SOME ARGUMENTS BY SELF PROCLAIMED SELF ATTESTED SELF AFFIRMED SO-CALLED KNOWLEDGEABLE MUSLIMS WHO THINK THEY KNOW IT ALL BASED ON WHAT THEY HAVE READ KNOWN OR HEARD

1. This Islamic ruling doesn’t apply because my reading of the past 200 year history of the Muslim world shows they didn’t apply it .
   
2. This Islamic ruling doesn’t apply because all these pictures of Muslim scholars show they didn’t apply it .
   
3. This Hadith is fabricated because I don’t like how it sounds based on my ethnocentric perspective of the world .
4. 1100 years of Muslim scholars were all wrong, except for those 10 I managed to dig up because they fit my biased conclusions .
5. I don’t differentiate b/w relative or absolute rational judgements. Hence, they’re all absolute & my Islam will be based on that .
6. This Hadith doesn’t make sense to me because my limited knowledge of the world is actually unlimited. So I’ll reject it! .
7. I’ve been studying Islam very intensely…through Google searches. So I’m an expert scholar now who can do Hadith criticism! .
8. This scholar says things that fit well with my biased views for or against Islam. Finally, someone who speaks for true Islam! .
9. This Hadith doesn’t fit with what scientists say. It’s decision time: leave Islam or reject science…no 3rd choice allowed! .
10. Mastery of Arabic is not required to understand the Quran or Hadith, and can in fact be skipped altogether. .
11. I only have enough time to study Arabic. But I’ll spend it investigating different Hadith narrations & their chains .
12. I’m faced with a paradox. But I’ll treat it as a contradiction and disregard the whole thing so I don’t have to think about it. .
13. I never studied Islamic creed or logic. So I’ll make everything I find perplexing in Islam a creedal or logical issue. .
14. I’ve only been exposed to Islam based on how it’s applied within my culture. Hence, this is how Islam must be applied everywhere .
15. I never heard of women scholars in Islam. Hence, they don’t exist! .
16. I know Islam is transmitted through people all the way back to the Prophet PBUH. But I’ll ignore that & got at it alone! .
17. I’m too impatient to sit with teachers of Sacred Knowledge. But I’ll pretend my impatience is really being too intelligent. .
18. Islam didn’t come to rectify a culture. It came to completely wipe it out & exchange it for an Arab or Indian subcontinent one! .
19. If I don’t comprehend the wisdom behind a ruling, I will not act upon it until further notice. .
20. I will equivocate between using the intellect to understand the text and using the intellect to rule over the text. .
21. I will pretend the Quran restricts submission to God by having understood the ruling & its wisdom before submitting. .
22. I will create a conception of what understanding is based on my own criteria for it, then restrict my submission accordingly. .
23. I will pretend I’m as intelligent as the most brilliant minds that came before me & my conclusions are equal in weight to theirs .
24. I will claim my skepticism to be a form of humility so I don’t have to act upon & say what I truly believe. .
25. I will pretend that my way of thinking as moulded by my secular education has not affected my view of Islam as a Muslim .
26. I will confuse my arrogance for being a critical thinker in order to justify my inability to submit to a ruling. .
27. I will not trouble myself with going through why scholars differed in opinions so I can pretend my conjectures are valid. .
28. I will pretend that I don’t subconsciously think the West’s cornering of religion is also the answer for Muslims to improve .
29. I will pretend that my thinking that my intellect is absolute & unlimited is not just a form of deifying myself. .
30. I will exercise judgments over Islamic texts without getting any training over how they’re supposed to be approached. .
31. I will pretend that when I read the Quran & Hadith, what I understood didn’t pass through my own intellect & hence is absolute. .
32. I will make Islam all about legal rulings. .
33. I will pretend that the only proper Muslims are those who I agree with and agree with me. The rest are in serious trouble. .
34. I will pretend that when a shaykh talks, he’s transcendent & doesn’t have personal biases or limitations. .
35. In science, the explanations of observations are exactly the same as the observations. .
36. I will debate against people in subjects that I don’t understand. Then I’ll pretend my confusion is due to weakness in Islam. .
37. I grew up in a Muslim household… So I know Islam. .
38. I never went past first year biology. Hence, I’m qualified to debate against PhD holders in evolutionary biology. .
39. I hardly recite the Quran outside of Ramadan. I’ll pretend that has nothing to do with my increasing doubts. .
40. Trust me, I’m an engineer, and what you’re doing is BID’AH. .
41. I will claim that the Earth doesn’t have enough resources while I take other people’s share of it. .
42. I own A translation of the Quran and A translation of Bukhari. Bismillah, so what’s your question again? .
43. I will pretend that Islam is a person who I speak on behalf of on all matters regardless of my lack of training. .
44. Beard, check. Shorter garments, check. Kufi, check. Recitation, so so.. but check. Hadith, in English. Result = Scholar! .
45. I will talk about Andalusia & the Golden Age of Islam for nostalgia, & Signs of the End of Time coming, all to escape my present .
46. The only thing that matters for a Muslim woman is that she wears a hijab or a niqab. Nothing else matters…Nothing! .
47. I will use people that seem to be exceptions to a trend who in reality were products of that trend, to refute there’s a trend .
48. An argument that makes me laugh at the opposing side is a logical argument. .
49. A universal truth can only be accessible by a few people who can do upper level theoretical mathematics. .
50. Modern science is not built on premises from a philosophical platform that was set in place during the 18th and 19th centuries. .SOURCE : http://mohamedghilan.com/2013/09/20/antiprotips-1/