Sufiport
Al-qawaa’id Our Shaykh Abul ‘Abbaas al-Hadrami - Hamza Yusuf)
Spiritual training was elevated [to a science] due to the development of a Technical vocabulary, but benefit from it is derived only as a result of aspiration and spiritual states, so adhere to the Book and the prophetic practice without omitting or adding anything.
This applies to all of your transactions with your Creator, the creation, and yourself.
As for what is between you and God, three matters are concerned:
Read more: Al-qawaa’id Our Shaykh Abul ‘Abbaas al-Hadrami - Hamza Yusuf)
Hamza Yusuf -Sufism in Islam
Tasawwuf/Sufism in Islam
A talk sponsored by CAIR Stanford University, May 4,1997
Imam Hamza Yusuf, sometime khatib at the Muslim Community Association of Santa Clara, California, spoke on Sufism in Islam, directly following a lecture by Dr. Anne-Marie Schimmel, former Harvard professor of Oriental Studies. Imam Hamza began by noting that the architecture of Stanford is modeled after traditional Andalusian, Moroccan and North African universities. He said that Islamic architecture and civilization was once great as was its scholarship, but unfortunately the Muslim ummah has fallen behind in these spheres.
Imam Hamza continued:
"The fundamental and underlying message in the tradition of Islam I think personally is that it does not and refuses to create this dialectic in which a person's inward and their outward become split. [In non-Islamic systems] people are either forced to become esoterists or they are forced to become exoterists.
"In fact what Islam is trying to do and what most of the other spiritual religions and in fact from the Muslim perspective all of them have failed to do is to join these two elements in a harmonious and balanced way and this is why in the tradition of Islam Sufism has always been part of the traditional Islamic curriculum in every single Muslim university. I know of no period in the Islamic tradition in which Sufism was not taught in the universities and not seen as an important and fundamental aspect of the tradition of Islam.
The counsel of imam nawawi by Hamza Yusuf
One reaches Allah Most High by repenting from all things, unlawful or offensive;
seeking sacred knowledge in accordance with one’s needs;
maintaining ritual purity;
performing the obligatory prayers in the first of their time and in congregation, including the Sunna prayers that correspond to each of the obligatory prayers;
adhering to the eight raka’ats of the midmorning prayer (Duha) and the six raka’ats after the sunset prayer an before the night prayer;
Performing the night prayers (tahajjud) after awaking from one’s sleep; fulfilling the witr prayer;
Foundations of the Spiritual Path By Sidi Ahmad Zarruq
Foundations of the Spiritual Path (Source: Seasons Journal By Sidi Ahmad Zarruq Translated by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf
The noble scholar, the unique of his age, the regulator of the scholars and the saints, Sidi Ahmad Zarruq al-Barnusi al-Fasi, may Allah be pleased with him, wrote the following:
If anyone is asked about the foundations of his path, he should reply,
The foundations of our path are five:
• Taqwa – mindfulness of Allah, privately and publicly
• Adherence to the Sunna in word and deed
• Indifference to whether others accept or reject one
• Contentment with Allah in times of both hardship and ease
• Turning to Allah in prosperity and adversity.
Read more: Foundations of the Spiritual Path By Sidi Ahmad Zarruq
The counsel of sidi ahmad zarruq -Translator’s note by Hamza Yusuf
[Translator’s note] Finally, we add an extraordinary counsel from Sidi Ahmad Zarruq, may Allah sanctify his secret, taken from his two books The Poor Man’s Book of Assistance (Kitab al-‘Iaana) and The Principles of Tasawwuf (Qawaa’id at-Tasawwuf). It is as follows:
Know – may Allah give you and us success, rectify our worldly and otherworldly lives, and grant us adherence to the way of the Truth in our journeys and our sojourns – that repentance (taubah) is a key, piety (taqwa) is vast, and uprightness is the source of rectification.
Furthermore, a servant is never free of blunders, shortcomings, or lassitude. Therefore, never be neglectful of repentance; never turn away from the act of returning to Allah; and never neglect acts that bring you closer to Allah. Indeed, any time you fail to do one of these three things, repent and return. Any time you make a mistake, listen and obey.
Read more: The counsel of sidi ahmad zarruq -Translator’s note by Hamza Yusuf
'If you hate the west, emigrate to a Muslim country'-Hamza Yusuf
Hamza Yusuf is arguably the west's most influential Islamic scholar. Many Muslims find his views hard to stomach, but he is advising the White House on the current crisis, and today he will be talking to religious leaders in the UK. Jack O'Sullivan meets him.
Hamza Yusuf in the Whitehouse
A few days ago, for reasons that remain rather unclear, the FBI decided to pay a call on the home of Hamza Yusuf. 'He isn't home,' said his wife. 'He's with the president'. The FBI agents did not seem to believe her; they called the White House to check. 'He's got 100% security clearance,' said the voice at the other end. The FBI agents did not return.
Read more: 'If you hate the west, emigrate to a Muslim country'-Hamza Yusuf