Everyone’s “favourite” neo-con Muslim and self-styled sufi and protector of Muslims against “radicalism”, Stephen Schwartz is at it again in another attack on Shaykh Hamza and Zaytuna College with a swipe at Imam Zaid.  This is becoming tiresome and boring.

Disappointingly, he is joined this time by Dr. Irfan Alawi (not the same as the Marifa.net webmaster who is a different person entirely) who had previously denied, on a number of occasions, any slandering and maligning of Shaykh Hamza and of any direct association with Schwartz. However this time he has written a joint article, in which Schwarts spews his bile and regurgitates the same tired old and firmly debunked myths about Shaykh Hamza. The whole piece reeks of envy, diseased hearts and obsessed minds.

SubhanAllah, it is an understatement to say that Shaykh Hamza and Imam Zaid have changed the lives of thousands, and it is no exaggeration that they have illuminated this world with their works, speech and presence, they never sought fame or repute. I have personally witnessed and spent time with both these men in public and in private and all I have seen is goodness, they are the same in private as they are in public, they are utterly gracious when it comes to criticism and unhesitatingly forgiving when wronged.  Allah chooses whom He wills to carry out His Divine work and who better in the West than Shaykh Hamza and Imam Zaid. What have the likes of the detractors of these great men actually achieved apart from a few pieces of lazy and sensationalist journalism and a few slide-shows on the disappearing sacred heritage of Saudi Arabia, whose lives have they changed for the better, what positive representation of Islam and Muslims have they given?

I am extremely disappointed with Dr. Irfan who has always stated he has nothing against Shaykh Hamza and I have always given him the benefit of the doubt even though some very credible and trustworthy people have pointed out a few things that troubled me regarding him. I have been acquainted with Dr. Irfan since the mid-90s and I have had a few run-ins with him over a misunderstanding or two but our relationship has remained largely cordial.

Anyway, the caravan moves on despite the noise from the proverbial sidelines. May Allah continue to grant Shaykh Hamza, Imam Zaid and all of our noble shayukh long lives and health to keep on doing what they are doing, illuminating our hearts and nourishing our minds. To borrow a phrase from the Bible “by their fruits ye shall know them” – and we have consistently enjoyed beautiful fruits from these beautiful people. The only thing we can do, as per the instruction of our Shayukh, is make dua for these people, and ask Allah to turns their hearts to what is good and forgive them their short comings.

The article appears in the link below, if you care to read it, I have not hyperlinked it as I don’t want to contribute to its page rank so you’ll have to copy and paste it.

http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/8787