Question:
A brother asks: Despite the perfection of the Sharia (Islamic law), there are still those among the adherents of Islam who worship Allah based on dreams, and command their followers to do so, especially within the Sufi orders, which have become the foundation of religion in many Muslim countries despite their fragmentation. We request a clarification on the gravity of this matter.
Answer:
Religion is the adherence to the legislation of Allah brought forth by the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger—peace and blessings be upon him. There is no legislation after Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him. Therefore, dreams are not legislative. Dreams, stories about ancestors and the like, or tales regarding [Sufi] shaykhs—all these myths have no validity, and it is impermissible to rely upon them to determine what is permissible (halal) or forbidden (haram). Rather, the halal and the haram are strictly what Allah and His Messenger have permitted or forbidden.
As for what the Sufis practice regarding the worship of shaykhs, their veneration, and declaring things permissible or forbidden based on what those shaykhs deem so without evidence or proof—this is misguidance, disbelief (kufr)—we seek refuge in Allah—and an apostasy from Islam; we ask Allah for safety. This is what some of them do, alongside the innovations (bid’a’) and myths present among others, and enacting legislations not authorized by Allah, which is likewise an innovation and an evil (munkar).
Similarly, what some of them practice by worshipping their shaykh, turning to him with their hearts, invoking him, seeking his deliverance, making vows (nadhr) to him, and asking him to fulfill their needs, relieve their distress, and grant spiritual aid (madad) during crises—all of this constitutes disbelief and misguidance, whether the shaykh is alive or dead; we ask Allah for safety. Thus, the Sufis possess wonders and oddities consisting of various forms of polytheism (shirk), misguidance, innovations, and sins.
It is therefore necessary to beware of their evil and to caution against the falsehood they adhere to. The duty upon the ‘people of knowledge’ (ahl al-‘ilm) is to clarify their reality to the public. The true scholars must expose the condition of every group in any country, clarify the falsehood they are immersed in, debate them, and strive diligently to make the truth clear to them, so as to extract them from the falsehood they are in. These groups are numerous in the Levant, Iraq, Africa, Egypt, and many other lands.
It is obligatory upon the people of knowledge there, and upon anyone who has the means to understand the details of their falsehood, to expose their invalidity thoroughly. This requires studying their conditions, identifying the specifics of their false practices, and then clarifying that through writings, newspapers, and magazines so that falsehood is exposed and the truth is made manifest.