What is the position of Islam regarding the Sufis?
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The questioner : What is the position of Islam regarding the Sufis?
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
The Sufis are a term said to be derived from *safa* (purity), or from *safa* (the elite), or from *suf* (wool), the last being the most likely because, when they first appeared, they wore woolen garments as a sign of asceticism and renunciation of the world. Sufism has multiple paths, some of which sometimes lead to explicit disbelief, as they reach the claim of the unity of existence, asserting that they do not perceive the Lord, and believing that everything perceived from the signs of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) is Allah Himself. There is no doubt that this is explicit disbelief. Some of them deviate from Islam to a lesser degree, and they vary in their levels of deviation. I advise the questioner to read the book "This is Sufism" by Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman al-Wakil (may Allah have mercy on him), because in this book he explained the state of the Sufis who claim to be people of purity and knowledge of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), when in reality they are the most ignorant of people regarding Allah, for the most knowledgeable of people regarding Allah is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), then his righteous successors in this community, then those who follow them with excellence; these are the ones who know Allah best.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And whoever follows a path other than their path, he has a share of ignorance of Allah the Exalted proportional to his distance from the path of these, that is, the path of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Rightly Guided Caliphs.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : He asked his servant Ali al-Hamadi.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
The Sufis are a term said to be derived from *safa* (purity), or from *safa* (the elite), or from *suf* (wool), the last being the most likely because, when they first appeared, they wore woolen garments as a sign of asceticism and renunciation of the world. Sufism has multiple paths, some of which sometimes lead to explicit disbelief, as they reach the claim of the unity of existence, asserting that they do not perceive the Lord, and believing that everything perceived from the signs of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) is Allah Himself. There is no doubt that this is explicit disbelief. Some of them deviate from Islam to a lesser degree, and they vary in their levels of deviation. I advise the questioner to read the book "This is Sufism" by Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman al-Wakil (may Allah have mercy on him), because in this book he explained the state of the Sufis who claim to be people of purity and knowledge of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), when in reality they are the most ignorant of people regarding Allah, for the most knowledgeable of people regarding Allah is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), then his righteous successors in this community, then those who follow them with excellence; these are the ones who know Allah best.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : And whoever follows a path other than their path, he has a share of ignorance of Allah the Exalted proportional to his distance from the path of these, that is, the path of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Rightly Guided Caliphs.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : He asked his servant Ali al-Hamadi.