A word from Shaykh and Professor Ibrahim Shuqara on the excess of the Sufis with their shaykhs and the negligence of the Salafis in being polite with their scholars.

The Shaykh : Abu Malik: We see that people, or the students of the shaykhs who honor their shaykhs, stand up for them, and do things contrary to the Sunnah, are doing so out of politeness toward their shaykhs, in their opinion. And we see the other group, who do not stand up for their shaykhs, do not do this out of adherence to the etiquette of the Sunnah. And when we look at the reality and the situation, we find that the first group, who contradict the Sunnah by standing up and honoring their shaykh, is more polite with their shaykhs than the second group. Because the second group, when they do not do what the first group does and adhere to the Sunnah, they see over time that this etiquette which the first group does has had an effect on them, and in reality they become far removed from it. And this, of course, returns to two things in my opinion and estimation. The first thing returns to the fact that being influenced by the action of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), his saying, and his etiquette is a matter that requires souls that deal with these etiquettes, morals, sayings, and actions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in a manner befitting them, a psychological dealing. That is, he must respect the etiquette, action, and saying that came to us from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). We see that he does not deal with this etiquette with the intention that he is dealing with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). As for the second thing, and of course this arises in my opinion and estimation from a lack of understanding and insight into the Prophetic etiquette that the student of knowledge should adopt. Therefore, over time, we see that such a person or this group is tormented by the hands of the devils, and they are driven far away and excluded from the etiquette of the Sunnah, and it becomes a tongue of evil, or criticism, or disparagement, or blame, even towardThe Shaykh : the one from whom he took knowledge. This is the first matter. As for the second matter, it is that he sees, and having read what he read, and perhaps not exceeding a few pages or a small number of hadiths of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to understand them, he thinks himself a scholar with this amount that he took or read. So he must, with his knee, compete with the knee of the shaykh from whom he took knowledge briefly or a little. And from here I say, my experience with our brothers, or at least with a number of those we know, is that, and I say in plain terms, that they are impolite. They are impolite withThe Shaykh : the one from whom they took knowledge, or studied under his hand, or thought themselves to be taking from him. These people should learn the etiquette withThe Shaykh : just as they learn jurisprudence from him, in what is narrated from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), or in what he teaches them from the Book of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). And this leads me to say frankly that if there is excess with the first group, or in the first group, then the second group is negligent, especially with the great shaykhs who must be respected and valued, and that etiquette should carry them to protect their shaykhs in their hearts to the extent that they should be protectedThe Shaykh : for his knowledge and his ability to discipline these students. This is a comment that truly requires clarification or a reminder to our brothers. I do not say this in this gathering, for perhaps our brothers in this gathering are among those who are polite with their shaykhs. But I say it to other brothers, so that what is said here may reach them, and they may be upon the etiquette that they should be upon.

The Shaykh: May Allah reward you with good. This is a word of truth, and it is regrettable that we say it applies to many who claim affiliation with the Sunnah. And there is no doubt that the truth is a middle path between these and those. Those first ones, because of their distance from knowing the Sunnah, honor their shaykhs with whatever means of respect and honor come to their minds, without knowing that some of these means are contrary to the Sunnah, and some may be forbidden. And the reason is that their shaykhs have no knowledge, so their followers fall into such violations. Then, there may be among those shaykhs one who is pleased with such honor, even if he knows it is contrary to the Sunnah. The other group follows the Sunnah, but the reality is that in some matters they take the Sunnah as a means to neglect being polite with the shaykhs who taught them the Sunnah, and who had the first merit in guiding them to the Sunnah. And I believe that the reason for this neglect by these people of respecting their shaykhs and scholars is this intellectual and scientific awakening that woke people from that deep slumber, which is stagnation in following scholars without understanding. So their minds opened to following the Book and the Sunnah, and one of them began to search within the limits of his knowledge and found things in which he contradicted the majority. First, he followed them, then arrogance and conceit entered him, and he thought, as the professor hinted, that he was upon some knowledge. So he became independent in his understanding of knowledge and displayed to people that he does not belong to so-and-so, and that he has a special methodology. Even if he says this word so that he is not attacked, saying, "And even if he has a merit over us, but I have my plan and he has his plan." This is the cause, as I hinted, in many gatherings and sermons, that we have great interest and complete awakening in what the Muslim must be upon in following the Book and the Sunnah. And those who called to this methodology are many, and many, and praise be to Allah, in various Islamic lands. But with this scientific awakening, there were no truly trained scholars who would be upon the Book and the Sunnah and take charge of training people on this correct methodology in their public and private lessons. Since a day or two, I spoke with my son, this Abd al-Musawwar, and I said, since I was in Damascus, I noticed that the people's attention to our call and the following of many of them for it, there is something in their hearts of conceit, something of arrogance, and something of independence in understanding that leads them initially to not care about the opinion ofThe Shaykh : , and the end result is that he says, and as the professor said, he read some few books. If he is told, "You are contradicting so-and-so," he says, "This is my opinion and this is his opinion." And he does not understand, or does not know how to read, a verse from the Book of Allah or a hadith from the hadiths of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He has become one who says he has his opinion and the shaykh has his opinion. So what is lacking now in the Salafi community are men who combined correct knowledge with correct training. I believe that there are individuals in the Islamic world, even if they are few and lost in the midst of society, but they have their effect in reality. And this, which they call the awakening, is but an effect of the effects of these callers to the Book and the Sunnah. But there are no trainers in the true sense of the word. I believe, in addition to what Professor Abu Malik mentioned, that there are truly trainers among the Sufis. But they lack knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah, so they train them contrary to the Book and the Sunnah. And therefore we find these followers are submissive to their shaykhs in complete submission. And this, of course, is not of Islam in any way. But if thisThe Shaykh : If it had been based on the Book and the Sunnah, its impact would have been very profound on its followers and on those who follow them. This guidance and this influence on the hearts of people—there is no one among the Salafi da'is in the various parts of the Islamic world who can take the place of these people in nurturing their souls to follow the Book and the Sunnah. Because of this deficiency, which every researcher and every thinker studying the condition of youth in the Islamic world feels, one finds that these young people themselves, even if they carry the Salafi methodology, the Salafi idea, and the Salafi call, are influenced by some other calls. Why? Because they feel that they find in them the deficiency we are talking about now. For example, the Tabligh Jama'ah: no one can ever deny that they have an influence on many of the common Muslims. But this influence is not what Allah is pleased with, nor what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) called for, because it is an influence where, for instance, a man who did not pray started praying, or one who used to drink intoxicants became away from them. There is no doubt that this means reform with its effect and clarity. But if one of the true da'is, or others, were to dally with these people around what Allah sent the messengers and sent down the books for, which is the call to tawhid (the oneness of Allah), and they say, "We do not want to stir up differences among people," when these people corrupt more than they reform—this reform, if I may use the term, is a reform of behavior. To this degree, it exists among the Sufi shaykhs since hundreds of years, as it also exists in something similar among the monks and nuns. Because they call to the beauties and excellences of character, and they bring the verse they call the "Golden Verse": "If someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him your left, and if someone asks you for your garment, give him your cloak." This is not of the nature of Islam, in the normal case, if a Muslim calls to it. But we find that those who call in the style of monks and nuns have humility and modesty, and this is from Islam, but it is not Islam itself. Likewise, you find such things, and perhaps better than this, among the followers of the Sufis, but you also find with that the greatest misguidance. We lived what we lived in Damascus before we came to this country, and there were shaykhs known for Sufism and also known for their influence on people, just as we hear now about the Tabligh Jama'ah: so-and-so was such and such and became such and such, and so-and-so was such and such, and so on. But in their lessons, openly, they state that the murid (disciple) is before his shaykhThe Shaykh : like a dead person is before the one who washes him. Does this dead person have a will? Right or left? He is dead. And whoever says to his shaykh, "Why do you not succeed?" never succeeds. And if the student sees his shaykh having hung a cross around his neck, it is not permissible for him to object to him, becauseThe Shaykh : he sees what the murid does not see. And a story occurred in one of the Ramadans, twenty or thirty years ago, where a Naqshbandi shaykh gave a lesson, and in the lesson he told the following story to the attendees: One of the shaykhs in the past ordered one of his murids to go to the house and bring him his father's head. So he said, "At your service," and went and brought him his father's head. The shaykhThe Shaykh : smiled in the face of his student and said to him, "Your father is traveling. Is it reasonable that I would order you to kill your father? This is the man who is your mother's companion and cohabits with your mother in sin, so I ordered you to kill him." Hundreds were present at this lesson, including university-educated intellectuals, lawyers, and so on. Among them was a man named Abu Yusuf, a close relative of a friend of mine or a classmate of mine in primary school. He was present at this lesson. And it was our custom there, after praying tarawih, to pray in an abandoned mosque. I would pray tarawih eleven rak'ahs, then I would return to my shop, where some of our brothers would gather. One of them came to me and told me this story that theThe Shaykh : Naqshbandi had told. Shortly after, the man who was a relative of his, named Abu Yusuf from the group,The Shaykh : passed by. He called out, and he entered the shop. Our companion started asking him, saying, "How did you find the lesson tonight?" He said, "Mashallah, tajalliyyat (spiritual manifestations)." We have a joke there that we Salafis agreed upon. At the end of al-Qasi' street, which is a Christian quarter, there is a Christian who opened his shop and put up a large sign that says "Tajalliyyat with a cup." He sells intoxicants in it. So whenever we hear a Sufi say "tajalliyyat," we say "tajalliyyat with a cup." The point is, our companion took it upon himself to discuss this story with this Abu Yusuf. And naturally, he did not have the scientific preparation to convince the man, or at least to establish the proof against him. I saw it as my turn to enter the subject, and I was sitting behind the table where I work the hours. So I stood up to him and started talking to him. But if the wall understands you, he understands. We hear that you deny the karamat (miracles granted to a righteous person) of the awliya (close friends of Allah) and the righteous ones. And from this speech, finally, and here is the point: I said to myself, since this man does not understand, I said to him, "O man, it is clear that the story is fabricated. If theThe Shaykh : boy was ordered on the surface to kill his father, but the truth is his father is traveling, and the one killed is? The man who is his mother's companion. So why did he establish the hadd (fixed punishment)The Shaykh : on the fornicator and leave the mother, who is a fornicator and has a child, so she is muhsan (married), and she certainly deserves death? As for the fornicator, it is possible it was like this and possible it was like that. So the story is clearly fabricated. He did not understand and said,The Shaykh : "That is how he told it." I said, "Here I strike the sensitive chord, and here is the point. Come, Abu Yusuf, let us be frank in the matter. Now, ifThe Shaykh : you were ordered to slaughter your father, would you do it?" Allahu Akbar. What did he say? He jumped up and said, "I have not reached that station." I said to him, "You will never reach it." This is a Syrian expression we have. And he left, turning his back. I think that in his mind, from the lessons and the injections he was being given, he wishes that he would reach a station where he kills his father ifThe Shaykh : he is ordered to. Without a doubt, this is a very terrible influence from these people. If some of this influence were from some of the Salafi preachers who know what Allah has forbidden and what He has made lawful, the scale would have been balanced, and we would not have found such self-deluded people who become arrogant, and whose inner state says, "O earth, be hard, no one is above you." Perhaps you have heard about the Endowments session last Thursday and what happened in it?
Abu Malik: By Allah, my Shaykh, I hear, but I do not know what is going on in these sessions, and I do not ask.

The Shaykh : I will make it easy for you. The point is, these people are planning, may Allah guide them, I mean.
Abu Malik: Or take them.

The Shaykh : Or take them.
Abu Malik: The second one is better.

The Shaykh : The point is, they are planning a plan to respond to the Salafis. Allahu Akbar. They brought this ugly vagrant, Hasan al-Saqaf. They brought him for a purpose. It appearsThe questioner : that he was also paid by them from the complete planning. He raised the issue that you object to the imams of the mosques and the preachers of the mosque that they lengthen the khutbah (sermon) and open the khutbah with "Praise be to Allah, we praise Him..." My brother, instead of lengthening this, what is this? It is not fard (obligatory) or anything. Shorten the khutbahs. And the Messenger of Allah said, and so on...
Abu Malik: This, my Shaykh, the minister stated it on television.

The Shaykh : They are receiving it from him. The point is, one man stood up and said to them, "Since you are encouraging people to such reforms, why do you not order the mu'adhdhins (the one who calls to prayer) to call the adhan (the call to prayer) twice in the Fajr (the dawn prayer)? This is a matter agreed upon by the scholars. And why do you say this is a good sunnah (recommended practice) and a good bid'ah (religious innovation), when Islam says every bid'ah is misguidance? Answer us." That was how it was.The questioner .
Abu Malik: Who isThe questioner ؟

The Shaykh : One of the preachers, one of the employees. It appears that he was paid, as evidenced by the fact that one man stood up from behind the people and said, "I will answer." Who is it? Hasan al-Saqaf. He is not an employee or anything; they brought him. So it was said to him, "Please, please." I do not know, the manager who was there said to him, "Please." So he started talking, talking with deep ignorance, as you know about him. Then he naturally resorted to my person and my ignorance, and that I made a mistake in such and such a book and in such and such a book. Who is there, is there Rida al-Masri? Do you know him? And your old friend, 'Abd al-Fattah 'Umar. May Allah guide them all.
Abu Malik: We say, may Allah guide him.

The Shaykh : Rada stood up and objected to Hasan al-Saqaf. Why are you bringing up people's pasts? This is a noble scholar. Look at these strange methods. We studied under him, and he came to my house twice. He says in front of people that I went to his house twice.
Abu Malik: Who is this?

The Shaykh : Rada al-Masri is responding to Hasan al-Saqaf, asking why he is attacking me. This is our teacher and Shaykh, and we learned from him, and so on. He came to my house and visited me there twice.
Abu Malik: Okay, why is this?

The Shaykh : He takes pride in it and displays his status.The Shaykh : He respects him to the extent that he visited me in my home twice. But look at what is behind it? But we have our opinion, and he has his. We do not follow him.
Abu Malik: This is Rada.

The Shaykh : Yes. After him, 'Abd al-Fattah stood up, may Allah guide us and him, on the same wavelength but more clearly. He said something worse, mentioning that I am his Shaykh and that he benefited from me, but that he has his own methodology and I have mine. It is as if he became an imam in front of people today, as if he atoned for his sin today, as if he pointed out the apparent, and Allah knows best how you say such things and so on. And then he said that I meant, in the previous gathering, such and such. I only want to confirm thatThe Shaykh : our teacher.