Al-Taneesi said: We were with Malik, and his companions were around him when a man, from the people of Nasibeen, said: O Abu ‘Abdullah (i.e. Imam Malik) we have people that are called al-Soufia (the Sufis) that eat a lot, then recite poetry, and then stand up and dance.

Malik said: Are they small kids?
The man replied: No.

He then asked: Are they Madmen (crazy or insane)?
The man replied: No, they are old people and over that they are sane

Malik said: I never heard that anyone of the people of Islam would do such a thing.

The man added: They eat, and then stand up and dance, some of them hitting their heads, and others slapping their faces.

Imam Malik laughed, and then stood up, and entered his house.

Imam Malik’s companions said to the man, you were a misfortune on our companion, we sat with him for thirty-something years and never saw him laugh except on this day.

“If the Muslims gather there, from time to time, to study and recite the Qur’an [together], or to remember Allah [together], without there being any forbidden acts such as mixing between the sexes, dancing or any type of evil, then it is good, and it is incumbent to avoid making [the observance of such acts] difficult upon them.”

When Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah (may Allah preserve him) says dancing is a forbidden act, does that include the sufi dancing in some tariqas?

I love you for the sake of Allah. Jazak Allah Kheir a millions for your site which is really needed. This is just a younger brotherly suggestion: please translate this for the Sh Bin Bayyah section: I think we really need to read this in English http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?cid=1124090536746&pagename=IslamOnline-Arabic-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaA%2FFatwaAAskTheScholar

Would this mean simultaneously, i.e. group dhikr, or just ‘together’ in the sense that they would all stay in the masjid after fajr to do dhikr (quietly, to themselves)?

Is something being lost in the translation?