After we left the bazaar, we met Tariq Musleh, Omer Hedroug, Omar Maktabi and some IFS boys, then went to go pray Isha with Ahmed Mustaffa. Then we headed back to the hallway to meet Umar.

Umar was chilling and helping out at a booth that was set up right outside the bazaar for an-Nisaa Woman’s Shelter. The plan was to take him on the “welcome to Chicago” Muslim standard: drive down Lake Shore, hit up Devon, etc. But we ended up going across the street to Aldo’s Restaurant for some broccoli cheddar soup and cake using Umar’s $20 stack of Rosemont food tickets.

On who he his

Now I’m not one who falls for pop culture and didn’t want to meet Umar so I can throw up a picture of us on Facebook or something. I wanted an Islamic escape for the weekend and figured meeting someone like him was the way to go.

Umar Lee is old school compared to most of the second generation Muslim youth in 2007 like me. He spent time with Dr. Ali Timimi, as well as chilled for an entire Ramadan in the house of Jafar Sheikh Idris. He converted in the early 90s and is boys with Ismail Royer and Suhaib Webb from way back before they were ever common convention line ups. He’s a convert that’s been through a lot and has seen the worst of Muslims in America with his own two eyes and it was interesting talking to him.

The reason he is “known” throughout the country to online Muslim interneters is because he wrote a massive 10 part post entitled The Rise and Fall of The ‘Salafi Dawah’ In The West which sparked a massive reaction.

On his blog

“I was surprised with the amount of response I got from it.” His site after the series spread gave him much popularity. All the online Muslim bloggers know of it, and even a number of Shuyookh saw it and know him because of it. He has a post on the reactions of Muslims at ISNA, both from readers and speakers alike.

He mentioned that the best part about blogging is the comments. “And with the Salafi Dawah series, the post was one thing, but the comments…man… they were what made it. So many different responses.” I couldn’t agree more. I like writing stuff on this blog and all, but if there’s one gripe I have, it’s the lack of comments! Feedback is what makes writers like me want to write more content. So if you’re one of the few among the cricket chirps who reads this blog, please leave a comment. It makes us bloggers happy.

On Salafis

Okay the juicy part. AbdelRahman straight up asked him about his blog and the series post in specific.

His post wasn’t a knock on all Salafis. A lot of people get confused about that when reading it. It was an exposing of extremism in Islam, particularly in a wave of those who called themselves “Salafis” on the east coast, not an attack on all Salafis.

Not on anyone who believes in the methodology of Ibn Taymiyyah or Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab or Shaykh Bin Baz, Shaykh Albaani, or Shaykh ibn Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on them all). Not people who attend AlMaghrib Institute seminars. Not American Open University or Texas Dawah. It was on those who turned the term Salafi into a bad name.

Every group in Islam has its faults. Some in extremism, some in akhlaq, some in Aqeedah, politics, dawah, laxity, you name it. It’s up to us to judge ourselves and cling to what’s pure and expose the filth and that’s exactly what Umar did in his post. Stick to principles of Islam and promote calling to Allah (SWT) and His Messenger (SAW), and not to a group or to a cult, and you can go a long way.

On AlMaghrib

After reading the final part of his post, it seemed like Umar was indifferent or even skeptical towards AlMaghrib. That’s not really the case

“I like AlMaghrib.” He said he really likes what they’re doing and is a fan of Yasir Qadhi after meeting him at ISNA. There’s a reason why his post made it seem like he didn’t think AlMaghrib was so hot.

“Which class did you take?” AbdelRahman asked him.

“Rizq Management.”

“Rizq Management???” No wonder! Umar said, and I agree, that AlMaghrib generally caters to a certain demographic: second generation middle class 18 to 30 years olds. That’s completely not what Umar was. So taking a class on Fiqh of Zakah, Fasting, and Hajj catered towards a bunch of middle class Desi kids probably didn’t click with him as much as a class like History of Khulafaa or Light of Guidance. Umar knew there lied more in AlMaghrib than the one seminar he took.

AbdelRahman gave him a challenge. “How about this? When Imam Suhaib comes to Chicago to teach his class, you come to Chicago to take it.” Umar smiled, clearly interested in the offer. We’ll see what happens; we’re slotted to have Imam Suhaib on Chicago’s line up for summer 2008 inshaAllah.

On Hamza Yusuf

He told us exactly what he wrote on his blog. It was one of those, “yeah I read that on your blog” after hearing something really witty. Here’s what he wrote:

“it is not that I don’t like Sheikh Hamza; but he is a salon guy and I am a barber shop guy, I’m a BBQ guy and he is a low-fat guy, and he is a coffee shop guy and I am a tavern guy - if I drank).

Interesting to note that Shaykh Hamza also told Umar:

that the benefit of the Salafis are that “they have firm principals that do not change with time unlike a lot of other groups” and ended his critique by refusing to speak ill of the Saudis and saying “they are an easy target”.

Conclusion

We talked about a number of different topics that night and at the end I learned two things.

One, converts need to be tended to. In the past year my interaction with converts has skyrocketed. Our local masjid, ICN, has had three converts in the past month and my cousin recently married a sister who accepted Islam, and my family might have yet another sister who converted come into our family. After interacting with them and reading blogs of Umar and other converts, it’s pretty clear that they are being neglected and need special attention beyond what our community gives them.

Second, this meeting has added to my recent thoughts on how the Ummah is lot bigger than you think. You grow up with a certain experience of understanding of Islam relative to where you live, when you grew up, and how Islam is around you. Each Muslim is limited in each of these. Just because you have lived and experienced Islam one way, doesn’t mean the entire world is subject to your view of things.

I feel a lot Muslims fall victim to that. It’s not that by meeting Umar I found an understanding of the entire Ummah. It’s that I met someone who lived Islam during the same era and in the same country as me, yet I learned so much from meeting him. And that’s what capped off such a boring weekend; better than sitting on the couch and playing Madden.

O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.

Do we really know one another? Get out there, see the Ummah at large, and find out.