Yep, that’s right. Surprise, surprise, the Johor Religious Department (Jabatan Agama Johor) is organising a Sufi Seminar to discuss 4 key tariqahs or Sufi order on Thursday 24 April 2008. The tariqahs that will be discussed are: Alawiah, Ahmadiah, Naqshbandiah & Qadiriah. At night, they are organising a public Naqshbandi dhikr gathering. Read the details below, including very interesting seminar objectives.
RESPECTING THE QUR’AN
Ingrid Mattson, PhD
President, The Islamic Society of North America
Geert Wilders is a Dutch politician who broke with a mainstream national party to form his own extreme-right, anti-immigrant platform. Wilders has directed most of his hatred in recent years at Muslims. Wilders has called for the Qur’an to be banned and in the last few months has been promoting his “documentary” attacking the Qur’an. Wilders has intimated that the documentary will show a copy of the Qur’an being desecrated or destroyed.
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Egypt’s Grand Mufti Counters the Tide of Islamic Extremism
By Jay Tolson (Posted March 6, 200 
CAIRO—”Maybe we just need to buy CNN,” says Sheik Ali Gomaa, more than a hint of exasperation creeping into his voice. After taking more than an hour to explain to yet another western journalist why a traditional conception of sharia law—along with knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence—is the best antidote to Islamic extremism, the grand mufti of Egypt is not able to disguise his frustration. Why, he wonders, does the West still not recognize who the moderate Muslims are, much less heed what they are trying to say? Shrugging his shoulders, he answers his own question: “The western media has paid no attention.”
But it’s even worse than that, Gomaa suggests. The West is aiding the most reactionary elements, the Salafis and Wahhabis, “out of political necessity,” he says, alluding to America’s elaborate codependent relationship with the oil-rich Saudis, who finance the vast outreach apparatus of the puritanical Wahhabi establishment. “And that,” the mufti adds, “leaves behind our kind of Islam.”
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Salaams. A good friend of mine, Ibrahim Tahir, wrote a succinct review of the book, The Islamist, written by Ed Husain. I have read the book and I found the book to be extremely useful in understanding one of the paths of radicalisation within the Muslim community. For those interested in the evolution of a Muslim to extremism, read the book as it provides a personal and interesting account.
The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left
By Ed Husain
To Islamists and Fundamentalists, Islam is a Political Movement, the Quran a Manifesto, the Ummah a Utopia and tradition is a distracting Opiate. Adaab (noble comportment) is jettisoned for the sake of Revolution. Yes, Islamism has more in common with atheist Communism than with Gnostic religion. That Islamism—and the Islamist—is disconnected from Islam is all too clear in the memoirs of Ed Husain.
Salaams. I am a recent convert to WordPress blogging technology. My former Sufijourneys site was previously managed at blogspot (click here to view my old site). I think WordPress presents a much neater and easier way for the management of blogs. At least for me, that is. In any case, for my ease I have now relocated my Sufijourneys blog here - sufijourneys.wordpress.com. Welcome. Ahlan Wasahlan.
British activist Ed Husain was seduced, at the age of 16, by revolutionary Islamist ideals that flourished at the heart of educated British culture. Yet he later shrank back from radicalism after coming close to a murder and watching people he loved become suicide bombers. He dug deeper into Islamic spirituality, and now offers a fresh and daring perspective on the way forward. Listen to an interesting account of his interview by Krista Tippet from Speaking of Faith. Click here. Better still, you can read his book “The Islamist”. I believe the book is available at Wardah Books, Singapore. You can also read about the book on Amazon.
Study: 3 in 4 U.S. mosques preach anti-West extremism
Secret survey exposes widespread radicalism
An undercover survey of more than 100 mosques and Islamic schools in America has exposed widespread radicalism, including the alarming finding that 3 in 4 Islamic centers are hotbeds of anti-Western extremism, WND has learned. The Mapping Sharia in America Project, sponsored by the Washington-based Center for Security Policy, has trained former counterintelligence and counterterrorism agents from the FBI, CIA and U.S. military, who are skilled in Arabic and Urdu, to conduct undercover reconnaissance at some 2,300 mosques and Islamic centers and schools across the country. Read the rest of this entry »
