A trivial discord between Ustaz Mansoor and Akurana JU Branch:

-by A Sri Lankan Muslim. Part 1-

                   It has been reported by some social media that some sort of discord and dissonance took place between Ustaz Mansoor and some members of Akurana group of Jemiath Ulama.  My objective in this brief writing is to gauge this problem objectively. Some may like my writing and some others may dislike it. yet, I’m not going to please any one by this writing except Almighty Allah. I will try my best to be impartial and objective in my writing. This writing is not merely done in defence of Ustaz Mansoor and his mission rather this is done in defence of moderation, justice, fairness, ethics and moral standard in accordance with the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah.  No one needs to defend Ustaz Mansoor and his mission. Allah’s protection and guardianship are sufficient enough for him. 45 years of Islamic work and dedication to Islamic mission testify his sincerity and his clarity of thought. He has delivered thousands of talks, lectures and sermons all over Sri Lankan Island and abroad. He has written hundreds of articles. He has written and translated many books. All these are testimonies for his good work. 

              Above all, His Qur’anic interpretation is one of best among Tamil speaking world. I would say that his Quranic interpretation is one of the best Quranic interpretations in our entire Asian region. Without any hesitation I would say that he is one of best interpreters of the Holy Qur’an among Tamil speaking Muslim community today. For me, Allah knows best, he is among one of leading Quranic interpreters in the non-Arab world.  We know well there are so many Qur’anic interpreters in the Arab world today and yet, we see a few people who can interpret the Qur’an in the non-Arab world considering all modern development in the fields of sociology, politics, economics, science and other areas of humanities. I happen to read both introductions of Ustaz Mansoor and Prof Haleem for their Qur’anic interpretation (Surat Bakara version of Ustaz) and the Qura’nic translation of Prof Haleem (Oxford translation). 

              For my surprise, ideas, concepts, approaches of both Prof Haleem’s and Ustaz Mansoor’s are very much identical in their introductions. It made me compare the academic credibility of Ustaz Mansoor with that of Prof Haleem. Prof Haleem is undoubtedly one of leading scholars in Quranic studies in our time. He is one of leaning academics in Quranic studies in the western world. His contribution to the Quranic studies is unique in our time. Prof Haleem is a universal recognised academic authority in Qura’nic sciences. When I read his introduction to his Qura’nic translation in comparison with a copy of Ustaz’s introduction to his Tafsir of Surat Barakat. For my surprise, the thought and ideas of both are identical thoughts. Why do I say here? Because, Ustaz’ reading and understanding of the Qur’anic themes and concepts are identical with world class Muslim academics. Yet, we, Sri Lankans have failed to appreciate his academic contributions. It is not my intention here to make a review of Ustaz’s contribution to the Qura’nic studies (That will take me to write volumes). But all what I want to say here is Ustaz’s knowledge in Qura’nic sciences has without any doubt reached high level of academic standard. So, rather than feeling bad about his achievement and accomplishment, we must appreciate it and acknowledge it. For instance, consider the Quranic classes of Brother Nouman Ali Khan. His Quranic classes are widely accepted among young people of Muslim youth in Europe and beyond. Likewise, Quranic classes of Ustaz has been widely accepted among Tamil speaking Muslim community of Sri Lanka and beyond. So, we must be thankful to Allah for blessing our community with such an Islamic scholar. 

                 Sri Lankan Muslim community must celebrate his academic achievement and success, more importantly, Muslims in Akurana must thank Allah for blessing them with such a gracious Islamic scholar among them. Allah has blessed people of Akurana with his deep insight in Islam and Quranic sciences. Ustaz is an academic and intellectual asset not only for Akurana but also for entire Tamil speaking Muslim world. We can say Inshallah with the translation of his works into many more languages, humanity will benefit from his books and works.  We all must pray for his good health and long life to complete the interpretation of the entire Qur’an in the greater interest of humanity. I hope that the volumes of his works will be translated into many languages and more importantly into English and Sinhalese. 

              It is not surprising to see that many sincere and devoted Muslim scholars come under attacks. Islamic history is full of hatred and revenge for good Muslim scholars. I could recall hundreds of stories. It is not my objective to go that far in history.  Unfortunately, to see a group of Muslim clerics making an unwanted criticism of Ustaz Masoor is shocking. Specially when we are living as a minority community in Sri Lanka.  We have so many duties and responsibilities to do in Sri Lanka and yet, we concentrate on petty issues. 

                  From prophets to good people encountered these kinds of unwanted criticism and yet, they managed to cope with them with help of Allah. For Ustaz this would not be a big issue. Allama Iqbal, M. Abduh, Maududi, S, Qutub and all other modern Islamic scholars have faced unwanted criticism. People could not understand what Allah Iqbal was talking about. They called him with different names but now people have realised the significance of Iqbal’s thought. Likewise, in Sri Lanka too Muslim clerics shouted at Syththi Lebbe during his time. Now, we have come to know how important his progressive ideas were. Likewise, time will tell us how important are Ustaz’s thought and idea.  

              We have a lot of duties and responsibilities in this Island. We have a burden of reaching out with the peaceful message of Islam to 90% of Sri Lankans and yet, we have started arguing, fighting and debating for many petty things. Sometimes, knowingly or unknowingly we are engaging in these debates among different Islamic groups. What message are you going to give to the wider Sri Lankan communities about Islam and Muslims? Do not you know that this type of petty argument is not what we need now? Why do they single out Ustaz in their attack and criticism? There may be many reasons for this unwanted discord and disagreement. … To be continued tomorrow inshallah: