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| Oleh kerana kebelakangan ini mazhab shiah dijadikan isu oleh pelbagai pihak dan golongan masyarakat islam di negara ini terutama oleh pihak yang berkuasa dalam pentadbiran agama, saya merasa terpanggil untuk mengetengahkan pandangan beberapa tokoh ulama sunni seperti mufti negara Mesir, Dr. Ali Jumuah dan beberapa orang rektor Al-Azhar terutama Almarhum Dr. Mahmud Shaltut dan beberapa rektor yang lain. Sengaja teks asalnya tidak diterjemahkan supaya para ulama yang memang memahami bahasa Al-Quran boleh memahami dengan sendirinya tanpa pengantaraan terjemahan. Bagaimanapun fatwa Dr. Mahmud Shaltut mengenaai hukum beramal ibadah mengikut mazhab shiah Jaafariyah atau Imamiyah diberikan terjemahannya untuk mereka yang tidak memahami bahasa Al-Quran (sila klik link untuk baca post berkenaan). Mungkin kerana sebahagian masyarakat islam di negara ini mengetahui bahawa Persatuan Ulama Malaysia (PUM) pernah meganjurkan seminar pendekatan sunni-shi'ah pada awal tahun 90-an, semasa dibawah pimpinan saya sebagai Yang Di-Pertuanya, maka saya dihubungi oleh banyak pihak untuk mendapatkan pandangan saya mengenai 'isu shi'ah' ini. Bagi saya jawapan atas pertanyaan mereka itu memadai dengan saya memperturunkan pandangan/fatwa ulama-ulama besar Al-Azhar atau yang mempunyaai jawatan mufti seperti Mufti Mesir yang juga merupakan ulama Al-Azhar. Saya berharap pendapat ulama-ulama berkenaan boleh dijadikan rujukan oleh pihak mereka yang memegang amanah pentadbiran agama islam di negara ini samaada para mufti atau pegawai-pegawai agama di peringkat negeri dan pusat. |
Source: IslamStory.com
05/03/2013 - 4:02pm
“I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger”
By this phrase the ex-member of Geert Wilders’s right-wing anti-Islam Freedom Party, Arnoud van Doorn, surprisingly declared his conversion to Islam.
Via his account on the famous social networking site,Twitter, Arnoud announced in Dutch his ‘Nieuwe start’ (New start) as a Muslim. The news was confirmed in Dutch news as well.
The news is one of the latest breaking in the Netherlands.
Till the end of 2011, Arnoud van Doorn was a member of the fiery, far-right, anti-Islam, anti-immigration Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV) Dutch party.
On February 27, 2013, Arnoud posted a tweet in Arabic declaring his Shahadah (Testimony of Faith): Ashhadu an-la ilaha illallah, wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluhu (I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger).
The phrase is known as the First Pillar of Islam that in order for a person to be a Muslim this conviction is firstly needed.
Given his previous explicit views on Islam, Arnoud’s story was a shock to many who doubted and harshly criticized the announcement, which is still a subject of debate on twitter. In another tweet, he expressed his grief and discomfort with ‘the many hateful comments on social media’.
Arnoud account was deluged with hundreds of followers and positive comments backing and congratulating his choice. To them he posted a late tweet in both English and Arabic expressing his gratitude: ‘Thanks for all the support!’
In face of strong attacks on Twitter, Arnoud declined to comment on the reasons or circumstances behind his conversion, confirming that the choice is his own and that his religion was ‘a matter of privacy’.
He just stated that more details about his conversion will be released soon.
And it is...
In an interview with Al-Jazeera.net, Doorn made it quite certain confirming the truth of his conversion, and thus removing the spreading doubts about it.
‘Anyone who knows me closely can just predict the decision. For more than a year now I have been learning deeply about Islam through books and talks.
‘No doubt, other than those close, many are shocked by the decision, particularly those who know of my anti-Islam stands. And this is why they are questioning it.’
On the grounds for his decision Arnoud explained: ‘I’m a person who is looking beneath the surface of things, so I judge them not according to the appearance or just what’s said and heard.
‘After communicating with a Muslim colleague at The Hague’s city council- and after long discussions in fact- he directed me to the Sunni mosque where I was embraced with all kindness and affection. My decision came later as I freely embraced Islam. And it is one of my own, out of the question.”
And on quitting a party known with its open enmity against Islam, and being at time one of its voices, Doorn said: ‘We all make mistakes. But, regardless of that, I see for every life experience there’s a meaning. And my own experience has its relevance to my new choice.’
‘I’ve learned so much from such experience. And I believe it is the reason why I am a Muslim now. It is a new beginning of my life I ask God to guide me through’, He concluded.
Certainly, guidance is from Allah (Exalted is He), and Arnoud is the very example.
We all welcome Arnoud to Islam and ask God to guide him to His right path.
Ameen.
http://www.new-muslims.info/converts/arnoud-van-doorn/
Source: IslamStory.com
Source: IslamStory.com
Tuesday, April 5, 2011 - 12:31
Daniel Streich, military instructor and, until recently, a Swiss People’s Party (SVP) politician in the city of Bulle, has left the party, the political party that pushed the minaret ban initiative. The reason: He converted to Islam. For two years he kept this secret from his ex-party. Now, with the “witch hunt against Islam,” this situation has become unbearable for him.
He was a true SVPer and Christian. He read the Bible and regularly went to church. Now Daniel Streich, military instructor and community council member, reads the Qur’an, prays five times a day and goes to a mosque.
“Islam offers me logical answers to important life questions, which, in the end, I never found in Christianity,” says Streich.
Because he could no longer stand the “SVP’s witch hunt against Islam” Streich left the part two weeks ago (around November 10, 2009) and has made his conversion to Islam become publicly known two years after his conversion. Now he’s participating in the building of the new Civil Conservative Democratic Party in the canton of Freiburg. The former churchgoer is vehemently against the minaret initiative: “If the initiative passes, it will be an absolute deep blow for me. I would have to ask myself, why I applied myself professionally and politically for over 30 years for this political system.” In contrast, Switzerland urgently needs more mosques. “It is not worthy of Switzerland to force Muslims to practice their faith in back alleys.”
Reactions in the SVP were mixed. “Everyone can believe what he wants to,” says General Secretary Martin Baltisser. SVP-National Council member Alfred Heer had a less friendly reaction. Political scientist Georg Lutz: “The SVP and Islam stand closer to each other than people suppose. Both advance a conservative worldview.”
Source: IslamStory.com
Firman Allah:
يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ ٱتَّقُواْ ٱللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِۦ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنتُم مُّسۡلِمُونَMaksudnya :
Wahai orang-orang yang beriman! Bertakwalah kamu kepada Allah dengan sebenar-benar takwa dan jangan sekali-kali kamu mati melainkan dalam keadaan Islam. (Aali-Imran: 102)
Source: The Washington Post
By Ernesto Londoño and Karin Brulliard, Published: June 26
Source: The Guardian
John Harris, 24 April 2012
An assured and calm operator, Yaqoob is being talked of as her party's potential second MP
Source: London Evening Standard
12 April 2012
A London university could ban the sale of alcohol from parts of its campus because some students consider it to be “immoral”.
Malcolm Gillies, vice chancellor of London Metropolitan University, said he was considering the move because a “high percentage” of his students see alcohol as “negative”.
About 20 per cent of students at London Met are Muslim, and of those the majority are women.
Speaking at the Association of University Administrators’ annual conference, Professor Gillies said he was “not a great fan of alcohol on campus” and added that the issue was one of “cultural sensitivity”.
He said of alcohol: “It’s a negative experience — in fact an immoral experience — for a high percentage of our students.” Speaking to the Standard he said he was considering replacing one of the bars on campus with a coffee shop.
Professor Gillies, who does drink, said: “Our university has one of the richest cultural mixes in Britain. Many of our students come from families that are not heavy drinkers.”
Source: London Evening Standard
Source: The New York Times
By LIZ GOOCH
KUALA LUMPUR — Meet the latest in reality television, Malay style: 10 young contestants stride confidently onto a green-hued set, ready for their moment before a studio audience and viewers across the country.
But this is no trial by adventure, or a demand to sing and dance. These women in floor-length black skirts, their hair covered with brightly colored scarves, are competing to show superior knowledge of Islam and their ability to teach it to others.
While official religious leadership in this predominantly Muslim country has traditionally been male, women in Malaysia are carving out new roles, including that of female preacher. Now, television has taken up the theme, starting rival preaching contests on separate channels: “Solehah” (pious female in Arabic), and “Ustazah Pilihan” (ideal female preacher in Malay).
“We need women preachers, rather than men,” said Siti Adibah Zulkepli, 21, after her appearance on “Solehah.” “Because they don’t face what we are facing — health problems, how to manage the house, how to manage the children. The woman knows better.”
Women in many Muslim countries have been engaged in religious education behind the scenes. In Malaysia, where women are on the rise in business, politics and academia, the new television shows have shone a spotlight on women’s growing role in religious leadership.
The Malaysian Constitution both declares the country a secular state and specifies Sunni Islam as the official religion. Malays, the majority ethnic group, are automatically classified as Muslim by law. While the country has long been considered moderate in its approach to Islam, more conservative strains have taken root in recent years.
Still, Malaysian Muslim women enjoy greater freedom than many peers in the Middle East. In Malaysia, there is no gender segregation; women hold top positions in banks and other companies, and female university students now outnumber men.
“There are more women than men doing Islamic studies at the universities,” said Zaleha Kamaruddin, an Islamic scholar who in August became the first female rector of the International Islamic University in Kuala Lumpur.
Ms. Zaleha said Malaysia was now “reaping the fruits” of those enrollments, with an increasing number of women becoming Islamic studies lecturers. She said that it was rare for a woman to lead an Islamic university in the Muslim world, but that reaction to her appointment had so far been positive, with several speaking invitations from a surprising source: conservative Saudi Arabia, where female students are subject to strict gender segregation, and women are notoriously not allowed to drive.
“I think Malaysia has started to break the glass ceiling and is trying to be one of the modern Muslim countries,” Ms. Zaleha asserted.
If women are taking on more prominent roles in Islamic education in Malaysia, as they have in Morocco and Turkey, they are still barred from leading men, or mixed congregations, in prayer. While there have been instances of women leading prayers to congregations that include men in North America and Britain, in most Muslim countries, including Malaysia, it remains strictly taboo.
Yet, the contestants on the two television shows are certainly burnishing the image of female preachers here.
Contestants on “Solehah,” who are selected by auditions around the country, study Islam and get coaching in public speaking and personal grooming. During one recent episode, the women produced videos on high school drop-outs and acid attacks and were then asked to comment before a live studio audience on how these issues could be addressed, using Islamic references.
“Ustazah Pilihan” focuses more on a search for “muslimah,” or female Muslim role models. Modeled on a popular TV contest for male imams that premiered last year, it eliminates one contestant a week. Publicity material for the show stresses the “importance of assuming responsibilities as a Muslim woman, not only as a wife or mother but also as an educator, who can shape and nurture potential leaders of the future.”
Prizes have not yet been announced for either show.
Greg Barton, acting director of the Center for Islam and the Modern World at Monash University in Melbourne, who has studied the role of Muslim women around the world, said it would be a mistake to dismiss the significance of Malaysian women’s expanding engagement in Islamic education.
“There’s actually a lot more happening with women in a teaching role than you might think,” he said.
Despite the more conservative interpretations of Islam adopted in recent years, he noted, it is becoming more common for women to give devotional speeches to mixed groups during social gatherings. At such occasions, women often have more time and leeway to deliver their message than male imams who conduct Friday Prayer in mosques, he said.
Ms. Zaleha, the university rector, said she delivered academic lectures on Islam and sometimes led women in prayer in the women’s wing of the university mosque. But a male staff member — “my right-hand man,” she quipped— leads mixed congregations because it is forbidden for women to lead men in prayer, and only men are permitted to deliver the Friday Prayer and sermon.
Mr. Barton said that in neighboring Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-dominant country, women have been very active in large Islamic groups that boast millions of members.
“One wouldn’t think to go looking for feminists in such circles,” he said. “But I would suggest that a lot of important feminist concerns are being addressed by such women,” he added, citing women’s success in disseminating information about birth control and campaigns against polygamy.
Women in Indonesia and Turkey have been involved in public intellectual debates on Islam for decades, he said. Now, it appears, the demand for television content, especially content that appeals to women, has pushed this to the next level in Malaysia.
“Reality TV sells and religion sells in Malaysia,” he said. “Malaysian women are accustomed to enjoying wide success in professional life, and Malaysians view themselves as modern and progressive.”
He predicted that greater education in more conservative Arab countries would enhance women’s influence in Islam there, too. “Expect to see a lot of changes in the Arab world over the coming decade, including in Saudi and Yemen,” he said.
Harussani Zakaria, a mufti of the Malaysian state of Perak, said he welcomed the growing number of women teaching Islam, but he was adamant that women could not lead Friday Prayer in front of mixed congregations.
“They can preach Islam to the men,” he said, “ but they cannot lead the prayers for men.”
Ratna Osman, executive director of Sisters in Islam, a women’s advocacy group based in Kuala Lumpur, disagrees. She argues that, throughout the history of Islam, women, including Mohammed’s wife Aishah, have educated both men and women.
Ms. Ratna said that the new reality shows may encourage a more public role for women in Islam, yet both in many respects broadcast what she considered conservative messages about women’s subordination to men.
Ms. Ratna says that, when her husband was away and she prayed with her 17-year-old son at home, she recited the prayers — unusual in Malay households, where a son rarely follows his mother in prayer once he has reached puberty.
“I will lead the prayer because it’s just logic that I’m the more knowledgeable,” she said. “Why do I need to ask him to lead the prayer? Just because he’s a male? No, I will not take that.”
Source: The New York Times
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