[Prererularl]

I'll now express my dilemma.
His Contentions.
These, I suppose, are the Qalbi-Wardat.
Such things are usually tricky.
One has to be rather cautious about such things.
You see these things are heady, that is very enjoyable, but still have to be sorted out from whisperings.
I suppose a novice, and we can never assert our expertize, will be better off leaving them out.
Just for example a contention does not seem to be a Islamic assertion.
But there can be significant insights there.
I'll try to bring in Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (RA)'s quotation about Mawardid-e-Ilahiya vs Whisperings, later on IA.
That might shed some light on the issue.

Any way your comment has only heightened the excitement.

While writing my Commentary on Abdal Hakim Murad's Contentions I can tell you I had opening after opening, even though during this time I wasn't very regular with my wird, so I know his words carry immense baraka and are charged with tarbiya. They deal with fiqh, tazkiya, rahma, and the sunna and reflect a deep understanding of tasawwuf past and present. Read them, contemplate them and you will inshallah have openings too.

Maripat I also remember coming across your blog post regarding Abdal Hakim Murad Week at my blog Muslimology. I never got around to commenting but I will here.

During AHM week, I read just about every Abdal Hakim Murad article online and offline, over and over, and listened to just about every one of his lectures. Even before this I was pretty intimate with his thought so I can be critical of his work, but there isn't much to complain about. I can however say I agree with you, that to compare him to Imam Ghazali is probably a stretch mainly because he is so different from Imam Ghazali and spends more time translating rather than writing, but suffice it to say AHM is brilliant in his own way. I should mention the one who called him the "Ghazali of our time" is Hamza Yusuf.

Admitted, some of his insights are not Ghazalian in rank, but they do come close and its his mastery of English and ability to bring together many different intellectual strands, Islamic cultures, languages and express them clearly is what makes him so effective. Among his other talents is he answers questions head-on, on the spot, and doesn't dodge them like so many ulema do. He does have a few unusual opinions, yes, I can say I have come across them (he doesn't support psychiatry/psychology) but by and large he has a pretty thorough mastery of things. Most of them time, if I come across a difficult Islamic question, I can answer it using my knowledge of AHM Contentions alone.

Also, I didn't understand your criticism of reason. Reason is not exclusive to the Mutazila; every Sahaba used reason and even our Rasul used reason and Shaykh AHM follows in this Islamic tradition...Afala yatafakkarun?

[vaalmerruutel]

While writing my Commentary on Abdal Hakim Murad's Contentions I can tell you I had opening after opening, even though during this time I wasn't very regular with my wird, so I know his words carry immense baraka and are charged with tarbiya. They deal with fiqh, tazkiya, rahma, and the sunna and reflect a deep understanding of tasawwuf past and present. Read them, contemplate them and you will inshallah have openings too.

Maripat I also remember coming across your blog post regarding Abdal Hakim Murad Week at my blog Muslimology. I never got around to commenting but I will here.

During AHM week, I read just about every Abdal Hakim Murad article online and offline, over and over, and listened to just about every one of his lectures. Even before this I was pretty intimate with his thought so I can be critical of his work, but there isn't much to complain about. I can however say I agree with you, that to compare him to Imam Ghazali is probably a stretch mainly because he is so different from Imam Ghazali and spends more time translating rather than writing, but suffice it to say AHM is brilliant in his own way. I should mention the one who called him the "Ghazali of our time" is Hamza Yusuf.

Admitted, some of his insights are not Ghazalian in rank, but they do come close and its his mastery of English and ability to bring together many different intellectual strands, Islamic cultures, languages and express them clearly is what makes him so effective. Among his other talents is he answers questions head-on, on the spot, and doesn't dodge them like so many ulema do. He does have a few unusual opinions, yes, I can say I have come across them (he doesn't support psychiatry/psychology) but by and large he has a pretty thorough mastery of things. Most of them time, if I come across a difficult Islamic question, I can answer it using my knowledge of AHM Contentions alone.

Also, I didn't understand your criticism of reason. Reason is not exclusive to the Mutazila; every Sahaba used reason and even our Rasul used reason and Shaykh AHM follows in this Islamic tradition...Afala yatafakkarun?

akhi.
You were in my thoughts from the time of appearance of the OP of this thread.
I must say Allah (SWT) has gifted you with the ability to cover lots of ground in a short period. May Allah (SWT) grant further barakah in that. I, for example, take a lot of time whenever I have to go through a phase like this one: During AHM week, I read just about every Abdal Hakim Murad article online and offline, over and over, and listened to just about every one of his lectures. I am still struggling to finish the first few pages of Orientalism. (Really.)

Coming back to the current things. I am all the more eager to explore AHM.

At the moment my favourite AHM quote is that be careful where you are paying your Zakat if you do not want to end up in a cube in Cuba.

Reason issue is simple. Though I do not remember the context in which I might have brought up but I'll say a few words since the issue is rather universal one. Modern western thought is reason dominated. Science is only a part of that world view. Now let us repeat what Shaikh Ibn Taimiyyah said about logic. He said for a fool it is of no use while an intelligent person does not need it. The least we can conclude from this is that reason is not be all or end all. In other words it has limitations. See even a fool has the strong urge to go to Jannah. It is faith, belief and Iman that takes you to Jannah. Iman, faith and belief is supra-logic and supra reason.

If you run into thoughts of Mathematician Kurt Godel then about a hundred years ago he stumbled upon a theorem that goes by his name. This was something that just moved the ground below my feet. I was mesmerized by logic and reasoning - all because of the influence of western education. And then I had his result that no logical system can be both complete as well as self-consistent. You see the horror of it? (Roger Penrose used it very effectively in his Emperor's New Mind.)

Only faith saves you from such disasters.

I hope this puts the things in perspective.

PS: Oops! I forgot to say that reason and logic is not being denounced here. We got to use both at the regular basis. And when they fail us let us fall back on our Deen - faith, Iman, belief, Wahy, Elders. It is like Zuhd vs Rahbaniyat.

[gambleingsites]

the comment about zakat and cuba (guantanamo bay)

is because even muslim charities have been quite erroneously accused of funding terrorism





SALAFI ISSUE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MRXs5fqlXQ

TERRORISM ISSUE
http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/ahm/moonlight.htm

bombing without moonlight

[BadbarmrapBef]

wow, consensus on sunni forum regarding something/someone haha.

not really..some of us are just remaining quiet

[Ekrbcbvh]

Whats a good site to get a good collection of AHM lectures?

[XinordiX]

Subhanallah, Allah grant AHM a long life and benefit the ummat through him.

In the interview she really does try to push him, typical English (non Muslim) questioning method and ctiticism filled with sarcasm , but Alhamdulilah he answers each question beautifully.

[Prererularl]

akhi.
You were in my thoughts from the time of appearance of the OP of this thread.
I must say Allah (SWT) has gifted you with the ability to cover lots of ground in a short period. May Allah (SWT) grant further barakah in that. I, for example, take a lot of time whenever I have to go through a phase like this one: I am still struggling to finish the first few pages of Orientalism. (Really.)

Coming back to the current things. I am all the more eager to explore AHM.

At the moment my favourite AHM quote is that be careful where you are paying your Zakat if you do not want to end up in a cube in Cuba.

Reason issue is simple. Though I do not remember the context in which I might have brought up but I'll say a few words since the issue is rather universal one. Modern western thought is reason dominated. Science is only a part of that world view. Now let us repeat what Shaikh Ibn Taimiyyah said about logic. He said for a fool it is of no use while an intelligent person does not need it. The least we can conclude from this is that reason is not be all or end all. In other words it has limitations. See even a fool has the strong urge to go to Jannah. It is faith, belief and Iman that takes you to Jannah. Iman, faith and belief is supra-logic and supra reason.

If you run into thoughts of Mathematician Kurt Godel then about a hundred years ago he stumbled upon a theorem that goes by his name. This was something that just moved the ground below my feet. I was mesmerized by logic and reasoning - all because of the influence of western education. And then I had his result that no logical system can be both complete as well as self-consistent. You see the horror of it? (Roger Penrose used it very effectively in his Emperor's New Mind.)

Only faith saves you from such disasters.

I hope this puts the things in perspective.

PS: Oops! I forgot to say that reason and logic is not being denounced here. We got to use both at the regular basis. And when they fail us let us fall back on our Deen - faith, Iman, belief, Wahy, Elders. It is like Zuhd vs Rahbaniyat.

You are looking at reason like how you look at the Qur'an. I think you got to see reason like how we see Hadith - it can be sahih or mutawatir or hasan or daef or fabricated. If its good then alhamdulillah we make us of it, but if its not, and if its not corroborated or there is some fault in it, then we can let go of it, khalas.

They say the sign of a wise person is they are able to entertain an idea and understand it, without fully committing to it and without believing in it. If you can do that, then reason in all its manifestations is OK to deal with, but if you can't, then its going to be a problem. So that is why one has to be careful about understanding one's audience and why a lot of speakers lecture on general topics, and not specific ones.