just came back from a lecture by Dr. Bilal Philips (he’s visiting bahrain these days)…
the actual talk was about the role of intellectuals in the society…
this was an offshoot from the lecture (in my words)…
*We have two types of educational systems. One is the secular one, brought to us by the west. The other is the religious education syste, which includes the madrassahs and other such institutes.
Those who come out of the religious educational centres r trained to be ‘mullahs’. They have learnt no other trade/trait/art/skill. And they know no means of earning other than being a ‘mullah’ and being ‘paid’ by their devotees.
So once these mullahs come out in the field, they dont find any vacant position. i.e. all the mosques r already full and there is a mullah there to handle the ppl who attend that mosque. So how do u meet up with the market? How do u get ‘employed’? or better to say how do u get urself in to the business.
The easy solution, and the most widely applied, is to cause a misunderstanding. Spark up a debate and end up in a bitter disagreement with the existing mullah and end up with a group of followes. Once u have enuff ppl with u, declare it haraam to visit the other mosque, so u let them build a mosque and u put up ur business. Then the attendants of the mosque will pay all ur expenses. And u finally put ur mullahism to practical profession.
*
does it really go that way???