Stereotyping the Muslim Tradition | Khaled Abou El Fadl | Usuli Excerpts

In this clip from a session on The Book of Illuminations, Kitab al Hikam, Wisdoms No. 6 - 7, Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl explains how the habit of many Muslims of having a lot of questions about their own tradition is symptomatic of an oversimplified and steretyped view of the tradition itself.
For more, visit the full recording of the Halaqa where this excerpt was taken from:
The Book of Illuminations, Kitab al Hikam, Wisdoms No. 6 - 7
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[@kaitolumiere3066]

Social media is not helping this need for “quick answer quick response” that people, especially the youth, are addicted to. Beautifully said as always Dr!

[@Chaos_personified.]

Shukran for the lecture It was really enlightenment and mind opening But this begs a question . Can all these seerah books like those which summarize perhaps battles of the prophet categorized under such things that gives a short history of those battles which makes children have this dumb mentality about the histories not being complex issues even though the aim of the books is to enlighten the kids about religion. And if it does affect in a way how can we prevent them having this mentality and at the same time educating them about the seerahs. Shukran.

[@Anverse-14]

If I could ask, something that bothers me for now. Is our fear regarding islamophobes are exaggerated? I do feel like our society keeps repeating the word like a buzzword like many other non-muslim cliches that we have said that it almost losing the essence of criticism regarding how we perceived our fatih.

[@NorthStar-di8sx]

You know I used to think like this because the Shaykh and everyone always talks about Islamophobia, but then when i actually analysed what had brought me to islamic studies and later this institute is the urge to seek answers about Islamophobic claims about our religion. I don't know if you've experienced this but i really think the amount of effort that goes into pushing the Islamophobic agenda (check Islamophobic websites if you don't believe me) is way more than any other. Historically there has been criticism about every religion, but these are individuals in the modern age who don't want to give constructive criticism or engage scholars, but want to feed beliefs into the mind of muslims, who are already battered by racism, poverty, sexism...etc as if Islam is a threat that will destroy the fabric of the modern society. Till date I've never met a muslim in my day and age who has not experienced this stuff. I think muslims end up either being apologetic or leave Islam when they are not equipped to deal with Islamophobic claims. So recognising the role of Islamophobia in shaping the muslim psyche is very important.

[@tt_here]

It may seem exaggerated when one doesn’t see the impact it has on the society and him/herself. The very perception of it being exaggerated is the testament to the field of Islamophobia as an effective field that wants to instill doubts and produce apologetics from the side of Muslims and hatred along with misunderstanding from all else. Jews and zionists don’t think that them using, and in fact misusing, “antisemitism” is an exaggeration, they use it as a weapon and stand for their “morals”. Look at Christians spending their wealth on christianizing the world. When it comes to Islam we’re all focused on family, career, and affectations - reputation as perceived by fellow Muslims seems to be more important than Islam itself. Where are the morals? What happened to our dignity? Who stands up for truth and against injustices? We’re like those monkeys that cover their mouths, ears, and eyes. It’s a shame! And just like our beloved sheikh said, the questions we ask aren’t formulated by us, they’re instilled into us by the brainwashers, the Islamophobes.

[@C-R-I.de.coeur.]

Adversity is a gift from Allah. It is part of the vicissitudes of Life all human beings are confronted with but the beautiful answer in Islam is that we are thankful for it and take it as a means for purification of the Soul. To give any other importance to it is meaningless for Muslim. It would clearly be negative, being part of a hype and by this you have gone astray. The unique proposition of our deen is to remember Allah and increase remembrance The Islamic response to all and any phenomena.

[@NorthStar-di8sx]

Salam everyone, i know it's an off the topic question, but can the Shaykh please talk about the Islamic perspective on marital rape, and the set of hadiths that are often quoted to prove that a wife is islamically obligated to satisfy her husband no matter the place or time, or even if she doesn't feel like.

[@TheUsuliInstitute]

His book, Speaking in God's Name: Islamic law, Authority and Women (Oneworld Press), addresses these issues and hadiths at length, as do the Project Illumine Qur'anic commentaries.

[@NorthStar-di8sx]

@@TheUsuliInstitute Thanks for the guidance

[@C-R-I.de.coeur.]

Your question a good example of a colonized mindset the beautiful Shaykh refers to here. There is no marital rape in Islam. Marital union is half the Deen. Violence or refusal are clearly unislamic.

[@shahram6869]

@@C-R-I.de.coeur. Precisely.

[@Alburr250]

Yes there are Hadiths of that genre unfortunately. In Speaking in God’s name, Dr Abou El Fadl analyzes these genre of Hadiths.