Comments on: Quality Control in Islamic Knowledge http://austrolabe.com/2006/11/23/quality-control-in-islamic-knowledge/ Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:17:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Amir http://austrolabe.com/2006/11/23/quality-control-in-islamic-knowledge/comment-page-1/#comment-2465 Amir Mon, 27 Nov 2006 22:33:49 +0000 http://austrolabe.com/2006/11/23/quality-control-in-islamic-knowledge/#comment-2465 The problem is information asymmetry. By that, I mean that the person seeking the fatwa or the religious knowledge knows less about the qualifications and authority of the person providing that knowledge than is optimum. When you have this disparity of knowledge between 'buyer' (the media and the muslims) and the 'seller' (the scholars etc) the value of the product (in this case religious knowledge) goes down. The reason is that it becomes impossible to determine what is real and what is fake and, as a result of that, people decide not to risk it. I don't think we are necessarily at that stage yet but the internet and mass media has made to easy for all sorts of charlatans to spread their bad ideas. I recall, for instance, more than a few Muslims complaining to me that on a given issue they have found six or seven competing answers and, as they just couldn't tell which one to believe, the gave up trying to reach the truth of the matter. The establishment of colleges or professional associations would go a long way to addressing this problem -- particularly in an age where we are flooded with opinions and competing claims to religious authority. The problem is information asymmetry. By that, I mean that the person seeking the fatwa or the religious knowledge knows less about the qualifications and authority of the person providing that knowledge than is optimum. When you have this disparity of knowledge between ‘buyer’ (the media and the muslims) and the ’seller’ (the scholars etc) the value of the product (in this case religious knowledge) goes down. The reason is that it becomes impossible to determine what is real and what is fake and, as a result of that, people decide not to risk it. I don’t think we are necessarily at that stage yet but the internet and mass media has made to easy for all sorts of charlatans to spread their bad ideas. I recall, for instance, more than a few Muslims complaining to me that on a given issue they have found six or seven competing answers and, as they just couldn’t tell which one to believe, the gave up trying to reach the truth of the matter.

The establishment of colleges or professional associations would go a long way to addressing this problem — particularly in an age where we are flooded with opinions and competing claims to religious authority.

]]> By: RPG http://austrolabe.com/2006/11/23/quality-control-in-islamic-knowledge/comment-page-1/#comment-2462 RPG Mon, 27 Nov 2006 22:13:24 +0000 http://austrolabe.com/2006/11/23/quality-control-in-islamic-knowledge/#comment-2462 What is needed are the professional colleges that you find in medicine. e.g. Royal College of Surgeons (or the fisherman's equivalent the Royal College of Sturgeons lol). That would be one way to help people and the media work out who is qualified. What is needed are the professional colleges that you find in medicine. e.g. Royal College of Surgeons (or the fisherman’s equivalent the Royal College of Sturgeons lol). That would be one way to help people and the media work out who is qualified.

]]> By: dezhen http://austrolabe.com/2006/11/23/quality-control-in-islamic-knowledge/comment-page-1/#comment-2413 dezhen Thu, 23 Nov 2006 09:49:49 +0000 http://austrolabe.com/2006/11/23/quality-control-in-islamic-knowledge/#comment-2413 If only it were so easy to get organised and establish something like this! I would be interested to see exactly what qualified, semi-qualified and self-educated people we have here in Australia. I am sure that there are a host of talented people from both ijaza and university backgrounds - the problem is that their talents may be wasted because of lack of direction, lack of community support, and/or language barriers... I hope we as a community can begin to remedy this situation, or else I feel others will attempt to do it for us. If only it were so easy to get organised and establish something like this! I would be interested to see exactly what qualified, semi-qualified and self-educated people we have here in Australia. I am sure that there are a host of talented people from both ijaza and university backgrounds – the problem is that their talents may be wasted because of lack of direction, lack of community support, and/or language barriers… I hope we as a community can begin to remedy this situation, or else I feel others will attempt to do it for us.

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