Still lost

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

A couple of months ago, the Washington Post ran a article about several of the muslim communities in the DC Metro area . . . and well, of course it ruffled some feathers. Actually, I discovered the piece after doing a general search on google for "salafi" bloggers instead, I found post after post on this article by Caryle Murphy. After reading the article and reading what area muslims had to say about it, I became really perplexed . . . had we all actually read the same words? I found the article to be rather honest, there was little evidence of any oppinions, just facts as observed by an "outsider." The only thing that I did find faulty was her assesment that Darusalaam and its Imam Safi Khan were "salafi." This was actually the only point that reached a consensus amongst the muslimeen. However, how I and they decided to define salafi or the dawatus salafiya differed. It seems salafi to them was extremism, terrorism and jihadie ideologies . . . where did they get that from . . . FOX News? No where in the Book of Allah or the Sunnah is there a description of Salafi using those terms. In fact, the word salaf means Dawat-us-Salafiyyah (Call of those who preceeded us) According to Quran and Sunnah Dawah - literally means "call", and in this sense it refers to calling to the Truth through preaching and propagation. Salaf - literally means "those (from history) who precede, have gone before". As-Salaf as-Saalih - The people of the past, namely the first three generations of pious muslims during and after the revelation of the Qur'an, i.e.the Sahabah (companions) of the Prophet, saaws , the Taabi'een (followers) and the Taabi Taabi'een (followers of the followers). So, why are my neighbors in College Park so affraid of this word? I am sure most if not all of the worshipers at Al Huda agree to these terms and want to strive to acheive in their manhaj. Shaikh Saalih al-Fawzaan said, " The reasons for disunity are many. From amongst the main causes are: Firstly, opposing the minhaj (methodology) of the Salaf, the Companions of Allaah's Messenger and those who follow them. So the Salaf had a minhaj that they adhered to; a manhaj in aqeedah (creed), a manhaj in da'wah (calling to Allaah), a minhaj in enjoining good and forbidding evil, a manhaj in how to judge between people. [Wujoob ut-Tathabbut fil-Akhbaaar p.18] And this what seems to be the root of the problem - the people at Darusalaam don't want to make a distinction between themselves in other groups. They won't speak out on other ideologies like sufism, tableegh wa jamaat and khawaraaj - so they are what we call Ikwani Muslimeen (muslim brotherhood). Simply put they practice "tolorance" regardless of deviations from the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of our Messenger. I suggest that those who are still confused about this word, salafi check out a recorded phone conversation between Sheikh Albaani (rahimallah) and a brother who wanted to know why does he have to call himself salaf.http://www.troid.org/audio/manhaj/sunnah/thesunnahandmattersrelatedtoit/salafiyyah.htm

Lastly, I am curious why did Ms. Murphy's words bother so many people?
One person resented the mentioning of a "sister's only" parking area - so what! We are supposed to seperate the women from the men.
Others didn't thing the word "segregate" was appropriate. Wait muslims supposed to seperate themselves from the disbelievers - Duh!
If we believe in Allah and his messenger, then we can't be affraid of the realities of our faith. And no this doesn't mean being harsh!