A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following article, British & Muslim , is based on a lecture given to a conference of British converts, by Shaykh ‘Abd al-Hakim Murad Timothy John Winter, on 17 th September 1997.   It is said that the 19 th century French poet Étienne Mallarmé can only be fully understood by those who are not French, because they read him more slowly.   Converts to Islam, the subject of this essay, can perhaps claim the same ambiguous advantage in their reading of the Islamic narrative.   Several consequent questions impose themselves: can the clarity of vision brought by novelty outweigh the absence of a Muslim upbringing?   Is adoption a more culturally fertile condition than simple sonship?   Has the dynamism of Islamic culture after the initial Arab era owed everything to the energy of recent converts, with their own ethnic genius: the Persians, and then, pre-eminently, the Turks; and if so, might the appearance of converts...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abd al-Hakim Murad Timothy John Winter said, “The saint says a few simple things, and changes the world.  The academic philosophises, but does not change even himself.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The following was written by Shaykh ‘Abd al-Hakim Murad Timothy John Winter.   Wahhabism, the hardline ideology at the core of current terrorism, has cut deep wounds in Islam, and helped alienate young UK Muslims.   Can a British version of Islam break free of its influence?   Reaction in Britain’s Muslim community to the 07 th July bombings was swift and seemingly unanimous.   “These killings had absolutely no sanction in Islam,” said a conference of imams convened at the London Central Mosque, while the British Muslim Forum delivered a fatwa that classified the London bombings as hirabah , an Islamic legal term denoting aggravated violence against the innocent.   All implicated in the crimes were to be “excluded from the Muslim community and places of worship until their repentance has become manifest”.   The loud unanimity of the leadership has done much to assuage the fears of other communities.  ...