The Islamicists want to reduce Islam to a heartless political ideology; the globalists want to turn it into a ‘licensed’ religion for use in pacifying, and ultimately secularizing, the populations of dar al-Islam. Under such damaging blows, young Muslims need to remember not just the Holy Book, but the man whose character was the perfect mirror of that Book.
And a review by Huston Smith:
In the religion of Islam the character of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, is the model of human virtue.
It is related that Imam al-Ghazali was invited one day to an assembly of jurists, whose chief said to him:
‘You are a learned man, as we are also from among the learned. Therefore humbler folk come to you to seek interpretations of the Sharia, the Holy Law. It has been reported to us that you have advised some these people not to observe the fast during the month of Ramadan. You are also said to have stated that certain people should not make the pilgramage to Mecca. Others have averred that you have reprimanded people for saying, “There is no God but Allah”. Such mischevious words, if true, are proof to us of infidelity. Only your reputation has so far proteced you from death for apostasy. The people have a right to be protected from such as you.
This is a cross-post of an article by Ismael Bey from Muslims Debate The Islamic Republic of Iran today is governed by a rigid majlis of mullahs who spend hours debating such engrossing topics as whether it is halal for women to wear blue jeans, or if dogs desecrate a Muslim’s household. They break for prayer, debate, then break for lunch and tea, then engage in more debate. They go home, pray, eat dinner “see you tomorrow, inshallah”, and go to bed. Then, upon the day’s dawn, after morning prayer, the process continues. Judged by such standards set forth by the ignorant meeting of such ignorant minds, one can barely see the connection Persian intellectual culture and tradition has played in the development of Islamic thought and spirituality. It is difficult to believe that it was the Persian mind that questioned and demanded to question, through discourse and critical thinking, that gave birth to what the world would come to know as Islamic civilization. The same civilization that recorded and translated the works and knowledge of the ancients was ruled by an Arab dynasty that was to become great by the work of it’s Persian intellectual subjects.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said today that music is “not compatible” with the values of the Islamic republic, and should not be practised or taught in the country.
In some of the most extreme comments by a senior regime figure since the 1979 revolution, Khamenei said: “Although music is halal, promoting and teaching it is not compatible with the highest values of the sacred regime of the Islamic Republic.”
This makes it an opportune moment to cue up ‘Rock the Casbah’ by the Clash, which was about the Ayatollah Khomeini’s ban on music in 1979 soon after the Islamic Revolution.
But perhaps both these Islamist leaders should have reflected on the words of the 12th century sufi master Ali Al-Hujwiri, who wrote in Kashf Al-Mahjub (The Revelation of the Veiled – the first treatise on sufism in Persian) a passage which, translated, goes like this:
I think a few more things need to be stated for the record in relation to Rajinder Singh [the Sikh who is supporting the
The venerable Guru Gobind Singh
BNP]. While his reaction is understandable from a “flawed human nature” perspective, considering the apparent loss of his father during Partition, it isn’t justifiable, either from a general moral perspective or indeed from a specifically Sikh perspective. Let me give an example of another Sikh who suffered immense personal tragedy at the hands of Muslims, in some cases explicitly claiming to be acting in the name of Islam.
Imam Ahmad Reza Khan was born in 1856 in a town called Bareilly, India. Because of the name of his place of birth his followers are commonly referred to as “Barelewis”. Imam Ahmad Reza began writing fatwas at the age of fourteen then he went on to become a Hanafi scholar and a spiritual follower of Pir Abdul Qadir Jilani al-Baghdadi. He was a prolific writer and his fatwas are still used today. In this article I will be looking at some of the key rulings and issues he dealt with.
British India Dar al-Harb or Dar al-Islam?
According to Imam Ahmad Reza Khan’s fatwa, India under British rule was still Dar al-Islam (land of Islam). This was because:
The Islamicists want to reduce Islam to a heartless political ideology; the globalists want to turn it into a ‘licensed’ religion for use in pacifying, and ultimately secularizing, the populations of dar al-Islam. Under such damaging blows, young Muslims need to remember not just the Holy Book, but the man whose character was the perfect mirror of that Book.
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