A wave of energy sweeps through each generation of Muslims, leaving some stuck to specific organizations and ideologies, and quite a few left in the wake of disillusionment. They are the ones living on the sidelines, looking in. For these people all of the debates are just too much, all of the articles are just too much, and all of the people involved are just too much. It is these ones who believe they have struck gold by sticking to a middle way, a way which allows them to observe extremes on all sides of the spectrum.
What is interesting about this approach is that it is developed solely based on extremely superficial understandings of the groups involved. For those unstudied in the subtleties of the major issues, Ikhwanis become solely political activists, Salafis become strict legalists, and Sufis are the liberal spiritualists. From the perspective of the outsiders, each is willing to sacrifice the truth for their banner philosophy.
Yet the reality is that even these other groups (from the traditional point of view), have a far broader reality than simply each upholding one or another virtue of Islam to an extreme.
The reality is that Salafis are not strong legalists sticking to Shariat closely, they are literalists. Salafis end up taking some unnecessarily harsh positions of law, yes. This may make them seem superficially very stringent about Shariat. Though, at the same time, it is their wide interpretive possibilities that also end up with very lax opinions towards the law. Taking a few very mundane and crass examples of fiqh: which group deems it valid to wipe over business socks for wudu? Salafis. Who is supporting 8 rakats of Tarawih vs 20 rakats? Salafis. Who is it that believes no special significance should be given to the nights of Shabaan (Baraat), Isra wal Miraj, Mawlid? Salafis. And who spends those nights in prayer? Ahl ul Zikr.
Does all of this make Salafis more accurate? Not in my opinion.
Ikhwani’s are not solely obsessed in politics and social work, but are in fact establishing their prayers as well and Islamic studies. In fact they have roots in traditionalism, and even keep up with some practices of zikr. However, it is true, from the perspective of the traditionalist, that this is another group which has left the traditional ways of the Tariqats. By leaving the powerful line of transmission of knowledge from saint to saint, scholar to scholar that lives within the traditional ways, aspects of their movement are compromised. Thus they are focused on forcing the creation of Islamic government on earth, disconnected from the Islamic governments of the past, when the reality of the time dictates patience and connection.
Finally, Sufis are not lost in spirituality, rather they are practicing Islam as closely to the ways of the Prophetic tradition. Within the lessons taught from within Tarikat, spirituality and worldly life are balanced in the best ways possible through the real example of the Prophet (صلي الله عليه و سلم). Following a Tarikat is simply the best means to submitting oneself to the authority of the Prophet (صلي الله عليه و سلم) through the training that he (صلي الله عليه و سلم) gave to his Sahabi (R), and that they gave to the next generation and so on and so on, until it reached to us.
Tarikats are “Ways”, holistic practical as well as spiritual way to live Islam, representing the teachings of the Sahabi (R) from the hadith: “My Companions are like the stars; whoever among them you use for guidance, you will be rightly guided.”
Muslims taking the approach of the ‘outsider’ don’t hold to such stars, rather they carry the flag entitled “the Middle Way”, recalling the famous verse of the Quran:
BismillahirRahmanirRaheem
“We made you to be a community of the middle way, so that (with the example of your lives) you might bear witness to the truth before all mankind.” (Qur’an, 2:143)
But by what measuring stick do we use to determine the middle way? Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (R) gave all his wealth away for the sake of Allah. Was that extreme? Would you, should you be so fortunate to be in their presence, be the Sahabi shaking his/her head complaining, “that is so extreme, that is against the sunnah!” Yes, some today might say so… yet, he is the aforementioned star of the Naksibendi Tarikat.
When the Prophet (صلي الله عليه و سلم) was sleeping on a bed of rough leaves, and his wife prepared a more comfortable bed, and he (صلي الله عليه و سلم) made clear he preferred rough leaves to comfort, would you be shaking your head: “That is so extreme, no need to be uncomfortable” ?
Really, who gets to define what is extreme except for the Prophet (صلي الله عليه و سلم), and who has a right to tell us what the Prophet (صلي الله عليه و سلم) thought was extreme other than those connected to him through proper instruction, those with a living, breathing connection?
Do we think we can be trusted with our own judgment? We, who have been raised in a society where enormities are accepted norms and transmitted directly into our brains. What is our position in the scheme of Islamic understanding, when we have seen and witnessed with unguarded eyes and ears in five minutes that which previous generations were not able to imagine in a lifetime? Are our minds, souls and hearts made of Teflon? Are we impervious to the conditioning that occurs by living an entire lifetime in, what all the Saints have said, are the most troublesome end of times, where confusion reins free?
Are we cleansed somehow of all of this when we pick up the Quran al-Karim or Sahih Bukhari?
Do we, who have become soft and complacent to the constant chatter of gluttony, greed, lust that surrounds us, remain miraculously unaffected and unconditioned? Would you open up the books and leave the interpretive possibilities of Islam in your hands or would you trust it over to Allah and the guardianship of transmission and tradition which brings with it, at least, some safety?
When Imam Ghazali (R) found he couldn’t trust even his sense of sight or touch, why are we so comfortable in trusting our own judgment in finding the best path for us?
When will we accept one ounce of weakness from ourselves? What will it take to say, “no.. Alhamdulillah, I did not escape this dunya without scars, I need to connect myself to the Prophet’s example as taught to me by his noble inheritors who also lived and died for Islam? ”
The reality is a ‘middle way’ is a middle way when presented with two extremes. When you start defining your extremes in terms other than what the Prophet (صلي الله عليه و سلم) taught, then your middle way has become skewed. Have we thought that what are considered ‘normal’ lives today would have been viewed as extremes by the communities before us?
The only question then becomes, did the Prophet (صلي الله عليه و سلم) live a life of the middle way according to these individuals? Or has very selective reading of his life caused us to believe the Prophet (صلي الله عليه و سلم) would have commanded upon us the urban/suburban/activist/seminar attending/TV-filled/sedentary/internet-based lifestyles of Muslims today?
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BismillaharRahmanirRahim
as-salaamu ‘alaikum, good post! Very strong! MashaAllah to you! Especially when you wrote,
Ooof! Look at that! The Truth; Haqq! We keep putting ourselves, our own opinions at a higher station than those that went before us. This is not real, we are imagining things. Without a connection to the inheritors of the Holy Prophet, Sayyidina Maulana Muhammad (alayhi as-salatu wa salam) what can Muslims accomplish? That is like trying to pray jumu’ah with no imam! And on top of that everyone is reading the surah of their choice aloud. Imagine that, it would be chaos, different surat; different speeds; different volumes. Chaos, then perhaps the women would decide,
An now women move into the men’s area imitating the bad manners of the men, chaos. Figuratively, this is close to what we are looking at in terms of leadership for this ummah. And how long will this last? More importantly, how much longer do we have to do something about it?
Salaam. You’ve raised a very good point. How indeed can one call something a “middle way” when the criteria is set on the one side by shifting secular norms, and on the other side by dyed in the wool ideologues (usually hypocrites at that). When many Muslims nowadays consider themselves moderates or are followers of some mythical “middle way” it means that they spend a good deal of their time listening to or looking at haram and/or batil entertainment, and are content to leave their knowledge of the deen in limitary fragments. There’s no easy remedy other than continual self-assessment and sincerity.
This reminds me of a quote that my husband shared with me. I believe it was Sidi Ashraf who said, ‘It is better to follow the mistakes of your shaykh than your own.’ The difference between us ignorant people and them is the night and the day. They have the basis. We have…?
Interestingly enough, I was thinking about the last paragraph for the last couple of days. You wrote the answer very clearly. Alhamdulillah.
Asalaamu alaikum.
As usual, this is so timely. I had just the other day been commenting to someone else that this specifying “this group does this, that group does that” is pretty superficial and a way of boxing people in that may often not even be a complete or accurate portrayal of the group or how they would identify themselves.
I know Muslims who speak of “The Middle Way” who I have great respect for. Many of them are “traditional” Muslims who believe in or practice tasawuff as well. To them (and to me), the concept of The Middle Way is that it is the medium path, based on adherence to the Qur’an and Sunnah, with guidance from those who know. The two extremes, to our thinking, are the secular (individual freedom, I can do what I want to do, I don’t answer to anyone) and the extremists (those who turn spirituality into something that suits their own blackened hearts).
However, I do also know of those who are what you describe here: those who don’t know anything about the middle way but refer to it as though it is something they are following. Those who think middle way means being “moderate” in the sense that they can pick and choose and discard those elements of the deen that are uncomfortable for themselves. I think this is a great number of Muslims (and people of other faith traditions have this issue as well). It is true that much of our modern lives is at the extreme pole of one or the other side, mostly on the lax side where we just leave off elements of our practice. We know that there are some others who have gone to the other pole and believe it is their duty to kill all non-Muslims, to engage in behavior that is destructive, and they believe this is part of their deen.
I really like the quote and sentiments posted by UmmLayth on this matter. And I think Saifuddin hits it quite directly when he says the problem is that we elevate our own desires and ideas above those who have gone before us. We have to come to terms with the simple fact that we, in essence, know NOTHING. We are not hafiz of Qur’an, we have not dedicated decades of our lives to memorizing hadiths and their chains of transmission, much less the science of determining the quality/validity of those hadiths or their interpretation. We are very much mired in supporting the worst ideas of our nafs; we are sluggish to pray, lazy to work on our issues, argumentative with anyone who disagrees with us, quick to judge, slow to help a fellow human in need. We spend more time in front of our computers and televisions than anything else. And yet we want to trust our own judgments on what we should be doing and tell others what they need to be doing. SubhanAllah.
Our current lifestyles are extreme and steeped in extreme ignorance. Until we begin to work on our own, with proper guidance, we cannot effect any change elsewhere and have no business worrying about what others are doing. I believe it was Dhul Nun who said something to the effect of “the one who sees their own faults cannot see the faults of another” because we have plenty of our own issues to address that if we took even a tiny portion of our time to devote to that work, we would have no time left to wonder what another is doing.
Assalamualaikum Wa Rahmatullah,
It really does not matter in the end, on the day of judgment we weill not be asked this, rather we will be asked if we followed the str8 path, that of Rasulullah (Sallallahu ‘Alaihe Wa Sallam), more thought should be given to this.
Salaam Alaikum,
To Zaazaan,
Hate to point out the obvious, but,…isn’t that the ENTIRE point of Yursil’s post? The “Middle Way” being the Prophet (SAW)’s way,? As you said, – the “Str8″ path? It sounds to me like your comment has all the familiar symptoms of an futile argument in childbirth. Painful but in this case the fruit of labor is not worth the effort.
Wa’alaikum as-salaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu,
if this is the argument that he brought, ok then, my bad, there is no need to throw insults about this. But is this article not going on and on about the same Sufi-Salafi ordeal?
and Allah Knows best
I apologize if such a question offends yursil or anybody
not really. the article is speaking about those who believe that staying without any ‘side’ somehow elevates them in the grand scheme of things
Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim
As salam alaikum Yursil
Very good post, masha’Allah. I’d like to draw attention to something related:
“The reality is that Salafis are not strong legalists sticking to Shariat closely, they are literalists. Salafis end up taking some unnecessarily harsh positions of law, yes. This may make them seem superficially very stringent about Shariat. Though, at the same time, it is their wide interpretive possibilities that also end up with very lax opinions towards the law.”
Perhaps we can add here that it is from salafi positions that the entirely new idea of ‘halal’ banking system, based merely on paper money, is regarded also as islamic, but it entails to adapt Islamic laws of money and transactions to the capitalist and banking system anyway. Some of their most important ulamas belonged to financial comitees of ‘islamic banks’.
Is it not strange that, for example, giants such as HSBC and Citibank have also developed ‘islamic banking divisions’? One of those people even said, straighlty, that after all, islamic banking is not really so different to ordinary banking (usury) as people would think.
Of course, he was talking about that ‘islamic banking’ that is allowed by many salafi figures.
Salams
Nureddin
Assalamu alaikum
May this reach you in the best state of health and iman. Ameen.
Excellent post sidi. Keep up the good work.
masalama
“I believe it was Sidi Ashraf who said, ‘It is better to follow the mistakes of your shaykh than your own.’”
I believe I’ve heard it as “The missteps (kha6a’) of the shaykh may be better than the ‘correct views’ (9awab) of the murid.” [excuse the really bad translation] To put it in context, of course, the Shaykh was talking about the murid asking the Shaykh about something and the Shaykh “missing the point” of the question, only to be revealed later that it was the murid asking the wrong question, and not the Shaykh giving the wrong answer.