Ammar Alshukry – What Belief in Allah Entails in Islam
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
And what I wanted to begin with this
discussion is an important discussion, which is even
before describing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we
live in a time and place where even
his existence becomes something that needs to be
established.
How do you prove God's existence?
And so what I want to do for
the next five minutes inshallah ta'ala, is
I want us to break into groups of
no more than five, no less than three,
and people that you don't know before.
And I want you to come up with
your single greatest proof of God's existence.
That's it.
It's going to be simple.
And then we're going to come up with
a top 15 unbreakable, unrefutable list of proofs
of God's existence.
Is that clear?
That's it.
No more than five, no less than three
inshallah ta'ala, and include people that you
don't know.
So that you don't just stick to the
same clique that you've known since you were
four years old.
Okay?
Jazakum Allah khair.
Bismillah.
Alright, bismillah.
As-salamu alaykum everybody.
Welcome back.
As-salamu alaykum.
As-salamu alaykum.
Welcome back.
Welcome back.
Welcome back.
Welcome back.
Do you have two or one?
Alright, so we have two moving microphones.
Sisters, you guys should have a hot mic.
Do the sisters have a mic?
Okay, great.
So just raise your hand if you have
an excellent answer for us.
And one of our moving mics will get
to you inshallah.
So the brothers all the way over there,
Ashur behind you.
Keep your hand raised so he can see
you.
They put their hand down, Ashur.
I'm sorry, man.
I'm sorry.
Who has their hand raised?
Who has their hand raised?
Who's ready?
Inshallah ta'ala.
Yes.
So basically, shahamad, there are four things.
Four, masha'Allah.
Okay.
So these are four proofs for the existence
of Allah.
Al-aql, mind.
That nobody has a mind and not exist.
That we see the day and night, the
river.
Okay, so you're seeing the signs of Allah.
Okay, very good.
What else?
And the sharaq.
The what?
The sharaq, like the surah.
That we know Allah through the Qur'an.
Okay, so the Qur'an is...
So that would be miracles.
So experiencing miracles is a proof of God's
existence and the Qur'an is a miracle.
Okay, what else?
The sense.
What is it?
The sense.
Okay, your senses.
How does that...
How does senses prove Allah's existence?
Okay, like if you don't...
Do you see Allah?
Do you hear Allah?
Do you touch Allah?
When you pray to Allah, Allah will answer
you.
Okay, so that's a personal experience.
That's a miracle.
A du'a being accepted.
So that's number two.
That's still number two.
What else?
And that's fitrah.
Fitrah.
Okay, what is fitrah?
Fitrah is a very strong Islamic proof for
the existence of God, which is people's natural
inclination.
When you look at every time and place,
you'll see that the very vast majority, the
very vast majority of humanity always believed in
a creator.
They called him different things.
They believed that they didn't come out of
nothing, but they believed that someone created them.
Absolutely.
Okay?
So, very good.
Yes?
Hello.
Thank you.
My thought was, who gave us the idea
of Allah?
Excellent.
Who gave us the idea of Allah other
than Allah Himself?
So that's what he's talking about, which is
the fitrah.
A person's natural inclination to believe in a
creator.
So there are certain things that are just
ingrained in human psychology, in human nature.
So for example, of the things is that
we all believe that God is above us.
You've never seen a person pray downwards in
your life.
People always pray upwards.
How do people know that God is above
them, for example?
So there is that which is ingrained in
us.
Allah says, فِتْرَةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي فَطَرَ النَّاسَ عَلَيْهَا
The fitrah of Allah, the fitrah, the natural
disposition that Allah has designed in human beings.
This is something that's within us.
It's innate in us.
What other proofs do we have?
So what do we have so far?
We've got five.
What else do we have?
Yes, we've got two sisters over here.
We have one.
Okay, go ahead, the one with the mic.
Okay, very good.
So the argument that everything that is created
has a creator.
Now there's only three scenarios, right?
Count these scenarios with me.
You are either created from nothing.
You just popped out from nowhere.
The other option is what?
Someone created you.
That's number two.
And what's number three?
Someone created me.
Nobody created me.
What's the third logical option?
I created myself.
Right?
And so Allah, there are very few verses
in the Qur'an.
Maybe one or two that actually address atheism.
Because atheism is not normal.
So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, He says,
أَمْ خُلِقُوا مِنْ غَيْرِ شَيْءٍ أَمْ هُمُوا الْخَالِقُونَ
Allah says, were they created out of nothing?
Or did they create themselves?
And then He doesn't even mention the third
option.
The first option we said is that you're
created out of nothing.
The second option is that you created yourself.
Now if you weren't created out of nothing,
and if you didn't create yourself, then what's
the third option?
Someone created you.
And Allah doesn't even mention that option because
it's so obvious.
Were you created out of nothing?
No.
Did you create yourself?
No.
Then the third option is that you were
created.
Okay?
I saw a bunch of hands up.
Yes?
The sister actually had the same answer as
me.
I just had a different approach to it.
I had more of a philosophical approach through
ontology, which is the study of what is
real.
Yeah.
And ontology and epistemology.
So what is real and how does it
exist?
So the example that I shared with you
guys here was that, for example, let's take
a boot.
The boot did not just come into existence.
It had to be created.
So in the same context, the universe did
not just come into existence.
The universe has a creator.
Okay.
So something is in existence.
It has a creator.
You know, Ibn Kathir, he mentions in his
tafsir of, يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ عِبُدُوا رَبَّكُمْ He
says, a Bedouin man, a Bedouin man, basically
an uneducated man, he was asked, how did
you come to know your Lord exists?
How did you know, come to Lord?
He said, إِنَّ الْبَعْرَ لَتَدُلُّ عَلَى الْبَعِيرِ He
said, When I see animal droppings, that indicates
to me that an animal walked by.
وَإِنَّ أَثَرَ الْأَقْدَامِ لَتَدُلُّ عَلَى الْمَسِيرِ And when
I see footprints, that indicates to me that
a person walked by.
فَسَمَاعٍ ذَاتِ أَبْرَاجٍ وَأَرْضٍ ذَاتِ فِجَاجٍ وَبِحَارٍ ذَاتِ
أَمْوَاجٍ أَلَا يَدُلُّ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى اللَّطِيفِ الْخَبِيرِ He
says, The heavens that are raised without pillars,
and an earth that is filled with valleys
and pathways, and an ocean that is filled
with waves upon waves, doesn't all of that
indicate the presence of a Latif?
The subtle, Al-Khabir, the well acquainted?
Like all of this, if I see these
small effects, I realize there's a causer.
All of this effect, does it indicate a
causer?
Let's do two more inshallah ta'ala, and
then we'll move on.
Yes?
So my group, we're all in the medical
field, so what we said was the creation
of self, which is us.
Our body is, well it's physiological systems, they're
all working at hand, they're all complementary, and
when an imbalance or a malfunction occurs in
the body, the body itself is repairing itself,
and you think about how, even in the
sense of the human creation, it's like a
puzzle, where it's purpose is to complete each
other, and it has a creator, so our
bodies are way more complex, we must have
a creator also.
Absolutely.
So the intricacy of the human body itself,
these are signs, so you're talking about the
signs of Allah, whether they're the outer signs
that you see in the universe, or whether
they're signs, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
وَفِي الْأَرْضِ آيَاتٌ لِّلْمُؤْقِنِينَ وَفِي أَنفُسِكُمْ أَفَلَا تُبْصِرَ
Allah says, in the earth are signs for
the people of certainty, and within your own
selves, do you not see?
Look at all of the signs that were
within you.
Yes, subhan, what you got?
So I have one, that was told to
me by a certain shaykh sitting right in
front of me.
You know what's funny?
Just to start this off, I hope you
don't misquote me right now.
That's what I hope.
I hope you get the quote right.
Whatever this quote is gonna be, I hope
that it's right.
You were telling that the proof of, well,
it's not a proof of God, but a
proof of Islam, both, I guess, was the
Qur'an itself, and now the challenge of
the Qur'an, that writes something like it.
And the fact that we've come so far
as a society, we've made so many new
technologies, made so many impressive things, and nobody's
managed to do it yet.
Yeah, so that's a good quote, thank you.
That's the proof of miracles.
So then again, it's a miracle.
So a person may believe in the existence
of God because of a miracle, or they
might know that God exists because of a
miracle that they experienced, a miracle that they
experienced, and the Qur'an is a living
miracle.
There is no, it is, as the Prophet,
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, peace be upon him,
he said in a beautiful statement, he said
that every prophet that came before was given
a miracle through which people believed in him.
Moses split the sea, and he obviously came
to the children of, he came to Egypt
with nine signs, في تسعي آيات إلى ثرعون
وقوم He came with nine signs, the blood
and the locusts, and Isa, Jesus raised the
dead by Allah's permission.
Prophets came with miracles.
And the Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,
he says, what I have been given is
revelation.
What I've been given is revelation.
So he said, I hope to have the
largest number of followers on the Day of
Judgment.
My question for you is, how does his
statement of revelation, I've been given revelation, tie
to his wish that he has the largest
number of followers on the Day of Judgment?
I must have mentioned this here before.
Subhan, do you remember that one?
Put you on the spot.
No, so, I remember being like a kid,
and thinking to myself, I wish that the
Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, was given
like miracles that are like big miracles, you
know, like Musa, like Solomon, like these.
And the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, was
given revelation.
But then I came across this hadith later
on, and I was like, this is incredible.
Because he said, what I've been given is
revelation, and I hope to have the largest
number of followers on the Day of Judgment.
What's the relationship between the two statements?
I was given revelation, I hope to have
the largest number of followers on the Day
of Judgment.
Whoever gets this one right, you're gonna get
this bouquet.
I can't offer this?
Because it's not mine?
I'm sorry, khalas.
I can't offer it?
You're supposed to back me up.
You're gonna be like, yes.
And you get free admission.
That's what you're supposed to do.
Yes?
Okay, so his revelation outlives his life, so
what does that mean?
It can reach more and more people?
Okay, so the revelation reaches more people?
So what does that mean?
Yes?
Yes, salaam.
Sir!
You don't want it?
No, no, it's okay, it's okay.
Huh?
You'll take it?
You did set him up.
You gave him the al-yub, and he
just came and he dunked it.
It's an everlasting miracle.
Every other prophet's miracles was limited to the
time and place of that miracle.
If you missed Moses splitting the sea, then
it just became a story that you heard.
You didn't witness it, is the point.
But the Qur'an is a miracle that
every generation witnesses.
You open up the mushaf, you read it,
you experience the miracle.
And so because it was revelation, it actually
encompasses every generation that has passed and that
will pass and experience the Qur'an.
Yes?
Other prophets also got revelation?
Other prophets also got revelation, yes.
But it wasn't their major miracle.
Right, but is the fact that their revelation
didn't last till today evidence that...
Is the fact that their revelation lasted till
today?
Didn't last till today.
Didn't last till today.
Did their revelation last until today or did
it not last?
We're going to cover that when we talk
about the books.
Did their revelation change or not?
I'm saying like the fact that it didn't
or like...
You're assuming that it did.
But there's a difference between the Prophet ﷺ's
revelation and like Isa's revelation.
Of course.
The Qur'an is the final everlasting miracle.
Because it's not everlasting.
I mean that depends on what we presuppose.
But I get what you're saying.
Possibly, yes.
Yes?
You're still contributing to this question?
Okay, let's do one last one and then
we're done.
Yes?
Do you have a mic or no?
Okay.
It's okay, the mic is coming.
Go ahead.
Don't throw it.
Ashur didn't go all the way over there
for you to hold the mic like this.
Stop, Ashur, sit down.
Sit down, sit down.
Just bring it closer to you, it's okay.
Faith and sound is coming from Allah.
It's coming from the fact that someone was
a safe driver, someone knew what they were
doing on the road.
There wasn't a malfunction in the plane for
it to crash or anything like that.
So that's kind of my experience.
Okay, so that person who experiences Allah ﷻ
in their day, their iman increases.
So, what does faith in Allah ﷻ look
like?
What does that mean?
What does it look like for us?
Number one, it is the Prophet ﷺ, when
he sent Mu'adh ibn Jamal to Yemen,
he said to him, you are going to
a people who are Ahlu Kitab.
They're people of the book, meaning that they
are Christians and Jews.
So let the first thing that you call
them to be a yuwhidullah, that they declare
Allah to be one.
What does Allah being one mean?
This concept in Islam, which is the number
one commandment in Islam, what is called tawheed,
the oneness of God.
And we believe that this is the message
of all of the Prophets.
When you look at the Ten Commandments, the
first commandment is, know, O Israel, that thy
Lord is one.
Or, that thou shall worship no God before
me.
Thou shall worship no God before me.
And Jesus Christ later on, he said, that
that was the first commandment, know, O Israel,
that thy Lord is one.
This idea of worshiping God alone.
Now for us, it manifested, the scholars have
categorized it, just for understanding, into three categories.
The first is what's called oneness in Allah's
worship.
Oneness in Allah's worship.
That we believe that Allah, God, is the
only creator.
He's the only provider.
He's the only maintainer.
He's the only one who controls the heavens
and the earth.
There is no actor beyond Allah.
He is the one who is the ultimate
cause of everything.
قُلِ اللَّهُمَّ مَا لِكَ الْمُلْكِ تُؤْتِي الْمُلْكَ مَنْ
تَشَاءُ وَتَنْزِعُ الْمُلْكَ مِمَّنْ تَشَاءُ وَتُعِزُّ مَنْ تَشَاءُ
وَتُذِلُّ مَنْ تَشَاءُ Allah says, say, O Allah,
the owner of the dominion, the owner of
everything.
You give it to whomever you wish, and
you seize it from whoever you wish, and
you honor whoever you wish, and you debase
whomever you wish in Surah Ali'Imran, Allah
is in full control.
He is the Lord.
He is the creator.
And this, by the way, is something that
not a lot of people differ with.
The pagans of Arabia, they're not differ with
this concept.
Allah says that if you were to ask
them who created the heavens and the earth,
they would say Allah.
And do you know of any faiths that
believe in multiple creators?
Like even when you look at polytheistic societies,
eventually there is a supreme god.
There is the king god.
There is the one who is the number
one, whether you call him Zeus or whether
you call him whatever it is.
You call, there is that greatest god or
the father or the creator, whatever people call
it.
You won't find many religions, or I don't
know of any really, that have multiple equally
dominant gods.
Eventually there is one that is the creator.
Even Zoroastrianism, the god of light versus the
god of darkness, eventually the god of light
controls and wins.
So there is the idea of the Rabb,
the creator.
Where polytheism normally is practiced, however, is with
regards to the second, which is the second
category, which is Allah's right to be worshipped.
Allah being the only audience deserving of worship.
This is where much of polytheism exists, and
this is where Islam differentiates itself from every
other religion, that we don't call people to
just believe in God as the creator of
the heavens and the earth, but we call
people to worship God alone.
If he is the only one who is
your provider, then he is the only one
who you should pray to.
If he is the only one who is
your protector, then he is the only one
that you should rely on.
If he is the only one who is
able to punish you, then he is the
only one that you should fear.
So whether it is actions of the limbs,
or statements of the tongue, prayers and praise,
or whether it is emotions and the worship
of the heart, fear, love, hope, all of
these things are worship.
They are acts of worship, and because they
are acts of worship, the only one who
deserves them is Allah, is God.
The pagan Arabs, when the Prophet came to
them, they found that they had, the Prophet
ﷺ, he had in Mecca, there was 360
idols that were being worshipped.
Did they believe that these idols were gods?
Yes or no?
Did they believe that they were creators?
So why did they worship them?
Two things.
They said, إِنَّمَا نَعْبُدُهُمْ لِيُقَرِّبُونَ إِذَا اللَّهِ زُلْفَةٌ
They said the only, إنما is a phrase
that means this and only this.
They said we are only worshipping them to
bring us closer to Allah.
That's the reason.
We're not pure enough.
We're not holy enough to pray to God
directly.
So we worship these idols, because they have
a good standing with God, and we pray
to them so that they could lift our
prayers up to God.
They bring us closer to Allah.
Or they also said, هَٓا أُولَٰئِ شُفَعَٓعُنَا عِنْدَ
اللَّهِ They said these are our intercessors regarding
Allah.
These are our intercessors.
And until today, people pray to saints, and
they say, these are our intercessors with God,
or we're not pure enough to ask God
directly, or these are people who are loved
by Allah, and so we pray to them.
Whether that's in Islam or outside of Islam,
the prayer towards saints.
And that's not allowed.
In fact, ayatul kursi, which I'm just remembering
now that we never actually finished, and nobody
reminded me, you guys are just gonna go
home.
You did remind me?
You didn't tell me it was ayatul kursi,
I had no clue what you were showing
me.
Okay, لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَعْلُمُ What's the
next verse?
What's the next part of that verse?
Allah says what?
لَهُمَا فِي السَّمَاةِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ So Allah
belongs to the heavens and the earth, and
then what's the next part?
مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِنْدَهُ إِلَّا لِإِذْنِهِ Allah
says, you know this exact concept that we're
describing right now?
Allah says, who is that who can intercede
in front of him except with his permission?
The mushrikeen said, these are our intercessors.
We're worshipping them because they can intercede on
behalf of Allah.
They have a good showing with Allah.
They can ask Allah on our behalf.
Allah says, who can intercede in front of
Allah?
The answer is what?
Nobody.
Nobody dares to intercede in front of Allah.
Nobody has the right.
Nobody has the power.
Nobody can stand in front of Allah on
behalf of anybody except by his permission.
Allah accepts the intercession of who he wants,
and Allah grants the ability to intercede on
behalf of who he wants.
Allah tells us straight up.
There are some people that you won't be
able to intercede on behalf of.
Ibrahim will not be able to intercede on
behalf of his father no matter how great
Ibrahim is.
There is nobody who Allah owes anything to
including Muhammad ﷺ, including Ibrahim, including everybody.
Allah says, وَكَمْ مِنْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَوَاتِ How
many angels are there in the heavens?
لَا تُغْنِ شَفَاعَتُهُمْ شَيْئًا None of their intercessions
benefit.
مَنْ ذَا لَيَذْرُ عَنْدَهُ إِلَّا بِذِينَ يَعْلَمُ مَا
بَيْنَ أَيْدِهُمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ And Allah knows what
is in front of them and what is
behind them.
Meaning Allah knows everything.
Allah's knowledge is perfect.
And we're going to talk about that when
we talk about destiny.
So to leave Ayatul Kursi now, we were
saying, Tawheed is three categories.
The first category was what?
Tawheed in Allah ﷻ?
Lordship.
That's number one.
He's the only creator.
The second is in his right to be
worshipped.
Now this concept is all over the Qur
'an.
Because it is the thing that differentiates Islam
from every other religion.
This is why the Prophet ﷺ was sent.
And that is the beauty of the consistency
of the Islamic message.
You know I tell people, if you say
that Jesus being the, being sent to
die for your sins.
If that is the message, of the Gospels,
then where is it in the Gospels?
Where is it?
Where is it in the Torah?
And yet, when it comes to the purpose
of life, according to Islam, and if we're
asked that question, where is it in the
Qur'an?
We'll say, everywhere.
Everywhere.
When you open up Surah Al-Fatihah, there's
no commandments.
The first chapter of the Qur'an, there's
no commandments, there's only a single page.
And then you go into the second chapter,
and the first commandment that appears in the
entire Qur'an is what?
يَأْيُهَا النَّاسُ أُعْبُدُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ
قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ O mankind, experience taqwa.
Until Allah ﷻ says, وَلَا تَجْعَلُوا لِلَّهِ أَنْدَادًا
وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ Do not make partners with Allah
while you know.
So the first command is to worship Allah
ﷻ alone, and the first prohibition is what?
To associate partners with Allah.
And associating partners with Allah is called what?
Now, all of these things that we're describing,
oneness in Allah's worship, oneness in His right
to be worshipped, and oneness, the third category
is His names and attributes.
Allah is the only one who has these
names and attributes.
Where do we get that from?
We get that from many places in the
Qur'an.
Allah ﷻ says, for example, رَبُّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ
وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا فَعْبُدْهُ وَاسْطَبِرْ لِعِبَادَتِهِ هَلْ تَعْلَمُوا لَهُ
سَمِيًّا This is in Surah Maryam.
Allah ﷻ calls Himself the Lord of the
heavens and the earth.
That is Allah's lordship.
And then He says, فَعْبُدْهُ So worship Him.
وَاسْطَبِرْ لِعِبَادَتِهِ Endure worshipping Allah.
That is what category?
His right to be worshipped.
هَلْ تَعْلَمُوا لَهُ سَمِيًّا Do you know anyone
who is like Allah?
What we believe, and that's Allah's names and
attributes.
What we believe is that Allah is unique
in His names and attributes.
There is no one who has any of
Allah's names and attributes.
And none have them like Allah.
He is different from His creation in every
way.
And His creation is not like Him in
any way.
The only thing that can be shared is
the meaning of the attribute.
But the reality of Allah's attribute, the way
Allah sees.
Allah's mercy, Allah's kindness, Allah's knowledge, Allah's power,
Allah's life.
All of these attributes that Allah describes Himself
with having in the Qur'an.
They are not like the manifestation of His
creation of those attributes.
They are divine.
And we don't know how those divine attributes
are.
We don't know their reality.
Does that make sense?
Have I lost you guys?
Is it too warm in here?
Yes.
Do you say it's cold?
Oh my goodness.
Yes.
Yes, because one is praiseworthy and the other
isn't praised.
So, the reason why, his question is, what
is the point of the fact that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala's negations are so brief
versus His affirmations being so plenty.
Because praise does not exist in negation.
Praise exists in affirmation.
Right?
So, if you simply negate qualities, He's not
this, He's not that, He's not that.
That doesn't lead you to love.
That doesn't lead you to worship.
That doesn't lead you to believe in Allah's
beautiful qualities.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants you
to know His beautiful qualities because of what
that will invoke of worship and love.
And Allah knows best.
Great question.
Any other questions?
Yes, Asher.
What are the names of Allah that are
often forgotten?
What are the names of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala that are often forgotten?
I would just say the ones that aren't
as known.
I don't know what to tell you.
So, which ones would they be?
I mean, there's a lot of names that
are unknown.
Like, they're just not known very well.
So, once you go past the first 20,
I would say, the further you go in
the list, the less known they are.
Because people mostly just know the first ones,
Ar-Rahman, Ar-Rahim, Al-Malik, Al-Quddus,
like that.
Once you get to names like, for example,
As-Siddir.
When you get to names like, for example,
Al-Raqeem.
People aren't as aware of these names.
Yes.
I don't quite get it.
But the fact that we're always in a
constant state of trying to replicate a creation,
whether it's robots, artificial intelligence, whatever it is,
we're always trying to replicate something that God
has already created way before.
So, the understanding of not knowing and basically
the unknown, and how we're always learning new
things, and it always goes back to getting
very close, yet not the same as Allah's
creation.
So, understanding that there is a creator.
Like, there is...
Like, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, He knows
things that we'll never reach.
And we're always in a constant state of
trying to reach that level.
Yeah, He's the perfect creator.
And nobody else can create like Him.
In fact, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says
in the Qur'an, He says, that mankind,
if they were to all gather, all 7
billion people, including Elon Musk, if everybody were
to gather, for the purpose of creating what?
A fly.
They would not be able to do so.
A fly.
And then He says, and if the fly
were to take anything from them, if the
fly were to take anything of them, if
the fly were to take something from a
pedal or something like that, or from the
table or something, they wouldn't be able to
recover what that fly took.
They wouldn't be able to take what the
fly took.
Allah says, دعو فالطالب والمطلوب Allah says, how
weak is the seeker and the one who
sought.
You wouldn't be able to do that.
And those who point to scientific miracles in
the Qur'an, they say, what's interesting about
flies is that the digestive system of the
fly is external.
And so immediately, once the fly touches the
food, that reaction happens.
And so Allah says, if the fly was
able to take something from them, they wouldn't
be able to get it back.
Right?
And the fact that Allah chose the fly.
And Allah said, yes, all three of
these, all three of these attributes of worship.
So when he says that the Prophet ﷺ
said that Allah's right is to be worshipped,
what does worship mean?
What's the definition of worship in Islam?
How do you define worship?
So let's define worship.
Ibn Taymiyyah says that worship is a comprehensive
term that includes everything that Allah loves of
belief, statements and actions.
That's what worship is.
Worship is everything that Allah loves of belief,
statements and actions.
That's worship.
So for us, worship is not just the
rituals, but worship is a comprehensive term that
can include everything that Allah loves, whether it
is a ritual or not.
So we have the rituals like our five
daily prayers.
We have the rituals like fasting the month
of Ramadan.
But me being a good neighbor, is that
a ritual or yes or no?
It's not a ritual.
But can it be worship?
Yes, because it is something that Allah loves.
So if I become conscious of it, then
it becomes an act of worship.
Being honest in my business dealing.
Is that a ritual?
No.
But is it worship?
Absolutely.
If a person is conscious and they become
honest because of that consciousness.
And so the Prophet ﷺ says that a
person worships Allah alone having no partners, not
directing any act of worship to other than
Allah.
Now that being said, we go back to
these three categories.
Number one is Allah's worship.
Number two is his right to be worshipped.
And number three is his names and attributes.
Now the opposite of worshipping Allah alone is
to associate partners with Allah.
Now if I have a company that's divided
into a hundred shares.
If I get one share, am I a
partner?
Yes or no?
One share.
So 1%, associating 1% of partnership with
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That is called shirk.
But I'm worshipping Allah 99% of the
time and I'm just devoting one act of
worship to someone other than Allah.
That is shirk.
And the danger of shirk.
This word shirk, S-H-I-R-K,
is the greatest sin in Islam.
It is to give any of Allah's rights
to other than Him.
Because if the greatest purpose of our existence,
the greatest act of worship is to worship
God alone, then the greatest crime is to
not worship God alone.
By giving any of Allah's rights to other
than Allah is shirk.
Shirk, if you're talking specifically about showing off,
that's called the hidden shirk.
And that is a minor shirk.
There's something called major and minor shirk.
Minor shirk is when a person does something
normally done for Allah with the intention of
pleasing other than Allah.
A person gets up to pray and they're
doing it to please other people.
So that's a minor shirk.
But that being said, the names and attributes
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
How does shirk happen in the names and
attributes of Allah?
Number one, the first way is what's called
deification.
And the second is anthropomorphism.
Deification is when a person gives a human
being or any of Allah's creatures divine attributes.
So you're making this person like Allah.
So if a person says, this person has
the ability to raise the dead.
Or this person has the ability to forgive
your sins.
Or this person has the ability to, I
don't know, hear what's going on in Zaire
right now.
A person is able, you're giving a person
divine qualities.
That in and of itself is shirk in
Allah's names and attributes.
Or the other is anthropomorphism.
And that is when a person gives God
the qualities of his creation.
That's the opposite.
So a person says, for example, that God
has a child.
Or God has a mother or a father.
Or God is killed.
That's all anthropomorphism.
You're giving God the qualities of his creation
or human beings.
Does that make sense?
Yes?
How do you apply that?
Is the mere act of meditating an example
of shirk?
Or does it depend on...
Does the mere act of meditating, is it
shirk?
Who are you meditating for?
Then that wouldn't be shirk because that's just
a bodily exercise.
But if a person is doing some acts
that are of a religious nature, then they
should avoid that.
You're sitting there and you're auming.
Right?
If it's a religious nature of another tradition,
then you should avoid it.
We don't do the rituals of other religions.
And I would rather avoid it to be
on the safe side than to play around
with that type of fire.
Yes?
Yeah?
Would that be shirk?
So a person, for example, if it leads
to a person not accepting Islam, that is
shirk.
If it leads to a person not accepting
Islam or rejecting Islam because of a love
of a person, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says, وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَتَخِذُوا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ
أَنْدَادُوا يُحِبُّونَهُمْ كَحُبِّ اللَّهِ وَالَّذِينَ آمُنُوا أَشَدُّ حُبًّا
لِلَّهِ Allah says that there are from the
people those who love their idols like they
love Allah and those who believe they are
more severe in their love of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
So if a person's love for whatever it
is, their idols or that person or whatever,
makes them completely leave Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala, reject Allah because of them, then that's
shirk.
But if it is me not doing something
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has commanded,
but it's because I really love my parents,
my mom, and I can't bear for her
to be bothered by me doing this, then
that's not shirk, but that's a weakness in
iman.
But it's not shirk.
Yes?
So we're just going to go into Q
&As now inshallah ta'ala.
I mean, it's fine.
I'd rather a lot of questions.
Alhamdulillah, I'm glad people have questions on the
topic.
Yes?
Does Allah encourage you to challenge your iman
or challenge to go outside and research?
Or is that discourage?
What does that mean?
Does Allah encourage you to challenge your iman?
What does that mean?
Yeah, but that's the opposite of what you're
asking.
If that narration is true, that you stay
away from debates and things that will challenge
your iman, then I'm confused as to...
I'm confused too.
Okay.
Okay, now I understand.
Now I understand.
Is the believer encouraged to go and spend
their time studying things that will confuse them?
For example, things that will challenge their faith?
No, I wouldn't encourage anybody to do that.
Because you might end up in a place
where you might find that that level of
depth is too much for you.
And you're not able to swim back to
safety.
And so a person doesn't test their iman.
If a person wants to increase their iman,
let them read the Qur'an, let them
understand the Qur'an.
Let them read the sunnah of the Prophet
ﷺ.
Let them understand the sunnah of the Prophet
ﷺ.
That will strengthen your iman.
Going out and studying apologetics and what have
you, that's not going to help you solidify
your faith.
And yaqeen is not built by that.
Yaqeen is not built by studying polemics or
what have you.
That's not how yaqeen is built or certainty
is built.
Certainty is built by increasing in your iman
and increasing in your good deeds.
That's how a person builds their iman.
Yaqeen is certainty in Allah ﷻ.
Having certainty of faith.
Yes, yes sir.
These are great questions, mashaAllah.
As-salamu alaykum.
Wa alaykum as-salam.
Hypothetically, if someone does believe in Allah, doesn't
commit shirk, but outrightly rejects the prophets, is
that shirk?
But he has what?
He rejects the prophets.
He rejects the prophets.
Is that considered shirk?
It's considered disbelief.
It's considered kufr, which is the same equivalent
at the end of the day.
If a person disbelieves in Allah ﷻ, or
disbelieves in the prophet, whoever disbelieves in the
prophet has disbelieved in Allah.
Has disbelieved in Allah.
Because the kalima is la ilaha illa Allah,
Muhammad Rasulullah.
There is nothing worthy of worship except Allah
and Muhammad is his messenger.
And Muhammad is the deliverer of the Qur
'an.
So how can a person believe in Allah
but not believe in the one who brought
him the Qur'an?
And I give you an example.
If a person says, I want to have
a relationship with this country, but I want
to reject the ambassador.
Can you have a relationship?
You kick out the ambassador.
You have no relationship with the ambassador, no?
And the ambassador is the messenger.
That is Allah's ambassador on earth.
And so, you have to believe in the
messenger to believe in Allah ﷻ.
And Allah knows best.
Anything else?
Or what else?
Yes, all the way in the back.
I feel like in today's age it's hard
to ensure that you don't have hidden shirk.
So what does Islam say about purifying yourself
so that you don't fall into like little
traps?
Of riya?
So the word for hidden shirk, which someone
said earlier, is showing off.
In Arabic the word is riya.
R-I-Y-A.
And it comes from the word ra'a,
which means to see.
And it's defined as doing anything that is
normatively done for Allah, meaning a religious or
righteous act, with the intent of pleasing other
than Allah.
So for example, riya is a technical term.
It's not, for example, a person says, I'm
wearing a really nice watch.
I'm afraid of riya.
No, because a nice watch is not normally
something that is a religious act.
It's a material, worldly act.
But the Prophet ﷺ, one time he found
the companion sitting down discussing the Antichrist.
And he said to them, shall I not
tell you what I fear for you more
than the Antichrist?
They said, yes.
He said, the hidden shirk.
And then he defined it for us.
He gave an example.
He says, the hidden shirk, that a person
gets up to pray and so they beautify
their prayer due to what they see of
other people watching them.
So riya, that religious showing off, is that
you're praying and you're going to pray with
your normal surah, which is surah al-Ikhlas
and surah al-Kafirun.
Because those are surahs, mashaAllah, and you know
all of the virtues of those surahs and
what have you.
But you hear the door open.
And so right after you're done with surah
al-Fatihah, you heard the door open and
so you decided to switch it up and
go, Alif Laam Meem.
Why did you do that?
Now the reason why it's not major shirk
is because at the end of the day
you were still praying for Allah.
That's the reason why you got up to
pray.
It's not like you're not praying.
It's not like you're praying completely for this
person.
You were praying.
But what are you doing?
You're beautifying your prayer.
You're adding a little spice to this prayer
because of what you see of other people
watching.
So that being said, to answer your question
of what are the things that a person
can do to conquer this, there's a number
of things.
Number one is to make the dua that
the Prophet ﷺ taught us to make, which
is, اللهم إني أعوذ بك أن أشرك بك
شيئا أعلمه واستغفرك بما لا أعلمه Oh Allah,
I seek refuge in you that I commit
shirk with you while I do not know.
And I seek your forgiveness.
No, I seek refuge in you from committing
shirk with you while I know.
And I seek your forgiveness for what I
do not know.
Someone can share it in the telegram group,
inshallah ta'ala.
So that's number one, is that you make
this dua.
Number two, the second thing is by seeking
knowledge.
Because the more a person seeks knowledge, the
more they realize how insignificant the audience of
people becomes.
And number three is the hereafter.
Because what matters to me, how many shares
I get on a post or how many
people view a video of mine, if I'm
constantly remembering how lonely the grave is, and
how fearful the day of judgment is, and
how I'm going to eventually walk this journey
alone, and I'm constantly remembering the destroyer of
delights, which is death.
All of this becomes very, very insignificant, very
quickly, if a person's eventual destination is constantly
on their mind.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows best.
Yes?
So before becoming Muslim, I
used to have friends and families who, they
know they're being troubled by their parents.
Is that like, if they only pray when
their parents are around, is that a minor
sin?
Yeah, it's a minor sin if a person
is praying because they're afraid of getting yelled
at by their parents and what have you.
That's not the goal.
The goal is to raise people to be
able to pray because of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
And that's a really important note for parents
as well.
Is that you try your best to raise
your kids to not care about your presence
but the presence of Allah.
And so I don't get hyped up because
everybody starts praying as soon as I walk
into the house.
That's not something that I'm actually excited about
or happy.
I'm happy when they pray without my presence.
I'm raising them to pray without my presence.
I tell this story a lot but I
had a brother that I met one time
in a masjid.
And he said to me, I tell my
kids, do you want to know when y
'all will be Muslim?
And they say, we're already Muslim.
And he goes, no, y'all will be
Muslim when you pray without me or your
mom telling you to pray.
That's when you'll be Muslim.
I'm not raising you to submit to me,
I'm raising you to submit to Allah.
I'm not going to be there every step
of your way.
But Allah is going to be there with
you every step of your way.
If I can raise you to submit to
Allah and pray to Allah on your own,
that's when I know you'll be Muslim.
He's talking generally, not technical definitions of Muslim
and what have you.
So you spoke about how the meaning is
something that is beyond our capacity.
So how would you recommend Muslims understand or
attempt to understand and then more than that
be able to rely upon those meanings?
If you don't know that Allah is what?
How do you rely on it if you
don't know?
No, we know what the attribute means.
No, no, no.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I get what you're saying.
And that's 100% correct.
Your question.
We know what forgiveness means.
I didn't say we don't know what the
meaning is.
I said we don't know what the divine
reality of that meaning is.
There's a difference.
I know what forgiveness means.
I know what mercy means.
I know what Ar-Rahman means.
I know what love means.
Al-Wadood.
I know what these words mean.
I just don't know how they manifest in
His divine nature.
I know that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
has, for example, a face because He says
He has a face.
What is Allah's face like?
I have no idea.
I know Allah is beautiful because He says
He's beautiful.
What is His beauty like?
I know it's not like human beauty.
I know it's not like the beauty of
the earth.
I know what beauty means.
And that's a very important point that you
made because you just refuted Muslim philosophers for
the past 1400 years.
1200 years.
Because there are some, and that's a big
tangent, but they said that we don't know
what these words mean.
Right?
Or we alter the meaning of the text.
But no, Allah told us that He's forgiving
because He wants us to know something about
Himself.
That He's forgiving.
Which should inspire us wanting to do what?
Seek forgiveness.
Allah told us that He's merciful because He
wants us to feel like we can turn
to Him for mercy.
That's the point.
So we know what the words mean.
We just don't know their realities.
That's the point.
So when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, for
example, when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says
that Allah descends in the last third of
every single night in a matter that befits
His majesty.
And He says, who's seeking forgiveness for me
that I may forgive him?
Who's repenting to me that I may accept
their repentance?
And who is asking for me that I
may grant them?
Right?
Do I know what the word descend means?
Yes.
Do I know how Allah descends?
The last third of the night in Houston
is different than the last third of the
night in Brazil.
It's different than the last third of the
night in Senegal.
It's different than the last third of the
night in China.
So how does Allah descend in the last
third of the night?
What is that?
That's called asking how.
And we don't know how.
But do I know what descend means?
Yes.
And what is that hadith supposed to inspire?
That you get up and you pray in
the last third of the night.
That's it.
Cool?
Does that make sense?
Cool.