"Mawlid Mubarak from the Sacred Lands"
Why Power-Blind Sufi Veneration Culture Betrays Prophetic Love
Today I am proud to say I instantly unfriended an acquaintance on social media because of a post they shared. Usually, I have thick skin and have gotten pretty jaded when it comes to all things idiotic online, but this one got my blood boiling to the extent that it was the only logical thing to do. I gave the post a passive aggressive “sad” emoji then immediately unfriended. Petty? Sure, but I was livid. Will the person ever know, or care about my silent detestation? I hope they do message me and ask, and I will be happy to share why. But, at the very least, I registered my extreme disdain for the sake of my personal sanity.
What was the offending post, you ponder? Well, it was a “Mawlid Mubarak from the Sacred Lands” post, accompanied by a picture of the butcher MBS in a bisht and a rose—apparently taking a break from buttering Netanyahu up, torturing dissidents and scholars—as he appears to be saying a prayer in front of the holy resting place of the Beloved of God, peace be upon him. Yeah, I know, where is the barf emoji when you need it.
The post, to me, is everything that is wrong with power-blind Sufi veneration culture today. It disgusts me on a visceral level, because it is so openly and bafflingly oblivious to the treachery, debauchery and tyranny of the house of Saud, but salivates over this new and unprecedented acceptance of the Mawlid as if it is something innocent, or an actually genuine move. When the grim reaper comes with a smile, would you trust it? When the dajjal comes to you bearing roses, would you buy it? Of course not. The image of MBS with a rose represents precisely that, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, with a rose in one hand and a dagger behind his back, desecrating the holiest place on earth.
He represents exactly the opposite of everything the Prophet of God stood for. The house of Al-Saud has done nothing but ruin mainstream Islam by spreading Wahhabism, and now it wants to ruin Sufism for pernicious political games, like the Abrahamic Accords and being kumbaya with Zionism. They stand for nothing but greed, murder, injustice, oppression, all done through masquerading as “guardians of the two holy mosques.” Just last month, Saudi Arabia’s Mickey Mouse “counterterrorism tribunal”, convicted Muhammad al-Ghamdi, a retired teacher, and sentenced him to death for Tweeting about the unjust imprisonment of scholars to all the whopping 9 people that follow him. What is so “guardian of holiness”, so Prophetic about that? How can anyone be so foolish as to associate that with the Beloved of God, the mercy to all the worlds, the defender of truth, the lover of justice? It is simply an abomination that boggles the mind.
So many neutered sufis today are falling for this trap of celebrating the more “moderate” turn of Al-Saud lead by the butcher MBS, all in the name of “love.” They say that, yes, these leaders might be misguided, but on the batin level the “love” of the Prophet is coming back to these “holy lands” in these dark times through them. “They are an instrument of light on the unseen level, even though those non-sufi, extremist ignoramuses do not have such insight.” “These Islamists (aka anyone who criticizes them) do not see that “all is love” and even MBS is being used as an instrument of “Divine love.” I do not know anywhere or anyone in the Islamic or Sufi tradition that can endorse or accept this drivel.
Sure, MBS might be about “love” but it sure as h#$% is not Divine love, maybe Satanic love, or dajallic love, but this insidious showmanship has nothing to do with true, pure, perfected divine love. It is the farthest thing from it. Those enablers to this travesty, those who put their blinders on and make a million excuses for the tyrants of our age, those actively trying to undermine our brethren in Palestine, East Turkestan, Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere are actively working on the side of those opposing God and his Prophet.
So how can a rose and a good photo op erase that? How can the cries of those unjustly imprisoned mere miles away from the holy sites not be heard by those who proclaim “prophetic love” and celebrate the Mawlid so callously? They should be ashamed of themselves, and I shudder to think of how they will face their so-called Beloved on judgement day.
Do they forget the reason why the respected scholar Salman al-Ouda was prisoned in the first place? Many do not know this, but before he was abducted into the snake pit of Saudi prison cells in 2017, a video of Al-Ouda was broadcasted in which he relayed a vision of an encounter he had with the Prophet Muhammad, salla Allah alayhi wa sallam, in which he saw him as clear as day, and had a conversation with him on legal matters, to which then Al-Ouda asked him if he can take notes from some of his conversation with him to benefit the people. The Prophet replied that he can do that. The Prophet then asked for him to arrange a place for them to meet, and Al-Ouda replied, “unfortunately the security apparatus will not allow us to meet in these lands, it is unsafe for us to meet these days.” To which the Prophet apparently replied, “how about so-and-so’s home?” and Al-Ouda said, “unfortunately, he is one of them, too.” Most importantly, Al-Ouda took this dream as a glad tiding and a hopeful sign that the repressive state of Israel will soon meet its demise, and that the Palestinian people will experience victory soon. This, is what enraged the pro-Zionist Saudi authorities more than anything else. The proof in the pudding is all the more apparent now as we witness their full and active “normalization” efforts in full and unabashed display.
This vision is profound on so many levels, because it is so revealing about the reality of the oppressive, iron-fist controlled “holy lands.” Second of all, Sufis, more than anyone, know that the vision of the Prophet cannot be denied, for he himself has said in a Hadith: “whomsoever has seen me has seen me in reality, for the devil cannot impersonate me.” This visionary experience was so profound and powerful, that it terrified the Saudi authorities, even when they themselves do no believe in or give any weight to the unseen! The ironic thing is that Al-Ouda himself is by no stretch of the imagination “a Sufi” but rather a sincere, truth-telling lover of God and the Prophet, and for this, he took the fall. On the outside of the prisons, Sufi-leaning groups inside “the kingdom” are rejoicing about this new promising turn towards more overt and tacit acceptance of Prophetic veneration and devotion, as if they exist in a vacuum. This is nothing but cultish hysterics, pure and simple.
To them I say, the “Salafi” underdogs you loathe in prison are more beloved to the Prophet than your empty, ritualistic masquerades for the Mawlid. Leave your roses and green dome ornaments at the door if you attempt to equate these dark warlords of hate with God’s most beloved one. Shame on you.