Hamza Tzortzis – How to Give Dawah #3 We Have to Know Allah! How to Give Dawah

			Yeah, because sometimes people's questions could not be a sign of what they really need. It may be a
sign of what they want, by may not be a sign of what they need, what they need maybe something
fundamentally different. Like, for example, when an atheist talks to me and says, Well, there's
still a chance that there's no God, even though you give them a really good conception of the design
argument. And you argue all the different kinds of philosophies concerning probability epistemic
probability, mathematical probability, and all of this stuff, and they still seem to, but there
could still be a chance that God doesn't exist, then do you think that person needs an art another
		

			rational argument? No, I don't think so. We need to become more intellectually spiritually mature,
because why is it for their life, the bar for knowledge, could the epistemic buyer, the buyer for
knowledge for everything, marriage, buying a house mobile phone contracts, any type of contracts,
law, education, children, driving, work, education, everything, the above knowledge is here.
		

			But when it comes to Allah and God, and only online God is all the way here? Why the inconsistency?
Why for everything in your life, your criteria for knowledge, and truth is here, but for good, and
only God is all the way here why? That inconsistency shows and is an indication that there's a
psychological thing going on, it's not just a rational thing. And we need to be intellectually
spiritually mature and sometimes say to people, well,
		

			I don't know.
		

			But you know, how's life?
		

			Honestly, you know, I had these experiences as well. So, you know, I had a debate with Professor
James at Queen Mary University Creamery college university in London many years ago. And we were
talking about deductive arguments, and you know, sounds proof, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah. And then he basically says to me, Khan,
		

			I'm an atheist because of this. I'm an atheist, because I've been taking care of my disabled son for
18 years. And we had this conversation after the debate. And, you know, retrospectively, you know,
I'm thinking now, I should have felt really, really small, because I was so arrogant thinking, I
know who he is, he's a philosopher, he must need this argument. But I didn't connect with him on a
human level to find out what the real problem was. So I gave dower to my judgement of him. I didn't
give Dawa to him. And therefore I couldn't, I didn't realize what actually made him an atheist. And
I lost the opportunity to engage with him in a positive way. Do you see the point. And that is
		

			fundamentally subtle. And that means someone who's giving doubt must have their own internal
confidence. And they must understand what the human being is the human beings not just a
computerized model, that you just put rational argument in their thinking they're going to change,
but you see them as the human being. So you have to have a strategy that you listen with the
intention to understand. You're not listening, and at the same time manufacturing and preparing a
response. You know, because when you say, but the minute you say, but it means you've been thinking
about his response while I've been speaking to you, many of you are probably doing it right now. You
		

			have this radio in your head is playing.
		

			What is Hamza saying? Who the * does he think he is? Trying to challenge the record for? He's not
even a scholar? Yeah, come on, man. You know, I'm not dumb. Yeah, I have done this hundreds of
times. And he gives you so many people before that everyone has their own radio. Right.
		

			Right. You know, he said he was Greek, but he looks Pakistani. Yeah. You know, the radio is playing,
turn it off, turn the radio off, okay. Because it's a sunnah to turn that radio off. Because you we
need to treat people as a blank canvas, okay, as a blank canvas. And this was the approach of the
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he would say to his Sahaba, don't talk to me about other
people. Because he wanted to engage with people,
		

			as they are not engaged with them through the filter of judgments, and pre framing them. Yeah. So we
have to be very serious, even when we're speaking to non Muslims, and engaging with them that we
have the intention to listen and understand. That's a very key thing. And if that's the only thing
you learn in the next two days, Job's done, because you've done something which is almost miraculous
in our community, to literally listen with the intention to understand because once you get that,
then now you know how to talk to someone who you're talking to. So when John comes up to you, and he
says, he's a Christian, right,
		

			you know, giving, you know, down to your judgment of what a Christian means. You're like, oh,
Trinity. Does that make sense? Blah, blah, blah. And then you had no idea he was a Unitarian. Then
he knows that the end
		

			And then you feel like a little worm. Right? Because you don't listen, we don't listen with the
intention to understand. So when George the atheist comes to you, you know, you know, starting to
say, oh, you know, Big Bang Theory science, and he's like, I don't care about science. He's more of
a, you know, an RT type of philosopher type of poetic type. He just feels like, you know, religion
doesn't answer my existential questions about who am I? Who's am I? For whom am I? Why am I and
you're talking about some abstract scientific information that we don't even know, you know, what
that really means. And we don't even have the background to understand that yet. We're giving it to
		

			them. Because we've, we've, we've we're giving down to the judgment of George, we're not giving down
to George Right. And, you know, this is like a social hypocrisy for me. Because, you know, don't we
accuse many of the kind of Islamophobes of for doing exactly the same thing they look at you are
you're a terrorist, your exterior minutes, you're this you're that you're the other? And you're
like, No, there's a context. No, engage with me. No, let's have a conversation. It's okay. When you
know, the shoes on the other foot, if that's a is that saying?
		

			Or if the dot, you know what I mean? Let's work this make a new language up today. But the point is,
you get what I'm trying to say. So but yet when we're talking to
		

			human beings, we treat them like a monolith. Right? They just could fall bro. Right? Which by the
way, is not even Quranic. It's not even Quranic. Allah says in surah Al Imran verse 113. People are
not the same. Go check the tafsir classical tafsir check it, I'm never going to tell you, you check
it for yourself. Allah says people are not the same. There are Christians and Jews who are upright
amongst these communities, right? Check the Tafseer check the exegesis. Yes, we have categories,
believers, non believers will Novocaine hypocrites etc, etc. But the general categories and
primarily for us to internalize Am I am on afek Yeah, they're going on or even Anakata. But Roger
		

			Lohan, the famous Sahaba Companion of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he was chasing the
Sahaba, who had the list of the hypocrites to find out if his name was on there. Right?
		

			And he was one of the ones promised paradise, because these categories are for us as well to
internalize it. You don't read the Quran, the Quran with you, right? So, you know, where am I
spiritually? But Allah also says, well, people are not a monolith. You can other eyes, people, that
there is a group of people and they're all exactly the same. The Quran does not do this in any shape
or form, clearly, especially when you see this verse, people are not the same.
		

			So it's very important to understand that from that point of view,
		

			anyway, so
		

			now,
		

			he was you don't want to break we just started right? You don't want to break? No? Good. So
		

			you know, when you give down, we have to understand what actually what actually what we're actually
doing. Because generally speaking, when we talk about data, we're talking about coding to Allah. And
we're going to define what that word means. But I think it's very important for us to understand,
well, if we're calling to Allah, we need to know who Allah is right? Now, in your in our tradition,
and even your scholarly background or in your, your own level of education. We understand that will
fundamentally
		

			when we think about Allah, we're thinking about the sole creator, sustainer, Master, owner
fashioner,
		

			of everything that exists.
		

			And we affirm the oneness of his creative power of his creativity, meaning he is the sole creator,
Master Sustainer, owner of everything that exists, this is part of our tradition, how you articulate
it and categorize it within your own traditional background doesn't matter as long as we know who
Allah is okay. So, you know, we, we, we affirm the kind of Oneness of Allah, His transcendence,
laser chemistry, he che, there is nothing like him and he is I had exclusively uniquely one could
who Allahu Ahad I heard doesn't just mean one, it means uniquely one, Allah is uniquely one. And
this oneness is understood through his creativity as well as the fact that he is the sole unique
		

			master owner maker creator Fashioner of everything that exists.
		

			And we also understand this transcendence and oneness when we look at his names and attributes. Yes,
Allah has names and attributes. All right, man.
		

			The lovingly merciful and Latif the Sutton in his kindness. Al Hakim, the wise I leave the knowing a
Rahim especially merciful, Allah widowed, which means the loving, coming from the Arabic word would
which means a loving that is giving. And we believe ALLAH has names and attributes are unique, and
they're transcendent. And this is very important for us to understand that we have a maximal perfect
theology. We believe Allah's names and attributes are to the highest degree possible that maximally
perfect. They have no deficiency and no flow. Just like when Al Ghazali wrote in his magnum opus, in
his ear, he wrote the 36th book, which was on muhabba on which was on love, intimacy and contentment
		

			with Allah subhanho wa taala. He said, Allah loves and his servants can love him too. And many of
the aroma at that time actually gunned him down. Like how dare you say Allah loves, right? Because
they thought this was basically you know, negating the transcendent see of Allah subhanho wa taala.
No, but Allah Rosati argued, he reaffirmed that he loves He has a transcendent pure love. But he
loves Allah doesn't need to love because he's already he's independent and rich and free. But yeah,
he loves and he gains nothing by loving because he doesn't require completion, because he is rich
and free. And he's uniquely one. But yeah, he loves imagine how pure and you can't even imagine that
		

			love. That's the whole point. But understanding who Allah is, should make you want to love him. Now
if I say to you, someone's going to come through this door and then the most loving human being
ever.
		

			Regardless of who you are, something's going to happen in your heart. You want to get to know that
person engage that person. Now, Allah's love transcends that type of love. And it's the most purest
and maximum form of love. So what should happen to our hearts, to try and be on a path to taste that
divine love?
		

			And obviously for us, we know to do that. You have to follow Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa salam
because Allah says in the Quran, to Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa salam say, if you love Allah, then
follow me, meaning Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and Allah will love you and forgive you
since. Because think about it. Forgiveness is actually the language of love, isn't it?
		

			So the other aspect is the fact that we believe ALLAH is one of course, but he is one consenting his
divinity. Okay. What does this mean? This means that nothing is worthy of worship except Allah. The
only day to worthy of worship is Allah. And we direct and single out all acts of worship to Allah
alone. We pray to Allah, we don't pray to somebody else, right? Simple things like that. We direct
and single out all acts of worship, worship to Allah alone. And what do we mean by worship? You
know, sometimes we don't worship doesn't just mean worship in a kind of post secular Christian sense
that you're, you know, doing an act of worship, like bowing or prostration. It's wider than that. He
		

			also means adoration. We adore Allah, right? It's a full, we have adoration. It's to know Allah,
it's to love Allah is to obey Allah and within that, you have humility, and it's to direct all acts
of worship to Allah alone. So when you think of worship, you need to think of worship in the correct
Islamic comprehensive, holistic sense that it is to know Allah. It is to love Allah, how can you
love something you don't know? That's what you have to know Allah, to and to love Allah, to obey
Allah and to direct all acts of worship to Allah alone. I find this as this as a very helpful way of
looking at worship. Because when you go to our classical tradition, you see, obedience is a form of
		

			worship. Love is a form of worship, right? knowing Allah is a form of worship, and obviously,
directing acts of worship, the internal acts and external acts are forms of worship, like to Wukan
is an internal form of worship. Love is an internal form of worship. Gratitude is an external and
internal form of worship. You can express gratitude through your Salah, but you also express it
inside your heart, vicar is an internal and external form of worship because you have the vicar of
the tongue, but you also have the vicar of the heart, right? So you could be saying, after salah,
Alhamdulillah, 33 times And subhanAllah and Allahu Akbar, you get reward even if you don't know the
		

			meaning just by virtue of you saying it as long as you don't change the meaning, but you get greater
meaning you get greater reward greater transformation, if your heart is inside
		

			aid what you're saying. So if you're saying Alhamdulillah, All Praise and Gratitude belongs to
Allah, but you're really complaining about your whole life inside your heart or you're not really in
a spiritual state of shocker, then there's something going on. Right? So there are internal acts of
worship and external acts of worship.
		

			And as you know, the opposite to this is the most grievous sin, which is schicke, which is
associating partners with Allah subhanho wa taala. So, for example, if you believe something other
than Allah, is the sole creator, maintain and sustainer of everything that exists, this is should
you have associated partners with Allah subhana, Allah to Allah, if you believe that human beings
are like Allah, from the point of view, like concerning names and attributes, and what you've done
is you've deified that thing, and therefore you've committed Schoodic. And the opposite is the same.
If you think that you know, that Allah is like a human being, this is very problematic, this is
		

			shook because you have humanized Allah's names and attributes and Allah subhanho wa Taala Anna,
which is Schoodic. Similarly, if you direct your acts of worship, in turn, internal and external
acts of worship to other than Allah, then that is shook as well. You have associate partners with
Allah, because part of Tao heat is that we believe ALLAH is worthy of all worship, and we must
direct and single out all acts of worship to Allah alone, doing it to anything else other than Allah
is associating partners with him. So from this point of view, when we know who Allah is, it is
through love, through worship and obedience that we call to him. Okay? It is through love, through
		

			worship, and through obedience that we call to Allah subhanho wa taala. Any questions on this point?
And it's very critical, because you may be thinking, we already know this Hamza, I agree, you
probably know it better than me too. But that's not the point. It serves as a reminder, to make us
understand, well, fundamentally, what is the call of the NBR? Study the Quran, look at the Quran,
the Quran of the NBA is La Ilaha, Illa, Allah, to affirm the Oneness of Allah, the oneness of his
creativity, His names and attributes, the fact that, you know, the oneness of his worship of his
divinity. This is what Tao is all about. And that's why we have to understand what if we're calling
		

			to that, then we need to know who Allah is.
		

			Because if you're not cooling taller than what you cording to Now, don't get me wrong in in a more
comprehensive sense. Dow could also be removing the intellectual, emotional and social obstacles
that prevent the call. Right? That's why sometimes you have people who debate intellectually,
sometimes you have people writing papers, because that may be necessary in the grand scheme of
things to remove certain intellectual obstacles that are preventing the Dow from flourishing, I
agree in in a wider, comprehensive sense. However, on our level, today, what we need to realize is
that, you know, we need to know who Allah is, if we're gonna call to Allah, because how can you call
		

			to something you don't know?
		

			That's the whole point. How can you call to something that you don't know? And that's why Tao is
very transformative, it changes you first before it changes anybody else. Remember when you put the
finger three fingers are usually pointing back? Yeah. So it's very, very critical to know who Allah
is. And then you you're able to call to Allah, and it gives you the right focus because in your
engagements with others, it may be then that it gives you the realization that I'm not calling to my
ego anymore. We've become a bunch of narcissists haven't we? We haven't we right. Social media has
created this egocentricity, this egoism to a level that is like we've become fake people. Like with
		

			all due respect, and I was so close to doing expose these because you know, I'm 38 Now I don't
really care what people think. So I was gonna go crazy online. Yeah. Because I feel it's a it's so
damaging thing for our community. Why do you have an Instagram account? And you're in a masjid? And
you're the only one doing sujood? I mean, with all due respect, yeah. How is that sincere?
		

			It might be I'm not judging their hearts. But what how does it come across to the r1 to the layman