05.20.06
A Comment on a Remark
We published our newsletter recently and someone made a very ignorant and arrogant remark as we were handing them out. They said something along the lines that he is not going to read the newsletter because he only wants to read literature by scholars of religion and he doesn’t want to waste his time. Actually, to be honest, I was not really that suprised, but just irritated. Unfortunately, this is how some Muslims think and this trend is growing rapidly.
This reasoning is very flawed. Maybe this individual should have said, “I will read it later, because I have other priorities to take care of first.” The newsletter is not where new ideas and ideologies arise. The articles contained in it are nothing more than a reminder, which is always beneficial and helpful. We need to encourage our fellow Muslims to write and think and reflect, so they may become great scholars and thinkers. Furthermore, we must investigate and verify information contained in any work (enjoining the good and forbidding the evil).
What.. are we going to complain only when something comes up and when people make a big fuss about it (like the Danish cartoons)? We need wake up.
Parables Said:
May 20, 2006 at 4:20 pm
AoA, You have brought up a very important point and a stigma that exists in the Muslims worldwide today. As a Muslim, I feel that I am responsible for educating others about Islam to Muslims and Non-Muslims. If Muslims believe that it is only scholars they should learn from, then how do Muslims educate each other?
naqvia Said:
May 20, 2006 at 4:27 pm
Wa alaikum assalaam,
You are right. We not only learn from scholars, but we also learn from each other. And ultimately, we all are responsible in educating the people around us.
Prometheusbound Said:
May 20, 2006 at 9:02 pm
I think some people fear that non-scholars might be carrying out their own istahad. Individuals are allowed to have varying opinions on Islamic topic, without breaking that rule. This applies to Sunnies and Shia. We need to be accepting of other individuals and their opinions and understand them, not tone them out. This is the only way we can move forwarded as a society.
Danish Cartoons! Check out the article form newletter:
http://prometheusbound.wordpress.com/2006/05/13/danish-cartoons/
naqvia Said:
May 21, 2006 at 1:10 am
“istahad” … you mean ijteehad?
vonaurum Said:
May 21, 2006 at 1:56 am
This reminded me of a comment that another person made about Iqbal that he was not really a scholar with the implication that one should only listen to what he narrowly describes as scholars. During the golden age of Islam there was a lot of free inquiry and intellectual interaction between the Muslim and non-Muslim scholars. The interaction of intellectual giants Muslims, Christians and Jews produced great works. The Islamic world is now a shadow of its former self. Now scholars are defined in a very narrow manner. Surprisingly some people think that Iqbal does not have anything important to say about Islam, while the local imam is the be all and end all of all discourse.Someone once said that, to me a verse from Iqbal is worth more than 10,000 fatwas by those sheikhs.
Ali Said:
May 21, 2006 at 9:16 am
Speaking on Iqbal, if there wasn’t an Iqbal there would be no Islamic Revolution.
Generally speaking, the definition of a ’scholar’, especially in the Sunni school of thought, was never well-defined. And to create false-institutions will only limit the individuality and the application of using ‘Aql [to come to the conclusion of the Tanzil], which has been the beauty of Islam.
Wa Salaam,
Ali