Welcome!
Thanks Unechance!
Eliphaz,
I am very much of the opinion that different flavours of Islam will appeal to different people. Salafis are vanilla, whilst Sufis are more tooti-fruity. The quran has various levels of meaning, which is why it continues to enchant millions. The prophet (saw) also mentioned how differences in religion are a blessing for Allah, so there definately is not one right way of Islam, IMO.
Different schoalrs provide different perspectives and make reasoned arguments based on their understanding; many of these understandings have a bsis in classical schoalrship, so there is nothing heretical about it. The fear I have is that many disenfranchised Muslim youth will speak about their problems to an Pakistani-born Imam who, at best, will refer them to Harun Yahya, or something equally cringe-worthy. This is a current problem; as you mentioned, numerous western Muslims are leaning about Islam from western unievsrsties, and western educated sheikhs and scholars. I imagine that in the next few decades, western muslims will be well equipped to deal with Orientalist arguments and speak with a level of confidence that demands respect. We are already begining to see signs of this, which is definiately encouraging (from my point of view).
That's great, you seem to have a more open-minded view on interpreting Islam than many Muslims do (i.e. the Salafis). I agree with what you have said regarding the Qur'an being a very "complex" book (but I think we disagree as to why that is) and I know where you are coming from. My problems with Islam do not stem from any one school of thought but rather from Islam as a whole.
I feel your fears are well-founded regarding youths getting the wrong advice from imams. I agree, Harun Yahya has pretty much scored an own-goal for Islam despite his best intentions.
I think where we disagree is on where we see the future of Islam in the West. I have mentioned above that I don't know whether scholars in the west will succeed or fail in "saving" these young Muslims from slowly leaving Islam. However I DO feel that even if they are able to save them, it will be a case of too little, too late. It is my strongest inclination that Islam
as an ideology cannot really survive in the West as a viable option given that it contradicts so strongly with the prevailing ideas of the West.
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