DEAR EDITOR,
I have read your article, “Idols, Not Scholars.” Interesting views and although I agree with your assessment, you don’t give a solution other than “every Muslim should think for themselves.” Don’t you think that is what is happening at the moment? Every Muslim acts according to their own interpretation of Islam. You see some Muslims who walk around the country in traditional Islamic dress and have their head gazed down because they think that is what makes a Muslim pious. On the other hand, you may see someone that doesn’t dress Islamically but they have an “Islamic conscious” and that is what makes them pious. Your criticism is on the small fraction of Muslims, who you think have the monopoly of Islamic knowledge, that dominate Islamic thought. But I don’t think that is the case.
Secondly, don’t you think that every Muslim that lives today has some sort of influence of scholars because when they read the Quran or the Hadith, they are reading it through a historical lens to some extent— unless you are a master in Quranic Arabic and derive conclusions based solely on your reading of the language and not on any historical context. In the end, the way you look at Islam is going to be through some type of lens that a scholar had to influence you with: Whether you read and study Islam from Ibn Abbas, Al-Jalalayn, Muhammad Asad, Maududi, or Syed Qutb. You can even say your point of view is through the lens of western thought whether it be your exposure to greek philosophy or modern 20th century thought. We are all influenced by something. So are we really thinking for ourselves? Your article is very western (which isn’t a bad thing), but it is influenced by your own experiences. You can say that your view is a real Islamic view because Islam empowers you to think for yourself, but there are many ways to reach salvation. You choose one way by having independent Islamic thought. Others choose another way by following a leader.
For example, you may think that all masjids should be open to all people and all thought, but you may draw the line at women leading prayer. Where did you get that line from? Where did that thinking arise from? From your own study of Islam through original texts? Or from the interpretation of some scholar or a consensus of scholars over the years? However, there may be another Muslim who through their own study of Islam thinks its OK for a woman to lead prayer. That person’s thinking is just as legitimate as yours according to your article. You may say that people have to have a sincere effort to study the religion, but what is the criteria of that? None of us can be the judge of that. This may not be the best example, but you see where I am getting with the problem of your article. In the end, we all choose what we want to be influenced by, which scholars we want to listen to and when we want to listen to them, and when we want to use our own deductive reasoning to come up with the conclusions we want to see.
I understand your point that there are many people that will only act based on what their scholar tells them to do– how to act, how to pray and how to live. But I do believe that the majority of Muslims out there have their own understanding of Islam as you are encouraging all of us to have. It just isn’t obvious. Yes, the ones that you are upset at are the ones that are controlling the masjids and are in power of “Muslim” countries, but don’t you think that people that think like you, are free from masjids and leadership roles because they don’t want to impose their beliefs on others?
I think that there are many scholars out there that will be satisfying for your intellectual well being and I am sure you are aware of them in your city, country and the world, but that doesn’t mean you have to follow them blindly and if those scholars insist that you follow them blindly or create a cult following, then they aren’t worth being followed anyway because they are wanting the attention. I think there are many scholars here that are moderate and agree with your analysis but will also give their opinions and understanding of the religion based on their knowledge. I don’t think they will impose their views on you, but they will state what they know based on what they learned and their experiences. And what is wrong with that. It is up to you to agree or disagree.
Good article, but in my opinion you don’t give any real solutions other than “think for yourself.” To some extent everyone does some think for themselves and completely think for themselves and interpret Islam the way they want, while others blindly follow a scholar. But most people we know are in the middle and they take some stuff from scholarship and mix it with with their own understanding, which is what I am sure you have done yourself.
Wassalam.
Kamran Hussain,
Chicago
May 12, 2013
Dear Kamran, Thank you for your letter. In response to the important points you have raised in your letter, I would like to reiterate the following:
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I think Islamic knowledge should be deinstitutionalized and let develop at grass-root level because over centuries in the name of preserving its interpretation and application it has been heavily centralized to the degree of monopolization.
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I am not against consulting a scholar or any source of knowledge and giving them due respect and honor, but I think Muslims should have intellectual freedom to differ with any opinion and draw independent conclusions. This is highly lacking among Muslims.
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I understand if people take control of their faith in a responsible way there will inevitably be variability in interpretation and application. I think it is better for Muslims to have such flexibility and broader outlook than being too rigid and inflexible, a phenomenon that has given rise to ugly extremism in Islam more than in any other religion.
Masood N. Khan, Editor