Chelle’s interview with Dr. Ahmad Sakr.

As'Salamu Alaikum,

Chelle is a member of IC boards. She interviewed Dr. Ahmad Sakr. I thought to share it over board, so that we benefit  from this interview. Before pasting it, i would like to thank Chelle for sharing it with us.

Here's the interview --

Which denomination of Islam do you belong to?

There is no denomination. Islam is only a religion for everyone who believes in the oneness of God and the words of all the prophets and the messengers. Mohammed is the last one that has been sent by Allah to the Christians, to the Jews, to the Buddhists. And it (Islam) is the summation, culmination and purification of all the religions that came before. Because people were confused among themselves �is it this or that?� I mean, European Christians and the Roman Empire invaded them through the Crusades and told them, �no, you have to believe what we tell you.� When God sent Mohammed to the Christians and Jews�either you want to believe what our God is telling me, Mohammed, or it�s up to you. God is one, is neither male nor female, and the only way we recognize God is through his adjectives. He is the merciful, he is the source of peace, he is the forgiver, he is the creator, he is 99 beautiful names and Muslim memorize them. See on the door? That is the 99 names of God. We learn them, in order to mimic them. So there is no denomination of Islam. Either Islam, or no Islam. Although tradition, or custom, there might be. There is something called Sunni and Shia, but in Islam there is no Sunni or Shia. That happened after Prophet Mohammed. Some people said, �No, we belong to the family of the Prophet so we should take over.� I said, �What?� In Islam there is nothing called family, father, son, grandson taking over as a king or kingdom. It�s a matter of democracy, by voting who should take over, and therefore the majority of the Muslim in the world now, they believe that no child, grandchildren should take over. Prophet Mohammed had children, 3 boys, and Allah made them to die, all of them, so nobody later on would say, �My father was the Prophet, so I have to take over.� Therefore it happened some 200 years later, the idea of Sunni and Shia. Still, Sunni and Shia, they pray together. They have the same principles, the 5 pillars of Islam: the declaration of faith, prayer 5 times a day, fasting during the month of Ramadan, Z???, donation to the needy poor people, pilgrimage to Mecca. So Sunni or Shi�a, they do the same things. Within Sunni also, there are other school of thought. They build it themselves, their students made it. Like now, you make a school of thought to your teacher (laughs).

How did your denomination get started?

Islam started from day one of Adam and Eve. What does Islam mean? Obedient to God. So anyone who claims himself or herself, �I obey God� is a Muslim. So it started with Adam and Eve and then some moved this way, some moved that way. And God sent Noah to guide the people. Then He sent Abraham to guide the people who were confused and there might some tug-of-war in talking against each other. God, out of mercy, sent another prophet, another prophet, another prophet, another�all of them obedient to God, all of them Islam. So Islam is not a recent religion, it�s anyone who wants to obey God and pledge allegiance to God before pledge of allegiance to your country or any country. Islam is the religion and Muslim means the people. And what does it mean? It means to live in peace. We greet each other, we say salaam, that means peace. I greet you with a greeting of peace and we talk to each other as brothers and sisters, not ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen, means, ok I respect you, but if I treat you as my sister it means out of respect with honor, dignity, I really respect you and I want your happiness, anything might happen wrong to you I assume responsibility to ease it for you. And therefore Islam is the religion of peace. Anyone who wants to live in peace and harmony is called a Muslim. How can I live in peace and harmony through the United Nations Security Council? I worked in the United Nations for 5 years, in the Security Council and I tell you, bologna (laughs). But the source of peace is God. If I am not in peace and harmony with God, I am not in peace and harmony within myself. You know what can happen? I�d be schizophrenic. I worked in a hospital in Chicago with the schizophrenic people, 4700 people. What�s wrong with their brain? I don�t know. We were doing research on their brain, what�s going on? Why they are schizophrenic and split personality and triple the number goes back on home, but 4,700 were living in the hospital, Elgin State Hospital, which is a suburb of Chicago. And I cry, �How in the world, in America, we have people of that nature?� I said as long as I am not in peace with God, I am not at peace within myself. Then I will not be in peace and harmony with my family, or my neighbors, or my society. In order to create peace and happiness, I have to start with God and submit to him and say �I am obedient to you, oh God� means I am a Muslim. Muslim is not what we hear in ???, you might be a Muslim because you obey God, but you might be still the denomination of your choice. Now what�s your denomination?

I don�t have one, actually.

I don�t blame you. You are like Prophet Abraham. He saw people praying to statues, sun, moon, fire�he was shocked. He went on the roof of his house, �Oh God, where are you? I�m confused.� He saw Venus, he thought maybe this is God, but in the morning it went out. When the full moon was there, he thought hmmm maybe God, but in the morning it went out. Sun? Oh! This is much better! But at sunset, it went out. He said, �God, please guide me!� and God sent him Angel Gabriel who showed him the way. Prophet Mohammed was also confused. People were praying to God through statues and he said no, filthy dirty, no.

You know what he did?

 Instead of the roof of the house, he went on the top of the mountain to the cave there�imagine, it took me an hour and a half to go to the cave there, you sit inside and you see kabbah, you see it from the top of the mountain�and he used to sit overnight, crying, �Oh God, where are you?� day after day after day, for 15 years. After 15 years, Angel Gabriel came from God and told him �start, you are the prophet, and hurry up, go and deliver the message to them.� Every day he came to him, every day for 23 years, daily coming to him revealing verse after verse, chapter after chapter and telling him �recite it for me� to make sure he didn�t mess it up (laughs). So the idea of Islam is not how we talk about it now, it is from day one. But of course from the day Mohammed accepted the revelation from God, so whoever believes in Mohammed, have to believe in Jesus, otherwise I�m not a Muslim. I have to believe in Mary, the virgin, the mother of Jesus, otherwise I�m not a Muslim. I have to believe in Moses, David, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Noah, Adam�all of them are prophets. God sent 140,000 prophets and messengers. Can you memorize their names? No. For that reason, God said I reveal only 25. It�s easier to remember 25. These are the ones I was mentioning, with Mohammed. Either you believe in all of them, or forget about it.

5. What sacred books and devotional literature do you have?

We have the Quran. And we have the sayings of the Prophet. Because suppose you want to study medicine, and there are books of medicine, you read them, but you can�t understand them by yourself without teacher. But the one who wrote the books, if he is the one to be your teacher, is it not better? So our teacher is the one who received the Quran, Mohammed. So we have sayings of the Prophet. It is called Hadith. Now, more than that who is Mohammed? So I have to know more about his life, from babyhood to 63 years. This is called Surah. It�s the life history of the Prophet. As a child, what did he do? As a business man, what did he do? As a husband, what did he do? As a father, what did he do? As a prophet, what did he do? How did he manage himself? In order to mimic his personality, as a role model. We study him as a role model.

6. Do you require members to support the denomination financially by contribution or tithing?

No membership, whoever wants to donate donates.

7. What moral issues are most important in the official teachings of your denomination? (You do not have to cover all of these areas, just those most pertinent to that denomination�s distinctive stands.)

the place of women?

Dignity and respect for women is more than for men. The teaching of Islam is that even paradise is a defeat of mother. I tell the young boys and girls, go and sit by the feet of your mother. It is as if you are sitting in paradise. And there is a tradition in the Muslim world, the more respect you earn. If you sit on the chair, no one else in the family will sit on the chair. They will sit on the floor as a sign of respect to you.

war & peace?

 Life is the most important moral issue. If we kill one person it is as if we have killed humanity at large. And if we save one person, it is as if we have saved humanity at large. The top priority is the respect of life, even animals, unless it is for the sake of eating, surviving. But to go and learn how to shoot, that�s the worst thing to do. Dignity and respect of all human beings.

abortion? No, abortion is wrong. We will not allow abortion to take place unless and until the life of the mother is in danger. A group of physicians and religious people should sit together and discuss it. If they decide that the life of the mother is really endangered, then abort. Miscarriage is natural. But even if they found out by x-ray that the fetus is deformed, no way of abortion. (I asked what if she was raped?) If raped, we do not correct a mistake with another mistake. We go and get the man who raped her so he can be penalized. In order not to have raping in the future, we should encourage young men and women to get married as soon as possible at the age of 20, even when they are entering universities and colleges they should get married and the 2 families should help the young couple to live peacefully, financially, morally, psychologically and let them live as husband and wife rather than just sex, sex, sex with whoever. Now you see so many things, especially in high school. Here in Rowland Heights, they have special classes for pregnant girls. And they come once a month for meeting of the safe community. And one time they brought the lady who is in charge of this program and she brought some of the girls and they were proud. How can they can be proud?
birth control?
homosexuality? Morality is a top priority. No homosexuality. 
sex before marriage?

divorce & remarriage?

The most hated concept in the book of God is divorce. Marriage is not only between man and woman, it�s between the families. They come together to make one single family. If there is a dispute between the young couple, both families should come and settle the problem.

use of alcohol, tobacco, tea & coffee? Bible says no, Torah says no, Quran says no, but America says ok
gambling? Same thing. Even lottery.

eating of pork or meat? I have written a booklet on pork. (gives me the booklet) Bible says no. Torah says no. Quran says no. Science says no. Social life says no. I can tell you the reason if you want�you are what you eat. We are not supposed to eat meat of animals that are carnivores. We have to eat the meat of animals that are herbivores. If you want to eat the meat of carnivorous animals, why don�t you eat the meat of rat, dog, cat, lion? Why don�t you eat the meat of human being? Those who eat meat of animals who are carnivores end up with mad cow disease and we end up with very vicious animals � human beings. And there will be diseases, no doubt about it. What they are doing now in America, even cows, chickens, goats, they give them meat. Why? Because it takes 56 lbs of grass to make 1 lb of meat. It takes 2 � lbs of meat to make 1 lb. So they make more money. And at the same time we end up with sickness and disease. In February 1994, the US govt approved the use of giving estrogen to the cows. Why? The milk udder will be bigger, more milk will be produced. But when we take this, we consume it, and how many women are getting breast cancer? Too much estrogen causes cancer. So the industry is using us a guinea pigs, but so what, they make more money. 

"There is something called Sunni and Shia, but in Islam there is no Sunni or Shia. That happened after Prophet Mohammed"

Sh. Ahmed Sakr need to update his readings. I'm sure he will excel it as his fundraising activities if he pay attention to this topic

Walid

rami wrote: Bi ismillahi rahmani raheem In Islam there is nothing called family, father, son, grandson taking over as a king or kingdom He should do more than update his reading, he should at least read the quran, where Allah recognises righteous kings and monarchs, or even the ahadith where our prophet has said Islamic rullership will be in the hands of  monarchs. Its very funny his extremist ideology according to him has denounced the very monarchs that fund them i.e the saudi family or used to at any rate...a real contradictions in beliefs.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, "The most awful (meanest) name in Allah's sight." Sufyan said more than once, "The most awful (meanest) name in Allah's sight is (that of) a man calling himself king of kings." Sufyan said, "Somebody else (i.e. other than Abu Az-Zinad, a sub-narrator) says: What is meant by 'The king of kings' is 'Shahan Shah.,"