Meanings of some common words

[leo28]

I dont know the meaning of following words, used commonly on the forum

salafi or salafis

shaykh or sheykh



Regarding the initial word, is this some sect or some off-shoot from some sect? for whom we use this word?

As far as the later is concerned, i see people using this word, when they intend refering something to a particular person. In south asia, the word sheikh is taken as a caste. could someone help me understand these 2 terminologies in brief plz.

[Shaykhs-Pir Sahib]

shaykh or sheykh


lierally means 'old man'

but also used as a respectful title for an islamic scholar (young or old)

[leo28]

But many persons on the forum, when not knowing abt some particular issue, they say that they will ask their sheykh, do they mean their fathers or some religious scholars? if someone could make me understand?

[mountain-muslim]

salam

does it mean "old man" in Arabic? Btw.."pir" is "old" in Kurdish (like in your name :p )

w.s

[leo28]

my question still remains unanswered, if someone could deliberate upon plz

[Shaykhs-Pir Sahib]

But many persons on the forum, when not knowing abt some particular issue, they say that they will ask their sheykh, do they mean their fathers or some religious scholars? if someone could make me understand?

usually when we refer to our shaykh, we mean a religious scholar, not our fathers.

[mountain-muslim]

But many persons on the forum, when not knowing abt some particular issue, they say that they will ask their sheykh, do they mean their fathers or some religious scholars? if someone could make me understand?

It could be their fathers, provided they are learned islamic scholars. The title of shaykh has to be earned.

[Shaykhs-Pir Sahib]

other terminologies used:


1. Sayyidi

(master)

although Sh. Hamza mentioned that another meaning is 'the one who serves'

2. Sidi

(a North African variant of the above)

3. Pir

4. Allamah

(a title given to someone with great 'ilm)

5. Habib

a title reserved to the descendants of Ahmad ibn Isa al-Muhajir, a descendant of the prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, who migrated to hadramawt in Yemen.

[mountain-muslim]

so are they all originally arabic terms? "Pir" sounds more like a persian/kurdish word. sorry for going a bit off-topic.

[Shaykhs-Pir Sahib]

so are they all originally arabic terms? "Pir" sounds more like a persian/kurdish word. sorry for going a bit off-topic.

no, i don't think pir is arabic. you are probably right about its origins

[loveProphet]

I dont know the meaning of following words, used commonly on the forum

salafi or salafis

shaykh or sheykh



Regarding the initial word, is this some sect or some off-shoot from some sect? for whom we use this word?

As far as the later is concerned, i see people using this word, when they intend refering something to a particular person. In south asia, the word sheikh is taken as a caste. could someone help me understand these 2 terminologies in brief plz.
Well, the second term has been answered.
While the "salafis" are a sect, i think people have exposed them here.
But at the end of the day, they are the anthropomorphists and those who reject Madthabs/Fiqhs as has been shown by the knowledgable people here.

[leo28]

The meaning of salafi or salafis r still 2 b answered by someone, someone said that a learned person has 2 earn the tiltle of shaykh, who is there 2 determine the award of this title, is this some govt post, awarded by the govts in recognition of their knowledge, if not then who awards the title of shaykh 2 a person n on which grounds? Is there any hadith on this or ijtehad by scholars or self created title by the people 2 give respect 2 a learned person?

[Shaykhs-Pir Sahib]

The meaning of salafi or salafis r still 2 b answered by someone, someone said that a learned person has 2 earn the tiltle of shaykh, who is there 2 determine the award of this title, is this some govt post, awarded by the govts in recognition of their knowledge, if not then who awards the title of shaykh 2 a person n on which grounds? Is there any hadith on this or ijtehad by scholars or self created title by the people 2 give respect 2 a learned person?

it is not a government award, but usually a title earned after the scholar has shown a particular level of scholarship. often it is other scholars or teachers who name the scholar as shaykh, other times by students.

there is no particular hadith to my knowledge referring to this title.

[leo28]

thnx brother, putting me wise on the subject, if u could provide me some link for understanding the insight of the word salafi or salfis, 4 whom the word is used at the forum, cz im absolutely ignorant 2 its meaning.

[Shaykhs-Pir Sahib]

thnx brother, putting me wise on the subject, if u could provide me some link for understanding the insight of the word salafi or salfis, 4 whom the word is used at the forum, cz im absolutely ignorant 2 its meaning.

ok, here is a link. generally speaking the majority of muslims in this forum agree with the contents of this article. however, you will find a minority who affliate themselves with the salafis who disagree.

http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/salafi.htm

[leo28]

Obliged.

[sarahamdy]

A shiekh in the gulf countries is used for men from the royal families as well...
for example, in the U.A.E., the ruler of the country and the rulers of the rest of the emirates are called "shoyookh" = its the plural of a shiekh..

And regarding salafism , I got to read sooo much about it, and about sufism, which made me get to a point where I was clueless about them...
Then I met sufis, with tariqas, and salafys and things started getteing clearer..
Sadly, I have one link now for introducing salafism, and its in arabic, so sorry, i dont have the rest of the links right now, hopefully soon, i can get 'em...

Im just gonna post an email here, that made me understand things better... the person aint a scholar, but he helped me understand better...
And if you felt its not relevant, plz delete it... It was of help to me... Its about wether I should take by one madhab or not, sufism, and stuff like that... Its a bit lengthy though...

"personally, i became very interested in sufism, read a ton of books on
sufism, and then for a short time became shi'i. then i came back to
sunnism and became stricter than ever. I have found certain sufi shaykhs
who are very very strict about following the sunna and not deviating an
inch from the way laid down by our Prophet, like Shams Tabrizi (who,
contrary to popular myth and legend, is the most strict sufi i have ever
read about..) but the book of his sayings, "Me & Rumi", is really really
advanced and you wouldnt understand 1/5th of it unless you read tens and
tens of books on sufism and philosophy and tafsir and stuff. so i
wouldnt read it... but Kabir Helminski from sufism.org is working on
another translation of some of his sayings that will probably be easier.

The best best book is definitly called The Path of Muhammad, translated
by shaikh Tosun Bayrak. It was written by a sufi who, like Shams
Tabrizi, calls for a return to the purest islam imagineable.. even
criticizes any sufi practice that was not done by the Prophet. It is
basically a book about how to live everyday life, with quran and hadith
about everything you could imagine. i truly believe anyone who uses that
book can perfect his character, like the prophet said " i came to
perfect human character". the book shows you how islam demands the most perfect standards of ethics and morality imagineable, to create the most perfect humans imagineable.

basically, just be a sunni.. read some sufism, but be wary of anything
that doesnt seem to conform with the way of the prophet. As for the four
madhabs, it doesnt matter which one you follow.. following them is only
because you dont feel you have enough knowledge about hadith and quran
to make your own judgments... but you are not allowed to think that you
HAVE to follow them. if you think that you HAVE to follow a certain
madhab and that you cant take certain things from different madhabs then
you are guilty of putting another book beside the quran and hadith and
of putting a scholar above the quran. Even imam abu hanifa said people
are not allowed to follow his rulings unless they understand exactly the
logic and the quranic proof he used to reach each ruling, otherwise they
will be putting another book as an authority beside the quran. imam
malik was also crying the night before he died and said he wished he
never created his laws, because he feared that he added laws other than
the laws of the quran and the sunna..
therefore you cannot think of what any of the 4 imams as laws. you can
follow them, but think of them as advice, not laws. personally i prefer
not to follow a madhab and use my own ijtihad. this is what is
recommended by ibn qayyim al jawziyyah and many of islam's greatest
scholars. In any case, dont sweat it... take it easy.. If you want to
read more about this, i truly recommend "This Law of Ours" by Muhammad
Asad. Great great book about the sharia and the madhabs and the original
spirit of Islam as practiced by the prophet's companions and the
following generations.
anyway on jazeera just now, on "al sharee3a wal 7aya", i happened to
catch some shaikh (i think he's the leader of some kind of islamic
council in america or something), talking about the israiliyyat (a huge
bunch of hadiths that came into Islam from the Jews who converted to
islam. just in case you dont know what they are, but you probably
do..).. anyway he was talking about the hadith that islam will be
divided into 73 sects and only one will go to heaven. he said this
hadith is one of the israiliyyat, and became so widespread among the
people and so famous the hadith collectors had 20 isnads for it. But he
was saying that if the proper laws of hadith study were applied to these
isnads, not a single one of those isnads would hold up and every single
one of them is weak and false.

basically, i believed that all along. i saw many "sects" that i cant
possibly conceive how they would go to hell... for example, we have
sunnis, we have zaydi shias in yemen, we have many sects that are now
extinct that had nothing heretical about them. there is soooo much
diversity now in the muslim world and in many cases its hard to see them
going to hell.. afterall the quran repeats a verse TWICE that the
Christians, the Jews, the Sabeans, all those who believe in God and the
last day and do good deeds shall not fear or grieve. and there are many
quranic ayats saying that there are good communities among the ahlul
kitab who are considered among the righteous. so how is it that those
ppl will be saved but not all of those different muslim sects, many of
whom have nothing wrong with them (that is not to say that there arent
many heretical muslim sects).

so stick to the holy Quran which says "We shall guide you to Our WAYS".
thus it is possible to have more than one way to Allah (swt).

if you need to study, then study. dont be afraid.. keep praying and
inshalla God will keep you on the straight path if you strive, for God
does not break his promises. I recommended some readings but you dont
have to read any of them. I hope my efforts are a sadaqa jariyah. i dont
see how they could be a bad deed... one thing the prophet told us is to
always think well of our Muslim brothers and sisters and to think that
they have pure intentions. and al a3maalu bil niyyat, so Allah knows
that this is just my sincere effort to help you, and if i happen to be
wrong then I hope Allah will judge me by my intentions.

I dont see however how i could be wrong by telling you to read as many
biographies of the prophet as possible or "the path of muhammad" which
is a book of hadiths and ayaat on islamic morals and ethics... it's just
my advice to follow the prophet as closely as possible.

And remember that Islam is pure and simple. dont over complicate things.
It is by complicating things that people go astray.


Shams Tabrizi quotes this hadith:

A Bedouin came to the Prophet and said, "Tell me of such a deed as will
make me enter Paradise if I do it." The Prophet (p.b.u.h) said, "Worship
Allah, and worship none along with Him, offer the (five) prescribed
compulsory prayers perfectly, pay the compulsory Zakat, and fast the
month of Ramadan." The Bedouin said, "By Him, in Whose Hands is my life,
I will not do more than this." When he (the Bedouin) left, the Prophet
said, "Whoever likes to see a man of Paradise, then he may look at this
man."
-Bukhari, Volume 2, Book 23, Number 480

then Shams continued: that is the simply and pure following of Muhammad.
but people wanted to overcomplicate things and to add and add until they
left following of the prophet.

if you look at the biographies of the companions, and the hadiths of the
prophet.. they never get into complicated discussions about aqeeda, or
about the essence of God, or freewill... in Bukhari, the prophet warns
never to discuss the essence of God or too many questions about what God
is like and to simply say "a3oodhu billahi minash shaytan ar-rajeem"
when ppl keep discussing this, for they are tricks by the devil to lead
ppl astray. one time the prophet came upon people discussing free will
vs destiny and got so angry that his face went red and he said "is this
why I was sent to you"?

no, the prophet was sent to tell us to believe in one God, to submit to
this God, to say the shahadah.. and to do good deeds.. "Whoever believes
in God and the last day and does good deeds shall have no fear nor shall
they grieve"... this verse is repeated twice like i said.

that's all you need. no need to be confused or scared or anything.

again, if you read the Quran and Seera, you can make your own ijtihads
about simple decisions in life in accordance with the spirit of Islam.
There are quranic ayats and events from the sira (which i will tell you
about if you're interested) which prove that ijtihad like this is the
way of the salaf. however if there is something really complicated like
a matter of law or money or whatever, then just pick one of the 4
madhabs and follow its founder as security because they know more than
you.. as long as you dont think of what they say as laws beside the laws
of God. and be careful about hanbalites because most of them dont
actually follow the true teachings of imam ibn hanbal, so i would pick
one of the other three just in case (of course imam ibn hanbal himself
was great, but it is sad that his followers have deviated from what he
said so much)."

I PRAY WE'RE AMONG THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE PROPHETS' SUNNA AND NOT OF THE 72 SECTS... AMEN.

[leo28]

Indeed a comprehensive n all encompassing post, which is worth-appreciating. Im a simple muslim n hv not studied the indepth knowledge regarding islamic jurisprudence. Infact prior 2 joing the forum, i didn't know many things , which i learnt at this forum. The only thing which hurts is that we the muslims keep criticizing each other over minor issues, which in reality many not be of any importance 2 our religion.

Scholars, regardless of their affiliations r there 2 guide the common muslims like me. They r respectable figures of the society n must b given due importance at public n official levels. They r the facilitators of our religion n have 2 assist the people 2 understand islam in the easiest possible way n not 2 make things complicated, cz common person cant comprehend or digest deep issues in the twist of an eye, which someone might have understood in years. By facilitating each other 2 get atleast the basics of the religion, can be of an immense significance 4 the overall utility of the forum.

Thanx again 4 providing us with valuable information on the subject.

[oOo Lamia oOo]

In Morocco people call others names as a sign of respect such as sidi, sheriff/ shriffa, khalti or even hajj or hajja regardless if they have gone to hajj or not.