REFLECTION: Learning Islam – The Traditional Way

I have a confession to make. I am a huge fan of what is known as “traditional Islam” (let’s call it “TI”). This is a method of teaching and learning the classical sciences of Islam.

I understand TI goes something like this. You decide what classical Islamic subject or subjects you wish to study. You sit with someone qualified to teach at least the subject you want to learn. You sit and learn that subject with that teacher, either on an individual basis or in a class.

Once the teacher is satisfied with your mastery of the subject, he/she gives you authorisation to teach. That authorisation is called an ijaza, and it states the limits within which you can teach the subject. It could be as broad as more than one discipline or as narrow as a chapter of a book.

Your teacher is able to give you an ijaza because he/she has an ijaza from his/her teacher, who in turn has an ijaza from his/her teacher etc etc. This chain of ijaza is known as a sanad.

I haven’t done any research on the matter, but I suspect most qualified imams in Australia have learned their classical Islamic knowledge this way. Certainly this is how Islamic sciences are taught in classical institutions such as Dar al-Uloom Deoband in India or in similar classical institutions in Yemen, Syria and Morocco.

TI is a great method of keeping alive our classical Islamic tradition. Some of the great emerging voices of Islamic scholarship in the West have studied and qualified under this methodology, including Hamza Yusuf Hanson, Zaid Shakir, Nuh Ha Mim Keller and our very own (as far as Sydney-siders are concerned) Naeem Abdul Wali.

These scholars are at the forefront of communicating Islamic ideas in a manner relevant to Western communities, Muslim or otherwise. But are they able to do this just because of TI? Does anyone honestly believe that, when faced with a contemporary challenge, Western TI scholars only refer to classical commentaries?

I asked this question of Azhar Usman, stand-up comedian and director of the Nawawi Foundation, a US-based think tank which promotes Islamic sciences in the TI tradition. Other directors of the Nawawi Foundation include Dr Ingrid Mattson, who studied Islam in modern universities and is current President of the Islamic Society of North America (the US and Canadian version of our “AFIC”).

The Chairman and Scholar-in-Residence of the Foundation is Dr Umar Faruq Abd-Allah, one of a galaxy of TI scholars in the US. Apart from studying classical sciences abroad, Dr Abd-Allah also did a PhD in Islamic Studies at Chicago University under one Professor Fazlur Rahman.

Why am I mentioning all this? Of what relevance does all this have to Australia?

Following the terror attacks of September 11, scholars of TI have come to the forefront of not only condemning the attacks but also identifying the root causes of the attacks. Azhar Usman believes that what tempted some Muslims to sympathise the attackers was a form of Islam which teaches us Western Muslims to regard only a narrow set of things as “Islamic” and to reject everything else as “un-Islamic”.

TI is different. TI regards everything as potentially Islamic with the exception of those things which are clearly proscribed in the sacred law of Islam (known as the sharia) as un-Islamic.

Hence, TI practitioners like Dr Abd-Allah contend that there is nothing un-Islamic about communicating Islamic ideas using stand-up comedy. When the Nawawi Foundation takes people on study tours to various parts of the current (or, in the case of Spain, former) “Islamic” world, Azhar Usman usually comes along to act as “court jester”, performing a show for his fellow tourists.

Usman told me he regards Islam as like a clear spring with no odour or taste or colour except for those provided by the elements of its path. Hence, Islam can be communicated using a variety of cultural methods.

Usman’s hero is one of the great scholars and communicators of Islam in Indonesia, known to his people as Sunan Kalijaga. The genius of Kalijaga lay in the fact that he was able to combine essentially traditional cultural symbols (wayang shadow puppetry and gamelan orchestral music) to communicate classical Islamic ideas. Today, wayang and gamelan are regarded as classical methods of communicating Islam in the world’s largest Muslim country. In Indonesia, the methods of Sunan Kalijaga are part of TI.

So there are some Australian Muslims claiming to represent TI who pretend that studying Islam in a conventional university is not consistent with TI principles. They criticise institutions such as the Centre for Excellence in Islamic Studies headed by Professor Abdullah Saeed of the University of Melbourne.

But as I learned from Azhar Usman, if TI can recognise the value of communicating Islamic ideas using traditional cultural symbols, why can’t it recognise Islam communicated in a conventional university?

Or to put it in the Prophet’s (s) terms: “Wisdom is the lost property of the believer …”

(This article was first published on 8 August 2007 in Salam, the official publication of the Federation of Australian Muslim Students & Youth or FAMSY)

COMMENT: Critical Muslim Studies?

The University of South Australia has just established the Bob Hawke International Centre for Muslim and Non-Muslim Understanding. Here is an excerpt from its website.

Critical Muslim Studies draws on and extends the insights of post-Orientalism, post-colonialism and post-structuralism in examining the assumptions of western hegemony, the political formations of Muslim and non-Muslim subjectivities and the unresolved imbrications of multiculturalism and racism ...

One of the ways of conceiving coloniality is to see it as a framework in which the distinction between the West and non-West becomes the overriding dyad that structures the world. The reduction of the non-West to a residual category announced the subaltern position of the rest of the world as a lack in relation to the West.

I believe English language interpreters will be provided in all courses at the Centre. And I thought lawyers were bad at communication.



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COMMENT: al-Ahbash to speak at Melbourne University??

No, my Lebanese Moslems Association friends, don't get over-excited. It's just a post-graduate research conference that juist happens to be hosted by a university department. It's quite normal for university departments to allow all kinds of people to submit abstracts and speak at conferences.

Indeed at least one sufi (or so he once claimed) deviant fitna-mongering former Liberal Party member has spoken at a conference organised by the Centre for Excellence in Islamic Studies.

And it would not be fair to suggest that Mustapha Kara-Ali, an engineering graduate and a PhD student at the International Islamic University of Malaysia has only one layer of identity - being an admirer of one religious leader in Lebanon known as Abdullah Hareri al-Habashi and allegedly belonging to a group known as "al-Ahbash".

This same group was strongly favoured by a former Australian government for assisting with deradicalising (whatever that means) Muslim youth. The result of over $150,000 in Australian taxpayer funded largesse was one manual.

That manual was produced under the auspices of an independent school founded and managed by followers of the said religious scholar in Lebanon. In his bio for the conference, Kara-Ali refers to that manual:

In 2007, he proposed and led a Government-Community-Partnership named the Building Identity and Resisting Radicalisation (BIRR) Initiative. He was also the lead-author of its publication The Way Forward - an Islamic Mentoring Guide for Building Identity and Resisting Radicalisation (2008), which was academically endorsed.

I'm not sure who "academically endorsed" the book, or indeed how something can be "academically endorsed". Did they send it to a university academic who said some relatively nice things about the layout? Did they sit on some steering committees and provide some general direction? Or did it go through a peer review process? Is it being published in an academic journal? Or just being excerpted in Quadrant Magazine?

I was amused by this entry:

In 2007, Mustapha was selected by DFAT to join a delegation to Malaysia to strengthen people-to-people relations ...

I wonder how DFAT staff on that trip found him to work with. What was his response to a presentation on the rights of religious minorities in Malaysia by the Malaysia Chinese Association (MCA)? I really cannot say. I'd have to ask others who went with him. I wasn't in that delegation. I went in 2006 instead. But I don't mention it in a bio for an academic conference.

One thing I would shove in a bio (if I had the chance) was hanging out with the wonderful Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf of New York. Imam Feisal has had a few issues of late with imbecilic fruitloops. Many who happily endorsed Imam Feisal are now having second thoughts due to political and social pressures arising from the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" project.

When Kara-Ali attended a conference organised by Imam Feisal's American Sufi Muslim Association entitled Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow, he had this stunning bio:

Mustapha Kara-Ali is a 29-year-old representative on the Prime Minister's Muslim Community Reference Group (MCRG). He represents second generation Australian Muslims. The Bulletin Magazine recently profiled him as "an active mentor and educator within the Australian Muslim youth community since 1995", and last month he was introduced on the ABC's Religion Report as "an agent for change". Kara-Ali has been an outspoken critic of some ethnic leaders in the community for what he says is their failure to address the concerns of an emerging community of homegrown Muslim youth in Australia. He believes that sections of the Muslim community can be too defensive and fail to articulate issues in which they believe strongly.

Mr. Kara-Ali has a Masters degree in Engineering from UNSW and has worked as a consultant for Sydney University and CSC. He is a NAATI accredited translator in Arabic, and has a graduate diploma in media studies. Mustapha has appeared on the Channel 9 Sunday Program, Channel 7 Today Tonight, SBS Insight, ABC Religion Report and other media fronts. He has authored opinion pieces in metropolitan newspapers on Muslim issues such as Muslim integration in the West, identity struggles and immigrant marginalization. In talking politics, Mustapha's approach is informed by the conviction that Muslims in the west are part of the solution, not the problem.

For some reason, Kara-Ali's attendance at such a prestigious international forum isn't mentioned in his conference bio. Is he also now embarrassed to be associated with Imam Feisal?

UPDATE I: It will be interesting to see if Mr Kara-Ali's BIRR makes a bid for the latest round of government-sponsored deradicalisation dosh. According to a recent report in The Australian:

INDIVIDUALS believed to be at risk of falling prey to the lure of violent extremism are to be targeted in a series of community-based programs under the federal government's $9.7 million counter-radicalisation strategy.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland is inviting community groups to apply for federal funding to run grassroots projects to steer young people away from extremist ideology.

Grants of between $5000 and $200,000 are to be allocated to organisations in Victoria and NSW as part of the new Youth Mentoring Grants Program, to be launched by Mr McClelland today.

"The program will support activities that directly assist young people to disengage from intolerant and radical ideologies and encourage positive and constructive participation in the community," Mr McClelland said yesterday.

Words © 2010 Irfan Yusuf

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HUMOUR: Struggling to replicate a scholar bio

I just read the biography of a prominent Shaykh al-Hadith Fadhilat al-Shaykh Maulana Mulay Kiai Ayatullah Hujjat al-Islam Abul Bayan Pir Murshid on the website of Seekers Guidance, an offshoot of Sunni Path.

I am totally bowled over by the greatness of this shaykh. I wondered what it would be like to replicate his bio. I'll give it a go.

“Know that if you pray for courage, Allah will not give you "courage”, but put you in real situations where you have the opportunity to cultivate courage; if you pray for patience and strength, that He will place you in situations so that you may strengthen yourself with patience. That is the true meaning of tests of life that Allah bestows upon you- they are all truly a Magisterial Favour upon you from your Lord, The Wise!” -- Imam Afroz Ali

"Shut the hell up, you right wing fascist bull artist!!" -- Irfan Yusuf's fiance

Imam Afroz Ali can clearly remember himself as a child watching his father (may Allah sanctify his soul) pursue his two greatest passions: serving others and teaching. This powerful relationship with a man who was both friend and father, who nurtured him in sometimes surprising ways, inspired in Imam Afroz a deep understanding the power of role models and leaders to nurture excellence in an individual. Inspired to be a part of positive action in his community, Imam Afroz began the journey of a student of knowledge.

Irfan Yusuf can clearly remember his father, a university academic, telling him to get off his fat backside and do some study instead of wasting time reading Maududi books or hanging out with the Tabligh Jamaat. As a teenager, Irfan in turn wondered why his father wasted so much time listening to Mehdi Hasan ghazals when U2 has just released their Under A Blood Red Sky live EP. I mean, who could compare this ...



... with this ...



????

Still, Professor Yusuf did instil in Irfan a love of books and an insistence that one should only claim the academic qualifications one actually holds. May Allah grant the good Professor a long life, and may God transform the grave of Abu Afroz into a garden of divine light.

Those studies have taken Imam Afroz from university-based academia (the Islamic University in Madina, Saudi Arabia) to more traditional studies in Yemen, the United States and Mauritania. He has received licences to teach from some of the most esteemed 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 is on the Board of Advisors at Markaz Aleem in Cairo, Egypt.

Irfan obtained his license to drive a motor vehicle from the NSW Motor Registry in Ryde. He has had his license suspended on a number of occasions. Irfan's studies have taken him from a pre-school in Boronia Park (behind the tennis courts) to Ryde East Primary School to St Andrews Cathedral School to Macquarie University to the University of Technology Sydney. Each year, Irfan completes at least 10 compulsory professional development (CPD) points of training.

Irfan studied in a Karachi madressa at age 6 where an oversized Maulana (may Allah have mercy on him) used to bash the crap out of him and all the other students (may Allah definitely have mercy on the Maulana!). He was also brainwashed by his darling mother with copious amounts of Tafhim al-Qur'an, Khutnaat, Tablighi Nisab, Behishti Zewar and numerous other Urdu books printed on cheap rice paper. Irfan spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out what kind of Muslim he was. Don't expect him to write it all here. You can spend arouund A$25 and read 80,000 words of the stuff by clicking here.

Irfan did attend a whole year of masters level lectures on public international law at ANU. He handed in assignments and even passed the course but got bored sh*tless with the degree. Presumably that means he has an ijaza in public international law and can now lecture at Harvard or the Islamic University outside Madina. But he won't tell anyone that, and will let his future students and other gullible people assume that he has a full degree in international law from ANU and/or that he held an academic post at ANU.

to be continued ...

Words © 2010 Irfan Yusuf

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COMMENT: An uncomfortable moment ...

Some days back I had the good fortune to perform my fajr (pre-dawn) prayers at a new institution established by a younging chap of Fiji-Indian extraction. The al-Mustapha Institute has been established by Noor-ul-Hassan Al-Hijazi, a graduate of Hijaz College in the United Kingdom.

Also present were a number of local Brisbane people as well as Hadhrat Imam Shaykh Afroz Ali, founder of the al-Ghazali Centre in Sydney and a qualified imam in the Islamic tradition. Regular readers of this blog will know that Allama Afroz was also once a graduate of the Islamic University of Madina, though his degrees seem to have been lost somewhere. Either that, or his studies have taken him to Madina and then onto somewhere else. You figure it out.

I couldn't help but ask the head of the Al-Mustapha Institute about his training. I asked him about ...

* where he studied;

* how many years he studied for;

* what subjects he studied;

* what qualifications he received;

* what form those qualifications took.

He answered all these questions without any hesitation. Indeed, he volunteered more information such as who some of his teachers were and even the nature of the graduation ceremony.

Sayyidina Ayatullah Afroz was present during these discussions, though he did look somewhat uncomfortable to say the least.

So will Maulana Pir Abul Bayaan Afroz provide us with details of his precise qualifications with the same degree of candor and honesty? I'm certainly not holding my breath.

Words © 2010 Irfan Yusuf


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LETTERS: Further Open Letter to Afroz Ali ...

The following open letter was sent to Afroz Ali. I don't expect a response given that I have had such letters unanswered since as early as least April 2006!

Dear Afroz,

Assalamu alaykum.

As you are aware, there has been some discussion for the past 4 years concerning your religious qualifications and credentials, if any. Some of that discussion has been in the form of blog posts on my blog as well as discussion on internet forums. I have also spoken with you personally about this matter and have documented our conversations on my blog.

Your Melbourne representative, Taymour Nabulsi, has advised that your full academic qualifications and credentials are available and on display at your office in Lakemba. If that is the case, I wanted to arrange a time to meet with you and you could explain to me these documents which, Mr Nabulsi says, are quite complex and intricate.

As my own knowledge of Arabic is rather weak (to say the least!), I also wanted to bring along 2 persons whom I trust in these matters. One is a graduate of the Islamic University of Madina as well as having qualifications from Turkey and strong Arabic fluency.

Can you please advise via return e-mail on when would be a good time to visit your centre. Ma salameh.

Regards
Irfan Yusuf

Words © 2009 Irfan Yusuf

COMMENT: Further degrees of diasppearance ...

A funny thing has happened to "imam" Afroz Ali on the road to Massey University in New Zealand. An entire period of his life spent in the city of the Noble Prophet (upon whom be peace and blessings) somehow went missing. His lecture, scheduled for August 12 2009 and entitled "Debunking Islamic Myths", is now no longer being delivered by someone who studied at the Islamic University of Madinah in Saudi Arabia.

"imam" Afroz's hosts have not mentioned the Islamic University of Madina anywhere in his profile, part of which I reproduce from the relevant promotional Facebook page:

Mr. Ali, known for his inspiring talks and work in the Muslim community, is the Founder and President of Al-Ghazzali Centre for Islamic Sciences & Human Development, based in Sydney, Australia. He is a qualified Imam in the Islamic Tradition, having studied under Traditional Islam and received license to teach in various Islamic Sciences. Anyone who has had the privilege of attending his talks will tell you that this is something not to be missed.

It's as if all those years (or was it months? Or weeks? Or days? Or hours? Or minutes?) that "imam" Afroz spent studying at the Islamic University of Madinah are no longer worth promoting and no longer matter.

So while years ago, "imam" Afroz and his hosts in New Zealand boasted of him having more than one degree from that august institution, now it barely rates a mention.

But I shouldn't be so cynical. After all, "imam" Afroz has received "license to teach in various Islamic Sciences". Too bad he won't disclose any of the following details:

a. which "Islamic Sciences" he has licensed to teach in;

b. whether his license extends to the entire science or certain departments of that science or just certain books;

c. who provided him with these licenses; and

d. when he obtained these licenses.

But of course, we shouldn't be asking such questions. It is fitnah to ask such questions. Those claiming to be qualified imams should be accepted at their word.

But why stop at imams? We should be able to obtain legal advice from anyone. Who needs accreditation? Who needs a law degree and a practising certificate? And who needs a Fellowship from a College of Surgeons to perform surgery? Just put on a white gown and a white face mask, grab a knife and start cutting.

(Thanks to DB for pointing out a typo.)

Words © 2009 Irfan Yusuf


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BLOG: The Aussie Mossie on some Auburn chick named Yasmin ...

(The term "chick" is polite Aussie slang for a person of the female persuasion. This article has been written in response to a number of stories concerning the case of Yasmin Alttahir, a Year 11 student at Auburn Girls High School who was placed on detention for being "out of uniform". Her uniform violation consisted of wearing a 'mantoo', a popular form of overcoat commonly worn by women of Iraqi and Iranian background. You can find media coverage of the issue here and here. The article below was published on The Aussie Mossie blog on Sunday 15 May 2005.)

YASMIN'S CHOICE

A Year 11 female student at a state school is punished with a detention for refusing to wear the school uniform. Fair enough.

A Year 11 female student of Shiite Muslim background attending a high school in Auburn, a suburb containing 5 mosques, a large Muslim population and with at least 4 Muslim councillors on the local council, is placed on detention for wearing what she regards as an essential symbol of her “descent, … ethno-religious or national origin” (to quote the words of Section 4 of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977). Very strange.

If this incident had occurred during the early 1970’s, it may have been acceptable. But almost 3 decades have elapsed since the Act was passed. And it is a poor reflection on the Department that it cannot properly train and supervise its staff to ensure that such blunders are not made and the Government is not exposed to legal liability.

It is not unusual to see women in Auburn of various racial and faith backgrounds covering their hair and wearing loose-fitting clothes. Indian women, whether Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or other denomination tend to wear loose-fitting ‘shalwar kameez’. Catholic and Muslim women cover their hair. I have even seen the State MP for Auburn, Barbara Perry wear a head scarf when visiting the Gallipoli Mosque or the Turkish Welfare Centre.

Women who choose to dress in a certain way should not be subject to harassment, discrimination or inferior treatment. Australians of all denominations were offended when a young sheik from Liverpool made his remarks some weeks back. Regardless of what faith you choose to follow, the common denomination of all sensible people is that a woman can dress howsoever she wishes.

Section 17 of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act clearly applies rules prohibiting racial discrimination (including on the basis of "ethno-religious origin") to educational institutions. Its provisions include a prohibition on “subjecting the student to any … detriment”. One would think that punishing a student with a detention may constitute a detriment. Where the detention arose from her dress, and where this dress is regarded as part of her ethno-religious origin, the school would be breaching the Act.

Muslim women in Auburn run accounting practices, work as solicitors, manage shops and arrange home loans. Two Muslim women can be elected to Auburn Council without their religion being made an issue. The covering page of the Council’s own website shows a photo of Muslim school children in the library (including girls wearing headscarves). And yet a Muslim student cannot wear a jacket over her uniform.

Imagine if the same scene were repeated in the Eastern Suburbs. Imagine if a Jewish boy were stopped from wearing a traditional cap. There would be community outrage. And rightly so.

Some will argue that, as a matter of policy, state schools should insist on strict adherence to school uniform and should not make allowances for religion. Yet overriding any policy must be the will of Parliament. And policies developed by unelected bureaucrats cannot be allowed to override Acts of Parliament passed by elected legislators. If some provisions of the Anti-Discrimination Act are wrong, people can lobby their MP’s to revoke them. But whilst in place, the Act must be followed.

The law is the law. And Yasmin’s choice is clearly the will of the Parliament.

Words © 2005 Irfan Yusuf


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COMMENT: The Camden fracas continues ...

It would be improper for me to comment on the legal merit of submissions made by Camden Council’s barrister at a hearing of the NSW Land & Environment Court yesterday afternoon. Excerpts from that letter have been reported in the Camden Advertiser, the Daily Telegraph and the Sydney Morning Herald, not to mention some 11 regional papers.

Camden Council’s submission apparently included a letter signed by four local church leaders. Significantly, the Catholic and Uniting Churches are not signatories. I’m not sure if that letter made reference to issues of traffic, infrastructure and other planning considerations. It did, however, make reference to the school following a religion ...

... driven by a powerful political agenda, ... an ideology with a plan for world domination.

Apparently establishing such faith-based schools was ...

... typical of a regularly repeated pattern to form a beachhead in an area for the development of a sub-culture which, for the most part, regards its own legal system as superior to the current Australian law.

Furthermore, Camden Muslims would seek to dominate public space in Camden ...

... as we have seen in Auburn, Bankstown, Lakemba and more recently Liverpool.

It all sounds like something out of the pages of some fictional Protocols of the Learned Mullahs of Auburn, Bankstown, Lakemba & Liverpool (and soon Camden). Soon these nasty Muslim theocrats will be forcing locals to speak Islamic.

Directors of the Qur’anic Society behind the school proposal have some affiliation with the Tabligh Jamaat (TJ, translated as “preaching group”), a Sufi evangelical group founded in India last century. I have my reservations about the TJ, but these are more to do with some of their preaching methods which I think were best left in the last century.

"Yes Irfan,” some of you will say, “but tell us what these people really believe. What is their real agenda?” I guess the best way to sum up this nefarious group’s revolutionary agenda of world domination is to reproduce their 6 basic teachings:

*Strong faith in God;

*Observing the 5 daily prayers;

*Seeking knowledge while remaining humble through remembering God;

*Showing good manners to fellow believers;

*Sincerity in good deeds; and

*Spreading the message of the 5 abovementioned points.

You can find an expanded version of their terrorist extremist fundamentalist chauvinist Islamo-fascist Auburnist Bankstownist Lakembist agenda here. You’d sooner find Ahmedinejad supporting Zionism than the TJ plotting world domination.

Words © 2009 Irfan Yusuf


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COMMENT: Village idiots issue black-cheque fatwas ...

Some two decades ago, a respected elder named Syed Kandil used to publish a newsletter from Canberra. In one editorial, he used the term "blank cheque fatwa" to describe the judgments of self-proclaimed imams who spoke on topics beyond their expertise.

An excellent source of black cheque fatwas is the Muslim Village forums. Here, you will find many a self-proclaimed imam and his supporters issuing all kinds of fatwas about matters beyond their understanding.

Let's start with Islamic studies, an academic discipline taught in universities across the world. Melbourne University, along with the University of Western Sydney and Griffith University, recently set up a National Centre for Excellence in Islamic Studies. You can find out more about the NCEIS from their first newsletter here.

Islamic studies is not the same as studies in a madressa or in a darul uloom, though there can often be some overlap. Rather, Islamic studies is an inter-disciplinary subject that focuses on a range of issues related to a nebulous (for want of a better term) "blob" of peoples, cultures, histories, theologies, languages etc etc which is often given the label of "Muslim" or "Islamic" or "Islam".

Similar subjects are taught in relation to other "blobs". Hence there is Jewish studies, Christian studies, Buddhist studies, American studies, Middle East studies etc etc. A Christian studies course at Harvard or Macquarie is not the same as a course at Moore Theological College, nor is it meant to be.

Yet repeatedly black cheque fatwas are issued by MV mass debaters about the NCEIS, its personnel, its subjects etc. A classic example of this is a remark by Olive Tree which can be read here, who seemed to be taking credit on behalf of ...

... the Muslim students and community members [who were the ones complaining ...

... about a course taught last year by one Dr Samar Habib, whom s/he accused of having a ...

... personal and political agenda ...

Olive Tree then suggested:

It is not an issue of harming academic freedom but a realisation that they probably should be seeking proper Islamic studies lecturers similar to that of Griffith University and Melbourne University.

Yet the same course Olive Tree complains of was also taught at Melbourne University, with not a single complaint made by any student. Was all this talk really about the course?

Olive Tree then delivers the killer blow.

I attended the Ramadan Iftar with my sister this year. All these so called lecturers from the Islamic Studies Dept at UWS were no-where to be seen. No- where!

Words © 2008 Irfan Yusuf


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NEWS: Talk about fake degrees ...

Well it looks like the government of the rather ... er ... loopy President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad of Iran is in real trouble. His Interior Minister Ali Kordan has just been sacked for telling porky-pies about his qualifications. Kordan claimed to have an honorary law degree with Oxford University. But you can click here to find out more about the fake degree.

Kordan is the 10th minister of the Ahmedinejad government to be replaced. I'm not sure what Kordan will be doing next. Perhaps open a new law firm? Kordan Law ... now that has a ring to it.

Then again, he certainly seems qualified to open the Tehran branch of the Al-Ghazzali Centre ...

Words © 2008 Irfan Yusuf


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COMMENT: Islamo-fascist fundamentalist extremist cleric Tariq Ramadan exposed promoting radical madressas for Barack Hussein Obama's children ...

OK, now that I have your attention, I thought I'd share with readers some notes I took from a workshop led by Dr Tariq Ramadan in Melbourne in January 2005. That way I can throw these hand-written notes away and move one tiny step further to having an office free of all this junk!

I made some reference to this workshop in an article in The Age ...

The Age reported (February 25, 2008) that more than 200,000 children - almost 40 per cent of
non-government school students - attended a religious school outside the main Catholic, Anglican and Uniting systems. Some are taught creationism as part of their science studies. A teacher at one small Christian school was quoted as saying that evolution was taught as a theory. This is exactly how I was taught about evolution by my year 9 science teacher at a Sydney Anglican school.

Another critic of faith-based schools, psychologist and educationist Louise Samway, believes faith-based schools are leading to a whole lot of disparate sub-groups that are suspicious of each other.

Such views are not limited to supposedly more secular professionals. In January 2005, I was in Melbourne at a workshop led by Swiss Muslim scholar Dr Tariq Ramadan. Now you'd expect that the grandson of the founder of the Ikhwan al-Muslimeen (Muslim Brotherhood), the Arab world's
largest Islamist movement, would support Muslim minorities establishing their own schools.

Dr Ramadan, however, suggested that the whole idea of Islamic schools was problematic as it implied that secular schools were somehow less Islamic or even anti-Islamic. He asked participants to consider whether the long-term process of mainstreaming their faith in Australia was being helped or hindered by having their children attend schools open only to Muslims. Dr Ramadan also insisted
that learning mathematics and sciences were just as much a requirement of religion as learning how to read the Koran in Arabic.

Anyway, here are just some of the notes from that session, divided into numbered paragraphs.

[01] In any discussion on Islamic independent schools, a number of key questions need to be asked. What exactly is "Islamic" education? What is an "Islamic" school? Why do some Muslim parents insist on sending their children to an "Islamic" school? Why do other (equally) Muslim parents choose not to send their children to an "Islamic" school?

[02] And there are other questions. Like this one: What steps do Muslim independent schools take to provide a broad-based education instead of just providing an allegedly more sheltered "Islamic" environment?

[03] Genuine spirituality equates to living with an understanding that we have a creator and a spirit. This should make us far more universalist, wholistic and ecumenical in our outlook.

[04] Genuine Islamic education encourages and harnesses such spirituality. Islamic education makes time for sport and leisure activities, especially organised structured sport. It encourages students to become involved in their local communities, including charity and welfare work. It doesn't discourage Muslim young people from involvement in popular culture such as fashion.

[05] True Muslims won't shut themselves off from people who don't necessarily share their faith. We take the initiative to get to know our neighbours. In our dealings with people, we focus on similarities and not differences. We are also not afraid to use local facilities and infrastructure (e.g. community centres) for religious and cultural activities, and are happy to participate in activities organised by our Christian, Jewish and neighbours of other faiths and no faith in particular.

[06] Our children will have little or no attraction to Islamic "culture" unless it is part of and comfortable with mainstream culture. We should start looking at Islamic culture as being anything good in any culture.

[07] One important step to make Muslim cultures mainstream is to contact local museums and encourage them to bring collections from nominally Muslim countries and communities.

[08] Not all Muslim independent schools are the same. Some are isolationist, protective and quite scary. Others encourage their students to participate in the wider community. We need to support the latter.

Words © 2008 Irfan Yusuf

COMMENT: Malek Fahad Islamic School, double-dipping and public funding ...

Congrats to the Sydney Morning Herald for resisting the urge to turn this story into another Muslim-bashing exercise.

The Herald reports today of a Sydney private school which is fobbing off its weaker students to the publicly-finded TAFE system ...

Private school sends strugglers to TAFE
Anna Patty Education Editor
June 7, 2008

YEAR 12 students at a private school in Sydney are forced to complete HSC subjects at TAFE if it appears they will not score high marks.

Malek Fahd Islamic School, in Greenacre, joined the top 10 HSC performers in the Herald's league table for the first time last year, ranking ninth - a jump from 15th position the previous year.

Malek Fahd students, who pay fees to attend the school, make up close to half the free HSC chemistry class at Bankstown TAFE this year.

Ken Enderby, who co-ordinates the Bankstown TAFE HSC program, said in recent years students had told him they had to take HSC subjects at TAFE because they could not sit them at Malek Fahd. He said one Malek Fahd student who was asked to leave the school achieved a lowest score of 60 per cent and a highest score of 72 per cent at TAFE.

"I have had parents in tears because their children have not been allowed to sit subjects at the school," he said.

"I'm happy to have those kids here. These are very good students - well behaved and a pleasure to teach."

Here's how one subscriber to the "Sydney Muslims" yahoogroup responded ...

Of course by sending the strugglers elsewhere they aren’t counted n Malek Fahd’s scores and don’t bring the average down. This boosts the schools position on the HSC league table. No doubt other private schools do the same regardless of which religion they subscribe to.

The disturbing thing about this is that the school a recipient of $12.9 million in taxpayer largesse last year sees fit to fob off its weaker students to the publicly funded TAFE system. This is even more galling when the $3.4 million surplus for 2006 is considered. Why is this money not being put into helping the weaker students boost their performance? The school should cater for all its students and not be a cash cow for its masters.

Is he right? I think he has a point.

Words © 2008 Irfan Yusuf

COMMENT: AFIC’s commitment to save Muslim youth from the clutches of bin-Ladin

Members of AFIC's interim executive after a recent meeting.

__________________________

Ikebal Patel, alleged President of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils seems to be suffering from the same foot-in-mouth disease as former alleged mufti Sheik Hilaly.

Patel’s brainless contribution to the Camden debate is being reported across the world as a “warning” that Muslim kids might start learning Islam in people’s backyards and garages.

I’m shivering with horror. Imagine the spectre of the 90% of Muslim kids who don’t attend Muslim schools learning about their faith next to a barbecue. Or learning about it whilst vacuuming their mum’s car in the garage. Seriously, what strange ideas could they pick up over a few snags or with the combined noise of a vacuum cleaner and AC/DC blurting out of the car stereo?

Of course, what Patel is really suggesting is that AFIC-managed Muslim schools are a panacea to Muslim kids becoming addicted to the drug of radical Islamism. Patel’s own organisation has, of course, done plenty to stop that process.

AFIC has encouraged its member councils and societies to get involved in its workings. AFIC loves to involve young Australian-born Muslims who speak English as their first language. Just look at all the young females on AFIC’s interim executive. So much fresh blood. Not a hint of musical chairs.

Ms Hafez Malas is a female with extraordinarily good English skills. She is in her early 30’s, and has worked for years as a project manager for a major IT corporation.

Mohammed Berjaoui, 35, brings with him strong management credentials, having worked for 10 years as a project manager for a major Canberra-based building corporation.

And there’s so much more fresh young faces who reflect the youth and diversity of Australia’s Muslim communities.

So Patel and his colleagues are well-placed to ensure young Muslims don’t fall into the lap of radical Islamism, as seems to be their genetic predisposition unless the Federal Government pays AFIC trillions of dollars so they can bid against other non-AFIC schools at land auctions.

_____________________________

Muslim youth from non-AFIC schools at a recent jihadi barbecue.

Words © 2008 Irfan Yusuf

COMMENT: The Australian Christian Lobby and the Camden proposal ...

The Australian Christian Lobby recently ran a piece on the proposed Camden Muslim independent school. That piece was interesting in that it refused to condemn Fred Nile and others who use this issue as a divisive ethno-religious wedge.

Further, the ACL refer to me as "Islamic Spokesman". Do ACL think I would be stupid enough to claim such a position? In what sense am I an Islamic spokesman? Have I ever claimed this title? Do I represent any Muslim religious organisation?

ACL may have sufficient hubris to claim to represent all Christians. Jim Wallace may travel through the corridors of power agitating against Australia's Western secular democracy and promoting his fringe approach to social and moral issues, all the while claiming he represents all Christians.

I have never made any such representative claims, nor do I intend to. My opinion in the ABC Unleashed piece cited by ACL was my own personal view.

I would request that ACL correct their inaccurate post. ACL should understand that I don't wish to follow their example by claiming a leadership mantle that is not properly mine.

Words © 2008 Irfan Yusuf


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COMMENT: IslamicSydney.com co-owner teaches course on Islam ...

In late 2000, I made a conscious decision. I decided I would stop giving any presentations about Islam. Yes, I'd be happy to talk about Muslims, their cultures and even their history. I still occasionally delivered "train-the-trainer" (TTC) presentations. But I stopped talking about theology.

What brought this about? Basicaly, what happened was that the fellow who used to sit through my sessions found he was no longer able to do so. I used to deliver short talks in the Auburn Gallipoli Mosque covering various aspects of the biography of the Prophet. I used various source books to di this. I was lucky to have had a qualified imam looking after me. And yes, a really qualified imam (as opposed to someone claiming to be qualified yet refusing to be up front about his credentials).

Talking about theology is a difficult thing to do. I don't mind talking and writing about Muslims. I don't mind talking and writing about the cultures practised by various Muslim communities. But please don't ask me to talk about hadith or seerah or something like that.

It's great to see not everyone has the same scruples as me. It's good that the teaching of Islam is spreading far and wide. So it's interesting that we now see software engineer and businessman Ahmed Kilani running a course on Islam for the St George & Sutherland Community College.

Ahmed Kilani has been involved in various initiatives within Sydney's Muslim communities for some years now. He authorised the electoral material of AusMET, the Australian Muslim Electoral Taskforce. He is also co-proprietor of the IslamicSydney.com website (now known as Muslim Village).

Mr Kilani played quite a prominent role as arch-defender of Sheik Tajeddine Hilaly during the catmeat scandal that rocked Muslim communities. He has been a long-time supporter of Sheik Hilaly even when the latter has made some extraordinarily nutty statements. Given that one of the topics in the course in his course is "women's rights/dresscode", I hope students will not be hearing any references to catmeat.

I also hope that Mr Kilani is able to present a variety of different forms of Islam, including both Sunni and Shia strands. I also hope he does not merely present those interpretations of Islam which he regards as the most 'orthodox'. I also hope he doesn't fall into the trap of treating all Muslims in Australia as a single "community".

It's a great thing that a community college is allowing Mr Kilani this opportunity to remove misunderstanding within the broader community, and it's great to see Mr Kilani taking time out to be part of such a project.

© Irfan Yusuf 2008

EVENT: Film launch ....

Come along and support the students and staff of both these fine state schools.

COMMENT: Sense and nonsense on Fethllah Gulen and the Australian Catholic University ...

Well the gloves really have been taken off in the battle between the radical fringe obsessed with finding civilisational conflict everywhere on the one hand, and the rest of the universe on the other.

It all started with an article appearing in Quadrant, authored by one Father Paul Stenhouse. Poor Mr Stenhouse was frothing at the pen at the decision by the Australian Catholic University to accept money from some allegedly secretive radical jihadist from Turkey.

And who is this nasty long-bearded beedy-eyed terror-loving mullah? It is none other then ... wait for it ... and try not to laugh too hard when his identity is revealed ... Muhammad Fethullah Gulen!

Yep, this chap who has been lambasted by Turkish Islamists for refusing to endorse Islamist parties, and who has even allegedly told his female followers to remove their hijabs to get a university education is being accused by Fr Stenhouse of being linked to his worst critics.

I'm in the process of completing the second part of a critique for the ABC's Unleashed opinion and commentary portal. The first part can be found here.

The issue has also ben picked up by The Australian here. Professor Greg Barton of Monash Unversity makes these sensible observations reported by The Oz as follows ...

But another scholar of Islam, Monash University professor Greg Barton, who has also made a special study of Gulen, has dismissed Father Stenhouse's objections.

Dismissing the article as poorly written and "not particularly well-argued", Professor Barton said the Gulen movement was marked by the commitment of its members to work hard, live modestly and to serve others, which often meant donating money to worthy causes, such as education and interfaith initiatives.

"Father Stenhouse conflates this quiescent Sufism with some of the rare examples of Sufi militantism," Professor Barton said. "For the most part, Sufis are accommodationists rather than confrontational."

"(The Gulen movement) is the antithesis of Islamist movements."

Later, in the letters section of the Higher Education section, one Ban Tzur manufactures the claim that the Muslim Brotherhood was

... an originally Egyptian Sufi movement responsible for the assassination of Anwar Sadat for making peace with Israel and the central inspiration for the Palestinian Hamas terrorists, for Algerian extremists, and for much else wrong with the Arab world.

It is true that the founder of the Ikhwan did attend sufi circles early in life, even writing a book of Sufi prayers (or wird). It is also true that the Ikhwan underwent a split, with some members going even further toward political extremism than even Syed Qutb.

What evidence does Tzur have that the Ikhwani Sufis were behind the assassination of former Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat? To be fair, Tzur would hardly have a chance to present his evidence in a letter to the editor. Perhaps he can present his evidence in this forum.

One researcher from Georgetown University (a private Catholic University in Washington DC) had this to say ...

I HAVE had several years of close association with members of the Fethullah Gulen movement, which is associated not only with the new chair at the Australian Catholic University but with many initiatives across the world promoting education and inter-religious understanding. This is no Trojan horse, as Paul Stenhouse has insisted on calling it. Indeed he might be interested to know that the movement has received a lot of criticism from Muslims who fear that it is a Christian Trojan horse. Wags in Turkey like to joke that the cardinal named in secret in 2003 by pope John Paul II was Fethullah Gulen.

A charge of naivety is the weapon of choice used against those in either religion who refuse to resign themselves to the nightmarish vision of an endless clash of civilisations but who are game enough to try something new. The ACU and the Australian Intercultural Society are to be praised rather than pilloried for this small but courageous opening.

There's no doubt that the intellectual and educational reform movement led by Fethullah Hoca has been criticised by many Muslims as being too accommodatory to Turkish secular nationalism. That regular writers for Quadrant have found cause to attack even such a harmless group is further evidence of just how nutty and tunnel-visioned the far-Right have becomde.

© Irfan Yusuf 2008

COMMENT: On practising certificates and degrees ...

Recently, the Sydney Morning Herald did an excellent series of articles on Islam in Australia. Among them was one by Deborah Snow on the work of the al-Ghazali Centre based in Sydney.

Ms Snow made the following observation ...

Ali's standing as a religious teacher is not fully accepted in some parts of Sydney's Islamic community. Some question his knowledge of Arabic, and the nature of the religious training he has received abroad.

I am among those who have expressed reservations. Some days ago, I received a lengthy comment on a previous entry of this blog from an anonymous person. I reproduce that comment below ...

Assalamu Alaikum,

I hope this doesn't get wiped out...

As a student of Al-Ghazzali centre and advocate of Sidi Afroz Ali, I am deeply offended by the claims of Irfan Yusuf. I will begin with the facts... Sidi Afroz has been studying Islam since the age of 7. He was a qualified Imam in Fiji in 1984. I've seen the certificate. The reason I've seen the certificate is because I approached him directly and didn't make my first port of call a public forum. Show a little humility and respect for those who are somewhat more knowledgeable than ourselves. I've also seen his Ijaza to teach Hanafi Fiqh. The purpose of an Ijaza is not to have it hanging on a wall in an office, it is not a law degree in a lawyers office or doctors practicing certificate. A teacher should not have to justify his position to his students rather the Ijaza serves the purpose of being proof to another teacher that one is qualified to study at the next level. For example you cannot attend university unless you have completed your Higher School Certificate. Similarly, you can only further your religious knowledge with another teacher if you have an Ijaza noting your completion or mastery of the preceding level of that particular subject, be it fiqh, aqeedah etc.. As a result of this, his other two Ijaza's in Shafii fiqh and aqeedah are kept Zaytuna Institute where they will be required as evidence from him by from his future teaches.

Sidi Afroz openly says that he STUDIED in Medina at the Medina University. He does NOT say that he has any degree from that institution, nor does he rely on the knowledge gained there. He mentions his time there so as not to be accused of hiding anything. This is why he can't show documentation saying that he completed his studies there, simply because he did not. If you require proof, ask Professor Abdul Saeed of Melbourne University and stop slandering. He has studied in Pakistan, Mauritania and later this year inshallah, at al-Azhar.

This by the way is not an attack Irfan Yusuf. It is a memo/note to the doubters.

Irfan, you mention the names of sheikhs and elders that you would like Sidi Afroz to display his credentials to. Have you asked any of these sheikhs whether or not they are interested in sighting his credentials? Have you asked any of them if they have any issues with Sidi Afroz? I know for a fact that you haven't asked at least two because I have. They are neither interested in seeing his credentials nor do they have any issues with any of his teachings. The reason for this is that neither of the two sheikhs have heard anything negative from anyone noteworthy in the community regarding Sidi Afroz. The simple formula is 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.'

Regarding taking money for classes; Our community has to snap out the fantasy that everything should be free, mosques across the country are empty, community leaders holding onto ideas of yester year and being run by old boys clubs serving the interests of a select few and leaving the rest to fend for themselves. Al-Ghazzali centre does not charge you money to feed 400+ homeless every month, to do morning invocations, or to attend any of its classes (no one will be refused entry due to inability to pay) this does not apply to structured courses such as the Foundations Diploma or specialised workshops. For the money you do pay, you get undivided attention, all the time you want with the teacher, a quality product and at times as another brother succinctly noted an 'inconvenient truth'.

Please brothers and sisters, let us not cause fitna and spread bad words amongst ourselves about our teachers. Let us look at our own faults and diseases and if we have an issue, go to the source. Sidi Afroz is available at the Al-Ghazzali centre on Saturdays between 1pm and 3pm. If you would like to discuss anything that you have read, seen, heard, are unclear about, be a man and go ask the questions that I humbly confronted my teacher with.

Wassalam

P.S If this does not put to rest doubts, than go and see Afroz and have a chat. I urge you to do this and stop committing grave sins. May Allah purify all our hearts Inshallah.

My detailed response to this comment is reproduced below ...

“As a student of Al-Ghazzali centre and advocate of Sidi Afroz Ali,”

=> Are you claiming to be Afroz’s lawyer? In what sense are you an advocate?

“I am deeply offended by the claims of Irfan Yusuf. I will begin with the facts... Sidi Afroz has been studying Islam since the age of 7.”

=> I have been studying Islam since age 4 when I started learning the Arabic alphabet and memorising certain chapters of the Qur’an. So what?

“He was a qualified Imam in Fiji in 1984. I've seen the certificate.”

=> How does one qualify as an imam in Fiji? In what sense was he an imam? Did he lead prayers in a mosque? Does he lead the Friday service as I used to at Macquarie University for some years? Can I now claim to be an imam?

“The reason I've seen the certificate is because I approached him directly and didn't make my first port of call a public forum.”

=> Lucky you. I approached him directly as well, but never saw anything despite repeated promises. I’m not the only one to have approached him directly. Each time someone approaches him and seeks to view his qualifications, Afroz prevaricates and/or becomes abusive. Why? What can one say about someone who questions other people’s credentials, yet when asked about his own, becomes rude and abusive?

“I've also seen his Ijaza to teach Hanafi Fiqh.”

=> In which area/s of hanafi fiqh? Was it in the entirely of hanafi fiqh? Or in a selection of books? To claim to have ijaza in hanafi fiqh is a nonsense. Hanafi law is the broadest and most comprehensive of the four Sunni schools of law, covering a range of areas.

“The purpose of an Ijaza is not to have it hanging on a wall in an office, it is not a law degree in a lawyers office or doctors practicing certificate.”

=> You clearly don’t have much of an idea about the purpose of ijazas or university degrees. Both are means of accreditation. Standardised accreditation. You only get the accreditation if you go through a process which is standardised and which ou can only get if you go through a structured learning process and you pass certain assessment procedures. If you don’t have the accreditation, fools can still go to you for professional advice. If you claim to have accreditation but are reluctant to show it, one can infer that you are being less than completely honest.

“A teacher should not have to justify his position to his students rather the Ijaza serves the purpose of being proof to another teacher that one is qualified to study at the next level.”

=> Afroz is not my teacher. I have every right to ask him to prove his claims and qualifications.

=> My teachers at school had teaching qualifications. Had they not had any qualifications, they would not have been employed.

=> If people are happy to learn intricate and specialised areas of Islamic jurisprudence from a man who hides his qualifications, that is their choice. I choose not to do so. I also choose to warn others from doing so.

“For example you cannot attend university unless you have completed your Higher School Certificate. Similarly, you can only further your religious knowledge with another teacher if you have an Ijaza noting your completion or mastery of the preceding level of that particular subject, be it fiqh, aqeedah etc.. As a result of this, his other two Ijaza's in Shafii fiqh and aqeedah are kept Zaytuna Institute where they will be required as evidence from him by from his future teaches.”

=> This is the first time I have heard this claim. I will write to the Zaytuna Institute and confirm if this is in fact the case.

“Sidi Afroz openly says that he STUDIED in Medina at the Medina University. He does NOT say that he has any degree from that institution, nor does he rely on the knowledge gained there.”

=> Absolute rubbish. Afroz Ali has repeatedly claimed to have a degree in sharia law from Madina Islamic University. He has made this claim at an Affinity conference on September 11. He made this claim during a seminar organised by the University of Western Sydney. He has also made this claim during a series of lectures he delivered in New Zealand.

=> Further, the claim to holding degrees from Madina has been made in his presence or in promotional material. He knew full well this erroneous and false representation was being made about him, yet he at no stage corrected those making the claim. He was quite happy for those sponsoring his appearances to make this claim about him, yet never did he once correct it.

"He mentions his time there so as not to be accused of hiding anything. This is why he can't show documentation saying that he completed his studies there, simply because he did not."

=> So what did he do at Madina University? Did he complete even one single course? Did he do a summer course? Did he complete a non-award subject? Did he sell man’oush at the canteen? If he completed no systematic study there, why mention it?

=> I have been to Darul Uloom Korangi and Darul Uloom Binuri Town in Karachi. I’ve sat with some shuyukh there. I even gave a bayan in Korangi which was heard by a teacher from the Darul Uloom and whose contents he approved of. So?

"If you require proof, ask Professor Abdul Saeed of Melbourne University and stop slandering."

=> I did. Professor Abdullah Saeed says he doesn’t recall ever studying alongside a student named Afroz Ali. I guess you will say Professor Saeed is lying and slandering.

"He has studied in Pakistan, Mauritania and later this year inshallah, at Al Azhar."

=> A few years ago, he was claiming that his courses were receiving accreditation from al-Azhar. Now it seems he hasn’t even studied there.

=> I also studied in Pakistan. So what? I spent 9 months at the Madressa of the Masjid al-Falah in Karachi.

"Irfan, you mention the names of sheikhs and elders that you would like Sidi Afroz to display his credentials to. Have you asked any of these sheikhs whether or not they are interested in sighting his credentials?"

=> Yes, I have. One of them is a senior imam who was Mufti of an entire province in Turkey and has a Masters Degree from Madina Islamic University.

“Have you asked any of them if they have any issues with Sidi Afroz?”

=> Yes I have. Yes they do.

“I know for a fact that you haven't asked at least two because I have.”

=> I have no way of verifying this because you choose to remain anonymous. For all I know, you could be Afroz Ali yourself.

“They are neither interested in seeing his credentials nor do they have any issues with any of his teachings.”

=> Well, one of them has had his own spot of bothers of late, not to mention frequent overseas travel. Another has expressed serious reservations to me, as have a number of his students. A third has invited Afroz to teach at his sharia college on the proviso that he show his credentials and qualifications.

“If this does not put to rest doubts, than go and see Afroz and have a chat. I urge you to do this and stop committing grave sins.”

=> The best way for the doubts to be alleviated is for Afroz to be up front and open. Personally, I have no problems with the activities of the Ghazali centre in relation to its work with Just Enough Faith or other groups. I have no problem with its inter-faith or other works. I have no problems with its retreats. Even after I brought up these issues with Afroz personally and then publicly, I still participated in and supported certain Ghazali centre programs with no hesitation. My issue is with his attacks on others who express views contrary to his own. Let me give you an example. I once made a comment to the effect that I do not recognise Sheik Hilaly as my Mufti. Afroz Ali thereupon remarked that my refusal to regard Sheik Hilaly as my Mufti affected my aqida. When I asked him for proof of this, he made some reference to Tahawi and then proceeded to claim he had an ijaza in aqida. Despite repreated requests, I have not yet sighted his ijaza in aqida. Yet I am expected to take such an obviously wrong statement for granted on the bases that I must trust Sidi Afroz.

=> I have had other persons send messages to this blog concerning matters which I believe severely compromise Afroz’s credibility. I have deliberately not posted them because they appear to concern private family matters. However, there are issues beyond mere dishonesty concerning qualifications. If you are not Afroz, please feel free to inform Afroz and I will be happy to forward him these unmoderated posts.

=> I realise some will not believe this, but I seriously have no personal issues with Afroz. My concern is that the good work he does will suffer if he does not provide consistent explanations about the issues I have raised. We have already seen the damage done to our community by people making false claims. There are many young people who look upto Afroz as an elder and as a teacher. He owes it to them to be transparent and honest.

Words © 2007 Irfan Yusuf

COMMENT: Qualified and Unqualified Lunar-tics

If you believe what you read in The Australian newspaper, you’d think all Muslim Australians are part of some huge conspiracy to destroy liberal democracy. Allegedly, we are all following thick-Sheik Omran and are ready to strap ourselves with bombs and head up to Byron Bay in time to cause maximum casualties at schoolies week.

But if you have ever employed Muslims from more than 3 nationalities, you will know this is all crap. Why?

Well, for a start, the buggers can’t even agree on when Ramadan begins and ends. Each worker wants to take a separate day off for Eid or Bayram or Hari Raya (you could be forgiven for thinking these are 3 separate holidays!).

Not only that, Muslims don’t have any set hierarchy for religious scholarship. It seems anyone can get online and start spurting out fatwa after fatwa and claim qualifications and credentials.

In an earlier piece, I raised the prospect of being shown qualifications from a dude who heads up a “Centre for Islamic Sciences and Human Development” from a garage in Bankstown (actually, now it's from his wife’s clinic in Lakemba).

I have been asking the chap for proof of his qualifications since April 2005, if not earlier.

Now let’s re-visit some of his claims.

a. Mr Ali claims to have a degree in Islamic law from the Islamic University of Madeena, the same institution from where thick-Sheiks Omran and Zoud studied.
b. Mr Ali claims to have studied with Professor Abdullah Saeed of Melbourne University at Madeena.
c. Mr Ali claims to have ijaza’s from a number of scholars including Habib Ali and a range of other respected and eminent Yemeni shuyukh (plural of “shaykh”).
d. Mr Ali claims that Shaykh Nuh Keller has authorised his students to study hanafi law under Mr Ali.
e. Mr Ali runs a course in usool al-fiqh (principles of Islamic jurisprudence and legal methodology) which has been advertised as providing a diploma recognised by various institutions (depending on which day you ask him, it could be the Zaytuna Institute or al-Azhar).
f. Mr Ali claims to display his ijaza certificates and degree at the Park Road Mosque in Auburn where his classes are held.

Mr Ali has entered the fray with his views on moon-sighting. I think he has every right to express a view. So does my mum, my 9-year-old nephew and my 30-year-old Hindu cousin.

Each year, Mr Ali and his students head down to Ashbury to site the moon. It is an excellent initiative, and represents a revival of a tradition which is still followed in many Muslim countries.

By the method of moon-sighting with the naked eye, the festival of Bayram/Eid/Hari Raya should have been on Friday. But the majority of mosques (and Muslims) celebrated Eid one day earlier. Why?

A large group of Imams joined together with the AFIC-appointed Mufti Sheik Hilaly and decided to pray Eid with the rest of the world. They did not insist on localised moon-sighting.

That is their opinion. They are imams. They have qualifications. They have credentials. Mr Ali doesn’t. Or at least he hasn’t shown any.

One aspect of Islamic scholarship is its ability to inculcate humility. The following example of Mr Ali’s humility is taken from the Muslim Village Forums …

“We have the appropriate knowledge and expertise and will involve only knowledgeable people from our contacts to discuss this matter.”

Now before I go any further, allow me to disclose my own bias. I actually agree with Mr Ali’s views on moon-sighting. I agree with the position taken by those scholars insisting the moon has to be sighted with the naked eye.

But I agree with them because they are scholars. They actually have credentials and qualifications which are published. They don’t hide their qualifications. They don’t make excuses or delay displaying their qualifications. Nor do they insult other qualified scholars just because they hold different views.

So let me make the point clear. Mr Ali has promised me that he has qualifications and that he will show them to me after Ramadan. I request that he do so under the following conditions:

1. That the following Imams and elders be present at the time: Imam Tajeddine Hilali, Imam Abdurrahman Asaroglu, Imam Salih Mujalla, Imam Nazeerul Hasan Thanwi, Dr Shabbir Ahmed, Shaykh Abdul Muiz and Dr Muhsin Labban;
2. That the display be held at the Auburn Gallipoli Mosque or the Imam Ali ben Abi Taleb Mosque;
3. That all qualifications and ijaza certificates be produced; and
4. That all Imams also provide evidence of their qualifications (heck, you have to be fair); and finally
5. That I bring my lawyer’s practising certificate so I can certify the copies.

I think it is an open secret that I am of the opinion that Afroz Ali does not have the qualifications he claims to have. If that be the case, it means those learning specialist disciplines from him (such as usul al-fiqh) are doing so at their own risk. If they are happy to pay money for such knowledge, then I will be happy to travel upto Byron Bay to obtain therapy from a billygoat in a bikini.

On the other hand, if it turns out that Afroz Ali does have the qualifications he claims to have, and if the senior shuyukh listed above can testify that these are valid qualifications, I will happily eat humble pie and make a $500 donation to the al-Ghazali Centre.

Words © 2005 Irfan Yusuf


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