Refuting the Fake Soofies.

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, the One Who protects the Religion by scholars who implement their knowledge, who are humble and who are knowledgeable about Allah. May Allah raise the rank of Prophet Muhammad, his kind Aal, Companions and those who genuinely follow them. In Surah Aal-^Imran (S3) ayah 104 Allah ta^ala ordered us: Let there arise from among you a group of people who invite to righteousness, who enjoin the obligatory and who forbid the unlawful. Those are the ones who shall be successful. Al-Bukhariyy, Muslim and others narrated that the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam warned us against those who deviate from his way by saying:

This means: There are people from our nation who speak the same language as we speak, but who mix the truth that you know with the deviation that you reject. They beckon to Hellfire and invite others to their deviation. Those who obey them will be thrown into Hellfire. It is of utmost importance for the Muslim to investigate thoroughly about the person from whom he acquires the religious knowledge. In the introduction to his book, As-Saheeh, Imam Muslim narrated the saying of the highly respected follower of the companions, Muhammad ibn Seereen, who said: This means: This knowledge is religion, so look thoroughly into the one from whom you take your religion. Through the centuries there have been many self professed spiritual leaders who claim to be Shaykhs and Murshids. These people have often claimed that salvation in the Hereafter can only be through them and they have used various tricks to misguide their unlearned followers. In what follows I have mentioned some of the tricks used by these people as well as some of the delusions that are expressed by their followers. Hidden Matters: On occasion, some people end up following these misguided individuals subsequent to having witnessed certain matters. Amongst these is what some people reported about meeting a so-called Shaykh who started telling them hidden things about themselves, such as the name of his father or the town in which the individual was born etc. Relying upon this some people accept to follow this man even if he contradicts the rules of the religion. This is because they perceive him to be a pious person with special powers. The reality is that these misguided individuals sometimes use the jinn to trick the unlearned masses. Muslim narrated in his saheeh that the Prophet sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam informed us that everyone has with them a qareen from amongst the jinn. These jinn are devils who try to misguide people. Some people use these qareens to extract certain amounts of information about other people and then use that information to harm others. For example, a person x would use his own qareen to get information about a person y from the qareen that accompanies person y. All of this with the hope of impressing y and then to misguide him. A brother by the name of Anees once told about an incident that occurred some years ago in London. He said, a Christian preacher was going to be attending Albert Hall in London and as part of his act he was going to claim to do miraculous things. Anees believed that this man was going to use the jinn to try to misguide the people so he asked Shaykh ^Abdullah what to do. Shaykh ^Abdullah told him to go there and recite certain verses of the Qur`an. He said, so I did that and this Christian was unable to do anything. The Christian just said, sorry ladies and gentleman, there is an evil spirit amongst us this evening. Hence, this issue of using the qareen (jinn) and misguiding people is something that is in fact even used by non-Muslims such as Christians. One needs to be very careful in basing their followership of a Shaykh merely upon witnessing something that at first glance appears amazing, but which simply could be a trick of the devil.

A change in behaviour: Another issue that some people mention is that they say, so and so visited such and such Shaykh and after visiting him, he grew a beard and started praying etc. Or they tell you, I was in such and such a difficulty and I asked this Shaykh to make du^aa` for me and then I was saved from a particular hardship. Thus this necessarily means that this Shaykh must be a pious person. Thereafter if this Shaykh tells them to do things that even contradict the religion, they would obey him. In the first instance if one analyses the case of some of these people who apparently reformed, you find that it was a very superficial change. In other words most of them still did not learn the basic obligatory knowledge, i.e. they did not learn the basics of belief, the basics of how to purify and pray etc, but just simply changed their dress code. In some instances a person might make a du^aa` and it be accepted and in others it is not accepted. Allah is not obligated to accept the du^aa` of anyone. In fact the Prophet sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam taught us that sometimes even a pious person might make a du^aa` and Allah not accept it, whilst at the same time the Prophet sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam told us that if a kaafir made a du^aa`, it is possible that Allah would grant them what they ask for. In other words even though the du^aa` of a pious person is more likely to be accepted, there is no absolute rule in this regard. Thus this issue in itself cannot be relied upon to prove the truthfulness of a particular individual. Furthermore, guidance is not dependent upon a particular persons previous or current deeds. In other words by visiting a particular person and then finding a desire within oneself to change in some way is not an absolute proof to the piety of a particular Shaykh. This is because guidance is not, in an absolute way, dependent upon a person doing a prior or present good deed. Rather God guides whom He wills. For example Al-Bayhaqiyy in Dalaa`il An-Nabuwwah narrates about a Bedouin who mocked the Prophet sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, but despite this Allah guided him to Islam. The reality is that some people change after meeting a pious Shaykh, some after the death of a family member, some after prison, some for other reasons and maybe even some for no apparent reason. It would be nonsense to suggest that prison is an honourable place because x or y repented after going to prison. Likewise the fact that some people would tell you they repented after meeting a particular person. In fact some Christians state that they met a Christian priest and repented from their life of sin and thus this is a proof to the truthfulness of Christianity1. In the aforementioned examples of people changing whilst in prison, or a Sikh drug addict becoming a Christian or that Bedouin mocking the Prophet sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, no Muslim would dare to say therefore prison is blessed or that Christianity is the correct religion or that it is good to mock the Prophet sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam. Hence, the issue of a persons guidance cannot in an absolute way be based upon the doing of a particular deed or meeting a certain personality. Moreover, how many people met the Prophet sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam but did not believe in him, but rather they belied him. If guidance to the truth was merely based upon meeting a great person then everyone who met the Prophet sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam would have converted. A spiritual glow: Some people claim that their Shaykh has a white or glowing face and thus he must be a pious Shaykh. This is a strange claim in that someone would claim that having a white skin is a proof to the truthfulness of someone. Others define this more as a glow, but this is something very subjective and difficult to be certain about in a way that one would base ones faith upon it. For example it is narrated that an uncle of the Prophet sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, Abu Lahab, never embraced Islam but he was famous for having a glowing facial countenance. Similarly some Christians talk about an aura or spiritual glow around their priests. The reality is that this has to be a secondary issue and not a primary one. In other words once a person has objectively concluded on the truthfulness of a particular person, then they can subjectively conclude upon their facial glow etc.

http://www.southasianconnection.com/articles/26/1/Drug-Addict-Turn-Minister/Page1.html A Sikh drug addict who converted to Christianity and cited his conversion as a proof for following the kufr of Christianity. He said: The greatest miracle today is the transformation of lives in Christ. Indeed its true. I testify to that because a miracle has taken place in my life... So do you believe now, that the greatest miracle today is the transformation of lives in Christ?

Dreams: Some people talk about having had dreams in which they saw a particular Shaykh and then met him in reality, taking this as a proof to follow x or y person. This issue is also similar to what some Christians quote as their reasons for following Christianity. In fact it has similarities to Paul who founded the idea of trinity, claiming that Jesus was God. A man by the name of Paul of Tarsus, also known as Saul of Tarsus was a self professed enemy of the followers of Jesus, persecuting them whenever he could. The Christians then say that at about 33-36 AD a few years after Jesus was supposed to have been crucified Paul experienced a miraculous, supernatural event. In the 5th book in the modern day New testament called Acts of the Apostles. It states that Paul was on his way from Jerusalem to Damascus with the intention of arresting some of the followers of Jesus. It states that the journey was interrupted when Paul saw a blinding light and a voice then spoke from the light, this voice was supposed to be Divine2. This story has an amazing similarity to when the devil appeared in the form of a light and spoke to Shaykh ^Abdul Qaadir, who rejected this voice as one from the devil, he was saved due to his knowledge, as to Paul, he had no way of differentiating between truth and falsehood and thus fell victim to this trick and thereafter many others due to him. Note that dreams in general are of three types: good news, mishmash and devilish influence. Moreover not everyone is qualified to interpret the dreams. Also consider the following: Ibnul ^eemaad Al-Hambaliyy narrated in Shadharaat Adh-Dhahab that whilst Shaykh ^Abdul Qaadir AlJeelaaniyy was awake, the devil appeared to him in the form of a light claiming to be God. Because of his knowledge, Shaykh ^Abdul Qaadir immediately knew that this was the devil. If the devil can appear in such a form trying to trick the Muslims whilst they are awake, then how about whilst they are asleep? In other words it is very dangerous to merely rely upon a dream as ones basis to follow x or y personality. Divine Inspiration: Some people talk about getting special messages from God, feelings in the heart as to what God is telling them to do. Such people rather than following the revelation given to Prophets almost set themselves up in parallel to the Prophets and wilfully disobey the actual revelations given to the Prophets to instead follow these feelings that they get. This reminds me of some of the things that George Bush is quote to have said. Bush said: I am driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, George go and fight these terrorists in Afghanistan. And I did. And then God would tell me George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq. And I did. I am no supporter of the regimes that once ruled Afghanistan or Iraq. However, it is clear that Bush did not have any way by which he could differentiate between a whisper from the devil and what might be termed divine inspiration. Furthermore, the Muslim scholars were clear that even if a pious person gets what might be described as a divine inspiration, he cannot base the rules of the religion upon this inspirational feeling. A related matter is what some people talk about in regards to getting a special feeling when they are in the presence of x or y and based upon this they say we know he is a pious Shaykh. Once again this is similar to something that many Christians talk about, a special spiritually uplifting feeling. The reality is that those who talk about some feeling as their basis to following someone are putting down the weapons that the Prophet sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam gave us to defend ourselves against the devil. One needs to remember that when one is taking knowledge from a person, one is actually taking ones religion and one needs to be very careful from whom one takes ones religion. One needs to be a lot more objective and not merely rely upon ones emotions, otherwise one will end up being like a person who walks in the desert at night time, not knowing are they get closing to their goal or further away from it. They may eventually then end up as toy in the hands of the devil, being taken here and there without them even ever objecting. I ask Allah to enable us to see the truth as truth and make us follow it. And I ask Allah to enable us to see the falsehood as falsehood and keep us away from it.

Paul is then said to have been left blind for some days before being miraculously cured. It is possible that he became possessed by a jinn which caused him to lose his sight and then later on when this jinn left him, his sight returned.