Sheikh Hamza Yusuf Interview
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Salam to all.
I am very new here, and for the benefit of those who do not know me, and I do emphasize the word 'benefit' when it comes to NOT knowing me, I have prepared a 'spiritual profile' of sorts. Here's an excerpt relevant to the topic at hand with the link to the aforementioned profile ...
That said, I do have immense respect for contemporary but traditionally-rooted scholars such as Sheikh Hamza Yusuf and Imam Zaid Shakir as fellow Muslims who add value to my spiritual life - but I do not let them come as an intermediary between Allah and my desired happiness and salvation in this life and the life to come. I cannot and neither can they as my respected teachers and fellow Muslim brothers. They help me stay on the straight path, not define it as Allah already has in the Holy Quran.
http//free-minds.org/forum/index.php?topic=15577.0
I am intimately familiar with and extremely fond of the Sheikh's works and he alongside his Zaytuna Institute colleague Imam Zaid Shakir play a very important part in my spiritual life with their scholarship and insights. It was great to revisit the videos again, and I'd like to share them with you. Here in this interview, he talks about his translation of Imam At-Tahawi's Creed of Ahlus Sunnah Wa Al-Jama'ah and much, much more.
After all these years, I still derive a great deal of comfort from his gentle refusal to take the 'traditional' Shahadah of Abu Hurairah (Part 3), and his diligent belief in pluralism and 'invitation' rather than the exclusivism and 'imposition' of the ?my way or the highway? types perhaps inadvertently indulging in blasphemy by playing a role they are forbidden to play. Some 'traditional' scholars like him are keenly aware of their true role in Islam and know how to use their scholarship in order to find common ground and bring people together through the Holy Quran, rather than fuel the fire of sectarianism and hatred.
I am going to go ahead and post the whole series of video links here a bit later for all interested, and would humbly suggest a 'close' listening - meaning NOT 'inputting what one wants to hear' but 'what is being communicated by the speaker in good faith' as an inseparable part the whole for better contextual understanding. But first, let me invite all those interested in an even closer individual reading of the entire Surah discussed in 'Part 6' of the interview, in order to put the particular verse he talks about within perhaps a more detailed context.
An-Nisa (Women)
Medina Period
THE TITLE An-Nisa? has been given to this surah because many of its passages deal with the rights of women and with questions relating to family life in general, including laws of inheritance, prohibition of marriage within certain degrees of consanguinity, marital relations, and so forth. The opening verse stresses the essential unity of the human race and the mutual obligations, arising from this kinship, of men and women towards one another. A large part of the surah is devoted to practical legislation bearing on problems of peace and war, as well as to relations of believers with unbelievers, especially with hypocrites. Verses 150-152 refute the possibility of believing in God without believing in His prophets and this, in turn, leads to the subject of the Jews, who deny the prophethood not only of Muhammad but also of Jesus, as well as of the Christians, who deny Muhammad and deify Jesus although he "never felt too proud to be God's servant" (verse 172). And, finally, as if to stress the inseparability of man's beliefs from his social behavior, the last verse refers, again, to laws of inheritance.
There is no doubt that this surah belongs in its entirety to the Medina period. In the order of revelation it either follows immediately upon Al ?Imran or - according to some authorities - is separated from the latter, in point of time, by Al-Ahzab and Al-Mumtahanah. On the whole, however, it is most probable that it was revealed in the fourth year after the hijrah, although a few of its verses may belong to an earlier, and verse 58 to a later, period.
4 115 But as for him who, after guidance has been vouchsafed to him, cuts himself off from the Apostle and follows a path other than that of the believers - him shall We leave unto that which he himself has chosen,* and shall cause him to endure hell and how evil a journey?s end!
*Lit., "him We shall turn to that to which he has turned" - a stress on man's freedom of choice.
http//www.geocities.com/masad02/0044115 And whoever is hostile to the messenger after the guidance has been made clear to him, and he follows other than the path of the believers; We will grant him what he has sought and deliver him to Hell; what a miserable destination.
http//www.free-minds.org/quran/PM/4
Here are the links to the video -
Part 1
http//uk.youtube.com/watch?v=lJlZeb_tdnYPart 2
http//uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6SE4_f7FyIUPart 3
http//uk.youtube.com/watch?v=h8xm9ndF_YwPart 4
http//uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bWnV0XVoMS8Part 5
http//uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gBQhrxYeNGUPart 6
http//uk.youtube.com/watch?v=y3kyRCwYydoPeace, Sohel ?