These aren't my words but that of someone special I know, and I hope they help you - they indeed helped me to get a perspective on things and all. In times when we have so many different kinds of Muslims and interpretations, I find this advice healthy and beneficial:
Because Islam covers every aspect of life it also guides us on how to purify the heart and be close to Allah through prayer and thikr. But the thing is that Muslims through the ages (even until now) tend to take one aspect of Islam and identify themselves with that and the other aspects are played down. So you find the salafi who concentrate on the rules; the black and white; the sufis who concentrate on the spiritual side; the ikhwanis who concentrate on political interaction; and so on. For me, I try to take Islam as a whole and make a balance between all the aspects. Allah forgive me for my shortcomings.
Because Islam covers every aspect of life it also guides us on how to purify the heart and be close to Allah through prayer and thikr. But the thing is that Muslims through the ages (even until now) tend to take one aspect of Islam and identify themselves with that and the other aspects are played down. So you find the salafi who concentrate on the rules; the black and white; the sufis who concentrate on the spiritual side; the ikhwanis who concentrate on political interaction; and so on. For me, I try to take Islam as a whole and make a balance between all the aspects. Allah forgive me for my shortcomings.
4 comments:
This is true, I have observed, in all religions, unfortunately. Yours is the best course. May Allah forgive us all for our shortcomings.
Ya Haqq!
Asalaamu alaikum.
This is very true and wise and as Brother Irving says, it seems to be the human condition.
Except for one thing: it generalizes specific groups. I have known Salafi practicioners who were deeply interested in more than just the "rules". Most certainly EVERY tariqa follower I personally know (i.e. there are some like described, but this is probably not as wide-spread as implied) is not only focused on spirituality to the detriment of the other aspects of Islam. In fact, I find tariqa followers to be the best at blending all aspects of Islam, the fiqh and rules with the social awareness and the spirituality. This is what I was trying to explain to you before: someone is going to make a broad sweeping statement about a group that clearly shows they know little about them.
I myself know nothing of the Ikwanis, so I won't make any statement about what they do or do not do.
Salaam alaikum,
I think your criticism about it generalising specific groups in spot on, Aaminah. But it mostly relates to the conception of the groups before they were fully developed to equip themselves with what is needed. So at the end we find that they were incomplete without the other dimensions. Large sections of the groups still concentrate on its "identity aspect", and I think that's the nub of it.
Salamu'alaikum,
You may be interested:
http://www.yursil.com/blog/2007/10/the-middle-way/
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