OUR METHOD
We are grateful to Allah for everything, He sent us that Qur’an with no doubt and He took the responsibility to protect Qur’an Himself. We bless the Messenger of Allah, he explained and practiced the Qur’an perfectly. To us remained, understanding and complying with the Qur’an only. That Messenger enlightened his companions in such a way that each is a pacesetter for us. May Allah bless all of them!
As centuries passed by, everyone introduced a personal method to comprehend the religion. Some of the Muslims prioritized the hadiths and the practice of Messenger’s companions(Sahaba).
Some others accepted the comments and interpretations of the scholars as religion, studying The Qur’an and Messenger’s life superficially.
Some others considered Allah as a governor responsible somewhere in Hejaz and His Messenger Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) as a bureaucrat that fulfills His orders. According to their opinion, Qur’an was Allah’s regional and periodical interference and hadiths were traditions and customary of that region and period. So, Islam became one of the ancient cultures, for them.
There are some others that renamed the heroes in old wives’ tales as Muslim names to create an aura of superstitions around Islam. They mixed polytheism in Islamic faith, pretending real Islam is as they believe.
Furthermore, people that wanted to use Qur’an for their worldly benefits were never missing.
For us, priority belongs to Qur’an. We try to solve problems as if we have nothing else, but the verses. Our first resource to understand the Qur’an is human nature. Because Allah commands:
“So set your face steadily and truly to that faith- the nature of Allah, in which He has created the mankind. There is no change in the way Allah creates. That is the righteous religion. But most people do not know. (Rum 30/30)
It is an important point that revelation of Qur’an was in portions and lasted twenty three years. Thanks to that, Muslims could unite the Qur’an with human nature and interpreted the existence correctly .
“We divided It -the Qur’an- into portions from time to time -in order that you may read it to men in intervals and We have revealed it by stages. (Isra 17/106)
It is not easy to comprehend the notion of ‘human nature’. We may think that our nature is composed of our habits and circumstances. In that point we have to follow Messenger’s sunnah and sahaba’s practice. So that, problems will be solved clearly and brilliantly. Sunnah is the explanation of Qur’an, or Its sample practice. It is impossible to comprehend the explanation, if the explained issue is not known. The sample will not be understood without comprehending the essence. Sunnah must be interpreted in its unity with Qur’anic verses. That way we understand that hadiths which seem contradictory, in fact explain different issues.
There are opinions of four mazhabs’ and Zahiris’ about financial interest in the category ‘Islamic Economy’ on our site as well as our own opinion on this issue. The analysis of the issue is simply the explanation of our method. ‘Women’s Right to Divorce’ is another piece of work that gives sufficient clue to the reader.
We are conscious that our opinion is not relevant for the others. For that reason, we are trying our best to present our opinion as ideas, not as religion. If you find us in the wrong, please warn us and we will do our best to straighten up, thanking you for that.
But say not – for any false thing that your tongues may put forth,- “This is lawful and this is forbidden” so as to ascribe false things to Allah. For those who ascribe false things to Allah, will never prosper. (Nahl 16/116)
Our Method About Sufism
Our method about Sufism is apparent during the dialogue below between us and a Sufi:
- The first thing we would like to learn is: ‘Do you accept Sufism, or not?’
- It depends on what you mean by the word ‘Sufism’. If you call Sufism gathering around a leader in order to live Islam in accordance with Qur’an and Sunnah, I find that useful and beautiful.
Sheikh Efendi (His Majesty, Sheikh) has to work hard to become a teacher, a leader and a model for the other people. But if you make him a spiritual leader, placing him somewhere special between man and Allah, rendering him an intermediary and a pretext, asking help from his spirituality and benefiting from his holiness, you exaggerate. It is impossible for us to accept this exaggeration. We deny them and all other exaggeration that overflows the line of the Qur’an and Sunnah.
We will not overstate it so much, either this way of behaviour is in contrast to opinions of mazhabs like Hanafi, Shafi’i, Maliki, Esh’ari, Maturidi or these applications are in contrast to well-known hadiths, but if you speak the words that are in contrast to the clear expressions of Holy Qur’an. How can we defend ourselves against Allah, The only Competent of the Judgement Day, if we remain silent against this? Let everybody think!
Our Method in Relation to the Leading Figures of Sufism.
Our Method related to the leading figures of Sufism appears in this dialogue that we made with a Sufi:
- If you do not believe in Abdulkadir Geilani, we have nothing to discuss with you!
- It is not a condition of faith to believe in Abdulkadir Geilani, but it is necessary to believe in the Holy Qur’an.
In my opinion, most information in relation to this person is false. People are able to ascribe billions of hadiths to Allah’s Messenger, so are they to Abdulkadir Geylani, Mevlana and Imam Rabbani.
But if Abdulkadir Geilani himself, had come and told anything contrary to Qur’an, we could not assume he had special knowledge, but we would have to refuse it immediately. Because our Hereafter responsibility is in front of Allah, not in front of Abdulkadir Geilani.
SULEYMANIYE FOUNDATION
Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong: They are the ones to reach Salvation. (Al-e-Imran/ The House of Imran 3/104)
You may find further reading in the article “Method to Understand Quran” on our site.
