To be authentic, it has to be relevant! It has to relate with the lay person. It has to inspire the masses. It cannot be an ivory tower exercise!
The great sufi scholars of old were always with the masses. Their dhikr gatherings and sermons were attended by entire villages. They inspired and transformed the masses. They did not build castles and forts to isolate themselves! They did not exclusively write for the elite.
The book Bimbingan Mukminin was my life and soul since I was 15. And that’s a book derived from Imam Ghazali’s magnum opus, the Ihya. Today’s aspiring Ghazalians write books accessible to perhaps only 1 percent of the population. How can they be compared?
It is true that we need to produce works to challenge the western worldview. Yet that should not be a primary occupation of the movers and shakers of society. If you fail to explain an idea in a simple manner, that means you have not understood that idea yourself. You cannot be authentic without being relevant!