Habib Ali and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf on Islam Channel

The speeches by Habib Ali al-Jifri and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf at the Radical Middle Way event, From Protest to Engagement, will be broadcast on Islam Channel tonight at 10.30 pm, Inshallah.

In terms of size of viewership, I think it’s safe to say Islam Channel is way ahead of any other British Muslim media enterprise (having achieved over 300-400,000 viewers during peak times.) We rarely see the likes of Habib Ali and Shaykh Hamza on the channel (Islam Channel’s viewership is so far removed from ‘traditionalist’ circles) – so this is a welcome change.

Yesterday and today morning, there were repeat broadcasts of the speeches by Moez Masud, Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad and Mufti Ali Gomaa, from the same RMW event.

 The remaining lectures will also be repeated starting tomorrow:

Thurs 08.03.07 = Imam Suhaib Webb & Sidi Yusuf Islam at 10am
Fri 09.03.07= Shaykh Abdullah Bin Bayyah at 10am
Sat 10.03.07 = Habib Ali Jifri & Shaykh Hamza Yusuf  at 10am

All the lectures will be made available on the Radical Middle Way website in due course. Thank God cos’ I missed a chunk of each speech everytime I had to pop out of the hall and I don’t get Islam Channel (the pitfalls of being with Telewest). Whatever I did hear left me incredibly rejuvenated that evening – God knows it’s been a long time since I have felt so inspired and energised. I feel like a big weight has been lifted from my chest.

People say one-off events like this are useless because the scholars come and go too quickly. I have to disagree. They aren’t *the only* answer but we cannot overlook the impact that contact with scholars, however minimal, have on the activists on the ground who are actually here to stay, who do the ‘work’ (whatever it is that each of us do) on a day to day basis. Unless the activists are regularly replenished with spiritual nourishment, self-confidence and reminders of what our goals are, how can we expect genuine grassroots change?

Dr Umar Abd-Allah of the Nawawi Foundation in Chicago once said (paraphrased) that any good idea/vision/cause needs a critical mass of 1000 individuals. The scholars who honours us with their visits can come and go – the question is how many of us willing to put their vision and advice into action?

~ by f.a. on March 7, 2007.