the esoteric theology to say that the world is divided into two forces fighting each other; the good verses the evil or the darkness versus the light or the truth versus the false. "Haqq [Truth ] is fighting Batil [ false ]" - this is a typical dualist statement. But it is impossible. Batil, "falsity", cannot stand against Haqq, because there are no two powers except in the imagination of the mushrikun[ idol worshpers ]. And yet how many modernist books come with this deviating cosmology proper to the mushrikun.
La halwa wa la quwwata illa billah also means that there is one source of power. Allah lends us His power and veils it from us with our limitations. Therefore we are the source of our own tribulations. We are only obstacle to the establishment of Islam. All the means are available to us. From this comes tawakkul: hasbunullahu wa niamal wakil, "Allah is enough for us and He is the best Guardian". Tawakkul is trust in Allah. It is the food of the faqir. It strengthens the faqir like the zuhud weakens the "I", and it is one of the praiseworthy qualities which everybody must acquire. Allah says, "Whoever relies on Allah, He is enough for him." Its reality is confidence and calmness in the heart and the realization that the sustenance of your physical body is by Allah alone. It is not by anyone other than Allah, and it is not by any of the debris of this world nor by any other cause.
What will help us towards this is to remember Allah that Allah guarantees us provision, and His knowledge and power are perfect, and that He is detached from creation and far remove from forgetfulness and from incapacity.
Shaykh Ibn Ataillah wrote in his book The Abandonment of the Management of Affairs: "Entrusting our affairs to Allah is also a very important quality to acquire. In Quran, Allah relates that the believer among Pharaoh's people said: "I have entrusted my affair to Allah." Its reality is our desire for Allah to preserve us from all that has danger in it and against which we have no security. What helps us in that is to remember our own incapacity, on the basis of which we abandon our selves to Allah."
Without this understanding people end up paralysed. But with it the Muslims is free to be a slave, that is, to obey in a way without barriers. The problem of trying to obey without understanding is that you can only do what you can. You can only move at the speed of your own misfortune and limitations. But to obey Allah while trusting Him is to abandon all sense of practical limitations, and to embark on the achievement of what Allah has ordered us to do. We obey Him not according to our deeds, but we obey Him according to what He has commanded us. We abandon the idea of being practical and we enter into the swift way of being slave. Obedience only takes place with understanding.
Tasawwuf is the light and the heart of the Deen, and without it our understanding of the Shariah is superficial. Tasawwuf enhances our possibilities because it gives wisdom and light to every situation in life: it enlightens us in difficulty and guides us in ease. Tasawwuf is not being a passive, docile consumer in this society with enlightened evenings and weekends. Tasawwuf is the transformation of your heart so that you realize that you are in charge of Dunya, and dunya is not in charge of you. It allows us to understand that what Allah has ordered is possible, and it shows us the path to achieve our highest goals fisabilillah. Tasawwuf allows us to understand that the deeds of the heart are more powerful than the deed of the limbs. Tasawwuf renders all other knowledges subject to the highest knowledge which is La ilaha illallah. With Tasawwuf we realize that knowledge of Allah is above every other knowledge. Tasawwuf allows us to taste La halwa wa la quwwata illa billah. Those who are touched by this knowledge becomes different people and to them there are no barriers and no fears other than Allah. These are the people we want to create.
SHAYKH ABDAL-QADIR AS SUFI :[scottish sufi master] says ; "Gnosis is the highest knowledge of ALLAH possable to man and woman , it is to directly witness the light of the names and attributes of ALLAH manifested in the heart ."

[XtasyXpress]

Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal (d. 241)

Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Saffarini al- Hanbali (d. 1188) relates in his Ghidha' al-albab li-sharh manzumat al-adab from Ibrahim ibn `Abd Allah al-Qalanasi that Imam Ahmad said about the Sufis: 'I don't know people better than them.' Someone said to him: 'They listen to music and they reach states of ecstasy.' He said: 'Do you prevent them from enjoying an hour with Allah?'(1)

Imam Ahmad's admiration of Sufis is borne out by the reports of his awe before al-Harith al-Muhasibi, although he expressed caution about the difficulty of the Sufi path for those unprepared to follow it, as it may not be for all people to follow the way of those about whom Allah instructed His Prophet: 'And keep yourself content with those who call their Lord early morning and evening, seeking His Countenance...' (18:28).

(1) al-Saffarini, Ghidha' al-albab li-sharh manzumat al-adab (Cairo: Matba`at al- Najah, 1324/1906) 1:120.

Bismillah al-Rahman al-Raheem was-salaat was-salaam `alaa Rasul-illah wa 'alaa alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam

[XtasyXpress]

Imam Ahmad related in his Musnad:

`Ali said: I visited the Prophet with Ja`far (ibn Abi Talib and Zayd (ibn Haritha). The Prophet said to Zayd: 'You are my freedman' (anta mawlay), whereupon Zayd began to hop on one leg around the prophet (hajala). The Prophet then said to Ja`far: 'You resemble me in my creation and my manners' (anta ashbahta khalqi wa khuluqi), whereupon Ja`far began to hop behind Zayd. The Prophet then said to me: 'You pertain to me and I pertain to you' (anta minni wa ana minka) whereupon I began to hop behind Ja`far.(4)

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Hajar al-Haytami mentions that some scholars have seen in this evidence for the permissibility of dancing (al- raqs) upon hearing a recital (sama`) that lifts the spirit.(5) al-Yafi`i concurs with him in Mir'at al-jinan.(6) Both of them mention al-`Izz ibn `Abd al-Salam as the chief example of such scholars, since it is authentically reported that he himself 'attended the sama` and danced in states of ecstasy' (kana yahduru al-sama` wa yarqusu wa yatawajadu), as stated by Ibn al-`Imad on the authority of al-Dhahabi, Ibn Shakir al- Kutabi, al-Yafi`i, al-Nabahani, and Abu al- Sa`adat.(7)

This permissibility of a type of dancing on the part of the Imams and hadith masters precludes the prohibition of sama` on a general basis, and that of the dancing that accompanies sama` as well, regardless of the reservations of Ibn Taymiyya concerning it which, in the mouths of today's 'Salafis,' do become cut-and-dry prohibitions.

As for particular cases where the dancing may be prohibited, it regards the worldly kind of effeminate dancing which has nothing to do with the ecstasy of of sama` and dhikr. al-`Izz ibn `Abd al-Salam differentiated the two in his Fatwas:

Dancing is a bid`a or innovation which is not countenanced except by one deficient in his mind. It is unfitting for other than women. As for the audition of poetry (sama`) which stirs one towards states of purity (ahwal saniyya) which remind one of the hereafter: there is nothing wrong with it, nay, it is recommended (bal yundabu ilayh) for lukewarm and dry hearts. However, the one who harbors wrong desires in his heart is not allowed to attend the sama`, for the sama` stirs up whatever desire is already in the heart, both the detestable and the desirable.(8)

1) al-Dhahabi, Siyar a`lam al-nubala' [#969]. (2) Miftah al-sa`ada 2:353; al-Subki, Tabaqat al-shafi`iyya 8:214. (3) al-`Izz ibn `Abd al-Salam, Qawa`id al-ahkam (Dar al-sharq li al-tiba`a, 1388/1968) 1:29, 2:212. (4) Ahmad, Musnad 1:108 (#860). (5) al-Haytami, Fatawa hadithiyya p. 212. (6) al-Yafi`i, Mir'at al-jinan 4:154. (7) Ibn al-`Imad, Shadharat al-dhahab 5:302; Ibn Shakir al-Kutabi, Fawat al-wafayat 1:595; al-Yafi`i, Mir'at al-jinan 4:154; al-Nabahani, Jami` karamat al-awliya 2:71; Abu al-Sa`adat, Taj al-ma`arif p. 250. (8) al-`Izz ibn `Abd al-Salam, Fatawa misriyya p. 158.

[nopah]

Tasawuf/Sufi is not real Islam. They think they are "reinventing" & "rejunevating" Islam and its aspect of ibadah. They didnt. They screwed it up by inventing bidah. Sufis take everything into an extreme that want to make us look stupid in our daily & worldly affairs. Their idea of perfectionism to abandon this dunya/worldly afairs is a joke in Islam.
Prophet SAW said:
...Your eyes have a right on you, and your body and your family (i.e. wife) have a right on you. Give everyone his due right.”

And

“By Allah, I am more submissive to Allah and more afraid of Him than you; yet I fast and break my fast, I do sleep and I also marry women. So he who does not follow my tradition in religion, is not from me (not one of my followers).” This shows that Islam maintains moderation in everything unlike sufis.