By Mumtaz Alam Falahi,TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Shariat is above tariqat and tasawwuf, and there is no Sufism without following Shariat, said Syed Shah Muhammad Ameen, head of Qadri Barkati order and Sajjada Nasheen of Barehra Sharif (Etah district in UP). He was delivering presidential address at the Noori Tasawwuf Conference held at India Islamic Cultural Centre in New Delhi today.
The conference was organized by Mumbai’s Raza Academy, a representative body of majority of traditional Sunni Muslims adhering to Sufism, on the occasion of 175th birth anniversary of Hazrat Shah Abul Hasan Ahmed Noori known as Hazrat Noori Miyan of Barehra Sharif.
Syed Shah Muhammad Ameen, who is also professor of Urdu at Aligarh Muslim University, condemned fake Sufism and Sufis who just wear a particular dress and think themselves as Sufi. He said there are many Sufis around who don’t follow the traditions of Prophet and yet claim to be Sufi.
He also criticized the critics of Sufism who say the path was invented much after the period of the Prophet and Sahaba. Syed Shah Muhammad Ameen said: We got lessons of Sufism from the life of the Prophet. Suffa in the premises of Masjid-e-Nabwi was the first university of Sufism of which the Prophet himself was teacher, administrator and vice-chancellor.
Muhammad Saeed Noori, chief organizer of the conference and president of Raza Academy, earlier elaborating the objective of the conference said that Sufism is the central theme of the conference in which the message of communal harmony, love and brotherhood will be taught to develop a society based on mutual trust and cooperation.
“The onslaught of religious hatred is leading to an uprecedented trend of people breeding prejudice, lack of respect and triggering wars of mutual hatred. Under these circumstances the Sufi message of respect for all creation, tolerence and love articulated in our country assumes a real contemporary and global relevance. The Sufis believe that without the spark of love no true society can be developed and above all it is love that teaches higher values, cures alienation of humans from themselves, their fellow beings and all that exists in nature,” said Saeed Noori.
At the conference Mufti Abdul Mannan, former Shaikhul Hadees at Jamia Ashrafia, Mubarakpur, Azamgarh and Ghulam Yahya Anjum, professor of sufism atHamdard University were conferred with Noori Award by Raza Academy.
Several ulema and scholars attended the conference from around the country.