Shaykh Ahmad Mustafa Al-‘Alawi
(Translation) Dr Mahdi Hendricks
The religion (dīn)of Islam practised by the Holy Prophet Muhammadﷺ is composed of three intertwining characteristics: Islam, Iman and Ihsan (submission, faith and worshipping God as if you see him). Present-day Muslims are well versed in the practices of exterior worship, but are either obscured from or even reject the spiritual domain of (True) Faith and attainment of the Vision (Witnessing God). The powerful influence of modernism and Islamic Fundamentalism rejects the aspects of Iman and Ihsan, with many unqualified and unenlightened exoteric Islamic scholars labelling the practices of Sufism as Innovation (bid’ah). In response, the Shaikh Al-Alawi, a supreme saint (Ghauth) and scholar (‘Ālim) of the early 20th-Century wrote articles in defence of the practices of Sufism and explicated it as the comprehensive embodiment of the religion (Dīn). With vast knowledge and clear understanding of the Qur’an and the Holy Tradition (Sunnah), Shaikh Al-‘Alawi uses ijtihad (legal reasoning) with profound preciseness and clarity to provide succinct evidence to refute those who reject Sufism.