Yasir Qadhi – Q&A Theological Questions
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The speakers stress the importance of proving the existence of Islam through various methods, including body rather than accident, the Shia community's adherence to certain trends and the shadow ism, and the need for evidence to prove its existence. They stress the importance of affirming attributes and avoiding tension between trends and political and cultural changes, and stress the need for students to study the differences between the two schools and not be too focused on one side. They also emphasize the importance of achieving union in Islam and minimizing tensions between political positions, avoiding harmful behavior, and acknowledging everyone has their own way of thinking.
AI: Summary ©
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Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato Alhamdulillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah. While early he also heavy woman while I have my bag, I welcome you to another episode of our regular series on Tuesday or which is our q&a series. And today insha Allah Allah the entire hour in sha Allah, we will be discussing theological questions. I've been delaying these for quite a while I've been concentrating on legal issues. But this week in sha Allah, Allah will be doing two very important theological questions that have been asked a lot of times. And so we'll begin with our first question. SR Samina from Wisconsin. She says that she has heard a lot about the Salafi and a
shoddy ideologies with theologies, and she is asking, Can I explain the difference between these two theologies or ideologies?
This question is actually a very common one. And anybody who is in any way fashion or form linked with the that was seen, or with the online debates and issues, or even with Islamic scholarship, they're very well aware of these two strands within mainstream Sunni Islam. At the same time, those that are not involved with the online that we're seeing those that are not involved with Islamic academics, they are blissfully Alhamdulillah unaware. And these two days might not even be known to them. And so we have to really take a step back and understand that the religion of Islam of course, since the very beginning of the of the death of the Prophet salallahu, alayhi wasallam. The Muslim
community has attempted to interpret various issues and controversies in different ways. We are all aware of the Sunni Shia divide, which again goes back to very, very early Islam. What a lot of people are vaguely aware of is that even within the Sunnah, or Sunni Islam, there are a number of interpretations or trends and these two terms that are being asked about today, they apply to two different interpretations, or do two slightly different theologies within mainstream Sunni Islam. Now, of course, the term Sunni I've talked about this in other lectures. The term Sunni comes from the Sunnah with Gemma, this is a term that first was in vogue, we can say definitely within the
first 50 years of the death of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Within the first 100 years, we actually have references of treatises and people talking about the Sunnah. So it's a very early term and the meaning of Allah, sunnah, or Sunni was the group of Muslims who a number of things combined, the first and foremost they viewed the Sunnah of the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam as being of paramount importance second only to the Quran. So this group of Muslims followed the Quran and the Sunnah, hence, they're called Sunni. Now, of course, there are other interpretations of Islam. The Shia community considers the need to have a living Imam and so the Imam takes on foot for
the Sunnah does for the Sunnis, the Imam does for the Shia community that he interprets the law and and so they have a different notion. And of course, other groups have other interpretations of what they're going to follow. So the Sunni community wanted to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, hence they're called a holy sunnah. Also, another thing that united all of them is the respect for the sahaba. All of the Sahaba are considered to be worthy of respect. And the Sunni community does not say anything negative or bad about any Muslim who accompany the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, that's another hallmark of Sunni Islam. another hallmark of Sunni Islam
is their belief in predestination or other non Sunni groups generally do not believe in cada they don't believe that Allah subhanaw taala wills the actions of the of the of the people but rather they have ultimate free will. And a hello sunnah believes that Allah azza wa jal knows and also to a certain level wills as well. And therefore there is the belief other and there are other aspects of Sunni Islam. Now, this is generic Sunni Islam. By the way, one more thing we can say is that historically speaking, the Sunni community gathered around the legitimate Khalifa whether it was the OMA years or the bussers, or the Ottomans or whoever their local governors were even if they didn't
like them, but they felt that the community is more important than breaking away and fighting against the bailiff and whatnot. That's a legitimate belief obviously, that used to exist in the past. Now, these are all things that can be combined mainstream if you like a certain ism. Now, obviously as time developed, we
then this strand within this interpretation, various theologians came and the finer details or the more difficult questions were answered in divers manners, and therefore, the question that I'm answering today, the two terms, Salafi and Ashati. And to point out that both of these two terms are somewhat contested, in particular, the term Salafism that the term set of ism applies to a strand or a group that actually has multiple terms, whether you call it ethnicity, or you call it humbly theology, or the modern iteration is set up ism, that is one strand. And then it is considered to be the one that is predominant in Saudi Arabia and in other places in the Muslim world. And the other
strand we're talking about it is a shadow ism. And that goes back to a particular individual by the name of Abu Hassan Al Ashley, our Hassan Strv, who died around 320 Hijra. And he was one of the first to develop a type of systematic theology that then paved the way for what we now call a shadow ism. And of course, in our times, we have very famous adherence to both of these trends. They go back very early in Islam, they have produced scholarship, they are produced or damaged, they are produced works, they are produced institutions, and they are in some ways, Rival Schools in some ways, they are rivaling one another and they are competing for more adherence and refutations which
is what happens when you have any anything of this of this nature. Now, how and why do they differ and again, this is a very packed summary. Obviously, as usual, I give the caveat that so much more can be said time is always limited. For those who are completely, you know, they're not aware of these differences. Let me be very simplistic and summarize the differences in three primary ways or three primary notions This is not exhaustive is just an introduction. First and foremost is the concept and the definition of iman of iman what exactly is Iman. So the Ashati movement or the shadow strand says that Iman is thus the UK which is affirmation of the heart or belief in the
heart. So if you believe that you are a Muslim and a movement, if you believe that you have Iman, Iman is that which is in the heart it is to affirm with your heart to know in your heart that Allah exists. The Prophet system is true. The Quran is the book of Allah, if you know it in your heart, and you believe it in your heart then this is Iman so they say Iman is the the the in contrast to this. The 30 School or the Salafi school says that Eman is that which exists in the heart is affirmed by the tongues and is then practiced by the actions and it goes up and it goes down it increases and it decreases right. Of course the shady school believes that Eman itself does not
increase or decrease because they view Iman the analogy gives like a light switch binary either one or zero you either have it or you don't it's either up the light is on or down the light is off. So from their perspective, Iman is very much like a binary code. You either have it or you don't you either know Allah is true and you're a creator and the process is true or you don't there is no middle ground and there is no increase or decrease of actual Iman, whereas the Salafi school would say that Eman the actual term Iman consists of belief in the heart statements of the tongue and actions of the limbs and it increases and decreases it increases. If you do more good deeds or
you're in the spiritual state of mind you go for Hajj and Umrah you're in the month of Ramadan and it decreases when you're committing sins when you're away from Allah azza wa jal when your heart has a buffalo and the actual term Iman applies to actions as well. So actions according to the seller fees are an integral part of iman is not just a byproduct, it is within the term Eman and which we call Eman. It comes within it and of course they therefore believe that actual Eman increases and decreases and therefore and Allah says in the Quran that Eman goes up why is that the medina mo Imana for Zadran Imana was at the home to call that it's actually Iman going increasing and
decreasing as for the charity school, they interpret these verses to mean that their Iman is affirmed not necessarily increases. So this is one difference, the concept and definition of iman, another difference between the self and a shadow schools is the importance and the methodology of proving the existence of Allah subhanho wa Taala and so the generally speaking the shadow school, their textbooks of theology, they follow a particular methodology of beginning with trying to prove the existence of Allah subhana wa Tada and then doing that in a very particular method. It is called in English the Kalam Cosmological Argument This is a very specific method of proving Allah's
existence if you if you study any course about proving God's existence, if you study any book, you will find three or five or 10 or 15 different methods that have been
used historically to try to prove the existence of Allah or existence of God. And one of them it is called the kalam or the cosmological proof or the Kalam Cosmological proof. And this is a proof that it's very origins it goes back to Aristotle you find reference have it actually been in play do we find a line or two, but Aristotle definitely has the rudimentary developments. But then early Muslim theologians from another school called Morteza lism, I will hold it a laugh is one of the main people they develop a very rudimentary methodology of proving Allah's existence. And this tactic or this methodology is then adopted by the Ashanti school, and then sanitized and then it becomes a
feature of that school. And again, very interesting way of doing that, beyond the scope of our our particular, you know, q&a here, but basically, I mean, to be very, very simplistic. It relies on the fact that the world around us consists of actual bodies. So this is a body the table is a body, I'm a body everything is a body and that bodies, they have within them subsisting within them, things that they call attributes, or accidents and accidents are that which subsist within a body. And so an accident would be color, or temperature, or size, xy and z coordinates. These are all accidents by accidents, we don't mean like a car accident. By accident, we mean that which subsist within a
physical structure called a body. And so they have a very elaborate proof where they demonstrate that accidents must be created. And if accidents are created, and accidents can only exist in bodies, then bodies must also be created. And therefore if the body is created, there must be a Creator who created the bodies. It's a very simplistic way of the Kalam Cosmological Argument. And this is a backbone of a shoddy theology, the existence of God is important to prove and then how you prove it. In contrast to this, the Salafi movement, generally speaking, says that the existence of God is something that does not require elaborate proofs, and that it is something that is inherently
ingrained in Matney in mankind. And that to deny this is to deny something that is self evident. Hence, no matter how many proofs you try to give, it's somewhat of a waste of time, it's somewhat superfluous to try to prove the obvious. And so generally speaking, the Santa Fe school does not prioritize philosophical proofs for the existence of God, believing that the existence of God is self evident and does not require elaborate proofs. And then, in particular, they say this mechanism of proving God is something that is, from their perspective problematic and they say that this Kalam Cosmological Argument, when it is employed, it actually leads to subsidiaries or corollaries that
are problematic and most importantly, is how this proof affects the interpretation of Allah's names and attributes, which is point number three of our list. So point number one was the definition of Eman. Point number two would be the the the importance of and how one proves the existence of God, the importance of proving the importance that we all believe it's important to believe Allah exists, but the importance of proving that Allah exists the Sharia school says, the most important obligation is to prove Allah exists. And the Salafi school says the most important obligation is the worship of Allah, we assume everybody should assume that Allah that people know that Allah azza wa
jal exists. And then the third point of difference is the concept of Allah's attributes. And this is the most contentious and this is what the schools are most famous for arguing about this is really the area of controversy that any average internet user is aware of any average person who's involved with polemics involved with, you know, online debates involved with the various you know, Muslim communities out there that are well aware that this is the issue in which there's so much you know, sometimes even online antagonism, how does one understand the attributes of Allah subhanho wa Taala when Allah azza wa jal says, Will you ever call a wedge who robbed Vic the Face of your Lord shall
remain? When Allah says in the Quran, that I created Adam with both of my hands hudec to be the year when Allah says in the Quran, or Rahman or Allah or she stowa The Rahman has risen over the throne. When Allah says in the Quran, wotja or Bukovel Melaku softened, soft your Lord will come on the day of judgment, and the angels will come and rank upon rank when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said in Zerah buena, our Lord comes down in the last third of the night. When Allah azza wa jal says your ha Funaro Bahaman Folta him they fear their Lord, who is above them. How does one understand all of these genre of attributes? As for the Salafi school, they said a few school says
that if Allah says it, Allah knows best how he is, and therefore we should simply affirm the world
heard and not think about how we don't think and we don't consider how and so we leave the homeless to Allah azza wa jal that if Allah azza wa jal says he has a wedge of face. So then we say he has a face, but we don't think about how it is, if Allah says he rises over the throne, so be it. This means he has a throne, and he has risen over it. And we leave it at that we don't think about how this is called Belka or Billa cave, you negate the wholeness. So, the Salafi school is famous as the only school in all of Islam that affirmed every single verb or adjective or noun, ascribe to Allah subhanho wa taala. And they said, The words meaning is understood the words how NIS is relegated to
Allah, we don't think how it is. So this is the Salafi paradigm as for the ashadha school, they said that we will only take seven of those attributes and affirm them with the beta cave doctrine. So seven attributes we will affirm them like the the selfies do, meaning that when I say like, not exactly like, but let me just say for the purposes of our q&a, that they will affirm them without any case without how and these are life and knowledge and will and power and hearing and seeing and speech. These are the seven attributes that they actually say Allah has life higher, and Allah has summer and Allah has bustled and Allah has pulled it off. And Allah and Allah azza wa jal is Semyon
Basilan. Allah is the CFO of Kalam and fedora. So all of these we shall affirm Billa cave, we're not going to think about how, however, all the other attributes we cannot affirm, because that would imply that ALLAH SubhanA wa Taala has a body and so this goes back to our Kalam Cosmological Argument. One of the attributes is that of motion, one of the attributes is that of motion, something moves this is an attribute motion does not exist by itself, there must be a body that cause that you know, motion exists within. And so in order to prove point number two, which is how God exists to have an elaborate proof, the Kalam Cosmological Argument, and they prove that
attributes are created, they prove that attributes must exist within bodies, and then they prove that bodies must be created and one of the attributes is motion. Now, you come to the verse that your Lord has risen over the throne, and to rise is a type of motion. You come to the Hadith your Lord comes down and that is a type of motion, you come to the verse of the Quran, Raja or a book your Lord comes and that is a type of motion. And so the Sharia school says, clearly, Allah did not intend these literal meanings. Because they say, if you affirm those verbs, you're affirming the attribute of motion. And if you affirm the attribute of motion, this implies that you do believe
that God is a body and if God is a body, then I do believe all bodies are created again, go back to the Kalam Cosmological proof, right motion is an accident, accidents must exist in bodies bodies are created. So if you ascribe to Allah is still and Newzoo and Mudgee, if you ascribe to Allah, these concepts from the Ashanti paradigm, you will logically conclude that whoever has that attribute must also be audible audible dot created. And so from their paradigm, they say, No, we cannot affirm those types of attributes to Allah. And they also say, the attributes of hand and face this is anthropomorphic, it is human like and Allah says in the Quran, lay sacramentally, he shade there is
nothing like him. And so we say that all of this is metaphorical or symbolic. Or they might say, all of this, our minds should go blank and we should not even think about the meaning of the word, even the word we just go blank. So when Allah says wedge, or face, we don't even think of wedge we just go blank. That's one way of doing this so called the field. Or the other way is to say that well, by face, Allah meant his blessings, his countenance, by rising over the throne, Allah meant his dominion has conquered the world. And so they it's called weird or reinterpretation. So the HRD school has two positions, both of which are fine for them. position eight, you completely block out
any meaning any linguistic meaning. As for the Salafi school, remember, they will say will affirm the linguistic meaning, but we will deny how it exists in Allah, we will say that Allah rises over the throne, but we'll won't think about how that occurs. And as for the HIV school, they will say No, clearly there is no actual throne, there is no actual rising over. And so that's, it has to be negated then either you have one of two options. Either you say this whole phrase and passage, we simply go blank and don't think about it at all. Or it becomes metaphorical for Allah has power over the entire creation. Allah has risen over the throne. Allah has dominion over the entire creation.
So these are some of the main things
For instance, and of course, one of the more common questions that the salary actually debate has online is the famous debate where is Allah? Where is Allah and the Salafi says that the Quran and Sunnah indicate that Allah subhanaw taala is above us. And there are hundreds of verses and Hadith that indicate what is called transcendence. Your Allah is above your heart vulnerable human filter him that they fear the Lord who is above them. And the Prophet says and asked the slave girl, where is Allah and she said, Allah is above us. And so there's so many, you know, a hadith and ayat. And then to counter this, the shaido school says, You clearly don't mean above in the three dimensional
sense because what is above for one part of the world is below for the other part. And because three dimensions and because you know, all of this goes on and on and on. And by the way, this is a very brief intro, every single point that I have said, the other group has a counterpoint and the other group has a second counterpoint. The other group has a third counterpoint, ad infinitum. It goes on and on and on and on. These debates have occupied the minds of theologians for no exaggeration. 12, if not 13 centuries, and so much has been written, you could spend many lifetimes no exaggeration, going deep into these controversies. And back and forth, and back and forth. And so this is
something that, and I would know, because this is my area of expertise, and I have, in fact spent not lifetimes, but many decades, studying advanced issues of theology. So there is a lot to be said, We're summarizing here, that these are some of the main differences between these two schools, the Salafi school and the Ashari. School. And,
of course, these schools have famous scholars from the beginning of time to sell a few school claims like Mr. Muhammad, of course, the most famous icon is Ibn Taymiyyah, dibuka em, and then the shadow school has many famous aroma. The modern most famous icon is Imam Al Ghazali, for example. So you have various, you know, personalities that throughout history, they have manifested in both of these schools, and to compound the problem to make it even more, you know, complicated, that all that I described to you is actually early or classical Salafism and a shadow ism. Historically, a lot of other things happen because it's been around for 12 centuries, no exaggeration, 12 centuries, these
two trends have existed side by side, at times, moments of tension at times moments of reconciliation. And so a lot has happened, and of the things that have happened has happened, for reasons beyond the scope of our brief q&a Is that the the Salafi school has been associated with one particular method, the humbly method, and generally speaking, the humbly scholars were in some fashion or form within the spectrum of Salafism or Methodism to be more precise, or 100. hadith is also called and the Maliki and the Shafi school, they gravitated towards a shadow ism, by the way, footnote here. So there is a third trend as well. So there is something called maturity or
materialism as well as we have socialism. Salafism, and materialism, and batteries, and eyeshadows are very, very close, the differences are even more abstract than what I've just done between selfies and machetes, for example, the majority is affirm eight attributes instead of seven. So very, very small, very technical details between the maturity and maturity school, in reality, they even consider each other to be sister schools, and there's very little difference between them. And the maturity school was basically co opted by the Hanafi madhhab, the Ottomans, they took the Hanafi school and the mighty the School of Theology, and they merged it together. And so historically, to
over the med hubs became became because in the beginning, they had, you know, that's beyond the scope, but they became a Shadi, one of them became maturity, and one of them, you know, became hamburgers. Oh, sorry, Santa Fe. And so that's been the reality for the last so many centuries. And along with this, other changes came along, which further complicated the discussions between them which did not exist in early the founding of the schools and of them is, in particular, various understandings of the soul wolf of how one practices Sufism, right, and this is another major controversy between all of these schools. So for example, to give you one simple example, and I'm
not going to answer it here, but I'll just give it to you now. The Indian Pakistanis are aware of the Burrell we movement and the Deobandi movement, both But Elvis and deobandis are under the maturity Hanafi spectrum. Right. So you see now that you have a mother school, and that has two children, and then the divide two, it's literally like a madrasa becomes more and more, and you have all the the splinters happening. We haven't even begun the political divisions now between political Islam, a political Islam because that too, plays a role in all of this type of interpretation. And then you have, of course, the understanding of the soul Worf and Alia, and the visitation of graves
and the veneration of graves and the exalt
Teaching of saints and the role of saints. All of this has permeated so that the differences are no longer just those three, even though technically those three and some others should be the only differences. But historically, other differences were added. So for example, to celebrate the motive or to not celebrate the motive, this is a classic divide between modern Salafism and modern nationalism. This did not exist 500 1000 years ago, that division did not exist overmolded stuff, but this is something that is in the grand scale of things relatively more recent in any case, I can go on and on and on. But you wanted a brief explanation. And this is a brief explanation, as I
explained that you have very many Rula MA from the Salafi school historically and in our times. And the University of Medina, which I graduated from is associated with that strand of Islam as well. And it is predominant in Arabia, Saudi Arabia, and the scholars that have studied there and have been influenced by the revivalist movement of that region. And as Howard University, for example, is on the shady strand. And there are again, many famous historically and in our times as well. Now, these are some of the differences. Let us not forget, though, that the similarities between these two schools is actually far more than their differences, and especially when you compare them to
other strands of Islam. In the end of the day, both of these schools believe in the six pillars of Eman as expressed in the hadith of Gibreel. Both of these schools they affirm the Quran and the Sunnah, as the primary sources of theology and law, both of these schools, they have the same ways of looking at film, and of deriving film. In fact, they have the same books of film, and the same scholars of film in University of Medina. And in Azhar, they studied the same curriculums in terms of the books are filled in terms of the books of Hadith, in terms of the books are also there, in terms of the books of history, in terms of the books of language, in terms of the books of Tafseer.
In reality, the scholars of each movement are studied by the scholars of the other, even if there's some tensions at times, you know, between modern understandings and that's something that needs to be stressed is that what they share is far, far more than what they differ over. And historically, selfies and Ashanti's have never have never divided themselves in different massages, or in completely different, you know, boycotting. I mean, unfortunately, sometimes you get calls to do that. But realistically, it's never happened Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah. And we need to keep it that way. The tensions, even though they should not be there have always been at an academic level.
And my advice was to conclude this question. My advice is that, you know, in both of these trends, you have scholars that are aiming to exacerbate the tension, they want to make it worse, they want to preach against the other and make the other into a deviant and show how evil the other side are is misguided. And you also have scholars that try to work together and find commonality. And
the fact of the matter whether, you know, you know, whether people like me saying this is true, the average Muslim is completely in blissful unawareness of these differences between these two strands. In fact, the differences between them does not affect the lay Muslim at all, it doesn't really translate to their daily life in terms of these abstract issues of classical early Salafism and early Ashad ism. And currently, we are facing crises in every single arena of our life, political, economic, you know, the nation state issues, the various invasions taking place, the crises of Syria and of Afghanistan and Palestine. On top of this, we have crises of intellectual challenges and
people are, you know, rebuke us or refuting aspects of our creed that we all agree upon. So, rather than allow these tensions to increase, what we need to do is to work to minimize in fact to eradicate any tensions. Now, I am not saying that these differences are trivial. What I am saying is that we should not make a big deal out of them and those who want to dedicate their lives to the study of Islam. At some point they will have to make a choice which textbooks they want to study in which groups of scholars they want to study for I myself had to make the choice 20 or 25 years ago, I chose between Medina for example, I chose I went the way that I did I do not regret that. So at
some point, you might have to make that choice but if you make such a choice to study with one side, don't demonize the other side. Don't consider the other side to be or will be evil or misguided or going to Jana Marula with a biller. There is Iman and Taqwa across all sides, and there's also an FF and Fisk on all sides as well. You have genuine piety and you have the
opposite. So just because you study one version of Islam versus the other does not make you more pious we have to be very clear about this. Piety transcends these human Creed's. And these differences between us and you find righteous ruler MA and righteous are bad and Olia. And in both of these strands and in fact, more than just these two strands. And we need to look at that as well. So what we have in common is form far more important than what divides us. And therefore, we should not give platforms to preachers who exacerbate tensions between these movements. Rather, we should simply don't even pay them attention because there are people like this, you know, on both sides, by
the way, you have, you know, and I'll be honest here 25 years ago, I myself was more sympathetic to that strand of harshness and considering that to be deviant, but that's young age when I was 20 is different now, you know, wisdom and experience teaches you seeing the realities in Omid reorients your mind to your SubhanAllah. These are people both sides, there are people that are praying to the same God following the same film, even the same methodology to pray even not even differences in film, and also the film, they're pretty much the same in everything. It's just certain abstract notions that, you know, in any case. So my point being, you asked a question, this is the answer to
it, I summarize the differences. And I say that Salafism and Ashad ism, and you can admire through them as well, there are two or three sister strands within mainstream Sunni Islam. And there are differences and let the advanced students study those differences. But the average person should never ever make those differences, the defining characteristic of himself or of the other, and the laity of the Ummah, really Hamdulillah. There's no need for them to really get involved in these labels whatsoever, because it does not affect them in their daily lives. And Al Hamdulillah Al Hamdulillah, what unites these two strands is so much more that really, we can say that for
practical purposes, the differences are really trivial. And that's the way that we should look at these two strands. And in the end, Allah subhanho wa Taala knows best.
Our next question. Our next question is from
excuse me, our next question is from a sister or brother said, Jarrett, I don't know if it's a sister, brother. I apologize, said Jarrett from Kashmir.
And the question is about Sufism. And the question is that some people accept it and follow it, whereas others criticize it. And so I am asked by this story, this brother, can I shed some light on this issue?
So just like our previous question, this is a theological one. And again, the as I said, today, I'm going to be doing theological questions. And so when being asked about Sufism, and again, so much can be said and time is limited. The term Souf the term Sufism or Sufi, most likely it comes from the term wool soothe in Arabic soothe, and that's because the earliest practitioners of the soul wharf would dress in wool, because it was the cheapest and the core system material. And that automatically gives you an understanding of who the earliest models are with our Sophie's work. There were people who wanted to live, simplistic, ascetic lives, not involved in the luxuries of
this world. Now, there's a lot to be said about Sufism. But one could say that the main thrust of Sufism is that they view the world in a very different manner, the view that the existence of Allah subhana wa Taala is the only real existence and that the human soul is somehow linked with maybe even connected to or an emanation of the Essence of Allah subhanahu wata Allah, and that the goal is to have that human soul somehow reunited, either in the proximity or maybe even, you know, with Allah subhanho wa taala. The goal is then for the human soul, to then you know, go back to its origin because the origin is Allah subhanho wa Taala and to be reunited with Allah, and that goal is
being hampered by this world around us by the body that we are in by the lust and the pleasures of this world. And therefore, what needs to be done which is what the soul wolf does, is that we need to break all of our connections with our bodily desires are to unlock with other than Allah subhanho wa Taala with extrinsic objects, and we need to allow our spirit to pass through this world with as little attachments as possible so that when death happens, so that the soul will then with ease move on to its divine destiny, its origin and that is the oneness with Allah subhanho wa taala. That's a very simplistic way of looking at Tosa Wolf and early su
Freeze. They were generally speaking people who renounce this world people like Ibrahim even Adam, Robin either we that they live very simplistic and ascetic lives, there's even a contempt for the world, you just don't want to do anything with it. There's a
sense of antagonism towards the richness of this world towards good food and good ones, you don't want any of that you don't want to corrupt the body because the notion there's a tension between the body and the soul, and if you obey the body, you're going to corrupt the soul. So this notion of tension between the body and the soul is a very Sufi concept. And this notion of not adhering to or not allowing bodily desires to be given any type of weight or priority, the less priority given it is the better for mankind. And it is possible to divide Sufism, again, very simplistically, I'm being very simplistic here, one can divide Sufism into two primary strands, again, you can divide it
into many, but for our purposes, we'll say two primary standard strands and this goes back to very early to so we'll have you have a strand that I will call philosophical, Sufism, the more technical term is mon ism, some have called it well, there's many terms to be called, but let's just call it a philosophical Sufism. And by this, I mean a strand of Sufism, that understands that claims that there is no existence other than Allah subhanho wa taala, that we don't actually exist. It's not a denial of the pleasures of man, it's a denial of the reality of men. It is the claim that in reality, our bodies are not really there. And that there is nothing in existence other than Allah
subhana wa Tada and the technical term for those whose Mormonism later on it is called Wagner to Jude that there is one existence and people like in early Islam by Aziz Abu years, either Asami and others like a collage and others like Ibn Arabi, they follow this strand and there's a very heavy emphasis on the negation of the illusion of any existence other than Allah subhanho wa taala. And there's some really interesting or bizarre phrases like a Khaled would say, I am al Haq, I am Allah azza wa jal, and he would say that there's nothing in my job other than he other than Allah. So these phrases were interpreted as basically blasphemy while everybody else because they are not on
the same wavelength. And frankly, that wavelength is not coming from the Quran and Sunnah. But anyway, they interpreted these phrases to be completely, you know, blasphemy, and some of these local Hologic were even executed for what they consider to be blasphemy.
So that is one strand of of Sufism. And, frankly, I'm not a big fan of that strand. And I do believe that that strand has exceeded
the spectrum of tolerance, let me put it that way. They have gone beyond what we can theologically tolerate. And that we should say that that interpretation of life and of existence really does not stem from the Quran and Sunnah. And understandably, when people go around, claiming that, you know, there's nothing in my film other than Allah or this and that then, understandably, the average Muslim community is very perturbed and finds this problematic and, and that should not be done. So I'm not, you know, too sympathetic to that strand. The other strand of Islam of sorry of Sufism, let's call it experiential. Sufism. The emphasis on this strand, was to train the soul, it wasn't to
deny the existence of other than Allah. Sorry, yeah, that's correct. Because the first strand denies that anything is exists other than Allah. So La ilaha illallah, for the first strand becomes law, would you the Orlando Judah, Illa. Allah, that's how they interpret the Kenema that there is no existence other than the existence of Allah. So we don't really exist or nothing really, this is all an illusion, what we see around us you cannot, but it's an illusion. It's not really there. That's the first term. And, frankly, that to be technical, that goes back to something called Gnosticism. But that's beyond the scope of our q&a here. But so the second strand, which is something we can
actually deal with a little bit more, let's call it experiential. Sufism. The emphasis here is not on the philosophy of Mormonism. It is on the training of the soul, and it is on their version of maintaining a purity in this world until the time of death. And we have a lot of early Sufis that were on this path people like Al Junaid, people like Al Maha CB, these are people that clearly their understanding of the soul is very different than that of knowledge. And we have to be careful that sometimes the critics of the soul Wolf, they mix and match between all of these strands one of the biggest problems is Sufism is not one interpretation. Sufism is like a huge spectrum, and you cannot
criticize one aspect of the spectrum spectrum and then
Say all of Sufism does this this is frankly a slander against the entire notion of Sufism. If you take one strand or one extremist person, and then say, all Sufis, that's just wrong. And it's another Slavic and it's unethical and it's unacademic. We don't do this, unfortunately, all too often, one finds some of the critics of the soul of do this, they find a video clip of somebody, you know, so that strand, for example, is also very mystical in terms of its outward you know, so going round and round, let's say right, the Whirling Dervishes and again, that's a oneness. They're going round and onto they lose themselves. The, the purpose of by the way, the whirling dervish is it's
actually an actual sector of the Sufis are political the Sufis, the goal is to lose yourself, literally, the goal is to just you keep on twirling for so many hours, you're not, you know, obviously, your mind ceases to function. Normally, you would think you're in a state of ecstasy, that's what they're trying to achieve. You're right. Or you might find other manifestations of, you know, extreme movements that we call dancing, but they would not call dancing extreme movements, where the notion is they've lost rationality, because they've achieved that union they're looking for with Allah Subhanallah with data, somebody sends you a whatsapp clip, or it's on YouTube and
say, Oh, look, that's what Sufism is. No, please, brothers and sisters, stop doing this. Stop extrapolating from one video clip about the entire movement. Would you like it? If the far right takes one clip from some extremist Muslim? And then says all Muslims do this? We don't like it, then why then do you do it? When you criticize another sector? Another interpretation, you can say this group of Sufism, that's what they do, you're ready to be accurate? Maybe one group does it okay. You can say this particular body of thought or this particular person encourages this action, Okay, that's fair. But to then extrapolate all of the soul of this is just a slander will lie it is a
slander, the majority of the people of Kosovo have do not move in radical manners, they do not go whirling round around, they do not you know, they don't do these types of things that are unfortunate. Some Muslims make fun of it. This is a small, small group, and we say that's not, you know, mainstream to so Wolf, nor is it mainstream Islam. So the point being that the second strand of Sufism, which is what I call experiential, Sufism, what they want to do is they want to train the soul on the journey to Allah, they, they say that there is a path or a buddy to ALLAH SubhanA, wa taala. And they want to encourage people to understand that there's a path, you have to know there's
the path, and you have to want to join the people on the path. So you become the seeker or the Salic, you want to be joined the movement, you want to get onto board, so that you know, there's the movement, and then the secret or the Salic is then taught about various stations of the power these are called my calm or my nozzle. So, these are stations that you have to go to this station, then this station, these are not actual pads, this is the state of the mind here. And then you have when you reach certain stations, you will experience certain spiritual ecstasy is called a while and at every stage, and in every point, you then go to a different level, and eventually, if you follow the
path properly, so then you will achieve you know, the highest level and your soul will basically have achieved that sense of union, the sense of union Now, where do you actually achieve union or not depends on which strand of the soul of you are following, but the claim is that when you achieve that actual you know, sense of union, then the the illusion of this world has been lifted from you, and that's called cache. The cache is the lifting of the veil. And you have achieved oneness with Allah, which is fine art, which is fine art. So your soul has now been reunited with its origin with its maker. And this is called the concept of the final. Now, and again, how it's interpreted varies
from strand to strand. So the point being, as I said, that you have from the very beginning two strands of Sufism, we are more interested in the experiential one, because that's something we can actually relate to. And experiential to so Wolf, they view themselves as being the manifestation of the third category of the hadith of Gibreel. Islam, Imam Hassan, that group says we are the sound status, that's what air Sun is. And their critics would argue, well, that's your interpretation of your sun, and we have our interpretation of your sun. So they say that sun is what deals with the heart and Eman and Islam deals with the body and the tongue. That's the outer rituals. And Ehsaan is
the science of the earlobe, and Islam and in any man is the science of the brain and of the body. So they have this understanding there as well. And now the question arises, how does one walk on this path? How does one achieve that success to get to the end of the path? So generally speaking, mainstream too. So Wolf says you cannot walk alone, you need a guide. The path is too complicated, and it's not it's just very difficult.
You don't wander into a forest all on your own, you take a guide. And so they say you have to find the column of Woody or a bazooka or a peer who has already done all of this for you. And you then, you know, in most strands of the soul, if you make an alliance or a treaty or a visa, or a covenant or an oath with this buzzword or this peer, the point is that the goal is that this person is going to take you along the path and help you to go from station to station to station until finally, you know, if you do your job properly, you know, you don't need them anymore. And you're now achieved at that at that station. And there's also this notion that there is an inner knowledge L. Maloney or el
mal botany that is not found in the books, but it is found in the experiences of your teachers in the mystical understandings of the Olia of Allah subhanho wa taala. And so the need of a shareholder the buzzword is that you cannot learn what the boozer will teach you except in the company except from heart to heart and not from a book the knowledge of the soul Wolf, according to them is not found in a book you cannot study it, you cannot have a PhD and dissolve from their perspective. You need to experience that the soul Wolf with the shear with the with the pier who has already arrived over there, and that's a version of what is called authorial Sufism, as well as the soul Wolf is
known for
various rituals that we are even non Sufis practice but then they take it to their own understanding, most importantly, how they do vicar, and the repetition of their vicar and the repetition of the names of Allah subhanho wa Taala these are well known practices of various Sufi groups. So maybe to repeat a certain vicar 99 times or, you know, repeat a surah, you know, 11 times or to have a weird what is called the wazifa. While Leafa was ephah, you know, you have a wazifa that you go every time I treasure you do this at malherbe. You do that and you have a different well Leith or was Eva. And then when you do this for a few months, your buzzer or your teacher will then
say you've passed stage one now move on to stage two and you're given another than stage three, you're given another and it goes on and on and on. So all of these are associated with various Sufi understandings as well some manifestations or strands of Sufism. Some not all are also interested or take two devotional poetry and poetry that is accompanied by musical instruments as well. And most famously, in Indian Pakistan is you have of course, the qawwali movements with the qawwali manifestations of various
Sufi karate, by the way, its origin is actually Sufi devotional poetry. So it's a very Sufi manifestation. And of course, this is known to all Indian Pakistanis Bengalis, they understand they know what is Awali it is a part of Indian culture very short. And but but what I'm trying to say is not a cultural thing, as much as it is a religious it is actually a manifestation of a type of, of what is called sama or a ritual ceremony, which is meant to be rewarded by Allah and it is meant to help guide you in your path in your journey to Allah subhanho wa Taala and of course, even that is subject because other Sufis will disagree and says that there should not be done so anyway, there's
a lot to be said trying to summarize so much into one you know, brief q&a. Do realize by the way that
giving by to a chef and following what is called buddy a QA is not necessary to be a Sufi because one can also categorize Sufism into two buddy conferences, non Polycom, Polycom Sufism, it has a specific hierarchy and you give br to a particular chef. So you have the Sahara worthy you have the Chishti you have the Shah zd, right you have the tea journey, you have the car d'Italia these are 30 Sufism, these are well known hierarchy and you will then find the chef and you will give back to the chef, the shareholder and assess you, you will follow the chair he will guide you along maybe even you will not undertake any life decision without asking the chef. So there is a very, very trusting
position that you have. Unfortunately, we also know of times that has been abused when you ever you trust a person if the person turns out to be a crook, then, you know, that's the reality as well. But anyway, we should not throw out. I mean, from their perspective, they will say this happens with any organization just because some bad apples exist doesn't mean the entire you know, barrel is bad, but that is 30 consumerism. There's also non political Sufism, which is becoming very popular in our times, I would say that historically wasn't as popular 200 300 500 years ago, but non political Sufism is basically let me just read the books of the people of the soul of like Imam Al Ghazali.
And his famous here along with Dean which is a very mainstream Sufi text is not radical Sufis like a very mainstream Sufi text, which goes over many of the primary issues of the soul. So they might read this and then bring it in their daily lives. Now, again, much
can be said.
And by the way, there have also been attempts, especially in the last 200 years to reform or to revive or to reject Sufism, the most famous rejection of Sufism was by the movement of Ibn Abdul Wahab and in Arabia, the nudge, the liberal movement, they rejected Sufism, the most harsh rejection in the last, you know, millennia, to be honest, and no group has been more and tighter so often, this movement, and they even consider some of the practices of those off to be well, most of the practices of those Oh, they considerably that some of them they even consider a shipwreck, such as, you know, veneration of the saints to an extreme level. So this is like the attempt to reject
Sufism, you've had attempts to revive Sufism, and the most famous is the bilirubin movement of India and Pakistan to revive that they want to now go back and basically bring back the the revival of of the soul. And then there have also been attempts to reform from within, right, so you have the rejection, the revival than the Reformation from within. For example, Shah Lula de la vie is perhaps the most famous to try to reform to sanitize to cut off some of the excesses. And perhaps one can say, I'm being a little bit simplistic group. But I think it is fair to say that Deobandi movement is basically following the spirit of Shaohua Lula in this regard, where they want to produce a
somber and Orthodox version of the soul from their perspective. And again, all of this is relative to which paradigm you are sympathetic to now.
The sister or The brother asked about what is you know, what is to be done? Or what is the correct or what not? And the responses? I mean, it just depends on who you ask, obviously, you want my advice, you're asking me, you emailed me. And by the way, some Hello, I'm very touched that I get so many emails from Kashmir, and my hearts and my heart and my daughters go to the people of Kashmir for all of their struggles. And I have to say that I am very pleasantly surprised by the many, many emails I get from the province of Kashmir they watch on YouTube and some of them say that we have internet problems but we tried to whenever there's internet you know, we try to watch your videos
and then you know, we don't are not able to watch because the government pulls it away from us and Allah just is just to know that there is so much struggle and pain in the occupation and the the clamp down and the pellet bullets that have blinded hundreds or 10s of 1000s and the riots I mean, Allah you are in our drives or people of Kashmir and it really touches me that so many emails come from that province. And you know, this one as well as very eager to learn the religion of Islam summarizing what he or she has written. So, you wanting my advice about this issue, and I will say that, firstly, as a lay Muslim, stick with your own Ummah, and don't get involved in the business of
refutations and debates. You can disagree with other groups without being disagreeable. What I mean by this, you can disagree and still smile and shake their hands and be fellow Muslims, right? You don't have to agree on everything. You follow what you think is the best you follow your group you follow your chef that you really feel is the most pure and the most knowledgeable and the closest to the Quran and Sunnah. And leave the rest if you're a lay Muslim. Also be very careful and never ever follow those groups of Allah mount or people that are promoting hatred of other people who bow their head to Allah subhanho wa taala. There are Lama and preachers in every sect whose primary focus is
the other sect. Their primary antagonism is towards others who say the Kadima face the Qibla memorize the Quran, lower their head to Allah, but they disagree about a certain issue. My advice to you avoid hate preachers avoid preachers who are preaching sectarianism, who is every second third statement is a refutation of that group and that group and that group and that group Subhanallah you will not build your iman by destroying the amount of others in your eyes. That's not how you build your iman do not follow preachers whose emphasis by their preaching is the negation of other understandings of Islam. Yes, sometimes certain understandings need to be refuted, but that should
not be the priority. The priority is you build your own Imam, the priorities you worship Allah yourself. You have your own salah, your own zecca, your own rituals, your own Quran, any chef that emphasizes this, and once in a while, correct others that's a good sign. That's a good sign. But any chef whose main preaching and teaching is to cause you to hate other Muslims and other people and whatnot. That's not the religion of our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Now also I want to say that you know, you are writing to me from the province of Kashmir, surely dear brother or Dear sister, you understand the importance of unity. You understand that? It makes no sense for the
Muslim community that is already under siege, literally under siege for the last 70 years and under army siege and military siege for the last 20 or 30 years. It makes no sense for the
Salafi in the Deobandi in the Braille we in the Alia, Hadith and the Giamatti other than to fighting each other. You clearly have an outside enemy, literally, you see them. So Subhanallah do not preach hatred amongst yourselves and learn to agree to disagree. I'm not saying all of these differences are trivial. I never said this. I'm not saying we should ignore. I'm saying we have to learn to agree to disagree. So you know what, I have my way of doing Islam. You know, I know you're sincere. You have your way Allah will judge us and I mean, you know, and if you want to have a pleasant conversation, if you have knowledge, and you know the evidences and you want to have a pleasant
conversation, no hatred, no animosity, but explain you know, this is what I believe this why I believe it. The Quran says this. The Sunnah says that what is your evidence? If you're able to have a pleasant conversation without hating somebody else, then go for it if you have the knowledge, and you have the other bendy Taqwa to do so, otherwise, dear brother or Dear sister, for really just it's not worth our time to make this such a big issue. The soul Wolf is a very broad term and with this, I conclude the soul Wolf is a very broad term, it is impossible to praise or to criticize all of the soul Wolf, listen to this carefully. Anybody who generically praises all of the soul, wolf or
criticizes all of the soul, Wolf, frankly, I'm trying to be nice here. They don't know what they're talking about. You cannot the soul Wolf is too broad. And you have to get down to the specifics and nitty gritty. There are aspects of the soul wolf that are pure 100%, upon the Sunnah, the Asgard after fajr, who says you should not do that? Go and find out what the Prophet has said and sit there after fajr tahajjud long tahajjud that is real too. So we're reading Quran in the middle of the night. That is the essence of the soul of Morocco called always looking at your heart that is the soul of vicar your tongue should always be doing because that is the soul of right in Alba Toba who
Sure, Tawakkol. All of this is the soul of this is the reality of the soul, Wolf. So if that is the soul, Wolf, then we should all be upon the people of the soul. And then there are other things that definitely raise your eyebrows, to have a specific wazifa. You know, we're getting into a gray area, and I can understand some people think is permissible. Some people think it's not, you know, to recite a pseudo class 11 times at 9am, for example. I mean, you know, I see why they're doing it. And I personally don't want to do that I'm not going to make a big deal about this. And I respectfully disagree, respectfully disagree, but that's what they do. And that's their version of
vicar. And I think that you know, that I don't personally
find that what I want to do myself, I want to follow what the Profit System did as much as possible. That's my personal way of doing things from their perspective. They're saying, What's wrong with recyling suited class 11 times it worked for my share? It should work for me and I see their perspective. I respectfully disagree. And then there's a red line. And that red line is to believe that Allah is within us or to stop trial following the Sharia. There is no so Wolf, without the Sharia, any group that tells you, you don't have to follow the Sharia. Forget the soul if they're not Muslims. I'm just being blunt here. Any group that says you don't have to follow the Sharia, you
have now reached a state and there are very small fringe movements like this. And then again, I mean, I have to draw the line somewhere. I personally really do not find it comfortable when you go to the point of venerating another being to the point of asking that being for your needs, to the point of calling out to that being for what you want. Really, I have to draw the line there. And I say that that is not something that should be done. It is dangerous. You're opening up the door that is very, very dangerous. When you're going to call the Olia for your daily needs for forgiveness, I would have been left with the Villa this is not I mean, I can understand the argument that it is
shitcan I can understand the argument that it is haram and steppingstone to shed both of these arguments have validity to them. But definitely they are not sunnah. And definitely this is wrong. So if you have groups that are telling you to make dua or call out to the Olia for your needs, if you have groups that tell you to bow down and do such the to a grave, we have to draw the line say, no, no, no, no, this is not any type of the soul that we can tolerate. There is the soul of that I can tolerate. There is the soul of that we can agree to disagree. And you have your way and I have my way, generally speaking, mainstream Kausalya and Tozawa. If you read the Hello mundane, you
follow what is in there, or even mainstream politics, but also if you follow the mainstream of the shoddy or the Kadri today or whatnot, and they're telling you to do at God and Quran or whatnot, I understand and inshallah there's piety, there's Imams, I personally don't, you know, that's not the way I have been trained and taught and my experiences and I have never felt the need to go down that route. But I can see, other people have had different experiences and I don't do
with them as being our od biller evil people if they choose that path, but we have to have lines and insha Allah Allah I hope we can all agree that of the lines that we should not do is to invoke other than Allah subhana wa Taala or to prostrate to any type of object that is, you know, other than Allah azza wa jal in order to, you know, to do these types of movements that demean the dignity of our faith, you know, which some of the movements do the twirling and the motions of jumping up and down and becoming ecstatic. You know, these are things that I find very problematic, and I do not, I just can't be quiet and they need to be said that, you know, this is not what the prophet system
did, or the Sahaba did, and we should keep our religion dignified. Nonetheless, when all is said and done, there are elements of the so wolf that are very good and pure, such as vicar, and Morocco, and all of these things. And so if a person takes these concepts and reads about them in the Quran, and the Sunnah, and by the way, one of the best books is really to solder hate in my opinion, rather solder Hain go read this book by Minnawi, it's in every single language of the Muslim world and read the chapters about the cold and this and that should read all of these chapters and then follow that and if you asked me that is real to so often that is the reality of your son. And if you do this,
then you have maintained safety and purity and you have followed the tasawwuf of the test yet or on the following of the Quran and the Sunnah. And with this insha Allah to Allah, we come to the conclusion of today's q&a Until next week, cheers Mulcair Santa Monica rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh
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