True Sufi and Fake Ones

Can a Sufi remain oblivious to the fact that the Shariah has collapsed, and continue teaching as if we are still living in the days in which the Shariah was our way of life? No, that is not possible in accordance to the method and the purpose of Tasawwuf. Therefore the Suluk and the teaching must adapt to the new situation. To achieve purity in the inward you must achieve purity in the outward, an

d viceversa. They go together.

In our time there are many fake teachers, far too many. It is common to find people with titles which are far too long, false claims, and yet, no significant instruction. Silsila documents can be made with a photocopy machine, but knowledge cannot be obtained with a photocopy. So it is easy to know who is who. 

 

The true Shaykh is aware of the new situation and its reality, and his suluk goes accordingly; but the fakes continue with old formulas (the real meaning of which eludes them) detached from understanding of reality, they just copy without knowing, and they add false arguments and nonsense. Unable to deal with reality (find solutions) some “escape” into elementary future fantasies: the end is coming, waiting for the Mahdi, waiting for the Khalifa. 

 

Others “escape” going to a melancholic reading of the past: the Sahaba were great, we are rotten; the past was great, our present is disgraceful, and so on. But our teaching is here and now, our Guidance is in the Luft and the Hifdh; our task today is the same as always: marifatullah.

This is the remark for those who understand: There is no marifatullah if you are not at war with Riba in your doing –not just in your saying. And why Riba takes this rank? Because the outward is saturated with it, and we are people who say: deal with the great evil first, and with the smaller evil later. And Allah knows best.