Topic
Shariah & the Path
27 entries
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Should the nafs be broken through hunger and sleeplessness?
The earlier Sufis did practise extreme rigors of hunger and sleeplessness. The way to restrain the nafs is constant effort: allow it what it wants within the boundaries of the Shariah, and make it serve you.
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If the heart is what counts, do outward acts still matter?
The Qur'an commands prayer and alms, patience and thankfulness, and a Muslim is to follow every one of Allah's commandments without picking and choosing. The hadith of the true emigrant shows that the true object of a deed is its inner significance, yet Allah has created for every inner meaning a corresponding external form, and without that form the inner significance cannot be acquired. Humility in prayer depends on performing the prayer, and knowledge without action has no reward.
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What are the conditions for a deed to be accepted by Allah?
A deed must be among the actions Allah declared as good deeds, must be performed according to the method outlined by the Shariah, and must be done purely for Allah, if it is to be accepted on the Day of Judgement. The third condition deals with the inner aspect of the deed, which has to be practised, and Tasawwuf is the practice of those disciplines.
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What is the difference between Fiqh and Tasawwuf?
Fiqh governs the outward form of a deed, its rules and its conditions. Tasawwuf is the discipline that gives that same deed its inner meaning, the pure intention and the cognizance of Allah.
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Is Sufism haram or forbidden in Islam?
Authentic Tasawwuf is not forbidden: it is the science of ikhlas, or sincerity, needed by every Muslim, and of the states of the heart that the Shariah itself commands. What is forbidden is any false “Sufism” that sets itself against the Shariah.
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Do you have to be a Muslim to be a Sufi? Can anyone be a Sufi?
The belief often held in the West that Sufism is universal and a person from any religion can be a Sufi is a delusion. Without the Shahadah, correct belief, following the Shariah and the Prophetic Sunnah, no one can attain the pleasure of Allah; one who does not truly believe in any of the fundamental tenets cannot be a Muslim, and Tasawwuf does not exist without the Shahadah and the Shariah.
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Do Sufis have to follow the Shariah?
Tasawwuf entails that life be spent according to the Shariah, and any “Tasawwuf” that sets itself against the Shariah is irreligious and rejected.