Abdal Hakim Murad – Seclusion & Love Session 2 Tahannuth

Abdal Hakim Murad
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			Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim Al
hamdu lillahi rabbil aalameen or
		
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			salat wa salam O Allah Ashrafi,
India even more serene Seaton and
		
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			Muhammad in wa ala alihi wa
sahbihi at Moraine. So welcome to
		
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			the second of these somewhat
domestic lectures on my topic of
		
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			seclusion and love. And it's as we
move into the middle third of
		
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			Ramadan, the time of knock Farah,
it's good to see the response that
		
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			CMC has had in this offering that
it has for the Ummah, this
		
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			lockdown Ramadan, I have a lot of
lectures from from from our key
		
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			staff for free. So alhamdulillah
and we'll be announcing something
		
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			I think on social media later this
week about a special feature which
		
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			will feature some of your feedback
and requests. So that is becomes
		
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			properly interactive.
		
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			The topic
		
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			of Oslo one, the hotbar, we've
already seen is quite central to
		
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			religion and
		
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			rather indicative,
		
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			particularly of the specific
quality of Islamic or Ishmaelites
		
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			religion, that particular Israeli
way of being Abrahamic. And we
		
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			reflected last time on some of the
implications of this, and of
		
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			Islam's corrective role
historically,
		
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			we know the famous doctrine of
cyclical revelation, which is part
		
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			of our teaching, Allah subhanaw
taala, sends a messenger
		
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			heals humanity sets them, right,
Islam is accomplished. And then as
		
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			the generations move by,
		
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			things start to deteriorate
through a kind of process of
		
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			natural entropy, human beings get
forgetful as well as nostalgic,
		
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			and it may come to pass that a new
religious dispensation is
		
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			required, and a new book revealed.
And we saw that the specific
		
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			timing of the arrival of Islam was
related to the decline of Al
		
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			Kitab, and particularly the the
Nosara, insofar as a very strongly
		
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			world denying movement had grown
up.
		
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			And obviously, the reasons for the
arrival of the new dispensation
		
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			were more more than that, and what
to do with the need for the
		
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			fullness of revelation in the form
of the Quran to be to be gifted to
		
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			mankind, and also to do with
certain doctrinal complexities
		
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			that were actually tearing the
Middle East apart, largely to do
		
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			with the dual nature of Christ,
the Trinity issues that were
		
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			costing millions of lives. And so
Islam comes with the with the
		
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			clear sort of towheaded cuts to
all of that, and just restores
		
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			people to the the Iberia of the
One God. So a representative
		
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			mission. And the function of the
prophets essentially, is just just
		
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			to help people to make things
easier. And the Holy Prophet said
		
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			in a merb, or two more, yes, Sera,
I've just been sent to make things
		
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			easier for people. And then we
looked at the question of whether
		
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			actually we can know what we need
to know as spiritual, pneumatic
		
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			human beings, without access to a
revelation to a profit. To what
		
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			extent can we work it out through
a kind of analogy or deduction or
		
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			natural theology from the world
and we saw this rather charming
		
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			story of a live son of a white
hive and the UK was on the idea
		
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			being that this youth brought up
in the beauty and grandeur and
		
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			splendor of nature with wild
animals to help him would end up
		
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			with a full set of particulars
about the nature of life and the
		
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			existence of the Creator. And we
saw the influence that that that
		
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			story has had,
		
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			being really at the fountainhead
of the English novel, which is, I
		
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			guess, the greatest novel that is
greater than the German or the
		
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			French novel with with Defoe, that
there's an Islamic intervention,
		
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			though.
		
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			And this has to do with the waves
of love, which I ended by talking
		
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			about, which we'll be looking at a
little bit more carefully,
		
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			inshallah next time.
		
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			But you probably went away from
that thinking, well, it's a very
		
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			pretty story. But would it really
be like that? What would be the
		
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			fate of a baby washed up on a
desert island?
		
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			And this really gets to this the
essence of what we're talking
		
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			about in these lectures. What is
the do balance between solitude
		
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			and seclusion on the one hand and
rubbing shoulders with our fellow
		
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			humans on the other?
		
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			Now, the reality is, of course,
there have been in the
		
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			complexities and the tragedies of
human history, plenty of cases of
		
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			children left to their own devices
of feral children and if you
		
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			to look them up, you'll see that
in every case it entails a
		
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			tragedy.
		
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			They're all children, the famous
wolf children of hessayon, central
		
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			Germany and the Middle Ages,
supposedly brought up by wolves
		
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			rather like Romulus and Remus, the
legendary founders of ancient Rome
		
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			who was suckled by a she Wolf.
It's very ancient story and
		
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			thought, and then a range of
others. And even in modern times,
		
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			the tragic story of somebody
called Oksana Malaya, who was from
		
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			Ukraine only a few years ago,
whose parents were both extreme
		
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			alcoholics, who just left this
little girl from a very early age,
		
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			basically, to hang out with with
the family dogs. And she obviously
		
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			grew up socialized by the dogs.
And when she was finally taken
		
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			into care, 10 years or so later,
she barked, and she walked on all
		
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			fours. And even today, as an
adult, she finds it very difficult
		
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			to speak and to engage normally.
And you could think of many
		
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			examples, and it is common
sensical. Because we need to be
		
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			socialized. And that's really what
Tarbiat and what childhood is
		
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			about. It's not about the
absorbance of information,
		
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			primarily, but about knowing how
to engage with other human beings.
		
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			And
		
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			this has been confirmed by a lot
of studies because the modern
		
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			world as well as the pre modern
world is interested in this idea
		
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			of the autodidact, to what extent
can we learn without others?
		
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			So that the famous or some would
say notorious Professor Harry
		
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			Harlow, at University of Madison,
Wisconsin, earned a rather dark
		
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			reputation for himself in the
middle of the 20th century. He
		
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			himself was the depressive person
after the death of his wife. And
		
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			basically, he had a lab in which
he experimented with parental
		
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			deprivation, deprivation on
primates. So these are basically
		
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			rhesus monkeys plunged into
seclusion, Oslo, from their very
		
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			earliest days, in a horrible
device that he called the pit of
		
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			despair, which was a kind of metal
box, very uncomfortable in which
		
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			these poor baby monkeys would be
brought up. And, of course, when
		
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			they became mature, they were
completely and permanently
		
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			dysfunctional. So if they had
babies, they would eat their
		
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			babies, that kind of thing, just
horrendous experience and whether
		
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			the experiments are really
necessary when it's fairly obvious
		
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			that we do need socialization that
we do need, parenting is a good
		
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			question. So as well as solitude,
		
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			which actually sometimes can be
good for us. Sometimes we need to
		
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			get away from things in order to
write that paper and to revise for
		
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			exams, and to pray.
		
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			That aspect of Oslo there is also
		
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			loneliness. That's another thing
that we need to think about.
		
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			There's a distinction between
solitude and loneliness. You might
		
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			say in the Islamic terminology,
water and washer, what is being
		
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			alone.
		
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			washer is being desolated by
solitude, really suffering from
		
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			it. And it is a very real source
of medical harm, physical as well
		
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			as mental harm. It's one of the
harshest things that you can do to
		
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			a human being like a poor
Ukrainian child is worship, which
		
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			in the Arabic language has the
sense of kind of being reduced to
		
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			animal status and to lose all of
the finer feelings. So the
		
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			dopamine receptors are our hit.
There's less pleasure hormone in
		
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			the system. There's a lot of
cortisol released when we're
		
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			feeling really, chronically alone.
And there's negative health
		
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			impact. And clinically, it's
demonstrated that loneliness is a
		
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			major factor in stroke, and in
heart disease, and in dementia,
		
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			high blood pressure, a whole lot
of things as well as mental health
		
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			issues as well.
		
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			So
		
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			the notorious supermax prisons in
America where you're kept
		
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			completely isolated from any human
contact for 23 hours a day, and
		
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			even for that remaining hour,
everything is very kind of formal
		
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			and cold and limited and inhuman.
		
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			The UN investigated the American
supermax prisons and and said that
		
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			it was a fundamental, inhuman and
degrading principle. But
		
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			that, of course, fell on deaf ears
and there are 10s of 1000s of
		
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			people being subjected to that
kind of solitary confinement and
		
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			particularly cruel thing and
loneliness also, is a major cause
		
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			for solitude for suicide amongst
the young. So in our
		
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			individualistic and atomistic
world
		
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			Hold, where we're told to be
individuals to be ourselves, where
		
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			the basic social unit is the
individual, the free sovereign
		
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			person, released and liberated by
the Enlightenment rather than the
		
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			family or the church or the
congregation or the tribal,
		
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			whatever it might be. But the
individual society made up of
		
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			individuals. So needy Thatcher
famously said, There's no such
		
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			thing as society. And they've done
a lot in the last 20 or 30,
		
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			neoliberal years to break down the
structures of
		
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			social care, and the
infrastructure that
		
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			society really needs for proper
sociality. And the result has been
		
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			an epidemic of loneliness. So not
solitude, that OSLA that water,
		
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			that loneliness washer, as really
one of the great epidemics of our
		
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			time. So do you enter has a
campaign to end loneliness? How
		
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			are they going to do it? It's not
very clear in the UK, we now have
		
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			the world's first minister of
loneliness is a Baroness Baron
		
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			who's being wheeled out we have a
lot of there's a proliferation of
		
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			ministries now. And this is one of
the latest ones. How to make
		
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			people less lonely when it's
equivalent. Worse than being
		
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			obese. It's worse than smoking 15
cigarettes a day it's regarded as
		
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			a public health crisis. It's an
epidemic probably kills more
		
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			people than the Coronavirus, but
it's caused by the fact that our
		
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			society is disrupted, and that as
well as occasional solitude which
		
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			is a good and a healthy thing.
There is this loneliness, which is
		
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			not a good and a healthy thing,
but in fact, a real form of
		
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			cruelty. George Monbiot,
environmental campaigner and
		
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			columnist, says that future
generations if there are future
		
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			generations after the climate
catastrophe, we'll call our age,
		
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			the age of loneliness, because
it's so widespread, and cities are
		
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			full of people, but they're not
really engaging with their
		
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			neighbors. Families are not really
properly engaging the way they
		
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			did, the dinner table is
abandoned. More than half of
		
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			families in England, according to
The Daily Telegraph recently
		
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			have a family meal together less
than once a week. It's it's
		
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			fragmented, even on the most sort
of fundamental nuclear family
		
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			bases. ALS is a society of
individuals that is falling apart,
		
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			which of course raises interesting
questions and I talk about this in
		
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			my new book for the requirements
that Muslims integrate, there
		
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			should be social cohesion, we
should integrate into wider
		
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			society, we should participate in
societies, shared values, etc,
		
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			etc. Every government has to say
this in order to please
		
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			the right wingers and a phobic
lobbyists, Muslims need to
		
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			integrate certainly the Orthodox
Jews and other communities
		
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			Plymouth Brethren who are
separate, quite innocuous
		
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			communities, usually with very
high degrees of integration and
		
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			sociality, a soft but amongst
themselves, but they're being
		
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			barked at regularly and told to
integrate, but into a society that
		
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			is disintegrating.
		
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			So we integrate into something
that is disintegrating. Whether
		
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			you old people are kind of locked
away in care homes, where young
		
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			people are increasingly basically
socialized by school and even
		
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			nourished and fed at school
because of the disastrous
		
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			consequences of the collapse of
traditional values. And it's not
		
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			clear where this is going to go.
But human beings, as
		
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			mon Bo said, are designed as pack
animals, the human bee, he calls
		
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			us we're supposed to live in hives
to hum together to make honey,
		
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			we're not really supposed to be a
society of lots of little atoms
		
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			moving around in a kind of
Brownian motion. This is This is
		
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			horrible.
		
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			And one of the features of
modernity that really is of
		
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			concern to religious people is
this enlightenment freeing up of
		
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			the human individual turning into
a society that isn't really
		
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			society any longer. I live in a
village, the post offices closed.
		
00:14:18 --> 00:14:24
			The church has a diminishing
congregation. The even the
		
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			telephone box is now disconnected.
		
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			There's no shop and this is
normal. So where there was a local
		
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			infrastructure and places for
neighbors to engage and to chat
		
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			and families to get together, even
a generation ago, there's hardly
		
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			anything and loneliness can be
quite acute in in rural areas. And
		
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			this has to do with the decline of
religion more than anything else.
		
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			Religion provides us with the best
congregation and the best reason
		
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			to congregate there's really no
substitute for a church community
		
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			or a mosque or community or a
synagogue.
		
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			to the pub can't really supply for
that, because the pub is not going
		
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			to organize a Women's Institute
and go out to help refugees and
		
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			the poor of the parish and have a
Sunday school, a pub is just a
		
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			pub, it may seem to be a center
for sociality, and a place where
		
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			loneliness can be fought, but it
doesn't really have the the benign
		
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			social impact that a place of
worship is going to have.
		
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			So as we move forwards, in our
		
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			increasingly fragmented Western
societies, and we're invited to
		
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			integrate, we have to bear this in
mind integrating into what
		
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			do your neighbors really want to
know your name? Even? Do they want
		
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			to get involved in your life?
Isn't it easier to just sit in bed
		
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			and text somebody in Singapore?
This is the reality the way in
		
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			which we're going. And I think
that in terms of making our Islam
		
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			functional in the west and
explaining it, we have to bear
		
00:15:58 --> 00:16:03
			this in mind. The Sharia and the
Sunnah, and our clock are designed
		
00:16:03 --> 00:16:07
			for a healthy kind of society
where people are properly engaging
		
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			with each other, with a family and
the extended family are a reality
		
00:16:11 --> 00:16:14
			where neighbors know each other,
they may hate each other, or they
		
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			may cooperate, but people know
each other.
		
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			I remember that
		
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			one of my first trips to the
Balkans was to a village. And this
		
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			was decades ago now, in the
mountains, the middle of nowhere,
		
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			where you could really get a sense
of how human beings always used to
		
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			be before the new generation and
the modern kind of Oslo that we
		
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			have, not knowing who your
neighbor is, and old people dying
		
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			in their beds and not being
discovered for years and the
		
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			other, increasing horrors of our
fragmented modernity.
		
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			This was a little village in
central Bosnia, that actually
		
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			taught me a lot because in my
modern London upbringing, I hadn't
		
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			really seen or experienced
anything like it, it was like a
		
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			trip to the Middle Ages.
		
00:17:03 --> 00:17:08
			One took this astonishingly slow
train from Sarajevo to Zen, it's a
		
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			and then a remarkably, creaky bus
up into the hills. And this was in
		
00:17:13 --> 00:17:17
			the middle of winter, was really
cold. And there were these dark
		
00:17:17 --> 00:17:21
			forests with trees covered in
snow, everywhere until we got to
		
00:17:21 --> 00:17:24
			this little village. And the
village was kind of an ordinary
		
00:17:24 --> 00:17:28
			Bosnian village. But as I say, it
taught me so much about how human
		
00:17:28 --> 00:17:36
			beings really flourish. And why
we're so dysfunctional in our
		
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38
			technically enabled modernity.
		
00:17:40 --> 00:17:43
			In those days, you could tell a
man's religion by the shape of his
		
00:17:43 --> 00:17:47
			house, this is a tradition in, in
Bosnia, the Muslim houses always
		
00:17:47 --> 00:17:50
			square and white. And this was a
Muslim village that will the
		
00:17:50 --> 00:17:56
			houses square and white. And in
this house, everybody was kind of
		
00:17:56 --> 00:18:00
			extended family would sleep
together in a single room,
		
00:18:02 --> 00:18:06
			no seclusion in this village. And
you had to develop certain social
		
00:18:06 --> 00:18:10
			skills in order to get along with
people in Whose room you would be
		
00:18:10 --> 00:18:15
			for most of your indoor life. So
it would be the old people
		
00:18:15 --> 00:18:19
			toothless grin is sort of smiling
next to the stove and making
		
00:18:19 --> 00:18:23
			complicated kinds of bread, and
there'll be babies yelling all in
		
00:18:23 --> 00:18:25
			this room. And then at night,
everybody would sleep and there'll
		
00:18:25 --> 00:18:29
			be these kind of amazing, thick,
either downs, which are like
		
00:18:29 --> 00:18:32
			carpets, that would be heavy, but
you need them because it was minus
		
00:18:32 --> 00:18:38
			25 outside. And that always wake
up, you'd see somebody putting
		
00:18:38 --> 00:18:41
			logs on the fire in the middle of
the night, you needed that. That's
		
00:18:41 --> 00:18:45
			why we're all together in a single
room. And if you needed the
		
00:18:45 --> 00:18:48
			bathroom in the night, oh, my god,
you'd have by the light of the
		
00:18:48 --> 00:18:51
			fire to get to the door, Put on
your coat, put on your boots, and
		
00:18:51 --> 00:18:57
			go through this yard. And I knew
the two cows in the yard and you
		
00:18:57 --> 00:19:01
			can bump into the cows and feel
them breathing on you until you
		
00:19:01 --> 00:19:03
			got to the outhouse. And then you
realize
		
00:19:05 --> 00:19:07
			the water is frozen in the
outhouse. So you'd have to go back
		
00:19:07 --> 00:19:12
			again to get the water and it was
a kind of primordial thing. People
		
00:19:12 --> 00:19:15
			must have lived that way in those
mountains for 1000s of years. It
		
00:19:15 --> 00:19:20
			was really a form of time travel.
And then Fajr and the men would go
		
00:19:20 --> 00:19:26
			to the mosque, and the mosque was
colder than a deep freeze. And
		
00:19:26 --> 00:19:29
			outside the mosque. Along comes
the farmer whose son was in with a
		
00:19:29 --> 00:19:33
			hammer. The hammer is so he can
break the ice on the water trough
		
00:19:33 --> 00:19:36
			so we can all do our will dock
from this water over these pink
		
00:19:36 --> 00:19:39
			face jolly peasant standing around
in their bare feet on the ice. I
		
00:19:39 --> 00:19:41
			didn't appreciate that too much.
But
		
00:19:43 --> 00:19:46
			it was an interesting insight into
a community that was really off
		
00:19:46 --> 00:19:49
			the fitrah they didn't really need
the outside world. They produced
		
00:19:49 --> 00:19:52
			their own food. They didn't have
horses, they didn't
		
00:19:53 --> 00:19:56
			produce their includes any longer.
But it was interesting to see that
		
00:19:56 --> 00:19:58
			they didn't have anything.
		
00:19:59 --> 00:20:00
			There was one
		
00:20:00 --> 00:20:03
			thrown in the village, and a few
black and white televisions, you
		
00:20:03 --> 00:20:07
			could watch sort of rather cheesy
Yugoslav War dramas or
		
00:20:10 --> 00:20:14
			violinists, that it was not
interesting. Human beings were
		
00:20:14 --> 00:20:16
			engaging with each other all the
time. That was the richness of
		
00:20:16 --> 00:20:20
			people's lives. That's why they
smiled. And that's what was
		
00:20:20 --> 00:20:24
			interesting in the village, the
gossip, the scandals,
		
00:20:25 --> 00:20:32
			religious stories, all of that,
and it was profoundly healthy. I
		
00:20:32 --> 00:20:35
			found it a very healing experience
to be in that the modern eyes,
		
00:20:35 --> 00:20:40
			incredibly congested,
claustrophobic, poor environment.
		
00:20:40 --> 00:20:45
			Now, the shitty and the Sunnah are
for the fitrah. And of the fitrah,
		
00:20:45 --> 00:20:48
			as we said, last time, and for
that environment,
		
00:20:49 --> 00:20:52
			in a modern environment, we'll
need to remember this when we try
		
00:20:52 --> 00:20:55
			and explain some of our
principles, especially family
		
00:20:55 --> 00:20:59
			principles to the outside world.
It's hard for us to envisage a
		
00:20:59 --> 00:21:00
			world in which there's an extended
family.
		
00:21:02 --> 00:21:06
			In other words, a woman if she's
badly treated by her husband, the
		
00:21:06 --> 00:21:09
			traditional assumption is that the
woman's brother will come along
		
00:21:09 --> 00:21:14
			and beat the husband up. And that
still happens in traditional parts
		
00:21:14 --> 00:21:16
			of the Muslim world. The
assumption is its families,
		
00:21:16 --> 00:21:21
			extended families, when you get
into the modern environment of
		
00:21:21 --> 00:21:24
			atomized individuals, and maybe
single parent families, and
		
00:21:24 --> 00:21:29
			everything is very broken. A lot
of those rules seem harder to
		
00:21:29 --> 00:21:35
			understand the inheritance rules
witnessing rules, we need to
		
00:21:35 --> 00:21:39
			understand, understand this and
the HD head has to be on that
		
00:21:39 --> 00:21:43
			basis. The Sangha is there as the
precious reminder of how we should
		
00:21:43 --> 00:21:47
			live as Fitri human beings. But we
may find that as people have been
		
00:21:47 --> 00:21:50
			enculturated into modernity,
there's certain things that we
		
00:21:50 --> 00:21:54
			find it harder to understand. But
it's still there to protect us.
		
00:21:55 --> 00:21:57
			And it's still about common sense
and what's normal.
		
00:21:59 --> 00:22:03
			Look at this, me to movement that
has gone viral in America
		
00:22:03 --> 00:22:06
			recently. All of those women,
quite rightly, who've been
		
00:22:06 --> 00:22:12
			harassed and abused, standing up
and asking for justice and calling
		
00:22:12 --> 00:22:15
			those men usually men to account
		
00:22:16 --> 00:22:20
			and you see the absurdity of the
modern liberal individualism in
		
00:22:20 --> 00:22:21
			that situation.
		
00:22:23 --> 00:22:28
			The teenage girl who goes for an
interview in Harvey Weinstein's
		
00:22:28 --> 00:22:35
			hotel room, at a Waldorf Astoria,
late at night, and the modern
		
00:22:35 --> 00:22:37
			liberal thing was he is equal, of
course, equal they're equal Well,
		
00:22:38 --> 00:22:39
			yes, equal.
		
00:22:41 --> 00:22:44
			But that's not the only thing that
can be said about that's about
		
00:22:44 --> 00:22:48
			that situation. Where's the
brother? Where's the Matra?
		
00:22:48 --> 00:22:52
			Where's the Father. And as a
result, the society really is torn
		
00:22:52 --> 00:22:55
			between on the one hand, the
desire for individualism and on
		
00:22:55 --> 00:23:00
			the other hand, the reality the
bene Adam, and how we actually our
		
00:23:00 --> 00:23:04
			lot actually works in the summer,
there Shetty. Even if we find
		
00:23:04 --> 00:23:09
			certain things, patriarchal is
still there to protect us. And we
		
00:23:09 --> 00:23:14
			should always have respect for it
and see what it has to offer. So
		
00:23:14 --> 00:23:17
			we're in a profoundly
individualistic and therefore
		
00:23:17 --> 00:23:23
			dysfunctional environment, where
solitude is not something that
		
00:23:23 --> 00:23:26
			people will occasionally savor,
the shepherd in the hills got away
		
00:23:26 --> 00:23:29
			from the village for a while, not
listening to the old lady's gossip
		
00:23:30 --> 00:23:34
			any longer, and he can decompress
up on the mountain site. But
		
00:23:35 --> 00:23:40
			loneliness, which is the modern
plague, likely to get worse. And
		
00:23:40 --> 00:23:43
			with the growth of automation,
which is likely to progress after
		
00:23:43 --> 00:23:49
			the end of the corona crisis, it's
going to get worse, the gossip in
		
00:23:49 --> 00:23:53
			the shop is less likely because
you're ordering things online. Or
		
00:23:53 --> 00:23:57
			you're just paying a robot that
barks out instructions to you in
		
00:23:57 --> 00:24:02
			an inhuman voice and that human
contact has been lost. And one by
		
00:24:02 --> 00:24:04
			one, the traditional forms of
human sociality have been
		
00:24:04 --> 00:24:06
			confiscated by modernity
		
00:24:07 --> 00:24:14
			basically, because it's cheaper to
find digital alternatives. So
		
00:24:14 --> 00:24:15
			there's
		
00:24:16 --> 00:24:20
			different types of loneliness of
this washer is to wash.
		
00:24:21 --> 00:24:22
			There is
		
00:24:24 --> 00:24:26
			and psychologists talk about
social loneliness. In other words,
		
00:24:26 --> 00:24:29
			you haven't got people around you,
you might be in an American
		
00:24:29 --> 00:24:33
			supermax, banging your head
against the wall after 10 years.
		
00:24:34 --> 00:24:37
			But there's also emotional
loneliness, which is another
		
00:24:37 --> 00:24:42
			problem in our society that even
if you're with people a lot, there
		
00:24:42 --> 00:24:46
			may not be a very good bonding
with those people. It may be
		
00:24:46 --> 00:24:50
			formulaic, and a classic example
of this is the Royal Navy sea
		
00:24:50 --> 00:24:56
			captain who is figure of such or
that the other officers in the
		
00:24:56 --> 00:24:59
			ship and suddenly the ratings
can't really be friendly with him
		
00:24:59 --> 00:25:00
			because
		
00:25:00 --> 00:25:04
			He's the captain. That's the
loneliness of command. And
		
00:25:04 --> 00:25:07
			sometimes rulers experience that
they see some of the Ottomans,
		
00:25:07 --> 00:25:12
			sometimes very lonely people.
There's also family loneliness,
		
00:25:12 --> 00:25:16
			which is particularly acute and
the one that actually leads to the
		
00:25:16 --> 00:25:18
			larger number of
		
00:25:19 --> 00:25:23
			buying biomedical negative
outcomes. And as we increasingly
		
00:25:23 --> 00:25:27
			forget, even the names of our
cousins, let alone stay in regular
		
00:25:27 --> 00:25:30
			touch with them. This is more and
more common.
		
00:25:31 --> 00:25:35
			We might also say from an Islamic
perspective that we don't to add a
		
00:25:35 --> 00:25:39
			fourth category, which we might
call natural loneliness.
		
00:25:40 --> 00:25:44
			And by this I mean that if you're
in the Bosnian village, you see
		
00:25:44 --> 00:25:48
			that people have an engagement
with other human consciousnesses,
		
00:25:48 --> 00:25:52
			but also an engagement with
animals. In this village, where
		
00:25:52 --> 00:25:55
			everything was so richly
experienced, every field would
		
00:25:55 --> 00:25:59
			have a name, every corner of the
woods would be associated in the
		
00:25:59 --> 00:26:03
			local mind with a particular
event, you'd know where to get the
		
00:26:03 --> 00:26:06
			mushrooms that profoundly
inhabited the land, something that
		
00:26:06 --> 00:26:10
			has largely been denied us that
also all of the animals would have
		
00:26:10 --> 00:26:14
			names, sometimes quite comical
names. It wasn't just cows called
		
00:26:14 --> 00:26:17
			Daisy, but it was sort of amusing.
		
00:26:18 --> 00:26:24
			And people had a real relationship
with animals, which is part of pre
		
00:26:24 --> 00:26:28
			modern normalcy. Even the hunter
and the prey have a certain
		
00:26:28 --> 00:26:31
			understanding that he empathizes
with the prey and what it's likely
		
00:26:31 --> 00:26:35
			to do next, and where it's likely
to be found in the forest.
		
00:26:35 --> 00:26:39
			Traditional life is about
sociality is about engaging with
		
00:26:41 --> 00:26:45
			human tumors, but also the animal
illness. We saw this last time
		
00:26:45 --> 00:26:51
			that creatures are defined Quranic
Lee, as Oman and Thurlow, come
		
00:26:51 --> 00:26:56
			nations like yourselves. And our
engagement with them is
		
00:26:56 --> 00:26:58
			particularly important. We know
that the Holy Prophet salallahu
		
00:26:58 --> 00:27:01
			Alaihe, salam, in those
extraordinary Hadith had ways of
		
00:27:01 --> 00:27:05
			communicating with animals, and
saying that the world had this
		
00:27:06 --> 00:27:10
			facility as well. And that's a
kind of mysterious thing. But it's
		
00:27:10 --> 00:27:14
			something real, an animal is
clearly a sentient being, which is
		
00:27:14 --> 00:27:19
			why in Sharia, it has rights. So
that's another thing that we've
		
00:27:19 --> 00:27:22
			lost. And so the National Health
Service has a big pet therapy,
		
00:27:22 --> 00:27:27
			animal assisted therapy, they call
it, and it's well known that the
		
00:27:27 --> 00:27:30
			presence of animals is very
beneficial in certain
		
00:27:32 --> 00:27:37
			cases of anxiety and depression,
again, unless you've got a captive
		
00:27:37 --> 00:27:41
			stroke in the evening, which isn't
really the same thing as grazing
		
00:27:41 --> 00:27:45
			sheep. That's another form of
sociality that has driven us into
		
00:27:45 --> 00:27:47
			a modern state of, of extreme
		
00:27:48 --> 00:27:49
			loneliness.
		
00:27:51 --> 00:27:51
			Now,
		
00:27:53 --> 00:27:57
			an interesting aspect of this,
when you think about it is that
		
00:27:58 --> 00:27:59
			human life
		
00:28:00 --> 00:28:02
			actually begins
		
00:28:03 --> 00:28:05
			in a state of seclusion.
		
00:28:06 --> 00:28:10
			So if you think about what you
remember, her dad calls the lives
		
00:28:10 --> 00:28:15
			of man, first of all, we are with
all of humanity with everybody the
		
00:28:15 --> 00:28:19
			Big Jim our, the day of Alice to
be Rob become a no, not your Lord.
		
00:28:20 --> 00:28:24
			And we all say it's the first
person plural. Bala Shahidullah.
		
00:28:24 --> 00:28:28
			Yes, we bear witness, not as
individuals, citizens, but as many
		
00:28:28 --> 00:28:30
			Adam, we all say that together.
		
00:28:32 --> 00:28:35
			And then we're separated out into
the Durham
		
00:28:37 --> 00:28:42
			that ain't Angel breathes the rule
into the fetus
		
00:28:43 --> 00:28:45
			in a unimaginable process,
		
00:28:46 --> 00:28:49
			and then the fetus is alone.
		
00:28:51 --> 00:28:55
			Although there is a particularly
profound relationship with the
		
00:28:55 --> 00:28:55
			mother,
		
00:28:58 --> 00:29:02
			we need to think about this as
well as so much in our heritage
		
00:29:02 --> 00:29:06
			about how to treat mothers how to
honor mothers, what to feed
		
00:29:06 --> 00:29:12
			mothers with. And motherhood is
one of the great signs of allow,
		
00:29:12 --> 00:29:16
			which is why sort of Meriam is
this sort of astoundingly
		
00:29:16 --> 00:29:18
			beautiful celebration of woman in
her
		
00:29:20 --> 00:29:21
			Quintessence.
		
00:29:22 --> 00:29:28
			And this miracle that she alone
experiences of the insufflation of
		
00:29:28 --> 00:29:32
			the spirit within her is the
introduction of a new soul.
		
00:29:34 --> 00:29:38
			infinitely precious that to which
the angels can bow down within
		
00:29:38 --> 00:29:43
			this gararion McKean. The Quran
speaks quite a lot of embryology
		
00:29:44 --> 00:29:49
			and the stages of the development
of the fetus. And then this
		
00:29:49 --> 00:29:53
			insufflation does breathing in of
the spirit, this humanizing
		
00:29:53 --> 00:29:56
			moment, but then, a fetus is
alone.
		
00:29:58 --> 00:29:59
			Unless of course
		
00:30:00 --> 00:30:01
			There's a twin.
		
00:30:02 --> 00:30:05
			And this is another of the great
mysteries that remind us of how
		
00:30:05 --> 00:30:09
			profoundly we need each other. In
the case of twins, it's very often
		
00:30:09 --> 00:30:13
			in a very intensified form.
Identical twins in particular, and
		
00:30:13 --> 00:30:17
			everybody has strange stories that
they've heard of twins. I know a
		
00:30:17 --> 00:30:21
			woman that went into labor and her
unmarried sister was woken up in
		
00:30:21 --> 00:30:23
			the middle of the night by
contractions.
		
00:30:25 --> 00:30:30
			Other people and a girl I know in
Cambridge who converted to Islam,
		
00:30:30 --> 00:30:34
			called her identical twin who was
in America at the time, I said,
		
00:30:34 --> 00:30:37
			Guess what, there's this thing
called Islam. And I've just taken
		
00:30:37 --> 00:30:40
			something called my Shahada. And
the identical twin had also taken
		
00:30:40 --> 00:30:44
			her shahada, lots of stories like
that. And this is not particularly
		
00:30:45 --> 00:30:49
			from Sharia, or from our doctrine.
It's just from kind of human folk
		
00:30:49 --> 00:30:53
			wisdom, almost just part of the
experience of living in bodies as
		
00:30:53 --> 00:30:56
			human beings. And there is a
particular bond between two
		
00:30:56 --> 00:31:02
			fetuses, two souls in the womb.
Three, if it's triplets, which is
		
00:31:02 --> 00:31:06
			a particularly profound thing,
which should indicate to us that
		
00:31:06 --> 00:31:09
			sibling hood is important.
		
00:31:11 --> 00:31:15
			And the fact that siblings are so
often driven apart in modernity is
		
00:31:15 --> 00:31:19
			another tragedy, another aspect of
human richness that is being lost.
		
00:31:21 --> 00:31:26
			The Turkish language does this
very nicely. A sibling, a brother
		
00:31:26 --> 00:31:31
			or a sister in Turkish is Kadesh,
which means somebody who has
		
00:31:31 --> 00:31:34
			shared a womb with you. That's a
very beautiful way of talking
		
00:31:34 --> 00:31:37
			about their sibling. It's a very
profound
		
00:31:38 --> 00:31:43
			concept. And a pregnant woman is
called iki janela, which means to
		
00:31:43 --> 00:31:51
			sold because she's this
miraculous, revered phenomenon in
		
00:31:51 --> 00:31:54
			Allah's creation that contains
within herself not just one rock,
		
00:31:54 --> 00:31:55
			but two.
		
00:31:57 --> 00:32:01
			I guess she's three sold if it's,
if it's twins.
		
00:32:02 --> 00:32:03
			So
		
00:32:04 --> 00:32:09
			this also indicates that even
before we enter the world, and
		
00:32:09 --> 00:32:13
			start getting brought up,
hopefully by caring parents, and
		
00:32:13 --> 00:32:17
			engaging with society, in that
order, there can also be an
		
00:32:17 --> 00:32:20
			engagement and that this is a
subtle and a spiritual thing that
		
00:32:20 --> 00:32:25
			needs respected, that Ebola had
let eat us alone to be He, while
		
00:32:25 --> 00:32:31
			our ham, Fear God, concerning whom
you question each other, and the
		
00:32:31 --> 00:32:32
			wounds,
		
00:32:33 --> 00:32:34
			most fundamental tie,
		
00:32:35 --> 00:32:40
			the family, basic unit of society,
the family, the basic unit of
		
00:32:41 --> 00:32:46
			sociality is the family and our
religion stands or falls on that
		
00:32:46 --> 00:32:50
			the Holy Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam was a family man.
		
00:32:52 --> 00:32:56
			So we've made this distinction so
far. And hopefully this clears up
		
00:32:56 --> 00:33:00
			some confusion between seclusion
and loneliness.
		
00:33:03 --> 00:33:07
			We now need to think about the
religious dimensions of seclusion.
		
00:33:07 --> 00:33:10
			Loneliness is just a bad thing.
		
00:33:12 --> 00:33:19
			Has nothing positive about it
really, except in certain other
		
00:33:19 --> 00:33:22
			religious traditions, but not an
answer, we might look at this the
		
00:33:22 --> 00:33:25
			idea of sacred loneliness as being
a blessing but does not and
		
00:33:25 --> 00:33:25
			Islamic concept.
		
00:33:27 --> 00:33:31
			So, seclusion can have certain
benefits, unlike loneliness, it
		
00:33:31 --> 00:33:36
			can even have medical benefits is
seen to enhance cognitive ability
		
00:33:36 --> 00:33:41
			under certain circumstances and
the memory. Now, remember what I
		
00:33:41 --> 00:33:44
			was trying to say last time about
Islam coming in this reparative
		
00:33:44 --> 00:33:47
			way to restore the principle of
love, human love for each other,
		
00:33:48 --> 00:33:53
			human love for God. At a time when
things have become very austere
		
00:33:53 --> 00:33:57
			and ascetical and punitive and
dry, laden with guilt,
		
00:33:57 --> 00:33:59
			particularly in the Western
tradition.
		
00:34:00 --> 00:34:04
			Islam comes along and the earlier
dispensation dispensation of Satan
		
00:34:04 --> 00:34:09
			Eisah alayhis, salam, and mercy
had moved in the direction of this
		
00:34:09 --> 00:34:10
			era Baniya
		
00:34:12 --> 00:34:13
			is monasticism
		
00:34:15 --> 00:34:19
			and some quite acute forms of
asceticism.
		
00:34:23 --> 00:34:25
			The neglect of the body.
		
00:34:27 --> 00:34:31
			People like St. Simeon. If you go
to Orthodox churches today, very
		
00:34:31 --> 00:34:34
			likely, you'll see an icon image
of St. Simeon
		
00:34:35 --> 00:34:36
			sitting on his
		
00:34:38 --> 00:34:44
			Syrian column. Right at the top.
He spent 39 years on top of a
		
00:34:44 --> 00:34:50
			column, eating sleeping, mainly
praying there in order to be in a
		
00:34:50 --> 00:34:56
			state of seclusion and away from
the temptations of the world away
		
00:34:56 --> 00:34:59
			from women away from fitna.
		
00:35:00 --> 00:35:04
			And there were 1000s upon 1000s of
people who are doing similar
		
00:35:04 --> 00:35:06
			things like that in that era.
		
00:35:08 --> 00:35:09
			And
		
00:35:11 --> 00:35:14
			the idea of the * for
instance, that is to say a kind of
		
00:35:14 --> 00:35:18
			monastery where the monks live,
individually and in little huts
		
00:35:18 --> 00:35:22
			and come together maybe once a
week, you can still see that in
		
00:35:22 --> 00:35:26
			the wedding not from originally
the skaters Valley, which is to
		
00:35:26 --> 00:35:30
			the north of Cairo, there's still
hundreds of monks, they're living
		
00:35:30 --> 00:35:33
			in caves and little huts.
hermitage is
		
00:35:35 --> 00:35:40
			and this is one of the things that
Islam did not continue
		
00:35:41 --> 00:35:48
			and does not really approve Simeon
on his pillar, even spending a
		
00:35:48 --> 00:35:52
			year standing on one leg,
according to the historians tying
		
00:35:52 --> 00:35:55
			himself up so that he wouldn't
fall off in the night and the rope
		
00:35:56 --> 00:36:00
			bit into his flesh, which rotted
away and he was happy when he saw
		
00:36:00 --> 00:36:04
			the worms eating the flesh. And
when the worms are drop off, he
		
00:36:04 --> 00:36:09
			would pick them up and put them
back into the womb, saying, return
		
00:36:09 --> 00:36:14
			to your to your dinner, and really
revered these secret athletes.
		
00:36:15 --> 00:36:16
			Were at the heart of
		
00:36:17 --> 00:36:19
			Christian party for so long.
		
00:36:20 --> 00:36:23
			So just to give you a bit of
		
00:36:24 --> 00:36:27
			Tennyson friend of mine yesterday
said that I mustn't neglect tennis
		
00:36:27 --> 00:36:30
			and he has a poem on St. Simeon.
This is part of it.
		
00:36:32 --> 00:36:36
			Let us avail just dreadful Mighty
God, this not be all in vain, that
		
00:36:36 --> 00:36:41
			thrice 10 years thrice multiplied
by superhuman pangs, in hungers
		
00:36:41 --> 00:36:46
			and thirsts fevers and colds and
coughs, aches, stitches, ulcers,
		
00:36:46 --> 00:36:51
			throws and cramps, a sign bitwixe,
the meadow and the cloud patient
		
00:36:51 --> 00:36:55
			on this tool pillar, I have borne
rain, wind, frost, hate, heat,
		
00:36:55 --> 00:37:00
			hail, damp, and sleet and snow.
Well, that's a kind of heroic
		
00:37:00 --> 00:37:04
			piety, you get to God by self
torture.
		
00:37:05 --> 00:37:12
			But this is not our way. And one
of the blessings that the new
		
00:37:12 --> 00:37:18
			Israelite dispensation brought was
that that was swept away.
		
00:37:21 --> 00:37:27
			The Islamic historians say that
the origins of monasticism were
		
00:37:27 --> 00:37:31
			when the Romans were persecuting
the early Christians, Romans being
		
00:37:32 --> 00:37:36
			pagan at the time, and they fled
into the hills. And this is a song
		
00:37:36 --> 00:37:41
			that in Islam as well,
particularly in the end times, and
		
00:37:41 --> 00:37:46
			they fled to hermitage is so we
find Abu Bakr Siddiq saying to his
		
00:37:46 --> 00:37:50
			army, when they were going into
Syria, you will find people who
		
00:37:50 --> 00:37:55
			have shot themselves up in cells,
leave them alone, because it's for
		
00:37:55 --> 00:37:59
			the sake of Allah that they have
shut themselves up. And generally,
		
00:37:59 --> 00:38:02
			we find the center for the early
Muslims treating these people with
		
00:38:02 --> 00:38:06
			very considerable respect. We know
that the Holy Prophet treated by
		
00:38:06 --> 00:38:09
			Hera the monk with very
considerable respect, and that's
		
00:38:09 --> 00:38:12
			an important moment the
recognition of his future prophecy
		
00:38:12 --> 00:38:16
			in the Sierra. And if you've been
watching Cambridge mosques,
		
00:38:16 --> 00:38:20
			Ramadan TV, you may have seen the
documentary on on the blessing
		
00:38:20 --> 00:38:24
			tree and you see the ruined mastic
cell, it's still there, and it's
		
00:38:24 --> 00:38:28
			next to the tree. It's very
extraordinary place, place to
		
00:38:28 --> 00:38:28
			visit.
		
00:38:31 --> 00:38:36
			And the early Muslims encountered
these people, and were quite
		
00:38:36 --> 00:38:37
			amazed by them. So
		
00:38:39 --> 00:38:44
			one of the self said this is an
English translation, I met a raw
		
00:38:44 --> 00:38:50
			hip once Rob is a monk one of
these anchorites and asked him, Do
		
00:38:50 --> 00:38:54
			you never fear being alone? Are
you not afraid of solitude?
		
00:38:55 --> 00:38:59
			And he replied, If you've tasted
the delight of solitude long for
		
00:38:59 --> 00:39:02
			it away from yourself, solitude is
the beginning of the worship of
		
00:39:02 --> 00:39:07
			God. What is the first thing you
find in solitude? Peace, far from
		
00:39:07 --> 00:39:11
			human interaction and safety far
from those evils which accompany
		
00:39:11 --> 00:39:16
			it? When May the servant taste the
bliss of intimacy with God, when
		
00:39:16 --> 00:39:19
			his love for God becomes purely
communion with Him with a sincere
		
00:39:19 --> 00:39:23
			heart? When is his love pure when
all his desires are concentrated
		
00:39:23 --> 00:39:30
			in one to obey God, lots of
stories in early Islam about the
		
00:39:30 --> 00:39:35
			tablet I mean, and others, people
like Apple, Solomon, a Dharani,
		
00:39:35 --> 00:39:40
			settler to study and others
engaging with those ahead. And we
		
00:39:40 --> 00:39:44
			find in the Quran, even these
people who are choosing sacred
		
00:39:45 --> 00:39:47
			solitude mentioned
		
00:39:48 --> 00:39:52
			where the Christians are praised
it says nearly gonna be under fee
		
00:39:52 --> 00:39:56
			him because see, seen our abandon.
We're in the homeless tech bureau
		
00:39:56 --> 00:39:59
			that is because there are amongst
them, priests and more
		
00:40:00 --> 00:40:06
			And because they are not proud and
then the verse aura Bernie yet and
		
00:40:06 --> 00:40:12
			if teda Oh Ha. Mercator Vanessa I
lay him elaborate ya read one on
		
00:40:12 --> 00:40:17
			Ridwan Illa for not allow her
hackery IoT Hub and monasticism
		
00:40:17 --> 00:40:22
			that they invented, we did not
prescribe it upon them, but
		
00:40:22 --> 00:40:27
			seeking the pleasure of God, but
they did not uphold it correctly.
		
00:40:28 --> 00:40:29
			So
		
00:40:30 --> 00:40:35
			what we would say then, looking at
those early spiritual athletes,
		
00:40:36 --> 00:40:37
			and they still exist,
		
00:40:38 --> 00:40:43
			if you go to Mount Athos, in
Greece, which until 1912, was part
		
00:40:43 --> 00:40:44
			of the Ottoman Empire.
		
00:40:45 --> 00:40:48
			And that period, actually, in many
ways was the flourishing of, of
		
00:40:48 --> 00:40:53
			Athens, Republican Greece has
tended not to treat it so well. 20
		
00:40:53 --> 00:40:57
			monasteries, but it's a day maybe
15,000. Monks, huge population
		
00:40:57 --> 00:41:02
			like cities. In this whole area,
which is a peninsula of Greece,
		
00:41:02 --> 00:41:05
			quite a large area. No women are
allowed.
		
00:41:06 --> 00:41:12
			No female animals are allowed.
Until 1932. You could have hens
		
00:41:12 --> 00:41:15
			and so egg with your breakfast,
and then the strip, the monks
		
00:41:15 --> 00:41:18
			decided that this was outrageous
as well. And so they killed all
		
00:41:18 --> 00:41:21
			the female hens. And it's It's
hardcore monasticism.
		
00:41:23 --> 00:41:27
			And there's different forms of it.
But it's an interesting insight
		
00:41:27 --> 00:41:31
			into the kind of extreme
penitential attitudes that
		
00:41:31 --> 00:41:35
			characterized early Christianity,
if you wanted to get to God, you
		
00:41:35 --> 00:41:40
			mortified the flesh war has shut
you flagellated. And perhaps he
		
00:41:40 --> 00:41:42
			went alone into the wilderness.
		
00:41:44 --> 00:41:50
			I was once with a group of
Christian pilgrims in Palestine.
		
00:41:52 --> 00:41:57
			And we visited a monastery on the
road between Jerusalem and Jericho
		
00:41:58 --> 00:41:58
			area.
		
00:41:59 --> 00:42:02
			And, of course, it's a very
stressed and tormented landscape.
		
00:42:02 --> 00:42:07
			So you see the wells that are only
allowed to be used by the Israeli
		
00:42:07 --> 00:42:10
			settlers, the nice roads for the
Israelis and the miserable roads
		
00:42:10 --> 00:42:13
			for the Palestinians, which
includes the local Christians and
		
00:42:13 --> 00:42:17
			it's a very, for a serene Holy
Land. It's appalling the way it's
		
00:42:17 --> 00:42:21
			been scratched and, and and
violated. It's a tragedy, but the
		
00:42:21 --> 00:42:25
			monastic thing is, gets away from
that. So St. George's why
		
00:42:25 --> 00:42:28
			difficult? You have to walk to
that down the valley is a little
		
00:42:28 --> 00:42:33
			stream, you can see rock hyraxes
in the hills, it's real desert.
		
00:42:34 --> 00:42:39
			And the monks welcomed us although
they thought all of these western
		
00:42:39 --> 00:42:42
			questions were outrageous
heretics, and they told them that
		
00:42:42 --> 00:42:42
			at one point,
		
00:42:44 --> 00:42:47
			and we were shooting into the
chapel, and very proudly, they
		
00:42:47 --> 00:42:51
			showed us the body of one of their
brothers, the Romanian monk, who
		
00:42:51 --> 00:42:55
			had died five years earlier, the
young man, and they just dug him
		
00:42:55 --> 00:43:01
			up and put his body in the chancel
of the church with a kind of cloth
		
00:43:01 --> 00:43:05
			over him because he his sneakers
sticking up at the end. And they
		
00:43:05 --> 00:43:07
			were going to render him down and
put his bones in the Oscar in the
		
00:43:07 --> 00:43:11
			scar would be on the shelf with
all of the other skulls and the
		
00:43:11 --> 00:43:15
			monastery has been there since
before the rise of Islam. Muslims
		
00:43:15 --> 00:43:17
			never touched it, they hardly
noticed the rise of Islam.
		
00:43:20 --> 00:43:23
			And the monks took us out and
pointed up to the cliff saying
		
00:43:24 --> 00:43:26
			we have anchorites here as well.
		
00:43:28 --> 00:43:32
			The really serious hardcore monks,
when they're young, they go up
		
00:43:32 --> 00:43:35
			into one of those caves. And they
stay there for the rest of their
		
00:43:35 --> 00:43:39
			life. They might be there for
550 6070 years, the hoist up a
		
00:43:39 --> 00:43:44
			basket of food every day, when it
comes down, untouched. They know
		
00:43:44 --> 00:43:48
			that the guy has died or send up
the successor and the body is
		
00:43:48 --> 00:43:52
			invented down at the skull goes on
the shelf. So that still goes on
		
00:43:52 --> 00:43:56
			but it not ethosce It still goes
on. The only Muslims were seeing
		
00:43:56 --> 00:43:59
			this. And this is really what the
Quran is saying when it says for
		
00:43:59 --> 00:44:04
			murder, oh huckberry iOttie ha
they didn't. They didn't maintain
		
00:44:04 --> 00:44:06
			it correctly. This is too extreme.
		
00:44:07 --> 00:44:14
			The the normative paradisal
blessed human state is eaten the
		
00:44:14 --> 00:44:18
			place of plenty, and a place of
companionship. It's not some kind
		
00:44:18 --> 00:44:20
			of eternal cave.
		
00:44:21 --> 00:44:26
			But this is the view that they
took St. Augustine when he had his
		
00:44:26 --> 00:44:30
			conversion, immediately dropped
his girlfriend and his child and
		
00:44:31 --> 00:44:37
			that was normal for the time. So
the difference then is there can
		
00:44:37 --> 00:44:43
			be a sacred seclusion. But there
can also be a kind of cultivation
		
00:44:43 --> 00:44:47
			of the torment of loneliness,
which is perverse. Simone vile who
		
00:44:47 --> 00:44:50
			was very strange but brilliant.
		
00:44:51 --> 00:44:55
			Think of the mid 20th century said
the extreme greatness of
		
00:44:55 --> 00:44:59
			Christianity lies in the fact that
it does not seek a supernatural
		
00:44:59 --> 00:45:00
			realm
		
00:45:00 --> 00:45:03
			Ready for suffering, but a
supernatural use for it.
		
00:45:04 --> 00:45:07
			In other words, the pain, the
torment, the scratching of the
		
00:45:07 --> 00:45:11
			soul caused by just terrible
loneliness breaks you and hence
		
00:45:11 --> 00:45:15
			opens you up to the transcendent.
Now, Islam
		
00:45:17 --> 00:45:22
			doesn't appreciate that the
Islamic way is very different. So,
		
00:45:23 --> 00:45:28
			if we still got time, let's get
some of the Bearcat of the Sierra
		
00:45:28 --> 00:45:31
			and the Sunnah. And the amazing
thing about these stories is that
		
00:45:31 --> 00:45:36
			you can listen to them a billion
times and they're always new
		
00:45:38 --> 00:45:39
			right at the beginning of sahih al
Bukhari.
		
00:45:42 --> 00:45:45
			I will omad wouldn't be here
Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa
		
00:45:45 --> 00:45:48
			sallam Ninawa he wrote here Salafi
gnome
		
00:45:49 --> 00:45:55
			and then HobbyBoss LA who have
that. This is a Ramadan Story Of
		
00:45:55 --> 00:45:56
			course.
		
00:45:57 --> 00:46:02
			Before the Holy Prophet became a
prophet, solitude seclusion was
		
00:46:02 --> 00:46:07
			made beloved to him. Well Can they
can all be Hari Hara, and used to
		
00:46:07 --> 00:46:12
			go into solitude into retreat, the
Cave of the mount head up, theater
		
00:46:12 --> 00:46:14
			Han nettle Fie, he,
		
00:46:15 --> 00:46:17
			he would engage in to handoff
		
00:46:19 --> 00:46:23
			now that's a strange word and may
even be Syriac in its origin. So
		
00:46:24 --> 00:46:27
			memorable Harry or the narrator
says, an explanation. Whoa, a
		
00:46:27 --> 00:46:32
			taboo delay earlier the word he
added means to worship for a
		
00:46:32 --> 00:46:35
			specific number of nights
		
00:46:36 --> 00:46:40
			is the 100th solitary in the cave
in this kind of monk like
		
00:46:41 --> 00:46:41
			devotion,
		
00:46:42 --> 00:46:47
			gobbler and yen Xia Isla Li Wei,
it is a word really VALIC before
		
00:46:47 --> 00:46:51
			he go back to his family, and take
provision for a single similar
		
00:46:51 --> 00:46:52
			period of time.
		
00:46:54 --> 00:46:58
			Her third year I will hop over Hua
Vihari Hara until the truth.
		
00:46:58 --> 00:47:02
			Capital T came to him when he was
in the cave of hair up for jet I
		
00:47:02 --> 00:47:06
			will mela Kufa ka la cara and the
angel came to him and said, recite
		
00:47:07 --> 00:47:12
			Allah Myrna Bukhari, he said, I am
not a reciter or I'm not a reader
		
00:47:12 --> 00:47:18
			call for aka Neva Thani, bellava
Mini al jihad, jihad. So he took
		
00:47:18 --> 00:47:22
			me and squeezed me until I came to
the end of my endurance film The
		
00:47:22 --> 00:47:26
			Other 70 Then he let me go for
ConAgra and said, Read or recite
		
00:47:27 --> 00:47:32
			all tuna and avocado, I said, I am
not a reader of reciter for aka
		
00:47:32 --> 00:47:34
			Danny, and this happens three
times.
		
00:47:36 --> 00:47:41
			And then the third time we get the
first words of the miracle of
		
00:47:41 --> 00:47:46
			God's book will cover up this Mira
beacon lady HELOC, HELOC, I'll
		
00:47:46 --> 00:47:52
			insert them in Alok, Accra, whare
Bukal kromm Zero 96 Isn't it
		
00:47:52 --> 00:47:56
			recite in the Name of your Lord
who created created man from a
		
00:47:56 --> 00:47:59
			clot of blood? Recite and your
Lord is the Most Generous?
		
00:48:01 --> 00:48:04
			That's not the end for Raja
Ebihara Rasulullah sallallahu
		
00:48:04 --> 00:48:08
			alayhi wa sallam Yara to fulfill
Aadil the Holy Prophet went back
		
00:48:08 --> 00:48:12
			with them with the verses that his
heart was palpitating.
		
00:48:15 --> 00:48:18
			For duckula Allah Khadija
taburiente Hadith Radi Allahu
		
00:48:18 --> 00:48:23
			Allah. So he came in upon Khadija,
his wife and said some below Nizam
		
00:48:23 --> 00:48:27
			below me cover me up, cover me up.
So he's been covered in this
		
00:48:27 --> 00:48:31
			blanket, this cape whatever it is,
had the hubba unhulled route.
		
00:48:33 --> 00:48:37
			Okay, and then we know the story
that had eaten her then reassures
		
00:48:37 --> 00:48:42
			him, confirms in she is the first
believer and takes him to her
		
00:48:42 --> 00:48:48
			uncle Wakaba NOFA in order to find
out more about this angelic
		
00:48:48 --> 00:48:49
			visitation.
		
00:48:50 --> 00:48:56
			So, here we see a difference. What
is the difference? He is in his
		
00:48:56 --> 00:49:01
			cave and experiences this
extraordinary experience and then
		
00:49:01 --> 00:49:02
			goes to his family.
		
00:49:04 --> 00:49:09
			The seclusion is not permanent,
the halwa is not eternal. The monk
		
00:49:09 --> 00:49:13
			just dies in the cave, whether
he's experienced God or whether
		
00:49:13 --> 00:49:18
			he's gone mad, both are said to
happen, dies in the cave. The
		
00:49:18 --> 00:49:19
			scholar is put on the shelf
		
00:49:21 --> 00:49:26
			in the Islamic way, the new way.
He goes to Khadija and she helps
		
00:49:26 --> 00:49:29
			him she consults him she does what
a wife does for her husband. She
		
00:49:29 --> 00:49:31
			supports him. Radi Allahu Anhu.
		
00:49:33 --> 00:49:36
			So a difference is coming right at
the beginning of this new
		
00:49:36 --> 00:49:40
			dispensation. Something more
cheerful. God is bringing
		
00:49:40 --> 00:49:44
			something new that affirms family
that affirms gender that affirms
		
00:49:44 --> 00:49:48
			womanhood that affirms a life,
life itself, and hence the
		
00:49:48 --> 00:49:52
			principle of marhaba this love
that we're going to talk about a
		
00:49:52 --> 00:49:55
			bit more in the next session in
sha Allah, another thought
		
00:49:57 --> 00:49:59
			a few weeks ago, we marked the
		
00:50:00 --> 00:50:04
			The commemoration of Israel one
miraj
		
00:50:05 --> 00:50:10
			the probably culminating event of
the Holy Prophets Korea, the night
		
00:50:10 --> 00:50:12
			journey and the ascension.
		
00:50:14 --> 00:50:15
			Now,
		
00:50:16 --> 00:50:21
			one thing that nobody ever talks
about in that is that when does it
		
00:50:21 --> 00:50:25
			begin and when does it end? The
first great moment that extra
		
00:50:25 --> 00:50:28
			shattering experience of the devil
of the angel
		
00:50:30 --> 00:50:31
			and then
		
00:50:32 --> 00:50:35
			that is that will Mirage this next
combination
		
00:50:37 --> 00:50:41
			the night before he has been
invited to spend the night with
		
00:50:41 --> 00:50:42
			his cousin
		
00:50:43 --> 00:50:47
			on Haneke, Muslims call her on the
hairnet. She's 32 bint
		
00:50:48 --> 00:50:49
			Abu Talib
		
00:50:50 --> 00:50:55
			and her husband is home Eric is
staying in their family so she is
		
00:50:55 --> 00:50:58
			been a bit taller. So she's Imam
Ali's sister so she's kinswoman.
		
00:50:59 --> 00:51:01
			Close, close relation a cousin.
		
00:51:02 --> 00:51:05
			State and I placed it with my
family she says so he spends the
		
00:51:05 --> 00:51:09
			first part of his night with with
on hernias family following her
		
00:51:09 --> 00:51:12
			invitation. Then he goes up in the
middle of the night to the hedger
		
00:51:13 --> 00:51:14
			sleeps next to the Kaaba.
		
00:51:15 --> 00:51:17
			And then it happens.
		
00:51:19 --> 00:51:22
			goes to Jerusalem. There's the
Barak and then Sidra, turned on to
		
00:51:22 --> 00:51:29
			her for Ken Acaba, cow Saini Oh
Edna, and then the return, having
		
00:51:29 --> 00:51:32
			led all of the NBA in prayer in
that wonderful affirming,
		
00:51:32 --> 00:51:37
			inclusive Ishmaelites moment. And
then he comes back. And
		
00:51:38 --> 00:51:42
			that's usually when we stop the
story, but the Syrah writers go
		
00:51:42 --> 00:51:47
			on. He goes back after that
shattering experience, the most
		
00:51:47 --> 00:51:53
			important experience in human
prophetic history. He's been in
		
00:51:53 --> 00:51:58
			the sight of God, Mirza basato
Mata, he's I did not swerve. The
		
00:51:58 --> 00:52:03
			angels couldn't go there. He then
goes back to the house of Romanic.
		
00:52:03 --> 00:52:05
			And he tells her what's happened.
		
00:52:06 --> 00:52:09
			Some of the theater writers aren't
even clear that she's a Muslim by
		
00:52:09 --> 00:52:11
			that point, but she does a Muslim.
		
00:52:13 --> 00:52:16
			And she says, Don't tell anybody
about this, because they already
		
00:52:16 --> 00:52:19
			laugh at you. Now, this is during
the marking period, and
		
00:52:19 --> 00:52:23
			everybody's persecuting them and
laughing at Apple Talibs. Often.
		
00:52:26 --> 00:52:30
			And he gets up in his I'm going to
tell them, and she pulls out his
		
00:52:30 --> 00:52:32
			garment, but he insists.
		
00:52:33 --> 00:52:39
			The point again, with this little
insight is that just as the story
		
00:52:39 --> 00:52:43
			of the bed lie, the beginning of
the revelation, kind of leads to
		
00:52:43 --> 00:52:49
			human engagement with family had
EDA, the wife, the first believer,
		
00:52:49 --> 00:52:54
			so also the ranch begins and ends
also with family, the extended
		
00:52:54 --> 00:52:56
			family, the cousin,
		
00:52:57 --> 00:53:02
			Avatar limbs, daughter on hand it
the female cousin, family life.
		
00:53:03 --> 00:53:09
			And this is the meaning of what he
says. And this has to be our last
		
00:53:09 --> 00:53:10
			point, when his
		
00:53:11 --> 00:53:17
			extraordinary moment of the Mirage
and the angel offers him to
		
00:53:17 --> 00:53:22
			chalices one of wine, and one of
milk
		
00:53:23 --> 00:53:26
			that he chooses the milk. And the
angel says to him who detail it
		
00:53:26 --> 00:53:28
			fitrah you've been guided to the
fitrah.
		
00:53:29 --> 00:53:34
			Now, it's fairly clear that the
symbolism here is that of course
		
00:53:34 --> 00:53:36
			the wine in the chalice represents
the sacramental
		
00:53:37 --> 00:53:40
			traditions of Christianity, the
Eucharist,
		
00:53:41 --> 00:53:42
			the milk,
		
00:53:43 --> 00:53:50
			milk is of nature, wine has been
denatured fermented, turned into
		
00:53:50 --> 00:53:52
			something that is not itself
through the process of
		
00:53:52 --> 00:53:54
			fermentation, which is a kind of
corruption rarely,
		
00:53:55 --> 00:53:59
			liquid corruption. Although in
some earlier shadow wine was
		
00:53:59 --> 00:54:04
			permissible for us. parodic
medically not the Holy Prophet
		
00:54:04 --> 00:54:08
			chooses the milk, which is from
nature directly,
		
00:54:09 --> 00:54:10
			therefore, from the fitrah.
		
00:54:11 --> 00:54:16
			And so this is a sign it seems
that he is to be the one who
		
00:54:16 --> 00:54:20
			brings the religion of nature that
affirms nature to natural
		
00:54:20 --> 00:54:24
			sociality, his engagement with
animals, his engagement with
		
00:54:24 --> 00:54:28
			women, his status as a parent,
fully embedded in the reality of
		
00:54:28 --> 00:54:33
			life and enjoying the sociality of
human life, which is a beautiful
		
00:54:33 --> 00:54:37
			thing and part of healthy human
existence. So
		
00:54:40 --> 00:54:43
			that's one of the amazing things
that you can learn when you look
		
00:54:43 --> 00:54:45
			at these Syrah stories again, and
you notice something Well, that's
		
00:54:45 --> 00:54:49
			interesting, and particularly
against the backdrop of this
		
00:54:49 --> 00:54:54
			hugely punitive war of the body
that Christianity had launched by
		
00:54:54 --> 00:54:55
			that time.
		
00:54:56 --> 00:54:59
			Yeah, better, more human.
		
00:55:00 --> 00:55:05
			more humanistic, more humane, more
life affirming, less guilt ridden,
		
00:55:05 --> 00:55:09
			we can't really escape the body,
there has to be a legitimate
		
00:55:09 --> 00:55:14
			outlet for desire. Eve was not
created to be pushed away. The
		
00:55:14 --> 00:55:17
			garden is a sign of Allah's gift
and try and make the world a
		
00:55:17 --> 00:55:23
			garden, the garden will be your
place of return. So yes, better,
		
00:55:23 --> 00:55:27
			better than the rock band here,
even though we always protected
		
00:55:27 --> 00:55:32
			them. We protected the monks of
Mount Athos, and St. Catharines
		
00:55:32 --> 00:55:35
			and all of those places for so
many centuries, but we didn't
		
00:55:35 --> 00:55:36
			follow them.
		
00:55:37 --> 00:55:42
			So, the to get back to the point
that we raised at the beginning.
		
00:55:43 --> 00:55:48
			Yes to seclusion, but the
seclusion leads back to family
		
00:55:49 --> 00:55:53
			members so he goes back to his
wife when he's done the purgation
		
00:55:53 --> 00:55:57
			that was necessary for him. No
matter honey nebula see returns to
		
00:55:57 --> 00:56:01
			family life and becomes a very
sociable person after his years of
		
00:56:02 --> 00:56:03
			seclusion.
		
00:56:05 --> 00:56:09
			The Holy Prophet salallahu alayhi
wa sallam after his great times of
		
00:56:09 --> 00:56:12
			seclusion in the wilderness
returns to his family does not
		
00:56:12 --> 00:56:15
			stay in the wilderness. And this
		
00:56:16 --> 00:56:20
			balance, yes to seclusion
sometimes. Sometimes there's a RT
		
00:56:20 --> 00:56:25
			calf but we go back to our
families due to loneliness, and
		
00:56:25 --> 00:56:28
			therefore no really to the age of
loneliness, which, as George
		
00:56:28 --> 00:56:32
			Monbiot points out is a good way
of characterizing our fractured
		
00:56:32 --> 00:56:36
			and tragic modern reality. We see
again, the blessing of this theory
		
00:56:36 --> 00:56:39
			and its applicability and
appropriateness to our
		
00:56:39 --> 00:56:43
			circumstances. And again, to pick
up on something I was trying to
		
00:56:43 --> 00:56:46
			say last time, we need to change
our modality as Muslims in the
		
00:56:46 --> 00:56:51
			west from being grumblers to being
healers. And I have a chapter in
		
00:56:51 --> 00:56:55
			my new book, which is about that
Western Muslims from complainant
		
00:56:55 --> 00:56:58
			to therapists, instead of
endlessly grumbling about we want
		
00:56:58 --> 00:57:01
			halal meat in the prisons, and we
want this and we want you to stop
		
00:57:01 --> 00:57:04
			Islamophobia and give us this give
us that and being beggars really
		
00:57:04 --> 00:57:08
			for these these things. We need to
see how we can heal society. What
		
00:57:08 --> 00:57:12
			can we do about the people who die
abandoned by their families alone?
		
00:57:12 --> 00:57:15
			What can we do about the children
who arrive hungry at school every
		
00:57:15 --> 00:57:18
			morning? What can we do about all
of those single parents, the
		
00:57:18 --> 00:57:22
			spiraling rates of anxiety,
depression, mental illness in the
		
00:57:22 --> 00:57:26
			society, people are hurting?
Instead of getting judgmental and
		
00:57:26 --> 00:57:29
			just blaming everybody and feeling
superior, which is not really a
		
00:57:29 --> 00:57:33
			proper, humble religious response.
Let's see what we can do to help.
		
00:57:33 --> 00:57:36
			And the Sharia that we have the
Sunnah that we have is exactly
		
00:57:36 --> 00:57:41
			crafted to recreate sociality
because we know yet Allah He
		
00:57:41 --> 00:57:45
			maldron Our last hand is with the
congregation. This is a religion
		
00:57:45 --> 00:57:49
			of standing shoulder to shoulder
can't do that at the moment, but
		
00:57:49 --> 00:57:55
			inshallah it will happen again.
And we need to be presenting the
		
00:57:55 --> 00:58:01
			sunnah to our neighbors as a kind
of medicine, chest, a set of
		
00:58:01 --> 00:58:03
			remedies, rather than something
that makes us
		
00:58:05 --> 00:58:08
			engaged in special pleading,
please tolerate our identity or
		
00:58:08 --> 00:58:13
			something like that. No, we should
be proud and more confident. So
		
00:58:13 --> 00:58:16
			100 that we've moved through this
territory, and I've done it in
		
00:58:16 --> 00:58:22
			quite a historical way to indicate
one reason why Islam was necessary
		
00:58:22 --> 00:58:26
			and why it came as a kind of wave
of love and pushing away of
		
00:58:26 --> 00:58:30
			something that by that time was
very kind of punitive, guilt
		
00:58:30 --> 00:58:34
			inducing, unhappy caused, I think
a lot of human happiness,
		
00:58:34 --> 00:58:39
			unhappiness and in some ways, even
tried to do that. So
		
00:58:41 --> 00:58:45
			in short, a lot as we move through
the month of Ramadan, and we're in
		
00:58:45 --> 00:58:49
			the third of Ramadan, which is
about knock Farah. We ask Allah's
		
00:58:49 --> 00:58:52
			forgiveness at this time, and
inshallah we'll also be thinking
		
00:58:52 --> 00:58:57
			about how to lose some of the
excess pounds in the other sense.
		
00:58:57 --> 00:59:00
			We're losing some weight
physically Insha Allah, but we
		
00:59:00 --> 00:59:04
			need to lose those, that that fat
that is in our bank balances. And
		
00:59:04 --> 00:59:07
			Ramadan is always the best time of
year to do that. The Holy Prophet
		
00:59:07 --> 00:59:11
			was at his Most Generous like the
free wind as the Hadith said in
		
00:59:11 --> 00:59:14
			Ramadan would give and give and
it's the thing that you spend
		
00:59:14 --> 00:59:17
			money on that you tend not to
regret. You can regret buying your
		
00:59:17 --> 00:59:21
			new phone or car or whatever, but
people tend not to regret money
		
00:59:21 --> 00:59:23
			that they've given for a good
cause. So inshallah we know the
		
00:59:23 --> 00:59:27
			CMC community. Now friends,
brothers, sisters will be generous
		
00:59:27 --> 00:59:30
			and our staff have been very
generous with their time this
		
00:59:30 --> 00:59:35
			time, say Insha Allah, give
generously to CMC, our little
		
00:59:35 --> 00:59:38
			institution shuttler with a big
heart and help us to carry on
		
00:59:38 --> 00:59:41
			Salam Alaikum wa rahmatullah wa
barakato.