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TürkçeMay Allah not make me, you and all the Muslims deprived of Hz. Muhammad, Hz. Ali and their descendants, of their love and affection and their Sufism for the sake of the love of the Exalted Prophet of Allah! The aim is Hz. Muhammad and all of them are intended for our Master Hz. Muhammad (A.S.V.).
“Ene minallahi vel mü’minune mini - I am from Allah and Believers are from Me.” (Sırrül Esrar, Sayyid Abdulkadir Geylani, p.20 and 75)
That is to say, he said: “the origin of my spirit is Allah. And I am the origin of the Spirit of Believers. How happy is the person who is a believer! Allah has already said in the Koran that the Koran was revealed (descended) to our Prophet (A.S.). We say that the Koran descended to him but they cannot explain it. He said for the Believers:
“Ve enzele sekinete fi kulubi’l mu’minin - I am sending down tranquility into the hearts of the faithful.” (Al-Fath, 4)
What comes is the Divine Light. It is the Divine Light that comes from Allah.” Being a believer should not be underestimated. He said that He revealed something not only to the Prophets but also to the believers as well. This is an important quality. Faith comes from the Heaven. There is an act of “descent” there. It is also a revelation. Faith comes from the Heaven. Nobody can gain faith through reasoning.
“If you do not understand that none can have faith except by the will of God. He will visit His scourge upon the senseless.” (Yunus, 100)
That means: our Masters among the Companions wanted everybody to have faith at that time. For, they had already tasted the faith and they wanted their brothers and sisters, relatives to be a believer. They wanted them to be together with them.
“You were just like them. I delivered you from the abyss of fire.” (The Imrans, 103)
“Nobody can have faith unless I guide them rightly.” (Isra, 97/ Zumar, 23)
“Had I pleased, I would have guided all the people of the earth rightly.” (Yunus, 99)
He said: All the people would have been Muslims if I had willed. He used the conditional clause here. He laid down a condition: If I had pleased or willed. Then, He did not want it. If He wanted all the people in the world would have been Muslims. Then there would have been no need for the examination. Everyone would have been an Angel then and there would be no need for this world. He would have lifted everybody to the Heavens then. There would be no physical world. They are not aware of this. He has already said: “I inspired man with the knowledge of both piety and sin.” (Sams, 8)
Inspiration means breathing. It is also a revelation. It may be less strong than revelation. However, it also comes from Allah. Inspiration, divine revelation, divine breath -all of them- means to cast, to transfer or transport. Divine revelation is not a verse. It is a power that brings the verse. For example: communication in electronic computer and mobile telephones can be performed by means of electricity or light. There is a current. Divine revelation is not the verse itself. It is the power that brings the verse. It is a divine power, a divine Light. The verses are the words of Allah. They come by means of revelation. Allah said if He wanted He would reveal, send His prophets or speak behind a curtain. Did He not speak to Moses (A.S.)? He said “I do not speak to people, I speak behind a curtain through revelation:
“Ev min verai hicab - I speak to My servants by revelation, or from behind a veil.” (Shura, 51)
The Prophet of Allah had spoken with Allah, Himself. What did he do in the Hira Cave? Gabriel was mentioned for a good cause. Otherwise, they would say Muhammad wrote it using his mind. However, he said that Allah inspired him. He mentioned Gabriel between them so that those who do not believe in him would be a disbeliever and hypocrites would be known. Gabriel was a confirmation, a strengthening. Allah first descended the verse to him, to his heart then He sent them by Gabriel. He was strengthening them by Gabriel so that the Prophet (A.S.V.) would be contented and there would be no suspicion.
“I am sending -revealing- this Book to you.” (Nisa, 166-An’am, 155)
Both the Spirit and the Faithful Spirit brought the Book. He also cast His spirit. He said: “I cast - breathed- the spirit to you” and “I revealed the Spirit to you.” It is said He only revealed the Koran. However Allah said He also sent a spirit like He did to the Messiah. He said He sent a second spirit to him. They tell us not to deal with these subjects. Why should we not deal with them? What will happen to those people if we are not interested in these matters? A focus group will say “This is it” and everybody will know it as it is said and they will memorize it and everyone will be a Maturidy and an Ashary.
Apart from them, it is Sufism and Sufism is not related with religion for them. Allah Allah! That is to say, the path of Hasan al Basri, the path of Abdulkadir Geylani and the path of Mawlana are not religion for them. Whose path is religion then? The path of the People of Madrasa, the path of Theologians, the path of Mutazila is religion for them.
Theology is also another subject. Mutazila is also a supporter of Scholastic Theology.
They declared Ghazzali, who was such a great person, an infidel because he did not accept Mutazila and Ashary. Were they (Maturidy and Ashary) Prophets?
That is to say, the Companions, Hz. Ali, Abu Bakr, Abu Hanifa, Shafii, even Hasan al Basri, the Tabiin, the great personalities who lived before them could not know the truth after the Prophet A.S.V. except only those two people. Goodness gracious!
They were wrong. Most of them were wrong. Ghazzali said: “One cannot learn the truth by reason”. Why did he say it? He said metaphysical realities cannot be learnt by intellect. The Physical realities can be learnt using mind. I have already written this matter in our book “The Religious Sects in Islam And Ascending” in chapter “Can There Be Religious Sects in Belief? When Did Sufism, Philosophy, Theology Appear in Islam?”
The science of Jurisprudence “Ijtihad (Personal Judgement)” is held by intellect. Physical Sciences, Technology, Science, Art are studied by intellect. However, neither Angels nor Genies and Satan and neither Paradise nor Hell, neither the Essence of Allah nor the Attributes can be learnt by reasoning. Whatever the Prophet of Allah said is true. Allah the Almighty gave information about His essence and His attributes. What does “the Beautiful names” mean? He Himself bears all His names. Each of His names is in fact “a verbal adjective” which is also called as “participle”. The Prophet (A.S.V.) said whoever can say the 99 names of 1001 names of Allah will enter the Paradise.
Here, it does not mean that you will pronounce them with your tongue but it refers to the people who attain the reality of them- those who attain the knowledge of these Beautiful Names. In other words; it refers to those who live the Spirit of each name, who knows the divine knowledge of them. Not only using the physical tongue but also living them by heart and by spirit.
“Allahüla ilahe illa hu lehul esma-ül hüsna - There is no god but Him. His are the most gracious names.” (Ta Ha, 8)
What did they do? They said Allah has 14 attributes. 6 of them are Zati, 8 of them are Subuti. Who said it: Maturidy said, Ashary said. Who are those Maturidy and Ashary? Are they saints of God? No, they are not. Are they Prophets? No! They lived 2-3 centuries after the Prophet (A.S.V.). They searched the truth. We cannot say anything about their searching. There are some among the Friends of God and Sufis who search the truth. However, nobody can put forward ideas about the essence and attributes of Allah. Whatever the Prophet A.S. said is true. Each of them is an attribute of Allah. Allah has numerous attributes. Let us say that Allah has 99 attributes depending on the hadiths of the Prophet (A.S.V.):
They say Allah has only 14 attributes. They produce a God with 14 attributes. Will the other attributes of Him apart from these be disregarded? Does Allah not have “Rahmet: the All-Merciful”, “Rab-the Lord, The Possessor”, “Aziz: The Victorious”, “Mukaddes: Holy, Sacred”, “İlim: the Knower of All” attributes? Are they not the attributes of Allah? They are also the attributes, the qualities of Allah. They do not accept them. They say there are only 14 attributes. They restrict and limit them. The attributes of Allah cannot be restricted. They are infinite. The essence and attributes of Allah are infinite. There are not only a thousand one attributes but also thousands of attributes. They have restricted them by 14.
Ghazzali asked them how they would solve the mystery of “genies, Angels, satan and spirit.”
The people of Madrasa declared Ghazzali as an infidel. Most of them do not believe in Ghazzali. We must also know this. They do not believe in Mawlana either, however, there are many people who believe in him.
They show this Ashary and Maturidy doctrine as Hanafi or Shafii doctrine. In this respect, Abu Hanifa and Shafii are neither Maturidy nor Ashary. Have they gone astray then? They say people who are not the followers of Ashary and Maturidy have gone astray and they are in error.
They called the belief of Ashary and Maturidy as “the Belief of the People of Sunnat.”
Islamic Belief is based on the Book and Sunnat. We have already accepted whatever is said in the Book and Sunnat.
The attributes of Allah cannot be restricted as 14-50-100. By no means! The attributes of Allah is limitless. See this is important! The Imams of Four sects are neither Ashary nor Maturidy.
They said most of the Hanafi scholars were in the direction of Maturidy and Ashary.
This belief of the people of Sunnat was made by the Ottoman Sheikhulislams. They invented such a belief. There are some falsifications or alterations in their documents.
Though I do not agree with Ashary and Maturidy, I accept the truths they determined. However, they cannot fix all of them perfectly. Only the Wise people are able to do it.
I cannot say anything about you but my belief is based on the belief of Hz. Ali, Hz. Abubakr, Ahl al Bayt, the Companions, Hasan al Basri, 12 Imams, Sayyid Abdulkadir Geylani, Sayyid Ahmed ar Rufai, Sayyid Ahmed al Badawi, Sayyid İbrahim al Dusiki, Muhyiddini Arabi, Hadji Beqtash, Mawlana, Yunus and so on. Whatever the belief of the people of Sufism is my belief. None of them are Maturidy or Ashary. Maturidy and Ashary are not the Friends of God (Awliya) either. They are not included in the chain of the Spiritual Teachers (Sufi Sheikhs) either.
They have studied Scholastic Theology all the time. What does scholastic theology mean? It is theological philosophy.
Theology is not the Word of Allah. Then a question emerged: Are the attributes of Allah eternal or created? Some said they were eternal, some said they were created. Therefore, this science was called as the “Science of Theology”. This word was used due to the discussions of Theology. They tried to know Allah the Absolute Truth and the attributes of Allah by using intellect.
This is a very important matter. The attributes of Allah is infinite. He who says there are only 14 attributes becomes an infidel because He has numerous attributes. Allah has no limit. Allah is infinite. The attributes of Allah are also infinite. Does Allah not have other attributes? How nice! Does Allah not have the attributes: “Active”, “Glory, dignity” “Compassion”? Allah has so many attributes. Each of the Beautiful names of Allah is an attribute. If they said: “Our Prophet (a.s.v.) said Allah has 99 attributes”, we might accept it. No! They decrease it to 14. They say that as they determined from the Koran, 6 of them are (Zati) the attributes of His Essence and 8 of them are Subuties. Who determined them? It was determined by using intellect. In other words, they found these 8 attributes using mind. Other attributes? They could not find other attributes. Then, they are not able to determine all of them.
There is no such a thing. The attributes of Allah are infinite. The intention of saying 1001 is: if you add 1 to 1000, it goes to infinity. The attributes of Allah cannot be limited or restricted. They cannot be numbered like that.
Therefore, Hz. Ghazzali said: “Then, they mean to say: Only two people found the right path after the Prophet (A.S.V.) The former ones were not able to find it. The following people found the correct, true path from those two people. That is to say, they are as if two Prophets, a kind of the Prophets of Belief. If you say you are not a Maturidy, then they will say that you are not one of the People of Sunnat but you are one of the people who has gone astray.
Why should I have gone astray? I believe in the verse of the Koran, what the Prophet (A.S.V.) said, the Hadiths, Hz. Ali and Hz. Abu Baqr. I believe in all the Friends of God and Apostles of God. They are not one of the Friends of God. Ghazzali also said. “You bring a little proof, though it is weak hadith, or tradition and read it to me that proves the Prophet (A.S.V.) said: “150-200 years after me Maturidy will come and do follow him” then I will accept it. Maturidy was from Khorasan. He may be Turkish, Mongol or Tatar. He was from Khorasan.
Therefore, Ghazzali said: “Tell me a hadith, it may be a weak hadith, that says two people will come after me and Ashary and Maturidy will know the truth best. I will accept them.” They called Ghazzali an infidel. Why? Because he did not accept Ashary. He did not accept Ibn-i Sina, Farabi and Ibn-i Rushd either. There is no philosophy in our religion, in the Koran. If anybody claims that there is, let him prove it then! What is Philosophy? It is rationalism or the methodology of Descartes according to Aristotle Logic: Deduction and Induction, which means either reasoning using general rules or principles to form a judgment about a particular fact or reasoning using known facts to produce general facts or principles. This is a humanly event. He did not believe it as it was not a prophetic or spiritual event.
They do not believe in Gabriel. Hasan Basri Çantay said the theologians do not believe in Gabriel. They call Gabriel “intellect”. This is also the opinion of Ibn Rushd and Farabi. They say that nothing came to the Prophet from Allah. The Prophets wrote the Holy Books using their intellect. They want to show it in that way. They want to deny the Prophets. They want to deny Allah by means of this. This is the matter! This is that much clear! They also say Gabriel “mulk”. Mulk is matter. In the Koran there is a word “Melekut”. In Chapter Yasin the word “melekut” is used: “Melekutu külli Şey’in”. (Yasin, 82)
They make Gabriel matter -a thing-. They try to show this religious. Ibni Rushd and Farabi said that it was a theoretical mind. The theoretical mind of Kant! They have practical mind thesis. They come back to the point that they make the Prophets philosophers. According to them the religion finished and they are convinced by it. They might not tell this near you or me but they make Gabriel “mulk”, intellect, philosophy and thought. In other words, Gabriel has no spiritual, divine personality for them.
Allah speaks to Gabriel, to Angels. Angels speak with us. In chapter Fussilet, Allah does not speak to us, Angels speak to us directly. They cannot understand this matter either. Angels are between Allah and us. In the verse it says:
“Nahnu evliyaüküm-We are your guardians, Friends in this world and in the hereafter.” (Fussilat, 31) The angels are addressing us. These are the words of the angels. However, we accept this “We are your guardians” as a verse. They said there were not any Friends of God except Allah. It is said that Allah was the only guardian, only Friend. However, the angels are also our Friends. If the angels are accepted as our Friends why can the Prophets, the Friends of God not be our Friends?
“The true believers are Friends to one another.” (Tawbah, 71)
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,
“İnnema veliyükümüllahü ve resuluhu vellezine amenüllezine yükimünesselate ve yütünezzekate vehüm rakiun - Your only protectors are God, His Apostle and the Faithful those who attend to their prayers, render the alms levy, and kneel down in worship.” (Maidah, 55) It means that the true believers, the people who perform prayers, who kneel down, who give alms are the Guardians, friends of the faithful. There are certainly differences of ranks between them. “Refiudderecat - Allah is above all the ranks.” (Imrans, 163 / Mu’min, 15)
“Ela inne evliyaallahi la havfün aleyhim velahüm yahzenun - Be awake! God has His Friends among you and they have nothing to fear or regret.” (Yunus, 62)
Now I will ask a question here, I hope I have not tired you. I would like to start an argument asking a question and this will ruin the madrasa mentality once and for all.
They say that the Greatest Awliya cannot be even the dust of the Companion. (Ashab) This is their opinion because they are the supporters of Ashab. They do not care for Ahl al Bayt. To be a keen supporter of Ashab is to be a Nasibi. The excessive supporting Ashab leads to opposing Ahl al Bayt. They speak about the Companions all the time and they do not mention Hz. Ali, Hasan, Husayn Hz. Fatima, the 12 Imams. They only pronounce (salawat) the formula calling God’s benediction on the Prophet: “Allahumme Salli ala seyidina Muhammedin ve ala Ali Muhammad-My God! May peace be upon our master Muhammad and his descendants!” and that is all! When you suggest them talking about the family of Muhammad, they tell you to speak about the Companions first.
We wrote the verse above: “Ela inne evliyaallahi la havfün aleyhim velahüm yahzenun - Be awake! God has His Friends among you and they have nothing to fear or regret.” (Yunus, 62) What does this verse mean? Who did this verse come for? Who did it address? Who was the first person addressed? We are the ones who were addressed but first of all the Companions. Did he tell all the believers: “O the Companions, all of you are my Friends”? Is there such a word? Wali (Guardian) here means the friend. Whose friend is he? He is the Friend of the One who created the Heavens and the earth. The Friend of God (Wali-Saint) is the Friend of Allah after the Prophet.
There were Friends of God among the Companions of the Prophet. All of them were not the Friends of God then. In the above verse, the first believers were addressed. The first believers were our Masters among the Companions. We wish we had been the dust on their feet.
However, they also accept the people who had faith after the Conquest of Mecca as Companions of the Prophet. Whereas Allah defined them as “they did not have faith” in Sajda-29. We become the dust of those who were the real believers such as Hasan al Basri, Abdulkadir Geylani, Junayd al Bagdad, Jafar al Sadiq, Muhammad Nakshibend, Hz. Rufai and so on.
According to them Vahshi was also a Companion, Muawiya, Amr. b. As and Abu Sufyan were companions. In fact, they were cursed.
“Köl yevmel fethi la yenfeullezine keferu imanihüm velahüm yünzerun - Say (O Muhammad!): On the Day of Conquest their faith shall not avail the unbelievers, nor shall they be reprieved.” (Sajdah, 29) Allah said they have no right to repent. They cannot return to God because they are cursed. They insulted and hurt the believers and the Prophet very much.
“Velahüm yünzerun - Therefore give no heed to them”, and “Fentazir innehüm müntezerun - Watch them as they are watching you.” (Sajda, 30) Who had faith on the Conquest Day? Abu Sufyan and his family, Amr İbnül As, Vahşi (Neuzubillah-We take refuge in God!), whore Hinde, she was a prostitute and there is a hadith concerning her being a whore, and Marwan etc.
Then, it was said: “O the Prophet, Allah does not accept them. What shall we call them?” “Müllefetün fi’l kulub- they have conflicts in their hearts.” They cannot be convinced that I am a Prophet. They are in suspicion. They cannot have firm belief with suspicion. One must definitely say: “Allah is One. Hz. Muhammad is absolutely the Apostle of Allah. The Koran is the Book of Allah.” He will say it sincerely. His tongue may say: “La ilahe illallah Muhammedün Resullullah”. However, his heart must confirm it. Faith is in the heart. Our Prophet said: “He who said faith is in speech is not from us”. (The related hadiths : Hadislerle Müslümanlık vol.4, p.1364) See also Maidah, 41: “Apostle! Do not grieve for those who plunge headlong into unbelief; those who say with their tongues: ‘We believe’ but have no faith in their hearts and those Jews who listen to lies and listen to others who have not come to you.”
He who says faith is in speech but not in the heart is a hypocrite. Allah refused those hypocrites who had faith on the Conquest Day of Mecca.
“Vea’rid anhüm- Stay away from them!” (Sajda, 30)
Why did our Prophet not live in Mecca? It was his country. He conquered it. It was his homeland. All his ancestors had lived there. Allah said: “Vea’rid anhüm- Stay away from them!” (Sajda, 30) They are dangerous. They are watching you. They want to kill you. Did they not shoot him? Did they not fight against him in Badr, in Uhud and in all the wars? Then, when Abu Bakr was chosen a caliph, Sufyan said to Ali: “Ali! Come and let us kill Abu Bakr together and we substitute you for him!” See how evil he was!
What did our Master Ali say? He said: “It is obvious that you are cursed. You hurt the Prophet very much and now you are starting a quarrel among us. Go to Hell! This is a matter between brothers and we can solve it by ourselves.” They may have fallen into some errors towards Hz. Ali about the caliphate, but believers also may also make mistakes. However, they do not become unbelievers by committing errors. They were reconciled afterwards and he forgave them. He made peace with Abubaqir, Omar and Osman.
Whereas, what did the Umayyad do? They cut-killed- his descendants. They tried to annihilate the family of the Hashim Family. They wanted to annihilate the Hashim family. They started a fascist Sovereignty. Abdurrahman, the son of Hz. Abubakir said to clown Muawiya’s face: “Are you bringing the Byzantine Sovereignty system of the Kings? You are inheriting it to your son.” What did he tell to the Prophet? “Your father did not leave it to you”. Who was this person who drank wine? Who was the man who said: “I drink wine according to the religion of Jesus”. He declared that he was an infidel. They even said they wished our superior Hz. Husayn had accepted him. How would he accept the infidel? How can Hz. Husayn accept the infidel. His father used to drink secretly. He drank openly. Then he said he was the caliph of the Prophet of Allah and he said he drank according to the religion of Jesus. He actually did not believe in Jesus. He did not believe in Hz. Muhammad (a.s.v.) Hz. Ali and Hz. Abubaqir either. He tried to make it legal by saying “I follow the religion of Jesus” as if “wine” was permitted in the religion of Jesus. Did Hz. Jesus drink wine? He said wine was his blood. He meant to say “love”. Love was his blood. He meant to say “he who loves my blood, my soul becomes drunk”. The Christians also interpret this in this way and they think it is the wine sold in the markets. Christianity does not concern us. If a Muslim says according to the Religion of Jesus, Moses, if he invents something and drinks wine, commits adultery, tells lies and earns usury then another person comes up and asks “Do Jews not have usury? Then I can also earn money by usury.” This is wrong! This is infidelity! Those who commit them are disbelievers. All of them are infidels. They also say: Sovereignty started. The Abbasids executed it afterwards, the Seljuks and the Ottomans continued it and it became a system. They defend Muawiyah, who corrupted the religion of Allah, in order to prevent this system. He corrupted the religion of Allah by his enmity towards Ahl al Bayt. He changed the system of our Prophet. He turned it into a state system. In Islam there is no state, there are emirates. Who was the commander of the emirates? They were Abu Baqir, Omar, Osman, Ali, Imam Hasan. Hasan served 6 months. Caliphate lasted 30 years.
“El hilafetü ba’dihim selasune seneten sümme ceale melikün adud- It was narrated from Abu Hurayra r.a. there are some other hadiths from other Companions. (See also from Cumhan, Abu Davud Thirmizi, Nesei, Tac translation. Bekir Sadaq, 1973 İst. See also Sahih-i Buhari and Translations Diy. İşl. Bşk. Yay.)
The hadiths about Hz. Ali and Ahl al Bayt were narrated (come) mostly from the Companions. There are many of them in the books of Bukhari and Muslim. The Companions have many hadiths about Ahl al Bayt. However, they don’t have many about others.
(The next part is in Article 114)
Note: These conversations were made upon our brother Abidin Çalış’s question “What does “Seyr-i Sülük (Spiritual Journey or Progress on the Spiritual Path) mean in Sufism? How is it practiced? Would you explain it for us?”
You may also listen to it in our Turkish website using the link: “Sesli Tasavvuf Sohbetleri – Sound Conversations on Sufism”.
ADIYAMAN / TURKİYE
DECEMBER 2005