Sat. March 22 - Sacred Knowledge Seminars in Toronto, Canada

• Author: MR
• Filed under: Canada, Events, Islam, Tasawwuf, Traditional Islam
• Date: Mar 19,2008

Looks like an amazing event for all those Muslims near Islamic Forum of Canada!

U2’s new Album will feature Moroccan Sufi Music!

• Author: MR
• Filed under: America, Culture, Music, Tasawwuf
• Date: Dec 14,2007

The power of dhikr:

“We’re just beginning the processes,” Bono told The Independent. “We did some recording in Morocco last year. All the band went to an amazing religious music festival in Fez with some incredible sufi singers. It was a real humbling thing for a punk-rock shouter, listening to these people who just close their eyes for 40 minutes and sing the most sophisticated melodies.” - Bono, band member of U2

SubhanAllah! Can you imagine millions of people who will be listening to some beautiful poetry praising Allah (swt) and sending salawat upon Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)!? Although many of you will shout out haram. It’s not haram for a non-Muslim to use it for their music. It’s also not haram for the millions of non-Muslims to listen to the Sufi melodies. Who knows, maybe some will want to investigate more about Sufism and then start studying Islam. Only Allah knows if this will be a bridge for people to come to Islam.

Shout out to Chuck who posted it on his blog.

Source: Yahoo News

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhab’s connection with Sufism

• Author: MR
• Filed under: History, Islam, Salafi, Tasawwuf, Traditional Islam
• Date: Dec 5,2007

I just read this amazing article posted on Imam Suhaib Webb’s blog, “A Sufi Salafi Connection: Sh. Abdul Wahab [ra] and Muhammad Hayyat al-Sindi [ra]: Dr. John Voll“. It’s a long article, so I took my own notes highlighting what I thought was interesting and noteworthy.

Shaykh Muhammad Hayyat al-Sindi…

• was a Hanafi.
• was a Sufi in the Naqshabandiyya tariqa via ‘Abd al-Rahmin al-Saqqaf. Also possible affiliation with the Khalwatiyya.
• was born in Pakistan, moved to Madinah and studied there.
• studied under:
  • Abi al-Hasan Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Hadi al-Sindi, ‘Abdallah ibn Salim al-Bagri, Hasan ibn ‘li al-’Ajami, and Abi al-Tahir Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Kirini.
  • 2 were Hanafi and 2 were Shafi
  • six lines linking Muhammad Hayyat with al-Qashash
  • Muhammad Hayyat had at least eight lines of connexion with al-Biibili
  • other scholars too, check article.

Shaykh Muhammad Hayyat al-Sindi was the teacher of Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab (alleged founder of Wahhabism). He taught Sh. ibn Abdul Wahhab “rejection of popular religious practices associated with ‘ saints ‘ and their tombs”. I guess this shows Sh. Muhammad Hayyat al-Sindi wasn’t an extreme Sufi.

Sh. Muhammad Hayyat had 20 students including Sh. ibn Abdul Wahhab:

• Twelve of them were Hanafi
• Five were Shafi
• One was a “Sufi recluse”
• Two Hanbalis (including Sh. ibn Abdul Wahhab).
• Out of the 20, 12 were directly connected to Sufism
  • 7 identified with major Sufi tariqas
  • 3 taught or wrote Sufi texts
  • 1 was a Sufi miracle worker - the “Sufi recluse
  • 5 of them were Sufi Shaykhs

So in other words, from what I understand in the article, these 20 brothers, scholars, students of knowledge were the classmates of Sh. ibn Abdul Wahhab. Regardless of what the students, followers of Sh. ibn Abdul Wahhab have to say about Sufism, it is clear that his classmates, teachers, friends, brothers, and people who he most likely “hung out” with were madhab-following sufis.

The author of the article is Dr. John Voll. He is a professor of Islamic history and the associate director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University. You can find his profile here.

Source

FREE SunniPath Course Clips on YouTube

• Author: MR
• Filed under: Audio, Islam, Tasawwuf, Traditional Islam, Video
• Date: Sep 19,2007

SunniPath has uploaded a few more clips on YouTube. Check them out here:

• Shaykh Faraz Rabbani videos:
  • The Fatwa Against Salman Rushdie (part 1)
  • The Fatwa Against Salman Rushdie (part 2)
• Shaykh Hamza Karamali videos:
  • Ashari vs. Matureedi Aqeedah
  • Istikharah and Marriage
  • Arabic Program - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3
• Ustadha Noura Shamma
  • The Prophet’s (saas) Wives
• Ustadha Zaynab Ansari
  • Marriage
  • Prayer and Motherhood
• Shaykh Faraz Rabbani & Ustadha Noura Shamma videos:
  • Women Traveling to Seeking Sacred Knowledge (Part 1)
  • Women Traveling to Seeking Sacred Knowledge (Part 2)

Remember the unity brothers and sisters! Unity!

The New Zaytuna Distance Learning Program

• Author: MR
• Filed under: Audio, Islam, Tasawwuf, Traditional Islam, Video
• Date: Sep 8,2007

Zaytuna Institute’s new Distance Learning program provides communities and students around the world affordable access to the sacred knowledge being taught and preserved at Zaytuna Institute through the use of the latest in cutting-edge multimedia and Internet technology.

This is hot!

The True Essence of Dhikr - Shaykh Abdallah al-Haddad

• Author: MR
• Filed under: Islam, Tasawwuf, Traditional Islam
• Date: Aug 24,2007

Many Muslims, no matter what madhab or creed, lack the true understanding of dhikr. We lack it, because the majority of us have evolved it into a mechanical action limited to only prayer, reading Qur’an, dhikr gatherings, and basically any ibadat in the Masjid.

My cousin Adam wrote a short reflection on Shaykh Abdullah al-Haddad’s answer to a sisters question. Check it out here, entitled “Remembering God”. Comments are off on this post, in order to keep the discusion on his blog.