Without fiqh there is only opinion.

It is 21.30/27/01/07
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I am currently re-reading...

UNDERSTANDING THE FOUR MADHHABS
the problem with anti-madhhabism
[revised edition now with footnotes)
© Abdal-Hakim Murad

The ummah's greatest achievement over the past millennium has undoubtedly been its internal intellectual cohesion. From the fifth century of the Hijra almost to the present day, and despite the outward drama of the clash of dynasties, the Sunni Muslims have maintained an almost unfailing attitude of religious respect and brotherhood among themselves. It is a striking fact that virtually no religious wars, riots or persecutions divided them during this extended period, so difficult in other ways.

The history of religious movements suggests that this is an unusual outcome. The normal sociological view, as expounded by Max Weber and his disciples, is that religions enjoy an initial period of unity, and then descend into an increasingly bitter factionalism led by rival hierarchies. Christianity has furnished the most obvious example of this; but one could add many others, including secular faiths such as Marxism. On the face of it, Islam's ability to avoid this fate is astonishing, and demands careful analysis.

There is, of course, a straightforwardly religious explanation. Islam is the final religion, the last bus home, and as such has been divinely secured from the more terminal forms of decay.

http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/ahm/newmadhh.htm

This is a wonderful article(hence I am rereading it)and I will begin translating the book 'The 4 Madhhabs' By Abdul Hakim Winters into Chinese this week. I am a big fan of Prof Hakim Murad, who, alongside Nuh Ha Min Keller, Yahya Birt and of course Hamza Yusuf are the shining lights of Islam within these turbulent times. I am still disturbed by that 'Dispatches:Undercover Mosque' programme and did write to 'The Guardian' (see end of blog)

It seems I will be heading back to China. I am awaiting the letter of invitation from a University in Dalian where I will be teaching 'Western Civilisation' an 'American History'.It will be nice to return to china & even nicer to be back in Dalian-I miss Dalian very much. I am hoping I can catch up with Yang Na and Wenwen, as well as Faye(C's best friend). I know this will just be a relatively short stint and hopefully I can start the PGCE the coming academic year. Let us see, I still have about 5 interviews pending...

I spoke with Song Song today who did not sound so happy. she just felt we had been away from each other for so long & she said she felt as if she had nobody. I think it must be hard for her and so I do try to be understanding. she is a really good girl.I am lucky to have her as a part of my life. i miss Hui Fen and hope If I land in shanghai first i can spend afew days with her (for some reason it is cheaper to flu from London to Shanghai then London to Beijing-lord knows why...). Fen Fen is a lovely lovely gentle girl who has had a hard couple of years...Jenny emailed me, Jenny-aaa!!!I guess in Dalian i can also make a bunch of new friends as well :)...I had this dream about Yang Na recently and this reoccurring dream of Han Jun....god I miss Han Jun so badly, I would say bar Song Song she would be the only other girl I could love...

I need to buy a decent Digital Camera, 1.3MPs by my Mobile is pretty awful...I think I will procure one before i head out...

Talking of buying things, i recently bought and am reading/have read the following...

The State We Are In: Identity, Terror and the Law of Jihad
(excellent book, very informative indeed)

All Under Heaven: A Complete History of China
(A good overview, though brief in parts...)

Classical Chinese Literature: An Anthology of Translations: From Antiquity to the Tang Dynasty v. 1 (Classical Chinese Literature; An Anthology of Translations)
(Just came today-seems awesome though..)

Images of Women in Chinese Thought and Culture: Writings from the Pre-Qin Period to the Song Dynasty
(Very very good)

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While looking at Amazon.co.uk I concluded books Muslims should not buy...

The Ultimate Sniper: An Advanced Training Manual for Military and Police Snipers

Expedient Homemade Firearms: The 9mm Submachine Gun

(hehehe-I'm joking!!)
I do wonder why they would allow such books to be sold.

After reading extensively on history, of various period etc I concluded that Britain, well Europe is wonderful at creating 'fitna' within other nations. it is very interesting & disturbing if you actually read this. worse still they often used Christan Missionaries to bring this social divisions about and create social and political unrest. They called this 'The Great Game'. Interesting and scary....know your history people!

The papers today say...

The myth of McCain

Once the presumptive next US president, the Republican frontrunner's popularity has nose dived

Sidney Blumenthal
Saturday January 27, 2007
The Guardian

When Senator John McCain appeared at the Conservative party conference in Bournemouth last October as the presumptive next president of the US, the stars seemed fixed in the firmament for him. The myth of McCain appeared as invincible as ever.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1999819,00.html

Hillary and Barack battle it out for Hollywood elite's millions

By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles

Published: 27 January 2007

Barack Obama's surging campaign for the White House is winning him new friends in Hollywood, where chequebooks speak louder than political opinions and some of the most influential entertainment industry figures are already promising big-money contributions that might otherwise be going to Hillary Clinton.

Senator Obama will be feted at a $2,300-per-head fundraiser at the Beverly Hills Hotel hosted by Steven Spielberg and his former DreamWorks partners David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg next month.

Hundreds of invitations went out earlier this week to southern California's most generous political donors, including studio heads, A-list actors, directors and producers.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2190022.ece

Let me say from the onset, I like Barack Obama. I find him to be articulate and very intelligent, especially when juxtaposed to the other candidates for the American presidential race. Unfortunately with peoples such as Fox News(spawn of Satan, that vile channel) frequently terming him 'Barack Osama' or implying that because his middle name is Hussein that he is terrorist(because he has a Muslim name) I fear his Campaign will need to be harder fought.

All else is good...Shining forgets her Pig..zemme ban....I miss her!!

Oxford(Pic)

smile

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Sir

After seeing the Dispatches Programme, ‘Undercover Mosque’ I feel certain issues need to be addressed which I hope you will read out.

1) As a British Muslim I will say categorically that the views expressed by certain Muslims within that show in no way reflect the actual teaching of Islam and are a distortion of its teachings on every level.

2) The rejection of ‘Ijtihad-the use of Islamic rulings based upon the understanding of scholars who have spent their life studying Islam-is fundamentally the reason for the rise in such heinous thinking within some Muslim communities. Being able to read Arabic does not give you any Islamic right to make any Islamic rulings. Traditionally people adhered to a school of Thought. However Whahabbism rejects this notion based on the misguided premise of ‘they were men and we were men’so we can understand the Quran by our own (limited) intellects. Who would you trust someone who has spent his or her life studying something or someone who has taken a 4 week course.. It is like asking Jade from BB to read and write an exegesis on Kant’s Prolegomena.

3) Nowhere in the Quran does it say Men are higher in status than women or that women are inferior. The verse cited, in the original Arabic is traditionally translated as ‘in responsibility’. I.e ‘men are higher in responsibility’ to women as ‘Jihad(meaning a struggle, not war)is obligatory upon men but not women. Also men must fulfil all their duties to women but women do not have to fulfil all her duties to men. Regarding hitting women, the Prophet never struck his wife and nowhere does it say you can hit a women for not covering their hair, that is complete nonsense and against any Islamic teaching.

4) In Islamic law a Muslim must live by the Laws of the land he or she is in or, under Islamic law, they must make ‘hijrah’ (migrate) to another land if they feel they are unable to freely practice their Faith. This is Islam.

5) Kuffar(that infamous phrase)means ‘someone who rejects the Truth’ Not all non Muslims can be called ‘Kafir’ and even those who are must be respected. Al Ghazaali said people who have not rejected Islam can not be called Kafir as they may have a misunderstanding of the Truth and so do not actually reject Islam but are rejected a misrepresentation of Islam. This is very often the case with non Muslim who are hostile towards Islam, they are given a misrepresentation by these types of people.

6) Muslims need to stop saying Jews are pigs etc. They are the decedents of Prophets and should be respected as such. This is completely against the Islamic tradition. Political issues regarding Israel does not give anyone the right to collectively punish anyone. ‘No soul bears the sins of another’ –Quran.

These are just afew of the issues. Islam is a beautiful religion which has helped shape modern civilisation immensely, please do not see the views of afew morons as that of the majority.

Imran zeb (Oxford)

PS. Thank god for such people as Abdul Hakim Winters & Hamza Yusuf etc, the shining Lights of this Ummah in an age of un precedented darkness.

七里香

It is 04.45/20/01/07

I am currently reading this article..

AN ANGLO-SAXON KING PROCLAIMS THE UNITY OF ALLAH AND THAT MUHAMMAD IS HIS PROPHET
Sheikh Abdullah Quilliam, writing as Professor H. M. Léon, M.A., D.C.L., F.S.P., etc. (1916)

In the Numismatical department of the British Museum there is preserved a curious and interesting gold coin, over twelve hundred and thirty years old, on which is inscribed in unmistakable Arabic characters the declaration that ‘There is no Deity but Allah, The One, Without Equal, and Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah,’ and the further declaration, engraved around the margin of the coin, ‘Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah, Who sent him (Muhammad) with the doctrine and the true faith to prevail over every other religion.’

http://masud.co.uk/ISLAM/bmh/BMH-AQ-offa.htm

A very interesting article indeed...

I was fortunate enough, or unfortunate enough as the case may more accurately be described to be caught in the midst of yesterday's tumultuous British weather. In my desire to attend an interview for the Graduate Teacher Programme in Scunthorpe(A place not as vile as the name may suggest..)I decoded to chance the weather which at 6am(when I left) was only a mild rain-which, living in the UK we are quite accustomed too. Alas, by the time we had reached Sheffield , which was my first change I was already running 50 mins late as the trains were being forced to pursue at a speed of 40Mph. This coupled with delays and cancellations meant i finally reached my destination at 3pm, a wonderful 4 hrs of scheduled(a good impression for an interview)

The interview itself went ok I feel, I had to write about 'Personalised Learning' and do a presentation on the subject of 'The Teacher i aspire to be'(I am not sure if i can put up my Power Point presentation but I will try). I was then asked a serious of question and that was pretty much it.

The journey home was even worse, there were no trains from Sheffield to Oxford, all had be cancelled. I thus had to chop and change slowly clawing my way to the Capital. Finally i had to take coach back to oxford as at 00.35 all the trains had cease to run. Having paid an extortionate £78 for the train ticket I was not a happy chap. I finally arrived home at 3am. i ate something, having literally eaten nothing all day and crashed.I did meet an interesting guy on the coach, he was a student at Oxford doing a DPhil in Linguistics, we got to talking about the nature of language through metaphor and such issues as Israel, Iran etc. We exchanged books and maybe I wll see him again to return his book.

The papers say...

The bill for damage caused by Britain's strongest storms in 17 years may run into hundreds of millions of pounds, insurers say.

Eleven people died on Thursday as parts of the country were battered by gusts of up to 99mph.

Thousands of homes remain without power, flooding warnings are in place and travellers still face disruption

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6279769.stm

All else is pretty good. I miss Song Song badly(qin qin). I spoke with her for awhile on the phone today?I also received an email from Mingbo and Lili.I wonder what Wenwen is doing and I have not heard from Shining in awhile...Miss Hui Fen too. I may still be going back to China, though it seems Wuxi is out(somewhat glad). I have a sense of frustration but have come to accept the notion that even within tribulation there is benefit.

I found an awesome Hamza Yusuf speech...

Speaking of religion, my gosh Dispatches on Monday. The people on that show really did an excellent job in misrepresenting the truth about Islam. they were pretty crazy...similar in their retardation to Jade Goody who is a complete racist and deserves everything she gets regardless of how much Channel 4 tried to patch things up.

I recently saw a Japanese film entitled 'Vital' which was actually pretty good. I also say 'Azumi'(again) and 'Brotherhood' which is a Korean film not Japanese but an amazing film. 'Fearless' is good as is 'The Curse of the Golden Flower'. .'The Last kind of Scotland ' seems pretty excellent. In general Hollywood is rubbish, they have to rip of the Asian film market to get ideas.

This weekend, well the weather is pretty awful so there is little I can do i guess...

Smiles..

The pic is Hui Fen

The Self...

It is 23.43/12/1/07
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As day's go (and they seem to be gong quickly it seems, as the old expression states, 'time and tide wait for no man-though of course whoever said this initially was unfamiliar with various stories in Egyptian mythology and Chinese mythology where time is stopped, moved forward or backwards, as well as the fact that the Holy Prophet called the Moon back, he would realize his comment was erroneous but...) today was not a great day. Maybe it was the weather or something which gave me a sullen mood so I felt somewhat low. I was unable to call Song song also, which will always make me feel awful if i can not hear her voice.I miss her terribly....I bought her a bunch of things and I do hope she likes them :)

I have not heard from Yang Na in a while, I do hope she is well. she is a very sweet girl and her hair always smelled like strawberries...

I may well be back in China soon...hehehe!

As for Wei Li, I hope she is happy with her stupid choice :)

I was called yesterday but a University in Northumbria who wanted me to do a GTP in Religious Education & not History as it i(RE) is a shortage subject-hehehe!Can you imagine me teaching RE :)

...I sometimes feel I am not good enough for Song Song, I dislike this feeling and I know it stems from my childhood and that I had very little self confidence growing up but alas it is still there and I should deal with it. I am a pretty good guy and lord knows I am a million times more educated and erudite than most people I meet(ok bordering on arrogance there Mr Zeb..) the bottom line is I do have good things going for me so i should not feel bad about myself so often. I guess it is not only girls who have this....

I think Hamza Yusuf is a shining Light of the Muslim community...

http://www.alhambraproductions.com/podcast/index.php?id=31

Listen to the moderate voice of Islam :)

It is said...

長相思之二

日色已盡花含煙， 月明欲素愁不眠。
趙瑟初停鳳凰柱， 蜀琴欲奏鴛鴦絃。
此曲有意無人傳， 願隨春風寄燕然。
憶君迢迢隔青天， 昔日橫波目，
今成流淚泉。
不信妾腸斷， 歸來看取明鏡前。

The sun has set, and a mist is in the flowers;
And the moon grows very white and people sad and sleepless.
A Zhao harp has just been laid mute on its phoenix holder,
And a Shu lute begins to sound its mandarin-duck strings....
Since nobody can bear to you the burden of my song,
Would that it might follow the spring wind to Yanran Mountain.
I think of you far away, beyond the blue sky,
And my eyes that once were sparkling
Are now a well of tears.
...Oh, if ever you should doubt this aching of my heart,
Here in my bright mirror come back and look at me!"

Headlines...go Blair-hehehe!(joke!)





Iraq is a mess, the war is a mess.....see in comparison my life is not so bad :) make yourself feel better, compare yourself to people in a war zone :) that is awful....

Smile...

Me & Yang Na-I miss her hair :) we are just friends I swear ;)

24 is back...

Yearnings...

it is 20.29/7/01/07
----------------------
The headline sin a major national paper reads

The Sunday Times January 07, 2007

Revealed: Israel plans nuclear strike on Iran
Uzi Mahnaimi, New York and Sarah Baxter, Washington
ISRAEL has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons.

Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian facility using low-yield nuclear "bunker-busters", according to several Israeli military sources.



The attack would be the first with nuclear weapons since 1945,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2535310,00.html

Ah Israel, the bastard Creation of the British Empire & America;the state which should not exist and has no right to exist. Personally I am not a big fan of Israel(If you had not have guessed)or its totalitarian government which has for the past 50 years undertaken a systematic genocide against the Palestinian peoples. This genocide moreover has been funded and fulled by America and the America regime due to elements in America who deem the establishment of the state of Israel as some sort of prophecy of the second coming of Christ. (the fact that both Jews and Christians have perverted the teachings of the earlier prophets does not seem to register). we saw America's support for Israel in the recent invasion against Lebanon-itself resulting from continuous Israeli occupation and attacking of Lebanon. It was nice to see Israel get its butt kicked by Hezbollah though and any nuclear strike on Iran will make the situation in the Middle east a million times worse. I am not a big fan of The Iranian PM but he doe shave a right to have nuclear technology, as does every sovereign nation and moreover the infamous speech where he apparently said he wanted to 'destroy Israel' has been misunderstood and anyone who knows Persian will explain he actually said 'Zionism' not 'Israel'. Let it also be stated for teh record that i have nothing against Jews or Israelis as people, in fact my good friend Eden is Israeli...I just believe in Justice and this is far from it.

Life is interesting. I thought I saw someone who looks like Charming today in Oxford City Centre which led to a whole flood of emotions coming through. anger, regret, remorse-Charming was the first person I really really loved. People who know me me say 'what about Fran and Kumiko'.In hindsight Fran was nothing more than a very good friend-i was stupid to ever think we could be serious, if nothing else our educational background was vastly different let alone culture( though culture is less of an issue as I will marry someoen who is a different culture) I guess this is why it was not so hard to forgive her, not because I'm so forgiving(well I am, but...)the harsh truth is I doubt I ever really loved her and in truth if she ever really loved me. this is not to say she is a bad person or i am just that we were both mistaken-though I will never forget how she told me she had found someone else(whom she will marry). it was a good thing really in hindsight. I will do a DPhil soon...

I miss Kumiko too but she hated China and the Chinese too much. I love Japan and I really did care about Kumiko and if she did not have an irrational hate of Our Chinese nation I think we would be happy. I didn't do myself any favours by calling Song Song 'Kumikoooo' once. hehe!

Charming-Zhang Yiming, is a good girl and I still care for her so much. this is evident from the fact that I am writing this to get rid of my emotional excess which I am feeling. I accept(as she would) that in juxtaposition to many Chinese she is not the most pretty and her temper was very bad(she made my lip bleed once as I bought Shining a Xmas gift-after she told me too but then said I put more thought into Shining's gift). I recall when i first saw her- September 16t 2004. it was a Thursday and I was walking to the First teaching building to give a lesson at 8pm. I saw this shortish Chinese girl with these glasses walking, her hair was short...I said 'Hi'.She said 'ah you are the new foreign teacher from Oxford'.We talked for abit and then i had to teach. i recall her smile and her voice, I loved her voice. I could not recall her Chinese name for a long time and just called her by her English name 'Charming'. I wanted to see her again and so sent her a SMS saying 'I need to buy some shampoo, can you help me'. this was awhile lie but it worked :). He then had dinner several times and began to become familiar.I will try to find my old diary entries so you can know my feelings then.I met her friends and then during the October National day met her family for the first time.

I recall the first time I kissed Charming, my gosh....we were in my room and I was looking over her work. She said it was hard and put her head on my shoulder. I touched her nose and said any girl who can discuss Foucault with me so easily is pretty smart. We then touched noses, as we often did but I had this urge to kiss her.....

We had many good times and some bad ones and then i had to leave China. I admit i was away for awhile but I thought we are together , she will accept as I am trying to find a job so we can prosper but it seemed she could not. 6 month s later I learn she wanted to 'li huan' and i heard she was seeing another boy-what can i do. I am equally to blame but this doe snot negate the fact that I loved her deeply a nd still have a strong feeling for her, which would imply that I can not fully love song but that is just how it is...

things with Shining and everything else is for another day...

This week will be quite busy but I prefer that to boring...I hope i acns ort all this out soon

Life ....

The pic is me and Charming in Dalian..

I am reminded of...

長相思之一


長相思， 在長安。
絡緯秋啼金井闌， 微霜淒淒簟色寒。
孤燈不明思欲絕， 卷帷望月空長歎。
美人如花隔雲端， 上有青冥之長天，
下有淥水之波瀾。
天長路遠魂飛苦， 夢魂不到關山難。
長相思， 摧心肝。

Al-Hidayah

23.20/5/07/07

Firstly let me share with you my letter published in 'The Guardian on Dec 11th 2006 regarding Muslim intergration with the UK.

...ntegration for the Muslim community has never been an issue until now. Look at the success of the Muslim integration in China within the Tang dynasty period. Muslims were so successful in their adoption and adaptation of Chinese culture and customs that Emperor Gao Zong decreed soon after AD650 that the first mosque in China be established. Muslims in Russia, India and Spain also achieved success through integration. When Muslims felt they were being persecuted or that integration was not an option they would make hijra (migration) to a place where they believed they could be successful, as is decreed by Islamic jurisprudence.As for the issue of dealing with radicalised minority elements within Britain's well-balanced and law-abiding Muslim community, this can only be resolved through intra-faith dialogue, which Muslims must ensure. So, I agree with the prime minister. Allow the majority to integrate and the minority should do as Islam dictates: make hijra and permit the rest of us to live in peace.
Imran Zeb
Oxford

http://www.guardian.co.uk/immigration/story/0,,1969106,00.html

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With the New Year in full flow I am ina ctive persuit of my goals. I will ahve a GTP interview on the 15 I think and am waiting to hear about 3 GTTR places with regards to the PGCE. I am sincerely hoping I can start one and get my QTS. I am also hoping i can starta DPhil this year but let us do what i should first and then worry about what I want.

The weather is awful but alas what else is new-thi is the UK.

I recently spoke with Shining, she is very adorable-she always is to me :) I had a strange dream about Bei(She says she is ok). I miss Xiumei, I miss Wenwen,I miss Hui Fen, I miss Yang Na-I even miss Charming and Kumiko-hehehe!I will most likely be back in china ina few weeks and hope I cans ee all of them..but theya re all not Song Song-she is my everything :)

I am reading an interesting book about the History of China-'All Under Heaven'. I read 'The God Delusion' by Dawkins and was very dissapointed. I think he is merely looking at it from a Eurocentric view whicxh makes his arguments dull and easy to counter.His fundamental premise-that logically god can not be proven was made and destroyed by the Great Ghazzali (May Allah bless his soul)

Life is very interesting...thre are many things i want to say but I think for now I'll stay silent...

The current weather in Oxford...(pic)