Shaykh Imran Nazar Hosein: An Islamic View of Gog and Magog in the Modern World
Written by Mogamat Abrahams
He was born in the Caribbean island of Trinidad in 1942 from parents whose ancestors had migrated as indentured labourer from India. He is a graduate of the Aleemiyah Institute in Karachi and has studied at sevaral instutions of higher learning including the University of Karachi,the University of the West Indies, Al Azhar University and the Graduate Institute of International Relations in Switzerland
He worked for several years as a Foreign Service Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago but gave up his job in 1985 to devote his life to the mission of Islam.
He lived in New York for ten years during which time he served as the Director of Islamic Studies for the Joint Committee of Muslim Organizations of Greater New York. He lectured on Islam in several American and Canadian universities, colleges, churches, synagogues, prisons, community halls, etc. He also participated in many inter-faith dialogues with Christian and Jewish scholars while representing Islam in USA. He was the Imam, for sometime, at Masjid Dar al-Qur’an in Long Island, New York. He also led the weekly Juma’ah prayers and delivered the sermon at the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan once a month for ten years continuously.
He is a former Principal of the Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies in Karachi, Pakistan, Director of Research of the World Muslim Congress in Karachi, Pakistan, Director of the Islamic Institute for Education and Research in Miami, Florida, and Director of D’awah for Tanzeem-e-Islami of North America.
He has traveled continuously and extensively around the world on Islamic lecture-tours since graduating from the Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies in 1971 at age 29. And he has also written more than a dozen books on Islam that have invariably been received with public respect. Indeed, ‘Jerusalem in the Qur’an - An Islamic View of the Destiny of Jerusalem’ has become a best seller and has been translated and published in several languages.
Prof. Dr. Malik Badri, Dean of the International Institute for Islamic Thought and Civilization in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, wrote the Foreword to that book and this is what he had to say:
Finally, I am amazed by Imran’s style of writing. Though Jerusalem in the Qur’an, is a meticulously written thesis combining religious and historical documents with recent political events and penetrating interpretations from the Qur’an and Hadith, it runs like a story. Once you begin reading it, it is hard to stop. This is the general quality of a novel. The person would read it once and throw the book away - but not that of a serious thought-provoking dissertation like the book that Brother Shaikh Imran published. It is a reference that one needs to keep and reread whenever the subject is to be researched. I believe that this eloquence of the Shaikh must be the result of a natural gift that has interacted with his indefatigable work as a preacher and da’iyah and the Divine Blessings for his sincerity.” [’Jerusalem in the Qur’an’, Masjid Dar al-Qur’an, Long Island, New York. 2002. p. xvi]
Prof. Dr. Abul Fadl Mohsin Ebrahim, Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Durban in South Africa, has this to say about the book:
‘Jerusalem in the Qur’an’ makes its debut at a crucial time when the morale of the Muslims … is at its lowest. The blatant incessant Israeli incursions in the Holy Land go unabated, and Muslims are echoing the very words that their fellow brethren called out unto their Lord when they were being persecuted at the hands of the kuffar of Makkah: “When will the help of Allah come?” Shaikh Imran’s insight into the events that are unfolding in the world today is a source of inspiration for Muslims for he convincingly argues from his scholarly interpretations of the Divine Writ (i.e., the Holy Qur’an) and the Ahadith of the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) that the help of Allah (subhanahu wa ta’alah) is at hand, that the Holy Land will be liberated, and that Islam will re-emerge as the `Ruling State’ in the world. The reader will be enthralled by the author’s grasp on world politics. ‘Jerusalem in the Qur’an’ comes as a ray of sunshine for Muslims and is an eye-opener for the so-called ‘People of the Book‘. [’Jerusalem in the Qur’an’, Masjid Dar al-Qur’an, Long Island, New York. 2002. back cover]
Imran’s first book, entitled ‘Islam and Buddhism in the Modern World‘ was written when he was just 29 and still remains the only book on the subject by a Muslim scholar. That book won high praise from such eminent scholars as Vice Chancellor of University of Karachi and renowned historian, Dr. Ishtiaq Husain Quraishi, eminent Pakistani jurist and philosopher, A. K. Brohi, and eminent Muslim sociologist, Dr. Basharat Ali.
This is what A. K. Brohi had to say concerning ‘Islam and Buddhism in the Modern World’:What struck me most while reading Imran’s magnificent book was the lucidity of, and clarity in, the treatment and almost awe-inspiring simplicity of style with which the argument has been presented by the author at first to expound and then to critically appraise what, after all, is a highly complex philosophical conception of religion by which a considerable bulk of humanity of today claims to regulate its life. In hundred and odd pages the author has presented to us a comparative estimate of the two great world religions like Buddhism and Islam, and, what is vastly more important, he has attempted a critical analysis of Buddhism regarded both as an ethics and as a metaphysic.By and large, the principal points made in this book tend to show an amazing and original mind at work. For that reason this book is likely to be ranked as one of the most significant contributions that have been made to the literature of comparative religion . . .” [‘Islam and Buddhism in the Modern World‘. World Federation of Islamic Missions, Karachi. 1972. Back cover]
While referring to Imran Hosein as a “scholar of rare philosophical erudition, originality and creative vigour”, A. K. Brohi went on to predict about him as follows: “I have no doubt that our young author is likely, if he only continues to maintain the tempo of his scholarly pursuits, to turn, in the days that lie ahead, to be a scholar of whom the world of Islam will have reason to be proud.” [’Islam and Buddhism in the Modern World’. World Federation of Islamic Missions, Karachi. 1972. Inside front cover]
Maulana Dr. Fazlur Rahman Ansari, an outstanding scholar of Islam of the modern age, wrote the Foreword to that book and this is what he had to say:
It gives me great pleasure to introduce Imran Hosein’s research monograph on ‘Islam and Buddhism in the Modern World’ which forms his first attempt in the field of authorship and which can safely be said to be the first book on this topic ever written by an Islamic scholar.
The author, who is a dear pupil of mine, he has inherited the illustrious traditions of modern scholarship in Philosophy and Religion represented by Dr. Syed Zafar-ul-Hassan M.A., LL.B., Dr. Phil. (Erl.), D. Phil. (Oxon.) and Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal M.A., Ph.D., D.Litt.D., Bar-at-Law, and of missionary endeavor represented by His Eminence Muhammad Abdul Aleem Siddiqui al-Qaderi (of blessed memory), and I am proud of him. Though young in years, he is already on the road to ripeness in wisdom, and I am sure that his continued labor as a researcher will bring to him greater and greater glory in the cause of Truth.
Already, the present book is a very promising achievement. His treatment of the subject demonstrates clear-headedness, objectivity and logical acumen of a high order. And his approach, in keeping with the spirit of Islam, is sympathetic towards Buddha and Buddhism- in sharp contrast to the malicious and vindictive approach so often demonstrated by Christian and Arya Samaj scholars in their writings on Islam.
I pray to God to bless this book with the choicest success. Amen! [’Islam and Buddhism in the Modern World’. World Federation of Islamic Missions, Karachi. 1972. p. vi]There is no evidence that during his thirty-four years of humble service to the cause of Islam since his graduation from the Aleemiyah Institute of Islamic Studies in 1971 with the ‘Dr. Ansari Gold Medal for High Merit’ have Imran Hosein’s lectures, classes and preaching ever misled anyone into committing an act of terrorism. Whether this Islamic scholar, who is the proud author of ‘Jerusalem in the Qur’an’, is a rightly-guided or misguided Islamic scholar, is a matter that would be determined by those Muslims who sincerely follow the guidance in the Qur’an and in the example of the blessed Prophet. It cannot be determined by non-Muslims nor by those who violate the Divine command in the Qur’an (al-Maida, 5:51) prohibiting Muslim friendship and alliance with the Christian-Jewish alliance that now rules the world.
Saya baru melawat website Shaykh Imran Nazar Hosein. Bolehlah melawat websitenya dan muat turun buku terbarunya ‘An Islamic View of Gog and Magog in the Modern World’ secara percuma. Saya baru memuat turunnya dan cuma sempat membacanya sepintas lalu. Apa yang ingin saya kongsi di sini ialah bahagian alu-aluan dan kesimpulan buku ini. Sebelum ini saya telah menulis dalam catatan saya yang bertajuk Pendidikan: Bagaimana Ia Mengubah Anda, Sihir, The All Seing Eye, Mata Hati tentang kepentingan menajamkan mata hati untuk memahami keadaan yang genting di zaman akhir ini. Saya bawakan petikan sebahagian alu-aluan dan kesimpulan buku ini:
He received his spiritual training from his mentor Maulānā Muhammad ‘Abdul ‘Aleem Siddiqui, an Islamic scholar, Sūfi Shaikh, and roving missionary of Islām. Most important of all, he received the Sūfi epistemology from both Iqbāl and Maulānā Siddiqui and delivered it to his students. The Sūfi epistemology recognized that when Truth is embraced (i.e., Islām is accepted) and is lived with sincerity and devotion to Allah Most High, it eventually enters the heart (i.e., Islām grows into Imān). In the Hadīth al-Qudsi it is reported that Allah Most High declared: “My heavens and My earth are too small to contain Me, but the heart of My faithful servant can contain Me.” This Hadīth vividly describes the implications of the entry of Truth into the heart. When Truth enters the heart, then a divine light (nūrullah) also eventually enters, and that light permits the believer’s powers of observation and internal intuitive spiritual insight to penetrate beyond the ‘external’ appearances of things to reach their ‘internal’ reality.
At this stage of the growth of Truth in the heart the believer now sees with two eyes – the ‘external’ and the ‘internal’ (Dajjāl, the False Messiah, sees with only one eye – the ‘external’). The believer who pursues a ‘Jihād fillah’ (i.e., a struggle ‘in’ Allah) is blessed with growth from Imān to the stage of Ihsān. This is also known as Tasawwuf, but it is better recognized as al-Ihsān. It is only with inner light in the discerning heart of a true
believer that the continuously unfolding Signs of Allah (Ayātullah) can be recognized, and only thus can the world today be read and correctly understood. Those who perceive the reality of the world today know that we live in the age of Fitan, i.e., the Last Age or the age of al-Qiyāmah (which would first culminate with the end of history and the triumph of Islam, and then, subsequently, with the end of the world and its transformation into a new world).
This book was also written with the specific objective of inviting a response from those rivals of Islam in the modern age claiming to possess truth. The book also invites a response from the multiplicity of sects that now inhabit the house of Islam – sects that are obsessed with waging war on those who pursue the authentic Islamic spiritual quest (i.e. al-Ihsān or Tasawwuf). That spiritual quest is pursued in order to acquire Nūr (i.e. light). It is only with Nūr which comes from Allah Most High that one can see and understand the strange modern world (that otherwise cannot be seen or understood), and only those who can explain the reality of the world today can validate their claim to truth. This book written from an Islamic perspective, lays claim to correctly explaining the reality of the strange world today, in which events are fast unfolding that are all linked to a grande finale in the Holy Land. In explaining those unfolding events in the way that it does, this book provides evidence that validates Islam’s claim to truth.
