Islam and Spiritualism *Sufi hearts in Delhi <http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1485>*
*Raza Rumi* *discusses a new book on Sufism by Sadia Dehlvi* The most illuminating part of the book is the evolution of Sufi schools of thought and their key beliefs and approaches. While browsing through the text one marvels at centuries of synthesis in the Indian subcontinent, which explains why the dergahs remain such a focus of public attention and imagination. What I especially like about this volume is its immediate connection with readers. For example Sadia writes in a chapter entitled *Tariqa – the Way of the Sufi *: "Growing up in an Irish convent boarding school, I regularly went to church, sang Christmas carols, baked Easter eggs and imbibed Christian values. During annual holidays a *maulana*, a religious teacher, came home to teach the Quran to all the children. He instilled the fear of God into us, with the result that *fear remained the only emotion* that the heart felt for the Creator. Somehow, this overwhelming fear kept me connected to Allah, despite often wanting to break away completely. Traversing the Sufi path changed my attitude, for it teaches that prayer rituals are worth little if not accompanied by love and sincerity." Whilst exploring the core of Sufi thought, the book traces the *extraordinary lives* of the early Sufis including the companions of the Prophet (pbuh), their sayings, and their emphasis on the purification of the heart. For modern readers, the larger narrative covers the period of early Islam to its current nemesis in the shape of *militant ideologies*. The book's key argument is also contemporary: *how Islamism is the undoing of a faith founded on the principles of love, peace and tolerance.* -- *Raza Rumi* More..<http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1485> Islamic Ideology *Saudi Fatwa of kufr against the Shi'a Ulama and Maraja' <http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1483>* The leader of the congregation at the Grand Mosque (Masjid-ul-Haraam) in Makkah, Mr. Adel al-Kalbani shocked even his interviewer on BBC TV in May 2009 when he declared that all the ‘ulama (religious scholars) of the Shi‘as are “kuffar” (non-believers) . This is not the first, and certainly, it will not be the last outburst by the clerics of the Wahhabi sect, expressing their blind hatred against the Shi‘as of Ahl-ul-Bayt (sacred family of the Prophet), despite the fact that many Shi‘a pilgrims innocently pray behind them the obligatory congregational prayers. -- *M. Abdullah*** More.<http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1483> Ijtihad, Rethinking Islam *Friday, Jun 19 2009* Maududi’s Children: How the intellectuality of Political Islam turned into the brutality of faithful fascism <http://www.newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1474> Though no Pakistani has been flogged for the offence of consuming and selling alcohol ever since 1981, the Shariat Court’s verdict must have come as a blow to the architects of Zia’s Islamisation process that was largely based on Maududi’s politico-religious thesis of an ‘Islamic state.’ A state whose blueprint, many Islamic scholars opposed to Maududi-ism maintain, does not exist in the Qu’ran and is only a generation of Maududi’s imagination. *Waiting for reason *There are a number of progressive Muslim scholars, especially in Turkey, Egypt, Malaysia, Algeria and Indonesia, who seem to be making deeper inroads in the 21st century Islamic reformist psyche. In Pakistan *Javed Ahmed Ghamdi*, the London-based *Ziauddin Sardar* and respected intellectual, *Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy* can be named. In their work on Islam they have taken a scientific and a strictly academic approach, and are not immune to openly question the historicity of the Laws of Islam that have been handed down to us from the 8th century onwards; or a history and versions of the Shariah that started to appear almost two centuries after the demise of the Prophet. To them the Muslims need to have an interpretative relationship with the Holy text. According to Sardar, for example, we have been relying on an age-old interpretation of the Qu’ran, one that is ice-capped in history. The context of this interpretation is of the 8th and 9th century Muslim societies. *It needs to be radically updated through ijtihad.* -- *Nadeem F. 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