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| Arabia |
| Arab Religious Scholar Attacks 'modernists' |
| 2010-08-23 |
| [Arab News] An Islamic scholar has described Saudi intellectuals with modern views as heretics and followers of the West. Ahmad bin Abdullah Al-Ammari, former dean of the faculty of the Holy Qur'an at the Madinah Islamic University, said in a lecture at the Baha Literary Club last week that a lot of people were seduced by Western ideals, Al-Madinah daily reported. Al-Ammari did not spare "the modernists" in his sweeping attack, describing them as "the tails of the intellectuals in the Arab world." Al-Ammari began his speech by saying that the title of the lecture, "We and the Others...Our Islam is Our Identity," was chosen deliberately. He added that it was a reaction to the theme of a previous event organized by the club focusing on cultural identity in a changing world. He also said the lecture aimed to describe the difference between Muslims, the "We" in the title, and the "Others," who he described as kafirs (infidels). He claimed the two groups could never come together as they were incompatible. The differences between them did not only include a divergence of views, but the gulf between them was as wide as the difference between thesis and antithesis, he said. He also cited several verses from the Holy Qur'an and the Hadith to support his arguments. "Our identity is based on the religion of Islam that has been chosen for us by Almighty Allah. It is also steeped in our history," he said. "On the other hand, the other faces to our identity are of recent origin and appeared with the opening of universities. But we are the Ummah of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and our identity is Islam, which has been clearly explained in the Qur'an. "That is why I wonder how our own people can throw away their identity and behave like birds migrating from one place to another, never finding a permanent abode." He added that missionaries and colonialists have been trying to destabilize the Islamic world through various campaigns. They never succeeded in their attempts, he said, claiming that they devised another way to destroy Islam by inviting student delegations to the West. He claimed that a large number of the young people studying abroad are influenced by Western ideals. According to Al-Ammari, the word culture has not been used in its precise meaning. Any man with a little knowledge of various subjects, but no in-depth knowledge about one particular area, is now referred to as a cultured man or intellectual, he said. He claimed some intellectuals cannot speak authoritatively on anything and should not be called a scholar because they have no in-depth knowledge. The most important qualification that any cultured man must have is pride about his identity, he said. Al-Ammari attributed the erosion of identity in the Arab world to the weakness of authority and a lack of real knowledge. The situation is further exacerbated by the presence of hypocrites in society who always support the enemies of Islam, he said. Al-Ammari also mocked Saudi novelists Turki Al-Hamad, Raja Al-Sani and Abdu Khal, claiming they were just Western-influenced Arab "intellectuals". |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 "Fire BAAAD!" |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-08-23 07:35 |