Can you study Tasawwuf without Tariqa

[muhammadnur]

:salam:

[tazkiyyah]

Shaykh Hamza's view that tariqas are not really a good thing
in our contemporary time
Is this a shanqiti view or just a general thought of his.

[Yasin786]

The book was not written by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, rather it was written by Sidi Ahmed Zarruq (R.A), who was a Shadhili Shaykh. Shaykh Hamza translated and explained this great book.

[muhammadnur]

Assalamu alaykum,

He is not negating the turuq he was just mentioning a thought, basically that we need to be careful of falling into the "group mentality". I definitly see his point. I have seen different tariqas fight and negate each other often and I believe that a good part of this was linked to this group mentality problem, not even objective criticism!

:salam:

I agree, Sh. Hamza is just warning people of the problems. I personally think he tends to overemphasize the problem of group mentality as it relates to tariqa. The same thing happens with madhahib (and any other point of organization) but he doesn't warn people of it in relationship to the other groupings. The tariqa being like a hospital is naturally going to have problems. Its like warning a person becareful when you go to the hospital there's a lot of sick people there.
Don't get me wrong I think the warnings are valid I just feel its a bit overemphasized.

[lumumba_s]

:salam:

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf (Allah preserve him) does not generally believe that the turuqat are a necessary thing, and at times, not even useful. He was heard to say by my teacher in Morroco that, "Now is not the time for the tariqa" and many of the people at Zaytuna are fond of quoting Zarruq's statement, "We do not find a shayk of tarbiya after al-Hadrami other than it be far-fetched." (To which some reply that Shaykh Zarruq was a shaykh of tarbiya himself.) If you look at his lectures, it is a common theme and he constantly brings light to the fact that tasawwuf was taught as a science in the Qarawiyyin.

As for the group mentality, it is not specific to the turuqat, and you will find the same thing among the followers of the madhhabs. As it relates to the tariqa, Shaykh Nuh devoted a section of this in his Shadhili Tariqa, but the bottom line is tht it is an issue of disagreement between the American inheritors of our tradition and to each his own.

May Allah preserve both of them and all of the inheritors of our Master Muhammad :saw:.