Friday 24 November 2017

Session at Avari - 2007


SESSION AT AVARI – 2007

By S Roman Ahsan

Posted At: http://bit.ly/2A4rQok

What is the ‘Absolute Truth’? Where can we find the ‘Absolute Truth’? Is there any such thing as the ‘Absolute Truth’?

Ten years ago, in 2007, I received a phone call on Saturday night from a friend’s younger brother. In an excited tone, he told me that there was going to be a lecture session by a Sufi scholar from UK at Avari Hotel on Sunday. He offered that he would himself come next morning at my place to take me there.

Though I myself loved researching on Islam and mingling with different groups to seek the spirit of true Islam but he failed to stir my emotions then. I just said to myself, “Oh, this kid just wants to go there because it is a grand hotel and a lecture by a ‘foreigner’. “ Hence, I told him politely that I didn’t feel like attending that lecture. The ‘kid’ was apparently disappointed!


Next morning arrived and I felt quite fresh when I woke up. The lecture was scheduled around 11 AM and there was still plenty of time. With a change of mood I decided that it was not a bad idea to attend the lecture and gave the kid a phone call. Hence, we reached Avari well in time for the session ultimately!

The lecture was to be delivered by Sheikh Nuh Keller, a Sufi scholar from UK who was a Christian before and had converted to Islam in 1977. He follows a particular ‘silsila’ of Islam and has written some books on Islam as well. Before attending that lecture I had never even heard his name and the experience broadened my outlook on the world of Islam.

The arrangement was in a suite with partition between men and women (cloth sheets were used for that purpose). The Sheikh sat on the floor of the stage in front of us with his legs crossed while there were regular chairs for the audience in front of him. He was wearing a loose ‘Kurta’ with an exquisitely-shaped turban on his head. We guessed he was above 55 years of age. He had a noble and sober appearance with a proper Sunnah beard.

As Sheikh Nuh started his lecture we found that though his words were charged with wisdom but he was not really a great speaker (as he was more of a writer). It is not possible now to recall the content of lecture but only the theme. He spoke slowly and in a soft tone. His lecture was about the challenges to our faith in the current times and also about upbringing of children. We found that he was more conservative than our local clerics and scholars in approach towards issues.

At the end of lecture was the question-answer session. People asked different questions about what the scholar had earlier spoken in his lecture.  Someone asked a question about making or drawing pictures of living things and Sheikh replied that it is forbidden in Islam as per authentic Ahadith (sayings of the Prophet pbuh). However, there is need to seek the opinions of other scholars also on the issue. The purpose of mentioning his approach is to make us see how conservative he was (and still is) even though he was a Christian Englishman prior to converting to Islam. Later on I searched for his lectures on youtube and there was only his voice-over with still nature scenes etc. in his video lectures.

At the end, I approached the coordinator of the session and he told me that there were weekly meetings by Sheikh’s disciples at a residential house in Defence area in Lahore. I took his number and then visited the venue a week later.

The participants were mostly young and educated. The host of the house asked everybody for introductions and then a specific name of Allah was transmitted on a stereo for some time which the participants were required to repeat also. Afterwards, a thick book with notes on Islamic practices was introduced to all which was in English. After the meal as we were about to leave, a young boy at the door said that ladies were passing by outside (who were also participating and were in the adjacent section of the house) and so we all had to wait for their departure before we went out in the porch.

When I returned home, I contemplated everything. I was myself looking to be part of a religious group since long but then I decided against joining the disciples of Sheikh Keller on long-term basis. The fact is the whole experience at Avari and then at the gathering of disciples was very proper as per the true spirit of Islam. However, I did not want to study Islam at that time in English only even though I had nothing against the language. I felt Urdu being closer to Arabic should not be left while pursuing Islamic knowledge.

So that was one of the good experiences I personally had while trying to learn from good scholars of Islam. Unfortunately today some pseudo-scholars have appeared who are misleading the modern Muslims and presenting an ‘easy way-out’ in Islam. The real danger is that they love to challenge the conventional teachings of Islam and many of them could be funded by enemies of Islam. The modern Muslim needs to be careful about such traps set up by Satan.

You clearly know that one is a pseudo-scholar if he refutes the 1000 year old Islamic philosophers and scholars like Ibn-e-Kathir (who has written a Tafsir on Qur’an which is available in Urdu language also) and Ibn-e-Jarir. These pseudo-scholars have been planted by the West after 9/11 and they love to blame terrorism on Muslims alone without talking about the invading sprees of the imperial powers against the Muslim countries. And also without talking about the fact that terrorist Khawarij groups like TTP and ISIS have been created by the same forces that are invading Muslim lands. Basically they try to score some points by claiming that all terrorism today is taking place due to wrong interpretations of Islam by conventional Islamic philosophers and scholars. Really? Islam is 1400 years old and terrorism by certain Khawarij groups only started after 9/11.

So where is the ‘Absolute Truth’? Did we not find it yet? Or do we still need to look around further?

- Written 25/11/2017


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