Islamic Revival

Question:  During one of our meetings, we discussed the word “Bid’ah.” Some of us said that it refers to everything that contravenes the command of The Legislator (Al-Shaari’), and others said that it refers only to contravening the command of The Legislator in matters of ‘Ibadaat (acts of worship). Could you please clarify this issue? Jazakum Allahu Khairan. Answer: 1- The commands of The Legislator are two types: The first type is in Seeghat Al-Amr (the form of a command) and accompanied with the explanation of the method to complete this command (i.e. the practical steps to implement it from start to finish). For example, Allah سبحانه وتعالى says: وَأَقِيمُواْ الصَّلاَةَ “And perform Salat” [Al-Baqara, 2:43] this is in Seeghat Al-Amr, but it was not left to man to pray however he pleases, but rather other texts were revealed that explain exactly how prayer is performed, including the intention, standing, recitation, Rukoo’, Sujood, etc. Equally, Allah سبحانه وتعالى r

By Mohammad Abu Laiba إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُعَذِّبُ الَّذِينَ يُعَذِّبُونَ النَّاسَ فِى الدُّنْيَا Allah tortures those who torture the people in this life  (Muslim) “Do as I say and not as I do” if ever there was a mantra for the US and its allies in the ‘War on Terror’ then surely this would be it. After over a decade of pursuing “the terrorists” as George W Bush coined them, the CIA, the American administration and any moral authority the Western world claimed to have had, has been destroyed by the latest Senate report into interrogation techniques used by the CIA. The some 500 pages of several thousand that were released show a systematic, deliberate and prolonged torture of prisoners by the CIA held in secret locations across the world. This was no ordinary maltreatment of prisoners in order to gain confessions or extract information. What the CIA’s ‘Enhanced Interrogation Techniques’ (EIT) did was truly medieval and barbaric. Developed in a post 9/11 world when the US ad

Those who wish the Ummah to accept submission before US hegemony have sought to amend Islam so that it does not exceed the boundaries set by Blair and Bush. They carry the old call of “modernism”. They would have us accept the Western way of life because the West is strong. Such a call is in fact just one part of the crusade against Islam that is being waged under the guise of a “war against terrorism”. The modernisers who sit in the courts of Blair and Bush and at the feet of the tyrant rulers in the Muslim countries suggest that Islam can change from time to time, and from place to place. The consequence of this concept is that certain rules of Islam, would not apply, due to the new environment they live in, and that we live in a new time and age. So rules regarding riba, marriage, social interaction, international law, ruling systems, would need to be updated, according to the said principle. The proponents of this understanding use the example of Imam Shafi to legitimise t