Shaykh Hamza Yusuf and Dr. Khalid Blankinship (Temple University)
April 27, 2008
New York, NY
The Great Hall
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
30 Cooper Square
New York, N.Y. 10003-7120
212-353-4196
I got it as an email. It’s not on the website yet (Correction: it is on the site, inshaAllah I’ll post more details as soon as I get them. This is going to be awesome! InshaAllah!
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
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.
Basically the pledge can be summarized into no condemning and “takfir’ing” of the different creeds, no attacks on scholars of different views from creed to fiqh to anything in Islam. In other words just love your Sunni brother and khalas! Imam Suhaib has added the list of scholars and activists who have signed it, so I’d like to make a list of all the Muslim bloggers around the world who endorse this pledge. Comment if your blog supports this pledge!
The story of the Pledge: How did it start?
There was a conference with a number of scholars in Wales in which Sh. Abdullah bin Bayyah was giving some lectures and presentations. After it was over the scholars including the above mentioned decided on what to do. The pledge idea came up and all the individual scholars thought of some points and it was compiled by Imam Zaid Shakir. It was then expanded with a mailing list and more scholars gave feedback and then it went public.
What you can do to help spread “The Sunni Unity Pledge”?
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.
Shaykh Hamza Yusuf at ISNA 2007, entitled “Upholding Faith, Serving Humanity”:
MashaAllah! Allah hu Akbar! First Imam Suhaib Webb and now Shaykh Hamza Yusuf calls for unity. May Allah (swt) give us (the students fo the various institues such as Al-Maghrib, SunniPath, Zaytuna, etc.) the ability to attain this unity and to be more accepting of our differences. Ameen!
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.
