Hamza Tzortzis – No Doubt Course #02 – 10 strategies on how to deal with your and other people’s doubts
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The transcript is not a conversation or discussion of specific speakers. It is a mix of technical language and phrases, with no clear context or topic.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim in Alhamdulillah wa Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu brothers and sisters and friends and welcome to no doubt 10 strategies on how to do with your and other people's doubts and this is week number two, week number two brothers and sisters and friends. So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to summarize what we did last week is always very important to summarize, it helps the internalization process, it helps the learning process and it helps the ideas to be
placed into the mind. So we could recall them effectively if and when required. So
my dear brothers, sisters and friends, last week, we spoke about
shoeboxes hot and shahadat Now if you remember, there was a difference between shallotte and shuhada. chahat basically means your blameworthy desires, okay, your blame worthy desires,
and shubho heart, which is the plural for shubha is something that is a doubt that's a destructive doubt. And it basically tries to distort the deen of Allah subhanho wa Taala Anna, or to make you uncertain
about the foundations and the fundamentals of Islam.
Now,
we also said that
the shubha the destructive doubt, really comes from the word to resemble something else to be who so if you remember, as I left for you, me said a Sherpa is so called because it resembles the truth. And even taymiyah said something very similar. That, you know, the Chapin from that perspective is like something that has a tinge of truth, but it's not really true. And he uses the words Chupa Minal Hawk, which is a Sherpa of truth, in a way, now what he meant by this is that, well, since that people take shoe blue hat seriously. It's because they seem to have some truth, there is a tinge of truth, but in reality, they're based on a false hood. So if you remember very clearly,
clearly shewhart they are like,
a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's
a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's false hold, dressed up as truth. Okay.
And,
obviously, before we talked about the definitions, we spoke about, you know, what is the desired state of the heart in actual fact, what is the heart in the Arabic tradition, it's called, comes from the root, which means something that turns around and upside down, it does call loop, the topple loop, it changes in it, and it wavers, that's the nature of the heart. And the desired state of the heart is that it must be sound, okay? It must be sound. We know this in the Quran in chapter 26, verses 80 to 89. And obviously, the Hadith in Bukhari Muslim, very famous Hadith As you know, there is truly there is a there is in the body of most of flesh, which if it is sound, the whole
body its sound, and when it is corrupted, the whole body is corrupted, truly it is the heart. Similarly, the Quran says and chapter 26, verses 80 to 89. And it talks about the day that nothing will be of benefit except the one who comes to Allah subhanho wa Taala with a sound heart. So we said the challenge here is well how do we ensure that the thing that does happen loop the thing that wavers all the time and changes and goes upside down? and turns around, that we keep it fixated onto the HAC fixated on the belief of Islam and firm on the belief of Islam.
Well, that's what this whole course is about. And we spoke about the concept of yaqeen in Islam that it has, it's like, it's not a button that you press or a lever that you pull, but rather your pain is this kind of gradation of certainty that levels of certainty and we spoke about earlier pain. We spoke about Emelia pain and
Finally a pain. And we gave examples of the difference, but it's all still within the realm of your pain.
Now, obviously in the beginning, we spoke about the essential metaphysical backdrop which we spoke about the fifth law, the innate disposition. As you know, the word fitbark comes from the trilateral stem, Fatah. And you have words like fat throne and Fatah hoo, which basically lexically is implying that something has been created within us to acknowledge the loss of Hannah or to Allah and to worship Him. And this is based on the Hadith in Sahih. Muslim as you know, and that Hadith, in particular, tells us that, you know, the fitrah can be clouded, doesn't use the words clouded, but basically talks about the parents and the parents that make him into another religion, a Jew or a
Christian or Megan. So we like to use the kind of analogy of the fitrah being clouded. And this whole understanding of the innate disposition, the natural state of the human being, is also echoed in the Quran in chapter 30, verse 30, and we spoke about the two main views, okay, the two main views of the fitrah. Because we want this to be in line with kind of the general understanding of Islamic orthodoxy, we don't want to just pick a particular view. So the two main views of the fitrah, namely one view from giving Tamia, the other one from Al ghazali.
One view of the fitrah is that it has a form of proton knowledge, primary knowledge, that in the fitrah is knowledge that God exists, and he deserves to be praised and worshiped. And that there are some basic understanding of objective moral truths and values. The other understanding of the fifth is that it doesn't contain knowledge, but it directs one towards the truth. Nevertheless, if your fitrah is counted, it won't be able to direct you towards the truth, because it's like driving a vehicle, and not being able to see the, through the windscreen. And also if it's if it's fitrah, if the fitrah is clouded, rather, and it has truth within it, some pro proton knowledge or primary
knowledge, if it's clouded, the truth within won't be awakened. So we said that should have shewhart, they can act like clouds that prevent the filter from directing itself to the truth, or they can act like clouds that basically prevent us from awakening the truth within. And this is a very important point, I said to people who are skeptics or not Muslim listening to this, that you should stand in the possibility of this metaphysical understanding of this metaphysic or this first principle makes sense of the idea of doubts and faith and belief and so on and so forth. Then, after that, what we spoke about, we spoke about the isms, there's currently, you know, a tsunami of
different isms and schisms are trying to take over the hearts and minds of Muslims and non Muslims, atheism, skepticism, liberalism, extremism, post modernism, nihilism. And now I have, I have, I have coined a new thing now as a result of the defamatory cartoons of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, there's also I call them, what do I call them again? I call them.
extremist, secular ideologues.
Honestly, brothers and sisters or friends, if you understand what's going on in France, at the moment is an utter joke. The arrogance, the arrogance, they don't even see that's how bad he is. They're so arrogant. They can't see the arrogant. And the hypocrisy of the so called freedom of speech stuff is utter nonsense, utter nonsense. actually suggest every single one of you go go to the sapience Institute, YouTube channel youtube.com, forward slash Sapiens Institute, there's a video that is going relatively viral. And it's an analysis and a breakdown of these secular extremist ideologues, and they don't have a philosophical foundation. They're incoherent, baseless,
they're uncivilized. They're uncivilized bunch. Yeah. And
I look forward to engaging with such people, because they need to be civilized need to be educated. And that's the, the role of the Muslim. The role of the Muslim is not to be arrogant, but to be humble, and to basically teach people with compassion and wisdom and tell them what the truth is and to help civilize people from an ethical point of view. Because the clear and apparent contradictions and hypocrisy coming from these secular ideologues is, frankly, shocking, shocking. So you may not know why I'm having this small little rant. But if you go and watch the video, I think, I think you definitely appreciate what I'm saying. And, you know, it was actually a kind of quasi academic
critique of what's been going on as well. So, anyway, the point here is that all these isms and schisms gonna engulf the hearts and minds of Muslims and non Muslims right.
And then we spoke about last week we spoke about the three main areas and sources of doubts which was a take
From a research paper by European Institute, which is called what causes Muslims to doubt at quantitative analysis. And this was really good because, you know, it reinforced my own personal experiences, I think the expressing experiences of other people who've been engaging in this type of work. And the three main areas are moral and social concerns, philosophical and scientific concerns, and personal trauma, and we unpacked what personal trauma meant, but obviously, that's going to be unpacked further by Dr. Amanda teef, I believe.
And then we spoke about the 10 strategies. Now most of these strategies are for before and after the ship Ha. So when the destructive doubt starts to enter, and when it actually enters the heart. So these strategies, most of them are for before and after, but some of them are only for before, and one of them are for after as well. And this leads us very nicely to just quickly go through to them again, the first strategy is, first strategies to be aware. The other one is to not give it any attention. The other strategy is to make a distinction, which we're going to unpack today as well. The other strategy is a very important one is about your environment, your friends, your social
environment, understanding of social norms, social psychology, and how it can affect our cognitive apparatus, and how we conclude and the conclusions that we come to. We're going to speak about studying Islam shift factor sneem is going to provide a brilliant webinar on showing that if you have an understanding of, of Islamic knowledge, you traverse the path of Islamic knowledge, these shewhart they get dismantled, annihilated honestly, even when it's like contentious issues in the Islamic tradition. And you will see that when you traverse the path of of knowledge, then the the doubts become annihilated. Then I'm going to come back and we're going to explore the idea of
critical thinking which will expand upon some of the key areas of doubt, such as philosophical, scientific and ethical areas, teach you some Islamic thought Islamic Thiele philosophy, and how to apply critical thinking and feel philosophical thinking on these matters, you become empowered, then we're going to be talking about find a specialist deal with your trauma, which is a big session, because different types of trauma of course, personal, external, internal, etc. Focus on your heart, which is the number one and make da supplications. The reason focusing your heart is number one, because this is an area of the heart in the heart is weak, it does a loop it changes and wavers, we
must spiritually strengthen the heart. And I believe it's going to be doctors, manatees, he's going to show you how to do that how to engage in spruiked practice. And by the way, I need this more than anyone here. So don't think because I'm delivering this that I'm so good. No, not at all. delivering these webinars are part of my own therapy. So make dua for me, and I'll make the offer Usama Allah subhanho wa Taala, bless every single one of you, and Ron, you all with Sakina was spiritual tranquility and yaquina with conviction, and forgive your sins and my sins and going in the best in this life and the extra me. So
today, we're going to be talking about the first three strategies, be aware, don't give attention and make the distinction. Okay, so that was a good summary and hamdulillah we did that in about 10 minutes. That's not too bad under the law. So be aware brothers and sisters, be aware Be on guard. Okay. You know, I always like using martial law and boxing analogy to do apologize, I'm not a violent person, per se. But I don't mind a little bit of a scrap in a ring now. And then just to you know, exercise the good old, the good old boxing and ringtone skills maybe. But obviously, we do within an Islamic ethical environment. But the point here is, you know, I'm using these examples. So
just to awaken something within you, because when you're about to have a fight, right, say in a boxing ring, you know, you can't go blindfolded, right? You know, unless your name is Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan all mixed together, then you know, you need to start you know, peeling your eyes, as they say and just be aware and just any little Twitch and movement. If you don't have that sense of awareness, that physical and mental awareness, you will get smashed in the words of our beloved Habib. Right. So you need to be aware. And this is something that you might think, well, this is common sense will absolutely but usually the thing with common sense is not very common,
unfortunately. And and when we talk about be aware, this is one of the strategies that you need to implement before the Chapin before the destructive doubt
comes to your attention. Because if you know that something presents a danger, and that it exists, it allows you not to be a victim to is evil, it's evil rather. So you have to
Understand that shoe bohat exist. I am telling you, the greatest minds in this world have had shoe hearts. The greatest minds I believe there was a dialogue even with the famous student of ebbing Tamia, the 14th century theologian, he broke him. And he was asking his teacher about how to deal with Chabot heart. So even those with the aim and those with knowledge, and those who are, you know, the greats and the Giants amongst us, they suffer with shewhart, they have some type of engagement with this destructive doubts. And that's why the tradition is here, the Islamic intellectual spiritual tradition is here to help us navigate that space. So even with contemporary people,
contemporary thinkers and contemporary do act, those people who share Islam and convinced Islam on a basic and even academic level, you know, I engage with these people, I've known them for years. I know myself both know, in a kind of arrogant way, you know, I know myself, I don't but you know, you get the point. Like, I know what I've experienced, even with me, I give an example. I had someone I believe who and forgive me if it's inaccurate picture of what happened because my memory is not great. But I sat with someone who left Islam who left Islam, I gave them an answer that convinced them to the degree they came back. But my, when I gave the answer myself, I wasn't really convinced
with it. But what I mean by convinced it was an intellectual matter. For me, it was a spiritual matter, like my mind knew that my answer was great, but my state of being how I relate to myself, how I relate to others, specifically, how I related to myself and how I relate to Allah subhanho wa Taala, my state of being was dislocated from from its ideal state, it was dislodged, right. And that was because of my spiritual practice, I there was a correlation between a kind of very basic, you know, hanging on the thread, spiritual practice, and my level of yaquina and certainty. There was definitely a correlation. And I even see this in my own life. You know, sometimes when arrogance
seeps in, and what we mean by arrogance is a sense of urgency. Because sometimes when you know, the Islamic spiritual tradition, you know, you try and prevent yourself as being arrogant because you might know the blatant signs, but there's a greater spiritual disease, which is our job. Our job is self amazement. This is like self arrogance. When no one is around, you could have self amused when we're in a room in a darkroom and no one's watching you. You could be like, Wow, I've developed develop such a great course could no doubt. Look, I'm amazing, right? I said that to anyone, for example, I've said it to myself. But that is a spiritual disease. Why? Because I'm saying I am the
intrinsic source of this, of this great act of this great work. But in actual fact, in the Islamic spiritual tradition, what does the law say no Quran? It wasn't that you that through a lot through. So we're just basically a manifestation of all those names and attributes. We are an empty tool that allow users to manifest His mercy and His guidance and his and his and his power and his glory and all of these things. If you think that you are the intrinsic sole cause there's a massive problem about understanding yourself and understanding Allah subhanho wa Taala. Because it's as if you make you yourself and Allah almost equal partners, like you know, you have a say in this right? You have
no say Hamza has no say, What does Hamza know? Right? It's only because of the blessings of Allah subhanho wa Taala. It's only because Allah has given Hamza, the ability. And it's because Allah is the power behind all of this Hamza had no say in this, if he wants a lot tomorrow, he could make me crippled, disabled, and not be able to speak or anything within an instant. Right? And I could do nothing about it. I am utterly dependent on Allah subhanho wa Taala. And this is why when you have a job when when I noticed earlier in my own heart, that I see that my spiritual practice is affected all my spiritual practice not being great affects my heart at the same time. So yeah, basically,
I've gone through these things, too, you know.
And this, you know, everyone, everyone is susceptible everyone.
Even the Sahaba, the best companions, the best people after the prophets have walked this planet or the companions of the Prophet salallahu. It he was setting them. They were worried about the flock. What is the FARC hypocrisy. They were worried about the FARC I believe, one Sahabi. He, he saw around 30 Sahaba 30 companions, being worried about the FARC being worried about hypocrisy, and I believe was not even on Qatada. rhodiola, and one of the giants of the companions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he chased one Sahabi one companion had the list of the munaf 15. The list of the hypocrites
Cuz he was worried if his name was on that list if his name was on that list. So if the companions who were like the custodians of Islam, custodians of the belief of Islam, they internalize the theory or philosophy of Islam. They conveyed Islam. They went through the hardships and they preserved Islam, these people themselves, they were worried about nifa which reminds me of a statement of sofian authority, one of the greatest scholars in Islam.
He basically said that he was so worried about his intention, right, which relates in some way to shoot higher into the heart. He was so worried about his intention that I think he had, he was internal bleeding or there was blood in his urine.
What about Abraham? Ibraheem alehissalaam I think this is in chapter Ebrahim, go to chapter Abraham chapter Abraham. It says it very clearly, he supplicate to Allah, for him and his family not to fall into idol worship. This is the destroyer of the idols, supplicate to Allah for him and his family not to fall into shirk into idol worship.
Do you see my point here?
This this because they had the correct understanding. They knew the dangers of shubo heart. They knew dangers of this destructive doubts. The end, they also knew that really, the one who controls hearts is Allah subhanho wa Taala don't have this kind of argument. But this self amazement that you have got it. So if you've been waking up for fudger and going to the mosque, you think you're someone special, then when that happens, what happens? You don't want mosque anymore, you fall into major sin. And I'm telling you if that happens, because there's some kind of urge or some kind of
some kind of self amazement in your heart because you felt you were the cause of your own party. And that's why I say sometimes things to my family and other people. I see one of the greatest diseases, the greatest spiritual diseases, or the greatest form of arrogance is spiritual arrogance, right? spiritual arrogance, you know, you're pious, you're praying five times a day, you're doing your remembrance, you're reciting the Quran, you're close to Allah, you're, you don't do anything wrong. But in your heart, you believe it was because of you, you believe is because of you. And that is one of the West forms of arrogance that one can be in. It's a diluted state, it's a diluted state, and
we have to remember as well, that it's only through the mercy of Allah subhanho wa Taala that we're going to be saved anyway. Even the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that he doesn't know what's going to happen to him unless it's it unless the mercy of Allah envelops him. And we know there's a famous tradition that, you know, there's a kind of question on the person, the day of judgment, you want to be saved by your deeds, so by Allah's mercy, and then the guy says, His deeds, he gets asked the question three times. And then if he says deeds, and you put your his deeds on one side of the scale, and his eyesight or his eyes on the other side of the scale, and the blessing of
the eyes, just overpower all of the deeds that he can do that he get, and then he's eligible for help. And I think he says, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, I'll double check the prophetic tradition later. But he's like, No, no, no, I want to go to practice because of mercy. And that's, and that's it. And I remember I was speaking to support I met once in a canteen, and I was like, you know, I just have nothing else man. All I could rely on was Allah's mercy. And he said, thanks so beautiful, and he made me choke and cry. And he said, that's all you need.
And he's so true. That is all you need is Allah's mercy. Anyway, the point here is brothers and sisters, you should understand now do not take shubo hat lightly, do not take destructive doubts lightly. These are a tool that dark forces negative forces, you could call them obviously, shape tonic forces. They're there to ensure that they are attached on your heart and they drain your Iman, they drain your conviction, they drain your conviction in Islam and your faith away.
And this happens, and this happens, it happens to the best of us, it happens to the, the some of the great giants of our intellectual spiritual tradition. So, you know, hopefully, this is enough for you to realize, don't drop your guard.
You know, in a boxing ring. When you're having a sparring session or a fight, you know it you have to keep your guard up, especially when you're beginning the training would always say Keep your hands up, the minute Your hands are down, you're going to be eating punches. left, right and center. Keep your hands up to give you that defense. Okay, that's one of the basic things that you learn in even martial arts and boxing, okay? So it's very important that we're aware that they exist, do not drop your guard. And this is extremely important.
And the lesson for you and others is very simple. It's very simple.
The lesson for you and others is very simple.
Think about this analogy. Imagine you're in a shark infested waters, okay, you're in shark infested waters. And these, these are human flesh eating sharks. And these sharks are like, you know, the metaphor or an analogy for the conflicting worldviews and the shadow hearts and the destructive doubts, you're not going to throw yourself into the ocean. In actual fact, someone really stupid, or maybe even arrogant would throw themselves into the ocean.
Now, what Islam gives you in terms of his intellectual spiritual tradition, it gives you a way that if you were to go into the ocean, you can navigate to safe areas in the ocean, so you don't get eaten by the flesh eating sharks. But the basic lesson here is, if you, if
you're not in a position to do super hot, then the default position here is that you do not
you do not enter the ocean, you're aware that the ocean exists. And you are aware that flesh eating sharks are there. So good, that awareness should prevent you from entering entering into the ocean.
So this leads us to the second, the second, sorry, not sure. The second strategy, which is to not give it attention. Now, this is an interesting one, because this is before the chaupar before the destructive doubt really enters into the heart. But it's somewhat maybe sometimes may it might be at the stage where it's latching on to the heart. So it's still a cause I before the Sherpa is really entering in your heart to drain your mind to drain your conviction and to drain your spiritual intellectual connection. But at the same time, it could also be at the stage where it's sitting on the heart and before really enters. So the strategy here is when you start to have a shubha or shabu
heart, then what you need to do is stop, avoid and ignore, Okay, stop, avoid and ignore. For example, say you're on social media. And you go to a YouTube channel, and it's run by Christian missionaries, right. And there are unfortunately a few Christian missionary channels that are there to try and misrepresent Islam. Okay. And they've been doing it recently, for example, they've been talking about the so called preservation of the Quran. And they're saying because of the existence of the pharaoh art, the different ways of reciting the Quran, they say that means there are different currents, which is absolutely ridiculous is like so Unlimited, then you don't know whether
to laugh or cry, or give them an intellectual slap. Obviously, not a physical one, we you know, the professor said, there is no harming and reciprocating of harm, but an intellectual slap here and there is no is not is not bad is okay. It means that you are taking yourself with assertiveness and you're teaching people to be sincere with the tradition.
But some people haven't studied the art the approve, they haven't studied, you know, the the fact that the Quran is the motif form text, the fact that the Quran has a consonant to doctors that is preserved via mass reporting, also known as mutawatir, in the Islamic tradition, mass testimony, so they don't understand these things. Right. So if you're going to, since you know, shewhart exists, and you know, now that that you've since you've gone on to this channel, the shobhaa has come to you. Yeah, so you've heard about it but it's not really entered into your heart is maybe latched on but it's hasn't really entered, what you need to do if you're not equipped,
or what you need to do as a primary strategy, because Don't forget, we've got all these other strategies that we could adopt as well. But as the primary strategy is you stop avoiding ignore. That's what you do. that this does not mean this should have the destructive dow or the shewhart are, are strong. No, they're not strong. They're intellectually weak, remember to be who they are resembling resembling the truth, but they're false. It's true. It's false hood dressed up so it's, it's false would dress up as truth. It's a wolf in sheep's clothing. So we have to understand that it's because our hearts are weak. They waver that our hearts do the job they engage in wavering and
changing.
And the nature of shewhart are like parasites. That's your human suck your intellectual spiritual conviction. And you just need to run away from them. If you go on to that channel, you've heard a Sherpa and it's fine to like sit on to onto your heart I haven't really entered stop, avoid, ignore, stop, avoid, ignore, stop, avoid and ignore.
And really, that's the prophetic advice.
Run away from them. And we know this from the famous Hadith of the Jad. It's an authentic hadith, in Abu Dawood.
The Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, peace and blessings be upon him,
whoever he is news of the false messiah, let him flee from him, by Allah by God. And then we'll go to him considering himself a believer, but will instead follow him because of doubts, he will present. So we have to have to follow this prophetic advice. And this doesn't mean that you can't, if you're, you're trained, or you have good people around, you have a good environment and you adopt the other strategies that we're going to talk about in the next couple of weeks. You know, it doesn't mean that you can't be someone who deals with these trouble hot. Of course, you can, if in the right context, but as a standalone strategy, you know, if you go to these areas that you don't
really know how to deal with them, and you haven't adopted the other strategies. It's just flee, run away, stop, avoid and ignore.
And this is very interesting, because
it didn't pay off in his characteristics of the hypocrites. He says, Whoever falls prays to the close of the doubts will have his faith shredded to pieces, whoever allows his heart to open to the vile tribulations will find himself a Burning Furnace. And whoever lends an ear to the deceptions will find them coming between him and firm belief. Indeed, the corruption they cause on earth is a great but most people are unaware. And this is this is apt advice. This is very important advice. Because sometimes we think we're so arrogant we can deal with any intellectual spiritual challenge. Now remember, we had do not have any intellectual basis or foundation, and
and we have to understand its falsehood,
dressed up as truth.
But we have to understand ourselves and our own hearts. And you know, we understood the metaphysical backdrop, there are some self evident truths in Islam that are non negotiable, such as the fact that God exists, is worthy of worship and some aspects of basic morality.
And we have this fitrah, that if we,
if it's clean, if it's not clouded, that truth will be awakened. And obviously, for the other opinion, if it's, if it's unclouded, then he can direct itself towards the truth. But shewhart Actually, I like those clouds in some way. So we don't know how many clouds we have, over our fitrah that's preventing us from seeing the truth within or preventing us from being directed towards the truth. So we shouldn't have this kind of internal arrogance that we think we've got it. Obviously, when you adopt other strategies that you can learn throughout this course, such as finding a specialist, having a good environment, studying Islamic knowledge, critical thinking all of these
things. Yes, you'd be in a position to be able to deal with these bohart as a default position, stop, avoid and ignore.
Especially if you don't have the other strategies in place.
And if you remember I said to you, this strategy is really before the destructive doubt goes deep into your heart. So why mean here in the title, it says if it enters Well, if it starts to sit on the heart, and before it goes really deep, and he's maybe into the little bit, there is something that you should do.
Stop and seek refuge. Okay. And this is based on the to authentic, the authentic prophetic tradition in Bukhari and Muslim, as narrated by Al Bukhari and Muslim, Abu huraira arogya lavon. May Allah
May Allah be pleased with him. He reports that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, shaytan will come to one of you and He will say, who created this and that and until he says to him, who created your Lord? When it comes to this, let him seek refuge, let him seek refuge in Allah, and stop such thoughts. And another narration, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, let him say, I have faith in Allah, I have faith in Allah subhanho wa Taala. Now, obviously, there is a philosophical response to this and even an Islamic intellectual tradition as a hobby he talks about something like this, even eligos it even even taymiyah about the absurdity of the infinite
regress of causes right? It's absurd to have you know, someone creating God or something crane God because then what created that thing, if that goes on forever, then you'll never have creation in the first place. Now, obviously, I don't wanna get into that for now, you could go into the sequence Institute website if you go into the menu and going to go to read and go
answers, you'll be able to find an answer that's that. That's titled who created God? Question mark and it thoroughly, deals with it on a logical perspective talks about law of causality talks about the absurdity of the infinite regress of causes. But why I want to focus on here is the prophetic advice, the advice with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, because he gave us some really good advice because if you think about it, it he sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he saying he's clearly highlighting that harboring such thoughts about Allah have a spiritual basis. It's not just an intellectual thing, right? Because, you know, when you convince someone about the absurdity of the
infinite regress of causes when you convince someone about the kind of illogical perspective of saying that the uncreated creator is created, which is ridiculous like saying, you know, there's a square triangle. You know, when you, when you convince them intellectually, their heart is still wavering about this issue. Say it's very profound advice. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is saying that this is not basically an intellectual doubt, per se, it's a may have underlying spiritual causes. And the Prophet salallahu it someone's giving us a spiritual solution which is seek refuge in Allah, seek refuge in Allah stop such thoughts. And in another narration, say I have
faith in a lot, make that kind of spiritual affirmation, okay, make that spiritual affirmation. It's interesting, even taymiyah writes about this. He says, it is known by necessity in human nature, for all who have found nature among the children of Adam, that the question is invalid, it is not possible for the creator of the of the creation to have a creator, if he had a creator who would be created himself, and will not be the creator of everything.
But notwithstanding, it's very important to understand that these, this type of should have this type of destructive doubt, is, has a spiritual basis. So follow the spiritual advice, first and foremost, seek refuge in Allah, stop such thoughts.
And let him say I have faith in a loss of power know what to add.
So what's the lesson here for you and others? What is the lesson, the lesson is if you dive into the sea, what's gonna happen?
What's gonna happen if you dive into the sea?
If you dive into the sea, what's gonna happen is you're going to get wet.
So if you don't want to get wet,
what are you going to do?
don't dive into the sea. Now, this sounds really simple. But you know, I want to simplify the lesson here as much as possible.
If you dive into the sea, when you dive into this, you get wet. If you don't want to get wet, don't dive into the sea, you avoid the cliffs, you avoid areas where you can fall in, you avoid crowds, where people can push you in, you avoid the wind, if me, you know if that's going to push you into whatever the case may be, you avoid, and you stop yourself from falling into the sea, because you will get wet, you will get wet. So instead of spending time drying yourself, or putting the right equipment like this gentleman has in the picture, with his scuba diving suit, and the oxygen and the glasses, you know, those these are all the strategies that we're going to use that can help us, you
know, navigate the sea of doubts properly, for sure. But in the beginning, if you don't want to get wet, then don't get into the sea. Stop, ignore and avoid.
Now, I want to make it very clear here. Before we go to the final distinction that we're going to talk about today. I want to make it very clear that shewhart is highly paid based on the fact if you adopt all of these strategies, if you study Islam, if you have critical thinking you study Thiele philosophy, you study Islamic creed, you strengthen your heart. I truly believe the Islamic intellectual spiritual tradition has what it takes. And it has the tools, intellectual spiritual tools to annihilate all of these doubts for sure. But the the strategies we're talking about thus far, especially for those who don't have those things in place, and not just that, and it's also to
make you realize that you should have a default position don't have this spiritual arrogance, or this epistemic arrogance that you think that I'm able to deal with this. When you get into the sea, you're going to get wet.
So you have to understand that these are the default things that you should put into place when dealing with heart. And obviously, when you go through the rest of the course, you'll understand that the strategies that we're going to help you with, they're just phenomenal, they'll eat up, we'll heart like, like candy Sharla. So the next the next.
The next strategy strategy number three is to make the distinction
make the distinction which basically means make the distinction between shewhart doubts, destructive doubts, valid questions, and wasa and shaytani whisperings. Sometimes the problem is we think all three are the same, or we confuse them and we conflate them. So this is really again before the shopper, and before it enters.
And it could be any could be for after as well. But generally speaking is for before, and maybe where it's when it's just latched on to the hardware hasn't really entered deeply. This would help you have to deal with this effectively. So let me first tell you why making distinctions are very important. Now, someone who's not knowledgeable. Okay, let's see if he could use the chat. Or the questions here. actually use the chat, because the questions are, there's about 43 questions already. So use the chat. There's nothing there at the moment. And just use it for this.
Does anyone know the difference between these plants? Or these trees? Or these leaves? So these are this greenery of foliage or whatever you want to call it? Does anyone know what these are?
Does anyone know?
No one was typing anything.
So you you have the slides in front of you. And you see three different pictures of obviously three different types of plants.
Do you know what they are?
Nope, they're not daisies.
Nope, they're not clover, I don't think they're clover.
I only know the middle one. Okay, this was a good exercise, because
at this stage, we do not have the distinction because distinctions empower you at the moment for someone like a layman like myself, when I can see that find the different kinds of shapes. But you know what, they're just parts man.
I don't have the distinction, to empower me to know what plants they are and how to use them. I repeat, I do not have the distinction. I cannot make the distinction between them to understand what plants they are, and what uses they have. For me, at the moment, all I see is different color plants.
But when I have the distinction that the medicinal plants can I share it with you and gingko. And I not only know their names, but I don't have to recognize them. And I know which plot is good for which element then and now I have a distinction that empowers me.
This is why it's very important to be able to make distinctions.
Making distinctions are very important. And that happens through a relation between yourself or someone else or even a book that helps you to think about making clear distinctions.
You need to be able to make distinctions in your life. And with these so called doubt so whisperings or questions that you may have, they're not the same. You need to be able to be
you need to be empowered via
the use of distinction.
Because if we go back
when you have no knowledge of these, they're just different kind of plots. But when you're empowered through questioning, learning etc experience relating with others remain with information. Now you have distinctions. One is a condition one is 51 is Ginko, a condition is good for the immune system, feverfew is good for so on and so forth. And gingko is good for so on and so forth. And you know, the medicinal plants you can recognize them and you know when to use them, how to use them what dosage now you've made distinctions. And it's through these distinctions that give you power.
And they empower you spiritually. I remember I was in Pakistan, I was giving a lecture. And I think I was talking about the mercy and forgiveness of Allah subhanho wa Taala. When Allah says, Yeah, you better do my believing servants do not despair of the mercy of Allah, Allah forgives all sins. She was crying and she visibly looked like a practicing knowledgeable woman. He job jilbab excetera. She had the whole attire, but she was crying and from what I remember,
she for Allah will never forgive her.
She didn't hurt she wasn't empowered spiritually or even intellectually. She couldn't make the distinction
between
Queen has sin, and unless forgiveness
because our sins do not limit the forgiveness of Allah Subhana Allah to Allah, our sins do not
limit the mercy of Allah subhana wa Tada.
And the minute she was able to make the distinction, she broke down into tears.
And she was empowered spiritually. How is that gonna change her life now?
How, in such an amazing way that the past will become the past, they should take responsibility to do tober she will repent. And if she falls into sin again, she knows exactly what to do to gain the mercy of Allah.
But you know, the doors of mercy are always open.
And whoever closes them. That's the Shakedown by definition.
Whoever closes the door to Allah's mercy is technically a shakedown. Because it's always open. You need to learn how to walk through them. And her distinction was,
she could now understand that Allah forgives all sins, and there's a way to walk through that door of mercy. So distinctions give you power from that point of view. So we need to be able to make distinctions. It's like the first slide concerning this distinction section, there were just three plots. And all you can see are just three plots. You can't recognize them. They've got different colors, different shapes, but they're just three plants for you because you're not empowered with the distinctions. You haven't made a distinction. But the minute through relating with others remain with information experience. You know, that one now is akin to shear. The other one is feverfew, the
other one is gingko. And you know, the medicinal plants and you know what those that you could use for each different element. Now, you've made the distinction that gives you power. And this is why we need to be able to make distinctions when it comes to us robots. And you really need to make a distinction between waswas sachet tonic whisperings make a distinction between valid questions and hsupa and shewhart and doubts. So let's now learn about making the distinctions Okay, and that will give us spiritual intellectual power.
The first one is what's what's a spiritual whispering shape? tonic whisperings, negative whisperings? Now here, here's what you need to understand. What was our foods that you do not agree with? You do not believe in you don't believe that they are justified and you have a psychological aversion to them.
Let me give you the proof in the Islamic tradition.
In Sahih Muslim the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said
rather a barreda Roger Lohan May Allah may not be pleased with him said some of the companions of the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam came to the province said to him, we find it ourselves thoughts that are too terrible to speak of. He said, Are you really suffering from that? They said yes, he said, this is a clear sign of faith.
In a related prophetic tradition in Sahih, Bukhari, Abu hurayrah, Roger Lohan's
said that truly, Allah has overlooked for my oma for that which is whispered or the which is thought about in the lower self as long as you don't act upon it or speak about it.
So we have a few things here.
The Sahaba the companions had a psychological aversion, they obviously didn't agree with it, they didn't believe in it. And according to the Prophet sallallahu alliums and this was a sign of Eman, it's a sign of faith.
And the strategy here is do not act or talk about them.
And ignore them Simple as that.
And these are whisperings are not destructive doubts and do not allow them to become disruptive doubts by taking them seriously. I'd like to talk about the mind is like this. This clear sky blue sky. And sometimes these whisperings are like dark clouds let the dark clouds disappear, man. Don't hold on to the dark cloud thing is yours. And the minute you hold it, it's gonna rain. full of doubts. Yeah.
Just let it go. When I first became Muslim, oh my god, you're gonna laugh at this. Yep.
So obviously, in when you do the prayer, obviously the prayer is the most important SportRack you can do to connect with God.
And you know, the Islamic prayer is not just a prayer, you're asking for something. It's a movement. It's a sound. It's a remembrance. It's a contemplation and reflection. It's a supplication. It's an asking it's a it's a
divine dialogue. It's it's phenomenal. It's like a spiritual program. Yeah.
And when I first became Muslim, you know, obviously you have to
in a state of evolution, when you wish You're like a mouth, nose face, you bite your head behind the ears, wash your arms, hands, feet, etc.
And
when you're in that state, you could break that state. So obviously, in the Islamic tradition when you pass when you break that state and also when you have pass, yeah, but there's a there's a there's a, there's a jurisprudential understanding of what pass is, it's, it looks like perspiration has to smell I believe, as well. After you look back on my learning, but just take it for growing for now. It has to smell better. So what happened? What was the what was it for me? When I saw a white.on my arm for example. I know it sounds really weird and stupid, but I'm giving you this, uh, you know, everybody. When I saw white Delmon was like, that possibly could be pus. It didn't fulfill
the criteria. Plus, it didn't smell it didn't look like pass, but I just thought it could be. And then I felt I don't know where it came from. So it could have come from anywhere. So what I used to do change all my clothes and have a full shower. I think maybe sometimes 345 times a day. It was crazy. It was absolutely crazy, man. But okay, Alhamdulillah I'm over that now. But you get over that with you know, with gaining knowledge and and stuff like that. But if I knew this strategy, this was just a whispering then our is basically just avoided it.
And completely because that is one of the the strategies don't act on talk about and is clearly avoided.
Another issue is when I spoke to someone This was while back, it was a brother's wife. And, you know, we had a Skype session all of us together, I think was Skype, or we had like a WhatsApp session. And, you know, she sounded very learned. And you know, from experience you can tell when someone has a valid doubt or not, and for me, this was 101 it was basic understanding this she had just whisperings was was a negative shape and whisperings. And he was on with things like oh, I don't know God exists. It has like, Look, man, prove to me God exists. And she was brilliant. She was articulate she great knowledge of theology. I think it was over this issue. Anyway, but she was
really articulate, I would ask her questions, you know, how would you answer the question yourself? And she also did brilliantly, right. But you're still having this kind of like non intellectual whispering and she felt that oh, my God, maybe I'm not missing what's going on all this stuff as I listen to me. You have answered the questions your theology is on point your philosophy is on point kind of thing. Your your intellect is great, you could answer the question. So why do you still have this is clearly a panic with spring away you need to do is totally ignore it, even if it consumes you for the whole day. And over time, it will disappear. And many people have adopted this strategy
and is fundamentally worked. Fundamentally it has worked for them because they have been able to make a distinction that these are this like shamanic whisperings to prevent you from coming close to God, you don't really believe in them. You have an aversion to them. And you have a psychological aversion and you don't agree with them. That's a sign of emotion. That's a sign of faith. Now, all you need to do is don't act upon it. Don't speak about and just ignore it. So
that's whispering so we made a distinction with the whispering so let's just repeat you have a psychological version. You don't believe in it? You and you.
Yeah, and you don't believe it has any kind of intellectual strength? That's a sign of faith. And what you need to do is don't speak about it, don't act upon it and totally ignore it. If you follow that strategy. Say tonic whispers would just disappear. If you don't, they may end up becoming super hot. Okay.
So
questions.
Questions are not whisperings and questions are not super hot.
Don't confuse make a distinction here. So how can we make the distinction that questions by the questions are not shaytani whisperings? And they are not sure what? Well, the way to make that distinction is number one, that they don't undermine your belief or make you destroy Islam in any way. Okay? They don't undermine your belief, like the basic foundations, and they do not distort Islam in some way. And remember that the companions of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had valid questions too.
And you need to understand that we're not gonna know everything, we have epistemic limitations. So if we're sincere, we really believe in Islam and its foundations we believe in Allah we believe is worthy of worship. We believe in the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. The no questions are not shoo hearts. Questions are not destructive doubts.
So happy
We make the distinction in a practical way. For example,
you may have a question. And you may ask something like, you know, there is a prophetic tradition of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And it basically says that the sun, pushed straight to God, and asked his permission to continue its orbit or its movement to that nearest effect.
How do you understand this in light of contemporary empirical reality?
Now you're not undermining God's existence, you're not undermining the fact that he's worthy of worship, you're not undermining the Prophet sallallaahu. And if some of you believe in this prophetic tradition, you know, it's true because it came from the one who was inspired by God, he came from the final prophet, Muhammad Sallallahu, it was said, you have a valid question. And then you get it answered you like? Oh, you know, that's a very interesting question, because you've accidentally maybe imposed an empirical dimension into prophetic tradition. This is more about metaphysics, you know, where is the forehead and the arms of the Sun free to prostrate? So it's
frustration is that the way that you know, it could be that it's just obeying the laws of the universe that God put in place? As simple as that. So gave you more distinctions? Yeah, gave you a really good answer to really satisfy that question. Right.
So that's like a valid question. You know, instanceid, you want to dismantle the basis of Islam? You don't want to distort the fundamentals or destroy Islam in any way? It's a valid question, you still believe in Allah, you believe is worthy of worship, you believe in the finality of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu. It was somebody is the final prophet, he's inspired by Allah, he is, he taught us how to worship Allah, and he is our guide, and our spiritual master, and so on and so forth. But this, you know, you believe in this prophetic tradition, because you know, is authentic, but you just can't understand it. Okay, that's a valid question. Do not Do not allow that to turn into a
shadow heart into intuition. Rather, don't allow that to be destructive doubt now. Because when you have distinctions, then you'll be able to take control of your spiritual state to some degree by the will of Allah. So it's a very question, I'm going to go to a specialist, which is the irony, we know the irony. But the interesting thing is, that's one of our strategies that we're going to learn throughout the next couple of weeks. When you go to a specialist, and they'll give you these answers, or even learning enemy, Islamic knowledge yourself, you'll be able to give you these answers, because we're standing on the shoulders of giants, our dilemma our classical scholars, you
know, unpack these answers for us, in principle, or specifically, in our tradition, you know, we have a very rich tradition was standing on the shoulders of giants. But the example I want to give you here was to show that that is a valid question. And you could just, you know, do have a narrative with yourself have a dialogue. I believe in Allah, I believe is with your worship, I believe in the prophets of Salaam I believe in the authentic prophetic teachings.
Okay, good. And I believe in this particular authentic teaching, but I don't understand it. So I'm going to ask you a question.
It's not insincere. It's not distorting Islam. It's not affecting the foundations of Islam. No problem. Obviously, the other questions that you may want to raise here, when sometimes someone may come across that they have a valid question about the foundations of Islam? Well, the same thing applies, you can have a valid question about the foundations of Islam by stupid, even the foundations of Islam, right?
Because the reason you believe in the foundations for other reasons, other than that question, right? So for example, I can believe the authenticity of the prophetic traditions is based upon testimonial evidence.
Because a scholar that I respect and trust, has told me is authentic.
But I may have a question thinking, Well, you know, it's authentic. And maybe you want to go deeper into EML Hadeeth, the science of hiding the science of prophetic traditions, and how the Islamic scholars authenticated prophetic traditions, right. So I have I might have a questions about the foundation of the sooner the foundation of the Act, the actions and the behaviors and the statements and the consent and the silence of the Prophet sallallahu it because I may have a question about its foundation, but still believe in it, right? I could, I could, I could still believe in it and not want to distort it and not and not and not want to undermine the foundations of Islam. In this case,
the foundations of the prophetic way, the sooner but I have a question about the foundations. That's not an issue as long as you can make that distinction.
It would only be a Sherpa. If that question itself makes you deny the Sunnah and makes you ignore all the other valid ways of establishing that that is the sun. That's the problem.
So in a nutshell, questions on a lesser
valid question.
of things that don't undermine your belief or lead you distort is distorted some anyway, the Sahaba the companions had questions, we're not going to know everything, we have epistemic limitations. We're never never never going to know everything even when you study the western philosophical tradition. epistemology, the study of knowledge is one of the sources of knowledge is testimony authentic testimony, just like what Dr. Elizabeth fricker said, given that my limitations as parametric I'm never going to know everything, basically, I have to refer to the authority of others, we see this in every sphere of our life, when I go to the doctor, and I give them give her
my or him my symptoms, and Kiyoshi gives me medicine, I don't stop questioning her background, questioning his background questioning his medical expertise. And I, okay, I may go for a second opinion. But the point is, I don't question them to that degree. And when I be when I'm given the medicine, I don't stop questioning the chemical structure of that compound, okay.
I don't have the knowledge, I submit by virtue of the fact that I have epistemic limitations, limitations of my knowledge, and I have to submit to the status of others in any way. And this exists in every domain of knowledge, even in science, sciences progress so far, you just have to rely on the safety of others, you can't do it yourself. Even if it's a repeatable experiment, you don't have the time.
You don't have the resources, you have to focus on this specific thing. This particular domain or knowledge within sciences relate to other domains of knowledge. But you have to accept that and refer to those other domains of knowledge without even investigating yourself, because you just don't have the epistemic apparatus or resources to do that. Well, access, you just have to rely on the service of others. And it reminds me of the debate I had with Professor Lawrence Krauss and I went to the expose his metaphysical presupposition, because he said, you know, everything, all knowledge comes from touch and feel, you know, the empirical world, and I want to expose that
presupposition. And he said, you know, what are the sources of knowledge? And I basically said testimony, and he almost snickered at me, and said, Well, let me show you this. And I said, Do you believe in evolution? He was like, Yes, I do the science. So what have you done? What have you done all the experiments yourself? And he said, No. Well, there you go. Your belief, your conviction, even a scientific conviction in concerning evolution is fundamentally not just based on your own experiments is based on external reading of other research and experiments when you haven't done yourself, even if they're repeatable.
So we can't run away from testimony meaning that we have epistemic limitations. And, you know, we're not going to know everything. So questions are valid, don't worry about that, as long as they were sincere, and that we believe in Islam, we don't undermine or doubt the fundamentals, we can still even question the fundamentals, if we still believe in them, because of other reasons. And we will know like, Well, how do the scholars do this? Or why is it the case I believe in Allah, I know he's worthy of worship, I want to explore this a little bit further.
So let's unpack that in the q&a as well, inshallah. So finally, in this section, doubts shewhart, very simple. It's a falsehood that undermines the fundamentals of Islam, or distorts the religion in any way.
Okay. And it makes you be to be unsure about the truth of the fundamentals of the Islamic faith. Once that happens, the know that is a Shabbat.
Those are shubo heart, those are destructive doubts, that destroy the fundamentals of the Islamic faith, they destroy the religion, and they distort the religion in some way. And if you've come along to the point where
you're affected by Shabbat in that way,
hopefully making the distinctions will help you but if you're already affected, then the other strategies are going to help that you learn the next couple of weeks, such as learning Islamic knowledge correctly, holistic Islamic knowledge, taking care of your heart from a spiritual point of view on critical thinking, learning about Islamic philosophy to philosophy, Islamic thought, asking a specialist when you go and deal with all of these, it deals with once the shopper has entered you. And that's why these first three strategies were really mostly for before the doubt has affected. Okay, so making a distinction helps you when the ship hasn't really entered your heart and is
draining your faith. Because you make that distinction to dis to make a distinction between your destructive doubts, your valid questions and your Westwater.
Because sometimes we may think we have disruptive dads but they're really just was facade you know how to deal with it now. And you may think you have a distorted view, but they're just really valid questions, you know how to deal with another awesome fear, which relates to another to the other strategy, we're gonna learn the next couple of weeks, which is ask a specialist or, or learn Islamic knowledge holistically, which is another strategy but the point is making a distinction between shewhart was first and valid questions helps you if you just have less Wilson if you just have valid questions, but if you're being
Now, if the ship has not only attach itself to the hub, it's time to drain your faith. And then what you're going to learn in the next couple of weeks is the strategies that you're going to adopt to remove them completely inshallah.
So the lesson for you and others is very simple
medical symptoms, right?
If we're able to make a distinction between different set of medical symptoms, and we'll be able to find what the diseases and find the right medicine, but if you're a doctor that thinks all the medical symptoms, even if they contradict each other, and they change and the different and the different set of symptoms, they you're always going to say it's just the flu, then when you give them the medicine is not it's not going to work.
So this is the lesson for you and others, is this is very similar to a doctor, when we learn about symptoms, and how the nuances of symptoms and the subtleties and how they correlate to certain diseases and what medicine we need to give the doctor has the distinctions between different set of symptoms that enables him and empowers him or her to be able to say what disease you have and what effective medicine he or she is going to give you. If they didn't have the distinction, then we're going to, you know, if you were a doctor, you didn't have the distinctions and your patients are always going to be sick. Yeah. Likewise, we're always going to be spiritually sick or intellectually
sick if we can't make a distinction between what's what's our spiritual negative whisperings, valid questions and shadow heart. So making the distinctions as we just did today, and understanding how to make those distinctions would help you especially if you just have one officer or just valid questions. But if now you know you have two hearts, that it's affecting you in that way. It's not only attached to your heart, but it's draining your faith and your image and your spiritual intellectual conviction. And to the degree that making distinctions won't help. And that's what the other strategies you're going to learn in week three and onwards is going to help you annihilate.
Okay, I hope you annihilate so next week, we're gonna be talking about your environment that's going to be believe is going to be doctor with manatee for chef status name. And let's just go back to the strategies just to remind you we went through be aware no intention to make the distinction.
Now
you're in now know the following weeks, we're gonna talk about your environment, studying Islam, critical thinking, finding a specialist dealing with trauma, focusing your home making to art, and that's going to end melee on the ship ha, and the Shahada has affected your heart. Okay.
Now, we said already being aware is really before the shopper affects your heart and attaches itself and goes deep in and drains your faith. And giving it no attention is also full before. And making the distinction is really for before, but one could argue might be for after as well. And I'll tell you why. Because you may think that you have a shorthand, but after making distinctions, it's not a Sherpa anymore. It's just a quite valid question or is just a it's just a wasa and you know how to deal with that now it's a sign of demand, ignore it, don't talk about it. Don't speak about it or act upon it. Just ignore it's a sign of demand based upon the fact that you have a psychological
aversion to it, you know, is not true and it has no basis. Okay? So
really, if you're someone who has been affected with super hot, then the rest of the weeks are really going to help in a huge way, a huge way. There'll be spiritual tools and intellectual tools that would annihilate the Shahada destructive does that you have, even to the point if you think that you're not Muslim anymore, inshallah. But the reason we have to go to the first three, because it helps you depending on what stage you are. And not only that, remember, this course is about helping others as well. So it would give you the distinction to be able to give the right medicine to the people that you're dealing with and given the right advice on on what strategy they should
use, or what combinations of strategies they should use. So
this is the end of the second week.