Here is an ET Call home situation. A link to recent history (of about 25 years ago).
First some news from India :
1st for Kerala, India, woman led Friday prayers on Jan 26 in Malappuram
Jamida wanted to question custom imposed by male clergy
Nowhere does Islam stipulate only man can be imam
Jamida, state general secretary of Qur'an Sunnah Society
society is revisionist Muslim sect in Kerala
believes Quran alone matters, Hadith are extrapolations
prayer held at organisation's HQ at Vengara
provoked angry reaction from conservatives
no tradition of woman as imam for men
said Sunni Yuvajana Sangham (Sunni Youth Front).
Quran Sunnah Society established by Islamic scholar P K Abdul Muhammad Hassan Moulavi alias Chekannur Moulavi
known for his unconventional reading of Islam
murdered in 1993, by extremists
Jamida revealed threats increased manifold
she decided to go ahead, organise prayers in other parts of Kerala
received threats for speaking against triple talaq, forced conversions
Global Islamic Mission, Salafi organisation said "gimmick to insult Islam.."
My comments: This is another case of a woman leading the Friday prayers, this time from Kerala in India. This is their interpretation of things. I personally do not agree. But my view has nothing to do with Jamida being a woman. You can click on the link and read this news report in The Times Of India for your self.
Now some history. This woman is a member of the Quran Sunnah Society that was set up by a scholar called PK Abdul Muhammad Hassan Moulavi alias Chekkanur Moulavi. I believe Kerala folks would say 'Chengganur Moulvi'.
Some friends in Singapore and I knew of this man in the early 1990s. He was an arabic and islamic scholar. Since 1960 (the year I was born) the Moulvi had begun preaching that the Quran alone should suffice for Muslims and that Muslims should reject all other non Quranic references.
Among the things the Moulavi preached was that according to the Quran there were only THREE prayer times in a day (referring to Surah 11:114). Err . . . I dont agree with this either. It has nothing to do with the "three times".
Anyway, India has by far about the best freedom of speech in the world. The Moulvi spoke in public about the Quranic teachings at every opportunity. Since India is a Hindu majority and secular nation, there was no 'islamic religious department' squads to arrest him and charge him in a sharia court.
However there were the religious fanatics and one day a group of men drove up to the Moulavi's house and invited him to come with them to deliver a quick talk about the Quran. The Moulvi jumped into the jeep with the men and was never seen again. In 2010 the Indian courts convicted one man of murdering the Moulvi. Eight others were released for a lack of evidence.
Obviously the Moulvi's Quran Sunnah Society (which means following the "sunnah of the Quran") has flourished quite well after him. They have many branches throughout Kerala and have a good number of followers.
They have two websites, including an English version:
There is a Wikipedia entry here : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekannur_Maulavi
"The son of Abdullakutty and Fathima, Moulavi was born in 1936 and studied Islamic theology and Arabic at Baqiyathu Sallihath in Vellor, and at Vazhakkad Darul Ulloom. Although he became a religious teacher at the age of 24, his "incompatible" progressive views caused him to leave three teaching assignments in Arabic colleges in Kerala. He began thereafter to spread his own revolutionary ideals,[3] in which he directly based his interpretation of Islam on Quran, paying little attention to conventional wisdom or Hadith. He believed and argued that Quran alone was true and the Hadith could not be taken for granted as many of them were written to malign the prophet himself. He strongly rejected the hadiths narrated by Abu Hurairah (who is the most prolific among the narrators of hadith) which he claimed were corrupt. His controversial teachings — especially and subjects such as Muslim Personal Law, women's rights and the proper methods for praying — drew considerable attention and, from religious orthodoxy and extremist fringe groups, disapproval. He has authored eighteen books including an incomplete Malayalam translation of the Quran. His followers have founded the Khur'aan Sunnath Society to spread his thoughts and ideas."
This is a picture from their website showing attendance at one of their talks. It is full house :
25 years have gone by and it looks like the Moulvi's teaching is taking hold in Kerala and elsewhere in India.
Another Indian scholar who remains unknown to many but is acquiring a good following (albeit in Tamil - which means plodding for me) is a man by the name of Hazrat Tamim Ansari, a graduate of the University of Medina and a scholar of arabic and islam.
Tamim Ansari has an interesting history because he used to be a hard core Salafi. In fact he was the head or Imam of the Salafi sect in a southern part of the State of Tamil Nadu.
Then also about the 1990s, he entered a dialogue with some friends of his in Penang who began grilling him about his beliefs as a Salafi which he could not answer. His friends kept referring to the Quran.
Shortly thereafter Tamim Ansari gave up his Salafi beliefs and is now a committed student of the Quran. Needless to say, he has been ostracised by the Salafis and all other sects and had to leave his home town and live elsewhere.
He has since gathered a good following via WhatsApp and other online media. Tamim Ansari's views are 'far more' advanced than the Quran Sunah Society and it is based on a very close reading of the Quran and paying close attention to the arabic meaning of the root words.
The big advantage of the Quranic method is that there is no compulsion in belief. There is no such thing as punishment for "apostasy" in the Quran. None.
The Quran does not authorise the setting up of any 'religious department' to impose any conformity by the use of violence. That is quite barbaric and uncivilised. Plus it makes people stupid, poor and violent.
However there were the religious fanatics and one day a group of men drove up to the Moulavi's house and invited him to come with them to deliver a quick talk about the Quran. The Moulvi jumped into the jeep with the men and was never seen again. In 2010 the Indian courts convicted one man of murdering the Moulvi. Eight others were released for a lack of evidence.
Obviously the Moulvi's Quran Sunnah Society (which means following the "sunnah of the Quran") has flourished quite well after him. They have many branches throughout Kerala and have a good number of followers.
They have two websites, including an English version:
There is a Wikipedia entry here : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekannur_Maulavi
"The son of Abdullakutty and Fathima, Moulavi was born in 1936 and studied Islamic theology and Arabic at Baqiyathu Sallihath in Vellor, and at Vazhakkad Darul Ulloom. Although he became a religious teacher at the age of 24, his "incompatible" progressive views caused him to leave three teaching assignments in Arabic colleges in Kerala. He began thereafter to spread his own revolutionary ideals,[3] in which he directly based his interpretation of Islam on Quran, paying little attention to conventional wisdom or Hadith. He believed and argued that Quran alone was true and the Hadith could not be taken for granted as many of them were written to malign the prophet himself. He strongly rejected the hadiths narrated by Abu Hurairah (who is the most prolific among the narrators of hadith) which he claimed were corrupt. His controversial teachings — especially and subjects such as Muslim Personal Law, women's rights and the proper methods for praying — drew considerable attention and, from religious orthodoxy and extremist fringe groups, disapproval. He has authored eighteen books including an incomplete Malayalam translation of the Quran. His followers have founded the Khur'aan Sunnath Society to spread his thoughts and ideas."
This is a picture from their website showing attendance at one of their talks. It is full house :
25 years have gone by and it looks like the Moulvi's teaching is taking hold in Kerala and elsewhere in India.
Another Indian scholar who remains unknown to many but is acquiring a good following (albeit in Tamil - which means plodding for me) is a man by the name of Hazrat Tamim Ansari, a graduate of the University of Medina and a scholar of arabic and islam.
Tamim Ansari has an interesting history because he used to be a hard core Salafi. In fact he was the head or Imam of the Salafi sect in a southern part of the State of Tamil Nadu.
Then also about the 1990s, he entered a dialogue with some friends of his in Penang who began grilling him about his beliefs as a Salafi which he could not answer. His friends kept referring to the Quran.
Shortly thereafter Tamim Ansari gave up his Salafi beliefs and is now a committed student of the Quran. Needless to say, he has been ostracised by the Salafis and all other sects and had to leave his home town and live elsewhere.
He has since gathered a good following via WhatsApp and other online media. Tamim Ansari's views are 'far more' advanced than the Quran Sunah Society and it is based on a very close reading of the Quran and paying close attention to the arabic meaning of the root words.
The big advantage of the Quranic method is that there is no compulsion in belief. There is no such thing as punishment for "apostasy" in the Quran. None.
The Quran does not authorise the setting up of any 'religious department' to impose any conformity by the use of violence. That is quite barbaric and uncivilised. Plus it makes people stupid, poor and violent.
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