SHARIAH-BASED SUFISM IN THE MODERN ERA: A LOOK AT THE WORK OF SHAYKH ABDULLAH BIN BAYYAH

Abstract

This article examines the legal (sharʿī) validity and practical relevance of Sufism in the modern era through exploring the life and works of the contemporary Mālikī scholar, Shaykh ʿAbdullāh Bin Bayyah. Famous for his works in Mālikī Fiqh, Uṣūl al-Fiqh and global work with Muslim minorities (especially Fiqh al-ʿAqalliyāt), Shaykh bin Bayyah is less well-known for his Sufism. And yet, the life and works of the religious figurehead of a network that extends from West and North Africa, and the Gulf countries, to the United Kingdom and the west coast of the United States of America, provide an illuminating window on some forms of contemporary Sufism. Drawing upon official biographies, secondary literature, a personal interview, and a key, as yet unpublished, text, Al-Mākhidh ʿalā al-Taṣawwuf (The Criticisms of Sufism), the author argues Bin Bayyah has a distinctive (though not necessarily unique) practical approach to Sufism that is most relevant to our times. Not only does it help provide a balanced, tolerant, and learned antidote to religious extremism, which is firmly rooted in the Syariah, his practical Sufism also lays the foundations of a path towards civic contribution of Ṣūfī communities in fields as diverse as education, prison reform and peace-making.