Topic
Foundations of Faith
50 entries
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Why can no one reach the station of the Prophet’s Companions?
A letter of Mujaddid Alf Thani records Khawja Naqshband's saying that the path is through company, that due to their company with the Prophet the Companions are superior over the friends of Allah, and that no friend of Allah can reach the rank of any Companion, even Owais Qarni. Whatever great deeds other pious and truthful men may have performed, the Companions' status was awarded to them only for that blessed company and not for their deeds, and the station of Radhi Allah belongs to them alone.
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Why was Abu Bakr’s affinity with the Prophet the strongest?
Abu Bakr, whose quality was Sadiq, the truthful, wept when the Prophet told the people of a slave who had been given a choice, as he understood what the Prophet meant, and when Umar asked a question at al-Hudaibiya, Abu Bakr responded just as the Prophet did. This shows that he had the strongest affiliation with the Prophet, and the affinity he had is the fourth stage, called associative affinity.
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Can women take the path of Tasawwuf?
The question is often posed whether women can join the tariqa, and the answer is simple: bay'ah, the pledge, is proven from the Qur'an, and women have every right to take the path of Tasawwuf and reach the level of ihsan. Rabia Basri and the mother of Shaykh Abdul Qadir Gilani are among the many great women who reached the level of excellence, and even nowadays there have been women who have taken the path of Tasawwuf and reached the stations of Walaya.
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Is bay’ah an innovation (bid’ah)?
Critics call the pledge taken by Sufis a blameworthy innovation, not supported by the Qur'an or Hadith, and recognise only the pledge for conversion to Islam or for jihad. Mowlana Ashraf Ali answers from a hadith in which Companions who had already pledged to Islam gave a pledge that was neither for Islam nor for jihad, but to obey certain injunctions and to perform certain practices. So the bay'ah in Tasawwuf does have its precedent in the Sunnah.
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Is bay’ah obligatory, or is it Sunnah?
The Prophet took the pledge from his Companions on various occasions: at Hudaybiyyah, where Allah approved of it, and on other occasions for matters other than war, with pledges both for performing good deeds and for forbiddance. That is why taking the pledge is a Sunnah. Because the pledge in Tasawwuf is a pledge to follow the Shariah, one must find someone who is fully adherent to the Shariah and capable of leading.
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What is a silsila, the unbroken chain of teachers in Sufism?
As with any other discipline of the religion, Tasawwuf is learnt from someone who has an unbroken line of teachers extending back through the Companions to the Prophet, the source of all religious knowledge. Those who claim to be Sufis without such a lineage are pretenders. University degrees, acclaim and published work are great achievements, but they cannot replace learning from that unbroken line.
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Can a shaykh see the future or know the unseen?
Some believe the Sufi masters know everything and can foretell what is to come, and that belief is a grave error. The one given the most knowledge, the Last Prophet, admitted in the narration of Jabir concerning the farewell Hajj that there was a thing he had not known at the time. A man who tells of the unseen while contravening the Shariah is showing istidraj, and the association to a great shaykh saves no one who does not follow the Shariah.
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What are the conditions of a true shaykh?
He must hold a valid Aqida, know the Shariah, follow the Sunnah closely, keep clear of major sins, and have travelled the path of Tasawwuf himself under an authorised guide. What he does not need is a formal degree, a display of marvels, or a life without work.
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What is bay’ah (bai’at), the pledge to a shaykh?
Bay'ah is an oath taken to the path of Ihsan, binding the heart of the seeker to his shaykh and the soul to the Awliya of the chain reaching back to the Prophet. Its substance is to keep religion above worldly affairs and the Shariah above the intellect. Taking the pledge is a Sunnah.
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Are the actions of the heart obligatory, or optional?
In Madarij al-Salikin, Hafiz Ibn Qayyim divides the servitude of man over the heart, the tongue and the remaining limbs, and writes that the consensus is that the actions of the heart, such as sincerity, trust, love, patience and true intention, are incumbent. The rectification of the heart, he writes, comes before the rectification of the limbs.