[mukto-mona] Islamic scholar says Muslims should steer clear of non-Muslims

Islamic scholar says Muslims should steer clear of non-Muslims

"Praise be to Allaah. It is not permissible for a Muslim to make friends with a mushrik or to take him as a close friend, because Islam calls on us to forsake the kaafirs and to disavow them, because they worship someone other than Allaah."
- Sheikh Muhammad Salih Al-Munajjid

November 3, 2009

By Tarek Fatah
The National Post

Muhammad Salih Al-Munajjid is a well-known Saudi cleric who has a large following in Canada and the West. Many young Muslim men and women, born in the West, get their direction about Islam and life in the West, not from their parents, but from so-called scholars like Al-Munajjid, who operate on the Internet.

"Sheikh" Al-Munajjid operates an Internet Islamic portal called "Islam Q&A" out of Saudi Arabia. It caters to Muslim youth not just in English, but Mandarin, Cantonese, Turkish, Urdu, French, Spanish, Russian, Uyghur and of course Arabic. 

For some time now I have been following the questions posed by Muslim youth and the fatwas issued by the "sheikhs" based in Saudi Arabia. It is fascinating to see how medieval-minded scholars serving a dictatorial theocracy named after an 18th century brigand are shaping the mindset of a segment of Canadian youth. And while this brainwashing takes place, the rest of us prize our slumber more than our liberties and values as a liberal secular democracy.

On November 3, 2009, a question asked by an anonymous writer caught my attention. Someone asked the Saudi sheikh: "Can a Muslim be a sincere friend to a kaafir? Is it permissible for a Muslim to be a sincere friend to a person who is not Muslim?"

The answer took my breath away. Sheikh Al-Munajjid replied in no uncertain words or ambiguity. He wrote:

"Praise be to Allaah. It is not permissible for a Muslim to make friends with a mushrik or to take him as a close friend, because Islam calls on us to forsake the kaafirs and to disavow them, because they worship someone other than Allaah."

Then, the Saudi cleric quoted from the Koran:

"O you who believe! Take not as friends the people who incurred the Wrath of Allaah (i.e. the Jews). Surely, they have despaired of (receiving any good in) the Hereafter, just as the disbelievers have despaired of those (buried) in graves (that they will not be resurrected on the Day of Resurrection)"

I picked up my copy of the Koran to read the same verse. Lo and behold, there was no reference to Jews, yet the Saudi cleric had found it within his jurisdiction to add words to the Koran as way to slam Jews.

As if the invoking of the Koran to discourage Canadian Muslims from befriending Jews was not sufficient, the Saudi cleric then invoked the supposed words of Prophet Muhammad. "Do not keep company with anyone but a believer and do not let anyone eat your food but one who is pious."

Then came the bombshell. Quoting again from the supposed words of the Prophet, the Saudi cleric urged Muslim youths to avoid living among non-Muslims, unless the objective was to convert them to Islam.

"Do not live among the mushrikeen and do not mix with them, for whoever lives among them or mixes with them is not one of us. But it is permissible to deal with them in a kind manner in the hope that they might become Muslim."

The Saudi cleric ended with a story:

"There was a Jewish boy who used to serve the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and he fell sick. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) came to visit him. He sat by his head and said, "Become Muslim." (The boy) looked at his father who was with him, and he (the father) said, "Obey Abu'l-Qaasim (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)." So he became Muslim, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) went out, saying, "Praise be to Allaah Who has saved him from the Fire" (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 1290)."

Today, well-funded Islamist groups are working tirelessly to convince young Muslim men and women to view their non-Muslim fellow citizens with suspicion and derision. While Islamists are asking Muslims to refrain from befriending non-Muslims, there is no effort at any level in the West to counter the hateful message of isolation, segregation, and hostility towards Canada and the West.

Who will rise to challenge this cancer of segregation seeping into the conscience of Muslim youth? The same clerics who sit at inter-faith and multiculturalism conferences and breakfasts with politicians are the very people who endorse the anti-Jew and anti-Christian message coming from their Saudi masters.

Time has come to call a spade a spade. The question is, are there any Canadians willing to fight this hate at the risk of being accused of Islamophobia?