MashaAllah. JazakAllah khair!

Jazzakum Allah Khair for all your efforts to better our Ummah, Dr.iMuslim. May Allah reward you best and May he always be pleased with you and your awesome crew!

LYFTSOA

how was gpu in general?

masha’Alah, looking pretty smooth in that sherwani….

you been working out?

I guess this talk was pretty much more or less similar to GPU 06
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4529915809587167584&ei=fH0HSZiAD4L8rALYkYn1AQ&q=gpu+06+yasir+qadhi

either way…hope to see it online soon insha’Allah

ASA, it says video no longer available. JZK

bismillah. mashaAllah. one of the prior comments (bint shan) is incorrect, the video is up and running, alhamdolillah. but people may be having trouble for another reason — the whole page downloads very slowly compared to regular MM pages.

were the pics all hi-rez? as much as i like the pictures, perhaps a more normal resolution could be used on the page itself, and the pics could link to full-size-hi-rez versions?

Akhee Anon..

I disagree with you when you say GPU has no good. MashaAllah when the people come they do benefit from our brothers like Abu Ammaar, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad alShareef. They go and give dawah, which is vital for the likes of those people who go to the GPU Conference.

So there is some benefit to be gained by those who attend. However, and this is my own personal opinion, that the average Muslims should not attend the likes of these events or support them financially. As personally, in my heart I believe that the likes of GPU and other similar shows/concerts, do not please Allah and His Messenger.

I advise all my brothers & sisters to listen to my brother Kamal el-Makkis excellent talk entitled, ‘The End of Music’ which can be downloaded from MuslimMatters which highlights the issue of nasheed ‘artists’ etc.

Also akhee, we should remember the hadith of the Messenger of Allah,

“Kindness does not enter anything except that it beautifies it, and harshness does not enter anything except that it disfigures it.

Allah knows best.

Abu Ninja

Brother i’m not going to answer those questions, but I’m just curious…what right do you have to call someone a faasiq? That’s a very powerful label to call a Muslim. There is no need to reach the extent of calling them faasiqeen…That decision is not up to us. We should make duaa that Allah guides us and them instead. Who knows where our emaan we will be tomorrow, or where theirs will be?

We should be careful in using these terms too loosely.

There is a beautiful lesson we learn from Lut alayhi salaam in surah Shu’ara. Allah ta’ala calls his people faasiqeen.
They said to him:
قَالُوا لَئِنْ لَمْ تَنْتَهِ يَا لُوطُ لَتَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُخْرَجِينَ
They said, if you do not desist (from giving da’wah), O Lut, you will surely be of those evicted! (26:167)

How did Lut alayhi salaam respond? he said:

إِنِّي لِعَمَلِكُمْ مِنَ الْقَالِينَ
Indeed I am towards your deed, of those who detest (it). (26:168)

Remember the status of these people and their description in the Qur’an: disobedient, intoxicated criminals who were destroyed in the worst way by Allah azza wa jal, and Lut alayhi salaam says what…I detest your deeds. He doesn’t say, I detest you, or you disgust me–he doesn’t direct the detestation to them, but to the evil deeds they are committing. SubhanAllah. Here we have a lesson in da’wah and akhlaaq. If he is speaking in such a manner to a people who are not even Muslim, not even near Islam, how should we be speaking to people who live by: la ilaha il Allah?

There was a man at the time of Umar radi Allahu anhu who was an alcoholic and he would constantly be caught and then lashed, and then he would go back and do it again until someone complained to Umar radi Allahu anhu and what did he do? Did he call him a faasiq, kaafir, mufsid? No, rather he radi Allahu anhu sent him a very simple letter only with the 3rd ayah of surah Ghaafir:

غَافِرِ الذَّنبِ وَقَابِلِ التَّوْبِ شَدِيدِ الْعِقَابِ ذِى الطَّوْلِ لاَ إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ إِلَيْهِ الْمَصِيرُ
The Forgiver of sin, the Acceptor of repentance, the Severe in punishment, the Bestower. La ilaha ila Huwa, to Him is the final return.

The man then repented and never returned to drinking again.

Maybe I am wrong, and please do correct me if I am….but there is no a need to use such terms to describe our fellow brothers.

wa Allahu ta’ala a’lam.

agree with Abu Ninja. How can you achieve good and expect blessings of Allah by doing something thats not based on the Islamic teachings?

“I am certain that the organizers/participants of the likes of GPU and other concerts/shows are JUST as if not MORE sincere than you are to the CONTRARY of what you have said”
well….SINCERITY is not the only thing needed for an action to be accepted in the sight of Allah. It must also be according to Quran and sunnah.

Yes, its been 4 years since its going on but I havent seen/heard any improvements, but rather its getting worse each year.

Just to clarify some issues for my fellow brothers and sisters, may Allah reward them for their concerns.

Regarding the sister and brother who expressed that I was wrong to use the term fasiq for those men who shave their beards, its important for us to remember that many GREAT classical ulamah of Islam held the opinion that any man who shaves his beard is a fasiq, whose testimony is also not accepted in an Islamic court. Also in our time, many of the major ulamah today, hold the same opinion that a man who shaves his beard is a fasiq, because he is OPENLY transgressing and sinning by shaving. Even Dr. Zakir Naik holds the opinion that any man who shaves his beard is a fasiq. So please my fellow brothers and sisters, let us not get offended when we simply call a spade a spade. Major ulamah of the past and present share the same view regarding the person who openly sins by shaving and are regarded as fasiqs.

A problem is that many people today are trying to present a diluted form of Islam. Where Muslims instantly get offended when you even use the term kafir for a non-Muslim. Subhanallah what Islam is this? One that tries to make concessions to please the disbelievers? Islam is that which our beloved Prophet sallahu alayhi wasalaam taught his Companions, may Allah be pleased with them all.

Secondly to my sister iMuslim, I have actually complained to the organisers of GPU and was given the reply, there are differences of opinions. Subhanallah, really? That is one of the reasons why I posted my questions? Those who say their are differences of opinions and justify the music etc, to ask yourself, would Prophet sallahu alayhi wasalaam and Umar Ibn Khattab be please with the GPU event? Khalaas its a simple as that. The problem is many Muslims know deep down inside the answer to such questions but still try to justify it, due to their diluted understanding of Islam.

As I already stated, it is a good thing that our brothers like Abu Ammar and Muhammad alShareef attend such events, an give dawah to the people. Personally id love for all the teachers from Al Kauthar and Al Maghrib to be be able to attend GPU and events of that nature to give talks, and educate the people.

Islam is not about free mixing and having nasheed concerts all in the name of Islam. It is in fact a dishonor to Islam in my opinion to present the view that such events are Islamic.

Allah knows best.

Abu Ninja

I’m subscribed to Sheikh Yusuf Estess’ e-mailing list, and he is by far the most enjoyable and oldest speaker at GPU. This is what his e-mail said:

Guess what? – Tell everyone you know – We are Going to GPU next year, inshallah!

Why Is Yusuf Estes Going to GPU – Next Year?

Why? – Dawah Workshops – New Shahadahs – And GPU!

This year, we are pleased to announce, there were more shahadahs, more attendees in the workshops, and more meetings with leaders of other religious groups and more dialogs with members of Parliament than any time in the past.

We are all concerned, as we should be, about raising the level of “Islamic Awareness” in the GPU (Global Peace & Unity) event held each year in London. For those who object to many of the activities and presentations being offered at the venue, it would be better to offer constructive criticism and participate alongside of those who are doing some good things, rather than slander the people and ridicule the efforts of those who are attempting to bring about a better environment for the future of Islam in the UK.

Basically, you may consider this as an opportunity to excel at the Excel in calling to what is righteous and forbidding what is evil.

bismillah.

This post was about Shaykh Yasir Qadhi’s talk on Islamophobia. Why must some of us always look to ways to criticize our brothers and sisters for not having the exact same opinions that some of us may hold?

easy answer: because a lot of Muslims are Islamaphobic… towards each other’s submission to Allah.

want the harder to accept answer?

how did groups like the Khawaarij ever get any of the traction they did get among Muslims? by appealing to pseudo-lofty aspirations of everyday Muslims. what were the reports during the time of Usman, radi Allaho anho? those people (among whom would eventually be the cursed assassins of Usman) fasted better than any person ever seemed to fast, they seemed to have more khushoo in salat than any other person, etc., etc. — they “excelled” in so many outwardly visible characteristics.

how do we know that their outward submission to Allah was undone by an inner rejection of Islam? doh! they assassinated Usman! despite the subsequent divisions among the sahaba — and nothing at GPU even deserves to be on stage with that fitnah — these Khawaarij, these supremely self-righteous men, they thought they could pass judgment on the companions of Muhammad sull Allaho alayhi wa sallam!

and among their self-deluded army were Muslims. i know that because history testifies that before the battle between the army of the self-deluded and the army of the sahaba, an emissary from those noble men convinced many of the former to return to the fold of Islam. and then the battle took place, and Allah gave victory to the Muslims.

the hardest part of this answer is that you have to ask yourself how Muslims ever ended up there — in the army of the khawaarij, having to listen to a sahabi remind them what it means to be a Muslim. and you have to, in my opinion, always be willing to ask yourself whether you’re ignoring the right advice and listening to the wrong advice. ask yourself — if, and i thank Allah for having saved me and you from that fitnah, if we had been in that evil camp, would you (or I) have had the courage to accept the truth and return to the Muslims?

inshaAllah, you and i will always challenge ourselves to submit fully to Allah. never assuming we have done enough in our submission. and i honestly believe that one of the mistakes of the Muslims who drifted into the Khawaarij camp is that they forgot the lesson from the hadith of Salmaan al Farisi and Abu Darr (was it Abu Darda?, may Allah forgive me for getting them mixed up so easily — radi Allaho anhum) — Salmaan guided his brother to what was better for him, to what pleased Allah more, to what the Prophet sull Allaho alayhi wa sallam endorsed. to what? to extra fasts? to extra-long qiyaam? to self-deprivation/isolation/khulwah?

no, none of those things was as good as participation in the life of his family and community. balance. such a simple word, mashaAllah. we’re in the middle of Nouman’s class, alhamdolillah (not alaa kulli haal, because the Decree of Allah is that all things must end, and I pray that He finds me happy with His Decree in all matters), and i would guess that there is much beauty expressed by “balance” in Arabic.

any mistake in this comment — including its excessive length — is mine, and mine alone. and any good of it is from Allah. i thank Him for His Patience with me, and i pray for me and for all of you that He will make every day of our lives from here to their Decreed ends a day of growing closer to Him. and i thank Him, too, for my teachers. O Allah, increase them and me in ‘ilman naafiyan, rizqan tayyiban, and amalan mutaqabbalan. ameen.

But as long as it is an issue of fiqh regarding something that is not haraam by the consensus of all scholars, we have no right objecting to it publically.

I thought that free-mixing IS haram by unanimous consensus of the ulama. Anyone have proof otherwise?

As for music, I think any lay-person, who is not a dhahiri (does not follow the dhahiri madhhab), who thinks it is a legitimate fiqhi difference is either ignorant about what constitutes a legitimate difference of opinion, or simply fooling themselves.

That being said… I did not mean to apply what I just said to GPU. InshaAllah, I pray that the good in GPU outweighs the bad of it.

However, and this is my own personal opinion, that the average Muslims should not attend the likes of these events or support them financially.

Average muslims are not going to this event bro. They are going to rock concerts, clubs, bars, etc. These kinds of events are FAAAR from their minds.

Dr. Juan Cole also has an excellent piece on Dr. Rashid Khalidi: “McCain Racism, Hypocrisy on Khalidi Issue.”

as salaam alaikum wa rahmatAllah

I am just sharing a viewpoint. Obviously it disagrees with the article posted by Sh. Haitham Al-Haddad. My only defense is that Sh. Haitham is not any more authoritative than any of the other scholars that i have linked earlier and their opnions. And arent all those scholars and sources i provided ( there are many others) part of the ijma?

At this forum, I am not taking a stance either way (of either opinion) . I just wanted to present that other differing opinion.

Its unusual how we have so many Muslims today who you see following their desires and following weak opinions, when the stronger evidence is – c l e a r l y – against their da’eef views.

This is the kind of rhetoric that i believe is unnecessary. Who are you- or we- or any one else here to say that the scholars who take a differing opinion are following their desires or weak opinions. They have their reasons for their opinions and they should be respected for it. That is all I am saying.

Is it not far more unusual how we have so many Muslims today who do not pray, do not fast, drink alcohol, have premarital relations, etc. let alone even feel comfortable at Muslim gatherings, masjids, etc. These Muslims are only following their nafs and desires. My only point by this is that instead of condemning Islamic events for having music or non-bearded speakers , (I am not defending music, or that men are allowed to shave), that we as a community need to be more inclusive of our brethren – and look for ways to unite more Muslims – rather than look for ways to divide us . Then individually, these positive changes (beards, stay away from music, [if u truly believe that] etc.) will come from within from one’s own stronger Iman and conviction to following the shariah.

As far as the source of the principle I shared earlier. I actually took those from my notes at a recent event I attended (by a reputable scholar) – and unfortunately i did not jot down the source. If i come across it I will share it iA. I sincerely apologize for the lack of source.

And of course – Allah (swt) knows best.

Assalaamu a’laikum

“wow, u really think the scholars/organizers/participants do not believe they are acting according the the quran and sunnah?”

Yes, I know many shayyokhs attend the event but its not necessarily that the same shayyokhs agree with what goes on in the event. They only attend bcoz they can benefit the people and their presence at the GUP carries more weight than the lesser evil of music, free-mixing etc.

As far as I know, after contacting the organisors many times, no scholar is part of what goes behind the scene. They have never given a justifiable reason or mentioned anything about a scholars’ opinion backing up what they’re doing.