Thoughts on scholarly studies and methods
I often thank God for my learning and educational experiences. I never had a teacher who expected that I simply rote-learn, that I memorise the writings of others with the intent to regurgitate it when asked a question. One teacher once counseled me not to memorise texts written by scholars, but to aspire to become a scholar with his own authored texts. Every single tutor or teacher I've ever had expected me to critically engage the issues being studied, understand where jurists, historians, theologians or hadith scholars were coming from, to pinpoint the locus of the issue, learn to identify the operative variables, consider the function of the discussion in the real world, and form holistic opinions in light of everything else I ought to know.
I benefitted from them greatly and I've always considered the reasons as being:
Distinguishing Elders from the elderly
One topic that tends to provoke a one-dimensional response is the role of elderly members of Muslim communities in religious institutions. Very rarely do we find in the shari’ah an either/or approach, however, with a religious community driven by its laity, most issues are propped up as either/or topics, seldom is there room for a meaningful discussion or a nuanced approach. Behind closed doors many people show an ability to discuss the issue in a nuanced and mature fashion but in public they adopt a pretentious approach. Any point that effectively attempts to temper the role or influence of the elderly is quickly greeted with a self-righteous performance, “but Allah said we must respect the elderly!” as if suggesting an intelligent way in which to deal uprightly with the needs and whims of the older generation simply implies disrespect or downright contempt. Much of this is probably down to ethno-cultural norms. The esteem afforded to the elderly by the shari’ah is either misunderstood or misapplied as some form of near-deification. In addition, a lack of explicit guidance in how the shari’ah would have us deal with the elderly in a communal setting has meant that successive generations are impeded in religious and social progress.
Social media, faith, and the Ruwaybidhah
Social media has proved to be a burgeoning phenomenon, the owners of Facebook are billionaires and its servers probably store more data on humanity than anywhere else. But the new virtual assembly social media facilitates does not produce a significant jama’ah (community) but a superficial and deceptive sense of community. Many assert it remains a way of staying ‘connected’ with other Muslims but it actually characterises disengagement between believers.
Social Media and the Ruwaybidhah
Social media has proved to be a burgeoning phenomenon, the owners of Facebook are billionaires and its servers probably store more data on humanity than anywhere else. But the new virtual assembly social media facilitates does not produce a significant jama’ah (community) but a superficial and deceptive sense of community. Many assert it remains a way of staying ‘connected’ with other Muslims but it actually characterises disengagement between believers.