A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn Mahfuzh ibn Bayyah was asked, “How do we get rid of these oppressive rulers?”   He answered, “I ask myself and all of you: what have we done to have these types of rulers over us?   As you are, so are the people put over you.   When we stop oppressing our women, our children, our workers, when we start seeing humanity as our fellows in Adamic humanity; when we start doing this, then Allah ( s.w.t. ) will Change our condition.   It is a Promise in the Quran.”   سُوۡرَةُ الرّعد, … إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوۡمٍ حَتَّىٰ يُغَيِّرُواْ مَا بِأَنفُسِہِمۡ‌ۗ وَإِذَآ أَرَادَ ٱللَّهُ بِقَوۡمٍ۬ سُوٓءً۬ا فَلَا مَرَدَّ لَهُ ۥ‌ۚ وَمَا لَهُم مِّن دُونِهِۦ مِن وَالٍ (١١)   .... Verily never will Allah change the condition of a people until they change it themselves (with their own souls).   But when (once) Allah wills a people ’ s Punishment, there can be no turning it back, nor wi...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn Mahfuzh ibn Bayyah said, “It has come, in a hadits , that, ‘Whoever is prevented from gentleness is prevented from good.’   If this ummah upheld gentleness in its relations, it would be a different ummah .”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn Mahfuzh ibn Bayyah said, “Even if the action is foolish, the reaction should be intelligent.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn Mahfuzh ibn Bayyah said, “My sincere advice, especially to the youth, is to understand this religion, do positive things wherever you are, and help restore the glory of this community.   That glory is to be witnesses of truth, virtue and uprightness.   I say this out of care and concern for all of you.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn Mahfuzh ibn Bayyah said, “If I asked for people to die for the sake of God, I would have them lining up at my house.  But when I ask people to live for the sake of God, I cannot find anyone.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn Mahfuzh ibn Bayyah said, “The Muslim should be a radiant light on all that surround him, and a sweet perfume of goodness from whom people can draw from.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following article, originally in Arabic, is adapted from “Are We Serious about Facing Takfirist Ideology?” from the 19 th September 2013, by Habib ‘Ali Zayn al-‘Abidin ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Jifri.   Three years ago, in the Southern Turkish city of Mardin, Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn Mahfuzh ibn Bayyah’s ( r.a. ) Global Center for Renewal and Guidance, in association with Artuklu University, convened a conference.   It had two primary purposes: first, to carefully examine and review the classification of diyar , domains, in Islamic law and how this pertains to the concepts of jihad , loyalty and enmity, al-wala’ wa al-bara’ ; citizenship and emigration; and second, to discuss the fatwa of Shaykh Taqi’ ad-Din Ahmad ibn ‘Abd al-Halim ibn Taymiyyah ( r.a. ), commonly known as “The Fatwa of Mardin”, in which he deduced a new ruling for a jurisprudential classification of the world into domains of dar al-kufr , unbelief; dar al-islam , Isl...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is the text of Habib ‘Ali Zayn al-‘Abidin al-Jifri ( r.a. ) speaking on the permissibility of greeting the Christians.   He references a fatwa , by Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn Mahfuzh ibn Bayyah ( r.a. ), on the permissibility of congratulating non-Muslims on their festivities.   “We are more deserving of Moses than them”: This was the response of the Prophet ( s.a.w. ) when he was told that the Jews of Madina fast on the day of ‘Ashura in celebration of Moses’ ( a.s. ) deliverance from Pharaoh and his people.   The Prophet ( s.a.w. ) used to fast this day while he was in Makkah prior to the hijrah .   He did not ask about the link between this event and its Arabic date, despite the Hebrew calendar being different to the Arabic.   Madina’s Jewish community had been naturalised in Arab lands, and thus adopted the Arabic calendar.   This was sufficient for the Prophet ( s.a.w. ) as a reason, and he did not say...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn Mahfuzh ibn Bayyah gave a talk, in San Francisco, in July 1999, to a group of Muslims.  He said, “I wanted to speak tonight about your conditions, your circumstances here.  You are a group that is small in number and yet strong in faith, a group that has diverse ideas and understandings and whose individuals come from many different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, a group that is few amongst a dominant group that is many.  The dominant group is strong in many areas; in fact, they are controlling many areas of the world.  I would like to speak tonight about what the priorities of such a group would be: What are the obligations of such a group?  What are the responsibilities of such a group?  I would like to present some ideas to you, and I hope that Allah ( s.w.t. ) Help me to present some ideas that relate to a methodology, to approaches, and to things that will be beneficial to this group if they...