• Allah said in Sooratul Nahl, 116:
وَلَا تَقُولُوا لِمَا تَصِفُ أَلْسِنَتُكُمُ الْكَذِبَ هَٰذَا حَلَالٌ وَهَٰذَا حَرَامٌ لِّتَفْتَرُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ ۚ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَفْتَرُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ لَا يُفْلِحُونَ
This verse explicitly states that it is forbidden to rule something lawful or unlawful without Islamic Knowledge.
The verse calls such a doing lying about Allah and those who lie about Allah will not be successful.
• The Prophet, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam, said:
إِنَّ مُحَرِّمَ الحَلالِ كَمُسْتَحِلِ الحَرامِ إِنَّ مُحَرِّمَ الحَلالِ كَمُسْتَحِلِ الحَرامِ إِنَّ مُحَرِّمَ الحَلالِ كَمُسْتَحِلِ الحَرامِ
The one who rules the lawful as unlawful is similar to that who rules the unlawful lawful.
The Prophet, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam, repeated the statement three times in this hadith.
The Prophet, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam, orders his nation to be moderate.
Moderation
• Thus, the Muslim’s saying has to show moderation in ruling different issues whether lawful or unlawful.
• It is not permissible to deviate from moderation because it leads to either negligence or excessiveness and both of these Allah and his Prophet, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam, ordered the Muslims to refrain from following them. It is then immoderation or extremism (ghuluww)
• Allah said in Sooratun Nisaa’, 171:
يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لَا تَغْلُوا فِي دِينِكُمْ وَلَا تَقُولُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ إِلَّا الْحَقَّ
The verse addresses the People of the Book (i.e., the Christians and the Jews) to avoid extremism in the religion and to say only the truth about Allah.
• The Prophet, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam, said:
إياكُمْ والغلوَ فإنَّ الغُلوَ أهْلَكَ من كانَ قَبْلكُم
The Prophet, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam, is warning us against falling in extremism because extremism devastated the nations before us.
Examples – People of Absolute Union
• Some people say blasphemous statements, such as saying nothing exists other than Allah or they say nothing is in existence except Allah or they say Allah is everything.
• These three statements were originally introduced by some atheists who claimed to follow Sufism, but their beliefs were against Islam.
• Many so-called Sufis hide behind Sufism, while they are atheists having corrupt beliefs and creeds.
• The Sunni ‘ulamaa’ warned against the Sufi-claimers, refuted them and exposed them during the time of the Salaf and Khalaf (the `ulamaa’ of the first 300 hijriyy years and those who came after them).
• A group of those deviants believe that Allah is the collection of existing things. They are called the People of Absolute Union. They are also called the People of Unified Existence.
Ancient Creeks
• Those Sufi-claimers adopted some of the sayings of the ancient Creek philosophers. The Creek had many different creeds and among these was this belief of Absolute Union. They considered Allah as the absolute existence and the types of the worlds are part of Him. They may say the creations are specifications for Allah. This is among the deepest blasphemy, may Allah protect us from that.
Books
• Many books which were authored under the topic of Sufism favored these statements. One has to be careful from following these books. Many authored materials which were authored under Sufism contain blasphemy.
• There are followers among the Sufi Tareeqah’s followers who validated these statements and claimed that these statements have another meaning unlike its apparent meaning.
• This type of people knows the exact meaning of these statements but lie about Islam by claiming that these statements have some other meanings. They are arrogant when they defend these bad statements, while knowing their original meanings. Beware of such people!
• About 25 years ago a book offered the Salaah and Salaam to the Prophet, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam, and added saying: our Master Muhammad who professed to your Oneness in your multiplicity. It means to them that Allah is One and many. The author said that the Prophet had the knowledge that Allah is One and many.
• Many of those Sufi-claimers are found in the Middle East, US and Europe. They consider the explicit blasphemy Sufism, may Allah protect us from such straying. Beware of such many books authored under Sufism.