Were Sufis Anti Hadith and Anti Sunnah ?

Yesterday I attended a seminar on sufism. I just wanted to familiarise myself with the speakers and any new arguments they may have put forward. I did not hear anything that I have not heard already. The seminar was organised together with the Iranian Embassy. The Iranian Ambassador was supposed to officiate the seminar but alas she had something else to do and so she did not turn up.

There are a some points about Sufism. First off, there is no such thing in the Quran.

There is not a single word in the Quran that refers to sufism (tasawwuf).

The second point to note is that Sufism was invented by the Persians.

This is a very important point which the Muslims must investigate further.

Here is some copy paste. Big names in Sufism like Baha-ud-Din Naqshbandi and Jalaluddin Rumi were all Persians.

Naqshabandi (1318–1389) was the founder of the Sufi Naqshbandi Order. He was born in the village of Qasr-i-Hinduvan near Bukhara. These were Persians.

Jalāl ad-Dīn Rūmī (Persian: جلال‌الدین محمد رومی‎) , also known as Mawlānā (مولانا, "our master"), Mawlawī (مولوی, "my master") (1207 – 1273), was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic from Khorasan.

I dont know if Muslims are aware but almost all the major "scholars" in medieval "Islam" were Persians.

All the main "Sunni" hadith writers like Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmizi, Ibn Majah, Abu Dawud and Nisai - they were all of Persian origins.

Just before them, the earliest faqih like Abu Hanifa, and perhaps Hanbali (because he was born in Baghdad, they say) were Persians.

Major writers of tafseer Quran like Tabari were Persian.

Other "famous scholars" like Al Gazali, Maturidi, Zamakshari, Ashaari (born in Basra) were all Persians or were born into a Persian environment.

Considering that from that time until today, there is a huge historical and continuing power struggle between the Arabs and Persians over many things including "religious supremacy", these facts should not be ignored.

The Persians played a very big role in the evolution of the "Islamic religion".

"Islam" as we know it today was largely a Persian construct.

Sufism is also largely of Persian origin. Sufism is synonymous with esotericism or esoterica. What is esotericism? My understanding is very simple : mysterious.

The Sufis say that everything is mysterious.

The Quran is mysterious.

Life is mysterious.

Allah is mysterious.

Here is more copy paste. Sufis talk about mysterious things like :

hierarchical levels of realities in human experience (human, supra-sensible, and divine levels)
the various states of consciousness such as passing away in God (fana)
and subsisting through God (baqa)

Let me dismiss all these straight away.

I have always asked a simple question which no Sufis can answer.

The human being only has FIVE SENSES (sight, sound, feel, touch and taste). We perceive, understand and know (as in knowledge) the entire universe around us ONLY through these FIVE SENSES.

Learning through our FIVE SENSES is perfectly according to the Quran which says 'qul haatu burhanukum inkuntum sadiqeen"

Which means 'Say : Show your proofs if you are truthful'.

So I am saying now : show your proofs, show your evidence.

Knowledge must be evidence based.

Sufi ideas like alam fana, baqa etc are beyond our Five HUMAN SENSES.

(Here is a secret : It is purely imagination. Nothing more.)

If the Sufi mysteries are beyond the capacity of the FIVE HUMAN SENSES (sight, sound, touch, smell and taste) then how on earth did you come to even know about these mysteries? It is just imagination and delusion.

The Sufis are very big into things like

their Masters (sheikh)
the concept of wali / awliya / mawlana (all three are from the same root word)
the inner and external realities (more mysteries),
the makrifatullah or knowledge of Allah (more mysteries)

Thee are all non-Quranic and also un-Quranic ideas.

Their Sufi Masters or Sheikhs play a huge role in Sufism.

Their masters are often referred to as wali / awliya / maulana etc.

All three words are rooted in wali which in this context is taken to mean protector, guardian etc.

For example Jalaludin Rumi is called 'Mawlana Rumi' or 'Rumi the Protector'.

As I keep saying these folks do not read the Quran.

The Quran says that only Allah is our Mawlana.

Refer Surah 9:51

'Say, "Never will we be afflicted by anything except by what Allah has decreed for us; He is our MAWLANA (protector)." And upon Allah let the believers rely.'

Huwa Mawlana : He is our MAWLANA (protector).

Allah is our MAWLANA.

So how can you say that your Master or Sheikh is your MAWLANA?

That is SHIRIK.

The Sufis and others who believe in the concept of human WALI / AWLIYA / MAWLANA say that they do NOT worship their WALIS, AWLIYAS and MAWLANAS.

They say that because their WALIS are such great gurus, the WALIs can help to bring them closer to Allah.

This concept of WALI 'can bring us closer to Allah' is is also terribly wrong.

Here is Surah 39:3

39:3 Unquestionably, for Allah is the pure deen. And those who take AWLIYA (protectors) besides Him [say], "We only serve them that they may bring us nearer to Allah." Indeed, Allah will judge between them concerning that over which they differ. Indeed, Allah does not guide he who is a liar and disbeliever.

Read this part carefully : "And those who take AWLIYA (protectors) besides Him [say], "We only serve them that they may bring us nearer to Allah."

This is exactly what the sufis also say.

Their Masters or their Sheikhs are their AWLIYA who will take them closer to Allah !!

The Quran says : "Indeed, Allah will judge between them concerning that over which they differ. Indeed, Allah does not guide he who is a liar and disbeliever."

Liars and disbelievers !! Nauzubillah !!

Some views about the Sufis say that Sufism was actually a revolt or rebellion against the orthodox mullahs and the orthodox caliphs who were mixing religion with politics.

The caliphs were using the mullahs to issue fatwas and religious laws to legitimise their own caliphates. Exactly the same tjing is happening now in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Iran etc.

Hence one group - sufis (among other groups) sprouted as a rejection of the 'duniawi' or temporal caliphs.

The sufis said that they did not need the orthodoxy (meaning the mullahs, the caliphate, the shariah etc).

The sufis said they could get their inspiration, aspiration, perspiration whatever directly from the divine. Minus the caliphs, minus the mullahs, minus the orthodoxy etc.

Here is something about the Sufis from Yusuf Qardawi :

Sunnah: Accepted by Sufis?

By Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi

President, the International Union for Muslim Scholars — Qatar

It is not only jurists who have recognized the Sunnah and relied on it as the second source of legislation and deduction of rulings in Islam; indeed, all the scholars of the Ummah have adopted this view too. Sufi sheikhs are no exception. They adopted the Sunnah as a guide for conduct in the same manner as the jurists took it a source of the Shari`ah.

It is a fact that some Sufis have made some statements that indicate lack of interest in the science of Hadith or in other Shari`ah-related sciences in general and allude to their dispensing with it altogether.

For example, some of them were reported to have said, “If you know a Sufi interested in matters related to the narration [of Hadith], then brush him aside.”

Another Sufi, when advised to go and learn from Abdur-Razzaq, a prominent scholar of Hadith, said, “What benefit could a person who directly learns from the Creator possibly gain from listening to [a creature like] Abdur-Razzaq!”

Still, another Sufi addressed non-Sufis saying, “You acquire knowledge from the mortals, whereas we derive knowledge from the Everlasting Who will never pass away.”

He means that they get their knowledge directly from Almighty Allah. In this regard, a Sufi is reported to have said, “My Lord has inspired me through my heart [that…].”

End quote.

Conclusion : Yesterday I listened to some young men speaking about Sufism, including one Syed Muhiyuddin Al Attas (who I believe is a lifelong student of Prof Syed Naquib Al Atas).