But friends told me word is spreading about my blog and some of my ex-murid friends have written to tell me that people are talking about this blog - outside of Ktown of course where you guys have been reading all along.And I've seen some of the comments or questions that people have had. Again, I'm not here to have a conversation with you. People whose hearts have not been sealed and who are sincere seekers of truth even when it goes against their desires, Allah gives them the truth. If you are led by desires, your heart will remain sealed.
I would say that if you intend to spend your Ramadan lying about this, that is pretty sad. Think about it. The murid wife who was telling her story is being slandered in a major way - will you continue this into Ramadan, claiming she made threats or encouraged threats against other people's lives? Have some shame with Allah, because He knows the truth and you know He does! Just spend your Ramadan concentrating on sincerity with Him and He will show you the straight path, inshaAllah. Maintaining sincerity is harder than it sounds, because we naturally default to what we want, what works best for us, what will increase our prestige or what feels good, even if we have some feeling that it isn't really the best thing. Or worse, we tell ourselves that what we want is what Allah wants. Isn't that a type of shirk? So concentrate on your sincerity and tawheed in Ramadan. I will.
So a few things from what I was hearing about the blog.
1. This is not "complaints of women about having to wear niqab." The problem is that the niqab becomes the sole barometer of a woman's faith, her standing as a good or bad Muslim, and also, that Muslim women who don't wear niqab are portrayed as, well, slutty. And for murids who don't even live in Jordan to join in on trashing the Kharabsheh sisters is pretty rich. Some of you aren't even in proper hijab when the murids aren't about ot see you, and you know it. And so does Allah. In our preschool in the neighborhood the kids are taught that women who don't wear face veils are bad women, bad Muslimas. If you have't been to K, then you might not know this, but it is the obsession of the women and UK and US, I would say, as far as their control of the women. Wearing niqab is not the problem. It is niqab = all of a woman's faith and value. A woman is never asked if she made her wirds that day or if she stayed awake part of the night for tahajjud, or if she read a part of the Quran that day, but she is questioned constantly about her clothing and admonished constantly for her clothing. You need to reevaluate your understanding of Allah if you think that piece of material is the most important thing about a Muslim woman.
I notice it seems to be the men who are saying this. Of course - you don't have to wear it, it's easy for you to tell a woman who has concerns about the niqab obsession that she's just being disobedient and willfull. (I thought we submit to Allah not to men and women). Maybe you'll rethink it if you ever manage to go to K and it's your wife or sister who is struggling and being called a show off who wants men to see her face and her reputation is questioned as if she is a street tart just for showing her face.
2. As for "Well, Muslim women have to obey their husbands anyway," again, that is not the problem. The problem is that "nose in the dirt" is used to silence women who are being abused in their marriages, including physical abuse. Are you saying, o enlightened murids, that this is what the obedience of women in Islam truly is? That women aren't allowed to say no to abusive husbands, or leave a marriage where their murid spouse is downloading gay porn and maybe even having gay sexual relations on the side? Again, it's all men saying this, as if all men are righteous and the problem is bad women. I guess it's easier than I thought to drink Nuh's misogynist Koolaid from outside of Jordan! Is this what Islam and being in the tariqa has done to your heart? Truly, in the depths of your soul, do you think that the one true creator the supreme being means for women to suffer all manner of abuse and that if she tries to escape from it or speak up about it, then she is sinful for not keeping her nose "in the dirt"? Do you think the prophet (saws) would tell the woman who cried out or any other woman to shut up and take it? SubhanAllah if that is your Islam. SubhanAllah that your "allegiance" to Keller would outweigh your allegiance to the truth and to what is required of you in terms of the obligation to stand up for the oppressed.
3. As for "this is only what the women say", that is simply not true. First, just because it is mainly women who are out here, that doesn't mean that these experiences have no value. And that is what you are doing. "Oh, it's only women." As if it doesn't matter if it's women, but only men. When it's men, then it will be important to pay attention?
The problem is that, ironically, it is mainly only women who have been standing up to tell our stories. And those who don't go to K don't know who lives there and don't know who the "big murids" are. But please, do ask around about some of the murids from people who were in Jordan. Ask about the driver, the personal assistant, the man whose business was known and respected internationally, the man against whom a bayan was put up, the one who substitutes for the imam, the one whose relative was the reciter of the Quran in the z for some time, the elder Arabs. Why not find out where his own khalifa went? You brothers who didn't go to Jordan didn't even know he has one, and you say that you know what happens in Kharabsheh better than some women who just "didn't want to obey"?
The men who have actually sat with Noah and Besa and who have served him in Jordan, rather than from afar are speaking amongst themselves. That is why more men from the tariqa are leaving overseas. If they choose to have a blog or something, that is up to them. And some men have written about the tariqa online, so be honest and admit that you know there are men who are writing about the problems, starting with those first posts on the blog back in January. I have seen posts online that I know were written by brothers. So don't try to say "It is just women" as if it doesn't matter when women object to something, as if women are liars or, say, mentally ill hysterics whose words are not to be trusted. Again, take a step back from the misogyny and think about what you are saying.
4. Please, by all means, encourage your shaykh to answer the call of discussion from an Arab shaykh that Noah says has no qualifications. Let the matter be clear and on the record! Ask him to clear this matter up with the shaykh himself, with witnesses on hand, so that there is no doubt. You can write to him here, encouraging him to make sure that his words are recorded clearly and accurately in these and other matters. There is nothing to be afraid of when it comes to the public gaze or the scrutiny of other scholars, right? And after all, the shaykh has shown no hesitation when it comes to warning against others who say they are scholars or promoting debate about scholars in writing.
5. O murids who never went to Jordan you should ask yourself why do the local Jordanians dislike the murids and the shaykh himself so much? Yes, they have some few friends but in the city as a whole, they are reviled and even cursed for their bad manners and for being tight fisted. And not just the murids but the shaykh as well. Where is the sign of excellent character upon these elite that the so-called laypeople do not recognize it? Shaykh Shukri inspires love and respect among the "common people" and they have love and respect for the murids in his care. In fact, he makes it a point to seek the duas of the humblest Muslims and is known to serve them, unlike Noah who absolutely not known for any of these things in Jordan.
None of them is above the call to enjoin the good and forbid the evil, and none of us are absolved from giving them this call when we see wrongdoing. If the other shaykhs choose not to do it - or if they are ignored when they give their naseeha, which has happened - then it should come from us, the commoners. They are still your brothers and sisters in Islam, and they deserve the care and guiding hands of the Muslims, even those of us who are supposedly not equal to them. Don't fall into the mindset of the followers of other religions. None among us is without sin and wrongdoing. Not even them.
6. For those who did not go to Kharabsheh, the word used in Kharabsheh is "murid." Not any other terms. Sometimes they say "dervish" or "darwish", and a few times "fuqara," but mostly the word they use and the word we used for ourselves is "murid".
Again, I continue call upon Noah, Besa, Hedaya, Ashraf, and the rest to turn to Allah in repentence, because you are not promised tomorrow. You are not promised tomorrow Hedaya. Your hour can end at any moment of Allah's choosing. Stop with your threats. Stop the abuse. Do you love Allah or do you love power? Please, go to Allah with this, and give up that which you cannot handle. Is this a test that you will fail? Or will you do all that you must do to pass it? I want the best for you, even at the end of all this. I don't want you to suffer the testimony of all of us that you have abused and wronged on the day when the words of the oppressed carry so much weight. Please, I am begging you - do what you KNOW is right, because you are not too good to have no shame before Allah.
So, with that, I sincerely pray for all of you reading, including yes you in Kharabsheh even Noah and Besa and Hedaya, that you have an amazing Ramadan full of blessing and opening from Allah.
