The Sufis’ Exaggeration in Praising the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)

The Shaykh : And now we hear what the professor has in the way of questions.
The student : In the name of Allah, and in Allah alone is my trust. Indeed, all praise is due to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own souls and from the evil of our deeds... A brother of mine, a resident of the Islamic lands—and I do not say the Levantine lands—suggested to me...

The Shaykh : I seek forgiveness from Allah.
The student : And this is what I testify to before Allah: How many blessings has Allah bestowed upon me that I can say something about the old times. About twenty years ago, I was teaching and instructing in the hadith in the two Sahihs, al-Bukhari and Muslim, with a virtuous student of mine. The cousin of this student was ill and attended this lesson. We moved, and I fell ill. And two weeks ago, in the Friday week before last, his cousin, whom I told you about, settled near me. He said, “Come to us at six o’clock, where previously we would pray Fajr and then sit in a fiqh lesson.” I thought it was the one that happened to me last week, so I went to him in the morning on Friday. I went there to a gathering full of many people. I sat down; they offered me... or I was appointed... for al-Busiri.
The jurist, as I know him, is when our master and Shaykh orders... What I am saying in it is praise for the Master of the Messengers and the Beloved of the Lord of the Worlds (peace and blessings be upon him and his family and companions). It is very beautiful praise, but there are some verses in it that are not good to say at all; rather, they are outside the correct Shari'ah. So I waited until they finished and spoke to them in a proper manner. I said to them, “Perhaps some of these verses are good for us all to hear. Some of the verses in it may have been inserted into al-Busiri’s work, or if they were not inserted into it, then the state took him, as the Sufis say, the state took him, or he came with something like the Tenth (Mantiq al-Tayr) when one reaches high degrees of love, saying ‘I am the ransom’ or ‘Take me’ or the like.” I said to them, “Either this or that.” I am simplifying by saying this because look at the result: what was it?
I said to them, “If his verses were worthy of his status, if his verses were worthy of the status of the Master of the Messengers, the verses he was given from Allah—‘He revives the dead when he is called, the reviver of the ruins, the ruin is the dead and... he perished and went away. So if his name were worthy of his status...’ This is simple; something frightening will come: ‘He revives the Messenger of Allah, the reviver in the dead ruins, he revives him.’ And this was given by Allah to 'Isa specifically in his time, and so on... Allah the Exalted says: .
Another verse: “No harm or calamity befalls me, and I take refuge in him, I take refuge in the Master of the Messengers and the Beloved of the Lord of the Worlds. Poor people, to the Beloved of the Lord of the Worlds... the harm, and I took refuge in him, and I did not obtain His protection. If I take refuge in the Master Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), He will protect me, even though the authentic hadith, as I recall, was narrated by Ibn 'Abbas who said, ‘I was riding behind the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He was a boy, I think his age was 14 or 17. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) turned to me and said, ‘O boy, Abdullah ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), I am teaching you words: Fear Allah and He will protect you, and remember Allah and you will find Him before you and beside you—both are correct in the language—and if you ask, ask Allah, and if you seek help, seek help from Allah.’ I am saying this, and the Master of the Messengers is not saying this. And know that the nation—by its meaning—if they gather to harm you with something, they will not harm you except with something Allah has written for you, and if they gather to benefit you with something, they will not benefit you except with something Allah has written for you. The pens have been lifted and the pages have dried. Ibn 'Abbas narrates: If the Master of the Messengers and the Beloved of the Lord of the Worlds says this to us, how can I not take refuge in Him from a created being? Yes, He is the Beloved of the Lord of the Worlds, that is true, but if you ask, ask Allah. You will not find wealth in the two worlds when you touch money. If you seek money, give it to me? No, Allah is the Provider, the Possessor of strength, the Firm. ... This means something somewhat simple. Take the end, O most noble of the Messengers, whom shall I take refuge in besides you?

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : O most noble of the Messengers, whom shall I take refuge in besides you when a general incident occurs, and whoever is with the Messenger of Allah is helped... in its thorny bushes, it gathers, gathers and gathers means it used to say in the colloquial... and whoever is with the Messenger of Allah is helped, if the lion in it becomes, it gathers in its thorny bushes—we are done... It rained by the grace of Allah and His mercy, so he became a believer in me and a disbeliever in the star. And as for the one who said, “We rained by such a constellation,” he became a disbeliever, a believer in the star, or as he said, and so on... the hadith. So here, and in the last verse, which is more frightening than all of this.
“Indeed—O our Master Muhammad (peace be upon you)—from your generosity is the world and its companion to its end. From your generosity, O Master of the Messengers, is the world and its companion. It is not that al-Busiri was in Ramadan, more generous than the sent wind, that is true, but from your knowledge is the knowledge of the Tablet and the Pen. Here is the disbelief: From your knowledge, O Muhammad (peace be upon Muhammad and his family), is the knowledge of the Tablet and the Pen, even though Allah the Exalted has distinguished Himself with this, perhaps by the saying of the Knower of the unseen and the witnessed: But some of the scholars... reveal a little of His unseen to whom He has chosen from the Messenger, until the call proceeds, but He reveals to him the Tablet and the Pen. The Tablet and the Pen are from the characteristics of the Creator, the Lord of the Worlds, not from the characteristics of the prophets or the awliya (close friends of Allah), and so on... So I said, “O brothers, this is also not permissible. We took this from the Jews when they worshipped the calf and stood around it dancing. So in Sufism, in true Sufism that applies to the morals, it is just according to the hadith and the verse. But this is not what is intended. But this is for the knowledge of those who are fearful of their Lord. If you want to remember, you say La ilaha illa Allah... I took the hadith: “The best of what I and the prophets before me have said is La ilaha illa Allah, meaning pure tawhid (the oneness of Allah), La ilaha illa Allah, He alone has no partner, His is the dominion and His is the praise—and it has a continuation—He gives life and causes death, and He is Living and does not die, in His hand is the good, and He is over all things competent. Or the better one: La ilaha illa Allah, He alone has no partner, His is the dominion and His is the praise, and He is over all things competent.” I said, “O brothers, if we take this, then what are you singing, imitating the singing of the wicked? It became humming... and you are good people. And I am calling you to the word of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah in the two Sahihs, nothing else. This is what they sing, it is far from me... the nature. But I heard some of it and I was angry, may Allah preserve you... I said to him, “I did not hear it. Then if you read a part of the Qur'an, if we read it instead of this session, I do not say but I say: A letter, L letter, M letter, and with every letter are good deeds.
And this is better than what is being... O my brother, two authentic hadiths, as our Shaykh and scholar (may Allah preserve him and support him and extend his life) favored, and two verses also, we read the meanings and interpret... I said to him, “O my brother, I did not hear you. May Allah do you good. Say, O people, let us finish the discussion.” So some of them, who are ignorant like me, meaning around me were seven points. May Allah reward you with good. And we are very ready to hear and understand from you. So I sought forgiveness from Allah, and the owner of the house, my student’s cousin, came down to bid farewell to these people. So look, he returned faster than lightning. I said to him, “Did you bid them farewell?” He said, “Do you not know what happened? Good, if Allah wills. What happened? No, by Allah, I do not know.” He said, “O my brother, we do not know this one who shouted at you and said, ‘By force upon you.’ We do not know. A wheel struck and split his face and his head in two, and he was carried to the hospital, and he is still in the hospital.” I said, “By Allah, I did not rejoice. May Allah heal him and cure him and guide him.

The Shaykh : Amen.

The questioner : This is what I said and I swore an oath. I said, “I did not rejoice at what happened to him, but I ask Allah for his healing, well-being, and guidance.” They went to visit him. I do not know him; I attended the gathering for the first time, and they went to him after seven days in the hospital... and they did a surgery for him, we do not know what happened. So we are poor. A Shaykh came to listen to the hadith... Treasures. He said, “O so-and-so, we only found our fathers upon a religion... fifteen, eighteen. By Allah, I did not torment them, by Allah, I did not torment them, nor did I be harsh in my speech like some who call to guidance... No, I said, “O brothers, the noble, honorable verse, the hadith... So this was the answer. And glory to You, O Lord of Majesty, from what they describe, and peace upon the Messengers, and all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.