[furillo]

I asked a senior mureed of shaykh Nuh about him who also spent much time with these people in the UK and met Schuon and told me basically that ScHUon had gone astray as had his tariqa in the States.

However he did say that Schuon had a very powerful haal for anyone who met him due to the enormous amount of dhikr that he did.

Dear Akabirofdeoband,

Asalamualaikaum. Thank you for this interesting note. Your point does seem to capture well one way of looking at the ambiguities and difficulties surrounding Schuon's life. There seems to be greatness in him, but also certain flaws in him as well. However, I am more interested in 'ideas' and 'doctrines', and do not like to get involved with 'ad hominem' attacks on personalities, especially those who have passed away. Yet, given how influential Schuon has become for those who admire his Sufi teachings, and how notorious he has become for those who believe him to be a charlottan, allow me to say the following.

I myself have also met mureeds of Shaykh Isa (may Allah have mercy on him), all of whom have impeccable characters and adorn the prophetic virtues much better than many of the mureeds of other Shuyuukh and so I take with a grain of salt any condemnation of any person who has 'produced'--by the ithn of Allah swt-- good people. I also know Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr personally, and I know that he was a mureed of Shaykh Isa's for many decades and I honestly see no fault of character in Nasr, whatsoever. I even believe Nasr to be a Wali of Allah (swt)--may Allah preserve him. I have also heard of the many accounts of the palpable wilaya (sanctity) that many Muslims--and non-Muslims--felt from the presence of Martin Lings (Shaykh Abu Bakr )(ra), who is known to have been amongst the most loyal mureeds of Shaykh Isa till his dying day. As such, there is a lot of evidence for me to acknowledge Shaykh Isa as a genuine Shaykh as he produced such great men as Lings and Nasr, and even Gai Eaton, along with many other mureeds not well known who are now in their 50's etc. In this sense, I believe any honest and complete account of Schuon has to take all these elements into consideration. Nasr has written an article on Schuon in his latest book "Islam in the Modern World: Challenged by Modernism, Threatened by Fundamentalism, Keeping Faith with Tradition. Perhaps that can be of some benefit to those who may wish to balance the criticisms here, with the appraisals by Nasr.

However, it is also quite evident, from the multiple--albeit not entirely reliable--third party stories (which would not hold up in a court of Islamic Law) regaridng some of the very strange things that happened in Bloomington, the Indiana city where Schuon in his 80's retired to and then passed away in his early 90's. From the mureeds who gave their hand of bayah to either Lings or Nasr after such controversies and whom I have personal contact with, there is no exact consensus on 'what exaclty went wrong' in Bloomington, although for most of them Schuon is still revered as an authentic Shaykh. As such, I tend to favor the understanding that Shuayb states that certain of Schuon's actions towards the end of his life deviated from the Sunnah and can be explained with recourse to the 'Divine attraction' position that Schuon felt which caused him to overlook the real needs of his mureeds in the States. With that said, I can entirely understand why those who do not like his teachings, who see them as entirely against Islamic principles, choose to anethametize him and ridicule him in such a venue with the intention of trying to warn other Mulsims to be careful of his teachings, since as one argument may surmise, 'Allah allowed the potential dangers in his teachings to reflect in his actions'. However, this line of reasoning is not entirely accurate as such dubious actions occurred towards the end of Schuon's life, and before that it is well known--by his mureeds-- that Schuon, since the 1930's has upheld and enjoined the Shariah very scrupolously--even till his dying day--again, apart from the strange actions in his 80's and 90's.

To say that he 'strayed' is a good way of putting it, as it may imply that he was conducting himself as a Sufi master with mureeds within an Islamic framework for over 50 years prior to such events that occurred in the States. But to say that 'his tariqa in the US strayed' is not the entire truth of the matter either, since Nasr represents him. His branch in the States--along with Lings' branch in England--still uphold the Shariah--and arguably even more intensely after what occurred in Bloomington--as any real Sufi Tariqa does to the present. I can see why the Bloomington branch is held to blame, along with a very aging Schuon, but to anethamatize Schuon's whole life and personality because of certain actions is honestly unbecomming of a venue that labels itself as a "resource for orthodox Islamic teachings". My advice to the moderators are: please continue to propagate Islamic teachings by expounding principles and teachings of the scholars of our great tradition, as you have been. I have learned a lot from the many threads I have read here. Barakallahufeek for that. Even take certain ideas to task, as you are in other threads, but I personally think it is a mistake for moderators to continue such kinds of threads that attack personalities. If Allah has exposed something of this man, than masha'Allah, Allah (swt) made a malamatti out of Schuon, whether he intended this himself or not. I pray Allah does not expose my limitations or even sins to other people. But there is no need to parade the limitations and even mistakes of other personalities in this manner on this forum. My advice here is to leave that to Allah (swt) on the Day of Judgement and just engage in debate of ideas and demonstrate any perceived deviancy in perennialism etc through virtuous discourse.

May Allah guide us all to His Straight Path, and shield us from error through the blessings of His Beloved Prophet (saw).
ameen,

Hasan