"The Perceived Failure of the Traditional Islamic Institutions"

Islamic Spirituality: the forgotten revolution

Abdal-Hakim Murad

...The entire experience of Islamic work over the past fifteen years has been one of increasing radicalization, driven by the perceived failure of the traditional Islamic institutions and the older Muslim movements to lead the Muslim peoples into the worthy but so far chimerical promised land of the 'Islamic State.'  

If this final catastrophe is to be averted, the mainstream will have to regain the initiative. But for this to happen, it must begin by confessing that the radical critique of moderation has its force. The Islamic movement has so far been remarkably unsuccessful. We must ask ourselves how it is that a man like Nasser, a butcher, a failed soldier and a cynical demagogue, could have taken over a country as pivotal as Egypt, despite the vacuity of his beliefs, while the Muslim Brotherhood, with its pullulating millions of members, should have failed, and failed continuously, for six decades. The radical accusation of a failure in methodology cannot fail to strike home in such a context of dismal and prolonged inadequacy.  

It is in this context - startlingly, perhaps, but inescapably - that we must present our case for the revival of the spiritual life within Islam. If it is ever to prosper, the 'Islamic revival' must be made to see that it is in crisis, and that its mental resources are proving insufficient to meet contemporary needs. The response to this must be grounded in an act of collectivemuhasaba, of self-examination, in terms that transcend the ideologised neo-Islam of the revivalists, and return to a more classical and indigenously Muslim dialectic...  

Read full paper:

http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/ahm/fgtnrevo.htm

ABDUL HAKIM MURAD

Born Timothy J. Winter in 1960, Abdal Hakim studied at the prestigious Westminster School in London, UK and later at the University of Cambridge, where he graduated with first class honours in Arabic in 1983. He then lived in Cairo for three years, studying Islam under traditional teachers at Al-Azhar, one of the oldest universities in the world. He went on to reside for three years in Jeddah, where he administered a commercial translation office and maintained close contact with Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad and other ulama from Hadramaut, Yemen.

In 1989, Sheikh Abdal Hakim returned to England and spent two years at the University of London learning Turkish and Farsi. Since 1992 he has been a doctoral student at Oxford University, specializing in the religious life of the early Ottoman Empire. In 1996, he was appointed University Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge.


Sheikh Abdal Hakim is the translator of a number of works, including two volumes from Imam al-Ghazali Ihya Ulum al-Din. He gives durus and halaqas from time to time and taught the works of Imam al-Ghazali at the Winter 1995 Deen Intensive Program in New Haven, CT. He appears frequently on BBC Radio and writes occasionally for a number of publications including The Independent and Q-News International, Britain's premier Muslim Magazine.
He lives with his wife and children in Cambridge, UK.


Source:

http://www.themodernreligion.com/profile/sh-abdul-Hakim.html

The Aim & Spirit of Awrad

IMAM ABDALLAH ibn ALAWI al-HADDAD (Allah have mercy on him) (d.1132 Hijri) said,

‘The aim and spirit of awrād is presence with Allah.

Aim for it; you will reach it only if you travel the road that leads to it, which is performing the external activities and striving to be present with Allah during them. When you persevere in this you become immersed in the lights of Proximity, and the sciences of gnosis emanate upon you, at which your heart becomes wholly intent on God and presence becomes its nature and well-established quality.’ Risalat ul-Mu‘awanah   Tarim, Hadramaut,  Yemen

(Note: A wird (plural: awrad) is any regular routine of worship, such as prayer, remembrance (dhikr), supplication (dua), fasting, and so on. One can also consider regular routines of religious study and reading to be a wird.)

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF IMAM ABDULLAH AL-HADDAD

Imam 'Abdallah al-Haddad was born in Tarim, in the hills of Hadramaut, one of the southerly regions of the Arabian peninsula, and grew up in an environment where the accent was upon piety, frugality, erudition, and an uncompromising thirst for gnosis (ma'rifa). His lineage is traced back to the Prophet, may blessings and peace be upon him, and his family, through Imam al-Husayn. His illustrious ancestors, the 'Alawi sadat, had for centuries produced generation after generation of great scholars, and gnostics. 

Imam al-Haddad's writings are mostly concerned with establishing within his readers the firmest possible foundations for faith and certainty. He recognised the signs of his times and of the times to come, and observed how people were drawing away from religion, exhibiting a reluctance to study and a diminishing inclination to seek spiritual growth. 

He therefore endeavoured to produce concise, clear, and uncontroversial texts, many of which are abbreviated adaptations of Imam al-Ghazali's monumental Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya 'Ulum al-Din). 

Imam al-Haddad died on the eve of the seventh of Dhu'l-Qa'da, 1132 A.H. having spent his life bringing people to their Lord through his oral and written teaching, and his exemplary life. He was buried in a simple grave in the cemetary at Tarim.

Source:

http://www.ashrafiya.com/2010/02/05/the-aim-and-spirit-of-awrad/ 

http://www.iqra.net/articles/al-haddad.html

http://seekersguidance.org/blog/2010/02/why-spiritual-routines-and-regular-remembrance-imam-al-haddad-with-commentary-from-faraz-rabbani/

Dr. Muhammad Hameedullah (1908-2002): "Introduction to Islam"

Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah, (born 1908), was educated at Osmania University in the state of Hyderabad Deccan (India). Since India invaded the state of Hyderabad Deccan in 1948 he lived in self imposed exile. 

He was the youngest among the three brothers and five sisters, who were all well versed in Arabic, Persian and Urdu, as well as in Islamic learning. He received his early education at home, first from his sisters and then from his father. Later he was admitted in the Madrasah Nizamiyyah or Jamia Nizamia where he passed the examination for the degree for Mawlvi Kamil with distinction in 1924. Aware of his father’s antipathy towards English education, the young Hamidullah secretively sat for the matriculation examination and, when the results were declared, topped the list of successful candidates.


He was awarded D. Phil by Bonn University, Germany in 1932. He was appointed a lecturer in Arabic and Urdu at Bonn University. After spending some time in Germany, he came to Paris where he registered at the Sorbonne University for another doctoral degree. In a short period of eleven months, Sorbonne University conferred on him the degree of D. Litt.

Professor Hamidullah is well known for his translation of the Qur'an into French, and more than 170 works on Islamic Sciences, history, and culture. He has also taught various subjects related to Islamic Studies and Muslim International Law etc. in many countries. He is well known for his research in Islamic Law and all related subjects. He has been recognized as the most (or at least one of the most) authoritative scholars in the research of Islamic International Law and Islamic Constitutional Law. At its initial stages, he was invited by the government of Pakistan to help draft the constitution of Pakistan. Two of his most popular works are Muslim Conduct of State and Introduction to Islam (Online: http://muslim-canada.org/hamidullah_all.html). 

Hamidullah divided his time between the neighborhood Islamic Center (grand mosque) he had helped establish in Paris, and visits to libraries and educational institutions of higher learning. What time was left he devoted to his writing and answering numerous letters he received daily. Over the years, thousands of people have converted to Islam because of his influence, and Hamidullah always had a stream of visitors, mostly students, who came to seek his advice. Being very mindful of time management, he never wasted a minute more than required for each task.

In 1985, he was awarded the Hilal-e-Imtiaz, the highest civilian award of Pakistan that includes a substantial monetary amount. He donated the award money to Islamic Research Academy, Islamabad.

His last act of defiance against fame and fortune was in l999, when he declined a “lifetime achievement award” being conferred upon him by the Islamic Society of North America. He shunned being photographed, this tribute to a noble soul is therefore unaccompanied by any photograph. .

Sources: 

http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Muhammad-Hamidullah; http://www.wrmea.com/archives/march03/0303059.html; http://muslim-canada.org/biosketchhamid.html

Dr. Muhammad Hameedullah on Osmania University, Hyderabad

"[In the] centre of India [was Hyderabad Deccan which was] as big as Italy, with over 20 million inhabitants. It was well known for the attention it gave particularly to the reform of Islamic education.

In its university founded along Western lines with about a dozen faculties, there was also a faculty of Islamic Theology. The university imparted teaching, at every level and in every faculty, through the medium of Urdu, the local language.

Specialization began in the school stage, when Arabic language, Fiqh, (Muslim law), and Hadith (documents on the life and sayings of the Prophet), were obligatory beside other subjects such as English language, mathematics and other courses of modern education.

In the university stage, the students of the Faculty of Theology learned not only English of a high standard, but also Arabic and subjects concerned purely with Islamic studies were prescribed. Moreover comparative studies became the vogue.

With the Fiqh was modern jurisprudence; with Kalam, the history of Western philosophy; with Arabic, also Hebrew or some modern European language, French or German in particular. When the students prepared their theses, they were attached to two guides - one a professor of the Faculty of Theology, and the other a professor from the Faculty of Arts and Letters or Law as the case may be. This provided the means of mastering simultaneously both the Islamic facts and modern Western trends on the same subject.  (Introduction to Islam, Ch. 14, cf 505)

Dr. Ejaz Akram's Lecture on the link between Environmentalism & Islam

Dr Akram reiterated the ‘sacred element of nature’. In his world view, there are two groups – the Malthusians vs. the Cornucopians. The former lives according to spiritual principles, upholding the view that the quality of one’s life is far more important than the quantity. The latter believe that the modern world can fix itself through technology and yet more development. He has pointed out, however, that we are running out of time – in a generation or two, global warming will become irreversible with disastrous consequences for the planet.

 

“If the lifestyle of the developing world becomes that of the industrial centres, it will be a global catastrophe,” he writes.

 

“The industrial world over consumes and over produces. Then they look for sinks for their garbage in poorer countries… It is the bugbear of development which is the real cause of environmental damage,” he adds.

 

Dr Akram traced the rise in greed and over-consumption to the changing rules of ownership which occurred when Europeans started distancing themselves from Christianity. It was the Protestant work ethic which took over and flipped over the traditional Christian view which believed that ‘work is a curse and blessed are those who have time’. In the traditional Muslim world, ownership was regarded as what you have on you.

 

According to Dr Ejaz Akram, what the world really needs is not a “war on poverty, but a war against wealth.” Most of the people who are currently suffering from environmental damage (take the coast of Bangladesh and other small islands for example, where villagers are losing their homes and livelihoods due to rise in sea levels) are not the ones who caused it in the first place.

 

“People are suffering from someone else’s fault… We are made to believe that resources are scarce but in fact, resources are plenty. If there is a loss, someone is taking more,” says Dr Ejaz. He referred to the famous book, Small is Beautiful which outlines how localised economies should be run instead of the globalised system we currently live under, which “sees society as economy, not that society has an economy.”

 

Religion, of course, calls one towards good deeds and teaches us equilibrium, harmony and balance. This leads to stability, whereas modern economics is inherently unstable. In the religious mindset, “everything in the world has everything to do with God. But if you kill God, then everything becomes possible”.

Source:

http://www.dawn.com.pk/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/in-paper-magazine/the-review/spiritual+environmentalism

The book 'Small is Beautiful" site and availability at Amazon.com: 

http://www.smallisbeautiful.org/

http://www.amazon.com/Small-Beautiful-Economics-People-Mattered/dp/0060916303

Other Related Links:

http://ecologyandislam.wordpress.com/2010/01/03/islam-and-ecology-a-bestowed-trust-inviting-balanced-stewardship/

MUFTI TAQI USMANI'S PAPER AT WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM 2010

POST-CRISIS REFORMS: SOME POINTS TO PONDER

In modern economics, we are used to a purely materialistic and secular approach that does not allow religious concepts to interfere with its theories and concepts, on the premise that economy is outside the domain of religion. It is, however, an interesting irony that every dollar note has the admission: “In God
we trust”, but when it comes to develop theories to earn dollars or to distribute or spend them, trust is placed only on human ideas based on personal assessments; God is held totally out of picture, as being irrelevant to economic activities!!!

It is perhaps for the first time that, as an aftermath of the present financial crisis, when different quarters are coming up with different suggestions to solve the problem, the ‘World Economic Forum’ has invited representatives of religion to give their input to the initiative of reshaping the economic set-up on the basis of values, principles and fresh thoughts. This commendable initiative deserves full support from religious circles. As a humble student of Islamic disciplines, and particularly of Islamic economic principles, I would like to highlight some basic points, derived from Islamic economic precepts, that I believe, are essential for independent and fresh consideration while seeking solutions to our economic problems.

Read more...

http://islamicfinancenews.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/mufti-taqi-usmani-presents-paper-at-world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2010/

• Biography of Mufti Taqi Usmani: 

Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani is one of the leading Islamic scholars living today, an expert in the fields of Islamic Jurisprudence, Economics, Hadith and Tasawwuf.

Born in Deoband in 1943, he graduated from Dars e Nizami at Darul Uloom, Karachi, Pakistan. He specialized in Islamic Jurisprudence under the guidance of his eminent father, Mufti Muhammad Shafi, the late Grand Mufti of Pakistan. He has been writing on various Islamic topics in English, Urdu and Arabic and is author of more than 60 books and numerous articles.

· Ustadh of hadith and Fiqh, and Vice-President at the Darul-Uloom, Karachi.

· Judge at the Sharia Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan till recently.

· Consultant to several international Islamic financial institutions and has played a key part in the move toward interest free banking and the establishment of Islamic financial institutions.

· Deputy chairman of the Jeddah based Islamic Fiqh Council of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

· Shaykh of Tasawwuf: In tradition to the scholars of Deoband, recognizing the importance of Tasawwuf, he traversed the path under the guidance of khulafa of Hakeemul Ummat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (rahmetullah ajmaeen). In addition to his busy schedule he is himself a mentor to numerous spiritual aspirants all over the world. He also conducts a weekly session for the public interested in spiritual improvement.

List of publications include: (Updated May 2004) The Authority of Sunnah, An Introduction to Islamic Finance, Discourse on Islamic way of Life, Islam and Modernism, Islam aur Seasate Hazra ( Islam and Contemporary Politics), Islahe Ma'ashara (Perfecting society), Islahi mawa’iz (Discourses for spiritual perfection) (3 volumes)

• Taqi Usmani sahib's book Islam and Modernism and other titles are available at the online book store www.goshaenur.com.                                                                                                     http://www.goshaenur.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&keyword=taqi%20usmani&description=1&product_id=142

• Biography Source:

             http://www.albalagh.net/taqi.shtml; 
           

Serial Documentary (13) on the Life of the Prophet

Filmed in Lahore, Pakistan, 2009

In April 2009 Baytunur received a grant from an individual donor to produce a documentary on the life of the Prophet. Researched, conceived and directed by the Baytunur team this documentary currently stands at the post-edit stage.


The Serial Research:

1.The Life of Muhammad, A translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Seerat Rasul Allah by A.Guillame, OUP, Karachi, 1990. [Urdu: Seerat Rasool Pak (s.a.w.) berawayat Ibn-e-Ishaq, translated by Allama Muhammad Athar Naeemi, Maktabah Nabawiyya, Lahore, H.1421]

2.The Life of Muhammad, By Muhammad Hussain Haykal, translated by Ismail Ragi A. Al-Faruqi, Darul-Ishaat, Karachi, 1999. [Urdu: Hayaat-e-Muhammad (s.a.w.) , Muhammad Hussain Haykal, Alhamd Publications, Lahore, 2007 ]

3. Muhammad, His life based on the earliest sources, Martin Lings, The Islamic Texts Society, U.K., 1991. [Urdu: Hayaat-e-Sarwar-e-Kainaat Muhammad, Martin Lings, translated by Syed Moinuddin Ahmed Qadri, Progressive Books, Lahore, 1994.]

The Serial Format: 

The total programme duration is 20 minutes shot all on location at various mosques and maqams of Lahore, Pakistan.

The format of each episode is in the broad sequence of A Narration from the life of the Prophet (on the selected topic from one particular book) given by a narrator followed by one focal point of the narration which Scholars expand and give further insight on.

The Narrators:

1. Taimoor Khan Mumtaz, Architect, Lahore
2. Dr. Marium Rafat, Lahore

The Scholars:

1. Suheyl Umar, Director, Iqbal Academy Pakistan, Lahore 
2. Mufti Ghulam Sarwar Qadri, Jamia Rizvia, Model Town, Lahore 
3. Dr. Ejaz Akram, LUMS, Lahore 
4. Mufti Kamaluddin Ahmed, LUMS, Lahore 
5. Dr. Basit Koshul, LUMS, Lahore 
6. Allama Shehzad Mujadidi, Editor Fiqh Batin, Lahore 
7. Dr. Naumana Amjad, Punjab University 
8. Dr. Nasir Afghan, IBA, KArachi
9. Syed Rizwan Zamir, University of Virginia, USA

KASHFUL MAHJUB: On Sufism

Translated by Dr. Aslam Ansari,
Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan.
Commissioned by Baytunur Trust


In Data Sahib's lifetime it seems that there was as much confusion on religious knowledge as exists today. On his student's request thereof he wrote Kashful Mahjub in order to clarify certain concepts.

Excerpt from the chapter "On Sufism - Tasawwuf":

"Allah Almighty and Exalted has said, “And there are servants of God the Compassionate who walk on the earth with humility, and when they are addressed by the illiterate (in a manner unbecoming to them) they say, “Peace (be on you)”. The Messenger of God (PBUH) has said, “Whoever heard the voice of the Sufis and does not believe in (the truth of) their prayers, is inscribed in the eye of Allah as negligent.”

In these times, however, God Almighty and Exalted has kept most of the people veiled from these people (sufis) and their affairs, and the mysteries of this persuasion have been hidden from their hearts. Hence a group of people assumed that this exercise is limited to the correction only of external aspects (of man), without inner experiences. Another group thinks that this (Sufism) is no more than a formal custom with no reality and substance. Such assumptions have been stretched to the extent that following the mockers and scholars of worldly outlook, such people have altogether denied the reality (of Sufism), and have felt happy while having been veiled from these matters. Consequently, the common people followed them, washed away their quest for purification from their inner selves, and have put away the practice of the early (Muslims) and the companions of the Prophet (PBUH).

Thence it was that Shaykhs of this path, may God have mercy on them, said, “Purity is not from amongst the attributes of man. Man indeed is clay and clay is not without impurity. For clay is nothing but impurity, and man can not walk away from impurity.” Therefore, purity cannot be exemplified by acts (afa’l), nor can human nature be destroyed by strict religious practices. Therefore, the attribute of purity related neither to acts nor to inner states; and its name is not related to nouns are honorific names. ‘Purity’ is the attribute of ‘friends’ (Sufis) and they are suns unclouded. For purity is the attributes of friends (lovers), and friend is the person who is dead in so far as his attributes are concerned; he subsists in the attributes of the Friend (God). The states of such people, in view of the people concerned with meaning, is as clear as the sun. When God’s beloved, Muhammad the chosen one (PBUH), was asked about the matter of Harith, he said, “(He is) the man whose heart Allah illumined with the light of faith. It is why his face shines like moon, and he is lustrous with the Divine light, as it has been aptly been said (verse):

“The light of the sun and the moon,
when commingled, becomes model
of the purity of love and (faith in) Unity.”"