I have just published a piece in Critical Muslim . I am one of the associate editors of this journal. Please subscribe to this journal
MoosaSunniOrthodoxy
Apr
25
© 2020 Ebrahim Moosa
Great article. Especially the last paragraph regarding the future of Sunnism. Regarding the issue of Sunni’s quasi-infallibility doctrine ascribed to companions ( and more generally speaking the ‘salaf us salih’) , I argued elsewhere that perhaps it could be seen as a function of ensuring that the Muslim community is in a position to authenitcate that hadith in which companions of course play a crucial role which in turn would ensure that Muslims would be in a position to follow the sunna since with the efforts of people like Shafi’i the former ( i.e. sahih hadith) were seen as the only vehicle of embodiment and perpetuation of the latter ( i.e. sunna).
One question I had was it seems like the ulama has always managed to retain their control by keeping information under tight control. This was easy in the days when books were expensive and few were educated. However, we are currently living in an age of information flooding. We have access to entire libraries at the touch of a few keys on a smartphone. How will the clergy scholars maintain control when information is so readily accessible to a highly educated public?
We discussed some of your essay in our women’s khutbah group. It was a long discussion, but at the end of it we all felt that we are living in a very important time with much of our religious tradition in flux. We also felt we were in a position to influence the construction of something new (or perhaps just remembered but applied to 21st century living). All of us felt that because we are living in a country which protects our religious freedom (USA), we are able to question and creatively experiment with religious paradigms. Because we are not forced to sign some ‘loyalty’ pledge or statement of beliefs, we are able to keep our motivations to ourselves and move between different circles. We are a very small circle of women, but we feel empowered and significant. Perhaps we are delusional, but it is a rather nice delusion.
For the love of God, keep writing these arlietcs.