that has been my dilemma for quite a while now.
I guess I should begin by saying that I have nothing against sheikhs in general or against people who chose to follow them. I do not intend to offend anyone and least of all,Islam, the religion I choose to practise. My only intention is to share my experiences and my own personal thoughts on the subject. I would also appreciate any input from you, dear readers.
My first memories of Sheikhs…(I am not going to mention any by name, of course) was entering a sister’s house and seeing pictures of a long white bearded man on almost every wall in the house, including a calendar in the kitchen. I could not help going back in time to my catholic upbringing with the pope as guest of honour in every house in the neighbourhood.
To be honest ,I was quite disturbed by the whole pictures scenario but I respected the sister’s need to follow ‘her sheikh’ (her words not mine) even though I still find it too hard to understand how an intelligent woman like her feels compelled to follow a sheikh no matter what. By the way, I mean ‘no matter what’ literally. Let me give you another example to illustrate it. When a sister ,who follows the same sheikh ,was told by him to have six children she did not doubt it for one minute. Apparently the sheikh had seen her in a dream surrounded by six children and he understood it to be her destiny so guess how many children the sister has? Right answer!
I am an open minded person and I try my best not to be judgemental but there are certain things that I find extremely difficult to comprehend. I understand that there are brothers and sisters who are very knowledgeable and it is their obligation to pass on that knowledge but what I do not understand is the need to follow a sheikh blindly.
Whenever I hear someone say ‘my sheikh says…’ I want to slap them hard on the face and and and …you get the idea. I want to react in the same way when a woman says to me…’my husband says…’ . Woman, I am not interested in your husband’s opinion, I want to know what YOU think. Allah gave you a brain so use it. No, I am not asking anyone to disrespect their husbands what I am saying is that at the end of the day we are responsible for our own actions and when it comes to the crunch, following our husbands blindly is not going to save us. Or is it?
So going back to the topic… Do we need to follow a sheikh and why? More importantly, what do you gain by following a sheikh. I sometimes wish to have someone to turn to when I have doubts and believe you me I have them all the time.
I remember very clearly the night that another friend of mine invited me to her masjid for dhikr. I, being the open minded woman that I am, agreed to come along. ‘The Sheikh’ was in the masjid visiting from his country so everyone was obviously very excited. I was trying my very best to get into it but for some unexplainable reason couldn’t.I could understand to a certain extend the spiritual uplifting they seemed to be feeling. What I could not even bear to watch was all the brothers and sisters forming a human chain, hands on the shoulder of the person in front, to swear allegiance to the sheikh. I think they call it ‘baya’ or something sounding quite similar in Arabic. At that point I had to leave the masjid because I was starting to feel really uncomfortable. Weird I know.
Lately, a sister who I consider very intelligent and knowledgeable (islamically speaking ) sent me an e-mail notifying me of the exact date of Lailatul qudr. She was certain because ‘her sheikh’ had dreamt it. Call me sceptical but I don’t buy it.
So , dear readers, I guess you get my point. I now ask you to share with me your opinion on the subject and if you differ from me please try to explain why. I really want to understand what makes some people choose to follow a certain sheikh’s teachings. What are the benefits?
On a completely different note, back to work tomorrow after two weeks Ramadan holidays. The children don’t start until after tomorrow but the staff have training day. First on the agenda…naseha by sheikh Ahmed 😆 followed by ‘assessment for learning’ inset.
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Simply happInes 
