Bid'a (Thikr) (Remembrance of Allah) This is confirmed by the statement made by the Prophet (s.a.w.) to his companions:
"He who will live (long enough) will see many different (ways). Keep you to my Sunnah, and the Sunnah of the well-guided khulafa'; hold fast thereto. And beware of innovations (in matters of religion). Verily, every innovation is a bid'ah, and every bid'ah is misguiding, and every misguiding is in the Fire."
The Sufi dhikr is of two forms, the dhikr al-khafiy or hidden dhikr with the repetition being in the mind or muttered in a low voice; and the dhikr al-jaliy, the open recitation, in which the Sufi murid recites aloud. Sufis distinguish three types of dhikr: the dhikr of the common people (al-awaam), which involves uttering repeatedly the Kalimah, meaning, "There is no God but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah;" the dhikr"haiy" (the living); and the dhikr of the elite, which involves uttering repeatedly the divine pronoun "hu" (He). of the upper class, which involves uttering repeatedly the single name of God, "Allah," or the word
The last two types of dhikr have never been unique to Islam. Sufi dhikr, however, is not limited to the above three types: In many cases it includes litanies and hymns, or as the Sufis prefer to call them, "twassulaat" (supplications or petitions), to the Prophet (s.a.w.) and his family.
Supplicating beings other than Allah entails associating partners with Him, a practice which is not only condemned by Allah and His Messenger (s.a.w.) but it renders a worshipper's good deeds null and void. Allah says: meaning,
"And it has been revealed to you and to those before you: If you attribute partners to Allah, your deed shall surely be in vain and you shall certainly be among the losers."(39.65)
The type of dhikr practiced communally by Sufis is not merely recited; it is rather performed in their hadhrah.
Sufi dhikr ranges from quietist to ecstatic and hysterical behavior. In many orders, the ritual has a section called samaa' in which singing, dancing and playing musical instruments, such as the flute and the drum, are highly important.
The dhikr which the Prophet (s.a.w.) enjoined should be recited individually, and only according to the manner prescribed by him. Making dhikr in a different manner, or communally, is an innovation leading to misguiding This is particularly true when such a ritual is accompanied by prohibited practices such as music, against which there is a direct reference in the Quran: meaning,
"And of men is he who take idle talk to lead men astray from the path of Allah."(31.6)
The prominent companions of the Prophet (s.a.w.) confirmed that the "idle talk" referred to in the above verse means singing and music.
The Prophet (s.a.w.) verified this fact in the hadith which says,
"There will be some people who will consider legal fornication, and the wearing of silk, the consumption of intoxicant drinks and the use of musical instruments."
Rejecting Reward and Punishment Shah Naqshband said,
"Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya said, 'O Allah I didn't worship seeking the reward of Your Paradise nor fearing your punishment, but I am worshipping You for Your Love alone.' If your worship is for saving yourself or for gaining some reward for yourself, it is a hidden shirk, because you have associated something with Allah, either the reward or the punishment. This is what Hallaj meant."
Sheikh Arslan ad-Dimashqi said,
"O Allah, Your religion is nothing but hidden shirk, and to disbelieve in it is obligatory on every true servant. The people of religion are not worshipping You, but are only worshipping to attain Paradise or to escape from Hell. They are worshipping these two as idols, and that is the worst Idolatry. You have said, man yakfur bi-t- aghati wa yu'min billahi faqad istamsaka bi-l-curwati-l-wuthqa ("Whoever disbelieves in idols and believes in Allah has grasped the Firm Handhold") [2:256]. To disbelieve in those idols and to believe in You is obligatory on the people of Truth."
Sheikh Abul-Hasan ash-Shadhili (q), one of the greatest Sufi Sheikhs, was asked by his shaikh, "O my son, with what are you going to meet your Lord?" He said, "I am coming to Him with my poverty." He said,
"O my son, do not ever repeat this again. This is the biggest idol, because you are still coming to Him with something. Free yourself of everything and then come to Him.
"The people of laws and external knowledge hold fast to their deeds and on that basis they establish the concept of reward and punishment. If they are good, they find good and if they are bad they find bad; what benefits the servant is his deeds and what harms him is his deeds. To the People of the Way, this is the hidden Shirk, because one is associating something with Allah. Although it is an obligation to do (good deeds), yet the heart must not be attached to those deeds. They should only be done for His sake and for His love, without expectation of anything in return."
Hidden Knowledge
Three fundamentals of Sufism which are innovations not sanctioned by the Quran or the Sunnah:
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The division of knowledge into exoteric, or manifest, esoteric, or hidden;
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The division of Islam into Shari’a (religious sciences) and the sciences of truth; and
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the addition to Islam of the Sufi order as the path leading to the truth.
Manifest knowledge and the sciences of jurisprudence, they assert, belong to the theologians and scholars of the general run of ordinary Muslims, whereas the hidden knowledge and the knowledge of truth are reserved for the Sufi priests, who preferred to call themselves the elite. They who claim the right to interpret the Quran’s verses and Prophetic traditions in ways not only different from the apparent meanings, but contradict them.
Al-Ghazali said:
"That which is acquired by inspiration is called 'ilm ladunniyan it is that knowledge which requires no intermediary to acquire it between the individual and his creator."
Wird or Prescribed Thikr All forms of worship must be taken from the Prophet (sas); and reference to the Diligence of the Companions in opposing bid'a.
It is a must for all Muslims to adhere to the two Divine sources of Islam, the Quran and the Sunnah, the Prophet's companions, may Allah be pleased with them all, developed great understanding of these two fundamental sources as required and necessitated by the profession of the faith: ("There is no God worthy of being worshipped but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.") They were very critical of the slightest sign of deviation among Muslims. Whenever they noticed one, they vehemently objected to it and tried their best to rectify the situation or eliminate it.
Abdullah b. Mas’ud, may Allah be pleased with him, who was governor of al-Koofeh, Iraq, at a time, happened to enter the mosque one day, and saw some people sitting in circles. In the middle of each circle was a heap of pebbles, and in every circle was a man instructing the people: "Say, Sub-han-Allah (Allah is far red from every imperfection) a hundred times. Say, Al-hamd-du-lillah (praise be to Allah) a hundred times. Say, Allahu-Akbar (Allah is the Greatest) a hundred times."
Whereupon Abdullah b. Mas’ud said to them; "O people, you are either following a religion (that you consider to be) better than that of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), or you are entering through a door of deviation without consideration." They responded, "Abu Abdur-Rahman! (his nickname), by Allah, we intend to do a good thing." He exclaimed, "How often one intends to do good but never attains his purpose." The above quotation clearly shows that sincerity and good intentions alone are not sufficient to render acts of worship acceptable to Allah. The acts must first conform to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (s.a.w.). Originating new methods or concepts of such acts only incurs Allah's anger. The religion of Islam has already been completed by Allah. It needs no one to tamper with it for the purpose of mundane gain. Thus it follows by necessity that any religious opinion or practice must be judged by and referred to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (s.a.w.) to decide its validity.
Oneness of All Things or Annihilation in Allah Relationship to other deviant sects: (From "Al-Ghazali")
Ibn Khaldoon said:
"There appeared among them those who were mixed up with the Ismailiya and the latter Rejecters (Shi'a) those who believed in hulool and the divinity of the imams and so the Sufis and the Ismailis imbibed each others beliefs and the Sufis came to proclaim beliefs just like theirs and they came to believe in Hulool and fanaa and their books were filled with such stuff such as the books of al-harawiy and Ibn Arabi and others. So their words were intermingled and their beliefs became similar and the Sufis began to speak about the Qutb - and it is exactly what the Rejecters were saying and is their religion."
Ibn Taymiyyah said:
In the ******** of the philosophers on the other hand, intellect reason or the mind is an independent and distinct entity or essence, resembling more closely the one reasoning than the faculty of reason given by Allah. This is not in harmony with the ******** of the prophets and the Quran. The creation to the philosophers, as mentioned by Al-Ghazali, is divided into bodies, minds and souls, all of which is referred to as the world of the order. Sometimes they refer to these categories as mulk (dominion), jabroot (omnipotence), and malakoot (realm) respectively, such that those ignorant of the ******** of the prophets and ignorant of the meanings of the Quran and the Sunnah may believe that the mentioning of mulk, jabroot, and malakoot in the Quran supports this theory, while this is not in fact the case.
These people perpetrate great deceptions on the Muslim, such as their saying that the universe is "brought about" i.e. having an origin and a beginning (which, of course, it is), even though in reality they believe is to be ancient and without beginning. Something which is "brought about" (muhdath) in Arabic is of necessity something whose presence was preceded by its absence. It is not found in the ******** of the Arabs nor in any ******** that one can refer to something without beginning as being muhdath i.e. "brought about". Allah has informed us that He is the Creator of everything. Every created thing is by definition muhdath, and every muhdath has come into existence after not existing. The Jahmiya and the Mu'tazilah attempted to bring an Islamic response to the philosophers, but fell short and failed to understand the information brought to us by the Prophet (sas), nor did they understand the dictates of sound reasoning. They neither came to the aid of Islam, nor did they weaken its enemies. They joined them in some of their corrupt ideas and concepts while rejecting some of the sound bits of reasoning contained in their legacy. Their shortcomings in both the knowledge of the revelation and of the sound use of reasoning became an added reason for the thorough deviation of the philosophers, as I have explained at length in other works.
These philosophers said that Jibreel was the imaginary vision which appeared in the mind of Muhammad (sas). Vision and imagination are products of and secondary to intellect. Thus the deviants came, those who shared with the philosophers this corrupt belief, and further believed themselves to be allies of Allah, and that the allies of Allah are superior to the prophets of Allah, since they receive from Allah with no intermediary, as was claimed by Ibn Araby the author of "The Essences of Wisdom" and "The Makkan Inspirations". He said that he takes from the same source from which the angel who gave revelation to Muhammad (sas) used to take. This "source" which he is referring to is to him none other than the intellect ('aql), and the angel to him is the imagination. Imagination is secondary to intellect, and since Ibn Araby and others like him imagine that they take directly from the source and not from one of its secondary components, while the Prophet took from the imagination which is secondary and a product of the mind, this is how he came to believe himself superior to the Prophet (sas). Even if prophet hood consisted entirely of the three factors mentioned and they were sufficient to indicate prophet hood, this man would not even be in the same group as the Prophet, let alone superior to him! What's more, these three "criteria" are things which can be granted to anyone among the believers.
Prophet hood is another matter entirely! If Ibn Araby claims a relationship to "Sufism" it is the sufism of deviants and philosophers, and not the sufism of the people of knowledge, let alone that of a leader of the people of the Quran and the Sunnah. These were people such as Al-Fadheel ibn 'Iyaadh, Ibrahim ibn Ad-ham, Abi Sulaiman Ad-Daaraani, Ma'roof Al-Karkhi, Al-Junaid ibn Muhammad, Sahl ibn Abdallah At-Tastry, and others like them, may Allah be pleased with them all. Allah has described angels in His book very different from the concepts of the philosophers and those influenced by them, as in His statement:
[And they said that Allah took for Himself an offspring. Glorified is He! Rather honored slaves. They never precede Him with their speech, and they act with His order. He knows what is in front of them and what is behind them, and they do not intercede or plead for anyone except for the one for whom He has accepted this, and they are apprehensive with fear of Him. Whoever of them says I am a deity besides Him, we will reward him with Hell fire, and this is our reward for the oppressors. Quran 21/26-29
[And so many angels in the heavens whose intercession will be of no benefit unless and until Allah gives His permission for this intercession for those whom He wishes and is pleased with.] Quran 53/26
[Say: Call those who you imagine other than Allah. They do not own even the weight of an atom in the heavens nor in the earth, nor have they any share therein, and no one of them can aid Allah in any way. Intercession is of no benefit with Allah except that for which He has granted permission.] Quran 34/22-23
[His are all in the heavens and the earth, and those in His presence are not too arrogant to worship Him, nor do they become weary of it. They praise Allah in the night and the day and never break.] Quran 21/19-20
Allah has informed us that angels came to Ibrahim in the form of humans, and appeared also to Maryam in the form of real people. Jibreel also used to come to the Prophet in the form and face of a man named Dahiya Al-Kalbi, or in the form of an unknown bedouin, and was seen not only by the Prophet (sas), but by his companions as well.
Allah has described Jibreel as a possessor of power:
[...high in station with the Possessor of the Arsh, respected and obeyed there, trusted] Quran 81/20-21
and told us that the Prophet Muhammad (sas):
[...saw him on the clear horizon.] Quran 81/23
and further described Jibreel as:
[It was taught to him by the mighty in strength * Magnificent in his form, he settled down * While on the upper horizon * Then he came close, descending * Until he was at a distance of not more than two bows length * Then he revealed to Allah's servant that which was revealed * His heart has not lied about that which he saw. * Do you then dispute with him about that which he witnessed? * And he has seen him on another occasion * At the Lote tree of the farthest boundary * There is the garden of refuge. * When the Lote tree was covered by that which covered it * His sight did not waver, nor did he go beyond bounds * Truly he has seen some of the greatest signs of his Lord.] Quran 53/5-18
It has been authenticated in the lections of Muslim and Bukhari on the authority of Aisha that she said that the Prophet (sas) never saw Jibreel in the form in which Allah created him except for two times. She means the two mentioned in the above verse: once on the clear horizon, and the other at the Lote tree of the farthest boundary. Further, Allah described Jibreel in other verses as the trustworthy spirit and the sanctified spirit, as well as other de******ions which show clearly that he is one of the greatest living, reasoning creations of Allah ta'ala, and that he is a real being having an independent existence, not a figment of the Prophet's imagination, as the deviant philosophers imagined, as well as the claimers to the wilaya of Allah and that they are more knowledgeable than the prophets! The end result of the reality of these people is the total rejection of all of the foundations of faith: to believe in Allah, His angels, His revealed books, His prophets, and the last day. The reality of their position is the rejection of the Creator, for they have made the existence of the creation the selfsame thing as the existence of the Creator, saying: Existence is one. They failed to differentiate between oneness of reality and oneness of concept. Everything which exists shares the concept of existence, just as all humans share in the concept of humanness, and all animals share in the concept of being animals. The problem is that this kind of general sameness is never really sameness except in the mind, just as the "animal-ness" of a man is not in reality the same as the “animal-ness” of a horse. The mere presence of the concept is not the actual existence of the man, and, in the same way, the existence of the Creator is unlike the existence of any of His creation (even though both are called "existence").
The reality of their position is that it is the position of Pharaoh who denied the Maker. He did not deny the visible, tangible creation, but claimed that it came into existence by itself with no maker or creator. The philosophers and claimers of wilaya agreed with him in that, but imagined that this visible creation is Allah. Thus, they are farther astray than Pharaoh, though the evil of his position may be more apparent. This is why they said that the idol worshippers did not worship other than Allah (since everything in their wrong belief is Allah, including the idols.) And they say that Pharaoh spoke the truth when he said: "I am your highest Lord", since he was in the position of ruler and the holder of the reins of power, i.e. though all of you are a "lord" in relation to something, I am higher than all of you through the apparent ruling capability over you which I have been given.