Paul Salahuddin Armstrong, Founder and Director of Wulfruna Sufi Association
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Caliph Ali’s letter to Malik Ashtar (HD)
BBC Panorama – British Schools, Islamic Rules: AOBM’s response
BBC Panorama programme, screened on the night of 22nd of November uncovered “disturbing evidence that some Muslim children are being exposed to extremist preachers and fundamentalist Islamic groups.” In addition it documented “part-time schools where hate is on the curriculum.” In these schools pupils are being taught through Saudi National Curriculum text books that some Jews are transformed into pigs and apes and that the gays and lesbians should be killed. See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00w8kwz
Shaykh David Rosser Owen, Amir/President of AOBM (the oldest community organisation of the Muslims of the British Isles) responded to tonight’s BBC Panorama documentary by stating:
“There is no place for hate and intolerance towards any group whatsoever in any British school curriculum, rather the contrary.
Islamic scholars from all schools of thought have repeatedly called for schools serving the Muslim communities in the United Kingdom to be British schools teaching a British curriculum within an agreed Muslim ethos. Such schools must educate pupils to be part of, understand, value and respect the diversity and complexity of British contemporary society.
The Panorama programme highlighted the need for a proper agreed curriculum for all schools, and proper and rigorous oversight by those public bodies charged with that trust. In the absence of these, clearly unsuitable material that does not fit within British traditions will find its way into our educational system that may affect positive contribution of individuals to their community and to society at large.
It also highlighted the inherent dangers to communities of segregation from the mainstream or host environment, which is unIslamic, and the need to break down self-imposed and reinforced barriers to interaction. Within such ghettoes extremism finds a fertile breeding ground.”
Shaykh David Rosser Owen, Amir/President of AOBM
Dan Littauer, Human Rights and Press Relations Coordinator of AOBM
Adeel Rahman, Education Coordinator of AOBMContact: press@aobm.org.uk
Website: www.aobm.org
Life Is Like A Cup of Coffee
Eid Al Adha 1431 (2010)
Salahuddin’s Speech
“The stronger one is the one who can absorb the violence and anger from the other and change it to love and understanding. It is not easy; it is a lot of work. But this is the real jihad.” – Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bukhari
Imam Ali’s Famous Epistle To Malik Ashtar, Governor of Egypt
Edited by Paul S Armstrong
Imam Ali, the fourth Caliph of Islam and the first Imam of the Ahlul Bayt, is well known for his abiding contribution to spiritual thought. In the Arabic world he’s just as famous for being a great jurist and man of letters.
The historian Masudi (Murooj-uz-Zahab Masudi Vol. II, p. 33. Egypt), recognised Imam Ali as being the source of no less than 480 treaties, lectures and epistles on a variety of subjects dealing with philosophy, religion, law and politics, as collected by Zaid Ibn Wahab in the Imam’s own life time. These contributions are held in such high regard, both for their contents as well as intrinsic literary worth, that some of his masterpieces stimulated into being many subjects of study in Muslim colleges and universities. Imam Ali’s reputation was such, that it seems to have even reached to Europe by the time of the Renaissance, as we find that Edward Powcock (1604-91) a professor at the University of Oxford, in 1639 delivered a series of lectures on his “Rhetoric”, and was responsible for publishing the first translation of his “Sayings” into English.
Here we present Imam Ali’s famous letter of advice while Caliph, to the Governor of Egypt, Malik Ashtar, which is based on the translation by Rasheed Turabi. The letter, according to Fehrist-i-Tusi (p.33) was first copied during the time of Imam Ali himself by Asbagh bin Nabata and then later on reproduced or referred to in their writings by various Muslim scholars, chief of them being Nasr ibn Mazahim (148 A.H.), Jahiz Basari (255 A.H.) Syed Razi (404 A.H.) Ibn-i-Abil Hidaid and Allama Mustafa Bek Najib, the great living scholar of Egypt. The latter scholar, regarded this letter “as a basic guide in Islamic administration.”
Jihad: Divine Paradox
A missive from the Verandah Vanguard in support of the Redo Pakistan and Other Asias project, wherein the Matronita Minor (as channelled by Sally Deen) presents a Tailorite understanding of jihad.
Other Asias: http://otherasias.webnode.com
The Tailor: http://thegoodgarment.wordpress.com
The Mystic’s War Against Terror
By Naila Amat-un-Nur
I am delighted to be here this evening, to share with you all some moments of insight and reflection that would hopefully bring us a little closer to the beating of the One, Universal Heart of Love, Harmony and Beauty.
The “War Against Terror” is a phrase that has gained remarkable currency in the last few years and what it is broadly understood to imply is a militant struggle against terrorists.
Here we are dealing with three key words which are: Terror, Terrorists and War. Politically speaking, terrorism is the use of violence or intimidation esp for political reasons, and so a terrorist would be defined as one who exercises the use of violence to intimidate. A common use dictionary defines war as an armed strife or a major struggle.
My talk tonight is not a political speech and nor is it an incendiary diatribe meant to stir up social activism, as the three afore-mentioned terms may have purported up till now. If I introduce here the fourth central term to our discussion , i.e mystic, then I would be inviting you to enter a rather unique and unconventional scope of understanding “war against terror”.
Let me quote here Jimi Hendrix who said, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”
Some of you may wonder what a word like terror has to do with a mystic. Mystics are generally known to be people who undertake self-surrender as a path to directly experiencing God and ultimately finding divine union. They are imagined to be sages with long white beards, staff in hand, in flowing robes, standing atop a mountain peak, presenting the very picture of enigma against the backdrop of a remote and rarefied atmosphere. If we choose to put aside this cinematic imagery that tries to fit a mystic into a description much like that of a biblical prophet, we can hope to find him/her right here in our midst, even inside this physical frame that holds our own being.
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