Tasawwuf - Sufism

Sincerely Directed Towards Allah

The Prophet of Islam (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said:
”If you knew what I know you would laugh less and cry more.”
Bukhāri from ʿA'isha

Tasawwuf or Sufism is sincerity, without which there is no understanding the soul, and no understanding of God.

Stacks Image 525
1st. stage: takhliyya
Emptying the soul of bad qualities

2nd. stage: tahliyya
Adorning the soul with good qualities

3rd. +last stage: tajliyya
Where you begin to have spiritual experiences that strengthen your faith.

Everyone wants the last stage before going through the first two stages.

NB: Sufism, Tasawwuf is a contested term. Sufism is not what you see in many countries in the world today.

Problems with modern Sufis - Sh Hamza Yusuf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaFecw1iqvE

Sufism Islam

Sufism [from Quran & Sunnah] is the practical implementation of Islam.

There is no Tasawwuf except it is in accordance with Quran & Sunnah.

Tasawwuf = Sufism is a knowledge through which one knows the states of the human soul, praiseworthy or blameworthy, how to purify it from the blameworthy and ennoble it by acquiring the praiseworthy qualities, and to journey and proceed to Allah - Most High, fleeing unto Him [by taking a spiritual path - tarîq ].

Sufism is not as people think; merely gathering together to engage in remembrance and recite litanies.

What many are unaware of is that Sufism is a complete and practical method for transforming people from loathsome (i.e. causing hatred or disgust; repulsive) individuals to complete and model human beings.

This is all done through having sound faith, sincere worship, good and correct actions, and virtuous character. ​ ”Many calamities have befallen the Ummah during the last 200 years, but one of the worst has been the rejection of Tasawwuf.”

 more on Tasawwuf

Sufism: The Heart of Islam

Sufism is the spirit of the Islamic religion and its quintessential reality and character. It is the pillar of purification, and is expressed as ihsān (excellence) in the rigorously authentic Hadīth report.[1].

The scholars of the Sufis are the genuine followers of the salaf due to the fully connected chains leading back to them. This is the fact of the matter and it is not a mere claim. They are the Muḥammadan inheritors; those in whom Allah has gathered the inheritance of Sacred Knowledge and the inheritance of spiritual states.

The Scholars of the Sufis, They Are the Genuine Followers of the Salaf; Sh 'Abd al-Hadi Kharsa

[1] "to worship Allah as if you see Him…"
 The Gibril - hadith

none
none

Two Aspects of the Religious Law (Shariʿah)

The science of the religious law (Shariʿah) has an internal as well as an external aspect and inculcates inward as well as outward actions. The outward actions are bodily, such as hunger, fasting, almsgiving and the like, while the inward actions, or the actions of the heart, are faith, sincerity, knowledge of God, etc.

none

The esoteric science signifies the science of the actions of the interior which depend on the interior organ, namely, the heart (al-qalb ) and is identical with Sufism. ​ The inward aspect of religion is the necessary complement of the outward aspect, and vice versa. Both aspects are inherent in the Quran, in the Traditions of the Prophet ﷺ , and in Islam itself.

 Abu Nasr Abdallah b. Ali al-Sarrâj al-Tusi; Kitab al-luma fi l-Tasawwuf

Sufism is a science by means of which you learn how to behave in order to be in the presence of the ever-present Lord through purifying your inner being and sweetening it with good actions. The path of Sufism begins as a science, its middle is actions and its end is divine gifts.
Ahmad Ibn ‘Ajiba

 Is Sufism something new, not practiced by the Prophet ﷺ ?

Sayings of the Masters: تصوف

  • Who is a Sufi (mutaṣawwif)?

    The mutasawwif is he that seeks to become a Sufi, bi-idhni-Allah. They are the vast majority, Sufis are the most excelling ones.

    The Sufi is he whose language, when he speaks, is the reality of his state.

    Sufism is the renunciation of all selfish pleasures.

    The Sufi is he that has nothing in his possession nor is himself possessed by anything.

    The Sufi is he that sees nothing except God in the two worlds.

  • Regarding The Heretics

    As for the would-be-Sufi (mutasawwif) claimants who are nescient of the Sharia or not even concerned by it: they are also heretics and completely undesirable no matter how big they grow their beard, turban, jubba, or voice!

    Sh. G F Haddad in The Scholars of the Sufis

  • Al-Ghazali on Sufism

    The Sufi path consists in cleansing the heart from whatever is other than Allah…

    The Sufis are the seekers in Allah's Way, and their conduct is the best conduct, and their way is the best way, and their manners are the most sanctified. They have cleaned their hearts from other than Allah and they have made them as pathways for rivers to run, carrying knowledge of Allah.

  • Tasawwuf = fard 'ayn

    Al-Ghazali declared tasawwuf to be a fard 'ayn or personal obligation upon every legally responsible Muslim man and woman, 'as none but Prophets are devoid of internal defects and diseases.'



     Tasawwuf Shuyukh

  • Al-Shafiʿi said:

    ​ I accompanied the Sufis and received from them but three words:

    □ their statement that time is a sword: if you do not cut it, it cuts you;

    □ their statement that if you do not keep your ego busy with truth it will keep you busy with falsehood;

    □ their statement that deprivation is immunity.

  • Sufism (tasawwuf) is 3
    1. a knowledge through which one knows the states of the human soul, praiseworthy or blameworthy,

    2. how to purify it from the blameworthy and ennoble it by acquiring the praiseworthy [qualities], and

    3. to journey and proceed to Allah - Most High, fleeing unto Him [by taking a spiritual path - tarīq ].

  • Religion Is an Orchard

    Religion (al-dīn) is an orchard of which the fence is the Law (al-sharīʿa), the inner grove is the Path (al-tarīqa), and the fruit is the Reality (al-haqīqa).

    Whoever has no Law has no Religion; whoever has no Path has no Law; and whoever has no Reality has no Path.
    Shaykh al-ʿArusi

  • Advice by Shaykh Ibn Mashish

    O Ali, God is God and men are men. Keep your tongue from the mention of them, and your heart from inclining before them, and be careful to guard the members (jawarih) and to fulfill the divine ordinances; thus the friendship (wilaya) of God is perfected in you. Have no remembrance of them except under obligation that duty to God imposes on you; thus your scrupulousness is perfected. Then say: …

     go deeper

  • The Sufis are a folk who have firmly grasped the Book and the Sunna, and have taken the Master of the Messengers—may the peace and prayers of Allah be upon him—as their Imam and example. They have taken the longing for the Divine, the inspirations of the Qur’anic spirit, and the exemplary Muhammadan model as means of gnosis, paths for spiritual wayfaring, and ways of arriving unto the Divine. They have presented to the world the strongest, most scrupulous, most guided, and firmest examples of spiritualism and faith.
    The Scholars of The Sufis; Sh Abd al-Hadi Kharsa; p 35

Cafes in Damascus, Syria 1830s

Cafes in Damascus Syria 1830s Samda Kahve

white area
white area
none

Islam - Iman - Ihsan

Three fundamental components of our religion:

none

Allah gave us a religion fit for all these three elements; Islam for the body, faith (Iman) for the mind and excellence (Ihsan)* for the spirit. Hence, a full integration is essential between these three elements so as to have a balanced human being. This balance is the only way to help us (to act correctly) and with this humanity can be set straight. If we become inclined to one element more than the others we instantly fall out of balance.
*Without Ihsan, Iman and Islam there is no tasawwuf.

Whoever falters in the pillar of Ihsān - then his religion is deficient.
 The Formation Of Sufism As A Science, Sh. ´Abd Al-Qadir ´Isa

Excellence is all about Self-Purification
http://www.dar-alifta.org/Foreign/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=1859&CategoryID=3

Islam's Universal Values - Sh Hamza Yusuf
https://youtu.be/Fsa_ss-3UGY?t=666

none

Disclaimer

There is no Tasawwuf except it is in accordance with Quran & Sunnah.

Shorturl of this page: http://bit.ly/_tswf