A sad, sad state of affairs

Discussion in 'Syllabus, Curriculum, Reading Lists' started by izz al-Din, Aug 15, 2015.

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  1. izz al-Din

    izz al-Din Well-Known Member

    Sal
    salaam
    can u tell me brother which rasial were missing? And evidence.

    I spoke to a dawat e Islami researcher he said the Fataawa was compiled and arranged by Ala Hadrat, rahmatullahi ta'la alayh, guidence before his wisal and so, and so it is his masterpiece he himself arranged
     
  2. yep, sanyal'a book was terrible... but not surprising... the nature of the academic world is such that you always have to come up with something novel, and explain away every spiritual dimension of the topic at hand. they simply can't accept Imam Ahmad Rida was sincere: they have to come up with an ulterior motive. the same applies to their crticism of hadith, and Islam as a whole.

    radhiy Allahu 'an al-imam ar-Rida ridhwaanan waasi'aa. . .
     
  3. Unbeknown

    Unbeknown Senior Moderator

    Ahmad Riza was anxious to present his arguments to the highest authorities in the Sunni Muslim world while he was there, for confirmation of these arguments by the Meccan ‘ulama would bolster his standing at home while undermining that of his opponents.

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    THE ACCUSATIONS OF UNBELIEF

    This accusation was not lightly made. In earlier fatawa on Muhammad Isma‘il and his statements in Taqwiyat al-Imam, for example, Ahmad Riza had cited seventy different grounds for declaring Muhammad Isma‘il to be an unbeliever, but had notin fact done so. He had believed it prudent to “restrain the tongue” (kaff-e lisan) and had given Muhammad Isma‘il the benefit of the doubt, as he believed one should. In 1896, he had written a fatwa in which he characterized a number of contemporary Muslim movements – from Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s modernist Aligarh movement, to the Ahl-e Hadith, Deoband, and
    the Nadwa, not to mention the Shi‘a – as having “wrong” or “bad” beliefs (bad-mazhab) and being “lost” ( gumrah). These people were misleading ordinary Muslims, he said. In 1900, he had sent this fatwa (most of which was against the Nadwa) to certain Meccan ‘ulama, asking them to confirm his opinions (sixteen Meccan ‘ulama had signed their assent to this fatwa). But with the exception of the Aligarh modernists (whom he described as “kafirs and murtadds,” he had stopped far short of calling the other groups unbelievers, even though they had, in his view, denied the “essentials” of the faith (zaruriyat-e din).

    Much had changed by 1906, apparently. In 1900 a number of his followers had declared him to be the Renewer (mujaddid) of the fourteenth Islamic century. Not surprisingly, the claim was not accepted by rival movements who elevated their own ‘ulama to the title. Perhaps this helps explain why it was that
    when Ahmad Riza went on pilgrimage in 1905–6, he was prepared to write a fatwa against a small group of Deobandi ‘ulama, as well as Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, naming them all as unbelievers.


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    Critics of the Ahl-e Sunnat also claim that ritual practices during the Prophet’s birth celebrations (milad) resemble Hindu worship practices. Indeed, despite some major differences between the two traditions, such as the lack of images and of priests in the Islamic context, there are many similarities: for
    instance, food and water offered to and consecrated by the saint, then consumed by the worshiper, the sprinkling of rose petals in the sanctum, the recitation of religious texts and the telling of exemplary stories about the Prophet and the saints are similar to Hindu worship practices.
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    did she REALLY study under Allama Yasin Akhtar?
     
  4. chisti-raza

    chisti-raza Veteran

    The best published (e-book or hard copy) on Ala Hazrat that I have read so far in English is a book written by a Pakistani Professor. I forget his name and the name of the book. It is a gem of a book!
     
  5. Unbeknown

    Unbeknown Senior Moderator

    anyone read this work by sanyal? i don't know about academic but personally i feel its horrible. some passages seem to have been written on pure hearsay!

    seems as if she wants to make it plain to us that alahadhrat was nothing out of the ordinary.

    don't know about her other book which has been favorably reviewed here
     
  6. Muhammadi

    Muhammadi Well-Known Member

    tawilat...

    Tawilat is easily available. I have two different muhaqqaq editions; one printed by dar al-kutub al-'ilmiyyah in 10 volumes [2005] and the other by muassisah ar-risalah li at-taba'ah wa an-nashr wa at-tauzi' in 5 volumes [2004].

    Also, it is - sadly - stated in some of the prefaces of al-fatawa ar-ridawiyyah jadid that baraili sharif refused access to a'la hadrat's manuscripts to muhaqqiqin working on the enormous project hence why some rasail are consequently absent from the fatawa.
     
  7. Isn't it 33 volumes? i have 12 volumes of alaHazrat's al-fatawa al-riDawiyya published by Raza Academy.
     
  8. :s1:

    I agree with some of what you say--yet talking specifically as am English-speaking Muslim in the West where are the books in English of the Ahlus Sunnah? This is probably the single biggest factor which is turning many people towards the deobandits --as they have translated most of their work into English.

    You say Ala Hazrat's work is available; okay Fatawa al Rid.awiyyah is available now (alhamdulillah) in a good edition but it is but one of his myriad works. How many of his unpublished manuscripts are gathering dust on the shelves, possibly lost for ever to the ravages of time?

    I am not being ungrateful for what we do have but we have to be honest and admit that most people will not learn Arabic and therefore we need works in English.

    I have even yet to see a good comprehensive biography of Ala Hazrat except for the old one by Allama Zafar al Din Bihari :)ra:) which I haven't read much of btw but it is perhaps more hagiography. In English it took a Hindu woman, Usha Sanyal, to write the best academic work so far on Ala Hazrat :ra: . So, I take your point as valid but only partially.

    Also, if you have to search in fairs and old bookstores for many books that alone is emblematic of the problem is it not?

    Thanks for the info about getting a good copy of the Hadaiq Sharif from the Raza Academy in Bombay; do you have their address? It just saddens me that the Ghalib Academy in Delhi(or Bombay) has published numerous Deluxe Editions of Diwan e Ghalib (of which I found one in a shop in London!) but I have not seen something similar for Ala Hazrat :ra: although the latter is later than Ghalib.

    BTW the Alexandrine Library is very impressive and I'm glad we have something of that calibre now in the Muslim world!

    wa salam
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 8, 2006
  9. abu Hasan

    abu Hasan Administrator

    you are right to lament. but only a little.

    and i disagree with some of what you say. most of the best arabic books are printed in the east - lebanon primarily - if not all. almost every necessary book is available. if anyone is industrious enough, they can visit the DHahiriyyah library in damascus which still contains numerous works and most bookhouses use the volumes therein for manuscripts. or the new alexandrine library: http://www.bibalex.org/English/index.aspx; for quick info on the project: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_Alexandrina

    they are easily available and if you are lucky enough to go to a book fair, you will find some rare masterpieces too. out of print, but you can find them still. yes, there are book fairs held often in this part of the world too.

    i don't think one could find books like say, "ta'wilat ahlu's sunnah" by imam abu mansur al-maturidi (a tafsir of qur'an) easily anymore; i found it in a fair. indeed, these days you have to rummage old book shops and search those dusty shelves to find rare gems. at one time a friend suggested me to try baghdad - but unfortunately, it is way beyond hope now. i mean, to find books? it would be a miracle.

    as for ala Hazrat's books : the complete fatawa razwiyah is published in 24 volumes (which contain hundred monographs) and translations in urdu as has been reviewed elsewhere on this site. for one to read it all will take a considerable amount of time. if you want a beautiful copy of Hadayiq, try raza academy of bombay.

    our previous lament that his books are unavailable is now invalid. his books are there - so, we have to find another excuse.

    what is our excuse now, for us in our choice to remain ignorant?
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2006
  10. :s1:

    Yesterday I was browsing in the second-hand section of a large bookstore in Oxford and saw row upon row of multiple editions of works by the Romans and Greeks under the Classics sections; this is in addition to the hundreds of books in the main part of the shop and it made me sad when I thought that look how these people honour and preserve and read the books from their own cultural tradition and history and compare that to us Muslims, how many of our civilisation's great books are in print and constantly being circulated and read? Hardly any. In deed more are published in the West then in Islamic countries!

    Coming to Ala Hazrat :ra: himself, it is criminal that in nearly 100 years we do not have more of his books published; indeed most are not published and probably decaying in Bareilly Sharif and those that are published, e.g. Hadaiq Sharif, are of pitifully poor quality.

    That trip to the shop made me sad; no wonder many of our youth have no clue about our islamic heritage...

    :-(
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 8, 2006

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