Bilal Philips – Why God Created Man Part 2
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The speakers discuss the importance of living in a Christian environment and avoiding false teaching. They emphasize the need for people to read the written messages of Islam and be prepared for the future. The natural end of action is based on their natural will and mercy of God, and action is necessary to protect against evil behavior. The importance of Christian belief and declaration of faith is emphasized, and action is encouraged to be consistent to avoid mistakes and avoid mistakes in the future.
AI: Summary ©
Sure,
you hear in the news, reference to Shiite
Muslims or Muslims
and Sunni
Muslims, these are the main two
groups that are mentioned in the news in this fashion.
To understand the difference between the two groups,
one has to understand the fundamental concept of God as Taught In The Course, and in the teachings of the Prophet, Muhammad, peace be upon us.
And
this concept is one, which I have spoken about in the lecture, wherein the attributes of God are not shared with his creation in any way. Those complete and perfect attributes are not shared.
And whoever seeks to share these attributes with the creation,
we consider that person to have deviated from the main body of Islam.
The vast majority of Muslims
90% of them
fall under the general category of Sunni or Shiite Muslims, you could call it the Orthodox those who maintain this basic concept that the attributes of God are not shared by man.
What we find in the teachings,
which are referred to as the Shiite
Muslim teachings
is that some of the attributes of God have been given to some individuals.
These individuals are particular descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, may God's peace and blessings be upon them.
They have assigned to a certain
number of his descendant 11 in number,
the 12th, one being the son in law
of the Prophet Mohammed, they got this investment the appointment they were assigned to this group of 1211 descendants and one relative
attributes of one infallibility
being incapable of doing any error.
making any mistake, whether inwardly or outwardly, deliberately or accidentally,
is an infallibility which goes beyond even that of Catholicism. Catholics who believe that when the pope is
inaugurated, when he becomes the Pope, then he becomes infallible. Prior to that he was a fallible human being.
But after he becomes the Pope, then he becomes infallible with regard to his religious rulings, in spite of the fact that different folks will cancel the rulings of others.
But for Shiite
Muslims, they hold that these descendants of the prophets were infallible, and because of that, they are the ones who should have led the Muslim nation. Because if they're infallible and capable of doing the error, that is the leader who you want, if you can have somebody who will not make any mistakes, while this is your best leader, but of course, from the Orthodox point of view,
all human beings make mistakes.
Even the prophets of God made mistakes, however, their mistakes were not on the level of the average human beings mistakes, they did not make mistakes, which are gross mistakes, which involve, you know, corruption, as they're portrayed, for example, in the Old Testament is, you know, having committed *, you know, with their doctors and having children, you know, lusting after wives of men and committing adultery and you know, these kind of gross errors. These we do not believe, can be attributed to the Prophet, however, mistakes in judgment, yes. However, whenever a prophet made a mistake in judgment that is choosing
the good,
over the better, God would correct the prophet and that choice would become a lesson and an example and a teaching for the followers. And that's why you can find into question
On
certain verses in which God has corrected Prophet Muhammad,
when he made certain choices, which were not the best choice.
So, human beings who are not prophet do not have the benefit of revelation to correct them. Therefore, according to the Orthodox view,
we choose our leaders,
there is nobody who has the divine right to lead,
which is a basis of the philosophy, that these 12 individuals have the divine right to be, because they were infallible.
Furthermore, they attribute to these individuals
omniscience, that is knowledge of all things
and they have in their books,
statements that the these individuals knew the past, the present and the future,
their knowledge was unbounded, we believe this not this kind of knowledge belongs only to God, no human being knows the past, present and future, only God
they also attribute to them
omnipotent power over all phases of creation,
the atoms of creation as submitted to them,
and so on. And as such, you find in the course of their worship, they direct prayers to these individuals.
They consider them capable of answering their prayers
and all of that is abhorrent to mainstream Islam. So, they represent a deviation from the main body of beliefs, deviation which may be similar for example, to in Christianity to certain groups like the Mormons
you know, who claim that they their leader, Smith received revelation you know special look within on golden tablets etc You know, he has built a religion out of it considers himself Christian etc their followers however the main body of Christianity look at them as being deviant having deviation in any system, no matter how perfect it may be, you will have individuals who will break off who choose to
follow their own desires or interpretation, which are not consistent with the teachings which the prophets themselves rock
is that
some of the questions relative to the prayer
we have
we
see rather than rather than trying to go for the prayer and come back again,
you know, we are permitted to delay the prayer issue. So we have a time, what next know what our time limit is. So we can just decide in terms of the questions and know where we should stop, so that we can go in and make the night for somebody else.
Okay, in about 20 more minutes, we will stop.
Okay, so we'll now take some of the written questions.
Some of these questions are actually
Can
Can someone who works with a lot, but
can a man
without being
related to other persons that have created says on a personal
notes
we'll go to
a person who has not been exposed.
We're talking about now the point of view of Islam.
A person who is not exposed to the final message of God, Islam
properly in its proper form, etc.
If such a person
wherever he may be,
rejects the false teachings in whatever system he may find it
stuff and seeks to worship god alone,
then his affair is with God.
His affair with his with God, God will judge him,
according to the knowledge which was available to him.
And God is the most.
However, if a person who belongs to one of the various systems that are out there,
hear the message of Islam, what is Islam
and inhering if they realize, of course, that
what they believe was very similar to what his family However, they choose not to accept Islam.
Then, according to the teachings of Islam, first a person will go to *,
as the Prophet Muhammad and they got peace and blessings be upon him said that whoever hears about me that is hears about
the Prophet and the message that he brought properly, and does not believe in
such interference.
Because those people
who have rejected the properties of their religion
and has come to a basic impure foundation of belief,
they will find that everything that Islam has to offer, support that system of belief, it strengthens it, and helps it.
So one would then ask the question, why would you not become innocent?
Why would you then not declare your faith and accept the system? in its completeness, as was the last to the process?
When a person is asked this question,
you will find generally speaking, that they have chosen not to accept the faith because of certain emotional
issues
might be family.
If my wife found out that I became a Muslim, she would be mortal.
So that individuals love for his wife is greater than his love for God.
So he becomes an object of worship for him really,
because, from the Islamic point of view, through worship involve loving God more than all else in creation.
Not doing anything which is displeasing to God. Lloyd may please every human being on Earth,
but doing everything which is pleasing to God, no, it may displease every human being on Earth. This is true faith and true worship.
So
those people
who have arrived
at the oneness of God, the uniqueness of God
and they realize
that it is only in Islam that that oneness and uniqueness is echoed
and destroyed, but yet reject,
then, they have been promised,
because they have knowledge, but they have not acted
in accordance with that knowledge
to
change our fate,
this is a big
area, the area of destiny of man. How is man's life predestined? Or is it predestined? Is there a conflict between free destiny and free will? You know, it's a fairly large topic, but I'll just say quite briefly, that
God's knowledge of all things,
which
is recorded
means that everything which takes place in a human beings life
is already known to God
has already been set down.
However,
men still have within that
The ability to choose to do one thing or another,
the language has been set down, which is known to God
is the choice which he would make.
That is the perfection of God's knowledge.
So, when a person who
is within a particular framework, you could say that the way in which his life is going is towards a particular point
that would appear to be in destiny. However, he prays, he turns to God seeks God's help. And God
interferes with that, what appears to be a what would have appeared to be the natural end of action. And he takes another path,
of course,
that he prayed, and that God intervened and gave him the other path is already written. However, he was not forced to pray, he still made the choice, to pray or not to pray.
And if he hadn't prayed,
then perhaps he would have gone to that same point where he was headed. And that would have been what was recorded.
So, man's Free Will something clearly recognize this man has a choice. However, the implementation of that choice is not in his head.
You chose to come here tonight, however, could you guarantee that you would be here and sitting in that chair? No.
The back that you came on or the car that you drove and put about an accident, you could have been killed on the way.
So you don't control
the result of your choices.
You have the choice.
And that's why ultimately, according to Islamic teachings, we are judged according to our intention, the choices that we have made, not the product of action,
because one may make an evil intent,
make an evil choice. Yet the product of his action is good
for people around him, or maybe even for him.
And similarly, one may make a good choice.
Yet the product of his action may appear to others to be evil.
It is from the grace of God,
that when a person makes a good choice,
and God allows him to put that choice into effect,
that God also reward him for
the product of his choice.
This is from the grace of God,
and from his mercy.
That when a person chooses an evil choice,
he is only held to account for that evil choice.
The manifestation of it does not multiply the evil against him
is from the mercy of God.
But
whatever is to be has been written.
However, the writing does not affect the choices that we make every day. This is the reality that we live in. We know we're making choices.
That's real. However, the fact that God knows all things,
his knowledge is infinite. It means that whatever choices we make, he knows, he knew before we made them.
And the record of it is just a manifestation of his knowledge.
Any questions from the floor from the guests again?
From our guests, any questions from the floor?
Please do not, as I said, feel shy.
We're here to share.
question. You mentioned that God took a promise from the children of Adam at the beginning of life or the beginning of the creation.
Robin, does anybody remember that promise? What is the proof that it took place? Well, for us the proof is in the Quran. God states in there that is
described in the details that I mentioned in my lecture.
Furthermore, the prophet, he got peace and blessings be upon him. It also stated that every child is born with this natural belief in God,
which is called fitrah.
However, he went on to say that it is his parents, who then cause him to swerve from that and become a Christian, or a Jew,
Austrian, or whatever.
Two more questions that were prompted by
these questions, why did
the Prophet
encouraged us may God's peace and blessings be upon him to ride horses?
Because at that time,
it was the
most effective
means of military preparedness.
And this might sound like
there's something militant about Islam here.
However, God has commanded the believers in the Quran, to prepare themselves for their enemies,
that they must go out and seek enemies and go and you know, kill everybody in sight. Know, Islam does not support in any way putting bombs in
the World Trade Center, or any any buildings, you know, whatever where their innocent lives may be taken. This is considered terrorism and it's totally against teachings of Islam.
However,
it is known
that whenever people choose righteousness, choose a particular path of service to God, then the enemies of God,
the helpers of Satan,
they will try their utmost to crush such an existence,
to destroy
in any way that they can.
And so, historically, you find various
bodies or individuals who have tried to destroy Islam from its beginnings, not from the time nearly of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him because we understand Islam to have begun with Prophet Abraham prophet had,
that Adam was not only the first man, but when he came to earth, He was also a prophet of God, and that all of the profits from his time to the last of the prophets got to be applied on all of them, will be set by the people around them, by nations around them, the nations and those who chose not to follow the correct path, one of submission to God and worship of God, they fought to destroy the message which the prophets brought military
and otherwise, and so, the believers are commanded to be in a state of preparedness.
And part of that preparedness is a was in the remains today in terms of a said from a physical health point of view,
horsemanship
now that the horse is the best of the animals, superior to all other animals, so, it had a particular role at that time and it continues to you know, have a beneficial role in terms of physical fitness. So it is a recommended animal to keep
the cat
is an animal which the prophets had
permitted its movement amongst mankind with being kept as pets or you know, living amongst men etc. And
there has not been any prohibition with regards to the candidate.
Okay, we're gonna take two more within five seconds but before that, we again giving a chance to someone for one of our guests who would like to make a
smoking, Brexit
Next question, can you apply the concept of information? Is there any relation between
the concept of incarnation
of God
becoming man
is fundamental to Christian belief.
No, we do not hold that it is actually the teaching of Christ Himself.
This is fundamental to Christian belief that God became a man
and died, sacrificed himself for the sins of mankind.
Similarly, in Hinduism, we have the concept of the Avatar,
the garden man,
for them have appeared a number of times throughout history, not just one time as in the case of Christ amongst Christians.
This concept is, of course, totally rejected by Islam.
because
it involves something which is
not only against the teachings of the Prophet, but something which is illogical and unreasonable.
In those against man, it's common sense
that the creator could become the creative.
I know people
like to raise the issue well,
isn't God Able to do all things
and this becomes the justification for God becoming a man.
Because if you are the average Muslim is God, not able to do all things and of course,
in the law,
office, however,
when this term is used, often,
this is with regard to all things which are in keeping with God's
status, and attributes. It does not include the impossible things which cause God to be less than God.
When a person says that they create for the car, the creative,
the creative, is in need of a creative form. That's why it's called the creative.
This is a contradiction in terms.
Because the Creator God, he is one who was uncreated.
He is the uncreated being the uncreated existence.
This is what makes him God,
one of the qualities of him being God, so to say that he becomes
created
in need of a creator, that is to say that he become less than God.
It's like say, God mean, the EverLiving.
And then asking, Can the EverLiving guy
so to say that he become
creative?
a creator, that is to say that he becomes less than God.
It's like say, God means the ability
and then asking, Can the ever living die?
This is a nonsensical question. Ever living he doesn't die.
So ask them, can they ever dizzy die? This is a nonsensical question. The same Oh, God can do all things so why can't he die? This is nonsense.
When we speak of God, being able to do our thing, this is all things which is in keeping with him being gone, which do not make him less than God.
So, the concept of God incarnate, or becoming a man is something which is totally alien to the teachings of the Prophet. And it is, in fact, a belief which was introduced amongst mankind, by Satan.
Satan, because the end result is that men worship another man.
And anything which called man to worship, other than God is from Satan is safe.
What is divine is to worship God, what is satanic is to worship the creation of God, whether it be yourself, or be another human being, or animal, or whatever.
That is Titanic in the sense that it is part of
what which taken place
on humans,
in convincing them provide an argument or whatever, to make the worship of the creation of God seem pleasing and reasonable,
or acceptable.
Before we read the last point, I
would like to direct you to the closest
the last question
what do I have to do to become
become a Muslim,
one merely has to declare, in front of
two witnesses,
if available, that one accepts
that there is only one God worthy of worship,
with all of the qualities, which are unique,
and that, Mohammed, you got this, and that
was the last of the messengers of God.
Once the first makes a declaration, then they're considered to be within the fold of Islam.
However, I should point out
that one that declaration is made, not to inform God,
of what one believes. Because we already know that God knows what is in our heart, whether we say it, or we don't know to God.
But that declaration is because we need as human beings to make that declaration in order to inform the Muslim community, that we are, in fact, a member of that community. So that in our times of weakness,
and
all of us go through periods of weakness, where our faith may be low, when Satan
will come to us, and then suggest to us to do things which are displeasing to God.
If others do not know that we are a part of the community, then we cannot avail ourselves of their help.
Whereas if we have informed others, then we can find help from them.
That is, for those of us that are from the west or the east, or in other countries where devices are more readily available.
than in this society, for example. It's one little secret Muslim, in the sense of one accepted the disease, but didn't inform others. So not every day, we want to vary, you know, down, out or whatever. And then the thought comes to one, that one may
gain some solace or consolation by taking a drink.
Because before Islam is what we used to do, when we're feeling down, we took a drink, you know, make us feel a little up. So, if that circumstance arose, and then one decided to go to the bar.
There would be nobody there if even if they walked by Muslims will be nobody there. However, if one has declared one's Islam,
and Muslims see an individual who has said he's a Muslim, going to borrow gonna take all the details of
what's happening
to my house, you
problem, let's discuss your problem, you know, you're not going to find any solutions in the bar. So, that is the purpose of that declaration.
But we should note that in the practices,
or in the requirements of the plan, the first one is a declaration, a declaration of faith. However, what follows is our four pillars of action, where we are required to prove that faith, by daily prayer, fasting in Ramadan, giving us charity, on a yearly basis, to those in need, and once in a lifetime, making pilgrimage. So we see that a great emphasis is placed on action.
There is faith, that faith has to be linked with action for the faith to be real.
So I personally make a declaration of faith. But then he refuses to learn his prayer. He doesn't,
he doesn't give a sharpie, then that declaration of faith is nullified by his actions,
on willingness
to act in accordance to the faith, then can take one back out of Islam as quickly as we can.
And it should be noted that, of course, as the Prophet said, when a person declares his face, or her face,
all of the previous sin
are canceled.
They start all over again, to select the day you were born, we have seen
However,
if the person after declaring their fate,
maybe they start to pray, and they start to fight, but they start to live again a corrupt life, they go back to old habits, etc, then the burden of the previous sin comes back on them.
So it means that
the absolution from the previous sin is only valid, as long as one continues to take a path of righteousness, that he doesn't fall back into that earlier life doesn't become a cheat, or he for you know, whatever the well known evil
characteristics is worth making a mistake I'm not talking about a person will make a mistake. And all of a sudden, everything is back I know, a peaceful gift from God, God has forgiven, but a person who chooses that evil
person who comes into Islam word, but indeed, he has not changed.
Such a person will not be absolved of sin before.
So if the person who asked this question
or any of the people who are here in the audience would like to declare their faith, then it is a very simple procedure, they may come forth, just put your hand up and come forth and declare face in front of everybody, no problem. If you're shy or whatever, you can ask
the lecture approach any of the organizers and your face can be declared in front of a smaller group or whenever it's up to you.
But the advice is that you shouldn't believe if you have got sufficient knowledge and of course, no one is invited into Islam with ignorance.
If you don't know what Islam is really but you just like Muslims don't become a Muslim because you like Muslim. become a Muslim because you know, the teachings of Islam and accepted those teachings in your heart.
So, if any of you would like to make your declaration of faith, then just raise your hand and come forward. Is there anybody? First of all, ask the question, if you'd like to do so now.
You want to be careful
Well,
unfortunately,
you're asking the question after the questions have ended.
And
maybe we can look into that topic in another lecture.
Because
Okay, so excuse me from making
clothes.
After we finish, here
we go.
There, there will be some freshmen.
To
this point, we, first of all would like to thank you for coming here to
be with to share your knowledge with us.
From what
I heard both of you came to take that and put it into practice, in whatever way is most beneficial.
And we also want to thank the organizers for giving us the opportunity to be with us. Thank you for coming here.
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to
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