What is the difference between the Salafi approach and the Sufi approach?

The Shaykh : So we eat it on our sides and remain silent.

The questioner : The issue we were discussing with your eminence is the harshness of the Salafis or the Salafi approach, and the transparency of the Sufi approach. Of course, we know the fault right now; the result of it is harshness. The important thing is to address this topic, to address it in such a way that we accept the transparency of the Sufi branch approach, so that we convince people. As soon as you speak with people, they say to you, "My brother, your style is dry." You go to listen to a Sufi preacher, and he tells you how he is sitting, and that seeking knowledge is not important, but this style has become the understanding of people. The result we want to reach is to untie the knot so that the style becomes acceptable to people?

The Shaykh : This is not what we were talking about, Abu Munir. But this requires many people, many scholars. Each one... do not hold me to this now if I am bent over research and verification. I am not able to be a preacher, nor am I able to be a orator, nor... and so on. But there should be dozens of people like me who have the direction that we feel is lacking in the Salafi group. We cannot fulfill every obligation ourselves. Is this clear or not?

The questioner : It is clear. Of course, we are not personally demanding work on this, but rather clarifying a specific path or a specific thing, meaning the path of addressing the topic. It does not mean that you address the topic yourself. For example, a thousand preachers, a thousand mosques in Jordan, for example, or in the world...?

The Shaykh : What you are asking for requires people.

Another questioner : And it is permissible for there to be no Salafi school, meaning in the known system, like, for example, the Sufi direction or any other movement, for example, the existence of a specific gathering. The Sufis or the Salafis emerged in a known situation of rejection, in a situation where everyone rejects it. Many young people want to establish their status, so they naturally become rejecters due to the absence of a Salafi school or gathering that brings together Salafi youth. It seems to me that with the existence of a Salafi gathering, the process of regulating the youth with their sheikhs would occur, or this is more than being a separate school.

The Shaykh : This is true. But do you think that this Salafi gathering you are describing will be found by one person, or five, or ten?

The questioner : No, of course not.

The Shaykh : So we will return to the observation you made. Yes.

The questioner : And indeed, what you said, Abu Malik, you truly... but it is unfortunate that the few you praised regarding the honor and...The Shaykh : For example, you labored for a group of people, and they did not appreciate this knowledge and turned their backs. What you said is correct, meaning you want to say that about eighty percent of the reality we are in, and twenty percent remain, Allah knows what they are saying to the people who turned their backs. And even I told some of them that instead of Fajr, we should do it between Maghrib and Isha. This is what I understood from what you intended. And indeed, you labored a lot, and we benefited a lot, and they benefited, but there is no heart and correct strength to follow the Sunnah except...
Abu Malik: I want to tell you, and I do not want to cut off your speech, and your words are connected. I never imagined myself in myself, but I mean, it is a general statement, because this is truly the thing that exists in our lives, unfortunately. One of the things I always speak about continuously is that I come to the sessions where I am able to meet the brothers, and I know that they truly speak ill of you, our Shaykh, with sharp tongues. And if only they would speak ill of you and say, for example, "By Allah, there is something in him..."The Shaykh : For example, from a behavioral aspect, he does not like something in...The Shaykh : For example, no, the problem is, they speak ill of his knowledge. This is the ugliest thing, that "By Allah, he is our scholar, and we are scholars, my brother." And then, unfortunately, they were influenced by the common saying on the tongues of many in the Islamic world that...The Shaykh : "A scholar in hadith is on the head and eyes," but my brother, where does he get his fiqh from? This is the calamity, this is the great disaster. It is not from Muhammad Shuqra next to...The Shaykh : Nasser? Muhammad Shuqra's knowledge is not mentioned next to...The Shaykh : Nasser. This is an established matter, there is nothing in it. If they said about Muhammad Shuqra, "By Allah," it would be very acceptable to me, and I would accept it upon myself, and by Allah, I would submit to it completely. But for it to be said about...The Shaykh : ...? By the great Allah, it is a word of sin and a great lie and slander in hadith and criticism. Therefore, what I want to say is that the wasted word we preserve from our youth, which is attributed to 'Umar, and I do not think it is authentic, "Whoever taught me a letter, I am his slave." I mean, this word, when I come now, now knowledge...The Shaykh : has become transferred to all corners of the world. If it is not in the book in the cassette, if it is not in the recorded cassette, in an article in a magazine, in an interview, in a small message, even then, I come to this knowledge that has filled the earth with knowledge, and I come and speak about...The Shaykh : and criticize it. This is a lack of manners. When I want to take an issue from...The Shaykh : the students of knowledge in the previous centuries, one of them would utilize from one reading to another, not to spend days and years and nights with...The Shaykh : but for one issue to teach him, then he would return to his country and say, "I took from this..."The Shaykh : We are now in Amman...The Shaykh : he tells us about some issues, the issue of standing in prayer, the issue of the beard, the issue of the garment, many things. He tells about them, I speak about the ruling in the Shari'ah and clarify it, and then many are indifferent to it and are not affected.The Shaykh : How can he educate in these issues and other issues that are exemplified in...The Shaykh : and we see them exemplified in him? This at least creates something of an educational meaning within the soul and behavior. So where is this? This is not present, unfortunately, not present at all. For example, we know that...The Shaykh : it is possible to benefit from times of knowledge, he comes to his session, we find some people or some of our brothers that...The Shaykh : will attend. We find, glory be to Allah, that even the questions themselves are the ones that are repeated in one of the sessions. Why? Because there is no permanent attendance among those who love at least...The Shaykh : So, if the school you are talking about were in a mosque other than Salah al-Din, and this is what we are trying to get at, the fact is that from the day Salah al-Din Mosque was established until now, what has been said in the morning lessons could have taught the *ummah* (the Muslim community) the Friday sermons. No, I am not saying that I am the owner of a school of Friday sermons; I am not saying that. But the Friday sermons are also methodological sermons, scholarly sermons, sermons that could serve as lessons for many future years, and yet we do not see their effect on the souls of these people. This is because the attendance is not individual attendance, but purely physical presence. Then they tell you, "My brother, it is regrettable, my brother, this talk is repeated and repeated, as if they have become better than the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), where one of them would sit for hours over a single issue to learn it." We now finish with it in our heads but do not embody it in our behavior, in our souls, so it is lost from us and we are lost from it. Therefore, may Allah reward you, these lessons in Salah al-Din Mosque and the Friday sermons, if they were in conscious minds, present hearts, and souls inclined toward good, all of this would be considered a provision and a great accumulation of knowledge that could benefit a person in the future. So, the school needs an initial psychological conviction. And then you know that I am in Salah al-Din Mosque, even with those who strongly disagree, where one of them has spent ten years listening to the issue, and it is repeated from time to time. Even with these people, I do not come to criticize openly in front of people and say, "So-and-so, you did such and such." I do not say that. And I know a lot, a lot, and I know, as your uncle mentioned, may Allah reward him with good, that they nibble at me with their tongues behind my back. I know this. If the matter were with someone else, I might have done things and things. But, praise be to Allah, our Lord gave me patience and gave me knowledge. I do not strive to dispense it for myself, but, if Allah wills, it is for Allah the Exalted. And so, if Allah wills, I am not affected. So, I did not mean myself in this talk, but I meant the truth, my Shaykh. We must not exalt it as these people you referred to from the beginning exalt it, but it must be respected. How was the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), who said about himself: No one would stand up for him. But it is true that when the Qur'an says: , it disciplines him with this discipline and says, "Do not raise your voices." This great Qur'anic etiquette, we must transfer at least a model of it to our Shaykhs. This is not present, unfortunately. Education requires something; it requires that a person sees the educational behavior in the limbs of the person who embodies this educational aspect. This is one thing. The second thing is that someone mentions this saying, this action, this error, and this correctness. This is present, unfortunately, but the innate psychological dispositions are not present. And I am certain that if I were one of those people in Salah al-Din Mosque, from the Sufi group, you would find all of these people accepting me. They would not just accept my hand, no, they would accept my feet. Why? Because I spent eleven years with them, so they must exalt me.The Shaykh : With a very great exaltation. ButThe Shaykh : one is not asked about his exaltation, but rather about the benefit of these people to the extent that he strives for them.

The questioner : I mean, by Allah, in the time we are in, twenty percent of those present in the mosque...
Abu Malik: Abu 'Adnan, excuse me, I am not talking about twenty or ten. One is enough for me, but one is enough for me. But may Allah bless you. I will answer Brother Ahmad and clarify to him that, also, what saddens the soul is why our Lord said to His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): Why did He say that to him? It was not because of the pain of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) for them. So, did I feel pain? Did I not feel pain for myself? "Perhaps you will kill yourself after them." This is the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). So what about humans who find themselves sometimes speaking as if they are speaking to walls and pillars? This is a calamity.

The questioner : Do you allow us, Abu Malik? It has been about ten years since we have been sitting and reading the Qur'an in the mosque on Friday between Maghrib and 'Isha'. So, when we first started reading the Qur'an, all the matters that had passed were not according to the Sunnah; this is how we learned it and this is how we were accustomed to it. When we started to understand the principles of the correct Sunnah, when we started to speak, and we were ten, twelve people, one, two, first... they started saying, "All our lives in Sham (Syria) it was like this and like this, and we are like this, and you want to change..." Third year.
Abu Malik: Oh Abu 'Adnan, we need to tell you something. Do you know what my consolation in Salah al-Din Mosque is? It is the presence of the noble brothers like you and like Abu Munir. This is first. Second, my consolation is that I reside in this mosque because I work to apply the Sunnah as much as I am able to do so. Third, that the application of this Sunnah, even if the visitors to this mosque do not act upon it, at least they hear about it and it is transmitted to the people outside the mosque. It is said, "By Allah, in Salah al-Din Mosque, such and such from the Sunnah is done." This is what consoles me in Salah al-Din Mosque. Otherwise, I know, and Allah knows, by Allah, my brothers, by the great oath of Allah, nothing prevents me from leaving Salah al-Din Mosque except my concern for the preservation of the Sunnah in it. Otherwise, by Allah, I am distressed in the house where I live. By Allah, I am distressed and I endure a lot, I and my children, for the sake of our remaining in this mosque. But out of my concern that no innovator comes, and of course, the greatest joy would be if I left this mosque, it would be a great joy.

The questioner : I mean, from our brothers?
Abu Malik: No, not from our brothers in the mosque, no, not from some of them. Because I am certain that all our brothers do not want me to leave them.

The Shaykh : I think they do. Did they not try?
Abu Malik: There is no doubt, and it would be a great joy for them. So, Allah knows, from this perspective, I am concerned to remain in the mosque, perhaps Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, will provide for me one who will perform the application of the Sunnah. So, I counter this concern sometimes with some of the brothers with something that is, in the opinion of the proverb, "one ear is dough and the other is clay." I mean, one of the things is that when I wanted to go to Jeddah, and I do not want to go to Jeddah, the people who cared about this issue, even from our brothers inside the mosque, were very few. What does it mean to them that Abu Malik left or Abu Malik came? It is as if it means nothing to them. But I am as certain as I am that if Abu Malik leaves this mosque, they will know the favor of Allah upon them with the Sunnah upon which they gathered. And if this Sunnah is left, or if it is worked to abandon and bury it and keep it away from this mosque, this will be due to one reason only, which in my estimation is my leaving this mosque. Because, praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, our Lord protected us from their harm and kept their evil away from us and let us be patient and endure what befalls us of harm. And this is from the favor of Allah upon us. Therefore, from this perspective, I say, oh Brother Abu 'Adnan, Salah al-Din Mosque has no counterpart in the Kingdom now. It has no counterpart in the Kingdom at all, despite the little influence it has. But, praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, we always thank Allah that there is a mosque that revives this Sunnah.

The questioner : ... ten years ...
Abu Malik: Excuse me, I said that this is one of our consolations that this Sunnah is heard about from outside the mosque. I honestly heard repeatedly that Salah al-Din Mosque is not just a mosque, it is a school. A school with what? A school with what is in it of exaltation and application of the Sunnah...

The Shaykh : I mean, as all mosques should be.
Abu Malik: Oh my master, just pray to our Lord that He will keep us firm upon the truth and prolong the life of our Shaykh, and may Allah reward him for us and for Islam and the Muslims with good, and bless him in his children and his offspring and his descendants.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good.
Abu Malik: And may it suffice him from the evil of his enemies, if Allah wills. By Allah, O our Shaykh, I swear by the Great Allah, O our Shaykh, a few days ago one of the security officials visited me and said to me, "We are very sorry; we have been rude to the Shaykh." He said, "By Allah, but we were rude to him before we knew what Islam is." By Allah, he said, "Praise be to Allah, now we have come to know, and our horizons have expanded with Islamic culture, and we have come to know who is..."The Shaykh : ...Nasser, and who is so-and-so among the people in this country; and praise be to Allah, meaning that now the image has been removed by the grace of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, and this is of the wisdom to which Allah has guided our hearts, if Allah wills. So praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds; this is a blessing...

The Shaykh : ...Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds...

The Shaykh : ...it surrounds him. Is there any doubt that it is in the category of marfu' (traced to the Prophet)? When is that the case? When there is no room to say it is merely opinion and independent legal reasoning (ijtihad). This is the first condition. And the second condition, or before I mention the second condition, the first condition actually returns to a hidden matter, and among its meanings are prohibition and permission. But this hidden matter is divided into two parts: a part that relates to the Islamic Shari'ah, and a part that relates to what preceded the Shari'ah from the abrogated laws...