al-Rijal

As I was starting my four-day Project Management course today, I had to drive up to Winslow in north Buckinghamshire and thus caught more of BBC Radio 4's Today Programme than I usually do. At 8.10am John Humpries interviewed an individual who was made famous by his intervention during Home Secretary, John Reid's speech to an invited Muslim audience in east London earlier this week. On my return home this evening, I learned that he has also appeared on BBC Radio London and BBC Radio 2 during the day.

The main question that sprung to mind when the Today interview went in to overtime this mornings was, “Who is he?” By which I meant, what is his background, who did he study under and what authority does he have to speak for the Muslims? Our community has a rich tradition of verification which was established to preserve the teachings of our religion from adulteration, unmatched by any other religion. Early on we had rules on the transmission of knowledge, textual criticism, chronological authenticity, papyri evidence – and, yes, we have detailed biographies of narrators going back a millennium. To this day, traditional scholars continue to grant their students a licence to read, teach, copy and quote from books of knowledge, once it has been deemed that their understanding is sound and complete.

In light of this heritage, I am sure many like myself will be wondering who on earth this spokesman is and how he made himself heard for several minutes on three separate radio stations in a single day. But what do I know? He has a Wikipedia page already devoted to him and is apparently a leading light in the peculiarly named 'Saviour Sect'. Still, a thought still comes to mind: where would we be if those known to us – and who have the authority to speak for a religion and a community of believers – could get air time like that?