After Yasir Qadhi
revealedwhat he was doing at Yale University, there has been a lot of comments
and criticism about his actions. Some did their best to justify what
was in his heart - as if that’s something up to us - to improve Yasir’s
image as a pioneer in communicating with the heads of the dragon. At
the same time, there were those who remained unyielding in their
response as they only saw Yasir as a sell-out; this happens to be my
opinion. This action of Yasir’s needs explaining so that one can
understand why I have taken such a harsh approach towards him. Some
have reminded me to consider his words to Tony Blair in the classroom
setting, and I haven’t forgotten them. However, there is an entire
context to why we look at him in a certain light. This is what I wish
to shed here.
It all started with the arrest of
Shaykh ‘Ali at-Tamimi,
may Allah free him. Before his arrest, the pure Da’wah in America was
strong and Yasir Qadhi was a unique asset for the Talib al-’Ilm. Yasir
Qadhi was a specialist in ‘Aqeedah, and so the concepts and pillars of
Tawheed were catching on to many Muslims. However, after the arrest of
our beloved Shaykh, the worldview of Yasir started to shape in the
wrong direction. Shaykh Tamimi’s arrest was looked at as “something we
need to avoid.” In other words, if we continue with that Da’wah, we’ll
end up like him. So a nascent Islamic leader that many of us had hopes
in were demolished by the fears of this man; thankfully, our beloved
Shaykh, Imam Anwar al-’Awlaki took this position unintentionally when
his famous lectures on Jihad (Story of Ibn al-Akwa series &
Constants on the Path of Jihad series) were made public.
We started to see strange opinions -
justifying weakness - coming from Yasir’s lectures. For example, we saw
him justify that weakness in, “
The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah and Its Relevance to Our Time,” we saw him spurting out strange opinions such as his
Gaza article, and we saw him
allowing Muslims to turn in fellow Muslims to the authorities on suspicion of ‘terrorism’.
However, with the majority of his works
within the past two years, there aren’t that many things one can point
out as wrong according to the Kitab and Sunnah. Rather, what is seen as
wrong is how he uses weakness to justify further weakness. For example,
in his lecture “
Muslims in the West: Where are we Going?“,
besides some minor issues, most of it was correct. But look at the
situation. Is he talking to a group of youth who are excited about
making Hijrah for the sake of Jihad, or youth who are interested in
making Hijrah for the sake of Hijrah, or youth who don’t really care
about Hijrah except that they want some knowledge? We ask that because
the calls of Hijrah today from our Scholars is a Hijrah for the sake of
Jihad due to the fact that it’s fard ‘ayn from East to West; otherwise,
Hijrah for the sake of Hijrah is only good if you can find an
exceptional place to live in where you can worship Allah better without
any worries.
Another problem of his downplaying of
Hijrah is that instead of regarding the rulers in the Muslim lands as
Tawaagheet that need to be removed - and this is a task for us youth -
he completely ignores this momentous task, making it appear to this
creative generation of Muslims that we have nothing to do with the
return of Islam overseas. The times we live in where the Ummah is
finally waking up and establishing Shari’ah through Jihad, he makes it
appear that we actually don’t live in such times, and in some cases, he
makes it look like its a problem or hindrance rather than a solution.
Instead of reminding the youth of their
weakness in the face of a Crusader onslaught, he should be
strengthening our youth by reminding them of the likes of Khalid ibn
al-Waleed, Salah ad-Deen, Al-Qa’qaa, Khattab, and so on. When you
remind youth of weakness in a time of war, by telling them that they
are in the Makkan Phase and they should bow their heads to the tyrants
that are technologically superior, do you think the victory of Islam
will appear? Or is that love for Islam’s victory
even a part of his agenda? Sometimes, we even question that due to his revisionist views.
The Muslim’s humiliation is called peace,And the Arabs are heedless and asleep. Naturally, even if he changes for the good
and starts focusing on the pure Da’wah, he himself isn’t going to
change the world. The point is however, to do whatever is in one’s
means to bring it back up. A building is not established without the
appropriate material. Similarly, an Islamic State will not come except
with incitement, support, blood and stacks of skulls. There are
Mujahideen out there who are rushing to this goal and have shown us its
fruits with the establishment of Shari’ah in many parts of the world,
defying the West and the Tyrants. Yasir, due to his influence, needs to
either engage with these people (or their supporters or Scholars) or
make it clear what his stance is on this global effort to bring back
Islam without submitting to Western influence in terminology (such as
Islamophobia, Terrorism, Islamists etc.). What Yasir does, simply put,
is pretend that there is no need to address these vital issues because
it might land him in jail or he might get visits from the authorities.
Instead of following the blessed path of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, we see
him following the path of those who frown upon hardships in life and
avoid all tests.
When we look at Yasir sitting with Tony
Blair, we are once again reminded of this weakness that he justifies.
After reading his article, one would get a sense of that awful smell
that one usually smells after hearing from a brother that would attend
an anti-war protest saying, “We achieved something great!” When in
reality, it was a complete waste of time, in most cases.
Some of Yasir’s fan would use the argument
of Musa, ‘alayhi as-salaam, saying that Yasir going to Blair is like
Musa going to Fir’awn. This is like insulting a Nabi of Allah. Musa,
‘alayhi as-salaam, did not go to learn how Fir’awn used his magic nor
how he had spread his influence. Rather, he went to him to warn him,
expose him, and make demands of him. After that, he stopped going to
him, unlike Yasir who continued to sit in his class and ask questions
that were
empty of the Da’wah to Tawheed and Bara’ of Shirk.
Musa entered Fir’awn with ‘Izzah and Yasir entered Blair with humiliation.Musa left a tyrant with victory and Yasir left a tyrant with admiration. When you connect all of Yasir’s recent
past-doings and his obsession over ‘American Islam’ and the issue of
voting for Obama, the picture becomes clear: he is just another one for
the show. With every step he takes, he is closer to the camps of Kufr -
camps that are full of the Tawaagheet, boot-licking Muslims, Kuffaar,
Disbelieving Governments, Fuqaha’ al-Marines, Defenders of the
Oppressors - and further from the camps of Imaan - camps that are full
of Muslims that love other Muslims
more than al-Ka’ba,
Uncompromising ‘Ulema that follow that the footsteps of the Salaf
as-Saalih, and Mujahideen who establish the Shari’ah and defy the
greatest superpower to date.
An advice to Yasir’s students and fans:
Yasir Qadhi may have studied at Madinah University for 10 years and is
one of the few Scholars that are attending an Ivy League Institution,
but a brother with sincere intention who lies on the wet cold ground,
upon the snowing mountains, peeking through his scope amongst the fog,
waiting patiently to ambush the enemy, has been raised to a much higher
status by Allah, Al-Jabbaar. Undoubtedly, this is the status that Yasir
frowns upon due to its inherent hardships. Shaykh Abu Anas al-Shami
رحيمه الله took this path; a Shaykh who happened to be studying at
Madinah University at the same time Yasir was studying. One went to
meet Allah and the other went to meet a Taaghoot.
Subject: Yasir Qadhi, the official sell-out 
Fri Feb 13, 2009 2:20 am
by Waleed Basyouni?
