Celebrity Sheikhs and Fan Culture

In the age of social media, it seems even the Muslim community have fallen into the celebrity fan culture. A lot of us who came here to watch this episode of Living Muslim came to listen to brother Mohamed Hoblos, which isn’t a problem however, when our intentions and sincerity are not correct it can be wrong. This occurs with a lot of Sheikhs and learned brother/sisters who give talks about the religion and the problem is sometimes we go to events or watch YouTube videos or listen to lectures, because their our favourite speaker, not because of the message they are giving.

It was narrated by Abu Hurairah that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Religion is sincerity, religion is sincerity (Al-Nasihah), religion is sincerity.” They said, “To whom, O Messenger of Allah?” He said, “To Allah, to His Book, to His Messenger, to the imams of the Muslims and to their common folk.” (Sunan Al-Nisa`i).

There is no problem with having a favourite sheikh or scholar, but when learning from these people your intention should always be for the sake of Allah, and the lessons that you take should be implemented in your daily life. The love that we have for the sheikh or scholar, should be separated with our love for Allah, as it should be your priority, and our love should not be for the way he/she talks or he/she are such great motivators, but we should love these people because they carry the sunnah and the Quran. With the knowledge you gain, it should be connected to your practice, “You can’t practice if you don’t have knowledge, and when you have knowledge it mandates your عمل (actions), ” says Sheikh Sajid Ahmed Umar. Imam Bukhari dedicates a whole chapter to speech knowledge called, the Chapter of Knowledge before and Speech and Action. You must learn from these people and listen to them, but you must put what you learn into practice, but you shouldn’t just listen to one speaker, have a variety of speakers that can assist you in your search for knowledge, because different speakers have different specialties, for example, brother Mohamed Hoblos, great at motivating, whereas Sheikh Nouman Ali Khan can increase your knowledge in understanding the Quran, but we shouldn’t just stick to these people to learn from. Ensure that you renew your sincerity when seeking knowledge, and performing actions for the sake of Allah.

 “And he who has come with sincere (faith) and has sincere faith in it, those are they who are pious.” Quran (39:33)