Assalaamu 'alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakatuhuh
To all of my dear brothers and sisters who have seen the forums go through an uproar and felt upset by it, I offer my deepest apologies. It's not something that's always nice to see, but i have to say that sometimes it might be a little necessary. Please try to look past it and derive the good where you can, and leave the emotional banter outside of it.
I would like to clarify for the sake of our Moderating however, that although brother HH may have publicly called for the banning of some members, this was based on his advice. It was something that was considered with the Mods, but the final agreement was on our collective judgment as well. And each member has more than a few reasons for why it was done. As examples, as this is something I intended to do:
Asif1 - He returned after he was given a temp ban as Aziboy with a new username, fully aware that it was wrong, just to, as he told me "prove a point". He did not give any indication and hid this deception until such a point in which he was caught in his act, at which time he said he wanted no action to be taken on him and to keep it 'between us'. As a Moderator this was impossible, and yet when I told him that a public apology might warrant leniency in his punishment - he decided to continue posting threads instead of answering this request. Thus, for failing to take account for his own actions he was banned.
This was outside of any request. Let me make this clear, this forum is for people who are eager to learn, but also abide by the rules. Not deceivers and trolls.
Similarly with the rest of the Users we have found major, not minor transgressions against other members (such as implying Hanafis to be other than Muslims, or accusing our members of 'worshiping' others A'uthubillah), and a total disregard for the nature of our forum. Instead of responding to topics they would only serve to divert and derail it - lacking even one scholar to support their cause. And when the flaws in what they would copy-paste was shown to them, they would have no response to it, but would attack the speaker.
I know some people have become annoyed with the topics, but here's what I'll advise. Stop looking at the speech of the people, and start looking at the words of the scholars - and who has them. Every person who has internet can speak, but not everyone can speak with knowledge. As is evident.
Thus, those who are not serious in learning and will simply continue to use emotion as their weapon, and degrade our members as they have been, will be dealt with in a stricter manner insha'Allah.
I was going to close this thread, but I am hoping that we'll be able to turn over a new leaf insha'Allah and keep this thread active for any other posts that may be necessary to move.