Ashraf 'Ali Thanawi on Religious Instruction

Religious instruction, for Ashraf 'Ali Thanawi, has to be pursued in light of the knowledge of present circumstances. He says, “Religious admonition is offered in those matters that are in need of attention” (Khutbat-e-Hakim al-Ummat, 4: 443). He argued that through “social witnessing” (mushahada-e-halat), one senses the religious needs of a community. For Thanawi, social witnessing entailed listening to the statements and observing the activities of Muslims. This meant exposure to the many facets of social life and knowledge of the multitude of social mores and norms. However, not anyone observing a particular social scene could diagnose a community’s religious needs. Only a properly trained Sufi-‘alim, Thanawi emphasized, could diagnose the religious needs of a specific community. Religious instruction, therefore, encompassed three steps:
1. witnessing a sociality
2. identifying the religious needs of that sociality
3. proper instruction that addresses these religious needs
From this, we learn that Thanawi understood religious instruction as a gradual process in which a Sufi-‘alim participates.

Questions we may ask include:
*what is lost when ordinary Muslims are banned from participating in the diagnosis of their religious needs?
*why would Thanawi emphasize witnessing social existence when he himself often remained aloof in his spiritual center?
*how do we distinguish religious needs from other sorts of needs?

Observing our superficial existence” The unsaid impact of the way we look.

Thesis:

Discrimination occurs through an attachment of values to superficial qualities.

Arguments:

The generality of discrimination is widely ignored in discussions of specific discriminated segments of society. Discrimination tends to weaken as one grows acquainted to another because those values attached to superficial qualities are replaced by the true values of that individual. Human beings innately classify people by the way they look, this is not the problem, the problem lies in the attachment of values to these qualities such as thinking that glasses make someone intelligent, baggy clothes make someone a petty thug, a country accent makes one a hick, etc.

We must move away from suppressing superficial classifications which is a natural tendency, it serves no one any good to try to ignore a man is black when trying to describe him to someone else. Instead we must push away from superficial value thinking. For example believing because someone is black they are violent, or because someone is a woman they are not fit for certain jobs.

Value thinking is also not inherently negative, it must be done on an individual basis with discernable facts backing it up.

Furthermore the institutionalization of the values whether it is in private or public realms leads to a re-enforcement of these values. This feeds into the greater problem of being manipulated. I do not believe that one can stop manipulation from occurring but I do feel that through education, individuals can become more aware of manipulation and look upon it with a discerning eye. It's not nearly as difficult to teach someone to question as it would be to regulate everyone from manipulating others.

Disconnect in reasoning-

Denial of body is tied into the conflating of superficial classification with value judgments. The denial of our bodies in our rational decision making processes leads to the creation of an artificial reality which clouds our reason. To not take in account our physical appearance and the initial ways we come across ignores the basic psychological nature of human beings, first impressions make a world of difference, and being confrontational creates a confrontation reply, dressing casually makes one be treated casually.

Prevalance of women's bodies

Define discrimination, object, value, objectification

Much of feminist thinking looks at the objectification of women as a negative. A potentially more pressing problem is the non-objectification of men. Because of the prevalence of women's bodies viewed as art, and entertainment women can have a closer bond with each other. It is not viewed as social awkward for a woman to see another woman as attractive, and she is not considered to be homosexual because of it. For men, this thinking is much more confined, for a man to tell another man they look attractive takes a significant amount of social capital. Even "checking out" other men is viewed as socially awkward. Perhaps we should come to terms with the idea that we may all be objects until we engage each other.