Salaam Alaikum
I've been giving this whole Wissam Sharieff situation a lot of thought. The thoughts are somewhat scattered but I've decided to let them loose on here. I'm typing this up on a spontaneous whim, so sorry for any grammatical errors or possible tangents. I would like to hear everyone else's thoughts as well but here is my rant for the world to see.
This post isn't about sexual misconduct, it's about the larger community as a whole. Events like this don't occur in a vacuum. Rather, I am more concerned with the overall "daw"ah" scene and the celebrity sheikh culture that has formed over the years, where Dallas and Houston are the centers of such a phenomenon. I believe this phenomenon is part of the culprit of such scandals.
I currently live in Austin, TX for over 3 years now. I lived in Dallas, TX for a few months before moving to Austin. I've traveled to Houston as well a handful of times.
The first problem with the communities here is that, while the Masaajid here are big and there are known and popular speakers here, they are so big that the sense of brotherhood/sisterhood is lost. I came from a smaller community in New Jersey and I way prefer the smaller sized community over these large Masaajid. While I am not completely against large Masaajid, I have yet to figure out how to solve the problem of a lack of forming close relationships and a close-knit community. I've come to the conclusion it is better to have many small to medium sized Masaajid rather than a few large ones. Everyone gets to know everyone and you have no choice but to make friends and establish relationships with the few people you see everyday at the Masjid. Austin is not on the same level as Houston or Dallas but it's headed in that direction. Honestly, I am not impressed with the communities here in Texas. It sounded and looked glorious from afar, but it's really not as great as the hype that surrounds it.
The second problem, which is related to the first, is the so-called celebrity Sheikh culture. At any given moment, if you decide to come to Dallas or Houston to listen and meet your favorite speaker, don't be surprised if they are not in town. A lot of these guys are traveling a huge portion of the year. I find this extremely troubling. They seem to be more concerned with traveling and touring the country to give 1-2 day weekend lectures and seminars rather than focusing the majority of their time on their own communities. I completely understand that a speaker/teacher can naturally and organically gain fame from their knowledge and ability to teach, especially with YouTube, and social media platforms. I have no problem with that. It becomes problematic when it seems as if they are purposefully attaining fame and reaping it's monetary benefits at the cost of serving their own communities. There was once a time when the student traveled to the scholar, not the scholar to the student. You traveled to Imam Malik and Imam Abu Haneefah, not the other way around.
That leads to my third point, that we, the people, must partially take the blame for the development of this culture. WE are the ones that agreed to pay $50-$100 entry fees in fancy halls to listen to a 1-2 hour lecture. These are the same lectures that we probably could have found online from a YouTube video, or read from a book. WE are the ones that agreed to pay ridiculous $10,000 honorariums for them to come to our Masaajid, only to sit in on a Jumu'ah Khutbah and 1 hour lecture after Maghrib with a lousy dinner served after 'Isha, all the while our local Imams are paid peanuts. WE are the ones that have failed to utilize and benefit the imams and teachers in our local communities and instead have opted to pay exuberant amounts of money to bring in the celebrity Shuyukh for a weekend seminar.
My final point is about gender interactions here in Texas, although this probably applies to many Masaajid across the US. Here in Texas, it has pretty much been accepted by the great majority of Imams and Masjid leadership, that the boundaries of interaction between genders should be loosened compared to more traditional understandings back home overseas given the nature of society and culture that we live in today. It is not uncommon here in Texas to have lunch/dinner served in Masaajid where there is a single serving table, with brothers and sisters taking food from tables at the same time, in parallel. It is not uncommon to allow sisters to enter the brother's prayer area during lectures where they sit on one side and brothers sit on the other side, with no physical barrier and minimal space between the two. It is not uncommon that these interactions occur while sisters are barely covered, and the brothers and sisters are casually having conversations, giggling and laughing. It is not uncommon for your favorite sheikh to approve of all of this. While this does occur in many communities across the US, I did not find this to be as common back home in New Jersey. I can't speak for other states, but it sure is common here in Texas. I am no Faqiih (legal jurist). I can not comment on what is categorically Haraam and Halaal, but I sure do have basic intuition, and my gut says this is a slippery slope that will lead to the destruction of our communities
There is more to say, but, I conclude with this: the grass ain't greener on the other side. I miss the small size of my old community. I fell into the trap and moved out here to Texas, just to learn that it's all hype. Stop inviting outsiders and wasting valuable resources (i.e. money) for them to come to your communities. Stop looking elsewhere to relocate and be a part of a different community. Stop over-praising and hyping up any individual. Instead, be grateful for the teachers, Imams, scholars, masaajid, and communities that you have in your own local city/town. Build and develop your own community. Benefit from your own teachers and Imams. End celebrity sheikh culture.
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