Salafi Bashing

Over the last week or so I've had quite the time with Salafi Bashing. I'm not the basher.. I'm the bashee (if that is even a word). I would never call myself Salafi, because technically it is wrong to attribute such a title to yourself. But I do follow the way of the Salaf. I am not one for modernization of Islam, and I am careful about who I take knowledge from.

Firstly, whenever I have a discussion with someone about an Islamic topic, I tend to pull my understanding from who I consider to be true scholars of Islam. When I do this, I get told I'm not seeing both sides and I'm being too Salafi. Is this supposed to be an insult? I mean the people I take rulings from have studied Islam all of their lives. Not just a few years here and there, but their WHOLE LIFE. They have not only memorized the Quran, but its tafsir as well. They can tell you, from memory, 1000's of hadiths with their full chains of narration. They sat with some of the best scholars of their time, and those scholars sat with the best scholars of the time before. So why.... why should I not take what they say as a valid opinion? Why should I take an opposing view instead? The same people that are asking me to do that, are not considering the opinion of the scholar that I take from, so why the double standard? And if they are considering it, they are just blownig it off as 'too Salafi'.

Next, I have issue with people who cannot forget and forgive. We all make mistakes. All of us. And when a brother or a sister makes a mistake you are to give them 70 excuses. Especially if they have asked for your forgiveness and admitted their wrong doing. When I finally think something is over, and behind me, I see it pop up again. Now perhaps I'm being paranoid, but I don't think so. I'm smart enough to know when someone is writing about me without actually saying my name. I'm not sure, but this sounds like backbiting to me.

In one of my previous posts I talked about going to a conference with close to 1000 Muslims that were on the Quran and Sunnah. I didn't see one oppressed women there. No one was being told they could not smile... no one had marbles or rocks in their mouth to distort their voice. I only say these things because of some of the ridiculous rants I've been reading lately.

Now I do understand that there are people out there that call themselves Salafi and do some horrible things, but that does not make the true followers of this path worthy of such attacks. For me, personally, its about doing the best I can, to follow the commandments of Allah, and live as a good Muslim.

Finally, I'm very concerned about this watered down version of Islam that is running rampant in the US these days. There are entire groups of people that seem dedicated to twisting and changing the true meaning of Islam. Once they find a venue for their ideas, and others to wrongly confirm them, they go crazy. I worry that people looking for answers... Muslims and non Muslims alike.... will be mislead terribly by all of this.

I ask Allah to guide us all.