The Qur’an describes that initially, all mankind was on ONE FAITH. As the people moved to different places and they grew in numbers, the differences started among them. These differences in opinions divided the people into sects. Different belief systems were developed and people started following their sectarian leaders. These leaders did their best to divide mankind for their own personal benefits, interests, and the jealousy they had for each other. Time to time, Allah (God) sent down prophets and messengers to bring back mankind to the ONE FAITH but people with some knowledge did not follow these messengers and prophets and they continued on the path of sectarianism. These sectarian leaders continued to exploit mankind in order to benefit from it.
Just like other faiths, the followers of the religion of Islam are divided into several sects and denominations. Over the past few centuries, several religions and sects emerged from Muslims. Al-Hakim bi-amr Allah in 1022 broke away from Shi’at Muslims and created his own religion which was later recognized as Daruzism. Al-Hakim bi-amr Allah had full support from the Jews and the Christians. They helped him in organizing and establishing his dynasty.
During early 1900 in Iran when Bahá’u’lláh claimed that the God has manifested in him and founded the religion of Bahaism. The western governments supported him. Many of his followers broke away from Islam and followed him.
During the 19th century, in India, a Sunni Muslim, Mirza Ghulam Ahmed Qadyani claimed that he is the Prophet of God too. Mirza Ghulam Ahmed claimed that he is a Prophet but under the Prophethood of Muhammad ibn Abdullah (Peace be upon him). This way he tried to keep himself and his followers associated with Islam and at the same time established a new religion within Islam. His tactics worked very well. Thousands of Muslims from Punjab (India) were converted to his religion called Ahmedism or Qadyanism. Under the British rule in India, the Qadyanism flourished and grew rapidly.
During the 18th century another sect was founded in Arabia under the patronage of British rulers. This fanatic and extremist sect among Muslims were created in order to throwaway the Ottoman empire of Turkish rulers. This was the first time that an extremist and racist sect emerged from Muslims. The British government funded, trained and supported this sect called Wahabees, the followers of Wahabism.
There are several other small to medium size sects within Muslims such as Ismailees, Deobandees, Brelvees, Alawees, Bohra’s, Pervezees, Zikrees, Salafees, Green turban sect, White turban sect, etc… The current sect manufacturing trends in Muslim countries are alarming. People associate and identify themselves with their own sect OR their party OR their spiritual leader (PEER). Their first identification is not Islam anymore.
NEWYORKEES
The recent emergence of a new sect among Muslims is the “NEWYORKEE” sect. This sect was founded in March 2005 in New York City by a woman claiming to be a Muslim. In her book, the founder of Newyorkee sect writes that she gave birth to a child out of wedlock but she is also a lesbian. Since this sect has emerged recently from New York, we do not know much about their beliefs and they have very few followers too. However, based upon news reports in the media, it is clear that the founder and the followers of Newyorkee sect believe in the following things.
1).The main objective of Newyorkee sect is to destroy the strength of Islam at any cost. Newyorkees bring all anti-Islam forces together such as communists, anarchists, monarchists, extremists, etc…
2).Homosexuality is permissible for the followers of Newyorkee sect
3).They offer prayer (Salat) only when media is around them, otherwise, they don’t pray. They pray only for publicity.
4).Men and women can pray (offer Salat) together in a mix gathering and women can also lead the prayer (Salat)
5).Lying is permissible as long as the lie is against Islam and Muslims.
6). They believe that their selected verses from Qur’an are good and the rest of the Qur’an should be changed based upon the directions from the government of United States and based upon the directions from the western organizations providing funding for them..
7).They believe that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is dead and should not be followed anymore.
8).They believe that Islam is a backward religion and they can modernize it.
9).They consider themselves as progressive Muslims and rest of the 1.6 billion Muslims as backward Muslims
10). Newyorkees strongly believe in number 3. If 5 people attended their gathering, they multiply it with 3 and inform media that 15 people were there and so on.
As this Newyorkee sect gets more and more publicity through anti-Islam media and the funding from the anti-Islam governments and organizations, we would know more about it in future. However, what we now know about them, I request the leaders of Newyorkee sect to come and attend the Qur’anic classes in Toronto and Calgary offered by Islamic Supreme Council of Canada and have a dialogue.
We, Muslim believe that the Islam is the final, complete, natural, normal and commonsense religion. The beauty of Islam is that it keeps itself modern in all times and all ages. 1400 years ago Islam was modern for the people of that time. Islam is modern for the people of our time. Islam will remain modern for the generations to come. Newyorkees do not know that the feature of keeping Islam modern is a built-in process of Islam. Islam does not depend upon Newyorkees for modernization.
In order to observe and experience the modern nature of Islam, the cultural influences on Muslims from other cultures and faiths must be removed. These cultural influences of other cultures and faiths on Muslims have created a wrong impression about Islam. It is time to revive Islam in its pure form that brought peace, prosperity and dignity to mankind. Reforming Islam is an abnormal claim and a deception. Reviving Islam is a normal and natural act that the mankind must do now.
