[An important thread]

There are two levels of engagement w/ Islam:

1. General/basic (mujmal)
2. Detailed/sophisticated (mufassal)

1. The mujmal level is an engagement where people tend to know an outline of the 5 pillars & 6 articles, believe Qur'an is from God and willing to obey it (but don't really know its content), and generality of Muhammad's Prophethood. They have commitment to general religiosity.

Here, being religious is about dos & don'ts, ritual acts, ajr seeking, & private piety. Goodness is charity, being kind & decent. Being 'spiritual'. Essentially it's about simple subservience to God. Most, including imams/preachers/debaters are in this category & advocate this.

2. Islam mufassal is understanding things in detail; the reason/purpose behind things so as to evaluate methods by outcomes. It's to seek bigger picture so as to understand where constituent parts fit in & then practice them diligently. It requires reasoning and...

cognitive engagement; substantive knowledge of the Qur'an, the sunnah, ancient Arabic, & shar'i reasoning. Non-specialists seek this level of Islam through specialists & engage substantively for a *holistic understanding*.

Now the problem we face is that the level that *should* be leading our conversations is Islam mufassal, yet that isn't the case. What we have predominantly is Islam mujmal w/ a veneer of intellectualism & performative 'dalil'.
Now there's nothing wrong w/ Islam mujmal, BUT...

it's not the Islam of leadership, it's the Islam of the laity, the average citizen. It's not a level of engagement that equips one with the insight & philosophy underlying the address of Lawgiver, it's abt simple subservience. But what today's 'leaders' do is take mujmal level,

pepper it w/ some sources & mediaeval citations, & hope the ppl will take this as deep insight. It's not. Yes there's reasoning for Islam mujmal & reasoning for Islam mufassal but they're not the same.

Both levels are legit, but they're not legit for *doing everything.*

Anyone in a position of leadership, religious or political, has no business adopting Islam mujmal as the basis of leadership thinking. Its the (legit) Islam of the village not that of the metropolis. Bc this distinction isn't made many absurdities occur. Here's a contemporary eg:

Current hot topic is *justice* & what many Muslims do is take a subject that can only b discussed on mufassal level, but they'll pepper it w/ abstractly applied & general verses that say "God doesn't like dhulm" & with them 'spiritualise' their project. On a mufassal level you'd:

1. Define what justice in English is
2. Explore whether 'adl' is a worthy equivalent.
3. Explore what 'adl' means in the language of the Lawgiver, observe how He uses it & what its parameters are.
4. Ask wider Qs: is shar'i conception of 'adl' tawqifi or urfi as well?

And if also urfi, who's urf?
It's at this juncture that one realises that they cannot use shar'i definitions of 'adl' for the way they're using 'justice' & best to leave the Deen out of it. If they went further they'd acknowledge that...

their definition of 'justice' is not only secular, but co-opting God into their project is a bad look. Often, this version of 'justice' is appropriated from Marxist thinking (which not necessarily a problem) but trying to tie it into the Shari'ah is highly problematic.

Those doing it are well intentioned but overlook that their Islam mujmal is not equipped for this nor are they - there's is basic subservience.

The Islam of leadership is Islam mufassal, the Islam of Prophets and their *senior* companions, & its been so for thousands of yrs.

Note: the mujmal/mufassal distinction isn't merely about levels of knowledge, it's also about *approach*. Mujmal doesn't ask questions but takes an attitude of simple compliance without need to think the action through: God said pray so I'm gonna pray.

Mufassal seeks holistic understanding: Why am I praying? How am I praying? What is it for?

However, superstitious/magical thinking occurs in mujmal thinking, v rarely in mufassal.

For record: I largely tend to teach Islam mufassal to laymen. I fully get that it's not for everyone which is why wish some ppl love & happiness, & let them go on their way. Some questions I'll answer w/ Islam mujmal bc it's clear that's what the seeker requires.

But due to the nature of the 2020 environment & the fact that nearly everyone teaches mujmal (even when they claim it's scholarly), it's important that there are outlets for Islam mufassal.