And in an act of ultimate hubris, Ali’s quotes page has him quoting himself in the company of such illustrious people as the Prophet Muhammad, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson and Mahatma Gandhi. My favourite is where he quotes himself at Al Gore’s climate change training. He won’t quote Al Gore himself.
His self-portrait now has him claiming, amongst other things, to be
a qualified Imam in the Islamic Tradition, having studied under Traditional Islam and received licence [sic.] to teach in various Islamic Sciences.
In what sense is he qualified? Why hasn’t he provided details of his alleged qualifications to the NSW Board of Imams, despite having been asked to do so for over 12 months?
To this day, he has not answered the queries of his detractors and critics (including yours truly) about the true extent of his alleged qualifications.
In past days, he has claimed to hold two (2) degrees from the Islamic University of Madeena. After much questioning, he finally admitted to not having completed even one degree from that institution.
Yet as if to muddy the waters even more, Afroz now claims that
[h]is studies have taken him from university-based Islamic University- Madina, Saudi Arabia then moving towards Traditional Scholarship in Yemen, United States and Mauritania, where he has spent considerable time to learn from the most esteemed Rightly Guided Islamic Scholars of our time. He has also travelled to Cairo, Egypt for further studies in Islamic Jurisprudence with Scholars at al-Azhar University and Arabic Language at Markaz Aleem.
So why are Afroz's Arabic language skills so weak?
What Afroz won’t say on his blog is that he has been tried and convicted of a dishonesty offence. He also won’t be up front and honest about the true extent of his so-called qualifications. Yet he expects us all to believe his claims to being a “qualified imam”.
Of course, none of this detracts from the good work and initiative shown by the volunteers who help Afroz’s al-Ghazzali Centre in its projects. Yet as I’ve said and written before, one needn’t tell porky pies about one’s self to make a contribution to the community.
In conclusion, if Afroz Ali is a qualified imam, then I am an Olympic marathon runner and John Howard is Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Words © 2007 Irfan Yusuf
