Fundación Mezquita de Sevilla Fundación Mezquita de Sevilla y Centro Cultural Islámico de Sevilla®
The title of today’s talk, of today’s conference, is the function of tasawwuf, of Sufism, as the protector of society against extremism.
I’ll start by talking about what extremism is, which means ‘pushing something to its limit, to its extreme, or the fact that something is extreme, or advocating for measures or having opinions that are extreme’.
Today, the word “extremism” in the media is used especially in the religious sense, and especially in reference to the Muslim religion.
It obviously has a negative and pejorative character, and is used to contrast it with what moderate Islam would be.
It also has other names, such as radicalism, fundamentalism, reactionarism or fanaticism.
One of the characteristics – I am basing myself now on how it is portrayed in the mass media, not on how it is in reality – is that it would advocate the use of violent practices in order to achieve and achieve its objectives and goals.
Some call it “jihadism”, which is the same problem as always: how words are used.
In traditional Islam, when studying Fiqh, one of the chapters, usually when the ‘ibadat is over, is the chapter on jihad.
Jihad has its rules and norms, established by the book of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, and the sunna of his Messenger, SAWS, and expounded, analyzed, expanded and interpreted by the ‘ulema of the four universally recognized legal schools in the Islam of Ahl as-Sunna wa al-Jama’a, which in some academic circles like to call “orthodox Islam.”
Jihad, as explained in its traditional way, has nothing to do with the tactics and means that these groups, referred to by the media as jihadists, carry out.
Therefore, the name jihadist is not correct, just as it is not correct to say Islamic terrorism.
This is what the media and many academic media outlets show about, or is the fruit of, their analysis and exposure of what this extremist Islam is.
The reality is that we have, first, to establish what the center is in order to know what the extreme is, because extremism can be a relative issue, depending on where one is situated.
So we are going to determine where the center is, and we are going to do it on the basis of what Allah says, subhanahu wa ta ‘ala, and what the Prophet says, SAWS.
Allah, subhanahu wa ta ‘ala, says: “Thus We have made you a community in the middle, so that you may bear witness to the people and that the Messenger may bear witness to you.” The Prophet says, “A community in the middle,” in the sense that it is righteous.
One of the ways to symbolize justice is the scales, which are perfectly balanced.
Keep this in mind for now, because I am going to add something else that Allah says: “You are the best community that has arisen in humanity, you order what is recognized, you prevent what is reprehensible and you believe in Allah.”
Allah, subhanahu wa ta ‘ala, defines this community, that of the Muslims, as the best community that has arisen in humanity. And the Prophet, in conclusion, I could illustrate this with more examples, said: “The best community is my generation, then the one that follows it, and then those that follow them.”
Here, the Prophet, SAWS, sets the paradigm and the example to follow.
Therefore, in the eyes of Allah, we are the middle community, the righteous community, the best community that ever appeared in humanity, and we have the paradigm of the best community that exists.
I have said before: “Take into consideration what I have said”, and I have said this to counter that opinion that exists in the media and on the air that Muslims are terrorists.
We are not even a minority, we are not just another community, just another religious group, we are the best community that Allah has ever made appear in humanity.
In us, Allah has set the balance, because we command what is right, forbid what is wrong and believe in Him.
When we forget this, we feel self-conscious about fingers pointing at us guiltily, and the result is what Emir Malik said, blocking; but when you know the reality of the nature of what the Ummah of Islam is, we know that it is not so and that we are, we must be, we must be, the model to follow.
No act of terror like the ones we see constantly, almost daily, can emerge from a community that is the best and is just.
Actually, everything that is happening has nothing to do with Muslims, except for the detail that the main victims are us, because when victims die in these attacks, everyone mourns, condemns the act and prays for those victims; then they turn around, look at us and frown, and we bear the guilt.
It has nothing to do with us, this is the result of a historical process and can be defined with the famous saying that is said in Spanish, and also in French, of “he who sows winds reaps storms”, and it has nothing to do with us.
Let’s get to our topic.
There are two types of extremism, and I am going to enunciate them, I am going to make a personal effort, and I am going to try to use a term as precise as possible, to avoid falling into the terminologies that come in the media and some academic circles, which are quite imprecise and create a lot of confusion.
There are two types of extremism, and I will elaborate on the first of them, but I will mention both.
The first I describe as neo-Kharijism, neo, in the sense that it is new, and Kharijism because the ideological presuppositions, and the principles and objectives, are identical to historical Kharijism .
And the second I describe as neo-mu’tazilism, because it is very similar to the super rational methodology used by historical mu’tazilism .
To talk about these two groups, their historical roots, their development and current form of manifestation would take us, at least, another lecture, so I am going to concentrate and I am going to talk about the neo-Khariji group, which is characterized by its violence, harshness, rudeness, rigor, inclemency, cruelty, intolerance, insensitivity and severity.
That is the one who is giving a hard time.
To do this, we are going to talk about the next part of the title of the conference, which is the tasawwuf. I am going to define tassawwuf very succinctly, because many of you know it.
Sufism is one of the sciences derived from the Qur’an and Sunnah, by which one acquires the knowledge of how to purify the heart and how to perfect one’s character and conduct in order to be able to worship Allah as if one were seeing Him.
Notice that I say at the beginning “one of the sciences derived from the Qur’an and Sunnah”, not one of the Islamic currents.
Another problem that exists in the media is that they say that there is Sunni Islam, Shiite Islam, Sufi Islam… as if this were just another modality.
Islam, the core of Islam, is the tasawwuf.
If there is no tasawwuf, that Islam is defective, because the Deen is based on three pillars: Islam, Imam and Ihsan, and if you do not have the Ihsan, the science of which is tasawwuf, you do not have the Deen, the Deen is defective.
We could expand on the reasons why the tasawwuf, which has always been the essential element in the teaching of the Deen, today, when you ask many people, many Muslims, especially in Europe, especially emigrants from Arab countries, especially Moroccans, they tell you: “The tasawwuf, bid’a.”
We could go into what has led to this situation, but this would need another lecture.
Let’s talk about what characterizes tasawwuf so that it protects society from extremism.
I have identified six points.
I don’t think we can touch on them all in detail, but I’m going to try:
- The ‘aqida is correct.
As an example of correct ‘aqida we have the ‘aqida ashari, because the ‘aqida ashari is balanced between the element of holding fast to the textual transmission of Revelation and the rational element.
It is not extremely literal at the expense of the rational, nor extremely rational at the expense of the literal.
I will give an example, but not an example of it, but an example where education that is not based on this aqida leads us directly into problems.
The imported education, or methodology, which has arrived, and which is established in many educational centers and which does not adhere to the method and teachings of the Ashari school does the following: it divides tawhid into three parts: tawhid al-u’luhiya (tawhid of divinity), tawhid ar-rububiyah (tawhid of lordship) and tawhid al-asma wa as-sifat (tawhid of names and attributes).
We are not going to talk about the latter, because it does not present any problem, the one that presents a very serious problem is the one that divides tawheed into divinity and lordship.
I’m going to try to explain it in a way that you understand, because it’s complex, it’s theology.
What it says is that there are people who say that Ar-Rab (the Lord) is One, the Lord of the worlds; But in their practice they worship more than one ilah, who does not do Tawheed al-u’luhiyah, Tawheed of the Divinity. They say that there is only one god, that there is only one creator of the universe, saying the ilaha ila Allah, and of course, Muhammad rasulullah, but this definition says that they have, in their practice, to worship only one god and believe that there is only one god, that is, that their object of worship is one.
It follows that those people who – I am not going to go into this subject too much – do istigaza or tawassul (asking Allah, subhanahu wa ta ‘ala, for the rank of His Prophet, SAWS, or the rank of a wali), according to this definition of ‘aqida, are mushrikin.
Therefore, anything that is associated with a great love for the Prophet, SAWS, or a high degree of respect and veneration for the awliya of Allah in their graves is regarded as an act of kufr, of non-belief, of shirk.
These types of acts were our daily bread in Muslim communities throughout the history of Islam.
Therefore, these people who adopt this kind of ‘aqida consider most of the Muslims apostates, kuffar, and they stay so calm. Note the similarity, the parallelism, with Shi’ism imami, which declares most of the Sahaba kufar; which says that Sayyiduna Abu Bakr, RA; Sayyiduna ‘Uthman, RA, and all those who gave them the bayaa were kuffar.
Only thirteen Sahaba are saved, or nine according to other interpretations.
These others, the Jawariy, declare Sayyiduna Ali, everyone, kafir; only they are Muslims.
It is the same methodology from both points of view.
Now we’re going to do a really quick jump and come back.
In Syria, who is fighting?
Both of them.
The extreme Shiites and the neo-Kharijites, and us, in the middle, swallowing all the bombs.
Let’s leave this to see how a thing that happened 1300 years ago is happening right now, the same psychological profile.
This has been one of the ways out of the subject that I like to do.
One of the characteristics of tasawwuf is that it teaches the correct ‘aqida , the ‘aqida ashari.
- Teach fiqh to the madhabi.
You will not find, or barely, people who are Sufis who say that all the madhhabs are all wrong, that it is Kitab wa Sunna, because whoever says Kitab wa Sunna really means “their interpretation” of Kitab wa Sunna.
We say: “No thanks, we will keep the one in Malik, or the one in Abu Hanifa, or the one in Safi’…).
The fiqh madhabi, the correct fiqh based on the knowledge of these jinn of Islam recognized by the consensus of the entire Ummah, is the attempt at the closest and most reliable interpretation of the book of Allah and the sunnah of His Prophet, while not sticking to them leads us to people who interpret the Qur’an and the Sunnah on the basis of their own base desires – read all the atrocities that according to them are the most accurate and trustworthy. they are possible to perform, all the ways, colors and flavors of murder.
This is the result of not following people of knowledge. “Ask the people of knowledge if you do not know.”
- All Sufis practice dhikr.
They are characterized by forming dhikr circles.
Dhikr is what heals the heart of their diseases, diseases whose extreme result is hatred of everything.
This is based on the words of Allah: “Remember me, and I will remember you”, “Those who remember Allah standing, sitting and on their sides”, “Those who believe and whose hearts are reassured by the remembrance of Allah, is it not with the remembrance of Allah that hearts are calmed?”, “Those who remember Allah very much and those who remember Him, Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and an immense reward.”
Dhikr is that which dissolves and removes from the heart and behavior rigidity, intransigence, intolerance, fanaticism, and hatred.
This is part of the result of the teaching of tasawwuf.
Thanks to this, the hearts of the people of Tasawwuf are not sick, and the hearts of those who do not follow this methodology are therefore sick.
- Praise to the Messenger of Allah and immersion in the study of his life, the sira of the Prophet, SAWS.
And the Prophet, SAWS, is the personification of mercy.
Therefore, in all tasawwuf circles the reading of the life of the Messenger, SAWS, is fundamental, as is the abundant praise of the Prophet, SAWS.
And for this very reason you will see that in tasawwuf circles the reading of the ‘Dala’il jairat’ is fundamental; the study of Qadi Iyad’s ‘Shifa’ is not an academic act, it is spiritual, and it is part of the teaching of the Tasawwuf people.
The Prophet, SAWS, is defined by Allah: “He is sorry that you suffer, he cares for you.”
This is the nobility of character that people who study the life of the Prophet, SAWS, who love the Prophet, are imbued with.
He is sorry for the suffering of Muslims and he is sorry for it and, by extension, for the rest of humanity.
That brings us to the next point.
- Respect and veneration to the awliya of Allah, for they are the example of those who have followed the example.
They are proof that it is not a theoretical question, but that human beings can reach that point.
The example of the Prophet, SAWS, is not a theoretical question.
Of course, no one can reach his level, but following him makes the human being reach his maximum capacities throughout his life and to be that example to follow.
Remember the saying of the Prophet, SAWS: “I have declared war against whoever attacks one of my friends.”
He also said: “The most excellent way for my servant to approach me is to fulfill the obligations that I have entrusted to him.”
And again: “My servant keeps coming to me through meritorious works until I love him, and when I love him, I am his ear through which he hears, his sight through which he perceives, his tongue with which he speaks, his hand with which he grasps or catches, his foot with which he walks, and, if he asks me, I will certainly grant him what he asks of me, and if he seeks refuge in me, I will certainly guarantee him my protection.”
These are the awliya of Allah, whom we respect, and for us it is an honour to come to the places where they rest, to be inspired by their lives, to pray to Allah for them – and that is what this group called neo-harawi systematically destroys, because they are the extension of Allah’s mercy.
Their graves symbolize it, and they don’t want anyone to be inspired by them. Van Such people are against the Qur’an, because Allah says, “Follow the path of those who have turned to Me,” and in that way, when we read about the life of the great awliya, we study their books, we follow their turuq, we are acting according to Allah’s command.
This is the fifth point.
- Overflow of this love: Da’wah to Allah.
Allah says: “Call to the way of your Lord by means of wisdom and exhortation”; also: “… and what better word than that of the one who calls others to Allah, acts righteously and says: ‘I am of the Muslims'”. This is another characteristic that is found in the people of tasawwuf, their expansion, and that wherever they have gone they have called people to Allah.
These six points, which could be more, constitute the nature of this kind of teaching, the teaching that protects people, society, from falling into extremism.
The King of Morocco, His Highness Mohammed VI, may Allah protect him, and his father before him, Hassan II, may Allah have mercy on him, have been continuously promoting this methodology, and it is what has saved Morocco from falling into the jaws of this abomination.
All other countries should follow Morocco’s example if they really want to save the Muslims of their society from the jaws of this abomination.
The question that remains is whether they really want to, because if this is what protects society from extremism, its consequence is its overflow, the discovery of what Islam is.
Is this really what they want or do they want society to have that fear of Islam?
If it is the latter, they have on the payroll those who do the job perfectly, because that is the function they fulfill.
So, one wonders what is really happening.
Because, as I said, we Sufis are not stupid, we Muslims are not stupid.
However, as Allah says: “We are the best community.”
If we do not forget this, if we take the first community as an example, and then the next, and then the next generation, the result can only be positive, in this world and in the next. Sheikh ‘Ali Laraki Grenada, Friday, July 22, 2016
