To my beloved brothers and sisters
Let me add my 2 cents worth of opinion..
When talking about revival .. we tend dwell too much in usuluddin and neglected about asasuddin.
There will be always differences in matter of aqidah, fiqh and methodology of da’wah until at least the time of Sayyidina Jesus alaihissalam.
But there will always be the same common denominator in asasuddin until qiyamah.
What is foundation of religion? It is love.
Ruhama ubainahum…
What we need now is not more debates, method searching and whatever u might call it..
But we need more love… though it sound simplistic..
But it is the solution of the problem and the starting point of revival..
No matter how high is your knowledge.. intellectual capacity etc.. in the end you still need that love..
I hav been there, done that, ikhwanis, tablighis, traditionalist ..etc.. but in the end love is what drive me.. out of intelectually crises, burnout, darkness or whatever..
Love is iman, taqwa, ukhuwwah, mawaddah, rahmah, qistasulmustakim..
It is the foundation of religion. Without love there can be no religion, no fatwa to be followed, not method will be effective, no usuluddin no revival and no salvation.
What we need now is jama’ah ulfah… wherever we go we form and spread love and ulfah… create more jama’ah ulfah….
It is the language of love that the lowest intellect of human to the most sophisticated mind.. can understand…
I mean , to the simple minded fellahin, illiterate muslims, ghetto dwellers.. do they understand tafwid al-ma’ana, ta’wil, ta’til, wahdatul wujud, imkan kazb etc…
But they understand love, compassion, tender and sincere heart..
Alhamdullilah and masyaALLAH, have learn the knowledge of deen from some of the most knowledgable Ulama in this world.. and most of know the method and actions from Qur’an and sunnah to inculcate love..
Lets realise that revival of this ummah cannot even begin without love.. and lets start with those near to us and then near to us….
And lets love teach us the adab… and eventually unravel the crisis whatever it is..

May I repeat this?

The essence of Islam is brotherhood so love your brother if otherwise how could you claim to believe completely?

iman is love

wassalam

[it is interesting to see amid this scramble for power and to be more specific, scramble for interpretative power some claim for themselves the keys to excommunication and or declarative power to pronounce anathema[sic] such as untraditional or modernist.]
you ofcourse indict the so-called traditionals and question their authority to pronounce anathema [sic].
my problem is that firstly, you have failed to truly indicate how this process came to be, who are these people, what are their objectives, what do they consider ‘anathema’ then ask whether their analysis is true or not. the ulema are inheritors of the Prophets and their ‘interpretive’ power comes from this. if you are of thier ‘class’ [no pun intended] then you can counter their positions.
your analysis falls down on very basic suppositions….that there is a monolithic enterprise called traditionalism, that there is sort of a traditional industry. this is essentially false. if you do a survey of people who would consider themselves traditional they would overwhelmingly if not all count the shaikhs hamza yusuf, bin bayyah, abdal hakim murad, zaid shakir, sherman jackson, gibril fouad haddad, muhammed al yaqoubi, umar faruq abdallah, nuh ham mim keller, riyadh ul haq, etc among them; their students and their teachers.
what all of them agree on essentially that the madhabs are a good thing, sufism is a good thing, ashari/maturidi is correct. they are classicists. however that is where their unity stops. everybody mentioned has a different approach to dawah, different understanding of what are the causes of the problems we are facing, they offer different emphases on the way forward. therefore to lump them especially the way you have done is not only incorrect, its wrong.
the critique of shiekh abdal hakim murad is simply that wahhabis doctrinal extremisms can lend itself to violent extremisms. if you empower people to have interpretive power in regards to the quran and sunnah without possesing the tools to do so; if you are literalist in your interpretation and dont appreciate nuance you can become extreme. while i dont wholly agree with this. i can see why he says that. my point with br. abul hussein is you would present a hypothesis and with a brief stroke brush certain scholars away….without accurately discussing your hypothesis, giving accurate accounts as well as reasons for your deductions [if we can call them that]
salaam aleykum brother abul-hussen

There are many aspects of society today that certainly lend them selves to being called ‘dajjalic’ in the linguistic sense of covering truth with falsehood. But the lesson that Muslims have learned is that in our approach to dawah such terminology is unhelpful. If we intend to live within a society we have to learn to interact with it in a manner that will bring about a positive change. Taking an antogonistic approach rarely brings about positive change in society. Thus the Prophet peace be upon him approached dawah in a gradual manner, as did the Revelation of the Quran, and thus the Shariah.

They say, criticize the sin, not the sinner. This is another way to make our dawah constructive instead of destructive.

Another thing we should ask for is beneficial knowledge, because some knowlege is harmful and brings little or no benefit. In our dawah we should be mindful of the audience and seek Allah’s pleasure alone, and try to say the things that will bring the most reward and affect the hearts in a positive way. May Allah guide us to make our dawah more pleasing to Him.

Dear Muhammad: May Allah love the one who loves me for His sake. I think you failed to read the posts on the Hadara well. Here is the quote fom the article:

Asalamu alaykum,

“Before we start, we must mention that this is an issue of ijtihad amongst the scholars. However, it should be noted that the position taken here is that of the majority. At the same time, since there is no Ijm’a on this issue it is not allowed to denounce, degrade nor through insults at those who follow the other opinion. However, we reserve the right to present this position, using the firm language of the majority who opposed it. We hold firm to the fact that, under the lens of this opinion, these things are innovations, but reserve enough love and respect to listen, love and honor those who disagree with our contentions. We challenge the other side to openly summit to such an expanse and present both opinions [on their websites] as we have done below [by posting their article] instead of belittling, falling into character assassinations and the like [accusations of crypto salafism etc]. As al-Shaf’i [may Allah have mercy upon him] said, “Indeed the issues related to ijtihad should not be forbidden with the hand. And it is not allowable for anyone to force his opinion on another. Instead proofs and discussion should take place that present each others side. And if one follows one of the other opinion he should no be censured for doing so.” [risalah]. Thus, dear brother/sister although we differ strongly with you, we still have nothing but love, respect and honor for you.”

http://altranslators.com/bg/?p=10

Finally, I think it is highly regreatable that one would question the intention of his/her brother. I would encourage you to engage Abu al-Hussein and try and, with soft gloves, explain your position. In the future, before you type, make sure that you are relating correct information. If not, as is the case below, you could be creating great harm for others by spreading incorrect information.

Now, this my last post here and I hope others will follow Daniels lead and develope this further.

SDW

Subhan’Allah, how easily we lose focus of the objective, “Unity”. I must admit, we are extremely critical of others for the wrong reasons. I am sure by now everyone knows who Sh. Hamza is, and who he is not. Even if the brother was taking a shot at Sh. Hamza I do not think it takes away from him at all, in fact, I think it reveals more about the person taking the shot then the one it is intended towards.

Anyhow, I think it is important that we get back on point and elaborate more on the methods of “Unity”. I agree that unity begins with the reformtion of ones intellect, which in turn would tranform ones actions. Now, the question can be raised that in the “West” such a reformation is in friction with societal norms, and as a result it is very difficult to achieve such results without having a community or support system that nourishes and reinforces this process. So, how could an individual in such a setting achieve this objective without having this type of a support system or community if you will, or is such a system really not necessary?

Daniel H.

I felt that Abu al-Hussien brought up some interesting points that one could argue or agree with in a decent manner. However, I did, and do not, think he took a shot at Sh. Hamza Yusuf.

SDW

i love you brother suhaib but you gotta tell ya boy to quit takin shots at hamza…

Why do we need to get personal all the time? It seems that every time someone makes a critique of anything we feel that this is a personal attack on our character, that is not the case here, the brother has made some interesting points and if you disagree with him pen them but with adab and courtesy. We need to show maturity and calmness when presenting our case and not get heated Insha’Allah.

Disagreements existed since the beginning of time, even some prophets disagreed with each other (Musa and Harun), the sahaba disagreed with each other, it is in our human nature to disagree, it brings out the best in us Insha’Allah.

We need to be transparent and the issues in which are differing upon must be made clear. The matter of conflict management should be studied and implemented, and we need to know and study carefully how to work in unity while we have our differences Insha’Allah.

“We must cooperate in matters wherein we agree and excuse one another in those wherein we disagree.” [Imam Rashid Rida]

May Allah give us the ability and sincerity to fulfill the covenant. Ameen!

Wassalam
AH