In the name of Allah most Gracious Most Merciful,
Peace and blessings of Allah be upon the best of His creation, the seal of Prophet hood, the Last Messenger Mohammad peace be upon him and upon all those who follow his path to the Last Day,
It has been a year since the issuance of the Fatwa regarding the attendance of the conference called “Revival of the Islamic Spirit”. In that Fatwa, I have challenged the organizers and the speakers to scientifically refute my claim that it is “it is forbidden (Haram) to attend gatherings that promote Bida’a among Muslims, and those guests who fear Allah should not participate in such events”1 . I have not received or heard of any reply except the accusations of being “extremist, “fundamentalist” or even a “terrorist”! However, no response was initiated. This tells the whole story; the story of bad intentions on one side and ill the informed crowd on the other.
I was, once again asked the same question from a student. She said that some of her colleagues are saying “we are just attending the conference to hear the good speakers and not to hear Bidaa. Also, the Bidaa speakers do not speak of any Bidaa at this conference, they rather speak of cultural/civil issues”. She said: “Mr Abdul Khafi of Egypt, is attending and many are excited about it”.
It is essential to understand that the choice of the name of that conference was not made haphazardly. It is, as they claim, about the revival of the SPIRIT of Islam; it is not revival of ISLAM. That is for obvious reasons. Revival of Islam means revival of every aspect of Islam; that is revival of its spirit and existence in the lives of Muslims, and the revival of Muslims as a great power and civilization in their own countries. On the other hand, revival of the SPIRIT of Islam is what Sufism is all about. They claim that spirit is what Islam is all about. Islam to them is not a complete way of life. It is about how one conducts himself, in their own twisted way that opposes the Sunnah, rather than being a society that leads humanity to the truth.
It is equally important to understand that this generation is denied real knowledge that is essential to fight such bad practices2. The generation is being taught by listening to tapes, attending lectures and conferences. These are not ways to gain knowledge. These might be, at best, supporting ways to convey knowledge. Furthermore, those who are considered the stars of such shows, have only these limited ways of passing knowledge to youth. Limited knowledge only produces ill informed, ill-defined and misguided generation that has no attachment to any civilization, set aside the Islamic. It is not a coincidence that such speakers have a wealth of tapes, and are, for most cases, stars of many gatherings and conferences. However, they are not known to have any academic achievements, such as recognized books or articles, or teach courses that consist of detailed methodology. Those of them who are involved in Bidaa institutes, only sit on the board of directors, or whatever shiny position, as part of what I call the new trend of “religionomics” ; i.e. the use of religion in economic capacity, or, in a simple term, making profits out of religion.
It has been the trend to direct the Muslim youth through such useless conferences that are nothing but social events, no more and no less. Such conferences/social gatherings are good only for one purpose; legitimize the people of Bidaa in the minds of the youths. It is, as I explained to the student, how the human brain works. It is being good and accepted “by association”. If a “speaker” who is one of Bidaa, attends a conference, and is seen on a list of guests together with a speaker who is not, a person without discerning knowledge will associate the two, not only in the subject of the conference, but in general, and hence, will accept the sayings and ideas of that Bidaa-spreading speaker in other work, tapes and lectures. Just Simple logic! Discerning knowledge enables the person to make a correct judgement on people who, for various reasons, such as simplicity, charming personality, or preaching skill, have gained fame within the circles of Youth, but, in most cases, have no real knowledge or mere knowledge are of Bidaa.
It is a long way we have to walk, but it is the only way to clear the vision of the people, especially the young generation, from the Myth and innovations that defies the way of Ahlul Sunnah Wal-Jama’a.
It is every concerned and serious Muslim to help in making the point and stop the charade of Reviving the Spirit of Islam. Instead work on Reviving Islam as a total and comprehensive solution without leaving parts of it out, as if it is not instructed by Allah SWT and the Prophet PBUH.