Dr. Shadee Elmasry - FB posts

Discussion in 'General Topics' started by sunni_porter, Feb 4, 2017.

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  1. sunni_porter

    sunni_porter Well-Known Member

    February 3, 2017:

    Another group is coming, and this time, we're going to be in front of the 8-ball inshallah.

    As I observed that the sizable anti-Trump marches and gatherings continue, I thought to myself: something new is going to grow out of this. A type of leftist movement that's far more aggressive than the Social Justice Movement who's 'warriors' unleashed their diatribes on the world through social media. Clearly the SJW's have lost the biggest battle of all, the election, to the Alt Right. Now if you recall, the Alt Right is itself a manifestation of gatherings that started as the Tea Party, never stylish or charismatic enough to gain traction. Then that radicalized under the Birther Movement and then they landed a permanent home at Breitbart News. So as you can see, elections produce dissatisfied people who over time swell into a movement that no single person could form or foresee by themselves. In the video in this article, you'll see a slight hint of what may lay ahead as Alt Right rock star Richard Spencer gets sucker punched in the middle of the street.

    It's disgusting to imagine how much the Trump victory has re-cemented overt racism as part of everyday American life. I'm not talking about the subtle miscues (policing language) that SJW's would detect and eradicate. We're talking about outright overt racism, e.g. what happened to Leslie Jones on Twitter. This is going to produce a serious reaction, and this group, as this NYT piece tells us, probably won't stop at mere word on a screen.

    The Left has one issue in which they're totally correct, namely racism. All the other 'isms' have to do with things people chose for themselves (including Islam). So if you chose it, you're not a victimized interest group that deserves emotional support. You chose it, so now face the defend yourself. But besides that one issue in which they're 100% right, we have no clue what else this manifestation is going to look like, except that it will involve some type of forcible inclusion of everyone their minds deem to be victims.

    This is the result of the absence of an agreed upon Sacred. We just keep swinging further to the right, and further to the left. (To be a Centrist is not yet radical enough to get attention.) Obama will be viewed as too soft. Trump will one day be viewed as 'not enough.' It's dizzying, but we now see before our very eyes the value of what we call "thawaabit," or things that are Sacred and set in stone. The Sacred is a set of ideals that serve as our reference point. We no longer have a reference point in America. And the trick is, the Sacred can never be man-made. It must come from a source superior to man.

    The last wave (SJW) caught us off-guard, and a lot of youth were sucked into their rhetoric which involves a world-view that does not revolve around Prophetic teachings. And it's sad to say but I think we lost alot of people to that way of thinking. Myself and people like Daniel Haqiqatjou and Ilyas Lahoz have been playing from behind. This time around though, we have to get ahead of the 8-ball, and we have to start playig offense, not defense. We have to put forth the Prophetic Way, which is Islam. We don't have "activism" we have sadaqa, commanding and forbidding, adl and ihsan. We have our own priorities and ilm. We have to do this before another generation gets lured into the next part-true, part-not Leftist movement.

    May Allah make us live and die on the Sunna and the Jamaa and likewise our offspring.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/21/us/politics/richard-spencer-punched-attack.html?_r=1
     
  2. sunni_porter

    sunni_porter Well-Known Member

    February 1, 2017:

    What is the rule in Islam if you catch a man stealing a loaf of bread from your shop and it turns out he's starving to death and he's feeding his kids who are also starving to death. The Sharia says, you let him finish that loaf and you give him another one and he can pay you back later or you can get reimbursed from the sadaqa in Bayt al-Maal.

    The law is not the same for the poor and the starving, particularly if they didn't break down a door or a lock. It's the same thing with Mexicans and Central Americans in this country, and by the same logic, we all in America have been turning a blind eye to many driven-by-poverty illegal immigrants. They've been working ten and twelve hour days in or homes and other undesired jobs for peanuts since the 90's. There's mercy in the law. I encourage you all to perk up your ears and keep an eye out to help these people. It is not even fair when a society has been turning a blind eye for decades then suddenly ratches it up like this. I've been told that the police nation-wide have been deputized to now serve as immigration officers. They can ask anyone for their papers and if you're illegal they book you. Now obviously if a guy is coming as a drug dealer that's not what we're talking about. But for real, "Allah is constantly in the aid of His servant so long as the servant is in the aid of his brother." So help the miskeen and maybe it will put some blessing in your life and your offspring.
     
  3. sunni_porter

    sunni_porter Well-Known Member

    January 25, 2017:

    I was just talking to my colleague and he made a critical observation:
    The Civil Rights movement was led by Reverends and Ministers who believed in God and family (which is not to say it was sound in its basis; but at least they had something). Today's Social Justice movement is led in the main by atheists and advocates of everything non-traditional. It got me thinking about the importance of foundations.

    The intellectual foundation of a movement is categorically more important than it's results. I'm sure you can dig deep and find *one* good thing that Hitler ever stood for. But as the principle says: "Whatever is built on falsehood is itself null and void." Because when it's not rooted properly, it will eventually fade away.

    I am not standing on a hollow foundation even if the numbers are impressive. You are better off standing on the correct, proven foundation even if we are few in numbers.

    We as Muslims believe in social rectification and have our own prophetic proscriptions for it. We don't need to prove it to anyone nor put it on display for critics to see. We have our own foundations, our own blueprint given to us by the Prophet ﷺ through generations of scholarship.

    Our methodology begins with the person himself. How can you change others when you have not changed yourself. Institutions---"structures"---as they like to call them, are made up of human beings. If we have no knowledge on how change the human being then it won't make any difference if we change laws or structures or paradigms. It's all outward.

    The prophetic model moves slowly. Verrry slowly. To the point that people think we are doing nothing. They can think what they want. The prophetic model is not about making noise and getting attention. We don't chant slogans. We don't shout at oppressors, who are just reflections of our own sins. We have other doctrines. This is about learning what Truth is, what justice is, what oppression is, what change is needed, then coming to know the Owner of all this Himself. Then we transmit this in a humble way. No hashtags needed.

    Brothers and sisters, so many times I hear people say "Akhi why don't you organize." I laugh. We are organizing. We have a different plan. It looks different, it feels different, and it has different priorities, but I guarantee you, the ways of the prophets work. They have lasted over 5,000 years so we have nothing to prove; we just have to 'do.'
     
  4. sunni_porter

    sunni_porter Well-Known Member

    January 24, 2017:

    There is always a delicate balance between dealing well with people and agreeing with them. We saw this in the sira when the Prophet ﷺ permitted the Companions to flee persecution and live in East Africa where there was a just Christian king. At that time very clear verses were revealed about the enormity of saying God has a son. "The sky wants to collapse and the earth wants to split and the mountains want to fall down, when they hear their claimed Allah has a son." The Companions understood instinctively that the permission to live there did not nullify other differences in belief or practice.

    Upon arriving to East Africa, the king asked "What does your prophet teach?" Sayyidna Jafar gave a basic summary of Islam. He did not attack the king's religion and trinity. He did not antagonize his host.

    Then a Meccan agitator came and said, "O king did you know they say Jesus was a slave." This was a big test. What would Ja'far do? He was called to the court. He simply recited the verses about Prophet Jesus and his noble mother Sayyida Maryam. He did not argue nor debate, but nor did he bend over backward to please the king. His emotion was even keeled.

    As I look around, we're now at the same point with key differences in the analogy. There are groups out there far from Islam but they love to have the Muslims around. Some people get such a good feeling from defending minorities that they will come to you in your masjid asking what they can do. It's happened to us a number of times. We have an example in Jafar of accepting these scenarios provided that Deen is not compromised in subtle or overt ways.

    The differences in the analogy are that...

    1 - Christianity was the official religion of Ethiopia; America has no official belief system that the citizenry must adopt. Rather, there's societal peer pressure coming from the media, movies, schools, guidance counselors, universities, political correctness etc. This means that if you want to hold on to a belief, it's up to you to learn it and make some strong friends who can support you so you can justify going against the grain and passing that struggle on to the next generation.

    2 - Second difference is that most Muslims in the West are not guests. The Right can try to make you feel like an outsider but in the words of Lewis Black, "They came from somewhere else too; they didn't sprout!" America today is so diverse there is hardly no dominant mainstream ethnic culture anymore. In the words of another commentator, "In the new world, we're all weird." Everyone has their own niche and bubble and there's nothing intrinsically wrong with that.

    3 - Those Companions may Allah be pleased with them, were highly educated in their Deen. That might not be the case with us. So we have to keep learning and work hard at spreading knowledge. Worship makes your faith grow, but it's knowledge that protects you from pitfalls.

    4 - The Sahaba had an alternative. As soon as Madina opened up they went there. So it was short term. For us this is long term. So we need specialized institutions to support that. We still don't have a political voice that's Muslim in name and policy. We just tow the liberal democratic line in everything down the lizard hole. We need the confidence to say this is who we are and this is what we expect from our public officials who work for us.
     
  5. sunni_porter

    sunni_porter Well-Known Member

    January 24, 2017:

    Modern morality is based on social consensus. "The People." In principle, it's no less arbitrary than random edicts coming down from a king. It's basically democratized arbitrariness. Some have called it the tyranny of the masses. Sometimes 'the people' got it right. Like the Civil Rights movement. But that doesn't mean the principle is sound. Morality by social consensus is a system bound to put society in constant flux because the nature of people is that we change our mind. We're moody and whimsical. Political and economic shifts change the way we think real fast. None of us today have the faintest idea what will be deemed right or wrong in 2040. There's a real problem with that.

    The point of a system is that it's stable and predictable. A system in such constant flux is no system at all. You can say it's closer to chaos.

    Faithful Muslims are very fortunate to be given iman and have a deen that clarifies so much for us. We have to be thankful for this or else it will be taken away from us. The problem is doubt. Doubts should never creep up into the heart of a mu'min. The cure to doubt is good suhba (companionship) and the contemplation of the Quran. Dhikr of LA ILAHA ILLA ALLAH wipes away both waswasa (whisperings from shaytan) and shakk (doubt). In the sight of Allah, protecting this yaqin (certainty) is more important than anything else. If we were to conquer the highest mountain but have a drop in our iman, we've lost everything. We ask Allah to make firm our hearts and let us live and die on Sunna and Jamaa.
     
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  6. sunni_porter

    sunni_porter Well-Known Member

    November 29:

    A guiding light for our times. Memorize this.

    "Command the right and forbid the wrong. But when you see that greed is obeyed, and whims are followed, and that dunya is chosen over all things, and love of every person for their own opinion, then be concerned with yourself and leave off the public affair" (Ibn Maja).

    ائتمروا بالمعروف، وتناهوا عن المنكر، حتى إذا رأيت شُحاً مطاعاً، وهوىً متبعاً، ودنيا مؤثرة، وإعجاب كل ذي رأيٍ برأيه، فعليك بخاصة نفسك ودع عنك أمر العامة
     
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  7. sunni_porter

    sunni_porter Well-Known Member

    November 29:

    Another hadith to keep on your mind. Especially when scrolling through the news and social media.

    "There will come upon the people years of treachery in which people will be fooled. The truthful will be disbelieved and the liar will be believed. The treacherous will be trusted, but the trustworthy will not. And the ruwaybida will speak. They said, who are the Ruwaybida?" He peace be upon him said, foolish people who speak about public affairs" (Musnad Ahmad).

    سيأتي على الناس سنوات خدّعات، يُصَدق فيها الكاذب ويُكذَّب فيها الصادق، ويُؤتمن فيها الخائن ويُخوَّن فيها الأمين، وينطق فيها الرويبضة))، قيل وما الرويبضة يا رسول الله ؟ .. قال: «الرجل التافه يتكلم في أمر العامة
     
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  8. izz al-Din

    izz al-Din Well-Known Member

  9. sunni_porter

    sunni_porter Well-Known Member

    November 27, 2016:

    The Job Description of Those in the Field of Knowledge

    As students or teachers, the job is to *clarify* what creed Allah wants from us, and what actions He loves or rejects. Letting things remain fuzzy is a sin for scholars.

    اِنَّ الَّذِیْنَ یَكْتُمُوْنَ مَاۤ اَنْزَلْنَا مِنَ الْبَیِّنٰتِ وَ الْهُدٰى مِنْۢ بَعْدِ مَا بَیَّنّٰهُ لِلنَّاسِ فِی الْكِتٰبِ١ۙ اُولٰٓىِٕكَ یَلْعَنُهُمُ اللّٰهُ وَ یَلْعَنُهُمُ اللّٰعِنُوْنَۙ۝۱۵۹

    "No doubt, those who conceal what We have sent down of clear signs and guidance after that We have made it clear in the Book for the people, on them there is the curse of Allah and the curse of those who curse" (2:59 Baqara).
     
  10. sunni_porter

    sunni_porter Well-Known Member

    November 28, 2016:

    An article about "Atheist Muslims."

    ...I'm telling you folks...words mean nothing anymore. Straighten the rows and prepare for janaza on facts and meanings. They are being buried together in the same grave.

    This is exactly why the Prophet ﷺ said in sum, when the ruwaybida come, leave off public dialogue and go into your homes, worrying about your own self (fa alayka bi khaasati nafsik wa da' anka amr al-'aamma). If the basic meaning of words is no longer respected (or known), how can we have a discussion? Today if you want to identify as a capitalist who is against free trade and profit, you will find support to do so.

    This is why all we have now is to reinforce those who already recognize the fundamental principles and meanings we are upon and strengthen one another.

    FYI - On the definition of Muslim... "He named you Muslims" (22:78 Hajj).
    The Muslim is one who believes in Muhammad ﷺ as the final prophet and believes in everything which he brought ﷺ that has reached us through tawaatur, and disbelieved in whatever contradicts what he brought.

    https://nypost.com/…/atheist-muslims-could-be-the-key…/amp/…
     
  11. IslamIsTheTruth

    IslamIsTheTruth Well-Known Member

    Hamza yusuf to the tee!
     
  12. Noori

    Noori Senior Moderator

    befits tariq jamil, the celebrity hunter, very well.
     
  13. sunni_porter

    sunni_porter Well-Known Member

    October 9, 2016:

    There are some scholars and da'ees who make a huge mistake in their "da'wa." They'll come across an influential person or group who is far far off the truth and whose influence is detrimental on the community, then they'll try to draw them near to the deen. The intention might be good (isn't it always good?), but the method is a disaster and the result is worse.

    He goes on a public platform with them and then digs into the recesses of Muslim literature to find a fringe opinion somewhat relatable to that person's falsehood. If he's with an LGBT personality, he'll go deep and find that some random poet 900 years ago expressed love for boys. If he's with one of these dictators with blood on his hands, instead of reminding him of Allah's justice, he finds one minor good deed that tyrant did and he praises it in public and shows that the Prophet ﷺ also did that. And so on.

    He thinks that by doing this he'll cause this person to be more sympathetic towards Islam, since it's so broad and tolerant. But in the long run, it has the opposite effect. He's made the person more cemented in his falsehood, and removed any reason for him to change. The tyrant now feels he's doing good. They're on a path of darkness and they just got validated by an imam.

    Now, I understand the philosophy that some have that love of God & His Messenger ﷺ must precede teachings, but love isn't be confirming people's falsehood and giving the impression that anything goes with God and His Prophet ﷺ. That somehow they sanction everything as long as you love them.

    And as for the effect on the community, it's worse. He does this on a public platform with his followers watching, so they leave feeling that it's all good and there are no real boundaries, while the common Muslim who was watching thinking he can learn, ends up totally confused thinking that the tradition allows for this or that behavior or idea.

    The ulama and awliya of the past stayed in their positions, respected and dignified, and all sorts of people good and bad came to them. The shaykhs were generous towards them. They were not harsh. They did not bring up issues of differences. But they did not validate the wrong either.
     
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  14. sunni_porter

    sunni_porter Well-Known Member

    October 12, 2016:

    Every era has its own test. Today we face a fitna our predecessors never faced before: online pornography addiction. It went from the magazine stands at grimy quickie shops to HBO which the cable companies started putting into our homes without any consent. Fast forward fifteen years and pornographers can reach us at work, at home, and in our very own pockets.

    I was part of the cohort that answered Hamza Yusuf's call to quit TV. It was a big struggle, but we did it and the feeling was awesome. Little did we know that TV was little league in comparison to what was next. Mobile phones make TV look like a Mickey Mouse operation. We're facing 90 mile an hour fastballs and we got whiffle-ball bats and no coach.

    So what are you going to do? Pout and give up? Or wipe your tears and face your bully? There's so much gloom and doom around the subject of pornography, which is understood. But over the years of people sharing their stories and issues with me, I see something different. Call it a silver lining, call it a wisdom, whatever it is...but as much as these images are scarring hearts, the constant challenge is actually strengthening iman too. There are people out there whose just refuse to give up. Some in porn, some in zina, some attracted to the same sex, and I expect things to get more bizarre as we enter the 2020's. As many times as they fall, they get up, and they simply will not stop believing that their kind Maker is going to forgive them. As humiliating as the fall is, they still muster the ability to come to the masjid and smile at the person next to them. What is this resiliency?? Where's it coming from?? I believe it's nothing other than iman Allah inspires directly from Himself into the hearts of the penitent faithful. And isn't that what Allah said in hadith qudsi: If you were to sin and repent seventy times a day, and end upon repentance believing I forgive, then I forgive you," and "If you come to Me with a mountain of sins, but you believe that I can forgive, then I forgive you without any hesitation." And "If the son of Adam never sinned, I would create a creation that would fall so that I can forgive them." In this fall-repent-forgive cycle is where the relationship with our Maker grows intimately inside the hearts of this path's wounded soldiers.

    It's this monthly/weekly/daily habit of tawba that puts us over the top. A married woman committed adultery and got pregnant in the time of the Prophet ﷺ. Someone made a belittling comment about her. The Prophet ﷺ said "Be quiet; if you spread her repentance over the homes of Madina, it would envelope seventy homes."

    Someone said to me, "Don't think all these young guys around you are so pious; they fall for the same things everyone else falls for. So what's the benefit of all this teaching and studying." I said the difference is that these guys know it's wrong so they wash it off every day. That's the difference. It doesn't harden on them until it becomes a permanent barrier between them and iman. "The believers, if they are touched by a group from shaytan, they remember, then their insight becomes clear." The faithful are human beings; they're going to get dirty but acting upon their faith cleanses them. "If a man had a river in front of his house and bathed five times a day would there be any filth left on him?"

    But make no mistake, the struggle must continue. Lowering the gaze is still expected from us at all levels and at all places in real life and online. Allah doesn't guide the complacent. Just as He sent us guidance through a Book and Prophet ﷺ, He guides us individually through our deeds. The more deeds we do, the more channels we open up for guidance.

    Allah increase us in beneficial knowledge, iman, and bring a speedy end to this fitna. Be strong. The only cardinal sin is giving up. The fight continues.
     
  15. sunni_porter

    sunni_porter Well-Known Member

    October 14, 2016:

    The believer has two scales to answer to: justice towards people and justice towards the rights of Allah. If he fulfills both he is protected and given victory. But if he is unjust to either scale, Allah takes away his power and unleashes an oppressor against him.

    Kufr is never given divine support but it's people can find worldly success if they operate within whatever system of justice they established.

    This explains why you have success in certain societies built on kufr. But they operate fairly within their system. They are only given success in this life.

    And it explains the state of the umma too. We are not just victims. When it comes to the scale of Allah's rights, the umma is collectively guilty. The best indicator is how the elite have chosen to run the Muslim countries. I guarantee you it's not by the Book and the Sunna. And as the Prophet ﷺ said: The leaders reflect the people. Muslim culture today is largely no longer informed or directed by the Sunna.

    So yes, oppressors, tyrants and criminals have decimated the umma and victimized many families. But this is more a case of one oppressor being let loose on another oppressor, the second oppressor being the umma turning its backs on the message.

    Nobody on the earth is worse than a people given the Truth then lose interest in upholding it. This is the biggest oppressor.

    This is the diagnosis. Every action built on a wrong diagnosis is waste of time.
     
  16. sunni_porter

    sunni_porter Well-Known Member

    October 25, 2016:

    Memorize:

    قال ابن عباس: من ذهب الى صاحب بدعة فقد أعان على هدم الإسلام.

    Ibn Abbas said: Whoever goes to a person of innovation has assisted in the destruction of Islam.

    Note: when it comes to unity, the verse says "Hold on to the rope of Allah and do not be divided." The first part---"the rope of Allah"---points to the purity and correctness of the message. That comes first. Once we are upon that, then we should not be divided. In sum, purity of creed and belief is the prerequisite of unity.
     
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  17. sunni_porter

    sunni_porter Well-Known Member

    November 2, 2016:

    In everything, there is always a quest for authenticity. Of course things develop, but in most cases---religion for sure---you need to go back to the original model every once in a while in order to be authentic. What was the first generation like? If we go back to the original Sufis, we get a very different picture than what's visible (mostly) today. I think it's time we revisit that. Here are five features of the original Sufis which we would all benefit from applying today...

    -Zuhd & Wara, asceticism and scrupulousness. The original Sufis observed inner *and* outer asceticism. They would leave off nine tenths of the halal out of fear of falling into the haram. Uways al-Qarni and Ibrahim ibn Adham were models of this. They weren't afraid of the word "haram." The more you stayed away from the haram, the closer you got to sanctity.
    Worldliness is a big distraction too. At the worst, it completely corrupts you. I have literally seen shaykhs with orders who---not joking---their murids keep a gold-leafed sofa chair on hand. A throne in case he wants to sit down. Apologists say, "The shaykh doesn't want that, the murids force it." I'm sorry but that's not an excuse. He can't say stop? Is he an adult? He has to end it.
    Asceticism and scrupulousness are siblings. The link between the Sufis and those who indulge in dunya and are lax in deen probably has to do with the next element that needs revival...speaking up.

    -Forbidding wrong. Among the chiefs of the Sufis is Sh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani. But have you read his books? His relentless attacks on sinners, innovators and hypocrites? I always think...If he was alive today people would think he was a mean extremist because of his sternness and cutting critiques of our laziness and weak commitment. The titles sound so starry and mystical (The Secret of the Secrets or The Unseen Openings), but the content is hard hitting and decisive.

    -Hatred of Fame. This is a big one. Ibn Ata says, (paraphrasing) 'You will never grow if you never get buried. No seed sprouts unless it is buried deep in the ground.' While dawa is a duty, it has to be done carefully. In many cases the line is blurred between the shaykh as teacher and the shaykh as celebrity. There were two men from whom I took knowledge for a period of time. They were so good at what they did that the conference and media invitations kept coming and it made me very nervous. As I expected and feared, they never said no to these, or even limited them, until in the end, they stopped teaching altogether. Teaching five students must have become boring in comparison to appearing on shows or on a stage in front of 10,000 people. Today they have no more students. They just have followers and fan-boys; people who only know them as celebrities. Their new life as celebrity imams has changed them (I always wonder how they have any family life or raise their kids.) I had another teacher who balances it well, May Allah preserve him. And a third who turns down all these invitations out of fear for what it would do to him. This latter one, his circle is a lot more genuine because there is no thrill of being around somebody famous. People there just want to become better.

    -Avoiding rulers (let alone jabaabira, tyrants). Something bizarre and unprecedented has happened over the past century. You can hardly find a tyrant except that he has a pet shaykh, and nine times out of ten, it's one who claims to be a Sufi. This isn't a Sufi, this is a fraud.
    What happened? Some say it originated with the established orders of colonial times when the shaykhs had a lot to lose and would join the colonizers over the rebels. Sufism then became the way of the oppressive establishment while Salafiyya became the people's way, the way of the anti-establishment. The rebellion of Emir Abdul Qadir in Algeria was opposed by many different Sufi shaykhs; they didn't want to lose what they had. This is documented. Customarily, murids will justify this through unseen knowledge: the shaykh knows something we don't. In contrast, every Sufi manual from the beginning of time tells us that our actions must be determined by Sharia not miracles or kashf or unseen sources. It's really frustrating and disheartening when there's a great shaykh, but he takes an inexcusable political position. You can make excuses for him, and you know he has more knowledge, but you still can't ever stomach that position.

    -Ilm. Aqida and fiqh. There's a line in Ibn Arabi's biography that I love. He says: We were in a gathering and in it was so-and-so. However, I kept away from him because the purity of his creed was suspect. A visitor said, 'He believes in the oneness of God.' I replied, 'It is not that which I doubt; it is his other doctrines.'
    Wow. Ibn Arabi said the words "purity of creed." Tweet that to the perrenialists and the laundry list of other groups who imagine that the way of the spirit has no theological boundaries.
    Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani was a Hanbali and taught the great Ibn Qudama. Just go back a few decades and you will see all the shaykhs were also theologians and jurists. In Egypt you couldn't be a Sufi shaykh unless you were an Azhari scholar. The British saw that and dropped that requirement as a way to weaken the power of the orders. They became headed by ignorant leaders.

    A shaykh was once asked, "Are you a Sufi?" He replied, "No. Because I doubt that I can ever reach that lofty station." I think a lot of us have forgotten where the bar used to be. And these are things, if we all followed them even a little bit we would immediately start seeing results reflected in our deen and iman. May Allah show us the truth as it is and give us tawfiq to follow it, and show us misguidance for what it is and give is tawfiq to avoid it. Ameen.
     
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  18. sunni_porter

    sunni_porter Well-Known Member

    November 6, 2016:

    On any given subject, if you humbly search for guidance, you will find it. For example on gender, we are told in plain language that there are two genders and that they are based on your sex, the biology you're born with. "We created you male and female." There is no notion of gender independent of sex and biology. The recent separation between the two is "merely names you invented with no authority revealed from God."

    These days, we need to define what it means to be a man. But first, we have to undo what we've been conditioned to believe about men and "being a man." Look closely, and you'll find that manhood is mocked at every turn, from Geico commercials to the Disney Channel to talk shows. The man is a football-watching dope. And when he tries to express his manhood, he does it in an oppressive way, filling the role of the bad guy in news reports about domestic violence. The message is: manhood is dumb and it should be eliminated.

    Some men finally had enough of this and began connecting online through a network of blogs, exposing the clear agenda in destroying manhood. On the Disney Channel for example, dads are mocked or appear as dopes on average every 13 seconds. Feminist theories are examined critically. Political
    implications are also discussed: the destruction of manhood is designed to produce a nation of sheep easily manipulated and controlled. Here's the catch about these sites. It's like Karl Marx: the critique is great but the suggested alternative is a disaster. These guys haven't got a clue on how to define manhood. Manhood is characterized as earning power, or a sex competition. They are so in the dark it's absurd, and at that point, you click off these sites and never log in again.

    In the secular world, defining manhood or masculinity is completely subjective. This is where revelation comes in. We have guidance on this. Here is a quick list of attributes that describe masculinity and "being a man," according to the Creator of men and His Messenger, the greatest of men ﷺ:

    -A man takes care of his mother, particularly in the absence of his father. He doesn't make decisions that break her heart then callously goes about enjoying life, leaving her behind to weep in his dust.

    -A man works. He isn't twenty-five years old playing videos games in his sweat pants while living off his fifty year old mom.

    -A man assists his father or guardian by bringing in some income if the expenses grow and money is tight, as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ did with his uncle Abu Talib.

    -A man does not beg. The state doesn't owe us anything. We should be cringing if we ever have to apply to the state for handouts. Better to work at a gas station.

    -A Muslim man marries. Preferably in the prime of his youth.

    -From manly characteristics (dhukura) is jealousy over one's wife. They killed jealousy in this society. If another man hits on your wife in this society, or he starts flirting with her, chatting her up and making her laugh, your supposed to sit there like a neutered puppy and observe. Then on the drive home you suggest to your wife that you were "uncomfortable," and in turn she rolls her eyes and scolds you for being insecure. It's unbelievable.
    In contrast, the Prophet ﷺ said he is the the most jealous over the women in his care. If there is none of this then marriages would fall apart left and right, which is happening in the greater society.

    And this applies to daughters too. In movies the dad is portrayed as a helpless oaf, upset that a pimply teenager whose name he doesn't even know is now taking his daughter out to who-knows-where to do who-knows-what. But can he even open his mouth? Of course not. They leave and he turns around and complains to his wife, who again laughs at him for being insecure in his loss of control. The dad has been completely disemboweled and killed in American culture. It's toxic.

    -A man pays the bills. It is haram to demand 50-50. If a woman contributes that is from her own sadaqa.

    -A man does chores in the house as the Prophet ﷺ was as described as doing. "He was in the service of his family" (Aisha).

    -A man knows his aqida and fiqh. How else is he going to educate his family, guide them, command right and forbid wrong? "Command your family to prayer and be very patient in this."

    -A man looks distinctly like a man. Facial hair with the mustache neatly trimmed. He doesn't wear tight clothes or anything the community deems feminine or customary for women. He likewise avoids hand and shoulder gestures known to be feminine and doesn't make his voice soft on purpose. If he was created effeminate or he never had a dad or male siblings then he should hang out with the brothers until he no longer suffers from any effects which the community of pious folk would deem inappropriate. All of this goes under "The curse of Allah is on a man who acts like a woman."

    These are just some of the most basic qualities of manhood and masculinity. If you have any from the Quran or Hadith please share them in the comment section along with the evidence and citation.

    Allah guide us and grant us tawfiq.
     
    Ghulam Ali, Unbeknown and Noori like this.
  19. FaqirHaider

    FaqirHaider اللَه المقدر والعالم شؤون لا تكثر لهمك ما قدر يكون

    Yes alhamdulillah, he is One the few sunni scholars in my local, I wish to gift them some books of Ala Hazrat, which are either in arabic or english, please if you guys have any suggestions pm me.
     
  20. sunni_porter

    sunni_porter Well-Known Member

    Here is one such post from January 15:

    "In our community, there used to be these roving gangs that would aggressively attend masajid and do these stick ups, but instead of demanding money, they'd demand from people their "daleel" for what they were doing or believing at that moment. Everyone was suspected of shirk or bida. It was a witch hunt. It was bad.

    For the most part, that fitna is gone. But I feel it's been replaced with another scourge on society. The exact opposite. A type of people that have swallowed and digested the liberal notion that you should respect and honor ideas that go against your beliefs and happily coexist with their proponents. The catch phrase they use for anyone who doesn't abide by these rules always involves the word "adab."

    Allah knows best, but to me, the concepts of daleel and adab are grossly misused in both circles.

    Let's take a look at the Sahaba. They did ask for evidence. They used to ask, "Did you hear this directly from the mouth of Rasulullah ﷺ?" But it was with respect and desire for confirmation, not suspicion or sniffing like a wolf hungry for blood.

    Also, we need to look at how Sahaba dealt with the enemies of Islam. They were strong. They didn't run around loving them and asking to be loved in the name of adab. Go look at the story of Umar and the man who grabbed the Prophet ﷺ's collar demanding his debt payment. Look at what Abu Bakr said to Masud al-Thaqafi when he suggested the Muslims would abandon the Prophet ﷺ. They were as Allah said, soft with the believers, tough on the enemies.

    The pendulum swung from too harsh to too soft. We need to get to that middle where we're normal with people and nice and all, but when it comes to deen there are limits. We don't fraternize with those insulting the deen daily nor those peddling what is contrary to the Haqq, compromising our aqida in the name of adab. We need to find that balance.

    Wallahu ta'ala alam."
     
    Noori likes this.

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