Is tasawuf or sufism part of Islam?
Habib Umar answers some FAQS - this is a transcript of the Lecture delivered at Melbourne University in 2009.

We have to first know what is tasawuf so then we can determine if it is from islam or not.

Who has the right to define for us what tasawuf is?

The imams that embodied that science from early times, or someone else?

Does it make sense for us to understand it as it was understood by those imams of that science or to take the understanding from those who were far from it?

That is illogical!

We know what it is from the proponents of it.

Their statements and actions.

Those that became famous as scholars of tasawuf.

A large number of them were followers.

Al karani, ali ibn hussain zain alabidin, alhasan al basri, said ibn musayib, said ibn jubair and others like them; that came after them, the generations after the followers and many that took from them.

The first of those that wrote a book about this science, was imam harith almuhasibi and to this day we have had many repeated publications of his books.

From the greatest of the scholars of this science was imam junaid ibn muhammad who lived in baghdad. Also imam alcalaladi wrote a book about it 1000 years ago at the beginning of the 4th century-1100 years have passed since he wrote a book called 'coming to know the mathhab(school of thought) of the people of tasawuf.

All of those mentioned, if we look at how they viewed tasawuf, it gets back to purification of the heart- that is, acting well on the book(quran) and sunnah and following the life and guidance of the taabieen and followers and remembering the all merciful often and loving to perform all forms of worship and renouncing everything besides Allah.

We find their actions follow the best of creations and are concerned with the inward and outward.

Those affiliated to this description are the leaders of those that fought jihad in the islamic world.

They are the leaders whether in calling people to islam in war or peaceful manners.

The books of the imams of tasawuf are from 100s of years ago-before the trials of politics and before plans and plotting took place with the lower desires of people.

All of them said tasawuf was character and those who had more character traits that was beloved to allah had surpassed you in tasawuf.

All of them say, our way is based on the book and sunnah. The majority of commentators of the koran are affliated with tasawuf.

The majority of hadith scholars that carried its knowledge are affiliated with tasawuf.

If we rid ourselves of tasawuf there will not remain 1 hadith that has a direct chain to the prophet!.

People in our times have emerged saying that tasawuf is innovation-or tasawuf is dancing-or tasawuf is about fables and stories-or claiming knowledge of the unseen.

These things the scholars of tasawuf said was heretical and bad etiquette with Allah-And we know after that, that we dont need to waste our time and lives or open doors for discussions were there is no benefit!. We have to go beyond the word to the true meaning of what is described so we say to all the believers we want to be eager to follow the sunnah of our prophet and to take the understanbding of the companions and followers and to be blessed to be of those who have turned away from the dunnya and to be of those who have dedicated their lives to Allah.

This is what we want.

So do u like what we say or dislike it?

Do u praise this or find it blameworthy?

This is the reality of what we are talking about.

And you can call it what you want afterward-tasawuf or ihsan or inward jurisprudence or tazkiyah or salifayah or you can find any other name for which you want to call it.

As long as this is what we are talking about and is understood.

If you disagree with what we are talking about then you have denied the heritage of all of the righteous predecessors and have denied the good character and denied the book and sunnah.

So we dont have time to argue- lets get together to work for the betterment of things.

All that goes against the sacred law and scholarly consensus is beyond the fold of islam, is turned away from and disliked- we place it beneath our feet we fight against it and distance ourself from it so what do you want after this?

Sheike abul hassan al nadawi said an interesting story took place: someone in india liked a particular type of food-if he was provided with this food he would eat alot of it. Someone found a different way to prepare the food so that all the different ingredients were combined into one dish-the same thing in the food but he made it differently. So this person hated this meals and to the extent that if it was mentioned in a gathering he would get upset and leave the gathering! Even though all of the separated ingredients of the dish was liked by him.

He said this is the story of tasawuf with many people.

You say, what do you say about remembring Allah often?

He will say thats a good thing.

You say what do you say about readying the koran?

He will say thats a great thing to do.

What do you say about showing goodness to your neighbours?

He will say thats something good.

What do say about having zuhud and turning away from the dunia?

He will say thats something great.

So if he combined them and said what do you say about tasawuf he will get angry and not want to hear further-but you have brought nothing new but gathered all those different things to one word.

But he will get angry!

Last Updated on Tuesday, 12 April 2011 10:14