Shaykh, Scholars and Jamaat

I just interesting to know who the people who post on the revival follow and why and if indeed you don't follow anyone why u don't.

I personally don't follow anyone at the mo, but I would find it interesting if people give their account on who they follow and why they follow him/them and what kind of benefit they gain from it. Hopefully we can do this without anyone attacking what the other person thinks. Also people who are looking, what quality are you looking for and whether you feel it necessary to follow someone, because at times I don't.

yuits on a roll today... Wink

i dont follow no one

but i have a lot of respect for the learned

What does it mean to 'follow someone'?

How do you go about 'following someone'?

"MuslimSisLilSis" wrote:
yuits on a roll today... Wink

i dont follow no one

but i have a lot of respect for the learned

It would help if you explain urself. Explain why u don't follow no one and what you would seek in someone if you did follow them. I didn't want one of ur famous 7 words answer here

I also respect the learned people as well, but I can't but find fault in all of them for some reason, I can get petty, too even what cars that they drive. I personally wnat my shaykh or scholar too be like a friend and not act so aloof. Am I just being picky.

"A true Muslim is thankful to Allah in prosperity, and resigned to His will in adversity."

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"irfghan" wrote:
What does it mean to 'follow someone'?

How do you go about 'following someone'?

BTW Are there enough sheikhs to go around for everyone?

:?

"yashmaki" wrote:
ok when i wasn't following a madhab i researched it, and understood the need to follow one. Now that i follow a madhab i dont understand why i should follow a sheikh. I can't explain it you explain why i need one.

I think exactly the same way. I came here for answers as well. I was taught to dislike people who didn't have Madhab before I know what a Madhab was. It can be very confusing knowing about islam, especially when people consider ur misguided because you don't follow a scholar. But at time I think I going along nicely and don't really need one, I seek my answer too any problem I have on islam from people more learned then me, so I don't personally see a problem. BTW the pir system put me off having shaykh as well.

I think a shaykh can have a much folowers as possible so the answer is yes to there being enough Shaykh for the people.

"A true Muslim is thankful to Allah in prosperity, and resigned to His will in adversity."

[url=http//

"yuit" wrote:
I just interesting to know who the people who post on the revival follow and why and if indeed you don't follow anyone why u don't.

ooooohhhhhhhh.....yuit, you have created a platform for 'my shaykh is better than your shaykh' and my jamaat is better than your jamaat'.
'this shaykh is good, hes a mushrik, he sa bidati, hes misguided, hes a shaykh ul islam......'.

so far everyone is refrained which is great...lets hope it starts that way....

 

"TheRevivalEditor" wrote:
"yuit" wrote:
I just interesting to know who the people who post on the revival follow and why and if indeed you don't follow anyone why u don't.

ooooohhhhhhhh.....yuit, you have created a platform for 'my shaykh is better than your shaykh' and my jamaat is better than your jamaat'.
'this shaykh is good, hes a mushrik, he sa bidati, hes misguided, hes a shaykh ul islam......'.

so far everyone is refrained which is great...lets hope it starts that way....

I said it my orginal post that no one should cuss anyone esle opinion and rather just tell the benefits of follwing their shaykh or whatever they follow.If they don't do that, it tells u alot about exactly how much they benefited from their shaykh. It seem at the moment, quite a few people are happy not following anyone in particular, so it isn't as unsual as people make out.

"A true Muslim is thankful to Allah in prosperity, and resigned to His will in adversity."

[url=http//

A muhtaram asked what is the point or need to have a shaykh?

Well amongst the three principal functions of Holy Prophet salallahy alayhi wa sallam one was to teach the Quran, the other to teach Sunnah and the Third was to PURIFY the people. This was in asnwer to the dua made by Hadrat Ibraheem alayhis salaam and Hadrat Ismaeel alayhis salaam.

Alhamdulillah the Mufassireen, Qurra, Huffaz have taken the branch of protecting the Quran; the Muhadiththeen have taken the branch of Ahdeeth and Sunnah, and finally the Mashaikh of Silisila or true peers have taken the branch of tasawuff and tazkiya.

A Shaykh True is one who has attained a level of spirituality and perfection which is recognised by his Shaykh who then confers on him khilafat. A Shaykh is necessary for the tazkiya of the souls, the shaykh does NOT call to himself or take money and charge his mureeds. The shaykh is one who connects the person to ALLAH, the Shaykh is one through whose talks a person realises the diseases of his hearts. A Shaykh it is not necessary that he perfom miracles or can 'see' his mureeds sins. A Shaykh is basically a pious ALLAH servant through who a student-disciple betters himself.

I at this point am not bay'ah to any1 but inshaALLAH this week before going for university I will inshaALLAH be bay'ah.

Ya ALLAH Madad.
Haq Chaar Yaar

Well there are books about how to find a true shaykh and there are ways of finding one.

Among the advices is things like:
1. does he have islamic appearance?
2. does he engage with women without a screen between them?
3. do the majority of his mureeds have islamic appearance and are regular in salah?
4. does he preach innovation?

i can recommend a book but it will take me sometime to find it. However conditions like the ones above are common sense. A friend of mine who is from the halwa eaters has a foto of his bayah to his shaykh. I didnt bother asking what the pic was about cos he gets a bit touchy but another bro there asked what the pic was of. He replied thats my peer and thats me. And the peer looked just like the mureed, no beard, just his dads peerhood that he inherited.

In regards to sisters finding a shaykh I think its pretty much same as for men. But it is not a decsion to be taken lightly. I regularly attended the hadeeth classes of one eminent shaykh and am now sure and feel that he is a true shaykh (among the conditions is what other ulama think of him) but I am not bay'ah to him because i spent literally years deciding. Now due to unforeseen circumstances that shaykh has been taken from us, but alhamdulillah I have found another and I am confident that he is true.

Basically dont pay much attention to my ramblings but I shall inshaALLAH recommend a book which explains the whole issue in detail, if Muhtarama wants a recommended book let me know BUT NOT IN PRIVATE MESSAGE!

(Personally I think if a people are married then its better for them to have the same shaykh- makes life easier.)

Ya ALLAH Madad.
Haq Chaar Yaar

"yuit" wrote:

It would help if you explain urself. Explain why u don't follow no one and what you would seek in someone if you did follow them. I didn't want one of ur famous 7 words answer here

.

i dont follow someone cos I dont take my relgion as seriously as i should

i dont seek answers or wish to imporve

if i did then I'd get a teacher/sheikh and listen to him and better my ways

Like I asked before, are there enough sheikhs to do around for everyone who wants to follow one? Esp. English speaking sheikhs.

How is a following a sheikh different from following a pir?

How much authority would the sheikh have over me if I chose to follow one?

1-there's more then enoughs sheikhs around-some sheikhs have millions of followers some have only a few

u must know english speaking ones

2-sheikh cant FORCE u to do anything u dont want to do-but obedience to sheikh is stressed

3-I dont know much about pir's

Yes I agree with above. There are enough Shaykhs to go around, sometimes you can get two for the price of one in the sales!

But seriously there are enough shaykhs.

English speaking ones that I am aware of are:

Shaykh Muhammad Saleem Dhorat Sahib, Leicester
Shaykh Riyadh Ul Haq Sahib, Leicester

I am sure there are other english speaking shaykhs but not aware of any names. As for urdu speaking there is a wealth of them , both here and at home.

A Shaykh and a Peer are the same. However due to the infiltration of false peers in pakistan the word peer has a bad reputation. In reality a true peer and a true shaykh are the same thing but its just a PR thing that peer is now someone who is dodgy.

Muhtarama Yashmaki I refer you to the book
Summary Shariat and Tasawwuf
Maseehul Ummat Hadhrat Mawlana Mohammed Maseehullah Khan

Published by Idara e Islamiat - Lahor,Karachi Pakistan but should be readily available in uk. For sure it is readily available in birmingham and am confident other shops in ohter cities will also stock this.

May I also refer you to inter-islam.org in audio section - Youth Tarbiyah Conference and to Shaykh Riyadhul Haq and Mawlana Yusuf Motala Sahib. The title of audio should be bayat and will be in YTC 2004 AND YTC 2003 I am sure.

Ya ALLAH Madad.
Haq Chaar Yaar

Peer actually is persian word, shaykh as im sure u know is arabic word. Mean the same thing.

In indo-pak generally refer to shaykh as peer but means same as shaykh. There is Peer Zulfiqar Naqshbandi in USA and he is a true peer and everyone calls him peer not shaykh, so not necessarily all clalled peer are dodgy types.

Yes I have also seen those advertisements. They are most evil conmen preying on vulnerable and sometimes desperate people. I dont believe them as peer. I saw one calling himself Peer Bukhari Shah which doesnt tell us anything about him and apparently he has made people fall inlove and cured exam problems and puts in touch with ur dead mother so she can tell you how to make the dough? the last ones a joke but i think people get my drift.

In Pakistan there are some peers called gaddi-nasheen. Basically one of their ancestors was a pious person and they just take that as a hereditary peerhood, the son sits on his fathers cushion and so on.

Btw not necessary that calling someone a peer means they claiming to be a shaykh. In our village we call the sayyid men peero or peer/ and the women are called peerani/peerni.

Ya ALLAH Madad.
Haq Chaar Yaar

What qualifications does a shaikh have to have?

Are there female sheikh?

it is not necessry that a shaykh be officially qualified in that he doesnt necessarily have to have a degree from a darul uloom or anything else. His qualification is that his shaykh has seen the high stages of spirittuality obtained by the mureed and the shaykh then gives khilafat to the mureed. Thats the main qualification but even then you need to be extremely careful and I refer you to the book i mentioned in an earlier post.

A female shaykh? Thats something i never thought of so cant comment.

Ya ALLAH Madad.
Haq Chaar Yaar

One way of finding out who a true shakyh is by remembering the following:

"A true Shaykh does not come after the mureed (followers) but the mureed are in search of him and a so called shaykh who is on the outlook for mureeds is not a true shakyh but a con-artist i.e. money grabbing peers."

I follow a Shaykh, before him i was lost, confused about the true meaning of life. I did not have a clue about Islamic teachings or wot was the importance of Islamic teachings i.e. prayer etc. But coming to know him was pure luck, because my uncle would bring the videos of his lectures and hearing his lectures just gripped your heart and your heart accepted the teachings he was delivering straight away, and your soul felt peaceful with the content of his teachings and everything he said made sense and the amazing thing was all his teaching were from Quran and the sunnah of Holy Prophet (SAW).

My Shaykh has amazing personality and qualities which are indescrible but the pinnacle point of people's attraction towards him is his extreme humbleness, he is very knowlegable (ask him any question on any topic). When you look at him you can see the sunnah of the Holy Prophet (SAW), as he never utters or says anything out with the realms of Hadith or Holy Quran.

So when you look at him you remember Allah Almighty, you remember the hereafter and you forget the world. My Shaykh is very loving, and when he speaks to you, you feel the most important person in the world and when he smiles at you, you feel the luckiest person in the world and when he speaks to you, you feel as though you have the entire wealth of the universe at your hands.

Can anyone guess who my shaykh is?

THROUGH LOVE all that is bitter will be sweet.
Through Love all that is copper will be gold.
Through Love all dregs will turn to purest wine.
Through Love all pain will turn to medicine.
Through Love the king will turn into a slave!

what do you mean by follow?

In the olden days, a person would give bay'ah to a shaikh, who would then help the person gain knowledge/piety/spirituality.

Once the shaikh had given the knowledge he thought he could, he would reccomend another sheikh for the individual to gain benefit from.

If that is what you mean, no I do not follow one.

If you mean giving bay'ah to a sheikh, I have not done so, thus I do not follow one.

If you mean exclusively follow one sheikh/scholar, I do not follow one.

If you mean listen to a scholar/sheikh's lectures, unfortunately I do not do that either.

If you mean if I hear a sheikh's opinion, would I respect it, yes I would.

If you mean I will follow such advice with thinking things through myself, I probably do not follow one.

Having someone to look upto who can give you practical guidance on tap is a good thing. And the opportunity should not be missed to better yourself.

However if you do not understand something, always ask.

Follow any good avice, whatever the source. Avoid bad advice what ever the source.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

so basically loner what was the point of writin that essay..just say you aint got nothin to do with a shaykh :roll: it only takes few words to say what you meant so why the essay?

The question was vague, so I pulled an ASB, and asked my own questions, and answered them.

Do I follow shaykh's?

I aint no stalker!

However I would not take what they say lightly.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

"Admin" wrote:
what do you mean by follow?

In the olden days, a person would give bay'ah to a shaikh, who would then help the person gain knowledge/piety/spirituality.

Once the shaikh had given the knowledge he thought he could, he would reccomend another sheikh for the individual to gain benefit from.

If that is what you mean, no I do not follow one.

If you mean giving bay'ah to a sheikh, I have not done so, thus I do not follow one.

If you mean exclusively follow one sheikh/scholar, I do not follow one.

If you mean listen to a scholar/sheikh's lectures, unfortunately I do not do that either.

If you mean if I hear a sheikh's opinion, would I respect it, yes I would.

If you mean I will follow such advice with thinking things through myself, I probably do not follow one.

Having someone to look upto who can give you practical guidance on tap is a good thing. And the opportunity should not be missed to better yourself.

However if you do not understand something, always ask.

Follow any good avice, whatever the source. Avoid bad advice what ever the source.

All your above questions apply to "following a shaykh"

And eh wot do u mean 'olden days?' you still do a baiyah with a Shaykh and you can gain spritual benefit, peity and knowledge from just only one shaykh.

THROUGH LOVE all that is bitter will be sweet.
Through Love all that is copper will be gold.
Through Love all dregs will turn to purest wine.
Through Love all pain will turn to medicine.
Through Love the king will turn into a slave!

These days bay'ah is used only as an oath of allegiance.

In the past this meant you would accompany your sheikh, and learn from him directly, through his wisdom, and situations you encounter.

Then once your shaikh had given you what he could, he would reccomend another for you to do bay'ah to and gain benefit from.

This aspect has mostly been lost.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

salaam

A Shaykh is a teacher and a spiritual master.
There is however a difference between a scholar and a sufi/wali/ man of tasawuff/tazkiyyah/ [u]a spiritual master[/u].

A scholar is one who just has comprehensive knowledge of the deen. If he practices what he is knows and teaches then he is a great man-a great Alim. An Alim you see is the heir to the prophets. But the scholar has not mastered tasawuff/ spiritualism/ tazkiyyah etc. He does not have in-depth knowledge of the soul, how to purify it, how to cleanse it, how to control it, how to increase from the lowest level of your nafs (ego)-nafs-e-ammara (the Commanding Nafs) to the highest level of your nafs- nafs-e-mutmainna (tranquil nafs).

This is a science one needs to master to be a true shaykh/ peer. The job of the shaykh/peer is to help , advice and train you to purify your ego so much that it becomes obsessed and in extreme love with the Almighty and is so purified that it doesnt even touch or go a mile near any bad action, corruption, big sin etc.

The shaykh has to be a high calibre scholar, a practising scholar of the Deen, who has ijaza to teach, and must have mastered the art of tasawuff (spiritualism) through his shaykh and he must have ijaza from his shaykh to take bayah and teach others about tasawuff. Also he must do this fisabi-lillah.

[u]Now we see the difference between an ordinary person like me and you, and an alim and a shaykh/peer.[/u]

Yes today we have alot of dodgy shaykhs/peers who have no ijaza, have no clue what tasawuff is, are not even alims but claim to be peers! One should aboid them at all costs.

A true shaykh will take you from being a bad muslim to the highest level one can possibly achieve. I will try to explain the journey that we all should we travelling with a shaykh- the journey of the nafs.[b]ONLY through a blessed, qualified and great shaykh can you travel from the nafs-i-ammara to the nafs-i-mutmainna:[/b]

[b]Levels of the Nafs[/b]

[b]1. Nafs-i-Ammara, the Commanding Nafs[/b]

Behold! The commanding nafs encourages evil, except when my Lord bestows mercy. (Qur'an 12:53)

Traits: narcissistic, mechanical, conditioned, non-reflective, impulsive.

Habits: pride, enmity, cruelty, lust, stinginess.
[b]
2. Nafs-i-Lawwama: Blaming Nafs[/b]

But I swear by the accusing nafs that this Scripture is true. (Qur'an 75:2)

Traits: conscience, capacity for self-observation.

Habits: backbiting, trickery, conceitedness, hypocrisy, self-consciousness, guilt, fearfulness, wishful thinking, intense desire to please others.

[b]3. Nafs-i-Mulhama: Inspired Nafs[/b]

And a nafs and Him who gave order to it and inspired it with a sense of what is wrong for it and what is right for it. Qur'an 91:8

Traits: generosity, gratitude, modesty, empathy, ardent desire.

Habits: liberality lacking discrimination, mystical inflation, tendency toward spiritual greed.

[b]
4. Nafs-i-Radziyya: Satisfied Nafs[/b]

Return to your Lord, content -Qur'an 89:28

Traits: endurance, resignation, constancy.

Habits: personal identification with affliction.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[b]5. Nafs-i-Mardiyyah: Satisfying Nafs[/b]

for His being pleased with you! -Qur'an 89:28

Traits: knowledge of Allah, sincerity, unbounded faith and hope in existential communion.

Habits: mystical intoxication, lack of sobriety and balance.
[b]

6. Nafs-i-Mutmaina: Tranquil Nafs[/b]

To the righteous soul will be said, "O, you nafs in complete peace and satisfaction!" -Qur'an 89:27

Traits: dignity, sincerity, courage, compassion, complete loyalty.

Habits: Attachment to spiritual ambition.

So people, we all REALLY need a shaykh to help us on this journey. You wont find him on the internet! You have to search for one...but they do exist...not many..but they're out there. First of all if you attach yourself to a good, fully educated Alim then he will inshallah guide you towards a good shaykh.

May Allah (swt) keep us all on the straight path.

wasalaam

 

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