The Misguidance of Ahmad Kiftarou and the Misguidance of His Naqshbandi Path

The Shaykh : The Naqshbandi path contains a misguidance that overwhelms the misguidance of all other paths. For example, when the disciple sits to remember Allah, he must visualize the shaykh in front of him, rather than keeping his Lord in mind.

The questioner : He keeps the shaykh in mind.

The Shaykh : He keeps the shaykh in mind. Their misguidance has reached the point where they place a picture of the shaykh in a prominent spot and direct their gaze to the shaykh in order to keep him in mind. More than that, they place a lamp on the picture.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : This is the Naqshbandi dhikr, he says.

The Shaykh : It is not permissible for the disciple to keep Allah in mind during worship because he has not yet reached Allah, and it is the shaykh who leads him to Allah.

The questioner: There is no power nor strength except with Allah.

The Shaykh : This is the dhikr of the Naqshbandis. I had a discussion with this shaykh, Ahmad Kiftarou himself, twenty or thirty years ago. We visited him at his home. It was a long discussion, and we had no real point in it. The point is, this man used to sit in some mosques, preach to people, teach them, and encourage the group in a very sweet manner. He would say: One of you might have, from what Allah has provided, orchards with lush vegetation, containing pairs of every kind of fruit. He enters and describes it, speaking in the Syrian dialect, gathering up the local apricots and the Hama apricots, and listing them until the end, and it never occurs to him to think of his shaykh.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : So, the greeting and salutation of the disciples to the shaykh must involve giving him something.

The questioner: It is known.

The Shaykh : I know two of our noble brothers. One is still alive and is in Riyadh, named Abd al-Rahman al-Bani, and the other passed away to the mercy of Allah, named Muhammad Amin al-Masri. They were students of the shaykh, among his disciples in the Sufi terminology. They would tell him, "We just visit the shaykh, do we put something in his hand or under his prayer mat?" He was begging in a very ugly way. He would say in the lesson, and this is a story that happened, he narrated to them the following: A shaykh from the Sufi shaykhs ordered one of his disciples one day to go and bring him his father's head, to kill his father. The disciple submitted and went. His father was sleeping next to his wife, meaning the mother of the child. He cut his head off his body and came to the shaykh, happy and delighted. Kiftarou was saying to the disciples present in the lesson, "The shaykh to whom the father's head was brought is saying to the student, smiling and laughing: 'Do you think, my son, that you actually slaughtered and cut off your father's head?'" He said, "It was, my master." He said, "Your father is traveling, may Allah guide you. The one whose head you cut off is the man who committed adultery with your mother. Do you think that I ordered you to kill your father?" This is a story he tells, oh, glory to Allah, in the lesson, full of lawyers and doctors and so on, and no one thinks about the misguidance in this story, especially when he built upon it the following. He told them, Shaykh Kiftarou, from here the corrupt educators say that it is not permissible for the disciple to criticize the shaykh, even if he sees a cross hanging around his neck. It is not permissible to criticize him because the shaykh sees what you do not see. Do you not see how the shaykh ordered the disciple to slaughter his father, and it turned out it was not his father? This story, my brothers, I heard in a lesson in Ramadan. We were at that time praying in a mosque in one of the old schools, the night prayer, the tarawih prayer. We were praying tarawih according to the Sunnah, eleven rak'ahs, whereas no one was praying eleven rak'ahs at that time. Praise be to Allah, there is no such thing in Syria...

The questioner : With the witr, my master.

The Shaykh : Yes, and here as well.

The questioner : With the witr, eleven rak'ahs.

The Shaykh : Yes, the point is, praise be to Allah, this Sunnah spread. The witness is that we were praying tarawih eleven rak'ahs. Then I had a shop where I repaired watches. It was the starting point of the da'wah. We would gather there and stay up late. One of our brothers, named Mahmoud al-Maydani, came to me telling me this story that Kiftarou told in the lesson, the story of the one who slaughtered his father, and what the shaykh built upon it, that if you see the shaykh with a cross around his neck, it is not permissible to criticize him. He was telling me this. The shaykh was sitting with me, and one of the disciples of Shaykh Kiftarou passed by, and he was a relative of our friend Mahmoud al-Maydani. I remember his name clearly, Abu Yusuf. He passed in front of the shop. Our friend ran and called out to him, "Abu Yusuf, Abu Yusuf." When he saw al-Albani's shop, he stopped and called out, "Come in." He was in a hurry. What was the summary? Out of shyness and bashfulness, he entered and sat... They discussed. Allahu Akbar. My friend said to his relative, "What do you think of the lesson tonight?" He said, "Masha'Allah, Masha'Allah, tajalliyyat." This is a Sufi word, of course, you know, they use it. In our area, it is called Bab Tuma. This is an eastern area of Damascus, mostly Christians. There is a large shop of a Christian who wrote a huge sign: "Tajalliyyat" (Ecstatic states). He is a seller of intoxicants. "Tajalliyyat." The Sufi says, "Masha'Allah, tajalliyyat." We complete it: "Tajalliyyat" (Ecstatic states) of a bottle. He said, "Tajalliyyat, Masha'Allah." He said, "What do you think of this story he told?" Glory to Allah, no sooner did he hear this question than he jumped up and said, "It is true that you, the Salafis, deny karamahs (miracles granted to righteous persons). We deny karamahs. This is a karamah of the shaykh." My friend began to discuss with his relative, Abu Yusuf, but my friend did not have much knowledge, only a little. So I was behind the shop's table. I stood up and sat with him. I began to speak to him, explaining to him, "Shaykh, this cannot be. This story is fabricated and contrived, and it is clearly a lie and slander." I tried to convince him. Among the things I said to him, I said, "Abu Yusuf, may Allah be pleased with you. Just think about this story. The story says: The shaykh said to him, 'Do you think this is your father? Your father is traveling. This is the man who committed adultery with your mother.' First of all: Is the man who committed adultery with the mother mentioned as being muhsan (married) or not? Because the Shari'ah distinguishes between a muhsan and a non-muhsan. If he is not muhsan, it is not permissible to kill him; rather, he is to be stoned. That is one aspect. On the other hand, the mother of the child is muhsanah (married). So how did the shaykh leave the muhsanah woman who committed zina (unlawful sexual intercourse) and did not establish the hadd (fixed punishment) on her, but established the hadd on a man who may not deserve death? It is clear, the story is clear."

The questioner : The shaykh does not come out to establish the hadd.

The Shaykh : That is another matter, and much more precise. Yes, he was not convinced. He was not convinced in the end. I said to myself, let me strike the sensitive witr. Look, how true it is that some people say, and they are right to add, that this is a communist word, that "religion is the opium of the people." This Sufi religion is undoubtedly the opium of the people. I said, "Abu Yusuf, now leave everything aside. If, just for a moment, very frankly, if your father... if the shaykh ordered you to slaughter your father, would you do it?" He, the poor man, jumped up, jumped up, and said to me, "I have not yet reached that station." I said to him, in the Syrian expression, "May Allah grant you a long life, you will not reach it. But think, Abu 'Ammar. He dreams of reaching a station where, if the shaykh tells him to slaughter his father, he will slaughter him. This is not opium, this is..."

The questioner : Opium.

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : Even stronger.

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar. This is Kiftarou. His lessons used to imprint on people the idea of submission. So he is submissive to Hafez al-Asad, walking in his train. And Hafez al-Asad, like all these rulers, except what Allah wills, must place a cane under their hands from among the shaykhs and scholars, so that even ordinary people say, "This shaykh is with him," and so on. And thus the Sufis were always a cause of misguiding the people. Historians in Algeria say that France did not enter Algeria and occupy it except by the instigation of the great shaykhs of the paths. Because when the French army commander entered Algeria, one of the Sufi shaykhs said, "I see al-Khidr walking in his train." So they imprint on them submission to the entry of the French army into Algeria. Thus, they were always with what? With the sinful rulers.

The questioner : Napoleon did not enter under the cloak of religion.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : Napoleon.

The Shaykh : Napoleon, he did so.

The questioner : He entered under the cloak of religion.

The Shaykh : Yes, like that.

The questioner : ... They turned out to be worse than the Nasirians.

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : Okay, Shaykh, regarding this shaykh, they say... it is possible for a son to kill his father so that he can marry his wife after him... like that, meaning... kill your father so that he can take his wife after him.

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar. Slow down. Can you hear the story of Shaykh Abu Ghazala, or what do you hear in it?

The questioner: No.

The Shaykh : Okay, finally, we have reached the point regarding Monday.