Br. Umar Lee has been writing an excellent blog series on the Rise and Fall of the Salafi Dawah in the United States. As someone who has never identified with the salafi movement, it has provided me an insight into an area of American Islam that I have little experience in.
The series is not finished yet, so be sure to check back
The Rise and Fall of the Salafi Dawah in the United States
Showing posts with label salafis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label salafis. Show all posts
Friday, January 26, 2007
Difference of opinion
Rrrr. First, let me start off by saying I am not a sufi, but rather an admirer of the science of tasawwuf. I don't have the dedication to completely immerse myself in tasawwuf, but it's one of the things that I hope to explore later in life, when I get other basics down.
My husband comes from a long line of Egyptian sufis. His grandfather was even a sufi sheikh. My husband, however, has rejected sufism in favor of a more Qur'an and Sunnah based approach found in the works of Ibn Hazm. He is not, however, a salafi. Despite his rejection of sufism, he doesn't seem to mind (too much) that I carry on a love affair with sufism and with dhikr. He certainly isn't fond of sufism, but he does read pro-sufism articles from time to time.
I post (on occasion) on Islamway Sister's forum. While I was aware that they are salafi, I haven't felt too alienated from them until yesterday. One of my friends posted a link to one of my favorite websites - Sunnipath. It was deleted, because Sunnipath is a "sufi site." Rrrr. So today, someone else started a thread asking what sufism is. I posted a link to an article by Sheikh Nuh Keller that was a response to claims that sufism is bidah. Now, it just so happened that others on the thread had made the claim that sufism is a bidah. Of course, the mods deleted the link, and proceeded to post how sufism was in fact a bidah, and that Sheikh Nuh is a bidah too.
I've encountered this attitude on other salafi leaning sites as well, like LI Islamic Forum, where my links to Sunnipath and Zaytuna have been deleted.
I lurk more than post on Sunniforum, and although this is a very strict madhab based website, I don't think I've ever seen them delete links to salafi based sites. They certainly warn against salafi authors and books, but I haven't seen anything as extreme as I've encountered on islamway and LI islamic forum.
Perhaps my favorite forum out there is Islamicaweb, which I joined shortly after I converted to Islam. It's populated mainly by teens and 20 something young desis, with a mix of other ummah members thrown in. Most of the posters are muslim, some salafi, some more madhab based, but there has always been a free mix of ideas and exchange of opinions. I like that.
It seems to me that it would be best to present both perspectives, carry on a little debate, and then let people decide for themselves which members of the ulema they would like to follow. That's what I have in my marriage. DH will talk about Ibn Hazm, I'll look to a more madhab based approach, we may disagree, but in the end, both points of view are presented.
Meh.
My husband comes from a long line of Egyptian sufis. His grandfather was even a sufi sheikh. My husband, however, has rejected sufism in favor of a more Qur'an and Sunnah based approach found in the works of Ibn Hazm. He is not, however, a salafi. Despite his rejection of sufism, he doesn't seem to mind (too much) that I carry on a love affair with sufism and with dhikr. He certainly isn't fond of sufism, but he does read pro-sufism articles from time to time.
I post (on occasion) on Islamway Sister's forum. While I was aware that they are salafi, I haven't felt too alienated from them until yesterday. One of my friends posted a link to one of my favorite websites - Sunnipath. It was deleted, because Sunnipath is a "sufi site." Rrrr. So today, someone else started a thread asking what sufism is. I posted a link to an article by Sheikh Nuh Keller that was a response to claims that sufism is bidah. Now, it just so happened that others on the thread had made the claim that sufism is a bidah. Of course, the mods deleted the link, and proceeded to post how sufism was in fact a bidah, and that Sheikh Nuh is a bidah too.
I've encountered this attitude on other salafi leaning sites as well, like LI Islamic Forum, where my links to Sunnipath and Zaytuna have been deleted.
I lurk more than post on Sunniforum, and although this is a very strict madhab based website, I don't think I've ever seen them delete links to salafi based sites. They certainly warn against salafi authors and books, but I haven't seen anything as extreme as I've encountered on islamway and LI islamic forum.
Perhaps my favorite forum out there is Islamicaweb, which I joined shortly after I converted to Islam. It's populated mainly by teens and 20 something young desis, with a mix of other ummah members thrown in. Most of the posters are muslim, some salafi, some more madhab based, but there has always been a free mix of ideas and exchange of opinions. I like that.
It seems to me that it would be best to present both perspectives, carry on a little debate, and then let people decide for themselves which members of the ulema they would like to follow. That's what I have in my marriage. DH will talk about Ibn Hazm, I'll look to a more madhab based approach, we may disagree, but in the end, both points of view are presented.
Meh.
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