BismiLlah,
Regarding Shaykh Abu Ismail al-Harawi’s (rh) usage of the word “Tafarruq” in his book, Manaazil as-Saireen, Shaykh/Dr. Hatem el-Haj said:
“Whenever he mentions dissension, it means Tafarruq. Tafarruq is basically the opposite of togetherness. Togetherness is when you are whole – which is your body, your mind, [and] your heart are all together with the purpose of your creation.
Tafarruq is when you are basically spread out – when you are disunited internally and dissociated from your purpose of creation. Internally, you have no wholeness. You have no togetherness – your mind, your body, [and] your heart are in different places. You are distractable. You are not together inside and you are not together with Allah (SWT) – al-Jamiyyah.
You are not with Allah. You lost that togetherness, and when you lose togetherness with Allah (SWT) – once you lose your connection with Allah (SWT) – you will not be able to stay together internally. You will be torn apart, internally. Your mind would be in one place. Your heart will be in one place. Your mind itself will not be together, so your thoughts will be conflicting. Your thoughts would be contradicting.
Not just in your mind and your heart, but your mind itself – just your thoughts will be in many different places. And, not only that they are in many different places, they pull you apart, they tear you apart – because they are conflicting and they are contradicting. How could you find togetherness if you have not realized your purpose in creation, your purpose of existence, your raison d’etre, your justification of existence? How could you be together?! You have not come to terms with the purpose of your existence.
There is nothing that will keep you together. The pursuits in this life, the wants, the desires in this life – thoughts, philosophies, opinions….you know, the doctrines, schools – they all tear you apart, they all pull you apart. They all cause you this Tafarruq, which is this disunity, lack of wholeness, lack of togetherness – which makes people jittery, which makes people anxious, worried, and discontent.
You will never be able to find contentment until you are together, you are whole. And, you are also whole with Him [Allah], you know….The scheme that Allah (SWT) created you for, you are connected to your creator, you are cognizant of His desires, His wants of you, and you give them precedence over anything else. And Allah is one. That oneness will reflect on you. The oneness of Allah will reflect on you.
Because, keep in mind, if you give precedence to Allah’s speech, if you give precedence to Allah’s wants of you over your own wants (His desires of you over your own)... Allah is one or not? Allah is one. Does Allah ever conflict with Himself or contradict Himself? Absolutely not. So, that will bring you that togetherness and that wholeness when you receive your guidance from Allah (SWT), and when your life is for the sake of Allah, and when your thoughts are not given precedence or you do not put your thoughts forward before the guidance of Allah.
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَا تُقَدِّمُوا۟ بَيْنَ يَدَىِ ٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ ۖ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌۭ
O you who have believed, do not put [yourselves] before Allāh and His Messenger but fear Allāh. Indeed, Allāh is Hearing and Knowing.
— Al-Hujuraat 49:1, Saheeh International
Do not put your thoughts forward before Allah’s guidance and His messenger’s (SAW) guidance. That’s what they mean when he says…when he talks about this tafarruq or disunity.”
From Umar:
There is nothing to add. If anything, I’d love to go over this prose with those who are well aware of this dissension and have been blessed to start the journey towards attaining togetherness within themselves and with Allah. Allah said:
ضَرَبَ ٱللَّهُ مَثَلًۭا رَّجُلًۭا فِيهِ شُرَكَآءُ مُتَشَـٰكِسُونَ وَرَجُلًۭا سَلَمًۭا لِّرَجُلٍ هَلْ يَسْتَوِيَانِ مَثَلًا ۚ ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ۚ بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
Allāh presents an example: a man [i.e., slave] owned by quarreling partners and another belonging exclusively to one man - are they equal in comparison? Praise be to Allāh! But most of them do not know.
— Az-Zumar 39:29, Saheeh International
Until when would we remain internally torn apart, dissociated from ourselves, separated from Allah, tortured by the veils we have set up between His mercy and our souls, and fractured even if the split is in two? There is more to add.
Please forgive the mistakes in my transcription; this is my first time doing this. To access the video I transcribed, watch this video from 2:32 to 7:50. May Allah bless Shaykh/Dr. Hatem el-Haj, aameen. I do recommend the entire series
May Allah make us whole, such that the uniting force is primarily our love for Him which extends to loving those who love Him reciprocatedly and loving those things He loves. Aameen.
I would have preferred to put this on the (Applied) Aqeedah with Umar substack, so do subscribe here. May Allah make us of benefit to one another, aameen.
– Transcribed by Umar Hfe
Ramadan 11th, 1445
March 21st, 2024
Image by Salah Ait Mokhtar on Unsplash
بارك الله فيك