A Parting Message For My Blog

By, Umar Lee

I would like to share this e-mail to you all in the blogging would. It send to me from Umar Lee. In this e-mail he speaks about the origins and the end of his blog.

While I may differ with him on many points, I feel that he is a voice in the Muslim community here in the U.S. that cannot be ignored. He represents the growing post-Salafi trend here in the U.S. May Allah guide all of the Muslims back to this blessed dawah, amin.

A Parting Message For My Blog

By, Umar Lee

Beginning of Blogging

Before I began blogging in 2005 I had periodically written for a number of Muslim publications. However, after 9-11, when I felt so much personal stress due to the ordeals of good friends of mine like Ismail Royer and my beloved Sheikh Ali al-Timimi I focused more on writing for boxing sites and doing some media work for some fighters.

Once Allah’ SWT puts the love for the Muslim community in your heart though it is hard to ignore the issues in our community ( especially when you see many important issues being ignored by the major Muslim leaders and organizations). So, in 2005 I began blogging in order to discuss the issues that I felt were being ignored such as the class-divide in the community, racial division in the community, Muslim organizations and mosques not addressing our needs, and the pro Takfiri Jihadi sentiment that was prevalent amongst many in our community, crazy anti-Jewish conspiracies, and other things.

I soon realized that very few bloggers came from the parts of the Muslim community I came from. While my experience has been diverse having attended hundreds of mosques throughout America from liberal affluent suburban masjids to hardcore taabliqui masjids in immigrant neighborhoods to “hood” masjids throught the country; it is a fact that the brothers I was closest to were always those brothers, mostly African-American, who were adherents to the Salafi Dawah, and with Arabs who were either Salafi or had a MAS-oriented approach to the deen in America.

This came after I had been educated in the deen by my teacher Sheikh Abdul-Rahman Basir who taught us from the traditional books of fiqh and aqeedah, the books of Sheikh Abu Ameena Bilal Phillips, the books of Syed Qutb, the speeches of Maloclm X and the political works of Frantz Fanon.

The Sheikh would say ” Islam is a movement..so you have to move” and carry the dawah with you. Almost all of the brothers I was educated with at that time were black, from the inner-city, and had criminal pasts and the Sheikh saw it as his calling to bring the dawah to the hood and on many occasions he said in every city he has been in he has looked for the “gang-bangers” to give dawah to.These were young men who were in a one-way path to prison on the graveyard and the Sheikh worked to transform their lives. I saw young men go from the corners and within 6 months be well-schooled in aqeedah, basic fiqh, know the salat, and read Quran in Arabic. A lot of Muslims would turn their backs on such men, look down on them, refer to them as ” low-lying fruit in the ghetto”, and a lot of non-Muslims would rather see them in dead or in jail than being Muslim ( a good friend of mine from the Bronx remarked that guys who he grew up who were Latin Kings had dealt drugs, menaced, fought and killed since Junior High and had never been sweated by the FBI and he lived an upright life not breaking any laws but because he is a Muslim has been constantly harassed). The story of these brothers and this segment of the community I came from did not have a home in the blogosphere just as these brothers have no place, or welcome, from the Institutes and “Suburban Capitalist” Islam Brother Yursil Kidwai has written of.

The strength of the teachings of the Sheikh was based on some very basic principals; we, our families, our neighborhoods, our nation, and our world is in a bad way because we have no Islam and have lost touch with Allah. No political movement, philosophy, or organization, can help humanity if it is not rooted in the Quran and the Sunnah. All secular knowledge and thought, and indeed our culture, must be filtered through the Quran and Sunnah. The Sheikh was “movement oriented” having been raised in Brooklyn in the 1940’s and being a part of the Black Power movement of the 1960’s. Like Imam Jamil al-Amin ( who I also spent a little bit of time with) and Imam Abdul-Alim Musa, who had come from similar backgrounds, he realized that Nationalism was not the way and being caught up in Western political and thought paradigms was not the way and that the only way to change a corrupt and oppressive Western-dominated world was through the Islamic Movement which sought to replace the secular order in Muslim countries with a Shariah-based Islamic system that could be a light of truth in a world of kufr.

Another white guy around at this time was Suhaib Webb who I used to sleep on the floor with at a storefront mosque in North St. Louis and have conversations about hip-hop and Islam over Mother’s Fish (Suhaib had been given shahadah by the Sheikh in Oklahoma). He would go on to become a prominent Imam and famous. I do not agree with him on all things and I think he is dealing with a lot of pressures; but at the end of the day I always give Brother Suhaib the benefit of the doubt because I know in his heart he has a love for the Islamic Movement. He has a voice amongst those whose ears are deaf to people like the Sheikh and any other grassroots figures and I pray that Allah uses him as a force for good. Today, he is in the blogosphere, and I think he can shed light on many of the issues that I have talked about in the past with much more knowledge.

Tariq Nelson, Rise and Fall, and “Traditional Feuds”

When my old friend Tariq Nelson ( who I met at the IANA Convention in Detroit in 1995) began blogging I rushed to contact him. I told him ” look, blogging in the Muslim community is overwhelmingly Sufi, liberal, and there are very few blacks…so do not be too hard on the people”. I told him then what I will say today; blogs are not reflective of our community.

It was a blessing having him blog because we often bounced ideas off of each other. More often than not I would agree to write something and take on the role of bad guy while he would sit back and laugh.

The Rise and Fall of the Salafi Movement could not have been written without Tariq. We were both around in those times and he reminded me of things I had forgotten.

That series was probably read by over 100,000 people and was copied onto dozens of other websites and was even printed as a booklet by someone I don’t even know. It was written because it needed to be written. A lot of people knew more than me but remained silent; but as I saw more and more people suffering and depressed I knew it was time to open that discussion.

Some good came from it in that people who were suffering could openly talk about their pain and get help. People with the same ideas could come out of the closet. But, many bad things came from it. Those whose motives were not pure used it to advance their partisan agenda when they had skeletons in their own closet.

After writing the Rise and Fall my blog grew in popularity and I became exposed to segments of the community I had previously ignored; Traditionalists, Sufis, Liberals, Progressives, Modernists, Green Muslims, Gay Muslims, Vegetarian Muslims, Anarchist Muslims, Neo-Con Muslims, people who say they are Muslims but do not believe in the Quran and Sunnah, etc.

Now, I am not lumping all of these different groups together. A Traditionalist Muslim or a legit Sufi is obviously better than the rest of those groups; but all of these groups tend to hang together, support one another, and defend one another. A lot of this could be because they are internet-oriented groups and are familiar with one another and a lot of it could be class in the sense that they all tend to come from the suburban middle to upper class, are well-educated, are generally more in favor of secular political thought and social thought than Islamic thought, and have those ways and mannerisms about them.

After being revolted by a lot of what I saw and read I decided to take on the issues that I saw on that side of the spectrum just as I had argued with Muslims in 2000 over voting for Bush and getting too close to conservatives. Islam is a way of its own, we do not need the Left, the Right or the Greens, we need the Book and the Sunnah and the knowledge of the rightly-guided ulama.

I took on their pet issues; a softened position or an outright support for homosexuality, rewriting Islam to be compliant with atheistic feminism, and the list goes on and on.

I wasted a lot of time and energy on this until one day Brother Traiq told me ” Look man, these people do not care about Islam or what the correct Islamic opinion is. What is real to them is what they learn in their secular education not what is in the Quran and Sunnah. ” I knew he was right. They were creating a made-up version of Islam, based on their own opinions, that would be compliant with the Western Secular Humanism they were being taught at school and those who clung to the Quran and Sunnah were seen by them as ignorant peasants.

It was also a mistake to get sidetracked into some kind of a feud with the followers of Nu Ha Mim Keller and Hamza Yusuf. Although, I think I was right for the most part and those ideas do not seem too controversial amongst the brothers I know in real life, the internet is their domain and it was pointless to argue with people who do not listen in a format where they make up the majority ( unlike in the vast majority of masjids in America) and I did not present my opinions in the best of manners. And, in real life, I do not beef with these brothers. I just saw a brother at jumma who just got back from a Sufi school in Yemen. I invited him to dinner and he said " maybe we can have a mawlid" and we both started laughing. He knows he has his was and I have mine and there would be a mawlid in my home over my dead body; but at the end of the day we are still brothers and can be friends.

Digital Divide: The Masjid and the Bloggers and Online Community

It is important to note that, as I said before, the Muslim blogosphere and online community does not reflect the Muslim community of America. In city after city that I go the masjids are largely controlled by fairly conservative Muslims. It is very hard for me to find a masjid with an Imam or group of brothers who are Green or Progressive or what not but those ideas are prominent online. When was the last time you have been to a Taqwacore masjid? A Quranist masjid? Now how many masjids do you find with Deobandi educated brothers, al-Azhar educated brothers, and Medina and Mecca educated brothers? African-American brothers from the American movements? There are even, by far, more imams educated in places like Yemen and Sudan in very conservative Salafi or Sufi schools than self-proclaimed progressive Imams.

What has happened online is that those marginalized groups, some who are Muslims others that are apostate and claiming to be Muslim without belief, have found a sanctuary online in blogs and Muslim group discussions. But, you will not find them in the lines of the masjid at salat-ul-fajr, or waiting for the adhan for maghrib . Nor will you find them struggling to raise righteous Muslim children.

Post 9-11: Intelligence Services, Selling Out, The Rise of Modernist Muslims and the Neo-Colonialists

9-11 dramatically changed our community. Imams stopped giving fiery khutbas, many people stopped saying what they really believed, and in many ways we became a community of deceivers. A brother would tell you he would give his right arm for Hamas over lunch on Tuesday and then be at a lunch at a synagogue on Wednesday.

Brothers like me became isolated. I believed in an Islamic Revival and the Islamic Movement before 9-11 and I believed in it after 9-11. I loved Sheikh-ul-Islam Ibn Taymiya, Syed Qutb, and those groups fighting to establish Islam before 9-11 and I loved them after 9-11.

There are many brothers like me; but most are now silent. Others have sold out and changed their opinions on Islamic matters not based on daleel; but based on the fear of the power of the kafir.

We also have to deal with the issue of the FBI and other intelligence services in our community in the post 9-11 era. I will not deny that you have some fools in our community who need to be watched; but those same fools can be found in every community.

What we have today is a climate of fear in our community. People are scared to voice their opinion because if they say the wrong thing they will have the FBI knocking at their door. There is no freedom of speech for the Muslim in America. As an example; a Muslim is free to support the US-Sanctioned Fatah Party in Palestine, but voicing support for Hamas can get you put in prison. Pat Robertson can get on TV and advocate assassinations and and say that bad things are happening in America because our sinful ways and Sheikh Ali al-Timimi says the same things and gets a life-sentence. An Imam gives a fiery heartfelt khutbah on Friday and on Monday he has an FBI agent calling him to see if they can have lunch to talk about what he meant. How many Christian preachers get that call?

If you or your masjid is Salafi, MAS controlled, Deobandi, or any conservative strain of Islam you can be guaranteed that you and your masjid will be monitored and harassed. If you are an immigrant and a Muslim do not be surprised if you are pressured to keep an eye on your brothers if you want to keep your legal status. What will these brothers do? Most will be scared away from the Muslim community and keep their families from the masjid and that is what they want.

These are complicated matters. The FBI, which is overwhelmingly white and right, does not understand the community and many times are dealing with bad information. Muslims trying to use the FBI to take out their competitors, neo-con think-tanks and groups dedicated to perpetuating warfare between America and the Muslim World have the ear of the FBI and many times more responsible voices do not.

There are a few terrorists in the community, this is true and May Allah Guide them not to moderation but to more constructive means of achieving their goals. But I would argue that the real terrorist threat in America from the days of the Confederacy, to the days of the Klan, to lynchings and jury nullification, to J. Edgar Hoover and Bull Connor, to Timothy McVeigh, to the Tea Party of today to the guy who just flew a plane into a federal building in Texas, has always been from the White Right. And, if you never read anything from me again, mark my word that in the future of these United States will be a violent backlash from the White Right ( fueled by Evangelical Protestantism and Racism) as they become a minority in this nation that may even split the Republic. You could take 95% of the agents dedicated to harassing Muslims off the case and let them police their own people and it would be a much more valuable use of resources.

One response to the post 9-11 community has been to sell out. Some who had been advocates for suffering Muslims in the ummah have now turned their backs on them. Some who believed in the Sunnah now mock the Sunnah for fear of being called a misogynist or a homophobe by the kafir. They turned from being men to being cowards.

While the FBI and the other sellouts in the community have attacked the people of the Sunnah it has allowed fringe progressive and modernist groups to rise. But, alhamdudilah, while these leaders are propped up, and sometimes even funded by those hostile to Islam, we have seen in America that they have gained very little traction outside of the bourgeois set.

The Neo-Colonial groups such as the Progressives , Taqwacore and Green Muslims have failed due to their own deeds. If someone does not like Islam, does not like the Sunnah, and does not like the Shariah, most will just not be a Muslim. Those who do not like the Quran and Sunnah but are looking for some group to join and could not find a home at the Kabala Center, Zen Buddhist Center, or Church of Scientology, we often see now coming to Islam because being a Muslim seems cooler. But, instead of embracing the deen, they just take the label Muslim say they are “spiritual not religious” as some kind of a group label and do not submit to the Quran and Sunnah or believe in it and try and influence the Muslims based on Western Secular Humanist principals and ideologies. These mostly white converts and their Desi and few other cohorts they have are just the latest in a long line of Darwinian ( “white mans burden”) neo-colonialists trying to subdue a movement and people they feel threatened by using the tactic of deception.

The deviants can have a home on the internet; but the people of the Sunnah will have the masjid. The believers in Quran and Sunnah will be those who wake for fajir, who seek the blessings of the jamaa in the masjid, who will sit and read Quran with their children, and who will strive and struggle for the deen. They will teach the next generation the Quran, the Sira of the Messenger of Allah ( s.a.s.) , the stories of the Salaf, aqeedah, fiqh, will find a Muslim school for them or start one, will help them find good Muslim spouse, and die as old people in the lines of salat. All others will fade away because deviance cannot trump faith and the non-observant will never have the fervor of the observant.

The People of the Sunnah Will Cling to Being Strangers

We have to thank those who came before us in America. The Muslim slaves who kept their deen as the white Christian slave master tried to beat them into a love for the Church. The early Muslim immigrant groups from Poland, Turkey, Albania, Yemen and other places who established masjids in places such as Iowa and Michigan. The brothers, many from the Muslim Brotherhood, who founded many of the institutions of our community such as Dr. Jamal Badawi and the early Islamic Centers. The Islamic Movements such as the Dar al Islam Movement, the Islamic Party, Imam W.D. Mohammad, the Community of Jamil al-Amin, the Muslims of America, Sheikh Abdul-Rahman Basir and others. Thank Allah for those such as Sheikh Muhammad Syed Adly who later brought ilm to our community along with the likes of Imam Zaid Shakir, Abu Muslima, Imam Siraj Wahhaj,and others. These are our forefathers.

In the future we will have success if we cling to the Quran and the Sunnah and if we want to maintain our purity from the kufr we are surrounded in and maintain our children in this deen we must constantly strive to be Strangers and being strange is the key to our survival in America. Assimilation, moderation, and the mainstream are nothing but tools for the Shaytan to lead us astray. Our place is on the outside calling to the Haqq, giving the dawah of this blessed deen, and not watering it down to gain the favor of non-Muslims. Islam must remain, not the mainstream, but as Imam Zaid once said ” a radical alternative to the mainstream”.

Most of the best blogs are already gone. Umm Zaid, the best of all the bloggers, shut her blog down a while back. Tariq Nelson shut his blog down. Amir Sahib shut his down and I have heard that Marc Manley may be shutting his down. Izzy Mo and so many others are also gone. So, I must do so myself.

I will continue to write occasionally for MQ Magazine and sometimes Islamonline and to work on books; but I think the blogging format is dead in the community after having been very vibrant. It is also a fact that I am very busy. With four children in my home and a stay at home wife I have to stay focused on money. Making money at my job now and looking for bigger and better things to earn more money for my family insha’Allah. The time I spend blogging I could be working. There is also the fact that what is a better use of time; blogging or spending more time in the masjid with the believers? Reading the Quran or reading Twitter? Reading Ibn Kathir or the Daily Beast? Bilal Phillips or the Huffington Post? Watching a Youtube video or listening to an Islamic lecture?

We spend way too much time reading blogs, wasting time on Facebook, watching TV and not enough time in the masjid or studying the knowledge of this deen. We should be in the masjid not just in Friday, but everyday, and be trying to make as many salat as possible in the masjid. More time on dhikr ( according to the sunnah) and less time chatting. If you watch four hours of TV a day why not just cut that in half and give two hours to Allah’ SWT and spend it in the masjid? We are being corrupted by the TV and internet. Muslims brothers don’t want to let their beards flow because they want to look like some geek on The Office. Sisters do not want to cover properly because they want to look like some floosie they saw on Tyra Banks. Young people want to wear their pants hanging off their butts like the birdbrains on BET videos.

This deen is simple. Stick to the Quran and Sunnah and you will not go astray and if what you learn does not conform to Quran and Sunnah then it can only lead you astray.

--

Umar Lee

umarlee.com

Report Faults Binghamton’s Leaders in Scandal

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/sports/ncaabasketball/12binghamton.html?pagewanted=all

February 12, 2010


Report Faults Binghamton’s Leaders in Scandal

By PETE THAMEL

What began at Binghamton University as a dream of basketball success and culminated in its first trip to the N.C.A.A. men’s tournament last March came crashing down on Thursday. A four-month investigation detailed just how far administrators were willing to go in pursuit of athletic glory.

The investigation’s 99-page report showed how a lack of oversight from the university’s president and athletic director allowed the basketball program to spin out of control.

One player who transferred to Binghamton received credit for courses like Bowling I and Theories of Softball, according to the report. An assistant coach and a player discussed cash payments and having the assistant write part of a paper for him.

And at a meeting with admissions officials, the report said, an athletic official asked, “Why do you care if we take six players who don’t attend classes?”

It was a drastic change for a university that over the years has built an academic reputation as the crown jewel of the State University of New York system.

“I am disappointed that a great institution like Binghamton University would, in any way, because of its athletic program, compromise its terrific academic reputation,” Nancy L. Zimpher, who is the SUNY chancellor and ordered the investigation four months ago, said in a conference call with reporters Thursday.

Nobody pushed the vision of athletic success more than Lois B. DeFleur, the university’s president since 1990, and Joel Thirer, the athletic director. They shepherded a move to Division I, college basketball’s highest level, over the concerns of many faculty members in 2001 and spearheaded the construction of a $33 million arena. They dismissed the team’s longtime coach, Al Walker, in 2007 in favor of Kevin Broadus, an assistant at Georgetown, who brought an aggressive edge to recruiting players.

Since that galvanizing moment in March, when the team clinched its N.C.A.A. tournament bid and students flooded the court, the fall has been swift and steep.

In September, the star guard Emanuel Mayben was arrested on charges of possession and sale of crack cocaine. Mr. Thirer refers to that arrest in the report as “the tipping point.” Soon after, six players were dismissed for a variety of offenses that ranged from drug possession to buying goods with a stolen debit card. Thirer also resigned as athletic director.

Mr. Broadus, whose quick turnaround of the team’s fortunes led to a contract extension in the spring, was placed on paid administrative leave, where he remains as the university figures out what to do next.

Mr. Broadus, the report said, could not have worked without the administration’s blessing. Ms. DeFleur fostered an environment of lax academic and ethical standards, the report said; at one point Ms. DeFleur’s zeal to admit a basketball player with a questionable academic background was so strong that the provost said she had a “blind spot for athletics.”

As problems arose in the program, Ms. DeFleur and Mr. Thirer failed to have “sufficient objectivity” and “self inquiry,” the report said.

“The president took no corrective action in her role as the supervisor of the athletic department and the person charged with ultimate responsibility for B.U.’s intercollegiate athletic program,” the report concluded.

Binghamton admitted one player with an arrest record and others from academically suspect high schools. Some transfer students brought coursework that had “limited, if any, academic content,” the report said.

When objections were raised, Ms. DeFleur reasoned that Binghamton was undergoing an “experiment,” the report said, and she cast the lower admission standards as part of the university’s effort for more diversity.

Investigators questioned that reasoning. “Those opportunities become illusory if the institution does not have a sufficient support network already in place to help these individuals succeed,” the report said.

The report also showed Binghamton to be unprepared for so many high-risk academic athletes. For example, two players’ failing grades were turned into passing grades after late work was handed in, the report said. Another failing grade was turned into an incomplete after Mr. Broadus lobbied the professor.

In addition, the university channeled its academically at-risk students into the Human Development Department, which had lower admissions standards and whose chairman, Leo Wilton, was seen as friendly to the team.

One e-mail message between Mr. Wilton and Mr. Broadus illustrated how the players were steered into courses with sympathetic instructors. “It is not often that I teach this required course,” Mr. Wilton wrote in the spring of 2009. “I would recommend that the athletes take it with me if possible.”

In multiple instances, basketball players dropped other classes for independent study courses to remain eligible, the report said. The independent study grade was usually a B or a B-plus, on a team whose average grade was a C.

In a statement, SUNY’s board said it accepted the audit’s findings and would follow its recommendations to improve oversight and accountability. Binghamton said in a statement that Ms. DeFleur, 73, would work with Ms. Zimpher on any changes until Ms. DeFleur’s retirement in July.

The investigation cost $913,381 and was led by Judith S. Kaye, the former chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals, along with other lawyers from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Her team conducted more than 80 interviews and examined thousands of e-mail messages, text messages and documents.

When the SUNY executive committee next meets March 23, Ms. Zimpher plans to make recommendations on what to do with the program. The situation is tenuous, with the president leaving, no athletic director and the likelihood of having to hire a coach.

The audit is also expected to be forwarded to the N.C.A.A., which will determine, among other things, if the university showed a lack of institutional control and if any penalties are warranted.

“I think that’s really up to folks in charge of doing that,” said Patrick Nero, the commissioner of America East, Binghamton’s conference. “That’s for the N.C.A.A. to look at and the chancellor to decide on.”

The most damning information may be a series of text-message exchanges in which the assistant coach Marc Hsu discussed providing Malik Alvin, a star player, with money for gas and later a court fine after his arrest on charges of stealing condoms from a Wal-Mart. N.C.A.A. rules prohibit coaches from providing cash to players.

Mr. Alvin’s exchanges were casual, asking, “Yo, you got money on you?” At a later date, the report said, he asked Mr. Hsu if he was “going to give me the money in the morning so I can pay my fine.”

In a later exchange in which Mr. Alvin complained that he had no gas, Mr. Hsu responded that he had not gone to the bank and wrote, “Ask coach for a couple of dollars.” The report said that Mr. Hsu had denied giving money or other benefits to Mr. Alvin and that the text messages were meant to “silent Mr. Alvin’s requests.”

Mr. Alvin, who had left Texas-El Paso, in part because of academic difficulties, asked Mr. Hsu to reword part of a paper because he “got that from the Internet.” Mr. Alvin then wrote, “Add a conclusion on violence.”

In a later text-message exchange, Mr. Alvin asked Mr. Hsu to manipulate part of an assignment to “change it up” so it would not be “the same exact paper.”

Mr. Hsu denied helping Mr. Alvin in an inappropriate manner.

Mr. Broadus did not return a telephone call seeking comment. He would comment only through his lawyer, Don Jackson, who said Mr. Broadus committed no major N.C.A.A. violations and was prepared to return to his job as head coach.

“He has considered it to be his responsibility to assist them through their misdeeds, discipline them when necessary, nurture them when needed and assist them in their sometimes awkward progression into manhood,” Mr. Jackson said. “He makes no apologies for that. That is his responsibility as a coach and an African-American man.”

While Mr. Broadus awaits his fate, some in the Binghamton community would like to see a balance restored to athletics. “I hope that this university as well as others can use the report to remind us what can happen when a university puts winning athletic events over the well-being of the institution,” said Dennis Lasser, Binghamton’s former faculty athletic representative and an associate professor of finance.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: February 15, 2010

Because of an editing error, an article on Friday about a critical audit of the men’s basketball program at Binghamton University misstated the year the team moved up to Division I. And the Sports of The Times column on Friday, also about the report, gave another incorrect year for the move. Binghamton became a Division I school in 2001 — not in 1991 or in 2006.

Shaikh Muqbil bin Haadee Al-Waadi’ee (Autobiography)

Source: http://www.turntoislam.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2506

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Died 1422H: Imaam Muqbil bin Haadee Al-Waadi’ee

AUTHOR: Shaikh Muqbil bin Haadee Al-Waadi’ee (Autobiography)

SOURCE: Tarjamah Abee ‘Abdir-Rahmaan (pg. 16-29, with minor abridgement) [2nd Edition; 1999]

PRODUCED BY: Al-Ibaanah.com

I come from Waadi’ah, which is a place to the east of the city of Sa’adah from the valley of Dammaaj. My name is Muqbil bin Haadee bin Muqbil bin Qaa’idah al-Hamdaanee al-Waadi’ee al-Khallaalee, from the tribe of Aali Raashid. [1]

All praise due to Allaah, most of the people of Waadi’ah, who neighbor Sa’adah defend me and the Da’wah. Some of them wish to defend the Religion while others defend their tribal devotion. If it were not for Allaah first, then them, the enemies of the (Salafi) Da'wah, particularly the Shee’ah of Sa’adah, would not have left behind any signs or traces of us.

I will mention some examples of them for which I ask Allaah to reward them, one of which was when I faced severe opposition in the Haadee Mosque because I turned people away from the (Shiite) Da’wah there. So some men from Waadi’ah and others stood by me to the point that Allaah saved me through their hands. The Shiites desired to rule against me. This was at the time of Ibraaheem Al-Hamdee. And evil people amongst the Communists and Shiites raised their heads and imprisoned me for a period of eleven days during Ramadaan. About fifty of the youth from Waad’iah would come to visit me in prison during some of the nights, while another hundred and fifty of their men would also go to the prison caretakers during these nights, so much so that the caretakers got fed up and released me from jail, all praise be to Allaah.

Another example is that the enemies of the Da’wah would sometimes come to Dammaaj with their weapons, so the people of Dammaaj would drive them away and they would be forced to leave in humiliation.

Another example is during our journeys. When I would say: “We wish to travel”, they would compete with one other, may Allaah preserve them, to see who would accompany and guard me. So sometimes we would go out on some of our travels in about 15 cars!

During these days, the Da’wah was progressing in a superb manner because, all praise be to Allaah, I had grown older. Perhaps at this point I have reached about 62 years of age. So it was the calamities and the advice from those who love the Da’wah that drove me to have kindness and to not keep up with the enemies, who don’t have anything but insults and abuses.

Also, due to my teaching, writing and giving Da’wah, I was not able to find time to keep up with those enemies. So let them say what they want for my sins are many, and perhaps because of their slander, my sins will be lightened for me and instead fall upon their shoulders.

My Studies and Teachers:

I studied at school until I completed the school’s curriculum. Then a long time passed without me seeking knowledge since there was no one who would encourage me or assist me in seeking knowledge. And I used to love seeking knowledge. So I sought knowledge from the Al-Haadee Mosque but I was not assisted in that.

After some time, I left my homeland (of Yemen) and went to the sacred lands (Makkah/Madeenah) and Najd. I would listen to the speakers and be fascinated by their sermons. So I sought the advice of some of the speakers on what beneficial books I should buy? They advised me to get Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree, Buloogh al-Maraam, Riyaadh as-Saaliheen, and Fath-ul-Majeed, the explanation of Kitaab at-Tawheed. And they gave me copies of the textbooks from the Tawheed courses.

At that time, I used to work as a security guard in a building in Makkah, and so I would cling tightly to those books, and the material would stick to my head because what the people in our country did was the opposite of what was in these books, especially Fath-ul-Majeed. After some time had passed, I returned to my country and began to rebuke everything I saw that contradicted what was in those books, such as offering sacrifices to other than Allaah, building shrines over the graves, and calling unto the deceased. So news of this reached the Shiites and they began to censure what I was upon. One of them would say (the hadeeth): “Whoever changes his religion, then kill him.” Another one sent a letter to my relatives saying: “If you don’t prevent him, we will imprison him!” But after that, they agreed to let me enter the Haadee Mosque in order to study with them, so that they may (perhaps) remove the misconceptions that had clung to my heart.

So after that, I was admitted to study with them in the Haadee Mosque. The head of education there was the Judge Mutahhir Hanash. I studied the book Al-‘Aqd-uth-Thameen and ath-Thalaatheen Mas’alah, along with its explanation by Haabis. From the teachers that taught me there was Muhammad bin Hasan al-Mutamayyiz. One time we were discussing the subject of seeing Allaah in the Hereafter, so he began to mock and ridicule Ibn Khuzaimah and other Imaams of Ahlus-Sunnah, but I used to conceal my creed. Despite that, I was too weak to put my right hand over my left hand during prayer, and I would pray with my hands by my side. We studied the text of al-Azhaar up to the section on Marriage.

I also studied an explanation of the Laws of Inheritance from a large book that was above the standard level, but I did not benefit from it. So I saw that the assigned books were not beneficial, except for Grammar, since I studied the books al-Aajroomiyyah and Qatar an-Nadaa with them. Then I asked the Judge, Qaasim bin Yahyaa ash-Shuwayl, to teach me Buloogh al-Maraam. So we started it, but then we were disapproved of, so we left it.

So when I saw that the assigned study books were of a Shiite and Mu’tazlite nature, I agreed to only take from the books of Grammar. So I studied Qatar an-Nadaa several times under Isma’eel al-Hatbah, may Allaah have mercy on him, in the masjid that I would live in and he would pray in. And he would give us a lot of time and attention. One time, Muhammad bin Hooriyyah came to the masjid and I advised him to abandon astrology (tanjeem). So he advised the people there to kick me out of the study program, but they interceded on my behalf and he kept quiet.

Some of the Shiites would pass by me while I was studying Qatar an-Nadaa and say something with the meaning that education would not have any effect on me. But I would just remain silent and benefit from the books on Grammar. I did this until the revolution started in Yemen, when we left our country and settled in Najraan. There I studied with Abul-Husayn Majd-ud-Deen al-Mu’eed and benefited from him particularly in the Arabic Language. I stayed in Najraan for the length of two years. Then when I became sure that the war between the Republic party and the King’s party (in Yemen) was all for the sake of worldly reasons, I resolved to travel to the sacred lands (Makkah/Madeenah) and to Najd. I lived in Najd for one and a half months in a school for Qur’aanic memorization, which was run by Shaikh Muhammad bin Sinaan Al-Hadaa’ee. He was very hospitable to me because he saw that I benefited from the knowledge. And he advised me to stay for a while until he could send me to the Islamic University (of Madeenah). But the environment in Riyaadh changed for me and I decided to travel to Makkah.

I used to work whenever I found work, and I would seek knowledge at night, attending the lessons of Shaikh Yahyaa bin ‘Uthmaan al-Paakistaanee on Tafseer Ibn Katheer, Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree and Saheeh Muslim.

I would go over several books and there I met two noble Shaikhs from the scholars of Yemen:

First: The Judge, Yahyaa al-Ashwal. I would study Subul-us-Salaam of as-San’aanee with him and he would teach me any subject that I asked him about.

Second: Shaikh ‘Abdur-Razzaaq ash-Shaahidhee al-Muhwaytee. He would also teach me whatever I asked him about.

Then the educational institute in Makkah opened and I took the entrance exam with a group of students, and I passed, all praise be to Allaah.

The most distinguished of our teachers there was Shaikh ‘Abdul-‘Azeez as-Subayyal. I, along with a group of students from the institute, would also study with Shaikh ‘Abdullaah bin Muhammad bin Humayd, may Allaah have mercy on him, the book at-Tuhfah as-Saniyyah after ‘Ishaa at the Haram. He, may Allaah have mercy on him, would bring many points of benefit from Ibn ‘Aqeel and other scholars’ explanation. The lessons were above the level of my colleagues, so they began to slip away until he eventually stopped the class.

I also studied along with a group of students with Shaikh Muhammad as-Subayyal, may Allaah preserve him, the subject of the Laws of Inheritance.

After staying in the institute for some time, I left to go to my family in Najraan. Then I brought them to live with me in Makkah. We resided there together for the length of my studies in the institute and the Haram itself, which lasted six years.

The blessing of studying in the masaajid is well known. Do not ask about the friendly environment and relaxation we felt while in the masaajid. The Prophet (sallAllaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) indeed spoke the truth when he said: “A group of people do not gather together in one of the Houses of Allaah, reciting the Book of Allaah and studying it amongst themselves, except that tranquility descends upon them, angels surround them, mercy engulfs them, and Allaah mentions them to those by Him.”

So I would spend the day studying in the institute, and all of the lessons would assist my Creed and Religion. Then from after ‘Asr till after the ‘Ishaa prayer, I would go to the Haram and drink from the Zamzam water, about which the Prophet (sallAllaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said: “Verily, it is a drink that satiates and a cure for diseases.”

And we would listen to the speakers that came to Makkah from different lands to perform Hajj or ‘Umrah.

From the teachers that we learned from at the Haram between Maghrib and ‘Ishaa was Shaikh ‘Abdul-‘Azeez bin Raashid an-Najdee, author of the book “Tayseer-ul-Wahyain fil-Iqtisaar ‘alal-Qur’aani was-Saheehain”, in which he has errors that we don’t agree with him on. He, may Allaah have mercy on him, used to say: “The authentic ahaadeeth that are not found in the two Saheeh Collections can be counted on one’s fingers.” This statement of his stuck to my mind since I had objections to it. This was all the way until I decided to write “As-Saheeh-ul-Musnad mimmaa laysa fis-Saheehain” after which I became more certain about the falsehood of his statement, Allaah have mercy on him.

However, he was a man of Tawheed, who had strong knowledge of the Science of Hadeeth and was able to distinguish the authentic from the weak and the defective from the pure with regard to hadeeth. What amazed me about him was that he would call people away from taqleed (blind-following), to the point that he wrote a treatise called “At-Tawaagheet-ul-Muqanna’” [Masked Deities of Falsehood]. So the government, and likewise some of the senior scholars, thought that he intended them by it. So the committee of senior scholars gathered together to debate with him. They said: “Did you intend us and the government with this book?” So he replied: “If you feel that you possess the characteristics that I mentioned in the book, then it includes you. And if you feel that you do not possess those characteristics that I mentioned in the book, then it doesn’t include you.” Thereafter, the book was banned from entering into the Kingdom. I was informed about this.

One night, he was asked to give a class, but it was as if to only test him. So he began his class with Allaah’s statement: “Follow that which has been revealed to you from your Lord and do not follow false gods besides Him. Little do you remember.” [Surah Al-A’raaf: 3] He followed that with numerous ayaat that prove the prohibition of taqleed (blind-following). After this, he was restricted from teaching at the Haram, and we ask Allaah’s aid.

And from my teachers at the Grand Mosque (Haram) of Makkah who I benefited from was Shaikh Muhammad bin ‘Abdillaah as-Sumaalee, for I attended his lessons for about seven or more months. And he was an ayah (manifest sign) in terms of knowledge of the narrators used by the two Shaikhs (Al-Bukhaaree and Muslim). I benefited immensely from him in the Science of Hadeeth. All praise to my Lord, since I started seeking knowledge, I didn’t love anything except knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah.

After I completed the intermediate and secondary levels of the educational institute in Makkah, and after completing all of my religious lessons, I moved to Madeenah to go to the Islamic University there. Most of us transferred to the Faculty of Da’wah and Usool-ud-Deen. The most distinguished of those who taught us there were: Shaikh as-Sayyid Muhammad al-Hakeem and Shaikh Mahmood ‘Abdul-Wahhaab Faa’id, both from Egypt. When vacation time came, I feared that time would go by wasted so I joined the Faculty of Sharee’ah, due to two reasons, the first of which was to acquire knowledge:

This was since some of the classes there were successive while others were combined. So it was a like a repetition of what we had studied in the Faculty of Da’wah. I completed both Faculty courses, all praise be to Allaah, and I was given two degrees. However, all praise be to Allaah, I give no regard to certificates; what merits recognition in my opinion is knowledge.

In the same year that I finished the two College courses, an advanced studies program opened in the Islamic University, which they called the Masters program. So I went for the interview exam and passed, all praise be to Allaah. The advanced studies course was on the Science of Hadeeth. All praise be to Allaah, I studied the subject that I loved the most. The most prominent of those who taught us there was Shaikh Muhammad al-Ameen al-Misree, may Allaah have mercy on him, Shaikh As-Sayyid Muhammad al-Hakeem al-Misree, and during the last part of my studies, Shaikh Hammaad bin Muhammad al-Ansaaree. On some nights, I would attend the classes of Shaikh ‘Abdul-‘Azeez bin Baaz in the Prophet’s Mosque (in Madeenah) on the subject of Saheeh Muslim. I would also attend the gatherings of Shaikh Al-Albaanee, which were specified to only the students of knowledge, in order to learn from him.

While I was in Makkah, I would teach some of the students of knowledge from the books Qatar-un-Nadaa and at-Tuhfah as-Saniyyah. And while I was in Madeenah, I would teach some of my brothers the book at-Tuhfah as-Saniyyah in the Prophet’s Mosque. Then I promised my Muslim brothers that I would hold classes on the Jaami’ (Sunan) of at-Tirmidhee, Qatar-un-Nadaa and Al-Baa’ith-ul-Hatheeth for them in my house after ‘Asr.

So a great wave of Da’wah spread from Madeenah, which filled the world in the time-span of six years. It was some righteous people who were ones who took on the task of financing it, while Muqbil bin Haadee and his Muslim brothers were the ones who took on the task of teaching their fellow brothers. As for traveling for the purpose of Calling to Allaah throughout all regions of the Kingdom, then this was shared between all of the brothers – the student of knowledge so that he can acquire knowledge and benefit others, and the common person so that he could learn. This was such that many of the common folk benefited and grew to love the (Salafi) Da’wah.

One of our Muslim brothers from amongst the students of knowledge was an Imam of a masjid in Riyadh. One time some people of knowledge rebuked him for using a sutrah. So he said: “We are unable to in front of you, but by Allaah, no one but a common person will get up to teach you the ahaadeeth of the Sutrah.” So he called a brother from the general folk who loved the Da’wah and had memorized the ahaadeeth of the Sutrah from “Al-Lu’lu wal-Marjaan feemataffaqa ‘alayhi ash-Shaikhaan.” So he got up and narrated these ahaadeeth, after which the opposers felt ashamed and stayed quiet.

After this, the blind followers and the scholars of evil began to set in motion, and the reason for this stirring of the blind-followers, who were considered scholars in the eyes of the people, was because whenever they would find a young student of knowledge amongst our students and they would use a hadeeth as proof, the student would say to them: “Who reported the hadeeth?” And this was something they were not accustomed to. Then he would say to them: “What is the status (i.e. grading) of the hadeeth?” This was something that they also weren’t accustomed to. So they would embarrass them in front of the people. And sometimes the student would say to them: “This is a weak hadeeth. There is so and so in its chain of narration and so and so declared him weak.” So upon hearing this, it is as if the earth would become constricted beneath these blind-followers. And they would then go about spreading lies that these students were Khawaarij, when in fact the brothers were not from the Khawaarij who make it lawful to shed a Muslim’s blood and who deem a Muslim a disbeliever on the count of sins.

However, there would occur some errors on the part of some of the new brothers, and this was because the beginner is almost always overwhelmed with excessive zeal. At that time, I was preparing my Master’s dissertation, when all of a sudden one night, before I knew what was happening, they arrested me and arrested almost one hundred and fifty others. Some people were able to escape, but the earth trembled between those who opposed and those who agreed with out arrest. We remained in prison for a month or a month and a half. After that we were set free, all praise be to Allaah.

Shortly after this, the treatises from Juhaymaan were released and a group of us were again arrested. [2] During the interrogation, they asked me: “Where you the one who wrote this?” What, Juhaymaan can’t write? So I denied this, and Allaah knows that I didn’t write it nor did I assist in any part of it. But after staying in jail for three months, an order was made for foreigners to be deported.

When I arrived at Yemen, I went back to my village and stayed there for a while teaching the children Qur’aan. Before I knew it, it seemed like the whole world was in an all-out battle against me. It was as if I had come out to destroy the country, the Religion and the rulership. At that time, I didn’t know any leader or tribal chief. So I would say: “Allaah is sufficient for me and the best of Guardians.” When things would get tight, I would go to San’aa or to Haashid or to Dhimmaar, and also to Ta’iz, Ibb and Hudaydah to give Da’wah and to visit the Muslims brothers.

After some days, some good-doers sent me my library from Madeenah. They sent the books to Sa’adah where the head of shipments there was malicious of the Sunnah. Some of our companions went to request the books from him, so he said: “Come back after Dhuhr, Allaah willing.” But he didn’t return after Dhuhr. Instead, some Shiites mobilized and requested the caretakers to confiscate the books because they were Wahaabbi books!

Do not ask about the monetary fees, hardships and injustice that occurred to me as a result of trying to get my books! Many of the brothers from the inhabitants of my country made great efforts to follow that up, including Shaikh ‘Abdullaah bin Husayn al-Ahmar, Shaikh Hazaa’ Dab’aan, the caretakers of the Guidance and Counseling Center, such as the Judge Yahyaa al-Fasayyal, may Allaah have mercy on him, and brother ‘Aa’id bin ‘Alee Mismaar. After a long difficulty, the people of Sa’adah sent a telegraph to the President ‘Alee bin ‘Abdillaah bin Saalih, so he assigned the case to the judge, ‘Alee as-Samaan. The judge sent me a letter and promised that he would turn over the library to me. And he said: “The people of Sa’adah are very strict. They call the scholars of San’aa disbelievers.” So I went to San’aa to get my books. Allaah decreed that my books arrive there while the judge ‘Alee Samaan was out of the country on a mission. So when some of the brothers went to ask for it, the head of the Ministry of Endowments told them: “These books need to be inspected.” So some of our Muslim brothers at the Center for Guidance and Counseling mobilized and went to request the books. So they said: “These books are under our jurisdiction. We must examine them, so whatever is upright, we will hand over to al-Waadi’ee and whatever violates the Religion, we will keep it with us.” So by doing this, they discovered that the books were in fact purely religious and turned the them over to me without inspecting them, so may Allaah reward them.

I brought the books into my country, all praise be to Allaah. And my close ones, may Allaah reward them, built a small library and a small masjid. And they said: “We will pray Jumu’ah here to avoid hardships and problems. Sometimes we would pray there with only six people present.

One time the governor Haadee al-Hasheeshi asked for me, so I went to Shaikh Qaa’id Majlee, may Allaah have mercy on him, who then called him and said: “What do you want from al-Waadi’ee?” He said: “Nothing, except to get to know him.” So he said: “We will look for him in his institute.”

In another instance, some other leader asked for me and so Husayn bin Qaa’id Majlee went with me to see him. He (Majlee) began to talk against the Shee’ah and explain to him that we call to the Qur’aan and the Sunnah and that the Shee’ah hate us because of that because they fear that the truth will come out about them, so this leader said: “Indeed, the Shiites have tainted the history of Yemen, so as long as your Da’wah (call) is as you say it is, then call to it and we are with you.”

After this I spent some time with my library. Only a few days had passed when some Egyptian brothers came and we started classes on some of the books of Hadeeth and the Arabic Language. After this, students continued to come from Egypt, Kuwait, the Sacred Lands (Makkah and Madeenah), Najd, ‘Aden, Hadramaut, Algeria, Libya, Somalia, Belgium, and other Muslim and non-Muslim countries.

The number of students has now reached between six to seven hundred students, amongst which are a hundred and seventy families.[3] And Allaah is the One who provides them with sustenance. And all of this is not because of our might or power, nor due to the amount of knowledge we have or because of our courage or eloquence in speech. Rather, this is something that Allaah willed to be. So He was the One, all praise to Allaah, that granted us this blessing.

[End of Translation of Shaikh Muqbil’s Autobiography]

His Death:

Shaikh Muqbil bin Haadee Al-Waadi’ee passed away on the 2nd of Jumaadal-Oolaa, 1422H (7/21/2001) due to a liver disease that he was suffering from for a long time, and due to which he traveled to America, Germany and Saudi Arabia during the last part of his life to seek treatment for. He was around seventy years of age when he died in Jeddah. His funeral prayer was held in Makkah and he was buried in the Al-‘Adl Cemetery near the graves of Shaikhs Ibn Baaz and Ibn Al-‘Uthaimeen, may Allaah have mercy on all of them.

The Scholars’ Praise for him:

Shaikh Muhammad bin Saalih Al-‘Uthaimeen said: “Tell him that I consider him to be a mujaddid.”

Shaikh Al-Albaanee said: “So degrading and belittling these two Shaikhs (Rabee' and Muqbil), who call to the Qur'aan and the Sunnah and what the Salaf As-Saalih were upon and who wage war against those who oppose this correct methodology. As is quite clear to everyone, it either comes from one of two types of people. Either it comes from someone who is ignorant or someone who follows his desires... If he is ignorant, then he can be taught. But if he is one who follows his desires, then we seek Allaah's refuge from the evil of this person. And we ask Allaah, Mighty and Sublime, to either guide him or break his back." [The Audio series Silsilah al-Hudaa wan-Noor: 1/851]

Shaikh Yahyaa al-Hajooree reported that Shaikh Rabee’ Al-Madkhalee said about him: “He is the mujaddid in the lands of Yemen” and that he said: “there can’t be found from the time of ‘Abdur-Razaaq as-San’aanee to this present day someone who established the Da’wah and revived it as the likes of Al-Waadi’ee.” [4]

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Footnotes:

[1] Translator’s Note: In her biographical account of her father, Umm ‘Abdillaah Al-Waadi’iyyah said: “His father died while he was young and he didn’t know him. So he grew up as an orphan and under the care of his mother for a period of time. She would ask him to work to make money and order him to look at the state of his community so that he could be like them. But he would turn away from this and say: ‘I will go out to study.’ So she would say: ‘May Allaah guide you.’ She would supplicate for him to be guided, as several women who were around at that time informed me. Perhaps her supplication coincided with the time when supplications are accepted since he became one of the guided, guiding others.” [Nubdhah Mukhtasarah: pg. 18]

[2] Translator’s Note: This refers to Juhaymaan bin Muhammad al-‘Utaybee, a deviant from Saudi Arabia who took over the Grand Mosque of Makkah with hundreds of followers in 1979, and held it for several days, after which the senior scholars allowed force to be used in the sacred site of the Ka’bah in order to regain it. The Saudi National Guard subdued them about two weeks later after much blood was shed and casualties were lost on the part of the rebels and the Saudi army. The remaining dissidents that were captured were later beheaded. Shaikh Al-Albaanee (rahimahullaah) mentioned this Juhaymaan in his book as-Saheehah (5/872), saying: “…And like the followers of the Saudi Juhaymaan, who caused the fitnah in the Grand Mosque in Makkah at the beginning of the 1400’s (Hijree). He claimed that the awaited Mahdee was with him and sought from those present in the Mosque to give him bay’ah (allegiance). Some of the simple-minded, heedless and evil people followed him. Then Allaah put an end to their fitnah after they had shed much of the Muslims’ blood.”

[3] Translator’s Note: It must be re-emphasized here that this statement comes from the second edition of his autobiography, which was printed in 1999. Since then these numbers have continued to increase, such that in present times, the Shaikh's school, which is now taught and supervised by Shaikh Yahyaa Al-Hajooree has around 1000 students and 500 families, all praise be to Allaah.

[4] Translator’s Note: These quotes are from the book Nubdhah Mukhtasarah of Shaikh Muqbil’s daughter Umm ‘Abdillaah (pg. 46}