The first Muslims in England

有趣的歷史。16世紀摩洛哥派遣使節到英國，請求女王聯合對抗西班牙…。

Sixteenth-century Elizabethan England has always had a special place in the nation's understanding of itself. But few realise that it was also the first time that Muslims began openly living, working and practising their faith in England, writes Jerry Brotton.

From as far away as North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, Muslims from various walks of life found themselves in London in the 16th Century working as diplomats, merchants, translators, musicians, servants and even prostitutes.

The reason for the Muslim presence in England stemmed from Queen Elizabeth's isolation from Catholic Europe. Her official excommunication by Pope Pius V in 1570 allowed her to act outside the papal edicts forbidding Christian trade with Muslims and create commercial and political alliances with various Islamic states, including the Moroccan Sa'adian dynasty, the Ottoman Empire and the Shi'a Persian Empire.

How the Qur'an Was Revealed and Compiled

1) The Root Meaning of "Qur'an"
2) Civilization's Foundational Books
3) The Recital: An Oral Book
4) Prophet Muhammad's (P) Early Life 
5) The Revelation Experience
6) Conveying the Message
7) Monotheism
8) The Hereafter
9) The Qur'an: A Non-Linear Book
10) The End of Time
11) Memorization
12) The Madinan Period
13) Collection and Compilation
14) Standardizing the Text
15) The Authenticity of the Qur'an (Koran)
16) Q&A: The Royal "We"? / Q&A: Stolen Manuscripts?
17) Q&A: Are Heaven's Descriptions Literal?
18) Q&A: Mistakes in the Torah?
19) Q&A: How Many People Have Memorized the Qur'an?
20) Q&A: Seven Variants?

Foundations of Islam (5 Lectures) - Hamza Yusuf

Description of the content

One of the most popular and effective series for teaching the basics about Islam. Given at the annual Dar al Islam Teachers' Institute in New Mexico, these lectures are meant to provide a comprehensive overview of the religion and world of Islam for non-Muslims. The classroom style presentation covers five main areas: the Holy Qur'an, basic practices, core beliefs, spirituality and the end of time. The program is based on the well-known hadith (prophetic saying) of Angel Gabriel that teaches Islam, iman (faith) and ihsan (spirituality). Hamza Yusuf, a European-American convert fluent in Arabic and gifted with a vast knowledge of Islam, presents the material in a style that is unique to most of his other lectures since he is speaking to non-Muslim academics. Although he focuses on the basic teachings, his deeper exploration of the subject results in a series which any non-Muslim, new Muslim or life-long Muslim can appreciate and benefit from. These lectures are essential for any person or organization seeking to educate others about the true teachings of Islam. Some of the topics discussed: Islam as the teaching of previous prophets, rationalizing God's rulings, the problem of evil, God's imminence, capital punishment, suicide, losing the spirit of the Law, Dajjal (anti-Christ), and secularization in the Muslim world. (Duration: 8 hours, 55 min)

Five topics:
How the Qur'an Was Revealed and Compiled
Pillars of Practice
Articles of Faith
The Concept of Ihsan
Signs of the Last Day

How the Qur'an Was Revealed and Compiled
1) The Root Meaning of "Qur'an"
2) Civilization's Foundational Books
3) The Recital: An Oral Book
4) Prophet Muhammad's (P) Early Life
5) The Revelation Experience
6) Conveying the Message
7) Monotheism
8) The Hereafter
9) The Qur'an: A Non-Linear Book
10) The End of Time
11) Memorization
12) The Madinan Period
13) Collection and Compilation
14) Standardizing the Text
15) The Authenticity of the Qur'an (Koran)
16) Q&A: The Royal "We"? / Q&A: Stolen Manuscripts?
17) Q&A: Are Heaven's Descriptions Literal?
18) Q&A: Mistakes in the Torah?
19) Q&A: How Many People Have Memorized the Qur'an?
20) Q&A: Seven Variants?

Pillars of Practice
1) Normative vs. Descriptive
2) The Meaning of "Deen"
3) The Meaning of "Islam"
4) Islam is Not a New Religion
5) Shahadah (Declaration of Faith)
6) Free Will
7) Salah (Prayer)
8) Wudu (Cleansing)
9) Why Many Muslims Don't Reflect
10) Rationalizing God's Rulings
11) Why Pig is Prohibited
12) Zakah (Poor-due)
13) Syam (Fasting)
14) Hajj (Pilgrimage)

Articles of Faith
1) Religion: The Concept of Binding Together
2) Iman: To Make Oneself Secure
3) Belief in God
4) Negation/Affirmation
5) Revelation
6) Messengers
7) God's Immanence
8) Nafs (The Self)
9) The Angels
10) The Difference Between Prophets and Messengers
11) Qadr (The Divine Decree)
12) The Problem of Evil
13) Capital Punishment, Fatwahs and Salmon Rushdie
14) Islamic Law Preserves Five Things
15) Inheritance
16) Good and Evil
17) Homosexuality
18) The Day of Judgment
19) Stages of the Dunya (Material World)
20) Death
21) The Grave and Resurrection
22) The Reckoning
23) The Bridge of Siraat
24) Q&A: The Mercy and Wrath of God
25) Q&A: Suicide? / Q&A: Do Children Go Straight to Heaven? / Q&A: Did Prophet Muhammad (P) Absolve Sins?
26) Q&A: Shariah, Blasphemy and Punishment?
The Concept of Ihsan
1) Secularization in the Muslim World
2) The Failure of Political Islam
3) Losing the Spirit of the Law
4) What is Ihsan?
5) How Do We Achieve Ihsan?... Repentance
6) Guarding the Heart
7) Avoid Backbiting
8) Eating Halaal / Ascertaining the Hukm (Judgment) / Showing Off
9) Envy
10) Vanity
11) Arrogance
12) The Root of All Misdeeds
13) The Cure For All Misdeeds

Signs of the Last Day
1) The Qur'an Is Not a History Book
2) The Concept of Time
3) Don't Be Fatalistic
4) Disruption of the Social Order
5) Some Signs That Have Already Occurred
6) Some Signs That Continue to Intensify
7) The Dajjal (Anti-Christ)
8) Destitute Herdsmen Constructing Tall Buildings
9) The Imminence of the End of Time
10) Q&A: Determining the Prayer Times
11) Q&A: Prejudice, Stereotyping and Misuse of Terms
12) Q&A: Reconciling Hope With the End of Time

http://store.islamondemand.com/foundations-of-islam-5-lectures-hamza-yusuf/

Ash’ari – What’s in a name?

介紹Ash’ari

One of the terms that are thrown around by some Muslims that like to label other Muslims is “Ash’ari”. Whenever I hear this term, or any term for that matter, being used to label any Muslim, my first reaction is revulsion, followed by the question: what do you mean by “Ash’ari”? I ask this question not to necessarily get an answer from the person. Rather, I’m looking to turn their attention to their manifested ignorance of the term they’re using. Before you form an idea that I’m siding with anyone, I ask the same question when someone uses the terms “Wahhabi”, “Salafi”, “Sufi”, or any other term for that matter. It’s typically a sign that an individual doesn’t know what a term means when they liberally use it to label many of their fellow Muslims, which is sadly just part of the calamity of this age; manifest ignorance and Googlism to the highest degree.

For those who are interested, I’ll take a few lines to display why when I ask the question “what do you mean by Ash’ari?”, I’m doing it to expose this person’s ignorance to himself.

In brief, Imam Abu Al Hasan Al Ash’ari was a great scholar born in the year 260 AH in Basra, Iraq, during a time of great scholarship and erudition. During his time the Mu’tazilite group of scholars was the most elite and powerful. In fact, they got to such power at one point that the Muslim ruler at the time having adopted their school of thought began to persecute any scholar that rejected their school. For those who are not versed in this part of Muslim theological history, the Mu’tazilites was a group of scholars who put the intellect (Al Aql) as a judge over the transmission (An Naql). For example, if they read a verse or came across a transmitted narration from the Prophet peace be upon him, and it contradicted their intellectual understanding and logical processes, they would reject the verse or narration from the Prophet peace be upon him. On the surface their methodology and reasons for rejection of many things seemed completely logical to many of their followers. However, for reasons I won’t go into here, the Sunni scholars were able to logically refute their fallacious claims. For a great example refutation read Al Hai’da (الحيدة) by Imam Abdulaziz Al Kinani, who debated the most feared Mu’tazilite theologian of his time, Bishr Al Mareesi, and refuted him to a point that was laughable (l actually did laugh quite a bit when I read it!).

Salafi/Wahhabi or Ash’ari – It’s a Matter of Creed (Among Other Things!)

這篇有助於理解Ash’ari與當代Salafist對真主屬性的爭論。這篇文章的重要性何在? Ash’ari與當代Salafist是當前遜尼穆斯林理解伊斯蘭的兩個主要學派(也可以說是不同研究方法)，Salafist攻擊Ash’ari對真主屬性的理解是錯誤的，強調要從字面意義解讀經文，而非將經文視為隱喻性質。Salafist與Ash’ari對真主屬性的不同觀點，可以說是當前穆斯林學者間紛爭的一個縮影，如幾周前中國穆斯林學者們在爭吵Imam Ibn Taymiyyah的歷史定位。該作者認為這些Salafist對真主屬性的爭論，在伊斯蘭歷史中是少數的現象。那些虔誠的先人，也沒有像Salafist的那種不寬容的展現方式。他指出這些Salafist聲稱追隨先知與前三代大賢的步伐，事實上是在扭曲伊斯蘭形象，是誤讀前三代大賢的言論與行為。這種宣教方式，只會讓更多穆斯林離開伊斯蘭信仰，並讓非穆斯林拒絕接受伊斯蘭。

While writing my last post Ash’ari – What’s in a name?, I was getting a rush of many things I wanted to state, but in the interest of keeping it short I opted to not mention much of what I would’ve liked to. Doing so has bothered me a great deal and therefore I decided to follow it up with another more elaborate exposition on this issue of Salafi/Wahhabi and Ash’ari labels. I still won’t get into the issue in exhausting detail, because that would mean I should write a book instead, which I’m not worthy of undertaking such a task. However, I will seek to highlight the main points here, because I’ve been finding that for those who do not study the matter, these labels are confusing more than anything. By that I mean that those who use these terms are confused in themselves and in turn confuse others when they throw these terms around. Just a word of warning, this is one of those topics that I get extra harsh on those Muslims that like to label their fellow Muslims. I have a zero tolerance policy for any Muslim that excludes other Muslims, especially when they do it in the name of Islam.
I do NOT like the term Salafi. It gives the impression to those who hear it that the one claiming to be Salafi is in fact following on the footsteps of the Salaf, i.e. the pious predecessors, while everyone else is not. This could NOT be further from the truth. In fact, in many cases those who claim to be Salafis should be punished for desecrating the name Salafi and giving such a distorted view of Islam and of the Salaf, which ends up pushing many Muslims away and driving non-Muslims to avoid Islam. I prefer the term Googli or YouTubi, because the reality is sadly that’s where they get all their “Islam” from. For these people “true” and “authentic” Islamic information will ONLY come from places like http://www.islam-qa.com or http://www.islamway.com. It’s really interesting that in those two examples that represent others, the first website is run by a well-known Islamic lecturer and author in Saudi Arabia, while the second one is run by a much more extensive group, that has names running for 3 pages, the great majority of which are Saudi or at least educated in Saudi Arabian Islamic universities (there were a couple of names from Al Azhar university though just to be fair!). When it comes to YouTube, the same principle holds. If the Shaykh sitting in front of that camera is wearing the Saudi robe and head piece, that’s confirmation for his uprightness and truthfulness!
So the premise most of those who call themselves Salafi, yet are in fact Googli or YouTubi, is that for any Islamic information to be authentic it must come from Saudi Arabia. Otherwise you can take it and throw it against the wall. Am I the only one who thinks that this is ludicrous? If you think that true Islam comes from Saudi Arabia, and all others are false or misguided or misunderstanding or innovating or anything of that sort, then you should wake up and smell the qahwa. The sad thing is, these people seem to not have anyone really stand up to them because they’re really clever in how they use the Quran and narrations of the Prophet peace be upon him to intellectually terrorize Muslims around them. Sophistical reasoning is the game in town for them. Yet, none of them are well versed in the Tradition in the slightest degree.