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Over years I & colleagues experienced that vast majority of Muslims do not require scholars (and little do they know scholar & remit actually is). What they’re after: shar’ī trained therapists, counsellors, & murabbis (educator/shar’ī life-coach). Some reasons:
Over years I & colleagues experienced that vast majority of Muslims do not require scholars (and little do they know scholar & remit actually is). What they’re after: shar’ī trained therapists, counsellors, & murabbis (educator/shar’ī life-coach). Some reasons:
1. We live in a time where technologies and modern ideologies/fads have left people confused, which notably leads to emotional and psychological instability.
2. The economy, social expectations, & contemporary fashion/outlook has left people with feelings of anxiety and despair.
2. The economy, social expectations, & contemporary fashion/outlook has left people with feelings of anxiety and despair.
3. Shar’ī literacy is extremely low, and most of what the Muslim majority know is either partially incorrect, misses the point, or based on very erroneous assumptions. (At this level, getting academic about Islam is far too advanced - most need the basics of the basics)
4. Subsequent generations of Muslims from immigrant communities (which make up the majority) struggle to find an adequate model for western Muslim living, in a way that faithfully, confidently, and productively navigates the complexities of living in modern western society.
Also, inherited norms and attitudes conflict w/ their aspirations, outlooks and feelings shaped by (western) cultural & social environment that significantly differs from cultural environment parents or grandparents shaped by & which later generations are socialised into at home.
5. Regressive attitudes within many ethno-cultural communities (every culture has them) coupled with shar’ī illiteracy and a politicised/weaponised Islam has led to: the dismal treatment of Muslim women & other groups, misery-inducing expectations of others, & personal dejection.
From amongst the results, many Muslim men/women suffer a crisis of masculinity/femininity as well as too many Muslim women left morose with mistrust due to bad attitudes and treatment.
When people come to scholar, they’re not really looking for a legal judgement or a theological solution, they’re looking for someone who’ll help to talk through their personal problems & help them come to some basic conclusions in a way that considers their religious aspirations.
Even if they’re asking a theological question (such as divine decree or free-will) often it has to do with uncertainties in their personal lives rather than simply an intellectual issue. Some simply want such a therapist/counsellor to give them a version/narrative of faith...
...that’ll quell their anxieties/help them overcome emotional challenges. Nearly all imams (& those popularly taken as scholars) are actually therapists, counsellors & murabbis. But this doesn’t render actual scholars useless & where scholars can also engage w/ ppl as murabbis...
...it’s a very powerful & productive experience as they bring the weight of what they know abt the sharī’ah with all of its intricacies to real-life practical situations in order cultivate best of outcomes, rather than the reductive views of many preachers and/or clerics.
