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		<title>Awesome Speakers or Humble Scholars?</title>
		<description>Discuss Awesome Speakers or Humble Scholars?</description>
		<link>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html</link>
		<lastBuildDate>Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:38:25 --500</lastBuildDate>
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			<title>Abu Fatima says:</title>
			<link>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5776</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Speaking from one who has much experience in the field of ascending the Mimbar to speak in Muharram and also one who has been on the Executive of my local community (and am currently on the EC), and one who knows (atleast Canadian) tax laws, you will know that every non-profit charity is obligated by Canadian law (and perhaps US and European as well) to disclose all income/expenses for the year. When they have the breakdown and show you that in Muharram they spend x amount of dollars - this can be understood to be airfare and the 'hadiyah' (cash gift) - one can 'understand' from that how much was paid for the airfare/accommodation and how much went to the speaker. In any case, no one is debating whether or not they should be paid, the question is: is it morally sound to demand large sums per majlis - what is large is a difficult definition to offer - is $1,000.00 per night for a US/Canadian Shia community "too much" or not?!?]]></description>
			<dc:creator>Abu Fatima</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:09:33 --500</pubDate>
			<guid>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5776</guid>
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			<title>Me, Myself and I says:</title>
			<link>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5697</link>
			<description><![CDATA[To be honest, while we can sit here and entertain this debate, we all know that when we speak of the West, what we are talking about in regards to speakers are foremost, English speakers. For those living in predominantly English societies, the number of qualified, articulate and powerful speakers is fewer than in Arabic or Farsi. Add to the fact that some English speakers are not articulate, the programs may suffer. Our Holy Prophet and our Imams were all eloquent and the fact is, is that our alims should be the same. There is also the idea of indoctrination versus critical analysis, and I prefer the latter which is often lacking in English programs which makes that field all the smaller to select from. I know of a great speaker in English, but bc of demand, he mostly lectures in Urdu. So here, there is an obvious demand in which English listeners are left outside the masjid sipping chai. No thanks, we'll go elsewhere bc we have to. Don't get me started on the number of masjids in the States that are non-English only, especially in cities where there is only one Shia masjid. Need I even mention our da'wah materials? As such, while no one here would defend "outrageous demands," why is it a point of contention unless the elders that felt offended made it so? Instead, once again, the youth is left outside wondering what's going on versus learning about Islam. People can clap for this topic, but it does little to address what is really happening to our ummah and the real problems that the youth are especially facing in the West. Simpy put: this is much ado about nothing. If you don't like the price, don't pay it and get someone else. Lastly, let me further add that the only reason that this came to the forefront this Muharam was precisely because one masjid felt "outdone" by another. If I was to repeat the slander said in this case, we would all hang our heads in shame. We, as Shia, have so much work to do, beginning with ourselves.]]></description>
			<dc:creator>Me, Myself and I</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Sun, 04 Mar 2012 07:11:49 --500</pubDate>
			<guid>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5697</guid>
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			<title>muslim says:</title>
			<link>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5695</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Wa alaikum salam, About your third point, the problem isn't so much with non-aalim speakers. If a non-aalim speaker comes and speaks, that's fine as sure as he is sure that EVERY thing he says is correct according to Islam. Same would apply to an aalim too ([censored]uming that the aalim were to be giving wrong-info). I think the punchline on the third point is just make sure that you bring a speaker who is speaking about something appropriate for the situation and as well does not give ANY wrong information. W[censored]alam]]></description>
			<dc:creator>muslim</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Fri, 02 Mar 2012 22:33:14 --500</pubDate>
			<guid>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5695</guid>
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			<title>Ahmad says:</title>
			<link>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5692</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I think the scope of this discussion is about allowing people to speak on the mimbar of Imam Husain, and here selectivity is very important. However, selectivity does not apply for devout believers who share their opinion or do personal research because they only represent themselves, and hence you can take it or you can leave it.]]></description>
			<dc:creator>Ahmad</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:34:31 --500</pubDate>
			<guid>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5692</guid>
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			<title>seeker says:</title>
			<link>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5691</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Salam 'Alaykum, There are some logical issues that are being overlooked that are quite significant. First of all, unless one is on a board of the mosques or head of a youth organization doing the inviting and the paying of speakers, one would not be privy (firsthand) to the dollar amount in question and therefore one's comments would be in the category of gossip, here-say, and even perhaps fitna. Secondly and subsequently, if one was privy to the dollar amount, one would be betraying confidentiality of one's position to be discussing and criticizing said amount publicly. Thirdly, based on the critique that non-Howza trained speakers may misguide people, one has effectively eliminated the author of this article as a valid source of critique on this or any other Islamic related issue. Finally, one would do well to appreciate the individuals outside of the elite cl[censored] of alims who have done more (while simultaneously being abused by some amongst whom they seek to serve) for the sake of Islam and the ummah in the West, than most of this elite cl[censored].]]></description>
			<dc:creator>seeker</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Fri, 02 Mar 2012 14:40:37 --500</pubDate>
			<guid>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5691</guid>
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			<title>Abbas m says:</title>
			<link>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5690</link>
			<description><![CDATA[A god letter to sponsors and reciters is here http://www.duas.org/lettertors.HTM In our enthusiasm to have the 'right' speakers we must not forget these points:- 1)Unity of the community is important & we should try to avoid creating conflicts 2)Our Majalis are miracles where young/ old, rich/ poor intelligent & not so ..ALL listen & benefit ! We must encourage attendance even if we believe that the 'standards' is not upto our expectation.]]></description>
			<dc:creator>Abbas m</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Fri, 02 Mar 2012 13:48:39 --500</pubDate>
			<guid>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5690</guid>
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			<title>muslim says:</title>
			<link>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5689</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Salaamun Alaikum, We shouldn't have a problem with giving money to ulama who visit, but rather the problem here is with the speakers themselves who often are demanding and asking for things like a 5 start hotel, etc. I've heard this myself. If a speaker is coming to speak out his love for Allah (swt) and Ahlul bayt (alayhim-ossalam) then he would naturally not be caring so much about how much money he gets and where he sleeps. Yes the inviter will try to give him a decent amount, but honestly the speaker shouldn't have a problem with having little money as hediyah; if they are, this indicates the intention is not as pure as it should be. Plus, not everyone can afford to give a huge sum of money and a 5-star hotel to speakers. W[censored]alam]]></description>
			<dc:creator>muslim</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Fri, 02 Mar 2012 10:27:28 --500</pubDate>
			<guid>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5689</guid>
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			<title>muslim says:</title>
			<link>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5688</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Oh I forgot to mention; i think the reason the youth like inviting these "self-taught, non-hawzah" speakers is because some of them speak very well, but again the problem arises that they don't always know enough especially when it comes to answering questions. And instead of saying "I don't know" as an answer to one who asks a question they don't know, they often try to answer. If we don't know something, it's much safer to say "I don't know" than give a possibly-wrong answer/[censored]umption. I remember reading about Allamah Tabatabai (ra) that when he didn't know the answer to something, he would just simply say "I don't know".]]></description>
			<dc:creator>muslim</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Fri, 02 Mar 2012 10:22:14 --500</pubDate>
			<guid>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5688</guid>
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			<title>muslim says:</title>
			<link>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5687</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Salaamun Alaikum, Alhamdulillah that this was finally brought up. Another very important thing is WHO you invite; nowadays, often people (esp. youth) are into invinting speakers who are not scholars and who have not gone and studied at the hawzah. These are just speakers, and not teachers, while an aalim is both. It can be dangerous sometimes to invite people who are just speakers (a nd not scholars) because they may give a wrong piece of information. Especially if the speaker has Q&A sessions, which often when someone asks a question, the speaker may not know the answer but STILL tries to give an answer which is very very dangerous because the answer is given out of ignorance and people can't be fed wrong ideas. It's very important that the speaker have gone to hawzah and not be just "self-taught". There's only so much you can learn by yourself, and often those who teach themselves may misunderstand what they learn or misrepresent it. And there are some topics which you need to have a teacher in them if you want to get anywhere correctly....such as erfan. W[censored]alam]]></description>
			<dc:creator>muslim</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Fri, 02 Mar 2012 10:18:21 --500</pubDate>
			<guid>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5687</guid>
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			<title>Abbas123 says:</title>
			<link>http://islamicinsights.com/news/community-affairs/awesome-speakers-or-humble-scholars.html#comment-5686</link>
			<description><![CDATA[so instead we should have second rate scholars who dont continue to educate themselves and take whatever we give them? Lets look at this rationally instead of worrying about your wallet. Supply and demand dictates the value of what a speaker can charge. Im willing to pay more for a good speaker. Im willing to pay zero for a mediocre one. The speaker earns a wagw for a maximu of 30 to 50 days per year and endures the hardship of travel as well as postponing their own family, why shouldnt he be paid for that. Those of you saying its an exhorbitant amount are willing to blow 100 dollars on sports match but belive we have the right to a zero dollar scholar. Instead, these complainers should drop a dollar in the general fund and watch what a difference it makes. Mediocre scholars mean mediocre uninspired followers who dont go to mosque. Which do you want?]]></description>
			<dc:creator>Abbas123</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:56:22 --500</pubDate>
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