Criticism of Shaykh Hamza Yusuf [may Allah preserve him]

**maaz** · 09-01-2005, 08:01 PM

i have no respect for anyone that accuses another muslim of being kafir. that's just so wrong its retarded. i'm sunni and hanafi, and i don't have it in me to call anyone that says the kalima a disbeliever. have ppl looked inside his heart? i don't have a problem with salafi's, alhumdulilla, but i have a serious problem with anyone that hurls the most disgusting of insults. may they be questioned by Allah for what they have said. for they themselves do not know how near or far they will be from Allah on the Day.

**Hypermodestmuslima** · 09-01-2005, 08:03 PM

Hmm...no one called him a Kafir...save the Salafi sites...they kind of labeleed him a BIG deviant...anywayz...some ppl have criticised what he said greatly...

**Omar HH** · 09-01-2005, 08:13 PM

May Allah (SWT) preserve him x10,001 (Allah is witr, and he loves witr!

)

**Abul Hasan** · 09-01-2005, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by Shaykhs-Pir Sahib

"I have heard Ahle Sunnah Jamaah Muslims accusing Sheikh Hamza Yusuf as being a Deviant. what is your view on this matter?"

which prominent scholars of ahl al-sunna have called him deviant?

(i mean scholars, not groups or organisations which have no authority in my book)

I don't know if everyone accepts the Maliki brother from Nigeria by the name of Muhammad Sharif to be a scholar, but i am sure i read something from him in critique to Hamza Yusuf's views after Sept. 11. The one's who make takfir on him are the followers of Omar Bakri Muhammad and some so called Jihadi-Salafi's at ******************.

One thing they claim is that Shaykh Hamza denied the literal reality of the maidens in Janna? They claim that he said it is only metaphorical in a radio interview they transcribed on a website post 9-11? What do you know of this?

If this be true - then this is clearly not from Sunni aqeeda.

They also criticise his appearance (goatee beard, western apparell) and his appearance with Bush in the Whitehouse...

Has Shaykh Hamza clarified any of these allegations in talks or writings post 9-11?

May Allah keep us all on the Sunni path. Amin

Wassalam

**Abdullah_Faysal** · 09-01-2005, 10:24 PM

Why do they criticism him?

**faqir** · 09-01-2005, 10:37 PM

Originally Posted by Abul Hasan

I don't know if everyone accepts the Maliki brother from Nigeria by the name of Muhammad Sharif to be a scholar, but i am sure i read something from him in critique to Hamza Yusuf's views after Sept. 11. The one's who make takfir on him are the followers of Omar Bakri Muhammad and some so called Jihadi-Salafi's at ******************.

One thing they claim is that Shaykh Hamza denied the literal reality of the maidens in Janna? They claim that he said it is only metaphorical in a radio interview they transcribed on a website post 9-11? What do you know of this?

If this be true - then this is clearly not from Sunni aqeeda.

They also criticise his appearance (goatee beard, western apparell) and his appearance with Bush in the Whitehouse...

Has Shaykh Hamza clarified any of these allegations in talks or writings post 9-11?

May Allah keep us all on the Sunni path. Amin

Wassalam

Asalamu alaykum,

Shaykh Hamza has certainly clarified all these issues time and time again in his talks after that initial period of the WTC attack.

I will, at a later date inshaAllah, post some of the responses from him that I have collected and posted in other forums or maybe Shaykhs pir sahib can do so.

Wasalam.

**faqir** · 09-01-2005, 10:41 PM

Asalamu alaykum,

For a start please listen to:

http://209.41.170.97:8080/ramgen/%7E...of%20Terror.rm

[move forward to 17 minutes to listen to his explanation of his visit to Dubya Bush]

Wasalam.

**faqir** · 09-01-2005, 10:45 PM

From his talk "America's Tragedy"

Q: In an interview, you mentioned that the Qur'an never used the word jihad to imply fighting and the Qur'an never mentioned hur al-'ain.

Shaykh Hamza: I did not say the Qur'an never mentions hur al-'ain. I said that the 72 virgins is not in the Qur'an. It is in the hadith. About jihad, there is no verse where jihad is specifically used to refer to war, and you can look through the entire Qur'an. When Allah speaks about war, He uses the word qital. Jihad is a general, comprehensive term that INCLUDES A MILITARY ENDEAVOR THAT IS FOR THE TRUTH, but it has the broadest meanings in the Qur'an. It includes all that Muslims struggle to do. For example, building schools is a jihad; fighting the nafs is a jihad; and so forth. That is why the Qur'an does not limit the word. Juhud just means struggle, and that was what I meant in the interview. There are verses where it does refer to martial combat, but it does not specifically limit the term to that one use, and that is why we do not have a "holy war," so to speak. The struggle for the sake of Allah is a high thing.

What I said about hur al-'ain is that the 72 virgins is not mentioned in the Qur'an. I did say that you have to be very careful about literalism with the Qur'an. For example, the Qur'an says about Allah, "there is nothing like Allah," and then what does Allah say after that? He says, "and He is the All-Hearing and the All-Knowing." Well, how would you know what All-Hearing and All-Knowing is if you did not have hearing and knowing? Also, Allah sees, so how would you know what sight is if you did not have sight? Allah gave you sight, but is your sight like the sight of Allah? Absolutely not.

Now, Allah says about jannah that it is something no eye has seen, and it never occurred to the human heart. So, when you look at the other descriptions of paradise in the Qur'an, you have to know that those are approximations. Do not think that Allah is describing physical types of things that we know of in this world. That is what Imam Al-Ghazali said, and that is what the 'ulama say. One of the things that some people are trying to use against Islam is that they say we envision paradise as being this type of sexual romp or something like that, which is a terrible thing. For the human being, the highest level of pleasure is in sexual relations, and therefore, it would be appropriate, according to what Imam Al-Ghazali says, to give some indication of the pleasures of paradise by talking about something that human beings know about, which is that experience, because the majority of human beings do not have intense mystical experiences in their life. There are mystics who do have these experiences that are very profound and intense, but most people do not. The most intense experience that they will have of pleasure is in this act, and when Allah describes the pleasures of paradise, He uses those examples because they are close to people's understandings.

That is not to say that hur al-'ain do not exist because they are real. However, to think that they are somehow related to the bestial elements of this world is incorrect. Allah says that these are pure beings. Paradise is total purity, so, it is about purity; its not about anything that relates to the mud of this world; that is euros. It is in the world. So, I said that because I think that sometimes people misunderstand the way Muslims view paradise. For example, what is in it for the women? What do the women get? Well, jealousy is removed from their hearts, they say. Allah says that both of them get their rewards. Believing men and believing women get the same rewards in paradise. Another thing to remember is that the highest station in paradise is the presence of Allah; it has nothing to do with any sensual description. The lowest jannah is the jannah of food and drink, and those are just approximations. Do not think that paradise is going to be just eating and drinking like here. It is not.

**faqir** · 09-01-2005, 10:46 PM

From his talk "America's Tragedy"

Q: Would the firefighters in New York be considered shahid by Islamic shari'a?

Shaykh Hamza: I think that is for Allah to judge. I believe people are taken to account based on what they know. According to Imam Al-Ghazali, and Shaykh Murabit al-Hajj told me this as well, if people have not heard the message of Islam, they are not taken to account for Islam. I think that people who do good deeds, according to our beliefs, are rewarded for the good that they do. Even Abu-Lahab is given water in the hellfire for freeing a slave the day that the Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam was born, and that is in a sound hadith. If Abu Lahab, the worst enemy of the Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam is rewarded for the good he did in this world, our Lord is a Just Lord, and He rewards good. So, what I did say is that if there were martyrs in this situation, then certainly they would be those people, but I cannot say who is a martyr and who is not. Even if a Muslim dies fi sabilillah, you hope that he is a martyr, but you cannot say with any certainty because it is for Allah to decide if it was sincerely for the sake of Allah, but they were heroic people; they were good people.

**Omar HH** · 09-01-2005, 11:28 PM

Originally Posted by Abul Hasan

They also criticise his appearance (goatee beard, western apparell) and his appearance with Bush in the Whitehouse...

Has Shaykh Hamza clarified any of these allegations in talks or writings post 9-11?

May Allah keep us all on the Sunni path. Amin

Wassalam

From what i've been told from numerous sources, Shaykh Hamza cannot grow a full beard! Second of all, what are you talking about "Western Dress" he wears all kinds of Muslim clothing all the time. Appearing with Bush at the Whitehouse? That was a good thing. He was showing how we were true good peaceful people.