Knowledge of the inner path has to be taken from someone who possesses it, not from books alone. Knowledge of the Qur’an and Sunnah does not suffice until it is applied, and it is learned by example under guidance. Tasawwuf is practical knowledge, and practical knowledge is transmitted by company and example, not by reading … Read more
No. The remembrance of Allah is commanded throughout the Qur’an and Sunnah. Even self-composed supplications and the use of counting-beads have a basis in the Prophet’s ﷺ own practice and household. Some treat gathered or counted remembrance as a later invention. The Sunnah itself answers this: the Prophet ﷺ encouraged supplications that were not fixed … Read more
Scholars have traced it to several roots: the woollen garment (suf) worn by early ascetics, the “first rank” (saff), the People of the Veranda (Ashab al-Suffa) of the Prophet’s ﷺ mosque, or safa, meaning purity. In his Kashf al-Mahjub, Ali al-Hujwiri, known as Data Ganj Bakhsh, records the main explanations offered for the name. Some … Read more
It is the hadith in which the angel Jibril, in the form of a man, questioned the Prophet ﷺ about Iman, Islam, and Ihsan, then departed, and the Prophet ﷺ said he had come to teach the people their religion. A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked him, in turn, what Iman, Islam, … Read more
Ihsan is spiritual excellence: to worship Allah as if you see Him, and though you do not see Him, to know that He sees you. It is the highest of the three levels of the religion, and it is what Tasawwuf pursues. When Jibril asked the Prophet ﷺ about Ihsan, he answered: to worship … Read more
There is no separation. Sufism (Tasawwuf) is not a different religion beside Islam. It is the inner dimension of Islam, the part concerned with sincerity and the state of the heart, corresponding to the level of Ihsan the Prophet ﷺ described. People sometimes speak of “Islam” and “Sufism” as two separate things. They are not. … Read more
No. Authentic Tasawwuf is not forbidden, it is the inner dimension of Islam itself, the science of sincerity and the state of the heart that the Shariah itself commands. What is forbidden is any false “Sufism” that sets itself against the Shariah. The worry usually comes from seeing fake Sufis who claim that a pure … Read more
The heart of a true Sufi is set not on escaping Hell or winning Paradise, but on the love of Allah Himself, and His nearness. A Sufi’s deepest desire is not the reward or the escape. His heart and mind are immersed in the remembrance of Allah, and he finds his pleasure in seeking the … Read more
Yes, it has a basis. The Prophet ﷺ said whoever worships Allah sincerely for forty days will find fountains of wisdom flowing from his heart, and he himself withdrew to the cave of Hira for worship. In many Sufi paths, a seeker spends a period, often forty days, in focused seclusion and worship. This rests … Read more
They are allowed. The Prophet ﷺ himself encouraged supplications that were not fixed formulas, as long as they don’t displace a specific du’a the Sunnah prescribed for that moment. The Prophet ﷺ not only taught the Companions set supplications but also encouraged them to make their own, and praised them for it. When he heard … Read more