Question:
As-Salam Alaykum, Ramadan Karim!
I am a reader and a follower of Sheikh Nazim, since 2003, I have a very important question: In Europe there is a sheikh of the Tariqa, named Buhanuddin Herrmann, who has written a book in which he says he believes in “reincarnation”….I’ve read all the Sheikh Nazim’s sohbets on the issue and He, as all the scholars and Islamic Saints, in against the reincarnation theories! Sheikh Nazim (and me) believes in “life-death-grave-resurrection-hell (for purification)-and Paradise”….this is what Maulana has always said, and in a sohbet called “Free Spirits,” he states that “reincarnation is a foolish elementary idea”!… My question is: Why it is permitted to a person (Burhanuddin Herrmann) to write these books, full of these ideas, not allowed even by Maulana Sheikh Nazim? And to introduce him as a Sheikh of the Naqshbandiyya-Haqqaniyya? A big hug to you all, from Italy (sorry for my elementary English)….Salam Alaykum!!!
Answer:
wa `alaykum salam,
I have not seen any such quotes so I cannot comment, we refer to the verse:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِن جَاءكُمْ فَاسِقٌ بِنَبَأٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوا أَن تُصِيبُوا قَوْمًا بِجَهَالَةٍ فَتُصْبِحُوا عَلَى مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَادِمِينَ
{O ye who believe! If a wicked person comes to you with any news, ascertain the truth, lest ye harm people unwittingly, and afterwards become full of repentance for what ye have done.} (Surat al-Hujurat 49:6)
So until we verify, we cannot conjecture, we must see the quote in writing and that this person signed it himself. Then, if that is the case that person wrote such a thing, we first try to find some way in which his words maybe interpreted within the Shari`ah. Then if not, we try to find a way that he may have spoken in an ecstatic state, or perhaps he was attempting to give non-Muslims some leeway, etc. Then if not, give him 70 other excuses. If after all that, it is clear he is wrong and he insists on it, then it is his mistake and his words are rejected. At that time he should be corrected, and he should repent and issue a retraction. In other words, let us not jump to condemn anyone but first ascertain the veracity of the matter.
Taher Siddiqui
