Imam preaches Islam w/ a distinctly American style

May be Sufism mean different thing from place to place and time to time. But Islam means the same from place to place and time to time.

My dear brother in faith I do not stand before you as an advocate for any particular scholars or madhahib (school of fiqh).  When faced with a specific issue I try to act upon sound source material.  I begin with those scholars who site Allah, His Messenger, and the early scholars of our faith.  Having said that, petro-dollars are irrelevant. 

Sign*Reader wrote: [ The issue is not that something cool would be best option when it comes to the matter of creed(aqeedah)! The American dilemma has been the packaging of religion and selling through traveling salesman like franchising of every other stuff! The model was Ok for the Christian churches with freedom to interpret whatever but for Muslims it is a matter that needs be checked against the touchstone of Ahle sunnah wal jammah!

Salaam Br,

By 'cool' I meant that they seem to be doing good & producing results by bringing the western muslim youth towards Islam.

Initially I was also cynical about how they give their courses at a substantial fee, and to some it may seem too business-like & franchisish the way they go  to different countries. However on the flip side, it is not cheap to run such a huge org, and send teachers overseas to teach. It is also an incentive for students to pull through with the entire course & give their exam - rather than just drop the course half-way [which happens in free courses]. They also provide scholarships to students who cannot pay.

The Touchstone is and always will be Qur'an & Sunnah. InshAllah.

 

I think you have gone through a debate with Bro Rami sometime back in INTRA FAITH at length on the subject! I don't know what conclusion you came to then!

We had a discussion about Madhabs and Taqleed. I did indeed learn quite a few things from that discussion alhamdulilah, however I am confused how that is relevant here?

This IC site is a Sunni Aqeeda site that I came away from some the moderated threads! I am of the understanding where there is smoke there is fire and one has to be wise enough to see which way to run particularly when the disruption of Aqeeda would be the result! Now if the Al Maghrib folks were of the non disputed school, then why is there a  smoke with fire? Here is one the blog http://sunni1.wordpress.com/al-maghrib-institute-exposed/

I find it hard to take any any muslim or website whose sole purpose is to denounce/  malign another Muslim... I mean, there is a no harm in disagreeing and stating your disagreements, but to dedicate one's time & energy into simply maligning a sect/org/muslim is just not a very muslim thing to do.

Couldn't help but notice this excerpt:

"Whether Muhammad AlShareef's father is innocent or not is not the issue in this article. He was probably innocent and in the wrong place at the wrong time. The point is that Wahhabis-Salafis are known to have connections to many strange individuals. This is almost never the case with genuine Sunnis. "

Seriously? . First they write extensively about how the Al-Shareef's father had al-qaeda ties, and then say he could be innocent, but that's irrelevant?

I am not telling what to do but the old cliche "better safe than sorry". Or may be ignorance is bliss! If you intend to be part of the classical Ahle sunnah wal jammah then at least you owe it yourself to make certain their Alma maters and the political($) roots! The fruits come later!

JazakAllah Khair for your concern Signreader, and I appreciate you posting the links. It is necessary to point out to our fellow br/sr if we think they are going towards harm...

Although here is how I look at it, we should judge people according to what they say and do, and not go too much into rumors & conspiracies...

Whatever happened to making 70 excuses for our fellow brother/sister in Islam? (hadith) [I have heard stuff about Yasir Qadhi, & Salafis, & Al-Madinah Univ before].

If a person is telling us something based on Qur'an and Sunnah - we accept. If they say otherwise - reject. Should be simple as that I think. And I don't intend to be part of any 'label' inshAllah... Muslim suffices for me. I would like to be open & tolerant to all other Muslims who hold on to the rope  of Allah, even if we have a few disagreements here and there. Like the Black Eyed Peas once said, Where is the love?

And no matter what the Alma Mater: secular, religious or otherwise - we should judge based on the content. Even if a Kafir tells you something worthy of advise, accept it!

Wisdom is the property of the Believer, wherever he sees it, he takes it....