this is a great post.. I just recently started to see some nasty commnts back and forth between followers of Shaykh Hisham and Shaykh Abdul Kerim but this is a good explanation of the situation.

Selamun Aleykum,

Regarding ” The Statement of Non-Association” – I would like to post it in my home where we gather for zikr each week.

-Abdullah Serif

Asalaamu alaikum.

May I add a small point to this discussion for Nausheenk, inshaAllah? And Yursil, you may correct or edit as appropriate.

It is my lowly opinion that our purpose is not to go around constantly refuting everything we see or read and disagree with. Certainly, we may refute things; I’m not suggesting we never do so. But, if we were to concern ourselves with responding to *every* video, post, or article that we disagreed with, when would we have time to purify ourselves?

It is easy for misunderstandings to occur and wrong assumptions to be made when one views a video. Often the video has been cut and put up by someone with intentions to ruin the reputation(s) of those in the video. Other times, the video may not include the full context of a situation, or even encompass the view of the entire situation. Sometimes it was intended to be seen by those who know what is going on, rather than for everyone else’s benefit. The same can be said to some degree for articles, blog posts, etc. Sometimes we think we understand and know something from what we are viewing, but we are not fully aware of the depth or backstory of the item.

More importantly, I think, is that we realize that “truth stands clear from falsehood”. To me, this (in part) means that Allah will guide whom He will by the method He Plans and vice versa. So if someone is “turned off” by something they see in an article or video of Sh. Kabbani, this does not necessarily mean they will be turned away from Islam or from the tariqa all together. I myself have some more direct (second-hand) association/awareness of Sh. Kabbani’s group and personally would not have joined it. But that did not in any way impede me from giving due respect and and research to Sh. Effendi Abdul Kerim when I stumbled upon his videos, alhamdulAllah. I believe Allah allowed my heart to remain closed to other shaykhs, and allowed my heart to be softened by still others, and then showed me clearly which shaykh was the one I must follow.

There are shaykhs who I was simply not comfortable with; either their teaching style, the opinions they hold, the examples I see of many of their mureeds (though I have mixed feelings about judging a shaykh by his mureeds, who it is reasonable to expect are sick, and no more so than I myself am), or what I saw/read about them and that did not sit well with me. In some cases, I could not even point to specific reasons that they made me uncomfortable, but I allowed that I may simply not be “ready” for something, may be misunderstanding, may think I *know* something about which I am completely wrong. Eventually, Allah placed a shaykh before me for whom I felt no doubt, because Allah willed that I would have an opened heart. No amount of “worry” over my perceptions of other shaykhs could stop me from loving the shaykh that was/is meant to be my teacher.

So I would not worry so much about perceptions, misunderstandings, and people being turned away from Islam. If they are seeking, Allah will show them what they need.

I’m glad I could help.

I mention the Hanafi position because Maulana is often criticized by Wahabis and some other literalists about having his hands kissed by women, a traditional Islamic greeting still active in much of Central Asia.

We don’t go by just the specific situations in texts, but what the meaning is understood from the ulema who are trying to capture that into the text. There is no hadith about elderly women vs non, but rather the cause of this ruling is about desire.

—

Maulana was asked

Q: But not only men are kissing your hand, but women too. Is that allowed in Islam?

S.N: Do they have evidence on that? If that was prohibited we would not be allowed to approach our women. They have no fiqr.(Quran, Surat 4, Ayat 43 and Surat 5, Ayat 6).You may touch.

Q: For the mahram, or…?

S.N: …an Nissa, is alif lam a sign for all women, or just for some? There is a secret reality there: you can touch a lady, but if your ego awakes with a bad desire it is prohibited. A person may touch his daughter or his mother and it is not prohibited. He may touch his wife and it could be prohibited. Nothing awakes in a person with his mahram, but if it is not a mahram it is dangerous. That is why the Shariah prevents you to touch without a reason. Otherwise a doctor couldn’t touch the body of a woman. No-one objects to the millions of ladies who every day go to the doctor and show everything. It did not exist at the time of the Prophet*. When they give birth they show themselves completely! How can that be? Why do people not complain about that? Instead they come to me, a person who is 80 years old!

The Shariah does give the permission for the hands of prophets and their inheritors to be kissed. I do not tell the ladies to come and kiss my hand. No! They come to give their respects. I cannot refuse it, because I am calling Europeans, non Muslims, into Islam. They are still new and if I would prevent them from kissing my hand their hearts would be broken. They would accuse Islam of having no gentleness. We are not living in Saudi Arabia, Libya, Algeria, Turkey, Iran or in Pakistan! I am calling people here, in Europe. This is why we can use the methods which the Prophet* was using at the beginning of Islam. People at that time were also not using scarves. For the first 13 years in Mecca, they were mixing freely with men and not wearing scarves. All that came in Medina. The people who are accusing me of these points have no understanding of Islam. They are scholars, but empty!

Q: According to the Hanafi school what are the rules of a woman touching you without desires? Would you need an ablution?

S.N: All the four schools of thought were going to agree on this point, but then Imam Shafi prevented it. He wanted to close the door of fitna which arises through young people touching each other. Abu Hanifa gave the permission under a condition: if your feelings do not change and become haram, it is all right. If they do, it is prohibited in the school of Abu Hanifa too. When feelings change, our body awakens and we discharge, making our wudu invalid.

Once again, jazakallah khair for your response. I haven’t let the fitna get to me, alhamdulillah, knowing some of the other shuyukh who are students of Shaykh Nazim and hearing other scholars immense praise of him is enough for me on a personal level. I simply dislike to see the criticisms go unchallenged and affect other Muslims perceptions who don’t know any further about the Shaykh or tariqa.

Although on the matter of physical contact, as far as I’ve ever been told by any Hanafi scholar, that exception is only for the elderly as it says in the text, not young women as were in the video, but again it was Shaykh Hisham Kabbani not your Shaykh and as you said the statement of non-association is clear, so it’s not something to ask you about.

Thank you for taking the time out to answer the questions brother, and especially for sharing the excellent analogy of the dogs and the caravan!

Wa alaykum assalaam

Let me try to address a few things.

Most importantly, I am the lowest of the low and in no position to ask Shaykh Maulana to speak about anything, nor is he, the Sultan of Awliya, in need of my defense.

I am unaware of what is going on in UK regarding the institute you mentioned.

Two, how other people paint the Uzbeki visit is really not a concern of mine, I’ve already addressed the numerous benefits of visiting that land, home of so many saints and special treasures for the Muslim.

Shaykh Abdul Kerim Effendi has said,:

“They can attack as much as they want. We are going to continue our journey. As another saint said once upon a time, “The dogs are always going to bark. The caravan is going to continue on its journey. That one is a fool who stops and starts barking back to the dogs.” Don’t bark to the dogs. The job of the dogs is to bark and the job of the wise man is to watch and not to get bitten by the dog and continue his journey.””

So it boils down to people who will complain will always look for excuses to complain, there is little that can be said to dissuade them. But these are sick people.

Any somewhat intelligent person should be able to distinguish the work and words of Shaykh Maulana, Sh Abdul Kerim, Sh Hisham and which work is conforming to Maulana’s way and which work is not. As far as videos of Hadras with women, I don’t think anyone will find Maulana there. Even if it occurs with someone else, it may be occurring in a situation where the Shaykh is not in authority over what the men and women do, and most of them are probably non-Muslims just beginning to be interested in Islam. The Cyprus dergah is very strict on gender separation.

As far as the Shaykh to touch a womans head, this is permitted in the Hanafi madhab, when there is no danger of desire.

In al-Durr al-Mukhtar, a Hanafi manual of Fiqh it says:

“However, regarding an elderly woman who is not sexually attractive, there is no problem with shaking or touching her hand as long as there is no fear of desire.”

In the Hanafi madhab the key aspect here is desire. So only those with filthy minds will begin to accuse the Shaykhs of doing this with desire. Of course, with the Shaykhs there is no such danger. Similarly, a women can also see a male doctor who can touch if it is necessary and without desire.

Finally, I think the statement of non-association in this post is sufficient for anyone to see that being linked is not necessarily sufficient to imply guilt by association. Both Shaykh Abdul Kerim Effendi and Shaykh Hisham are deputies of Maulana, as we can see above, they have some major differences. As it says above in the statement of non-association, “They should stop partnering with enemies of Islam.”

What Maulana has said about governments and abuses against Muslims is very clear. He has spoken on topics such as this for his entire life, and he is now 87 years old. I already provided a clear quote what Maulana has said about tyrants and dictators and modern governments. I hope this is sufficient to ease your mind personally.

To be honest I’ve just seen on various sites and forums where people are linking the Shaykh with the Uzbek govt as criticism. I’ve seen some websites (I think of Hisham Kabbani’s mureeds etc) where they’ve made a big deal about this, such as: http://www.naqshbandi.org/events/us2000/uzbek_pres/default.htm I have seen others which I can’t quickly find right now. But many critics in light of the pictures and honorific language used on sites like that then accuse the Shaykh of being in collusion with the regime or giving it approval in it’s oppression and torture of Muslims under the banner of curbing extremism/radicalism.

This feeds into the sufi hatred in some quarters and fuels the negative image of sufis as tools of the enemy, etc. I’m not sure if you’re aware but recently in the UK salafis started a smear campaign against a traditional-leaning islamic educational institute because one of the teachers studied under Shaykh Nazim. Webpages like the above really help portray this extremely negative image, as do too many videos of hadras where men and uncovered women are participating together.. or where Shaykh Hisham Kabbani is blessing women by touching their heads. People see the two men as synonymous because of their links in relation and Shaykh Hisham being a deputy of Shaykh Nazim.

I think it would be worth someone like yourself, when the opportunity arises, asking Shaykh Nazim to speak about the Uzbek regime and its human rights abuses and so on. People spread a lot of evil just with pictures and writings from websites, and that could easily be refuted with clear words from the Shaykh himself. There is a lot of fitna, especially in cyberspace and it’s worthwhile to try and dispel it.

Thank you for your response brother

wa alaykum assalaam

May I ask, where did you get the idea that Maulana has a position on the Uzbekistan government? Which position did you read and what associations do you know about?

I’m not sure what to point you to.

Maulana visited Uzbekistan for many reasons, but none of them have to do with the government. It is where the shrine of Bahhadun Naqshbandi (R) can be found. The shrine of Imam Bukhari (R). The door of the Kabbaa is still there. The Quran Hazrat Uthman (R) was reading when martyred. So many Grandshaykhs of the Naqshbandi order are buried there. Sheikh Abdur Rauf Yemani and so many other Shaykhs joined him.

The government knew of his attendance and at some point he was invited to Tashkent as a visiting dignitary, that is their business on how they treat their visitors. Accepting the invitation, in order to advise or demand change, to criticize or to reprimand, these are all within the Shaykhs capabilities.

Maulana’s public words on today’s governments, especially ‘democracies’ such as Uzbekistan, are quite clear.

Shaykh Maulana said,

They are all wrong. Iran is wrong. Afghanistan is wrong. Turkey is wrong. Wherever there is no King, the country is wrong. The Sultan is the one who should keep the power in his hands and who should give the order.

Muhammad sws. said that after the Kings and Sultans there would be only tyrants and dictators. Now look everywhere. Beginning with Turkey. Wherever the Kings left, a dictator came and started giving trouble to the Muslims with his parliament.

Our Hajjah Meryem, Seyh Effendi’s wife said openly:

Islam Karimov is known as one of the worst tyrants in the world. The
victims of his oppression are primarily Muslims. I understand that
Karimov categorizes all traditional, fundamental Muslims
as “wahabbi” extremists. He is trying to improve his public image by
attempting to manipulate and promote the perceived passivity of
sufis as a counterforce to the population of Uzbekis that he has
labeled with the new political code word – “wahabbi”. That is, he
thinks that if he shows himself as being with the sufis and against
the “wahabbis”, then he is a legitimate partner in the so-called war
on terror. No matter how he plays with words and his image, he is
still basically a dictator indoctrinated with communist atheist
principles.

I’m sorry if this isn’t the appropriate post to ask this question on, but perhaps you could write a post to address this or direct me to some relevant information.

Could you please clarify the position of Shaykh Nazim on the Uzbek govt.? His meetings and association with leaders of the regime there are one of the things that a lot of people criticize the Shaykh over. The British ambassador to Uzbekistan himself even resigned due to the abuses he saw after his advice to the British govt. was ignored, and the regime is heavily criticised by human rights groups and so on. This association only harms reputation of the Shaykh amongst the masses and created a negative perception, so it would be good if someone from within the tariqa could address these issues.

Thanks.

ALLAHU ALLAH WA ALLAHU AKBAR WA LA ILAH ILA ALLAH

EY ALLAH , SHEYKH AYDOGAN ABDULKARIM FUAT KIBRISI HAKKANI MUJAHID GHAZI KHAN UL HAKIM KO KHAYRAT O BARKAT DEY TUMHARA RASUL O SHEYKH NAZIM KE VASTE

AMEEN

LA ILAH IL ALLAH WA ALLAHU AKBAR ,

SIGNED ,

MUHAMMAD IMRAN SAID HUSSAIN JANNU MEMON
MUHAMMAD AZHAR SAID HUSSAIN JANNU MEMON

Karachi , Islamic Republic of Pakistan
5 March 2007 /16 Safar 1428

So there are different groups within the Naqshabandi Haqqani? So I assum that sh. Kabbani’s group is the one everyone warns me about…subhanAllah!

Alhamdollilah rab al alameen Wa Salim ala Muhammadin wa alihi was ashabi wa barick wa salem

Asalamu Alaykum ,

I would agree that Sayyad Kabbani and his Murideen should stop their attacks on Sayyadunna Shaykh as-Sanadi Abdul Kerim Effendi but the Murideen of Sayyadunna Shaykh as-Sanadi Abdul Kerim Effendi should stop their attacks on Sayyad Kabbani . Both are Haqqani Naqshbandis under the Banner of Hadrat Moulana Nazim (q) .

Wa Allahu Alam Wa Salamu Alaykum ,

MP

wassalam

Walhamdullihirabil alamin

WASALAAM