And why “because I think so” is not a good argument.

15/11/2009 at 3:33 am (1)

Assalamu aleikum

The world desperately needs more people like my mother. And i’m not saying this because she reads the blog (ehem… honest). On my Godknowshowmanyeth birthday she gave me a card with a self-drawn picture of Snoopy on it typin on his typing machine. Above was written: Have you ever thought you might be wrong?

Of course I never had. With all the falsely acclaimed selfesteem of a teenager, how could I have? And I didn’t even after getting the card. The wisdom of the card hit me much later.

I realized I’m wrong most of the time.

My nafs (ego) has always found it difficult to admit my own faults (and that’s why I’ve spent most of my time focusing on those of the others); one of the worst misconceptions a human being can have is that he/she is intelligent simply because they know a bunch of stuff. Especially those having an academic education often fall into this trap. They start to think that by possessing knowledge they have achieved a rank above the rest and thus often become arrogant.(but it’s not just them tho, it seems that anyone who has a “speciality” in something seems to think that “specialty” makes him/her special).

The thing is that there is of knowledge that which is beneficial and that which isn’t.  Beneficial knowledge is that which brings us closer to our Creator and the other kind is the other kind. Also knoweldge that is not put into practice is not beneficial. Even if you remember insertthenameofafamoushadithbook by heart, it’s not going to help you unless you follow what’s said in it.

This is the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is to know that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is to know not to put it in fruitsalad.(now I know some twat out there’s gonna say that you CAN put tomato inna fruitsald and actually it’s very delicious and whatnot. Some ppl wouldn’t see the point if it was written on the inside of their eyelids)

(yes folks, it’s tomato inna fruitsalad…)

Then there are the people who have the need to question everyone and everything all the time. And i’m not saying one shouldn’t question. What i’m saying is ones someone provides authentic prove what in God’s name are you still whining about? I call this the “becauseithinkso-ism”, thus called because that seems to be their argument in everything. BecauseIthinksoists are usually either recently converted or people who have fallen into the above mentioned trap of the nafs thinking that because I’ve already been a muslim for this and this long now I am strong enough to allow myself to do this and this and it won’t be harmful since I know what i’m talking about.I.e they have knowledge, but unfortunately very often lack the wisdom to act accordingly.

 

These are the people who (another lame quote) want to serve Allah, but in an advisory position. They feel the need to justify, moderate and re-write the rules of Islam, because they want the religion to go with the flow of the people. Unfortunately for them, in islam it’s the people who go with the flow of the religion; there’s nothing you can really do about it, but submit. (hey, why does this sound so familiar? oh yeah… being a muslim means being submitted to God. yeah.. that’s it.) This includes all sorts of modernists like mufinists (not muffinists you greedy little creeps; muslim feminists (get real dudes)), fobs (man ia, i owes u forever for dat term; the kids who think the point of islam is to match your hidjab wit ur sneakers like HOMGZZZ) etc.

i know this pic is dumb, seriously, but so’s the target.

The favourite topics of conversation amongst the BecauseIthinksoists are 1)women’s rights in islam 2) women’s rights in islam 3) women’s rights in islam 4) islamic fashion 5) everything else I can make a good argument of by adding “because I think so” at the beginning. Of course the word conversation here is misleading. It is in fact impossible to havea conversation, or even a debate, with an BecauseIthinksoist. They have already decided to know better way before you open your mouth. I have noticed that in a debate with an BecauseIthinksoist, even if you throw their own arguments word by word back at them ,they end up refuting themselves. It’s a fascinating phenommenon that ought to be anthropologically examined.

I’m writing about the BecauseIthinksoists, because I used to be one. I have since recovered (by spending time with people who repeatedly reminded me of what my mum had already taught; you’re WROOONG) and now lead quite a normal, happy life. The process of recovery was not easy, I had to learn how to do many things from the beginning (like not to start shouting when people mention phrases such as “second wife”) . It’s a long road and I still ain’t at the end of it, but at least I now see the light at the end of the tunnel (and no, it’s not the approaching bullet train). I want to warn you; BecauseIthinksoism is contagious (seriously, it makes swineflu look like a petty thief at a mafia party). The most common symptoms are 1) using the word WHY more than a three-year old 2) They start seeing signs of extrimism everywhere 3) They quit reading islamic books and start reading books about islam instead (the difference being that islamic books are islamic and books about islam usually have nothing to do with islam, or even worse, novels like “the prophet’s hair. (I was forced to read it once. it sucked. that guy deserved his fatwa simply for being a bad writer)).

 

All this is because they never had mothers like mine, who was brave enough to tell me I could, at times, be wrong. Yes… The world desperately needs more people like that.

yes folks, this is self-critsism…old habits die hard..