What's the point of this blog again?

So, this blog as you can probably tell is becoming a lot more political Islam than personal life, as it was first intended. This is for a number of reasons. Mainly because I need to get this stuff off my chest.  Here's why:

1. It will save me from exploding in anger at the next (sorry to say) salafi speaker who talks more about the politics he knows nothing about, than the little amount of Islam he does know about.  I'm not thinking of any particular "shaykh", but in my mind they've all kind of merged into one person. I know this is wrong, and I'm all about individualism, especially when it comes to Islam.  But it's like these guys were cloned, and then brought up in areas where they have a similar way of talking English, which is unlike anywhere else in the British Isles (this is even true for the British ones).

2. It will give me an opportunity to share with the blogosphere some of the things I've learned about being a British Muslim.  That might sound a bit boring, unless you're like me and you're quite sick of people who: 

a) know little or nothing about Islam, but who play themselves off as great scholars because they know a bit of Arabic and/or the fard ain (the minimum amount of knowledge compulsary for every Muslim to learn) and if your lucky may have memorized 1 or 2 texts of something fancy-sounding to English speakers but totally ordinary to an Arab.

b) are Ordinary Muslims (if there is such a thing) falling for it hook, line and sinker because of a reluctance to think critically when it comes to religion, as if critical thinking is some kind of sin.

c) Arabs who think they follow the 'pure' Islam, because it's not corrupted by Pakistani/Indian 'culture', ignoring or being in denial of the fact that they are following an Islam tainted with Arab culture, and that it's impossible to follow Islam without culture.

d) many others who can't possibily all be mentioned here. Disclaimer: I actually do love Islam and Muslims, I'm just getting rather cynical of the latter.  When I decided to accept the Qur'an is the Word of God, I didn't sign up to dealing with the retarded-ness of our (British Muslim) community... or did I?

Let me be clear. It's not just the salafis I'm speaking about here. It's the 'traditionalists' too, and every other Muslim categorisation you can think of. It's not so much about groups as it is about the mentality of following someone else, to remove yourself from the responsibility of thinking, and having the 'leaders' not tell you how dumb it is for you to follow them. 

For example, there are a large number of 'scholars' in the UK who are followed blindly, because of the title 'alim' given to them because of 3-6 years in a Madrassa, located somewhere in the parts of the UK white people now try to avoid.  

There's nothing wrong with spending 3-6 years in a madrassa (even one that requires you to learn Urdu, so that you can then learn Arabic, via Urdu, to save the teachers from translating the text books they've been using for decades, or writing new ones - Ibn Jabal anyone?).  I do find something wrong, however, with these people then giving 'fatwas' or legal opinions about matters to do with other people's personal lives, which frankly has nothing to do with them. And I have a problem with people who have personal problems and take them to 'shayukh', when the strategies they really need lie elsewhere. Watch one of those lame Q & A shows on the Islam channel and you'll know exactly what I mean. 

This week's key strategy:

If you have a problem with your personal life - go to a therapist/ councillor/ psychologist/ marriage councillor/ life-coach.  These disciplines have organically developed over decades to meet the needs of thousands of people just like you.  If your marriage is breaking down, or your partner beats you, or you child isn't performing well at school due to bullying, I have news for you: Fiqh (legal rulings of Islam) won't help, regardless of the size of the beard of the person reading these rules out to you.

Anyway, I digress. The point is this blog will have all my real opinions on politics and Islam.  It will be sprinkled with personal anecdotes whenever I can be bothered thinking them up, instead of just venting like I am now. 

The next few blogs will be addressing the issue of who we give Islamic authority to, and why. And looking at some useful strategies of how to interpret Islam, so our understandings make more sense in our contexts.