He watched on TV a program on how to supposedly detect which catfish ate pigs ("haram" feed) versus those catfish that ate "halal" feed. (They were talking about catfish bred in captivity and given feed of pigs origin or non-pigs origin.)
The "theory" put forward was that the catfish will change shape and colour depending on their feed. There were pictures and diagrams of differently shaped catfish with different colour and hues on the body to demonstrate this point. Hence, the advice to Muslims was to avoid certain catfish based on their shape and colour (because they ate pigs, never mind the fact that wild fish eat everything in the wild; does that mean we have to stop eating wild fish, including fish caught from the sea?)
To those who know their catfish and understand biology, can see that those pictures, were of different species of catfish. However, to those who are lazy thinkers and have outsourced their thinking to other people, they accept the explanation.
There was a comment by somebody in the comment section. He said that he thought different shape and different colour means different species of catfish; but after reading the viral message he abandoned his correct understanding and accepted the wrong understanding that different feed ("haram" feed vs "halal" feed) resulted in different body types of catfish.
He was willing to abandoned his correct scientific understanding and accepted the wrong theory just because the message supposedly originated from the so called "guardians of the faith". This is the danger when someone has outsourced their thinking to other people, to "people of faith", people who claim they represent the faith, the "guardians of faith". They accept blindly any wrong statement without questions.
In the age of social media and proliferation of celebrity preachers, more and more people abandon their mental faculty. Just like multinational companies that outsourced certain parts of their operation and services to other people in other countries which provides cheaper services, many people (who are lazy thinkers) do the same. They outsourced their brain and thinking to these "guardians of faith" who also offer "cheap" services. "Cheap" because their statement and pronouncement are most of the times without substance, evidence and intellectual integrity.
The above catfish example illustrate this danger. He was willing to abandon his correct scientific understanding for this quack theory. There was no critical thinking, he did not apply his understanding of scientific principle and biology to question the presentation.
I am not going to say do not listen to these celebrity preachers or anyone who claims they are the "guardians of faith". I believe in freedom of speech. I believe in Quranic injunction verse 39:18.
"(My servants are) the ones who listen to what is being said, and then follow the best of it. These are the ones whom God has guided, and these are the ones who possess intelligence."
-Qur'an 39:18-
This Quranic injunction does not say follow those who claim they are the "guardians of faith" blindly, or just because they have certain religious titles.
To follow this Quranic injunction, you must have a healthy dose of scepticism, apply your intelligence, listen to all, evaluate, think critically and follow the best.
Remember, do not outsource your thinking.
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