Understanding Terms/Sayings in the World of Sufism

QUESTION:

Assalamu’alaikum ustadz permission to ask, I once heard the words of a ustadz from Sufism, he said that when we pray we are not the ones who pray, but Allah is the one who prays, is this correct understanding ustadz… (+62 823-7083-xxxx)

ANSWER

Wa’alaikumussalam warahmatullah wabarakatuh

The person who best knows the meaning of the statement is of course the speaker, the direction and the meaning. Especially in the world of Sufism, they often say sentences that have double meanings.

However, if a sentence appears in public, of course the public will respond according to what they understand. So, this statement could be responded to or commented on as follows:

– If you mean that it is Allah Ta’ala who makes someone capable of praying, having the will to pray, if it were not for His permission, no one would be able to carry it out.

So, if this is the meaning then the sentence is correct, in line with the words of Allah Ta’ala:

It was not you who killed them, but Allah who killed them. And you do not throw when you throw, but Allah throws, that He may test those who believe through His intercession. What a good test from Allah, the All-Hearing, All-Knowing

So (actually) it was not you who killed them, but Allah who killed them, and it was not you who threw when you threw, but Allah who threw. (Allah did it to destroy them) and to give victory to the believers, with a good victory. Indeed, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. (QS. Al-Anfal: 17)

Other verses:

And God created you and what you do

even though Allah is the one who created you and what you do. (QS. Ash-Saffat: 96)

– But, if the meaning of the word is that Allah Ta’ala becomes incarnated in the person who prays, or merges his essence (wihdatul wujud) in that person. Well, that is the understanding that was declared heretical and infidel by scholars such as Imam An Nawawi, Imam Ibnu Kathir, Imam As Subki, Al Qadhi ‘Iyadh, etc.

Wallahu A’lam