Shaykh Google as Ḥāfiẓ Al-Aṣr : The Internet, Traditional ʿUlamā’, and Self Learning (2020)

Hamdeh , Emad

doi:10.35632/ajis. v41i1.3419

Article Details

Shaykh Google as Ḥāfiẓ Al-Aṣr : The Internet, Traditional ʿUlamā’, and Self Learning (2020)

Authors:

Hamdeh , Emad

Publisher:

International Institute of Islamic Thought

Main Topics:

Islam and other Sciences

Journal:

American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 2024 Vol.41 Issue 1, pp.60-99

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

3/2024

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

265265

Frequency:

Quarterly

pISSN:

08877653

DOI:

10.35632/ajis. v41i1.3419

Descriptors:

Abstract:

 More than any other period, the last hundred years have witnessed a rise in the accessibility of information through books, media, and the internet. This introduced new ways of learning and sharing Islamic knowledge. In this article, I consider how traditional Islamic knowledge and pedagogical techniques are challenged by the growing number of lay Muslims participating in religious discussions through print and the internet. I explain why the ʿulamā’ perceive self-learning as a threat not only to the ostensibly proper understanding of religion but also to the redefinition and reinvention of their authority. I observe how print and digital media caused a shift away from the necessity of the teacher and facilitated autodidactic learning and claims to authority. Despite their criticism of self-learning, Traditionalists have embraced the internet in order to remain relevant and to compete with non-experts. Writing is inferior to speech. For it is like a picture, which can give no answer to a question, and has only a deceitful likeness of a living creature. It has no power of adaptation, but uses the same words for all. It is not a legitimate son of knowledge, but a bastard, and when an attack is made upon this bastard neither parent nor anyone else is there to defend it.

Article Details

Shaykh Google as Ḥāfiẓ Al-Aṣr : The Internet, Traditional ʿUlamā’, and Self Learning (2020)

Authors:

Hamdeh , Emad

Publisher:

International Institute of Islamic Thought

Main Topics:

Islam and other Sciences

Journal:

American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 2024 Vol.41 Issue 1, pp.60-99

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

3/2024

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

265265

Frequency:

Quarterly

pISSN:

08877653

DOI:

10.35632/ajis. v41i1.3419

Descriptors:

COMPUTER LITERACY

ISLAMIC CULTURE

INTERNET

SELF-INSTRUCTION

ISLAMIC THOUGHT

Issues

Article Details

Shaykh Google as Ḥāfiẓ Al-Aṣr : The Internet, Traditional ʿUlamā’, and Self Learning (2020)

Authors: Hamdeh , Emad

Publisher: International Institute of Islamic Thought

Main Topics: Islam and other Sciences

Journal: American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 2024 Vol.41 Issue 1, pp.60-99

Document Type: Article

Publication Date: 3/2024

Document Language: English

Document ID (Org No.): 265265

Frequency: Quarterly

pISSN: 08877653

DOI: 10.35632/ajis. v41i1.3419

Descriptors:

COMPUTER LITERACY

ISLAMIC CULTURE

INTERNET

SELF-INSTRUCTION

ISLAMIC THOUGHT

Issues

Authors:

Hamdeh , Emad

Publisher:

International Institute of Islamic Thought

Main Topics:

Islam and other Sciences

Journal:

American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 2024 Vol.41 Issue 1, pp.60-99

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

3/2024

Document Language:

English

Document ID (Org No.):

265265

Frequency:

Quarterly

pISSN:

08877653

DOI:

10.35632/ajis. v41i1.3419