American Sheikh, Dr. Alwani compares the U.S. to al-Andalus. Sheikh Badawi: A minority can rule over a majority� http://cicisrael.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=1591 1127 Sheikh Alwani and the Ideologue of American Islam, Shammai Fishman / Omedia Sheikh Alwani and the Ideologue of American Islam� American Sheikh, Dr. Alwani compares the U.S. to al-Andalus. Sheikh Badawi: A minority can rule over a majority� Shammai Fishman / Omedia� One of the most deep and influential clerics of contemporary Islam, especially of the mainstream, is Sheikh Dr. Taha Jabir Al-alwani, president of the Cordoba University, Virginia. This Islamic university is named after the Spanish city of Cordoba due to the belief of Islamic leaders of our times in the return to �al-Andalus� � the name of Spain while it was in Muslim hands (for more information about this tendency see JCPA paper by Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan D. Halevi). Sheikh Alwani who emigrated from the Middle East to America, believes that had the Muslims not lost Spain to the Christians those who discovered America would have been Muslims and �would America look as it does today?�. However, he believes that this mistake could be remedied and is proud of his efforts for that purpose. This information with regard to Alwani�s far fetched goals was not obtained through an F.B.I. investigation (and there were some�), but by reading an article he wrote in �al-Sharq al-Awsat� on November 23rd 2001, two months after 9-11.� Alwani was born in Iraq in 1935 to a Sunni family, served as a chaplain in the Iraqi army, received his PhD from �al-Azhar�, taught for a decade in a Saudi Wahhabi university and finally in 1985 immigrated to America. In America he founded and headed three organizations: The International Institute of Islamic Thought, The Fiqh Council of North America and the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences, which is now part of the Cordoba university. The most celebrated activity of the GSISS during the 1990s was the program for training Muslim chaplains for the American forces, which also received words of praise on the State Department website as an example of integration of Muslims.� Nevertheless, in September 2001, right after the attack, a former pupil of Alwani, a Muslim chaplain ranked captain, ask his teacher a question: �Is a Muslim soldier in the U.S. Army permitted to fight against other Muslims in Afghanistan?�. Alwani forwarded this question, which applies to the very loyalty of Muslim soldiers in the U.S. army, to anti-American Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Qaradawi acted in a clever way. He gathered a committee which issued on the 27th of September 2001 a fatwa calling all Muslims �to be united against all those who terrorize innocents, and those who permit the killing for non-combatants without a justifiable reason� and mentioned that �this is in accordance with the Islamic jurisprudental rules which state that necessities dictate exceptions�. However, two weeks later Qaradawi renounced this fatwa in a Friday sermon. This way, Alwani was able to refrain from deciding on a sensitive matter and risking trouble with the U.S. authorities, and at the same time he invited his partner Qaradawi to teach the Americans a lesson. Besides his intensive educational and public activities, Alwani developed the doctrine of �Muslim minority jurisprudence� (fiqh al-aqalliyyat). This is meant to be a framework which would answer the needs of the Muslim minorities in the West for fatawa which take in mind their unique circumstances, but at the same time a political tool for uniting the Muslim communities vis-�-vis the general public.� One beautiful thing about Alwani�s books is that there is always an introduction by a very senior Islamic figure. Shaikh Zaki Badawi of Britain wrote the introduction to Alwani�s �Towards a Fiqh for Minorities�. He states the goals of the Muslim minorities in the West as following:� �The term minority is used to indicate a smaller number in relation to a greater number. To my mind the term in this context does not refer to number, but power . The community that is in control of legislation should be described here as the majority, even if it is smaller in number. The reverse is equally true: the community that is superior in number, but lacks legislative authority, is in this context a minority.� This statement is worthy of careful scrutiny in the light of the fact that most of the research on Muslims in Europe focuses on demography. It is very commonplace to read statements such as �by 2050 a quarter of the residents of the Netherlands will be Muslims�. However, researchers should understand that the Muslims are not waiting until 2050. The political and legal gains of the Muslims are worthy of the same amount of research consideration as demography, if not more.� Alwani bases fiqh al-aqalliyyat on two pillars: One � the �globality� of Islam (alamiyyat al-islam) and relying on the �intentions of the law� (maqasid al-sharia). The meaning of �alamiyyat al-islam� is that the whole world is supposed to be ruled by Islam as Alwani interprets Quran (7:128; 21:105). Alwani introduces something new by describing the lands Islam is supposed to conquer and the dar al-da�wa (the abode of preaching) and not dar al-harb (the abode of war). Making decisions on the basis of �the intentions of sharia� means granting wide legal leniencies in order to achieve the goal of alamiyyat al-islam, meaning the spreading of Islam and Muslims to every corner in the West. A good example for one of the legal tools is the use of the idea of �necessity� as Qaradawi did in the fatwa about the Muslim soldiers.� Alwani is not only a man of great deeds, but also an ideologue. The question is why Alwani is worthy of the title of the most senior Muslim cleric in America? The answer is that there are not many al-Azhar graduates in America on the level of Alwani. Alwani perhaps is the only figure of his stature to immigrate to America. The fact that he is the founder of the Fiqh Council of North America makes him effectively the �Mufti� of North America. His acting as a president of an Islamic university adds a lot to his status and his being a pioneer of ideology for Muslim minority jurisprudence. Truly, there are many original elements in Alwani�s activity. In an article in �al-Saraq al-Awsat� from the 18th of January 2000 he mentioned a meeting with Saudi King Fahd in the 1980s. He spoke then of a new legal doctrine which would assist in spreading the religion and bring about the "Settling-down of Islam after the Settlement of Muslims in the West" (Tawtin al-Islam ba'ad Istitan al-Muslimin fi al-Gharb). His interest in the West started from his work on �Islamization of knowledge� which bridges between Islam and Western sciences, to create Islamic economics, Islamic medicine and Islamic social sciences.� As for Sheikh Alwani, he will be remembered for his unique contribution in bringing Islam to America, and for the ideology he created. The question is what does the United States do to face a Sheikh who compares America to al-Andalus? The answer is that the United States is a country with a very strong level of freedom of speech, and at this time law enforcement authorities are busy acting against Islamic terrorism while neglecting the ideological front. Therefore, it is highly probable that Islamic influence on American policy will increase. The ideological framework was created by Alwani, and the footmen are the Islamic organizations in the United States. There is not to much room to wonder about how America would look in the year 2050�� � <http://cicisrael.org/forums/index.php?s=6775f88368a3577dc913f447555a6a1d&showtopic=1591&view=old> Next Oldest | <http://cicisrael.org/forums/index.php?s=6775f88368a3577dc913f447555a6a1d&showforum=17> From the Press | <http://cicisrael.org/forums/index.php?s=6775f88368a3577dc913f447555a6a1d&showtopic=1591&view=new> Next Newest � [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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