Thursday, April 26, 2007

Mufti Taqi Uthmani has NOT endorsed the Amman Message...

Taken from www.askimam.org
Fatwa # 15064 from South Africa Date: Tuesday, April 17th 2007
Category

Miscellaneous
Title

Please comment on the endorsement of Mufti Taqi Uthmani Saheb of the Amman Message wherein all Shias are endorsed as muslims and there being no possibility of Takfir against them.

Question

Please comment on the endorsement of Mufti Taqi Uthmani Saheb of the Amman Message wherein all Shias are endorsed as muslims and there being no possibility of Takfir against them.

Answer

Assalaamu `alaykum waRahmatullahi Wabarakatoh

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Recently we have received a couple of queries regarding the views of Respected Hazrat Mufti Taqi Uthmani Saheb daamat barakatuhum about “Amman Message”. It states:


“Whosoever is an adherent to one of the four Sunni schools (Mathahib) of Islamic jurisprudence (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi`i and Hanbali), the two Shi’i schools of Islamic jurisprudence (Ja`fari and Zaydi), the Ibadi school of Islamic jurisprudence and the Thahiri school of Islamic jurisprudence, is a Muslim. Declaring that person an apostate is impossible and impermissible”

The website promotes that more than 500 reputable authorities have endorsed this declaration. Many laymen have accepted it as a unanimous consensus of the Ulama. (Ijmaa). We wish to say that this is indeed not the case and even Mufti Taqi Uthmani’s endorsement is not in its totality of this “Amman Message”.

The same website which has posted the endorsement of Hazrat Mufti Taqi Saheb has also posted his seven page fatwa in this regard. We are surprised as to why has this fatwa not been translated into English for the common readers. This Fatwa shows the accurate stance of Mufti Saheb. On page 3 of this fatwa Hazrat Mufti Saheb categorizes those Madhahîb who claim to be Muslim into 3 distinct groups. In the first of these three groups Hazrat Mufti Saheb says,

Excerpt from the Fatwa given by Mufti Taqi Saheb

“First type: Are those who claim to be Muslim, but reject something which has been necessarily known to be from the religion. They hold firmly, for example, that the Prophethood is continued after Nabi Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and they believe in the prophethood of one of the Dajjals who has claimed prophethood after our Noble Prophet, seal of the prophethood sallallahu alayhi wasallam, like the Qadîyânîs; or they hold firmly that the Noble Quran which we have today is changed, Al’Iyaazubillah. And that our Quraan is not the real on, like what some of the extremists among the Shîas say; or they hold firmly (in the aqeeda of ) Aloohiya or some of the specific attributes of it being in one of the humans, like what is attributed to Alawiyeen(Alawis) and others besides them. Then these all are not Muslims and it is necessary to make Takfir of them.

From the above we understand adequately that Mufti Saheb has not endorsed the Amman Message in its totality, though he has elaborated the Sharii stance of Takfeer. This first category includes those upon whom takfeer can be made, rather it is necessary. To this category Hazrat Mufti Saheb makes one more addition. On page 5 of his fatwa Hazrat Mufti Taqi Saheb says that those self claimed Sufîs, who negate any of the important Aqaîd or reject the commands of Sharia and concoct baseless ruling with no grounds in Quran and Sunnah, are also added to the first category. That is to say, takfir will be necessary upon them as well.

An excerp from Fatwa of Mufti Taqi Uthmani for Amman Message

Computer Dept.
Darul Iftaa, Madrassah Inaamiyyah

Friday, April 13, 2007

Marriage Season...

Subhan Allah...

This year is the first year where my closest friends are getting married in droves, and not only are my friends getting married but some of my favorite people in the entire world are now engaged and getting married. I cant even begin to explain how happy I am for these people and I pray that Allah swt blesses the couples with ease in this stressful time of wedding planning, blesses them with ease on their respective weddings, and ease and barakah in their married life to come. I just hope that I can come to all of your weddings!!!

Those of you who are in my close circle of favorite people and are not yet hitched, and you know who you are, I am making dua for you!!! And no...im not just praying for you so that angels make the same dua for me too.

Congrats again my peoples!!!

Thursday, April 05, 2007

MIST 07 reflections...

So its been a week since MIST has ended, and subhan Allah all week I have been thinking about the tournament and how amazing the weekend was.

As I sat there on the day of the awards banquet, listening to the chatter and anticipation of all the children and seeing the sheer joy on their faces, i couldnt help but choke back tears, as I have done every year, just from the thought of this being the next generations of muslimeen in America ready to carry the banner of Islam. I see children who are no doubt better than me, children who are more skilled than me in writing, more knowledgeable than me in deen, and more ready to do islamic work than i will ever be. Every year at the end of MIST on the day of the awards banquet I sit there and look around at the children and choke back tears and I remember the fact that I am behind, I am wasting time, and I am getting older by the day and Allah swt has an entire generation of children just waiting for their chance to change the world, children ready to lap me on their way to Jannah while i sit idle doing nothing to change the world.

To me, this is why MIST is the most important organization and tournament that exists in the US, as I have been quoted as saying here in the muslim link. When I came out of high school i had no idea what Islam was, I had no experience with how organized Islamic work worked, and I didnt even know what the purpose of an MSA was. All of these children participating in MIST are exposed to all of these things, gaining an advantage over their predecessors as they come into the college MSA scene running instead of crawling like us.

Usually, my team (Team Taqwa) does very well placing in the top 3 for all but one year since the tournament began (if my memory serves me correctly) but unfortunately this was not our year. But regardless of the outcome, I looked at the faces of my kids and subhan Allah, I remembered what it was like to actually be around a large group of muslims from your generation for the first time and it gave me goosebumps. The majority of these kids struggle with their Muslim identity in public school settings and for one weekend they are in an environment where its all Muslim all day, and like the hadith of our beloved Prophet Muhammed PBUH states and I will futilely attempt to paraphrase, if you are in the blacksmiths place of work, you will come out of it with soot and smell upon you no matter how involved you are with the blacksmith work. And this one weekend their imam increased from being around their brothers and sisters, from intending to benefit their iman, and for competing and striving against each other in pleasing Allah swt.

Anyone who is around those who organize MIST, or is involved in MIST in any level be it organizational or otherwise, has to testify to the fact that these children show great promise for our Ummah. Its not just that they are practicing Islam and implementing it in their lives as early as middle school, but those that have never been exposed to Islam seriously are being exposed to it in a great environment of competition and gaining a great love for the deen. I was a panelist at a session about majors and this one kid asks me how he can become an Islamic Scholar. Subhan Allah I almost teared up at the sheer notion that this kid at an early age was interested in the sciences of Islam and how to be proficient in them to a level where he wanted to not only be a scholar of deen but a Doctor as well so that he could benefit the people greatly. I looked into that youth's face and I saw a great want and desire to benefit those around him and I pray that Allah swt grant him the best in this world and the next.

In conclusion, MIST is that fire that is lit up under me every year. People say ISNA motivates them to do good works and of course Ramadan does for me and everyone else, but MIST has its place in what motivates me to do better and strive harder in everything im doing for the reason that there are little kids fast approaching at my heels ready to pass me and grab the torch of Islam, and if I want to keep up im gonna have to work harder.

May Allah swt bless all those who organized MIST!
May Allah swt bless all the coaches, judges, speakers, and volunteers!
May Allah swt bless all the participants in MIST, make all the good that they heard this weekend be a means by which they shall enter paradise!

Ameen