[exiceJetLip]

It appears as though a couple of you have had experiences with aalimahs that are not entirely positive.

As we seem to be making generalisations based on personal experiences, let me also add my tuppence. I have many aalimah friends who are married to non alims. They get on fine for the most part-normal marital ups and downs come with every marriage. I have more friends who are married to aalims and on a whole, they seem happier. Their husbands understand better the rights of a woman, the importance of family and tarbiyah and they support their wives when they make decisions to spend time teaching and propagating Islam. There is more compatibility and shared goals and this makes life easier for the wife as she is always tabe' of her husband. I certainly believe I could not do what I do, if I was not married to an aalim. He creates work for me and pushes me towards opportunities to do more for deen and I do what I can to facilitate his devotion to deen and dawah. As a family we hope that our lives are waqf for the khidmah of deen. I certainly don't think I could have done that if I was not married to an aalim.

doing the alim/alimah course may get one onto the basics.

This made me smile. So who's done more than the basics then? The SFers who quote long passages of Arabic text on where Allah exists? Whilst I agree that the aalimah course has been watered down over the years to accomadate other social factors, I think many of us do not know what an aalim course entails. Yes, the end of an aalim course is the beginning of a new journey of learning, but believe me its more than the basics. Its a solid foundation plus some.

Finally, the 15 or so doctors at our local practice all look up dosages, side effects, symptoms etc in handbooks when we go to visit them. Often we are referrred to specialists. Does this mean they don't know their trade?

*tarbiyyah = Islamic upbrinbing and training, tabe’ = follower, khidmah = service