you are a sufi, your “bit” of attention might burn them to dust!!!! hehe!

Mulla!

Thank you for your comments.

Hyder, Abu Dharr: My thanks!

Shielax, I added some subtitles, as per your suggestion.

Mulla Nafs-eZakiya :

Indeed it often better to ignore. In other cases and in certain venues, it seems better to respond. With Medat we may find which is better in which case.

In this case, we pray that our little bit of attention on this matter brings some attraction to others in the way of Islam of reality and tradition. InshaAllah makes this a small, weak means to give those who are distant from us, a means to feel strong about their tradition in the face of outright assault.

Indeed, with a wife, a son, another baby on the way inshaAllah, a full time job and bills to pay, and actual tariqat work, it is only a small bit of attention that I have to spare.

Excellent writing….no questions there…but I do have a question that
“why do you or should I say, “we” pay attention to the people who are unable to understand “Islam” ?

There is a natural tendency of Muslims these days to “comment” on people who are traditionalists….but the traditional muslims should have a “tradition” of “ignore” , otherwise this will cling on to your good minds and keep you distracted from your “practicality” about Islam which is actually the point of “envy” for enemies of spirituality!

Just yesterday night I was inquired about from a so called Scholar (alim/molana) that , Hey you, are you still going to the shyakh who drums ?…I said yes! of course, the so called molana said lahowlawala….etc…I felt like “answering” but all of a sudden I realized if I ignore his criticism which is sometimes really not possible, yet I couldn’t and sufficed to say, that you molana sahib need to come with me too….a lot of sawab is there and laughed and passed on….

who has the time to explain “them”…
Keep the mind away….from this kinda “distraction”

PS: I have practical hands on experience and education to deal with such attacks on school of Deoband and 9 years of practical experience and have come full circle in realizing that “answering” or “defending” our way or our “choice” by arguments is the worse manner, I learned that the best and most effective manner is “keep doing what you choose” to do, in this case is the traditional Islam…

this is my personal opinion and meant in a general manner, as explained to me earlier by Hazrat Yursil damat barkat(continuous baraka on him), that he is authorized to “answer”,so I could be totally wrong so please “ignore” it if possible!

Mulla Nafs-e-Zakiya!

And miles to go before we sleep, eh?

Did you watch the PBS special on the Mormons last week? Imho, if there are lessons to be had from them & modernity, it’s the need for professionalism in our logistics and organization.

Reminders will profit those who believe & fear. Thank you, for this.

Such an excellent expose. Sometimes, I think that those “back to Quran and Sunna” types are simply like that because normative Islam just refuses to be placed into an ideological parcel, like how they want it to.

I hope there is a part 3 and so on and so forth. It would help if you provided a subtitle to these series of posts. Part 1, I believe, touched on criticism of Taqlid…

Selam Aleykum,

Well said, Mash’Allah.

- Hyder

No I haven’t really had a chance to read Tariq Ramadan. InshaAllah soon.

Predicting my point its good, and I realized that. But still its a valid point I believe.

As far as whether the original article was addressing a different class of issues, I don’t see it, but AllahuAlim. Thanks for visiting

You wrote:
“Let us remember the points in contention are very basic things which apply to Muslims living in various secular nation states.

What *needs* to change regarding fulfilling the few personal religious obligations (salat, zakat, sawm, etc) that we maintain?

A majority of the issues of the madhabs revolve around just those basic elements. Do we need to revisit the question over how much filth causes an unmoving body of water to be considered filth unworthy of Wudu? No, that is already answered within Mukhtasar al-Quduri, the Shaykh’s all know about it, so lets follow it and get on with actual progress.

Really. Please lets get on with it..”

Akhi…this was my point exactly – this is why I mentioned that bit about why when some traditionalists think ijtihaad they immediately think this…and you showed it by bringing up exactly this point and using it as a counter argument

I liked your response overall though, it lays out your point of view very well. But still, I think it is not responding to the points that the original article was meant to convey but is responding to a different class of issues altogether. Its a subtle difference, but I think it has been missed.

Have you read Islam the West and Challenges of Modernity by Tariq Ramadan? It may provide some insight as to the context of the original article. Also, To be A European Muslim is a very good work that touches upon similar points. If you have not read them, I would suggest you do inshAllah if you get a chance in the future – I think that would set the context right for more discussion.

barakAllahu feek,
Abdul Sattar