[Khutbah] : Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson, Eid-ul-Fitri & Eid Al-Adha 2008

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الشريعة والحياة - البدعـة ومجالاتها المعاصرة SHEIKH DR. WAHBAH AZ-ZUHAILI

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محمد متولى الشعراوى - البدعة
(SHEIKH MUTAWALI SHA'RAWI'S EXPLANATION)
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[Lectire]: by Sheikh Suhaib Webb - "The Life of Muhammad s.a.a.w." & "Remembering our Beloved"

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Remembering the Beloved Prophet s.a.a.w. -
National Seerah Tour
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(see the rest on YouTube)

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

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[Khutbah] In English/Arabic by Sheikh Hassan Cisse

[Biography] :Syed Muhammad Naquib bin Ali bin Abdullah bin Muhsin al-Attas (1931- )

Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, born September 5, 1931 in Bogor, Java, is a prominent contemporary Muslim thinker. He is one of the few contemporary scholars who is thoroughly rooted in the traditional Islamic sciences and who is equally competent in theology, philosophy, metaphysics, history, and literature. His thought is integrated, multifaceted and creative. Al-Attas’ philosophy and methodology of education have one goal: Islamization of the mind, body and soul and its effects on the personal and collective life on Muslims as well as others, including the spiritual and physical non-human environment. He is the author of twenty-seven authoritative works on various aspects of Islamic thought and civilization, particularly on Sufism, cosmology, metaphysics, philosophy and Malay language and literature.

BACKROUND

Al-Attas was born into a family with a history of illustrious ancestors, saints, and scholars. He received a thorough education in Islamic sciences, Malay language, literature and culture. His formal primary education began at age 5 in Johor, Malaysia, but during the Japanese occupation of Malaysia, he went to school in Java, in Madrasah Al-`Urwatu’l-wuthqa, studying in Arabic. After World War II in 1946 he returned to Johor to complete his secondary education. He was exposed to Malay literature, history, religion, and western classics in English, and in a cultured social atmosphere developed a keen aesthetic sensitivity. This nurtured in al-Attas an exquisite style and precise vocabulary that were unique to his Malay writings and language. After al-Attas finished secondary school in 1951, he entered the Malay Regiment as cadet officer no. 6675. There he was selected to study at Eton Hall, Chester, Wales and later at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, England (952 -55). This gave him insight into the spirit and style of British society. During this time he was drawn to the metaphysics of the Sufis, especially works of Jami, which he found in the library of the Academy. He traveled widely, drawn especially to Spain and North Africa where Islamic heritage had a profound influence on him. Al-Attas felt the need to study, and voluntarily resigned from the King’s Commission to serve in the Royal Malay Regiment, in order to pursue studies at the University of Malaya in Singapore 1957-59. While undergraduate at University of Malay, he wrote Rangkaian Ruba`iyat, a literary work, and Some Aspects of Sufism as Understood and Practised among the Malays. He was awarded the Canada Council Fellowship for three years of study at the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University in Montreal. He received the M.A. degree with distinction in Islamic philosophy in 1962, with his thesis “Raniri and the Wujudiyyah of 17th Century Acheh” . Al-Attas went on to the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London where he worked with Professor A. J. Arberry of Cambridge and Dr. Martin Lings. His doctoral thesis (1962) was a two-volume work on the mysticism of Hamzah Fansuri.

In 1965, Dr. al-Attas returned to Malaysia and became Head of the Division of Literature in the Department of Malay Studies at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. He was Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 1968-70. Thereafter he moved to the new National University of Malaysia, as Head of the Department of Malay Language and Literature and then Dean of the Faculty of Arts. He strongly advocated the use of Malay as the language of instruction at the university level and proposed an integrated method of studying Malay language, literature and culture so that the role and influence of Islam and its relationship with other languages and cultures would be studied with clarity. He founded and directed the Institute of Malay Language, Literature, and Culture (IBKKM) at the National University of Malaysia in 1973 to carry out his vision.

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FOUNDER DIRECTOR OF ISTAC

In 1987, with al-Attas as founder and director, the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC) was established in Kuala-Lumpur. This institution strives to bring an integrated Islamization into the consciousness of its students and faculty. Al-Attas envisioned the plan and design of every aspect of ISTAC, and has incorporated Islamic artistic and architectural principles throughout the campus and grounds.

HIS THOUGHTS

Al-Attas maintains that modern science sees things as mere things, and that it has reduced the study of the phenomenal world to an end in itself. Certainly this has brought material benefits, however it is accompanied by an uncontrollable and insatiable propensity to destroy nature itself. Al-Attas maintains a firm critique that to study and use nature without a higher spiritual end has brought mankind to the state of thinking that men are gods or His co-partners. “Devoid of real purpose, the pursuit of knowledge becomes a deviation from the truth, which necessarily puts into question the validity of such knowledge. [Islam and Secularism, p.36]

Al-Attas views Western civilization as constantly changing and ‘becoming’ without ever achieving ‘being’. He analyzes that many institutions and nations are influenced by this spirit of the West and they continually revise and change their basic developmental goals and educational objectives to follow the trends from the West. He points to Islamic metaphysics which shows that Reality is composed of both permanence and change; the underlying permanent aspects of the external world are perpetually undergoing change [Islam and Secularism, p.82]

For al-Attas, Islamic metaphysics is a unified system that discloses the ultimate nature of Reality in positive terms, integrating reason and experience with other higher orders in the suprarational and transempirical levels of human consciousness. He sees this from the perspective of philosophical Sufism. “No formulation of a philosophy of education and a philosophy of science along Islamic lines can be developed by ignoring the great contributions of the Sufi masters on the ultimate nature of reality.” [in the conclusion of his Commentary on Hujjat al-Siddiq]. Al-Attas says that the Essentialist and the Existentialists schools of the Islamic tradition address the nature of reality. The first is represented by philosophers and theologians, and the latter by Sufis. The Essentialists cling to the principle of mahiyyah (quiddity), whereas the Existentialists are rooted in wujud (the fundamental reality of existence) which is direct intuitive experience, not merely based on rational analysis or discursive reasoning. This has undoubtedly led philosophical and scientific speculations to be preoccupied with things and their essences at the expense of existence itself, thereby making the study of nature an end in itself. Al-Attas maintains that in the extra-mental reality, it is wujud (Existence) that is the real ‘essences’ of things and that what is conceptually posited as mahiyyah (‘essences’ or ‘quiddities’) are in reality accidents of existence. This is al-Haqq, the Truth, a wajh (aspect) of God. [Intuition of Existence, p. 6, 7]

The process of creation or bringing into existence and annihilation or returning to non-existence, and recreation of similars is a dynamic existential movement. There is a principle of unity and a principle of diversity in creation. “The multiplicity of existents that results is not in the one reality of existence, but in the manifold aspects of the recipients of existence in the various degrees, each according to its strength or weakness, perfection or imperfection, and priority or posteriority. Thus the multiplicity of existents does not impair the unity of existence, for each existent is a mode of existence and does not have a separate ontological status” [On Quiddity and Essence, p.33]. He clarifies that the Essence of God is absolutely transcendent and is unknown and unknowable, except to Himself, whereas the essence or reality of a thing consists of a mode of existence providing the permanent aspect of the thing, and its quiddity, endowing it with its changing qualities.

ISLAM & SCIENCE

Al-Attas makes no attempts to accommodate modern Western scientific spirit through a reinterpretation of Islam, or to naively import Western technological skills and products while simultaneously keeping intact the traditional understanding of religion. Problems in the world, he says, are not because of illiteracy or ignorance of modern knowledge; the reasons are epistemological and metaphysical. Modern sciences must be acquired, but their philosophical foundations must be recast into the Islamic metaphysical framework. “We do affirm that religion is in harmony with science. But this does not mean that religion is in harmony with modern scientific methodology and philosophy of science. Since there is no science that is free of value, we must intelligently investigate and study the values and judgments that are inherent in, or aligned to, the presuppositions and interpretations of modern science. We must not indifferently and uncritically accept each new scientific or philosophical theory without first understanding its implication and testing the validity of values that go along with the theory. Islam possesses within itself the source of its claim to truth, and does not need scientific or philosophical theories to justify such a claim. Moreover, it is not the concern of Islam to fear scientific discoveries that could contradict the validity of its truth.” [Prolegomena, p. 38]

Islamic science must interpret the facts of existence in correspondence with the Qur’anic system of conceptual interrelations and its methods of interpretation, not the other way around, by interpreting the system in correspondence with the facts.

Since the role of science is to be descriptive of facts, and facts undergo continual change by virtue of their underlying reality which is process, modern philosophy and science, in a secular way, consider change to be the ultimate nature of reality. Al-Attas maintains that reality is at once both permanence and change, not in the sense that change is permanent, but in the sense that there is something permanent whereby change occurs. Change does not occur at the level of phenomenal things, for they are ever-perishing, but at the level of their realities which contain within themselves all their future states.

KNOWLEDGE

Al-Attas advocates that the categories of knowledge which were fundamental to the Islamic tradition are fundamental to any real modern education. In the traditional Islamic worldview, knowledge was of two kinds, the open-ended fard kifayah knowledge, which includes the natural, physical and applied sciences, and the fard `ayn, the absolute nature of the knowledge pertaining to God and the spiritual realities and moral truths. Fard `ayn knowledge is not static, but dynamic, and it increases according to the spiritual and intellectual abilities as well as social and professional responsibilities of a person. Contemporary modern knowledge needs to be delivered from its interpretations based on secular ideology. This requires “a critical examination of the methods of modern science; its concepts, presuppositions, and symbols; its empirical and rational aspects, and those impinging upon values and ethics; its interpretations of origins; its theory of knowledge; its presuppositions on the existence of an external world, of the uniformity of nature and of the rationality of natural processes; its theory of the universe; its classification of the sciences; its limitations and inter-relations with one another of the sciences, and its social relations” [Prolegomena, p. 114].

Science, according to Al-Attas, is a kind of ta’wil or allegorical interpretation of the empirical things that constitute the world of nature [Islam and the Philosophy of Science, p. 116]. The natural world is a book with knowledge; but that knowledge is not evident merely from the physical phenomena; they are nothing but signs, the meaning of which can be understood by those who are equipped with proper knowledge, wisdom and spiritual discernment. Some natural phenomena are obvious as to their meaning, while other natural things are ambiguous; similarly there are clear verses (muhkamat) of the Qur’an, while other verses are ambiguous (mutashabihat). The scientifically relevant verses in the Qur’an necessarily open themselves for further interpretation, based on the cumulative knowledge of future generations. He says that the fact that the early Muslims were not cognizant of the many scientific truths embedded in the Qur’an proves that the discoveries of these truths will not contradict its universal spiritual and religious-moral teachings.

METAPHYSICS

The signs of the external world must be understood via the same method as the valid interpretation and understanding of the written words of the Qur’an, namely through tafsir (direct interpretation) and ta’wil, a deeper and allegorical interpretation based on the clear and direct words. Similarly, religion is constituted by established (i.e. Shari`ah) and ambiguous (Haqiqah), aspects of the same reality and truth, and the reality of the latter is based upon the established truth of the former. [Commentary on Hujjat al-Siddi, p. 183]

Al-Attas says that the constituent parts of the fundamental bases of Islamic metaphysics are: the primacy of the reality of existence; the dynamic nature of this reality that is continually unfolding itself in systematic gradation from the degrees of absoluteness to those of manifestation; determination, and individuation; the perpetual process of the new creation; the absence of a necessary relation between cause and effect and its explanation in the Divine causality; the third metaphysical category between existence and non-existence (the realm of the permanent entities); and the metaphysics of change and permanence pertaining to the realities. It is within the framework of this metaphysics that the philosophy of science must be formulated. [Islam and the Philosophy of Science, p. 35, 36]

For more information, please see: http://61.6.32.133/istac/Founder/founderpage.htm

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Works by Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas,

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published by the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC)

(1970, reprinted in 1984), The Correct Date of the Terengganu Inscription, Kuala Lumpur Museum Department.

(1975), Comments on the Re-Examination of Al-Raniri’s Hujjat au’l Siddiq: A Refutation, Kuala Lumpur Museum Department.

(1978, reprinted in 1993), Islam and Secularism.

(1980), The Concept of Education in Islam.

(1988), The Oldest Known malay Manuscript: A 16th Century Malay Translation of the `Aqa’id of al-Nasafi.

(1989), Islam and the Philosophy of Science.

(1990), The Nature of Man and the Psychology of the Human Soul.

(1990), On Quiddity and Essence.

(1990), The Intuition of Existence.

(1992), The Concept of Religion and the Foundation of Ethics and Morality.

(1993), The Meaning and Experience of Happiness in Islam.

(1994), The Degrees of Existence.

(1995), Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam: An Exposition of the Fundamental Elements of the Worldview of Islam.

Also, see:

Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud (1998), The Educational Philosophy and Practice of Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas: An Exposition of the Original Concept of Islamization, ISTAC, Kuala Lumpur.

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New book on Prof. Syed Naquib Al-Attas entitled, KNOWLEDGE, LANGUAGE, THOUGHT AND THE CIVILIZATION OF ISLAM listed below.

Content of the book:

1. AL-ATTAS: A REAL REFORMER AND THINKER Wan Mohd Nor Wan Daud

2. RE-ISLAMISING THE WORLD Ali Alawi

3. SHIFTS OF LANGUAGE AND TURNS IN WORLDVIEW: Naquib Al-Attas’ Perspective Ahmad Kazemi Moussavi

4. REFLECTIONS ON AL-ATTAS’ CONCEPTION OF THE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY: Implications for Academic Freedom, Institutional Autonomy and Philosophy of Education in South Africa Yusef Waghid

5. THE NEGOTIATION OF MODERNITY THROUGH TRADITION IN CONTEMPORARY MUSLIM INTELLECTUAL DISCOURSE: The Neo-Ghazalian, Attasian Perpsective M. Afifi al-Akiti and H. A. Hellyer

6. ILLUMINATIVE KNOWLEDGE IN MAWLANA RUMI Bilal Kuspinar

7. KANT AND GHAZALI ON HUMAN NATURE: A Comparative Philosophy of Man Alparslan Acikgenc

8. DIALOGUE OF CIVILIZATIONS THROUGH THE CORRIDORS OF FAITH AND MIND: Some thoughts concerning the philosophy of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas and its contribution for proper understanding of Conditio Humana Fred Muhic

9. PROLEGOMENA TO WEST AND EAST: Kant and Ibn Khaldun Ernest Wolf-Gazo

10. CHALLENGES FOR EDUCATION IN THE AGE OF GLOBALIZATION Marietta Stepanyants

11. EVOLUTION: The Epitome of the Emerging Contemporaneous Global Civilization

Saban Teoman Durah 12. SCIENCE IN ADAB LITERATURE Paul Lettinck

13. SCIENCE CONNECTING SCHOLARS AND CULTURES IN KHWARAZM: The Case of Khwarazmshah Ma’mum Ibn Ma’mun Hans Daiber

14. SOME REMARKS ON THE WAKF INSTITUTION IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE Mehmet Ipsirli

15. ISLAMIC CAPITALISM AND THE WEST Murat Cizakca

16. AL-ATTAS’ CONCEPT OF HAPPINESS: A Reflection on the Contemporary Meaning of Development Amer Al-Roubaie

17. THAI-IRANIAN RELATIONS IN HISTORY: A Glance at the Persian Community in the Ayutthaya Kingdom M. Ismail Marcinkowski

18. THE NAME AND THE NAMED: On the Extent of Hamzah Fansuri’s Renown in the Malay Indonesian World (Notes and Materials) Vladimir Braginsky

19. SUFISM AND ARCHITECTURAL ART IN THE MALAY WORLD Md. Salleh Yaapar

20. CONCERNING ONE NAME MENTIONED IN THE TUHFAT AL-NAFIS: Two Interesting Revelations Tatiana Denisova

21. THE CORRECT DATE OF THE TERENGANU INSCRIPTION: Reconfirmed using Astronomical Computer Programs Muhammad Zainiy Uthman and Azlan Hashim

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One of his earlier work that impacted the Muslim world.
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Al-Attas - Islam and Secularism

"Message for the Muslims" - Habib 'Umar bin Hafiz

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[Interview]: Excerpts of the Advice and Wisdom from Sheikh Muhammad Mutawwali al-Sha'rawi rahimahullah.

ADVICES FROM ONE OF OUR ULAMA' :

May Allah shower Mercy upon his soul, reward him abundantly and grant us benefits from his knowledge and Wisdom.

TAWBAH - (REPENTANCE)


IKHLAS - (SINCERITY)

al-'ADL - (JUSTICE)

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Hamza Yusuf – The Heart of the Qur’an: Reflections from Surah Ya-Sin

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf - The Heart of the Qur'an: Reflections from Surah Ya-Sin, Al Madinah Institute 2009 from Dhul Qarn on Vimeo.

[Lecture]: "The Blessings Of Becoming A Muslim" - Sheikh 'Abdullah Hakim Quick

Islam is the solution, muslims have the key.

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QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION

LIFE HISTORY OF HIS EMINENCE [SOHIBUS-SOMAAHA] AL-'ALLAAMAH AS-SHEIKH AHMAD KUFTARO (Rahimahullaah)

His Eminence, Sheikh Ahmad Muhammad Amin Kuftaro, the Grand Mufti of Syria, Head of the Supreme Council of Fatwa, was born in Damascus in 1915, son of Muhammad Amin Kuftaro (1875-1938), a great Muslim scholar of his day. Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro studied privately with the most renowned Jurists and scholars in Damascus, and holds several honorary doctorates in the principles and teaching of Islam, granted to His Eminence by universities throughout the Islamic world. Since 1938, at the death of his father, he has been, teaching in AbuNour mosque, preaching and calling for the pursuit of the universal knowledge, freedom of religion, moral rearmament among the Muslims of the world, interfaith cooperation, and, more recently, for protection of the global environment and for American moral leadership in the world.

In 1946, at the age of 31, he was a founding member of the League of Muslim Scholars, and in 1951 was appointed Mufti of Damascus.

In 1958, he was appointed First Mufti of Damascus and a member of the Supreme Council of Fatwa. In 1964, he was elected Grand mufti of Syria and Head of the Supreme Council of Fatwa as well as of the Supreme Council of Waqf (religious endowments).

In 1968 he was awarded the Sitaret Pakistan Medal. Medal of justice by the Padistany president Ayoub Khann.

In 1968, he was awarded his first honorary Ph.D. in the Science of Islamic Da'wa by the Indonesian University of Jakarta.

Education

The foundation principle underlying all of Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro's work is the obligation of every person to pursue in balance and harmony the three kinds of knowledge inherent in the classical Arabic word for education: "thaqafa". These are:

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1. Knowledge of the world gained through the scientific method, known as 'ain al yaqin', which was a pillar of the classic Islamic civilization of a millennium ago and the principal contribution of Islam to European civilization.

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2. Knowledge of the purpose of everything in Creation, known as 'haqq al yaqin', including the history of mankind, which is gained primarily through the Divine Revelation that has been granted by the Creator through Messengers to all human civilization, and which was the dynamo of the Islamic civilization flowering in the early Islamic period of global history before reverence for truth and purpose declined; and

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3. Indirect knowledge gained through the use of the human intellect, largely in the form of the maqasid or universal principles of shari'ah thought, in processing the first two direct sources of knowledge. This third source of knowledge, known as 'ilm al yaqin' in turn, is critically important for increasing our knowledge of the universe gained through scientific observation, as well as our understanding of true knowledge at the highest level, which is ultimate meaning and purpose, granted by Allah through the "eye of the heart". After leaving this world, every person's knowledge will proceed from intellectual understanding, 'ilm al yaqin', to direct spiritual vision, 'ain al yaqin', of reality and truth, as promised in Surah al Takathur of the Quran. In the world, the product of all three of these kinds of knowledge is akhlaq or the development of virtuous character, which should be the core of all education. The mission of Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro in pursuing this primary goal is reflected in his life-long organizational activism in the field of education.

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In 1971, he established the Abu Nour Islamic Foundation, which opened the four-year Kulliya Da'wa al Islamiya (Islamic Call College) in 1982, with branches of Lebanon Al-Ouzai College of Islamic Studies, and Pakistan Islamic Studies University, both started in 1989, as well as a branch, granting the M.A. degree, in 1992 at the Um-Durman College of Sudan.

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In 1992, the Foundation also started the four-year Kulliya Usul Al-Din College in Damascus, which now has more than one hundred students studying for the M.A. degree and the first ones now studying for a Ph.D. in Islamic law. In 1994 Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro opened the An Nour Institute for Islamic Studies and Arabic Languages in Baltimore, Maryland. Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro has received honorary doctorates for both his academic and organizational work over the years, the most recent one in Islamic jurisprudence from the Islamic University of Um-Durman during a visit in July 1994.

Freedom of Religion

For more than a quarter century of Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro's life was filled with his battle for freedom of religion under Communism before its demise. In 1969, he met in Moscow with the chairman of the ministerial Department of Religion and arranged to have many mosques opened in Central Asia and helped finance the opening of the Supreme Islamic Institute in Tashkent. He lectured often in the Soviet Union at such events as the "Islamic Conference" at Pako in October, 1986.

In 1989, he lectured widely in the Soviet Union as part of the spiritual renaissance that led a year later to its demise. One top official, after meeting with His Eminence Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro, declared to him, "I am now a believer."

Since the end of Communism, Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro has continued to be very active in reviving Islam throughout the Former Soviet Union. In 1992, he started the first ten-week Imam's Summer School to train imams from the Caucasus and Central Asia at his Abu Nour Kulliya Da'wa al Islamiya in Damascus. In 1995, this "crash course" had 150 participants.

In 1993, he expanded his efforts in the former Yugoslavia by heading the Syrian Islamic Delegation to the "Muslim Conference for Bosnia" held in Istanbul, Turkey.

In 1994, Sheikh Ahmad headed a Meeting of Muslim University Professors in Delhi and met India's President, Foreign Minister, and Speaker of the Parliament to express his support for religious freedom in Kashmir.

His concerns for freedom of religion in Muslim countries led His Eminence Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro to speak out at an International Religious Conference in Khartoum, the Sudan, in November 1991, where he met the leaders of many religious faiths and delivered the address "Meeting for Peace."

Da'wa Among Muslims

The support of human rights is central in all true Islamic thought. This has helped to motivate Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro throughout his life to call Muslims in every way possible to the pure Islam of the Prophetic period.

In 1957, he lectured at Al Azhar University at the invitation of the Egyptian government. In 1962, he attended the 5th Session of the Islamic World Conference (ICO) in Baghdad, and in 1970 led a delegation to its plenary meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia.

In 1965, he was elected to the Central Council of the Afro-Asian Islamic Organization in Bandung, Indonesia, and in 1967 represented Syria at its plenary in Jakarta, Indonesia.

In 1972-74, he lectured at various Islamic conferences in Algeria, Iran, and India, and in 1976 represented Syria in Saudi Arabia at the First Conference for the Message of the Mosque. In 1995, he visited King Fahd of Saudi Arabia while making Umrah (the Lesser Pilgrimage) to organize support for the enlightened education of Muslims throughout the world.

Interfaith Work

The major commitment of Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro throughout his life has been to interfaith understanding and cooperation in pursuit of peace, even at times when this commitment was not widely understood or appreciated.

In 1954, he was a member of the Syrian delegation to a Muslim-Christian conference held in Lebanon.

Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro has lectured widely on interfaith cooperation as the framework and engine of peace throughout the world, including a speech at Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in 1966 and a number of lectures at the University of Vienna and other places at the invitation of Cardinal Koening of Austria in 1979. One of these talks, "Islam and Christianity: Two Faiths, One God."

where he pursued interfaith cooperation in both East and West. On April 17, 1980, by invitation of the Vice President of East Germany, he met with a delegation from the Theology Department of the University of Berlin and produced with them an official Protestant statement that God is One and that Jesus and Muhammad (peace be on them) were both Messengers of God.

In 1981, he addressed the Academy of Sciences in Moscow on "Islam and Peace". and at the Inter-Religious Conference in May 1982, in Moscow, he delivered an address on "The Principles of Peace in the World's Religions." designed to increase the awareness among professional clergy of their unique responsibilities to help prevent the development of events that can bring on nuclear war.

In 1983 and 1986, he represented the Association of Syrian Scholars at a similar conference in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and in 1984, again in Moscow.

In particular, he has worked with officials of the Roman Catholic Church to develop rapprochement in the pursuit of justice and peace. In December, 1985, he lectured at a number of its universities throughout Italy, including a lecture in Milan on "Islam and Religious Tolerance", and visited His Holiness Pope John Paul II prior to giving an address at the Vatican on "The International Prospects of Islam and Christianity".

He also gave an address in Khartoum, on religious cooperation as the only effective strategy to assure that minorities have equal rights with the majority and that freedom of religion includes the right and duty of Christians to serve in high governmental posts in a majority-Muslim government, based entirely on a single standard of competence. He visited the Sudan again on similar matters in 1994 and 1995.

In March, 1993, he was named Chairman of the Religious Delegation of the Arab League to the "Peace for Humanity Conference" in Vienna, Austria, where he gave a lecture entitled "Brothers Under the Banner of Faith, The Banner of Jesus and Muhammad."

Global Environmental Stewardship

The long-standing concern of His Eminence Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro to protect the physical environment of the earth caused him to be appointed Co-Chairman for the Religious Position at the "Global Forum on Environment and Development for Human Survival, held in 1988 at Oxford University, U.K. Although he unfortunately was unable to attend this meeting, he was elected Chairman for the Religious Discussion at this organization's subsequent conference in January, 1990, in Moscow, where he gave a speech, in the Kremlin, entitled "The Responsibility of Man Towards Himself" at its 1993 meeting in April, held in Kyoto, Japan, he was elected Chairman of the Religious Caucus and delivered a speech, "The Eternal Values" during the "Second Global Forum on Changing Values for Human Survival."

In 1990, he began close cooperation with spiritual leaders in the Far East, visiting Tokyo to attend a meeting that led in 1993 to the establishment of the Global Forum Conference in Kyoto. In August, 1991, he gave a speech, to the Oomoto people in Kameoka, Japan; was Guest of Honor at an inter-religious conference in Seoul, Korea, a week later; and on his way home addressed several gatherings of thousands of Muslims in China.

In 1992, he was invited by the United Nations to lead the religious session at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and address world leaders with his essay, entitled "The Abrahamic Religions: Common Roots and Shared Responsibilities." He was unable to attend personally due to a back operation. In November of 1993, in Ayabe, Japan. he gave some specific proposals for action, together with an introductory talk, entitled "Faith and the Unity of the Human Family".

American Moral Leadership

The first visit of Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro to America was in 1966, when, at the invitation of the North Lake College Association, from April through June, he gave more than forty-four lectures in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, educating students and church members about Islam and justice in Palestine. In recent years, Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro has come to believe strongly that America can recover its religious heritage and share the Islamic heritage in order to renew global civilization in the Twenty-First Century. Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro with Dr. Robert Schuler head of the crystal church in the United States, During Dr. Schuler's visit to Damascus. He acted on this belief in June, 1989, by a two-week visit, sponsored by the U.S. State Department, to lecture and visit many religious centers and leaders in Washington D.C., Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Florida, and Texas. In August, 1990, he attended "The Assembly of the World's Religions" in San Francisco, where he gave several lectures, entitled, "Spirituality in the 21st Century" and "The Quran Extends its Helpful Hand to All Mankind." In December, 1992, he was invited to a religious conference to be held in Greece, to give a lecture entitled "The Conscience in Islam"; however, the Mufti was unable to attend due to poor health and the speech was sent to New York the home of the invitation and delivered in absentia. In 1993, Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro's Abu Nour Center opened a branch in Baltimore, Maryland, the An Nour Institute, and sent it a short message. The chronological evolution of Sheikh Ahmad's priorities throughout his life shows that he first focused inwardly on rebuilding Islam through education, freedom of religion, and Da'wa among Muslims, and then shifted his focus outwardly through Islam to rebuild the world through interfaith cooperation, stewardship of the earth, and developing a moral leadership for the twenty-first century.

Passing away of grand mufti (Wednesday September 1st 2004, Rajab 17th 1425)

In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate "Give glad tidings to the patient ones, when they are visited by an affliction say, 'Surely we belong to Allah and to Him will we return' These will have blessings and mercy from their Lord, and these are the truly guided." (Qur'an) The Syrian Ministry of Waqf, The Supreme Council of Fatwa, The Muslim Scholars, Sheikhs and Clerics, The International Islamic Organizations, Councils and Foundations, The Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro Foundation, The Kuftaro family members, With great regret and sorrow announce the passing away of: Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro The Grand Mufti of Syria, the Head of the Supreme Council of Fatwa on Wednesday September 1st 2004, Rajab 17th 1425. We pray Allah, the Almighty, to have mercy on his soul and enter him the Gardens of Paradise. The funeral prayer will take place after the Zuhr prayers at 1.30 p.m. in the Omayad Mosque. The procession will move to the Misat square near the Syrian Ministry of Waqf, then to Abunour mosque (on foot). Condolences will be received at the Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro Foundation, Abu Nour Mosque, Shamdeen Square, Damascus, 7.30-9.30 p.m., 2nd - 4th. September 2004. The Visitors' Entrance is the southern gate of the Foundation.

extracted from:

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THE WEB-SITE DEDICATED TO

H. E. SHEIKH AHMAD KUFTARO R.A.

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(IN ARABIC)

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Sheikh Hamza Yusuf Hanson :"Intellectual Foundation of Islamic Civilization"

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Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10a

Part 10b

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"Repentance: A Means of Purification" - by Farhan Abdul Azeez

Sheikh Sha'raawy (r.a.) has some wise words for Hosni Mubarak-and for us all.

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[TRANSLATION]

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English translation courtesy of Tamer Abouzeid and Farah Haddadin. (Please note comments in [brackets] are further explanations/annotations where deemed necessary.)

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"And I am, Mr. President, standing at the doorstep of my life [close to death], to receive God's fate; so I will not conclude my life with hypocrisy, nor publicize my strength through feigned courage. But I shall say a new word to the entire [Islamic] Nation; Government and Party, Opposition and Men, and a Peoples, I am sorry to say, that is complacent.

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I want of them to know, that all Dominion is in the hand of God; He gives it to who He wills: there is no conspiring to take it, and no conniving to reach it. Indeed, The Truth [God] (Glorified and Almighty), when He told of the dialogue between Ibrahim [Abraham] and Namrooz [Nimrod], what did He say to him?

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[Quotation from Qur'an, Sura Al-Baqara 2:258:] : "Have you not considered him who argued with Ibrahim about his God," and he is a non-believer, He said "...because God had given him dominion."

For dominion, when God grants it, He said, "brings dominion to who He wills." So there is no conspiring on God to get dominion, and there is no conniving against God to get rule, because no one will rule in God's Dominion except with the want of God.

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(Crowd yells: Yes, God is Greater)

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And so if he [the ruler] was just, he has done good with his just rule; and if he was oppressive, he makes oppression ugly and hated in the souls of all people, so they end up hating every oppressor even if he weren't a ruler.

And because of this, I say to the entire Nation: it, thanks be to God, has been confirmed to us the truthfulness of God in his words, through what has transpired of events. For how did we explain the words of God, "And they scheme, and God schemes."

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(Crowd: Yes, God is Greater)

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And how did we explain, "And they connive, and We connive."

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[The sheikh is referencing his explanations of the meanings of the Qur'an, saying that people plan and connive but in the end God does so as well and His will is done. It may also be a reference to the assassination attempt on Egyptian President Mubarak who is listening, since this was an event to celebrate the failure of this assassination attempt in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.]

God wants to prove His command of his creations, and so I advise every person who thinks about becoming a ruler, I advise you not to ask for it; verily, you must be asked to do it. For the prophet of God said, "He who is asked to do something, is assisted in it; and he who asks for something becomes obsessed with it."

Mr. President, the last of what I would like to tell you, as this may be my last meeting with you

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(Crowd: May God elongate your life):

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If you are our divine decree, may God make you succeed; and if we are your divine decree, may God help you to endure.

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Shaykh Umar Al-Khatib (hafidzahullahu): "A Hand That God Loves"

Habib Kazim al-Saqqaff (hafidzahullahu): "The Essence of Religion" ; "Dealing with Difference"

[Khutbah] :"Who Are the People of Taqwa?" - Nouman Ali Khan

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[lecture]: "Ramadan and Freedom" by Habib 'Umar bin Hafidz (hafidzahullahu)

[Qur'an recitation] Surah al-Kahfi - Sheikh Mahmud Khalil Husary

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[Lecture): An explanation of "FUTUWWA : Chivalry" by Habib 'Ali Zain-al-'Abideen al-Jifri (may Allah preserve him)

[TO LISTEN TO FULL AUDIO ONLY]

Chivalry-Habib - Habib Ali Al-Hifri



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TO WATCH ON YOU-TUBE

HABIB UMAR BIN HAFIDZ' S RAMADAN (1430 AH / 2009 CE) MESSAGE

[Translation: transcript]

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Praise be to Alllah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah bless His chosen trustworthy servant, our liege-lord Muhammad; the one who brought to us guidance and the religion of clear truth. May Allah bless him, his pure family, his noble and blessed companions and those who follow in their footstep till the Day of recompense.

To proceed:

To our brothers (and sisters), and our beloved for the sake of Allah Most High, the people of Laa ilaaha iIlla Allah Muhammadur Rasulullah, the Muslims of Australia: Assalamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu.

O Brothers and loved ones for the sake of Allah, transcendent in His Highness, those who believe in Him and His messenger, peace and blessings be upon him his family and his companions;

we congratulate you on the coming of the forgiveness and mercy and release from the fire; the arrival of the month of Ramadan. The noble month in which Allah began to send down the Quran; He the Exalted and Esteemed said, “The month of Ramadan is the one in which the Quran was sent down as guidance to mankind, with clear signs containing clear signs and discrimination.”

The coming of this month is highly significant for you, O believers. Indeed your chosen Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him his family and his companions, would endeavour and strive in Ramadan like no other month and he would strive in the last ten days of it like he would not in the rest of the days of Ramadan.

He, peace and blessings be upon him his family and his companions, was the most generous of people and he was most generous in Ramadan. When Jibreel Alayhissalam met him in Ramadan, he was more generous than a cool breeze.

It is duty upon you to welcome the month with happiness and thankfulness to Allah most high. Indeed His caller announces in the nights of Ramadan, “O seeker of good come forward, and O seeker of evil fail and fall short.” On the first night of this month the doors to heaven are opened so that not a door of them is closed for the duration of this month, and the doors to the fire are closed so that not a door is opened for the duration of this month; and the rebellious shayateen are chained.

O believers in the first night of the month Allah looks upon His creation and whoever Allah looks upon, He will never punish.

O believers, indeed it is a month of generosity and blessings from Allah most high. He made it obligatory upon us to fast the month, and the Messenger of Allah established the Sunnah of reviving its nights in prayer, thus whosoever fasts the month and revives its nights out of faith and anticipation of reward from Allah, comes out of his sins like the day his mother gave birth to him. Whosoever fasts the month, his past sins are forgiven; whosoever stands its nights in worship his past sins are forgiven.

O believers, in welcoming this month expand your intentions, Rise to your Lord, Transcendent Most High, by following his chosen servant Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, his family and his companions. Show those who surround you a reality from the beauty of this Deen, it is the month of generosity, be generous to your neighbors both Muslim and non Muslims. Give them what you can, offer what you can. Present to them a meaning of excellence, whereby a reality of your great Deen and the noble way of Alllah will be made clear to them, thereby following in the footsteps of your Prophet who was most generous in Ramadan.

Be people of generosity by displaying noble character traits.

Be people of generosity by giving and spending according to your ability, and by being of benefit to those around you both Muslim and non Muslim. Show them the greatness of this religion and its generous nature (samaha). Show them the noble character traits it contains, and the uprightness of its path.

Meet the month with reverence and humility because in this month are divine manifestations and superabundant blessings and goodness; He increases in it the reward of a nafl recommended to the reward of a fardh and the reward of a fardh is multiplied by 70 times. Moreover some narrations have stated that the reward is multiplied to 1000 times. This is the favour of Allah that he grants to whom he wishes; seize the opportunity of the honourable month.

Take advantage of the fasting in it. Indeed Allah is training us with this fasting so that we may ascend in the meanings of adherence to the commandments, and to ascend in the meanings of our aspirations and resolutions.

The abstaining from the necessities of life during the day, namely eating, drinking and marital relations and everything else that nullifies the fast is a declaration that we are a people of determination, we are not imprisoned nor are we enslaved by our lower selves or desires.

For the sake of Allah we leave our desires and for His sake we leave all that He has made forbidden for us, therefore we observe Adab (etiquette) in our fast for Him by being careful with speech so that we do not utter any lie, backbiting nor any harm to anyone of His servants.

O believers!

It is a blessing, to arrive at this noble month when in it is a night better than a thousand months; no one is denied its blessing save the deprived one.

O believers!

It is most becoming for us to revise our relationship with the Quran in this month. That which we have already memorized we repeat and contemplate its meanings; if we don’t understand the meaning in Arabic then a translation of these meanings in a language that we know and understand.

O believers!

It is the month of benevolence, the month of patience and the reward for patience is paradise. It is the month of maintaining family relations, it is the month of looking out for ones neighbours’.

O believers!

The month of seeking forgiveness and asking Allah for Jannah, seeking refuge in Him from the fire, and renewing the pledge with the two testimonies of faith. Our Prophet said, “Perform 4 actions abundantly in Ramadan, 2 actions are pleasing unto your Lord and 2 you cannot do without. As for those that are pleasing unto your Lord; to testify that there is no God other than Allah and seek His forgiveness (istighfaar). As for the 2 actions that you cannot do without, ask Him for Jannah and seek refuge from the fire. Therefore it is most becoming of a believer to repeat in this month “Ash-hadu an laailaha illah Allah nastaghfirullah nas alukal jannah wa nauthu bika mina annar.”

O believer!

Break your fast on Halal and delay the suhoor so long as you don’t fall in doubt. Do not delay the Iftar as soon as you are sure of sunset. Uphold the taraweeh prayer every night, it is best 20 raka’as, surely the one who upholds it will have revived the nights of Ramadan in prayer and you have heard the authentic hadith, “Whosoever stands the nights of Ramadan in worship out of faith and anticipation of reward from Allah all his past sins are forgiven.”

Allah forgives in this month and its last night everyone who does not associate partners with Allah, all the Muslims; except one who breaks family ties, the disobedient to his parents, the one who consumes intoxicants and the one who holds grudges in his heart against Muslims. So cleanse yourself and your house from that which denies you this mercy.

Be truthful to your Lord and be joyous at the flowing generosity from the presence of the All Merciful, Loving, Kind, Most High.

May Allah take by my hand and yours, O believer, may He assist you and guide you to integrity in conduct and assist you with His enabling grace to properly take advantage of the nights and days of the month so that you may attain His vast blessing and generosity, Most high.

O Allah! Bless for us Ramadan. O Allah! Make us from the emancipated, released and protected by You from the fire, in Ramadan.

O Allah! Make us from amongst those who are granted the maximum portion of its goodness. Indeed it has come to us that Your prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, his family and his companions, that You emancipate in every night of the month 600,000 people from the fire, and the last night You emancipate as many You emancipated in the whole month.

O Allah! Emancipate our necks from the fire and safeguard us from the humiliation of this dunya and the punishment of the Hereafter. Bless for us the nights of Ramadan and its days and make us from those who maximise their benefit from the month and grant us felicity through the recitation of the Qur’an; upholding the fast on the basis of Taqwa on the basis of Adab, scrupulousness, and an increase in faith and fear of You, love for You and Your Messenger Muhammad sallaAllahhu alaihi wa sallam and love for his family and his companions and all of the righteous of his nation and for all the people of La ilaha illaAllah. Grant us Your love and the love of everyone who is a means to achieve Your love and love of a deed that will draw us near to Your love.

O Allah! Deliver us to Ramadan and safeguard Ramadan for us and take it back from us having been accepted.

May Allah send his blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and his companions and all who follow in his path, and praise be to Allah the Lord of the worlds.

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Aa-meen

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[extracted from: http://www.habibtour.com.au/ ]

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Voice of Islam Interviews Habib 'Umar bin Hafidz (in Arabic)

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