Advice to young academics: Too much “Islamic studies” today is 3rd-rate postmodern cultural critique--lazy riffing about Muslims as a variegated bundle of racial/gender/sexual groups with "Islam" as a symbolic cultural marker. Don't be absorbed by that blob as many others have.

One witnesses the spectacle of tenured scholars at major research institutions who cannot even properly read classical Arabic subjecting a great Islamic polymath (or an entire field) to an analysis through a "Foucauldian" framework or "queer theory" or some other vanity project

Scholars in "Islamic studies" write entire books that are structured as an analysis of [aspect of Islam] through Foucault. No reason to even justify why one does it. Foucault can simply be presupposed without argument. It's astonishing.

Many grad students and even early career professors don't realize (I didn't) that there are entire fields in academia that are almost entirely useless--actually worse, because they take promising scholars from work that is substantial and needed.

I have interviewed many job candidates, and it's astounding how much immersion in continental "theory" degrades a scholar's ability to think, write, and speak clearly. Many smart people didn't get the job because they couldn't explain what they were researching.

It's sad to simply ask someone "How would you explain that idea to a freshman?" and watch them self-destruct. People whose research was heavily based on primary sources almost always perform far better than those immersed in postmodern "theory"

There is much that is valuable about academic Islamic studies, and there are many projects that are left undone because talented young scholars are wasting their time with junk.

Having said all that, I'm tenured and I can get away with talking like this. Remember, never pick unnecessary fights and always try to find areas of overlap. You'll be often pleasantly surprised by the goodwill you find if you don't keep a chip on your shoulder and are courteous.