Recently, Shaikh Hamza Yusuf took part in an anti-malaria event recently held in Los Angeles, run by an organisation called Malaria No More which, unbeknown to him, was sponsored by the Tony Blair Faith Programme. Imam Zaid Shakir had been working with that organisation to try to get Muslims involved in efforts to eradicate malaria in Africa, where the majority of victims are Muslims. The organisation asked shaikh Zaid to put them in contact with Shaikh Hamza, so that he could speak in LA as a representative of the Muslims, while Rick Warren represented Christians. Shaikh Zaid wrote that neither he nor Shaikh Hamza would have participated had they known of Blair's involvement. He posted an article at his New Islamic Directions website, which is still available in the Google cache here), but has since clarified matters, to the effect that the invitation was a misunderstanding, not an act of treachery on anyone's part.
The clarification is to be found here. I posted the original so that nobody associated with either of the two shaikhs could be the subject of slander, and in particular so that none of the common Muslims who read and listen to his works would suffer such slander, as commonly happens when any public figure is deemed to be tained by association with anti-Islamic powers, and to make it clear that Shaikh Hamza did indeed denounce Blair's involvement with the Iraq war during his speech:
Since he was there, Shaykh Hamza condemned Tony Blair to his face and warned him of the sad fate he would have when he met his Lord, precisely because of the role he played in the war. He does not endorse in any way the work of Tony Blair's organization ... His only intention was to help eradicate malaria, a disease he was personally afflicted with during his years of study in Mauritania, and a disease whose devastating effect he has witnessed first hand during his years of traveling and studying is West Africa.
Now that a clarification has been published, I have removed most of the extracts previously published, as requested. A clarification of the matter from Imam Zaid Shakir can be found here, insha Allah.
Although Shaykh Hamza did start off initially that in accordance with Prophetic tradition, it does not matter who you work with if the objective of it is for a worthy cause
It would be preferable if this is taken off. This is at the request of Imam Zeid Shakir Imam Hamza Yusuf. Regardless it would be nice to comply hence it being taken off NID website.
As salaam alaikum,
yes, please do remove this post - i too posted imam zaid's initial post about this topic from my site, then someone from zaytuna emailed me asking for it to be taken down. Therefore for the sake of Imam Zaid and Shaykh Hamza, and their request- its probably best for u to take down this post as well.
I think this should be kept, so as to clear the shaykh's name by those who like to find faults in others.
However, the response claims that the Shaykh would have abstained from attending the conference if he knew of Tony's sponsorship, however at the event itself he did justify being there for a worthy cause (regardless of Tony). So it seems the Shaykh does seem to find it 'wrong' to be on the same stage as Tony, and had he the choice, would have avoided it. That is what i get from Imam Zaid's post.
I guess thats probably why it was removed. I hope people give him the benfite of the doubt and pray that the Tony is guided to Islam - as the Shaykh's words on the show were excellent and inspiring.
"...in efforts to eradicate malaria in Africa, where the majority of victims are Muslims."
That must mean that the majority of sub-Saharan Africans are Muslims then, or am I missing something?
The problem is not just about who says what about Hamza Yusuf, it is that if this issue is not clarified, then the assumption will be that Hamza Yusuf has endorsed Blair.
Not very many people are going to view the video to see what he has said, nor go into the nuances - they will see Hamza Yusuf sitting with Tony Blair and that will be that...
The clarification is a good one - and is in circulation all over the web, and mailing lists - what has been sent out in public on the web, it is practically impossible to take back. If Imam Zaid has something to add, or further clarify, then he should add to the statement, not just post it and then take it down.
New message from Imam Zaid:
http://www.newislamicdirections.com/nid/notes/misunderstanding_not_treachery/
The reality of the matter is still problematic.
1) Imam Zaid has clarified that the organizers were not misleading the Shaykh. That is accepted.
2) Hamza Yusuf still sat on the platform after he knew of Tony's involevement. He, according to Imam Zaid, claimed that he would not have attended the event if he knew beforehand. So why still sit on the platform?
Malaria is a just cause, but the alignment with a war criminal is not going to go down well. Replace Tony with Bush, Saddam or Bin Laden, would it still be ok?
I don't think Imam Zaid Shakir's second clarification adds anything new.
I give Shaykh Hamza Yusuf the benfite of the doubt, but I fear the majority of the public still need a sure answer regarding his stance with Tony - and if he would still stand with him (or others like him) in the future?
The issue is very important, as the Shaykh has much influence over many Muslims and his efforts have been very effective.