RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The Saudi king on Saturday dismissed the chief of the religious police and a cleric who condoned killing the owners of TV networks that broadcast “immoral” content, signaling an effort to weaken the country’s hard-line Sunni establishment.
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The king also changed the makeup of an influential body of religious scholars, for the first time giving more moderate Sunnis representation to the group whose duties include issuing the religious edicts known as fatwas.
Not really sure if these are good things or bad things, but at least promotion of violence and killing are not tolerated anymore by the Saudi government.
My sister showed me this article. Very intresting, but with a lot of incorrect statistics and false facts. Although I must say that this historical heritage of jihad is dead amongst many of the Sufis of today.
Mystical power Why Sufi Muslims, for centuries the most ferocious soldiers of Islam, could be our most valuable allies in the fight against extremism
By Philip Jenkins | January 25, 2009
THIRTY YEARS AGO this month, the collapse of the Shah’s government marked the launch of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, and since that point the topic of Islam has rarely been out of the headlines. All too often, we hear about Islam in the context of intolerance and, often, violence — of Al Qaeda savagery, of Taliban misogyny, of nuclear weapons in Pakistan and perhaps in Iran itself. Even in Europe, many fear the growth of a radical Islamic presence. For three decades, Western observers have worked fervently to comprehend Islam’s global power and appeal, its ability to inspire the poor and to topple governments. But in all that intense attention, most observers have missed a crucial part of the story: a global web of devout religious brotherhoods that by all logic should be a critical ally against extremism.
The Al-Shabab Mujahideen are probably the only group that is helping the Somali people in terms of establishing law and order in a land where anarchy exists. I haven’t read or even seen anything from any of the moderate Sufi scholars or websites regarding the destruction of these Sufi shrines.
Edit: I just want to make it clear that I do not support the destruction of the graves of Muslims.
Edit 2: Although many Somalians may appreciate the work that the Al-Shabab are doing in Somalia they still praise Al-Qaeda and are linked with them (via their videos) who are extremist Muslim and have deviated by the majority of the scholars of the ummah.
Allah knows best. May Allah (swt) forgive us all and guide us all.
Sheikh Ibrahim al-Gaith, head of the feared Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, made the concession after last week’s breakthrough public showings in Jeddah of the comedy feature “Manahi”.
“A movie could possibly be acceptable if it serves good and is suitable under Islam,” Sheikh Gaith said.
Gaith pulled back from comments he made two days earlier branding movies “an absolute evil” in the wake of screenings in the Red Sea port city.
“I did not say that we reject all cinema, but I said that we were not consulted during the organisation of these movie showings,” he explained.
For more than a week from Dec 9, the Rotana entertainment group, controlled by Saudi tycoon Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, showed “Manahi” to rapturous audiences in Jeddah and nearby Taif.
The screenings, approved by the provincial governor, Prince Khalid al-Faisal, sparked hopes that Saudi Arabia would soon allow public cinemas.
Before the first projection of the film, local religious police inspected the facility, a 1,200 seat conference hall, to make sure that men and women would remain separated, adhering to the country’s strict laws on separation of unrelated members of the opposite sexes.
For the three showings daily, women sat in the balcony of the hall while men and boys were on the ground floor.
There are no cinemas in Saudi Arabia, but some coffee shops surreptitiously put on movies for customers and many Saudis enjoy films at home on DVD and satellite television.
To experience a cinema, they have to travel to nearby Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates or other countries.
Hope the good outweighs the bad with this move, inshaAllah. Has anyone heard of the movie, “Manahi”?
When on the first of October 1999 Shaykh Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani passed away at the age of 85, he was mourned by virtually everyone in the world of Salafi Islam. To many, he represented its third main contemporary reference, after ‘Abd al-’Aziz bin Baz (who himself had died a few months before) and Muhammad bin ‘Uthaymin (who would pass away in January 2001), both leading figures of the Saudi religious establishment. Salafi newspapers, journals, and websites celebrated this Syrian son of an Albanian clock-maker—whose family left Albania in 1923, when he was nine years old, and re-established itself in Damascus—who had become known as the muhaddith al-’asr (traditionist of the era), that is, the greatest hadith scholar of his generation.
was a Sufi in the Naqshabandiyya tariqa via ‘Abd al-Rahmin al-Saqqaf. Also possible affiliation with the Khalwatiyya.
was born in Pakistan, moved to Madinah and studied there.
studied under:
Abi al-Hasan Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Hadi al-Sindi, ‘Abdallah ibn Salim al-Bagri, Hasan ibn ‘li al-’Ajami, and Abi al-Tahir Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Kirini.
2 were Hanafi and 2 were Shafi
six lines linking Muhammad Hayyat with al-Qashash
Muhammad Hayyat had at least eight lines of connexion with al-Biibili
Shaykh Muhammad Hayyat al-Sindi was the teacher of Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab (alleged founder of Wahhabism). He taught Sh. ibn Abdul Wahhab “rejection of popular religious practices associated with ‘ saints ‘ and their tombs”. I guess this shows Sh. Muhammad Hayyat al-Sindi wasn’t an extreme Sufi.
Sh. Muhammad Hayyat had 20 students including Sh. ibn Abdul Wahhab:
Twelve of them were Hanafi
Five were Shafi
One was a “Sufi recluse”
Two Hanbalis (including Sh. ibn Abdul Wahhab).
Out of the 20, 12 were directly connected to Sufism
7 identified with major Sufi tariqas
3 taught or wrote Sufi texts
1 was a Sufi miracle worker – the “Sufi recluse
5 of them were Sufi Shaykhs
So in other words, from what I understand in the article, these 20 brothers, scholars, students of knowledge were the classmates of Sh. ibn Abdul Wahhab. Regardless of what the students, followers of Sh. ibn Abdul Wahhab have to say about Sufism, it is clear that his classmates, teachers, friends, brothers, and people who he most likely “hung out” with were madhab-following sufis.
Basically the pledge can be summarized into no condemning and “takfir’ing” of the different creeds, no attacks on scholars of different views from creed to fiqh to anything in Islam. In other words just love your Sunni brother and khalas! Imam Suhaib has added the list of scholars and activists who have signed it, so I’d like to make a list of all the Muslim bloggers around the world who endorse this pledge. Comment if your blog supports this pledge!
The story of the Pledge: How did it start?
There was a conference with a number of scholars in Wales in which Sh. Abdullah bin Bayyah was giving some lectures and presentations. After it was over the scholars including the above mentioned decided on what to do. The pledge idea came up and all the individual scholars thought of some points and it was compiled by Imam Zaid Shakir. It was then expanded with a mailing list and more scholars gave feedback and then it went public.
What you can do to help spread “The Sunni Unity Pledge”?
Shaykh Hamza Yusuf at ISNA 2007, entitled “Upholding Faith, Serving Humanity”:
MashaAllah! Allah hu Akbar! First Imam Suhaib Webb and now Shaykh Hamza Yusuf calls for unity. May Allah (swt) give us (the students fo the various institues such as Al-Maghrib, SunniPath, Zaytuna, etc.) the ability to attain this unity and to be more accepting of our differences. Ameen!
