Many years ago, when my daughter was just learning to talk, she asked me a simple question: “Daddy, do you know everything.” While I was flattered, I sadly had to disabuse my little girl with the harsh truth.
We hear repeatedly from the Left and its fellow travelers that we should not do our own research, and that we should instead follow so-called “trusted” sources.
Interestingly, Islam has a doctrinal teaching that illuminates this challenge.
For Muslims, there are two essential principles for learning about Islam. The first, called “taqlid,” is often interpreted as “blind following.” This is a poor characterization, for taqlid more accurately represents the need of the average Muslim to submit to the teaching of more learned and trusted men. The second principle is called “ijtihad.” The root of this word is the same as for jihad, to engage in a struggle. But this does not refer to any kind of physical combat. Instead, ijtihad involves a Muslim personally grappling with Islamic texts, whether the Qur’an or hadith literature, to draw their own conclusions about what the texts teach.
In other words, ijtihad is about doing one’s own research to find the truth.
The reality of life points to these simple principles. None of us can know everything, and on a day-to-day basis we submit ourselves to the learned teaching and actions of others. Very few understand anything about aerodynamics, and yet board an aircraft crewed by complete strangers without a second thought (though, I think this is changing!). We submit ourselves to individuals and organizations, who over time earn our trust.
And this paradigm collapses when our trust is violated.
Today, many people refuse to engage in ijtihad, deferring to taqlid and following the so-called “mainstream” sources for information. They are either too busy, too incompetent, or more often too lazy, to do their own research. This doesn’t mean they are necessarily bad people. But the reality is that these folks prefer to be told how to think and what to do. And this approach can easily lead to the logical fallacy of “appeal to authority,” and the more egregious error of “proof-texting.” This is what many of us experience when our leftist acquaintances send us articles by the New York Times or CNN, pointing to these and saying “See!”
Yet, people today are watching trusted institutions and people crumble before their eyes. The internet has made it much easier for the average person to research things for themselves, and hence the frantic efforts of leftists to censor this flow of information. Those who want to learn will always find the information they want. In contrast, the busy, incompetent and lazy would not get this information in the past. Now, they can easily access it with little effort.
Therefore, the true target of the current censorship campaigns are the latter groups. The busy, incompetent and lazy people have been stirred, and our “betters” want them to slip back into their slumber. They want them to return to taqlid.
It is critical that we keep shaking them, as they snooze on their couches.
It is critical that they can engage in ijtihad.
Russ Rodgers has several books published on Amazon.
If you enjoyed this article, then please REPOST or SHARE with others; encourage them to follow AFNN. If you’d like to become a citizen contributor for AFNN, contact us at managingeditor@afnn.us Help keep us ad-free by donating here.
Substack: American Free News Network Substack
Truth Social: @AFNN_USA
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/afnnusa
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/2_-GAzcXmIRjODNh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfnnUsa
GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/AFNN_USA
CloutHub: @AFNN_USA