Ali Ataie – Ramadan Reflection Our Crisis of Knowledge

Ali Ataie
Share Page

AI: Summary ©

The speaker discusses the five pillars of Islam, including peace, prayer, and fasting, and emphasizes the importance of staying engaged in the Bible. They stress the diversity and popularity of the Quran and its multi-channel nature. The speaker also discusses factors contributing to severe difficulty, such as the emergence of misapprehension, trendy modern philosophies, and social movements. The speaker uses the harm principle and age of feeling to explain the negative sentiment of religion, highlighting the importance of knowledge and knowledge, the popularity of trendy modern philosophies, and the generation of fundamentalist philosophy and social movements.

AI: Summary ©

00:00:15 --> 00:00:17
			In our previous two sessions, we were examining
		
00:00:17 --> 00:00:19
			the hadith of the prophet Muhammad, peace be
		
00:00:19 --> 00:00:20
			upon him,
		
00:00:30 --> 00:00:32
			And we said that these are the 5
		
00:00:32 --> 00:00:33
			pillars or supports
		
00:00:34 --> 00:00:36
			of the religion. You know, I once asked
		
00:00:36 --> 00:00:38
			a Christian apologist who was trying to to
		
00:00:38 --> 00:00:39
			basically argue,
		
00:00:40 --> 00:00:41
			against the Quran
		
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44
			if he knew the 5 pillars of Islam.
		
00:00:44 --> 00:00:45
			Right? So, surely,
		
00:00:45 --> 00:00:47
			if you presume to have enough knowledge
		
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51
			to argue against the Quran, then you then
		
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53
			surely you know the 5 pillars. I mean,
		
00:00:53 --> 00:00:54
			it's so basic.
		
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57
			Now remember, he said oneness of God
		
00:00:58 --> 00:00:59
			and prayer,
		
00:01:00 --> 00:01:01
			and that's when he sort of just got
		
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03
			stuck. And that was it.
		
00:01:03 --> 00:01:05
			So he got stuck after number 2.
		
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08
			I read an article once in a Christian
		
00:01:08 --> 00:01:09
			magazine called,
		
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12
			The Greatest Book Never Read was by Christian
		
00:01:12 --> 00:01:14
			author. That was the title of the article,
		
00:01:14 --> 00:01:16
			the greatest book never read, and it was
		
00:01:16 --> 00:01:17
			about the Bible.
		
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20
			And so this Christian author, he was or
		
00:01:20 --> 00:01:21
			journalist, he was criticizing
		
00:01:22 --> 00:01:23
			his fellow Christians.
		
00:01:23 --> 00:01:26
			They concluded in this article that 50%,
		
00:01:26 --> 00:01:27
			50%,
		
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30
			of Christians that attend church cannot even name
		
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33
			the 4 gospels in the New Testament. They
		
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35
			don't even know the names of the gospels.
		
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37
			These are Christians who actually go to church.
		
00:01:38 --> 00:01:39
			And when I mentioned this to one of
		
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41
			my teachers, he said, well, probably
		
00:01:42 --> 00:01:45
			50% of Muslims coming out of Jilatul Jum'ah
		
00:01:45 --> 00:01:48
			can cannot even quote 1 hadith of the
		
00:01:48 --> 00:01:49
			prophet
		
00:01:49 --> 00:01:50
			in Arabic,
		
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53
			just one hadith.
		
00:01:54 --> 00:01:56
			So that's a problem. This is a crisis
		
00:01:56 --> 00:01:57
			of knowledge among Muslims.
		
00:01:58 --> 00:02:01
			There are Muslims in our communities who have,
		
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03
			you know, Bollywood movies
		
00:02:04 --> 00:02:06
			memorized from start to finish,
		
00:02:06 --> 00:02:09
			but they can't quote a a hadith to
		
00:02:09 --> 00:02:10
			save their lives.
		
00:02:10 --> 00:02:13
			They don't prioritize and they don't even try.
		
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15
			But that's the thing, though, that the tongue
		
00:02:15 --> 00:02:16
			is the revelator
		
00:02:17 --> 00:02:18
			of the heart.
		
00:02:19 --> 00:02:22
			In other words, you can determine who or
		
00:02:22 --> 00:02:23
			what a person loves,
		
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26
			by what he's always talking about
		
00:02:27 --> 00:02:28
			unless he's a hypocrite.
		
00:02:28 --> 00:02:29
			But that's a whole different animal.
		
00:02:30 --> 00:02:32
			What are people talking about all the time?
		
00:02:32 --> 00:02:33
			There are people who
		
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36
			are constantly talking about food
		
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38
			or, you know, cryptocurrency,
		
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41
			you know, Bitcoin, people talking about women or
		
00:02:41 --> 00:02:44
			men all the time, people talking about social
		
00:02:44 --> 00:02:44
			media,
		
00:02:45 --> 00:02:46
			something they saw on TikTok.
		
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49
			If if one claims to love Allah and
		
00:02:49 --> 00:02:52
			his messenger but can barely read the Quran
		
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54
			and cannot quote one statement
		
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57
			of the messenger whom one claims to love,
		
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01
			then that's a problem. We need to recognize,
		
00:03:01 --> 00:03:02
			that problem.
		
00:03:04 --> 00:03:04
			Now interestingly,
		
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07
			even though fasting is one of the essential
		
00:03:08 --> 00:03:09
			supports of the religion,
		
00:03:10 --> 00:03:11
			The Quran,
		
00:03:12 --> 00:03:14
			contains only one passage
		
00:03:14 --> 00:03:17
			consisting of 5 verses, so 5 ayaat that
		
00:03:17 --> 00:03:19
			deal explicitly with fasting. So
		
00:03:21 --> 00:03:22
			183 to 187.
		
00:03:23 --> 00:03:26
			However, the Quran is a book, as I
		
00:03:26 --> 00:03:28
			say, is teeming with meaning.
		
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31
			That is to say, it is an extremely
		
00:03:32 --> 00:03:32
			polyvalent
		
00:03:33 --> 00:03:35
			text. It has multiple layers of meaning
		
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40
			and has an incredible wisdom density.
		
00:03:42 --> 00:03:43
			Why is that?
		
00:03:43 --> 00:03:44
			Because it's the ultimate,
		
00:03:45 --> 00:03:49
			I e, the last revelation of God. It
		
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51
			has to stay relevant until the Sa, until
		
00:03:51 --> 00:03:52
			the eschaton,
		
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55
			until the end of time.
		
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59
			It was either Saidna Umar or ibn Umar
		
00:03:59 --> 00:04:00
			who said,
		
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03
			if I lost the halter of my camel,
		
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05
			I would know where to find it in
		
00:04:05 --> 00:04:06
			the Quran.
		
00:04:07 --> 00:04:08
			So that's true dedication.
		
00:04:09 --> 00:04:11
			True dedication to the Quran
		
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14
			is when the Quran becomes your ultimate source
		
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16
			of guidance in all of your affairs
		
00:04:16 --> 00:04:19
			from the mundane to the spiritual, from the
		
00:04:19 --> 00:04:20
			lowest to the highest.
		
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24
			Over the centuries, our exegetes have written thousands
		
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26
			of pages explaining these 5 ayaat
		
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29
			because the Quran is an ocean according to
		
00:04:29 --> 00:04:31
			Imam Al Ghazali. He calls it al Bahar,
		
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33
			and it's an ocean that keeps on giving
		
00:04:34 --> 00:04:36
			as long as we keep fishing.
		
00:04:36 --> 00:04:37
			Right? So that's the caveat.
		
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40
			We have to stay engaged.
		
00:04:41 --> 00:04:42
			Imam Al Ghazali, he said that a lot
		
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44
			of Muslims are stuck on the shore, on
		
00:04:44 --> 00:04:47
			the beach, satisfied with the outward, the basic
		
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49
			outward meanings of the Koran.
		
00:04:49 --> 00:04:51
			He said, dive into the ocean of its
		
00:04:51 --> 00:04:54
			meanings and collect its precious jewels,
		
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56
			its rubies and pearls.
		
00:04:57 --> 00:05:00
			And by rubies, he means the theological verses
		
00:05:00 --> 00:05:03
			of the Quran, the verses that describe Allah
		
00:05:03 --> 00:05:06
			and give us the Marifa to Allah,
		
00:05:07 --> 00:05:08
			intimate knowledge of God.
		
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11
			And by pearls, he means the verses that
		
00:05:11 --> 00:05:12
			describe
		
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15
			the way to Allah, the Sirata Mustaqim. So
		
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17
			you have orthodoxy and you have orthopraxis.
		
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20
			So let's take a closer look at one
		
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22
			of these ayat Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says
		
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24
			in verse 183 of
		
00:05:31 --> 00:05:33
			Oh, you who believe fasting has been prescribed
		
00:05:33 --> 00:05:34
			upon you
		
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37
			just as it was prescribed upon those before
		
00:05:37 --> 00:05:37
			you, la'alakuntat
		
00:05:38 --> 00:05:38
			taqun,
		
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41
			which can be taken as a purpose clause,
		
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44
			meaning in order for you to have taqwa.
		
00:05:45 --> 00:05:47
			Now allow me to preface my comments about
		
00:05:47 --> 00:05:47
			taqwa
		
00:05:48 --> 00:05:49
			by saying the following.
		
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53
			A severe difficulty, and I've mentioned this before
		
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56
			in talks in recent times, but I think
		
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58
			it's very, very important. Must be reiterated
		
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01
			that a severe difficulty that many Muslims face
		
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04
			today is a loss of faith, a loss
		
00:06:04 --> 00:06:05
			of iman,
		
00:06:06 --> 00:06:09
			among themselves, among their family members and friends
		
00:06:09 --> 00:06:10
			and relatives.
		
00:06:10 --> 00:06:12
			And I think this is due to several
		
00:06:12 --> 00:06:13
			factors. Well, number 1, ignorance.
		
00:06:14 --> 00:06:15
			Right? Jahal,
		
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18
			you know, a simple lack of knowledge, not
		
00:06:18 --> 00:06:18
			knowing.
		
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21
			But number 2, which is just as bad
		
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23
			and maybe even worse, is the proliferation
		
00:06:23 --> 00:06:24
			of misapprehension.
		
00:06:26 --> 00:06:29
			In other words, think thinking, you know,
		
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31
			thinking you know something when you don't know
		
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33
			it. This is called jahalmurakab,
		
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35
			compounded ignorance.
		
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38
			For example, somebody came up to me,
		
00:06:38 --> 00:06:41
			once and said the Koran advocates violence,
		
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43
			right? And was trying to convince me into
		
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46
			believing that the Koran advocates violence. And this
		
00:06:46 --> 00:06:47
			is someone who,
		
00:06:48 --> 00:06:49
			probably,
		
00:06:50 --> 00:06:51
			read some article
		
00:06:51 --> 00:06:54
			last weekend or something about the Koran.
		
00:06:54 --> 00:06:56
			And I said, well, you know, I've been
		
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58
			studying this text for many, many years. He
		
00:06:58 --> 00:06:59
			said, no. No. No. You don't know. This
		
00:06:59 --> 00:07:00
			is what he's trying to tell me. The
		
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02
			Quran actually advocates
		
00:07:02 --> 00:07:05
			violence. So this is someone who this is
		
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07
			somebody who who doesn't know the truth, but
		
00:07:07 --> 00:07:08
			thinks he knows.
		
00:07:09 --> 00:07:10
			Right? This type of,
		
00:07:10 --> 00:07:11
			jahlmurakkab.
		
00:07:12 --> 00:07:13
			It's it's a very, very bad state. And
		
00:07:13 --> 00:07:15
			then, of course, the third reason, the popularity
		
00:07:16 --> 00:07:19
			of trendy modern philosophies and social movements.
		
00:07:20 --> 00:07:23
			Of course, there is atheism, and atheism goes
		
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25
			back 1000 of years in the west, probably
		
00:07:25 --> 00:07:26
			as far back as Democritus.
		
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30
			But since 911, there has been a renewed
		
00:07:30 --> 00:07:32
			fervor of atheistic discourse.
		
00:07:33 --> 00:07:34
			Some call it new atheism.
		
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37
			In my in my opinion, it's really
		
00:07:37 --> 00:07:38
			anti theism.
		
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41
			In other words, they're not simply arguing that
		
00:07:41 --> 00:07:43
			there probably is no God.
		
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46
			They argue that even if there is a
		
00:07:46 --> 00:07:47
			God,
		
00:07:47 --> 00:07:50
			that we shouldn't obey him. This is their
		
00:07:50 --> 00:07:50
			attitude.
		
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54
			It's not this idea that all religions are
		
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56
			meaningless. But if it floats your boat, then
		
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59
			go ahead. No. They're saying that religion is
		
00:07:59 --> 00:08:00
			actually evil,
		
00:08:00 --> 00:08:03
			that religion needs to be eradicated.
		
00:08:04 --> 00:08:07
			This sentiment was captured accurately by the late
		
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09
			Christopher Hitchens, who said, there is no God
		
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11
			and I hate him.
		
00:08:11 --> 00:08:13
			That is anti theism.
		
00:08:14 --> 00:08:15
			Now there is one thing that all of
		
00:08:15 --> 00:08:18
			these antitheists have in common.
		
00:08:18 --> 00:08:22
			They never study traditional or normative theology.
		
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26
			They always focus on the social end the
		
00:08:26 --> 00:08:27
			social impact of religion.
		
00:08:28 --> 00:08:31
			So Islam is bad because of suicide bombers
		
00:08:32 --> 00:08:35
			or because of these fools called ISIS.
		
00:08:35 --> 00:08:38
			Christianity is bad because of * priests,
		
00:08:39 --> 00:08:40
			and the KKK.
		
00:08:41 --> 00:08:42
			I mean, that's the only card that they
		
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45
			have to play, right, the social impact of
		
00:08:45 --> 00:08:45
			religion.
		
00:08:46 --> 00:08:47
			And then when theists do the same thing
		
00:08:47 --> 00:08:50
			to them and say atheism is bad because
		
00:08:50 --> 00:08:53
			of Mao and Lenin and Marx and Stalin,
		
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55
			they say no. No. No. No. No. You're
		
00:08:55 --> 00:08:55
			misrepresenting
		
00:08:56 --> 00:08:56
			us.
		
00:08:57 --> 00:08:57
			You're misrepresenting
		
00:08:58 --> 00:08:59
			us. Right?
		
00:09:00 --> 00:09:01
			It was very, very interesting.
		
00:09:02 --> 00:09:03
			And, of course, there's something
		
00:09:04 --> 00:09:04
			called,
		
00:09:05 --> 00:09:06
			existential nihilism.
		
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10
			Right? This idea that life has no meaning.
		
00:09:10 --> 00:09:13
			It doesn't matter. We're all Sisyphus. Right? We're
		
00:09:13 --> 00:09:14
			all rolling up these boulders,
		
00:09:15 --> 00:09:16
			up up up these mountains.
		
00:09:16 --> 00:09:18
			Life doesn't have any meaning.
		
00:09:18 --> 00:09:22
			There's no higher telos. There's no purpose. Just
		
00:09:22 --> 00:09:23
			maximize your pleasure
		
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25
			because YOLO,
		
00:09:25 --> 00:09:28
			right? You only live once. It's all about
		
00:09:28 --> 00:09:29
			hedonism,
		
00:09:29 --> 00:09:31
			whatever feels good, as long as you don't
		
00:09:31 --> 00:09:34
			harm anyone else. That's the caveat they usually
		
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36
			give is kind of John Stuart Mill, the
		
00:09:36 --> 00:09:37
			harm principle.
		
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40
			So it's the age of feeling, like Robert
		
00:09:40 --> 00:09:42
			George. This is what he calls the time
		
00:09:42 --> 00:09:44
			that we're living in. Right? There was the
		
00:09:44 --> 00:09:46
			age of faith. There was the age of
		
00:09:46 --> 00:09:48
			reason. But now it's all about feeling.
		
00:09:48 --> 00:09:51
			Nowadays, things are no longer defined
		
00:09:51 --> 00:09:54
			by, you know, a sacred text or by
		
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56
			the intellect, but by your feelings.
		
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59
			We will continue with our reflections in the
		
00:09:59 --> 00:10:00
			next session, Insha'Allah Ta'ala.
		
00:10:01 --> 00:10:03
			Until then, Assalamu Alaikum or Rahmatullah.