Whoa … thats a strong statment to pass to outlaw all blogs in Islam. Before I even start challenging the decison I would like to state that I do not mean to be disrespectful to the Mufti a learned scholar and my arguements would be to my limited experience and knowledge.

Firstly I feel the question posed was also very negative projecting the blogging world in a poor taste. Secondly if you actually hear the audio response by the Mufti seems like he himself has no idea about blogging and in the very begining simply states “these websites” I feel that was too generalized for an answer on blogging. If the Mufti has no idea himself (I only can assume he has no idea) how can he pass a strong statment like it being “not permissible in Islam”

The internet is peppered with bad to horrible site which convey a lot more Bay Haiyaee then the blogs that we read. I feel that in those horrible sites the Onus lies on US the surfer who has to determine when to stop, if you come across an indecent blog that tingles your religious nerve then its YOU who must stay away. BUT for a religious scholar to label ALL blogs as impermissible in Islam is going a bit too far. I do remian open to arguments

Well, in the discussions over at sunniforums some of them concluded that a few blogs are ok, where there is no personal discussions and other idle gossip.

The ironic thing is, all four muslim holy books are intensely personal in nature, chronicling the lives of Islam’s many prophets along with God’s word.

I feel like I’m reading an excerpt from George Orwell’s 1984.

“The Mufti does seem a bit of a hack…. I must have missed the part in the Koran which says that one must hide ones ‘faults’ from others… Extending the Mufti’s logic further, breathing in the vicinity of the opposite gender is also ‘haram’, as one is inhaling the many body pheromones given off by most mammals… ” <

Dude,

You must not have searched hard enough (or probably didn’t read the translation)… here are a few quotes:

“Verily those who love that indecency should spread among the believers deserve painful chastisement in the world and the Hereafter. Allah knows, but you do not know.” (An-Nur, 24:19)

“You who have accepted Islam with your tongues but whose hearts have not been reached by faith, do not misbehave with Muslims, nor revile them, nor seek out their faults; for he who seeks out the faults of his Muslim brother will have his, faults sought out by Allah, and he whose faults are sought out by Allah will be exposed by Him, even though he is the interior of his house.” (Abu Dawud and Tirmidhi).

Ofcourse, that does not mean that the fatwa about blogging in general holds true. Fatwa is just an “opinion”, and opinions can be right or wrong, especially when there’s a very hazy line between what’s right and wrong and the person giving his opinion usually does not have ALL the knowledge in the world that is required for the process.

If you are a muslim (born in a muslim family) you can choose to NOT practice Islam (lets face it, its a harsh religion).

But then again, you are only proving the mufti’s point by ridiculing him online, when the whole world can see it. He didn’t ridicule you, or stopped you from blogging (or inhaling male or female pheromones for that matter)… What are you so pissed about exactly? :-)

tsk tsk poor guy. he is one of those narrow minded guys. funny how television is supposed to be evil and yet we have an Islamic channel. audio players are also supposed to be evil but then they are used by people to listen to Islamic audio tapes. you cant fight technology. u can use it to advance ur cause. we cant do anything about blogs. there are a way of expressing ourselves. however it depends on the people who read the stuff on blogs. it all depends on how strong their faith is.
anyway changing the topic i remember posting some information about the desecration of the Holy Quran. some right wing redneck bombarded my blog with hurtful and blasphemous comments. he finally gave up in teh end. anyway Allah has His ways of taking care of people who do that.

Sohaib, I don’t think these quotes are really applicable here. If you say X can reveal faults, and is hence unislamic, then A,B,C and so on which can also reveal faults should also be unislamic… you know things like the telephone, email, books, letters, hell, any other activity involving more than one person!

The Mufti’s fatwa is saying that in his humble opinion, blogging is unislamic. I find that annoying as its all a bit sad - the pointless semantic hair splitting these ‘scholars’ are doing, and their backward thinking in general.

But then again, you are only proving the mufti’s point by ridiculing him online, when the whole world can see it.
??????? You mean pointing out flaws in his not very logical conclusions? The mufti is publishing his propaganda/doublespeak online, so what does he expect? I think this mufti barely comprehends what the internet is, so he has no business issuing fatwas about it.

Really, thing about the whole thing logically.

yeah i know that isnt applied here. i just needed a platform to talk about how ppl can write the most awful comments on ur blog :D. well no one is perfect. :)

Let us take blogging as another form of writing and distributing written words. There is nothing wrong with blogging (or with any other technology of the time), opinions of anyone (muftis included) or what Saudi do notwithstanding. Islam is a wholesome religion moving with time. It never stops anyone from reaping the benefits of any age.

How one uses blogging is what may be objectionable; good or bad. Blogs that print porn, spread hate and disinformation or any thing, which is against the principles of Islam, is not permissible wherever it is done — on blogs, print, TV, radio or whatever.

I am a Hindu and would discourage blogging by Muslims. Because wherever and whenever Muslims meet, they start discussing their religion. The followers of other religions dont it. You wont find a group of Hindus discussing (only) Hinduism or Chritians discussing christianity everytime everywhere. Are Muslims not sure of their religion or are they losing faith in it??

Blogging by Muslims will eventually end up in criticising their religion. So in my view, either Muslims should refrain from blogging , or discuss only those matters which are not connected with their religion.

#2 “The ironic thing is, all four muslim holy books are intensely personal in nature, chronicling the lives of Islam’s many prophets along with God’s word.”

loved your take on the topic KO :-)

Nice blog. Keep it up …

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sigh… maybe we should have the grand muslim censor panel which looks over every published piece of material why dont we?

it is a little ridiculous to say that the divulging of personal information will lead to wrongs and it’s outright paranoid (in my opinion) to think that the mentioining of names will lead to ‘unlawful relations.’ i know its meant to be cautionary but the probability is just so miniscule it makes the entire idea sound a little… questionable… i’m trying to think of a scenario that would be an exception but i’m hardpressed to present anything that can’t be declared crackpot.

i personally like the islamic religioin. i was raised with it but i’m appaled by hypocrisy that is so deeply rooted in many either due to misinterpretation or just plain ignorance of the entire religion.

‘The ironic thing is, all four muslim holy books are intensely personal in nature, chronicling the lives of Islam’s many prophets along with God’s word.’ well said but the simple (nonsensical, depending on who you ask) counter that you’d be faced with is that these are not mere human beings. that they were god’s prophets and therefore every facet of their lives an example. i’ve read some of these publications detailing mundane aspects the prophet (PBUH) and some of it just seems unecessary. i’d rather not quote an example because its simply vulgar and disrespectful if you ask me.

all reglions, no matter what anyone says, will be distorted from their original forms to suit the needs of the ‘followers’ (or rather the ruling class(?)). why was it fit to have mukhter mai gang raped when adulterous actions are so frowned upon? why is the slaughter of innocent hostages/civilians in such disgraceful a manner justified even to a small portion of the muslim world?

scy
ps. smart blog

they were god’s prophets and therefore every facet of their lives an example.

Even assuming most of the three other holy books besides the Quran are completely made up and full of lies, many of the prophets actions (before Muhammed) are nothing to go by. Incest, murder, slavery, drink, theft, petty crimes, bribery, rape, torture, wanton killing of innocents and children - that just scratches the surface of what god’s prophets were up to. Keep in mind that the bible literally has an atrocity on every other page. Besides the things listed before, every now and then the Bible has various prophets order the wholesale extermination of entire cities of defenseless men, women and children

counter that you’d be faced with is that these are not mere human beings.
The Bible says otherwise. Tainted through time as it may be, in a more civilized age many of the prophets as depicted in various versions of the Bible belong in jail.

well countered, unfortunately i doubt anyone who would make those statements originally would even bother listening.

if anyone wants to read an unbiased account of the progression of religion i’d recommend karen armstrong’s ‘(a/the?) history of god’

Those Mufti’s must be smoking crack again!

I think that it’s a joke. Must look it up under internet hoax.

with all due respect,i agree that Mufti sb have no idea about bloggin as there were no idea of TV in ancient times
How about using blogs to clearup misconception about Islam

and my Indian fellow,i could show you several sites which are dedicated to promote chiristianity/judaism ,i never botherd to search about Hindu religion,no intrest at all

If the fatwa is from sunniforum then there’s no way on earth that the Mufti saab wouldn’t know abt the internet. All the Muftis on sunniforum are well-educated people,
and are aware of blogs as well. Because back in 2003 when alot of Muslims started blogging, this issue was raised and they must have looked into blogs then too. So I don’t think the fatwa is because of any lack of knowledge or information here. What he said about revealing ‘personal information’ is true too. Blogs do reveal personalties, give out information of peoples’ lives. Some might not but most of them do. I don’t know if its acceptale in Islam or not but the fact that he pointed out the wrong thing is not true.

I think he didn’t word out the fatwa carefully or probably did not understand the numerous benefits derived from blogs.

Mufti ran out of people and presidents to criticize?

Indian’s Words:So in my view, either Muslims should refrain from blogging , or discuss only those matters which are not connected with their religion.

*raises eye-brows”

A pakistani’s reaction: yawn

hahahahahahahhaha
no comments :D :D

Peace people

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