Clear & plain simple
One afternoon, a week or so ago, on our way back from Bicester Village, we dropped by at Sheikh Afifi's house. One reason was to introduce the erudite young Malaysian scholar to my parents, and the other was, it has been a while since we last visited him.Unavoidably, the conversation transgressed into the current hot topic of (suicide) bombing. And as always, Sheikh would go into a lengthy explanation (from the fiqh ruling) condemning such act by fellow believers. At the end of it, just before we sat down for a nice mee goreng for tea, my wife said to him, "Why don't you write about it?” of which he replied, "Indeed, I am".
Now, his excellent piece explaining the very issue has been e-published by his fellow traditional scholar, the well known Sheikh Dr. Hj Gibrail Fuad Haddad of Damascus, in his website Living Islam. Please click here for Sheikh Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti's article, entitled "Defending the Transgressed by Censuring the Reckless against the Killing of Civilians."
Read it, print it, blog about it, link it, photocopy it, post it, pin it up, distribute it, pass it ... as it has been considered by many learned people as possessing the most clarity of thought and expression, backed by his deep understanding of the (Islamic) law and jurisprudence. A thing we all have been very proud of as Malaysians since his arrival at the City of Dreaming Spires a few years ago. [though my dad always reminds me that the word 'proud' should not be used, instead, we should say 'syukur'].
At the moment, effort has been made to translate this wonderful article into Bahasa Melayu for the benefits of the masses back home. InsyaAllah it will be available soon.
NB: more text by Sheikh Afifi also available within Living Islam... click here.
posted by Atok @ 11:47:00 pm
