Twins of Faith Day 1 Part 2

After Maghrib, the lecture series was continued with the session by Sheikh Abu Ameenah Bilal Phillips with the topic Cultural Islam or Islamic Culture. He opens up his talk by highlighting headlines from all over the world that give bad impression on Islam.

One case in Egypt a 35 years old woman was beheaded and her body parts was cut and thrown at a cemetery by her own brother and her son. It was mentioned that the son found out that his mother was pregnant after secretly being married for the second time. According to a culture in Southern Egypt (once where Shiite was big part of the community) once a woman becomes a widow, she is not allowed to be remarried. She is supposed to remain single for the rest of her life. Therefore, her action to re-marry has gone against the tradition and allows her brother to take matters in his own hands. This has got nothing to do with Islam, but since the family is Muslim, so that’s how people perceived Islam.

I guess it’s a common issue even here in Malaysia. We, Malays especially have too many cultures that contradict the shariah. Islam does not deny the diverse culture among different races; it is permissible as long as it does not go against Islamic rulings. Sheikh also touched on certain culture that was based by the Shiite and still continues till today, one of which is Maulidur Rasul celebration. Come to think of it, Rasulullah SAW has never celebrated his own birthday, nor does his companions once he died. It all started when a group of Shiite started all these extreme practices.

How did all of these started? It all can be summarized to 4 main factors, due to:
1. Pre-Islamic practise that continues till today
2. Adopted practise from other religion/community
3. Religious innovation
4. Religious fanaticism

Surah al- Maidah ayat 104

Sahih International
And when it is said to them, "Come to what Allah has revealed and to the Messenger," they say, "Sufficient for us is that upon which we found our fathers." Even though their fathers knew nothing, nor were they guided?



There is also an issue of Mazhab Fanaticism, we all know the 4 main scholars and how different continents follows different school of thought.

Nowadays it may not be such a big issue, but did you know that before the year 1925, there used to be 4 different prayers held at one prayer time in front of Kaabah. One imam for each mazhab conducts the jamaah prayer separately. They took turns after each other finishes. It was mentioned there used to be maqam for all the imams in Masjidil Haram. They were not buried there, but the followers of each imam built the maqam as a symbol to show which teaching that they follows. The wahabis took a firm action and torn down all the 4 maqam and insist there should be only one single jammah going on in Masjidil Haram at one prayer time. I was shocked to hear the story, as I never thought people will go to the extreme to demonstrate which side they follow, but in actual fact we have to bow down to the one and only, Allah SWT.

It is not wrong to follow all these imams, as they also follow Al-Quran and Hadeeth, but we have to be a responsible Muslim, try our best to find out what is the exact ruling, and if it is too confusing to decipher with our limited amount of knowledge, then yes, we should follow the wise, and InsyaAllah we will not be strayed from the right path.

Islam and Islamic culture could not be inherited, we may inherit the cultural Islam such as our Islamic name, but the faith can never be inherited. Islam by definition is submission to the will of Allah, and in order for us to completely submit, no one can force, it must come from the heart.

The last session on that night was by someone closer to home, Sheikh Hussein Yee and his topic was One Faith, One Family.

He made one bold statement, saying that the Muslim nowadays believe in more than one God apart from Allah. We may not agree, but his reason is clear when he mentioned the way we discussed matter with the not yet Muslim indicates that we also believe that their God exist. We acknowledge their way of life (religion) but the aqeedah, the belief that their god exist is totally wrong. We must emphasize there can only be one God, Allah SWT and whether or not they accept that, its another matter. Take note, even Shaytan believes in Allah.

Sahih International
For you is your religion, and for me is my religion." Al-Kafirun, ayat 6
Sheikh asked us to show courtesy to call them ‘not yet Muslim’ instead of non-Muslim. This is due to the fact that they don’t even know what Islam is all about, who is Allah. Everybody was born a Muslim, only the parents that they were born to taught them the religion that they know now. So its our responsibilities to try calling the others and bring them back to Islam. We are all children of Adam, we are ONE family. He left us with this one simple message I Shall Love All Mankind – ISLAM


By now, the clock was showing ~9pm. We still have one more agenda, entertainment. This time its from a brother from Britain (pronunciation brit-en) ;) Brother Muslim Belal. He gave a brief intro on how he reverted to Islam at the age of 19. He actually put all that out in a poem and the best part is, at then end of it, even his mother reverted back to Islam,Subhanallah… I could not find the video, this one I believe was about Palestine.

After Muslim Belal, comes Abdullah Rolle, but I did not stay on, enough for me to call it a day…pheww…that was long :D