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People have criticized arguments I give against liberalism and modernism in a variety of ways over the years.
Years ago, one student of knowledge told me, you know, all you need to refute modern ideologies is `ilm al-kalam. He insisted that all you need is classical kalam to refute secularism, progressivism, etc. I was skeptical. How is kalam going to address gender fluidity? How is it going to address feminism? No answer.
Others over the years have insisted that you only need the Quran and Sunnah. I asked, how can the Quran and Sunnah be used with those who reject the Quran and Sunnah? Again, no answer.
It seems to me that some of those who for years study a particular domain of Islamic thought and knowledge overextend the applicability of that field. That field has given them a particular set of tools and they mistakenly think that those tools can be used for every problem.
It's like they say, if you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
But the reality is, these hammers are not suited for certain problems. You need a specific tool for that specific problem.
What you will notice is that those who only have the hammer, over time, many of them and their followers fall into liberal and modernist thought. This is because their hammers have not been able to adequately rebut these cancerous ideologies.
And you will notice that these individuals will always resort to "We just have to have fix our iman! If we fix our iman and recognize that the source of our morals is Allah and we submit to Him, that is all we need!"
Notice how they never use this argument when it comes to refuting other deviant ideologies that have threatened the Ummah in the past. The ulama of the past did not respond to the Mutazila, Jahmiyya, Jabriyya, Murjia, Shia, et al., by saying, "Just fix your iman and submit to Allah!" and leave it at that. For those deviated sects, the ulama developed specific tools, specific arguments, etc.
But those tools are not going to be effective in addressing different ideologies, like liberalism, feminism, etc. And it is an implicit admission that these other tools are ineffective for these modern ideologies when someone resorts to "Just fix your iman!"
Yes, fixing iman and submitting to Allah are always necessary. I'm not denying that. But there are many argumentative strategies and avenues that are completely in line with Quran, Sunnah, and the Islamic scholarly tradition that can be developed and used to combat the modern deviances.
I am looking forward to all the amazing arguments and strategies all you Muslim defenders of Haqq will develop to destroy falsehood inshaAllah. May Allah bless your efforts.
