Comments on: Schwartz on Sufism

By: al-Haj Abdullah bin Abdurahman al-Qadiri al-Chisti al-Athloni

al-Haj Abdullah bin Abdurahman al-Qadiri al-Chisti al-Athloni — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 12:47:35 +0000

Our hotel, the Dar al-Sa’adah, overlooked the Meccan Holy Mosque. Once while walking from the hotel to the Great Mosque, I longed to visit Sayed Muhammad ibn ‘Alawi al-Maliki at his residence. He had taught various Islamic subjects from his home in Rusayfa, Makkah al-Mukarramah. I did not want to go there while the Sayed was not there, though. I looked towards the Masjid al-Haram and imploring Allah, The God of the East and the West for direction, I said in Afrikaans: “Yaa Allah. Wys vir my ’n teken kanala.” (“O Allah, please show me a sign.”). Suddenly, a deluge of spiritual rain fell from the heavens, its expanse covering the entire Masjid al-Haram. Suleiman, Dawood and I, together with many of the ’Ibaad-u-Ragmaan Qadiri Jamaa’ah males went to Maliki Street, Rusayfa that evening. Sayed Muhammad ibn ‘Alawi al-Maliki was at home, sure enough. That sign showed to me the status that the Sayed enjoyed in the Sight of God. May Allah, The One Who Loves His believing slaves, Always Watch Over Sayed Muhammad ibn ‘Alawi al-Maliki and the people of his house.

One Wednesday evening in May 1997, al-Sayed Muhammad ibn ‘Alawi ibn ‘Abbas ibn ‘Abdul ‘Aziz al-Hasani al-Maliki al-Makki had said to us (in Arabic) in York Road, Woodstock: “Allah will grant all of you the Haj.” “Insha-Allah,” some chorused. “Amen,” rang from other members of the Jamaa’ah.

Allah, The One Who Provides for His Slaves from sources he never could imagine, Had Brought the words of the Sayed to fruition.

The Day of Wuquf, 9th Dhul Hijjah 1422 AH, was on Thursday, 21 February 2002. I had another Haj in a million, Alhamdu-lillaah.

By: mohamed

mohamed — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 22:16:27 +0000

What Schwartz says is true. Sufism is spirituality and thus crosses various religions. This is the works of Ibn Arabi and Rumi and Jilani.

Spirituality is not confined to muslims only but is a human nature created by God. True muslims presented sufism as such, but purification of the soul is not confined to muslims only.

By: svend

svend — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 19:53:51 +0000

Salaams,

Thanks for your trenchant analysis of Schwartz’ latest bit of mumbo jumbo.

I’ve always found his professions of Islamic faith highly dubious given the truly venomous way he often writes about Muslims and the way he implicitly delegitimizes pretty much all existing tendencies/schools.

At the same time, I very grudgingly admit that his book THE TWO FACES OF ISLAM, while seriously marred with bias and political agendas, is not without insights and seemingly identificaion with Islam, if perhaps in a hopelessly rarefied form. I find him an enigma of schizophrenia, a full-time hater of Muslims who every now and again waxes movingly about Islamic civilization (e.g., he’s been attacked by other neocons for romanticizing Islam).

I’m not surprised that there are whiffs of syncretism in his writings, as how else could someone like this consider himself “Sufi”?

What’s more interesting in my view is the great lengths he goes to avoid openly expressing these views.

An exceedingly odd bird.

BTW, does anybody have a link to Sh. Murad’s explanation of his decision to use that non de plume (i.e., Fenari)? I’m very interested in this.

By: Irving Karchmar

Irving Karchmar — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 20:07:46 +0000

Salaam Alaikum: Thank you for clarifying Mr. Schwartz’s words. I am a darvish of the Nimatullahi Sufi Order, and the author of the book Master of the Jinn: A Sufi Novel, and am extremely grateful to you for making sense of his mixture of half-truths and assumptions.

Ya Haqq,

Irving

By: Gary Nelson

Gary Nelson — Sun, 03 Jul 2005 11:07:30 +0000

Salaam ‘Alaikum I lived with a Sufi family of the Mourides order in Dakar, Senegal last spring. I had the best experience of my life, aside from marrying my beloved wife and my 3 children being born. I prayed with, & was accepted by the family. Reading Stephen Schwartz really confused me, especially when he started talking about alleged Sufi Kurd collaboration with invaders of Iraq and alleged Sufi ‘fighting for the West’ in the Balkans. When I saw David Horowitz as his editor of choice, a man who had a bad experience with the Black Panther Party leadership eons ago and made him an ALLY OF RUSH LIMBAUGH, i was stunned. Thank you for the very different perspective you gave me. I love the Sufi family that adopted me, & would like to know if the extent of Sufi influence around the world Schwartz says there is, which countries, etc, is accurate at all. I am suspicious of Saudi oil money promoting violence along with their ally, Mr. Bush. ‘Alaykum Salaam

By: Yusuf

Yusuf — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 13:02:14 +0000

Abdus-Salaam: Shaikh Nuh told me, in an assembly in Cairo in 1999.

Also, it was announced on a web forum not long before that Abdul-Hakim was writing a piece on this topic. It’s also written very much in Abdul-Hakim’s style, with much use of both European and Arab sources.

Wa ‘alaikum as-Salaam.

By: Abdus Salam

Abdus Salam — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 12:02:52 +0000

‘Salam ‘Alaikum, Is Karim Fenari really Abdal Hakim Murad? How do you know this??!!

By: Anaz Zubair

Anaz Zubair — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 02:02:59 +0000

Excellent article. Karim Fenari is really Abdal Hakim Murad? Didn’t know that one… Always wondered who he was…

By: Abdurrahman R. Squires

Abdurrahman R. Squires — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 17:02:00 +0000

as-salamu ‘alaykum,

Truly excellent comments. I’ll be linking to this from my original posting of Schartz’s article, insha’llah.

Jazaka Allah khayrun!

By: Abu Eesa

Abu Eesa — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 00:02:14 +0000

Nice comments