Questions on a postcard please
This was published in the April edition of EMEL Magazine
I have been missing out on a lucrative business opportunity. Facing a credit crunch before us, and being encouraged by the PM to fight the recession, I have registered a domain name and created my own Cyberservice which I believe will plug a much needed gap in t he Muslim market.
I base my new venture on investigations into what appears to be a worrying trend in the Muslim psyche. As a set of global communities we are facing unprecedented change and challenges, one of the most significant of which is the nature and relationship of Muslims with Authority. I write it with an uppercase 'A' because it seems we are not sure what the archetype of authority should be, and given the various kinds of authority we all deal with on a day to day level, we are not sure how we should relate to it.
We have Muslim countries whose leaders do not necessarily seem to follow an Islamic ethos. We have others who seek to impose their interpretation of Islamic law with great vigour undifferentiatedly across their entire populations. We have some Muslims who argue that we must follow scholars no matter what, and others who argue the opposite that we must use our own minds and our independent thinking to reach the answers.
'Twas ever thus, for the question of who has authority and how it ought to be exercised, questioned and obeyed lie at the heart of Islam. Even the Prophet's own authority was constantly questioned, and Muslims under his watch lived under a number of different rulers including the Christian King of Abyssinia, the Meccans who had not embraced Islam, and in fact rejected it thoroughly, as well as leadership of the Prophet himself.
There are two major changes however that do raise new challenges in our understanding of authority. The first is the immediacy of global connectivity. Where once the religious leader you followed - or opposed - was determined by your geographical location, now we have a global marketplace of leaders who are accessible through websites, video clips and television. It sometimes feels like scholars have to go out touting for business, and 'image' is everything.
The internet has brought another trend with it - the democratisation of knowledge. This is a good thing - knowledge is the lifeblood of Islamic life, and the immediacy, depth and range of information that is now available for people to educate themselves easily and freely is unparalleled. But how to choose which information is accurate and measured?
The challenge for Muslims is to face the combination of all of this readily accessible information with modernity's all-powerful individual and with an insecure - and unfounded - desperation to prove that their own understanding of Islam is always alwaysright. The outcome? A global nation of individuals who claim to have all the answers, unwilling to listen or to ask new questions, and who consequently are always stuck in the same debates: the veil, segregation, Islamism, the West.
With the constant spotlight on Muslims, we are expected to have answers to every question that anyone asks about Islam. But we are also guilty of not being able to just ask questions and spend time discussing them. We don't need to have a fixed pre-determined answer for absolutely everything. There is a joy and a creativity in asking questions, allowing others to explore them and then engaging in a dialogue about potential answers.
We need to re-introduce to our vocabulary questions that begin "why" "how" "what if..." We must have enough space to ask questions. Enough time to sit and be with those questions and be able to explore them, and enough confidence and openness to listen to those who propose answers at first or even second glance we do not agree with. Our desperate need to have answers to absolutely every single question has led to an outsized proliferation of the fatwa, where any and all questions are asked. There is indeed a place to ask those who have more knowledge and more wisdom for guidance on matters which we are unclear about, but it is worrying that we'll ask anyone anything, even things that appear to be common sense and in line with our fitrah, our conscience.
So, to make sure I cash in on this trend while it lasts, my new online business is this: DialaFatwa.Com. Am I being irreverent? It's a good question to ask.
I have been missing out on a lucrative business opportunity. Facing a credit crunch before us, and being encouraged by the PM to fight the recession, I have registered a domain name and created my own Cyberservice which I believe will plug a much needed gap in t he Muslim market.
I base my new venture on investigations into what appears to be a worrying trend in the Muslim psyche. As a set of global communities we are facing unprecedented change and challenges, one of the most significant of which is the nature and relationship of Muslims with Authority. I write it with an uppercase 'A' because it seems we are not sure what the archetype of authority should be, and given the various kinds of authority we all deal with on a day to day level, we are not sure how we should relate to it.
We have Muslim countries whose leaders do not necessarily seem to follow an Islamic ethos. We have others who seek to impose their interpretation of Islamic law with great vigour undifferentiatedly across their entire populations. We have some Muslims who argue that we must follow scholars no matter what, and others who argue the opposite that we must use our own minds and our independent thinking to reach the answers.
'Twas ever thus, for the question of who has authority and how it ought to be exercised, questioned and obeyed lie at the heart of Islam. Even the Prophet's own authority was constantly questioned, and Muslims under his watch lived under a number of different rulers including the Christian King of Abyssinia, the Meccans who had not embraced Islam, and in fact rejected it thoroughly, as well as leadership of the Prophet himself.
There are two major changes however that do raise new challenges in our understanding of authority. The first is the immediacy of global connectivity. Where once the religious leader you followed - or opposed - was determined by your geographical location, now we have a global marketplace of leaders who are accessible through websites, video clips and television. It sometimes feels like scholars have to go out touting for business, and 'image' is everything.
The internet has brought another trend with it - the democratisation of knowledge. This is a good thing - knowledge is the lifeblood of Islamic life, and the immediacy, depth and range of information that is now available for people to educate themselves easily and freely is unparalleled. But how to choose which information is accurate and measured?
The challenge for Muslims is to face the combination of all of this readily accessible information with modernity's all-powerful individual and with an insecure - and unfounded - desperation to prove that their own understanding of Islam is always alwaysright. The outcome? A global nation of individuals who claim to have all the answers, unwilling to listen or to ask new questions, and who consequently are always stuck in the same debates: the veil, segregation, Islamism, the West.
With the constant spotlight on Muslims, we are expected to have answers to every question that anyone asks about Islam. But we are also guilty of not being able to just ask questions and spend time discussing them. We don't need to have a fixed pre-determined answer for absolutely everything. There is a joy and a creativity in asking questions, allowing others to explore them and then engaging in a dialogue about potential answers.
We need to re-introduce to our vocabulary questions that begin "why" "how" "what if..." We must have enough space to ask questions. Enough time to sit and be with those questions and be able to explore them, and enough confidence and openness to listen to those who propose answers at first or even second glance we do not agree with. Our desperate need to have answers to absolutely every single question has led to an outsized proliferation of the fatwa, where any and all questions are asked. There is indeed a place to ask those who have more knowledge and more wisdom for guidance on matters which we are unclear about, but it is worrying that we'll ask anyone anything, even things that appear to be common sense and in line with our fitrah, our conscience.
So, to make sure I cash in on this trend while it lasts, my new online business is this: DialaFatwa.Com. Am I being irreverent? It's a good question to ask.
posted by Shelina Zahra Janmohamed at 12:59
8 Comments:
You may be interested to know that exactly such a service is being launched in the UK in June. It is already established in the Arab world and is known as Al Hatef Al Islami (literally translated:the Islamic telephone). It uses Azhar scholars to give an answer to any question by the next day. It has received more than 8 milluion calls so far
As thought provoking as ever
And deliciously irreverent
Haha, Shelina unfortunately someone already beat you to the punch regarding your business idea
(see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1241208.stm and http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=88221&d=15&m=10&y=2006).
I must admit to the utility of the service as I know of several occasions on which it has proven useful. I have not yet tried it myself though, and I am curious to know how the answers are stated (i.e. do they merely state the fatwa or do they provide the supporting Hadith, Qur'an verse, and scholarship)
When used by people who can excercise some independent thought and research in conjunction with the answers from dial-a-fatwa it can be a positive step. However, the challenge, as you note in your article, is that the potential for total dependence and blind followership is high.
It also makes me wonder, since this service seems to be spreading to different Muslim countries, will the fatwas provided in each country be based on each respective government's interpretation of Sharia? In that case the service is likely to become just another government apparatus used to manipulate public opinion...
You identify why we need a Kalifa.
"how to choose which information is accurate and measured?" - If it's in agreement with Islamic teachings or so I'd have thought. And where there no specific instruction, one that is based on justice and peace.
Obsticles to this are fraudultent and driven by religion subjugators.
The challenge is that many people are putting forward ideas, and then saying they are "Islamic", so how is someone who is at the starting point of learning to distinguish what is 'in agreement' or not?
The only way is to encourage people to ask questions and learn to determine where the truth lies for themselves. True scholars are never afraid of questions...
Anonymous - the irony, oh, the irony...
And Dave - glad you enjoyed it!
I left a comment night before last. Does it take this long for them to post?
I do agree with you in regard to our endless questions to "authorities" rather than just living our precious lives and learning the lessons as Allah Ta'ala presents them trusting our hearts to capture what He wants us to see. Yet we do not trust our hearts. We need outer approval for everything we do think or feel. Our leaders, for the most part, are self-seeking opportunists who prove untrustworthy. The ones who appear sane, balanced and courageous are critiicized and left to stand alone.
Yet, we know that there is gold in the Qur'an and the true sunnah. I converted to Islam over 40 years ago, certainly too idealistically and too unaware of the deceptions and abuses that can be found as humans adjust to its message in their individual lives.
I think the real questions that you speak about can only be asked by those with no preconceptions about what this deen is, not based on their heritage of nation and culture. For example, one from Syria is staunchly sunni and refuses to accept even considering any viewpoint other than that bequeathed to him by his set of circumstances. One from Iran has his shia loyalties based on the environment he grew up in. A reconciliation between the two has been attempted by various peacemakers yet little progress is visible.
We Americans, who have no such deep ties, should be freer to question and develop our own Islamic character based on our own impartial study of the texts. Yet,we too find we are also prejudiced based on whose books we read and from which country they come.
One has to come near to following the sunnah of entering the cave of Hira to make sense of it all. We can't see the forest for the trees within it. "You're talking so loud I can't hear a word you say." This silence and withdrawal, shall we say, escape, is nearly impossible given the media's role in our lives.
Early morning prayers and Qur'an reading were given to us as tools. Prayer, at strategic times of the day and night, is indispensable for one who is seeking to know that which seems almost unknowable. These divine favors as well as the other three, fasting, zakat and hajj, when stripped of their inner and outer significance leave us lost. They should be our symbols of success but we don't value them enough. I know now after these 40-some years there are firm answers but those who speak out are silenced.
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