🚀 go-pugleaf

                  ___   | |       |  ___   | |  /|  |  | |              |
                 |  |  _| |         |  |  _| | /_|  |  | |    |  |  |   |
          o_|__|____| |   | | o |_o____| |   |   |__|__| |  o_|__|__|___|
      ___/   oo    ___|     |___|     ___|              ___/          o

      In   the   name  of   ALLAH,   the    Beneficent,   the    Merciful




             |||    |||||  |          |    |     |   |||    |||||
              |    |     | |         | |   ||   ||    |    |     |
              |    |       |        |   |  | | | |    |    |
              |     |||||  |       |     | |  |  |    |    |
              |          | |       ||||||| |     |    |    |
              |    |     | |       |     | |     |    |    |     |
             |||    |||||  ||||||| |     | |     |   |||    |||||

             I N F O R M A T I O N    &   N E W S    N E T W O R K

                      A Subsidiary of Pakistan News Service




 Vol. 6  No. 18         Rubi-ul-sani 8, 1415 Hijri           September 15, 1994
________________________________________________________________________________
 Editor: Imran Mehdi                                     Muslims@asuacad.bitnet
________________________________________________________________________________

        # This is a second attempt to post this issue. It was originally #
        # posted on September 16, 1994. Due to distribution glitch it was#
        # not sent out to the subscribers.      -IINN                    #


                                    Contents

                                 --Al Qur'an--
 1. Al Quran ................................................ by Almighty Allah
             ................. translation of the meaning by Abdullah Yusuf Ali
                                 --Articles--
 2. Israel is to blame for wars ........................ by Rabbi M. Teitelbaum
                                ................................. from Al-Akbar
 3. Islamic Spirituality ................................. by Abdal-Hakim Murad
                         ...................................... from Masud Khan
                                --Announcements--
 4. Conference call with Dr. Zahar ................................. by Mustafa
 5. ftp site for Islamic literature ............................ by Asim Mughal



 Al Quran .....................................................................

            I seek Allah's protection from Satan the rejected one.


 1. Al Quran ................................................ by Almighty Allah
             ................. translation of the meaning by Abdullah Yusuf Ali


                         translation of the meaning by
                               Abdullah Yusuf Ali


                                      from
                                  Asim Ashraf



              xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
                                x 103 Al-QURAN x
              xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


             I seek Allah's protection from Satan the rejected one.



        Verily never will God  change  the  condition  of a people until
        they change it themselves  (with  their  souls). But when (once)
        God wills a people's  punishment,  there can be no turning back,
        nor will they find, besides Him, any to protect.



        Translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali.Published by Amana Corporation
        Brentwood, Maryland, U.S.A



                                                                  13(11)



 Articles .....................................................................


 2. Israel is to blame for wars ........................ by Rabbi M. Teitelbaum
                                ................................. from Al-Akbar


                          Israel is to blame for wars
                                       by
                              Rabbi M. Teitelbaum
                                      from
                                    Al-Akbar


    Israel is to Blame for Wars Anti-Zionist Leader Says

    The state of Israel is  "responsible"  for  the wars with the Arabs, the
    "king" of Jewish anti-Zionists  told  a  huge crowd of some 100,000 fol-
    lowers  in   occupied   Jerusalem.    "Zionism   has   caused   terrible
    blood-letting," the white bearded  Rabbi  Moshe  Teitelbaum said late in
    the evening after arriving from  his  power base in New York last month.
    Thousands of children, wear- ing white shorts, lined the route of the 74
    year-old rabbi's motor- cade into the ultra orthodox area of Mea Shearim
    where a giant reception  was  laid  on.  Rabbi  Teitelbaum,  who  speaks
    Yiddish, heads the Satmar sect and also  all Hasidic anti-Zionist groups
    in the Eda Haredit movement - the commu-  nity which trembles before God
    - who turned out to  welcome  him.  The  Satmar  lists  more than 30,000
    families in the United States, Britain  and Belgium among its followers.
    Only about 400 Satmar families  live  in Israel. The white-bearded rabbi
    refuses to meet Israeli govern-  ment  officials. A millionaire New York
    Hasid shelled out a reported $500,000 to cover all costs of the two-week
    visit, including limou- sines  and  more  than  10~) rental cars for the
    rabbi's entourage . Rabbi Teitelbaum  intends to encourage his community
    in the Holy Land not to make any con- cession to the Jewish state and to
    distribute financial assistance.  The  ultra-orthodox anti- Zionist Jews
    believe that the Messiah alone, not man, can res- urrect Israel. Tens of
    thousands of Hassidic men waited patiently in Jerusalem's Sabbath Square
    for more than two hours to greet  their  white-bearded spiritual leader.
    Women, who under Jewish ritual law cannot mix freely with men, were kept
    back behind ropes, beggars  tripped  over  one  another  as charity tins
    rattled to the heat  of  festive  music.  "All  the  roads  in the ultra
    orthodox neighbourhoods have been  decorated  in honour of this historic
    event, which we call a royal visit,"  said Satmar spokesman Yehuda Meshi
    Zahav. As Rabbi Teitelbaum's lim- ousine waded into a sea of black coats
    and wide-brimmed felt hats, the  Hassidim  went into a frenzy. Dozens of
    car and van roofs were crushed  as  men  climbed  on to the parked vehi-
    cles.


 3. Islamic Spirituality ................................. by Abdal-Hakim Murad
                         ...................................... from Masud Khan


                              Islamic Spirituality
                                       by
                               Abdal-Hakim Murad
                                      from
                                   Masud Khan


    Below is an article sent to me by 'Abdal-Hakim  Murad, it first appeared
    in Islamica  Magazine.  Full  permission  is  granted  by  the author to
    reproduce this article.


    wa'asalaam

    Mas'ud



    Numbers appearing in [] are references  to foot notes which are attached
    at the end of this article.

                                     -=O=-


                     I S L A M I C S P I R I T U A L I T Y


                            The Forgotten Revolution


                               Abdal-Hakim Murad



    THE POVERTY OF FANATICISM

    'Blood is no argument', as Shakespeare observed. Sadly, Muslim ranks are
    today  swollen  with  those  who  disagree.   The  World  Trade  Centre,
    yesterday's symbol of global finance, has today become a monument to the
    failure of global Islam to control  those  who believe that the West can
    be bullied into changing its wayward  ways towards the East. There is no
    real excuse to hand. It is simply  not  enough  to clamour, as many have
    done, about  'chickens  coming  home  to  roost',  and  to  protest that
    Washington's acquiescence in Israeli policies of ethnic cleansing is the
    inevitable generator of such  hate.  It  is  of course true - as Shabbir
    Akhtar has noted - that powerlessness can corrupt as insistently as does
    power. But to comprehend is not  to  sanction  or  even to empathize. To
    take innocent life to achieve a goal is the hallmark of the most extreme
    secular utilitarian  ethic,  and  stands  at  the  opposite  pole of the
    absolute moral constraints required by religion.

    There was a time, not long ago, when the 'ultras' were few, forming only
    a tiny wart on the face of  the  worldwide  attempt  to  revivify Islam.
    Sadly, we can no longer enjoy the  luxury  of ignoring them. The extreme
    has broadened,  and  the  middle  ground,   giving  way,  is  everywhere
    dislocated and confused. And this enfeeblement of the middle ground, the
    wasat enjoined by the Prophetic  example,  is in turn accelerated by the
    opprobrium which the extremists  bring  not  simply upon themselves, but
    upon  committed  Muslims   everywhere.   For  here,  as  elsewhere,  the
    preferences of the media  work  firmly  against  us.  David Koresh could
    broadcast his fringe Biblical message  from Ranch Apocalypse without the
    image of Christianity, or even  its  Adventist  wing,  being  in any way
    besmirched. But when a fringe  Islamic  group  bombs Swedish tourists in
    Cairo, the muck is instantly spread over 'militant Muslims' everywhere.

    If these things go on,  the  Islamic  movement  will  cease  to  form an
    authentic summons to cultural and  spiritual  renewal, and will exist as
    little more than a splintered  array  of maniacal factions. The prospect
    of such an appalling  and  humiliating  end  to  the story of a religion
    which once surpassed all others in  its  capacity  for tolerating debate
    and dissent is now a real possibility.  The entire experience of Islamic
    work  over  the  past  fifteen  years  has  been  one  of  increasing
    radicalization, driven  by  the  perceived  failure  of  the traditional
    Islamic institutions and the older  Muslim  movements to lead the Muslim
    peoples into the worthy but  so  far  chimerical  promised  land  of the
    'Islamic State.'

    If this final catastrophe is to be averted,  the mainstream will have to
    regain the  initiative.  But  for  this  to  happen,  it  must  begin by
    confessing that the radical  critique  of  moderation has its force. The
    Islamic movement has so far been  remarkably  unsuccessful.  We must ask
    ourselves how it is that a man like  Nasser, a butcher, a failed soldier
    and a cynical demagogue, could  have  taken over a country as pivotal as
    Egypt, despite the vacuity of his beliefs, while the Muslim Brotherhood,
    with its pullulating millions of members, should have failed, and failed
    continuously, for six decades. The  radical  accusation  of a failure in
    methodology cannot fail to strike  home  in such a context of dismal and
    prolonged inadequacy.

    It is in this context - startlingly,  perhaps, but inescapably - that we
    must present our case  for  the  revival  of  the  spiritual life within
    Islam. If it is ever to prosper,  the  'Islamic revival' must be made to
    see that it is in crisis, and  that  its  mental  resources  are proving
    insufficient to meet contemporary  needs.  The  response to this must be
    grounded in an act of collective muhasaba, of self-examination, in terms
    that transcend the ideologised neo-Islam  of the revivalists, and return
    to a more classical and indigenously Muslim dialectic.

    Symptomatic of the disease is the  fact  that among all the explanations
    offered for the crisis of the  Islamic  movement, the only authentically
    Muslim interpretation,  namely,  that  God  should not be lending it His
    support, is conspicuously absent. It is true that we frequently hear the
    Quranic verse which states that "God  does not change the condition of a
    people until they change  the  condition  of  their own selves." [1] But
    never, it seems, is this principle intelligently  grasped. It is assumed
    that the sacred text is here  doing  no  more  than to enjoin individual
    moral reform as a precondition for collective  societal success. Nothing
    could be more hazardous,  however,  than  to  measure  such moral reform
    against the yardstick of the fiqh without  giving concern to whether the
    virtues gained have  been  acquired  through  conformity  (a  relatively
    simple task), or proceed spontaneously from a genuine realignment of the
    soul. The verse is speaking  of  a  spiritual  change,  specifically,  a
    transformation of the nafs of the  believers  -  not a moral one. And as
    the Blessed Prophet never tired of  reminding  us, there is little value
    in outward conformity to the rules  unless  this  conformity is mirrored
    and engendered by an authentically  righteous  disposition of the heart.
    'No-one shall enter the  Garden  by  his  works,'  as  he  expressed it.
    Meanwhile,  the  profoundly  judgemental  and  works-  oriented tenor of
    modern revivalist  Islam  (we  must   shun   the  problematic  buzz-word
    'fundamentalism'), fixated on  visible  manifestations  of morality, has
    failed to address the underlying question of what revelation is for. For
    it is theological nonsense to  suggest  that God's final concern is with
    our ability to conform to a complex  set of rules. His concern is rather
    that we should be restored,  through  our labours and His grace, to that
    state of purity and equilibrium with which we were born. The rules are a
    vital means to that end, and are facilitated by it. But they do not take
    its place.

    To make this point, the Holy Quran deploys  a striking metaphor. In Sura
    Ibrahim, verses 24 to 26, we read:

    Have you not seen how  God  coineth  a  likeness:  a  goodly word like a
    goodly tree, the root whereof is set  firm, its branch in the heaven? It
    bringeth forth its fruit at every  time,  by the leave of its Lord. Thus
    doth God coin likenesses for men, that perhaps they may reflect. And the
    likeness of an evil word is that of  an evil tree that hath been torn up
    by the root from upon the earth, possessed of no stability.

    According to the  scholars  of  tafsir,  the  reference  here  is to the
    'words' (kalima) of faith and  unfaith.  The  former is illustrated as a
    natural growth, whose florescence of  moral and intellectual achievement
    is nourished by firm roots, which in turn denote the basis of faith: the
    quality of the proofs one  has  received,  and  the  certainty and sound
    awareness of God which alone signify  that one is firmly grounded in the
    reality of existence. The fruits thus yielded - the palpable benefits of
    the religious life - are permanent ('at  every time'), and are not man's
    own accomplishment, for they only come  'by the leave of its Lord'. Thus
    is the sound life of faith.  The  contrast  is  then drawn with the only
    alternative: kufr, which is not grounded in reality but in illusion, and
    is hence 'possessed of no stability'.[2]

    This passage, reminiscent of some of the binary categorisations of human
    types presented early on in Surat al-Baqara,  precisely encapsulates the
    relationship between faith and works, the hierarchy which exists between
    them, and the sustainable balance  between  nourishment  and fructition,
    between taking and giving, which true faith must maintain.

    It is  against  this  criterion  that  we  must  judge  the  quality  of
    contemporary 'activist' styles of faith.  Is the young 'ultra', with his
    intense rage which can sometimes render him liable to nervous disorders,
    and his fixation on a relatively  narrow  range  of issues and concerns,
    really firmly  rooted,  and  fruitful,  in  the  sense described by this
    Quranic image?

    Let me point to the answer with an example drawn from my own experience.

    I used to know , quite well, a  leader  of  the radical 'Islamic' group,
    the Jama'at Islamiya, at the Egyptian university of Assiut. His name was
    Hamdi. He grew a luxuriant  beard,  was  constantly  scrubbing his teeth
    with his miswak, and  spent  his  time  preaching  hatred  of the Coptic
    Christians, a number of whom were  actually  attacked and beaten up as a
    result of his khutbas. He  had  hundreds  of  followers; in fact, Assiut
    today remains a citadel of hardline, Wahhabi-style activism.

    The moral of the story is that some  five years after this acquaintance,
    providence again brought me face  to  face with Shaikh Hamdi. This time,
    chancing to see him on a Cairo street, I almost failed to recognise him.
    The beard was gone. He was in  trousers  and a sweater. More astonishing
    still was that he was walking with  a  young Western girl who turned out
    to be an Australian, whom, as  he  sheepishly  explained  to  me, he was
    intending to marry. I talked to him,  and it became clear that he was no
    longer even a minimally observant Muslim, no longer prayed, and that his
    ambition in life was to leave Egypt,  live in Australia, and make money.
    What was extraordinary was that his  experiences in Islamic activism had
    made no impression on him -  he  was  once  again  the  same distracted,
    ordinary Egyptian youth he had  been  before  his conversion to 'radical
    Islam'.

    This phenomenon, which we might label  'salafi burnout', is a recognised
    feature of many modern Muslim  cultures.  An  initial enthusiasm, gained
    usually in one's early  twenties,  loses  steam  some seven to ten years
    later. Prison and torture - the  frequent  lot  of the Islamic radical -
    may serve to prolong  commitment,  but  ultimately,  a majority of these
    neo-Muslims relapse, seemingly no  better  or worse for their experience
    in the cult-like universe of the salafi mindset.

    This ephemerality of extremist  activism  should be as suspicious as its
    content. Authentic Muslim  faith  is  simply  not  supposed  to  be this
    fragile; as the Qur'an says, its root is meant to be 'set firm'. One has
    to conclude that of the two trees depicted  in the Quranic image, salafi
    extremism resembles the  second  rather  than  the first. After all, the
    Sahaba were not known for  a  transient  commitment:  their devotion and
    piety remained incomparably pure until they died.

    What attracts young Muslims  to  this  type  of  ephemeral but ferocious
    activism? One does not have to subscribe  to determinist social theories
    to realise  the  importance  of  the   almost   universal  condition  of
    insecurity which Muslim  societies  are  now  experiencing.  The Islamic
    world is passing through a  most  devastating  period  of  transition. A
    history of economic and  scientific  change  which  in  Europe took five
    hundred years, is, in the Muslim world,  being squeezed into a couple of
    generations. For instance,  only  thirty-five  years  ago the capital of
    Saudi Arabia was a cluster of mud huts,  as it had been for thousands of
    years. Today's Riyadh is  a  hi-tech  megacity  of  glass  towers,  Coke
    machines, and gliding Cadillacs.  This  is  an extreme case, but to some
    extent the dislocations of modernity are common to every Muslim society,
    excepting, perhaps, a handful of the most remote tribal peoples.

    Such a transition period,  with  its   centrifugal  forces  which  allow
    nothing to remain constant, makes human  beings very insecure. They look
    around for something to hold onto,  that  will give them an identity. In
    our case, that something is  usually  Islam.  And because they are being
    propelled into it by this psychic  sense  of  insecurity, rather than by
    the more normal processes of conversion and faith, they lack some of the
    natural  religious  virtues,  which  are  acquired  by  contact  with  a
    continuous tradition, and can never be learnt from a book.

    One easily visualises how this works. A young Arab, part of an oversized
    family, competing for scarce jobs,  unable  to marry because he is poor,
    perhaps a migrant to a rapidly expanding  city, feels like a man lost in
    a desert without signposts.  One  morning  he  picks up a copy of Sayyid
    Qutb from a newsstand, and is 'born-again'  on the spot. This is what he
    needed:  instant  certainty,  a  framework  in  which  to  interpret the
    landscape before him, to resolve the  problems and tensions of his life,
    and, even more deliciously, a way of feeling superior and in control. He
    joins a group, and, anxious to  retain  his  newfound certainty, accepts
    the usual proposition that all the other groups are mistaken.

    This, of course, is not how Muslim  religious  conversion is supposed to
    work. It is meant to be a process of  intellectual maturation, triggered
    by the presence  of  a  very  holy   person  or  place.  Tawba,  in  its
    traditional form, yields  an  outlook  of  joy,  contentment, and a deep
    affection for  others.  The  modern  type  of  tawba,  however,  born of
    insecurity, often makes  Muslims  narrow,  intolerant,  and exclusivist.
    Even more noticeably, it  produces  people  whose  faith is, despite its
    apparent intensity, liable to vanish as suddenly as it came. Deprived of
    real  nourishment,  the   activist's  soul  can  only  grow  hungry  and
    emaciated, until at last it dies.

    THE ACTIVISM WITHIN

    How should we respond to  this  disorder?  We  must begin by remembering
    what Islam is for. As we noted  earlier,  our  din is not, ultimately, a
    manual of rules which, when meticulously followed, becomes a passport to
    paradise. Instead, it is a package of social, intellectual and spiritual
    technology whose purpose is to  cleanse  the human heart. In the Qur'an,
    the Lord says that on the Day of  Judgement,  nothing will be of any use
    to us, except a sound heart  (qalbun  salim).[3] And in a famous hadith,
    the Prophet, upon whom be blessings  and peace, says that "Verily in the
    body there is a piece of flesh. If  it  is sound, the body is all sound.
    If it is corrupt, the body is all corrupt. Verily, it is the heart."

    Mindful of this commandment, under  which  all the other commandments of
    Islam are subsumed, and  which  alone  gives  them  meaning, the Islamic
    scholars have worked out a science, an ilm, of analysing the 'states' of
    the heart, and  the  methods  of  bringing  it  into  this  condition of
    soundness. In the  fullness  of  time,  this  science  acquired the name
    tasawwuf, in English 'Sufism' - a  traditional  label  for what we might
    nowadays more intelligibly call 'Islamic psychology.'

    At this point, many hackles  are  raised  and  well-rehearsed objections
    voiced. It is vital to  understand  that  mainstream  Sufism is not, and
    never has been, a doctrinal system,  or a school of thought - a madhhab.
    It is, instead, a set of insights and practices which operate within the
    various Islamic madhhabs; in other words,  it is not a madhhab, it is an
    ilm. And like most of the other Islamic  ulum, it was not known by name,
    or in its later developed form, in  the  age of the Prophet (upon him be
    blessings and peace)  or  his  Companions.  This  does  not make it less
    legitimate. There are many Islamic  sciences  which only took shape many
    years after the  Prophetic  age:  usul  al-fiqh,  for  instance,  or the
    innumerable technical disciplines of hadith.

    Now this, of course, leads us into the often misunderstood area of sunna
    and bid'a, two notions which are  wielded  as  blunt instruments by many
    contemporary activists, but which  are  often grossly misunderstood. The
    classic Orientalist thesis is of course  that Islam, as an 'arid Semitic
    religion', failed to incorporate mechanisms for its own development, and
    that it petrified upon the  death  of  its  founder. This, however, is a
    nonsense rooted in the  ethnic  determinism  of  the  nineteenth century
    historians  who  had  shaped  the   views   of   the  early  Orientalist
    synthesizers (Muir, Le Bon,  Renan,  Caetani).  Islam,  as  the religion
    designed for the end of  time,  has  in  fact  proved  itself  eminently
    adaptable to the rapidly  changing  conditions  which  characterise this
    final and most 'entropic' stage of history.

    What is a bid'a, according to the classical  definitions of Islamic law?
    We all know the famous hadith:

    Beware of  matters  newly  begun,  for   every  matter  newly  begun  is
    innovation, every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in
    Hell.[4]

    Does this mean that everything introduced  into Islam that was not known
    to the first generation of  Muslims  is  to  be  rejected? The classical
    ulema do not accept such a literalistic interpretation.

    Let us take a definition from Imam al-Shafi'i,  an authority universally
    accepted in Sunni Islam. Imam al-Shafi'i writes:

    There are two kinds of introduced matters (muhdathat). One is that which
    contradicts a text of the  Qur'an,  or  the  Sunna, or a report from the
    early Muslims (athar), or the consensus  (ijma') of the Muslims: this is
    an 'innovation of misguidance' (bid'at  dalala). The second kind is that
    which is in itself good  and  entails  no  contradiction of any of these
    authorities: this  is  a  'non-reprehensible  innovation'  (bid'a  ghayr
    madhmuma).[5]

    This basic distinction  between  acceptable  and  unacceptable  forms of
    bid'a is recognised by  the  overwhelming  majority  of classical ulema.
    Among some, for instance al-Izz ibn  Abd al-Salam (one of the half-dozen
    or so great mujtahids of Islamic  history),  innovations  fall under the
    five axiological headings of the  Shari'a:  the  obligatory (wajib), the
    recommended (mandub), the  permissible  (mubah), the offensive (makruh),
    and the forbidden (haram).[6]

    Under the category of 'obligatory  innovation',  Ibn  Abd al-Salam gives
    the following examples: recording  the  Qur'an  and the laws of Islam in
    writing at a time when it was  feared  that they would be lost, studying
    Arabic grammar in order to resolve  controversies  over  the Qur'an, and
    developing philosophical theology  (kalam)  to  refute the claims of the
    Mu'tazilites.

    Category two is 'recommended  innovation'.  Under this heading the ulema
    list such activities as building  madrasas,  writing books on beneficial
    Islamic subjects, and in-depth studies of Arabic linguistics.

    Category three is  'permissible',  or  'neutral  innovation',  including
    worldly activities such as  sifting  flour,  and  constructing houses in
    various styles not known in Medina.

    Category four is  the  'reprehensible  innovation'.  This  includes such
    misdemeanours as overdecorating mosques or the Qur'an.

    Category five is the  'forbidden  innovation'.  This  includes  unlawful
    taxes, giving  judgeships  to  those   unqualified  to  hold  them,  and
    sectarian beliefs and  practices  that  explicitly  contravene the known
    principles of the Qur'an and the Sunna.

    The above classification of bid'a  types  is normal in classical Shari'a
    literature, being accepted by the  four  schools of orthodox fiqh. There
    have been only two significant  exceptions  to this understanding in the
    history of Islamic thought:  the  Zahiri  school  as  articulated by Ibn
    Hazm, and one wing of the Hanbali  madhhab,  represented by Ibn Taymiya,
    who goes against the classical ijma'  on this issue, and claims that all
    forms of innovation, good or bad, are un-Islamic.

    Why is it, then, that so many Muslims now believe that innovation in any
    form is unacceptable in Islam? One  factor  has already been touched on:
    the mental complexes thrown up by  insecurity,  which  incline people to
    find comfort in absolutist and literalist  interpretations. Another lies
    in the  influence  of  the  well-financed   neo-Hanbali  madhhab  called
    Wahhabism,  whose  leaders  are   famous  for  their  rejection  of  all
    possibility of development.

    In any case, armed with this more sophisticated  and classical awareness
    of Islam's  ability  to  acknowledge  and  assimilate  novelty,  we  can
    understand how Muslim civilisation was  able so quickly to produce novel
    academic disciplines to deal with new problems as these arose.

    Islamic psychology  is  characteristic  of  the new ulum which, although
    present  in  latent  and  implicit    form  in  the  Quran,  were  first
    systematized in Islamic culture  during  the early Abbasid period. Given
    the importance that the Quran attaches  to obtaining a 'sound heart', we
    are not surprised to find that the  influence  of Islamic psychology has
    been massive and all-pervasive. In the formative first four centuries of
    Islam, the time when the great works  of tafsir, hadith, grammar, and so
    forth were laid down, the ulema also applied their minds to this problem
    of al-qalb al-salim. This was first  visible when, following the example
    of the Tabi'in, many of the early  ascetics,  such as Sufyan ibn Uyayna,
    Sufyan al-Thawri, and  Abdallah  ibn   al-Mubarak,  had  focussed  their
    concerns explicitly on the art of purifying  the heart. The methods they
    recommended were frequent fasting  and  night prayer, periodic retreats,
    and a preoccupation with murabata: service  as volunteer fighters in the
    border castles of Asia Minor.

    This type of pietist orientation was  not in the least systematic during
    this period. It was a loose  category  embracing  all Muslims who sought
    salvation through the Prophetic virtues  of renunciation, sincerity, and
    deep devotion to the  revelation.  These  men  and  women were variously
    referred to as al-bakka'un: 'the weepers',  because of their fear of the
    Day of  Judgement,  or  as  zuhhad,  ascetics,   or  ubbad,  'unceasing
    worshippers'.

    By the third century, however, we  start  to  find writings which can be
    understood as belonging to a distinct  devotional school. The increasing
    luxury and materialism of Abbasid urban  society spurred many Muslims to
    campaign for a restoration  of  the  simplicity  of  the  Prophetic age.
    Purity of heart, compassion for  others,  and a constant recollection of
    God were the defining features of this  trend. We find references to the
    method of muhasaba: self-examination  to detect impurities of intention.
    Also stressed was riyada: self-discipline.

    By this time, too, the  main  outlines  of  Quranic  psychology had been
    worked out. The human creature,  it  was  realised,  was made up of four
    constituent parts: the body  (jism),  the  mind (aql), the spirit (ruh),
    and the self (nafs). The first two  need  little  comment. Less familiar
    (at least to people of a  modern  education)  are  the  third and fourth
    categories.

    The spirit is the ruh, that  underlying  essence of the human individual
    which survives death. It is hard to comprehend rationally, being in part
    of Divine inspiration, as the  Quran  says:  "And they ask you about the
    spirit; say, the spirit is of the command  of my Lord. And you have been
    given of knowledge only a little."[7]

    According to the early Islamic psychologists,  the ruh is a non-material
    reality which pervades the  entire  human  body,  but  is centred on the
    heart, the qalb. It  represents  that  part  of man which is not of this
    world, and which connects him  with  his  Creator,  and  which, if he is
    fortunate, enables him to see God  in  the next world. When we are born,
    this ruh is intact and pure. As we  are  initiated into the distractions
    of the world, however, it is covered over with the 'rust' (ran) of which
    the Quran  speaks.  This  rust  is  made  up  of  two  things:  sin  and
    distraction. When, through  the  process  of  self-discipline, these are
    banished, so that the worshipper is  preserved from sin and is focussing
    entirely on the  immediate  presence  and  reality  of  God, the rust is
    dissolved, and the ruh  once  again  is  free.  The  heart is sound; and
    salvation, and closeness to God, are achieved.

    This sounds simple enough.  However,  the early Muslims taught that such
    precious things come only  at  an  appropriate  price.  Cleaning  up the
    Augean stables of the heart is a  most  excruciating  challenge. Outward
    conformity to the rules of religion is simple enough; but it is only the
    first step. Much more demanding  is  the  policy  known as mujahada: the
    daily combat against the lower  self,  the  nafs. As the Quran says: 'As
    for him that fears the standing  before  his  Lord, and forbids his nafs
    its desires, for him, Heaven shall be his place of resort.'[8] Hence the
    Sufi commandment: 'Slaughter your ego with the knives of mujahada.'[9]

    Once the nafs is controlled, then  the  heart  is clear, and the virtues
    proceed from it easily and naturally.

    Because its objective is nothing less than salvation, this vital Islamic
    science  has  been  consistently  expounded  by  the  great  scholars of
    classical Islam. While  today  there  are  many  Muslims,  influenced by
    either Wahhabi  or  Orientalist  agendas,  who  believe  that Sufism has
    always led a somewhat marginal  existence  in Islam, the reality is that
    the overwhelming majority  of  the   classical  scholars  were  actively
    involved in Sufism.

    The early Shafi'i scholars of Khurasan: al-Hakim al-Nisaburi, Ibn Furak,
    al-Qushayri and  al-Bayhaqi,  were  all  Sufis  who  formed links in the
    richest academic tradition  of  Abbasid  Islam,  which culminated in the
    achievement of Imam Hujjat al-Islam  al-Ghazali. Ghazali himself, author
    of some three hundred books, including  the definitive rebuttals of Arab
    philosophy and the Ismailis, three large  textbooks of Shafi'i fiqh, the
    best-known tract of  usul  al-fiqh,  two  works  on  logic,  and several
    theological treatises,  also  left  us  with  the  classic  statement of
    orthodox Sufism: the  Ihya  Ulum  al-Din,  a  book  of which Imam Nawawi
    remarked: "Were the books of Islam  all  to be l ost, excepting only the
    Ihya', it would suffice to replace them all."[10]

    Imam Nawawi himself wrote two books which record his debt to Sufism, one
    called the  Bustan  al-Arifin  ('Garden  of  the  Gnostics', and another
    called the Kitab al-Maqasid (recently  published in English translation,
    Sunna Books, Evanston Il. trans. Nuh Keller).

    Among the Malikis,  too,  Sufism  was   popular.   Al-Sawi,   al-Dardir,
    al-Laqqani and Abd al-Wahhab  al-Baghdadi  were all exponents of Sufism.
    The Maliki jurist of Cairo, Abd al-Wahhab  al-Sha'rani defines Sufism as
    follows:

    'The path of the Sufis is built on the Quran and the Sunna, and is based
    on living according to the morals of the prophets and the purified ones.
    It may not be blamed, unless it violates  an explicit statement from the
    Quran, sunna, or ijma. If it does  not  contravene any of these sources,
    then no pretext remains for condemning  it, except one's own low opinion
    of others,  or  interpreting  what  they  do  as  ostentation,  which is
    unlawful. No-one denies the states of  the Sufis except someone ignorant
    of the way they are.'[11]

    For Hanbali Sufism one has to look  no  further than the revered figures
    of Abdallah Ansari, Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, Ibn al-Jawzi, and Ibn Rajab.

    In fact,  virtually  all  the  great  luminaries   of  medieval  Islam:
    al-Suyuti, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani,  al-Ayni,  Ibn  Khaldun, al-Subki, Ibn
    Hajar al-Haytami; tafsir  writers  like  Baydawi,  al-Sawi, Abu'l-Su'ud,
    al-Baghawi, and Ibn  Kathir[12]  ;  aqida  writers  such  as  Taftazani,
    al-Nasafi, al-Razi: all  wrote  in  support  of  Sufism.  Many,  indeed,
    composed independent works of Sufi  inspiration.  The ulema of the great
    dynasties of Islamic history,  including  the  Ottomans and the Moghuls,
    were deeply infused with the Sufi  outlook,  regarding  it as one of the
    most central and indispensable of Islamic sciences.

    Further confirmation of the Islamic  legitimacy of Sufism is supplied by
    the enthusiasm of its exponents for carrying Islam beyond the boundaries
    of the Islamic world. The  Islamization  process in India, Black Africa,
    and South-East Asia was carried  out  largely  at the hands of wandering
    Sufi teachers. Likewise, the Islamic  obligation of jihad has been borne
    with especial zeal by the Sufi orders.  All the great nineteenth century
    jihadists:  Uthman  dan  Fodio  (Hausaland),   al-Sanousi  (Libya),  Abd
    al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri (Algeria), Imam  Shamil (Daghestan) and the leaders
    of the Padre Rebellion (Sumatra)  were  active  practitioners of Sufism,
    writing extensively on it while on  their  campaigns. Nothing is further
    from reality, in fact, than the claim  that Sufism represents a quietist
    and non-militant form of Islam.

    With all this, we confront a  paradox.  Why is it, if Sufism has been so
    respected a part of Muslim  intellectual  and  political life throughout
    our history, that there are,  nowadays,  angry voices raised against it?
    There are two fundamental reasons here.

    Firstly,  there  is  again  the  pervasive   influence   of  Orientalist
    scholarship, which, at least before  1922 when Massignon wrote his Essai
    sur les origines de  la  lexique  technique,  was  of  the  opinion that
    something so fertile and profound as  Sufism could never have grown from
    the essentially 'barren and legalistic' soil of Islam. Orientalist works
    translated into  Muslim  languages  were  influential  upon  key  Muslim
    modernists - such as Muhammad Abduh in his later writings - who began to
    question the centrality, or even  the  legitimacy,  of Sufi discourse in
    Islam.

    Secondly, there is the emergence of the Wahhabi da'wa. When Muhammad ibn
    Abd al-Wahhab, some two  hundred  years  ago,  teamed  up with the Saudi
    tribe and attacked  the  neighbouring  clans,  he was doing so under the
    sign of  an  essentially  neo-Kharijite  version  of  Islam. Although he
    invoked Ibn Taymiya, he had reservations even about him. For Ibn Taymiya
    himself, although critical of the  excesses  of certain Sufi groups, had
    been committed to a branch  of  mainstream  Sufism.  This  is clear, for
    instance, in Ibn Taymiya's work  Sharh  Futuh  al-Ghayb, a commentary on
    some technical points in the  Openings  of the Unseen, a key work by the
    sixth-century saint of Baghdad,  Abd  al-Qadir al-Jilani. Throughout the
    work Ibn Taymiya shows himself to be a loyal disciple of al-Jilani, whom
    he always  refers  to  as  shaykhuna   ('our   teacher').   This  Qadiri
    affiliation is confirmed in the  later  literature of the Qadiri tariqa,
    which records Ibn Taymiya as a  key  link  in  the silsila, the chain of
    transmission of Qadiri teachings.[13]

    Ibn Abd  al-Wahhab,  however,  went  far  beyond  this.  Raised  in  the
    wastelands of Najd in Central Arabia, he had little access to mainstream
    Muslim scholarship.  In  fact,  when   his  da'wa  appeared  and  became
    notorious, the scholars and muftis  of  the day applied to it the famous
    Hadith of Najd:

    Ibn Umar reported the  Prophet  (upon  whom  be  blessings and peace) as
    saying: "Oh God, bless us in our  Syria;  O God, bless us in our Yemen."
    Those present said: "And in our Najd,  O Messenger of God!" but he said,
    "O God, bless us in our Syria;  O  God,  bless  us  in our Yemen." Those
    present said, "And in our Najd, O Messenger of God!". Ibn Umar said that
    he thought that he  said  on  the  third   occasion:   "Earthquakes  and
    dissensions (fitna) are there,  and  there  shall  arise the horn of the
    devil."[14]

    And it is significant that  almost  uniquely  among  the lands of Islam,
    Najd has never produced scholars of any repute.

    The Najd-based da'wa of the  Wahhabis,  however,  began to be heard more
    loudly following the explosion  of  Saudi  oil  wealth. Many, even most,
    Islamic publishing houses in  Cairo  and  Beirut  are  now subsidised by
    Wahhabi organisations, which  prevent  them  from publishing traditional
    works  on  Sufism,  and  remove  passages   in  other  works  considered
    unacceptable to Wahhabist doctrine.

    The neo-Kharijite nature of  Wahhabism  makes it intolerant of all other
    forms of Islamic expression. However, because it has no coherent fiqh of
    its own - it rejects the orthodox madhhabs - and has only the most basic
    and  primitively  anthropomorphic  aqida,  it  has  a  fluid, amoebalike
    tendency to produce divisions and  subdivisions  among those who profess
    it. No longer are the Islamic groups  essentially united by a consistent
    madhhab and the  Ash'ari  [or  Maturidi]  aqida.  Instead,  they are all
    trying to derive the shari'a and the  aqida from the Quran and the Sunna
    by themselves. The  result  is  the  appalling  state  of  division  and
    conflict which disfigures the modern salafi condition.

    At this critical moment in our history,  the umma has only one realistic
    hope for survival, and that is to  restore  the 'middle way', defined by
    that sophisticated classical consensus which was worked out over painful
    centuries of  debate  and  scholarship.  That  consensus  alone  has the
    demonstrable ability to provide a  basis  for  unity. But it can only be
    retrieved when we improve the  state  of  our hearts, and fill them with
    the Islamic virtues of affection, respect, tolerance and reconciliation.
    This inner reform, which is the  traditional  competence of Sufism, is a
    precondition for the restoration  of  unity in the Islamic movement. The
    alternative is likely to be continued, and agonising, failure.


    NOTES

    1 Sura 13:11.

    2 For a further analysis  of  this  passage,  see  Habib  Ahmad  Mashhur
    al-Haddad, Key to the Garden (London 1990 CE), 78-81.

    3 Sura 26:89. The archetype is Abrahamic: see Sura 37:84.

    4 This hadith is in  fact  an  instance  of  takhsis  al-amm: a frequent
    procedure of usul al-fiqh by which  an  apparently unqualified statement
    is qualified to avoid the contradiction  of another necessary principle.
    See Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, Reliance  of the Traveller, tr. Nuh Keller
    (Abu Dhabi, 1991 CE), 907-8 for some further examples.

    5 Ibn Asakir, Tabyin Kadhib al-Muftari (Damascus, 1347), 97.

    6 Cited in  Muhammad  al-Jurdani,   al-Jawahir  al-lu'lu'iyya  fi  sharh
    al-Arba'in al-Nawawiya (Damascus, 1328), 220-1.

    7 17:85.

    8 79:40.

    9 al-Qushayri, al-Risala (Cairo, n.d.), I, 393.

    10 al-Zabidi, Ithaf al-sada al-muttaqin (Cairo, 1311), I, 27.

    11 Sha'rani, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra (Cairo, 1374), I, 4.

    12 It is true that Ibn Kathir in  his  Bidaya  is critical of some later
    Sufis. Nonetheless, in his mawlid,  which  he asked his pupils to recite
    on the occasion of the Blessed  Prophet's  birthday  each year, he makes
    his personal debt to a conservative and sober Sufism quite clear.

    13 See G. Makdisi's article 'Ibn Taymiyya: A Sufi of the Qadiriya Order'
    in the American Journal of Arabic Studies, 1973.

    14 Narrated by  Bukhari.  The  translation  is  from  J. Robson, Mishkat
    al-Masabih (Lahore, 1970), II, 1380.



    Abdal-Hakim Murad is presently a research  student at Oxford University.
    He studied Arabic at University of Cambridge  and at al-Azhar University
    in Cairo and  has  translated  a  number   of  Islamic  works  including
    Bayhaqi's  "Seventy-Seven  Branches   of  Faith"  (Quillan  Press,1992),
    al-Ghazali's "Rememberance of  Death  and  the Afterlife" (Islamic Texts
    Society, Cambridge)  and  has  recently  completed  the  translation  of
    Al-Ghazali's "Breaking of  the  Two  Desires"  (Islamic  Texts  Society,
    Cambridge). He is also know as T.J.Winter.


 Announcements ................................................................


 4. Conference call with Dr. Zahar ................................. by Mustafa

                         Conference call with Dr. Zahar
                                       by
                                    Mustafa


    Title: Dr. Zahar Conference Call

    THE PEACE PROCESS AND THE PALESTINIAN NATIONAL AUTHORITY

    Listen to Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahar (A Leading Islamist Political Activist in
    Gaza)

    In a Telephone Conference Call

    Friday Sept. 16, 1994 [9:15pm and 11:15pm Eastern Time]

    - What has the peace process  initiated  by the Oslo Accords achieved? -
    What is the current role of the  Palestinian  National Authority? - What
    is the future of Palestinian Autonomy?

    And other questions will  be  answered  by  Dr. Zahar who was one of the
    former deportees and has been improsioned numerous times.

    A TRANSLATION WILL BE PROVIDED IN ENGLISH ON A SEPARATE LINE.

    COST: $25.00 for each line.

    To join, call IAP at (214)669-9595  Questions  can be sent by fax before
    Sept. 16 at (214)669-9597


 5. ftp site for Islamic literature ............................ by Asim Mughal

                        ftp site for Islamic literature
                                       by
                                  Asim Mughal



AssalaamOAlaikum,

I have downloaded 21 dawa brochures of "Institute of Islamic Information &
Education" (III&E) on Caltech MSA ftp site. These are files archived by
"Islamic Information & News Network" (muslims@asuacad.bitnet). These
brochures are in: /pub/calmsa/iiie directory.

I have also added link in Caltech MSA home page on  WWW for these brochures.

These brochures are a very good source of basic information on Islam. You
may want to refer them to those interested in Islam.

Wassalaam,
Br.Asim Mughal

P.S. Here is the "README.iiie" file in /iiie directory



## File: README.iiie
##
## Last Updated: Sept 11, 1994
## By: Br.Asim Mughal
##

AssalaamOAlaikum,

This is permanent archive for Islamic Dawa brochures published by
Institute of Islamic Information & Education (III&E).

This site is jointly maintained by Caltech MSA & Islamic Information
and News Network (IINN). The dawa brochures have been made  archives
of IINN. These brochures are also accessible thru Caltech MSA WWW
Home page. (http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~calmsa/)

Additional brochures will be added when made available.

Any questions should addressed to:  Br.Asim Mughal (mughal@caltech.edu)

__________________________________________________________________________
README.iiie                             This file
iiie.intro                              What is III&E?
_____________________________________________________________________________
                   LIST OF DAWA BROCHURES  OF III&E

FILE NAMES:                             TOPIC
_____________________________________________________________________________

01.introducting.islam                   Introducing Islam
02.concept.God                          Concept of God in Islam
03.prophethood                          Prophethood in Islam
04.life.death                           Life After Death
05.concept.worship                      Concept of Worship
06.moral.system                         Moral System
07.human.rights                         Human Rights in Islam
08.jesus                                Is Jesus Really God?
09.islam.other                          Islam as Other
10.choosing.islam                       Choosing Islam
11.say.islam                            What They Say About Islam
12.say.muhammad                         What They Say About Muhammad (pbuh)
13.polygamy                             Who Practices Polygamy?
14.say.quran                            What They Say About the Qur'an
15.sword.islam                          The Sword of Islam
16.know.man                             You Should Know This Man
17.yusuf.islam                          Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens)
19.islam.farrakhanism                   Islam or Farrakhanism
20.malcom.x                             Malcolm X
21.women.lib                            Women's Liberation Through Islam
22.trinity                              Who Invented Trinity?




     ___________________________________________________________________
     |                                                                 |
     |                         I M P O R T A N T                       |
     |                                                                 |
     |    Newsletter  contents  may be  copyright  protected.  The     |
     |    person contributing the news is the only one responsible     |
     |    for copyright violations,if any. No legal responsibility     |
     |    accepted by List-Owners, Editors, founders and  Sponsors.    |
     |    Please,avoid reproduction on a public forum without prior    |
     |    permission from the List Owners/Editors. Editors  reserve    |
     |    the right to exclude/edit articles submitted to I.I.N.N.     |
     |                                                                 |
     |    Please forward all contributions to:                         |
     |                     "MUSLIMS@ASUACAD.BITNET"                    |
     |                  or "MUSLIMS@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU"                |
     |                                                                 |
     |    To Subscribe/Unsubscribe, send mail to                       |
     |                  LISTSERV@ASUACAD.BITNET                        |
     |               or LISTSERV@ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU                    |
     |    with a blank subject line and following in the message:      |
     |                                                                 |
     |     SUB     MUSLIMS Your full name    (to subscribe)            |
     |     SIGNOFF MUSLIMS                   (to cancel subscription)  |
     |                                                                 |
     |    Founders:   Asim Mughal & Nauman Kassim Mysorewala           |
     |_________________________________________________________________|
     |                                                                 |
     |          SPONSOR: Professor ElBadawy ElSharawy,  ASU            |
     |-----------------------------------------------------------------|
     |                                                                 |
     |    Islamic Information & News Network - Executive Committee     |
     |    --------------------------------------------------------     |
     |  Nauman Kassim Mysorewala   - Listserv Owner/Coordinator        |
     |  Asim Mughal                - Listserv Owner/P.R. /Spokesman    |
     |                                                                 |
     |  Mir Muhammad Assadullah    - Editor                            |
     |  Arif Irfanullah            - Editor                            |
     |  Imran Mehdi                - Editor                            |
     |  Muhammed Ishaq Zahid       - Editor                            |
     |_________________________________________________________________|