Once I get this translated, you will see why.

Translation of this article:

Shaykh Tantanwi said he respects the niqab and that there’s no harm for niqaabis to come to his office in order to end this issue. He also confirmed that the niqab is a custom and not from worship (عبادة) and at the same time he stated he has no objection to it.

He denied what was published in some newspapers which quoted him saying to a pupil in an azhari school “if you were even a little beautiful you wouldn’t be wearing this”. He also denied saying that he knows the religion better than you and your family to the pupil.

He also made clear in a special statement, which he stated on the Egyptian program “The House is Your House” (a very famous talk show in Egyptian fyi) When I went to inspect one of the azhari schools (“Ahmad Libi” <- name of the school where the incident occurred, located in Nasr city behind the international park) at the beginning of the new school year, I entered the school accompanied by members of the school board (of that school) and came across approximately 15 students (all girls). One of the girls was wearing the niqab, so I said to her raise your niqab. Not only did she not responsed but she just stood there stunned. So then I requested the teacher to remove the niqab in order so that I can talk to her. The niqab was then removed by force.

He then said to her, why do you wear the niqab when you’re with other female students? Then he stated there is no need for the niqab in this case. He also added there’s no stopping a female student from wearing the niqab while attending the morning assembly, but when she enters the classroom she must take the niqab off.

Side note from translator: The third paragraph I changed a few pronouns from the original text fyi just so that the text would flow better< Just in case an Arab reads this translation mention this..

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PLAINSBORO, N.J.

A group of American Muslims, led by two prominent scholars, is moving closer to fulfilling a vision of founding the first four-year accredited Islamic college in the United States, what some are calling a “Muslim Georgetown.”

Advisers to the project have scheduled a June vote to decide whether the proposed Zaytuna College can open in the fall of next year, a major step toward developing the faith in America.

Imam Zaid Shakir and Sheik Hamza Yusuf of California have spent years planning the school, which will offer a liberal arts education and training in Islamic scholarship. Shakir, a California native, sees the school in the tradition of other religious groups that formed universities to educate leaders and carve a space in the mainstream of American life.

“As a faith community our needs aren’t any different than the needs of any other faith community,” Shakir told the Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals, as he sought donations at a recent conference near Princeton, N.J. “As Muslims, we need to develop institutions to allow us to perpetuate our values.”

Others have tried to start Muslim colleges around New York and Chicago, but those schools remained obscure or quickly folded.

Shakir and Yusuf are believed to have a better chance than most to succeed.

Shakir, an African-American Air Force veteran, and Yusuf, a native of Washington state, are converts who spent years studying with Islamic scholars in North Africa and the Mideast. They speak flawless Arabic and have become widely respected teachers. Yusuf draws thousands of people to his talks and tens of thousands of viewers to his online lectures.

In 1996, Yusuf founded Zaytuna Institute, now based in Berkeley, Calif., which is dedicated to classical Muslim scholarship. Zaytuna means “olive tree” in Arabic.

The institute expanded to provide distance learning, workshops in multiple cities and conferences with prominent scholars. Shakir, a Zaytuna teacher for six years, ran a pilot seminary program from 2004-2008, partly to test the viability of a school. An intensive Arabic language summer course, in its second year, has doubled its enrollment.

“It is far and away the single most influential institution that’s shaping American Muslim thought,” said Omid Safi, an Islamic studies professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. “On the one hand they speak so much about being American. On the other hand, they have also plugged these American Muslim students into the global Muslim curriculum, that has all the rigor of traditional Islamic scholarship.”

In earlier years, Shakir and Yusuf had made some anti-American statements, but that rhetoric is not part of their teaching. Zaytuna Institute has clips on its Web site of a lecture by the two scholars called “Curing Extremism.” Following a White House meeting with President George W. Bush soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Yusuf made the now widely repeated comment that “Islam was hijacked” by the terrorists and he has condemned the attackers as “mass murderers.”

A working motto for the school: “Where Islam Meets America.”

Zaytuna College will start with two majors: Arabic language, and Islamic legal and theological studies.

It will not be a seminary, although some graduates could become prayer leaders, or imams. Most U.S. mosques are led by imams from overseas, considered an obstacle to Islam’s development in America.

Other students could go on to start American Muslim nonprofits, or become Islamic scholars through advanced study at other schools, said Hatem Bazian, a Zaytuna adviser who teaches at the University of California-Berkeley and Saint Mary’s College of California.

But administrators aim to teach analytical skills, along with ethics and theology, that can prepare students for many professional careers.

Zaytuna will start in rented space in Berkeley and will seek accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. All faiths will be welcome, academic freedom will be protected, and there will be no separation of men and women, Bazian said.

“It is a daunting task, there is no question about it,” Bazian said. “But I’m completely confident and comforted that almost every major private university began with one classroom and possibly one building and sometimes it was a rented facility to begin with.”

The college needs $2 million to $4 million to launch, a fundraising goal Bazian says organizers will comfortably meet by next year. Zaytuna will soon start raising the tens of millions of dollars needed for an endowment and a capital fund to build a campus in the Bay Area years from now, Bazian said.

Mahmoud Ayoub, a retired professor of Islamic studies Temple University, is among those who don’t support the idea of a U.S. Muslim college, not only because of the enormous expense and risk involved, but also because he believes Muslims are better off attending established American schools. He said U.S. Muslims badly need a seminary since there are none in the country.

“I don’t know that I would send my child to go to a college where they can only learn tradition. Young people have to live,” said Ayoub who has worked with the U.S. State Department, representing America in the Muslim world. “I like mixing people. I don’t like ghettos.”

But Zaytuna considers the state of Muslim scholarship in the West so “anemic” that a crisis is looming. The Muslim community in North America and Europe, now in the millions, is growing, and has few properly trained leaders to guide them.

“Who will talk for the religion?” Shakir asked. “We have to train a generation.”

Source

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الحمد لله رب العالمين القائل “وتعاونوا على البر والتقوى ولا تعاونوا على الإثم والعدوان.

و الصلاة و السلام على سيدنا محمد ,القائل “و الله في عون العبد ما دام العبد في عون أخيه “

و على آله و صحبه المتعاونين المتضامنين اللذين كان من بينهم الاشعريون الذين إذا أرملوا جمعوا ازوادهم فاقتسموها بينهم كما جاء في الحديث.

واريد بهذه المناسبة ان اشد أزر اخواننا المتعاونين بامريكا مع الامام العالم الفاضل اليشخ سراج وهاج في محنته التي هي قضاء وقدر يكفر الله بها السيئات و يرفع بها الدرجات و هذه نعمة للمؤمنين الذين إذا أصابتهم ضراء صبروا وذا أصابتهم سراء شكروا.

ونشد أزرهم و ندعو المسلمين إلى التعاون معهم لمد يد العون والمساعدة لأخينا الفاضل الإمام العامل الشيخ سراج وهاج .

و نسال الله أن يشفينا و يشفيه و يعافينا و يعافيه و يسبغ على الجميع نعمه ظاهرة و باطنه و يمن علينا و عليهم بالثبات على الاسلام و الإيمان و أن يرزقنا وإياهم الإحسان وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد و على آله وصحبه وسلم.

عبد الله بن بيه

جدة

الجمعة 21/4/1430 هـ – الموافق17/4/2009 م

Source

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May Allah (swt) protect the innocent and remove the oppression from them. Ameen!

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Part 2:

I can’t translate, sorry.
Edit: found the videos with English subtitles.

I really love these two men for the sake of Allah!

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Urban Outfitters is selling a “Leather And Rope Bracelet” here. I really have no idea why the Allah in Arabic is on there nor do I even know why they fail to mention it in the products description.  Shout out t0 Muslim in America for sharing this with me.

Here are some more pictures of it:

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إخوتى الكرام في الإسلام

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

خادم الحرمين الشريفين الملك عبد الله بن عبد العزيز،  أحييكم بتحية السلام والبركة داعيا الله عزوجل لكم بتمام الصحة والايمان والهداية إلى الصراط المستقيم. آمين

أما بعد

إن الاحوال التي يمر بها إخواننا  في فلسطين لا تخفى عليكم و باعتبارالمملكة الدولة الأقوى والأكثر تأثيرا في العالم الاسلامي فإنني أهيب بكم أن يتم اتخاذ الإجراءات السريعة بوقف جميع صادراتكم إلى أن تتوقف اسرائيل عن هياجها وقمعها وظلمها وقتلها للابرياء في غزه. أوقفوا جميع الصادرات حتى يتمكن اخواننا الفلسطينيين من تلقي الدواء والغذاء والمساعدات الإنسانية. أوقفوا جميع الصادرات حتى تتوصل إسرائيل وفلسطين إلى نتيجة سلمية بحيث يستطيع الطرفان العيش بسلام دائم

لقد منّ الله على المملكة العربية السعودية بنفط وفير لسنوات عديدة. هذا النفط يستخدم في عديد من جوانب الاقتصاد في جميع البلدان في العالم وبدونه يشل الاقتصاد . كل شيء من السفر الجوي إلى الأرضي الى إنتاج البلاستيك إلى تغليف الأغذية يتوقف مع ايقاف النفط . هذه هي فرصتكم لاستخدامه ضد أولئك الذين مارسوا الظلم على الأمة الإسلامية. هذا السلاح الاقتصادي أقوى من اي سلاح نووي وأي مدفع وأي صاروخ

وإني أدعو الله أن يوفق قادة المملكة العربية السعودية في التصدي ضد الأنظمة الظالمة و قطع جميع الصادرات حتى تتوقف اسرائيل عن سياستها القمعية   .

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته،،

إبن محمد هارون الرشيد

English here.

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Looks like AlMaghrib will be referring it’s students to study Arabic with Bayyinah Institute, which by the way is the most amazing place to learn Arabic. Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan does an amazing job, and anyone who takes his class loves it. I think Bayyinah has a 100% positive student feedback, well maybe 99%, but you get the point. It’s that good!

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