[UnmariKam]

The following is a very brutal criticism of Deobandis that shaykh Ali Laraki posted on Facebook. I am not very familiar with him, but he does raise some valid criticism regarding dawah though it is very acerbic and bitter and not sure what to make of it...

Your thoughts?

Here it is posted in full:

Whenever I talk about deobandis, I talk about those who represent the teachings of Deoband in South Africa and the UK. Those are the only ones I know and have met. I do not speak about the debandis of India because I have never meet them, but those of SA and the UK suppose to represent them.

There is a very simple rule of thumb which is the following in Arabic
فاقد الشيء لا يعطيه
A loose translation will be: If you do not have something, you cannot give it.

I am so sorry, but I cannot accept the claims of real tasawwuf from the deobandis of the UK and SA. At list not from their majority, there are always exceptions. If they had any real tasawwuf other that a formal affiliation to such and such tariqa, they would have expanded the Deen among the Zulu, Sotho, Tswana and other African nations. The same among the British natives.

Historically, when the people of tasawwuf enter a land for trade or other reasons, the final result is the expansion of the Deen among the natives of that land. I am so sorry, but I could not see that done by our deobandi brothers. So the touchstone of the Deen is that it is transmittable. There is in it a light that attracts the people. Deobandis can't even keep their own Indian and Pakistani young generations in the Deen. They are loosing them. Just get into a mosque and then into a club to see it.

And what I said also applies also to the Barelwis. I know that what I am saying will probably bring me the enmity of both those groups, but that is not what concerns me. What concerns me is that they have became rigid in their positions claiming they are the protectors of the Deen and they are loosing everything.

They could have the Africans in their side in South Africa, but they were not interested in teaching them the Deen. They only wanted to exploit them or to turn a blind eye to how the traders among them treated their black employees (or course, because the traders are the ones who pay their nice masjids and Darul Ulums). Now the are under the thumb of the Africans and in a worst position than when they were under the whites.

As for here in the UK, they are acting in the same way. They are not interested in the least to expand the Deen. They want to get as much as they can from the UK but they give them not the most precious treasure they have: La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammadun Rasulullah. Well, they are loosing their own people. In fact, the religious and intelligent amont their youngsters are turning to sources other than them for their Deen. They are tired of the suffocating, puritanical and subservient to the financial system of the kuffar version of the Deen deobandis promote.

And as I said, Barelwis are not better than them in this aspect. But I have to recognise they are more open and welcoming to new ideas than the deobandis.
When I say new ideas, I say it in the sense of revival of the Deen not in the sense of blameworthy innovation.

Anyway, they either renew themselves or they will soon be a used ticket.

And Allah knows best
Other comments by the shaykh in the thread:

Don't forget. It is not about attacking deobandis or other groups. It is about taking that breeze of fresh air brought to us by the Shuyukh and 'ulama, many of them descendants of the Prophet SAWS like, Shaykh, Ninowi, Shaykh al-Ya'qubi, Shaykh Al-Jifri, and others may Allah protect them, and passing it to those who are waiting for it. WE HAVE TO CALL PEOPLE TO THE DEEN. That is our jihad. We have got it, lets give it. Otherwise, Allah will take it away from us and give it to others who will honour it.

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As I said. There are always exceptions. But I will only discuss whatever I said about Deobandis with a Zulu Doubandi Mufti who as at least one Gujurati wife. Produce him and I will be more than glad to talk to him.

In fact, I will make it easier. I will accept the Mufti to be Sotho, Ndebele, Swazi, Tswana, Xhosa, or any other African tribe, and his wife can be Memon, or from other Indian tribe.

...

I am not getting into the doctrine of the Deobandis or the Barelwis. Both are Maturidi-Hanafi and that is correct as far as I am concerned. I do not want to get into their aqida-doctrinal quarrels. I am not interested. I believe that the Nizami syllabus they follow is excellent. I also don't talk about those in India, for I do not know their circumstances there. What I say is that they are a TOTAL FAILURE in their spreading of the Deen here in the UK and in SA. They have failed to pass the Deen and they are going to be replaced by the new indo-pakistani generations who are tired of their rigid, cultural, ghetto, suffocating version of the Deen.

As I said, Barelwis have not been better than them. But is seems to me, and to other ulama I have discussed the matter with, that their love for the Prophet SAWS, somehow has put them in a better situation. They are more open minded. And some of their ulama that I have spoken to do understand this matter. And Allah knows best.

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When the people of tasawwuf will go to a land, they will call the natives of that land to Allah, teach them the Deen, free them from the shackles of kufr, elevate them, share their culture with them, respect the native culture and take form it what is good, marry them and mix with them. Show me, for Allah's sake, what have this great Deobandi and not Deobandi ulama have done regarding the natives of this land, I mean the UK and the natives of South Africa. Or you claim that the Wahite European and Black Southafricans suffer from and Anthropological impairment towards Islam.

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To do dawa is not to give some food to the "poor blacks" and help some "poor white homeless" people, so you fell you have done your good action for that day or month. That is still a very patronising attitude which hides behind it a feeling of arrogance. I mean what I meant. You make the people to be part of you and you are part of them. You marry you daughters to them and marry their women. You share with them fully your all being. That, lets stop fooling ourselves, that hasn't been done.

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The point is not to try to defend fanatically you affiliation. You, Deobandis and Barelwis, should forget you quarrels and do what you haven't done and you should have been doing. Get out of the ghetto mentality, get out of the ghetto physically, out of the ghetto intellectually and do what is necessary to do.

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Somebody asked me:
That is true. Shaykh, you mention that the Pakistani and Indian youth, many of them are in nightclubs and are doing wrong . Do you reckon this might be the case for the Barelvi and Deobandi for not doing much dawah, as they are trying to focus on their own people first? Like you have groups like Tablighi Jamaat(deobandi) and Dawat e Islami (barelvi) who are focused on brining Muslims back to Deen.

And my answer was:
That is a wrong move. There will be nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, that will move more the heart of a young Indian and Pakistani youngster than seeing a white young man making shahada and ambracing the Deen. That will be enough to take them out of the clubs. They will see that if they do not take on the Deen of their fathers and grandfathers, their great Mogul tradition, civilization and history, Allah will give it to other people who love Him and whom He loves. And Allah knows best.

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