Islam and sudoku

There are so many things I'd like to explore ... where does one start? So many unanswered questions, thoughts, dilemmas, challenges, prejudices, assumptions, judgements, inhibitions and pet theories that need untangling. So many complex issues that have been over-simplified, and simple matters over-complicated. So many questions ignored or overlooked, and so much rhetoric taken for granted.

I now think its less important to understand everything correctly than to have an appreciation of their complexity and to have a (fairly) consistent view about them. Indeed, it may not even be possible to understand all aspects of the Deen "correctly" and consistently, as Islam itself may not be the perfectly consistent monolith its sometimes portrayed as.

The attempts, by the various schools of thought and revival movements, to somehow formulate Islam into such a structure, have always run into difficulties as they venture beyond their original remits, flagging up inconsistencies and contradictions. Rather than triggering a revision of the original assertions, predicates and scope of the school, these incosistencies tended to be conveniently overlooked and neglected, or reconiled using elaborate (and sometimes quite convoluted) logic and reasoning.

This is somewhat similar to the common sudoku problem: solving an individual 3x3 matrix is not the same as solving the entire 9x9 matrix, and unless one is prepared to constantly redo each 3x3, the correct solution(s) will never be found. But perhaps the multi-dimension soduko puzzle of Islam has no solution after all. Perhaps we just have to accept that there is no consistent and correct set of answers to the matters of the Deen. Perhaps by our insistence on making the Deen conform to the pre-conceived sudoku model in our heads we are actually "unsolving" the correct parts instead. The axiom "if its not broken, don't fix it" comes to mind.

Nevertheless, I believe as a bare minimum, one should at least scrutinise the thoughts one holds, as they are, in a reflective stock-taking exercise to compile an intellectual inventory of oneself. Assumptions, prejudices and inhibitions can then be exposed and challenged, on a personal and individual level, allowing one to filter and fine-tune one's thoughts accordingly. These thoughts, after all, define who we are.

Perhaps the hardest part is mustering the courage, not to question the thoughts of others, but to reflect upon the validity of our own.