Saturday, September 26, 2015

IN MEMORY OF DR JAMAL BARZINJI


           Dr Jamal Barzinji, Anwar Ibrahim and Dr AbdulHamidAbuSulayman  


Our Brother Dr Jamal Barzinji, May Allah have mercy on him


To Allah we belong and to Him we return. The Muslim Ummah lost this morning one of its visionaries, leaders and pioneers, Dr. Jamal Barzinji, President of the International Institute of Islamic Thought, and a dear brother and mentor (Jasser Auda)


International Institute of Islamic Thought

Jamal Barzinji was founding member, trustee and president of International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT).  IIIT was incorporated in 1980 in Pennsylvania, but its roots can be traced back to a 1977 Islamic conference in Lugano, Switzerland sponsored by the American Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS), where attendees discussed the idea to create IIIT.  The conference was held at the house of Youssef Nada. Soon after its establishment, IIIT moved to Herndon, Virginia and the institute was officially authorized to transact business in the state of Virginia in 1985.


Muslim Students Association (MSA)

Many of MSA’s founding members were involved in the Islamic movement, and three of its most significant founders, Hisham al Talib, Jamal Barzinji, and Ahmed Totanji, were movement activists and leaders of Iraqi descent.

In 1963, Barzinji became a founding member of the Muslim Students Association (MSA). He also served as president of MSA in 1972.  With nearly 600 chapters (including roughly 150 chapters directly affiliated with MSA National) located in the United States and Canada, MSA is the most visible and influential Islamic student organization in North America. Through conferences and events, publications, websites and other activities, MSA disseminates and promotes the understanding of Islam.


North American Islamic Trust (NAIT)

In 1973, Barzinji became the founding general manager of the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT). NAIT is responsible for the development of mosques in the United States.


Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)

Barzinji had also served as a member of the Islamic Society of North America’s (ISNA) Majlis Al-Shura or Board of Directors. ISNA was founded in 1981 in the U.S. and grew out of the MSA.


SAAR Network

The origins of the SAAR Network reside with a group of Muslim scholars, businessmen, and scientists from the Middle East and Asia who gathered in the United States in the early 1980s. The network was officially was born with the incorporation of the SAAR Foundation, Inc., in Herndon, Virginia, as a nonprofit on July 29, 1983. Barzinji served on the initial board of trustees of the Virginia-based SAAR Foundation, Inc. in 1983. The SAAR Foundation is a network of 100 nonprofit and for-profit organizations. Barzinji held leadership positions in a number of SAAR organizations, among them posts as director and vice president for research and publications of IIIT, director of Safa Trust, president and chairman of Mar-Jac Poultry, and member of the Board of Trustees of Amana Mutual Funds Trust.


American Muslim Council

An article titled “”Muslims Must Get Involved in U.S. Politics” in the summer 1994 issue of the AMC Report, quotes Barzinji saying American Muslims need to enhance their participation in public life to ensure their rights and integration. Barzinji was considered a “principal patron” of the American Muslim Council (AMC).


Islamization

This Position is borne out of the experiences and reflections of many professional Muslims working in academic and research institutions in North America. Their formal education and training was generally based on secular theories of knowledge and their professional careers also developed in institutions which had very little to do with their belief systems. This created an inner need to look into the deeper issues involved and resulted in the establishment of several organizations such as Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS, established in 1971/72), Association of Muslim Scientists and Engineers (AMSE) and Islamic Medical Association (IMA). In 1983, Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) was established as an umbrella organization.

The Lugano Conference held in Switzerland in 1977 was attended by thirty leading Muslim intellectuals and they unanimously agreed that “the contemporary crises of the Ummah was intellectually a crisis of thought  and that the remedy was to be found in that framework.” Thus IIIT was founded in Herndon, Virginia, in 1981. This was followed by a series of activities, which included, among others, a second conference held in Islamabad, Pakistan in 1982 and the publication of a book, Islamization of Knowledge: General Principles and Work Plan.

This Position is based on the premises that Muslim Ummah is in a state of malaise; the roots of this malaise are to be found in influences from a world of ideas based on a vision foreign to Islam. Exponents of this Position are more concerned with social sciences than natural sciences thus the main thrust of IIIT and various scholars associated with the movement has been in the domain of social sciences. However, since science cannot exist in a vacuum or in total isolation of the historical and cultural conditions therefore Islamization of knowledge, in a general sense, can be taken as including the Islamization of science as well.

According to this Position, the fundamental premises for establishing an Islamic science is based on the worldview which recognizes that the Word of God is relevant in each and every sphere of human activity, that God has created this universe with a purpose and he has made Man his viceregent for an appointed term. The model and example to be followed is that of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Nature is not to be exploited but should be understood and treated as a trust given to him by the Creator.


Islamophobia

In the aftermath of 9/11, Dr Barzinji and colleagues in the Islamic movement faced severe persecution and relentless harrassment by authorities and forces engaged in targetting and unjust profiling of Muslim activists.




(May Allah have mercy on Dr Jamal Barzinji)




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