Bismillah Rahman Raheem
.Your Question :
Regarding statements attributed to me regarding our brother in Islam, Hamza Yusuf.
:In a message dated 10/25/2004 5:24:29 AM Eastern Standard Time,
mfurkank@yahoo.com writes:
Recently it has escalated to the extent that he is misquoting the Quran, denying certain verses, presenting wrong hadeeth and in general showing Islam in the wrong light. And to make matters worse, he is doing it on prime time television. Due to his fame and access to the media, this now presents a great problem for all of us.
. Answer:
Before we begin, it is important to begin with the name of Allah and send the prayers and blessings on His last prophet, Muhammad, peace be upon him. (Bismillah Rahman Raheem, was salat was salam ala rasoolulah). Then it is equally important to mention that it is only Allah who has all Knowledge. (Allahu 'Alim).
The words you quote (above) are not my words, they have been added - others have been taking what I wrote (in private) to a brother years ago, and copied then altered and changed and posted on the web my comments...
All of this is haram and whoever does try to divide the Muslims with such tactics will have to face Allah for what they are doing.
However, I do not like it when people break up into cults and groups as this can also take people out of Islam...
If you know anyone who is a new Muslim and thinking of joining Sufies, Shiites, Salafees or any other group, you should warn them, this is exactly what our prophet, peace be upon him told us would happen.
Check out these links to better understand about the different groups and various belief systems some people have:
http://www.islamtomorrow.com/groups/
As regards Hamza Yusuf and his followers and teachers, they do follow sufism and are mostly from the Shathliyah order.
Here is what Mr. Hamza says about Sufism:
Imam Hamza Yusuf
Tasawwuf/Sufism in Islam
A Talk Sponsored by CAIR
Stanford University, May 4, 1997
Imam Hamza Yusuf, sometime khatib at the Muslim Community Association of Santa Clara, California, spoke on Sufism in Islam, directly following a lecture by Dr. Anne-Marie Schimmel, former Harvard professor of Oriental Studies. Imam Hamza began by noting that the architecture of Stanford is modeled after traditional Andalusian, Moroccan and North African universities. He said that Islamic architecture and civilization was once great as was its scholarship, but unfortunately the Muslim ummah has fallen behind in these spheres. Imam Hamza continued:
". . . and this is why in the tradition of Islam Sufism has always been part of the traditional Islamic curriculum in every single Muslim university. I know of no period in the Islamic tradition in which Sufism was not taught in the universities and not seen as an important and fundamental aspect of the tradition of Islam. . . . "
We all agree it is not correct for Muslims to divide up from the Straight Path of Allah. Certainly, this is what the prophet, peace be upon him, taught as well. Most notably Allah has told us clearly in the Qur'an it is haram to seperate and divide.
Being as much concerned as you are over such matters, I have written an article on this subject of dividing up into groups and I have made the effort to publish it on the internet. You are most welcome to read it:
http://islamtomorrow.com/groups/index.htm
Sufism today does exactly what you are complaining about - it divides the Muslims inot groups. Here is an article on the subject in some detail inshallah.
http://www.islamtomorrow.com/article...lem_Morgan.htm
I pray every day for the Muslims, all of us, to wake up to the truth of our real deen and Allah guide us to all truth, ameen.