Muhammad Hisham Kabbani (born 13 Safar 1364 / 28 January 1945) is a prominent Lebanese-American Sufi Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

. Kabbani advocates an understanding of Islam described by his supporters as fundamentally based on peace, tolerance, respect and love. Kabbani has been an outspoken critic of extremism as well as the Wahabi doctrine. Shaykh Kabbani is a spiritual teacher in the line of the Naqshbandi

Naqshbandi

Naqshbandi is one of the major Sufi spiritual orders of Sufi Islam. It is considered to be a "Potent" order.The Naqshbandi order is over 1,300 years old, and is active today...

-Haqqani Sufi Order. He is chairman of the Islamic Supreme Council of America

Islamic Supreme Council of America

The Islamic Supreme Council of America is a Muslim religious organization in the United States.The ISCA strives to integrate traditional scholarship in resolving contemporary issues affecting the maintenance of Islamic beliefs in a modern, secular society...

 and the Sufi Muslim Council

Sufi Muslim Council

The Sufi Muslim Council was launched on 19 July 2006. The SMC is a non-profit, non-governmental religious organization dedicated to working for the cause of Islam....

.

Biography

Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani descends from a long line of scholars, and was born in Beirut

Beirut

Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...

, Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

. For more than 50 years he has been a disciple of Nazim al-Qubrusi and his representative in United States.

On the order of al-Qubrusi, Kabbani relocated to the United States in 1991, where he has opened 13 Sufi outreach centers focused on spreading Sufism. He has lectured at many universities, including the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

, Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 and the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

, as well as at many spiritual and religious centers throughout North America, Europe, the Far East, and the Middle East.

Kabbani works closely with the governments and people of Muslim nations around the world to restore what he views as traditional Islamic practices and prevent the increase of religious radicalism. He has supported military incursions in Bosnia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

, Kosovo

Kosovo

Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

, Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

, Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, his native Lebanon, and Somalia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

, and peace initiatives in the Middle East, Bosnia, Kashmir

Kashmir

Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...

, Afghanistan and Kosovo.

He is married to Hajjah Naziha Adil, the daughter of Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani. They have four children, three boys and a girl.

Controversy and criticism

In 1999, Kabbani came into conflict with various Muslim groups including the Islamic Society of North America

Islamic Society of North America

The Islamic Society of North America , based in Plainfield, Indiana, USA, is a Muslim umbrella group. It has been described in the media as the largest Muslim organization in North America.-History:...

 (ISNA), the Council on American-Islamic Relations

Council on American-Islamic Relations

The Council on American-Islamic Relations is America's largest Muslim civil liberties advocacy organization that deals with civil advocacy and promotes human rights...

 (CAIR), and the Islamic Circle of North America

Islamic Circle of North America

Islamic Circle of North America , formally chartered in 1971 but active since 1968, is an Islamic North American grassroots umbrella organization....

 (ICNA) after he stated that 80 percent of mosques are being run by "extremist ideologies". Muslim organizations harshly responded, stating that Kabbani's remarks "could have a profoundly negative impact on ordinary American Muslims". Kabbani plunged into further controversy when he accused Muslims who advise the United States about Islam as being "extremists themselves". When asked during a conference whether he would name the Islamic groups he believed were "extremist", Kabbani answered, "after the program". When subsequently confronted with the question during the end of the discussion, Kabbani refused to answer. In a joint statement pertaining to Kabbani's accusations, several Muslim groups said that "Mr. Kabbani has put the entire American Muslim community under unjustified suspicion. In effect, Mr. Kabbani is telling government officials that the majority of American Muslims pose a danger to our society."

Published works

Works published by Kabbani include:

• Remembrance of God Liturgy of the Sufi Naqshbandi Masters, ISBN 978-1-871031-58-4 (1994)
• The Naqshbandi Sufi Way, ISBN 978-0-934905-34-3 (1995)
• Angels Unveiled, ISBN 978-1-930409-37-8 (1996)
• Encyclopedia of Muhammad's Women Companions, ISBN 978-1-871031-42-3 (1998)
• Encyclopedia of Islamic Doctrine and Beliefs, ISBN 978-1-871031-48-5 (1998)
• The Approach of Armageddon? An Islamic perspective, ISBN 978-1-930409-20-0 (2003)
• Classical Islam and the Naqshbandi Sufi Order, ISBN 978-1-930409-10-1 (2004)
• The Naqshbandi Sufi Tradition Guidebook of Daily Practices and Devotions, ISBN 978-1-930409-22-4 (2004)
• Pearls and Coral (Volume 1), ISBN 978-1-930409-07-1 (2005)
• Keys to the Divine Kingdom, ISBN 978-1-930409-28-6 (2005)
• The Sufi Science of Self-Realization, ISBN 978-1-930409-29-3 (2006)
• A Spiritual Explanation of the Chapter of Sincerity: Tafsīru 'l-Qur'ānu '-Karīm Sūratu 'l-Ikhlāṣ, ISBN 978-1-930409-42-2 (2006)
• Pearls and Coral (Volume 2), ISBN 978-1-930409-08-8 (2007)
• Universe Rising, ISBN 978-1-930409-48-4 (2007)
• Symphony of Remembrance, ISBN 978-1-930409-49-1 (2007)
• Illuminations: Compiled Lectures on Shariah and Tasawwuf, ISBN 978-1-930409-52-1 (2007)
• Angels Unveiled, A Sufi Perspective, ISBN 978-1-930409-74-3 (2009)
• Fifty Days: the Divine Disclosures During a Holy Sufi Seclusion, ISBN 978-1-930409-72-9 (2010)

External links

• Rabbani Sufi Institute of Indonesia