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A Time for Introspection

by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

Source: http://www.masud.co.uk/

 Hamzah Yusuf said: “We have also seen image after image of Muslims with beards and turbans, who by all outward means look religious and pious - but are they really?”

Comment:  What is the purpose of questioning another Muslims intentions? Did the Prophet not say “I was not ordered to open the chests of people (investigate their intentions).” How can someone JUDGE another’s intentions? Specifically using the outward appearance of a beard and turban? [1]

Hamzah Yusuf said: “Unfortunately, the West does not know what every Muslim scholar knows; that the worst enemies of Islam are from within.”

Comment:  Is he suggesting that those people (turban-wearing bearded gentlemen) are indeed the enemies of Islam? His statement seems to suggest this.

Hamzah Yusuf said: “The worst of these are the khawaarij who delude others by the deeply dyed religious exterior that they project. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said about them, When you see them pray you will consider your own prayers insignificant. They recite the Quran but it does not exceed the limits of their throat. In other words, they dont understand the true meanings. The outward religious appearance and character of the khawaarij deluded thousands in the past, and continues to delude people today. The Muslims should be aware that despite the khawaarij adherence to certain aspects of Islam, they are extremists of the worst type.”

Comment: 

1. Who, exactly, are the Khawaarij that Hamza Yusuf is making mention to?  Do they exist in contemporary society?  If so, then where do they reside?  Is he insinuating that the khawaarij are those Muslims who have a particular outward (physical) appearance, as suggested above?  
2. Is he suggesting that the people of the Taliban, for example, are the Khawaarij? Why did he not mention another trait of the Khawaarij that the prophet SAAWS mentioned; namely, that the Khawaarij will leave the idol worshippers (those that commit shirk) and focus upon any Muslim, who commits major sins, even going to the extent of killing such sinful Muslims. The previous paragraphs seem to hint that any movement such as the Taliban, for example, is somehow extremist and hence resembles the deviant Khawaarij. However do not forget that the Taliban did destroy the massive idol of Buddha in Afghanistan. We as Muslims should not ‘rush’ to judge our fellow Muslims anywhere based upon the non-credible reports of western media outlets.
3. We must ask ourselves yet another important question here. Is this an appropriate time to bring up such things? Do these statements provide non-Muslims with the basis they need to root out those Muslims? Muslim scholars–who have wisdom and knowledge--have stated that this is, indeed, not an appropriate time to mention the story of the ‘Auraniyeen’[2] in the presence of a tyrant, which is what Anas RA did with Al-Hajjaj (a tyrant during the Ummayad period).

 Hamzah Yusuf said: “Our Prophet said, peace be upon him, Beware of extremism in your religion.  Islam is the middle way between excess and neglect. Zealots are a plague upon religion. These extremists come in two types. ….

The second group are radical extremists, who while they are almost identical with the former group, differ in that they will use violence to further their cause. They are actually worse than the first. …..Thirdly, they are invariably people who have never taken a true spiritual path to God and nor have they studied the humanities. I can almost guarantee that you will not find a scholar of poetry among the whole vile lot of these people.”

 Comment: 

1. How dare one state that they “have never taken a true spiritual path to God.” Do you know them? Who gave you the authority to judge a group of individuals and their hidden deeds? The Prophet (SAW) said: “Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the worst of false tales, and do not look for the others’ faults and do not spy, and do not be jealous of one another, and do not desert one another, and do not hate one another; and O Allah’s worshippers! Be brothers.” (Sahih Bukhari) [1]

2.      In addition, Hamzah Yusuf also said, (In his audio tape concerning Surah al-Insan, Part 2 side A):

 “…It is warning us not to make a joke even if that is about a dog then what about a human being that actually has a soul that has been honored by Allah whether or not he is a kaffir or mushrik, he still has the dignity of a human soul until he dies because no body knows what his outcome is…. The point is to look with a’in (eye) of rahmah (mercy) and not the ai’n (eye) of ihtiqar (to belittle/demean someone) like the jababirah (the arrogant tyrants people) look at things, and humiliate them and make mockery of them.”

We ask Br. Hamzah to look with the eye of mercy toward those people (extremists?) and remember that they still have the dignity of humans.

 Hamzah Yusuf said: “Our real situation is this: we Muslims have lost theologically sound understanding of our teaching. Islam has been hijacked by a discourse of anger and the rhetoric of rage. We have allowed for too long our minbars to become bully pulpits in which people with often recognizable psychopathology use anger - a very powerful emotion - to rile Muslims up, only to leave them feeling bitter and spiteful towards people who in the most part are completely unaware of the conditions in the Muslim world, or the oppressive assaults of some Western countries on Muslim peoples.”

Comment:  This unfortunately applies to Br. Hamzah Yusuf himself! Listen –for example-- to his tape titled “What are we doing here/Walking with intention”. In this tape, you’ll find him rallying one Muslim community (the African Americans) against another Muslim community (the Arabs). The tape is a perfect example for “discourse of anger and the rhetoric of rage” that Hamzah Yusuf so boldly speaks of.

Hamzah Yusuf said: “We have lost our bearings because we have lost our theology. We have almost no theologians in the entire Muslim world.”

Comment:  The fact that Br. Hamza is not aware of any “theologians” throughout the entire Muslim world in no way implies that they do not exist. 

Hamzah Yusuf said: “The study of kalaam[3], once the hallmark of our intellectual tradition, has been reduced to memorizing 144 lines of al-Jawhara and a good commentary to study it, at best.”

Comment: 

1. Studying Islamic creed (Aqeedah) has by no means been reduced to simply memorizing 144 lines of al-Jawhara. In many Muslim countries today there are religious institutions and theological seminaries focusing upon teaching the Islamic creed.  If Br. Hamza is somehow unaware of this then he should not make such statements.
2. The science of Kalaam is not a praise-worthy type of knowledge. Please read what 3 of the 4 Imams have said about the study of Kalaam, to which Br. Hamza is referring to:

a)      Imam Malik: “Whoever seeks religious science by Kalaam, then he Tazandaqa (becomes rebellious or a non-Muslim)” (Dhammu al-Kalam by Imam al-Harawi, page 173)

b)      Imam ash-Shaf’i:

a.        “My judgment regarding the people of Kalaam is the judgment of Umar (the second Caliphah) regarding Sabi” (Syar ‘Alam an-Nobala by Imam ad-Dahabi vol. 10 page 29. Published by Mu’assatu ar-Resalah, Beirut. 1st edition 1982) ^[4]

b.      “If Allah has inflicted someone with all the sins other than Shirk, then that is less of an evil than if He inflicted him with Kalaam” (Manaqib ash-Shafi, page 182)

c)      Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal: “Anyone who deals with Kalaam is not going to have Falah (having success in his religious affairs).” (Syar ‘Alam an-nobala by Imam ad-Dahabi vol 11 page 216. Published by mu’assatu ar-Resalah, Beirut. 1^st edition 1982)

 Hamzah Yusuf said: “Indeed, I personally attended a memorial service in San Francisco with over 30,000 people and the Reverend Amos Brown said in no uncertain terms that America must ask herself what she has done either wittingly or unwittingly to incur the wrath and hate of people around the world.

Comment:  While the matter of whether or not the attendance at the memorial service, of a non-Muslim, is Halal or Haram remains debatable.  This is still a very doubtful matter in terms of permissibility and is disliked to say the least. It is well known that the Prophet (SAW) was forbidden from making dua’ for his own mother who died a non-Muslim.

Footnotes

1. Some of our readers may be wondering about our comments upon Br. Hamza while we have clearly implied that a Muslim should not judge another’s intentions. However we encourage all our readers to recognize the fact that we are NOT judging the brothers intentions, but rather commenting upon his public statements. And if an incorrect statement is made in public, it is allowed to openly correct it.

2. The ‘Auraniyeen’ is a group of people who came to the Prophet SAAWS and claimed that they had embraced Islam. They stayed in Madinah for days then they got sick so he advised them to move to an area at the outskirt of Madinah. He gave them the permission to drink from the milk of camels that belong to baitul-mal “i.e. treasury.” They betrayed the Prophet SAAWS and killed the shepherds, taking their camels. The Prophet SAAWS brought them back and ordered to cut their hands, foots (from opposite sides) and crucify them.

3. Kalaam –roughly speaking, is the study of –among other things--the names and attributes of Allah (SWT) using –supposed to be- logical premises and conclusions. The underlining assumption to many of those who indulge in Kalaam is that the Quran and the Sunnah are not sufficient to understand the names and attributes of Allah.

4. Sabi’ was a person who lived at the time of Umar RD, he started asking some strange and mischievous questions about certain things mentioned in the Quran. This person was sent to Umar RD who had him jailed and beat each day till he declared that all his evil thoughts have left him. After this he was sent back, and his people were instructed to abandon him completely. Hence Imam Shafi declared that people of Kalaam should also be given this treatment i.e. disciplined and abandoned.