What is your opinion regarding Sufism and the Sufis, given that Islamic history has preserved for us, without limit, men from the graduates of Sufism whom neither trade nor commerce distracts from the remembrance of Allah?
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The questioner : This episode is a message received from a listener, a listener named Nizam al-Din Pakistani, who says: What is your opinion, O honorable Shaykh, regarding Sufism and the Sufis, given that Islamic history has preserved for us, without limit, men from the graduates of Sufism whom neither trade nor commerce distracts from the remembrance of Allah? This is a fact that does not require further research, so we ask you to answer regarding this?
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. As for what follows, the best of speech is the Book of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and the worst of matters are their innovations, and every innovation is a religious innovation, and every religious innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire. Perhaps this sermon is sufficient as an answer to this question. That is because the Sufi path is an innovated path for which Allah has not sent down any authority. It is not upon the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), nor upon his Rightly Guided Caliphs, nor upon the rightly guided Imams. And it, the Sufi path, is on varying levels, some of which lead to explicit disbelief, and some of which lead to open sinfulness. And with that, it varies greatly, and it is not possible for us to rule upon it with a general ruling that encompasses all its levels. But I say, instead of a person exhausting himself in this Sufi path, its visualization, and acting according to its terminology, let him exhaust himself in the path of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), his Rightly Guided Caliphs, and the rightly guided Imams, until the truth becomes clear to him and he follows it, and he worships Allah with knowledge and insight. Because the Sufi path is built either on ignorance of the Shari'ah, in which case it is blindness and misguidance, or on persistence and stubbornness, in which case it is arrogance and disdain. And all of that is not acceptable to a Muslim in his religion. And I point out, rather I advise my brother the questioner, to avoid this path and to look to the sound path built upon the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). In it is sufficiency and guidance, and other than it, the paths are misguidance and blindness. We ask Allah for safety.
The questioner : O Allah, amen. May Allah bless you.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. As for what follows, the best of speech is the Book of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and the worst of matters are their innovations, and every innovation is a religious innovation, and every religious innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire. Perhaps this sermon is sufficient as an answer to this question. That is because the Sufi path is an innovated path for which Allah has not sent down any authority. It is not upon the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), nor upon his Rightly Guided Caliphs, nor upon the rightly guided Imams. And it, the Sufi path, is on varying levels, some of which lead to explicit disbelief, and some of which lead to open sinfulness. And with that, it varies greatly, and it is not possible for us to rule upon it with a general ruling that encompasses all its levels. But I say, instead of a person exhausting himself in this Sufi path, its visualization, and acting according to its terminology, let him exhaust himself in the path of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), his Rightly Guided Caliphs, and the rightly guided Imams, until the truth becomes clear to him and he follows it, and he worships Allah with knowledge and insight. Because the Sufi path is built either on ignorance of the Shari'ah, in which case it is blindness and misguidance, or on persistence and stubbornness, in which case it is arrogance and disdain. And all of that is not acceptable to a Muslim in his religion. And I point out, rather I advise my brother the questioner, to avoid this path and to look to the sound path built upon the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). In it is sufficiency and guidance, and other than it, the paths are misguidance and blindness. We ask Allah for safety.
The questioner : O Allah, amen. May Allah bless you.