TASAWWUF
by Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
"IN THE TIME OF THE PROPHET TASAWWUF
WAS A REALITY WITHOUT A NAME. TODAY TASAWWUF IS A NAME, BUT FEW
KNOW ITS REALITY."
The Islamic Nation today is in need of good scholars who
observe the correct teachings of Islam ('
alimun 'aamil),
trying their best to bring back what has been destroyed of the
Islamic religion over the years and who are able to differentiate
between right and wrong,
halal and
haram, and
who believe in
Haqq and oppose
Batil, not
fearing anyone on the way of Allah.
Muslims of today have no one to advise them nor guide them in
the teaching of their religion and the good manners and behavior
of Islam. On the contrary, we see only scholars pretending to
know something, imposing their corrupted ideas and beliefs about
Islam on everyone. They are at every convention, giving lectures
and talks about Islam from a narrow and limited perspective, not
according to the guidance the Sahaba of the Prophet nor of the
great Imams of Islam nor the consensus of the majority of
Muslims.
If scholars would listen to their consciences and return in
loyalty and sincerity to Islam without the influence of
governments or other powers that control Muslim countries with
their money, devoting
themselves only to da'wa and irshad and
remembrance of Allah and His Prophet (s), then the situation in
the Islamic world could change and Muslim life would improve
tremendously. Our hope is that in this new Islamic year 1416,
Muslims in America and throughout the world will come back
together in unity, linked to one rope, Allah's Rope, to establish
the Sunnah and the Shari'ah of Prophet Muhammad (s).
If people will look back deeply into history they will find
that after the brave work of the Sahaba, (the Companions of the
Prophet(s)), Islam spread East and West and to the Far East
through the dawa' and irshad of the scholars and followers of
Tasawwuf (Sufism), who followed the True Way of the Caliphs of
the Prophet (s)--
radi-Allahu 'anhum. They were the
scholars of true Sufism, which upholds the teachings of the
Qur'an and Sunnah and has never deviated from them.
Islamic
zuhd (asceticism) flourished in the first
Hijri century and developed into schools that had their
foundation and basis of their teachings in the Sunnah and
Shari'ah, propagated by zahid scholars who came to be known as
the Sufis. Among them were the first four Imams, Imam Malik, Imam
Abu Hanifa, Imam Shafi'i and Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, as well as
al-Imam Abi 'Abdallah Muhammad AL-BUKHARI, Abul Husain MUSLIM bin
al-Hajjaj, Abu 'Isa TIRMIDHI. Others were Hasan al-Basri,
al-Junaid, Imam Awzai' And later these included at-Tabarani, Imam
Jalaluddin as-Suyuti, ibn Hajar al-Haythami, al-Jardani, ibn
Qayyim al-Jawzi, Imam Muhyiddin bin Sharaf bin Mari bin Hassan
bin Husain bin Hazam bin NAWAWI, Imam Abu Hamid GHAZALI, Sayyid
Ahmad al-Farouqi Sirhindi, to name a few. The Muslim world has
come to know Islam through the efforts of these zahid scholars
who were known as Sufis because of their loyalty, sincerity and
purity of heart.
We are not hiding the fact that at that time, some enemies of
Islam came to take an extreme approach, using the name of Sufism,
and pretending to be Sufis while spreading strange ideas in order
to demolish the true Sufi teachings and poison Muslim ideas about
Tasawwuf which the majority of Muslims were following. True
Tasawwuf is based on zuhd and Ihsan (purity of the heart). The
great Imams of the Muslim world, whose guidance was followed in
all Muslim countries, were known to have Sufi masters. Imam
Malik, Imam Abu Hanifa, (whose teacher was Ja'far as-Sadiq) Imam
Shafi' (who followed Shayban ar-Rai') and Imam ibn Hanbal (whose
teacher was Bishr al-Hafi) all embraced Tasawwuf.
All courts and universities of Muslim countries teach from the
schools of these four Imams up to today. For example, Egypt,
Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen, Djibouti, and some other countries follow
the Shafi'i
madhhab. Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria,
Mauritania, Libya and Somalia follow the Maliki school. Saudi
Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and some other countries follow the
Hanbali school. Turkey, Pakistan, India, Ceylon, and some of the
Russian republics follow the Hanafi school. The Far Eastern
Muslim countries follow the Shafi'i school. Most courts of Muslim
countries depend for their fatwas on these four schools and all
these four schools accepted
Tasawwuf.
Imam Malik in his famous saying said,
"man tasawaffa
wa lam yatafaqa faqad tazandaqa, wa man tafaqaha wa lam yatasawaf
faqad tafasaq, wa man tasawaffa wa tafaqaha faqad tahaqaq."
which means:
" Whoever studied Tasawwuf without Fiqh
is a heretic, and whoever studied Fiqh without Tasawwuf is
corrupted, and whoever studied Tasawwuf and Fiqh will find the
Truth and Reality of Islam."
At a time when travel was most difficult, Islam spread quickly
through the selfless efforts of Sufi travelers well-schooled in
the ascetic discipline (zuhd ad-dunya) required of those Allah
had chosen for so noble a task. Their life was dawa' and their
sustenance was bread and water. Through such abstinence they were
able to reach the West and the Far East with the blessing of
Islam.
In the 6th and 7th Hijri centuries, Tasawwuf flourished
increasingly because of the progress and effort of the Sufi
teachers. Each group came to be named after its Sufi teacher, to
differentiate it from other groups. Similarly today, each person
holds a degree named for the university from which he graduated.
Yet it is obvious that Islam remains the same, never changing
from one Sufi teacher to another, just as Islam is not changing
from one university to another.
However, in the past students were influenced by the good
manners and good morality of their teachers. Therefore Muslims
were sincere and loyal. But today our scholars are dry and Islam
is taught to them in non-Muslim universities by non-Muslims
professors (if you are clever you can understand).
Sufi teachers asked their students to accept Allah as their
Creator and the Prophet as His Slave and Messenger (s), to
worship Allah alone and to leave the worship of idols, to repent
to God, to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet, to purify their
hearts, to clean their egoes from mistakes and to correct their
beliefs in the Oneness of God. And they were teaching them to be
honest and trustworthy in everything they did, to be patient and
God-fearing, to love others, to depend on God, and all the other
excellent manners demanded by Islam.
In order for them to reach all these stations of sincerity and
purity they gave their students different prayers (
du`a)
that the Prophet (s), his Sahaba and the Tabi'een were
practicing. They were teaching
Dhikr-Allah, the
remembrance of Allah, through the reading of Qur'an and
dua'
and
tasbeeh from Hadith, and through the recitation of
Allah's Names and Attributes in t
ahleel, tahmeed, takbeer,
tamjeed and
tasbeeh, according to many ayats and
hadiths of the Prophet about Dhikr. (These can be found in all
books of Hadith, including Bukhari, Muslim, Tabarani, Ibn Majah,
Abu Dawud, etc., under the heading of Dhikr in Islam to which
anyone can refer.)
These Sufi teachers (real scholars) refused fame and high
positions and money and a materialistic life, not as scholars of
our days who run after fame and money. Rather they were
zahid
and dependent on Allah following His saying:
"ma
khalaqtul Jinni wal Insi illa li-ya'budoon" --
"We did not create the Jinn nor Mankind except to worship
Me."
As a result of their decency and
zuhd, they were able
to convince wealthy people to build mosques and dormitories (
khaniqahs)
throughout the Ummah of Islam, offering free food and free
lodging. Thus Islam spread quickly from one country to another
through khaniqahs and mosques. Such places, in which the poor
could eat and sleep and the homeless could find shelter, were a
cure for the hearts of the poor and were a connection between the
rich and the poor, between black, yellow, red and white, between
Arab and non-Arab.
The Prophet (s) said in hadith,
"There is no
difference between Arabs and non-Arabs except through
righteousness."
These places made people to come together from all races and
nations. Sufis kept the Sunnah and the Shari'ah. Their history is
full of bravery and struggle in the way of Allah,
jihad fi
sabeell-illah, leaving their countries, seeking the hearts
of people in every place to convert as many as possible through
one method, which is love. To love everyone without distinctions
of race, age and gender. They saw everyone as deserving of
respect especially women, the downtrodden and the poor. Sufis
were like bright stars, shining throughout the world, encouraging
everyone to
'jihad fi sabeel-illah,' striving in the way
of Allah, to spread Islam, to help the poor, the homeless and
those in need, both far and the near. They reached with their
iman, the middle of Asia, up to India, Pakistan, Tashkent,
Bukhara, Daghistan, and other areas such as China, Malaysia,
Indonesia, etc.
True Sufi people never deviated from the Shari'ah and the
Sunnah of the Prophet and the Qur'an, regardless of the
exuberance of the ecstatic utterances of some Sufis and some
explanations that revealed the Greatness of God and the mercy and
purity of His Beloved Messenger, Beloved Muhammad (s).
The main two sources of tasawwuf were the Holy Qur'an and the
Sunnah of the Prophet (s) as it was conveyed through the
understanding of Islam of Sayiddina Abu Bakr (
radi-Allahu
'anhu) and Sayiddina Ali (
karam-Allahu wajhah) who
are considered the two sourcemasters of the Sufi orders.
Sayiddina Abu Bakr (r) was representing one stream of
Tasawwuf.
The Prophet has said about him, "whatever God poured in my
heart, I poured into the heart of Abu Bakr"
"ma
sab-Allahu fee sadree shayan illa wa sababtuhu fee sadree Abi
Bakrin." (Hadiqa Nadiah published in Cairo, 1313 H. p.
9). Allah said in Holy Qur'an,
'
...for God did indeed help him when the unbelievers drove
him out: he had no more than one Companion: they two were in the
cave.' (9, 40).
And the Prophet said in another hadith "
the sun never
rose on anyone better than Abu Bakr except the prophets."
(see Suyuti, History of Caliphs, Cairo, 1952, p. 46).
There are many other hadiths explaining the station of Abu
Bakr as-Siddiq. The other stream of Tasawwuf came through
Sayiddina Ali (r), about whom there are very many hadiths that
would take many pages to explain. Finally, the Sunnah of the
Prophet and the Shari'ah, which represent obligations, and Ihsan,
which represents good manners, were all embodied in the character
of the Sufi scholars, beginning with Sayiddina Abu Bakr (r), the
first caliph of the Prophet (s) up until today.
In the 13th Century Hijri (the 19th A.C.) a new school
appeared, influenced by the teachings of two scholars of Islam of
the 7th C. Hijri, (14th A.C.). This school was a new school in
Islam, which though based in the Hanbali school was different
from it in 'aqida. Though this school also accepted
Tasawwuf,
it kept a much more restrictive and narrow interpretation of what
is allowed in Islam than the first Four Schools.
Lately, the followers of this school had deviated from the
original teachings of the founders of the school and have
exaggerated to great extremes in invoking accusations against
Muslims based on the fatwas of modern scholars, who have taken
the most literalist and restrictive view of Islam and come
against the mainstream of Muslims. And these new beliefs have
spread very quickly in this century with the support of a
minority of Muslims who have their own beliefs and their own
interpretation of the Qur'an and Sunnah.
These people are now fighting Sufism and trying to demean the
bravery and efforts of the Sufis in spreading Islam througout the
world during the preceding 1300 years.
As a Muslim Nation, we respect all schools in Islam without
discrimination. But in return we don't accept that anyone impose
his ideas on us, as we are following beliefs acceptable to the
majority of Muslims, who accept Tasawwuf.
In America, we are surprised to see of 1400 years of Islamic
history and culture denied and rejected by a minority of scholars
with their own point of view, as if the past 1400 years of
scholars' following the Sufi schools and the four madhahib did
not exist and had never existed.
For our brothers and sisters information we are presenting the
names of some of the countless modern scholars following Sufi
schools and the four madhahib, who represent the majority of
Muslims througout the Islamic world:
Mufti of Egypt, Hassanain Muhammad al-Mukhloof, member
of Muslim World League,
Muhammad at-Tayib an-Najjar, president of Sunnah and Shariah
Intl. and President of Azhar University,
Shaikh 'Abdallah Qanun al-Hassani, President of the Morocco
Scholars and Deputy of the World Islamic League,
Dr. Hussaini Hashim, Deputy of Azhar of Egypt and General
Secretary of the Research Institute of Mecca,
as-Sayyid Hashim al-Rafai, former Minister of
Religion in Kuwait,
as-Shaikh Sayyid Ahmad al-Awad, Mufti of Sudan,
ash-Shaikh Malik al-Kandhalawi, President of the
League of Islamic Scholars in Pakistan and President of
Ashrafiya University,
Ustaz Abdul Ghafoor al-Attar, President of Saudi
Arabian Society of Authors,
Qadi Yusuf bin Ahmad as-Siddiqui, Judge of the High
Court of Bahrain,
Muhammad Khazraji, Shaikh Ahmad ibn Muhammad bin Zabara, Mufti
of Yemen,
ash-Shaikh Muhammad ash-Shadili an-Nivar, President
of Shariah University in Tunisia,
ash-Shaikh Khal al-Banani, President of the
Mauritania Islamic League,
Shaikh Muhammad Abdul Wahid Ahmad, Minister of Religious
Affairs of Egypt,
Shaikh Muhammad bin Ali Habashi, President of the
Islamic League in Indonesia,
Shaikh Ahmad Koftaro, Mufti of Syria,
Shaikh Abu Saleh Mohammed al-Fattih al-Maliki of Ondurman,
Sudan,
Shaikh Muhammad Rashid Kabbani, Mufti of Lebanon,
ash-Shaikh as-Sayyid Muhammad al-Maliki al-Hassani, Professor
of Shari'ah and teacher in the two Holy Mosques, Makka and
Madina,
and many many more throughout Arab and other Muslim
countries.
Oh our beloved brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers,
daughters and sons, Islam is tolerance (
hilm), Islam is
love, Islam is Peace. Islam is humbleness, Islam is perfection.
Islam is
zuhd, Islam is
Ihsan. Islam means
relationships. Islam means family. Islam is sisterhood and
brotherhood. Islam means equality. Islam is one body. Islam is
knowledge. Islam is spirituality. Islam has external as well as
internal knowledge.
ISLAM IS SUFISM. SUFISM IS ISLAM.
Finally, Islam is Light that Allah has sent to us through his
final Messenger Muhammad (s), who is the True symbol of love, the
symbol of external and internal knowledge, the symbol of mercy to
all human beings. He is our means to God. He is the intercessor
for everyone, without doubt and this is expressed in all books of
fiqh.
May Allah forgive us for any mistakes or deficiencies in
this presentation.
As-salaam alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa
barakatuhu,
The poorest in front of Allah, servant of the Sunnah of the
Prophet (s),
Shaikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani :
President - As-Sunna Foundation of America
607 A. West Dana
Mountain View, CA 94041
