Clarification of the claim that the Sufis show greater respect for the Messenger than the Salaf
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: There are those who claim that the Sufis have a level of respect and exaltation for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that is the opposite of the Salaf, and that the Salaf are harsh in this regard.
Answer:
We ask Allah for safety. Do you mean that the Sufis are better than the Salaf? This is clear misguidance. This is clear misguidance. We ask Allah for safety. Whoever prefers the Sufis over the Salaf, or prefers the later generations over the earliest generations, is clearly misguided. Whoever says that the later generations are more knowledgeable than the earliest generations is, in most cases, wrong; rather, the earliest generations are more knowledgeable than the later generations because of their closeness to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: There are those who claim that the Sufis have a level of respect and exaltation for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that is the opposite of the Salaf, and that the Salaf are harsh in this regard.
Answer:
We ask Allah for safety. Do you mean that the Sufis are better than the Salaf? This is clear misguidance. This is clear misguidance. We ask Allah for safety. Whoever prefers the Sufis over the Salaf, or prefers the later generations over the earliest generations, is clearly misguided. Whoever says that the later generations are more knowledgeable than the earliest generations is, in most cases, wrong; rather, the earliest generations are more knowledgeable than the later generations because of their closeness to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، فصل ومن كيده : أنه يُحسّن إلى أرباب التخلي والزهد والرياضة العمل بها — islamhouse.com (56:48)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.