{"id":3115,"date":"2013-08-24T17:45:42","date_gmt":"2013-08-24T17:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/?p=3115"},"modified":"2014-11-06T16:07:30","modified_gmt":"2014-11-06T16:07:30","slug":"almaghrib-institute-and-kamal-el-mekki-still-using-magic-openly-to-sell-tickets-to-their-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/almaghrib-institute-and-kamal-el-mekki-still-using-magic-openly-to-sell-tickets-to-their-events.htm","title":{"rendered":"AlMaghrib Institute and Kamal el-Mekki Still Using Magic Openly to Sell Tickets to their Events"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0In the Name of Allaah, the Most Gracious, the Ever Merciful…<\/em><\/p>\n

After being exposed last year for using actual magic tricks (like levitation) to promote their\u00a0expensive seminars and events, AlMaghrib Institute<\/strong> removed their official trailer called “Magic Tricks by Kamal\u00a0el-Mekki”,<\/strong> not to repent,\u00a0but to HIDE<\/strong> from criticism until the controversy died down. Their magician, “Shaykh” Kamal el-Mekki <\/strong>was exposed for promoting the magic of Criss Angel<\/strong> and Dynamo<\/strong> as perfectly halaal entertainment in events organized by\u00a0Green Lane Masjid (Birmingham, UK), where\u00a0he actually said:<\/p>\n

I can show you every one of their tricks, how they do it, and every one of them has an explanation.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This was stated, word-for-word,\u00a0in an interview conducted by Green Lane Masjid and uploaded on their official YouTube Channel. (Transcript)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Kamal<\/a>

Kamal el-Mekki claims to know all of the magic of some of the world’s top illusionists, like Criss Angel and Dynamo.<\/p><\/div>\n

After this blatant promotion of magic reached the world and was exposed, Green Lane Masjid imam, Abu Usamah At-Thahabi<\/strong>, gave an entire\u00a0Friday sermon\u00a0against magic, accepting blame on behalf of the masjid’s administration for hosting someone who would promote magic. While the khutbah<\/em> was tainted with demonization of the critics of the magic they promoted,\u00a0unnecessary screening of the identity of the magician they hosted,\u00a0and\u00a0claiming that Green Lane had no prior knowledge of his connection to magic, a stance against magic did manage to reach the people. (Review: Advice to the Muslims of Green Lane Masjid)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

With an issue this clear, including one of the things that nullifies a person’s Islaam entirely, magic, people may assume that “Kamal el-Mekki and AlMaghrib Institute must have repented by now.”<\/em><\/p>\n

They Have Not Repented – The Proof<\/strong><\/p>\n

The proof that they were just hiding and waiting for the controversy to die down, and that they planned to continue to promote illusionary magic as a legitimate da’wah technique,\u00a0is that AlMaghrib Institute has\u00a0just recently re-launched\u00a0<\/strong>its campaign to promote Kamal el-Mekki’s illusionary magic, using the same four-minute promotional video of magic tricks found on both their official YouTube Channel and their own website:<\/p>\n

\"Magician

Magician Kamal el-Mekki performs levitation and two other magic tricks in this official 2011 AlMaghrib Institute trailer on YouTube. (Screenshot taken Shawwaal 17, 1434, or Aug.24, 2013.)<\/p><\/div>\n

Above it can be seen that the official AlMaghrib trailer on YouTube is still there, yet the small symbol right before the word “Shahadah…”<\/em> in the title means that the video is unlisted, viewable only to those who have the link.<\/p>\n

What’s behind that?<\/strong>\u00a0Late last year, after Muslims raised their voices about kufr<\/em> (disbelief) being promoted as a legitimate da’wah<\/em> tool, the video became heavily “disliked” by the YouTube community. The video, originally\u00a0uploaded in 2011,\u00a0began to draw a lot of heat from the Muslims who knew their Religion, and the usual “LOL so funny sheikh, how did you do that”<\/em> comments became overtaken by educational information about the Islamic ruling on magic. The numerous comments of Islamic advice and warnings against magic led them to remove all the comments and\u00a0classify the video as “private”, no longer showing up in the normal YouTube search results.<\/p>\n

Someone might say:<\/strong> “See, basically they removed it, because they have repented.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Not so.<\/strong> They have only tried to conceal\u00a0it<\/strong>\u00a0from criticism and controversy, yet keep it viewable to the unsuspecting youth who register for their courses, as their own website still promotes this video and links to it:<\/p>\n

\"AlMaghrib

AlMaghrib Institute still uses Kamal el-Mekki’s magic tricks to promote their $145 seminars. Screenshot taken Shawwaal 17, 1434 (Aug.24, 2013)<\/p><\/div>\n

Muslims, Don’t be Fooled by AlMaghrib Institute!<\/strong><\/p>\n

With another upcoming seminar by magician Kamal el-Mekki, AlMaghrib Institute again tries to lure in unsuspecting Muslims who have an extra $145<\/strong> to spend on their weekend entertainment.<\/p>\n

After careful consideration of their activities and direction over the years, it can be identified that AlMaghrib Institute is a money-making scheme that preys on the ignorance of the Western audience.<\/strong> They have found young Muslims disconnected from Islamic knowledge and Muslim scholars, and instead of assisting them to get connected to the scholars of Islaam, they seek to exploit this weakness for\u00a0profit. This is clearly the case with an individual like Yasir Qadhi<\/strong> leading the institute academically and designing and supervising its curriculum. On AlMaghrib Institute’s official website, as of today:<\/p>\n

Shaykh Yasir Qadhi is the Dean of Academic Affairs at AlMaghrib Institute, the man behind the curriculum.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yasir Qadhi has been plotting for years to separate the Western Muslims from their scholars, replacing them with a band of entertaining story tellers, comedians, magicians, and propped up academics like those at AlMaghrib Institute. While teaching his students to resist the “imposed” fatwas of the traditional Muslim scholars “who are not fully aware of the reality of life in the West,” he can be found on the TV channel of Yusuf Estes<\/strong>, asking the American Muslims to do everything in their ability to promote that man and his channel. (What’s wrong with Yusuf Estes?)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Muslims in the West, Wake Up!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Quite simply, you will never learn real Islaam from a magician. A magician will never aid this Religion. He would only deceive you, confuse you,\u00a0and lead you astray. Don’t squander the precious guidance given to you by your Lord!<\/p>\n

I urgently beg my brothers and sisters to ask for Allaah’s Help in learning Islaam from its proper sources! Ask Him to give you success in learning Islaam from the Quran and Sunnah, as understood and taught by upright, qualified, traditional scholars of Islaam. Ask Him to give you refuge from anyone who would try to swindle you out of your money while leading you astray.<\/p>\n

May Allaah give you success.<\/p>\n

And Allaah knows best. May Allaah raise the rank of His final Prophet Muhammad, and grant him peace.<\/p>\n

Written by: Moosaa Richardson<\/em><\/p>\n

FURTHER RESOURCES<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shaykh Ibn Baaz on the Kufr (Apostasy) of Illusionary Magic<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Permanent Committee for Fatwaa in Saudi Arabia on Illusionary Magic<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

A Refutation of Kamal el-Mekki’s Attempt to Legitimize Magic<\/a><\/strong>
\nAmjad Rafiq<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>Promotion of Illusionary Magic as Halaal, Boasting about Knowing the Secrets of Some of the World’s Top Illusionists, Ridiculing Muslims who Forbid this Evil<\/a><\/strong>
\nKamal el-Mekki<\/em><\/p>\n

rev.OH.QM.NS.AY.JF<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0In the Name of Allaah, the Most Gracious, the Ever Merciful… After being exposed last year for using actual magic tricks (like levitation) to promote their\u00a0expensive seminars and events, AlMaghrib Institute removed their official trailer called “Magic Tricks by Kamal\u00a0el-Mekki”, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84,347,112,87,64],"tags":[699,690,306,691,312,313,311,308,305,689,694,307,700,695,692,693,698,525,265],"class_list":["post-3115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aqeedah-manhaj","category-corrections-2","category-eemaan-kufr","category-general-reminders","category-original-articles","tag-abu-usamah","tag-almaghrib-institue-2013","tag-almaghrib-institute","tag-almaghrib-seminars","tag-criss-angel","tag-dynamo","tag-green-lane-masjid","tag-illusionary-magic","tag-kamal-el-mekki","tag-kamal-el-mekki-2013","tag-kamal-el-mekki-and-magic","tag-magic","tag-shahadah-the-figh-of-dawah","tag-sleight-of-hand-tricks","tag-whats-wrong-with-almaghrib-institute","tag-whats-wrong-with-kamal-el-mekki","tag-yasir-qadhi","tag-youtube","tag-yusuf-estes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3115"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4074,"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3115\/revisions\/4074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bakkah.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}