Mind, Body, Soul

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?