internet forums, anonymous sources

many of these 'scholars' warn common people from going to anonymous sources. fine.

but what are YOU doing about these heresies online?

how many of you can refute hamza or nasr or any of the essays in the study qur'an or point-out the dangers of the distortions and twisted interpretations of the qur'an? how many of you can refer to 80-odd tafsirs and demonstrate the inherent evil in TSQ?

go ahead, you sanad-yafta, seated-with-scholars, 12-20-in-years-in-madrasa graduates with impressive clothes - go ahead and refute these heresies that come up daily with proofs and digging into books, citing sources. i will disappear.

whose responsibility is it to refute the study qur'an?

i will not blame the urdu-speaking sunni ulama for it is not in their language - but what have the english speaking "sunni" ulama done about it? how many of these celebrities with followers on twitter and facebook and instagram done anything about it? in fact, are they even able to read between the lines and identify the errors and point out the distortion? if they can, why are they mum about it? let us see an academic paper by any one of the dozens of celebrity scholars (with big following on social media accounts) dissecting any portion of the study qur'an and compare with classical tafasir.

but no! let us warn about "anonymous" posters on internet forums who decry these attempts to distort our religion. they are not to be trusted. their objections are not to be seen - even if they have provided references - and they ought to be shunned, because they are anonymous.

if an unknown man would walk up to these sanad-yafta ulama and warn them about a poisonous snake nearby, instead of investigating about the snake and if seen taking steps to either protect people or kill the snake - our allamahs will say: 'where did you study? how do you know about snakes? are you a herpetologist?' turning to commoners they will proclaim: 'this could be a jewish spy. don't listen to him. there are no snakes'

sub'HanAllah!

what are the allamahs of UK doing about TSQ? if they do not have the capability themselves, why don't they translate it to urdu-speaking or arabic-speaking ulama and get their opinions? of course, there has been a fatwa from zabid - but beyond that what have sunni ulama done to tackle this fitna among english speaking public?

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lead, follow or get out of the way.

 

Abu Hasan lot of people think that you wouldn't have the courage to call people out if your identity was known.

You use very strong language at times and many of your critics think that you would not dare speak like that if the public actually knew you. If that makes sense.

For example your criticism of Pir Saqib Shaami wouldn't be as strong if you were actually known. You often call people donkey, etc. It is not likely you'd say that if xyz knew you or where you lived for example. That's why people think you have double standards and your whole bravado is shady. Calling a person all sorts of things and claiming this person and that person lacks in manhood or is a juban for not speaking against people. But you yourself are hidden.

You will always have criticism about that and people will continously say the same thing that you can't be taken seriously no matter what you write or publish. I don't think people think 'Abu Hasan hates fame ' and that's why he doesn't come out the forum.

Many people who don't use the forum think 'Abu Hasan is a coward and scared. He wouldn't say what he says about xyz if he was known.'

 

shaykh shahid ali has recently warned the common public of anonymous critics and internet forums. he is not the first anyway, and the final answer of almost every 'scholar' who has been criticised on our forum and their incompetence exposed, is to "beware taking your religion from anonymous sources - they could be israeli spies. they could be christians masquerading as muslims trying to trap you in their web of deception and then mislead you." that is the summary, even though said in different words.]

as'ad ali alluded to this in his talk (i will come to that presently). prior to this, based on a tip off, i ventured to aqdas' facebook page and read a few comments about my being anonymous and how i could well be a christian (al-iyadhu billah) spy etc etc. even though i can ignore it (been doing for ages) - i thought that some of those objections need to be answered. wa billahi't tawfiq.

the poor reasoning in these comments - of probably kids - is pardonable, but is also an indicator of the widespread ignorance of our time. people cite hadith or well-known quotes without the knowledge of the context or the overall understanding of what is being said.

and for that, attending a madrasah and sitting on panels and listening to speeches is insufficient. one needs to read books - and lots of them. and on many topics - both religious and secular. one develops the ability to critically analyse and read the context even when it is not written, or explain it even without reading about it anywhere.

wa suHbatu ustazin wa tuulu zamani

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how anonymous is anonymous anyway? and what can you take or not take from 'anonymous' sources?
in'sha'Allah, we will talk about books, about internet posts, about fatawa and about PEOPLE.

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suppose i told you that i attended a madrasa xyz or studied with a shaykh pqr or met mawlana abc, along with my proper name and location - and of course, the holy grail, the SANAD - will it miraculously transform me from a masquerading christian spy (al-iyadhu billah) to an allamah and shaykh al-islam?

conversely, in spite of attending madrasa xyz or studying with a shaykh pqr or meeting mawlana abc along with his photographs plastered all over the internet - and obtaining dozens of sanads, will the person become an allamah and shaykh al-islam even if he is unable to read the names of alahazrat's books or have the ability to explain nuz'hatu'l khawatir or make dozens of mistakes in a three minute speech?

so what exactly is the criteria for knowledge and for muslims to learn from someone?

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before you read more about my anonymous opinions, i would like to remind that i have explicitly and unambiguously mentioned that i am a student of knowledge. i have not claimed to be a mufti online (though some people refer to me as such even after repeatedly reminding them, i began to ignore it) nor have i 'issued fatawa' or claimed to be an allamah etc. my friends say such things, and it is their husn-zann.

in all my books, it is clearly mentioned that the author/translator is a student of knowledge. now it is for 'scholars' to point out errors, identify reasoning mistakes, poor citations, bad translations etc or demonstrate how these books are misleading the sunni public and how they would be dangerous for common people to refer to.

please register on our forum and publicly say it - no need to whisper the asrar

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now common muslims, especially those who are wary about my opinions/books because of my anonymity. read these posts and decide whether you want to listen to me or not. and please listen to these scholars if you are not convinced and stay away from my posts and books - because a hamza yusuf, who is publicly known and publicly attacking the fundamental faith of islam in speeches, essays and books - openly hobnobbing with perennialists and going to conferences, sitting on panels, praising and recommending a book that contains blasphemy of RasulAllah sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam is all "GREAT SCHOLARSHIP".

by his own admission asad ali is not up to that level and he respects hamza's scholarship.

but a muslim student, who points out the attack on islam, and refutes deliberate attempts to do tahrif of the qur'an, should not be trusted, just because his face is not on the internet. as some commenters on aqdas' FB posts insinuate, i may be a fasiq or a christian! (al-iyadhu billah).

have you wondered how you will face RasulAllah sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam on Judgement day?