As predicted

Saudi Arabia declared the Eid for Sunday (08/19) as I anticipated yesterday.

What about the rest of the world?

I am anticipating

A bunch of people will be going on a moon sighting trip tomorrow (Friday) after sunset. Of course, they would not see the moon. Coming back home, they would confidently assert that since the new crescent was not visible, so the Eid should be on Sunday (08/19).

As you can see from the moon sighting maps (shown below) the crescent is not going to be visible either on Friday or Saturday for most of the world. It will only be visible on Sunday. The earliest day for moon-sighting would be Saturday. And on Saturday, the moon would not be visible at all, which mean the Eid is technically on Monday 08/20/12.

Friday -- To Early to See the Moon

Saturday - The new moon would not be visible

Sunday - Moon would be visible for everyone

I came across an interesting paper

The Role of Hadith as Cultural Memory in Shi'i History by RAINER BRUNNER

I can't figure out how to save it on the computer. They probably don't want you to do that anyway. The complete paper is available online for reading so it doesn't really matter.

The central theme of the paper is about the Safavid Dynasty in Iran.

Briefly

• The Safavids were a Shafii Sunni Sufi Order founded by Safi al-Din
• Establish Shia Imamiah as the state religion
• Performed openly the practice of tabarra (disassociating from the three caliphs; Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman) and publicly cursing their names
• Safavid's main rival was the Turkish Ottoman Empire (Guardian of Sunnism)
• Shah Ismail II of the Safavid reversed the action of his predecessors and forbid the cursing and reviling of the Sunni companions. He tried to revert the empire to Sunnism but didn't succeed.

The author posed an important question about the Safavid's belief system
Did the Shah (King) Ismail, the conqueror of vast lands, adhered to a right form of Shiism (Twelver Shiism)?

Moving on, the author posed another question.
How is it possible to convert an entire country to Shiism, when two third of its population was originally Sunnis?

The Safavid ruled Iran and neighboring areas for 200 years and in that short period of time, they managed to promote a sustainable version of Shiism. Even the Sunni Afghani dynasty that ruled later on couldn't erase Shiism from Iran.

So, what exactly made Shiism so sustainable?
You won't know until you read the paper.

Reference

Shah Ismail of the Safavid Empire

He invited the Arab Shia clerics to establish their religious movement in the newly created Safavid Empire in the fifteen century. Almost all of the clerics did not respond to the king except one, the Lebanese Shi'i cleric, Ali al-Karaki al-Amili, who visited Iran multiple times and finally settled there.

Here's the reasoning provided in the book as to why the Arab Shi'i clerics declined Safavid King's invitation

The great majority of Arab Shi’i clerics held firm to the traditional Shi’i refusal to serve any government, even one that claimed to be Shi’i, in the absence of the Hidden Imam. Others were put off by the extremist manifestations of Safavid Shi’ism.

They objected to the deification of Ismail, the practice of prostration before the king – a practice they believed should be reserved for prayer before God alone – the cavalier attitude towards the precepts of the Sharia (Islamic law), such as the prohibition on drinking wine, and the ritual cursing of the first three caliphs of Islam who, in the eyes of the Shi’a, had usurped the office that rightly belonged to the Imam Ali.

Ismail had officials go through the streets carrying axes over their shoulders and crying out: ‘Cursed be Abu Bakr! Cursed be Omar! Cursed be Uthman!’ – the names of the first three caliphs. Anyone who heard this was obliged, on pain of death, to express their approval. Arab Shi’i clerics feared that this practice would provoke retaliation against Shi’a living under Sunni regimes. Ismail does seem to have made some attempt to distance himself from the extremism of his Qizilbash followers.

Reference

Women have almost Avengers like Super Powers

Two large quakes with magnitudes of 6.4 and 6.3 struck East Azerbaijan province (in Iran) on Saturday afternoon, flattening villages and injuring thousands around the towns of Ahar, Varzaghan, and Harees, near the provincial capital of Tabriz. The death toll is around 300 with thousands of injured. (Reuters)

Iran is located on several seismic fault lines and is very prone to earthquakes. It experienced at least one earthquake per-day, too minor to make any serious damages.

Two years ago, a Muslim cleric from Iran speculated that Iran's earthquakes are caused by immodestly dressed women.

That's very powerful. Women have almost Avengers like super powers to shake and move earth rocks and craters.

To be fair, this 'blaming of the natural disasters on women/group of people' is not unique to Muslims.

In 2004, When Asian Tsunami hit countries in South Asia, the religious folks from world's major religions were quick to point out that this was God's wrath.

Religious people are just that way. They always need more supernatural reasons to explain natural disasters.

The Safavid Sufi Order

A thirteen century Orthodox Sunni Sufi Order. Named after Sheikh Safi ud-Din (he was the ancestor of the Safavid Kings, Shah Ismail, Shah Abbas).

The order was based in the Iranian city of Ardabil. The Sufi order had a large following among the Turkoman (Qizilbash) who were the military wing of the Sufi order.

The Sufi Shaykhs fabricated their genealogy to descent from Ali and Fatima (Prophet daughter).

Shah Ismail, crowned himself as the Persian King of the Safavid Empire at 14 years of age. Although he was/used to be a follower of the extremist Qizilbash sect, he made a tactical decision to establish Shia Imamiyah as the state religion.

Reference

Libya has a New President and a Parliment

Seems like they could have done worse than this guy. At least the guy is not a fanatic fundamentalist.

TRIPOLI, Libya — Libya’s newly formed national assembly elected former opposition leader Mohammed el-Megarif as the country’s interim president on Friday

El-Megarif, who authored a series of books on Gadhafi’s repressive policies, lived as a wanted fugitive for years, and was the leader of the country’s oldest armed opposition movement, the National Front for the Salvation of Libya. The movement made several attempts to end Gadhafi’s 42-year rule, sometimes by plotting assassination attacks including a well- known and daring 1984 assault on Bab al-Aziziyah, the late dictator’s fortified compound in Tripoli.

The regime cracked down on the group, executing and arresting many of its members. Many fled abroad where they worked as political activists. El-Megarif’s movement organized the first Libyan opposition conference in London in 2005 and called for the overthrow of Gadhafi’s regime at a time when other groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, accepted Gadhafi’s outreach to the opposition.

Upon his return to Libya after last year’s armed revolution, he formed a new party, the National Front, which sees Islam as a broad guideline to the state’s affairs, but does not mention the implementation of Islamic Sharia law.

Link.

Girl Killed By Family Members in an Exorcism Ritual

A three-year-old Malaysian girl died of suffocation during a lengthy exorcism ritual in which seven family members and a maid piled on top of her, a police official said Tuesday.

The ritual, which included the child’s parents, was held by the ethnic Chinese family late Sunday in the northern town of Bukit Mertajam, local police chief Azman Abdul Lah told AFP.

“Acting on a tip-off, police entered the house and broke down a bedroom door only to find eight people including a foreign maid covered with a blanket and with the victim pinned under them,” he said.

“They were chanting in the room. Police believe they were involved in an exorcism ritual to drive away evil spirits.”

The Star newspaper said the ritual had lasted 20 hours. Azman said the ritual had continued for many hours but could not confirm how many.

The eight suspects, aged between 16 and 67, have been detained and are being investigated for murder, he added. They included the family’s Indonesian maid, the Star said.

The brother of the child’s father had alerted the police, Azman said.

The others detained were the victim’s grandmother, uncle, aunt, and two cousins.

link

The Second Saudi Woman in the Olympic Games

The second Saudi woman in the Olympic games is Sarah Attar.

The deeply misogynist Saudi Arabian's society where girls’ sports and gym are effectively banned in public schools and where women are not allowed to participate in sports activity, had to concede and allow two women to participate in the London Olympic Games[1].

The Olympic committee gave an ultimatum to the Saudis. Do not discriminate on the basis of the gender. Either allow the female to participate just like the men or everyone from the country would be bar from the Olympic. An official for Human Rights Watch, one of the groups that called last week for the IOC to bar Saudi Arabia’s male team, said Thursday’s announcement should be a starting point. [1]

“Allowing two women to compete in the London Games is an important precedent that will be hard for Saudi hard-liners to roll back,” Minky Worden wrote in an email. “But the fundamental problem in Saudi Arabia remains legal gender segregation that restricts women’s basic rights, freedoms, and space to participate in public life.”

“They’ll be role models for girls,” said Eman al-Nafjan, a Saudi educator, writer and blogger in Riyadh. “There are a lot of girls who do love to play sports in Saudi Arabia.…They do actually love to play. But it’s very hard. There are no facilities for them.” [1]

“Just the fact that the Olympics committee is pressuring Saudi Arabia will get the dialogue going,” on easing prohibitions on gyms and sports and physical education for Saudi women and girls, Ms. Nafjan added.

Reference
[1] http://stream.wsj.com/story/london-olympics-2012/SS-2-13789/SS-2-33247/

A Pointless TV Station in Egypt

Maria TV, an Egyptian channel, has fully veiled female anchors.

Egyptian Channel, Maria TV is an Islamic TV that will cater to women. They have fully veiled female anchors, who are veiled from head to toe. Even their faces are covered (eyes would be visible under the face covering).

Even the female guests who would appear on the TV station would be covered from head to toe, including wearing the face covering. Very extreme.

Here's the mission of the TV station

"I want to give children the ability to see these women and say `I want to be like that'... to create a generation that wants this and wants to be like this," Abu Islam said.

I doubt children would willingly watch such a boring TV station, especially a station where human don't have any TV presence.

Abdallah, known by his nickname Abu Islam, said his goal is to show women that they do not have to reveal their beauty to the world in order to be seen.

This Abdallah doesn't seem like the brightest guy around. Did he not know that he could have easily started a broadcast radio station where he wouldn't need to go to such extreme to make his point.

Of course not. His propaganda won't really work. Female anchors on radio would just be like everyone else. And then no one would pay much attention to these women.


Pretty scary.. would you really let your kids watch this?

Alevi vs Alawite

They are not the same.

Alevi is a Turkish Sufi order/sect. The name Alevi is Turkish for the Arabic word Alawi. It should not be confused with the Alawite of Syria. The Alawite of Syria is also known as the Nusayris.

Due to some similarity in the name (Alevi vs Alawi), most people think they are the same but in fact they are not.

Here's a mistake a journalist made in his report.

As Syria’s civil war degenerates into a bloody sectarian showdown between the government’s Alawite-dominated troops and the Sunni Muslim majority, tensions are increasing across the border between Turkey’s Alawite minority and the Sunni Muslim majority here.

Many Turkish Alawites, estimated at 15 million to 20 million strong and one of the biggest minorities in this country, seem to be solidly behind Syria’s embattled strongman, Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey’s government, and many Sunnis, supports the Syrian rebels [1] (The New York Times).

As you can see, the author used Alawite in Syria interchangeably with the Alevi in Turkey. That is incorrect. They are not the same.

Reference
[1] Article name: As Syria War Roils, Unrest Among Sects Hits Turkey
Author: JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published date: August 4, 2012
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/world/middleeast/turkish-alawites-fear-spillover-of-violence-from-syria.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

First Saudi Woman in Olympic

Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani had raised the scorn of the kingdom's ultraconservative Islamic clerics, who said she was dishonoring herself by fighting in front of men, including the male referee and judges.

The zealot Mullahs want to protect her honor

Saudi preacher Sittam al-Dusri told The Associated Press that Shahrkhani's family should have protected her "as a precious gem" from the eyes of men.

Some have urged her not to jeopardize her place in the afterlife for a fleeting bit of fame on earth. Others warned that she and her family could face ostracism when she goes home. Others cast doubt on whether she was really Saudi, saying her appearance looked Central Asian. [1]

Rafid Fatani, a Saudi who pulled out all the stops to make sure he could attend Shahrkhani's match in London, walked out of the stadium afterwards proudly waving his nation's flag.

Some in Saudi Arabia use criticism of participation by women in society "just so they can empower their cause, and their cause is just to put women down."

"They have been brought up to believe women are subordinates, are second class citizens and should not have the same opportunity as men," he added.

The 16-year-old judo athlete, has already been referred to as an "Olympic prostitute" on a website at home. [2]

Reference

[1] Link

[2] http://www.suntimes.com/sports/14348897-419/scarf-wearing-sarah-attar-represents-hope-for-progress-in-saudi-arabia.html

Gruesome Honor Killing

Iftikhar, 52, and Farzana Ahmed, 49 (resident of UK, originally from Pakistan) is sentenced to life in prison (minimum 25 years) for killing their daughter, Shafilea, in 2003.

Families have sometimes lashed out at their children on the belief that they have brought their household shame by becoming too westernized or by refusing a marriage.

Shafilea was only 10 when she began to rebel against her parents’ strict rules, according to prosecutor Andrew Edis. The young girl would hide make-up, false nails and western clothes at school, changing into conservative clothes before her parents picked her up. But it was the last year of her life that proved to be the most traumatic.

During the trial that began in May, jurors heard from Shafilea’s younger sister, Alesha, who said she witnessed the murder when she was 12.

After an argument about Shafilea’s dress, her parents pushed her down on a couch, stuffed a thin white plastic bag into her mouth and held their hands over her mouth and nose until she died, Alesha testified.

As she was struggling, her mother said, “just finish it here,” according to Alesha’s testimony.

Full news.

ShiaChat is on the maintenance mode

You can't access the forum because it's on the maintenance mode. It was up a few hours ago.

I'm off to bed now. Hopefully it's up by morning.

Largest Bank Fraud in Iran

I was reading about a huge corruption case in Iran. Thirty nine people have been convicted of a bank fraud/scam. Four bankers are set to be hanged.

Another banker, Mahmoud Reza Khavari, managed to dodge the bullet by fleeing to Canada.

Name of the convicted felons are not released to the public.

But one of the defendents complained that, while the judiciary had pursued some low-level players in the fraud vigorously, senior officials involved in the scandal had gone unpunished.

Based on comments from a news site, many seem to agree that it's about time people who are involved in bank frauds get harsher punishment than just a slap on the wrists.

Halting my reading

I'm halting reading of the book Secret Sects of Syria.

I've finished reading chapter one to eleven. The next chapter will be about the Ismailis.

I'm slightly bored now, so I have to stop reading the book. I'm definitely going to continue reading sometime in the future.

Summary of the teaching of the Karmatian / Qaramite

Here's a summary of the teaching of Karmat.
- Four inclinations daily: two before sunrise, and two before sunset
- Two days worth of fasting in a year (one of the days is the Nawrooz)
- Allowed the consumption of wines made from grapes
- Abstain from Ghusl (ritual shower), wudu is okay
- Allowed killing of all who fight against him

The chapter ended with stating that not much was heard of the Karmatians of Iraq and Syria after the year 989 AD, but they were found in Bahrain until the year 1037 AD.

Is Qaramite/Karmatians an earlier branch of Ismailis?

The book I am currently reading was published a hundred years ago. A lot of information is outdated and may no longer be very accurate. I'm definitely interested to read something new about all the sects that have been written so far.

But as of now, I am just going to simply read and not make a judgement about the content.


Is Qaramite/Karmatians an earlier branch of Ismailis?

Here's a quote from the book, given by D'Herbelot (in Article on Karmatians, Bib. Orient) about Hamdan Karmat (founder of the sect).

"Their founder taught his disciples to make fifty prayers a day and allowed them to eat things forbidden by Mussulmans. He allegorized the precepts of the Koran, giving
out prayer to be the symbol of obedience to the Imaum; fasting to be merely the symbol of silence and secrecy with respect to strangers who were not of their sect ; and that fidelity to the Imaum was figured by the precept which forbids fornication, so that those who reveal the precepts of their religion, and who do not obey their Sheikh blindly fall into the crime called ' zinah/ Instead of the tenth part of their property which Mussulmans gave to the poor, they were to set apart the fifth part for the Imaum."

Another quote from the book about Hamdan Karmat, this one by Von Hammer (History of the Assassins)

"His doctrine, in addition to the circumstances of its forbidding nothing, and declaring everything allowable and indifferent, meriting neither reward nor punishment, undermined more particularly the basis of Mohammedanism, by declaring that all its commands were allegorical, and merely a disguise of political precepts and maxims. Moreover, all was to be referred to the blameless and irreproachable Imaum Maassum, (preserved from error) as the model of a prince whom, though he had occupied no existing throne, they pretended to seek, and declared war against bad and good princes, without distinction, in order that, under the pretext of contending for a better, they might be able to unravel at once the thickly interwoven web of religion and government. The injunction of prayer meant nothing but obedience to the Imaum Maassum ; alms, the tithes to be given to him ; fasting, the preservation of the political secret regarding the Imaum of the family of Ismael. Everything depended on the interpretation 'Terwil' without which the whole word of the Koran, ' Tensil,' had neither meaning nor value. Religion did not consist in external observances, ' Iz-Zahir,' but in the internal feeling,' il-Batin/"

The begining of Ismailis

According to De Sacy, proto-Ismailis didn't begin until after year 863 AD, to coincide with lifetime of Abdullah son of Maimoun, who by now was a fugitive in Syria. His son, Ahmed become the chief/leader of the Ismailis after his demise.

The author stressed that the link between the Ismailis and the Qaramite is the fact that Ahmed sent emissary to Kufa, Iraq who met with Hamdan Karmat

The family of Maimoun Kaddah were glorifying their own household and were in no way promoting the Imamah of Ismail ibn Jaffar as-Sadiq. Hamdan, the leader of the Qaramite, was also promoting his own set of beliefs and doctrines.

Briefly, here's the belief system created by Abdullah Maimoun
He divided his system into seven degrees after the pythagorean and Indian philosophers. Members are initiated gradually.

He appointed emissaries to enlist disciples.

He used the names of the descendants of Muhammad ibn Ismail son of Jaffar as-Sadiq to further his own political agenda.

Following are the seven degrees (part of the teaching)

- First Degree: Initiation. Taking a solemn oath to bound a person to the secret doctrine with blind faith and unconditional obedience.

- Second Degree: Establishing the faith of the divinely appointed Imams.

- Third Degree: Recognizing the seven Imams of Ismailis. Their names are Ali, Hassan, Hussein, Zayn al Abidin, Muhammad al-Baqir, Jaffar as-Sadiq and Ismail as the last and the seventh Imam.

- Fourth Degree: Belief in the seven law-giving Prophets or speaking Prophets (Natiq). They were each succeeded by non-speaking prophets/mutes (Samit). The seven speaking prophets were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed and Ismael (son of Jaffar who was also know as Sahib ez-Zaman (Lord of time)). Their seven assistants were Seth, Shem, Ishmael son of Abraham, Aaron and afterwards Joshua, Simeon/Shamoun or Simon Peter, Ali and Mohammed son of Ismael.

- Fifth Degree: Each of the seven mute prophets had twelve apostles for the extension of the true faith.

- Sixth Degree: All precepts of Islam/legislation must be subordinate to the general and philosophical using the dogmas of Plato, Aristotle and Pythagoras.

- Seventh Degree: similar to the doctrine of Unity as the Sufis.

These two degrees were added on top of the seven by certain group of Ismailis (not by all)

- Eight Degree: The rules of religion were no longer deemed important. The pupil no longer hold prior religious dogmas.

- Ninth Degree: Rejecting every principle of religion and morality. Nothing that appeared sinful was forbidden.

Qaramite

I am still reading chapter eleven "The Ismailis and their various branches"

Qaramite were followers of a man named Karmat (a labourer).

The source used by the author is from the work of De Sacy, a French Orientalist. De Sacy referred to the work of Ibn al-Athir, the Arab/Kurd historian.

Here's a brief narration.

A man from Khorassan came and established himself in Kufa. He led an ascetic life, teaching that prayers should be said fifty times a day. When he was ill, he was attended by a man named Hamdan Karamita. Hamdan Karamita spread the teaching of his own sect. He was briefly imprisoned. When he got out, he fled into Syria and assumed the identity of his teacher.

Please see one of my old posts about the Qaramite/Karamatian.

Then the book mentioned Abdullah son of Maimon Kaddah, another man who appeared at the same time with Baber and al-Mokannah. Learning from the failure of earlier heretics, he proceeded in a secret manner. The author of the book stressed that the narration about Abdullah ibn Maimon Kaddah is very doubtful and is not to be believed. And this in due part because of some disagreements between the doctrines of the Qaramite and Ismailis.

ShiaChat Internal Error

ShiaChat website is down today with Internal Server Error - The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

The site was up yesterday when I went to bed, about 11pm.

Don't really know when the issue would be fixed.

The Ismailis and their various branches

I am back to reading the book Secret Sects of Syria.

Chapter eleven is about Ismailis.

The chapter started by pointing out the Persian city of Khorassan as the hot-bed of the heresies, such as

Ravendi - doctrines of the transmigration of soul, and the successive incarnations of the Deity

Zendics - whose principle it was to believe nothing.

Hakim ibn-Hashem who was the under-secretary to the Governor of Khorassan, also known as "The Veiled Prophet" or al-Mokanna was active in the year 778 AD (timeline of the Abbasid caliphate).

He amassed a large army, influencing people by supposedly causing a number of miracles (moon to rise out of a well for several nights in succession). When he was besieged, he poisoned his army, his family and then committed suicide.

In the time of al-Mamoon (an Abassid caliph), another rebel and a heretic named Baber appeared in Iraq who went on to kill two hundred and fifty thousands Muslims in cold blood.

In the year 891 AD, the founder of the Karamatian (Qaramite) sect appeared. His name was Karmat.

I tried to find out more about Ravendi or Ibn al-Rawandi. According to the Wikipedia

He was an early skeptic of Islam and a critic of religion in general. In his early days he was a Mutazilite scholar, but after rejecting the Mutazilite doctrine he adhered to Shia Islam for a brief period and later became a freethinker who repudiated Islam and revealed religion.

He joined the Mu'tazili of Baghdad, and gained prominence among them. But then he became estranged from his fellow Mutazilites, and formed close alliances with Shia Muslims and then with non-Muslims (Manichaeans, Jews and perhaps also Christians). He then became a follower of the Manichaean heretic, Muhammad al Warraq in which he wrote several books that criticized revealed religion.

And I am not sure what or who zendic is. Under the wikipedia entry Zindiq, I get a few names.

Maybe Muhammad al-Waraq?

or Bashar ibn Burd?

The local Sunni mosque got its date wrong!

The closest Sunni mosque got its starting date for the month of Ramadhan wrong.

The note on the website (on Thursday) stated that the first of the month is on Friday (today) and this will be taken as the beginning of the month of Ramadhan. They even posted a blatant lie on the website saying that they have observed the hilal/crescent or taken the news of other reports.

How on earth do people see the crescent when it was not visible at all from planet earth (not even with optical aids). The moon sighting website reported that the earliest sighting was Friday on Fiji Island. And then they are other reported observation of the hilal in other countries. I'm seeing that many of the Sunni Muslim countries taking Saturday as the first of the month of Ramadhan.

But many mosques are also sticking by the Saudi mythical claim of the moon sighting.

This reminds me of the following famous Sunni hadith.

"Verily Allah will not make my community agree on error"

Surprise! Surprise! There's so much agreement on errors that I think the hadith (above) must be a hoax.

The month of Ramadhan is starting

This message was posted on the najaf.org website

The Office of His Eminence Ayatullah Al-Udhma Seestani (long may he live) – in Najaf has issued a statement informing Momineen that the sighting of the Ramadhan moon crescent has been ascertained by His Eminence (long may he live) and that tomorrow Saturday is the first day of Ramadhan in Iraq and all Arab and nearby Islamic countries as well as African countries, Australia, New Zealand and North and South America.

As for the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and related European countries the first day of the blessed month of Ramadhan will be Sunday.
We ask Allah Almighty to let this be a month of goodness and blessings upon all Muslims for ‘He is All hearing and answers prayers.’

Not a good idea

I'm abandoning the moon sighting mission. It wasn't a good idea. Maghrib is late because it's summer now. So, the sunset is pretty late. I can't really do moon sighting from home. The trees are blocking my line of sight.

I guess the best place to view the crescent would probably be on a beach or the top of the mountain.

Anyway, I just found out that the Saudis are again doing the moon sighting wrongly or they probably don't care anymore. Some are taking Friday as the first of the month of Ramadhan. There's no way you can ever see the crescent today. It's astronomical impossible except for a few places in South America and Africa.

Still waiting to see some official anouncement.

Do it yourself moon sighting

I'm going to try to see if I can sight the new crescent myself.

I'll be looking for it later in the evening, today and tomorrow. I doubt I would be seeing anything today since the crescent would not be visible today. But tomorrow, it would most certainly be visible.

I wont be using any optical aid.

The birth of the new moon is on Thursday

Based on the astronomical calculation, the birth of the new moon is on Thursday July 19th, 2012. However, the new crescent (hilal) would not be seen/sighted with naked eyes. With the help of optical aids, the possibility of sighting it on Thursday would be very slim. Based on the visibility map, displayed prominently on the moon sighting site, there are few places in South America and Africa where the moon might be seen using the optical aids.

So, the first of the month of Ramadhan would be unlikely on Friday July 20th.

The earliest to start the month would be Saturday for some people. While for others it could be Sunday.

I'll update when I hear something new.

Away!

Blog will not be updated until further notice.

Chapter Nine and Ten

Chapter Nine is about a non-Muslim sect, Essenes and their tenets. This could either be a Christian or a Jewish Sect. Just skimmed the chapter. Not reading much.

Chapter Ten is about Pythogoras, the Mathematician.

Everything written in this chapter is mostly based on Greek or Egyptian philosophies.

The Pythagorean system embraced three degrees, with a fourth as a supreme entrance into the highest knowledge.

The Pythagorean Sect had their own initiation ceremony and teaching. They were pretty obsessed with the number three. They saw everything in terms of three or trinity.

The Triad, or ternary law, is accordingly the constitutive life of things, and the real key to life, the corner stone of esoteric science, which Pythagoras made the foundation of his system.

Pythagorean could be connected to the Druids. See the quote below

amblichus also tells us that a visitor to Pythagoras was Abaris the Hyperborean, who came to Crotona from a distant land in order that he might collect gold for his temple, and that Pythagoras learned much from him. Now this Abaris is considered by many distinguished writers on the Druids to have been identical with Abhras, who, according to ancient Irish legendary history, is stated to have travelled from Ireland to distant countries, and after a long time to have returned by way of Scotland, where he remained for seven years, bringing a new system of religion. From this Godfrey Higgins concludes 2 that the Druids were Pythagoreans.

Here's an interesting saying from Pythagoras about the God

Pythagoras has left us the following beautiful conception of the Deity: 'GOD is neither the object of sense, nor subject to passions ; but invisible, only intelligible, and supremely intelligent. In His Body he is like the Light, and in His Soul He resembles Truth. He is the Universal Spirit that pervades and diffuses itself over all Nature. All things receive their life from Him. There is but One, Only GOD, Who is not, as some are apt to imagine, seated above the World beyond the Orb of the Universe ; but being Himself All in All, He sees all the beings that fill His immensity : the Only Principle, the Light of Heaven, the Father of all. He produces everything, He orders and disposes everything. He is the Reason, the Life and the Motion of all things."

Chapter Eight - Metawileh

Chapter Eight is about the Metawileh.

I don't have a clue about Metawileh. The book stated that they are the Syrian Shiites.

Google doesn't return good results for this search term. It points back to the book I am currently reading.

Their belief system is not really controversial. Everything mentioned in the book seems to be based on the belief of the Shia Ithna Ashari (twelver).

Their leader is a mujtahid, a kind of doctor of divinity, who has completed his studies in Irak, and has returned with satisfactory testimonials of his having attained a high degree of learning and piety.

The Metawileh rejected the doctrines of the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus. They believe Jesus to be a mere man, a prophet, like Muhammad, sent by the God to teach men the knowledge of God.

Chapter Seven - Sufism and the Dervish Orders

Chapter five and six are not that interesting. Chapter seven is about Sufism and the Dervish orders.

According to the book 'The Sufis are a secret society of Persian Mystic Philosophers and Ascetics, whose original religion may have been that of the Chaldeans or Sabeans, who believed in the unity of God and the adoration of heavens/planets.

This is a direct quote from the book

The Sufees, says Sir John Malcolm, represent themselves as devoted to the search after truth, and incessantly occupied in adoring the Almighty, a union with whom they desire with all fervour of divine love. The Creator, according to their belief, is diffused over all creation. He exists everywhere, and in everything. They compare the emanations of his essence or spirit to the rays of the sun, which they conceive are continually darted forth and reabsorbed. It is for this reabsorption into the divine essence, to which their immortal part belongs, that they continually sigh. They believe that the soul of man, and the principle of life which exists through Nature, are not from GOD, but of GOD.

The rest of the chapter is full with Sufi empty meaningless crazy talk.

Chapter IV - The Sabeans

Chapter III is a short history of People in Lebanon and Syria.

Name of the people/race: Sur, Surian, Zuroi (Greek).

I am skipping over some passages from the bible because it is not very insightful nor accurate.

Chapter four is about the Sabeans or the worshipers of the Pole Star.

The Phoenicians looked upon the Pole Star as the goddess (Astroncema).

The Sun-Worshipers settled at the Euphrates Delta. Their race was known as Sumerians. They were mentioned as skilled astronomers.

The Sabean were also known as Mandaites (or Sons of the Word/Manda). Internally they referred themselves as Mandeans. They not only worship the Pole Star but also worship St John the Baptist as Yahio. Others (Muslims probably) referred to them as the Christians of the St. John.

The following Quranic verses about the story of Abraham who was living among his community that worshiped a star and the sun and the moon was mentioned.

[The Holy Quran 6:76] So when the night over-shadowed him, he saw a star; said he: Is this my Lord? So when it set, he said: I do not love the setting ones.

[The Holy Quran 6:77] Then when he saw the moon rising, he said: Is this my Lord? So when it set, he said: If my Lord had not guided me I should certainly be of the erring people.

[The Holy Quran 6:78] Then when he saw the sun rising, he said: Is this my Lord? Is this the greatest? So when it set, he said: O my people! surely I am clear of what you set up (with Allah).

[The Holy Quran 6:79] Surely I have turned myself, being upright, wholly to Him Who originated the heavens and the earth, and I am not of the polytheists.

Abraham might have been living among the Sabeans who chiefly worship the heavenly bodies - especially the Pole Star.

An Arab Historian of the tenth century, Hamzah Isfahani remarks that the Chaldeans populated the two cities, Harran and Roha. And in the time of al-Ma'moon, the Chaldeans gave up their name and took the name Sabeans. Another writer classifies the Babylonians, Chaldeans, Nabatheans, Syrians together as all descendants of the Sabeans.

The Sabeans, while worshiping the stars, believe in the God that created the world. They celebrated the festival of every planet in their chapel.

The sacred book of the Sabeans is the Book of Thammuz or The Hidden One. They had other books such as the book of the sun, the book hassearab and the book of the messenger of Hermes.

The Sabeans also worshipped twelve Messiahs.

The Nabatheans were followers of John the Baptist in Lebanon.

Religion in the Antiquity

I am reading the book about secret sects of Syria. This is an old book that was published about a hundred years ago.

Direct quote from the book

There was something to be known in religion, secrets or mysteries into which it was possible to be initiated ; that there was a gradual process of unfolding in things religious ; in fine, that there was a science of the soul, a knowledge of things unseen.

Some of the important ideas from antiquity were
- Trinity of God
- Existence of the Holy Spirit
- Secret of Birth, Life, Death, Resurrection
- Worship of Mithra (Sun Deity)

On page 22, the religion of the Magi (Old Persia) had a deep influence on many of the Eastern culture and Europe when the Asia Minor was conquered by the Romans.

In the Mithraic ceremonies, a mystic (candidate) goes through seven degrees of initiation to acquire perfect wisdom and purity, answered to the seven planetary spheres which the soul was forced to traverse in order to reach the abode of the blessed
- Raven
- Occult
- Soldier
- Lion
- Persian
- Runner of the Sun
- Father (title borrowed from Greeks, they are mostly directors of the community)

Details of the ceremony, duration and the service rendered by the candidate is mentioned on Page 22-27.

It is worth mentioning that fire was taken as the symbol of God and water as the symbol of the Holy Spirit. And the ancient Mithraic Mysteries were celebrated on the 25th of December which was called the Day of the Nativity of the Invincible.

Book - Secret Sects Of Syria And The Lebanon (1922)

Available online http://archive.org/details/secretsectsofsyr032392mbp

Book metadata:
Secret Sects Of Syria And The Lebanon (1922)
Author: Springett,Bernard H.
Subject: SOCIAL SCIENCES; Social Welfare; Social welfare
Publisher: George Allen And Unwin Limited.
Language: English
Call number: 32392
Book contributor: Osmania University
Collection: universallibrary

The Syrian Alawites - Rise to Power

There has been much interest in the Syrian Alawite/Alawi in the recent time, mainly due to the conflict in Syria.

The history of Alawite rise to power in Syria is quite interesting. It started in the early nineteen century when the French was occupying Syria.

The majority of the Syrian (Sunni Muslim) were against the French. Alawis, who were treated as the second class citizen by the Sunnis, saw a bright future for themselves and perhaps an opportunity to get rid of their leper-like-status among the Syrians.

They formed a strong alliance with French, and in return, the French provided moral and material support to the Alawis. And in a very short time, they established their autonomous state and a strong military presence.

In the next 30 to 40 years, a lot of interesting things started happening in Syria and around the Middle East. A lot of worthless ideas like Pan-Arabism/Bathism were also floating around the Middle East.

The Alawis were unwilling to see their power and influence being diminished by democracy since democracy would most certainly favor the Sunni Majority.

The rest of the history is pretty much predictable. The Alawis used their vastly superior powers (mostly military) to get rid of all their opponents and placed members of their own sects on the top of the chain (at helm).

The Alawis, under Hafeez al-Assad, who was a very brutal dictator, carried out unimaginable horrific acts against his own people to silence their political voice and aspiration.

The Alawis (and I shouldn't really be using this term loosely because they are not really a monolithic block) also exert their influence and took a number of measures to ensure that their religious sect would be more inline with the mainstream Islam.

In the next couple of posts, I am going to delve deeper into the Alawi sect.

Discovery of a Higgslike Particle

Too soon to tell but this was the news yesterday


The researchers at CERN discovered Higgslike Particle (or the God Particle)

According to the Standard Model, the Higgs boson is the only manifestation of an invisible force field, a cosmic molasses that permeates space and imbues elementary particles with mass. Particles wading through the field gain heft the way a bill going through Congress attracts riders and amendments, becoming ever more ponderous.

Without the Higgs field, as it is known, or something like it, all elementary forms of matter would zoom around at the speed of light, flowing through our hands like moonlight. There would be neither atoms nor life.


Ten things you may want to know about Higgs Boson

7. Standard particle theory will be incomplete even if the Higgs particle is discovered.

The Higgs boson is the last undiscovered particle predicted by the Standard Model, a beautiful mathematical framework physicists use to describe the smallest bits of matter and how they interact. Experimental results have time and again validated the model's other predictions. But finding the Higgs boson would not close the book on particle physics. While the Standard Model accounts for fundamental forces such as electromagnetism and the strong nuclear force, it cannot make sense of gravity, which is disproportionately weak compared to the other forces. One possible explanation is that we experience only a fraction of the force of gravity because most of it acts in hidden extra dimensions.

Interesting Documentary about Qatar

Qatar: A tiny country asserts powerful influence

Bob Simon: I think Americans are going to be shocked about a few things here: That there are no taxes. That electricity is free. Health care is free. Education is free. Sounds like a paradise.

The work is being done by a million man army of immigrants: 94 percent of Qatar's labor force is foreign; Filipinos, Indians, Nepalese mainly - creating a home for a mere 250,000 Qataris. Paying for it? No problem. Qatar sits on top of the third largest natural gas reserves on the planet.

Sheik Hamid bin Jasim: Everything is free. That become, like, a part of our culture.
Sheik Hamid bin Jasim is Qatar's prime minister.
Bin Jasim: Even when the-- people died, they were-- we take care of them.
Simon: Free funerals.
Bin Jasim: Yes.
Simon: From cradle to grave--
Bin Jasim: Yes, yes.
Simon:--everything's taken care of.

Those "problems" - the chaos, violence and killings throughout the Middle East are not cooling down at all - and many Arab leaders say, to a large extent, it is the emir's fault.

That's because of the television network he created 15 years ago. It's called Al Jazeera and it does something unprecedented in the Arab world. It covers the news. It's on the air 24 hours a day, broadcasts in Arabic and English and is widely considered to be the engine of the Arab Spring.

Simon: This was the first and the only network in the Arab world that was independent. Everyone else was just doing what their government told them to do.

Bin Khalifa: Of course, it caused us a lot of problem with the top people in the Arab countries.

Simon: You say that Al Jazeera created problems for some leaders in the Middle East. It created big problems. It got them overthrown.

Faisal al Qasim: We Arabs have been fond over the years of hiding our dirt under the carpet.

Faisal al Qasim is the host of one of Al Jazeera's most popular talk shows.

Al Qasim: We are here to reveal everything, to cover everything. That's why they don't like us. We are talking here about Arab governments, Arab regimes. I'm not talking about the Arab people. The Arab people love Al Jazeera.

Egyptians sure loved it last year. Thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square watched themselves and their own revolution "live" on Al Jazeera.

Al Qasim: And nobody can negate the fact that Al Jazeera played a big role in what happened in Egypt at the time.

Simon: Here at Al Jazeera, are you covering the news or do you have an agenda?

Al Qasim: What is wrong with transforming the Arab world from tyranny and despotism into a democracy? What's wrong with that? If there is an agenda, it's a very good agenda.

I Don't Like the First Cause Argument

Wikipedia states the Kalām cosmological argument as

Everything that has a beginning of its existence has a cause of its existence;
The universe has a beginning of its existence;
Therefore:

The universe has a cause of its existence.

I know that a lot of Christians and Muslims believe in the cosmological argument but I don't really believe in it. I think it is just created by religious people to justify the existence of God.

Vahid Behbahani

There's an interesting PhD dissertation available online about the emergence of an Islamic Reform Movement in Early Modern Iraq and Iran

http://content.lib.utah.edu/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/us-etd3&CISOPTR=223&filename=364.pdf

I am specifically interested to read about Vahid Behbahani (Muhammad Baqir ibn Muhammad Akmal al-Wahid Bihbahani).

This work goes deeply into his biography, his thoughts and his scholarly career.

Al Quran Chapter 14 Verses 24-26

I am studying the following verses from The Book.

These are the translation of the verses (please see them in the original Arabic language).

Verse 24
Have you not regarded how Allah has drawn a parable?
A good word is like a good tree:
its roots are steady and its branches are in the sky.

Verse 25
It gives its fruit every season by the leave of its Lord.
Allah draws these parables for mankind so that they may take admonition.

Verse 26
And the parable of a bad word is that of a bad tree: uprooted from the ground, it has no stability.

The above translations is by Ali Quli Qara'i.

Items of note

- In verse 24, the word mathalan is used. A literal translation of this word seems to be Example.

- Ali Quli, rightly so, added another degree of preciseness to his translation and used the word parable (def: a statement or comment that conveys a meaning indirectly by the use of comparison, analogy, or the like).

- The word similitude (def: a likening or comparison in the form of a simile, parable, or allegory) is also a good replacement.

- The second important word in verse 24 it Kalimatan Tayyibatan (short form: Kalima tayyiba). A literal translation would be 'a good word'.

- There's been some dispute on the meaning of the good word.

- Some believe that the good word here is referring to the shahādat (lā illāha illā llāh) witnessing Allah and his messenger.

- Some of the Sunnis have speculated that the verse good tree is probably a date palm tree. And the whole verses might be referring so someone's good deeds that may reach up high to the heaven. Yes, this does sound extremely speculative.

- Al-Zamakhshari, the Mutazila scholar, said the good word is tawhid with all the attributes of God.

- Al-Razi rejected the tree (mentioned here) as the palm tree.

- In the Shia commentary by al-Kashi, he narrated a hadith by the sixth Imam, where the good tree is Ahle Muhammad, Imam Ali and his descendents. The Holy Prophet is the root, Imam Ali is the trunk and his descendents are the branches of knowledge or its fruits.

- Furthermore, the bad tree in the verse 26 is referring to the Umayad.

You're wasting your time leaving spams on my blog

A single click. That's how long it takes me to trash your garbage comments.

To all the genuine comments, I don't have time to respond to your comments/feedback since I've been away for a while. I'm busy working on new new stuffs.

Mutazilah Position on the Imamah

The main dispute between the ahl al-Sunnah Wal Jamaah with the Shia was the question of Imammah.

The main proponent of Mutazila sect, Qadi Abd al Jabbar, who was previously a Shafii, and now a hanafi, believed that the rightful leaders for the Ummah were Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali. He rejected the Shia Imami position that Ali was superior than other calips.

A Zaydi by the name of Manekdim (or Abu-1-Husayn Ahmad) disagreed with the above position.

He presented the following arguments, not from the Shia Imami position but from his own sect the Zaydi.

- The Imam has authority over those who hold the offices of the land (such as qadis/judges).

- The Imam is needed to carry out and enforce divine legislation. (Shi'a generally (refers them as ah1 al-bayt).

- Imam is needed to implement the Shari'a

- Imam functions specifically as mujtahid, one who is entrusted with ijtihad, authority to decide in legal and theological matters.

- Imam is designated/chosen by al-nass

- His view, based on the Zaydi sect, was that the Prophet appointed 'Ali ibn Abi Talib as Imam. His sons Hasan, then Husayn, were appointed, down to the fifth Imam, Zayd ibn 'Ali, and thereafter those (and there could be more than one at a time) who followed in their path.


Reference
[1] Martin, Richard C, Woodward, Mark R and Atmaja, Dwi S. 1997. Defenders of Reason In Islam: Mu'tazilism and Rational Theology from Medieval School to Modern Symbol. Oneworld Oxford. Preface. ISBN 978-1851681471

Qadariya again

This is a continuation of an old post.

The doctrine of al Kalam fi al-Qadar - Major concept in the Qadariya sect

The Beginnings of Kalam - from wikipedia [1]

Though nothing definite can be said about the beginnings of 'ilm al-kalam among Muslims, what is certain is that discussion of some of the problems of kalam, such as the issue of predestination (jabr) and free will (ikhtiyar), and that of Divine Justice, became current among Muslims during the first half of the second century of Hijrah. Perhaps the first formal centre of such discussions was the circle of al-Hasan al-Basri (d. 110/728-29).

Briefly, the Qadariya believes that evil and ethically bad things exist in the world not through divine agency but through human agency and other causes. For the Qadariya, God is removed from doing ethically bad and evil acts. [2]


Umayad Opposition to the above doctrine

Caliph 'Abd al-Malik (date: 685-705) and his immediate successors had condemned the doctrine of al-kalam fi 1-qadar because the doctrine was a theological critique of Umayyad rule. [2]

Evidence from the the Quran to support this belief
Chapter 4: Verse 123

Paradise is not [obtained] by your wishful thinking nor by that of the People of the Scripture. Whoever does a wrong will be recompensed for it, and he will not find besides Allah a protector or a helper.

References
[1] Wikipedia - Predestination in Islam
[2] Martin, Richard C, Woodward, Mark R and Atmaja, Dwi S. 1997. Defenders of Reason In Islam: Mu'tazilism and Rational Theology from Medieval School to Modern Symbol. Oneworld Oxford. Preface. ISBN 978-1851681471

The Five Usul

I am still reading the book [1].

Summary of pages: 60-64

First Principles: Knowledge of God

It is incumbent on all human beings to exercise speculative reason (al-nazar) in order to know God

the rest of what we need to know about religion can't be known until we first know (rationally) that there is a God

The Qadi names four kinds of evidence on which speculative reason (al-nazar) is appropriately based:
- Rational argument (hujjat al-'aql)
- The Book or scripture (al-kitab)
- The paradigmatic practice of the Prophet Muhammad (Sunna)
- And the consensus of the community (ijma')

The early madhab of Mutazilah identify the following five doctrines
1. Divine unity (al-tawhid)
2. Divine justice or theodicy (al-'adl)
3. The promise and the threat (of reward or punishment in the hereafter, al-wa'd wa 1-wa'id)
4. The "intermediate position" on the matter of who is a true Muslim (almanzila bayn al-manzilatayn)
5. Commanding the good and prohibiting evil (al-amr bi 1-ma'ruf wa 1-nahy 'an al-munkar)

Reference
[1] Martin, Richard C, Woodward, Mark R and Atmaja, Dwi S. 1997. Defenders of Reason In Islam: Mu'tazilism and Rational Theology from Medieval School to Modern Symbol. Oneworld Oxford. Preface. ISBN 978-1851681471

ShiaChat is up now!

http://www.shiachat.com/forum/

Qadi Abd al-Jabbar: Education, Background and his Works

I made the following notes from the Mutazilah book[1]. Please refer to the original book for the detail explanation and in-depth analysis.

Summary of pages 48-54

Several Mu'tazili writings, including works by 'Abd al-Jabbar, were discovered in Yemen by a team of Egyptian scholars in 1950.

A part of the Zaydi community which included the Mu'tazili mutakallimun - migrated to Yemen at the end of the Buyid Age (mid-eleventh century). Thus, many of the texts found turned out to be Mu'tazili kalam texts. The most significant find was six of the twenty volumes of the Kitab almughni by 'Abd al-Jabbar.

These discoveries stimulated new scholarship on kalam and the Mu'tazila in particular

The Mutazilah Qadi, Abd al-Jabbar al-Hamdani al-Astabadi, was well grounded in the traditional study of the Quran and Hadiths.

'Abd al-Jabbar first studied Ash'ari kalam (Madhab Shafii), then saw the light and became a student of Mu'tazili shaykhs (Madhab Hanafi).

one biographer noted that the Qadi worried about his Shafi'i affiliation in fiqh and thus wanted to study Hanafi fiqh, the preferred madhhab among Mu'tazili mutakallimun. His mentor, Abu 'Abdallah, who was also a distinguished Hanafi jurisconsult, advised the Qadi to remain a scholar of the Shafi'i madhhab, and that both the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools
were valid.

Qadi Abd al-Jabbar had written and produced over twenty works (books).

The text of 'Abd al-Jabbar's Kitab al-usul al-khamsa was discovered by Daniel Gimaret in a collection of manuscripts at the Vatican.

Reference
[1] Martin, Richard C, Woodward, Mark R and Atmaja, Dwi S. 1997. Defenders of Reason In Islam: Mu'tazilism and Rational Theology from Medieval School to Modern Symbol. Oneworld Oxford. Preface. ISBN 978-1851681471

Druze Spiritual Leader Dead

The highest spiritual authority in the Druze religion, Sheikh Abu Mohammad Jawad Walieddine (96 years of age), passed away yesterday in Lebanon. His body was placed in the glass box for viewing.

He was the leader for Druze community in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine. His wife passed away a few years ago.

He was laid to rest in Baqleen on Saturday.

reference
http://www.yalibnan.com/2012/04/27/sheikh-abu-mohammad-jawad-walieddine-passed-away/

What Have I Been Researching Lately

I have been researching an interesting topic which is not related to Muslim Sects.


Why do the Westerner or Western Scholars of Islam think that the message of Prophet Muhammad or al-Islam is a continuation of Christianity and Judaism.


Muslims generally accept past religions, such as Judaism and Christianity. Muslims believe the divine origin of Christianity and Judaism. But they also believe that these religions have been been corrupted by their followers.


Westerners/Orientalist have an aggressive and an opposite reaction (stance) against Islam. To counter-act Islam's position towards the above Abrahamic religions, they consider Islam as a copy-cat religion by claiming that the Prophet of Islam created his religion from a hybrid of other religions, such as, the pagan belief in Arabia, Christianity and Judaism and other Mythical beliefs which was common to the region at the time.


The evidence that are usually provided by the Westerners or Orientalist are generally very speculative.

• They claim that the Prophet of Islam was a tradesman, so he must have known people of other religions. He must have learn from them before setting up this new religion in Arabia
  
• Secondly, they claim that since many Jews used to live in Arabia, then the Prophet must have learned from them by observing and then incorporating it in his religious belief
  
• They then claim that the Prophet of Islam must have met some of the Zorastrians living in the area at the time. They talk about Zorastrians influence on Islam by looking at some of Islamic beliefs and speculating on its origin.
  

I am still reading a number of Western sources that portray the Holy Prophet as someone who has created a hybrid religion called Islam based on his observation of other religion and belief systems.


Most of the works by Westerners on this topic are very speculative. It is not based on written sources.

• Sources are not presented showing that the Holy Prophet meeting specific persons (like priests or a rabbis). 
• Sources are not quoted showing that the Prophet went somewhere to learn or get schooled about other religions. 
• Sources are not provided about his involvement with any group of people.
• Heck, there are not even sources of him sitting down writing and analysing views and ideas from other religions.

The premise used by Westerners is that Islam is not original hence it must come from somewhere.

The Prophet must have learned and picked sources from other religion to create his own hybrid/copy-cat religion.

I am still reading but one thing that I find hard to believe is that no solid evidences have been provided to support the Westerners premise that the Prophet of Islam has learned from the Jews, Christian or Zorastrians.

Took a month off from blogging

Did some travelling and other things. But I am back for a few weeks. I am still expected to travel in May. So, I will probably be going away again.


The other thing I am working on is setting up another blog for a few people. This blog is going to be a collaborative work among the Malay Speaking Syiah. Here is the url  http://kenalisyiah.blogspot.com/



The aim of the Kenali Syiah (Know Syiah) blog is to introduce the teaching of Ahl al-Bayt (Shiism) in the Malay Language. As you are aware, the paranoid Malaysian Government forbid publishing or disseminating Shia related materials in any language. My collaborator hopes that this blog will introduce the correct teaching of Shia Islam to the Malay speaking world.


I am not really writing articles for the Kenali Syiah blog. I format articles, publish them online and re-arrange the content of the blog. The people who write these articles wish to remain anonymous.

Going on Vacation

I am taking a break from blogging. I should be back in mid summer this year June/July 2012. I don't expect anything new to be added here until I return.

Take care you all. And have fun.

Overpriced Books (Rant)

I am in the rant mode now.

A few weeks ago I was complaining about cheap Islamic books flooding the market. The day before yesterday, I was thinking to buy a few books about Ismailis and Fatimid but the prices of these books are discouraging. I am not going to pay $70 and over hundred dollars for a book. I don't care if these books are hardcovers printed on cotton-bonded paper with sharp and glossy covers. Who pays that kind of money nowadays?

It cost soo much money to get access to academic materials (conference and journal papers). The academic books and textbooks are also way overpriced. I am not happy with all these barriers put in place to discourage people who are studying and those who wish to pursuit independent research without being affiliated with universities and research institute. Authors don't make that much money out of their books. If you can get paperbacks for less than ten dollars and hardback for less than $25 from supermarkets then there is something wrong with the printing of academic books.

Thank god I can go to the university and get what I want for free.

I am really getting interested in the ebooks revolution. Hopefully, the books could be sold cheaper because there is no cost associated with printing, distribution and stocking.

So, are the publishing companies happy that they can sell books cheaply without all the additional costs involved in the printing and distribution of the books? Nope. As of now, they are trying to figure out new ways to scam their consumers.

Random House will continue to offer its e-books to libraries but as of March 1 has raised many e-books’ wholesale prices significantly—in some cases by as much as 300 percent.

Several librarians told The Digital Shift that the prices they’re seeing tripled. “A book that a week ago we purchased for $28.00 now costs $84.00,” said one.

Getting some new books about the Ismailis

I am thinking to acquire some new books about Ismailis. I've noticed a number of interesting titles on Amazon.

#1 The Advent of the Fatimids: A Contemporary Shi'i Witness by Wilfred Madelung and Paul Walker. The current price of the book is a whopping $84.00 only for 256 pages. I've just sent a note to the publisher to make the title available on Kindle. The description of the book sounds interesting

This personal memoir composed by a medieval scholar reveals an important discourse with two Ismaili leaders who spearheaded the Fatimid revolution in North Africa in 909-910. By reporting the thoughts and activities of Abu ‘Abdallah al-Shi’i and his brother Abu’l-Abbas over a period of seven months, Ibn al-Haytham in his Kitab al-Munazarat (The Book of Discussions) provides an unparalleled insider’s view to the foundations of the Fatimid state. As such, it is a unique document in the literature of early Islamic revolutionary movements as much as it represents one of the most valuable sources for the history of the medieval Muslim world.

#2 The Fatimids and Their Successors in Yaman: The History of an Islamic Community the authors are the same two people who wrote book #1. This book is still overpriced at $73 for 242 pages. This book is partially in Arabic.

The Uyun al-akhbar is the most complete text by an Ismaili author on the history of the Ismaili community, from its origins up to Idris ‘Imad al-Din’s own time in the 15th century. The seventh volume, edited here for the first time, together with a summary English translation, deals in particular with the period of the three Fatimid caliphs, al-Mustansir, al-Musta’li, and al-Amir, in addition to the Tayyibi Ismaili community in Yemen.

# 3 The Epistles of the Brethren of Purity. Ikhwan al-Safa' and their Rasa'il: An Introduction. Priced over a hundred dollars. Seems like all the books published by the Ismaili Institute are way way overpriced. This books seems to be an introduction. I guess they will be publishing more books in this series.

Ikhwan al-Safa' (The Brethren of Purity) were the anonymous adepts of a tenth-century esoteric fraternity of lettered urbanites that was principally based in Basra and Baghdad. This brotherhood occupied a prominent station in the history of science and philosophy in Islam due to the wide reception and assimilation of their monumental encyclopedia: Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa' (The Epistles of the Brethren of Purity). This compendium contained fifty-two epistles that offered synoptic explications of the classical sciences and philosophies of the age. Divided into four classificatory parts, it treated themes in mathematics, logic, natural philosophy, psychology, metaphysics and theology, in addition to moral and didactic fables. The Ikhwan were learned compilers of scientific and philosophical knowledge, and their Rasa'il constituted a paradigmatic legacy in the canonization of philosophy and the sciences in mediaeval Islamic civilization.

This present volume gathers studies by leading philosophers, historians and scholars of Islamic Studies, who are also the editors and translators of the first Arabic critical editions and first complete annotated English translations of the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa', which will be published in the OUP Series that this present volume initiates, as well as being members of the Editorial Board.

#4 ISMAILI ASSASSINS, THE: A History of Medieval Murder

Few people know the truth about the enigmatic organization known as the Assassins, an underground group of political killers, they were ready to kill Christians and Muslims alike with complete disregard for the consequences of their actions. Although their empire was destroyed in the 13th Century, have a controversial legacy which still resonates in the world today.

The Assassins were meticulous in their killing. They often slew their victims in public, thereby cultivating their terrifying reputation. They assumed disguises and their weapon of choice was a dagger - poison or bows would give the victim the chance to escape. Suicide was considered a deep dishonor and it was generally accepted that an Assassin had to die fighting rather than be captured. Hardly any movement before or since has cast so terrifying a shadow. In 1253, the Mongol chiefs were so fearful of the Assassins' 'poniards of terrible length and sharpness' that they massacred and enslaved the Assassins' women and children.

Assaults on the Crusaders of Syria led to warnings of agents planted in European courts ready to commit murder at the bidding of their master. The English monarch, Edward I, was very nearly poisoned and Richard the Lionheart's reputation was sullied by his association with the Assassins' murder of Conrad of Montferrat.

The Ismail: Assassins describes a unique way of waging war and shows how assassination and fifth-column infiltration became the key weapon for the Ismailis. Through its use of eyewitness accounts from both Islamic and Western sources, This important new book unlocks much of the history of the Crusades and the early Islamic period, allowing the reader entry into a historical epoch that is epic, thrilling, startling and pertinent.