The Learner

By Muhsin Ibrahim   I have observed a disturbing development among some young Muslims on social media. As soon as they read some philosophy books, they begin to question their faith and condemn their ‘conservative’ culture.    The youth view anyone disagreeing with them as ignorant, uneducated and uninformed. That enrages some of their followers, who, in turn, insult them (back), and things fall apart. Both sides are wrong.   First, I call on those youth not to rush in their conclusion on matters they barely understand. I, for instance, passed through a similar stage. While growing up and reading voraciously, I imagined myself as more learned than I actually was. In public (especially online fora), I challenged some people, including a professor many of you here know. I was wrong. Second, those who respond to those young guys in kind (by abusing them back) should change their approach and tactics. We need to listen to them. We must find ways to answer them with wisdo...

The Dilemma of a Plucky Philosopher-Wannabe Muhsin Ibrahim muhsin2008@gmail.com The world has never been short of the irresolvable arguments of and on philosophy as a field of study. While many people cherish the beast, many more others hate it like they abhor their death. The social media, especially Facebook, has become a platform where raging rows often break out on the relevance or otherwise of studying Philosophy. This argument is nothing that new, unexpected or shocking, at least to me, in this 21 st century. What is astonishing is the way some Muslim brothers and sisters perceive the whole drama, treated by others, while many are left baffled and muted. However, scholars should speak out because not doing so leads many ignorant Muslim youths to reject the religion. This postmodern world is full of challenges posed by the (Western) media peddling post-truths, depicting Muslims as the embodiment of everything evil, Islam in acrimonious light and so on and so forth. ...