THE “COOL” WAHHABIS. A modernized, “cool” offshoot of the conservative Wahhabi-Salafi Dar-us-Salaam (in Maryland, USA) that later transformed into a full-fledged organization of its own, the al-Maghrib Institute and its affiliates now attract more followers by making Wahhabism look less closed-minded and more open-minded and “doable” in modern society (US, UK, etc.). Beneath the paraphernalia, however, is the same ugly accusations of “shirk” and “kufr” against the majority of Muslims . . . .

http://sunni1.wordpress.com/purpose-of-this-blog/ – circa 2012.

The “cool Wahhabis” must have won a round or two, for “sunni1.wordpress” appears to have stopped publishing about the al-Maghrib organizations in March of 2012.

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Shaykh Shpendim Nadzaku is an inspiration to all those who are starting their knowledge-seeking late. He did not grow up learning Arabic or the Qur’an; in fact he went to the Islamic University of Madinah with only a few short Surahs memorized.

http://ruhma.almaghrib.org/instructors/shpendim-nadzaku#profile – n.d.

Section Update – September 10, 2018

The above link has been discovered defunct, and so after so many years dimmed for viewing.  Nothing has been made up out of nothing, earlier or later, so BackChannels wishes not to send the section (in Orwellian fashion) down the “memory hole”.  This adjustment has been made because traffic has risen for this page, which has long pulled two to a few looks a day, and the editor thought to have a look at it.  It appears as much was done in 2015 as well.

In addition: the “sunn1.wordpress” page’s most “recent” post appears to have been published March 6, 2012 — “NEW! Yaser Birjas says: Muslims can eat chicken in fast-food restaurants in America”, so the blog appears also abandoned.  Its information was but two years old when this post was developed; it is now six years old. Moreover, Sunni1’s “About” page leads to an indeterminate “Muhammad”, so one shy BackChannels (in 2014) has no way today of reaching the source blog’s author for a chat.  😦

Finally, and now from “long ago” — a day on the World Wide Web can be a long day, and four years (is that all it has been?) may feel like a decade or more — BackChannels impression had been that Turkish imam Yusuf Kavakchi had “retired” from his mosque in a hasty manner without fanfare.  Who knows why?  Appointed in his place not too long thereafter: a Macedonian born American raised in New Jersey and for his profession educated at the Islamic University of Madinah. 

Section Update – October 21, 2015

The cited URL is defunct: this location, however, continues to provide a paragraph — search the page — about Shaykh Nadzaku: https://sunni1.wordpress.com/al-maghrib-institute-exposed/ —

“Shaykh Shpendim Nadzaku has an intriguing name that roots back to an intriguing country reflecting his even more intriguing character. Born in 1973 to Albanian parents in the beautiful city of Ohrid Macedonia, his parents immigrated to America when he was just a year old. He was raised in New Jersey and soon took to the UNIVERSITY OF MADINAH where he graduated from the College of Shariah in 2001. He was contemporary to our other instructors from Madinah, Shaykhs Mohammad Alshareef and Yasir Qadhi.” 

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Alhamdulillah! The Boards of IANT are pleased to announce that inshaAllah Sheikh Shpendim Nadzaku will be joining the IANT community as our Imam and Resident Scholar from mid-June. May Allah SWT bless him and his family and make their move to our community a blessed one.

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Related: Islamic Association of North Texas.

Related on BackChannels: Richardson, Texas – Imam Leaves Dallas Central Mosque, Quietly.

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My sources sometimes nudge me toward domestic events, and I remind right back that . . . what happens in America in the the imam’s / priest’s / rabbi’s office stays there, rattles around in there, makes waves or shakes it up in there, but outside of the church, mosque, or synagogue no one cares unless or until something really bad — worth going to jail for — happens in connection with it.

Add: and no smart imam / priest / rabbi should care today to play an Anwar al-Aulaki / Holy Land Trust  / Weather Underground, etc., role in his or her church / mosque / synagogue.

The Dallas Central Mosque’s former imam, the esteemed Yusuf Kavakci, returned without fanfare — actually, without public notice — to Turkey the week ending October 12, 2013 according to my then surprised and baffled source.   The Muslim pluralist universalist on the spot, Mike Ghouse, wrote of the event the following week as if it were happening as he composed the farewell.

Hmm.

The moment remains ever curious: after more than two decades of continuous service, why the swift flight to Istanbul by the former imam?

Be that mystery as it may, seven  month’s later: congratulations are due Shaykh Shpendim Nadzaku, whom it appears will pick up the reins at IANT come June.

Addendum

Mike Ghouse’s original has disappeared from its primary space at Blogger’s “worldmuslimcongress”, which is why I chose an alternative link; however, after some reading through that location and some searching, I found it appearing on Ghouse’s “The Ghouse Diary”: “Great Imam of Dallas, Dr. Yusuf Zia Kavakci Retires” (October 17, 2013).

The cute, well known, and naughty travel slogan, “What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas” applies everywhere in business of every sort in the U.S. until whatever has happened in Vegas has made its way into a report on a police blotter.

Count that a good thing.

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