In UK, we have an organisation by the name “Sufi Muslim Council.” The title should not have this organisation confused with the kind of Sufi tariqas that exist concentrating on tazkiyahtun-nafs (purification of the soul) and tasawuff according to Shariah (Islamic law). The SMC is an Islamic spiritual organisation with a twist, it has political goals which transcend the limits of Islam. SMC is relatively new, founded on secular ideals by supporters of new Labour with neo-con history. More can be read here
In April this year, they had organised an event in Burnley (UK) to renounce Terrorism and Islamophobia inviting the local Police officers, Mayor and other community leaders. Nothing strange about that! Today, I came across a video of what went on in that meeting, its funny, shocking, weird, but does it have anything to do with Islam?
I S L A M I C S 
We are back to square one, destroy Islam from Inside by Muslims…..
I am embarassed to say the least cringggggggggg
Embarassing to say the least. Its a blatant attempt to turn Islam into an attractive cult.
i don’t know whether to laugh or cry. 😦
tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk… I suppose they are the sort of poeple who think jihad is an internal struggle and nothing more.
Bubbles they are the kind of people who are working against Islamisation, I pointed out in the other entry. :s
it says one thing though, people who are so clearly on the wrong doing so much work for their ‘method’ yet those who are the rightful holders are doing very little. I did some searches on the net, and there are only a handful of sites about Tazkiyatun Nafs, who you know are proper scholars following the sunnah.
Maybe it is time we get the real thing out there….
I know mashallah Tia is doing some work translating works of one such scholar, and we need works of those pious and righteous who are around and about today as well.
oh and that poor lady on the stage is FREAKED right out lol will be sometimes before she listens to any Islamic dawah
Whoa, a rave!
lol @ that poor lady. At one point the white bearded dude goes in the crowd and grabs someone to the dance floor.
Tia you remember I told you about this re-treat programme, this makes that look moderate. but seriously is this some kind of bidah or what?
salams tia why do u think I am not confused 🙂 just a question to something u said to me in shahrzad’s blog
Hekmaa, good point brother. InshaAllah I am going to write about sufism here soon.
Hasmita – This sufi practice is known as Hadrah and there is a question mark next to it. Imam Malik (rha) is reported to have called it, ‘Childish’ and ‘Crazy’ and he laughed hard (like never seen before) when he heard what these people were doing in the name of Islam.
Confusedaboutlife – wa alaikum asalam, hey you are just as clued on as everyone else here, and those things you find confusing, well, aren’t we all a little confused about those? 🙂
Oh dear, if this is what a hadra is like, I might re-think going along to one
Oh, it’s not always like this. Actually I’ve seen worse in a recent tv documentary with Saira Khan’s visit to Pakistan. 😮
I completely agree with political islam. But yet i dont know and dont understand what they do in kind of conferences! Can you make it more clear? I am abit stupid in this case..
Such practices really scare people from even considering zuhb, ihsan and ultimately Tazkiyatun Nafs. Whilst Tassawuf is something of a chosing, as Imam Ahmad Farooq Sirhindi RA puts it, however Tazkiyatun Nafs, is something mentioned in the Quran.
If one traces this back, when the Khilafa was destroyed one of the elements that the kufar focused on was to destroy the element of spirituality in the Muslims and make them lose the connection or close bond with Allah. Our warriors of the past never had enough military equipment, but they had Nisbah Ma’Allah. Today Muslims are busy counting the beans rather then trying to bring back those practices that brings them close to Allah.
Also another aspect that brought about the extreme of such practices as the Hadrah, was translation of Islamic text from Arabic to Turkish, many of the true meanings were lost. One has to remember that even in othman time all court rulings etc were in Arabic. But when Attaa Turk came in power, as a reaction to Arab Nationalism he developed Turkish Nationalism and totally disconnected the relationship betwee Arabic and Islam in Turky, hence everything was turned into Turkish.
That hadrah in the Saira Khan doc Tia was absolutely hilarious! I think the ganja may have helped them reach their haal :p
Its a shame they are “hippyfying” things to such a degree, and it does end up look like a cult. They remind me of tree huggers in the clip.
AA-
Wow, where is all this venom coming from? I’m really surprised to read such aggressive comments here.
I’m no fan of this type of hadra (I prefer the more sedate gatherings of dhikr and salawaat in which I’ve felt very ‘spiritual’), but to talk so derogatorily of the Naqshabandi methodology is very divisive.
Not sure what point you all are trying make here?
Confused,
Naeem
Shahrzad I was reading a book, where the author was making the point that the rulers of Indian sub-continent and Turkey actively promoted Sufism to keep the masses subdued. This we find repeating itself now, they have tried everything else to stop political Islam, and now resorting to inject Muslims with this kind of Sufism.
Hekmaa that’s a very good point. Spirituality is the antidote for extremism and rigidness. It is essential for those working for the revival of Islam to not neglect sciences of tasawuff, otherwise the result is what we see, utter extremism, fanaticism, hatred, sin and all sorts.
Also, as you mentioned the neglect of Arabic language has really destroyed sufism, in the Indian sub-continent sufism heavily adopted from other religions, until Shaykh Ahmed Sirhindi came to purify it.
Sumera. I have not been to Pakistan but a few years ago we went India and the kind of things we saw at these Darbars (tombs) was quiet shocking. *shivers
BrNaeem I think its quiet justified to be aggressive towards such practices, speaking specifically about the above video. I don’t think anyone here has spoken of Naqshbandi methodology in a derogatory way, people have commented on the video and the practices which have no basis in Islam.
The point I am trying to make is about Sufis and Politics.
Firstly Br Naeem, those practices are not Naqshbandia practices, they are the Haqqani and Co Practices of Hisham Kabbani and His mentor. Even Shaiykh Abdul Daghestani and Faiz Daghestani never did such things, and they are the seniors of Nazim Haqqani the current head of this group.
I have met many true scholars of Tassawuf who follow the Naqshbandi Tareeqah, and the level of proximity to the sunnah followed by these ullama is un paralleled. Also the Naqshbandi ma’shaiykh have played a great role in Jihad in central Asia and India subcontinent. They are very strong on zuhd, and this group just gives them a bad name.
Tia, indian subcontinent is heavily influenced by its hindu history, tomb worshiping etc is bidah from the past. Giving more value to a shaiykh than he is allowed by religion is also a hindu practice. Some of the rituals that have entered Tassawuf in those parts of the world are also from yugi practices such as burying in the grave etc.
But your point about how spirituality creates a balance this is absolutely right. When the Prophet SAW used to raid the caravans of the kuffar, and they used to return with wealth to madeena he used to tell the sahaba “increase in your night prayers and increase in nawafil”. Allah says in Hadith Qudsi, “my servant does not but approach me rapidly by why of Nawafil….”.
It just shows us how deep the kuffa think when they aim at deassembling Islam, yet we Muslims are so busy with their toys such as Sattelite TV.
These SMC lot are amongst the enemies within as they sit, plan, and are funded by the non-Muslims to make the religion Sufistic trying to take away elements within Islaam such as jihaad, etc.
How can they do this going to No. 10 Downing Street, and dancing hadrahs with the Police when they are culprits breaking doors down and arresting Muslims all over the UK. 😦
Advocate, i don’t think anyone really takes them seriously, not if they are going to be entertaining guests in such freakish manner.
Sister Tia I accept that but aside from a few such as sister Umm Layth many do not realise that they do such things, if she never brought this incident to my attention I would have not known better.
With time slowly they are gaining acceptance amongst Muslims and this is worrying seen as they are oblivious to the what their true face is.
The name is misreprentative and those who are true Sufis need to speak out against them as they are giving Sufis a bad rep.
Oh bless! Is that a nightclub? Well they are having a jolly time aren’t they? It does rather make the colour come to ones cheeks since they are so uninhibited…I blushed. LOL about those coppers jigging along! I’ve not seen anything like this for years..I am glad that such a varied group of folk can still get together in one (very low ceilinged room) and smile at eachother.
That mayor guy rocks..how sweet of them to try something new..and I really mean that. It is sweet, not scarey. I am not worried about them giving Islam a bad name. Islam will not gain or increase or decrease in honor because of any one of these people..surely that is a way to view this spectacle? Have these people been blessed with Islam? One The One knows.
Your question: does this have anything to do with Islam..I dunno…I don’t know enough about Islam to be able to comment faithfully, but what it clearly does have a lot to do with is a group of warm hearted community spirited people from obviously different cultures being willing enough to get together and look silly and not beat the cr*p out of eachother..
Childlikeness should be understood for what it is – why be afraid of that? Kids are friends with everyone, trusting, unhoned, strong fitra…. this film shows a group of people being seriously childlike – it is disarmingly charming – regardless of the import of the embarrassment.
At least they are not being arrogant.
oops..meaning…that my arrogance in commenting on a situation I know very little about is obvious…
EFloresce, you make a wonderful columnist, i was impressed by your writing.
Truly it does have a facet of Childlikeness, and childishness by children is charming, but by adults is a concern, especially if it is noticed by someone who self confesses to know little about the doctrine of what they are being childish about.
I suppose in this world of freedom when stick wrong plugs in the wrong sockets, there is nothing wrong being childlike, I could comfortably say many envy child freedoms with all the worries of the present world. However there is a time when being child like is nor longer child like, but mishap, a short coming, or as the English put it “dont be like a child”.
AA- Advocate
“The name is misreprentative and those who are true Sufis need to speak out against them as they are giving Sufis a bad rep.”
Who/what is a true Sufi? Who/what is a true Muslim? A slippery slope if I may say so…
Is men or women dancing in front of non-mahram halal or haram?
I couldnt open the video yet. Something wrong with my browser or internet.There are some people who dance?!!
Advocate – I do agree, brother Hekmaa also emphasised on this point that there has to be a true representation, which has to shine out. However, I would also like to point out that the responsibility of interacting with the wider community is on shoulders too. I feel the biggest problem of Muslims in the west is the isolationist attitude, which in my opinion is something we need to tackle so no single group of Muslims can become ‘representative’ of such a diverse Muslim community.
EFloresce, need not worry. We all know very little about what occurs around, thats why its good to discuss, and put foward our points of view to see what others think. Though, I agree that it is pleasent to see various groups of community get together under the same roof, but what concerns me is the reason and the basis of these get togethers! Generaly speaking, community cohestion is very important because there has to be collective effort to tackle the problem from its root, undeniably which has alot to do with governments policies and the fear being generated as result of it. People getting together to sing and dance doesn’t really solve the problem at all especially when all members are part of the same political agenda, however diverse they maybe.
Shahrzad – oh dear, you really have to see the video 😉
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Putin, Bush and the false dawn of the ‘New Cold War’21st Century Socialism,UK-23 hours agoWhere the USA said that they
salam,
Before yuo give opinion on tasawwuf plz try to make some researche on it first.Read the histry of islam in, the time of prophet Muhammad(pbuh) sufism did exist.
Muhmmud (S.A.W) is the the messenger of allah and I love the hadrah sooooooooooooo much and you should to!
P.S. Iove islam it is so beautiful and by the way you should see the quran all you dis believers and it will change your life
Disgusting.
what is this???? these people sure don’t represent the real Islam…I would be freaked out if I wasn’t a Muslim. Well, I’m pretty freaked anyways.
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