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Message: 1
Subject: Hamza Yusuf - Where did he go wrong? (And why didn't I say something sooner?)
From: sheikyusuf@aol.com
Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 01:19:39 EDT
Bismillah Rahman Raheem
ASalam Alaykum:
re: Hamza Yusuf and his new teachings
I ask Allah to Forgive me and protect me from the evil one and from the evil within myself. I ask all
of the brothers and sisters to pray for me that I be rightly guided in the future and forgive me for keeping silent so long on a
very serious issue. For more than one year I have wrestled with the notion of whether or not to expose one of our scholars in
Islam here in America for some very serious deviation in his teachings. In my defence, I thought perhaps he would come to his
senses or that possibly myself or someone could have the opportunity to sit with him and correct him in these areas. I was wrong.
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.
This letter is in regard to the teachings and understandings of Hamza Yusuf. It is very difficult to write
due to the sensitivity of the subject and the respect for all our scholars in Islam today. We are forced to mention certain things
about the beliefs of one of our leaders in the USA and his teachings. In the process however, we must do so in the most delicate
manner so as not to cause further separation and division in the Muslim community when this is definitely not the time to divide
ourselves up. Even so, it is all the more important to say what I have to say about our brother Hamza's understandings and
teachings and the way that he is misrepresenting us as Muslims to the media and to the non-Muslims in general. The hard part is to
do so with the most consideration for him and for all those who have been following him.
First of all, I am not the first one to offer this information regarding some of the beliefs held or at least
promoted by Hamza Yusuf. In fact, I may be guilty of holding back information all too long, for the sake of trying to keep the
ummah together on the issue of the our brother Hamza Yusuf in California. If you have not heard of him, you should. He is a good
speaker and knows how to hold the attention of a crowd. He has been promoted heavily in the past by well known Muslim
organizations like: ISNA; ICNA; Sound Vision and others. He is an American who chose to come to Islam and then went to study in
another country to learn more about Arabic and Islam. He has worked hard and produced a large following.
For several years people have been asking me about the rumors regarding Hamza Yusuf and his "Zaytunna Institute." I have tried to avoid saying anything in a way that would be considered backbiting or slanderous. Yet, I have had complaints from some of those who actually were in his community studying under his tutelage. I took the opportunity over a year ago to go out to California and visit him, at the request of those who were commenting on the "strange" things that bothered them. After my visit I was convinced that there was a problem, but I did not feel that the best way to handle the situation was to publicly "blow the whistle" on him. I know that the Muslims today have a tendency to overreact and often they will turn against the one trying to help in the matter, out of their ignorance of Islam's teachings on these types of issues.
It is all too easy to point the finger at someone who has said or done something that appears against
the principles of Islam and call them misguided. And worse, these days anyone can be called a "kafar" (disbeliever) just
for saying the someone else is not following Islam correctly.
Additionally, a factor came into play that I really did not want to upset. That is that so many people
(including our own family) love the audios and videos that Shaikh Hamza has produced. If you realize that this is the kind of
thing which helps keep Muslims together, then you must also realize that any criticism could hurt feelings and cause ruffled
feathers amongst the ummah. There certain video and audio producers and distributors who are making a lot of money from the sale
of Hamza's tapes and they have been notified on no uncertain terms that there are problems with Hamza's menhaj (methodology) to
say the least. They refused to do anything about it or even suggest anything was wrong. Why? Some have accused them of turning a
blind eye to truth in favor of the money they make on Hamza's tapes. They couple this with the fact that these same distributors
also offer tapes with music on them. I don't think that is fair, however.
Let me now come to the main point. While investigating charges leveled at Shaikh Hamza, I personally stood in
his Zaytunna Institute in California and watched as Shaikh Muhammad Yaqubi from Syria was conducting a class in Sufi Thikr. For
hours his students sat there on the floor rocking back and forth saying only: "Allah. Allah. Allah." Over and over
again. One of the complaints from a student was that a Shaikh at Zaytunna Institute was forcing them to do hundreds of different
thikrs everyday. So much so, that they were not able to complete their daily chores, but if they tried to stop a shayton would
start beating them. I advised them to stop immediately and get away from anything dealing with the shayton. Keep in mind this is
not Hamza, but rather someone working in his "institute."
My other experiences with Hamza have shown me that he has a tendency toward exaggerating the meanings of
words, especially when it comes to discussing issues of any type. I have heard him time and again give the wrong meanings to words
and then go off on tangents trying to prove up some point that just is not there. I recall one instance when I offered him some
scented oil and he pulled away and then said he needed to smell it first. After smelling it, he began to tell those gathering
around that actually from the Sunnah he was able to understand that smells provided cures for diseases. He then mistranslated the
word for fragrance (at-teeb) to be related to the word for doctor and then derived from that the meaning of prescription and then
cure. From there he took off on a non-Muslim expert on scents and fragrances used for cures and began explaining that the plants
have to be grown organically for them to still have the affect that they once had in the past. Not that any of this matters and
does not need to be mentioned except as a simple illustration of how his mind begins go off on the definitions of words.
The relevance of the whole situation is that many people in the West have come to regard Hamza as a scholar of Islam. I don't think that he is trying to promote himself so much as a scholar but it is possible that he may just be trying to promote his understandings of different words. But in view of the recent increased attention and focus on all Muslims and especially our leaders, we are forced to come forward and clarify what is the true Islam and who are the true scholars. We have to be up front and say what needs to be said, without fear of criticism from others.
Please read the following that was sent to me by some of our brothers in Islam. Their email address is:
enjoiningood@hotmail.com.com (Enjoining Good)
If you cannot view this email proceed to: Comments on Hamza Yusuf's Interviews http://hamzayusuf.faithweb.com/interviews/interviews_hamza.htm
Transcript of Interview with Shaikh Hamza Yusuf Hanson by Michael Enright on the September 11 Tragedy...
Please brothers and sisters, do not make the same mistake that I did.
If you have seen the truth in this email, please, you must pass it on to those who need it.
This is a responsibility that every Muslim will be held accountable for.