Rabbi Against Israel (Zionism)

as-salamu 'alaykum,

A very interesting Fox News interview...



wa'as-salam

Mas'ud
www.masud.co.uk

Ebook: The Discourses of Rumi

Free PDF download From
http://www.omphaloskepsis.com

"Recognized as perhaps the greatest mystical poet of Islam, Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273) communicated something through his writing that has attracted spiritual seekers from almost every religion in the world, for hundreds of years. Primarily famous for his poetry, Rumi has also left another manuscript that is not so well known - the collection of discourses given at the gatherings with his students.

It Is What It Is (Fihi ma Fihi) is considered by some scholars to be an abbreviated prose companion to his far more famous six volume work, the Masnavi. “It is,” meaning his collected discourses, “what it is,” meaning, evidently, the Masnavi.

This present book is edited and rewritten by Doug Marman from A. J. Arberry’s original English translation, published in 1961 as Discourses of Rumi. Arberry himself admitted that his scholastic, literal, work “is not an easy book to read...and the original is by no means easy always to understand.” According to more recent studies of the original manuscript (Chittick and Shah, for example,) Arberry’s translation also has some technical errors, and better understandings of Rumi’s subtle spiritual teachings have come to light."

wa'as-salam

Mas'ud
www.masud.co.uk

Yasir Qadhi & The Deobandis: Unite With “Moderate” Sufis?

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi was another person at the MLT conference in Denmark that I met. He is an intelligent and articulate young man and contributed quite positively to the event. I had never heard of him or his institute "al-Maghrib Institute" before, but it was apparent that he was a (harcore) Salafi. There is a much touted discussion between him and Mona Eltahawi (journalist and commentator) that took place on the way to the MLT in Copenhagen, Denmark. It describes how they went to the same school in Saudi Arabia and have turned out poles apart, one being a hardcore Salafi (Yasir) and the other an ultra liberal (Mona), both extremists in the broad spectrum that is Islam. But are they really that different?

Both don't have a problem with dispensing with traditional Islamic scholarship and a return to re-interpreting the Primary Sources of the deen and believe everyone is or should be personally responsible to draw conclusions from the Primary Sources. In Yasir's case, if you come up with something other than the Salafist ideology (whatever that means with regards to the constantly mutating and sub-dividing nature of this sect!) then you are misguided/mushrik/mubtadi/kafir (take your pick!) depending on your conclusions, in Mona's case you can do what you want, even an atheist can be a Muslim if s/he calls him/herself one, essentially, for her Islam is just a culture is the impression I got when speaking to her. In fact I believe them to be two sides of the same coin, that of ideological/intellectual extremism.

Here is an excellent piece from another blog Contemplating Chisti, in fact a Deobandi Chisti. The piece in question warns fellow Deobandis to not be enamoured and taken by Salafi approaches of "Unity" with their "sugar coated speech" and to steer clear. I raised this very point in a discussion on Tablighi Jamat on DeenPort with regards to how Tablighi Jamat (and by extension Deobandis) always align themselves with Salafis/Wahhabis on university campuses and local communities. It is a strange and odd espousal as they are the oddest of bedfellows. I think that the Salafis insidiously take advantage of the Tablighi naivety for their own purposes. Salafis hate everyone, including the Deobandis (and each other as well!)

Whilst reading through this, I was thinking that many Barelwi's would heartily agree with these positions and some Deobandis would be concerned to find that these are in fact Deobandi aqida positions. This is borne out by the comments section which has some irate Deobandis questioning some of the positions and the Deobandism of the author!

The article goes onto list many ideological and aqida differences between traditional Deobandism and Salafism and it is an uncloseable chasm between them. Yasir's odious and slanderours comments about some of our Shayukh, such as Sayyid Maliki al-Makki, Shaykh Nuh Keller, Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad and others are well known. At the conference he even suggested to me that some of the articles on my site should be removed for the sake of unity, a laughable suggestion when every other salafist bookshop and website has books that rant on about madhhabs, Asharees and Soofees. I think may be Shaykh Yasir should start by cleansing his bookshops and websites of these unity threatening works, cleaning your own house first is a good idea before noticing the dirt in others otherwise is could be construed as hypocricy.

Yasir Qadhi & The Deobandis: Unite With “Moderate” Sufis?

Alex Andalus's Blog has some things to say on the matter as well.

Shaykh Muhammad Imdad Hussain Pirzada

Shaykh Muhammad Imdad Hussain Pirzada, is someone I have known for the better part of 25 years, he is a dear friend to my father and I have had immense love and respect for him ever since. A no nonsense man and a very principled man. His sermons are a reflection of this and never once have I heard a speech from him that was not relevant to our conditions.

From the early days when Jamia al-Karam was a small school in New Bradwell in Milton Keynes, he used to visit my father's shop regularly for our halal meat supplies, which we used to slaughter with our own hands (my father and uncle actually). Ever since he has been held in high honour and esteem in our families.

The Shaykh has just recently launched his website http://www.mihpirzada.com which I encourage everyone to visit.

wa'as-salam

Mas'ud
www.masud.co.uk

EVENT: Al Ghazali Weekend 2006 with Sh Abdal Hakim Murad

Al Ghazali Weekend 2006
with Sheikh Abdal Hakim Murad
and Dr. Muhammad Isa Waley
15th - 18th September 2006
Alqueria de Rosales

The second Al Ghazali weekend will take place as before in the Alqueria de Rosales which is the base of the Faculty of Andalucian Studies.

---

www.masud.co.uk

Int. Herald & Tribune: Looking for converts to Islam

From:

Looking for converts to Islam

By Sarah Lyall The New York Times

THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2006

LONDON When he converted to Islam six years ago, Nicholas Lock, now 24, said he faced two immediate difficulties. One was the aggressive skepticism of his father, an English professor and Oxford graduate who mockingly asked, "Do we have a convert on our hands?" and then proceeded to cook pork for dinner - bacon, sausages, chops - every night for a week.

The other, more potentially troubling in its way, was the greedily opportunistic reaction of various Muslim groups to Lock when he arrived at the University of Leeds to begin his studies that autumn.

They fell upon him as if he were a prodigal son.

"As a new convert, when you first become a Muslim, a lot of people try things out on you," said Lock, who also uses the Muslim given name Mahdi and runs a support network for Muslim converts in Nottingham. "They want you to come to this meeting, this talk.

"Certain radical groups want you because you're impressionable, and it looks good to get white guys."

Lock likened some of the organizations that approached him to cults, like Hizb ut-Tahrir, which says it is nonviolent but preaches the establishment of a caliphate, or pan-Islamic government, and has been banned from some Middle Eastern countries. "They think you don't know anything, and they pounce."

The potential vulnerability of converts - especially if they are young men - to extremism is of particular concern now, considering that three of the 24 people arrested last week on suspicion of plotting to use explosives to blow up trans-Atlantic airplanes were converts. Neighbors and friends of the three have said that at least from the outside, it appeared that their transformations from aimless Western youths to highly observant Muslims were bewilderingly thorough.

One of the suspects, Abdul Waheed, whose late father was a local Conservative official, is said to have converted within the last six months, changing his appearance, behavior, and friends, and marrying a Muslim woman.

In addition, Richard Reid, the so- called shoe bomber, was a British-born convert to Islam who discovered religion while serving a prison sentence for a string of petty street crimes and muggings. He is currently serving a life sentence in the United States after being convicted of trying to blow up an airplane over the Atlantic by igniting explosives in his shoe.

There are no official statistics on how many converts to Islam live in Britain. Yahya Birt, a convert who is a research fellow at the Islamic Center in rural Leicestershire, puts the number at slightly more than 14,000, an extrapolation based on the number of people who described themselves as Islamic converts in the Scottish 2001 census (the census for England and Wales did not ask about conversion).

Clearly, only a minuscule percentage of converts turn to active radicalism, and there are many reasons for converting: an admiration of Islamic texts and practices; a desire by women to remove themselves from what they perceive as the aggressive sexualization of Western life; the countercultural rebellion of the younger generation against their parents' liberalism; and a sense of outrage at Western foreign policy in places like Iraq and Lebanon.

But among young people in Britain, a common theme seems to be adolescent anomie, a longing for answers in a world full of intractable questions.

Myfanwy Franks, a researcher who has studied converts to Islam and is the author of "Women and Revivalism in the West: Choosing Fundamentalism in a Liberal Democracy," said that "being troubled does not necessarily lead people to conversion - people who aren't troubled convert - but it could lead to extreme radicalization."

Britain has a number of well-known converts, including Birt, 38, who is the son of John Birt, the former director general of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and who changed his name from Jonathan when he converted, 16 years ago; Joe Ahmed-Dobson, 30, the son of Frank Dobson, a former Labor health secretary; and the singer and Muslim campaigner Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens. Perhaps the highest-profile woman convert is Yvonne Ridley, a former correspondent for the Sunday Express who began studying Islam after she was kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001.

Now the host of a daily current-affairs talk show on the Islamic Channel, Ridley, who wears a hijab that covers her hair and neck, said that Islam for her is a welcome antidote to Western libertinism. "What's more liberating - being judged on the size of your IQ, or on the size of your bust?" Divorced, with a 13-year-old daughter, she has stopped drinking and having flings. "I never sit in, waiting for the telephone to ring," she said, "and I'm never dragged into immaterial rows by inconsiderate, useless men."

Many converts are apolitical, but for people like Ridley, who says that "this war on terror is a war on Islam," religion is inextricably bound with politics. Increasingly, that seems to be the case, among Muslims in general, and among converts.

"It's become much more political since 9/11," Franks, the researcher, said.

Before Sept. 11, converts tended to discuss spiritualism and personal choice, she said, "but now they're not talking like that." She added: "I think there's this polarization now. It's like the middle ground has disappeared."

Do you know Aftab?

as-salamu 'alaykum,

Whilst at a wedding last week in Luton, two young (Pakistani) boys, classic fat-kid and skinny-kid combo, of about 13 and 11 were deep in conversation "that f___ing pr__k, wait 'till I f___ing catch him f___ing pr__k", I turned around and confronted them and said "oi! stop swearing, what is your problem, why do you need to swear?", sheepishly they looked at one another and seemed embarrased. So I let them be and went about the business of shepherding my kids to the wedding. As we started to walk towards the wedding hall the little gits started up their expletive riddled conversation again, and once again I gave them a telling off. My cousin saw this and came across and gave them a piece of his mind too but mentioning the fact their have had not been raised properly and that he will be complaining to their father(s) (not really knowing who their fathers actually are).

The kids looked at each other and the older fat-kid quitely said to his compadre "shall we call him? Go on call him" whilst looking at their mobile phone and debating amongst themselves whether to call "him" the skinny kid showed us his mobile phone and pointed to a picture and said rather smugly "do you know who that is? that's Aftab!", my cousin said to them, "is he some bad boy you are gonna call to shoot us or something? Go on call him" and we fell about laughing. "I'm gonna call Aftab" is now one of those phrases that raises a few laughs in our family! [NOTE: this is not Aftab Malik of Amal Press who can get quite scary when he is angry and I will call him if anyone gives me any trouble!]

Aside from the comedy of the situation, there is a serious issue here. I am not sure about the other Muslim communities but there is definitely this problem with a lot of Pakistani boys who descend into bad manners, foul language, machismo posturing, disrespect for age and authority and overall celebration and idealising (idolising?) of violence, drugs, crime and "bling"/gansta bad boys. This is a serious problem for now and the future, but how do we tackle it?

It may be a simplistic analysis but based on my experience as I see it, it is of fathers not being good role models for their sons, they are too busy working 18 hours shifts in taxis, restuarants and other work. In many cases their offspring is from a wife that they didn't want in the first place and they have no respect or love for but were coerced into marriage by familial pressure. Quite often some of these men are "playing away from home" and so what little time they do have, they spend a lot of it with mistresses [and their illegitimate children]. Their poor mothers are usually from the villages of Pakistan, poorly educated (if at all) and the contempt and disrespect shown by their fathers (and their father's family) to their mothers feeds into their psyche and they themselves see their mothers as not begin worth the respect.

Even when someone pulls up one of these unruly children and complains to their fathers, the fathers generally get defensive and offended that you even had the nerve and audacity to complain about their kids and the kids usually seem to get away with it. I think subconciously they see it as a challenge to their parental authority which they have not really been exercising and to see someone else exercise this on their children is hard to take.

Is this a generalisation? Personally I don't think so having known families of this description. I really think a lot of time and effort needs to be invested by various social support groups, social services, the education department etc to research this phenomenon and come up with practical solutions, because this is a breeding ground for serious criminals and sociopaths of the future.

wa'as-salam

Mas'ud
www.masud.co.uk

Yahya Birt: Musings on the Britannic Crescent

Yahya Birt's official website and weblog:

wa'as-salam

Mas'ud
www.masud.co.uk

Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow

as-salamu 'alaykum,

I was invited to Copenhagen, Denmark to attend the "MLT - Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow" conference from July 7th to 10th. About 120 Muslims were invited to participate from 16 different countries, in a three day conference exploring themes of leadership, identity, pluralism and extremism. The conference was arranged by the Cordoba Initiative and the ASMA Society formerly known as the "American Sufi Muslim Association" but now known as "American Society for Muslim Advancement....Society", (Azhar Usman got a heck of a lot of laughs from the redundant word "Society" of the "ASMA Society"). Other sponsors were the C-100 World Economic Forum, the Rockerfeller Brothers' Fund and the William & Mary Greve Foundation.

The night before my flight out, Aftab Malik called me and said "do you realise that Irshad Manji has been invited?" For those of you who don't know Ms. Manji (www.muslim-refusenik.com), she is a self-styled "Progressive Muslim" and Muslim "Refusnik" who wants to do ijtihad (she has a section on her site "Project Ijtihad"), I have no idea what "Muslim-refusenik" means but if a war-refusnik refuses to be a soldier, does a Muslim-refusnik refuse to be a Muslim? Well in Ms. Manji's case no, she still considers herself Muslim and identifies with Islam and Muslims albeit she "has a few problems with Islam [today]", more on Ms. Manji later but I must admit I was thinking "what the hell are the organisers doing inviting her?" I thought to myself that I will try and avoid her and not have any contact with her whatsoever....oh how man's best laid plans amount to nothing when God has other plans.

My travelling companion was Tayyeb Shah the owner of Meem Music and upon arriving at the airport I discovered Dr. Usama Hassan was heading to this conference too. As it turned out there was a fair few Brits in attendance: Shareefa Fulat director of the Muslim Youth Helpline, Hisham Hellyer research consultant and policy analyst at Uni of Warwick, Baber Siddiqui from the Luqman Institute, Aftab Malik from Amal Press and a number of other people. All in all 16 coutries were represented and the range of opinions and persuations was very very wide indeed (sometimes worryingly so!)

Now, considering I am writing things up about a month and a bit later I won't be going into specifics about the conference, probably because I won't be able to recall the details (I am getting nearer my 40th year, so the old grey cells aren't what they used to be!) but will try and share what some of my thoughts and interactions were and what the whole MLT thing is about.

To be continued....insha'Allah.

wa'as-salam

Mas'ud
www.masud.co.uk

Roll-Call: MLT Conference 2006, Denmark

The Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow Conference
Copenhagen, Denmark. 7th - 10th July 2006

Roll Call of people I really enjoyed my time with:

Tayyeb Shah from Meem Music - Tayyeb is a friend I have known for many years, it is the first time I spent so much continuous time with him as we were on the same flight out and so we became travelling companions. We discussed much on the way there about the whole music scene, art and artists in general. Tayyeb gave a presentation on his work with nasheed artists at Meem. I have to say that as a parent struggling with balancing my children's spiritual life and dunyawi life, Meem provides alternative and complimentary music for my children that strengthens their identity as Muslims, nourishes their souls and gives balance to their music habits. Tayyeb - a deep, deep gratitude for the work that you are doing and enriching our lives!

Dr. Usama Hasan - I know you all will find this very strange and will think "what the hell is wrong with www.masud". Here is a man who was one of the progenitors and mainstays of the UK Salafi movement, someone we all probably had good reason not to like due to some of his translations and other works especially the translation of Shaykh Al-Albani's prayer book, which caused untold episodes of fitna in many of our communities. However, after spending a weekend and having a few discussions with him, I was sincerely struck by the change that has occurred in him. He no longer considers himself a "Salafi" in the contemporary sectarian sense. I was also very impressed by his very deep knowledge and erudition not only in matters of the deen but in general, we had an interesting and enlightening discussion on the issue of music and other discussions. He is an Astro-physicist, an astronomer and researches artificial intelligence by profession, he is no ordinary man.

Most of us will still have some issues with him as he still has issues with "madhhabism" although he recognises the validity of the madhhabs. On the whole Dr. Usama is someone who, I believe, is an asset to British Muslims and despite some differences of opinion with him, he is someone we need to and can benefit from, insha'Allah.

Dr. Usama's contribution to the conference was excellent and every time I heard him speak, he spoke with eloquence and wisdom.

Aftab Malik of Amal Press - Aftab gave a blinding presentation on extremism and new media, this was the best public speaking performance that I feel Aftab has ever given. His presentation was as a result of research into over 300 Islamist/Salafist/Jihadist websites and gave people much food for thought on the whole "Jihadist" phenomenon, demonstrating quite clearly how many of these jihadist movements are the Khawarij of modern times.

Imam Tahir Anwar - This is the first time I have met this young and dynamic Imam. He is one of those special people that you meet and with whom you fall in love with, really. A man of good grace and learning, charismatic and giving, everything you would want in the Imam of your masjid. Sidi it was really a pleasure and honour to have met and spent time in your company, can't wait to meet you again.

Abu Eesa Niamatullah - Was one of the more vocal contributors to the MLT conference. Undoubtedly one of the characters of the conference. Very knowledgeable and very articulate and very concerned for the people at the conference. His outward appearance (traditional Deobandi type) belies the fact that here was someone more than willing to engage and discuss (with good grace) the issues that were raised. People genuinely liked him even if they may not have agreed with him. He was again one of the those people who made others think about their convictions. Not only is he from a Deobandi-type background, an avid footbal fan but he supports Manchester United! Having said that, I liked him very much, may Allah increase him.

Anas Osman from the Nawawi Foundation - I had met Anas on a number of occasions previously, once in the UK and then in ISNA a few years back. My impressions then were that here was a very intelligent and articulate young man. Boy, was that an under-estimation. If anyone at the conference was an advert for Sufic contemplation and exposition it was sidi Anas. He was so serene, calm, measured and eloquent and displayed clarity of thought throughout that was unrivalled.

Azhar Usman - Well most of us know Azhar for his comedy. I met Azhar for the first time at ISNA 2004 and it seemed I had known him for ages and meeting him again at the conference was like meeting up with a dear old friend. One night we stayed up all night in the hotel lobby, just him and me, chatting about life, deen and everything. It was one of those occasions when tiredness and sleep has an intoxicating effect and loosens the tongue. Azhar, love you man!

Azhar performed at the conference with an excellent set and with new material, he set up Irshad Manji's "Progressives" quite well and then gave punchline that they walked right into "anyone speak Arabic?", "no" came the answer from the "Progressives", "hmm, don't know Arabic....and you want to do ijtihad!"

Watch out for Azhar on Tinku's World.

Others I met with were:

USA:
Nuri Freidlander

Australia:
Mustapha Kara-Ali and Wassim Dabboussi

Bosnia:
Amina Ceric (daughter of the Mufti of Bosnia) and Nadja Lutvikadi

Canada:
Maliha Chishti

UK:
Hisham Hellyer, Saqeb Mueen, Maysa Ibrahim, Mustafa Suleyman, Shareefa Fulat, Olga Aliya Gora and Babar Siddiqi

JazakAllah-khayran to one and all.

wa'as-salam

Mas'ud
www.masud.co.uk

Jonathan Cook: Suddenly, I'm an 'Islamic Fascist'

as-salamu 'alaykum,

In case you missed this:

http://www.antiwar.com/orig/cook.php?articleid=9524

wa'as-salam

Mas'ud
www.masud.co.uk

Nasihah to a dear friend on current issues

This was some nasihah to a dear friend (and to myself first)...

as-salamu 'alaykum bro,

Just when we thought it couldn't get worse for us in the UK, this happens and After all the hard work we all put in post 9/11 and 7/7.

The whole Lebanon situation is enfuriating I know and there is much confusion morally, socially, jurisprudentially as well. Hang in there bro, let's do what we can in our own capacities to highlight the plight of those who have been transgressed against. Ultimately, good always comes out of adversity and tribulation, times are hard and watching innocents suffer, the hypocricy of the Bush/Blair world-view, the inadequacies and frailties of Muslim "Leadership", the foolishness of those who would try and take "justice" into their own emotionally driven hands, is gut-wrenchingly soul destroying. No one has learnt anything about recent events, including us pampered western Muslims.

What can we do apart from dua and dhikr and use our voices and wisdom and not let our anger and resentment make us take leave of our senses, duties and responsibilities.

When a storm comes and destroys our house we should look to rebuild, we can vent our anger at the storm all we like but it will not avail us. The Bush/Blair storm will blow and blow and eventually insha'Allah, puff itself out. We can always hope and pray for better leaders who see the world in a better light and with light, rather than the darkness with which Bush/Blair see it. Man, what a ramble! Sidi, forgive me if I said anything wrong or stupid but I am wrestling with the Lebanon thing, the Iraq thing, this latest thing in the UK and many other things, I may not be the only one who feels the world and its affairs are overwhelming us at the moment, there is no sakeena anymore and I am constantly questioning myself on what I am doing with my life and what God has given me, it must be the ramblings of someone approaching middle-age (1.5 years to go!).

wa'as-salam

Mas'ud
www.masud.co.uk

PS, I should blog this ramble!

Captured Prisoners - If American's Knew

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/cap-priswcc.html


wa'as-salam

Mas'ud
www.masud.co.uk

RANT: on the Israeli Terror Campaign against Lebanon

RANT ALERT!

I am very angry, I am so angry that every time I read about Israel's blood-lust I am physically sick. I have refrained from making any comment on Israel's War of Terror against the CIVILIAN population of Lebanon and Gaza, because I would probably end up with a few pages of emotional diatribe. Luckily, Fareena's piece in the Guardian's Comment is Free blog raises some very interesting and relevant points that the blood soiled Blair regime must take note of.

The inaction and complicity of the Blair regime in the Israeli terror campaigns against the Lebanese civilian population are plain to see. This is not a "War on Terror" it is a "War of Terror", it is the deliberate and systematic targetting of civilians using precision guided munitions, supplied by Uncle Sam and routed through our very own green and pleasant land. It is plain to see that Mr. Blair has no qualms about bringing death and destruction upon those of a different hue to White Europeanism, let's face it most Israelis are European and therefore Arabs are the "Other" and the Israelis are "the good ol' boys". These are war crimes, make no mistake, and are taking place before our very eyes and are not much better than what the Nazis meted out to the Jews. "Never again!" the oft repeated mantra of our Jewish bretheren, how hollow and untrue that has now become in the face of the new (actually not so new now) Holocaust that is being visited upon the Lebanese and Palestinians. How sad that the decendents of Prophets and Messengers are acting in such a way, what disgrace they have brought upon their heritage.

So that we don't lose sight of the fact that there are good people everywhere Jews for Justice for Palestinians are speaking out, and we need to support these people. We cannot alienate these people by using loose and emotional language against our Jewish bretheren. There are scores of other similar organisations, such as Tikkun and the Israeli based Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.

Let us not be fuelled by hate so much so that we lose objectivity, wisdom and humanity, and I know that it is hard especially at this time in the face of such terror and willful killing of our brothers and sisters be they Muslim, Christian or Jew.

wa'as-salam

Mas'ud
www.masud.co.uk