Assalaamu Alaikum (Greetings of Peace):

Because of the hour, and the need for travel early in the morning, I will resist the temptation to respond to some of the issues and questions raised (at this time). I will simply forward these out, as is. Once again, the names have been omitted from the e-mail responses that were addressed to me personally; while those that came through a listserve are identified by name.

As for the criticisms that have come my way (fair or unfair), I've learned at this stage of my life to take it all in stride. I also strive to live my life by the following maxim: While we may all find comfort with those who will always agree with us; we find growth with those who don't.

Enjoy the continued dialogue...

MS
-----------------------------------

Wa Alaykum a Salaam,

I too debated on whether or not to respond. My initial reaction when I saw this on the listserv was "What is this the Muslim National Enquirer now?" We are going to do the TMZ and Perez Hilton thing? What Rep. Weiner did has nothing to do with Islam or with Muslim Americans. It's a family matter. And it's something that his wife Huma was dragged into based on the sophomoric choices of her husband. That's between them. At best only Weiner's constituents in certain parts of Brooklyn and Queens have any remote interest in this issue as they will decide whether to re-elect him or not assuming he doesn't step down. Otherwise it's a husband/wife issue and ESPECIALLY because we are Muslims we should not put her name in our mouths in such a way as to malign or further humiliate her.

It's funny I remember a certain website that publicly outed several well known Muslim men, I repeat well known, for alleged past transgressions, domestic violence charges, convictions, accusations, etc, etc which was totally and completely unIslamic even if true. Alhamdulillah this website was taken down. I never mentioned the website publicly and I still won't. I ignored it. I didn't want to bring attention to it. I wanted to do my part to protect the reputations of people who were not currently engaging in activities that were detrimental to the community at large. The only exception in my view is when it is in the public interest (maslahah) to do so for eg. a convicted child molester giving private Quran lessons to children. I don't see the Wiener situation fitting that example. Anyway this website had several names we'd all recognize which to me was a violation of one of the purposes of the Shariah which is the protection of one's reputation let alone just being a foul thing to do. I think we should all ponder this in the future as Allah may not protect our reputations and he may humiliate us publicly. And seeing as how I said earlier Muslims are basically like everyone else then we know what the community reaction would probably be.

Dash Brookins - New York
-------------------------------------

Salaam

You cannot plant apples and expect to reap oranges.

Why are some defending her decision to marry him. How fast we forget his actions against muslims, she knowing what he stands for married him in my opinion she supports his actions. You play with fire you will get burned.

Imam An-Nawawi stated in his book "Al-Athkaar": Gheebah is allowed for an Islamically sanctioned need... for six reasons and one of them is
"That the person is one who openly commits his sin or innovation: In such a case, it is permissible to mention about the person what he does openly".


Let us not say what we think is right, in any situation we should refer to the Quraan and the sunnah of Muhammad (SAWS).


Wasalaam

(identity unknown - New York)

---------------------------------------

As salaamu 'alaykum

You can justify it however you want. Backbiting is HARAM. You may not think the sister is worthy of protection from the Muslims because of her life choices but it is HARAM to mock and backbite even non-Muslims. I don't understand what is so hard about that concept for many of us.

It is not a 'philosophical choice' to not judge others, it is part of the deen. The texts on this point are clear and numerous--and what you wrote certainly did not read as "constructive" criticism. It read as mean-spirited gloating in the misfortunes of another. If you have nasiha for her, by all means, direct it to her personally. But it should be given with love, and hikmah, and should uplift rather than tear people down. This was the way of the prophet of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace. If you don't have access to her directly, and therefore can't offer your nasiha, then at the very least make du'a for her. And if you don't have direct access to her, that should tell you something. It should tell you that you don't know her well enough to even begin making judgements on what type of believer she is.

It is very easy to point fingers at others, but when we are in the habit of doing that, it becomes really easy to become blind to our own faults. Are you, brother Mauri, without sin? Should the rest of us go picking through your private life and making judgment calls on what type of Muslim you are, or if you are even worthy of the name? I sincerely hope that none of us are ever in a position to have people we don't even know picking over our tragedies and discussing our private matters. Many of us put on brave fronts to our community, put on the costume, meanwhile our private deeds are worse than the worst of the non-believers. We should not forget that Allah determines who His beloveds are, and NONE of us has any say in that. Not me, not you. It really is that simple. He gives his favor to those whom HE pleases, not who we decide to admit to the club. And it is not always obvious to us who Allah's beloveds are, no matter how much we may think there is a simple sniff test.

May Allah protect us from our own shortcomings and from tongues that are heedless.

Naqiyba - New York

-----------------------------------
As Salaam Alaikum,
We need to look at the HUKMUN (Islamic ruling) on Sister Ms. Huma Abedin's marriage, some say her marriage to a Jew is not total haram [others] say is not haram at all according to FIGIH AL MAGAASID (the intent for ruling).

The intent behind the prohibition of Muslim women marrying none Muslim men is the fear that children from union become none Muslims. In this case, her children will not be automatically Jewish, in judaism the mother must be Jew in order for the children to be Jew.

I think, this Practicing Muslimat knows her deen more than we give her credit.

ALLAH knows best
IMAM SALIHOU DJABI

----------------------------------------

Salaam again Sheikh Saalakhan,


I fully endorse your concluding statements. While we all recognize that Allah is in fact the final judge of all things, at the same time the position espoused by several of the respondents to your post that we should not be critical of Mrs. Abedin is a slippery (or arguably SHEER) slope to taking a back seat when it comes to distinguishing right from wrong.


I believe that American culture pressures individuals to refrain from adopting hardline positions on matters of faith. Our faith speaks very clearly about many articles of daily and routine life, and given such divinely inspired instruments, it is folly for others to marginalize the content of your discussion as simply being simplistically judgmental.


One final point to those dissenters, and a very significant one that I believe they have under-credited, is the fact that Mrs. Abedin is a politician and hence people view her as a representative of the Islamic faith. She is viewed as a leader, and arguably one of substantial public exposure, given the number of profiles and articles about her in widely distributed publications. While I would be more measured in my criticism of a private Muslim citizen, I think we should be aggressive in our assessment and evaluation of our public figures. PARTICULARLY so, given the fact that she represents Muslims AND Muslim women while not being elected explicitly by a body of Muslims nor by Muslim women.


As always, JAK for your well articulated discussion, and I commend you on having the courage to share a balanced collection of the responses, which I observed actually favors in number the replies critical to your discussion. Thank you again Sheikh Saalakhan for bringing these important topics to our minds at a time when so many important topics are overlooked.

- from a brother in Boston, MA
-----------------------------------------

Wa Alaikum-us Salaam Br. Salaakhan.

Your notes are a must read for me. Jazakallah-o kher for your efforts; most of the times balanced and thought provoking.

Here is an old joke:
A person marries 5th woman despite having 4 wives. The villagers are very upset that the local scholar approves this marriage. In response to their protest the scholar states, "I do not find even a single trait of Islam in him, what's a big deal that he has five women at the same time in his marriage."

I was surprised that only 1 person identified that a Muslim woman's marriage to a non-Muslim was invalid. And people are discussing her fasting and even intentions in her heart???

I am not upset with the sister Abedin, but surely am with your "Muslim" readers who, as well, don't have a basic understanding of Islamic laws and values. They all seem well educated and well versed.

- from a brother in Atlanta, GA
---------------------------------------------

AAWRWB Br Maurie,

I think we left the 'MEAT' from the entire matter. The DANGER here is that we seem to accept the union between a Muslimah and a NON.-MUSLIM.

The Quraan CLEARLY specifies on this injunction.'

"Do not marry unbelieving women (idolaters), until they believe: A slave woman who believes is better than an unbelieving woman, even though she allures you. Nor marry (your girls) to unbelievers until they believe: A man slave who believes is better than an unbeliever, even though he allures you. Unbelievers do (but) beckon you to the Fire. But God beckons by His Grace to the Garden (of bliss) and forgiveness, and makes His Signs clear to mankind: That they may celebrate His praise. (2:221)"

There is so much on the subject.

It is difficult for me to observe that 90% of your responders have not even rebuked on the fact that Huma Abedddin's marriage to Anthony Wiener in null and VOID UNLESS Wiener accepted Islam and PRACTICES it.

DOES HE?? DID HE???

- from a sister - (place unknown)
-------------------------------------------------

hello to all--i found these comments interesting; but religious scolding aside i think that some-obvious to me- facts are not mentioned

1. weiner is indeed a savage racist zionist and has always been repugnantly arrogant (to satisfy the other racist zionists he represents who pay his way). i will never in my life forget his disgusting and bragging taunt to Palestinians at the un as he stood in front of the cameras, "they should pack their little bags and go home." it is long past time for the weiner to pack his moldy rotting life and crawl to tel aviv where he belongs!!!

2. weiner had been considered a front runner in the nyc mayoral race for 2012; but he had a big flaw just like koch and bloomberg - he didn't have a woman to drag around. i believe his move to marry was purely a political one for show --why he picked his current victim we may not know; seems like a preposterous choice, but the clinton connection was obvious. i'm sure he expected big donations. this poor woman definitely married "down."

the closer we get to native prophecy of 2012, the more of these people will self destruct - planet earth has its own power and wisdom

- a non-Muslim (female) activist friend in New York

------------------------------------

Ameena! I fully agree with you brother Mauri. And I sincerely pray that Allah reward you infinitely for the great work you are doing for the community. May Allah SWT protect our Ummah and guide us through the Straight Path.

- source unknown (possibly overseas)
-------------------------------

This final posting is being included for a reason. We can learn from each other (and benefit from each other) when we disagree in an agreeable manner. This posting is coming from the sister who original post I didn't share. After reading what I had to say about the tone of her message - "even more strident than the message of Z.T. Minhas" (whose five points, incidentally, I agreed with) - she requested an explanation on the reasons for my position. After weighing my response, the following is what she had to say on the matter. - MS

Wa Alaikum Salaam
Brother Saalakhan,

When I shared with you my personal comments about the Huma Abdedin/Weiner situation, I also took it upon myself to email my comments to everyone on my listserv who knows me. I'm glad you didn't post my comments with the people who are on your listserv, because they don't know me and the comments that I made were based on what I had read in the newspapers about Hillary Clinton.

I appreciate you sharing with me the following ahadith regarding your understanding of gheeba (back-biting): "The Prophet (upon him be peace) is reported to have said: Gheeba is to say about your brother (or sister), in his absence, what you would not like to have said about you. A companion asked, "What if what I say is true, O Messenger of ALLAH?" The Prophet (pbuh) responded: "If what you say is true, you have committed gheeba (back-biting). If it is not true, you have committed false and malicious slander against your Muslim brother (or sister)."

Now I understand brother Saalakhan what you meant when you said about me the following: (And again knowing the sister, I'm certain that her intentions were good, even if her approach wasn't the best.)

I want you to know Brother Saalakhan, that I honestly didn't think that the comments that I had shared with you about what I had read in the newspapers concerning Hillary Clinton and Huma Abdedin fell under the category of gheeba/back-biting, may Allah forgive me if I did something wrong unknowingly.

Al-Hamdullilah, I do appreciate you sharing with me your understanding of this particular ahadith regarding rumors. And just like you said, rumors are rumors. So, even if rumors are spoken, or written in the newspaper about people, we should be mindful of the fact that they are still rumors.

Take care brother Saalakhan, and Insha'Allah, I pray that Allah will shower His Mercy upon all of us during this blessed month of Rajab..

Respectfully your sister in Deen,