When I first came to Islam, I quickly discovered that many of those who are supposed to be teaching us our Deen adopt an approach which tends to actually enforce limits on our knowledge. There are at least two tendencies I came across in this regard:
First, they will treat very simple, straightforward subjects that any child can understand, as if they are profoundly complex. I am referring specifically to the subject of Tawhid. I can’t tell you how many books I have read on this subject, how many lectures I have attended, and how endlessly each of these repeated the same information again and again, as if each repetition was a brand new startling insight.
Dear scholars and Da’ees; we get it. Allah is One. We know. This is something obvious, and almost all the ramification of this reality are also obvious.
A recent study by Oxford University, spanning 3 years and 20 countries, concluded that children naturally believe and understand that God exists, that He is One, and is the Creator and Judge of everything. In other words…it is not a complicated concept to grasp. Profoundly important? Yes. Profoundly complex? No.
The other thing they do is to over-emphasize the importance of minor issues; particularly, issues about which there are differences of opinion…issues about which differences of opinion are allowed. Beard, beard length, trouser length, the Mawlid, whether hijab means niqab or not, the ruling on music, calculation of the months versus seeing the moon with our eyes, etc, etc…and they imply that your conformity with one opinion on these matters is the be-all, end-all of the religion.
Frankly, this is a conspiracy against knowledge, against understanding…and, importantly, it is a conspiracy against unity and a conspiracy against activism.