Music, The Ontology of Religion, and What Does Difference of Opinion Mean?

In this episode of the Middle Ground Podcast, Imam Marc, on the road, discusses music, the question of its permissibility and beyond. His remarks are in part inspired from remarks in a Q&A session by Mufti Abu Layth, may Allah reward him.

“Before you approach religion, you have this ontology of religion. You already have an understanding of what religion — with a capital “R” — is going to provide for you, or provide for people.”Mufti Abu Layth


Music: Sean Dobbins Organ Quartet, The Journey.

The Sherman Jackson Reader: Literalism Part 4

The following are a few notes to the audio lecture, The Sherman Jackson Reader: Literalism Part 4. The Sherman Jackson Reader is a class Imam Marc teaches every Saturday morning after Fajr prayer at Middle Ground.

On the topic of juristic induction and textual empiricism:

The way that Islam has typically been taught is if there’s a hadith, or a textual source, it is the solution to everything, and I must continue to bang my head against the wall until I can make it (the textual source) do what I want it to do.

We tend to look at textual sources as the solution to a problem versus a solution to the problem.

Link to the article here.