Sufi Journeys

URGENT PRIVAT BUSINESS/GOOD PARTNER

2011-06-04T07:44:00.000+08:00

My name is Sgt. Rudy Garrett, an American soldier, I was serving
in the military of the 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq. I am in
Europe at the moment, I and my partner moved one of the boxes
containing funds which we believe is belonging to Saddam Hussein,
in March 2003, the total fund in this box is $12,000,000.00
(Twelve million US dollars), this fund had been moved via a safe
Diplomatic Courier Service to a secured security company, Click
on this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm
Basically since we are working for the American government we
cannot keep these funds, since we are two in number that is
involved. This means that you will take 30%, I will take 30%, my
partner will take 30% and 10% will be kept aside for expenses.

This business is confidential, and we plead that it should not
be discussed with anyone. There is no risk whatsoever involved
as we left this fund in the Security company without declaring
it's contents for this period of time to make sure that the fund
will be safe for transfer and investment. If you are interested
I will send you the full details, my job is to find a good
partner that we can trust and will assist us. kindly send me an
e-mail signifying your interest including your telephone/fax
numbers for quick communication and also your contact details.
I assure you that this transaction is risk free and its success
is 100% guaranteed, Please help us to help you. Reply me via
this email: sgt.rudyg@yahoo.ca for security reasons.

Yours-in-service,
Sgt. Rudy Garrett.

Hello dear,

2010-10-29T13:43:00.000+08:00

Hello dear,
How are you today? Hope you are doing fine. I'm miss sabel thabo, I saw you're your e-mail contact today when I was looking for foreign friends, and pen-pal.
I will also like to know you more and I will further you details about me and you my picture to you as soon as I receive your return mail for you to know who I am.
I believe we can move from here! Remember that distance or colour does not matter but
What matters allot is life and love.
I am waiting from your
Thanks.
Yours in love,
sabel

From Momodou HASSAN.

2010-10-11T00:17:00.001+08:00

Dear Friend,

This message might meet you in utmost surprise. However, it's just my urgent need for a foreign partner that made me to contact you for this transaction. I got your contact from internet search while I was searching for a foreign partner.

I am Mr. Momodou HASSAN , a banker by profession in Burkina-Faso, West African and currently holding the post of secretary to foreign remittance director in our bank. I need your urgent assistance in transferring the left over funds of Nine Million, Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars ($9.7 Million Dollars) belonging to our late customer who died along with his entire family during the Iraq crisis on October 2006. The deceased customer used his wife as the next of kin but unfortunately the wife died alongside with him leaving nobody for the claim.

According to our banking policy; if any fund remains unclaimed for seventy two calendar months, then the fund will be transferred into the reserve bank as unclaimed bill, so that is why I contacted you, so that you can apply as the Sole Beneficiary to the deceased customer, because I don't want the fund to go into the bank treasury as an unclaimed fund. You can visit the website and read the news on BBC and CNN regarding their death.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/10/11/iraq.deaths/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6040054.stm

I urgently want you to send all the demanded Personal Information's below to me as soon as you receive this PROPOSAL in order to show your readiness and Willingness in this Proposed Business.

BELOW ARE THE NEEDED PERSONAL INFORMATION'S

1) Your Full Name.......................... ...
2) Your Age........................... ............
3) Your Mobile and Home Phone Number................
4) Your Fax Number.................
5) Your Country of Nationality......................
6) Your Occupation.................... ........
7) Sex........................... .....................
8) ALTERNATIVE E-MAIL ADDRESS /

Hence; I am inviting you for a business deal where this money can be shared between us in the ratio of 50% for me and 50% for you if you agree to handle this business with me. Further details of the transfer will be forwarded to you as soon as I receive your response. I am expecting to hear from you shortly.

Thanks & Best Regards,

Mr. Momodou HASSAN

MUDAH - MUDAHAN BERMANFAAT..

2010-03-25T12:20:00.000+08:00

TRANSFER OF THIRTY SIX MILLION SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY NINE THOUSAND POUNDS STERLINGS

2009-12-24T23:54:00.000+08:00

TRANSFER OF THIRTY SIX MILLION SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY NINE THOUSAND POUNDS STERLINGS

Greetings,

Hello Friend

Permit me to inform you of my desire of going into business relationship with you. I Come across your profile and have Decided to get in touch with you after my prayer, to see if you can help me alliviate this problem. I can't imagine how you will feel receiving a sudden letter from a remote country far away and probably from someone you are not closely related with. But all the same, I believe we do not need to be of blood relatives before we can establish cordial relationship,

My name is Mr.Kieran Dutch and I work in the International Operation Department in a Bank here in London.I feel quite safe dealing with you in this important business Though,this medium (Internet) has been greatly abused, I choose to reach you through it because it still remains the fastest medium of communication.However, this correspondence is unofficial and private, and it should be treated as such. At first I will like to assure you that this transaction is 100% risk and trouble free to both parties.

WE WANT TO TRANSFER OUT MONEY FROM OUR BANK HERE IN LONDON THE FUND FOR TRANSFER IS OF CLEAN ORIGIN THE OWNER OF THIS ACCOUNT IS A FOREIGNER, a program leader, Until his death,The Late Prime Minister, Mr. Rafik Hariri, has a huge investment here in the United Kingdom and all over theworld, as a matter of fact he has the sum of (THIRTY SIX MILLION SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY NINE THOUSAND POUNDS STERLINGS) in his account here in London which he deposited as a family valuables.

The family do not know about this deposit.I was on a routine inspection that I discovered a dormant domiciliary account with a BAL. Of (THIRTY SIX MILLION SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY NINE THOUSAND POUNDS STERLINGS).On further discreet investigation, I also discovered that the account holder has passed away (dead) leaving no beneficiary to the account. The bank will approve this money to any foreigner because the former operator of the a/c is a foreigner.I am certainly sure that nobody will come again for the claim of this money. A foreigner can only claim this money with legal claims to the account Holder, therefore I need your co-perationin this transaction.

I will provide all necessary information needed in order to claim this money, Hoping in God that you will never let me down now and in future.o.k! Rafik Bahaa Edine Hariri (November 1, 1944 - February 14, 2005), married to Nazek Audi Hariri,was a Lebanese self-made billionaire and business tycoon, and was five times Prime Minister of Lebanon (1992-1998 and 2000-2004) before his last resignation from office on October 20, 2004.The late Rafik Hariri died on February 14, 2005 when explosives equivalentto around 300 kg of C4 were detonated as his motorcade drove past the Saint George Hotel i n the Lebanese capital, for more information please log on to (www.rhariri.com).

I WANT TO TRANSFER THIS MONEY INTO A SAFE FOREIGN ACCOUNT ABROAD BUT I DON'T KNOW ANY FOREIGNER WHOM I CAN TRUST, I KNOW THAT THIS MESSAGE WILL COME TO YOU AS A SURPRISE AS WE DON'T KNOW OURSELVES BEFORE, BUT BE SURE THAT IT IS REAL AND A GENUINE BUSINESS. I CONTACT YOU BELIEVING THAT YOU WILL NOT LET ME DOWN ONCE THE FUND GOES INTO YOUR ACCOUNT.

Let me hear from you URGENTLY by Email

Best Regards and Merry Xmas!

Mr Kieran S. Dutch

Re: Treat Urgently!!!:

2009-11-21T20:39:00.000+08:00

GEORGE & ASSOCIATES
ADVOCATES SOLICITORS,
LEVEL 12,MENARA TJB
NO 10,JALAN ISMAIL
80000 JOHOR BAHRU
MALAYSIA.
Good Day,

I am Mr. Henry George, an attorney at law. I write you in respect of a
deceased client of mine by name, a military defector in the Vietnam war
who died in a plane crash [Gulf Air Flight 801] with the whole passengers
on board on August 23,2000. And for your perusal you can view this web
site http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0008/23/bn.08.html

My proposition to you is to seek your consent to present you as the
next-of –kin and beneficiary of the funds left behind by my late client,
since you share same last name with him before it is confiscated or
declared unserviceable by the bank where this deposit valued at Seven
Million United States Dollars( US$7 million dollars) is lodged.

This bank has issued me a notice to contact the next of kin, or the
account will be confiscated and he had no family here, and left no trace
for any of his possible family members.

This will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you
from any breach of the law. If this business proposition offends your
moral values, do accept my apology. I implore you to exercise the utmost
indulgence to keep this matter extraordinary confidential, whatever your
decision, while I await your prompt response. Please contact me at once to
indicate your interest.

Best Regards,
Barr. Henry George,
(Attorney).

TRANSFER OF THIRTY SIX MILLION SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY NINE THOUSAND POUNDS STERLINGS

2009-11-13T16:18:00.001+08:00

TRANSFER OF THIRTY SIX MILLION SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY NINE THOUSAND POUNDS STERLINGS

Greetings,

Hello Friend

Let me hear from you URGENTLY by Email

Best Regards
Mr Kieran S. Dutch

TRANSFER OF THIRTY SIX MILLION SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY NINE THOUSAND POUNDS STERLINGS

2009-10-17T20:44:00.000+08:00

TRANSFER OF THIRTY SIX MILLION SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY NINE THOUSAND POUNDS STERLINGS

Greetings,

Hello Friend

Let me hear from you URGENTLY by Email

Best Regards
Mr Kieran S. Dutch

SimplyIslam.sg invites you to Where is the Love? Lecture by Shaykh Hisham Kabbani (Oct 11, 2009)

2009-10-03T08:42:00.000+08:00

Can't see this email? Click here:
http://whereisthelove.eventbrite.com

You are invited to the following event:
Where is the Love? Lecture by Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

Date:
Sunday, October 11, 2009 from 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM (GMT+0800)

Location:
Suntec Convention Centre
1 Raffles Boulevard
Singapore City, Singapore City 039593
Singapore

Can you attend this event? Respond Here

For more information click here

This email was sent by Eventbrite, your total online solution to publish, register, manage and promote events. Host Your Events With Eventbrite
Click here to unsubscribe from events by "SimplyIslam.sg."

Converting to Wordpress

2008-03-08T09:27:00.003+08:00

Salaams one and all. I am now a convert to Wordpress. I have found Wordpress to be much easier and neater to manage my blog. So, from now on I will not be updating my blog at Blogspot anymore. Please visit my Sufijourneys Wordpress blog. Update your bookmarks or feeds. Click here - sufijourneys.wordpress.com.

I thank blogspot for giving me the opportunity and the entry point to express my thoughts, etc in my blog entries. Time to move on...

Study: 3 in 4 U.S. mosques preach anti-West extremism

2008-03-07T01:05:00.002+08:00

Study: 3 in 4 U.S. mosques preach anti-West extremism
Secret survey exposes widespread radicalism

Posted: February 23, 2008
9:51 pm Eastern(c) 2008 WorldNetDaily

An undercover survey of more than 100 mosques and Islamic schools in America has exposed widespread radicalism, including the alarming finding that 3 in 4 Islamic centers are hotbeds of anti-Western extremism, WND has learned. The Mapping Sharia in America Project, sponsored by the Washington-based Center for Security Policy, has trained former counterintelligence and counterterrorism agents from the FBI, CIA and U.S. military, who are skilled in Arabic and Urdu, to conduct undercover reconnaissance at some 2,300 mosques and Islamic centers and schools across the country.

"So far of 100 mapped, 75 should be on a watchlist," an official familiar with the project said. Many of the Islamic centers are operating under the auspices of the Saudi Arabian government and U.S. front groups for the radical Muslim Brotherhood based in Egypt.

Frank Gaffney, a former Pentagon official who runs the Center for Security Policy, says the results of the survey have not yet been published. But he confirmed that "the vast majority" are inciting insurrection and jihad through sermons by Saudi-trained imams and anti-Western literature, videos and textbooks. The project, headed by David Yerushalmi, a lawyer and expert on sharia law, has finished collecting data from the first cohort of 102 mosques and schools.

Preliminary findings indicate that almost 80 percent of the group exhibit a high level of sharia-compliance and jihadi threat, including:

* Ultra-orthodox worship in which women are separated from men in the prayer hall and must enter the mosque from a separate, usually back, entrance; and are required to wear hijabs.
* Sermons that preach women are inferior to men and can be beaten for disobedience; that non-Muslims, particularly Jews, are infidels and inferior to Muslims; that jihad or support of jihad is not only a Muslim's duty but the noblest way, and suicide bombers and other so-called "martyrs" are worthy of the highest praise; and that an Islamic caliphate should one day encompass the U.S.
* Solicitation of financial support for jihad.
* Bookstores that sell books, CDs and DVDs promoting jihad and glorifying martyrdom.

Though not all mosques in America are radicalized, many have tended to serve as safe havens and meeting points for Islamic terrorist groups.

Experts say there are at least 40 episodes of extremists and terrorists being connected to mosques in the past decade alone. Some of the 9/11 hijackers, in fact, received aid and counsel from one of the largest mosques in the Washington, D.C., area. Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center is one of the mosques indentified by undercover investigators as a hive of terrorist activity and other extremism. It was founded and is currently run by leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. Imams there preach what is called "jihad qital," which means physical jihad, and incite violence and hatred against the U.S.Dar al-Hijrah's ultimate goal, investigators say, is to turn the U.S. into an Islamic state governed by sharia law.

Another D.C.-area mosque, the ADAMS Center, was founded and financed by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, and has been one of the top distributors of Wahhabist anti-Semitic and anti-Christian dogma.Even with such radical mosques operating in its backyard, the U.S. government has not undertaken its own systematic investigation of U.S. mosques.

In contrast, European Union security officials are analyzing member-state mosques, examining the training and funding sources of imams, in a large-scale project.Some U.S. lawmakers want the U.S. to conduct its own investigation."We have too many mosques in this country," said Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y.

"There are too many people who are sympathetic to radical Islam. We should be looking at them more carefully."

Source: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=57141

Reflections of a British Muslim Extremist

2008-03-05T16:15:00.001+08:00

British activist Ed Husain was seduced, at the age of 16, by revolutionary Islamist ideals that flourished at the heart of educated British culture. Yet he later shrank back from radicalism after coming close to a murder and watching people he loved become suicide bombers. He dug deeper into Islamic spirituality, and now offers a fresh and daring perspective on the way forward.

Listen to an interesting account of his interview by Krista Tippet from Speaking of Faith. Click here or go to the following website:
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/britishradical/index.shtml

Better still, you can read his book "The Islamist". I believe the book is available at Wardah Books. You can also read about the book on Amazon.

Search. browse and book your hotels and flights through Yahoo! Travel

Lecture Series by Habib Umar Bin Hafiz

2008-02-05T15:32:00.001+08:00

Lectures By
HABIB UMAR BIN HAFIZ

Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, an eminent scholar from Yemen and Principal of Darul Mustafa, will be delivering a series of lectures in Singapore from 6 to 9 February 2008.

The lectures series is organised by Abdul Aleem Siddique Mosque, in collaboration with Al-Abdul Razak Mosque, Ba'alwie Mosque, Hj Muhd Salleh Mosque, Al-Mukminin Mosque, Al-Amin Mosque and Arab Association of Singapore. The following are the details:

Wednesday 6 February 2008
Short Lecture: Hikmah Di Sebalik Musibah
Time: 12.45 p.m.
Venue: Hj Muhammad Salleh Mosque
37 Palmer Road Singapore 079424
(Short lecture before/after solat Zuhr)

Lecture: Ummati! Ummati! Menjawab Seruan Rasulullah (saw)
Time: 7 p.m.
Venue: Abdul Aleem Siddique Mosque
90 Lorong K Telok Kurau Singapore 425723
(Event starts with Maghrib prayers and Maulid recitation)

Thursday 7 February 2008
Short Lecture: Renungan & Mengingati Allah (swt)
Time: 4 p.m.
Venue: Al-Mukminin Mosque
271 Jurong East St 21 Singapore 609603
(Short lecture before/after solat Asar)

Lecture: Penyakit-Penyakit Hati
Time: 7 p.m.
Venue: Ba'alwie Mosque
2 Lewis Road Singapore 258590
(Event starts with Maghrib prayers and recitation of Ratib)

Friday 8 February 2008
Friday prayers with Habib Umar Bin Hafiz
Time: 12.45 p.m.
Venue: Al-Abdul Razak Mosque
30 Jalan Ismail, off Jalan Eunos
(Nasi Beryani Amal will be provided to raise funds for the upgrading works at Al-Abdul Razak Mosque)

Lecture: Kecemerlangan Ummah Melalui Apa?
Time: 7 p.m.
Venue: Al-Istighfar Mosque
2 Pasir Ris Walk Singapore 518239
(Event starts with Maghrib prayers and Maulid recitation)

Saturday 9 February 2008
Lecture: Patience – An Attribute of a Believer
Time: 7 p.m.
Venue: Al-Wehdah Arab Association
No. 11 Lorong 37 Geylang Singapore 387908
(Lecture will be translated to the English language. Event starts with Maghrib prayers followed immediately by the lecture)

Kuliah Subuh (6 to 10 February 2008)
Habib Umar will pray Subuh (Fajr) at Al-Abdul Razak Mosque (30 Jln Ismail) from 6 to 10 Feb 2008, afterwhich he will share some religious advice (kuliah).

All of the above lectures will be delivered by Habib Umar Bin Hafiz in the Arabic language, with intermittent translations provided to the Malay language, except for the lecture on Saturday 9 February 2008 which will be translated to the English language.

ALL ARE WELCOME.

For Habib Umar's profile, click here. More details can be found at www.aleemsiddique.org.sg

Doa-Doa Hari 'Asyura

2008-01-18T12:41:00.001+08:00

Salaams one and all. Been a while ain't it. Been caught in the middle
of politics and bickering amongst people. May we all receive Allah's
continued Guidance and Protection, Ameen.

The Imam of Abdul Aleem Siddique Mosque in Singapore wrote a simple
note with supplications for the month of Muharram. It's good to read
the doa and dhikr spelt out, even if you have missed the date of 10
Muharram you can still read them. Unfortunately, the meaning is in
Malay. Those who wish to translate it to English feel free to do so.

Special Film Screening: Al-Ghazali Alchemist of Happiness

2007-12-05T16:39:00.001+08:00

Al-Ghazali - The Alchemist of Happiness

A Special Screening of the Film with Professor Abdal Hakim Murad, the film's executive producer

Date: Saturday 8 December 2007
Time: 8 pm
Venue: Al-Wehdah Arab Association
No. 11 Lorong 37 Geylang
Fee: $10 per person
Click here to register online or call 91380014.

Seating capacity limited, register now!
Not open to public. Entrance only by registration.

Jointly Organised by simplyIslam.sg and Al-Fathhu Learning Centre

About the Film
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali is among Islam's most influential scholar. This film is an account of the transformative period in Al-Ghazali's life where, in the midst of worldly success something deep within him stirred and moved him to leave it all behind in search of the ultimate Truth. The great achievement of Salazar's film is to portray the unportrayable -- the profound inner transformation that is the goal of every spiritual man, yet which few achieve in this life. Through a subtle and sensitive cinematography that takes us on a great journey through Central Asia, Salazar imperceptibly puts us in Al-Ghazali's shoes.

In today's world, where Islam is usually only considered in the light of its worst representatives, Salazar reminds us of a man who has, since his lifetime, been universally considered by Muslims themselves to be one who attained the ideal of their religion. Anyone seeking to better understand Islam and Muslims, as well as anyone who feels the inner attraction of the spiritual life will appreciate this film.

About Prof Abdal Hakim Murad
Prof Abdal Hakim Murad (also known as Timothy John Winter) is a British Islamic thinker and scholar, and a lecturer in Islamic studies in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. He is one of the few contemporary Muslim figures who is equally well-versed in both Islamic intellectual disciplines and modern academic methods. Born in 1960, he was educated at Westminster School, and graduated with a double-first MA in Arabic from Cambridge in 1983. He went on to study at the al-Azhar University in Egypt where he delved into the Islamic sciences at a deeper level. In 1989 he returned to Britain and went to the University of London where he studied Turkish and Persian. He began a doctorate at Oxford University were he studied the religious life in the Ottoman Empire.

He attended courses in the traditional Islamic sciences in Cairo and Jeddah, where his teachers included Shaykh Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad and Shaykh Ismail al-Adawi. He has translated several classical Arabic works, including Imam al-Bayhaqi's "Seventy-Seven Branches of Faith" and "Selections from the Fath al-Bari". He has also translated into English some sections of the Ihya Ulum al-Din of Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali - "Remembrance of Death and the After Life", "Disciplining the Soul and Breaking of the Two Desires" published by the Islamic Texts Society and has been involved in writing for numerous other Islamic works. His Al-Ghazali's work has been widely acclaimed as remarkable pieces of literary work by many scholars. He is General Editor of the Islamic Texts Society's al-Ghazali series. He is a member of Pembroke College, Cambridge and holds the Sheikh Zayed Lectureship in Islamic Studies. He is also Director of Studies in Theology at Wolfson College and the Trustee and Secretary of The Muslim Academic Trust.

Ar-Rihlah: Camp+Retreat for Youths

2007-10-26T10:20:00.001+08:00

Salaams Everyone. SimplyIslam (Singapore) is organising "Ar-Rihlah", a camp and retreat for youths from the age of 13 to 17. Details of the camp+retreat are shown in the poster shown below. More info can also be found on their website www.simplyislam.sg/rihlah.htm

For phone enquiries, please contact Sis Saira Elley at Tel 65474407 or email saira@simplyislam.sg

Eid Mubarak Saeed

2007-10-16T08:58:00.001+08:00

Salaams. I would like to take this opportunity of the joyous occasion of Eidul Fitr to wish one and all Eid Mubarak Saeed. Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, as they wish in Southeast Asia. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept our prayers and deeds of Ramadhan. May Allah Grant us His Blessings, Guidance, Protection, Mercy and Bounties. Ameen Ya Rabbal 'Alamin.

Eid Mubarak Saeed. Kullu aam wa antum bikhair.

Ajmer Sharif Blast

2007-10-16T08:51:00.001+08:00

Salaams one and all. I have received the following email from my friend Syed Salman Chishty who is from the family that manages the Maqam of Khawaja Moinudin Chishty in Ajmer, India. This is pursuant to the recent atrocious blast that killed a couple of people while injuring many. Read on...

Date : 14th Oct. 2007 Time : 00:30 am
Place: My Study room, Chishty Manzil – Ajmer sharif.

Dear Editor, its nice to read some very real words about how and what measures should be taken up to deal with the terrible acts similar to what happen in blessed Ajmer sharif.

The whole incident has shaken all of us very deeply, I still couldn't believe what I saw, heard and witnessed on that fateful Thursday evening as I sat in our balcony facing the Daragh sharif to break my daylong fast with other members of my family .Our house 'Chishty Manzil' is just opposite the blessed Dargah and from our balcony you get a very clear view of the "Ahata e Noor" where this terrible act of violence took place .

I was sitting quietly over the "DastarQhwan" as the clock was ticking slowly for the time of breaking the fast i.e. 06:14 pm and as ticked I said a two line prayers of breaking the fast and kept a piece of Date's in my mouth and the next moment I heard a loud bang which sounded like an explosion and it was powerful enough to make me feel the vibrations. I stood up and couldn't and still can't believe what I saw.....there was a huge cloud of smoke over the "Ahata e Noor" and people were screaming, running and shouting; nobody understood what had happened out there in the middle of the blessed shrine. I immediately ran towards the Dargah and was shocked, terrified and helplessly broken to see what had happened in the blessed "Abode of Peace".

There was confusion and commotion everywhere as people shouted for help and assistance - everybody was shouting bomb explosion, stay away and to evacuate the "Ahata e Noor". I saw pool of blood, masses of flesh and blood soaked bodies, nothing seems to be real and as if I was in a state of terrible trance.

For me, the blessed Dargah of Khawaja Gharib Nawaz is the safest place on earth because its here that I had been born and brought up, grown up, as kids we have played and ran across the blessed compound of the Dargah Sharif and the feeling to witness such a terrible thing at the very same peaceful place is something I am afraid I could ever put in words......!

Nobody was prepared for such a terrible situation, nobody knew how to react to such gross act of violence which has never been seen or heard in the past 800 years peaceful history of Ajmer sharif. Somehow I gathered some strength and was able to join in with some of my Khadim brothers and other young men who were helping, carrying and rushing the injured to the Hospital. One thing I would really like to appreciate about our Khadims brothers and young men that despite of very strong possibilities of a second bomb explosion, nobody deterred away from giving a helping and a life saving hand to the injured. I think that was very courageous of the simple people of Ajmer sharif - a small and peaceful town, who could had never ever imagined to be in the middle of such an act of terror and violence .

There was confusion and commotion even in the hospital as even they were not prepared for such a situation as well but the experienced doctors and young medical students were very quick to understand and react to the whole situation, I also appreciate the efforts of young Dr. Ruqquia Syed who also happen to be my first cousin and doing her first year of internship in the same hospital who came in as an volunteer to help the victims of this bomb blast.

We ran across the multi floor hospital's blood bank to get the required blood for the critical blast victims, we took some of the injured on stretchers for the X-ray's, C.T. scans. In all there were 2 people who were brought dead and 17 injured, thanks to the quick treatment and positive attitude of the doctors that there were no casualties among the injured after reaching the hospital.

All this was done in a state of shock, terror and grief. In fact, its only today and you - the Editor of Times of India are the first person that I am writing to and expressing what I saw and felt in words. Last night I tried to logon to my laptop to open my mailbox which was flooded with emails from Family and friends across the planet concerning the Ajmer sharif blast, our safety, security and situation in Ajmer sharif . I trembled as my fingers wouldn't move to type anything and any account of what I saw, felt and experienced!!!!

Today, the biggest irony for me is to write what I am writing to you when a festival of Hugs, Peace, Joy, Celebrations, Sweets, Blessings from elders - The beautiful day of Eid ul Fitr is just a few hours away!

Tonight, while sitting in my study and typing out this mail I am having a very strange feeling as I had never experienced such a crude silent night before the blessed Eid day, ever in my life. I can see the blessed Dargah sharif and the lanes surrounding it from my study room and they never looked so strangely silent. The night before Eid, had always been lively as people are busy with last minute shopping, men and boys waiting in lines outside the Barbers shops to get the right look for the Eid day and everybody is in a cheerful and festive mood. Unfortunately, tonight nothing of that is happening anywhere around the lanes of Dargah sharif as we all decided to observe Eid in a very simple manner by just offering our Eid prayers in the morning in a very modest of manners.

I just came home from the Hospital, where i had gone with my friend Khalid to visit the injured. On the way we bought new Kurtas and Topi's (Prayer Caps) for the victims as some of them can go for their Eid prayers in the morning, Alhamdulilah. They were happy to see me as we have become a sort of friends over past two days, a couple of them calls me by my name but rest who can't recall my name simply call Khadim saheb ( Mr.servant ). We gave each a Kurta and a Topi, the smile on there face was priceless. I think its that priceless Smile that has given me the strength, courage and ability to write what I am writing tonight.

I greeted them Eid Mubarrak, and wished them a quick recovery. I shall be going again to meet them in the morning after Eid prayers as I want to share the moments of happiness, peace ,joy's and smiles .....which had been lost in past two days of violence, shock and terror!

Alhamdullilah, by the Karam of great Awliya Khawaja Gharib Nawaz - the unholy and shameless efforts and desires of the foe's of Humanity to disharmonize and disintegrate the people of India has avail them noughts. There hadn't been a single incident of backlash's or communal tensions in any part of our blessed India which proves now and again that "My Khawaja's India is Great ".
Let us all put in our own small or big efforts to spread the blessed message of Love, Peace, Beauty and Tolerance as brought and taught by in Khawaja Gharib Nawaz's own words - " Love towards all, Malice towards None".

Thank you for your patience in reading a long heartfelt mail of this humble servant (Khadim) of Sultan ul Hind Hz. Khawaja Moinuddin Chishty (ra).

Love, Peace, Blessings

Syed Salman Chishty
S/o Late S.M.Usman Chishty
Chishty Manzil
Jhalra street ,Dargah sharif
Ajmer sharif ,Rajasthan
India

Some Ajmer sharif blast related news links :
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Eid_drums_fall_silent_at_Ajmer_in_796_years/articleshow/2456358.cms
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/In_a_first_CBI_may_join_state_in_Ajmer_probe/articleshow/2454215.cms
http://www.khabrein.info/i ndex.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7202&Itemid=88
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1127097
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/ajmer-blasts-bear-distinct-huji-imprint-probe/50488-3.html
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Govt_wants_CBI_to_probe_terror_attacks_in_states/articleshow/2454191.cms
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/227456.html
http://www.hindu.com/2007/10/14/stories/2007101460591200.htm

Our prayers goes toward the people of Ajmer, and those who suffered from the blast. Wassalam.

My Photos...

2007-09-18T15:03:00.000+08:00

Salaams. I have uploaded some of my photo collections onto Google’s Picasa. Initially tried with Flickr and Myphotoalbum but realised there were some space limitations. Google provided (as usual!) huge spaces so I guess it was ideal (something like 1GB plus). The photo collection includes pictures of Shaykh Hisham Kabbani in personal moments in Singapore recently, and other Naqshbandi related images. Also included are images of my recent ‘umrah trip. Plus I have uploaded some images of Mosques all around the world, including Makkah and Madinah images. More images coming, as soon as I sort out my remaining collections.

Please go to http://picasaweb.google.com/sufijourneys

Hope you enjoy them!

Ramadhan Mubarak

2007-09-14T10:42:00.001+08:00

Salaams to one and all. Ramadhan Mubarak.

Subhanallah! We have just been blessed with the visit and programmes by the eminent Maulana Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, a great Sufi master of our time. May Allah protect him. We’ve learnt so much and benefitted immensely from his visit. Now we are blessed once again with the arrival of the blessed month of Ramadhan.

Shaykh Hisham mentioned that Ramadhan means “to erase”. The blessed month is a period of seeking for Allah’s forgiveness for ourselves and humanity. It’s a good time to ask Allah to give us clarity in this period of utter confusion and to ask Allah to give us strength in this period of tribulations.

Have a Blessed Ramadhan.

Lecture Series by Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

2007-08-24T10:45:00.001+08:00

Masjid Abdul Aleem Siddique (Singapore) will Insha'Allah be organising a lecture series by the eminent scholar, Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani.

About Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani
Born into an eminent religious family in Lebanon, Shaykh Hisham Kabbani is a world-renowned Muslim scholar, author, and lecturer. Educated in Shari'ah in Damascus, he also studied Islamic spirituality under renowned spiritual guides like Shaykh Abdullah al-Fa'iz ad-Daghestani and Shaykh Nazim Adil al-Haqqani. Shaykh Hisham Kabbani also studied medicine in Lowain, Belgium.

Shaykh Hisham Kabbani is Chairman of the Islamic Supreme Council of America (ISCA), a non-profit religious organization based in Washington DC. ISCA has spearheaded a number of peace initiatives, hosted notable conferences, actively engages in inter-religious dialogue, and promotes traditional, moderate Islamic views. Shaykh Hisham has addressed numerous world bodies such as the U.N. and continues to advise the U.S. Department of State on issues regarding Islam and religious tolerance.

Shaykh Hisham Kabbani has written numerous books on Islam such as "Encyclopedia of Islamic Doctrine", "Liberating the Soul - A Guide for Spiritual Growth", "Muhammad The Messenger of Allah - His Life and Prophecy", "Angels Unveiled" and many more.

Click here for a detailed biography of Shaykh Hisham Kabbani.

Details of the lecture series by Shaykh Hisham Kabbani are as follows:

Lecture 1 (Short Talk)
The Saints of Allah
Date: Wednesday 5 September 2007
Time: 12.45 p.m.
Venue: Masjid Hj Muhd Salleh
Maqam Habib Nuh
37 Palmer Road
Click here for map of venue

Lecture 2
Glimpses of Light - The Blessed Ramadhan
Date: Wednesday 5 September 2007
Time: 7.30 p.m.
Venue: Masjid Abdul Aleem Siddique
90 Lorong K Telok Kurau
Programme begins with Maulid recitation
Click here for map of venue

Lecture 3 (Public Lecture)
Save the Earth - Nature's Plea to Mankind
Date: Friday 7 September 2007
Time: 7.45 p.m.
Venue: Singapore Post Auditorium
Level 5, Singapore Post Centre
10 Eunos Road 8
Next to Paya Lebar MRT
Click here for map of venue

Click here to download the event poster. Admission is FREE for all lectures. All are Welcome. No registration is required.

For enquiries, please call Mohamed Nassir at Tel 63460153 or email nassir@aleemsiddique.org.sg

Signs of the Last Hour - Tall Buildings

2007-08-16T12:35:00.001+08:00

In the famous Hadith of Jibril which we often hear, what we don't usually know is that in the same hadith the Prophet actually prophesied about the appearance of tall buildings at the end of time. See the full hadith below:

`Umar ibn Khattab (Allah be well pleased with him) said: "As we were sitting one day before the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), a man suddenly appeared. He wore pure white clothes and his hair was dark black—yet there were no signs of travel on him, and none of us knew him. He came and sat down in front of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), placing his knees against his, and his hands on his thighs. He said, "O Muhammad! Tell me about Islam."

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) replied, "Islam is to bear witness that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God; and to perform the prayer; pay zakat; fast Ramadan; and to perform Hajj to the House if you are able."

The man said, "You have spoken the truth," and we were surprised that he asked and then confirmed the answer. Then, he asked, "Tell me about belief (iman)."

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) replied, "It is to believe in Allah; His Angels; His Books; His Messengers; the Last Day; and in destiny—its good and bad."

The man said, "You have spoken the truth. Now, tell me about spiritual excellence (ihsan)."

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) replied, "It is to serve Allah as though you behold Him; and if you don't behold him, (know that) He surely sees you."

"Now, tell me of the Last Hour," asked the man.

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) replied, "The one asked knows no more of it than the one asking."

"Then tell me about its signs," said the man.

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) replied, "That slave women give birth to their mistresses; and that you see barefoot, unclothed, beginning shepherds competing in the construction of tall buildings."

Then the visitor left, and I waited a long time. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked me, "Do you know, Umar, who the questioner was?" I replied, "Allah and His Messenger know best."He said (Allah bless him and give him peace), "It was Jibril. He came to you to teach you your religion." [Sahih Muslim]

Further to my earlier posting of the article Mecca's Hallowed Skyline Transformed, I thought it was interesting to read some of the prophecies of our Beloved Master, Sayyidina Muhammad, Blessings and Prayers of Allah be upon him and his family. Prophet Muhammad (s) mentioned some interesting things some 1400 years ago. Read on…

Among the signs of the Hour mentioned by the Noble Messenger of Allah - Allah bless and greet him and his Family and Companions - in Sahih al-Bukhari is "when the destitute (al-buhm) camelherds compete in building tall structures." Another version in al-Bukhari has: "when the barefoot and the naked are the top leaders (lit. "heads") of the people." In Sahih Muslim: "you shall see the barefoot, naked, indigent (al-`âla) shepherds compete in building tall structures." Another version in Muslim states: "when the naked and barefoot are the top leaders of the people." A third version in Muslim has: "when you see that the barefoot and naked, the deaf and dumb are the kings of the earth."

Ibn Hajar said in commenting this passage of the hadith in Fath al-Bari:

It was said that "bear-foot and naked," "deaf and dumb" are their attributes by way of hyperbole, showing how coarse they are. That is, they did not use their hearing or sight in anything concerning their Religion even though they are of perfectly sound senses. The Prophet's (saws) words: "The heads of the people" means the kings of the earth. Abu Farwas' narration names the kings explicitly. What is meant by them is the people of the desert country, as was made explicit in Sulayman al-Taymi's and other narrations: "Who are the barefoot and naked?" He answered: "The Bedouin Arabs."

Al-Tabarani relates through Abu Hamza, on the authority of Ibn `Abbas from the Prophet Muhammad, sallahu alayhi wa sallam, that "one of the signs of the change of the Religion is the affectation of eloquence by the rabble and their betaking to palaces in big cities."

Al-Qurtubi said: "What is meant here is the prediction of a reversal in society whereby the people of the desert country will take over the conduct of affairs and rule every region by force. They will become extremely rich and their primary concern will be to erect tall building and take pride in them. We have witnessed this in our time as well as the import of the hadith: "The hour will not rise until the happiest man will be the depraved son of a depraved father (lukka` ibn lukka`)," and also "if the leadership is entrusted to those unfit for it, then expect the hour," both found in the authentic collections."

Maulana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani also discussed this in detail in his book The Approach of Armageddon. It's just so interesting. Interestingly, scholars say that those are observations and prophecies of the Prophet and not clear and explicit prohibitions for people to erect tall buildings.

Also, read another posting Five Towers to Overshadow Ka'aba.

Singapore Lectures by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf

2007-08-13T23:54:00.000+08:00

Salaams Friends,

Darul Arqam Singapore, in cooperation with Al-Falah Mosque and Abdul Aleem Siddique Mosque, is organizing a series of talk by a renowned speaker, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf from New York, USA. Indeed, the speakers' knowledge and experience in the religious field promises to make the session an interesting learning venture. The details of the lecture are as follows:
==================================================
In-House Talk
Steps for a Successful Muslim
Tuesday 14 August 2007
8 pm
Venue: Darul Arqam Auditorium (32 Onan Road)
==================================================
In-House Talk
Islam & The Muslim World: Intersection With Non-Muslims
Wednesday 15 August 2007
7.30 pm
Venue: Al-Falah Mosque (Bideford Road)
By Registration Only. Email yusri@alfalah.org.sg or call 62353172.
==================================================
Public Talk
Connecting With The Divine
Thursday 16 August 2007
7.30 pm
Venue: Abdul Aleem Siddique Mosque (90 Lorong K Telok Kurau)
==================================================
Public Talk
Building A Stronger Muslim: A Global Perspective
Friday 17 August 2007
8 pm
Venue: Singapore Post Theatrette
(Level 5, Next to Paya Lebar MRT)
==================================================
In-House Talk
Muslims & The Way Forward
Saturday 18 August 2007
8 pm
Venue: Darul Arqam Auditorium (32 Onan Road)
==================================================
Free Admission for all events. All Are Welcome.
For more information on Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, click here.
Please help to disseminate this information.
For enquiries, please call 63488344 ext 33/35 or email haryanti@darularqam.org.sg or junaidi@darularqam.org.sg.

Mecca's Hallowed Skyline Transformed

2007-08-13T23:48:00.001+08:00

By Salah Nasrawi (Associated Press Writer)

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- These days it's easier to find a Cinnabon in Mecca than the house where the Prophet Muhammad was born. The ancient sites in Islam's holiest city are under attack from both money and extreme religion. Developers are building giant glass and marble towers that loom over the revered Kaaba which millions of Muslims face in their daily prayers. At the same time, religious zealots continue to work, as they have for decades, to destroy landmarks that they say encourage the worship of idols instead of God. As a result, some complain that the kingdom's Islamic austerity and oil-stoked capitalism are robbing this city of its history.

"To me, Mecca is not a city. It is a sanctuary. It is a place of diversity and tolerance. ... Unfortunately it isn't anymore," said Sami Angawi, a Saudi architect who has devoted his life to preserving what remains of the area's history. "Every day you come and see the buildings becoming bigger and bigger and higher and higher." Abraj al-Bait is a complex of seven towers, some of them still under construction, rising only yards from the Kaaba, the cube-like black shrine at the center of Muslim worship in Mecca. "Be a neighbor to the Prophet," promises an Arabic-language newspaper ad for apartments there.

The towers are the biggest of the giant construction projects that have gone up in recent years, as the number of Muslims attending the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, has swelled to nearly 4 million last year. Saudi Arabia is trying to better serve the growing upscale end of the pilgrimage crowd, while investors - many of them members of the Saudi royal family - realize the huge profits to be made.

Saudi Arabia boasts that Abraj al-Bait - Arabic for "Towers of the House," referring to the Kaaba's nickname, "the house of God" - will be the largest building in the world in terms of floor space. Developers have said the completed building will total 15.6 million square feet - more than twice the floor space of the Pentagon, the largest in the United States. Three of the towers, each nearly 30 stories, are already completed, and the others are rapidly going up. A mall at their base has already opened, where customers - many of them in the simple white robes of pilgrims - shop at international chains such as The Body Shop and eat at fast-food restaurants. Other nearby complexes include upscale hotels.

The building boom is in some cases destroying Mecca's historic heritage, not just overshadowing it. In 2002, Saudi authorities tore down a 200-year-old fort built by the city's then-rulers, the Ottomans, on a hill overlooking the Kaaba to build a multi-million-dollar housing complex for pilgrims.

The holy sites have also been targeted for decades by the clerics who give Saudi Arabia's leadership religious legitimacy. In their puritanical Wahhabi view, worship at historic sites connected to mere mortals - such as Muhammad or his contemporaries - can easily become a form of idolatry. (Worship at the Kabaa, which is ordered in the Quran, is an exception.)

"Obviously, this is an exaggerated interpretation. But unfortunately, it is favored among officials," said Anwar Eshky, a Saudi analyst and head of a Jiddah-based research center.

The house where Muhammad is believed to have been born in 570 now lies under a rundown building overshadowed by a giant royal palace and hotel towers. The then king, Abdul-Aziz, ordered a library built on top of the site 70 years ago as a compromise after Wahhabi clerics called for it to be torn down.

Other sites disappeared long ago, as Saudi authorities expanded the Grand Mosque around the Kaaba in the 1980s. The house of Khadija, Muhammad's first wife, where Muslims believe he received some of the first revelations of the Quran, was lost under the construction, as was the Dar al-Arqam, the first Islamic school, where Muhammad taught.

At Hira'a Cave, where Muhammad is believed to have received the first verses of the Quran in the mountains on the edge of Mecca, a warning posted by Wahhabi religious police warns pilgrims not to pray or "touch stones" to receive blessings. In Medina, 250 miles north of Mecca, Muhammad's tomb is the only shrine to have survived the Wahhabis, and a monumental mosque has been built around it. But religious police bar visitors from praying in the tomb chamber or touching the silver cage around it. "You shouldn't do that," a bearded policeman tells pilgrims trying to pray at the site.

Outside the Prophet's Mosque, Wahhabis have destroyed the Baqi, a large cemetery where tombs of several of the Prophet's wives, daughters, sons and as many as six grandsons and Shiite saints were once located. Grave markers at the site have been bulldozed away, and religious police open the site only once a day to let in male pilgrims. The visitors are prevented from praying.

"It is pretty sad that our imams do not even have tombstones to tell where they are buried," said Indian pilgrim Zuhairi Mashouk Khan, who was weeping because he was barred from praying at the site. "They deserve a shrine as monumental as Taj Mahal."

Several Islamic groups, such as the U.K.-based Islamic Heritage and Research Foundation and the U.S- based Institute for Gulf Affairs, are campaigning to restore ancient sites. Khaled Azab, an Egyptian expert on Islamic heritage at the Bibliotheca Alexandria, suggests that the Saudi government should bring in UNESCO to help.

But after years of campaigning, Angawi is on the verge of giving up. "I have been saying this for 35 years but nobody listens," he said. "It is becoming hopeless case."

Lectures by Habib Salim As-Shatiri

2007-07-31T07:51:00.000+08:00

Salaams. The eminent Habib Salim As-Shatiri will be delivering a couple of lectures in Arabic, with translations in Malay. Unfortunately there is no translation in English. For those who can understand Arabic or Malay, please come and attend the programmes.

Listen to Islamic Songs

2007-07-23T10:57:00.000+08:00

Salaams. SimplyIslam.sg, an Islamic educational outfit based in Singapore has an interesting Islamic song jukebox on their website. There are over 100 songs that you can listen to (but you can't download!). Artistes in SimplyIslam.sg's jukebox include familiar names like Sami Yusuf, Mesut Kurtis, Yusuf Islam, Muhammad al-Husayn and Seven8Six. There are other artistes that may not be familiar to many that are equally as good as well like Nowseeheart (Malaysia), Haddad Alwi (Indonesia), Snada (Indonesia), Quadravox (Indonesia), Imad (Malaysia), Dzul Rabull Jalil (Singapore) and others as well.

Have a listen, I'm sure you would not be disappointed. You can just leave the website on and the jukebox will autoplay (shuffling the songs), and you can listen to the wonderful songs while you are doing your work, at home or office.

Click here

The Sultan of Madinah (Shahe Madina)

2007-07-04T16:37:00.000+08:00

Just wanted to share this...

The group Aashiq al-Rasul came up with a beautiful rendition in their song entitled "Sultan of Madinah" (see http://www.alifmusic1.homestead.com/RadioNasheed.html ). I am absolutely awed by the song. Firstly because it has Maulana Shaykh Nazim's voice in the beginning and it also has some mysterious Urdu lyrics. Listen to it.

By some sheer luck, I came across this wonderful Urdu song entitled " Shahe Madina" sang by some woman. It's a truly beautiful video and touching video and song (even if you don't know the meaning). By another stroke of luck I came across the lyrics and meaning of the "Shahe Madinah" song and I was completely strucked by the meaning, which can move you to tears. Actually the song is over 50 years old, I was told.

For the Shahe Madina video click here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9pgLS6QOHY

The Lyrics and meanings...
Shahe Madina

Shahe Madina, shahe madina, shahe madina
Taiba ke wali sare nabi tere dar ke sawali
Shahe Madina, shahe madina

The Shah of Medina, the Shah of Medina
The protector of good, all prophets seek answers at your door
The Shah of Medina, the Shah of Medina

Jalwe hai sare terey hi dam se, aabad aalam terey karam se
Baqi har ek shay, Naqshe khayale, sare nabi tere dar ke sawali
Shahe Madina, shahe madina

All attractions are due to you, the world progresses due to your efforts
All other aspects are imaginary images, all prophets seek answers at your door
The Shah of Medina, the Shah of Medina

Terey liye hi dunya bani hai, neele falak ki chadr tani hai
Tu agar na hota, dunya thi khali, sare nabi tere dar ke sawali
Shahe Madina, shahe madina

For you is this world created, this blue sheet of the sky spread out.
Without you the world would be empty, all prophets seek answers at your door
The Shah of Medina, the Shah of Medina

Tune jahan ki mehfil sajai, taarikyon mein shamma jalai
Kandhe pe tere kamli hai kaali, sare nabi tere dar ke sawali
Shahe Madina, shahe madina

You decorated the intimate gathering of this world, lit up the paths of history
Heaven rests on your shoulders, all prophets seek answers at your door
The Shah of Medina, the Shah of Medina

=== this part was not sung, but is actually the original lyric ===

Mazhab hai tera sab ki bhalai, maslak hai tera mushkil kushai
dekh ke apni umat ki khasta haali, sare nabi tere dar ke sawali

Your religion says that all should be advantaged, your laws make all difficulties disappear,
Seeing the benefits of it on your people, all prophets seek answers at your door

Hai noor tera shamso qamar mein, tere laboon ki laali sahar mein
Phoolon ne teri khusbu chura li, sare nabi tere dar ke sawali

Your light is in the suns and moons, the redness of your lips in the dawn,
flowers have stolen your fragrance, all prophets seek answers at your door.

Kaba ka kaba tera hi ghar hai, tere karam pe sab ki nazar hai
Dikhlade hum ko darbare aali, sare nabi tere dar ke sawali

The Kaba of Kaba is your home, all eyes are on your grace,
Show us the way, wise one of the court, all prophets seek answers at your door

Hain ap dukhyon ke aaqa sahare, Taje shafa at hai sar pe tumhare
Ham ko aata ho roze ki jaali, sare nabi tere dar ke sawali

You are the soother of those in distress, the crown of healing is on your head
Grant us the net of fasting (? not certain about this), all prophets seek answers at your door

Taiba ke wali sare nabi tere dar ke sawali
Shahe Madina, shahe madina, shahe madina"

The protector of good, all prophets seek answers at your door
The Shah of Medina, the Shah of Medina

My Brother The Bomber

2007-06-21T17:06:00.000+08:00

Mohammad Sidique Khan was the organizer of the London Tube Bombings of July 7, 2005 in which 52 innocent commuters were killed and 700 wounded, many grievously, when he and three others detonated their home-made bombs in the subway and on a bus. Shiv Malik dug deep into the background of Khan, even talking to Khan's cabbie brother, to write an article in Prospect magazine called "My Brother The Bomber." It's a long piece that's well worth reading.

Khan's story is one of alienation and frustration, where guys like him feel neither British nor Pakistani. It begins in a suburb of Leeds called Beeston, one of the poorest places in England, a Pakistani ghetto. The immigrants there had a strong sense of community until the drug dealers took over ten years ago. Now it's a fragmented community. This is where Khan walked out of his home one day, leaving his wife and child behind, to kill himself and as many infidels as he possibly could.

The older immigrants, illiterate and lost in their new land, had no clue what to do about the drug dealers. Some of the second generation did. About a dozen and a half of them formed themselves into a gang called the "Mullah Boys" who kidnapped addicts and held them until they kicked their habit, cold turkey. The Mullah Boys grew more religious and righteous as they went. Khan was one of their leaders. He went Wahhabi in his Islam about that time.

Marriage became another factor in the alienation of the young from the old. Malik explains that many of the immigrants in Beeston carry tradtions from the old country:

"Almost every family is ultimately from a rural part of Pakistani Kashmir called Mirpur, where the rules of tradition are strict and unforgiving. In Mirpur, as in many poor parts of the world, the basic structures of life—justice, security and social support—are organised by the local tribe and not by a central state. One consequence is that people can't just marry whom they want. If they did, then over time tribal lands would be broken up by the rules of inheritance, and the economic base of the tribe, or baraderi (brotherhood), would be destroyed. This is one reason children in rural Pakistan are often treated as the property of their elders and encouraged, or forced, to marry within the baraderi.

Families that allow children to marry for love are considered to have lost their izzat, or honour. In most circumstances, the only way for the family to regain it is to kill the offending boy or girl. Pakistan has the highest number of honour killings in the world."

However, the radical Muslims differ from the traditional Muslims on marriage:

"... traditional communities often inadvertently push their young into the arms of the radicals. Attitudes to jobs, dress, schooling and socialising all play their part in driving youngsters away from their parents' generation. But one of the biggest factors that has helped the growth of British Islamic radicalism is marriage.Islamism's most important tenet is that Muslims should not be divided by race or nationalism—that all Muslims are one. It therefore can offer an Islamic route out of having to marry your cousin.

[Islamist recruiter Hassan] Butt knows this because it happened to him. When, instead of marrying his cousin, Butt tried to marry his sweetheart, he found himself deploying the arguments of his Islamist recruiter against his own father—that compulsion in marriage is un-Islamic and that forced marriages were a cultural import from Hindu India. And when the forces of traditionalism refused to give consent, Butt, like many of his friends, ended up a pariah within his own community.

"When you're cut off from your family," Butt explained, "the jihadi network then becomes your family. It becomes your backbone and support." He added that when you join it becomes impossible to leave because there is nowhere else to go. The network starts operating like a cult."

Khan's alienation was exascerbated by falling in love with a fellow student at Leeds Metropolitan University, Hasina Patel. She was a Deobandi Muslim, a Wahhabi affiliated sect. He refused a traditional arranged marriage and married for love.

The traditional Muslims are also at a disadvantage economically due to the differing ways they and the Islamists fund their mosques:

"Since most of traditional Sunni Islam is devoid of an organised establishment, the money for running a mosque normally comes directly from the local Muslim community. In Britain, this means that in order to maintain community harmony, the teachings remain bland and the imam will avoid theological controversy. It also means that once there is enough money to run the mosque, there is no incentive to find new believers.

On the other side, British fundamentalists and Islamists are centrally funded. It is estimated that over the last two decades, Saudi Arabia has set aside $2-3bn a year to promote Wahhabism in other countries. It is not known how much of that money has come to Wahhabi groups in Britain, but one major recipient has been the Leeds Grand Mosque."

Where ever extremist Muslims perpetrate terror, there is a link to Saudi Arabia. The Wahhabi missionaries sent out from the darkest heart of Islam there exploit the alienation of the lost Muslim immigrants in the West to give them the strident radical identity which appeals to them.

Kahn left behind a martyrdom tape to taunt we infidels, we kuffars, from the grave. The part that pleases leftist sensibilities, where Khan condemns British foreign policy, has had a lot of play in the media. The majority of Khan's rant is about religion, a supremacist rant that has not been played:

"Our so-called scholars today are content with their Toyotas and semi-detached houses. They seem to think that their responsibilities lie in pleasing the kufr instead of Allah. So they tell us ludicrous things, like you must obey the law of the land. Praise be God! How did we ever conquer lands in the past if we were to obey this law?… By Allah these scholars will be brought to account, and if they fear the British government more than they fear Allah then they must desist in giving talks, lectures and passing fatwas, and they need to sit at home and leave the job to the real men, the true inheritors of the prophets."

It's not about the foreign policy. It's about the religion.

Shrine Politics

2007-06-21T17:00:00.000+08:00

Shrine Politics - Government Arrests "Plotters" in the South
By Amer Mohsen, 19 June 2007

Commenting on the recent bombings of Shi'a and Sunni shrines in Iraq, Al-Sharq al-Awsat’s Rasheed al-Khayyun penned a fascinating article discussing the history and politics behind the tearing-down of revered shrines.

One important element that al-Khayyun alludes to –- and which was mostly missing from the analysis of Western journalists –- is that extremist Wahhabi groups may have religious reasons to attack Iraqi shrines, aside from their general anti-Shi'ism, and al-Qa'ida’s political motives (in terms of mobilizing and radicalizing Iraqi Sunnis by inciting sectarian strife).

Wahhabism is one of the fiercest Salafi sects in its opposition to icons of all kinds. The building of shrines to commemorate dead religious figures is seen as akin to idolatry by the Wahhabi faith. Many of the homes and graves of the Muslim prophet and his companions were carelessly torn down in Mecca and Medina to make way for the building of highrises, since such historical buildings are considered to have no religious significance, and their preservation for their perceived religious value is sternly frowned upon. The departing kings of Wahhabi-dominated Saudi Arabia are traditionally buried unceremoniously in unmarked graves.

Al-Khayyun reminds us that the Shi'a shrines in Iraq, housing the graves of the Imams, were equally threatened over two centuries ago, when southern Iraq experienced repeated raids by the Wahhabi armies, originating from Najd (a region in today’s Saudi Arabia) and expanding northward into Iraq’s hinterland, starting from the 18th century all the way into the 1920s. One of the objectives of the iconoclastic Wahhabis was to seize and destroy the revered shrines of Karbala and Najaf. The last such raid occurred in 1922, al-Khayyun says, and resulted in a Sunni-Shi'a conference in Baghdad, in which Sunni clerics announced that they would defend the holy shrines of 'Ali and Husain.

It should be noted that not only Shi'a shrines fell victim to al-Qa'ida’s bombs, several Sunni and Sufi temples were also targeted by the extremist group. The destruction of al-Qadiriya shrine last month was a major calamity for millions of Sufis around the world, who witnessed the grave of the revered Sheikh 'Abd al-Qadir al-Gilani turned into rubble. It is also noticeable that Rasheed al-Khayyun refrained from using the term “Wahhabi” throughout the article, and referred to the armies of Ibn Wahhab as “the Ikhwan.” Khayyun writes for Saudi-owned al-Sharq al-Awsat, in which any criticism of the Saudi regime or the Wahhabi sect is virtually forbidden.

Islamism, not Islam is the Problem

2007-05-30T10:34:00.001+08:00

Islamism, not Islam is the Problem
By M. Zuhdi Jasser
Source: The Family Security Foundation, Inc.
Date: May 18, 2007

Is there a difference between the faith of Islam, and "Islamism" as a political tool and aggressive ideology? FSM Contributing Editor M. Zuhdi Jasser, a consistent proponent of peaceful Islam, gives some educated, elegant insights into this controversy. This is worthy of your attention.

Most of the attention, scholarship, and punditry in the United States given towards Islam and Muslims since 9-11 have focused upon problems with comparatively little attention toward solutions. Understandably motivated by a need to improve security and understand the enemy, American curiosity about Islam, Islamism, and militant Islamism continues to grow. Yet, comparatively American Muslims have offered few solutions except for the few rare voices of Muslim moderation (anti-Islamism) across America, Canada, and Europe.

At times there is only a binary choice in the public ether between the voices who say that "Islam is the problem" and the tired voices of the Islamists who provide endless apologetics, denial, victimization, and every deflection possible short of responsibility or actual ideological solutions for a counter-jihad and reformation. Certainly, the Islamists, no matter how peaceful, who look at the world through the lens of political Islam are at the core of the ideological problem. They knowingly and unknowingly feed the enemy's central political construct of society—political Islam. Yet, we so need to separate political Islam (Islamism) from the spiritual faith of Islam as a faith. Is it easier said than done?

An anti-Islamist devout Muslim like myself - and so many others who believe we are in the majority - can only shout in the wilderness for so long, before there becomes a need to begin to address some of the most difficult but central questions, which many Muslims ignore either out of pride, self-righteousness, or impatience. Whether many pious Muslims acknowledge it or not, non-Muslims who believe that 'the religion of Islam is the problem' are growing in numbers. I can either dismiss their arguments as "Islamophobic" as so many do, including the Islamists, or I can begin to address some of the central issues raised positively in the spirit of understanding, logic, and most importantly in the spirit of American security.

We need the anti-Islamist Muslims
Most should understand that strategically, identifying 'Islam as the problem,' immediately alienates upwards of one quarter of the world's population and dismisses our most powerful weapon against the militant Islamists—the mantle of religion and the pulpit of moderate Muslims who can retake our faith from the Islamists. The majority voices in the middle, the non-Islamist and anti-Islamist Muslims who understand the problem, have to be on the frontlines. They cannot be on the frontlines in an ideological battle being waged, which demonizes the morality of the faith of Islam and its founder, the Prophet Mohammed. We cannot win this war only on the battlefield. Political Islam has a viral recurrence in the form of an infection which needs a Muslim counter-jihad in order to purge it. Thus, we cannot win this ideological war without the leadership of Muslim anti-Islamists. The radical and political ideologies of Islamism, Wahhabism, Salafism, Al Qaedism, Jihadism, and Caliphism, to name a few, cannot be defeated without anti-Islamist, anti-Wahhabi, anti-Salafist, anti-Al Qaedist, anti-Jihadist, and anti-Caliphist devout Muslims.

So often, attempts by anti-Islamist Muslims to claim that our faith has been hijacked or our faith has been twisted are dismissed by non-Muslims. They simply take common interpretations of Wahhabis and say rather that, 'it is the anti-Islamist Muslim who is deluded and who is misrepresenting the faith of Islam". They use the citations of the militants from our Holy Qur'an's scripture and from many authentic and questionable Hadith (discussions of the Prophet Mohammed) to marginalize moderate Muslims and claim that they have no theological framework from which to claim legitimacy.

The question remains-- who or what defines Islam, and under what authority? Islam has no clergy and is represented only by a book, the Holy Qur'an (what Muslims believe in Arabic, is the communication from God to Muslims). Islam's naysayers by accepting radical interpretations of scripture are thus handing the militants the mantle of religion with hardly the benefit of the doubt or patience toward long term opportunities for reform by anti-Islamist Muslims within the general Muslim population.

The process of theological renewal and interpretation in the light of modern day thought—ijtihad—as it is known in Islam is in many ways hundreds of years behind Western enlightenment today arrested around the 15th century. This process can either be facilitated by non-Muslims or hindered by the belief that it is impossible. There is quite a bit to be said for the value of a necessary critical facilitation (nudging) of Muslim reform (as opposed to blind uncritical apologetics). But there is also a fine line between useful criticism of Muslims and especially of political Islam and the less than helpful alienation of all Muslims through criticism of the faith of Islam in general. Most of the same arguments targeting Islam can similarly be made against Muslims and their interpretations while just not blaming Islam as a faith, which needs to be part of the solution.

Too nuanced for practicality? Not necessarily when our most critical allies within the Muslim faith are those that are strong enough to love their faith enough to wake-up and want to take it back from the Islamists and their barbarians like Al Qaeda.

Political Islam (Islamism), not Islam, is incompatible with Americanism and pluralism
Like most believers of any of the major world religions whether Jewish, Christian, or Muslim, I, as a Muslim believe that Islam carries the same messages of humanitarianism and compassion shared by the religions of the God of Abraham and deserves an equal place at the table of world religions and is not in conflict with our American Constitutional government. Some Muslims may behave, interpret, and express ideologies which are not from God but contrarily evil and from Satan, but they are still Muslim. I cannot deny that. We have no church to excommunicate them.

However, we also should remember that every God-fearing Muslim believes that the religion of Islam as a faith comes from God in the same way as Judaism and Christianity. The identification of 'Islam as the problem' is arguable from a pedantic standpoint since it is hard to disagree with the fact that "Islam is as Muslims do and say." But academically, when dealing with the faith of one-quarter of the world, and with its history, a central morality of individual Islam (the personal character of most Muslims) has generally demonstrated synergy with Judaism and Christianity. It is just that in the past few centuries, political religious movements, which exploit the personal faith for political oppression and often fascism, have controlled the leadership.

It is important to be academic about this assessment and not assume that what appears to be the silence of the majority of Muslims equates to agreement with the Islamist leadership who exerts a stranglehold over the community. We are doing our national counterterrorism efforts and Muslims a disservice if we assume that the 'lowest hanging fruit,' which comprise all currently Islamist organizations (CAIR, MPAC, or ISNA - to name a few) and their proportionally limited membership speak for all American Muslims. Their silence on the need for reformation and the need for Muslims to lead an anti-Islamist effort from within our faith community represents their own Islamist agenda of the members and donors but does not represent the general Muslim population.

In debate, it can become easy to lose the focus of the argument when resorting to criticism based on identity rather than on ideology. For example, so many Islamists locally and nationally resort to attempting to demonize me as an individual rather than deal with my anti-Islamist ideas as a Muslim and as an American. Our Islamist enemy dreams about uniting all Muslims under one nation—the transnational Muslim ummah. To declare our ideological battle against Islam is to hand them the easiest tool toward that unification (ummah-tization) strategy for which they dream and to dismiss our most potent weapon against the jihadists—anti-Islamist Muslims who can lead a counter-jihad from within the Islamic community. Only anti-Islamists Muslims can de-ummahtize the Muslim community and articulate an Islam, which inspires morality but leaves national politics to the governments of our nations.

A shared moral tradition
For many non-Muslims engaged in the debate to accept the fact that Islam is not the problem, it stands to reason that they must first feel that Islam as practiced and held by Muslims fits into the predominant moral framework of American spirituality and values of the God of Abraham (a Judeo-Christian-Islamic morality, if you will). This is evidenced by the moral behaviors of the vast majority of Muslims in America and around the world. This morality certainly comes from God and for Muslims the faith of Islam is the source of it no different than Judaism or Christianity is for Jews and Christians.

Now, bring political Islam into this mix, and one is left with many questions. Is Islam compatible with democracy? Can Muslims separate mosque and state? Can Muslims be anti-theocratic? Can Muslim behavior and thought today be consistent with modernity while so many current Muslim legal constructs enacted in the name of sharia law seem not to be? How do Muslims reconcile their history of an empire ruled by a Muslim Caliphate, an empire which had varying rules for its citizens based upon faith with today's more pluralistic universal laws of American society blind to one faith? How do Muslims reconcile the plight of women's rights in 'Muslim' societies with their faith and the West? Those are just a few of the questions so many thoughtful writers have tried to answer since 9-11.

Before embarking upon a discussion of any of those questions, which can fill texts, a more fundamental question remains concerning the central principles of any Muslim's faith. Is the foundation of Islam as felt and practiced within each Muslim a moral one?

From a counterterrorism assessment, formulating a threat assessment of the ideologies at play are very necessary. Before blanketing the faith of Islam as a threat to Americanism (religious pluralism), Americans first need to be able to separate Islam from Islamism and Islam from what some Muslims do.

Americans will find that for most Muslims generally - as it is for Jews or Christians or any God fearing individual - the central defining principles of faith are not dictated by the specific interpretations of God's laws (sharia for Muslims) or to any single one of the interpretations of various passages of the Qur'an peaceful or otherwise. As a Muslim, my faith as I see it and as it has been taught to me in its most devotional expression is simply-- my personal relationship with a moral God—the God of Abraham. The stronger and more personal is that relationship, the more pious an individual may be. Thus piety is not measured by others or by outward actions or expressed beliefs, but rather piety is dependent upon the intensity and purity of that internal relationship with God.

The essence of the nucleus of the primary cell of Islam as an organism of faith is a human being's manifestations and choices for goodness over evil which includes love, honesty, compassion, empathy, courage, integrity, humility, character, behavior, self-control, creativity, discipline, and gratitude to name a few of the faith defining human principles most faiths share. When our families taught us about faith and God, most of the time was spent on these principles. To most Muslims, the countervailing 'evil' choices to these positive human characteristics come from Satan and not from God. The existence of evil and its acts only demonstrates that God has given humanity free will. Without the existence of evil, humans would not have choice or free will. Often evil will exploit religion to defeat that which is good.

It is this inherent human tendency toward good and away from evil, which is the central notion of Islam as it is for Judaism and Christianity. From this then arises a spiritual life with a deep personal relationship and communication with God as seen in all of the faiths recognizing the God of Abraham.

From this spirituality, this goodness, then arises the character, which an individual carries to life and to our theological texts and their derived interpretations. While the body of laws available today may not all contain a modernized interpretation, it can certainly be modernized if the Muslims doing the modernizing are of sound moral conviction and integrity and education. It is the corruption, tribalism, and ignorance of so many in the Muslim world, which has poisoned any moves towards enlightenment. But this conflict between good and evil is one, which will be won by the righteous when pious Muslims who fear God, and respect universal humanitarian principles are empowered to stand up to evil under the moral courage of the inspired principles of the God of Abraham.

My family always taught me that a Muslim will not miraculously find his or her character within the pages of the Qur'an or Hadith. But rather, a Muslim's interpretation of our holy text is through the lens of one's established moral character, which is developed on a personal human level from within the soul and conscience not a textual one.

Our own moral compass and its inherent principles are a lens for life which is produced in an early stage of youth and adolescence that sets the tone for how we interpret life and religion. While the details of religion can inspire and direct this compass, life's core direction toward good is formed and maintained internally between an individual's soul and God early on. Suicide bombers, jihadists, and other militant Islamists are evil at their core and just turn to the language of Islam found in the Qur'an or the Hadith to justify their barbarism, coercion, and doctrine of the ends justifying the means and of political Islam. Granted, this is much easier to do with the ready availability around the world of radical and medieval interpretations so desperately in need of 21st Century enlightened pluralistic re-interpretations.

Accepting this common Muslim formulation of faith is vital to marginalizing the militancy of current radicalized interpretations most of which are of Salafist derivation and rather expressing a core positively guiding morality for the vast majority of Muslims. It will take Muslims who love their faith to articulate a modern Islam to create an etho, which accepts the radical interpretation as immoral.

Certainly, the ubiquitous jihadist and Caliphist interpretations of Islamic literature and jurisprudence are in need of an overwhelming alternative narrative to the fundamentalist interpretation, which so often dominates the airwaves. We must believe that the predominant Muslim morality as derived from God and exemplified in the life of the Prophet Mohammed and in the vast majority of Muslims is one of good, one of the Golden Rule, of compassion, and of humility.

Once we can accept that most Muslims are moral and believe in a faith with an inviolable moral nucleus, than we can find hope that the seeds of reformation of formal textual interpretations will be planted for freedom and liberty, for free will over coercion, over theocracy and over political Islam.

If most Muslims were immoral, the world would have perished a long time ago. It is Islamism, which deserves our combined energies in critique and ideological deconstruction. Muslims, however, who are anti-Islamist and practicing a modern moral Islam are the key to its defeat.

-------------------------------------------------------------
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor M. Zuhdi Jasser is a former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander and the Chairman of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy based in Phoenix, Arizona. He can be reached at Zuhdi@aifdemocracy.org.

© 2003-2007 FamilySecurityMatters.org All Rights Reserved

A New Voice for Islam - Prof Ingrid Mattson

2007-04-30T09:59:00.001+08:00

Salaams All. I recently heard the radio interview by Krista Tippet with Prof Ingrid Mattson, on Speaking of Faith. Ingrid is the first woman, the first non-immigrant, and the first convert to lead the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the largest Muslim organisation in North America. She came to Singapore in 2005 along with some visitors from the Nawawi Foundation (USA). She delivered a couple of lectures in Singapore as well under the banner of Darul Arqam. I was fortunate enough to have volunteered for the event series. I also hosted Prof Ingrid for dinner at my residence together with Prof Abdal Hakim Murad (Cambridge University) who also happened to be in Singapore at that time. Masha'Allah!

In the interview, she mentioned about the circumstances of her embracing Islam:

I was really surprised the first time I prayed as a — in a Muslim prayer. I was not a Muslim at that time. I was just starting to study the Qur'an and study some Arabic, so I could have some sense of the scripture. And, you know, the people who were teaching me said, 'Well, you know, do you want to join us in prayer?' I said, 'Well, OK. I don't know how to do it.' They said, 'Just follow along with us.' So I did. And, of course, you know, it feels, at fist, very awkward. You're looking, trying to see what they're doing. These movements are different. But as soon as I prostrated and had my — my head to the ground and felt that sense of connection with the earth, of blocking everything out, because when you're prostrating you, you don't see anything around you. And so, really, it is, the words that you're saying in your mind, glorifying God, I felt such a holistic connection to God. I mean, it's a full-body connection, you know?

The following are her thoughts about wearing the hijab:

While I was convinced by those who were teaching me about Islam early on that a head covering for women is part of what is required in Islamic law, I was not convinced of the reasons for it. I mean, people talked about, you know, society and gender mixing and all these kind of things. So when I first heard about that, I said, 'Well, that didn't make much sense to me.' But I did it as an act of obedience.

And once I started wearing it, I did notice the benefit in terms of being treated in a more, I would say, professional manner by even, you know, those people who I'd known earlier, whether they were professors or others. I was surprised at they way that the kind of, you know, language that I'd become so used to, with sexual innuendo and, I mean, now, you know, I wasn't around people who were very vulgar. Just talking with people, at work or at school, how many jokes and things have, have this sexual innuendo, how they're kind of just dropped away. And I hadn't been aware of it — well, you know, really aware of how pervasive it was 'til I started wearing hijab. And I felt that, you know, an advantage, and I was surprised at that. It doesn't mean it's not difficult sometimes. I mean, it is difficult at times and it does present its own challenges. But more than the social dynamics, I would say, for me it has spiritual benefit. You know, it's interesting, I was teaching a class earlier this week, and I have an African priest in my class. And he was talking about how, in African Christianity, still, women, and even men, will feel that some gesture of covering…

Quite an interesting interview on the whole, I must say.

Go to Speaking of Faith [click here] where you can listen or read the entire interview.

It was certainly an honour for my friends and I to have hosted Prof Ingrid and her husband while she was in Singapore. She is really a nice woman and I wish her all the best for her appointment as President of ISNA. May Allah subhanahu taala give her strength, success and guidance for all her affairs, Ameen.

Serbs in New Fear of Wahhabis

2007-03-30T10:57:00.001+08:00

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic

BELGRADE, Mar 28 (IPS)

The detention of seven young "Wahhabis" in the southern Serb region Sanjak has set off new fear of the spread of Islamists in the region.

The Wahhabis are a sect of Sunni Muslims mostly from Saudi Arabia. They follow a form of Sunni Islam propagated in an 18th century reform movement that aimed to restore Islam to its pure form by purging it of foreign influence. Wahhabism was brought to Bosnia by fighters who came to support Muslims in the 1992-95 war. Many stayed on.

The seven detained men, in their late 20s and early 30s, were said to have been found in a cave on Ninaja mountain, 30 km from the regional centre Novi Pazar, and 275 km south of capital Belgrade. Sanjak is a region shared by Serbia and Montenegro, and borders Bosnia-Herzegovina. It has a population of some 530,000, 67 percent of it Muslim. The rest are Orthodox Serb Christians and Montenegrins. The police said they found an undisclosed amount of arms, ammunition, hand grenades and plastic explosives with timers. They said at first the weapons were to be used "for terrorist training." They now say the arrested men are under investigation for "trying to disturb public order and peace."

But the very mention of "Wahhabis" prompted a large part of the Serbian press to speculate on the motives of the group, with headlines screaming that the nation is "Under Terrorist Threat" or that "Extremists are against Serbia". Most such items sensationalised the arrests, and repeated the anti-Muslim language used in the times of the wars of the disintegration of former Yugoslavia. "This (the arrests) and Wahhabis are the issues of Sanjak and should be solved at the local level," president of the Sanjak Democratic Party Rasim Ljajic told reporters in Belgrade. Ljajic, a Sanjak Muslim, is minister for minorities and human rights in the Serbian government.

"Wahhabis do exist in Serbia, but the problem has been blown out of real proportions," he added. "Wahhabism can be neutralised not through repressive measures, but through the good organisation of the Islamic community that will reject such an interpretation of the Islam."

Local Islamic clerics in Sanjak had a serious problem with Wahhabis last November. A group of Wahhabis insisted that prayers be held in accordance with their ways, but people protested. There was exchange of gunfire between the two groups, and the biggest mosque in Novi Pazar, the Arap Mosque, was closed for days. A year ago, a group of young men dressed in the traditional short Wahhabi trousers prevented a concert by the popular Balkanika Belgrade band in Novi Pazar. They broke up the sound system on the stage, shouting "Go home brothers and sisters. This is the work of Shaitan (the devil)".

Muslims in Bosnia and Sanjak belong to the moderate Sunni Hanafi teaching, shaped by long co-existence with other faiths and incorporating customs that precede the conversion to Islam of some Christian Slavs in the 15th century, when the Ottomans conquered the Balkans.

But once Wahhabism came to Bosnia, "it was logical that it spread to Sanjak as well," sociologist Mirko Djordjevic told IPS. "However, Wahhabis are not a terrorist organisation. They are a sect within Islam, of a puritan provenance. They will most probably create problems within the Islamic community, both here and in Bosnia, rather than cause deeper troubles." In neighbouring Bosnia, Wahhabis have a community that is gathered around the King Fahd Mosque in capital Sarajevo, the huge complex built in 2000 by Saudi Arabia, one of the most generous donors to Bosniak Muslims. In Bosnia Muslims are 55 percent of the population of four million. Small Wahhabi communities exist in the north of the country as well.

Recently, some mosques in the north were closed for days due to skirmishes between local people and Wahhabis, the incidents being similar to those in Novi Pazar in November. Local Islamic leaders issued stern warnings to Wahhabis. "The Islamic community regulations rule here," leading Islamic cleric Mustafa Ceric told a news conference in Sarajevo. "Those who cannot accept this did not have to come here and don't need to stay." An opinion poll carried out by the Sarajevo Prizma Polling Agency showed that 70 percent of Bosniak Muslims oppose Wahhabism, while 13 percent broadly support it. Only three percent declared themselves followers. The rest were indifferent to the issue. Top Islamic cleric in Sanjak region Mufti Muamer Zukorlic has tried to calm the upheaval within Serbian media.

"A stable Islamic community is a strict guarantee against extremism," Zukorlic told Belgrade Radio B92. "The mentality of people in Sanjak is not prone to the ideas which are sometimes even strange to Islam." Prof. Abdulah Numan who teaches Islamic theology in Belgrade told the same station that "there is not much ground for Wahhabism to take roots." "They preach 2,000 years old teaching, causing more troubles among Muslims," he added. "However, they do prefer tense regions, where they can easily recruit dissatisfied and confused people. Stability is the best prevention against any extremism."

My Saints Are Under My Domes

2007-03-12T17:56:00.001+08:00

Salaams everyone. I was just discussing with my friends about sainthood and how saints have to receive permission before they can intervene with Allah's will. There was a suhbah (advise) by Shaykh Hisham Kabbani (click on link below) that actually discusses this very subject. The suhbah was entitled "My Saints Are Under My Domes". Very interesting indeed. Please read the whole suhbah if you have the time. In any case, the following is an extract of that suhbah...

"My Saints Are Under My Domes"
Pears and Corals - Mystic Horizons (Volume 1)

By Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani

http://www.naqshbandi.net/haqqani/sufi/pearls&coral/saintdom.html

There was a Naqshbandi saint by the name of Saad ad-Din Jabawi. I saw these events concerning him when I was about eighteen or nineteen years old. I was in Grandshaykh's house in Damascus. A delegation of scholars visited him, saying, "O Mawlana, they want to make a road and Saad ad-Din Jabawi's grave or shrine is in the way. The government sent bulldozers to raze that grave, but they cannot touch it. Every time the bulldozer comes to that point, it stops. If they try to strike the grave, the bulldozer breaks down." They had come to Grandshaykh knowing that there he had a connection with Saad ad-Din Jabawi through the Path, and asked him, "Please, solve this problem for us." Mawlana Shaykh Abd Allah replied, "Give me two or three days." After two days, he said, "Go to the burial place of the saint tonight. Perform the remembrance of God (dhikr), all of you, then open his grave in the morning and remove him for burial elsewhere."

Saad ad-Din Jabawi had died five hundred years ago! So they said like the Wahhabis say today, "What is left of him?" They said, "He's finished. There's just dust there now!" What dust? The Prophet (s) said, "God has forbidden the earth to eat the body of prophets."1 God has said in the Quran, "They (martyrs) are alive in the presence of their Lord, being provided for" [3:169]. What is true of prophets and martyrs in these two examples is true of saints also, of righteous people, of true people. They are alive. So they laughed - "He's still there?" Of course he is still there, otherwise why is your bulldozer unable to go through? That night they went and recited dhikr. In the morning, Shaykh Abd Allah's students began to open the grave, block after block, until they came to the main stone. They took that big stone away and the air all around was filled with a beautiful fragrance. A brilliant light emerged. It was the hour of the dawn prayer when all is dark with the day just beginning to break on the horizon. They found him there in his burial shroud as though he had been buried that very day, perfectly clean. His face looked as if he had just died. It seemed as if his skin would redden if you just pinched it. I was there. When they opened the tomb and removed him I was with my brother. They lifted him from the grave and buried him in another place not far away.

He had been buried there for five-hundred years. How is it that people say, "There are no saints," when God says in His Holy Quran, "God's saints - there is no fear and no sadness for them" [10:62], and in a sacred Tradition, "My saints are under my domes. No one knows them except Me." Scholars are known by everyone. If He wanted to mention scholars, He would have said ulama. But He said awliya, "My saints are under My domes," not, "My scholars are under My domes." No one knows them - they are hidden. Saints are hidden. And you do not buy sanctity with the knowledge of a scholar. A saint is given to people by God. Saints do not become saints by going to universities and receiving degrees. The condition of sainthood is a reward granted from God to a person's heart. Even if he knows nothing at all in the way of academic knowledge, God opens up paths in his heart and, at that time, there is nothing he does not know.

Hide Others’ Mistakes

2007-03-11T13:10:00.000+08:00

By Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani

One day, the Prophet (s) called Bilāl shortly before midnight and ordered him to make the call for prayer, adhan, but not to pray, but for everyone to come to him: “Quickly, for I cannot delay giving this message to my Companions." Bilāl was very frightened and wondered why the Prophet (s) was calling everybody at such an hour. Was Judgment Day coming? The Prophet (s) was shivering. Bilāl went to the mosque and called adhan, and all the Companions ran to the mosque and waited for the Prophet (s).

When the Prophet (s) came, they did not receive him in the same manner that we receive Mawlānā when he arrives at the mosque. We run to him, unfortunately, like horses! We have to give respect. When Mawlānā enters, rather than crowding him rudely, you should be disciplined, stand in line at a distance in order to show respect to your Shaykh. Instead, we run in chaos like sheep or chicken. You have to kiss his hand, but do not run and make a crowd and block the way. Even when Mawlānā Shaykh Nāzim wants to go to the car he is unable to enter the car unhindered. Why don’t you simply stand and give respect?

One day Sayyidinā 'Abdul-Qādir Gilānī was walking with his followers in an alley of Baghdad and they saw someone coming from the other end of the alley. His disciples were moving with him in accordance with good manners, adab: all of them behind – no one moving beside him. Here, everyone is trying to move beside the Shaykh and pray beside the Shaykh! What is your rank to pray beside him? Stand behind in order to keep respect, not beside – except if there is no room in the mosque. Sayyidinā 'Abdul Qādir’s disciples did not crowd each other by walking abreast in the same row, as we do today, but they moved behind one another with the Shaykh alone in the front. You cannot be in his level! Teach yourself this discipline, adab, and this respect.

A priest came from the other end of the alley, and immediately 'Abdul Qādir gave way, and all the disciples gave way. No one said: “This is a priest." They all give him way. When the priest saw that respect in the Shaykh, and he saw that all the murids were following that discipline and respect, adab, he bowed to Sayyidinā 'Abdul Qādir Gilānī from the head. The latter immediately bowed from the waist. When he saw this, the priest said: “Ashhadu an la ilāha illa-Allāh wa ashhadu anna Muhammadur-Rasūlullah." Priests know the truth and that incident brought it out from this priest. “O our Shaykh,” said the disciples, “what happened? How did you give so much respect to that priest?” He said: “I gave respect because I am looking at the light which God has given to his heart, and I am giving respect to those two angels that are standing on his right and on his left." It is this respect that made that light jump out and made the priest say shahādah. Giving respect is most important.

When the Prophet (s) finally came to the mosque, all the Companions (ra) were in line and were bowing. The Prophet (s) passed unhindered until he reached his place. When he reached it, he was shivering as he said:

“God has sent the angel Gabriel¡ to me to tell me: 'Ya Rasūlullāh! Call your Companions and give them that message.' It is the most difficult message that the angel Gabriel¡ gave to me in my life. I am very frightened of this message, and that is why I called you quickly to tell you what must do, and tell you to listen and obey to this message."

The Companions (ra) were anxious in their hearts to know if a big battle against aggressors lay ahead, or something coming as new revelation from heaven.

The Prophet (s) said: “God has informed me tonight that He has ordered all His angels in the seven heavens, and swore an oath on Himself, and ordered me and all prophets that have passed away, to curse and send hardships on the one who is not going to obey this message." Everyone was afraid: "what could earn such a curse from God, angels and prophets?" He continued:

“If anyone makes another mention of any bad event or happening that took place two hours earlier in their life, they are going to be cursed."

This means that if something has gone wrong and confusion resulted from it, or someone has spoken harshly to someone else, and you bring back that event into your conversation more than two hours later, you are going to incur that curse from God, the Prophet (s), the angels, and all prophets.

You have to be concealers of your brothers’ and sisters ‘faults as God is the Concealer of the sins of human beings. You must not show up their mistakes for you yourself are in the midst of mistakes. If you do not show their mistakes, God will never show your mistake. This is the meaning of Sattār, the Concealer. Hide their mistakes; don’t speak ill of your brothers and sisters, and God will hide your mistakes. For everyone has mistakes they are hiding in their heart. If you take such care to hide your own mistakes, why do you bring out the mistakes of the others? Hide others’ mistakes, and God has sworn on His Honor and Greatness that He is going to curse anyone that is not going to hide the mistakes of his brothers and sisters, or hide whatever bad events have passed concerning them.

And from God is all success.

Wa mina-llāhit-tawfīq bi hurmatì‘l-Fātihah.

Sufism & Modernity - Workshop by Prof Marcia Hermansen

2007-01-16T01:29:00.001+08:00

SimplyIslam is organising a special workshop by a visiting American Muslim scholar, Prof Marcia Hermansen. Here are the details...

Sufism & Modernity Workshop By Prof Marcia Hermansen
Date: Tuesday 16 January 2007
Time: 7.45 p.m.
Venue: #04-01 Wisma Indah
448 Changi Road (near Kembangan MRT)
Fee: $20 each Registration: call 65474407 now or visit www.simplyislam.sg to register online.

About the Workshop
The workshop will discuss various currents in contemporary Islamic thought while addressing the role of Sufism. In particular, it considers the role that Sufism might play in the new global alter'native' modernities that are emerging in a range of Muslim societies. The discussion will include Islamic modernist thought, traditionalism, progressive Islam and "engaged" Sufism, "New Age" Sufis, and the role of Sufi Orders, including "post-tariqa" Sufism.

About Prof Marcia Hermansen
Prof Marcia K. Hermansen is an American Muslim scholar who teaches Islamic Studies and directs the Islamic World Studies program at Loyola University Chicago. She is originally from Montreal and came to the United States to study at the University of Chicago with the eminent Dr. Fazlur Rahman. In the course of her graduate education and subsequently she resided in Iran, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey in order to study the major languages of the Muslim world and experience life in a range of contemporary Muslim societies. She originally specialised in Sufism, Islamic thought, and Islam and Muslims in South Asia. The subjects of her many published articles include Muslims in America, youth and gender issues, and contemporary Muslim intellectual life including Sufism in the West. Her translation of Shah Wali Allah of Delhi's "Hujjat Allah al-Baligha" was published as "The Conclusive Argument from God" in 1996 from E. J. Brill and then in a Pakistani edition in 2003. She was a co-editor of the MacMillan Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World (2003).

Little Mosque on the Prairie Season 1 Episode 1

2007-01-16T01:06:00.000+08:00

This is a very interesting and funny show about some Muslims living in a fictional Canadian prairie town called Mercy. The first episode was watched by over 2 million people. Wallahi, the show is worth watching. Really funny! Take a rest and watch this 21 minute episode. Have fun!

For better viewing experience, click on the pause button until you have downloaded at least a quarter of the film. Otherwise, your viewing might be disruptive. The show has received raving reviews even before its inaugural episode. Their official website http://littlemosque.ca

Other reviews, etc
CNN
Guardian UK
The Globe & Mail
Brussels Journal

[click here to view the "Little Mosque on the Prairie" video on YouTube]

Bosnia's Muslims divided over inroads of Wahhabism

2006-12-31T19:51:00.000+08:00

Bosnia's Muslims divided over inroads of Wahhabism

By Daria Sito-Sucic
December 29, 2006

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Last week, Sarajevo's Jesus Heart cathedral was packed for Christmas mass. This week its King Fahd mosque is filled ahead of the Eid al-Adha, the Muslim festival of sacrifice. The Bosnian capital is still a mix of Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity and Islam.

Since the Bosnia war ended in 1995 the Muslim faith dominates, but not all adherents are happy with the increasing numbers of people following the puritanical Sunni Muslim Wahhabi sect.

"Wahhabism has seriously divided children and parents, spiritual leaders and priests, professors and students, neighborhoods," says lecturer Adnan Silajdzic, who teaches comparative religions at Sarajevo University's Faculty of Islamic Studies. Jasmin Merdan, a Wahhabi dissident and co-author of a book on Wahhabi ideology and history, said the issue was not that they prayed or dressed differently, but that they were intolerant and aggressive toward other Muslims.

"These are mostly young, uneducated people," he said.

Merdan, who converted in the late 1990s but later left the sect disillusioned, said many Muslim militants who carry out attacks against Western targets were "a product of Wahhabi indoctrination."

Many of the young converts gather at Bosnia's largest mosque, the King Fahd, founded in 2000 by the royal family of Saudi Arabia, which is the birthplace of Islam and the country where Wahhabism originated. The senior imam of the mosque, a concrete behemoth the size of a shopping mall, denies believers are radical Muslims.

"In this mosque there are ... no extremists," said Nezim Halilovic, who avoided the term Wahhabi.

Most men with beards and short trousers who came for a noon prayer to the mosque did not identify themselves with Wahhabism.

"Extremism is not a feature that Bosnian Muslims would accept and nourish. You can't make general conclusions based on some individual examples," said one worshipper called Ahmed.

STRAIN
The apparent strains in Islam are opening a decade after Bosnia's Muslims, Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs fought each other for control of the country and its heritage. An opinion poll found 70 percent of Bosnian Muslims opposed Wahhabism, while 13 percent broadly supported it. Only 3 percent declared themselves followers.

The Islam traditional to Bosnia is moderate, shaped by long co-existence with other faiths and incorporating customs that predate the conversion to Islam of some Christian Slavs in the 15th century, when the Ottomans conquered the Balkans. Many see this secular, European Islam now threatened by the Wahhabi form of Sunni Islam, which originates in an 18th century reform movement aiming to restore Islam to its pure form by purging it of foreign and corrupting influences or innovations.

Wahhabism was brought to Bosnia by fighters who came to support the outgunned Muslims during the 1992-95 war and missionaries who arrived later. Most left Bosnia after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, when strict checks by authorities closed down many of their charities.

No one knows how many local converts there are. The issue is kept in the spotlight by frequent media reports of young women running away from home to join Wahhabi communities and by sensational coverage of religion-related crimes.

In 2002, a 26-year-old man described by local media as a Wahhabi supporter killed three members of a Croat family on Christmas Eve, saying he was following instructions from God. This year, a young Wahhabi killed his mother because she refused to join him for morning prayers.

SHOOTING
The Wahhabi community disowned these incidents. But its self-proclaimed Bosnian-based leader Abu Hamza, who represents foreign former Islamic fighters who married Bosnian women and stayed in the country, is not apologizing for his religion.

Hamza said in October that Islamic practice in Bosnia was "communist" and urged Muslims to return to "genuine Islam."

That same month, a mosque in northern Bosnia closed for days due to a dispute between Wahhabis and local Muslims over the way prayer was conducted. In November, a similar row in the Serbian Muslim town of Novi Pazar ended in a mosque shooting. Bosnia's Islamic leaders publicly condemned Hamza's call.

"The Islamic Community regulations rule here," top Islamic cleric Mustafa effendi Ceric told a news conference. "Those who cannot accept this did not have to come here and don't need to stay."

Some analysts said the statement wasn't strong enough. They suspect Islamic leaders avoid the issue so as not to fan long-time accusations by Serb and Croat nationalists of a terrorist threat from radical Muslims in Bosnia. They also do not want to alienate generous donor Saudi Arabia.

Time for Dhikr and Music in Somalia

2006-12-31T19:46:00.000+08:00

Time for Dhikr and Music in Somalia
Written by Bashir Goth
Published Sunday, December 31, 2006

Phew! Good riddance! The nightmare is over. Yes, I mean the Union of Islamic Courts, UIC. They had their day under the sun and they blew it. They had the support of all Somali people when they stormed to power, routed the notorious warlords, restored peace in Mogadishu, opened the airports and seaports, started addressing looted property issues and began looking like a wise authority.

But instead of capitalizing on the people's genuine support and willingness to give in and give up everything, they had become power lusty, belligerent and fatwa-crazy. Instead of building bridges with the community, improving services, opening hospitals, winning the trust of international organizations and NGO's to help them with projects to generate employment, they burned all bridges. They alienated the youth by banning all types of entertainment, segregated women and deprived tens of thousands of families from their only livelihood by banning Khat without bringing an alternative source of income. They even embittered traditional Islamic scholars with their characteristic Wahhabi style of self-righteousness and condescending attitude to mainstream Islam.

Not only did they become more warlords than the ones they had defeated, but they emblazoned their belligerency with Islam and brandished the sword of Jihad, thus projecting themselves in the model of Taliban and regurgitating the tired jihadist rhetoric of Al Qaeda. They mistook their easy ride to power for being an unstoppable revolution and started stirring instability in the peaceful Republic of Somaliland by branding the leadership of that democratic country as an infidel and threatening to bring Somaliland under their Wahhabi cloak.

Just like they introduced a strange school of Islam to Somalia, they had also imported the scary phenomenon of suicide bombers in an attempt to assassinate the leadership of the Transitional Federal Government, TFG, in Baidoa. They also stonewalled the peace talks counting on the support of unsuspecting Arabs and they sent their die-hard agents to Puntland to wreck havoc to that peaceful and self-ruling state.

In a gross miscalculation of their military power and world geopolitics, the Islamists have used hostile language against neighboring countries, the United States and the Judeo- Christian world. By reviving the Somali irredentist policies of reunifying all Somali people in the Horn of Africa and creating greater Somalia, they reminded Ethiopia and Kenya of the era of wars and instability they had with the successive Somali governments over their claim for the Somali regions in their respective countries.

Finally they committed their last blunder when they gave an ultimatum to Ethiopia to withdraw their TFG-supporting contingents from Somalia within seven days or face Jihad. Their Security Chief Colonel Yusuf Indha Adde, had even made the gaffe of the century by admitting that he was one of the people who dragged the bodies of the dead American soldiers through the streets of Mogadishu in 1993 and that he was ready to do it again.

But as is often the case with all self-aggrandizing megalomaniacs, they fizzled into thin air when the hour of truth has arrived and all their bravado had ended into a farcical denouement. While they threw the young children they recruited in the name of Jihad into the fray, the Islamist leadership took flight liked scared chickens. None of them was reported to have died heroically fighting at the front. They just burst like a bubble. Even their prolific website qaadisiya.com fell silent. Although its editors have spewed enough hatred against the West and sang daily hymns for the Sept 11 suicide bombers and all jihadist martyrs of the world, they couldn't dare to sign off the last chapter of their fantasy medieval caliphate.

Now, it is time for the people of Mogadishu to reclaim their freedoms and their true religion. Time to read the Quran with piety and not with politics; time to perform Dhikr in the Sufi Qadiriya style; time to dance in weddings and listen to the music of our late melody queen Magool, which the Islamists wanted to burn. It is time to throw away the Arab head rags; the sign of the shabby dressed Islamists, and time to be proud of our native names, cleansing our ears of the alien Arab nom de guerres of the Islamists. It is time to let our women come out to the sunshine and swim with their children in the lido beach; time to shave the beards, watch cinemas and let our youth revel, sing, dance and ring in the New Year with Mohammed Suleiman's eternal lyrics "… kii noo hagaagee, noqo loo hanweynyahay." (…Be a year that brings us good fortune and high expectations." Amen.

Bashir Goth is the editor of Awdalnews Network.

http://themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=16225

The Veil

2006-12-31T19:11:00.000+08:00

Salaams. Apologies for the long absence.

Another great product of Speaking of Faith by Krista Tippet. Listen to photojournalist Diana Matar describe her exquisite series of images portraying a new generation of Muslim women in Cairo. These women are reclaiming and redefining the veil as a symbol of political dissent, piety, and fashion in contemporary Egypt.

Click here... http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/muslimwomen

Schwartz's WMD (My Response)

2006-10-31T13:23:00.000+08:00

[In response to Aftab's article "Schwartz's Words of Mass Destruction" - see below]

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Salutations of Allah be upon our His Messenger and our beloved Prophet Muhammad, salallahu alaihi wasallam.

Dear Bro Aftab,

Blessings of Allah be upon you and your family. Thank you for the article you wrote denouncing Schwartz's "words of mass destruction".

I completely respect Shaykh Hamza Yusuf and his outstanding scholarship in Islam. No two ways about it. He is a great scholar and has done remarkable work for Islam. His institute, the Zaytuna Institute, continues to do good work for Islam and Muslims in the West. I had recently posted Shaykh Hamza's interesting video on the Shawwal moon-sighting on my blog sufijourneys.blogspot.com

Shaykh Hamza may have uttered words in the past that continues to be used against him till today by Stephen Schwartz and the likes of him. As you mentioned in your article, "only people of violence read violence into Malcolm's words". Certainly, such behaviour is not peculiar to Shaykh Hamza. Even our beloved Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani has been misunderstood and continues to be attacked not only by the Wahhabis, but also by people who claim to be Sufis.

Also, I feel that there is no need to perpetuate any link between Stephen Schwartz and the Naqshbandi organisation or tariqa because in so doing we are implying that Schwartz's actions are sanctioned by the Naqshbandi leadership (i.e. Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani or Shaykh Hisham Kabbani). As much as Stephen Schwartz may claim to be a mureed of the Naqshbandi-Haqqani tariqa, you know as much as I do that mureeds are not always a reflection of the Shaykh. Many mureeds of great teachers and Shaykhs like Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani, Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, Shaykh Nuh Keller and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf have been guilty of misrepresenting their teacher. If we perpetuate the notion that really "all mureeds are a reflection of the teacher", then what kind of image do you think we are portraying about our beloved Prophet, salallahu alaihi wasallam.

I am not sure when these ill feelings will end, but I suspect that without a dialogue between Schwartz and our beloved Shaykh Hamza, we will not see the end of Schwartz's unabashed critique. It is clear that Schwartz's continued reprehension of Shaykh Hamza smells of a deep vendetta that has no basis in Islam and Sufism. Schwartz's actions lack the basic adab of a Muslim and runs foul of the Sufi lessons that he claim to have learnt like husn al-dhan (giving the benefit of doubt), mahabba (kind feelings & love towards another) and ihsan (perfect goodness). I can dare say that his acts do not receive any authority from the Naqshbandi-Haqqani leadership.

It is good that as a student of Shaykh Hamza you have taken the steps of clearing the air on the matters you have raised in the article. Perhaps it is time for you to coordinate a dialogue (keep it private please!) between Shaykh Hamza and Schwartz. While you are at it (hopefully soon), I would really love to see Shaykh Hamza and Shaykh Hisham, two great luminaries of Islam, to come together for the common good of Islam and Muslims, with the Grace and Mercy of Allah. If you can coordinate a meeting between them first, and then perhaps organise some joint programmes, it would be great. Can you imagine the force both of them can put together? Allah knows best, but with both of these luminaries working in tandem, we can perhaps see Islam regaining its integrity and dignity, Insha'Allah. They can bring much clarity in this world of confusion. People, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, will be able to see Islam in the true Light.

May Allah subhanahu ta'ala Bless and Guide us all in our efforts in seeking His Pleasure and may He Guide and Protect our teachers, Ameen.

Schwartz's Words of Mass Destruction

2006-10-31T12:56:00.000+08:00

By Aftab Ahmad Malik
Editor of The State We Are In: Identity, Terror and the Law of Jihad (Bristol: Amal Press, 2006) and Visiting Fellow at the Center of Culture and Ethnicity, University of Birmingham (UK)

IN HIS RECENT article: Is California an Islamic Republic? (The Family Security Foundation, Inc., October 25, 2006), Stephen Schwartz, in his tireless search for an opportunity to profess his undying patriotism, has written a personal attack against Hamza Yusuf Hanson. The nominal basis for his attack is an article in a Saudi newspaper, in which Hamza Yusuf “was described as ‘the mufti of California.’” It is not clear how accurately this was translated for him, particularly as he later states that “It is Hamza Yusuf Hanson who is dishonest, when he calls himself, ridiculously, ‘the mufti of California,’ and when he claims to be a Muslim moderate.” Schwartz’s claim then, is that Yusuf has been called or has called himself the mufti of California and, therefore,Schwartz claims, “propagandizes for the Islamicization of America,” based on how Yusuf has “built himself up as a major Western Muslim leader.”

My immediate response is to question why Schwartz has searched out this reference (of questionable accuracy) to denounce Hamza Yusuf. Why does he go to such pains to try to convince his readership that Yusuf is an extremist who does not speak for the majority of Muslims? The implication of course, is that Schwartz is a moderate Muslim (struggling for plurality) and in fact speaks for the majority of mainstream Muslims. In fact, Schwartz has a long record of denouncing other Muslims as either being Islamists, Jihadists, or Wahhabis—all words that the public has been taught to “understand” represent three incarnations of everything evil in the world today. While the reality remains that many Americans still cannot make sense of Islam, Schwartz’s simplistic articles only offer a dangerous black and white view of a complex landscape. I find it astonishing that Schwartz, the executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism cannot even recognize the plurality within the Muslim community itself, and rather than acknowledge this, he demarcates disperse communities into moderates versus extremists.

Schwartz’s unabashed attack on Hamza Yusuf is at best misguided and at worst libelous. His continued character assassination of one of the most distinguished, loved, and brilliant Muslim scholars in the Western world is enough to discredit him in the eyes of many mainstream Muslims. The respect that Yusuf commands from numerous sectors of the Muslim community throughout the world is unquestioned; it is based on nearly fifteen years of studying with scholars throughout the world, in a tireless effort to grasp the depth of traditional Islamic scholarship. Schwartz himself wrote a moving obituary of the late “famous Sufi teacher” and scholar, Shaykh Muhammad Alawi, in which he highlights the authority that Alawi commanded. And it is this very same Muhammad Alawi that is counted among the teachers of Hamza Yusuf, who was awarded a hand-written diploma by the Shaykh—something that Alawi rarely did—conferring upon Yusuf the licence to teach the Islamic sciences, which include Sufism.

I find it lamentable that Schwartz maintains this misguided assertion that Hamza Yusuf is dishonestly portraying himself as a Sufi and hiding ulterior motives that only Schwartz has been able to decipher (the rest of the gullible world has failed to recognize these ill-intentions). Surely this, above and beyond his other outlandish claims, clearly indicates that Schwartz is a man with an agenda and far from a serious or scholarly commentator on Islamic affairs. I question Schwartz’s intentions because he is most likely aware of and has met many contemporary Sufi shaykhs from America to Great Britain; West Africa to the Middle East; the Subcontinent to the Arabian peninsula, who confirm and acknowledge Yusuf as being counted among the qawm—a sufi term that refers to “the people [of spiritual excellence].” Could Schwartz’s accusations stem from such a superficial fact that Yusuf does not dress like a Sufi shaykh, but wears western clothes? (I have actually met some individuals who criticize his ability to be a shaykh precisely because of this.) Or, perhaps Schwartz is irked by the fact that Yusuf is invited by a wide range of people to speak to diverse audiences, some of whom may not see eye-to-eye with the spiritual tradition of Islam?

Ironically, back in 1997 at Stanford University, the late expert on Sufism,Annemarie Schimmel, Hamid Algar of the University of Berkeley, and Hamza Yusuf spoke on the theme of “Sufism and its influence on Europe.” In closing the program, Yusuf stressed that Sufism was an integral part of Islam, stating that “in the tradition of Islam Sufism has always been part of the traditional Islamic curriculum in every single Muslim university.” He continued to remark that he knew of “no period in the Islamic tradition in which Sufism was not taught in the universities and not seen as an important and fundamental aspect of the tradition of Islam.” More ironic yet is the fact that this favorable write-up of the event was (and remains) posted on the Naqshbandi.org website, a prominent Sufi group that operates under the auspices of the Sufi sage, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani. If we believe, as Schwartz proposes, that Yusuf decided to transform himself from a “radical” Muslim preacher into a spiritual Sufi, the author of the lengthy article would not have concluded by saying that this event took “great courage” and was a “courageous stand” in the light of the fact that (at that time) Sufism was perceived by many Muslims as something alien to Islam—clearly a result of the strength of a Wahhabi-brand of Islam.

I actually agree with Schwartz on one issue: it is ridiculous for Hamza Yusuf to call himself “the mufti of California”; I daresay that Yusuf would consider it ridiculous as well. I doubt that Schwartz’s reference to the article in the Saudi newspaper is accurate. But I would correct Schwartz on the role of a mufti. He confusingly defines a mufti as a “religious judge, directing sharia courts in Sunni Muslim countries,” (one would think a fairly substantial position of authority), then says that California does not need a mufti, “because Sharia governs such minor aspects of Islamic life as the issuance of halal butchers’ licenses…and the propriety of certain financial transactions.” Schwartz reveals his ignorance of the sharia, not to mention the role of a mufti. Then he goes on to clarify (for those unaware!) that California does not have sharia courts.

By way of clarification, a mufti fulfils a role that goes beyond merely declaring meat halal. The role of a mufti is more akin to that of a rabbi and an imam to that of a cantor. A rabbi explains Torah and Mishnah to his congregants and the function of a mufti is to explain the Qur’an and the Prophetic way to his followers; this can relate to everything from how to prepare oneself for prayer to whether insurance is a halal financial transaction. A mufti gives non-binding legal opinions and has no state authority, nor can his opinions be enforced by the state in most matters. Muslim nations often appoint a Grand Mufti, as in Egypt, but most muftis actually have no state affiliation.

Muftis are also noted for their intellectual ability and moral character. Indeed, the late Dr. Zaki Badawi of London was, in one of his obituaries, referred to as the “Grand Mufti of Islam in England.” There were no sensationalist headlines the following day that sought to explain how all along, Zaki Badawi the mild-mannered moderate Muslim, was a stealth Islamist by night, because it simply would not be true. Rather, the title was bestowed upon him as a mark of respect and acknowledgement of his intellectual prowess, authority and admiration he had earned from many people, Muslims and non-Muslims alike in the UK.

In his article, Schwartz has manipulated the facts in order to create a fictional scenario in which a fictional character (only nominally based upon the real Hamza Yusuf) has a fictitious aim of establishing an Islamic republic in California. The only credence that Schwartz has that lends itself to this mythical construct is a quote by Zaid Shakir (who he inaccurately refers to as Ziad Shakir), in which Shakir remarked that he would “like to see America become a Muslim country.” Had he known Shakir personally, Schwartz would have understood the inaccuracy of his explanation. Shakir’s remark is no more than an imitation of the Prophet Muhammad’s words: “Love for humanity what you love for yourself.” Shakir, a dedicated savant and intellectual giant, said that to love what he loves (and clearly, Zaid Shakir loves Islam), how could he not wish for other people to enjoy what he enjoys from Islam? As the late Betty Shabaz remarked, only people of violence read violence into Malcolm’s words and I would add that only those who want to feed the current climate of fear, announce it wherever they can.

Hamza Yusuf has been vociferous in the past as well as the present, on the topic of those who seek to subvert the lands in which they live, and has said in no uncertain terms that these people should leave—if they wish to live under Islamic law, there is nothing preventing them from moving to those lands in which it is the rule of the land. At the same time, Yusuf has not made secret his views on what he sees as the ailments of the society in which he lives. There is gross inequality in the distribution of wealth, the educational system is not producing rounded human beings, and there are areas in America where there is intense racial tension and segregation. While Yusuf has openly criticized the country’s foreign policy, he has emphasized that foreign policy should not be seen as synonymous with the American people; this is a message that he has particularly stressed when speaking in the Middle East. The problem we face is that despite the Internet and talk about a global village, there still remains a huge gulf between the West and the Muslim world.

To be patriotic (and Schwartz implicitly implies that Yusuf is not), does not mean to turn a blind eye to injustices. To be loyal or zealously support one’s country can be dangerous if it is merely another name for crude nationalism. True patriotism—to truly have a great love for one’s country—would include exercising one’s judgment, evaluating policies, and engaging in discussions. When Yusuf says that most Americans do not comprehend Islam or that racism is a real concern, he is not revealing a conspiracy of hate toward America. These are issues that have been debated for decades by many (non-Muslim) social scientists and (non-Muslim) religious/political commentators. It is only at the mercy of Schwartz’s pen that such concerns are twisted and morphed into a sinister and threatening menace. In an environment that is plagued by a virtual avalanche of tracts, writings, and publications that express unrestrained animosity to Islam and Muslims, written by so-called experts on Islam (the vast majority of whom do not read, write, or speak Arabic), the quest for sanity and balance seems lost within a quagmire of suspicion and self-appointed “moderate” Muslim leaders. The only losers in the end will be the principles of equity, integrity, and justice. When these are lost, what reigns is anarchy, and this will ultimately lead to the perpetuation of hate crimes.

Crescent Watch

2006-10-28T11:31:00.000+08:00

Salaams to All. Eid Mubarak.

Kullu aam wa antum bi khair. Taqabal Allahu minna wa minkum. May you be well with each coming year. May Allah accept from us and you (our deeds).

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf has developed a website called CrescentWatch.Org to unify the North American position on the sighting of the moon for the purposes of ibadah in Ramadhan, Shawwal, etc. Just recently, he went to Mount Diablo (in California) to do a "crescent watch" - to view the new moon in order to ascertain the last day of fasting and the coming of Shawwal. It's such an interesting video to watch. Visit http://www.crescentwatch.org to watch the short video.

Once again, Eid Mubarak to one and all. Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, as they say greet in the Malay archipelago.

So, What Does it Mean to be a Moderate Muslim?

2006-10-27T11:14:00.000+08:00

British novelist Martin Amis wrote a 12,000 word piece in the Guardian ("The Age of Horrorism") to coincide with the 5th anniversary of September 11th. In it he rails against Islamism, and describes how he abandoned short story dealing with a would-be terrorist. The piece has sparked much intense debate in the bloggosphere, especially over what he calls the “civil war within Islam.”

"Until recently it was being said that what we are confronted with, here, is a ‘civil war’ within Islam. That’s what all his was supposed to be: not a clash of civilizations or anything like that, but a civil war within Islam. Well, the civil war appears to be over. And Islamism won it. The loser, moderate Islam, is always deceptively well-represented on the level of the op-ed page and the public debate; elsewhere, it is supine and inaudible. We are not hearing from moderate Islam. Whereas Islamism, as a mover and shaper of world events, is pretty well all there is."

So, what does it mean to be a moderate Muslim? The eminent Prof Khaled Abou Fadl is engaged to discuss this subject in an interesting radio show called "Open Source". Click here to download the radio interview (mp3 format). Click here to visit the Open Source website on this subject. You can read interesting comments by listeners.

Good and Evil in Islamic Theology

2006-09-25T16:54:00.000+08:00

Before the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, the Empress Farah Pahlavi (the Shah's wife) appointed Seyyed Hossein Nasr to head the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy. The revolution, of course, forced Nasr to emigrate to the United States. Here he discusses the nature of good and evil in Islam, comparing it with that of Christianity. Click here to listen...

The History of Shia People in Iran

2006-09-25T16:49:00.000+08:00

After studying at Harvard, Seyyed Hossein Nasr returned to his native Iran as a professor at Tehran University. He was later appointed president of Arya Mehr University in 1972. The professor was also a student of Islamic scholar Allameh Tabatabaei, who is known for his authoritative commentaries on the Qur'an. Here Nasr traces the history of Shia, the second largest denomination of Islam, in Iran. Click here to download the mp3 interview with Krista Tippet.

Hearing Muslim Voices Since 9/11

2006-09-25T16:46:00.000+08:00

Krista Tippet speaks to the eminent scholar, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, on the current situation 5 years after the devastating attacks on America on the September 11th. Click here to hear the interview or read the transcript.

Mr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr: "All this talk of clash of civilizations is very unfortunate. There are civilizations, with an "s" — yes. Not one civilization is going to dominate the whole world. I believe in the deepest sense that the destiny of Islam and the West is intertwined, not opposed to each other."

Lectures & Workshop by Prof Timothy Gianotti (Abu Mustafa)

2006-08-10T14:05:00.000+08:00

Salaams. Darul Arqam Singapore & Abdul Aleem Siddique Mosque is organising a couple of lectures and a workshop by Prof Timothy Gianotti (Abu Mustafa), one of the speakers at the coming Journey to Ihsan Islamic Spirituality Conference (2 & 3 September). Here are the details of the lectures and his profile:

Lecture 1
Politics of Islamic Ethics & Morality
Date: Friday 11 August 2006
Time: 8 pm
Venue: Darul Arqam Auditorium
32 Onan Road, The Galaxy

Lecture 2
Walking the Way of the Afterlife
Date: Saturday 12 August 2006
Time: 8.30 pm (Isyak)
Venue: Abdul Aleem Siddique Mosque
90 Lorong K Telok Kurau

Admission is FREE for the above lectures. All are welcome. No registration is required.

Workshop
The Quest for Fitrah - Finding the Light of Solace
Date: Sunday 13 August 2006
Time: 10 am to 2 pm
Fee: $30 per person (incl of notes and refreshments)
Venue: Ctr for Islamic Mgt Studies
448 Changi Road, #04-01, Wisma Indah
(near Kembangan MRT)
Seats are limited. Please register early. To register or enquire, please call Feisal Marican at Tel 63488344 ext 34 or 90036603 or
email feisal@darul-arqam.org.sg with your name and contact number(s).

This workshop seeks to identify the natural essence and values of people as human beings. It will address the co-relation between Man and his Creator and seek to instill a deeper yet comprehensive understanding of the trust between our souls and God. An appreciation of the holistic meaning of existence and the purpose that we are intended to serve in this world (i.e. including excellence in values & our responsibilities to the community), will inspire people towards developing a higher sense of morality and spirituality. This is the seed of peaceful co-existence, managing diversities and Divine piety.

About Prof Timothy Gianotti (Abu Mustafa)

Prof Timothy Gianotti is an Assistant Professor of Classical Islamic Philosophy, Theology, and Mysticism at the University of Virginia. Earning his B.A. in 1988 from the University of Notre Dame (Great Books, Classics), his M.A. in 1990 from the University of Toronto (Islamic Intellectual History, Arabic language & Literature), and his Ph.D. in 1998 also from the University of Toronto (Medieval Islamic Philosophy & Theology), his undergraduate and graduate studies included several periods of residence in the West Bank and Jordan, where he studied literary Arabic, Islamic History, and eventually took graduate courses at the University of Jordan’s College of Islamic Studies.

In addition to introductory courses in Islamic religious history, theology, and mysticism, Prof Timothy teaches upper level seminars that deal specifically with Islamic mystical thought, Islamic political thought, medieval Islamic and Jewish philosophy, and the language and imagery of war within the Abrahamic religious traditions. He has taught at University of Oregon (2003-2005), Pennsylvania State University (1997-2002) and University of Toronto (1994-1996). He is proficient in the Arabic language, and also French, Cantonese, Medieval Latin and Ancient Greek.

Prof Timothy is the author of Al-Ghazali’s Unspeakable Doctrine of the Soul, a study of controversies surrounding the Soul and the Afterlife in medieval Islam, and he is currently working on two new book projects: an introductory text entitled, Encountering Islam: A Prelude to the Study of an Abrahamic Religion, and a second scholarly book entitled, Walking the Way of the Afterlife: al-Ghazali on the Jurisprudence of the Heart (fiqh al-qalb).

[Sexism Deleted] in Turkey

2006-08-06T02:39:00.000+08:00

Salaams Everyone. Mustafa Akyol has reported on an interesting development in Turkey. It's about Turkey's highest Islamic body erasing some parts of hadiths that are deemed discriminatory towards women, which they feel may not reflect the spirit of Islam or the character of the Prophet. Highly interesting...read on...

[Sexism Deleted] in Turkey
By Mustafa Akyol
Sunday, July 16, 2006; B02

ISTANBUL
"Women are imperfect in intellect and religion."
"The best of women are those who are like sheep."
"If a woman doesn't satisfy her husband's desires, she should choose herself a place in hell."
"If a husband's body is covered with pus and his wife licks it clean, she still wouldn't have paid her dues."
"Your prayer will be invalid if a donkey, black dog or a woman passes in front of you."

In a bold but little-noticed step toward reforming Islamic tradition, Turkey's religious authorities recently declared that they will remove these statements, and more like them, from the hadiths -- the non-Koranic commentary on the words and deeds of the prophet Muhammad.

Hadiths are serious stuff. More than 90 percent of the sharia (Islamic law) is based on them rather than the Koran, and the most infamous measures of the sharia -- the killing of apostates, the seclusion of women, the ban on fine arts, the stoning of adulterers and many other violent punishments for sinful behavior -- come from the hadiths and the commentaries built upon
them. Eliminating these misogynistic statements from the hadiths is a direct challenge to some of the most controversial aspects of Islamic tradition.

Modern Muslim intellectuals have long argued that the hadiths should be revised, but this is the first time in recent history that a central Islamic authority has taken the dramatic step of deciding to edit them. The media and intellectuals of Ankara and Istanbul largely welcomed last month's decision, which the Turkish government supported. And although there were rumblings of discontent from ultraconservative commentators, they didn't amount to a protest. Yet, despite the rhetoric about the need to make alliances with progressive Islam in the midst of the fight against terrorism, Turkey's move toward reform has been widely overlooked in the West, and there has been little acknowledgment of it in other Muslim countries.

The proposed revision came from the Diyanet, Turkey's highest Islamic authority, which controls more than 76,000 mosques in Turkey and other parts of Europe. Its president, Ali Bardakoglu, a liberal theologian appointed three years ago by the ruling conservative Justice and Development Party (known as AKP), declared that a new collection of hadiths, free of such
misogyny, would be prepared by 2008. He also announced that enlightened imams would be sent to the rural, conservative regions of southeastern Turkey to preach against practices such as honor killings.

Many Muslims view hadiths as sacrosanct, although their accuracy has been a major point of contention among scholars. The hadiths were compiled two centuries after the Koran, which was transcribed during the prophet's lifetime and canonized right after his death in Medina in the 7th century.

By the 9th century, people were constructing such strange stories from the prophet that scholars such as Muhammad al-Bukhari and Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj decided to evaluate and catalogue them. Focusing on the reliability of the chain of transmitters, these scholars created collections of sahih , or trustworthy, hadiths.

But some modern Islamic scholars have felt increasingly uneasy about the inconsistencies and narrow-minded assertions in these collections. There are other hadiths that explain Muhammad's great respect for his wives, for example, and insist on the rights of women. The contradiction implies a need for revision. "I can't imagine a prophet who bullies women," said Hidayet Tuksal, a feminist theologian in Ankara. "The hadiths that portray him so should be abandoned."

Similarly, in proposing to create its new standard collection, the Turkish Diyanet intends to look beyond the chain of transmitters to logic, consistency and common sense. In many ways, this is a revival of an early debate in Islamic jurisprudence between rival camps known as the adherents of the hadiths and the adherents of reason -- a debate that ended with the triumph of the former.

The reawakening of this medieval debate and the consequent revision of the hadith literature could be a revolutionary breakthrough.

It is no accident that Turkey is the place where the traditional sharia is being reconsidered. The process of modernizing Islam, which dates in Turkey from the late Ottoman Empire, has accelerated since the 1980s, when Turkish society began to open. Since then, a flourishing Muslim bourgeoisie has emerged, and members are wittily called "Islamic Calvinists" for their religiously inspired capitalism. This has given rise to a new social atmosphere: In modern Turkey, you see models parading down the catwalk in fancy headscarves and Koranic courses promoted by clowns handing out ice cream. Muslim politicians such as Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul repeatedly stress the need for change in the Islamic world.

These reform-minded Muslims are not secularists who want to do away with religion. On the contrary, they want to reinterpret Islam because they believe that its divinely ordained, humane and generous essence has been eclipsed by mortal man's erroneous traditions and ideologies.

This is crucial because only such godly reformists have a chance to appeal to more traditional members of their faith. Since the 19th century, traditional Muslims have felt forced to choose between their faith and modernity -- a dilemma that has been fueling a reactionary strain of radical Islam. The Islamic world needs an alternative -- a path between godless modernity and anti-modern bigotry. With its revision of the traditional Islamic sources and with its rising Muslimhood that embraces democracy and open society, Turkey may just be opening the way. The West should be taking notice -- and encouraging other Muslim countries to take inspiration from Turkey's moderate course.

Mustafa Akyol is a Turkish journalist [akyol@mustafaakyol.org]

My Life as a Fanatic

2006-07-11T14:11:00.000+08:00

I came across (through Bin Gregory blog) an old (written in 2001) but yet interesting article entitled Stomach Full of Stones - My Life as a Fanatic written by Ruslan Mahmedov. In the article the author began,

The first thing people asked was "How could this happen?" At the root of that question is an impossibility. How could people love their countries, their families or their God enough to kill thousands of people on the edge of a razor?

He is a former militant Wahhabi and he describes his experiences in the article. Very interesting indeed. Some quotes:

...Wahhabism in other villages was not so gentle as it was in our lovely valley. Without preaching the group would not continue to grow. So we were pushed from town to town, often facing rocks and much worse from people who had already suffered more militant Wahhabis, some of whom would kick old people they saw smoking tobacco or douse the heads of the town drunks in the barrels that cows drink from.

One man sniffed when he found a book of poetry in our small dormitory. The book belonged to me. He sniffed and said in poor Russian that nothing but the Koran and the Hadiths should be read, especially in a mosque. My friends raced to remove the offensive book from the sanctity of the mosque. It was by Rasul Gamzatov, our national poet, who is regarded as the greatest Dagestani since Imam Shamil himself. I can only compare his reputation and the respect he is given to Pushkin or Shakespeare. This was far enough for me. I had become insubordinate according to the "total submission" of Wahhabism, not rude, but hesitating, which is almost worse. The material issue of Rasul's book of poems was completely irrelevant to me, as I knew them all by heart. It was the symbolism, which I now completely grasp. Foreign men who promised me salvation were ripping what I loved away. This was the price one would pay to become a soldier for jihad. I had alienated many people I loved. For their memory, I want to say that more than just nationalism, this incident caused an awakening in me.

Read the entire article [click here]

Pluralism and Islamic Civilisation

2006-07-09T02:15:00.000+08:00

Salaams. More on the controversial issue in Malaysia. There's a fairly good article written by Chandra Muzaffar in which he described "I was perplexed -- and perturbed -- by the remark attributed to the State Mufti of Perak (Malaysia), Dato Seri Harussani Zakaria, that pluralism was an attack upon the faith of the Muslims".

Chandra went on to say that pluralism has been part and parcel of Islamic history and that "No civilization in history has demonstrated a more resolute commitment to pluralism than Islam. The principles of pluralism are anchored in the Noble Quran itself", and he quoted a number of verses of the Qur'an.

Chandra proved that Islam and pluralism was not a misnomer by saying that Abu Rahyan Al-Biruni (d.1051) developed the first comprehensive scientific analysis of another religion and community in his magnum opus, Kitab Al-Hind. He also mentioned that Al-Shahristani (12th century) had authored the first encyclopedia of religions. Such was the openness of Islam to other religions, as he aptly said "None of these illustrious scholars felt that their faith (aqidah) was threatened by their attempts to understand other religions".

Chandra gave his opinion that the clergy elite "sought to promote an exclusive worldview obsessed with a narrow notion of religious purity. If anything, the long centuries of Western colonial domination that followed from the 16th century onwards reinforced this mindset within the ulama and the ummah".

He labelled the clergy elite as the "narrow-minded defenders of a pure, exclusive religious identity" and described the identity as "a notion of identity which has been promoted aggressively for a few decades now at the doctrinal level by the bigoted, dogmatic Wahhabi-oriented interpretation of Islam."

Read the whole article (as long as it remains) [click here].

When the Wahhabis Goes Marching In

2006-07-04T10:53:00.000+08:00

Salaams. Sadness brews in the air in Somalia, as a crisis unfolds. Apparently, a firebrand Wahhabi (like there is any other), Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys and his militia have seized control of Somalia. Guess what, they intend to do immediately. Yep, you guessed it right. They are going to implement Shari’ah with immediate effect. I mean the country is in complete shambles, and they feel Shari’ah will solve everything. Read more about the situation in Somalia [Article 1] [Article 2] [Article 3] [Article 4]

Shari’ah is a good thing, no doubt. However, where are the social mechanisms and civic society that must exist before we can even talk about Shari’ah? We need to eradicate social disorder, poverty, unemployment and so on before we should even think about Shari’ah. Of course it is difficult to eradicate poverty overnight, but at the very least we must remove the genuine reasons for people to steal (e.g. poverty, unemployment, etc) before we even talk about Shari’ah.

Even then, Shari’ah in itself means different things to different people. Academics and clerics have debated on this subject for ages. There are differences of opinions from the secularists, traditionalists, Salafis, Islamists, etc. We have the Wahhabis interpreting Shari’ah in one way, and we have others like Prof Sherman Jackson, Prof Khaled Abou Fadl and Dr Muqtedar Khan interpreting Shari’ah in several other ways.

Prof Khaled Abou Fadl said,

“We can debate God's will as much as we like. I encourage Muslims to do so in order to discover God's will,” says Abou el Fadl. “If, however, we adopt a law and the state implements it, we cannot assume that it represents God's will. If, on the other hand, we give the state the power to represent God, that is not a democracy, but a form of ideology. This contradicts Islamic theology, because God does not have an equal partner.”

Muqtedar Khan said,

The maqasid (objectives) of the Shari’ah is to establish social justice, equality, tolerance, and freedom of religion in societies. The hudud laws are a tiny part of the Shari’ah. Some of these laws are not even Qur'anic; they are taken from the Old Testament, such as stoning the adulterer (Deuteronomy 22:24). Yes, I believe that when the Shari’ah is interpreted and implemented by educated, enlightened, and compassionate people it will establish social justice and coexist harmoniously with a democratic polity. But if uneducated, angry, and bigoted people take the law in their hands and presume to speak on behalf of God, then tyranny is the most likely outcome.

Interesting. My personal opinion is that whatever term we may call it, Shari’ah or constitutional law, et cetera, bottom line is that in Islam we must seek for social justice, equality, freedom and so on. So whatever that we implement its objectives must be as those. The penal code must also take into consideration the general acceptance of stipulated punishments. If the community in general abhors the cutting of hands as punishment of theft, or the community despises capital punishments, then lawmakers must take that into consideration. Afterall, we can never be sure that we are representing God’s will. But at the least, we must be just and fair to the community.

Suicide Bombing...

2006-07-03T12:01:00.000+08:00

Salaams one and all. I was reading Sunni Sisters blog and was then crossed to Boston Globe's latest photo gallery entitled "To be Muslim". It's a short photo essay with snippets of the life of some Muslims in America. There's a particular photo featuring Abdul Atheem and Musa Abdur-Rahman. They talked about suicide bombing, and what they said really captures my sentiments on the subject of suicide bombing. See the photo below, and read what they had to say,

''Yeah, man,'' says Abdul Atheem (left). ''Come by my shop. I'll help you with your project.'' I set off for Endemik Designs in Peabody to meet Atheem, a Dominican immigrant who also goes by Andy Santos, and Musa Abdur-Rahman, a Venezuelan immigrant also known as Juan Carlos Pina.

''What I love about Islam is the guidance,'' Atheem tells me. ''Now that I am a Muslim, I see the benefits of Islam. There are so many evils we see every single day. If people were to just follow what God had revealed, there would be peace, there wouldn't be war.''

The conversation turns to suicide bombers. ''Most people who do suicide bombings are ignorant, I don't care how Islamic they say they are,'' Abdur-Rahman says. ''Mohammed says if anybody kills himself or herself, God will punish them forever in that form which he has killed himself. If you blow yourself up, God will blow you up in the hellfire, rebuild you, and blow you up again for eternity.''

Hope you go through the other pictures as well (only 7 in all). Picture used without permission, of course. Hope Boston Globe don't mind. Oh yah! especially for Americans, Happy Independence Day!

Journey to Ihsan

2006-06-20T22:41:00.000+08:00

Salaams one and all.

The Abdul Aleem Siddique Mosque in Singapore is organising its 2nd International Conference on Islamic Spirituality, dubbed 'Journey to Ihsan'. Its first was organised in 2003 and was held in Suntec. This time the conference would be held on 2 & 3 September 2006, at Sultan Mosque Auditorium.

The organiser has arranged an impressive array of scholars from America, United Kingdom, Malaysia and Singapore. The scholars speaking at the conference would be Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, Prof Alan Godlas, Ustaz (Dr) Uthman El-Muhammady, Sis Aisha Gray, Bro Aftab Malik, Ustaz Mohamed Bin Hj Ali, etc.

It's an event NOT TO BE MISSED. With such a list of honorable scholars and speakers, there's surely lots to be learnt from the wise scholars. Keep yourself free on 2 & 3 September 2006. More details on the conference available on the Mosque's website or click here. To register, click here.

Is Our Faith That Fragile

2006-06-19T17:52:00.000+08:00

Salaams. Been away for a holiday for quite a while. Interesting recent news in Malaysia that stirred up quite a controversy.

Recently there was conference of Muslim clerics ('ulama) in Malaysia that came up with 22 resolutions (some call fatwa). Among them being that it was not allowed for Muslims to conduct a joint celebration of festivities, which has been a common scene in Malaysia and Singapore for the last few years. In the last few years, we have seen some religious festivities like Hari Raya (Eid), Deepavali and Chinese New Year coinciding in dates or at least occcuring very close to each other, perhaps even 1 day apart. This is primarily because of the way the Islamic calendar operates versus the calendars subscribed by the Chinese and Hindus. The celebrations and festivities were great fun because everyone shared their festivities and learnt about the diverse cultures and faiths.

Anyway there were some interesting articles concerning the issue. In a comment made by Rose Ismail entitled "Is Our Faith That Fragile", she said "A joint Chinese New Year-Hari Raya gathering, where I would probably eat an orange, a handful of peanuts and a biscuit or two, should not turn me into a traitor of the religion". She also said "It seems to suggest that our faith in God is so fundamentally fragile that, on the slightest pretext, we can be persuaded to jump ship". You can read her article here.

I agree with Rose. Why do these austere clerics think that celebrating such festivities would make us Muslims weak in faith. It's absolute nonsense. I mean if the Muslims were to celebrate their festivities within their own confines, then where is the da'wah? How do we make others understand Islam? How can we expose others to Islam and Muslims? So, when others don't understand Islam, then we can only blame ourselves.

Zainah Anwar also wrote a stinging article concerning the ridiculous fatwa. She wrote in "Making Taboo A Cherished Tradition":

WHAT next on the laundry list of the forbidden? On Tuesday, it was pluralism and liberalism that posed a danger to the faith of Muslims. On Wednesday it was kongsi raya and open house. Tomorrow will it be the Barisan Nasional multi-ethnic coalition system that is haram because such close co-operation might undermine the faith of the Muslims in Umno.

So what else will those bent on turning this country into a theocratic dictatorship focus their attention on next?

The Ninth Malaysia Plan has been launched. National priorities and challenges have been identified and everyone is rolling up their sleeves to get to work. And what did some of our ulama do? They met for two days to declare so much of what we love and celebrate about Malaysia and being Malaysian, as threats to the Muslim faith. What else could be in the 22 resolutions passed by the Majlis Muzakarah of our ulama this week? What among the 11 fatwas passed by the Majlis Ulama Indonesia or from the thousands in the Wahhabi catalogue of fatwas did they decide to adopt?

Read the rest of the article here.

Sufism & Its Place in Islam

2006-05-31T20:12:00.000+08:00

Salaams everyone. I came across a lecture by Ahmet Karamustafa, Associate Professor of History & Religious Studies at Washington University. In a lecture organised by John Caroll University (JCU), he explained the subject of "Sufism & Its Place Within Islam". Following a discussion of terms, Dr. Karamustafa presented "portraits" of two Sufis who were pivotal to the development of the movement. The various sections of the lecture includes:

1. Introduction by Prof Zeki Saritoprak (Nursi Chair in Islamic Studies at JCU)

2. Lecture by Dr. Karamustafa

a. Introduction of Subject

b. Definition of Terms

c. Portraits of 2 early Sufis - Sahl At-Toustari & Abou Hussein Nouri

d. Sufi's Place Within Islam

e. Summary

3. Questions & Answers

It's kinda quite basic, but worth listening. Have a listen!

Sufis in Iraq

2006-05-31T11:35:00.000+08:00

Salaams one and all. I recently asked Sis Sabbie, an American sister, who just returned from Iraq about the situation of Sufis and Sufism in Iraq. She gave the following response:

Thank you for your interest concerning your Sufi brothers and sisters in Iraq. Challenging times are the norm in Iraq, and this era is no different. Dr. Godlas has the best information about al-tariqqas in Iraq.

al-tariqqa al-Kasnazani Qadiriya is one of the few Sufi orders in Iraq that has websites. They are working on getting both the websites and publications in English but this takes time and good translators, we had a deep discussion about this and its importance including 12 newly published books on Islamic Mysticism (which are available in Arabic and they may send this huge box to me). This tariqqa has both Sunni and Shia and extends down to Baghdad, thru Iran, India, up through Russia, etc. (more later)

The second are the Naqshbandiya. I am a murid of both. The Naqshbandiya in Iraq/Kurdistan do not have a website although they are thinking about it. Again it takes time for development and time. There are many Shaykhs in both tariqqas, and I am looking forward to returning for zikr with several different groups who invited me (did not have time this trip for many), but they for the most part, they fall under the same umbrellas, so to speak.

Now for the reality of today's current situation in Iraq. In Iraq as a whole extending down to Basra, the Sufis are targets for the extremists by mostly Salifis and Wahhabis, especially foreigners arriving from other countries. The Qadiriya includes both Sunni and Shia murids, and continue to hold zikr and other gatherings up in Kurdistan (where it is safe) and smaller cities around the country. Since last fall they had to close down in Baghdad including the school, there have been threats on murids and khalifas, and actual attacks on their tariqqas, in Central Iraq (not Iraq Kurdistan).

Bombings directly aimed at the Sufis have been in Balad where we lost 10 brothers and most recently in Tikrit May 25th or so, where we lost 2 brothers with an attack. The historical politics, including the past 20 years is extensive and complex for all the Sufis in Iraq especially under Saddam which I may address in a different post. Either way, the Qadiriya are practicing Islamic peacebuilding openly and moving in this direction, a role model for sectarian unification.

The Naqshbandiya have remained extremely quiet and yes, they do still conduct zikr, but very quietly and hidden from the public. On this most recent trip, I did not attend zikr with my beloved sisters, only to protect them from my American presence. In the fall, I went to zikr 2x a week. They do not have guards, or a secured compound as the Qadiriya and life is so simple with them. I know my sisters asked me to come for zikr on this short trip, saying do not worry, but I do, not for me but to protect them. Inshallah, maybe next time, I will go quietly. We are very quiet…

Iraq Kurdistan has totally different set of issues. It is a secure region, under Barzani (Naqshbandiya) and Talibani (Qadiriya). Both leaders have extensive Sufi backgrounds, although now they down play it to the extreme degree for political reasons. They are beginning to see Sufism as an Islamic peacebuilding and counter-terrorism preventative path, but are still very uncomfortable about religion in Kurdistan. The region is safe because of the measures against Islamists but it goes to the other extreme. People are becoming afraid to practice Islam as then they are investigated to determine if they are extremists.

Religious identity has almost become a 4-letter word, yet Islam is prominent in Kurdistan. It is a schizophrenia situation. On the one hand, the government wants to separate religion and state and guard against extremists, but in kind, there are many traditional and moderate Muslims in Iraqi Kurdistan who feel threatened and watched because of upholding the security in the region.

I feel the trend is changing to be that the government will continue protect and support the Sufis, as many people in Iraq Kurdistan are Sufis and they support other Sufis visiting the al-tariqqas in Kurdistan. The government is just realizing the beautiful and unique gems in their region. I asked an official whether she was ready for a group of American and Western Sufis to come visit Iraq Kurdistan. Her reply was, of course, we will take care of them, the region is secure, and we would be honored to have them come see Kurdistan, take part in
zikr and there are new hotels opening and we can give a guided tour. Later, a few days after the meeting, I found out she was Naqshbandiya. So there we are. When asked if they will willing to do drum circles, it would only be within the tariqqas. So I found a youth center that is willing to do the drum circles and other peacebuilding activities for all youth.

Well, this is very simplified. For example, at one point a few years ago, the Ba'thists advised US forces that certain Sufi groups were jihadists or insurgents, when actually it was the opposite. Now the US knows, but hmmm. The Sufis in Iraq carry on, the Naqshbandiya very quietly, and the Qadiriya, more open but under attack outside of Kurdistan. Both support Islamic peacebuilding and dialogue, both very loving and dedicated and growing support of at least the Kurdistan Regional Government. As was told to me, not only is there a war on the ground but a spiritual war, and they continue to bring light to the region.

Be assured, the tariqqas in Iraq send salams and much love to all of you, brothers and sisters, to your hearts and they are very aware of this group, Sufis without Borders. They welcome your visits in the future and I am willing to facilitate visits to Iraq Kurdistan for those interested.

Some links for more reading on the subject:

Muslims, Islam and Iraq by Prof Alan Godlas
http://www.uga.edu/islam/iraq.html

Sufis under attack as Sunni rifts widen
http://www.kurdmedia.com/news.asp?id=7542

The Naqshbandi Shaikhs Of Hawraman and The Heritage of Khalidiyya-Mujaddidiyya In Kurdistan
http://www.barzan.com/fshakely5.html

Kurdish Leader Calls for the Elimination of Ladenite Ansar Al-Islam
http://www.puk.org/web/htm/news/knwsline/nws/kurdlead.html

Hedieh Mirahmadi on Sufis in Iraq - Sunni Disposition
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/mirahmadi200405070942.asp

Sunni Islam in Iraq
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/religion-sunni.htm

Saudi Nonsense: Kingdom isn't getting message about hatred

2006-05-30T14:09:00.000+08:00

Monday, May 29, 2006 - The Dallas Morning News

What part of Germany's flirtation with evil do the Saudis still not get? The part about Jews being treated like pariahs? The part about German churches looking the other way when Hitler rose? The part about allowing hatred to bloom?

You have to wonder, given a new Freedom House report. It shows that some Saudi textbooks used in schools and Sunday schools in the United States, Europe and elsewhere continue to promote a dangerous religious isolationism. Try this from an eighth-grade text the Freedom House reported on:

"The Jews are apes, the people of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christians, the infidels of the communion of Jesus."

And this from a 12th-grade text:

"Jihad in the path of God – which consists of battling against unbelief, oppression, injustice, and those who perpetrate it – is the summit of Islam."

There you have it. No middle ground there. No wonder jihadists take up arms, if this is what they learn. The hatred spews straight out of Wahhabism, a peculiar brand of radical Islam that took hold in the desert kingdom centuries ago. Even after 9/11, when Wahhabi-influenced Saudis rained down destruction upon supposed infidels in America, the Saudi government still gives venomous Wahhabi teachers and clerics too much latitude.

"Too much" is the operative term here. It isn't that Saudi leaders haven't tried to improve their school system. "King Abdullah has retrained teachers and wants to get this out of textbooks," former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia Robert Jordan told this page.

But why these textbooks can't be eradicated faster isn't completely clear. There could be a bureaucratic holdup down the line; pockets of resistance could slow things down. The Saudi family faces a political dance of sorts. If it cracks down too hard on the Wahhabis, the radicals could revolt and cause even greater instability in the Persian Gulf.

One thing's clear. This Freedom House report comes five years after the Saudis started getting the message that the West will not tolerate religious violence. For Americans' good, as well as for the Saudis' benefit, the Bush administration ought to push this point harder. Saudi Arabia clearly hasn't learned nearly enough from recent history.

Saudi Government Questions its Wahhabi Roots

2006-05-30T13:59:00.000+08:00

Saudi Arabia has practiced a strict Wahhabi form of Islam for centuries, but Islamic extremism has led to religious questioning.

By Kate Seelye

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia--Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam and a nation where religion and government are deeply entwined and where faith and identity are virtually identical. But since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, religion in Saudi Arabia--especially the kingdom's rigidly conservative Wahhabism strain of Islam--has come under increasing criticism both inside and outside of the country, with some critics maintaining it contributes to extremism and terrorism.

Others, however, such as cleric Sheik Abded Muhsin al-Ubakyan, reject the criticism, arguing Saudis are simply following the true path of Islam as preached by the 18th century religious reformer Mohammed Abdel Wahhab. "He came and found people worshipping idols, graves and trees," Ubakyan told the PBS program "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly." "'This is not Islam,' Abdel Wahhab came to say. 'This is wrong,' and (he) returned people to the correct understanding of Islam."

Wahhab formed an alliance with local tribal leaders--the al Sauds--around the desert town of Dirayah. Out of that 18th century political and religious union, modern Saudi Arabia was born. The religious followers of Wahhab gave the ruling family religious legitimacy, and in return the clerical establishment was given nearly free rein in determining Saudi social and religious policy. The result is a very conservative interpretation of the Qur’an with religious police enforcing the country's strict social codes, including rigid gender separation at work as well as in restaurants, banks and other public establishments. "In modern society, there is corruption that results from the mixing of men and women," Ubakyan said. "From desire comes adultery, illegitimate children, and sexual disease."

Wahhabism also decrees that Islam is the only recognized religion and non-Muslims are banned from public worship or evangelizing. Some Wahhabi clerics preach against tolerating other faiths, as well as Muslim sects that don't share their interpretation of the Qur’an. "Anyone who is not a Muslim is an infidel, no matter what religion he is," said Suleiman al Duwaish, a cleric and religious scholar. "We also recognize the difference between which of these infidels deserve to be cursed and those who don't," he added. "God himself differentiated between Jews and Christians. While both being infidels, Christians are closer to Muslims than the Jews and less of an enemy than them as well."

Traditionally, it has been taboo to criticize the religious establishment, and most Saudis have enormous respect for their spiritual leaders. But a series of deadly al-Qaida attacks in the last several years have begun to change both government and popular attitudes. Some, like religious reformer Khaled al Ghannami, a former Wahhabi, believe that Wahhabism nurtures extremism. "Those teachings encouraged people to come up with ideas that this country must be pure, that nobody else who is not Muslim should set foot in this land, and that everyone who comes here (who is not Muslim) ... can be killed just for being there," Ghannami said.

The government has launched a campaign to combat terrorist militancy. Posters and billboards urge citizens to report terrorists, and Saudi King Abdullah has accused extremists of hijacking Islam. He has called on clerics to be more moderate in their preaching and initiated a series of national dialogues to discuss extremism, problems facing young people and the role of women--one of the touchier issues facing Islam.

The government has also ordered a revision of the school curriculum, including stripping textbooks of hostile references to other religions. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs is three years into an evaluation of the country's mosques and spiritual leaders, some of whom have been disciplined. "There is some misunderstanding with some of the imams, and when we interviewed them and talked to them, they changed their ideas," said Abdullalah Allheedan, assistant deputy minister for Islamic Affairs. "We found some of them who are followers of the extremist ideas, and these people were fired."

Allheedan says the extremist militancy is not homegrown but came from the outside, mostly from young people who joined militants for "jihad" in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya.

While the U.S. government, a reluctant critic of its close ally, says the Saudis have taken steps to fight domestic extremism, many critics in the kingdom believe it should do far more. "They would have to, for example, reform education, reform the media, reform internal policy and open the floor" for other ideas," said Khaled al Dakhil, a political sociologist at King Saud University in Riyadh. "They don't have to do anything with the Wahhabis but open the floor (up) for other interpretations, other discourses, religious and otherwise. That will give you the leeway, the freedom to move."

But Dakhil said Saudi authorities are reluctant to challenge the clerics' dominance for fear it would undermine their legitimacy as rulers and the stability of the state. "Maybe they are afraid that if you increase the pace of change, if you really challenge the religious authorities, you will get into a clash with the society, and that might cause disintegration, chaos," he said.

While the government is cautious on making changes, some citizens--especially women--are forging ahead. Samar al Mogren, for example, is the local news editor of Al Watan newspaper and is the first Saudi woman to oversee a mixed gender news department despite the religious restrictions against mixing men and women in the workplace. "It's my right as a woman to live my life as humanly as possible in my country and to fulfill my ambitions and my dreams without having to leave," she said.

[from Beliefnet.com - http://www.beliefnet.com/story/185/story_18554_1.html]

Lectures at Abdul Aleem Siddique Mosque (Singapore)

2006-05-26T18:13:00.000+08:00

If We Really Love Muhammad (s), We Will Follow His Way

2006-05-15T10:22:00.000+08:00

Khutbat al-Jumu`ah

Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani

12th May 2006, ASIM, Burton, Michigan

Ayyuhal muminoon al-hadiroon, ittaqullah wa ati`ooh

O Muslims, Alhamdulillah, Allah is providing us with health, with everything that we need and that we ask for. Alhamdulillah that Allah swt making you not to sleep hungry. If you look around the world today, and you will find how many people are dying from hunger, how many people are dying from thirstiness, how many people are dying from different diseases. We have to say alhamdulillah ya rabbee shukhran. We have to thank Allah swt for what he honored us and gave us.

Sayyidina Muhammad used to wrap his stomach with stones because of hunger not to feel the hunger. Sayyidina ‘Umar, all of you know that famous story, when he was khalifa of Muslims, when he was given baya that he is amir al-mumineen he used to go at night to different districts of the city to see who is in need. One day he passed by a house and heard children inside crying asking their mother for food. And he was listening to the conversation going on, and she said, “wait till the food is cooked,” and she was cooking with a pot on the fire. Then after some hours, he stood listening and the children slept without eating. He knocked on the door, and asked the woman why she let the children sleep without eating. She said, “W’allahi, I don’t have anything to feed them”. “What are you cooking then?” “I put stones in the water and boiled it to let the children think that I am cooking something. In that way they fell asleep”.

Sayyidina ‘Umar (r) then went and brought many provisions for that lady and her children. His assistant asked him “let me carry them”. He said, “No you cannot carry my responsibility and my sins on Judgment Day”. He carried all of those provisions, and took to that lady one month’s worth of provisions.

We are alhamdulillah with Prophet’s grace; Allah swt sent him mercy to humanity. With that love to Sayyidina Muhammad, He swt is giving us and honoring us. Look today how many people are writing seeking help and how many are suffering in not getting help. That is why we have to thank Allah swt and we have to remember that Allah swt said in Holy Qur’an, “If you worship Me and be sincere, I will provide you don’t worry about provision.” The problem is that today, Muslims are not today relying on what Allah swt said in Holy Qur’an.

Ma khalaqta al-jinna wal ins illa li-yabudoon. “I did not create jinn and ins except to worship Me. I don’t want from provision nor do I need them to feed Me”. It means: I don’t want them to think about their provision. If they are really worshipping Me, I will provide them, I will send them from nowhere.

And Allah swt is providing them. If people are suffering the responsibility falls on the leaders of those countries who are responsible. And those who are suffering and dying, Allah swt will send them where? He will send them to Paradise.

But those tyrants who are leaders of Muslims today will suffer on Judgment Day. So it is better not to be a leader. If you are a leader you are responsible. Those who are running to be leaders around the world are going to be responsible.

Even prophets. On Judgment Day all of their people and nations are going to run to them and they are not going to find a way to come out of the resurrection day to be questioned, prophets and their nations. As it is mentioned in hadith that all will come to Prophet Muhammad (s). All, from Adam (as) up to Prophet (s) `Isa, as Prophet (s) said, Adam wa man dunahu tahta liwaee yawm al-qiyamat. “Adam and whoever is other than him will be under my flag on the Day of Rising”.

And it is mentioned in hadith that all prophets, all the nations go to their prophets. The People of Nuh go to Sayyidina Nuh; the people of Ibrahim go to Sayyidina Ibrahim; the people of Sayyidina Musa (as) go to Sayyidina Musa (as) and all the prophets in between, their people will go to their prophet and all of them will say, “we have nothing to offer. Let us go to Muhammad”. It means, “Let us go to the master whom Allah swt made the seal of the messengers”. And Prophet Muhammad (s) will say ana laha, ana laha, “I am for it! I am for it!”

All prophets come to Prophet (s) asking for the shafa’ and the Prophet goes into sajda [and makes du`a that is inspired to his heart, du`a never before opened] saying, “Ya Rabbee,” and Allah swt says, s’al, tu‘ta, washfa’ tushafa’ – “ask and you will be given, intercede and it will be granted!” and the Prophet (s) asks and Allah swt gives. That is Sayyidina Muhammad between prophets and these prophets are needing his help.

What do you think about tyrants? If Prophets with their nations need to go to Prophet Muhammad (s), with their nations, and these prophets are all ma’sum, they are all protected. They have no sins ma’sum. Even if they did something they are still prophets. They go to Prophet (s). Where are these leaders going to go?

That is why it is better to be a sheep, not to be a leader. No responsibility. The shepherd is responsible. Because today we cannot change anything any more. As the Prophet (s) said, man ra’minkum munkiran fa’l yughayiru bi-yaddih - “If someone sees something wrong let him try to change it with his hand.” Everything is wrong today. It means when you see something bad you move it. If you cannot with your hand, then with your tongue, speak about it. If not, then with your heart say, “Ya Rabbee you change it, we cannot do it. You do it, they are tyrants.”

The Prophet (s) was sent as mercy to humanity. These leaders are tyrants to humanity. May Allah swt bring them back to their normal minds for this ummah to come strong. When they are heedless and ignorant of what the people need, the people are in problems, the Muslims are in problems. We are on haqq not on baatil, and still we are down. But still we are down. Haqq must be up, qul ja al-haqq wa zahaqq al-batila inn al-batila kaana zahooqa. Today we are seeing that, say haqq came. Haqq means Islam. Haqq came. Inna ad-deen ‘ind-Allah al-Islam.

Islam means salam, greetings and it mean tasleem - submission that is Islam. Islam is not anything other than to be submitting to your Lord. Submit yourself first to Allah swt. Islam is to clean up yourself, before trying to clean others. Are we perfect? No. Are we sinners? Yes. Then you must keep your head into sajda, as Adam (as) did when he committed the sin and he was a Prophet (s). He ate from the tree when Allah swt said not to. He went into sajda crying for 40 years until Allah swt said “Enough”. If Adam (as) went into sajda for 40 years, how long for us? It might be 4 million years. And how many times are we disobeying? How many times we are not accepting what the Prophet (s) came with? The Prophet (s) said, alaykum bi sunnatee wa sunnat khulafa’ee min ba’dee. “Follow my Sunnah and the sunnah of my deputies after me”. Follow the sunnah means to follow the way the Prophet (s) put for us.

We follow one day, we don’t follow the other day. We follow one step but we don’t follow the other steps. We are like a crippled person. We are crippled. Even though we are crippled Allah swt is Ghafooran Raheem. But Allah swt says dhakir fa inna ad-dhikra tanfa` al-mumineen. “Remind, for verily the reminder benefits the believers”. Even though we are crippled we keep moving, but ask forgiveness.

May Allah swt inspire us to repent in every moment of our lives in order that He will be happy with us. And we are weak servants and we are trying what we can and you are Al-‘Adheem, you are the Majestic, the Creator, and we are the servants. The servant to the Creator is nothing. Since we are nothing. Don’t judge us on nothing. Since we are nothing, as if we don’t exist, then judge us as nothing, then everyone will go to Paradise.

People put conferences, they put seminars, they put workshops. What is the benefit? They bring speakers from all around the world. It goes in from one ear and left the other ear. They spend money, money, money for what, if there is no teacher? Like someone who is handicapped. There are schools specialized in handicapped to train with some kind of therapy to at least think and walk and move a little bit. Give us teachers that can understand and observe daily in order to guide us and to see the problem in everyone of us and correct it. That is meaning of a guide. If there is no teacher how are you going to learn? Imam Malik had 900 teachers. In school you have so many teachers until you get PhD. And for Islam you [believe] you don’t need a teacher for the message of Islam that is so profound? They say “we don’t need teachers, we need lecturers”. The lecturer when he goes out the door you will not see him again in your life. But the teacher is important in your life. He will guide you. Like the shepherd and the sheep. He will protect from foxes and wolves. How many foxes and wolves are coming from shayateen? We don’t know that. May Allah swt send us a shepherd, a heavenly shepherd inspire us to be guided, in kuntum tuhiboon Allah swt fatabi`oonee…

If we really love Muhammad we will follow his way.

If It Weren't for Oil...

2006-05-03T17:33:00.000+08:00

Peace. If it weren't for oil...hmmm... Just wanted to share with you a couple of interesting articles containing comments on Salafi/Wahhabi stuff made recently by James Woolsey, the former director of the CIA.

If it weren't for oil, some of these movements, like the Wahhabi in Saudi Arabia, would be a few tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of crazies out there in the middle of the desert somewhere. But oil ... and the control of the two great holy places of Islam gives them the ability to spread their doctrine all over the world. The Wahhabis get ... something in the ballpark of $4 billion a year from the Saudis to run their operations and set up their madrases (religious schools) in Pakistan and print up the literature they put in mosques in the United States, and enforce with religious police. And that's essentially the same doctrine as al-Qaida. The only thing they and al-Qaida disagree about is who should be in charge.
<read article here>

Today, however, the ideology of our enemies is vibrant, strong, and religiously rooted. It presents a very difficult problem for us, because the Islamist-Salafist ideology, in the Middle East particularly and some other parts of the Muslim world, it is attracting some of the more talented and able young men and occasionally young women of those societies. There is, in the Salafist world, fire in the minds of men.

In the Cold War, we did not have to worry about screening the clerics who applied to be prison ministers for their ideological beliefs. Yet today, a fair number of Muslim prison clerics, are Wahhabis who teach the underlying ideology of hatred which is the same as that taught and adhered to by al-Qaeda.

The underlying views of Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabis and the jihadis such as al-Qaeda are essentially the same. They are explicitly genocidal with respect to Shi’ite Muslims, Jews, and homosexuals. They are fanatically hostile to pretty much everybody else: Sufi Muslims, Christians, women, democracy, music, across the board. The Saudis, out of their $160 billion oil income annually, take 3 or 4 billion and give it to the Wahhabi sect in Saudi Arabia. When those $3-4 billion go to the Wahhabis and the Wahhabis use them to help put prison chaplains into American prisons or to teach hatred in the madrassas of Pakistan, they are spreading essentially the same underlying ideology that is held by al-Qaeda.
<read article here>

Woolsey gave some interesting suggestions about eradicating the hate ideology. He also said some interesting things about Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

There are millions of good and decent Muslims in the world. If you want to have an interesting speaker, sometime invite Sheik Kabbani from Detroit, the head of the Sufis in the United States, an absolutely wonderful man.

In Saudi Arabia, a Resurgence of Sufism

2006-05-03T01:10:00.000+08:00

Salaams one and all. I came across this beautiful piece of article (aka good news!) entitled "In Saudi Arabia, A Resurgence of Sufism". What wonderful news? SubhanAllah! I clipped the entire article from Washington Post (I hope they don't mind). I was afraid that readers like you might not be able to read it after some time, as they often ask for registration, passwords, etc, etc. The hyperlink provided within the article is mine though, just to help those who need further clarification on some of the subjects discussed. Read on...

IN SAUDI ARABIA, A RESURGENCE OF SUFISM
Mystical Sect of Islam Finds Its Voice in More Tolerant Post-9/11 Era

By Faiza Saleh Ambah
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, May 2, 2006; A13

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- A hush came over the crowd as the young man sitting cross-legged on the floor picked up the microphone and sang, a cappella, a poem about Islam's prophet Muhammad. His eyes shut tight, his head covered by an orange-and-white turban, he crooned with barely contained ardor of how the world rejoiced and lights filled the skies the day the prophet was born. The men attending the mawlid -- a celebration of the birth and life of Muhammad -- sat on colorful rugs, rocking gently back and forth, while the women, on the upper floor watching via a large projection screen, passed around boxes of tissues and wiped tears from their eyes.

The centuries-old mawlid, a mainstay of the more spiritual and often mystic Sufi Islam, was until recently viewed as heretical and banned by Saudi Arabia's official religious establishment, the ultraconservative Wahhabis. But a new atmosphere of increased religious tolerance has spurred a resurgence of Sufism and brought the once-underground Sufis and their rituals out in the open.

Analysts and some Sufis partly credit reaction to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States for the atmosphere that has made the changes possible. When it was discovered that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi, the kingdom's strict Wahhabi doctrine -- which had banned all other sects and schools of thought -- came under intense scrutiny from inside and outside the country. The newfound tolerance Sufis have come to enjoy is perhaps one of the most concrete outcomes of that shift.

"This is one of the blessings of September 11. It put the brakes on the [Wahhabi] practice of takfir , excommunicating everyone who didn't exactly follow their creed," said Sayed Habib Adnan, a 33-year-old Sufi teacher. The government "realized that maybe enforcing one religious belief over all others was not such a good idea."

When Adnan moved to Saudi Arabia from his native Yemen four years ago, Sufi gatherings were often clandestine, sometimes held in orchards outside the city, or in basements and without microphones, for fear of drawing attention. "I couldn't wear this," he said, pointing to his turban. "Or this," he said, pulling at his white cotton overcoat. "Or I would be branded a Sufi. You couldn't even say the word 'Sufi.' It was something underground, dangerous, like talking about drugs."

Sufis here say they are not a separate sect or followers of a separate religion, but adherents to a way of life based on the Muslim concept of ihsan. Muhammad explained ihsan to the angel Gabriel as "worshiping God as if you see Him. Because if you don't see Him, He sees you." Another Sufi characteristic is a strong belief in the power of blessings from the prophet, his close relatives and his companions.

Sufism had previously been predominant in Hejaz, the western region of Saudi Arabia, which includes Muhammad's birthplace, Mecca; Medina, where he is buried; and the Red Sea port city of Jiddah. Muslims prayed often at shrines where the prophet's daughter Fatima, his wife Khadija and his companions were buried. Mawlids were public affairs with entire cities decked out in lights, and parades and festivities commemorating the prophet's birthday and his ascension to Jerusalem.

When the al-Saud family that would later come to rule Saudi Arabia took over Hejaz in the 1920s, the Wahhabis banned mawlids as a form of heresy and destroyed the historic shrines of Khadija, Fatima and the prophet's companions, fearing they would lead to idolatry and polytheism. Wahhabis, crucial allies in the Saud conquest of the disparate regions that became Saudi Arabia in 1932, were awarded control of religious affairs. Discrimination against Sufis, among others, intensified after armed Wahhabi extremists took over Mecca's Grand Mosque in 1979, demanding that a more puritanical form of Islam be applied in the country. Though the government quelled the uprising and executed its leaders, authorities were shaken by the incident, and lest other Wahhabis defy them, they allowed them more rein.

Soon after, extremist clerics issued a religious edict, or fatwa, declaring Sufi's spiritual leader, Muhammad Alawi Maliki, a nonbeliever. He was removed from his teaching position, banned from giving lessons at the Grand Mosque, where both his father and grandfather had taught, and interrogated by the religious police and the Interior Ministry. After Maliki was later attacked by a throng of radicals incensed at his presence in the mosque, he could pray there only under armed guard. Meanwhile, thousands of cassettes and booklets circulated calling Sufis "grave-lovers" and dangerous infidels who had to be stopped before they made a comeback. Their salons were raided, and those caught with Sufi literature were often arrested or jailed.

The tide finally turned in 2003, with the new atmosphere that took hold following the Sept. 11 attacks, when the future King Abdullah, then the crown prince, held a series of meetings to acknowledge the country's diverse sects and schools of thought. One of the guests was Sufi leader Maliki. When he died the following year, Abdullah and the powerful defense and interior ministers attended his funeral. The rehabilitation of his legacy was almost complete. "We were then upgraded from infidels, to people who are ignorant and practicing their religion wrong," said Wasif Kabli, a 59-year-old businessman.

But many Sufis complain that despite outward appearances, Wahhabis continue to destroy shrines in and around their holy places, their salons continue to be raided and their literature is still banned. Wahhabis and Sufis view Islam from opposite directions. To Wahhabis, who emerged from the kingdom's stark, harsh desert, a believer's relationship can be only directly with God. To them, Sufis' celebrations of the prophet's life smack of idolatry, and supplications to him, his relatives and companions appear to replace or bypass the link with God. Sufis answer that the prophet celebrated his own birthday by fasting on Mondays, that he himself offered to intervene with God on behalf of Muslims and that he could often be found in the evenings at the grave sites of his wives and companions.

Last month, on the occasion of the prophet's birthday, a crowd of more than 1,000 gathered to celebrate at a private residence. Sufi books, cassettes and DVDs were selling out in one corner of the large garden where the event was held. Adnan, the Sufi teacher, was one of four speakers who addressed the crowd. He asked: Why are we Sufis always on the defensive? "Nobody asks [soccer] fans for religious proof that sanctifies their gatherings at the stadium because of their devotion to their team," he said. "How come we are always asked for an explanation of our devotion to our beloved prophet?"

Muhammad Jastaniya, a 20-year-old economics major and part of a new wave of young Saudis who have embraced Sufism, said what drew him was the focus on God. On a recent moonlit evening, Jastaniya sipped sugary mint tea with his friends on rugs spread on the rooftop of a Zawiya, or lodge where Sufis go to meditate, chant or sit in on lessons. The words 'God' and 'Muhammad' were written in green neon lights, and Islam's 99 names for God were stenciled in black paint around the wall. "To be a Sufi is to clear your heart of everything but God," he explained. "The Islam we were taught here is like a body without a soul. Sufism is the soul. It's not an alternative religion -- it can contain all Muslims." That thought seems to be taking hold, even in faraway corners.

In a sign of Tolerance, Salman al-Odah (left) the country's most popular puritanical cleric, accepted an invitation from Sufi cleric Abdallah Fadaaq (right) to attend a Sufi celebration.

Salman al-Odah, the country's most popular puritanical cleric, who was jailed in the 1990s for opposing the presence of U.S. troops in the kingdom, accepted an invitation to visit Sufi cleric Abdallah Fadaaq's mawlid and lesson last week. The scene at Fadaaq's house was an obvious sign of conciliation. Al-Odah sat with his hands neatly folded in his lap, wearing a red-and-white checkered headdress and clear wraparound glasses and sporting the short scraggly beard that indicates a conservative. Fadaaq, who at 39 is emerging as the new symbol of Hejazi Sufism, wore the white turban, the white overcoat and shawl typical of Sufis, wooden prayer beads resting on his lap. "It's true that there are differences between the way people practice their faith in this country, and this is an indication that people are using their minds and thinking, which is a good thing," Fadaaq said. "But what we should concentrate on are the expanses that bring us together, like the prophet. We must take advantage of what we have in common."

Save the Hijjaz

2006-04-24T14:51:00.000+08:00

Salaams All.

Islam is a religion that is rich in arts, culture and heritage. Wonderful architecture, interesting relics, blessed sites, beautiful calligraphy and paintings, and so on. Throughout the period of the spread of Islam, since the birth of Prophet Muhammad (s), Muslim caliphs and rulers have taken great efforts and pains to preserve the rich heritage of Islam.

With exception of course. Only the Saudi Wahhabi state is doing the exact opposite. Instead of preserving our rich heritage, they are taking all means possible to destroy them (all if possible). Since their advent in the early 1920s, the Saudi-Wahhabis have been on a rampage, obsessed in ridding itself of the heritage of Islam.

In 1998, the grave of Amina bint Wahb, the prophet Mohammed's mother, was bulldozed and doused in gasoline.
The birthplace of Prophet Mohammed came under threat 50 years ago, now a library, will soon levelled and turned into a car park.
The house of Sayyidatina Khadijah (Prophet Muhammad's first wife), was demolished and replaced with public lavatories.
The house of Sayyidina Abu Bakr (companion of Prophet Mohammad & first caliph of Islam) was demolished to make way for the Hilton hotel.
The 1,200-year-old Masjid Abu Qubais, site of the grave of the Prophet's grandson Ali-Oraid, was demolished and a palace was built over it.
The mosque and tomb of Sayyid Imam al-Uraidhi ibn Ja‘far al-Sadiq was destroyed by dynamite and flattened on 13 August 2002.

There's lots more insane acts that just make me cry. I just don't know when will these Wahhabis ever stop. In a very recent article entitled "Shame of the House of Saud: Shadows Over Mecca" published by Independent UK newspaper, it mentioned,

The Wahhabis live in fanatical fear that places of historical or religious interest could give rise to alternative forms of pilgrimage or worship. Their obsession with combating idolatry has seen them flatten all evidence of a past that does not agree with their interpretation of Islam.

Lay people, and in some cases even US senators could be forgiven for thinking that the House of Saud has been the guardian of the two holy places for time immemorial. In fact, it is only 80 years since the tribal chieftain Ibn Saud occupied Mecca and Medina.

There's been a series of articles on this subject that I would like to share with everyone, and I hope you can spend some time reading the following short articles:

Shaykh Irfan Ahmed al-Alawi is fighting a lonesome battle, struggling hard against the tide. His message is falling on deaf ears - the Wahhabis have ears that cannot hear, and eyes that cannot see. Visit Shaykh Irfan's website Save the Hijjaz to know more about this struggle - click here. We have to do something. Think about it. Meanwhile, we must make do'a for Allah's Heavenly Support.

A Musical Fatwa

2006-04-21T19:11:00.000+08:00

Salaams. A Musical Fatwa? Ever heard about it?

Well, I bought a music album "Republik Cinta" ("Republic of Love") by an Indonesian group some weeks ago. The group is called Dewa - one of the most popular groups in Indonesia today, having sold millions of albums. Being a musician myself (though I have not played for some time now), I must say that the album is excellently produced. Excellent music production and lyrics. Dewa is a truly talented group, world class!

Anyway, I want to share with all of you the lyrics of one of their songs, dubbed as "The Musical Fatwa". The song is entitled "Laskar Cinta" ("Warriors of Love"). Read the lyrics first before I explain a little more about the group and the song...

[In Indonesian Language]
Wahai, jiwa-jiwa yang tenang
Berhati-hatilah dirimu
Kepada hati hati yang penuh dengan
Kebencian yang dalam

Karena, sesungguhnya iblis ada dan bersemayam
Di hati yang penuh dengan benci
Di hati yang penuh dengan prasangka

Laskar Cinta
Sebarkanlah benih-benih cinta
Musnahkanlah virus-virus benci
Virus yang bisa rusakkan jiwa dan busukkan hati

Laskar Cinta
Ajarkanlah ilmu tentang cinta
Karena Cinta adalah Hakikat
Dan jalan yang terang bari semua umat manusia

Jika kebencian meracunimu kepada
kaum umat yang lainnya
Maka sesungguhnya iblis sudah berkuasa atas dirimu
Maka jangan pernah berharap Aku
Akan mengasihi, menyayangi…
Manusia-manusia yang penuh benci - seperti kamu

Wahai jiwa-jiwa yang tenang, jangan sekali-kali kamu
Mencoba jadi Tuhan dengan mengadili dan mengahakimi
Bahwasanya kamu memang tak punya daya dan upaya
Serta kekuatan untuk menentukan kebenaran yg sejati

Bukankah kita memang tercipta laki-laki dan wanita
Dan menjadi suku-suku dan bangsa-bangsa yang pasti berbeda
Bukankah kita memang harus saling mengenal dan menghormati
Bukan untuk saling bercerai-cerai dan berperang angkat senjata

[English Translation - not written poetically]
Hey, all whose soul is at peace
Watch out and be on your guard
For hearts that are full of
Deep hatred

Because for sure evil dwells
In the hearts of all those who are full of hate
In the hearts of all those full of prejudice

Warriors of Love
Spread the seeds of Love
Destroy the viruses of hatred
Viruses that make hearts sick and depraved

Warriors of Love
Teach the mystical science of Love
For only Love is the Reality
And the shining path for all of mankind

If hatred has already poisoned you
Against those who may be different
Then evil’s got you in its damning embrace
If so, don’t bother to hope that I
Shall ever love or embrace
People full of hate and anger - like you

Hey there, all whose soul is at peace, don't you ever
Try to play God, by judging and condemning
For you do not have the will, the means
Nor the power to know the ultimate Truth

Are we not created as men and women
Destined to tribes and nations that differs with one another
Are we not supposed to know and respect
Rather than be disunited and turn to weapons and wars

How about that? Isn't it wonderful. In Indonesia there was an organisation called "Laskar Jihad" ("Warriors of Jihad"), a Wahhabi-infested organisation that is very radical and militant. The group has got a small yet vocal following. Dewa decided to take the group to task (musically at least!) and released an album called "Laskar Cinta" ("Warriors of Love"). The album presented Indonesia's youth with a stark choice: Do they want to join the army of jihad, or the army of love?

The launch of the Laskar Cinta album caused quite a stir, especially amongst the extremist Muslims. Numerous radical Wahhabi groups attacked rock superstar Ahmad Dhani and his group Dewa for their best-selling album Laskar Cinta. Rather than be intimidated by extremist threats, Dhani composed a new song called Laskar Cinta (the previous album did not have a title track). This latest song is, in effect, a "musical fatwa" ~ using lyrics derived from the Qur'an and Hadith to denounce religious hatred and terrorism. The single was launched in December of 2005. Read more here.

Dewa is a spiritual group - inspired by spirituality, humanism and Sufism. They are guided by great people like Sufis - Shaykh Abdul Qadir Gaylani and Mawlana Jalaludin Rumi. The group even have non-Muslim members, truly professing the spirit of love and respect.

In January 2006, my teacher and guide - Shaykh Hisham Kabbani - met the group. When I met Shaykh Hisham shortly thereafter, I asked whether Ahmad Dhani (leader of Dewa) took initiation into the Naqshbandi path. I was told "Insha'Allah soon". A couple of months later - in April, Shaykh Hisham's murid, As-Sayid Nurjan, was down in Jakarta and had a session with Dewa. Ahmad Dhani, friends and family members took bai'ah (initiation) into the Naqshbandi Haqqani spiritual order. SubhanAllah!

If you're interested in the songs, please go get the album. Meanwhile, I am inspired to go get their earlier album "Laskar Cinta". You can visit Dewa's official website - click here.

Door of Ijtihad is Open

2006-04-18T07:59:00.000+08:00

Viewpoint: Door of 'ijtihad' is Open
By Shaykh Mohammed Hisham Kabbani
Middle East Times - Published April 17, 2006

One of the criticisms leveled against Islam is that it is a religion frozen in time, one that has not embraced new paradigms of the modern world. In reality, Islam has always been a living, vibrant faith that adapts to new and changing circumstances.

Though some scholars have attempted to freeze the interpretation of Islam, most accept the view that Islamic Divine Law, or Sharia, is subject to ongoing re-evaluation according to the principles of juristic reasoning, known as ijtihad. The purpose of this ongoing process of ijtihad is to adapt Sharia to changing societal circumstances. Thus, most Islamic scholars say that "the door of ijtihad" remains open.

click here to read the rest of the article...

Battle for Islam

2006-04-10T18:43:00.000+08:00

Salaams. There's an interesting documentary produced by BBC called Battle for Islam. I saw this documentary last year, and I came across it again. It's worth watching. Ziauddin travelled to 5 countries - Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco and Turkey - for this docu to understand the state of Islam and Muslims in these countries.

Writer Ziauddin Sardar takes an epic journey to discover how Muslims in five different countries are trying to win back the soul of Islam from extremists, in a 90-minute special documentary. Ziauddin Sardar, travelling around several Muslim countries, finds that thinkers, activists, political leaders and ordinary Muslims across the globe are refusing to be defined by the ideology of violence and intolerance, but their responses are diverse.

The documentary is not really an indepth analysis. A topic of this importance should need at least 4 or 5 episodes. More research, debate and discussion is needed. Click here to view the documentary.

Reflections on the Prophet: Upon His Death

2006-04-10T12:22:00.000+08:00

Sunni Sisters blog has a very touching account of the last days of our Beloved Prophet Muhammad, Allah's prayers be upon him.

I believe that even the heart of a corrupt Muslim, one who is confused, one who falls into dunya more than she falls into diyn, will be turned by this story, and I can’t believe there will be any Muslim with a mustard seed of ‘iman in his heart whose eyes do not at the very least water when they learn about the last days of the Messenger, peace be upon him. So grab a tissue, and continue reading my friends.

It was posted last year, and I still get teary-eyed when I read it again this year. Click here to read the full post.

Rabiulawal & Maulid

2006-04-10T11:22:00.000+08:00

Salaams. It's the month of Rabiulawal once again, Alhamdulillah. It's the month when Prophet Muhammad salallahu alaihi wassalam was born over 1400 years ago. Salutations and prayers of Allah be upon our Beloved Prophet Muhammad, the Sun of the Universe, the Light of Lights, the Best of Creation, the Reason of Creation.

As usual when Rabiulawal come we busy ourselves with salawat and the reading of the life of Sayyidina Muhammad (s). The Muslims in the Malay Archipelago (Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei & Indonesia) usually read kitabs like Maulid ad-Diba'e, Maulid al-Habshi and Maulid Mangkus in this month. Both Diba'e and al-Habshi maulids are of Yemeni origin, while Mangkus is possibly of Southasian origin.

Talking about Rabiulawal, Sunni Sisters blog had an interesting line, read on...

I just have to comment that its interesting to me that all these masajid will have events about Palestine, Kashmir, immigration, voting, the war, Christianity, meet your friendly local FBI agents, and tons of other things, but if you dare suggest an evening (let alone a month or a year) of activities devoted to learning about the Prophet of Allah and making salawat on him (sallalalahu aleyhi wa salaam), people will have heart attacks in their rush to be the first to proclaim such a public showing of devotion bida. SubhanAllah!

Yep, how true! I was once attending a seminar discussing about Islam/youth and a panelist made the following remark "I don't understand why Mosques have to spend time and resources reading the Maulid during the month of Rabiulawal when they should be spending time to resolve the troubles of the youth of today." Unfortunately it was not a proper setting for me to rebut, but I thought "Why is this supersize idiot making a fuss about some Muslims who want to read the Maulid for only 12 days during Rabiulawal? Afterall, we have another 350 days to resolve the problems of our society. And, if we can't resolve the youth problems in 365 days, how can we resolve it within the 12 days of Rabiulawal!". SubhanAllah! Hence, I cannot agree more with Sunni Sisters.

Interestingly, this year I am having less problems with the Wahhabis attacking us about the Maulid, Alhamdulillah. For many years now I have been inundated with statements and emails containing fatwas from Bin Baz, Uthaymin and other Wahhabis condemning the Maulid reading, blah, blah, blah. Hopefully, they can leave us in peace this year to read the Maulid, so that we can focus on honouring and loving our Beloved Prophet Muhammad, may the Prayers of Allah be upon him.

By the way, this website has an interesting selection of Islamic songs, nasheeds and salawats (though quite an illegal website). Nonetheless, good selection. Good to hear, but please find and buy the original CDs if you like the songs.

Islam and Democracy

2006-04-06T12:52:00.000+08:00

Salaams. I came across a wonderful video/audio of a discussion with the eminent Prof Khaled Abou Fadl (and another 2 personalities) entitled "Islam and the Challenge of Democracy". It was organised by the MIT Centre for International Studies, Boston Review and WBUR. It was organised in May 2003, but the facts are still very relevant today.

I spent quite a reasonable time with Prof Khaled as he came to Singapore for a SEAsia lecture tour, and was with him throughout his programmes in Singapore as well as Malaysia. SubhanAllah, it was such a wonderful period of my life. I learnt a great deal from Prof Khaled Abou Fadl. He's such a knowledgeable Islamic scholar, that I have not met many Islamic scholars of his calibre.

Anyway, we'll discuss about my experience with Prof Khaled at another junction. Meanwhile, please feel free to view/listen to this discussion forum - it's about 1 hour long. You can view it at http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/124/

The Afghan Apostasy Case

2006-04-04T19:15:00.001+08:00

I read with much interest about the case of the Afghan man who renounced Islam and is now facing charges for apostasy, which carries a death penalty in Afghanistan. It seems like a clear-cut issue where the Qur'an clearly states that "there is no compulsion in religion".

However, there are scholarly claims that the verse has been abrogated by other verses within the Qur'an. However one should note that the Qur'an is not explicit in this matter. To complicate matters, there are mass-transmitted hadiths that supports the death penalty for those who renounce Islam. The truth is, I'm terribly confused. Personally, I feel that killing those who renounce Islam is an act that is completely outrageous, however much you can attribute it to the Qur'an or the Sunnah.

I seriously doubt our beloved Prophet Muhammad, who is an epitomy of love and mercy would ever condone such an act, much less carry out the act itself. The act of killing an apostate because of his act of renunciation seem so incongruent to the nature of the Prophet of Mercy and the beauty of Islam. I mean, if we propagate this teaching, then the Christians would urge for the killing of Christians who convert to Islam. Where then is the da'wah component?

The matter of hidayah (receiving God's guidance) is in God's hands and not in the hands of man. Nonetheless, I would like to present different views on this matter for everyone to ponder upon. Perhaps some comments would be useful. Please read the first article below.

In Kabul, a Test for Shariah
By ANDREA ELLIOTT, The New York Times

THE news that a man in Afghanistan might face a death sentence for converting to Christianity brought cries of outrage around the world last week. In Washington, the matter of Abdul Rahman commanded attention at the highest levels. President Bush said he was "deeply troubled." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, to urge a "favorable resolution," her spokesman said. In Kabul, the judge in the case said he would resist interference. More quietly, the case struck a chord among Muslim scholars in the West who have been immersed in a debate about the adaptability of Shariah, or Islamic law, to the modern era.

Mr. Rahman, 41, stands accused of apostasy, or ridda, the act of renouncing one's faith. Apostasy is a grave sin in Islam, and according to classical Shariah, it warrants a punishment of execution. But Islamic laws, including those governing the treatment of apostates, were developed as early as the eighth century against a vastly different political and social backdrop.

Progressive Muslim scholars argue that the meaning of those laws has been lost over time: When the laws were created, they say, apostasy was seen as the equivalent of treason. "To be a Muslim was to live in an Islamic state or empire, so the presumption was you were not only becoming the enemy of God but the enemy of the empire," said John L. Esposito, a professor of religion and international affairs at Georgetown University. Muslim jurists who support the execution of apostates often point to a hadith a tradition attributed to the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century in which he is recorded as saying that a person who changes religions should be killed.

But while the Koran mentions ridda, it never calls for the execution of apostates. There is no record of the prophet killing an apostate himself. And executions of apostates have been rare in Islamic history. "The common argument is that it clearly contradicts the Koran, which says there should not be compulsion in religion," said Khaled Abou El Fadl, an Islamic law expert and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

What complicates the debate is that Islam has no central doctrinal authority, no Vatican to issue an ultimate decree. And while Shariah is the product of human interpretation, it is also seen as divine law, which prompts many Muslims to argue against change. Still, only a handful of apostasy executions are known to have occurred in Muslim-majority countries in recent decades.

An official of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, an advisory body created by Congress, said he knew of only four such cases: one in Sudan in 1985; two in Iran, in 1989 and 1998; and one in Saudi Arabia in 1992. The notion that classical Islamic law calls for the execution of apostates is widely known but often ignored in predominantly Muslim countries. Most have not adopted official laws against apostasy.

IT'S like the issue of slavery," said Bernard Haykel, an Islamic studies professor at New York University. "Slavery exists in Islamic law and most Muslims have decided to ignore it. It's what I call collective amnesia."

Yet apostasy has a deep cultural resonance among Muslims, making a case like Mr. Rahman's an opportunity for religious conservatives with political agendas, Mr. Haykel said. "Islamists will always use cases like this one to gain political mileage and credibility," he said. "They become the champions of Islamic law, of Islam. They can present themselves as authentic Muslims."

The case of Mr. Rahman, whose conversion was reported to the authorities by family members after he sought custody of his children from his parents, has been widely characterized as a test for Afghanistan's American-backed government. Afghanistan's new Constitution, like Iraq's, makes room for both Shariah and secular law, but it is still unclear how successfully they will coexist. The Afghan Constitution states that "no law shall contravene the tenets and provisions of the holy religion of Islam," but it also declares that the state will observe the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

"Iraq has more vigorous protections in its Constitution for human rights than Afghanistan, yet still it has a provision that no law should be contrary to Islam," said Tad Stahnke, policy director of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. "It hasn't been tested. But it will."

A recent report by the commission, which examined the constitutions of 44 predominantly Muslim countries, found that most included some protections for religious freedoms. Those protections were most common in countries where no role is provided for Shariah in the constitution. The commission still lists Afghanistan as one of the world's 10 declared Islamic states. But even under the Taliban, which meted out harsh justice to women and others including execution there were no known apostasy executions, several experts said.

There you have it. Hang on for another viewpoint coming up...

Destroying from Within

2006-03-22T01:40:00.000+08:00

"We live in a time when the enemies of Islam are attempting to destroy it from within."

That's the very first sentence of an article entitled "200 Years of New Kharijism", written by the eminent scholar of Islam, Shaykh Hisham Kabbani. The article quotes an interesting fact that may probably surprise many of us...

"These two phenomena, depraved leadership and exclusionism, are the mainstays of New Kharijism in our time. What clearer proof of this than what took place in Makka on November 20, 1979, when hundreds of armed men seized the Holy Mosque under the 36-year old Juhayman al-'Utaybi and proclaimed him as the new leader of the country? They held the mosque for two weeks during which they practiced lewd sexual behavior with the women they held captive and those they had brought with them. According to the New York Times, "There were hundreds of casualties on both sides before Saudi forces were able to drag out the last remnant of what by then was a bunch of filthy, bedraggled young men." Al-'Utaybi and sixty-three of the captured were later executed by public beheading. According to As Sayyid Yusuf al-Rifa'i, these wild young people learned their ways from the same teacher as Abdel Aziz Ibn Baz (d. 2000), a famous Wahhabi scholar."

The author also summarised the main principles that separates the Wahhabis or the neo-Khawarij from traditional Islam...

Anthropomorphism of the Deity: Attributing a body to the object of Islamic worship.
Disrespect of Prophet: Harming the Prophet through
- Disrespect of his noble person, mosque, grave, vestiges, Family, or Companions
- Disrespect of those who visit, love, and praise him
- Disparaging or holding his status as an intercessor in disdain.
Disregard for the schools and methods of the Sunni Imams including
- The Imams of Sunni doctrine ('aqîda): al-Ash'ari and al-Maturidi.
- The scholars of traditional Sunni jurisprudence (fiqh): Abu Hanifa, Malik, ash-Shafi'i and Ahmad.
- The Imams of Sunni morals (akhlâq) known as the Poles of the science of soulpurification (tasawwuf): al-Junayd, al-Gilani, al-Shadhili, al-Rifa'i, al-Chishti, al-Suhrawardi, Shah Naqshband, and al-Tijani.

The author also quotes an all too familiar story "Africans tell the story of a young man sent to study Shari'a at great expense by his Sunni parents. Upon his return a few years later, he refused to eat a chicken slaughtered in his honor by his father stating, 'my father is an apostate'. Scenarios like this one quickly caused a great rift between the generations of peace-loving Muslims and the chaosdriven youth who were their children."

I had a friend, a Wahhabi of course!, who refused to attend the father's funeral because his family members were practising shirik (polytheism) and bid'a (innovation), simply because they were reading tahlil (recitation of Allah's names and Quranic verses) and the talqin (reading of some verses during burial). This Wahhabism thing has got to stop, it's ruining families and stuff!

Click here to read the entire article (PDF).

Speaking of Faith

2006-03-18T12:11:00.000+08:00

Salaams. I mentioned before about the wonderful Speaking of Faith programs hosted by Krista Tippet. I went through the website and I list down here the various programs you can listen to. Trust me, you won't be disappointed. Krista Tippet has such a wonderful way of seeking clarity on various issues. The programs I list here are those related to Islam.

October 2005
Speaking of Faith - Muslim Women & Other Misunderstandings
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/muslimwomen/

*June 2005
Speaking of Faith - Religion and Our World in Crisis
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/skirball/
Interview with Prof Khaled Abou Fadl & Rabbi Harold Schulweis

May 2005
Speaking of Faith - Serving Country, Serving Allah
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/servingallah/
Interview with Chaplain Major Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad

January 2005
Speaking of Faith - The Spirit of Islam
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/spiritofislam/

*September 2004
Speaking of Faith - Violence and Crisis in Islam
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/crisisinislam/
Interview with Prof Vincent (Mansur) Cornell

March 2004
Speaking of Faith - A Perspective on Islam in Iraq
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/islaminiraq/

* must listen - highly recommended. It's all about learning. Have a listen.

Cartoon of Hate, Prophet of Love

2006-03-17T18:26:00.000+08:00

Salaams. A beautiful event just took place entitled "Cartoon of Hate, Prophet of Love". Masha'Allah, what a wondeful title! The title says it all doesn't it? Anyway the event unfortunately was nowhere near my backyard - instead it was held in London, organised by Mahabba Unlimited and Q-News Magazine. My friend Fareena Alam (editor of Q-News) sent me an email sometime ago about the event. There was an lineup of Sufi scholars like Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad, Habib Ali al-Jifri and Shaykh Babikir Ahmed Babikr, with performances by Shaam and Poetic Pilgrimage. Read some of the comments by the participants:

"Abdul Hakim Murad gave a good holistic view of the issues in the light of Islam and a different way to tackle the cartoon issues."
"Religion is healing and mercy to believers" (Shaykh Abdal-Hakim Murad)
"True love means, you love in the cause of Allah" (Shaykh Ahmed Babikr)
"How many people looked at the crying baby with irritation and how many with mercy?" (Habib Ali al-Jifri)
"Poetic Pilgrimage were very inspiring and brought a lot of joy to the evening. Their words were powerful and deeply personal and struck a strong chord with much of the audience."
"Shaam are an amazing group with beautiful voices - they have got a unique way of reaching out to people! and Poetic Pilgrimage - SUBHANALLAH! They touched the hearts of all those in the room - definitely brought me to tears."
"Habib Ali is a real lover of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace). When he told the story of Fudalah, i don't think there was a dry eye in the house. Basic message of the night as a whole: bring the love of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) into our hearts, and we will follow his Sunnah."
"Habib Ali said that there are many hearts in the west full of hatred towards the Muslims, that need our hands to be placed over them, so that love for our religion and our Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) might enter in."
"When so much of the Muslim ummah are behaving so badly with ignorance and anger, it is reassuring to be with the rational certainty of Abdul Hakim, an intellectual powerhouse against ignorance: to be with the loving face of Ahmed Babikr as someone who would smile with warmth at those who curse him: and Habib Ali- to hear him is to hear the voice of the prophet himself."

Poetic Pilgrimage / Shaam

Habib Ali al-Jifri / Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad (TJ Winter) / Shaykh Ahmed Babikr

Talking about Habib Ali al-Jifri... I met him for the first time when I went to visit Habib Ali Bin Jaafar al-Aydarus in Batu Pahat - a living Saint. He lives in an old house in Batu Pahat (in the state of Johor, Malaysia), and many Malaysians and Singaporeans visit him regularly as ziyarah, and for tabarruk. Anyway, Habib Ali al-Jifri arrived from KL, and he had so much haibah that it was as if I was watching the Prophet himself walking. SubhanAllah! The only other people that has created such an impression on me are Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani and Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani. What a sight, to be able to be with Habib Ali al-Aydarus and Habib Ali al-Jifri. And, when you salaam and kiss the hand of Habib Ali al-Jifri, he will kiss your hand back! Talk about humility.

Anyway, read about the London event here. How I wished I could be there...

Muhammad Bin Abdul Wahhab

2006-03-17T11:02:00.000+08:00

I received an email some time ago about an int'l seminar in Malaysia (16 & 17 March) to discuss the life and times of Muhammad Bin Abdul Wahhab, the founder of the Wahhabism ideology. The 2-day seminar is organised in the state of Perlis in Malaysia, which is already known as the Wahhabi capital of Malaysia. Interestingly, the seminar will be officiated by the Prince Regent of Perlis and the Chief Minister of Perlis. I supposed their presence is just so that everyone can now confirm that Wahhabism is the official creed of the State of Perlis, just like it is in Saudi Arabia. We can put any doubt to rest now.

The speakers for the seminar are coming from United Kingdom, Makkah (of course!), Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. I heard that buses have been arranged by organisations in Malaysia and Singapore to bring the loads of participants to the seminar. The disappointing thing is that there have been many seminars on Prophet Muhammad organised in Malaysia and Singapore, but for the life of me I could not remember any bus loads of people attending such seminars. I don't recall the Wahhabis coming in droves to attend a seminar on our beloved Prophet, but it seems they will bend over backwards to promote their founder and the warped ideology.

Actually if you think about it (the story of Wahhabism), it's really funny. Countries like Britain which had contributed towards the rise of Wahhabism, and the formation of Saudi Arabia, are the biggest regretters today. They've created a monster they can't subdue! Same goes with Saudi Arabia - they can't control the monster they created. It seems the Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia feel that their Wahhabi rulers are just not Wahhabi enough!

By Allah, let it be known that the days of Wahhabism are numbered. The beauty and glory of Islam shall return!

Israeli-Palestine Conflict - Speaking of Faith Radio

2006-03-15T13:41:00.000+08:00

Salaams. I have been listening to Speaking of Faith for about a year now. It's an interesting public radio hosted by the wonderful Krista Tippett. It has weekly conversations about religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas. The current discussion is about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The subject will be discussed over 2 weeks.

In this first week, Krista interviews Yossi Klein Halevi, a New York correspondent for The New Republic and a senior fellow of the Shalem Center in Jerusalem. He's an Israeli Jew and the author of "At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew's Search for God with Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land". He was born in the United States, the son of a Holocaust survivor. His father raised him with a memory of the Jewish people as a besieged, pursued, hated people that could never find its place with the rest of humanity. As a teenager, Halevi was briefly an adherent of a Jewish extremist movement and a leader in a militant student group set on freeing Jews held captive in the Soviet Union. He renounced violence as he discovered his spiritual homeland in Israel. He emigrated, began his family in Jerusalem and became a respected journalist, both in Israel and the United States. Halevi had a moving and emotional experience visiting a Sufi mosque in Palestine. Excerpts of what he said:

"I was admitted into Sufi mosques in the Palestinian territories in Gaza and the West Bank, and I went as a religious Jew, as an identified and a visible religious Jew, wearing a kippa, the skullcap, and I was accepted by Sufi Palestinian communities, admitted into the prayer line and into the Sufi dance, the zikr. And there was this moment where I felt I could touch Islam, where I could, in some way, embrace Islam and feel at home in a mosque."

"And for me to learn to overcome my fear of the mosque and to become at home in Muslim devotion was a psychological breakthrough for me and, I feel, a spiritual breakthrough."

"There's just nothing quite like Muslim prayer. And when you're part of that prayer line - and you know that choreography of prayer when you get on your knees and you stand and you bend and you stand again and you prostrate and that repeated - the effect is of a kind of a wave of prayer. And you feel yourself to be this point, this particle in this great wave of prayer and you just join this extraordinary wave that's just always there and always will be there. That's a gift that I received from Islam. And that's something that I have to remind myself even when I'm being politically realistic and hard."

It's a great interview. Please click here to listen/read about it.

Perhaps people can post their views on it. Next week I shall InshaAllah post parts of the interview with the Palestinan Muslim. While you are visiting the Speaking of Faith website, perhaps you may want to listen to their previous interviews and discussions. There are excellent interviews with Professor Vincent Cornell, Khaled Abou Fadl, etc.

The Poison Within

2006-03-15T13:02:00.000+08:00

I am currently doing some research into radicalism and extremism. I suspect there is an inherent cause-effect relationship between a particular ideology within Islam and acts of extremism, radicalism and even terrorism. This certain ideology (creed or doctrine) has managed to permeate (and even mutated) itself pervasively amidst all sections of the Muslim community from America to Zimbabwe. It has lived a life of about 200 years, and throughout its entire history, it has to its 'credits' acts of human savagery and terror.

The ideology I am talking about is the Wahhabism ideology, sometimes also known by such names as Salafism, Salafibism, Al-Muwahidun, et cetera. Adherents of this ideology are known as Wahhabis or Salafis. It was born from the teachings of Muhammad Bin Abdul Wahhab (1703-1792 CE). I am in the process of producing a book to present a comprehensive understanding of the Wahhabi ideology. The book is essentially an anthology of essays by accomplished scholars around the world who has written about Wahhabism, in different angles and perspectives.

I will be posting some of these articles in this blog. I urge readers to post their comments on the Blog and the articles, thoughts and commentaries presented here. If you have an interesting article on the subject, please feel free to email me directly at sufijourneys@gmail.com

There's a clear and present danger lurking within our midst. We seek Allah's Guidance and Protection, Ameen.

Assalaamualaykum!

2006-03-15T12:42:00.000+08:00

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Showers of Allah's Prayers and Salutations upon the Prophet of Love and Mercy, Muhammad, whose status He has raised and whose name He has placed beside His Name [There is No God But Allah, And Muhammad is His Messenger].

Greetings of Peace to one and all.

Welcome to my humble blog. I have a keen interest in Islam and Sufism, as well as the development of extremism and radicalism within Islam. As I aspire to be a Sufi, I share my journeys on the path of spirituality, and the trials and tribulations in this path that I tread. I am initiated into the Naqshbandi Haqqani Sufi Order, headed by the Sufi Master and Saint Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al-Haqqani, who currently lives in Turkish Cyprus. I am also guided by his deputy and son-in-law Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Hisham al-Kabbani, who is the US leader of the Naqshbandi Haqqani Sufi Order.

This blog represent my personal thoughts and this blog does not in any way represent official thoughts of my Sufi order (tariqah) or my Shaykhs.

Bear with me as we tread this path....We seek for Allah's continued Guidance as He knows Best.

Sufi Journeys

URGENT PRIVAT BUSINESS/GOOD PARTNER

Hello dear,

From Momodou HASSAN.

MUDAH - MUDAHAN BERMANFAAT..

TRANSFER OF THIRTY SIX MILLION SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY NINE THOUSAND POUNDS STERLINGS

Re: Treat Urgently!!!:

TRANSFER OF THIRTY SIX MILLION SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY NINE THOUSAND POUNDS STERLINGS

TRANSFER OF THIRTY SIX MILLION SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY NINE THOUSAND POUNDS STERLINGS

SimplyIslam.sg invites you to Where is the Love? Lecture by Shaykh Hisham Kabbani (Oct 11, 2009)

Converting to Wordpress

Study: 3 in 4 U.S. mosques preach anti-West extremism

Reflections of a British Muslim Extremist

Lecture Series by Habib Umar Bin Hafiz

Lectures By HABIB UMAR BIN HAFIZ

Doa-Doa Hari 'Asyura

Special Film Screening: Al-Ghazali Alchemist of Happiness

Ar-Rihlah: Camp+Retreat for Youths

Eid Mubarak Saeed

Ajmer Sharif Blast

My Photos...

Ramadhan Mubarak

Lecture Series by Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

Signs of the Last Hour - Tall Buildings

Singapore Lectures by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf

Mecca's Hallowed Skyline Transformed

Lectures by Habib Salim As-Shatiri

Listen to Islamic Songs

The Sultan of Madinah (Shahe Madina)

My Brother The Bomber

Shrine Politics

Islamism, not Islam is the Problem

A New Voice for Islam - Prof Ingrid Mattson

Serbs in New Fear of Wahhabis

My Saints Are Under My Domes

Hide Others’ Mistakes

Sufism & Modernity - Workshop by Prof Marcia Hermansen

Little Mosque on the Prairie Season 1 Episode 1

Bosnia's Muslims divided over inroads of Wahhabism

Time for Dhikr and Music in Somalia

The Veil

Schwartz's WMD (My Response)

Schwartz's Words of Mass Destruction

Crescent Watch

So, What Does it Mean to be a Moderate Muslim?

Good and Evil in Islamic Theology

The History of Shia People in Iran

Hearing Muslim Voices Since 9/11

Lectures & Workshop by Prof Timothy Gianotti (Abu Mustafa)

[Sexism Deleted] in Turkey

My Life as a Fanatic

Pluralism and Islamic Civilisation

When the Wahhabis Goes Marching In

Suicide Bombing...

Journey to Ihsan

Is Our Faith That Fragile

Sufism & Its Place in Islam

Sufis in Iraq

Saudi Nonsense: Kingdom isn't getting message about hatred

Saudi Government Questions its Wahhabi Roots

Lectures at Abdul Aleem Siddique Mosque (Singapore)

If We Really Love Muhammad (s), We Will Follow His Way

If It Weren't for Oil...

In Saudi Arabia, a Resurgence of Sufism

Save the Hijjaz

A Musical Fatwa

Door of Ijtihad is Open

Battle for Islam

Reflections on the Prophet: Upon His Death

Rabiulawal & Maulid

Islam and Democracy

The Afghan Apostasy Case

Destroying from Within

Speaking of Faith

Cartoon of Hate, Prophet of Love

Muhammad Bin Abdul Wahhab

Israeli-Palestine Conflict - Speaking of Faith Radio

The Poison Within

Assalaamualaykum!

Lectures By
HABIB UMAR BIN HAFIZ