Saudi/Sunni Islam - Asking the Question "Why?" vs. "How?"

Harold's List

"I found something that you would be interested in here on an academic level. I never fully understood the ban on innovation within in Sunni islam until I started watching al-Huda. What is this, you ask. Well it’s a Saudi funded satellite television station devoted to converting Americans to Salafist Islam. It features American converts with names like Musa McGuire and Abdullah Tomkins. A call in show it aired during ramadan and rerun recently features questions in English from viewers to a Saudi Imam whose name I forget. All of the questions were along the lines of “is this permissible?,” or “how do I do such and such?” No why do we do this or that. The station is quite slick and I think is a direct response to al-Hurra, though I need to report it out. One question was what are acceptable Islamic sports? The answer swimming, foot racing and archery. They make you better warriors."