ADVICE TO THE SALAFIS AND SUFIS

From his book Sayd ul Khathir Sijin in which he explained some doctrinal mistakes and innovations which entered Sufism.

Excess on either side is blameworthy. The religion of Allah is the middle path, between exaggeration and laxism. There is nothing better than equity and abandoning excess.

It is from justice to say that, among the true sufis, there are scholars who are spiritual educators (rabbaniyyin)and among their followers you find what is needed for every Muslim in terms of sincere and profound love for Allah. The purification of tawhid is not complete without the delight in supplication and without love which feels the heart. The books of sufis are full of this.

Likewise, they have a real love for the Prophet (peace be upon him), so much so than one can reach the levels of love for him which you cannot find among others. Their writings on this topic are too many to mention them.

What pleasure is there in following the Sunnah in appearance without an emotional attachment to the Master of the Sunnah, without mentioning him and sending prayers on him, without praising him and without an intense desire to see him?

Multiplying Dhikr such as tasbih (subhanAllah), tahmid (al hamdulillah), multiplying acts of worship such as standing in prayer, fasting, invocation, recitation of the Quran... These are signs of sincerity in love and following. True sufis were known for this, and we met some who were like this.

Sufis have been known for their sincere love of Al al Bayt (the family of the Prophet, peace be upon him), for their appreciation of their merit and their attachment to their virtue. And this is at the heart of the Religion.

Sufis also have a refined character which no one can deny, except an arrogant one. What good is there in a practising person who has little manners and who is abrupt in nature?

Facing this, we find among some contemporary callers to the methodology of the pious predecessors who apparent following (of the religion) has no internal reality, to such extent that a sort of harshness has appeared in them, as well as dryness of their eyes and a lack in worship such as dhikr and salah. They reduced the love of the Prophet (peace be upon him) to the following of some external sunnah without diving into love and internal depth.

As for Al al bayt, their extremism in refuting the sufis and rafidha (shiite) brings you to thing they don't give much attention to the subject. Worse, you could even think than some are nawasib or close to that (those who disrespect the family of the Prophet (peace be upon him)).

As for their manner (adab) and morals (akhlaq), there is a great need to pay attention to this. They opposed the excess of some (ghuluw) by rudeness.

In summary, we can say that the points of divergence between those who call to the path of the pious predecessors and the Muhammadian Sunnah and those who call to the Sufi path and authentic "rabbani" spirituality (suluk) are:

Salafis were brought to do this out of their veneration to Allah, their purification of Tawhid, their fear of shirk, their reverence to the Sunnah and their rejection of innovations and invented matters.

Sufis were brought to do this out of love for Allah, His Messenger and anything attached to him.

Both objectives are praiseworthy and desirable.

We say to the salafis: you have lacked and restricted the Sunnah and its following. You have contradicted the methodology of the salaf in what I'm going to mention. I advise you to read their biographies in depth, in fairness and with reflection, then read these books:

* Madarij as salikin, Tariq al Hijratayn and the other sufi books by Ibn al Qayyim.

* The book Ash Shifa by Qadi Iyad, and what is similar to it among the books on the specifics and virtues of Al Mustafa, while constantly reading the noble Seerah

* The books mentioning the virtues of the family of the Prophet (peace be upon him) such as Istijab Irtiqail Ghuraf by As Sakhawi and As Sawa'iq al Muharriqah by Ibn Hajr al Makki. There is no harm in reading Muqatil al Talibiyin until you know how much they have sacrificed to grant victory to the Truth and spread the Sunnah.

* The books of adab and akhlaq such as Al Adab al shar'iyah by Ibn Muflih, the summaries of Al Ihya by Al Ghazali and the sharh Manzumatil Adab by Al Safarini and what is similar. You should also have look at the books pn manners of knowledge such as those by Al Khatib Al Baghdadi, Ibn al Jama'ah and others.

As for the sufis, I advise them:

* To read the biographies of the salaf and study the books of creed according to the methodology of the People of Sunnah and Athar. The most famous among them is "sharh usul I'tiqad Ahl al Sunnah wal Jama'ah" by al Hafidh Al Lalakai.

* To adjust their tasawuf by reading books such as the one by the regulator (muhtasib) of the jurists and sufis, Ahmad Zarrouq like Qawa'id al Tasawuf abd Uddat al Murid Al Sadiq.

* Read Ighathat ul Lahfan by Ibn al Qayyim and Al Madkhal by Ibn Al Hajj Al Abdariy

* Read Al Muammal fil Rad ilal Amril Awwal by Abu Shammah and the book Al Ba'ith ala Inkaril Bida wa Hawadith by Abu Bakr Al Tartushi ( two books on innovations by ashari scholars) and everything in Al I'tissan by Abu Ishaq Al Shatibi

* To abandon books on so-called spiritual realities abd false esoteric Quranic explanation, to reject them and not delve into them, for indeed it is similar to philosophy and speculative theology which the salaf strongly denounced. These are not part of Islamic sciences. Among those books are those by Ibn Arabi Al Hatimi, Ibn Sab'in, Ibn Quss, Al Qunyani and others.

* To suffice yourself with the authentic books of tasawuf by weighting them against the Book and the Sunnah.