In Defense of The Sufic Hadrah

 There is no doubt that as of recent there is an agenda and conspiracy by some to fight the Sunni Tasawwuf movement. One particular fiqh issue that is constantly mentioned by the enemies of tasawwuf, and ‘used’ against the Sufi Tariqahs, is that they do some form of Raqs - ’dancing’, generally called a hadra. This generally involves swaying of the body or some type of body movement while doing group dhikr (remembrance). The Seekingilm.com team has compiled evidences and statements of the earliest scholars supporting the permissibility of the Sufic hadra. It is not our goal to ‘convince’ everyone of the hadras permissibility. Rather it is our goal to simply show that this is an issue of jurisprudential ikhtilaaf (disagreement), and thus warrants respect from both sides for each other.

• Comprehensive Proofs for the Permissibility of Raqs (Dancing) in Islamic Law
• Al-Hafith Ibn Hajr Al-’Asqalaani on the Dancing of the Sufis
• The Issue of Dancing (Ar-Raqs), Swaying (at-Tamayul), etc in Islam

 We hope this benefits the reader and helps them to understand the legitimacy of the Sufic Hadra in Islam. We would also like to remind the seeker that Imam An-Nawawi once stated,

“Scholars only protest against that which musters unanimous consensus; as for what does not muster unanimous consensus, then there is no permission to protest.” [Sharh Sahih Muslim in the chapter of Commanding the good and forbidding the evil]