Moral Hazard: The Life of a Liberal Muslim
A Franklin Foer interview with Khaled Abou El Fadl.
http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/index.jsp?section=
papers&code=02-F_41
I've been approached by many people about studying Islam overseas especially Al-Azhar. Without prying into their background and intentions, I always direct them to go to the Shuyukh of Damascus, or the Pesantrens of Indonesia, not forgetting Morocco, only sometimes giving Hadramaut a worthy alternative. In fact, the thought of anyone wanting to send their child to "study Islam" overseas especially in the Mid-East brings me great concern and fear. Having been there myself I see nothing more than automation and mechanics, unless the student is Divinely gifted or naturally disciplined and rigorously studious, and attaches himself under the direction of a Sufi guide and Tariqah. To be frank, I really do not know in which direction to point for anyone to "learn Islam", except to a small house in the quiet town of Lefke, Northern Cyprus.
The article attached essentially was an interview with Prof. Khaled Abou El Fadl in The New Republic in 2002. In it he described his experiences with the Wahhabi octopus in the Mid-East and the US. He also explained about the slow but sure Wahhabi ideological shift in Al-Azhar, something I've more than often believed would happen. However I've always believed Al-Azhar has been corrupted on many levels - political, intellectual, financial, and ideological. (Which is why I still harbour suspicion towards graduates of that institution, may Allah forgive me for my ignorance!)
The article is long and might interest only a few. But his bringing to attention the state of affairs in the supposedly Muslim heartlands and the so-called enlightened periphery of the Muslim West, though spoken three years ago, is too close to be rendered outdated. Not especially when we here also face those radical elements with starkly similar comparisons. His Straits Times interview with John R. Bradley (23 Jan '06, Home pg. 19) reminds us the vividly deteriorating state of our once beautiful front garden many choose to neglect or ignorantly sympathise, while the very gardeners bent upon restoring its beauty are scorned and derided to the brink of ostracism by those who couldn't wait to turn it into a muddy patch that they prefer to be proud of.
A Franklin Foer interview with Khaled Abou El Fadl.
http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/index.jsp?section=
papers&code=02-F_41
I've been approached by many people about studying Islam overseas especially Al-Azhar. Without prying into their background and intentions, I always direct them to go to the Shuyukh of Damascus, or the Pesantrens of Indonesia, not forgetting Morocco, only sometimes giving Hadramaut a worthy alternative. In fact, the thought of anyone wanting to send their child to "study Islam" overseas especially in the Mid-East brings me great concern and fear. Having been there myself I see nothing more than automation and mechanics, unless the student is Divinely gifted or naturally disciplined and rigorously studious, and attaches himself under the direction of a Sufi guide and Tariqah. To be frank, I really do not know in which direction to point for anyone to "learn Islam", except to a small house in the quiet town of Lefke, Northern Cyprus.
The article attached essentially was an interview with Prof. Khaled Abou El Fadl in The New Republic in 2002. In it he described his experiences with the Wahhabi octopus in the Mid-East and the US. He also explained about the slow but sure Wahhabi ideological shift in Al-Azhar, something I've more than often believed would happen. However I've always believed Al-Azhar has been corrupted on many levels - political, intellectual, financial, and ideological. (Which is why I still harbour suspicion towards graduates of that institution, may Allah forgive me for my ignorance!)
The article is long and might interest only a few. But his bringing to attention the state of affairs in the supposedly Muslim heartlands and the so-called enlightened periphery of the Muslim West, though spoken three years ago, is too close to be rendered outdated. Not especially when we here also face those radical elements with starkly similar comparisons. His Straits Times interview with John R. Bradley (23 Jan '06, Home pg. 19) reminds us the vividly deteriorating state of our once beautiful front garden many choose to neglect or ignorantly sympathise, while the very gardeners bent upon restoring its beauty are scorned and derided to the brink of ostracism by those who couldn't wait to turn it into a muddy patch that they prefer to be proud of.
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