[Caunnysup]

Belover brother,

I never claimed that the analogy was a hundred percent accurate, nor was it my aim. You say that people attest to Shaykh Taqi's piety and so on; the same can be said for Shaykh Babikir (may Allah Ta´ala preserve him). While neither I have heard anyone claim (let alone bring proof) that the Prophet (sallallahu ´alayhi wa alihi wa sallam) had a trimmed beard (and hence not Sunnah), similarly, "Islamic" banking is not a Sunnah, and it is usually not called as such even by its' biggest proponents; rather they often use words such as "Shari´ah compliant" etc. Just like Mufti Taqi (may Allah preserve him) and those likeminded arrived at their conclusion using ijtihad, so did the scholars who believe that a short beard is sufficient to fulfill the command of growing a beard. If we want to apply the Sunnah in the stricter sense, then what we can say for both is that they are not following the Sunnah in this. So if the "Islamic" bankers want to follow the Nabawi Sunnah, they should revert to the Dinar and Dirham, surely this is closer to the Sunnah of Al-Mustafa, sallallahu ´alayhi wa alihi wa sallam.

Yet some believe that these systems are compliant with the shari´ah, and therefore fulfills the sunnah (in a broader sense) for carrying our mu´amalat, paying zakah etc. Likewise, some ´ulama believe that a trimmed beard is "shari´ah compliant". If they would however claim that "Islamic" banking is "following the Sunnah", then, my beloved brother, I sincerely believe that they have failed miserably to substantiate such a view. As for the Hadith about correct and incorrect ijtihad, then it would equally apply to Shaykh Babikir as well.

Time after time you mention that the "Islamic finance" is a matter of ijtihad, a matter that is not clear cut... the point is, to many it is as clear as the sun at its' zenith. Either way, diving into a specific discussion like this is beside the point that I was making... and I have respect and admiration for Shaykh Taqi, may Allah preserve him. The point was that you had issues with Shaykh Babikir being called a "spiritual master". We could leave the world of finance and go into something else, such as the bad adab of some "recognized" shuyukh, or any other reprehensible issues, and the list goes on. The point is; you will be hard pressed to find Sufi shuyukh who are flawless, establish all the sunan, and never do anything that someone cannot call reprehensible. Where you may not see it, someone else might, and vice versa. No one is safe.

So to me, the greater deception in tasawwuf is people raising their shuyukh beyond humanity. Unfortunate as it may be, being a completely fulfilled follower of the Sunnah in the dhahir and batin, and having "arrived", stopped being a criteria a long long time ago... even if not on paper, at least in practice. Many of these Shuyukh did not "stand up as Shaykh", rather it was a burden placed on them by their own shuyukh, so they are carrying out the task that their teachers ordered them to do. It is their shuyukh who saw them fit, and they had their own criteria, whether you and I agree with them or not. Trust me, many of the shuyukh wish they could give it all up; at the same time there are others who see shaykh-hood as their graduation, after which they can cash in.

Wa'Allahu a´lam.
wassalam