Haven't watched it yet, but
captaindisguise posted it with a summary and his comments on /r/exmuslim - it has sparked debate:
/r/exmuslim: Dr. Yasir Qadhi on "Why are Muslims leaving Islam?"Summary
Humans have physical, spiritual and intellectual aspects. Islam fulfills all 3 aspects.
Many Muslims focus only on 1 aspect (esp. the intellectual) and may leave Islam because they can’t understand every minute detail.
Islam doesn’t have anything that is irrational BUT some parts of Islam are “supra-rational” i.e. it is beyond the reach of human intellect and hence should simple be accepted. For ex: why is Salat 5 times a day rather than some other number.
Murtads (apostates) leave Islam for “standard” questions about ethics in Islamic law, Qur’an, biography of Muhammad etc
Murtads are mostly young men and women going through a crisis of faith and then become agnostics or atheists. Their problems/ doubts/ questions are entirely a modern phenomenon.
Concepts about God’s existence, human sexuality were taken for granted in previous generations but are being questioned in modern times. It is this modern culture that puts doubts into the young Muslims.
Young Muslims having such questions/ doubts should first doubt their questions and the surrounding culture before doubting the Quran. For ex: marriage to Aisha shouldn’t be a problem because the culture back allowed for it.
The doubts of Murtads are always based on details in Islamic law rather than on theology, miracle of the quran etc
Fitrah tells us that God is one and that God needs to be worshipped. Therefore, Young Muslims in doubt should accept the entire religion as a “package” deal rather than leave it for a few questionable details.
Whoever wills to be guided will be guided so young Muslims in doubt should sincerely pray to God. So if Murtads are sincere, they will come back to Islam
My Preliminary Thoughts
There is a plethora of men plaguing the internet being presented as Islamic Scholars. Unlike them, Dr. Yasir Qadhi has always been one who even an apostate like me could listen to. He is as disagreeable as any other however he is different for not being disrespectful or condescending to those he disagrees with.
It is good to see that mainstream Muslim figures are now addressing the fact that people are leaving Islam. The canard about fake apostates working for the Zionists was indeed getting old. Who better to start that conversation than someone like Dr. Yasir Qadhi.
Yet, as it should be expected, apostates are being represented as immature, brainwashed and in general as individuals who lack a certain intangible ‘something’ in their life. Once again, this is unsurprising. Before a group or ideology is properly understood, it is always preceded by a period of stereotypes or misrepresentations. Hence I am more than happy to see this as a progress of some kind.
That being said, here are a few of my disputes with what Dr. Yasir Qadhi has said,
1) Genetic fallacy: Discrediting or falsifying a certain position based solely on the origin of that position is known as the genetic fallacy. The talk almost entirely was about what causes young men and women to doubt Islam. Of course, it isn’t much of a surprise that when you are a teenager, your reasons for any decision may not be thorough or sophisticated and that the surrounding culture plays a huge role. Yet what YQ fails or forgets to acknowledge is that this period is only a beginning phase rather than the entire apostasy experience. Apostates have their on intellectual and spiritual journey and it may very well be the case that these “standard” doubts or questions initiate the path ahead. Much more will inevitably be learned on the path. The initial “standard” or unsophisticated reasons will not be the sole force behind one’s apostasy.
Of course, the same genetic fallacy can also be applied to those who become Muslims or those “Muslims” who become religious. For instance, there are those who converted based on false or weak Islamic apologetics such as ‘science in the quran’ or numerology or hoaxes. However, it is also possible that they later found stronger reason to remain a Muslim. Hence to discredit their Islam by exposing flaws in their initial reasons is intellectually insincere.
2) Islam is not the default position: The genetic fallacy is followed by his insistence that since the “standard” questions don’t matter very much; the young Muslims in doubt should stay in Islam. This is based on the assumption that Islam is a default position. He may believe this and he elaborates on it with the Islamic doctrine of fitrah. I am willing to believe that he indeed feels this way. I am willing to believe there are many individuals for whom the belief that there is no God is like believing there is no universe.
Yet would you be willing to believe there are those who do not have such a belief or intuition. Would you be willing to believe that I am able to conceive of the possibility that there is no God and that isn’t like rejecting the external universe? Would you be willing to accept that while you are unable to see the Quran as being human, I am unable to see it as being divine? Hence, shouldn’t you accept that for those like me, Islam would not appeal as a default position given that we do not find any good reasons to think it is true?
3) Intellectual apostasy: This has been already touched on but deserves a few remarks on its own. Even the very possibility of an intellectual apostasy was omitted or rejected in YQ’s talk. His insistence that no part of Islam is irrational and that if apostates are sincere, then they would be Muslims, is an open admission that he believes there are no intellectual reasons to leave Islam. He believes, the Muslims who do leave are for the “standard” reasons which consist of a few select modern conflicts in ethics.
Here is a thought game for those who think like Dr. Yasir Qadhi on this issue. Let us work under the 2 assumptions that Islam is true and that there exists a solution to all the doubts about it.
However, a person like myself seeks justification for the beliefs I hold to be true. For ex: Assume that extra-terrestrial life does indeed exist, however for me to believe that statement to be true, I would need some justification (empirical evidence in this example). In the absence of such justification, I can only accept the possibility that there may be extra-terrestrial life.
In a similar vein, even if Islam is the ultimate truth, a limited human being like me would need some justification to hold that belief to be true. If all the reasons provided to me in this day and age are unconvincing or weak or false, then I would not be able to accept Islam. Hence, I may leave Islam as a result.
Condemning such a decision as a result of “unintellectual insincerity” would be an actual case of “intellectual insincerity.”
Without going in to any detail, there are plenty of reasons to be intellectually skeptical of Islam; anything from the fallibility, historicity and morality of the Qur’an, hadith, Muhammad, fiqh to the problems in Islamic theology such as free will, eternity of Quran, religious exclusivism etc to general epistemological concerns can be a part of that discussion. To ignore all that complexity and to merely label apostates as “insincere” is unbecoming of a scholar such as Dr. Yasir Qadhi.
Topic: Yasir Qadri