Question:
Assalaamu alaikum, I have followed Maulana for some time, and I have immense love and respect for him, but my knowledge is not so great, especially concerning the spiritual history of the sheikh, but there is something that troubles me and am hoping that someone might be able to help me. I have had a lot of discussions with fellow muslims, not all maurids of Maulana, and the questions I get asked the most is, we are meant love Allah the most Merciful and our Prophet Sallalahu alaihi wasalam more than anything else in this life, but the things that stops these people from following Maulana is they don’t understand how some people praise him to such an extent that it seems there love for him is equal to that of their love for the Prophet Sallalahu alaihi wasalam, this as anyone knows isn’t right, no one will ever be equal to the Prophet Sallalahu alaihi wasalam, so why then does the sheikh not stop these people from prostrating themselves to him or sending so many praises of theirs to him rather than Allah, I have met Sheikh a few times and I know that I am nothing next to him and I want to trust him which is why I must ask these questions. And how is it that Maulana is divinely inspired how does he come by the information he presents? I have been told that the Prophet Sallalahu alaihi wasalam said that after him there will be no more direct guidance from Allah and that all there will be is his Sunnah and the Noble Quran? I apologise if anyone is offended by my questions but this is a matter of faith, understanding and truth, I must ask these questions for my own and my childrens faith and understanding. please try to understand what I am saying without getting offended, I love Maulana but these questions are turning into doubts, which could be a result of the company I keep, but these questions are there now so I need some kind of answers PLEASE! and where better to go than the people in direct contact with Maulana himself.
Answer:
Wa `alaykum salam,
You have diagnosed your own problem when you say “which could be a result of the company I keep”, and therefore you know the solution.
Regarding your questions, we recommend to listen to or read the following suhbat:
Questioning Erases Good Character
We appreciate that you have “followed Mawlana for some time” but based on your questions it appears you have never spent any time with him. If so you would know that no one is making sajda to him, and, if anyone were to do so, he would prevent them.
What you are seeing, perhaps in videos, is murids, out of their great love, kissing Mawlana’s feet. While some may say this is objected to in Shari`ah, in fact there are so many hadith that the Sahaba kissed the Prophet’s feet out of love and reverence and here is just one example:
Tabari narrates in his Tafsir:
“`Umar ibn al-Khattab got up and kissed the foot of Allah’s Messenger and said:
O Messenger of Allah, we are pleased with Allah as our Lord, with Islam as our religion, and with Muhammad as our Prophet, and with the Qur’an as our Book. Forgive, and Allah will forgive you (fa`fu `afallahu `anka). And he did not cease until the Prophet softened.”
Sorry to be frank, but you show yourself as leaning to Wahabi when you say “so why then does the sheikh not stop these people from prostrating themselves to him or sending so many praises of theirs to him rather than Allah“.
The stance of Ahl as-Sunnah wa ‘l-Jama`ah is that the Prophet, upon whom be Allah’s peace and blessings, must be praised and praised excessively per the order of Allah swt, ya ayyuhalladheena aamanoo salloo`alayhi wa sallimoo tasleema, for which there is no limit nor excess, for who can compete with Allah’s Praise?
Similarly, the inheritors of the prophets, as the Prophet (s) said, “the scholars of my nation are like the prophets of Bani Israel” should be treated similarly with high respect and love, especially in that they lead us on the Straight Path, the road to Paradise and the Sunnah and prevent us from falling under the sway of Shaytan andfollowing his path to hell.
And finally as one of Ahl al-Bayt, as a descendant of both Sayyidina al-Hasan and Sayyidina al-Husayn may Allah be pleased with them both and upon whom be His peace and blessings, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani is also deserving of high reverence and love where Allah said: “Say: ‘No reward do I ask of you for this except the love of those near of kin'”, which refers specifically to love of the Prophet’s Family, something which Wahabis reject.
Taher Siddiqui
