Fundementalist Cleric: Why Yasir Qadhi Wants to Talk About Jihad

[Prometheus]

He spewed anti-Semitic rants, condoned Islamic militancy, denied the Holocaust and tutored high-profile terrorists (the Detroit underwear bomber). Then again, such things aren't exactly antithetical to the Salafi mindset. But things have changed. A few years earlier, it would have been impossible to distinguish the views of Yasir Qadhi from those of the radical Anwar Al-Awlaki. (I hear the throngs of youth who attend Al-Maghrib seminars are disgruntled by the fact that Al-Maghrib has banned the sale of Al-Awlaki tapes.) You see, lately, the Pakistani mullah has been engaged in a desperate make-over. How does a fundamentalist preacher pull this off? Denounce Al-Awlaki. Check. Praise the principles of free society and inquiry. Check. Visit concentration camps in Europe and apologize for asinine anti-Semitic tirades. Check. And finally, shake a woman’s hand, to the pious horror of conservatives. Check.

 

The NYT article is more a culture piece than a trenchant analysis and criticism of the cultish Salafi subculture in America. Those of us who are secular Muslims relish the spectacle of a Salafi mullah tempering his erstwhile extremist views with calls to moderation. But as Yasir Qadhi has discovered, it is going to take more than shaking a woman’s hand to slough off the stigma of salafism. Unfortunately, he still retains the ultra-conservative dogma that informs much of the ideology of islamists and extremists.

 

Why Yasir Qadhi Wants to Talk About Jihad. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/magazine/mag-20Salafis-t.html?ref=magazine

[STOIC]

There are many refutations of Yasser Qadhi by the NeoSalafis..I find him to be a man trying to find a common ground for muslims in the West...I find to be gravitated towards his youtube lecture...He is a good lecturer...Though Al-maghrib is mostly geared towards middle class families children's I found them to be more concerned with the spiritual aspects of the deen (than being involved with refutations crap that spews out of some Salafi scholars)....

[Complete]

If you define fundamentalist as one who follows the fundamental principals of Islam then I sure hell guess we can call ourselves fundies right? This article has no basis and their intention is to mire Sh. Yasir's name with mud just as they did with Sh. Anwar.

 

STOIC;703462 wrote:

There are many refutations of Yasser Qadhi by the NeoSalafis..I find him to be a man trying to find a common ground for muslims in the West...I find to be gravitated towards his youtube lecture...He is a good lecturer...Though Al-maghrib is mostly geared towards middle class families children's I found them to be more concerned with the spiritual aspects of the deen (than being involved with refutations crap that spews out of some Salafi scholars)....

How exactly is AlMaghrib Institute geared towards middle class families? I've attended many of their courses in Southern California and a few in Northern California and I sure hell don't classify myself as middle class. Sure, their courses are a little on the pricey side but I say it's doable.

[STOIC]

Van,

If you look at the attendees of most of Al-maghrib lectures are college-educated or second generation Muslims..I doubt there are many Muslims from my area alone (Philly) that can afford to attend a two hundred dollar seminars...Don't get me wrong I'm a big fan of brother Yaser, sheikh Waleed Basyouni, and Sheikh Birjas presentation styles, but honestly the door-charging fee is expensive for most muslims especially the newly converts..They just made a million dollar alone last year according to the article..I feel like Islamic lectures should be reasonable to cover the expenses, but not to run like a coporate..this is just my observations and opinions..I have nothing against Al-maghrib and Insha-Allah I'll attend any of their lectures any day if time and my pocket will permit me ...

[Complete]

$165 dollars is not expensive for a double weekend seminar. It's a fair and reasonable price. Hell, looking back at classes I've paid for in the past and plan on till this day - I'm charged that and more for a one day long photography skills seminar. You have to keep in mind this is paying for the shaykh's lodging, food and time there just to name a few. Plus AlMaghrib offers a lot of discounts from the Power of Ten to sending coupons via e-mail. They also offer financial aid for those who cannot cover the complete course payment. I know of a sister who payed 30 dollars last seminar. 'Ilm is all around. You just got to find your loop holes.

[STOIC]

Vans, that is a good move on the administration part by giving scholarships.I didn't know that existed..Insha-Allah like I said I'll definitely attend one of their lecture series...I'm planning on taking my wife next year (if there will be one) God-willingly to Tazkiyat Nafs (purification of the soul) camp usually done by brother Maghroui in upstate New York.....I'm more inclined towards purification and ibadah type lectures (more like knowledge that focuses on spiritual development through submission to the Sunnah and shariah)...Insha-Allah hope you enjoyed their lecture series and I might pump into you one of their lectures IA....

[Complete]

http://muslimmatters.org/2011/03/21/my-reflections-on-the-new-york-times-article/

 

STOIC: Do please inshAllah take advantage of their financial aid. It's worth every dollar. That would put a smile on any wife. MashAllah great thought. Alhamdulilah I've enjoyed every seminar. They're great Iman boosters. I'll be more than happy to greet you and your wife if I ever bump into y'all.

[N.O.R.F]

^Good response there by Yasir.

 

Why do people pick and choose when to be ignorant?

[Nur]

The Pentagon’s Pro-War Sock Puppets

 

By Anthony Gregory

 

March 24, 2011 "Independent Institute" March 22, 2011 - -- In the next years, if you find someone online defending the warfare state, it just might be a government propagandist. The web persona might be a complete fake, even the product of a computer program concocted by the US military “to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda,” reports the Guardian.

 

It has become fashionable since 2001 or so to call the situation in America”Orwellian,” but before long, we will need another term, one that refers specifically to post-9/11 America and can be used to describe other phenomena of a similarly creepy and dystopian nature. Even Orwell could not predict what the U.S. has become—the military spies on the American people, federal officials irradiate and molest airline passengers en masse, the state borrows and inflates and spends to undo a crisis caused by borrowing, inflating and spending, and, by the way, we have always been at war with Libya.

 

Yet there is something especially unsettling about the prospect of government infiltrators in civil society. They have long existed, but the post-9/11 drive to put them in positions of trust—package carriers, cable installers and telephone repairmen—whereby they would have access to Americans’ homes, seemed a bit too Stasi-like even for the American people, some of whose outrage apparently inspired Bush to cancel that program.

 

But now we have what we could call Operation Sock Puppet—named after the common label given to a false online persona created for the purpose of weighing in on one side of the debate and to tip the scales of discourse—whereby the government plans to infiltrate social media and whoop it up for war.

 

The bright side? Their typical propaganda apparatuses are not sufficiently working, perhaps. Even with the corporate media, big business, big labor, both political parties, the public school system, higher education, the press corps and their tentacles on the grip of most organs of the conservative movement and many of the left-liberal ones, the War Party must resort to ever more desperate attempts to shore up support for its wars.

 

That’s a positive spin on the situation. We could alternatively argue that the wars—such as the new one in Libya—barely register on the minds of most Americans, and neither will this cynical ploy by the empire to solidify public support. If Obama tried to bring back TIPS, would it succeed, after nearly a decade of post-9/11 desensitization to government lies, torture, spying, jailing without trial and killing?

 

Either way, we know the state cannot thrive without public support, or at least public acquiescence. Its sock puppet program only reminds us how much it distrusts, resents and even fears its subjects. We might lament how little Americans seem to strike back against these obscene yet everyday invasions. But at least we see how vulnerable the establishment is, which gives us some hope.

[Nur]

"Those of us who are secular Muslims"

 

Prometheus a Muslim? A Secular Muslim? even a computer software can mix up between its many online identities?

 

Nur

[isqarxis]

there is no Secular Muslim.either be a Secular or Muslim

[Nabad_dadaye]

secular qofka ah wa qasab inuu kasoo horjeesto diinta alle wax ka mid ah, qofkii aanan fahamsaneeyn secularism ama si qalad loogu sharxay ayaa yiraahdo secular muslim baan ahay , taasina waa baadi cad .