Finding the Straight Path
Maintaining Identity without Extremism

A new, online six-week short course with Shaykh Hamza Karamali

Starts December 6, 2007

-Why are there so many “Islam’s”?
-Which one should I affiliate with?
-Why can’t everyone just be Muslim and live in harmony?
-Why do people divide us by spreading labels?
-What are the causes of sectarianism in the Muslim world?
-How can Muslims achieve true and long-lasting unity?

These common questions are the subject of this new six-week course, Finding the Straight Path: Maintaining Identity without Extremism. Like it or not, Muslims actually differ among themselves regarding key aspects of their faith. The issues that have divided Muslims in the past and continue to divide Muslims in the present are real and significant issues. Advocating the “I’m just a Muslim” approach and calling to a generic Islam is either naïve ignorance of this reality or a deceptive front to co-opt people into one’s own camp.

The real question is not how to remove the differences, but rather how to accept and then deal with the differences. The goal of this course is to compare the proper and improper ways of dealing with disagreements. It will specifically delve into issues of takfir [declaring others to be outside Islam], bid’a [innovation], shirk [idolatry], the Amman Message, terrorism, and reform.

The goal of the course is to help us gain clarity amidst the confusion through surveying the major currents in contemporary Muslim discourse; understand the issues that distinguish each current; come to a conclusion about each of these issues; and then learn how to deal with those who disagree with you in the light of the merciful example of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and give him peace.

Lesson Overview:

Lesson 1: The Perils of Categorization
-The roots of division and sectarianism
-Transcending labels and dealing with the real issue

Lesson 2: Sunni Islam as Mainstream Islamic Orthodoxy
-History and Defining Characteristics of Sunni Islam
-What is Ahl al-Sunna wal-Jama`ah?

Lesson 3: Shi`ite Islam from Quietism to Politicization
-History and Defining Characteristics of Shi`ite Islam
-Accepting Differences and Avoiding Sectarianism

Lesson 4: Bid`a, Takfir, and Terrorism
-History and Defining Characteristics of Kharijite Islam
-Kharijism as the Theological Root of Terrorism
-Beyond the Media Hype: Understanding Wahhabism

Lesson 5: Reform, Liberal, or Conservative?
-Dealing with the Challenges of the Modern World
-Modernization or Fossilization? A False Dichotomy

Lesson 6: The Amman Declaration as a Beacon of Unity
-Understanding the Amman Declaration
-Respecting Differences and the Way to Cooperation

To learn more and to register, go to: http://www.sunnipath.com/Academy/Online/CourseCatalog/Department/General/Finding-the-Straight-Path.aspx