Taken from the blog that Sidi Suhaib supervises

Question:

I am a non-”salafi” who attends a “salafi” masjid. How do I cope? How do I protect my Iman?
Alternatively: I am a salafi who attends a sufi masjid……What do I do?

Ust. Abdul Sattar* Ahmed’s response:

Assalamu Alaikum,

1. Listen to the talk by Imam Suhaib Webb from “From Protest To Engagement"






2. Do not get in arguments or correct people when you KNOW that they pray in a certain way or make wudu in a certain way for a reason - they may not follow a madhab. Or, they may do so, but decide to incorporate a few aspects of other madhaahib into their worship. Accepting this fact mentally will make it much easier for you to interact with them because you are not trying to shove your madhab (or any one) for that matter down their throats. You accept that he/she may not follow one - even if wyou disagree. So relax. They aren’t making up the Sunnah or creating hadith out of thin air for it. They just don’t have your specific methodology.

They will not wake up on the Day of Judgment to find their book in their left hand with a big stamp that says; “no madhab/multi-madhab, all prayers null and void” Do not pass go.” We need to be more wise than to think like this.

3. Stop feeling like you have to teach all these misguided people the right way and don’t walk inside like you are their savior. Allah is their savior and yours. Its a masjid and its probably held by a board that agrees with most of the followers’ views. You walking in and arguing will simply cause fitnah. Go there to worship your Lord.

4. Your Iman is not under attack at this masjid. Your tolerance is, your temper may be, your pragmatism is, your common-sense is, and your love for unity in the Ummah is.

Your Iman is under attack - at work, on the street in the summer, in the car with music blasting, at high school, at college, at professional dinner/lunch parties you have to attend to be polite to your coworkers/managers, and at home when you surf the internet or turn on the TV.

Allah told us to actively take Shaytaan as our enemy. Not Salafis. Not sufis. We are not even told to actively strive to make Kuffar our enemies. Shaytaan is our enemy. Remember that.

5. Remain in a group of friends/brothers/organization/group/study circle, which teaches the beliefs that you are more comfortable with and allows you to study them in greater detail even though you pray at this masjid. If your sheikh or teacher causes you to develop hatred and dislike in your heart for others who say the Shahaadah, such that you think about these differences more than you ponder upon Allah (swt)’s greatness - you are with the WRONG “Sheikh”. Get out fast before hatred destroys your Iman.

I have heard how amazing it is in Egypt how salafis, sufis, and salafi sufis are able to pray together in the same masaajid. How people with advanced degrees in Shari’ah and ijaazaat going back to Rasulullah, hold all these different views and are able to get along enough to share masaajid with their massive amounts of knowledge.

6. Grow up. Be intellectually and spiritually mature enough to love these people SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU KNOW THAT THEY LOVE RASULULLAH (SAW). Love them because they love Allah. Love them because they are your brothers.

7. Sleep at night - knowing that if Allah (swt) saw fit to run the universe in a different way, he would’ve done it.

wa alaikum assalam

*Abdul Sattar is one of the young leader in the making. A leader of the Young Muslims USA he is an active member in Islamic Dawa. He has completed his degree and is currently active in the Mid-West. He has advanced experience in dealing with the issue that fast Western Muslim youth and it is hoped his contributions to this site will increase. This answer was looked over by an senior student of knowledge and he found it beneficial and encouraged our site to post it.