[!!!maryann!!!]

Dear Hasan1,

Walaikumussalaam.

While Nasr certainly does have a long list of credentials, he is not, as far as I know, a peer-acknowledged ‘aalim in any of the Islamic sciences, which is not a criticism but also something to bear in mind when Nasr expresses views divergent from those generally accepted by the scholars of the Ahl as Sunnah wal Jama’ah.

It also goes without saying that Harvard degrees, while they do signify a certain intellectual status, do not by themselves bestow spiritual attainment or understanding, which are attainments (actually bestowals) of a different order altogether.

Again this is not to belittle Nasr’s many achievements on their own level, but his credibility to speak authoritatively about Islam is justifiably questioned when he, for example, energetically and publically defends the Christian doctrines of divine incarnation and the Trinity. You say that one should not learn basic aqeedah from Nasr, which I would agree with, but reading such views one cannot help but wonder whether Nasr understands it himself.

In this respect Nasr is of course faithfully following the teachings of his “Shaykh” Schuon, which raises the question of which (or whose) “Islam” is being presented in his many books? Error, even if presented beautifully and eloquently (and repeatedly), remains error.

As regards modern westerners, no amount of sympathy for their plight and desire to engage them justifies belittling the Divinely Willed status of Islam to make it on the same level as all other religions so that it becomes more acceptable to the “contents of their consciousness”. Westerners are not exceptions to the rest of humankind to whom ALLAH ‘Azz wa Jall sent his Habib (SallAllahu alayhi wa Sallam) and they - like the rest of us- need to strive to make themselves acceptable to ALLAH ‘Azz wa Jall so that he may out of His Mercy guide them to the Din of Islam.

Hayraan