What the affair of the Archbishop and his thoughtful talk on the Shari’a has underlined is the appalling level of public discourse in the media today. This applies to parliamentarians, journalists and writers, intellectuals, artists, and a wide range of public figures. They were simply incapable of handling his nuanced arguments, and I am not saying that I agreed with everything he said, but they did not even understand it. They disagreed before taking the trouble to understand. But what brought about this disgraceful conduct of people many of whom have high educational achievements? It is something more than ugly prejudice, although that certainly figured in the equation. It relates very strongly to our previous theme, for this is the information culture par excellence. Not only do people not know the difference between information and knowledge, but they would furiously deny that there is any difference. Knowledge and concepts in this society are second-hand. It is the difference between going to the tailors and buying mass-market clothing off the rack. Our intellectuals, with honourable exceptions, use ready-made concepts, which they have subjected to no scrutiny. They choose them on the mere basis of whether they suit their fashion, for this is the age of fashion. All that marks them out as intellectuals is the abundant supply of concepts on which they can draw and with which they play. This exposes the rottenness at the heart of the information society, the mediocrity of people who regard the intellect and culture as higher forms of consumerism, who go shopping for culture as they would for a good wine, but when the chips are down are barbarians.
Appalling level of public discourse
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Abdassamad Clarke is from Ulster and was formally educated at Edinburgh University in Mathematics and Physics. He accepted Islam at the hands of Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi in 1973, and, at his suggestion, studied Arabic and tajwid and other Islamic sciences in Cairo for a period. In the 80s he was secretary to the imam of the Dublin Mosque, and in the early 90s one of the imams khatib of the Norwich Mosque, and again from 2002-2016. He has translated, edited and typeset a number of classical texts. He currently resides with his wife in Denmark and occasionally teaches there. 14 May, 2023 0:03 View more posts
Our intellectuals, with honourable exceptions, use ready-made concepts, which they have subjected to no scrutiny.
Who are those exception?
A very good question.
Which one is very hard pressed to provide an answer to.
As-salamu ‘alaikum,
Generally speaking, I like the heat to die down before returning and looking at the issue again with a cool head.
Wa alaikum as-salam,
In the original post, I was talking about public figures, pundits, journalists and MPs etc.
The truth is something electric and alive, vibrant and clear. Most people are peddling formulas, particularly scientists and economists and including some of the ulama. However, the ulama have extenuating circumstances, since, if they so choose, they transmit the tradition and they must do so accurately and carefully. In that case they are like custodians of a museum. But Islam has to come out of the museum and into the marketplace. For that another kind of intellect is needed, and needed very badly.
Assalamu Alikum Shaikh,
Could you please delete my previous post. Thank you.
Wa alaikum as-salam. You said nothing to be ashamed of, but I have done what you asked and deleted it. Abdassamad
I know, its just in your presence my words i.e seems useless… Do you have on-line classes for both males and females?
Oh you say another kind of intellect is needed, but from this I infer a having a deeper level of faith. Is that what you meant? What would be the criteria…being like Malcom X?
Also, I want to change the name “Urafa” soon, as recently discovered the intensity of its meaning. Imagine that, and assumed only just made it up….lol.
On-line is not the place for classes. It is important to sit with each other.
Another kind of intellect? Intellect with us is of the heart, while with them it is of the head. So, yes, it would mean a deeper faith as well.
For change of name sit with people of knowledge and right action. Is Urafa your given name? And what does it mean? It looks like the plural of ‘areef.