Islam is not a cereal

Shaykh Nuh Keller Lecture on Modernism and Fiqh Al-Aqaliat (Jurisprudence for Minorities)

I would like to share my notes on one specific group of topics the Shaykh spoke about namely the perils of Western Apologetic Islam, Modernists and Minority fiqh.

The topic was covered, chiefly in response to a question asked on 17 August during the Q&A session, but the Shaykh made references to the topic throughout the Suhba and encouraged murids who had missed the to session to get the recording and specifically listen to what was said about the topic of minority fiqh. The Shaykhs answer was passionate and masha Allah as always very balanced but also straight and to the point. It contained several quite strong warnings, and coming from a man of the Shaykhs calibre such are not to be taken lightly.

I have immense respect for Shaykh Ha Mim Keller and his works, the most outstanding being his English translation of Imam Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri’s Reliance of the Traveller. This voluminous book on Islamic jurisprudence singlehandedly popularized the madhhab of Imam ash-Shafi’i in the English-speaking world. Since the latter is a growing phenomenon in the Muslim global community, the book’s achievement is no small feat.

In fact, I also suspect that Reliance of the Traveller helped check the spread of the Salafist movement and its “free yourself from madhhabs” attitude in regions like Southeast Asia, where Arabic has never been an indigenous language. A useful measure of this is the rabid criticism of the book that comes from Salafists, despite the fact that it is endorsed by some of the highest authorities in the Sunni world.

Then again, this contradiction could be one of many devices that some ideologues are deploying in order to change the very meaning of Sunni-ism to fit their own petty ends. For more on this, read my previous essay entitled, Urban myths that bear repeating.

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