Is Sufi Dance Really Established from the Sunnah? A Research-Based, Evidence-Based Review
Compiled by: Ayas Ahmad (Tahseen)
Introduction
Some Sufi individuals present a Hadith from Musnad Ahmad as evidence to validate their Sufi dance and spinning with music as an act of worship.
This Hadith is found in Musnad Ahmad, Hadith no. 860. Ḥaḍrat ʿAlī (RA) narrates:
“I came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and with me were Jaʿfar and Zayd bin Ḥārithah.
The Prophet ﷺ said to Zayd: ‘You are my friend (mawla).’ Upon this, Zayd began to hop on one foot in joy and started circling around the Prophet ﷺ.
Then the Prophet ﷺ said to Jaʿfar: ‘You resemble me in appearance and character.’ Jaʿfar did the same.
Then the Prophet ﷺ said to me (ʿAlī RA): ‘You are from me and I am from you.’ So I too began to jump following Jaʿfar.”
Sufis claim that Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (RA) (whom they wrongly accuse and heavily criticize) and other scholars have declared this Hadith ṣaḥīḥ.
This claim gives rise to two questions:
① Even if this Hadith were authentic, would it render Sufi dance and spinning permissible as an act of worship?
② Is this Hadith truly authentic?
First Issue: Permissibility of Dance as Worship
Imam al-Bayhaqī (RA) said:
“If this Hadith is authentic, it only establishes that lifting one foot and hopping on the other in joy is permissible. A dance involving a similar movement is also permissible. And Allah knows best.”
(السنن الکبریٰ، بیہقی، 10/226)
Imam Ibn Ḥajar (RA) said:
“Even if we concede that this Hadith and similar reports are authentic, they still cannot serve as proof for Sufi dance and spinning, because a dance involving swaying and turning is prohibited. This report only indicates the permissibility of hopping on one foot, not spinning or general dancing.”
(کف الرعاع عن محرمات اللہو والسماع، ص75)
Second Issue: The Authenticity of the Hadith
In the chain of this Hadith there is a narrator Hānī b. Hānī, who is majhūl (unknown).
Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar (RA) said:
“Ibn Saʿd mentioned him among the first generation of the people of Kūfah and said: He was Shīʿī.
Ibn al-Madīnī said: He is unknown.
Ḥarmalah reports from Imam al-Shāfiʿī (RA): Hānī b. Hānī is not known, and the ḥadīth scholars do not consider his narration authentic because his status is unknown.”
(تہذیب التہذیب، 11/22)
Moreover, in this chain is Abū Isḥāq al-Sabīʿī, who used to practice tadlīs (i.e., to present something in an ambiguous manner in order to conceal the reality).
Abū Saʿīd al-ʿAlāʾī (RA) said:
“ʿAmr b. ʿAbdullāh al-Sabīʿī, Abū Isḥāq, known by his kunya—we have already stated that he used to practice tadlīs.”
(جامع التحصیل فی أحکام المراسیل، ص245)
The researchers of Musnad Ahmad have declared this Hadith weak:
“Its chain is weak. We have already stated that when Hānī b. Hānī and others like him narrate such a report that is not transmitted by others, it is not accepted. The word ‘hop’ in the Hadith is munkar and shādh.”
(شرح و تحقیق مسند احمد، 2/213-214)
Summary (حاصل کلام)
✿ Even if this Hadith were authentic, it would only establish the permissibility of joyfully hopping on one foot.
✿ It cannot be used to deem Sufi dance and spinning permissible as an act of worship.
✿ However, since this Hadith is weak in terms of its chain (due to two weak narrators), it cannot serve as evidence for the permissibility of any act of worship, especially Sufi dance and spinning.
✿ Furthermore, the word “hop” in the Hadith is also questionable and shādh.
Another Hadith on This Topic
Imam Aḥmad (Hadith no. 12540) and Ibn Mājah (Hadith no. 5870) narrate from Ḥaḍrat Anas (RA) that the Abyssinians were performing with their weapons before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and were dancing, and in their language they were saying: “Muhammad is a righteous servant.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked: “What are they saying?” The Companions replied: They are saying: Muhammad is a righteous servant.
The commentators on al-Musnad said: Its chain is ṣaḥīḥ and upon Muslim’s criterion.
In Ibn Ḥibbān’s report: The Abyssinians were performing with their weapons before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and saying some words that the Prophet ﷺ did not understand. The Prophet ﷺ asked: “What are they saying?” The Companions replied: They are saying: Muhammad is a righteous servant.
Ibn Mufliḥ (RA) said in الآداب الشرعیہ (1/381): Its chain is jayyid.
The Essence of the Hadith
This Hadith does not provide a strong proof for what some people claim—that dancing and swaying during the remembrance of Allah (dhikr) is permissible. There are several reasons:
① The purpose of the Abyssinians was not to dance alongside dhikr of Allah; rather, they were performing a display in the mosque of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Some narrations state that this display was an expression of joy at the Prophet’s arrival in Madinah.
- Bukhārī (Hadith 454) and Muslim (Hadith 892): Ḥaḍrat ʿĀʾishah (RA) said: One day I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ standing at my door while the Abyssinians were performing in the mosque. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was covering me with his cloak, and I was watching them play.
- Muslim (Hadith 892): On the day of ʿĪd, some Abyssinians came to display a performance with their weapons in the mosque. The Prophet ﷺ called me; I placed my head upon his shoulder and kept watching their display until I myself stopped watching.
- Bukhārī (Hadith 2901) and Muslim (Hadith 893): Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayrah (RA) said: When the Abyssinians were performing with spears before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Ḥaḍrat ʿUmar (RA) came and began to throw pebbles at them. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “O ʿUmar! Leave them.”
- Imam Aḥmad (Hadith 12649) and Abū Dāwūd (Hadith 4923): Ḥaḍrat Anas (RA) said: When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ arrived in Madinah, the Abyssinians, out of joy, began performing with spears.
Its chain is authentic upon the criterion of Bukhārī and Muslim. - Imam Aḥmad (Hadith 25962) narrates from Ḥaḍrat ʿUrwah (RA) that Ḥaḍrat ʿĀʾishah (RA) said: On that day—i.e., the day the Abyssinians were performing in the mosque and I was watching—the Prophet ﷺ said: “Let the Jews know that there is a time for joy and relaxation in our religion; I have been sent with an easy and tawḥīd-based religion.”
Al-Albānī (RA) graded it ḥasan in السلسلة الصحيحة (Hadith 1829).
Reflecting on these narrations shows that the occasion was one of play, joy, and celebration, not of dhikr and ecstatic swaying. This is why the Prophet ﷺ said: “Let the Jews know that there is a time for joy in our religion.” Such a statement is befitting only for an occasion of happiness and recreation, not in dhikr and worship.
② The word “dance” mentioned in the narration does not mean what Sufi individuals infer—i.e., swaying and dancing during dhikr. Rather, what is meant here is a display with spears and martial maneuvers, as is made explicit in the other narrations.
Imam Nawawī (RA) said:
Scholars have explained that they were hopping with their weapons and playing with spears, which outwardly resembled dancing, because most narrations state that they were playing with spears. Therefore, the word “dance” should be understood in accordance with those narrations.
(شرح مسلم، 6/186)
③ No major ḥadīth scholar or exegete derived from this Hadith the permissibility of dancing or swaying during dhikr. Rather, they included this Hadith under chapters such as: “Play on the day of ʿĪd,” “Recreation in Islam,” etc.
- Imam al-Bukhārī (RA) cited Ḥaḍrat ʿĀʾishah’s (RA) Hadith under the chapter: “Chapter: Those who play with a spear in the mosque.”
- He cited Ḥaḍrat Abū Hurayrah’s (RA) Hadith under the chapter: “Chapter: The spear and similar play.”
- Abū Dāwūd (RA) cited Ḥaḍrat Anas’s (RA) Hadith under the chapter: “Chapter: Prohibition of singing.”
- Al-Nasāʾī (RA) cited Ḥaḍrat ʿĀʾishah’s (RA) Hadith under the chapter: “Playing in the mosque on the day of ʿĪd and women watching.”
- Al-Nawawī (RA) cited it under the chapter: “The chapter on permissibility of play on the day of ʿĪd in which there is no sin.”
Third Point: Ruling on Swaying During Dhikr
Many scholars have clarified that swaying or moving during dhikr is an innovation (bidʿah), and that dancing during dhikr is among the misleading innovations of certain Sufis.
The scholars of al-Lajnah al-Dāʾimah were asked:
“In Egypt and some villages, people perform dhikr in such a way that they stand and sway right and left while taking the Name of Allah. Is this Islamically valid?”
They replied:
We know of no basis for this practice in the religion; rather, it is a bidʿah and contrary to the prescribed way. Those who do it should be prevented—especially when there is the ability to prevent it—because the Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever introduces into our religion something that is not from it, it is rejected.” (Bukhārī and Muslim)
(فتاویٰ لجنہ دائمیہ، 2/521)
واللہ اعلم
