A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Stephen Schwartz is an author and journalist.  He wrote “The Two Faces of Islam: The House of Sa’ud from Tradition to Terror.”  He is a vociferous critic of Wahhabism.  Stephen Schwartz was Washington bureau chief for the “Jewish Forward” and an editorial writer for the “Voice of America”.  Prior to that. he was an interfaith activist in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.  His previous books include studies of the Spanish Civil War, the radical culture of California, and the Kosovo War.   The following is the transcript of an interview by Kathryn Jean Lopez, on the 18 th November 2002, and published in “The National Review” as “The Good & the Bad: Stephen Schwartz on Islam and Wahhabism.”   Kathryn Jean Lopez: What is Wahhabism?   Stephen Schwartz: Wahhabism is an extremist, puritanical, and violent movement that emerged, with the pretension of “reforming” Islam, in the central area of Arabia...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The Prophet ( s.a.w. ) said, “What I fear most from my ummah are misguiding leaders.  If they obey them, they are a fitnah by them, and if they disobey them, they are killed by them.”  This is recorded by Imam Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal ( r.a. ), in his Musnad ; by Imam Abu Muhammad ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahman ad-Darimi ( r.a. ); by Imam Abu Dawud Sulayman ibn Dawud ath-Thayalisi ( r.a. ); by Qadhi Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Salamah al-Qudha’i ( r.a. ); by Imam Abu al-Qasim Sulayman ibn Ayyub ath-Thabarani ( r.a. ), in his Mu’jam al-Kabir ; and Qadhi Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn ‘Amr adh-Dhahhak ibn Abu ‘Aaswim ash-Shaybani ( r.a. ).  Similar versions were also recorded by Imam Abu ‘Isa Muhammad ibn ‘Isa as-Sulami at-Tirmidzi ( r.a. ), Imam Abu Dawud Sulayman ibn al-Ash’ats as-Sijistani ( r.a. ), Imam Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Husayn al-Bayhaqi ( r.a. ), Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Yazid ibn Majah ( r.a. ), Qadhi Abu Ya’la Muhammad ibn al-...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Dr. Ahmad Hijazi as-Saqqa wrote, in Mukhalifun li Zhahir al-Lafz , that Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Swalih al-‘Utsaymin said, “It is established that Allah ( s.w.t. ) has feet, and the Ahl as-Sunnah have explained the leg and foot as being literal according to what befits Allah, whereas the Ahl at-Ta’wil have explained ‘ al-rijl ’ as being the group which Allah will Place in the Fire, and ‘ al-qadam ’ as being those who are sent forth to the Fire ...”  He continued later in the passage, “… and I reject and return their explanation to them on the grounds that it contravenes the external meaning of the words.”  This is found in his Sharh al-Ajurumiyyah .   In response to this, Imam Muhammad Sa’id ibn Muhammad Ramadhan al-Buwthi ( r.a. ) mentioned that Imam Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Husayn al-Bayhaqi ( r.a. ) related from Imam Abu Sulayman Hamd ibn Muhammad al-Khaththabi ( r.a. ), after the latter cited the hadits of Sayyidina An...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is adapted from “New Kharijism” by Dr. Jibril Fu’ad Haddad.   Among the signs of the Hour mentioned by the Prophet ( s.a.w. ) in the well-known hadits of Jibril ( a.s. ), in Swahih al-Bukhari , is “when the destitute camel herders compete in building tall structures.”   Another version in Swahih al-Bukhari has, “when the barefoot and the naked are the heads of the people.” In Swahih Muslim , there is “you shall see the barefoot, naked, indigent shepherds compete in building tall structures.”   Another version in Swahih Muslim says, “when the naked and barefoot are the top leaders of the people.”   A third version in Swahih Muslim has, “when you see that the barefoot and naked, the deaf and dumb are the kings of the Earth.”   Imam Shihab ad-Din Abu al-Fadhl Ahmad ibn ‘Ali ibn Hajr al-‘Asqalani ( r.a. ) wrote, in commenting this passage of the hadits in Fath al-Bari , “It was said that ‘barefoot and na...