Islam in Africa: The Sufi Influence (VIII)

Friday 18-Feb-2022, 1:58AM / 888

Translation Work by Misbaah Olagunju on Shaykh Al-Jaami's Work 

The Aims of The Sufi Callers (VIII)

Click here for the last edition. 

And from this concise explanation, it is clear that Islam entered the continent in its first entry with its sound conception then it blended with the gauze or the heart and it tasted its sweetness, then after a spell which wasn’t short lived, it started to spread upon the hands of a group who delighted in the love of Islam and the love of goodness and guidance for the Muslims, however, they did not digest Islam nor did they understand it as it should be understood because they were merchants.

And when the suufi masters saw the void in the domain and the lag of the callers of truth in the obligation they descended into the domain and started naming themselves with titles which had preceded, their naming with titles of deception, so they descended into the domain of Islamic propagation to trade with the religion and to make Islam the mascot of their call to idolatry or sometimes apostasy based on what has preceded. Then they corrupted it to an extent that their followers and mentees became terrified by them similar to the way they fear Allah or even more than they fear Allah and they are more conscious of their awareness more than the awareness of Allah. Is this the religion? And is this the Dawah of Islam? What kind of Islam is this? O Allah the One free of all blemishes.

And with serious regret, this is the understanding of the religion of Islam with majority of the Muslims who met Islam by the hands of the Mashaykh of the orders of suufiyyah, and we have with us many who had good thoughts about them and those whom we are greatly sorry for to be upon this stance are some of the Muslim scholars who studied what was brought by the messenger —Allah raise his rank and grant him peace— but we’re not blessed with the understanding of the religion “and whoever Allah desires goodness for He blesses with the understanding of the religion” – [Al-Bukhaari: in the book of knowledge, and we have previously mentioned it twice], and studying is something while understanding is something else. Praise be to Allah who guided us to this and we would have never been guided if Allah had not guided us and to Him alone belongs the praise and power, our Lord we cannot be abundant in Your praises as You have praised Yourself.

(To be continued Inshaa Allaah)