Adam Anwar Sayid

Adam Sayid is a British Bengali Muslim,https://medium.com/@jeanemarie/adam-anwar-sayid-e97789c7d5a1 who is an independent researcher in Islamic theology, philosophy, and Qur'anic hermeneuticshttps://www.adamsayid.co.uk/. Many people consider him as one of the key figures in the modern Muslim reform movements in the UK and known for the criticism and rejection of 'Hadith|Hadith-centric' Islam. He gained much attention through the 'Q&A' that he regularly publishes on his Facebook. 
Adam Sayid was born in the great city of Sylhet, Bangladesh, in 1976 in a village known as Syed Mandaruka in the sub-district of Osmani https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osmani_Nagar_Upazila|Osmani Nagarhttps://www.wattpad.com/story/47479253.
==Early life and education==
He is the fourth child of five children. His father migrated to the UK in the early '60s through the voucher migration systemhttp://www.banglastories.org/the-bengal-diaspora/history/voucher-migration-1960s.html looking for work and soon established himself as a successful Restaurateur|Indian restaurateur. On Christmas day 1983, he reunited with his father along with his mother and siblings at his father's then residence in Aberdeen, Scotland. During this migration, he was seven years of age when he first arrived in the UK.https://www.wattpad.com/story/47479253
Adam Sayid studied in the state schools and struggled to find his space as a growing young man with multiple identity crises as to who he was. Bangladeshi, Muslim, or British?https://aobm.org/ For a while, as a young deep thinking teenager, he was comfortable in himself as a closet atheist, which he later ditched in his search for true religion.https://voiceofsalam.com/2018/08/13/five-different-groups-stop-talking-takfir/
Around a year into college, he decided to pursue his desire to learn more about the religion of his birth, Islam, as his search directed a U-turn back to Islam as the truth.Loosely connected with the oldest Muslim organisation in the uk https://aobm.org - association of British Muslims, as a religious adviser. So he enrolled at an Boarding school|Islamic boarding school for boys in Bolton, Greater Manchester. He continued this line of education for the next ten years in three Islamic boarding institutes in the UK. During which he memorized the Qur'an, and got comfortably familiar with Sunni theology.
Also during this time, he joined and affiliated with many different Islamic movements, founded a Da'wah organization called 'Da'wah|Muttaqeen,' and established an Islamic school known as the 'Madrasa|Weekend Madrasah,' in which he taught with his own unique 'Easy Daily Lessons.'http://boltondarululoom.org.uk/
==Adult life==
After briefly living a like a clergy-like figure, teaching basic Islamic studies to the Muslim children of his local area and deeply involving himself with the local mosque activities, in mid-2007 Adam Sayid had a paradigm shift in his theological worldview; from the Hadith-centric one to the Qur'an-centric view.https://afosa.org/origins-of-the-quran-centric-school-of-thought/
Therefore, after years of having been involved with Muslim advocacy groups, da’wah initiatives, theological academics, etc, he decided to evolve his perspective of Qur'anic hermeneutics and renounce his faith in the mainstream Hadith-centrichttps://musliminstitute.org/freethinking/islam/quran-v-hadith-philosophical-analysis position. On the 1st of January 2008, Adam Sayid officially announced and made the decision to convert from Hadith-centric to Qur'an-centric Islamhttp://boltondarululoom.org.uk/. This upset a lot of people around him, and he decided to end his teaching path.
==Family life==
Adam Sayid marriedhttps://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?contenttypeid=1&contentid=4580 in 2002 and has currently 4 children. To support his family he has ventured into the Business|business world, as he no longer lives life like a clergy-like figure and therefore does not teach. Also, most mosques are too rigid in their religious views, where he resides, to accommodate the very Liberal|liberal views Adam Sayid now adheres to.https://medium.com/@jeanemarie/adam-anwar-sayid-e97789c7d5a1
==Leaving Hadith-centric theology==
There are many accumulated factors that played in changing Adam Sayid’s thoughts and his departure of the Hadith-centric theology, as he is a complex character. However, in a nutshell, from many of his writings, it seems that the Hadith-centric theological basis collapsed over time to remain intellectually convincing for him. 
Initially, just like most Muslims he believed that the Hadith literatures are inspired, and an integral part of the Islamic dogma, as is the teaching of Hadith-centric theology. However, as he engaged in study at a higher level discovering the basis of the Islamic creeds and practises, he discovered that there are inconsistencies and illogical statements. This cut away at his assumption that the so called authentic Hadith literatures are inerrant. Moreover, he found countless jurisdictional teachings that are absolutely amoral and wrong on a human level, which contradicted his internal moral compass. Henceforth, he detected a pseudo intellectual framework of thinking, which was seeking to remove the inherent nature of humans and their sense of morality, for some hearsay amalgamated centuries later.https://voiceofsalam.com/2018/08/13/five-different-groups-stop-talking-takfir/
==Closet Atheist==
As a child Adam Sayid contemplated a lot about life, religion and God. However, the adults around him and his immediate family were neither religious or educated, and thus could not adequately satisfy his queries into these matters. As a small child he deduced from this that perhaps nobody really knows the answer. His father was not a very religious person and thus did not advise his family about Islam. As a matter of fact neither of his parents knew much about Islam. Hence, God and religion was not a big player in his early life. 
At around adolescence years of his life a teacher at school, who was a staunch atheist, would expose her class to strong arguments against religion and the concept of God. Adam Sayid took intense interest in what she had to say. After much thought in his small mind, he came to the assumption that atheism was the truth. His simple twofold calculation was; "my illiterate parents equals God, and this educated teacher equals no God - who is more likely to be accurate?" From the age of 12 until around 16 years of age He was what he calls an ‘closet atheist’, because externally off-course, He was a Muslim and enjoyed wholeheartedly all religious rituals and festivals. 
However, as he grew older and his acumen matured, he found atheism ambiguous and shallow, specially after reading a 'watch tower' magazine on the existence of God. He had a strong sense that he doesn't have the full truth, but he just didn't know where he could find it. To quench this tremendous thirst to know the truth he sought the refuge of his local library, as the internet and Google didn't exist back then. He began reading. It became his sole passion. He preferred purchasing books over clothes, video games, sports accessories and all that boys of his age would be interested in.http://www.adamsayid.co.uk/?p=392
==Online Presence==
After unequivocally rejecting the Hadith-centric theology, when he concluded that the Qur'an did not conclusively substantiate such theology, he consequently abandoned all association with Hadith-centric theology and closed down his school. He took to the online world seeking people who have had similar experiences and similar Islamic development and started blogging snippets of his views and opinions on different aspects of Islam, which sharply differed from mainstream thinking. He soon became an inspiration for many around the world, who began enquiring religious guidance from him, as they admired the fact that he only gave answers 'in the light of the Qur' an.' Thus beginning a strong an online presence.
==Brief Journey Into Extremism==
Adam Sayid has recounted on his social media platforms that during his early 20's his altruistic nature nearly got him sucked into a twisted theology which sugar coats religious fascism as an Islamic utopian way of life, which seeks to subjugate all humans under an archaic form of authoritarian government. He says that their sole purpose is to hijack people's freedom and impose prayers, fasting, veil, and other rituals through institutionalized force.https://voiceofsalam.com/2018/08/13/five-different-groups-stop-talking-takfir/
He regards himself as one of the lucky ones, and that it was his personal reading of the Qur'an which helped him see through the sugar coating into the warped and dangerous ideology that it is. He now believes that there is no doubt that this type of extremism in all religions or ideologies threatens world peace.
From this brief close experience, he concludes that the menace of extremism that we are witnessing around the world is a necrophilic culthttp://www.ifeet.org/the-cult-of-necrophilia.html and further states that he believes it is critical that normal societies must come together to assess such psychopaths and marginalize these folks in every possible means, for the safety of everyone including themselves; and that it is also very important to tackle the political grievances that have been festering for so long, and turns anguish into an organized rage. As he strongly thinks that these unsolved grievances push the young towards Jihadism and Islamism.https://www.brookings.edu/blog/markaz/2016/07/15/islamism-salafism-and-jihadism-a-primer/
==Controversial Statements==
Adam Sayid has made many public statements in regards to his Qur'an-centric theological position on certain issues in Islam, that blatantly opposes popular positions. Some of these statements are as follows;
- Adam is not the first man, he had parents and came to the world through the long process of evolution.https://www.pewforum.org/2009/02/04/darwin-and-his-theory-of-evolution/
- Atheists and people of other faiths can also enter heaven.https://www.pewforum.org/2008/12/18/many-americans-say-other-faiths-can-lead-to-eternal-life/
- Hadith literature does not constitute a part of the Islamic authoritative sources.https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hadith
- Questions the five pillars' as the basis of Islam, and proposes alternatives.https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/introduction-cultures-religions-apah/islam-apah/a/the-five-pillars-of-islam
- Physical coverings such as the head or face cover by Muslim females are not a dictate of God.
- There is no such thing as an Islamic state.https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/01/islamic-state-language-isis
- Jesus has died and will not return again. Also rejects the coming of Dajjal and Mahdi.https://www.iium.edu.my/deed/hadith/muslim/041_smt.html
- Believes that prophets were not sent for a religious affair, but were socio-political reformers and revolutionaries.
- Has declared that Zakat is a welfare system and Muslims living in the west fulfill their obligation of Zakat when they pay their taxes.https://islamicmarkets.com/education/zakat-al-mal
- Vehemently opposes the common practice of circumcision, and states it is a satanic practice according to the Qur'an.
He regularly publishes many of these views on his Facebook page and other social media. These statements have made him a target by extremists.
==Flexitarian==
As a new year's resolution and a permanent change of lifestyle, Adam Sayid announced in 2018 on various of the social media that he has adopted vegetarianism and encourages everyone to either cut down on meat or adopt vegetarianism.https://www.britannica.com/topic/vegetarianism
However, this change wasn't triggered by moral or health reasons, but because Adam Sayid believes that an unprecedented amount of meat consumption is having a major ecological effect on all levels of the biodiversity of this world.https://www.globalissues.org/article/170/why-is-biodiversity-important-who-cares#:~:text=Biodiversity%20boosts%20ecosystem%20productivity%20where,sustainability%20for%20all%20life%20forms And so, he believes the Qur'an and his internal moral compass commands him that the continuation of a meat-heavy diet would be a crime against the world and by extension against the future of humanity itself.
In trying to balance the Qur'an’s strong ecological advocacy with today's attitude towards the consumption of food in general, eating meat for Adam Sayid was thus indignant for him. As he feels consuming of meat needs to be either severely curtailed or eliminated, though he does stress the point that the general concern for our attitude towards mass consumption of all resources of this world is there too.
He fully respects the vegetarianism that is based on the principle that killing another sentient being feels wrong, however, the chief concern for him is being conscious of the world's network of ecological connections, and the responsibility that we all need to have to safeguard its balance. At the same time he also says that animals need our due respect, as they share this world with us and all living animals are sentient beings, just as human beings are; and points out that the Qur'an highlights that humans are not the only creatures that live as families and communities, who will also return to their Lord, and have their complaints heard, if they are mistreated by us; "There is not an animal that treads upon the earth, nor a bird that soars above it on its wings, but they exist as distinct species of families just like your own; and just like you, they too will finally return to their Lord, to have their complaints heard, as nothing is beyond God's record." (Ref Quran 6:38) And reiterates that the way we're treating them at the moment looks more like hungry zombies feeding on their dead carcasses, than due respect and love! Also says that the Qur'an teaches that the natural world is vast and has enough for everyone to have a right to it including all other living creatures; "God has made the earth spacious and hospitable for all his creatures." (Ref Qur'an 55:10) In short he believes that animals have rights too and that their complaints will also be heard by God and that their mistreatment must not be taken lightly.http://www.adamsayid.co.uk/?p=55%3C/ref%3E
Therefore, his vegetarianism is not underpinned by the philosophy that killing an animal for food is evil or that eating meat is prohibited per se, but rather a self-appointed and voluntary deed responding accordingly in the light of the current ecological circumstances we as a species find ourselves in. Adam Sayid points out that chapter 102 was one of the key articulation of the Qur'an along with other references that pushed him to become vegetarian;
"You are endlessly preoccupied with your greedy consumption of this world; right up to your grave! Nevertheless, soon you will know; indeed, you will know! Besides, if you could foresee with certainty the results of your handiwork, you will see a world in flames. And also on that day, you will see with your own eyes the reality of your handiwork, and you will be indeed questioned concerning the use of life you had on earth."https://sites.google.com/site/alcuinthoth/quotations
==Quranology App==
Contrary to the claims of the Islamophobes that the Qur'an is the source of extremism and terrorism, Adam Sayid believes that the solution to those extremists who kill indiscriminately in the name of Islam, is intensifying and furthering the study of the Qur'an, as he strongly believes that they are ignorant and have not read the Qur'an in its entirety ever in their own volition, but only have been fed adulterated snippets, constructed to create a strategic result, by others; and thus since the Qur'an is readily available everywhere, these individuals are not able to grasp it's light for themselves because it is buried underneath layers and layers of extra-Qur'anic literature that directly assume, unwarrantedly, the authoritative position of the Qur'an.
So, in order to curb this ignorance, to re-educate the masses, and to give the Qur'an full autonomy to speak to the people directly, without clerical intervention and without bending its directives via extra-Qur'anic add-ons, Adam Sayid has created an interactive Qur'an app called Quranology.
The Quranology app is basically a unique social platform, with the Qur'an as the subject of discussion, and it is also a powerful interactive Qur'an application, where users are equipped with a whole range of study tools and materials, that will help them enhance their knowledge of the Qur'an..https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.zamtech.quranology&hl=en
https://www.buzzfeed.com/sibcca_awan/quranology-top-notch-quran-app-d14jhms0gl
https://medium.com/@jeanemarie/top-new-quran-app-quranology-ab8823d5fde4
== Published works: In The Light Of The Qur'an==
Due to his huge success with publishing his unique answers to public enquiries into religious guidance, Adam Sayid amalgamated all the questions he received over the years and the answers he gave into a book form entitled, 'In The Light Of The Qur'an'. Adam Sayid seeks no financial gain from such works, so he published his book free for all with the online platform known as wattpad.https://www.wattpad.com/story/47479253-in-the-light-of-the-qur%27an
Currently, a publisher from the USA has shown great interest in publishing and printing the book into a book form. Adam Sayid is currently finalising the editing of the book towards this.
== References ==
Category:Islamic studies
Category:Islamic philosophy
Category:Islamic theology