Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Defining What Islam is at Corpus Christi College, Oxford
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You're on a man Ravi
Kumar who along with maybe
a shirt that he wore mana Brahim. What Lovelady?
maricon on to sell
me more. Hey, we would love it. Bow, take care, be sober had a law
he hadn't shaken wood. For what law when it was already bad he
wouldn't move someone with a smell.
You said Who room phase
one is easy. Heike.
Smilla Rahmanir Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi wa Salatu was Salam ala
say even more saline Wiener, D or Safi Germaine a mother of color
Allahu Tabarka with the idea of your Quran and my god will for
corneal, Hamid farlam, and hula Illa Illa, who saw the koala who
love him.
So, this evening, it's nice to be
with you all. And
some of what I say because we've got both a Muslim and people of
other faiths
represented here. So maybe some of what I say may not be as
comprehensive because sometimes as Muslim, we may take it for granted
that some things are very clear. But they need explanation. So feel
free to ask your questions or ask for any clarification that you
need or any other question that you have about the theme for these
programs.
What is Islam? I think? I guess asking a Muslim that question
sometimes can be can be a very tricky question, especially for
those who have been brought up as Muslims. So if you've been born a
Muslim, and you've assimilated what it means to be a Muslim, from
your parents, and then maybe your community around you, maybe the
Muslim community around you, maybe your own relatives and others,
then
I'm not sure if how many of those of you who are Muslims, how many
of you have actually thought about what Islam is? or read a book on
what Islam is?
Right? You've read the book, has anybody actually tried to define
Islam for themselves? Unless they ask the question? Nobody. So there
you go. So it's just like, Okay, I'm a Muslim, I was brought up as
a Muslim, we're probably benefiting from the benefits of
being a Muslim. And also, we're probably feeling some of the, the
challenges, at least, of what it means to be a Muslim today in this
particular time.
So I just we get, we just get along, we just carry on, and we
just do what we can what we have to do.
When I grew up age, though, I was born in a Muslim household. But I
was given an opportunity to actually think about what Islam
meant to me. What was it that Islam gave to me? Because in
Islam,
there's people who say that everybody is born a Muslim, but I
don't think that's 100% accurate, you will see a lot of Muslims,
they will actually say, everybody is born a Muslim. And then after
that, they just choose other pathways. But that's not entirely
correct. This is actually based on a tradition of the Prophet
Muhammad Sallallahu. This and peace be upon him would say is
that everybody who is born is born on a natural faith, what he refers
to as fitrah, primordial nature. So whenever somebody is born,
they've obviously come from whatever that abode and realm was
that people come from before they come into this world.
Maybe never a question that anybody has asked themselves right
now as to where did where were we was there another world before?
Was there another abode before this? And we've come here because
for most of us, we've come from our parents through the embryonic
stage, egg meets, sperm meets egg, and there you go, you have an
embryo and then eventually we come into the world and then we just
have to live the world. Some people actually start thinking
about where we're gonna go, because that's in the future. That
concerns us. But the fact that we're here already, we're alive.
There's the question about where we came from is a rather seldomly
asked question. For a lot of us
In Islam, we have a theory about that we have a belief about that.
And in Islam in general, they actually divide human life into
five sections. I'm going to be talking about quite a few fives
today. So don't get confused with the fives. This is about the five
lives, say about the five lives, the first abode that humans go
through is the abode of the spirits. Before we come into this
world, the idea is that our spirit is created well in advance. When
God created the first man that traditions in Islam tell us when
God created the first man, Adam, peace be upon him, God then
extracted all of his progeny, all of his progeny that were to come
about, which is basically all of us and everybody to come, and
everybody that's passed.
And then there was a particular incident that took place which God
talks about in the Quran,
which is, with a horrible coming, Benny Adam, I mean, boohoo to him,
the reata, whom were Ashada, whom Allah and fusi him, allow us to be
Rob become. So very good centric idea, obviously, which is that
when God extracted everybody, and he then manifested himself in
front of them, so these were, we were in a state of a solar however
it is the tradition explains it as being very small, most small,
miniature created beings, you know, for the whole of humanity
ever to exist. They were all gathered together, and God
manifested himself in front of them. And then he said, Aren't I
your Lord? And they said, Of course you are.
So the whole idea of this is that why would they deny when there's
nothing has happened to them to corrupt them, deter them, distract
them, convince them, otherwise, they've come from the PRL. So
having had that experience, though, I guess the majority of us
if not all of us have probably never, never recalled something.
Does anybody recall that experience? Because there have
been people in history who say they've recalled that experience
in sub subconscious, right? That's not my area of study. So I leave
that. But the whole idea is that from that experience, in that
first existence, which is the existence of the soul of humans,
then the second existence is when we come into this world. And the
way that happens is that when any embryo reaches the 120, day mark,
around 120/3 trimester, in the womb, of the mother, that's the
body forming, that's the baby forming of a particular size, by
that date. By those days, number of days. That's when they say that
our particular soul which was in the abode of souls, or spirits,
that is then attached to our body, that's the Islamic understanding
that it's about 120 days, when the soul is attached to this human
this embryo. Now we say that now, beyond this stage, no abortions
are permitted. Whereas before that, under certain circumstances,
abortions are permitted in Islam, under certain specific
circumstances. But after 120 days, they're not because now we think
this is a living, human being, I don't want to get into the whole
pro life, Pro.
pro choice not getting into that. I'm just explaining the narrative
here.
So now we come, then we're born into the world. After nine months
or so we're born into the world, and that's when our second life
begins. Our first life is hardly recalled by most people. But our
second life begins.
When we die from this place, when we die and leave and depart this
place, however, a person dies, whether they interned into the
ground, whether they're cremated, whether they're consumed, God
forbid, by an animal, or whatever the case may be, or they never
varied at all, we move into a third life. That's what we call
the Intermediate Realm. It's called the Baroque in Arabic, it's
an intermediate realm. It's like a waiting period, just waiting for
all humans eventually, because until the last day, there's we
believe in the last day,
when the last day then occurs, and finally everybody has perished.
And there's nothing remaining except God, the Creator, then when
he decides to start the fourth life,
the fourth life is called Yokoyama, the Day of Judgment, the
Day of Gathering, the Day of Resurrection, that has been
described in various different names depending on what's
happening on that particular during that particular time.
That's, again, a time what as Muslims, we believe that those
who've done good will be rewarded. Those who have done evil will be
punished justly. And that's the that's the time when the judgment
will take place. So that's the fourth life of judgment. And
again, that's not supposed to be like a long life when in fact,
none of these four lives are supposed to be very long lives,
though in this world. We do. Some people do stay around for
7080 90 100
Read maybe 125 years, right? Maybe even more. But at the end of the
day, when you compare that to an endlessness, it's really nothing.
So then, then ultimately, you get to the fifth life. So again, a
boat of the souls first life, a boat of this world, then the
Intermediate Realm is the third one, the Day of Judgment,
resurrection, fourth one. And then the fifth one is ultimately
paradise and hellfire. Right, and that is them forever. Right? That
is them forever. Now, we're not going to focus on any of this was
just to give an idea of how Islam understands existence, especially
of human beings, and where they are, where they're going. So we're
right now in according to that in the second phase of our life,
which is the most important phase of our life, because in the first
realm, we had no consciousness that we could understand things,
we don't recall it. There are traditions that mentioned, for
example, that people who are close together in the abode of souls
that were looking at each other, they end up having a congeniality
between them in the world,
those who are looking apart, then sometimes they have an aversion in
this world. Sometimes I meet somebody new, I'm sure everybody's
experienced this, you meet somebody new, and you can just hit
it off with them very easily. So almost things, it's almost seems
like wow, that was so easy, like I've known you for so long. And
there's other people that we have to work together with sometimes.
And we find it so difficult to basically gain a familiarity, like
you have to really work hard on it.
In fact, some of the experience that we may have had is that
sometimes you see a person they've done nothing wrong to us. They've
nothing, nothing wrong to others either. But for some reason, we
just have an aversion towards them. For whatever reason,
sometimes we can't even tell, like, I just don't like that guy,
I get a vibe, right? And they've done nothing wrong to us. So I
used to wonder about that a lot. Finally, there's a, there's a
classical scholar of Egypt, who finally I found the response to
that guidance, so that he says when you feel like that, they've
done nothing wrong to you. Right? And you just feel like that, then
you must try to ask yourself why you don't like this person.
You must pray for them, you must try to give them a gift to maybe
just to remove that because acrimony between human beings is
not a good thing. It leads to much worse things. Maybe we just don't
like the way they sit. Maybe we don't like the way they talk. But
they to be honest, I mean, we may call people weird.
And I remember I called somebody weird once to a friend of mine,
who's kind of a wise guy. And he said,
everybody's weird to some other. Everybody's weird to others. We
may I may call somebody else weird from my perspective, but at the
end of the day, I am probably weird to some people as well.
Right? So weird is a very relative term. But anyway, that that I
don't want to I don't want to belabor that too much to move on.
Then you have the whole concept of soulmates, right? If somebody
finds a soulmate, wonderful, sometimes you don't find your
soulmate.
Then what happens is this. Since we're focused on this particular
existence of the world, this existence has also five phases.
For the most part, I told you, there's going to be quite a few
fives I want to get no confusion. So the this particular phase, you
have five phases, first is the phase of childhood, infancy and
childhood that they say is from birth until a person physically
matures. So that would mean basically until about the age of
1213, or 14. So that's basically the onset of puberty. Until then,
a person is considered a child, the very specific
state that is because a person is then considered to be infallible.
If they die, they they there's no reckoning for children. There's no
reckoning for children in Islam. whatever religion they may be
from, they're most likely going to paradise anyway, because there's
no reckoning there. inerrant, infallible, even if they seem to
do something wrong, okay, then you get questions about those children
who murdered somebody else. That's a that's a kind of a side
discussion.
The second phase of this life is from maturity and puberty until it
until the age of 35. And that is considered youth. So in Islam in
general, youth, it doesn't end that 25 or whatever, you know,
when do most people
Youth ends, never ends, maybe
anybody have an idea of where you think youth ends. Now I'm kind of
into middle age.
When you go to your youth Ensign, oh, man, that's, that's sad, man,
you got a long way to go yet. So youth apparently is until 35, I'm
quoting a very, a very, very prominent scholar who kind of gave
who kind of laid this out for us ignore Josie of the sixth century.
So that is until age of 35. Now, I've got a lecture on this, which
is I don't want to go. This is not the main point of my lectures, I
don't want to get into this too much. from 35 until 50 is
considered middle age. That's when a person gets intellectually
mature,
generally, around the age of 40, is there an intellectual maturity
period, we will stop taking the risks that we would do when you're
young, your insurance will probably come down by then as
well. Right? Because they've got it all figured out. Right? Because
there's certain changes in the brain when you're 20, up to 30.
When you're still a teenager, teenager, 1920 1819 and 20, though
we've matured, in a certain sense, but parts of our brain have not
matured, the risk taking factor has not matured yet. So sometimes,
that's why they find that the most risk prone age group is that late
teens, meaning the 1920 2122 and as we go up to 30, the brain
matures, that and we become more fixed in our ways, we're less
flexible in that regard. We are more conscious. That's why during
that those teenagers, people are willing to do all sorts of crazy
stuff. Right? And that's they're very vulnerable at that point as
well. That's when a lot of people are taken advantage of and so on
and so forth. Anyway, from the age of 50, then to 70 they call that
seniority, seniority, and then beyond 70 and that and again I
think this 70 is quite fluid it could be earlier it could be later
is then called decrepitude anything beyond that evil old age
for some people God forbid where you know you're stuck on a bed and
everybody has to wait wait on your you know, there's there's no
independence and that the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon us to
actually seek refuge from that kind of a state. Oh, God, I seek
your refuge from evil old age.
Allah Khomeini are also becoming al haram. I mean, an aura, the
Illa or the will, Omar, that that was because you just don't want to
be like that towards the end after having enjoyed a peak of life
before that. So that's the that is this life. Now the five different
stages of this life, infancy, childhood, youth, middle age,
until from 35 to 40, sorry, 50 and then seniority, and then possibly
senility, decrepitude, and so on and so forth. Right now. So what
does Islam do for me?
To give it that thought, because I remember being asked that
question, what does Islam mean to you? Now, for a lot of us, Islam
means many things, oh, I have to pray five times, you could be very
reductionist and say, it just means I have to pray five times a
day. For some seasons, like I have to cover up. I can't eat
McDonald's, I can't have a Big Mac, you know, at least not in
England. Right? If you go to Pakistan, you got the halal
McDonald's there, or in Morocco, for example, if, if you're that
that is what excites somebody, right. So what does Islam mean to
each person? So when I gave it a bit of a thought, a lot of people
I mean, if you've ever looked into Islam as what Islam is, the first
thing they will probably tell you is another five is that Islam is
based on five pillars. Right? Who's heard of the five pillars?
There you go, right, that's like 40% of heard of the five pillars.
Again, I think that's extremely reductionist way of explaining
what Islam is, because the five pillars which are extremely
important, is to bear witness and to testify that there is no God
except Allah, Muhammad is Allah's Messenger. Number two is to pray
five times a day number three is to fast during the month of
Ramadan.
Number four is to undertake the pilgrimage when you've got enough
money to go there, to Mecca. And number five is to give the poor
due if you have sufficient wealth, over the course of a year. Now,
when you think about those five things, what about environmental
issues? What about animal rights? What about my neighbor? What about
the elderly? What about the helpless? What about children?
What about the poor? That doesn't seem to figure in these five
pillars today? At least not directly. So that's why I think
that if you explain Islam, if you understand Islam as just being
based on five pillars, which it is, but those five pillars,
actually the five pillars of one dimension of Islam, so again, this
is the third set
5g spoken about the five pillars, let me introduce to you the last
set of five that I will talk about today.
The way I look at it is that Islam is actually based on five
paradigms,
five different paradigms.
And that's what makes it comprehensible. Comprehensive for
me, is the five paradigms.
One of those paradigms is based upon the five pillars, but there's
four other paradigms, and they basically will answer for me,
question related to my existence, where I came from, where I'm
supposed to go, yes, you only live once, but in a whole different
context, right?
Is there a paradise and *
are there unseen creations that we don't see today, is the concept
of, for example, angels, jinn, and so on and so forth.
Then there's the whole aspect of wishes. So the five paradigms are
like this, this is going to be the last one and the main one, which
is the main feature of this talk today. So if you forget if you've
forgotten, and you don't want to remember all the fives, but at
least remember this five, sort of a paradigm service Islam. The
first one starts with belief, it has to start with that. What is my
perspective in this world?
What do I believe?
What is my viewpoint,
because based on belief is how we live live this life. Belief is one
of the most important factors for any of us to get something
accomplished.
conviction in the conviction in the heart, a conviction about
something, a resolution about something. That's what matters to
most of us. That's what drives us. That's what allows us to undertake
difficulties to get somewhere.
People generally quite have this question that why is there
suffering in this world? Can you imagine if there was no suffering,
there'd be no happiness in this world?
Suffering makes you better people don't have to suffer through your
exams, when you study here.
Right? Don't you have to suffer through that to get better, then
you get a degree and then you can get any job wherever you like,
hopefully, right.
So the first paradigm of Islam The first area is the belief and the
Creed and theology and purpose, it that's what it is. So that's where
I learned that there is a God.
I don't want to go into giving you the various different proofs for
the existence of God, the ontological argument,
teleological, that's not the point, I'm just giving you that
outline. It tells me all of these things where I came from, where
I'm supposed to go, and what am I supposed to believe? How do I deal
with various different emotions, and so on, and so forth. That's
the creedal aspect. Now, once through that dimension, I've
understood that there's a God, there's a creator, and he wants me
to worship him and express my devotion, especially for allowing
me to be here.
I know, the whole concept of the existence of God is a very, it's
become a very complicated aspect, because we don't want to think
about it. We're so satisfied with life with what we have, that we're
never, you know, many of us are never in a sufficiently vulnerable
state to actually start thinking, Is there something beyond this?
Because when we're, essentially when you've got Amazon Prime, and
you can buy anything, and have it to your door, the next day, or
maybe even the same day, and we've got a great level of security in
this country where we're not fearful about walking on the
streets as they are in other countries.
We're not we have we enjoy a relatively good level of health
and health facilities, health services.
I know NHS is constantly you know, big questions about the NHS, but
I've lived in America where you had to even just to visit a
doctor, you paid even having insurance, you still paid $40
copay. Here, you know, NHS is an absolute blessing, right? May God
keep it so because I know there's people who are probably trying to
eradicate it.
Once I've understood that there's a there's a God I need to devote
myself to, I need to focus on him. This is now going to take me into
the second dimension. The second paradigm, the second dimension,
which is the bill which is the worship dimension in Arabic, this
is called arriba arriba. That devotions
because I figured out that what's my responsibilities to my Creator.
So in this one, the in this second dimension is now when I have to
express my devotion and I express express my devotion through the
five pillars. This is where the five pillars are situated. They
are the five pillars of
worship, the five pillars of devotion, declaring that there is
no God except Allah, that God is the only deity worthy of worship.
And Muhammad is Allah's Messenger after a series of messengers, I'll
probably go into that a bit more because that that's one of the
main points we want to highlight today out of this entire
understanding of what Islam is, then prayer five times a day,
which is to express my devotion physically, then there's fasting
during the month of Ramadan, which has its own health benefits. But
the main reason I do it is to actually take control of myself
again. So I'm told to withhold from
permissible things like eating and drinking from morning to evening.
So what then happens is that I can hopefully tame my soul against
things that are bad for it. Because the reason why we we
become addicted to things is because we give up to our soul,
then there's the addiction.
And that could be very bad things that we become addicted to. So
what Ramadan helps supposedly Muslims to do is that you're going
to tell yourself, I can't eat, drink, or have permit lawful
sexual * between these two times.
That means when I want a coffee, I wanted a coffee right now and our
friend, he bought me a cup. But if this was Ramadan, and daytime, and
I was dying for a coffee, I couldn't have another sap to tell
myself No, eventually I'll get used to that, my, my ego, my soul,
my desire will be in some control.
Then we've got the pilgrimage, that only has to be done once in
your life, if you've got enough money to go, and nowadays costing
between maybe 5000 to 7000 pounds, right to go there.
Then of course, there's the car, the pode, you does the car, the
poor do, which is 2.5% of your annual retained wealth if it's
over a certain threshold. So you're not going to get charged
2.5% of every penny you earn, like the tax does, right?
It's whatever you retained. So if you spend all of your wealth
throughout the year, and you've got less than 200 pounds to your
name, for example, there is no zakat for you.
But if you've got more than about 300 pounds at the end of the year,
then you pay proportionately 2.5% of that. What is 2.5% of 300
pounds.
Maths.
There you go. 75 pounds, is it?
That's a bit too much, I think. Seven pounds, 50 100 pounds. 2.5%
is two pound 50. It's just I mean, I can understand why you make the
mistake, right? Seven pounds 50. That's all you pay. Right? But
that's exactly what it is. It's very proportionate. If you're a
student, and you're not retaining much well, but you got about 300
pounds to your name. All you have to give a seven pound 50. Yes, if
you've got 3000, that's when you get to 75 pounds, still not a lot
of money and 75 on seven on
TV, say on 3000. It's not that much, right. But the what they've
what they've
what they've shown is that if those in the world who have more
than this amount, are to give 2.5% of this wealth to the poor,
there will be no, no more poor people.
It's as simple as that just give 2.5%.
Right
of your wealth for everybody who's got more than 300 pounds, for
example, at the end of the year, there will be no poor people. And
at least once that's been demonstrated in North Africa, this
was in the towards the end of the first century of Islam. And the
ruler of the Muslim world, I think was Omar, Abdullah Abdullah Aziz
in North Africa, he only rule for two years and some months. Within
this time, he made such a fair system of distribution, everything
else that in North Africa.
People went with their zakat money to disperse it to people and there
was nobody that could accept it. Because there was nobody
technically poor.
You would give it to people who have less than 300 pounds as to
their name. Right? If you've got more than theory, you give it to
those people. This is an amazing system. Anyway, that is the
worship aspects. The five pillars are the worship aspect. I'll come
back to the main point which is the testimony of faith bearing
witness that there's no God except Allah. Muhammad is Allah's mercy.
I'm going to come back to that, but I just want to finish off the
other three paradigms, since I've talked about the last five. So the
first paradigm paradigm was which one, the belief aspect, you call
that in Arabic and call that the Aqeedah? If you want
All right, aka
Deckard, right? Beliefs. The second one was a badass, which
basically means worships devotions. DivX? How do I show my
devotion to God? Number three, then and number four are very
similar. They both to do with social interaction.
Because humans are social beings.
When you talk about the five pillars to people, if there's
somebody who's thinking they're gonna think well, is that all
Islam is just showing your devotion to God? What is my
responsibility towards others. This is where the third and fourth
paradigm come in.
The third paradigm, I mean, it's not in any particular order. But
the first two are definitely in order. third, and fourth. One is
on a transactional level. As human beings, we transact with others on
a contractual basis. So for example, if you want to rent a
room, rent a house, that's a contract, you want to buy a
coffee, you want to buy something else, that's a contract, marriage
is a contract. And according to some scholars, it's also a form of
devotion. But mainly, it's a contract, because you have to
Solomon is the marriage, people have to agree there's a certain
marriage payment given. So it's a contract,
then you've got things like the judicial system also comes into
this paradigm, you need a judicial system where you have people,
because people inevitably conflict with one another, unfortunately,
or fortunately, however, you want to look at that. You need them
somebody to arbitrate those matters. Somebody say who's right
and who's wrong. Divorces take place, there's custody issues. So
contracts have to be drawn up in custody issues. So all of that
comes under the third paradigm of social interaction on a
contractual level.
There's a contract there, an agreement. The fourth one, then is
when we interact with others on a non contractual basis, which
basically means what is my responsibility to my neighbor?
That's the responsibility.
There is a huge, a huge corpus of guidance in each one of these, and
I'm just giving you the whole outline without going into depth.
First, second, and third, I mean, we could speak about each one for
days on end. Right. So this fourth one, which I want to spend a bit
more time on, before we move on, is social interaction. So what's
my responsibility towards animals? What is my responsibility towards
the environment? What are my responsibilities towards, for
example, let's just talk about the animal one.
You know, when you're driving, and you suddenly see your friend, or
somebody, you know, coming from the opposite direction or next to
you. And it's a quiet road. So you roll down the windows, and you
have a conversation with him or her right, whoever it is.
Now, when it's a very quiet roads, 15 minute conversation.
So what happened is the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said,
Now in a car, I guess the car doesn't doesn't have a problem
with you sitting in the car. But if you're riding a horse, as I was
coming through Oxford, sold these old buildings, you know, several,
at least a few 100 years old. It just took me back into history,
that these places they were probably designed for horses and
the cart. And that's how people traveled in those days before the
cars. So if you're on an animal and you see somebody else coming
by, don't and you're going to have a conversation on your camera or
your horse or whatever, get off and have that conversation.
Don't make it basically the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him
said that don't make the backs of your animals to be pulpits where
you sit on there for a very long time and bother the animal.
There was an animal, an old camera, something that came once
to the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him just put his head down.
And the probably Mohammed is saying that whose animal is whose
is this, it is complaining that you use that you you took it
service for all of these years. And now you just want to, you just
want to slaughter it. Right? So these are just a few of the
traditions that we have about just animal rights.
About neighbors. I think if you live in student accommodation, and
neighbors, that's a really big issue. Do not pump up your music.
Don't have parties that you don't let the next person sleep. I used
to be in Santa Barbara, California for about eight years of my life
and have a wonderful university which is right on the beach. UC
Santa Barbara University of California, Santa Barbara, and is
considered a party school where the parties begin on Thursday
night. So Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, four days of
partying.
Oxford's probably boring right.
In terms of that,
But
But the biggest, the biggest challenge, there was the noise
factor. Because you're having you think you're having a party with
the music pumping up within the confines of your own home. But
there is a sound pollution, the music, the sound carries in the
sun, they don't basically the Prophet Muhammad in our in our
jurisprudence
don't build extensions in a way that it's going to, for example,
block your neighbor's light. I mean, it's the council will tell
you the same thing today anyway, you, you can't unless you get your
neighbor's approval, you can't build extensions like that. So
that fourth paradigm is very comprehensive. Once the Prophet
Muhammad peace be upon him said that the angel Jibreel came to me
so many times to
advise me about my neighbor, to such a degree that I thought he
was going to make the neighbor, my inheritor. Now, I know we live in
a time of individualism. A lot of times we don't even know who our
neighbor is, though we live right next to them.
I remember once I was in the post office in America, and they have
passport, assistance for passport form filling there. So I remember
the guy he was helping a woman fill fill in the, and then it came
to her address, and he's like, you're my neighbor.
Can you believe it? They didn't even know that. And in America,
people are a lot more chatty and talkative than in England. You
can't sit on the under in a subway in America and not talk to
somebody, it means you've got a problem. Whereas in England, if
you talk to somebody, you got a problem, right? Because I remember
when I first came back from American, I was like, hello to
somebody just like, they just look at you like you want something
from them. Whereas in America, they say that you can't walk maybe
25 steps without talking to somebody unless you've got a
problem with them. It's amazing, especially in California where I
was. So the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, he said that, you
know, I thought he was going to make them inherit, I thought he
was going to make them inherit.
Inheritance is a big issue. Inheritance means that it's
generally goes to your relatives, your cousins, your blood, your
kin.
So neighbor is very important. In fact, in Islam,
your neighbor is not your immediate neighbor. But it's 40
houses
10, that way, 10 this way, 10 that way, and 10 that way, because at
the end of the day, they're the ones who are supposed to watch out
for you. Good old neighbor, watch. In those days, at least, nowadays,
we just want to kind of get in and out. Don't want anybody to know,
right? But anyway, maybe it's a different culture we're speaking
about, but either way, respecting your neighbors respecting the
elderly, the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said that the
one who doesn't honor the Elder, the older person, and doesn't show
mercy to the younger one, he's not one of us, you want to be a true
believer, then you must show respect and honor to the elder and
show mercy to the young. In fact, in one tradition, it says that
those of you who I'm paraphrasing, those of you who show respect and
honor to the one with gray hair, expecting them to be older, right,
then God will have somebody on a you when you're there as well,
what goes around comes around, and so on. There's there's just so
many in that social interaction issue.
Then, the last paradigm. So again, we had the belief we had the
worship and devotion, we had social transactions. Number four
was social interaction just on a normal basis, where you're not
giving anything you're just
And number five is then what's left?
What else do you need in life? Where else do we need guidance?
Can anybody guess?
What's missing? Because at the end of the day, any faith must be able
to answer all your questions, any faith, right, any comprehensive
faith must be able to it can't just be that one day of the week
you go and you have you know, you you do a bit of worship, that
cannot be a full fledged faith, of faith needs to inform us in
everything. Doesn't mean it has to make your life dull. It just means
that it has to inform every aspect of our life and give us guidance.
So we've dealt with belief and purpose and and perspective.
We've, we've we've talked about devotion, showing our devotion,
we've talked about social interaction and social
transactions. What is that? Is there anything left?
Anything missing?
Do we have emotions?
Do we fight within ourselves? Do we have internal challenges? Do I
have excessive anger? Do I just hate people for no reason? Well,
forgive me but aren't there people in the world that just hate people
for no reason? They just hating Steve
Ji so stinginess miserliness.
Overly desirous of
addictions, for example, that's all trouble within the self.
That's ethics. That's the fifth paradigm coming. After all of
everything else coming back to the self. How can I replace because
every one of us is challenged in different ways, for example,
right? Just think about it.
If you look at yourself, and if you've got a brother or sister
sibling,
is, would you say that one of you is definitely more generous than
the other more more open handed, more willing to give? And one is
slightly more tighter than the other? Would you say so?
Or are you both the same?
Do you want a reaction? Or is it so difficult? Or if you don't want
to look at yourself? Imagine two of your uncles aren't? Right. Is
one more generous than the other? I won't tell them.
Yes, I mean, that's normal, right? Yet, they're from the same family,
they probably grew up, same education, maybe same parents same
food even.
So why is one different than the other? What we believe is that God
creates everybody unique. And that's God's mastery that he's
created everybody unique. Even twins are
alike in many ways, but they're still very different. My brother
has twins, and clearly very different, though, they look very
similar.
If I've got a bit of a problem with being a bit tight, I'm not
going to be punished for that. I'm not that's not blameworthy, but
it's my challenge to rectify that, and make sure that I don't
withhold where my religion wants me to spend, which is if you
remember, the poor dude has got one of the five pillars right to
the poor, or where it's socially considered to be decent, and maybe
even socially necessary to spend for example, where would it be
socially necessary to spend where would you be socially demanded to
spend?
Anybody have an example for me?
Gifts, gifts, you're receiving gifts from everywhere but I don't
give gifts to anybody.
Right? In Islam we in our during ie the celebration you get Ed?
Right which is basically all your friends and neighbors and that
they give you they give you gifts on Eid like Christmas gifts,
right?
I mean, the Muslims will probably understand this quite easily
Right? Which is your you let your children receive but you say
Brother, it's a bitter I'm not going to give to anybody else.
Right this is an innovation This is not saying that you must give
so why should I give another one?
You go you go you go out to eat whenever you go out to eat right?
With your friends. I guess the students everybody pays for their
own anyway, right? Everybody orders their owns, but when you
when you start making some money, then generally one person pays.
Right? They treat everybody else. So now this person
when it comes time to pay for the bill, they go to wash their hands,
they go to the toilet.
Right? Second time he goes out to eat as friends.
Again, just waiting for all the guys coming the bill he goes off
again. Right? That is considered to be social miserliness that is
blameworthy in Islam. Why? What is it that stopping me from pain? So
the natural trait that I was born with being slightly tighter than
others, then that's a challenge I need to moderate that. On the
other hand, there's some people who are so open that they get
taken advantage of.
While that may be a better quality than because nobody likes a miser.
In fact, the scholars they generally the Ephesus in Islam,
they said that if you want to remove your miserliness look at
how blameworthy miserliness is in the, in your own sights, that if
you're going to travel with somebody, you don't want to be
with somebody who's miserly.
I've lived in a boarding school.
And I guess I don't really blame the guy, but
you know, we didn't. We used to go home maybe four times a year and
you bring your home food and you know, you didn't have so many much
money in those days. So one of my roommates used to
say,
eat his Packet of Crisps under the covers.
Now, I don't blame him because one packet of crisps, right, you're
going to share with seven people in the room. You're not going to
get left with much, but how can you hide eating packet of crisps?
It just makes too much noise. I don't it's just the plastic that
they use a crackles. Right?
So I guess if nobody's there and you eat that
Even understandable but here is like I need to eat right now. But
everybody's there, let me get into my covers and eat it. Right? Now,
these might seem like innocent little things, but at the end of
the day, a good Muslim, this fifth dimension is where they're
supposed to correct this stuff, most difficult dimension, because
all the others are very overt aspects. This one, because we love
ourself more than anybody else, it's very difficult for us to
actually even accept that we've got a problem. Because I love
myself more than anybody else, I'm going to justify a don't have a
problem. I don't have that problem. And if we have
narcissism, then people may tell us you've got a problem, we still
will not accept it, because I can't do any wrong. If I have not,
which is a psychological problem. Right? So that's the fifth
dimension, how do I replace my silliness with generosity now,
again, I said, if somebody is too generous, then he's gonna let
people walk over him. He's gonna then he or she will then spend
where they're not allowed to spend, they going to become
extravagant. And extravagant is also not allowed in Islam. The
Quran, Allah says in the Quran, that the extravagant those who
squandered their wealth, especially in the wrong just
because they got the money, they THE BROTHERS OF SATAN, right?
Because squandering is bad. We need to be generous, but that you
can't let people take advantage and you can't waste. God says in
the Quran, eat, drink, but don't waste Don't be wasteful. So that's
what Islam does. For me, it gives me all of these things, remove
feelings of anger, moderate my anger, feelings of over desire,
just to basically want to eat everything in sight or want to,
even for some people, it's getting involved in sexual deviancy is
going beyond the norm, and wanting to addictions to sexual deviancy
is, that's also a problem with the heart.
How do you correct this stuff? So generally, they say the best way
to correct that is to have somebody honest and sincere, maybe
a very good friend that you're really sincere friend, or a
sincere guide somebody a mentor, that can basically correct these
things. And I mean, our parents tried to do it when we were
growing up. Right. So it's about trying to learn to introspect. So
that's the fifth dimension. So I believe that if a person wants,
for me, at least if I want guidance in any aspect of my life,
whether that's related to myself deep down, whether that's related
to what I must do, and express how I must act with somebody.
Right, then I believe that Islam provides, through these five
dimensions, it provides that for me.
So those were the five dimensions. Now to finish off, I just want to
discuss the testimonies of faith, which is basically part of the
worship. It's the first aspect of it's the first pillar of Islam
right within the dimension of devotion, worships. It's called
tested testimony of faith. Now, why is that so important? The
reason it's so important is that, for me to be a believer, and say,
I am a sub I've submitted to God and be a believer, I must say this
to myself, between me and God, there is no God except Allah. This
is the formula of faith for a Muslim. It's the most powerful
statement any Muslim can make. Because without that they can't be
Muslim. And if they don't say it, and they disbelieve in it, then
they're out of faith. It's what brings a person into faith, and it
can take a person out of faith if they don't abide by it. It's
called the formula of faith La ilaha illallah, Muhammad Rasool
Allah, which essentially means there is no God. There is no
object worthy of worship among the many examples of samples or ideas
in the world of people having Did you see a deity, an object of
worship is a very natural
need of a human being. It's an inherent need. In fact, what
people need is they want to feel that they can relate to something
they can give their life for something they can love something
they can feel love, feel protected almost. I know today that a lot of
this has been replaced with
iPhone mania, Apple, I mean, to be able to stay outside the shop for
two days in advance to buy the first one, just bragging rights
not because you need a phone, right?
football teams, people
certain fanatical following of football and other sports, for
that matter, show very similar signs to people of religion and
their fanaticism. If they if they went overboard into fanaticism,
right.
God doesn't want us to be fanatical. He just wants us to be
adherent. So humans have a natural and generally it's something big
So that's why you've got in some places this tree, the banyan tree
in Africa, right? So amazing tree really, right? That's a god.
The cow is the God because it gives milk which sustains your
life for some people. The reproductive organ for some people
is a god because life comes from it. Idle statues, individuals,
dead people who are saints become God.
Because humans have a need for it with everybody, we just we just
replace it with something else. We replace it with something to show
our adherence to.
Would you say, binging on Netflix is a is a faith now? Because it's
very addictive, isn't it? Right? Soon as you finish one, the next
one comes up, right?
Anyway.
So
saying La ilaha illAllah. There is no deity worthy of worship among
all the possible deities, except God except Allah. Because this is
not something I can do right now. But if anybody wants to do this,
take the concepts of any God in this world that people have,
whether that be whatever concept, whether that be from the Christian
perspective, whether that be from the Muslim perspective, Jewish
perspective, Buddhist perspective, any concept of God in the world,
put them side by side,
and analyze and compare. And you'll probably find that the
Muslim concept of God is probably one of the most comprehensive,
spanning every idea every part of your life that you would need to
maybe call out to a deity for or need a deity. And again, we can't
do that right now. That's a huge topic on its own. So La ilaha
illAllah. There is no God except Allah. This is what a Muslim must
believe. And then Mohammed is Allah's Messenger.
This same formula of faith would have been different for earlier
nations. For those who followed Moses, peace be upon it would have
been La ilaha illallah, Musa Karim Allah. There is no God except
Allah and Moses is the interlocutor with God, because he
is known to have spoken to God like unlike how others had. He's
called the interlocutor with God, Abraham peace be upon him. De La
ilaha illallah Ibrahim Hari Lola there is no God except Allah
Ibrahim Abraham Peace Be Upon Him is the very close friend of Allah.
Right then you've got Isa Jesus peace to Allah ilaha illallah, Isa
Ruhollah Isa Jesus is the spirit of God, because he was born
without a father, his his, his spirit was blown directly into his
mother, we believe as Muslims, that Jesus was born miraculously
without a father. Right? So we believe that all of these prophets
were real prophets, and it's their religion at their time, that was
irrelevant. But then as things changed, and became altered, God
sent another prophet, and hence after Abraham and so on, then it
was Moses, peace be upon him, his his religion was applicable. But
then, unfortunately, things became changed in there and altered. And
the scripture became altered as the Muslims would believe that God
sent Jesus peace be upon him. But again, the same thing happened
with Jesus's teachings. The original Evangel is very different
to the current, a Bible, which is a set of so many books that were
chosen, and some were taken out somewhere included in the modern
gospel as such in the third century, at the Council of Nicaea.
Either way, then we had the Prophet Muhammad peace and which
is supposed to have abrogated all those systems and thus he's the
last of the prophets, right? And that's why the Quran which is the
book of the Muslims, remains unaltered in its original language
is not this translations available, but the original Arabic
exists? And
it still remember I mean, I know I'm, I've memorized the entire 800
or so pages by heart. So has he has anybody else?
Right?
There's six year olds that have memorized it today, I can show you
in England, seven year olds, 10 year olds memorize it. And God
knows how they memorize it. Because just memorizing a poet at
school, a poem at school is quite complicated today, but then
memorize all the whole thing. Right?
So we believe that's the final word and that's relevant today. Of
course, people can misconstrue the interpretation, misapplied, and
thus you have extremism in some places. I want to be honest about
that. Now this testimony of a la ilaha illallah, Muhammad Rasool
Allah.
It is such a powerful statement that anybody who says it makes
them inviolable. So even if Muslims are at war with someone,
right, and they say La ilaha illallah that say you can't touch
them,
even if they've done all the wrong to you, but now they've said La
ilaha illAllah Muhammad Rasool Allah, you cannot touch them. Once
the there was
An army that was a group of Muslims that were fighting with
somebody, there was some issue that had taken place. And this one
particular guy went and killed so many people and then when a person
called Osama bin Laden, right, this is Osama ignorance aid,
right? I'm not sure if he got his name from him, but Osama ignores
aid.
He
still killed him, skill kill that guy, even though he had said the
formula of faith
that was reported to the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.
And he told Osama of so much, though he was his most beloved
young boy, young, younger man, he loved him so much, because
they had a very good relationship, but he told him off so much. That
was Ahmed said, I wish that I had not become Muslim until today,
because this is a mark on my slate. From then on, he actually
became a pacifist.
He would not take part later on, I mean, took part in the major
battles that were needed the defensive ones, and so on. But
later on, when there was some intense cover, he just said, No,
I, I can't deal with this. And I don't want to make a mistake
again.
So the formula faith is very powerful for Muslims.
The Prophet sallallahu sallam said, the Prophet Muhammad said
that renew your faith. So they said, how do we renew our faith
said read La Ilaha illa Allah, they say it's one of the best
forms of remembrance. Now one of the most amazing things before I
carry on about La ilaha illa, Allah is this.
Just look at my lips,
La Ilaha, il Allah,
La ilaha IL Allah, no movement, it's just the movement of the
tongue is literally made up of a few letters. It's literally just
made up of your lamb. And if Hamza La ilaha illa, Allah, I could
literally be sitting there reading the formula, nobody would know
that better. There's no letters in there that you have to push the
lips, there's no letter, it's the most simplest formula that you can
do. And yet it's the most powerful. And then there's a
number of other analysis done on it in terms of how it makes you
feel, just learn a one a one very comforting meditation, it's just
say,
in la la, la ilaha, Illa Allah Sinan.
very silent. It. People have said that when they do this, of course,
I mean, I'm not this is subjective to whoever does it. They've said
that they they find that it de stresses you. And God knows best.
I mean, if that works for you, we'll hamdulillah
some other things that have been mentioned about it just for the
benefit of whoever this is relevant, whoever finds this
relevant. Anybody who reads the creme de la ilaha illAllah.
Constantly, they will never find loneliness. That means when
they're dying and leaving this world, they will not be lonely.
Right, they won't feel estranged. And of course, that requires a bit
of belief to understand that.
And also in the hereafter for Muslims the hereafter. Remember,
the last life is the the main life. So that makes a lot of sense
for them.
Anybody who says that there's a tradition of the Prophet Muhammad.
He says that anybody who says La ilaha illallah before they die on
their deathbed, to remember that, can you imagine what people what
would be going through a person's mind when they're about today? If
there is no God, except ALLAH, God is foremost in their mind as it is
for many Muslims.
In fact, if you're not seeing it, people around you will encourage
you to say it, because they say there's a promise that anybody who
says La ilaha illallah on their deathbed, they go to paradise.
Because if you're a really bad person, you probably won't be able
to say Lila illAllah. Because that's a gift to be able to say
Hola. Hola. Hola. Hola. It's not something that you can train for.
And do all the bad in the world and then still say it.
It's almost like divinely
bestowed on somebody to say this.
That's why people I mean, in Muslims, they will tell you that
when somebody somebody in their family dies, and they've said La
ilaha illa they get so excited like yes, he said Lila is gone.
That's wonderful, because that's a big deal for Muslims.
De La Ilaha. Illallah is called different names in the Quran, is
called the test. It's called the testimony the shahada, Kalamata
Shahada. It's called a cold Thabeet. The firm word which is
firm in this world firm in the hereafter keeps you firm. It's
called Kalamata yoga, which means the good word, right, the Pure
Word, the pure formula, you can say. It's called
the lasting word, the enduring word because it will take you and
help you in the hereafter. There's various traditions about that I
don't want to get into right now is called of course the formula of
Divine unity. Because that is what how a Muslim expresses the Divine
unity of law like there is no God except Allah. Muhammad Rasul Allah
Mohammed is Allah's Messenger is called The Word of piety, the
formula of piety Kadima to Taqwa because that expresses a person's
piety when they say it is called Kanemoto ikhlas, the formula of
sincerity. And it's also referred to as methyl Arella, the highest
example. Now there's numerous Hadith which tells you for Muslims
that if you repeat this many times in the day after fajr, the morning
prayer after the evening prayer, when you go into the market and
you read this, then you get this many rewards. Because it's
basically about reminding oneself when they're in positions of
distraction, then states of distraction when they could just
be getting too indulgent to remember God. That's why has a
huge amount of reward.
Other traditions from a metaphysical perspective, it's
written on the throne, the Kadima is written on the throne, the
formula, another version, notice that it's written on the divine
tablet, it's like one of the main things on the divine tab, a local
food, which is the divine traveler that includes the information of
everything that is going to occur in this world.
And
the second part of it is Muhammad Rasool Allah, Muhammad is Allah's
Messenger, as I've described that God said, I'm to the Prophet
Mohammed, I'm going to have your name linked to mine.
So every time whenever Muslims take the name of God, they
generally have to say Muhammad Rasool Allah, there's no God
except Allah. And Muhammad is Allah's Messenger. So for me, just
to recap, because I know time is getting on and need to give you
time for questions. For me, very simply put, when I started
thinking about Islam, what it does for me, because I think this was
the point that I had gone off on a tangent and didn't come back to is
that as a Muslim, you're born on this natural faith, right? When
you become of the discerning age to decide for yourself. And then
you say, okay, Islam is my faith, even though I was born in a Muslim
household, but I take Islam as my faith, that's when it becomes what
they call a quiet faith. Now we're responsible.
So when I became have that kind of agent beyond the bit I can't say
was exactly then, but obviously, sometime later,
this is what I understood Islam to give me the five dimensions,
beliefs, perspectives, then worship, social interaction,
social
contracts, transactions, and number five, coming back to
myself, purifying myself making myself a better person. Removing
my blameworthy traits, I've got a lot of them I need to I'm still
working on it. Right, trying to inculcate good traits.
So that's the five. And the five pillars are just five pillars of
the second dimension, which is of worships. Thank you very much,
like a lot here for listening. And
if you have any questions, clarifications, inshallah I'll
take them. So I guess the question is that, what I mentioned about
Oussama story, some even Osito, the Allah one, and how the Prophet
peace building was very upset that he had actually ended up killing
the person despites in La ilaha illAllah. So the whole idea is
then that the question that arises from the is that if you were so
upset by that, why is he even Okay, with the whole war in the
first place? So what you have to you, what we'll probably need to
do for that is to actually understand the early history of
Islam.
Not just the history of Islam, but the history of the world at the
time, we didn't have nation states. And to look at the meta
picture, the, on a large scale, you had the Roman Empire, the
Persian Empire, and there was just a constant skirmish on the
borders, their borders were very fluid in those days. If you were
not moving forward, they would you would be attacked. There was no
stability in those days, we've just probably had some form of
relative demarcation even then things go wrong in the last 100
years or so. All right, otherwise, there's this constant movement.
Now the Prophet Muhammad peace when he escaped from Mecca, where
he was being where he was born, and he was being persecuted.
Finally, they found a safe haven in a city that's about four hours
away today call Yathrib which then was later just called the Prophet
city, Madina, Munawwara, but people didn't leave them alone.
The people from Mecca constantly attacking them. Now, when you're
attacked, what are you going to do? You have to survive? You have
to basically say, basically, protect yourself. So essentially,
most, if not all, I mean, I haven't studied them all in depth,
but that's why I would suggest that
I'll get to that. Most of those were defensive wars, where
otherwise in effect on one occasion, when they got really
angry with the with the Prophet and his people prepared to be upon
him in Medina,
before there was just small tribal kind of skirmishes, right, that
will take place. In fact, in Madina Munawwara the two main era
eggs were at, though they were like similar family subdivided.
They had been at war with each other for over 100 years after the
Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, because some guy killed
somebody in the other family. So then they retaliated, and they
don't retaliate in a just way they retaliate. These guys then can
return it's all a tribal issue. Right? It's my pride. When the
Prophet peace were removed there, all of those two tribes became
Muslim peace strain finally, as Allah says in the Quran, a lifter
Boehner Columbia him, right, you could not Allah says you could not
have done this here, but God, unlivable. Allah is the one who
made them brought their hearts together, but the people outside
was still against them, because
these people had escaped Makkah, and so on and so forth. So what
the people from the original city Mecca did is that they basically
brought together one of the biggest armies that will ever come
together, called the ASVAB. And there's a whole chapter about it
in the Quran. Never in Arabia had a bigger a larger army being seen,
it's called the comrades, where they brought all the as many
tribes as possible to attack Medina, which is where the prophet
was living. Now, at that time, they couldn't the way they
defended themselves at that time, because they were outnumbered
probably, is that they built a trench around Medina. And while
those guys besieged it for about three days, but eventually, there
was a hurricane or storm or something. And then eventually
those guys retreated. So most of those, I mean, I would suggest
that for more information, because I mean, I could tell you the whole
history there, but most of those were defensive. However, within
that defense, the prophet one was very particular. Because for
Muslims, anybody who says La Ilaha, illallah, you can't judge
them beyond that. You can't say they're hypocrites, you can't say,
because we don't know what's in heart, the hearts of people. So
they've made this formula so powerful. So important, so
profound, anybody who says it, you must take it at face value. And if
he has taken it, that means he has just repented, if he's just killed
all of your people, but now he said that, it means he's no longer
your enemy, he's come over to your side, why would you want to kill
him for? Right? So the original point was defensive or justified,
because otherwise you're you're going to be killed. In those days,
people walked around with swords, you would just be killed. Right?
So it's very difficult for us to sometimes fathom that in the
streets of London, where the worst things were here is like
somebody's maybe murder, which is bad enough, in those days that the
whole situation was different. Right? Now, you can't use that
Muslims can't use that to go and aggress against people today, I
have to be clear about that. And I know, maybe this is what you're
referring to, we do have people who call who create hook, who
basically aggress against others, and kill others in the name of
Islam. That's the normal human weakness that they will find
something to justify their actions with. But there are many factors
of why they do that, is that Islam, that's telling them to do
that, if that was the case, then 1.7 to 8 billion Muslims in the
world would be a very terrifying force today. Right? But, you know,
I mean, I'm, I'm in the midst of quite a few Muslims, and I don't
feel scared. Right? I hope you don't, too, right. But, but I've
got a book in there, which is written by a very great
philosopher.
He's a prince, the prince is Ozzy, the king of the cousin of Jordan.
He's the cousin of the King of Jordan. But he's not just the
prince. He's got two PhDs, one from Princeton University and one
from another university. And the book is written is amazing. In
fact, he's got a chair of loving Oxford University that they fund.
And the book is written, which is one of the best books that I've
seen in a very long time to understand. It's called the
thinking Person's Guide to Islam, and he deals with the whole
concept of jihad very well. Right. And I would really suggest that if
you're really interested in that you should have because I don't
think I can do justice. It's a long discussion right now. But
hopefully that explains for you.
Yes.
What do you think?
The role of
mysticism? Wonderful, thank you very much for that question. I
just didn't call it mysticism. But you know, the last dimension,
coming back to the soul, coming back to the focus on the self,
that is essentially another name of that is mysticism. Or when you
say mysticism, there's a lot of mysticism out there. Right.
Mysticism I remember when I was an imam in Santa Barbara, I used to
get calls. Do you have any
kind of an exact term as mystic or Sufi gatherings? I said, Yes, we
haven't five times a day. Right? They said, No, we don't mean that.
We mean like, Do you have any wording Dervishes, and, you know,
there, there is mysticism, but then there's the order the
Orthodox, pure sanctioned form of mysticism, which is a very careful
one. And then there's the one which is a bit exists.
Arctic. Right? So there are many forms of mysticism. And I guess
scholars wouldn't consider all of them to be legitimate mysticism.
But that basically the main point of mysticism is that I correct
myself. I'm sincere to God. I'm sincere to myself and I'm sincere
to others goodwill, and I remove my blameworthy traits to the best
of my ability, and inculcate praiseworthy traits that I become
a good person. That's really what mysticism is primarily about.
Yes,
quickly, power the these five paradigm to describe better faith
and to your life.
I'm really interested about your five, five separations of light
plays into your third or fifth.
Oh, good, somebody's connecting the fives together, it's good. So
you're talking about the lives that so we're in the second phase
of our life. So
as I said, this is probably the most important phase of these five
existences, because the first one we're quite helpless, right? We
don't even know who we are. And this is when we have
consciousness, we develop consciousness. So, in a simple in
a simple sentence, this world is a plantation for the hereafter. You
do things here, you reap them in the hereafter. So while we don't
know of this covenant, we took with God's about, you know,
recognizing and so on, we're reminded of what God wants from us
in this world, through scriptures, through prophets, and through
other experiences in our life. For example, one of the most profound
experiences that a person can have is to experience the mortality.
For example, a lot of people they actually only get serious. When
they see an accident, whether they've been involved in one or
whether somebody else close to them, it makes them think because
today the world unlike probably all the generations before us,
right? You know, before about 200 years ago, if you want to
entertain yourself, what were your possibilities,
you go on like a street corner, you go to the theater, there were
a few possibilities to entertain yourself. Today, in the privacy of
your own bedroom, you can entertain yourself to death
literally on your phone, right. So it really is a massive distraction
as to the real purpose. To do anything, even if you don't look
at from a religious perspective just to do other things for for
others and be a good human being as opposed to just self indulgent,
being, you know, constantly on some social media or something.
And then when you actually meet those same friends on Facebook, in
real life, we're so awkward, right? So
what we do in this world, we're supposed to remember God do good,
every good deed we do gives us a reward, those reward they stack up
in the Hereafter, on the day of judgment and any wrong deed we do.
There's a concept of a black spot appearing in the heart. So that
personally were diminishing. Because we believe that the heart
is the most profound organ in the whole body, and the tradition of
the Prophet Muhammad peace, where it says that when your heart is
sound, your whole body will be sound in the way you carry
yourself, speak, do things for others, if it's corrupt, same
thing that's from a spiritual perspective, though, it's very
true from a cosmological perspective as well, right. So
if a person is good in this world, that third, that third life, the
bursa, they will it will be like a garden of paradise for them, they
will be interned, whether they be in their grave, or whatever they
will be experiencing through their sole bliss, which is a good sign
for things to come. And if they were bad people, then there is a
bit of it actually, I mean, while a lot of people don't like the
whole concept of suffering and punishment, but I think human
needs need it, because it's a very powerful symbol to, to sometimes
just bring us back to consciousness. So the whole idea
is that if we've done wrong, then that's a garden of * for us,
sorry, a pit of *, a garden of a pit of health. Then on the Day
of Judgment, for the good people, it's going to be like they're in a
five star. It's like they're in a lounge. Have you been to an
airport where your plane has been delayed, and you have to just sit
with everybody else and run around. And then you are traveling
business class or first class. I travel once in first class because
I had points. So traveling at HUD first class, I've been on Etihad
and others to Abu Dhabi before and that seven hours takes a very long
time. When you're on a normal class. When I was in first class,
I couldn't even try everything out. There was a shower in there,
there was everything in there, but it went so fast. When you are when
you are in that cooler. So it says that the good people they will be
in the shade of God a shade of the throne of God and Day of Judgment.
Those who are who are bad, they're going to be in a room
really bad misery before they even go to hellfire. So that's
basically the the depictions that we have of that and then
ultimately you end up in paradise. So how far
do you think imposes that imposes what?
Okay, that's another good. That's referring to basically decree
predestination free will.
It takes me exactly one hour and 15 minutes to explain that. Right.
This is not just a cop out, right? I've got a lecture online, which I
can direct you to. I'll give a basic idea. But I will suggest
that if you could listen to it, it's on zamzam. academy.com it's
called, don't be depressed, you don't know your future. Because it
really that's, I have really looked into it very deeply.
Because it's a very profound question. A lot of people have
questions, if everything. In fact, let me add to this, you know, this
divine tablet I spoke about on which the formula of faith is
written on in, in the metaphysical world.
The Divine tablet apparently has everything written on it, that is
going to happen. Now, that makes it even more complicated that if
everything's written, then isn't that prescribed, imposed. What
point is that of us trying anything? So the simple answer to
this is,
humans have freewill. And we know this through scripture, because
God says whoever wants to believe they can. Whoever wants to
disbelieve they can choice.
Number two, we know we have freewill through personal
experience. Nobody.
Only an ignoramus would probably deny freewill. Because I'm
assuming that most of you came here by yourselves through your
freewill. Maybe some of you encouraged but nobody felt that
they were pushed to come here. And they couldn't help and they don't
want to be here. But there's an invisible hand holding them down.
We know the difference between freewill how much free will we
have when you're walking on level ground? Or when you're going
downhill? We have freewill, there is no denying that. And if you
have freewill, then you must be judged accordingly. So what is
written in the divine tablet? is actually descriptions of what you
and I are going to do with our freewill. Because you're saying
like, how does it know
the Muslim concept of God is that He is not just omnipotent, but
he's also omniscient, which basically means he knows
everything. Because time doesn't apply to him.
God doesn't live in time is beyond time. And I know this is something
maybe if you guys are into physics, you might be able to have
a better idea of where this is even going. But it's something I
don't think we can quite easily understand. Because it's beyond
us. Because we live in time that we can't come out of time.
If you have any thoughts on this, anybody I'd be in after the
program, I'd love to hear it because I'm really interested in
this topic. God knows everything that is going to occur even before
it occurs. It's, I think it's not too difficult for us to understand
really, if you're a teacher, you have a huge idea generally of what
grades your students will probably get. Now, that's a bit by chance,
but we believe God knows it. 100% As though is already seen it. So
what is written there is what's your name?
Amy. Amy is going to do XY and Z, she is going to come and attend
this program. On this day with her freewill. That's what's written
there. So when you end up doing that, with your freewill, it ends
up going in accordance to what's written there, not because what's
written there is imposing it on you, but it's just describing the
narrative, what you're going to do, it's just the script of the
movie, almost like that. That's our understanding of free will, on
a really basic level. Of course, there's a number of other
complications that can be thrown into that, but on a very basic,
and I think it makes a lot of sense to me. But if you please do
listen to that lecture for as a one hour and 15 minutes, it
describes a number of different issues related to this.
So La ilaha illallah, how does one go about internalizing that and
how is that related to the whole fitrah or the nature the natural
faith so the natural faith that I talked about earlier that every
person is born on the natural faith, then what the Prophet
Muhammad peace be upon him said is that then the parents generally
either make them Christians Jewish median, today could be
secularist
the various different interpretations that people have.
So when I say La ilaha illallah what I do is I reaffirm my natural
faith. So that was you could say they call that I mean bit commonly
called Iman Fitri right when I'm born, I'm born on a natural faith
with no effort of my own because we all come through that process.
When I actually take on the thing c'est la ilaha illa Allah insha
Allah Ilaha illa Allah I testify to this, then I'm reaffirming my
natural
If, and that is what we call an acquired faith now, now we are
responsible beings, and we've done what we need to do. How do we go
about internalizing it? The short answer is basically, what is
entailed by La ilaha illAllah. What does it entail to say there
is no God except Allah. And Muhammad is Allah's Messenger. Now
that has a huge implication, that if there's no God except Allah,
then I must not make any other deity except God, I must not show
my faith, or anything that could be misconstrued as faith to
anybody but God, I must do what God wants me to I must fully
submit to Him. So Islam is actually means submission to the
god Iman means the conviction in the heart of the kalam Allah,
Allah, Allah, Allah, then the other four pillars that we must
fulfill. So essentially, it's basically fulfilling everything
that God says in the Quran, right to the best of our ability. And
that seems like just following a lot of laws to facilitate that. A
constant, we believe that every time you actually take the name of
God, Allah, Allah ilaha illallah, you get a number of benefits.
Number one, it gives you contentment. Number two, it gives
you reward. Number three, it gives you
a place in paradise, an asset in paradise. And number four, it just
makes you closer to God. So a constant, what we call a litany of
la ilaha illAllah. Muhammad Rasool Allah reaffirms our faith and
makes us closer, because then we're remembering God, every time
you remember, God, God blesses you. So that's in the short term.
That's basically how we internalize this faith by
practicing what God wants us to practice and avoid what He wants
us to avoid, and constantly taking his name.
So that he becomes a reality for us. Thank you very much. Again,
this is Oxford. We've had some really good questions today, like
profound, profound questions, and I, it makes me
what do you call it think on a deeper level as well. So I
appreciate that. The proofs of God, how does that give you faith,
right?
For a person to have faith in anything, you receive faith
through many means, it could be through many, it could be through
various different means. Right? How I become convinced of
something.
One way is to learn about the benefits, and then personalize it
through intellectual proofs. Right? So to think, okay, you
know,
the humans they need, I mean, a simple if you say, the
teleological argument, which is basically dealing with the telos,
which is that everything has a designer, everything has a maker,
things don't happen just like that. So if even simple cup of
coffee, or watch the microphone, somebody behind it, how can this
world have no creator? How can this world have nobody who
designed it? Simple argument. Some people come to terms with God like
that. But that's not the strongest way to come to terms with God,
though it's an efficient way to it is a satisfactory way to come to
terms with a God, then you have to define who that God is, through
intellect, you can only understand that there's going to be a maker,
then we can only understand who that maker is when you look at
various different ideas about what that who that maker is. And I
think Islam provides a very wonderful idea, very comprehensive
idea who that maker is, which is God and all of his attributes and
beautiful names and his qualities. The more profound way of learning
about God a way gets you really, your faith is an experiential way,
where you actually feel God, where you experience Him. So for
example, if I'm to sit down,
anybody for that matter is to sit down and repeat the name of God,
the experience that they will, if it gives them the experience, it's
not going to necessarily come to everybody for a lot of people who
are sincere in wanting and they will come to them. Right? Once
they receive that experience of what they feel, in taking the name
of God.
God does certain things to them, or allow shows them certain
things, which we call through experience, then that is going to
be much stronger than intellectually. What do you call
it being convinced by something? Because an intellectual
conviction, if somebody brings you a better intellectual idea, it
could shift you from that position. But if you've
experienced something, you've experienced love with someone and
you've lived with them for you know, you've been married to
somebody for 20 years, and you've experienced a lot better. You've
been through many ups and downs.
I'm just counseling some guy who's been married for a few months. And
now they've had a problem. An earthquake has kind of hit them.
And he's defending his wife. That No, she's not like that. I said,
How many arguments have you had? How many turmoils Have you had?
How many probably
Have you heard this for the first time? So well, you don't know her
yet. Not to say this is a woman issue or a male issue, it's just,
you can't know somebody so quickly. So the whole point is
that if you love somebody, and your love enters your heart for
somebody that you know, they're very faithful to you, you're very
faithful to them. People can tell you all they want, you're not
gonna listen to them. Whereas when you're convinced about a certain
theory,
benefit of a certain medicine, butter over my dream, right? A new
theory comes along, that's very convincing, you change your
position. So belief is like love. It's met, it's beyond rational. To
gain that we generally have to make an effort. If you gain that,
then that's more faith than the intellectual faith. But
intellectual faith is satisfactory for the sake of faith. But
hopefully, God gives us experiential faith, which is,
through a lot of the time, one of the ways to get those through
mysticism,
at least some basic form of that. I mean, it just depends. I mean,
is it purely intellectual? And will it remain purely
intellectual? For a lot of people, they come to God, they come to
faith, they come to Islam through an intellectual argument, because
they think there's one woman who was from another faith. She had a
relationship with a Muslim guy, they expected to get married.
But he told her that I can't marry unless you become a Muslim. And
she was a very honest, sincere individual said, I'm not going to
become a Muslim just for you. For I'm going to do it. I'm going to
do it for myself. So she then started studying Islam, reading
the Quran, for example. Right, which is a very profound, very
profound and deep book.
Eventually, it didn't work out his parents would never agree. He he
figured out maybe it was just wishful thinking from the
beginning, whatever. Now she's left in the lurch. So she'd been
in contact with me for selling questions. Several months later,
she calls me and she said, Look, I've read the whole Quran. And now
I've come to the point where my previous belief, I can no longer
go back to that, because I've just moved on so much. And I don't
think now I can actually move on and, and advance unless I actually
become a Muslim to start feeling it. So my interpretation was that
is that so far, she's been on an intellectual pursuit. She has come
to a point because remember, this is
a lot of this is going to be very profoundly experiential, even
though it's intellectual. How do you want she's taken that
intellectual journey, and she's become convinced she feels that
now, I'm not getting any more food. My intellectual pursuit has
ended. I can't move on. But I know there's more. So I believe that in
most of these cases, people start off with an intellectual journey.
And then it turns into an experiential journey, which is
then what solidifies and I guess that has to be maybe experienced,
for us to maybe experience it. Right. But I think just now
judging from you know,
what I've observed, I think that's where it starts up a lot of the
time intellectually, but then it moves into making it one's own.
That's what happens to a lot of people.
Thank you very much for that question.
Okay, thank you very much.