Ismail ibn Musa Menk

Mufti
Ismail Menk
(Ismail ibn Musa Menk)
Menk at KSBEA in 2015
Menk in 2015
Nationality Zimbabwean
Religion Islam
Alma mater Islamic University of Madinah
Darul Uloom Kantharia
St. John's College (Harare)
Awards KSBEA 2015 Awards for Social Guidance, 2015
Website Official website

Ismail ibn Musa Menk, also known as Mufti Menk (born 27 June 1975), is a Muslim cleric and Grand Mufti of Zimbabwe.[1][2] He is identified as a Salafi.[3][4][5][6] He is the head of the fatwa department of The Council of Islamic Scholars of Zimbabwe.[7][1][8]

He has been named one of The 500 Most Influential Muslims in the world by The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre of Jordan in 2013-14, 2017.[9][10]

Biography

Early life

Menk was born in Harare, where he undertook his initial studies. In the early stages of his studies, when he was young, he studied with his father, memorizing the Quran and learning Arabic, Urdu and Hanafi fiqh.[11] He went to St. John's College (Harare) for senior school.[1]

He obtained a degree in Shariah Law from the Islamic University of Madinah, which follows the Salafi ideology that is prevalent in Saudi Arabia.[12][13] Following this, he studied at Darul Uloom Kantharia in Gujarat, India.[14]

Work

He works for the Zimbabwe Council of Islamic Scholars (Majlisul Ulama Zimbabwe), which caters to the educational needs of the Muslim population of Zimbabwe. He is also an imam on a roster basis at Masjid Al Falaah in Harare.[1] Menk is known especially in eastern Africa and also teaches internationally.[15] He opposes terrorism and has pledged his aid in curbing religious extremism in the Maldives.[16] On 31 March 2018, he urged Liberian Muslims to avoid Muslim-Christian violence, arguing that Muslims and Christians are brothers and sisters from one father, the prophet Adam.[17] He blames western media for misleading the world that Muslims are generally terrorists.[18]

Controversy concerning views on homosexuality

The Huffington Post has described Menk as an "openly homophobic Islamic preacher" who has denounced gay people as "filthy".[19] In 2013, he was due to visit six British universities – Oxford, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Cardiff and Glasgow – but the speaking tour was cancelled after student unions and university officials expressed concern about his views.[20] Menk's controversial statement included these words: "How can you engage in acts of immorality with the same sex?... The Qur'an clearly says it is wrong what you are doing... Allah speaks about how filthy this is... With all due respect to the animals, [homosexuals] are worse than animals."[21] In a retraction, Menk has subsequently stated that he based these comments on a "misguided notion" and that he is not at all homophobic.[22][23]

Ban from Singapore

On 31 October 2017, Singapore banned Menk from its borders because it believes he expresses views incompatible with its multicultural laws and policies. According to the Straits Times, he has asserted that "it is blasphemous for Muslims to greet believers of other faiths during festivals such as Christmas or Deepavali". Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement that its decision to reject Menk's application for a short-term work pass stemmed from his "segregationist and divisive teachings".[24] [25]

The Majlisul Ulama Zimbabwe, Menk’s own institution, released a statement to express "regret and dismay" regarding the ban. It said that Menk was an "asset to multi‐cultural, multi‐religious Zimbabwe" and that viewers should "listen to his sermons in full" and not "edited clips of a few minutes" to see the moderate path he has chosen.[26]

Awards and recognition

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Peace comes calling a look into the Life of Mufti Menk, Grand Mufti of Zimbabwe". Cochin Herald. 31 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  2. ↑ Stack, Liam (4 June 2016). "The World Reacts on Social Media to Muhammad Ali's Death". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 August 2017. Ismail Menk, the Grand Mufti of Zimbabwe, the African country’s highest Islamic religious authority
  3. ↑ Aljunied, Khairudin (5 December 2016). Muslim Cosmopolitanism: Southeast Asian Islam in Comparative Perspective. Edinburgh University Press. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  4. ↑ Mohamed Nawab Osman and Aida Arosoie. Exclusionary preachers: Cause or symptom?. Today. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  5. ↑ Tessa Stewart. "Muslim Scholar Dismayed At Bomb Suspect's Retweet". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 11 March 2018. Dr. Muhammad Ali, assistant professor of Religious Studies at UC Riverside, who specializes in Islamic studies, … said that Menk's faith aligns him with the conservative Salafi tradition
  6. ↑ Faris Mokhtar. "Islamic community 'must act to counter growing influence of Salafism'". Today. Retrieved 23 June 2018. For example, popular televangelist Zakir Naik, jailed radical Muslim preacher Anjem Choudary, and Ismail Menk (the Mufti of Zimbabwe) all belong to the Salafi sect.
  7. ↑ "Was Minister Shanmugam's speech directed at preachers like Mufti Menk?". The Independent. January 19, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Mufti Menk denied permission to deliver sermon at the Islamic Centre". Valley News. November 13, 2016.
  9. 1 2 "The 500 Most Influential Muslims 2017" (PDF). Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre.
  10. 1 2 "The 500 Most Influential Muslims 2013-14" (PDF). Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  11. ↑ Zainal, Norhidayyu (28 March 2014). "Dakwah cara Mufti Menk". Sinar Harian.
  12. ↑ M. Milosevic; K. Rekawek (3 April 2014). Perseverance of Terrorism: Focus on Leaders. IOS Press. pp. 133–. ISBN 978-1-61499-387-2.
  13. ↑ John Hooper and Brian Whitaker. "Extremist view of Islam unites terror suspects". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 March 2018. The leading centre for the study and export of Salafi ideas is the Islamic University of Medina, in Saudi Arabia, which was founded by the king in 1961 "to convey the eternal message of Islam to the entire world".
  14. ↑ Jawad Sayed, Edwina Pio, Tahir Kamran, Abbas Zaidi, editors (2016), Faith-Based Violence and Deobandi Militancy in Pakistan, Palgrave Macmillan, p. 461, ISBN 978-1-349-94965-6
  15. ↑ "Mufti Ismail Menk". themuslim 500.com. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  16. ↑ "Menk pledges aid in curbing religious extremism in Maldives". Mihaaru. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  17. ↑ M. Sonpon III, Leroy (April 2, 2018). "Zimbabwean Grand Mufti Warns Liberian Muslims Against Physical, Speech Violence". Liberian Observer.
  18. ↑ "Mufti blames western media for misconception on Islam". The Borneo Post. 1 April 2015.
  19. ↑ "Liverpool University Agreed To Host Islamic Preacher Ismail Menk, Who Says Gays Are 'Filthy' (POLL)". The Huffington Post UK. 11 November 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  20. ↑ "Universities cancel Muslim cleric's speaking tour over concerns about his anti-gay views". The Independent. 8 July 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  21. ↑ "Liverpool University Agreed To Host Islamic Preacher Ismail Menk, Who Says Gays Are 'Filthy'". The Huffington Post, 11 November 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  22. ↑ "Mufti Menk: On the issue of LGBT'". [Cochin Herald], 24 January 2017. Retrieved 24 Jan 2017.
  23. ↑ "Retraction on the issue of LGBT'". Mufti Menk Official Website, 24 January 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  24. ↑ "Singapore bans Mufti Menk from entering country". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  25. ↑ Tham Yuen-C, Assistant Political Editor. "2 foreign Islamic preachers barred from entering Singapore for religious cruise". Straights Times. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  26. ↑ "STATEMENT BY Majlisul Ulama Zimbabwe MUZ (Council of Islamic Scholars) on the Mufti Menk issue" (PDF). Mufti Menk. 31 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  27. ↑ "MUFTI ISMAIL MENK HONORED". Aldersgate College. 16 April 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  28. ↑ "4th KSBEA 2015 Global Leadership Award 2015 Winners" (PDF). The Times of India. 10 June 2015. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
  29. ↑ "4th KSBEA 2015 Global Leadership Award 2015 Winners". Cochin Herald. 10 March 2017. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.