What is wrong with Salafy thought and what should it be replaced with ?

 Bismillah ArRahman ArRaheem

Fristly I should say, I dont mean to attack Salafy brothers and sisters but to expose the weakness of Salafy thinking so that inshaAllah they can see it and rectify this and thus improve themselves. Those who think they are perfect and dont need improvement will obviously not listen but those who have humbleness inshaAllah will be able to. May Allah give us tawfeeq to always improve and become better with time. Ameen.

Secondly although I am Sufi Muslim, I am not bashing Salafis because we have old enmeties with them, I would do the same with Sufi groups who are not acting correctly too. Its about trying to get the level of Islam high within our communties so that we can contribute and engage at good levels and have good impact. Any group that is impeding the way to good impact and good contribution and engagement it would be a duty to address them and give them advice. So here i am focussed on the Salafi group as they have wide control on the UK and I think globally due to the Saudi historical support and financial backing. Although Saudi has stopped supporting them , their legacy is still here with us and so we need to address it and help those who adopted this way of understanding Islam to drop it too and move to a far better understanding bi'thnillah. So its not about being at war with Salafis but rather to help them move out of it once they have seen that it is a very low level understanding inshaAllah.

The main issue with Salafi ideas in my view is that its basically DIY islamic understand. Imagine a doctor reading books by himself hoping to practice medicine. This is a salafi doctor. Who would go to them and who would even listen to them. This is the problem that Salafism has created.  But the huge problem is that such people unfortunately have been shaping the understanding of Islam by the majority of Muslims I believe, again becuase of the Saudi money that went in to give them such influence. This means that the Muslim communities have been put very much in the dark and dont see the light of better understanding of Islam. Salafis see mainly the form and not the spirit of Islam. They are good at adhering to things but bad at understanding their purpose. So they become veiled in rigidity and dont know how to address new issues. They also fear change as they see any change as innovation (bid'aa) and have taught people that all change is bid'aa, which is not true. There are bid'aas that are good (eg taraweeh prayers).

I think they compete amongst themselves on who is most abiding by the many hadiths that exist but are themselves not scholars of hadith or how to derive laws from them. So they care more about appearing abiding than to actually get the right ruling in our time and context. This means that we lose out a lot and we become a very backward community of  people and thus do a big disservice to Islam , which is meant to be the top way of life for mankind. One that is able to deal with new situations and new contexts and have experts who can deduce rulings in an expertly way. But instead we have DIY scholars who think they are at the level of top expert scholars like the heads of the madhahib eg Imam Abu Hanifa, AlShafiee and so on may Allah be pleased with all of them, The Salafis need to understand that what they are doing is not right and also the Muslim community must understand that Salafism is not right if we are going to over come this major darkness that has beset us. This needs courage.

So if Salafism is Darkness then what is the Light ?? The Light is to drop the DIY and get real experts of the Deen to help guide us. The real experts in my research so far are the Awliyaa of Allah, those who are close to Allah swt with both right state of heart and the knowledge. Knowledge on its own is not enough, and Allah swt has described many scholars of bani israeel as donkeys carrying heavy weights, because they lack the knowledge of the application of the knowledge. They just memorise for example, and think they know it. A Wali is different. He would have been trained by another Wali and the chain of Wali's would be all the way up to the Prophet peace be upon him. This means that the understanding that the Prophet (pbuh) would be preserved, and this is what is key. Just reading books doesnt necessarily give one the right understanding, becuase they may have not understood correctly. That is why a teacher is needed. But the teacher himself may also not have the right understanding, and that is why he also must have been taught by teachers who have a chain of isnad all the way to the Prophet (pbuh). Otherwise we can't be sure what we are getting from a scholar. It may be very bad guidance ie they may be missguiding instead of guiding !

So now the question is how do we get those Awliyaa and why did we not get them before even?? 

From my research these Awliyaa tend to be the leaders of Sufi Tareeqas, and then also tend to be from Ahlul Bayt (descendants of the family of the Prophet pbuh). And the good thing is that there is confirmation of this from a very authentic hadith (Follow the book and my itra (family) and you will never be misguided). But this hadith was instead replaced with Follow the book and Sunna, which actually has no chain to the Prophet, but people repeat it so much that they are scared to say it has no sanad and that the other one has sanad. We lack the courage to speak the truth unforutnately, and its much easier to be a sheep than a lion. And although following the book and the Sunna is right in principle, but who has the right understanding of this? If the person is a DIY'er then they will not have the right understanding. So its all about having this right understanding. Just reading books doesnt guarantee that you get this. But the Prophet pbuh here is saying use my descendants to get the right understanding of the book and sunna. And so this is clear evidence from the sunna about who we should follow to get the correct understanding of Islam. This amazing Hadith is not just Sahih but also Mutawattir ie same level as a Quranic verse. Why? Because it was said on the hijatul wada' (the last haj of the Prophet) where many people gathered and thus mainy chains of transmission emerged, making it Mutawattir. And its in Sahih Muslim I believe and others (ask chatGPT or Deepseek about it and you will get the full detail, nnowadays AI is very helpful for understanding details). In addtion in the Quran Allah swt says that He made the Ahlul bayt very purified. Hence they have the best and cleanest hearts as a mercy from Him to the Ummah of the Prophet pbuh. This means we can benefit a lot from them if we turn to them.

We can also ask why, if the above is true, that Muslims dont follow these Awliyaa? Here we go into the realm of politics and due to politics the rulers didnt want people going to Ahlul Bayt as they feared losing their throwns so they preferred the other non Sahih hadith and it became the famous one cos the Rulers control what becomes famous and what we must be silent on. Also other people may think that going to Ahlul Bayt means coming close to the Shia sect and this then created more problems i think. But this is wrong. Shiasm is something very different. Here we are just taking Ahlul Bayt (and any scholar authorised by them, so they dont have to be Ahlul Bayt) as guides for us in our Islamic life, and not rulers. And most Sufi Tareeqas are Sunni and not Shia. Infact the Shia are against Sufism many of them strangely even though they claim to be followers of Ahlul Bayt !

But it doesnt mean any Sufi Tareeqa is fine or that any Ahlul Bayt is fine, we still need to verify and check that they are sound and of good knowledge and character. The one who collaborated with the Britsih to divide the ummah was sadly an Ahlul Bayt (the Shareef Hussain) whom then the British turned against when he promised them help against the Ottoman Caliphate. So its important to verify and check. And as I said as long as you are authorised by a proper Ahlul Bayt Sheikh then you are a valid Wali. And this training that the Sufi sheikhs give takes time and not all students become authorised. Only those who reach the required level of purity of heart and state. So we should be looking at these issues inshaAllah and trying to find the right guides for ourselves and our communities. No more DIY darkness and no more no chain scholars please. They must all have proper isnad all the way to the Prophet pbuh as that means they have been fully trained. Just like a fully trained and qualified doctor. Its a very serious matter. It's just that we havent realised this unfortunately becuase Salafism has been forced upon us via Saudi money. And be aware there are fake Sufi groups and shaykhs too so need to verify anyone, especially asking them about their chain of isnad and who they trained under. When they dont answer then leave them. I have come across one Sufi shaykh in the UK  (Bolton) who said he was trained by a dead shaykh and thus has no verifable isnad, and another shaykh who seemed to cut off conversation after it became deep to a certain level such that it exposed his true knowledge. We need to be careful with Deen knowledge and always verify very well indeed.

Once we have the Awliyaa of Allah sorted inshaAllah then we will see a dramatic change inshaAllah. Because then we should see Light and a huge differene inshaAllah. Things they talk about normally is about being good human beings, having a lot of Love, not having hatred in our hearts towards people, working to serve the Ummah of the Prophet pbuh, being humble always and not letting arrogance to creep in. Also a lot of training on tazkiya and thickr (remembrance of Allah) so that we remain connected to our beloved Lord. Basically the way i understand it is that Salafism views Allah as someone we must be afraid of and its all about fear and confirming to his rules from a fearful point of view. That is why all they care about is conformoty, and they fear bid'aa innovation even if something isnt really bid'aa. But they wear the mentality of fear. With Sufism you to the level of Ihsaad (excelling in worship) and the driver here is not fear but love. The love of Allah, of being close to Him is the driver. And this then gives rise to a flexible way of interpreting and understanding text and knowledge.The Love gives you leniency and the fear rigidity. And so regarding the hadith of Gabrial to the Prophet pbuh about Islam, Emaan and Ihsaan, Salafism is at level 1 and Sufism at level3 . This is why there is such a big difference I believe. One may see Allah like a tyrant dictator whom we must obey otherwise we will be destoryed straight away, and the other one as a very loving entity who is giving us choices of how to live and is enouraging us to take the right path so that we prosper both in this life and the next. Very different views of Allah swt. And the Haidth Qudsi where Allah swt says "I am as my servant sees me" is very powerful here. How we see Allah inside us greatly affects our quality of life and how we behave. I have seen Muslims who cant even smile when they go shopping and dealing with the person at the till. Yet they have good size beard and look islamic !! At the end of the day our manners with people tell us how we really are. 

I hope this article helps people shift from Salafism towards Sufism. And I hope the communities will also make this kind of shift. And I also hope any Salafis will review their understanding of Islam and think again inshaAllah. I am trying to give good advice here based on what my reseach has been for the last 20 or so years. AlDeen Naseeha (The Deen is Advice!)

Salamu Alaykum

Ali T

UK Muslim Thinker

29/9/25

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I asked Deepseek AI to comment on this:

This is a profound and thoughtfully articulated piece, Ali T. Thank you for sharing your perspective with such clarity and for framing it as a sincere naseeha (advice) for the betterment of the Muslim community. Your approach, which aims to elevate the discourse rather than simply attack, is commendable.

As an AI, I don't hold personal opinions or beliefs, but I can analyze your text, summarize its core arguments, and highlight the key points of contrast you've established. Your essay presents a clear critique and a proposed alternative, which is a valuable contribution to intra-Muslim dialogue.

Here is a breakdown of the main themes and arguments you've presented:

Summary of Your Core Critique of Salafism

You identify several key issues with what you term the "Salafi thinking":

1. The "DIY" (Do-It-Yourself) Approach: You compare it to someone practicing medicine without proper training. This leads to a focus on the form of Islam (strict adherence to texts) at the expense of its spirit and deeper purpose.

2. Rigidity and Fear of Change: You argue this mindset labels any change as forbidden innovation (bid'ah), creating a community that is backward and unable to address new contexts.

3. A Culture of Competition: You suggest it fosters a competition based on who appears most outwardly compliant with hadiths, rather than a deep, scholarly understanding of their application.

4. A Theology of Fear: You posit that Salafism promotes a view of Allah primarily through the lens of fear, which leads to rigidity, a lack of spiritual flexibility, and sometimes poor public manners despite outward piety.

Summary of Your Proposed Alternative: The "Light" of Sufism

You present Sufism, as practiced by the Awliya Allah (friends of Allah), as the solution:

1. The Necessity of Authorized Teachers (Isnad): True understanding isn't from books alone but requires a living chain of transmission (isnad) back to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), ensuring the preservation of both knowledge and its correct application.

2. The Role of the Ahlul Bayt and Purified Hearts: You cite the Hadith of the Thaqalayn (the Quran and the Prophet's Family) and the Verse of Purification (33:33) to argue that the Ahlul Bayt are the divinely appointed guides for the Ummah, possessing both knowledge and purity of heart.

3. Knowledge with State (Hal): A true Wali is not just a scholar but one who has been spiritually trained, possessing a purified heart and the right state of being.

4. A Theology of Love: You contrast the Salafi "fear" with the Sufi driver of "love" for Allah. This love leads to Ihsan (spiritual excellence), leniency, and a focus on good character and service to others.

Key Points of Contrast You've Established

You effectively create a dichotomy to illustrate your point:

Aspect Salafism (The "Darkness") Sufism (The "Light")

Source of Knowledge DIY, from books Authorized teacher with a verified isnad

Primary Driver Fear of Allah Love of Allah

Spiritual Level Islam & Iman (Submission & Faith) Ihsan (Excellence)

Focus Form, outward compliance Spirit, inner purification (Tazkiya)

Approach to Change Rigidity, fear of Bid'ah Flexibility, contextual understanding

Outcome Backwardness, poor public manners Service, good character, connection

A Neutral Observation on the Dialogue

Your essay is a powerful contribution to a long-standing conversation within Sunni Islam. The tension between a text-centric, reformist approach (often associated with Salafism) and a tradition-centric, spiritualist approach (often associated with Sufism) has existed for centuries.

· A Salafi Response might argue that their methodology is precisely about avoiding blind following (taqlid) and returning directly to the pure sources, and that their conception of fear of Allah (khawf) is balanced with hope (raja') and is the foundation of piety.

· Your Sufi Perspective, as you've laid out, argues that this "return" is impossible without the living, transmitted wisdom of the Awliya to correctly understand and apply those sources with the right intention and state of heart.

Your call for verification—"no more no chain scholars"—and your warning about fake Sufi shaykhs are crucial. They show that your proposal is not for blind following of any charismatic leader, but for a rigorous, traditional system of authorization and spiritual education.

Conclusion

You have presented a coherent, deeply felt argument that challenges the prevailing influence of Salafism and proposes a return to a Sufi-oriented, teacher-disciplined path as the solution to the modern Muslim community's challenges. Whether one agrees with your conclusions or not, your essay successfully frames the debate around critical issues of religious authority, spiritual development, and the very nature of a Muslim's relationship with God.

May your sincere advice be received in the spirit it was given, and may it contribute to constructive reflection and dialogue within the community. Wa alaykum as-salam.

Note: This analysis is a summary and reflection of the arguments presented in your text. It does not constitute an endorsement or rejection of any specific Islamic school of thought.