Fahad Tasleem – Inception The Story of Adam in Surah alBaqarah #02
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Bismillah Al Rahman Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa Salatu
was Salam ala I should have written br a while more saline
Nabina Muhammad wa ala earlier he was happy he edge marine Ahmad. So
Inshallah, tonight we're going to be continuing on looking at some
of the AI ads that were looking at last week. And those ions had to
do with Adam Ali Salam, if you remember we were going through
those ayat and Susan Baqarah. Now,
last week, I made a lot of promises, which now that I'm
thinking about, I may need like four more sessions if I'm able to
cover all of that. So inshallah we'll try to do that in the
future. But for tonight, there's a specific realm that I wanted to
focus on. And that specific realm had to do with understanding who
we are.
And then of course, that's going to extend into understanding. I
mean, we're going to understand who Adam Melissa was, and then by
extension, we understand who we are. So what am I talking about?
Well, first of all, before we start into the question of the
angels and all of that, if you remember, we're looking at the
context of so little Bukhara and Allah subhanho wa Taala says a
little while before the IRS talking about the question of the
angels and so on and so forth. Allah subhanaw taala says bother I
will do bIllahi min ash shaytani R rajim Bismillah R Rahman Rahim que
photog for Luna Villa he we're going to um what in fact yakang
sama yummy to consumer you're here consumer elated to Joan, how can
you disbelieve in Allah when you were lifeless and he brought you
to life, then he cause you to die and then he will bring you back to
life and then to Him you will be returned. So inshallah by the end
of tonight, this very I am hoping will be clarified. Okay. So let's
start now with a question about you. And we're not going to start
right here and so the Bacara but we're going to go to I believe
it's true that Masha, Allah subhanho wa Taala says wala to
Kunal kala Dena Sula, for Ansel home and Fusa home, do not be like
those who forgot Allah, so Allah cause them to forget themselves.
So the question arises, what do we mean by the self here? So Allah
subhanho wa Taala is making a very simple statement. Don't be like
those who forgot Allah, so Allah caused them to forget themselves.
Now, if you think about, let's say, a typical atheist, like the
quintessential person that has quote, unquote, forgotten Allah,
do they forget themselves? Do they forget to brush their teeth in the
morning? Do they forget to have ambitions go to college? You know,
get a job. They don't forget any of those aspects. So what does the
I in fact, what is it referring to? Do not be like those who
forgot Allah? And so Allah causes them to forget themselves. And
what it's pointing towards
is for us to for a moment reflect upon what it means in terms of
ourself. Like who we are, like when I say for instance, this is
my hand. In that sentence, who is the my
right? Or sometimes I give a different example. I say, imagine
it. May Allah protect all of us that we get into a car accident.
Okay, and we lose an arm. Are you still you?
Well, yeah, okay. Let's say you lose another arm. Are you still
you? Okay? Yeah, you lose both your legs. Are you still you?
Yeah. So what is it? That is the you here? What are you what are we
pointing to? And in fact, what we find is that the you hear isn't
related to just your physical material body. Yes, there's an
element of that. But the real you, the real essence of who you are,
is in fact, your spiritual reality, your raw, or knifes in
one case, right? And that's who you really are. So when Allah says
do not be like those who forgot Allah, so Allah caused them to
forget themselves, it is those who have forgot their essence when it
comes to their spiritual reality, because there's a connection
between our creation and the creation of our rule. And and the,
the N Allah subhanho wa taala. Okay. So let's take a step back.
First, we want to understand that the human being is a composite of
two realities. One is the material reality that I was just referring
to. And this material reality, it can it can be compared to other
living beings, animals, for instance. And in this material
being, you and I, we share a lot with much of the animal kingdom.
Why because in this material being is housed our desires, our desire
to eat, our desire to procreate and so on and so forth. Okay. Now,
this varies
Self, let's call it the animal self, it goes through a certain
creative process. And this creative process is temporal. In
other words, it is time bound. So, when a child is, you know, when a
child is conceived, there are stages at which it goes through.
So you have, you know, the conception of the child, you have
gestation period, and that really lasts for nine months, and then
there's a birth that so there are stages. So, this domain of our
material being goes through these stages and this domain, we can
call it Allah will hug. It is time bound. But there's another
creative activity of Allah that is not time bound. In fact, it
happens instantaneously. And that domain we can call will say, that
domain is what we known as optimal Emma. And that domain is where the
rule is housed. Remember, I said that the human being is made up of
two parts. So this Umer, this command of Allah, this domain of
the command, how do we know it's related to the rule? Well, Allah
subhanho wa Taala says yes, Aluna, Ganja Rua. They ask you concerning
the raw coal say a raw material being say that the rule is from
the Emerald Allah. Okay, so stop here for a second. How does Allah
issue his awareness? How does he issue commands? Well, when you go
through the Quran, you find that those commands are issued by way
of his speech, okay. So, we have two domains very quickly here you
have one domain, which like I said, was called Allah will enter
and you have the other domain is Allah ml hug, okay. The human
being is a composite of both of these two domains. In other words,
you and I have a spiritual reality which is your raw, which in the
creative process, it is not time bound. So it is made, as we say,
in philosophical terms, x Nilo. In other words, that element of
yourself was created out of nothing.
Okay? Whereas when you look at the human constitution, even when you
look at Adam Islam, human constitution, you see that it was
in fact created out of pre existing elements. So, for
instance, Allah subhanho wa Taala tells us that he's created a
theme, a type of mud, a clay out of water. And so these are pre
existing elements that the human body is creating, and even Adam
Ellis loves bodies criado In fact, our Musa Asha dimension is that
the messenger will also SLM says, that Verily, Allah subhanho wa
Taala created Adam from a handful which he took from the earth, from
all of the earth. In fact, that hadith says, so the children of
Adam come in accordance with the Earth. Some come with red skin,
some with white skin, some with black skin, and whatever is in
between some and the Hadith says some people are hasn, and some
people are yawning. And some people are sad. Some people are
rough and some people are easygoing. Okay. And some people
are good, and some people are bad, meaning that some people have a
little, you know, let's say they have a certain angry disposition.
And some people have more of a joyous disposition. But what's
really interesting is that when you look at human beings in
general, you find even the color of your skin has very earthy tones
to it, like no one sitting here is blue like the sky, right.
So, we have this material constitution. So, remember, this
material Constitution has to do with a time element. And this time
element or this island will help it is time bound, it has step by
step. So
the other thing to note
is that this particular island will help the thing that goes step
by step by step is an order that Allah subhanaw taala set into
place. Now this is gonna become very important when we get to the
discussion on evolution, okay? That there is laws of nature, for
instance, the law of gravity that is set in place like sunnah to
law. Okay, this is part of the domain of Hulk. Allah will Hulk
when Allah subhanho wa Taala breaks that particular law that is
set into motion that is part of Ireland will hammer. Okay, so
let's take an example. And what are the quintessential examples
we'll take right from Sudan, Bukhara, since we're there, Allah
subhanho wa Taala says, Walk on the herd Allahu Allah. And they
say that Allah has taken the sun. Okay, but who is this referring
to? The Christians most likely right? They say that Allah has
taken his son Subhana or glories be to Allah. Bella who math is
summer YT well aren't, but rather to Him belongs the heavens in the
earth, hula hoop on a dune and all are divvied devoutly obedient to
Him.
then the next is interestingly enough says buddy or somehow it
will Earth. Now want to stop here for a second the word But dear,
but dear is usually you see the translation and sometimes they'll
say creator, but in fact buddy out refers to something or the one
that originates out of nothing. So many of you are familiar with the
term Bidda. Okay, so Bidda is an innovation meaning something that
wasn't there and now it's new. So this this, this attribute of Allah
but Dr Samajwadi will other than other words, he is the one that
creates X Nilo out of nothing, he brings it into existence. But then
it talks about how that process happens, what either called or
Omran and when he issued a decree for Inomata, hula hula who
couldn't find your own, he merely says to it be and it is, okay? So
notice the juxtaposition of the issue of Riesling Salam, right.
They say that Allah has taken the sun and in fact, it's going to
refer back to as we have seen in Surah Al Imran, that this is part
of animal armor. Okay. Okay. So, if that's the case, now, let me go
back to the ayah that I started with. And if you remember, I
started with the Ioh K photographer Luna Villa who we're
going to have water and fat here consumer you meet the consumer,
you're a consumer later down
the stages of human creation.
We say typically, we understand those stages to be four. And
sometimes we base it on let's say, this particular item, okay? So in
other words, Allah subhanho wa Taala is mentioning that there are
these four stages of creation, okay.
However, before we existed, Allah subhanho wa Taala created all of
us X Nilo in terms of our Arwa, our souls. And it was these souls
that we know from the Quran that were taken from the loins of Adam,
and were asked the question, Allah stupid have become, Am I not your
Lord? And we all set all of us were there, Adam, Melissa lamb, is
there the Prophet so someone was there every single prophet was
there, every single human being was there, all of us were there.
And so when Allah says, Allah stuben have become all of us, said
Callooh Bala, yes, indeed. And we're not your Lord. Yes, indeed,
your Lord show hidden and we testify that, okay, stop here for
a second.
When you make a testimony, don't you have to be conscious, like
even in like, let's say, in jurisprudence, someone when
they're making a testimonial, they're signing a will, or
whatever the deal is, they usually make a statement to say I am in my
full senses, and I'm making this particular oath, this particular
proclamation, or I'm signing this will or whatever it might be. So
one of the things that we understand is that our very first
stage was not the material body but was the firewall was the rule.
That was what Allah originated us as. So now, this is our first
stage. Allah subhanho wa Taala also quotes some of the people in
the hellfire and they say, Paul Lou, they will say Rob BANA Oh,
our Lord. Medina is Nadine, you made us lifeless, twice? What aa
na isn't attain and you gave us life twice. Twice. You made us
lifeless, twice. You gave us life. Okay, so what are the stages now?
Well, we were originally or Wow, we were originally sold spirits.
Right? Rua. And then Allah caused us to lose that consciousness. In
a sense, we die, right? Maybe in a state in a deeper state of sleep,
right? Because of the promises and dimensions that sleep is a sister
of death. Okay? So we were put in a state of some sort of non
consciousness. That's our first death, quote, unquote,
lifelessness. That's number one. And then we come to life, that's
the first life
and then after this life when we're born, then we will die
again. Okay, that's our second death, quote, unquote. And then
we'll be resurrected. Okay? So the stages that we go through in life
are in fact, let's say five. Okay, we are in the state of Ottawa.
That's Allah creating us X Nilo, without any sort of, you know, any
sort of creative process any pre existing creative material, just
by his amount of just by his word. Right, going for your goon, and
that's it. Okay. So that's stage one, stage two, were put to death
and death is kind of a really bad translation, but we're putting
into a state of lifelessness we lose consciousness, then we are
brought back to life in a sense, then we'll die, and then we'll be
resurrected again. Okay. These are now the stages. Okay. Let me come
back real quick to the process of creation in terms of our two
realities, so we said that one part of our reality is our
material body. This is where
desires are housed. This is where our desire to eat, desire to
procreate, desire. All of our desires are housed here. But now
you also have the reality of us making moral choices. Because if
you think about the animal kingdom, you don't find within the
animal kingdom like a, you know, a lion chasing down a gazelle in the
midst of the chase, the you know, the gazelle says to the lion stop,
what I find that you're doing is morally reprehensible. I refuse
No. Animals work on instinct. And those instincts are blind, unless
there's something to give it some sort of moral code, that moral
code is housed in the room.
So far, so good. Okay. So
so now, let me come to the creation of Adam, Melissa. So we
have a general idea of what the human constitution is, okay? We
have a general idea of these two realms that I spoke about and like
I said, these are going to be important when we speak about
evolution and basically the philosophy of science we're gonna
get into that in a little bit. Inshallah, when Allah subhanho wa
Taala creates Adam.
He creates first and foremost his outer shell, okay, we know this
from various, you know, a hadith and things like that. In fact, in
one of the Hadith,
honest reports that Allah's Messenger SallAllahu Sallam says,
when Allah fashion Adam in paradise in Jannah, he left him
for as long as he will to leave him there. So now is he talking
about fashioning the entire human being there? No, he's talking
about that empty material, animal self that is made from the earth,
okay. Now, he says he left them for as long as he lived. Now, as
long as you leave him there, then a bliss roamed around to see what
actually this creature was. Okay. Now, bliss is entering into the
conversation, and now he roams around and when he found and he
finds him hollow from within, he recognizes that Adam has been
credited with a disposition that he would not have control over
himself. Now, why do you think shaitan thinks that because he's
looking at the empty shell, he's looking at this being that is
solely desires, you know, animalistic desires, based
desires, appetites. And so what is he not seeing?
The soul the rule, right. So now, he has this particular, you know,
this particular structure that Allah subhanho wa Taala has
created Adam.
What we know is that then Allah subhanho wa taala, does what he
breathes into Adam le salaam, the Aruba, okay.
And the significance of that, is that the thing that gives us
honor, when we when we're going to speak about the angels prostrating
is not this temporal material body.
The thing that, in fact gives us honor is the fact that we have a
soul. Now, let me just stop here for a second, I want to kind of
digress. And I'll come back.
I want to digress to the month of Ramadan for a second, and then
I'll come back. Okay.
So I mentioned that Allah subhanho wa Taala says that yes, alone
cardinal rule, they ask you concerning the rule, and say that
the rule is from the Emirate of Allah is from the Command of
Allah. Then I said that the human being is a composite of two
realities, right, this bodily reality, which is animal and it's
kind of has animal desires, animalistic, in a sense. And then
you have a spiritual reality, this spiritual reality, this rule can
be compared to the angelic reality. Because we know angels
are made out of light, and the rule is made out of light. So a
human being has within themselves,
an angelic reality and an animal reality. And it's a composite of
both, okay, and the body works in tandem with the rule. So I just
want to kind of cut something out really quick, that there's a
dynamic interplay between the nature of the body and the nature
of the soul, but it's outside the scope of this conversation. But
you know, if we ever get into speaking about things like
transgenderism, we'll talk about it then. Okay? But for now,
understand that it's a composite of two realities.
In the month, so if you think about the human body, where does
the human body get get assistance from?
It gets its sustenance from the very place it was created.
Remember, we said that Allah subhanho wa taala, created out of
the earth, so when you want to eat, where are you going to get
food?
It's going to come from the earth, right? It's going to come from
vegetation is going to come from the animals who eat the vegetation
out of the earth, and so on and so forth. That's the human body. What
about the rule? Where's it get its sustenance from?
Well, if we said that Allah says that they asked you concerning the
rule, say that the rule is from the emirate.
Allah, how does Allah issue a woman? How does he issue commands?
Golden fire goon by his word? Do we have access to his word?
Yeah, we do. The Quran is Calam Allah, in the month of Ramadan,
and this is kind of the the motif that's, I'd like you to picture.
Imagine, imagine your own self like a, like a rider on a horse.
Okay, so the rider is your Roomba, and the horse is your body 11
months out of the year, you are feeding this horse like crazy.
Okay, getting the finest food, you know, basically fulfilling all the
desires at once. How strong Do you think this horse will be very
strong. So when the horse wants to go somewhere, it's going to take
the rider wherever it wants to go. But one month out of the year.
It's as if Allah says, let's flip the script. Now you're going to
start feeding the horse during the day, you're going to weaken that
horse.
And that's what you do during the day. And then at night, you're
going to strengthen the writer how? by reciting talam Allah. So
the month of Ramadan, in fact, is a preparation for you to take on
the rest of the year to understand the significance of the Quran to
strengthen that spiritual reality, that moral code that you have
inside of you. Right. Okay, so this composite of the human being
we said it's two parts. We said that there's a certain creative
process. Now let me substantiate that. And let me give you a little
more. Let me bolster that a little further.
There's a hadith that you can find any mountain always 40 Hadith.
It's actually its original source of sale body. And it's a lengthy
Hadith but it is narrated by Abdullah Abdullah Massoud are the
Allah Juan. And Abdullah Massoud when he narrates this particular
Hadith it's interesting the choice of words he uses. He says had that
now Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Okay, well, who Asad
upon must do, and he is the truthful and the most trustworthy.
Okay, now stop here for a second. We already know I mean, this is
not you and I, this is Abdullah bin Massoud, okay, he spent time
with the process alone. He you know, he knows better than you and
I that he is the most truthful human being to walk the faces,
planets, solar, etc. Why would he add this to this particular
Hadith? Well, we're gonna see why. Because this particular Hadith
addresses those metaphysical realities, some of those that we
were just talking about. And in this hadith, he starts off and he
says, and I'll just say the translation. Verily, the prophet
system says, Verily, the creation of each one of you is brought
together in his mother's womb for 40 days as a drop, then he is a
cloth for a similar period, and then a morsel for similar period.
All right, so the process is laying out a chronology for us,
yes or no, that is based in time. This is part of Ireland will Hulk,
but then the next step.
So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says, then there is sent
an angel who blows the roof into him. Notice this wasn't part of
the tactic. This wasn't part of the step by step process. This was
the raw, taken from somewhere else, and then added to the human
being. Okay. All right. So that's just kind of bolstering what I was
mentioning. So we understand the human being, we understand Adam
Malasana. And there's a lot more that we could say, but just due to
time limitations, because there's a whole
dynamic within Islamic Pneumatology Islamic study of the
soul, because we can get into the fitrah human nature and all these
things. But we don't have time to get into that part. I mean, stick
with with the story. So let's move now to evolution.
Now, when we look at evolution, and if you remember from last
week, we said that there were certain beings, right, that some
of the historians had mentioned, right, who remembers what they
were? Anyone remember the name?
Hen and been very good. Okay. So even cathedra mentions them. We
said that it's, you know, it's it doesn't go back to the prime
system, but it opens up a certain door. And that's the door that I
wanted to just look at right now. When you we look at how science
works. We understand that science has a certain what we call
epistemic domain. Epistemology is the study of how you know what you
know is the study of knowledge. Okay, so when you ask, How do I
know what I know? It? That's the study of that's epistemology.
Okay. What are the sources of knowledge? That's epistemology?
All right. So our source of knowledge, let's say is the
natural world. All right. That's part of your epistemology.
When we are dealing with science, we have to understand that it has
a certain epistemic border.
It has a certain area that it's called
quarantine itself to. All right. In the terminology that I've used
so far, that particular area that it's quarantine itself to is
Ireland. 100.
Okay, when it comes to Ireland will hammer, it cannot say
anything about it, it doesn't have the right tools. Because what
science does in essence, is it looks at sunnah to Allah, it looks
at those things that Allah has put into order and sees that there's
step one, step two, step two, it analyzes patterns, and then it
gives an interpretation of those patterns.
Okay, that is the domain that is basically as far as science can
take you. Okay? If those patterns are broken, science can't tell you
anything more than that. Okay. Why? Because it relies on what we
call a first principle, all right, or an axiom. And that is, is that
nature? Or rather, yeah, that nature is uniform? What does that
mean? What that means is, is that there is a certain order, if I mix
hydrogen and oxygen, I'll get water. Correct. Okay, if one day I
mix hydrogen, oxygen, I get water and the next next day, I mix
hydrogen oxygen, I get milk, and the next day I get honey, and the
next day I get something else. This is not order. This is not
confusion, right? So there is an assumption about the uniformity of
nature. Okay, the law of gravity. If I drop something, right now,
I'm assuming it's going to fall based on what? Based on historical
precedents. In other words, I've seen things drop a million times.
So I'm going to assume the next time I dropped the bottle, it's
going to fall. Okay? That is an assumption about the uniformity of
nature. And that is an assumption. All right. It's a very high
assumption. But realize that science works by analyzing data.
And by giving it an interpretation, the interpretation
that it gives, is limited to the natural world because there's an
assumption within science, what is known as naturalism, any
explanation for phenomena that we are going to observe have to be
given an explanation from nature, that cannot be given a
supernatural explanation.
And hence, the scope and the area that science deals with? Is only
these patterns is only olive oil, Hulk. Now you introduce something
like olive oil, Mr.
Science can't deal with it. Because it's got an assumption,
naturalism, right? All phenomena are only going to be looked at in
a way that is natural. Now, when this naturalism very quickly when
it moves from the method within science, because then you may say,
Well, can Muslims do science? Of course, you can do science, you
make that assumption that, you know, we're going to give a
naturalistic explanation, right, the processes that we're going to
analyze, we're going to give an interpretation that is natural.
The problem arises is that when you get out of the realm of
science, and you take the same assumption with you, now you move
from a method
to a philosophy. Now you move from something that is a tool that can
analyze the natural world. And you're saying that is how the
entire existence works.
And this is a huge jump. So you move from what's known as
methodological naturalism to philosophical naturalism. In other
words, the only valid explanation is natural. Okay. The problem is,
is that there's no way to prove that it's just a logical leap of
faith in the sense or the route. There is no logic to it's just a
leap of faith. Okay? It's an a pre, it's a pre supposition. Okay.
Let's now come to Adam Malasana. We now look at okay, so now we
have this robust fossil record. It has humanoids in this record human
like structures, okay? If your worldview dictates and your method
dictates that you can only give an explanation from the natural world
functions within the natural world, then you are limited to
saying this interpretation that I have is going to be the only
interpretation. Okay?
If you're able to extend your epistemic borders, and say, Hold
on a second, our sources of knowledge are not just the natural
world, but also we have revelation.
If now you've got our our epistemic cage and you say we have
revelation and we have the natural world. Now you can say, Okay, we
have this data. And now the interpretation of the data may be
the hint and the bin. But when it came to Adam Alayhis Salam, this
is not a topic of Allah will hope. This is a concept of olive oil.
Why? Because Adam Alayhis Salam comes starts from a process that
adds beginning is x Nilo. The material that add the Muslim Tilly
is created out of nothing, the rule is created out of nothing.
That's why even within the realm of science topics
Like consciousness are a hard problem. Because that doesn't deal
with the natural workings of things that doesn't allow you like
consciousness, you have an inner subjective experience. For
instance, science can't tap into that. It can't tell you, like you
eat a chocolate cake. And you have a certain inner subjective
experience. Now, you could tell me about that chocolate cake and say,
Oh, it tastes chocolate is sweet, and so on and so forth. But I will
never know what it's exactly like for you to eat the chocolate cake.
Or let me give a different example. You and I, let's say we
look at a certain color and we identify that is red. Now we can
agree on the the word red. How do I know the thing that I'm seeing?
In my mind, red is the exact same that you're seeing. It's red, for
all I know, you can be seeing green and you just labeled a red,
inner subjective experience science can't access that. Right?
It has to go it has to move from testing, to testimony, right? And
so just take your word for it. Okay? So when it comes to that,
when things break the natural process, when it breaks that this
is where you get to the concept of things like miracles, miracles are
a function of our lemole honor. For instance, the miracle of the
birth of a salad salad, right? If you met someone on the street, and
they said, You know what, that guy over there, he had no father who
was literally born without, you know, without a father. And you're
like, What do you mean? Like his dad ran away? Like no, no, he
literally had no father. Now initially, you'd be like, I don't
believe that, right? I mean, just are. But yet we know that that's a
reality when it came to money, malice, hello, right. And that's
why Allah subhanho wa Taala says, again, referring to ESL Islam or
Bryson, we're gonna bring this back to you, Sally Salem, in the
mother Larissa in the law, he can actually add the lightness of the
example of Al Islam with Allah is like that of Adam. Right halacha
who mean to rob, He created him from dust. And here's the point.
So makalah who are going for your own?
And you will notice this when it comes to these concepts that break
the natural order have to do with the kalam of Allah.
Okay. So that was basically a kind of a brief explanation of
evolution and the data that we have, and understanding that we do
not have to capitulate to the epistemic boundaries, and let's
say epistemic cage, that scientist or let's say atheists, scientist,
force us to put ourselves into let them be in a cage. You have
freedom, right? You have epistemic freedom. All right, that's one
thing.
Second thing let's now move on. So now we've talked about the the,
the human being let's come back to the story itself. So if you
remember last week, we started with the declaration that Allah
subhanho wa Taala makes right it's called a rabuka little Mala Ekati
in Niger I don't fill out the Khalifa all right and mention your
Lord when he said to the angels indeed we're going to make upon
the earth a Khalifa we spoke about that last time in a lot of a lot
of detail. The angels then ask the question, and ever important
question. I thought your annual fee how many you've seen to fee
how we just spoke with the man? Are you going to now create this,
this being where you play spawn one who makes corruption and sheds
blood when national news sub be who behind the guy when Luca de
Sulak. And we are the ones that are singing your praises and
worshiping you and so on so forth? And Allah says, I know that what
you do not know. But there's, you know, it might seem like okay, end
of story. I know that what you do not know that's it hulless but
Allah subhanho wa Taala after that then tells us what Allah Adam and
USMA Kula, then He taught Adam, the names of things. All right,
stop here for a second.
This enters into a certain
field, which we may call, let's say the philosophy of language,
linguistics, and by extension, there's another area called
semiotics. Okay? When you think about how languages function,
we understand that languages basically take a particular sound
and they make that sound, a sign for something else. All right,
language, in a sense, is a group or a wide swath of ayat in
essence, okay? Because the particular word that you have is
not the same as the actual reality. So if you say I'm feeling
sad, the feet your feeling of sadness is not the word sad. The
word sad is a representation of the very feeling that you're
having right? And so in essence, what language is doing is that you
are giving things names. Okay. Now, because I was speaking about
evolution, let
me, let me mention kind of a monkey wrench that also falls into
the, to the absolute evolutionary evolutionary narrative when it
comes to Adam Alayhis Salam, okay. And this evolutionary narrative
that becomes problematic is when you introduce language.
Why is it a problem? Well, it's a problem for a number of different
reasons. First of all, how is it that human beings have a
sophisticated language, whereas other animals don't come close. So
animals can make like unilateral, you know, signs or grunts or
something, right? So a dog might go for something. And maybe if you
get up to some higher level of sophistication, you might get an
animal that can signal for danger.
But, you know, dogs, for instance, are not going to give you their
opinion about Plato or Aristotle. Okay, they're not going to tell
you what their opinion is about the next presidential election.
Okay.
So when it comes to language, and I'll just mention one element of
language, there is the concept of the words themselves, but then
there is how the words are formulated. And this formulation,
this ordering of words, and then reordering of words, this is not
something that, like let's say, children are taught and children
are like the quintessential test case, when it comes to language.
Now I'll give you an example.
Let's say you have a sentence like a deer is in the garden. And you
want to make that into a question. Okay, so a deer is in the garden,
you basically take the the auxilary is and move it to the
front of the sentence is a deer in the garden. Okay, now, if you're
growing up as a child, no one actually teaches you that right?
No one says that you take the is and you basically intuitively
understand that. And you might say, Okay, that's pretty
straightforward rule, you just take it and you move it to the
front. Okay. But let's make a slightly more complex sentence.
You say a deer that is eating a flower is in the garden. A deer
that is eating a flower is in the garden is in the garden, you have
two auxiliaries now, two images here.
But how do you know which one to move to the front to make it into
a question? Okay, so because you have two options, you can say, is
a deer that is eating a flower in the garden? The correct answer? Is
a deer that eating a flower is in the garden. Incorrect. How would
you know which is to move to the front? Because you have a choice
of two auxiliaries here. And let's, let's come, let's make this
a little more complex. Let's say you were to teach a child that you
look, you move in this particular context, you're gonna move the
first you're gonna move. The second is not the first is or
whatever it might be, how many sentences would you have to take a
child through? In order for them to know all of grammar, which
nobody does? They intuitively pick this up.
And this is something that Noam Chomsky has given a certain label
to this, he said it is the argument from impoverished input.
Okay? Because the idea is that you don't have that much input coming
out, or coming in, in terms of the information and that which is
being taught to you. Yet, when it comes to the output. That's almost
infinite, technically, right? Even something very simple. Even this,
let's say, I'm talking right now, the very, like, I could basically
come up with a sentence that none of you have ever heard. Right. So
if I said something like, you know, yesterday, I was, I was in I
was at 711. And, you know, I was walking into 711. And this light
just flashed above me. And all of a sudden, I was sucked into a
spaceship, the spaceship took me to the moon. And on the moon, the
only thing I had to eat was chicken salad.
And this chicken salad, I was starving. So I had it. But then I
realized I have to make I have to, I have to pray. But there's no
water. So can I make the Yemen with Moondust? I don't know, this
sentence I'm sure you've never heard. Okay. It's limited input.
And you can your output is infinite. Right, technically. So
how does that come about? The very function of language is something
that just blows the mind. I'm just giving you one example, about
auxiliaries, there's a whole range of other things. And when you get
into the philosophy, language, talk about nominalism, and so on
and so forth. Again, it's outside the scope of what we're talking
about. But understand that language is phenomenal. And
language, is the reason why you can have intelligence that builds
upon each other, or let's say knowledge that builds upon each
other. Your epistemic boundaries get extended because of language.
You can now study something in a textbook that someone wrote 100
years ago, right? A teacher can teach that because of language.
And that is why within the Islamic framework, testimony is extremely
important.
Your knowledge that comes from the say so of others, in fact, most of
the knowledge you have come
From the face of others, most of it, most of us don't go out and
actually do all the experiments ourselves. We don't do the testing
in the lab ourself. You read about it in a textbook or you, you know,
you read about it somewhere else, or someone, you see a YouTube
video about the moon, or whatever it might be, it's coming from the
face of somebody else. And that's what allows you to extend your
epistemic limits, such that you're not just limited to your own
firsthand experience, you're able to learn and grow. And if you look
at let's say, the teleology of history, you find that there is
been, you know, like overall human history, you have technological
advancements, because of the fact that we have language. And you
wouldn't have technological advancements if that wasn't the
case. So this progress that you have, even by way of technology is
solely based on language.
Now, back to the angels response. So Allah ma de Mille USMA Kula. So
now the angels or rather Allah subhanho wa Taala teaches Adam,
the names of everything, okay, there's a whole bunch of
interpretation. I'm gonna get into that right now. But understand
that this is referring to language.
But however, notice that Allah subhanaw taala says, Allah, he
gets taught, he has a propensity to learn. So this being that the
angels were now saying, Okay, what are you going to do with this
being? Now it has a propensity to learn and not only learn, but
augment that learning by way of language, it can learn and then
learn and learn, and extend that learning and augment it by way of
language. That's the first thing so this is like one of the first
responses Alright, so Moto, the home island, Mala Iike and then
those things were shown to the angels for all ambi Guney be a
smash you have hula in quantum saw the Queen, and then he showed them
to the angel said inform me of their names if you are truthful.
If you're speaking the truth, okay, name them. What are the
angels say? All who's sober Hanukkah. Oh, they said, exalted
Are you right, la la Mulana. illa ma lantana. We do not have any
knowledge except what You have taught us. That's the only thing
that we know, in the current Aleem, will Hakeem, and indeed you
are the knowing and the whys. So right off the bat, they are kind
of saying they're taking a step back and saying, okay, the only
thing that we know is what you taught us. Obviously, this being
has intelligence. But is that the end of the answer? So in other
words, you're going to create this beam that's going to go on earth
that's going to shed blood, okay, so it can learn things. So maybe
we can learn how to shed blood more effectively.
Because someone can make that argument, say, Wait a minute. So
yeah, now we have technological advancement. We have a nuclear
bomb, we can decimate millions and millions of people in a flash. So
is this really a response to what the angels were saying? Or is it a
good response? Well, let's keep going. Okay,
so then Allah subhanho wa taala, says, Allah Ya Adam, oh, Adam, M
B, M, B, home B. S, marry him, and so inform them of their names. And
Adam informs them of their names. And then Allah says, Allah, Allah
upon locum in the Atlanta labor Summit, what you will, what
Atlanta Manitoba doing? Oh, am I going to talk to moon? And then he
says, Oh said, Oh, Adam, inform them of their names. And when he
had informed them of their names, he says, Did not tell you that I
know the unseen. And I know that of the heavens and earth, and I
know what you reveal, and what you've concealed. What was
revealed and what was concealed.
What was revealed, was the initial claim of the angels, the initial
problem that the angels had,
what's concealed here, one way of looking at this is what is
concealed? Is that Yes, you've given one understanding of the
human being that their intelligence will be used for just
one thing to shed blood. But what you have concealed is the fact
that that very intelligence, that very ability to learn, that very
construct of the human being, can also be used for immense amounts
of good. Okay, so stop here for a second. Let's go back to the
construct of the human being. All right, we're gonna kind of go back
and forth in this talk. All right. What do we say the human being is
comprised of two things, right? We said there's a animal material,
bodily reality. And we said that in this bodily reality is housed
our desires. Okay? We said that there's an angelic reality
and angelic reality that is, which when we can say is the rule, and
it's a combination of these two.
When the human being makes a correct moral choice, because of
that free choice, they become better than the angels.
When a human being succumbs to their lowly appetites, animal
appetites, they become worse than the animals. So what is the
potential here? The potential is to be better than the angels that
were asking the question in the first place. And yes, there is a
potential on the other side.
But in order to have that potential in the first place, you
have to have the potential the choice. And so free choice enters
into the discussion but not just any choice. We're not talking
about choices like should I have Wheaties or cornflakes in the
morning, we're talking about moral choices. And it's by way of moral
choices, that the human being is able to improve themselves to get
better and better and better. So let's take an example of a moral
or like a, an ethic, for instance, or a moral. Let's take a look at
something like summer. In the KML, Josie Rahimullah, he mentions that
suburb is a reality and a function of the human being only
because angels don't have suburb because in order to have suburb,
what do we mean by suburb, so suburb? You know, linguistically,
it comes from hubbas, which means to imprison.
Okay? So the reality is the law here, or the technical definition
is to imprison or constrict or limit the self with regards to
obedience of Allah, staying away from the Haram and being patient
with the trials. Okay? This is quick definition of sober, all
right. Angels do not disobey Allah.
They don't have the capability of disobeying Allah. Animals work on
blind instinct, ie they don't disobey Allah, what is the only
being that can make a choice, the human being, the only being that
can exhibit Sobor is the human being when they exhibit stubborn,
they become better than the angels, when they capitulate, and
they don't, they become worse than the animals. So the potentiality
here is based on the fact that you have a rule, which is where you
have your moral reality where you make moral choices, and the fact
that you can make the choice in the first place. And by making
that choice, you can become a person can become better than the
angels, a higher state than the angels, right? So when they're
asking the question, alright, so you're going to create on this
earth, this being that's going to shed blood, it's gonna cause
corruption. And Allah then further than later on, says, you know, I
know what you have revealed and what you what you conceal what you
reveal, what's revealed is only one aspect of it.
Because what was concealed is the potentiality of the Human Project.
And among that potentiality is yes, you have, you know, the
Hitler's and the, you know, all the, you know, the Assad's, or
whatever you want to call it all the worst people of humanity,
right. But amongst that potentiality is also the prophets,
the messengers, the righteous, you know, the pious, the shahada, the
ones that sacrifice themselves in battle, and so on and so forth.
There is so much potentiality for goodness, that the angels didn't
really even think to think or didn't even consider, okay. So,
what is the response to angels? Now, you put it into basically
three categories, one, you have a beam, that is that is going to be
able to reason by way of language, okay, which is like no other being
number two, you have a beam that has a free choice. And because of
that free choice, they are able to choose good or bad, right?
Because, you know, even Allah subhanho wa Taala he says, if he
had willed, right, follow Shah, and if he had will let her dalkom
Edge Marine, he if he had willed, He would have guided you all,
because someone should ask question, why don't you just guide
everyone? Well, if you got it, everyone, we'd be like the angels
like no sort of free choice.
What makes this creation better, is the opportunity to be able to
do better. But in order to do that, there has to be suffering.
If there's no suffering, then all your choices are good, and good.
And that's it. So where's the potential to be better? Where's
the potential for 10? Skia. Right, we know the prophets and
messengers, they're sent to, like us the key him, were you a limo
Kitab al Hikmah, right, in order to purify them, but purification
one aspect when you look at Zacchaeus zakat, for instance,
it's not only purification, but its growth, that spiritual moral
growth only happens when you're in the context of suffering and
warfare and data, yada, yada, yada, yada and go through all
these things. Right. Okay. So that was the response to the angels
Now, last week.
I ended on a certain note and the certain note was, is that why is
it that
your wife if she enters paradise, she will be more beautiful than
their older lady? Okay. So I'm sure a lot of you came back for
that one. Okay.
Why is that the case? So first of all, let's understand the concept
of beauty first of all, okay, so I'm gonna take a slight digression
here. There is an aesthetic quality of beauty. Okay, in other
words, what you see you can find something beautiful, find
something attractive and
There's a certain pleasure you get out of looking at that thing.
Okay, now that could be a beautiful mountain, it could be,
you know, you know, like a, I don't know, waterfall, whatever it
might be. The point is, that particular thing that you're
looking at, it draws your attention, because of the pleasure
you get out of looking at it. It doesn't draw your attention
because it's giving you some sort of logical syllogism for you to
solve or something like that. Right? It is pleasure. There's a
pleasure part of that. Now that is the external part of that. Okay.
But when it comes to the Islamic framework, there's a few words
that are used for beauty. So one is Jimmy. Okay. So, you know, for
instance, Allah subhanaw taala. In the Hadith, where the prophet of
Islam says in the Lucha Jamil where you humble Jamal, indeed,
Allah is beautiful, and he loves beauty. Here, the context of the
Hadith was what by the way, the context of the Hadith was that a
man when the process and him was speaking about arrogance, so on
and so forth, the man says, you also Allah, you know, is it wrong
for me to like good clothes, like nice sandals, good clothes. And
that's when the Prophet says Dylan says that in the law had Jamila
Abu Jamal, so specifically, is talking about looking good. In
other words, there's the aesthetic that's being spoken about here. So
is there's the external aesthetic.
But there's also a beauty that's related to the internal reality.
And that internal beauty has to do with one's character and moral
choices.
And that beauty is encompassed by a word which is hassen.
Now when you want to take both of these words, let's say Jamal and
Hassan, right, you something that Jamil, okay, if you want to
signify an internal and the word itself signifies an external or
vice versa, you're going to add an extra word to it. So for instance,
when you when use of Alison's father, when he says that I'm
going to have what kind of patients
saloon, Jimmy, why because suburb is that moral content? Right? So
yes, there could be an internal, like beauty, but now he's giving
it a higher rank by saying it is not only just beaut, it's not only
just suburb, but it's a beautiful suburb, as if to say there's
almost like an external component of this. When Allah describes the
women of Paradise now this is where I'm going to get into this
inshallah. In surah Rahman, Allah subhanho wa Taala says, so which
of the favours we will be Lord we do not deny. And then he says fee
hin clay raw stone he said in that in other words in paradise, they
will be good and the translation is good and beautiful women hired
off he said his son coming from Santa has an A signifies what
though? It signifies an internal purity a good character, like for
instance, the prophesy Salem, you know, it's it's mentioned that he
used to say, oh, Allah, just like you've made my Hulk beautiful,
make my whole look beautiful. Hulk is the outside your outside
appearance, who look is what is your mannerisms, your manners,
your other and things like that? So in terms of like he said, Hey,
Rod, there is that internal beauty because they're pure. Right?
Because no one has touched them. Okay, no one's had relations with
them. But then Allah says, you know, that that there's that
internal, but hey, it OT is referring to the external, the
aesthetic. So their beauty, their beauty is not just outside, but
it's inside as well. Okay, so what does this have to do with why it's
going to paradise? Remember, we said that the human being has the
potential to be better than the angels? And what when does that
happen, though, when they make the correct moral choices when they
develop themselves spiritually, morally, ethically, and so on, so
forth?
If that's the case, with being better than the angels, how much
more so is it the case for a woman that has chosen the correct morals
and elevate herself above the angels and thus elevate herself
above the holy line? Why because their whole aim do not have free
choice. They don't have an intellect. So when a person sees
their wife in paradise, she has not only an aesthetic beauty that
you just look at, but she has that internal beauty as well. Right?
And it goes back to the very concept, that very human project
we're talking about going in between you know, having the human
being without potentiality Okay, all right. So, let me just mention
let me just mention the, so we spoke about that. All right, let's
go back to the story very quickly, inshallah. So then, after all of
that happens,
Allah subhanho wa Taala continues what it's called Knowledge Mala.
egotist Juliet.
Adam Mufasa do, right. And when we said to the angels Prostrate
before Adam, they prostrated
except one, right Illa IBLEES abou was stuck burrow Academy, no
caffeine, and he was he refused and he was arrogant and he became
one of the caffeine. Okay? Now I don't have time to get into the
entire, you know, dynamic of bliss right now. So I'm going to put
that on the side just for a few moments. Okay. And I want to come
in this idea of such that
what makes the human beings so special that you have the angels
prostrating? But before we answer that question, and we actually in
essence, we answer that question. When you think about this as a
concept, you know, when I used to think about this, like early on
when someone told me, okay, well, the angels like let's say the
first time I read it, I thought it's like a group of like six or
seven angels, and then they prostrated and then add or IBLEES
was the one that just didn't prostrate, so you get six or seven
angels in That's it. Okay.
But then, later on, we read in sort of sod, Allah subhanaw taala
says, For Sergio del Mala Iike Alright, So the angels prostrated
couldn't do home, a maroon, all of them together. Now stop here for a
second.
All of the angels when the Prophet SAW Selim was coming back after
the first revelation, there's a hadith that mentions that when he
looked back he saw Gibreel Ali Salaam in his actual form, and
Gibreel and Islam took up the entire horizon 600 wings and after
wings there were dripping pearls and things like that the entire
now what you'd imagine that for a second, everywhere you look in the
horizon is just Djibouti Larissa
was Gibreel Ali Salam, what are the angels that prostrate Adam?
Yeah.
In fact, it wasn't only just Gibreel the head of the angels it
was Israel feel it was mica it was all of the angels. One day when
the Prophet said someone was walking with the Sahaba they heard
a creek like the creaking of wood. So the Prophet SAW Selim said, Do
you know what that is? And the Sahaba said, Allah and His
Messenger know best. So the prophets of salaam said, that
creaking that you hear is that that is above the heavens, and
there's not a hand span in the heavens, except that there is an
angel that is bowing, prostrating and worshiping Allah and they will
continue to do that, until the trumpet is born blown. And when
the trumpet is broken, they will raise their heads and they will
say, Oh Allah, we have not worshipped you as you deserve.
Now, stop here for a second. When the Prophet says salam talked
about the heavens.
He said, If you were to read this description of the heavens, who
said that one heaven to the next heaven, right, and here, we're not
talking about paradise property about the heavens, there's a
difference. One heaven the next heaven unless you have some dunya,
which is basically the galaxy or the cosmos that we are in,
compared to the next heaven is like taking a ring and throwing it
into the desert, one heaven to another heaven. Then you have
another one on top of that, which is like a ring and throwing it in
the desert. Then you have another one on top of that, which like a
ring throwing desert. Now you start thinking about all of that
space, it'll just, you'll go crazy trying to think about it. Every
there's not a hand spin, except that there's an angel worshiping
Allah, all of those angels, which by the way, those angels they're
the ones that come down a little further. That's why when Some
scholars say it's called Leila to cover cara cara Lee disco to
constrict, the earth becomes constricted because all those
angels come down, but who are the ones that prostrated to Adam, all
of those angels? They prostrated to Adam, and not just one at a
time. Allah subhanho wa Taala says he maroon together
all of these angels with the enormity. And you know what we
understand about angels? They all prostrated Adam. And then there
was like one left right there. I can imagine like, all of them this
one guy, right? And you're like, oh my gosh, right.
But the point is, what is the reason for that frustration, that
human project that has so much potentiality was the reason for
that frustration. Allah has honored us by making us the human
beings that we are. And that we're able to fulfill that by
worshipping Allah obeying Allah, and being moral agents for moral
good, as they say, in the society around us. Once we understand
that, you find that this allows us to, you know, climb spiritual
ladders. Now, I'll mention one last thing before I conclude.
And that is the following. And it's going to be if you know me, I
kind of like to make certain points of Dawa. Right. So if
you're speaking to non Muslim, one of the things you have to
understand, right, is when you are going through the story of Adam
Alayhis Salam, let's say even
If you're going through in sootel Bacara,
most of the people around you are going to have certain pre
conceptions about the story itself. In fact, if you were to
narrate the story to them, they would think that you're making
major faux pas. In other words, you made major mistakes in the
story. Why? Well, let's take a couple of examples. Okay? When you
compare it to the biblical narration, right in Genesis, one
of the things that we noticed, for instance, is that there's God who
is extremely jealous, and vengeful and overly protective of this tree
that they're about to eat from, so much so that he's assigned angels
that are rough, and you know, tough and so on and so forth. Why
was ALLAH what was why was God and this narration protecting this so
much? Because if you eat from this tree, you become godlike. And that
was a no no, for Adam and his and his wife, and so on and so forth.
When you look at the Quranic narration, Allah simply says,
don't eat from that tree. Right? Don't come Don't go close to that
tree. That's it. Not like oh, like there's going to be okay, that's
number one.
Number two, the idea that this was just a slip, because later on the
story for Zilla, Huma shaytaan. So shutdown cause them to Zell to
slip. Not like, okay, they made this major mistake that has, you
know, you know, uh, you know, cosmological consequences for all
of history. No, it was a slip.
That's not something the people around you are used to hearing
that it was just a slip, like you don't think about when you slip?
Like, it's almost like it's not even your fault, right? You didn't
see the puddle in front of you, you slipped, okay. That's the
essence of kind of what you got like, Okay, you and that's why
after that Allah subhanho wa Taala does what teaches Adam how to ask
for forgiveness for the love of Adam Omen, Robbie kalimat. He
teaches Adam gives Adam the words to say and then what he turns to
him in repentance. Well, what a while Rahim. And indeed, he's once
returning. That is not a conceptualization that you have in
the biblical narrative. And just that concept of the story of Adam,
can be a major turning point for a lot of non Muslims, even those
that are not Christian, because that's been in the backdrop since
they were kids since they were going to church, this colossal
sin, this angry, vengeful god, there should be a price for the
sin. What is the price for that sin, the sacrifice of His Son. I
was a biller right.
by deconstructing the story of Adam, and giving them the truth
about the story of Adam, you're actually able to call them to
Islam in a way that, believe me, it's not abrasive. Right?
Typically, when we talk to Christians, the first place we go
to is the Trinity. Right? Let me tell you why one plus one plus one
is not one,
right? But the approach or a potential approach could be to
take them to the story of Adam and Eve salaam, because that's where
all of the baggage is coming from. Okay. So I'm going to go and stop
there and inshallah we can open it up for q&a, because I have some
time.
So and then, you know, there's more of the story, and then
there's more we can talk about, but we'll have to leave that for
another session.