The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ... - IslamHouse.com

More documents

Recommendations

Info

The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab mentioned—except in the first appendix, which is a translation from ibn Abdul-Wahhaab’s writings. In fact, Algar perhaps should be thanked for he truly exposed the difference between ibn Abdul- Wahhaab and his opponents: ibn Abdul-Wahhaab relies on the revelation from Allah (the Quran and the Sunnah) while the others rely on dreams, practices of Muslims and so forth, anything but the true revelation. Furthermore, if any non-Arabic reader had any doubt concerning the types of material that are published concerning ibn Abdul-Wahhaab even from Muslims, Algar has presented an excellent example of such propaganda being passed on as a “critical essay.” In sum, Algar might be sincere in his beliefs but he did not do the efforts required for an academic work. This is very unfair, especially with respect to a fellow Muslim. At the outset Algar’s biases were mentioned. It was asked whether he would be able to raise himself above those biases and produce an objective and scholarly work. Unfortunately, it is clear that his work has left much to be desired—to say the least. One has to ask what was Algar’s intention behind writing a book of this nature. Can he truly claim that his sole intention was to please Allah? Do the efforts that he seemed to have put into this work—or not put into this work—testify to any claim that it was done with a sincere intention? If it were not written with a sincere intention, then what other intention must he have had? Allah alone knows the truth behind questions of that nature. However, one can only hope that Allah guides Prof. Algar to the path of repentance and seeking forgiveness for the unfair and uncalled for 1 words that he has stated concerning a fellow human and a fellow Muslim. 1 One can only hope that Prof. Algar is not one of those Sufis who believes in having love for Allah and not in having fear of Allah. Unfortunately, though, it can be argued that only someone who has no fear of Allah could have knowingly written the kind of falsehood found in his work. 294
295 The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab Schwartz Stephen Schwartz is a Jewish author who pictures himself as some kind of Naqshabandi Sufi. 1 As was the case with Algar 2, this does not a priori mean that he cannot rise above his tendencies to produce an objective, scholarly work. He has written a work entitled The Two Faces of Islam: The House of Sa’ud from Tradition to Terror. This book is being widely propagated in the United States. This author has found seven or eight copies always available in the major bookstores in the United States. Furthermore, its author has made numerous appearances on “news shows” in the Western media. Hence, although much of Schwartz’s book is beyond the realm of this work, the portions of his work that most directly concern ibn Abdul- Wahhaab “deserve” some study. 3 Schwartz tries to present himself as someone very sympathetic to Islam. 4 His main hypothesis, as is clear from the title of the work, is that there are “two faces of Islam.” In a somewhat surprising approach, he dates these two all the way back to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), even picturing the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) as somewhat confused or, at worst, schizophrenic. He describes the early Muslims who fled to Ethiopia to escape persecution in Makkah. Then he writes, Though he remained behind, Muhammad supported this venture, which marked the first instance of a recurrent motif in Islam: the emigration of believers to escape persecution. It is here that in the Prophet’s own life, the two faces of Islam were first seen: separation, which would inevitably encourage purism and extremism, versus entry into the world, even under difficult conditions, leading to pluralism and tolerance. 5 1 In his acknowledgements, he wrote (pp. 288-289), “I owe even more to Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani of the Most Distinguished Naqshbandi Order of Sufis, very beloved teacher and friend, whose companionship freed my heart, may the blessings of merciful Allah (swt) always be upon him.” 2 Schwartz quotes Algar on a few occasions. In fact, when reading their “logic” and arguments, the two of them seem virtually interchangeable. 3 Chapter 3 is his chapter that is most dedicated to ibn Abdul-Wahhaab and most relevant here. 4 In reality, he has no kind words for any type of Muslim, branding them all “Wahhabis,” except for the Sufis and the Shiites. 5 Schwartz, p. 11.
Page 1 and 2:
3 The Life, Teachings and Influence
Page 3 and 4:
Page 5 and 6:
Page 7 and 8:
Page 9 and 10:
11 The Life, Teachings and Influenc
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
101 The Life, Teachings and Influen
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179 and 180:
Page 181 and 182:
Page 183 and 184:
Page 185 and 186:
Page 187 and 188:
Page 189 and 190:
Page 191 and 192:
Page 193 and 194:
Page 195 and 196:
Page 197 and 198:
Page 199 and 200:
Page 201 and 202:
Page 203 and 204:
Page 205 and 206:
Page 207 and 208:
Page 209 and 210:
Page 211 and 212:
Page 213 and 214:
Page 215 and 216:
Page 217 and 218:
Page 219 and 220:
Page 221 and 222:
Page 223 and 224:
Page 225 and 226:
Page 227 and 228:
Page 229 and 230:
Page 231 and 232:
Page 233 and 234:
Page 235 and 236:
Page 237 and 238:
Page 239 and 240:
Page 241 and 242: 243 The Life, Teachings and Influen
Page 243 and 244: 245 †Ω∨ ƒ∫:†φΤΤΤΤΤ
Page 257 and 258: 259 wrote, The Life, Teachings and
Page 291: 293 The Life, Teachings and Influen
Page 343 and 344:
Page 345 and 346:
Page 347 and 348:
Page 349 and 350:
Page 351 and 352:
353 ‚Ω� Ω⇑ÿΨϒΠς√
Page 353 and 354:
Page 355 and 356:
Page 357 and 358:
Page 359 and 360:
Page 361 and 362:
Page 363 and 364:
Page 365 and 366:
Page 367 and 368:
Page 369 and 370:
Page 371 and 372:
Page 373 and 374:
Page 375 and 376:
Page 377 and 378:
Page 379 and 380:
Page 381 and 382:
Page 383 and 384:
Page 385 and 386:
Page 387 and 388:
Page 389 and 390:
Page 391 and 392:
Page 393 and 394:
Page 395 and 396:
show all

The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ... - IslamHouse.com

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?