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3 - Gatekeepers of Knowledge

Self-Learning and Islamic Expertise

from Part I - History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2021

Emad Hamdeh
Affiliation:
Embry-Riddle University
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Summary

This chapter begins with a discussion about the debates around Albānī’s scholarship. Albānī being self-taught leads us to explore larger questions about education, technology, and religious authority. More than any other time 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 that were previously unavailable. In this chapter, I analyze how traditional Islamic knowledge and pedagogical techniques are challenged by the growing number of lay Muslims participating in religious discussions through print and internet. I explain why Traditionalist ʿulamā’ perceive self-learning as a threat not only to the “proper” understanding of religion, but also to the redefinition and reinvention of their authority. I argue that print and media caused a shift away from the cruciality 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 compete with nonexperts who speak about Islam.

Type
Chapter
Information
Salafism and Traditionalism
Scholarly Authority in Modern Islam
, pp. 59 - 96
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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