Feisal Abdul Rauf Quotes
I read, read enormously on all different fields of Islamic thought, from philosophy to Islamic literature, poetry, exegeses, knowledge of the Hadith, the teachings of the prophet. That's how I trained myself. And then I was appointed imam by a Sufi master from Istanbul, Turkey.
Rauf, Feisal Abdul. "Interview with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf." Larry King Live, CNN, 8 Sept. 2010.
His views are a mix of modernism and fundamentalism. He favors democracy and elections but also favored the Taliban destroying the great ancient Buddha statues when he was called an idol worshipper for urging the preservation of art.
This is a very important point as most Muslims believe that the actual wording of the Sharia—Islamic Law—comes from the Prophet directly and are not the words of various legal scholars which is just what they are. Needless to say, there are many differences and even contradictions depending on time and the particular scholar. Islam however has no authority that religiously is higher than any other. In that respect, it is like Judaism. There is not a recognized religious hierarchy as there is in Christian churches.
Legal Religious Ruling. This is an example of a source of tension between some Muslims and others. Non-Muslims are required to have a Muslim Education in Muslim countries, but they insist that any required Christian or secular education in a non Muslim country is anti-Islamic.
The Messenger is Muhammed, founder of Islam. The Hadith are his sayings which have been compiled but are not in the Koran.
The letter had been written earlier, but this and 51 other letters written when she was in Turkey were published in 1763. At the time, Turkey, the seat of the Ottoman Empire, was an Islamic state operating under Islamic law, as were all countries within the Ottoman Empire. Today, Turkey is a secular state and the clergy and the legal profession are separate.
Many of the difficulties been Islam and the West can be traced to a huge gulf in what constitutes a proper education. In this case, the Indian Governor General was explaining to Queen Victoria that while the Hindus in India were getting very well educated and were qualified for many government administrative positions, the Muslims were not. See {630719}. Even in modern times most colleges and universities in Islamic nations are highly focused on religion to the expense of mathematics, the sciences, and non Islamic literature.
Feisal Abdul Rauf (Arabic: فيصل عبد الرؤوف, born 1948) is an American Sufi imam, author, and activist whose stated goal is to improve relations between the Muslim world and the West. From 1983 to 2009, he served as Imam of Masjid al-Farah, a mosque in New York City. He has written three books on Islam and its place in contemporary Western society, including What's Right with Islam Is What's Right with America, and founded two non-profit organizations whose stated missions are to enhance the discourse on Islam in society.
