Tim (Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad) is the only Muslim I know personally who talks sense about Islam and being Muslim in the West. But he is the lone exception rather than the rule. Most Muslims I know do a great job of alienating English people.
‘A forceful study of Islamophobia in Europe, considering survival strategies for Muslims on the basis of Qur’an, Hadith, and the Islamic theological, legal and spiritual legacy.
Physical copies delayed by the virus shutting down distribution systems. It is likely they will be available mid-June.
‘How should we react to the new Islamophobic movements now spreading in the West? Everywhere the far right is on the march, with nationalist and populist parties thriving on the back of popular anxieties about Islam and the Muslim presence. Hijab and minaret bans, mosque shootings, hostility to migrants and increasingly scornful media stereotypes seem to endanger the prospects for friendly coexistence and the calm uplifting of Muslim populations.
In this series of essays Abdal Hakim Murad dissects the rise of Islamophobia on the basis of Muslim theological tradition. Although the proper response to the current impasse is clearly indicated in Qur’an and Hadith, some have lost the principle of trust in divine wisdom and are responding with hatred, fearfulness or despair. Murad shows that a compassion-based approach, rooted in an authentic theology of divine power, could transform the current quagmire into a bright landscape of great promise for Muslims and their neighbours.’
Reviews:
“Dust off your dictionary and dive in! Travelling Home is a wild, invigorating and delightfully erudite ride through the political, social, psychological, theological and semantic landscape of European Islam as it is now. Pitched at a Muslim readership, this collection of essays forms in aggregate a brilliant and incisive analysis of the position of Muslims in a Europe ‘surging rapidly in a nationalist direction’ with their indigenous Muslim populations ‘viewed by increasing numbers as a Dark Other fit only to be securitised and stigmatised, and perhaps, in the dreams of some, banished from Europe’s walled garden.’
More importantly, the book proposes a new, constructive approach. The author, who has been on the frontlines of Muslim affairs in Europe for the better part of thirty years, makes a forceful and nuanced argument for a return to a ‘traditional Islam’ which employs, ‘the cumulative wisdom of the Muslim centuries in all its amplitude’ in an attempt ‘to devise an uncompromising theory of Islamic belonging in the European homeland of the late modern melée’.
In the process he takes aim at, well, just about everyone, and he takes no prisoners. European Islamophobes in ‘an already confused Europe’, Islamists, Muslim extremists redefined as tanfiris – those who make Islam repellent, ‘the continued prominence of race-temple Islam in [ethnocentric] community leadership’ and Muslim leaders ‘whose highest ambition is to have their photograph taken beside an MP’ are all taken out in this scathing and witty take down of the real barriers to positive change. In practice, he posits, Muslims need to replace a ‘reactive identity-religion with its desire for status and revenge driven by ego’ and an externalised Islam, with a revival of the awareness of the ‘presence, power and compassion of God’ in the profound and quintessential tradition of Islamic spirituality.
Travelling Home is an essential and exhilarating read.”
— MICHAEL SUGICH, author of Hearts Turn and Signs on the Horizons.
“Probably the most important book ever published by a European Muslim scholar. Traditionally enlightened, mercifully uncompromising with the truth, intellectually and spiritually challenging, these eleven essays show the way forward in a dark and dangerous age. A must-read for ‘those who use reason,’ Muslim or other.”
— YAHYA MICHOT, emeritus Professor of Islamic Studies at Hartford Theological Seminary, author of Ibn Taymiyya: Muslims under Non-Muslim Rule.
“Travelling Home is a unique book which combines spiritual testimony with sharp insights on the current condition of Islam and Muslims in the West. It is written from the heart and is a magnificent example of the tremendous resources of the Islamic tradition to respond to the challenges of extremism, terrorism populism and islamophobia. The author provides a unique perspective to guide the new Muslim generations by showing that moral strength and search for beauty are more powerful than retaliation and anger if one is to be and remain in the Path of God. It is also a must-read for all the Europeans who struggle to make sense of the reality and legitimacy of Muslims in their midst.”
— JOCELYNE CESARI, Professor of Religion and Politics at the University of Birmingham, author of What is Political Islam and Muslims in the West after 9/11.
Categories: Books, Dr Tim Winter, European Muslims, Islam, Recommended reading
Reblogged this on | truthaholics and commented:
“‘A forceful study of Islamophobia in Europe, considering survival strategies for Muslims on the basis of Qur’an, Hadith, and the Islamic theological, legal and spiritual legacy.
Physical copies delayed by the virus shutting down distribution systems. It is likely they will be available mid-June.
‘How should we react to the new Islamophobic movements now spreading in the West? Everywhere the far right is on the march, with nationalist and populist parties thriving on the back of popular anxieties about Islam and the Muslim presence. Hijab and minaret bans, mosque shootings, hostility to migrants and increasingly scornful media stereotypes seem to endanger the prospects for friendly coexistence and the calm uplifting of Muslim populations.
In this series of essays Abdal Hakim Murad dissects the rise of Islamophobia on the basis of Muslim theological tradition. Although the proper response to the current impasse is clearly indicated in Qur’an and Hadith, some have lost the principle of trust in divine wisdom and are responding with hatred, fearfulness or despair. Murad shows that a compassion-based approach, rooted in an authentic theology of divine power, could transform the current quagmire into a bright landscape of great promise for Muslims and their neighbours.’
Reviews:
“Dust off your dictionary and dive in! Travelling Home is a wild, invigorating and delightfully erudite ride through the political, social, psychological, theological and semantic landscape of European Islam as it is now. Pitched at a Muslim readership, this collection of essays forms in aggregate a brilliant and incisive analysis of the position of Muslims in a Europe ‘surging rapidly in a nationalist direction’ with their indigenous Muslim populations ‘viewed by increasing numbers as a Dark Other fit only to be securitised and stigmatised, and perhaps, in the dreams of some, banished from Europe’s walled garden.’
More importantly, the book proposes a new, constructive approach. The author, who has been on the frontlines of Muslim affairs in Europe for the better part of thirty years, makes a forceful and nuanced argument for a return to a ‘traditional Islam’ which employs, ‘the cumulative wisdom of the Muslim centuries in all its amplitude’ in an attempt ‘to devise an uncompromising theory of Islamic belonging in the European homeland of the late modern melée’.
In the process he takes aim at, well, just about everyone, and he takes no prisoners. European Islamophobes in ‘an already confused Europe’, Islamists, Muslim extremists redefined as tanfiris – those who make Islam repellent, ‘the continued prominence of race-temple Islam in [ethnocentric] community leadership’ and Muslim leaders ‘whose highest ambition is to have their photograph taken beside an MP’ are all taken out in this scathing and witty take down of the real barriers to positive change. In practice, he posits, Muslims need to replace a ‘reactive identity-religion with its desire for status and revenge driven by ego’ and an externalised Islam, with a revival of the awareness of the ‘presence, power and compassion of God’ in the profound and quintessential tradition of Islamic spirituality.
Travelling Home is an essential and exhilarating read.”
— MICHAEL SUGICH, author of Hearts Turn and Signs on the Horizons.
“Probably the most important book ever published by a European Muslim scholar. Traditionally enlightened, mercifully uncompromising with the truth, intellectually and spiritually challenging, these eleven essays show the way forward in a dark and dangerous age. A must-read for ‘those who use reason,’ Muslim or other.”
— YAHYA MICHOT, emeritus Professor of Islamic Studies at Hartford Theological Seminary, author of Ibn Taymiyya: Muslims under Non-Muslim Rule.
“Travelling Home is a unique book which combines spiritual testimony with sharp insights on the current condition of Islam and Muslims in the West. It is written from the heart and is a magnificent example of the tremendous resources of the Islamic tradition to respond to the challenges of extremism, terrorism populism and islamophobia. The author provides a unique perspective to guide the new Muslim generations by showing that moral strength and search for beauty are more powerful than retaliation and anger if one is to be and remain in the Path of God. It is also a must-read for all the Europeans who struggle to make sense of the reality and legitimacy of Muslims in their midst.”
— JOCELYNE CESARI, Professor of Religion and Politics at the University of Birmingham, author of What is Political Islam and Muslims in the West after 9/11.”
Buy it here
Thanks God for Sh. Tim Winter.
it seems that English muslims are in desperate need to have their own breed of intellectual leaders whose reasoned ideas would have a positive impact on their own swath of cultural context. I hope Tim Winter with his mastery in authentic traditional Islam and British scholarly pedigree can fill the gap to fulfil that role..
English people need more the like of Tim Winter.
@ Eric
I agree with you 110%. Not only does he understands the Muslim Englishman (quick note is that what you call yourselves Paul?) and can teach them best in their language, but people like him are what these white nationalist “Islamaphobes” fear. Now it’s no longer defending the West from some “sand god” (to quote one). It’s now a matter of is he speaking the truth or not, and the fearmongering (which is their entire foundation) is essentially rendered useless. I honestly see no reason for Englishmen to not be leading the dawah charge in the UK.