[Abdul_Karim]

...are inside the Ummah itself. These people prevent the Ummah from uniting upon the Sunnah.

PROBLEM #1: The Salafis - For subverting the fiqh of Ahl as-Sunnah.

They will deny it, but the Salafis are not only anti-madhhab, they are anti-fiqh. The Salafis' haphazard approach to fiqh makes it possible for them to subvert the political imperatives of Islam. In the name of "returning to the manhaj of the salaf" they have effectively denied the obligation of jihaad, redefined the obligation of zakah, and denied the obligation to establish Allah's law in the land. This mainly applies to the "Madkhali" salafis.

PROBLEM #2: The Ash'aris - For subverting the creed of Ahl as-Sunnah

The Ash'aris are Islam's equivilent to the Medieval theologians who debated how many angels could fit on the head of a pen. Islam's creed is pure and simple. Everyone from the most educated academic to the lowliest peasant can understand it.

But, a long time ago, some people were not satisfied with that. They believed that Islam had to be bolstered with "rational arguments". The Mutazilah, Islam's first "rationalists" were then soundly discredited by the Imams of Ahl as-Sunnah, most notably, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Imam Ahmad and the traditionists had defeated the Mutazilah with scripture and transmitted knowledge.

But some people still didn't think Islam was complete. They still thought Islam needed extra-scriptural arguments. These were the Ash'aris. In a particularly bizarre move, they put together a patchwork theology from scraps of Aristotle's theory of categories and the metaphysics of the Atomists. Ironically, the Greek Atomists had used atomism as an argument against the existence of God. The Ash'aris never found a hair-splitting pointless contention they didn't like. The Ash'aris created a theology so complicated that only about 7 people in history were ever able to understand it. These were the Ash'ari mutakallimun.

Most strange about the Ash'aris "rational arguments" is that to be convinced by them, you have to already accept Ash'ari metaphysics as true, since their entire system rests on believing in Atomism. Hence, to be convinced by Ash'ari arguments, one must already be an Ash'ari.

PROBLEM #3: The Sufis - For subverting the manner of worship of Ahl as-Sunnah.

The Sufis claim to be all about "purifying the soul". Their means of "purifying their souls" include joining Freemasonry-esque mystical organizations (tariqah), reciting dhikrs written by the founder of their order (awrad), rocking back and forth in unison (hadrah), spinning around while wearing big hats (the Mevlevi sama), and playing Harmoniums while singing like a animal being tortured (the Chisti Qawwali, a.k.a. the most irritating music known to man).

They don't seem to think that anything from the Qur'an or Sunnah can purify their souls.

Discuss.