Is Sufism against the teachings of islam ?

Introduction
The substance and definition of Sufism: the substance of Sufism is the Truth and the definition of Sufism is the
selfless experiencing and actualization of the Truth. The practice of Sufism: the practice of Sufism is the intention to
go towards the Truth, by means of love and devotion. This is called the Tariqat, the Spiritual Path or way towards
God.

Question ?
why do some people regard Sufism as something that is not part of Islam, and something that is wrong. They say
that Sufis pray and seek help from the Awliya and saints when the only One they should be praying to is Allah.

Answer
The Shari`ah is of fundamental importance to the Sufi path. This point is very strongly made by the great
Naqshbandi Sufi, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi (also known as Imam ar-Rabbani), in his letters. Here is a small excerpt
from one of his letters, where he clarifies this topic:  The Shari`ah has three parts: knowledge, action, and sincerity
of motive (ikhlas); unless you fulfil the demands of all these parts, you do not obey the Shari`ah. And when you obey
the Shari`ah you obtain the pleasure of God, which is the most supreme good in this world and the Hereafter. The
Qur'an says: "The pleasure of God is the highest good." Hence, the Shari`ah comprehends all the good of this world
and the next, and nothing is left out for which one has to go beyond the Shari`ah. from Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi's
letters, Vol. I:36  

Proof for calling and ask awliya for help
Sufi teachers asked their students to accept Allah as their Creator and the Prophet as His  and Messenger (s), to
worship Allah alone and to leave the worship of idols, to repent to God, to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet, to purify
their hearts, to clean their egos from mistakes and to correct their beliefs in the Oneness of God. And they were
teaching them to be honest and trustworthy in everything they did, to be patient and God-fearing, to love others, to
depend on God, and all the other excellent manners demanded by Islam. In order for them to reach all these stations
of sincerity and purity they gave their students different prayers (du`a) that the Prophet (s), his Sahaba and the
Tabi'een were practicing. They were teaching Dhikr-Allah, the remembrance of Allah, through the reading of Qur'an
and dua' and tasbeeh from Hadith, and through the recitation of Allah's Names and Attributes in tahleel, tahmeed,
takbeer, tamjeed and tasbeeh, according to many ayats and hadiths of the Prophet about Dhikr. (These can be
found in all books of Hadith, including Bukhari, Muslim, Tabarani, Ibn Majah, Abu Dawud, etc., under the heading of
Dhikr in Islam to which anyone can refer.)

The Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) has stated, "There are certain of Allah's servants that have been set
aside to fulfil the necessities of the people. People will call to them in their times of need. They are protected from
the punishment of Almighty Allah". (Jame Saghir) This Hadith Shareef clearly proves that one may call the Awliya
Allah for assistance.

Hazrat Allama ibn Juzri (radi Allahu anhu) states, "If one is ever in any need then He should say, 'O servants of Allah,
assist me! O servants of Allah, assist me! O servants of Allah, assist me'." (Tibraani)

Hazrat Imam Naudi (radi Allahu anhu), the commentator of "Muslim Shareef", quotes an incident: "One of my
superiors narrated an incident to me, 'My mule ran away and I had known the Ahadith and I immediately said, 'O
servants of Allah, assist me!' Almighty Allah immediately stopped the mule (from running away)'." (Kitaabul Azkaar)

From all of the above narrations one will see that to call upon the Awliya for assistance is permissible even if they are
thousands of miles away. With the permission of Allah Ta’ala they certainly assist those who are in need.

Saying from awliyas on tasawwuf (Sufism)

Imam Malik one of the 4 imams in his famous saying said, "man tasawaffa wa lam yatafaqa faqad tazandaqa, wa man
tafaqaha wa lam yatasawaf faqad tafasaq, wa man tasawaffa wa tafaqaha faqad tahaqaq." which means: " Whoever
studied Tasawwuf without Fiqh is a heretic, and whoever studied Fiqh without Tasawwuf is corrupted, and whoever
studied Tasawwuf and Fiqh will find the Truth and Reality of Islam."

Shaykh al-Islam Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti  said I have looked at the matters which the Imams of Shari`a have criticized in
Sufis, and I did not see a single true Sufi holding such positions. Rather, they are held by the people of innovation
and the extremists who have claimed for themselves the title of Sufi while in reality they are not...Pursuit of the
science of the hearts, knowledge of its diseases such as jealousy, arrogance and pride, and leaving them are an
obligation on every Muslim. al-Suyuti, Ta'yid al-haqiqa al-`aliyya wa-tashyid al-tariqa al-shadhiliyya, ed. `Abd
Allah ibn Muhammad ibn al-Siddiq al-Ghumari al-Hasani (Cairo: al-matba`a al-islamiyya, 1934), p. 56-57

Shaykh Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani said Anyone who does not follow the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace),
taking his Law [shari`a] in one hand and the Book that was revealed to him in the other hand, and who does not
attain to by his path [tariq] to Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He), will perish and perish, will go astray and go astray.
They are two guides to the Lord of Truth (Almighty and Glorious is He). The Qur'an is your guide to the Lord of Truth
(Almighty and Glorious is He), and the Sunna is your guide to the Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace).  

Shaykh al-Islam Taj al-Din al-Subki said May Allah give them life and greet them (Sufis), and may He place us with
them in Paradise. Too many things have been said about them and too many ignorant people have said things which
are not related to them... The truth is that those people left the world and were busy with worship.

Shaykh Abu Muhammad al-Juwayni (Imam al-Haramayn's father) said: They are among Allah's people and His elite.
His mercy is sought through their remembrance of Allah, and rain descends with their invocation. May Allah be
pleased with them and may Allah be pleased with us for their sake. al-Subki, Mu`id al-ni`am wa mubid al-niqam
p. 190.

Shaykh al-Islam Imam Muhyiddin Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi said Nawawi writes in his short treatise entitled al-
Maqasid fi al tawhid wa al-`ibada wa usul al-tasawwuf (The purposes in oneness, worship, and the foundations of
self-purification): The specifications of the Way of the Sufis are five 1, to keep the Presence of Allah in your heart in
public and in private; 2, to follow the Sunna of the Prophet by actions and speech; 3, to keep away from people and
from asking them; 4, to be happy with what Allah gave you, even if it is less; 5, to always refer your matters to Allah.

Imam Abu Hanifa said "If it were not for two years, I would have perished." He said, "for two years I accompanied
Sayyidina Ja'far as-Sadiq and I acquired the spiritual knowledge that made me a gnostic in the Way." [Ad-Durr al-
Mukhtar, vol 1. p. 43]

Imam Shafi'i said"I accompanied the Sufi people and I received from them three knowledges: ...how to speak; how to
treat people with leniency and a soft heart... and they... guided me in the ways of Sufism." [Kashf al-Khafa, 'Ajluni,
vol. 1, p 341.]

Imam Ghazzali said"I knew verily that Sufis are the seekers in Allah's Way, and their conduct is the best conduct, and
their way is the best way, and their manners are the most sanctified. They have cleaned their hearts from other than
Allah and they have made them as pathways for rivers to run receiving knowledge of the Divine Presence." [al-
Munqidh, p. 131].

Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi said"The way of Sufis for seeking Knowledge, is to disconnect themselves from this worldly life,
and they keep themselves constantly busy with Dhikrullah, in all their actions and behaviors." ['Itiqadaat Furaq al-
Muslimeen, p. 72, 73]

Ibn Qayyim said "We can witness the greatness of the People of Sufism, in the eyes of the earliest generations of
Muslims by what has been mentioned by Sufyan ath-Thawri (d. 161 AH), one of the greatest imams of the second
century and one of the foremost legal scholars. He said, "If it had not been for Abu Hisham as-Sufi (d. 115) I would
never have perceived the action of the subtlest forms of hypocrisy in the self... Among the best of people is the Sufi
learned in jurisprudence." [Manazil as-Sa'ireen.]

False Sufis
False Sufis steal the words of the Sufis and present them as their own, and thus trick people with the beautiful
teachings, which they are merely imitators of. They do not have true knowledge of that which they are speaking.
Many of the great Sufi Shuyukh speak of deceptive false Sufis - these people take the title of "Sufi" because it gives
them a certain amount of prestige and power, and they take advantage of those who cannot tell false Sufism from
the real thing.  Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi says:  A disciple who is trained by a man of God will have a pure and
purified spirit. But he who is trained by an imposter and hypocrite and who learns theory from him will be just like him:
despicable, weak, incapable, morose, without any exit from uncertainties, and deficient in all his senses. "As for the
unbelievers -- their protectors are idols, that bring them forth from the light into the shadows." (Qur'an 2:257).

The real Sufi teachers (real scholars) refused fame and high positions and money and a materialistic life, but there is
a few claiming to be sufi shaykhs in our days who run after fame and money. Rather they were zahid and dependent
on Allah following His saying: "ma khalaqtul Jinni wal Insi illa li-ya'budoon" -- "We did not create the Jinn nor Mankind
except to worship Me."

new schools have appeared these days (salafi wahabbism), These schools  which though based in the Hanbali,
school was different from it in 'aqida. Though these schools also accepted Tasawwuf, it kept a much more restrictive
and narrow interpretation of what is allowed in Islam than the first Four Schools. Lately, the followers of this school
had deviated from the original teachings of the founders of the school and have exaggerated to great extremes in
invoking accusations against Muslims based on the fatwas of modern scholars, who have taken the most literalist
and restrictive view of Islam and come against the mainstream of Muslims. And these new beliefs have spread very
quickly in this century with the support of a minority of Muslims who have their own beliefs and their own
interpretation of the Qur'an and Sunnah. These people are now fighting Sufism and trying to demean the bravery
and efforts of the Sufis in spreading Islam througout the world during the preceding 1300 years. As a Muslim Nation,
we respect all schools in Islam without discrimination. But in return we don't accept that anyone impose there ideas
and beliefs on us,

Conclusion  
The Shari`ah is of fundamental importance to Tasawwuf. Therefore, if someone calls himself a "Shaykh," yet does
not practice the Shari`ah, all Muslims should avoid following him, and prefer to follow a Shaykh who does teach and
practice Shari`ah.

They will say things to you, which neither you nor your forefathers will have ever heard before. Stay away from these
deceitful people and do not let them come near you! Do not be misguided by them and do not let them cause strife
amongst you!" (Sahih Muslim)

Imam Sadiq (as) said: "Be careful of your knowledge and see from whom you get it.

"The Holy Prophet (saaw) said: "Man is influenced by the faith of his friends. Therefore, be careful of whom you
associate with.