with Fahad Tasleem
Hamza Tzortzis – No Doubt – Introducing 10 Strategies To Deal With Destructive Doubts
![Hamza Tzortzis](https://artwork.muslimcentral.com/hamza-tzortzis-150x150.jpg)
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss a course on developing and empowering Muslims to deal with doubts and doubts of others. The course covers topics such as worldview, fit minor, and the importance of metaphysical backlash. The course is designed to help teachers and parents deal with their emotions and bring them into a practical context. The speakers emphasize the importance of the heart and the use of a sponge in achieving a certain state, while also emphasizing the need for people to be aware of strategies and personalized guidance. They end by reminding participants to complete the course and ask for any shortcomings. The course also emphasizes strategies for dealing with doubts and mistakes, including focusing on good strategy and learning from past experiences, and stresses the importance of being committed to one's service and avoiding perfecting.AI: Transcript ©
Assalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Brothers and sisters.
My name is Hamza, undress, xodus. And this is for her to slim. So now only comb Polycom Salah, reading, bro hamdulillah
Al Hamdulillah. So Alhamdulillah brothers and sisters, we have completed the no doubt course Alhamdulillah.
The purpose of this session is to actually introduce the course. And to raise some questions, we're both gonna ask each other some questions concerning how you may benefit from the course. And if I had to sneem delivered Alhamdulillah most of the sessions I delivered some of the sessions as well. And I think I lost the first question row, which is Alhamdulillah, we finished no doubt.
So why is it important to attend no doubt, to complete the whole course? Well, well, before I get there, let me let me throw a question back to you. That's okay. Point like before we even get to like the importance of the course. And the course is phenomenal. It's amazing. And having gone through it and, you know, instructed it. But before I get there, tell us a little bit about the Genesis because I think that's interesting. The Genesis Well, from what I remember, one of our instructors delivered a similar course it was called no doubt, I think. And it dealt with the kind of intellectual foundations of Islam from the point of view of how to address ethical doubts,
scientific doubts, philosophical doubts, and stuff like that. And then, I think after a few years, when we established sapiens, one of the main purposes of Sapiens was to
empower Muslims. So our main strategic focus is to develop and empower Muslims, so they are able to intellectually and academically articulate Islam.
To the brothers and sisters in humanity. What we felt was that it was important to develop a course to deal with people's shubho heart, which is the plural for doubt. shubha doubts, right? Yeah. And because we're all about empowerment, we usually talk about the adage, which is, if I remember correctly, if you give a man a fish, he would eat for a day, if you teach a man to fish,
he would eat for a lifetime. Yeah. So we want to empower we wanted to, and we do want to empower Muslims to be able to deal with their doubts and the doubts of other people. And from a wider strategic strategic perspective, we want them to be able to intellectually and academically share Islam
in a robust way, of course, and defend Islam. So with regards to the course itself, is designed not to answer every single one of the shewhart will be here until God knows when to the Day of Judgment, right. But rather, it's an empowering course, we will give people 10 effective strategies on how to deal with their doubts, their own doubts and the doubts of others. And these strategies have been specifically designed to create that empowerment. And these strategies are not what you will call just a roadmap, you don't start from the beginning. In the end, you understand all of the strategies, and based on the metaphysical backdrop, which will explain
you basically use them as a toolkit. So you maybe think strategy 237, and eight is what I need for myself or for this person, or maybe all of them, it depends. And once you understand the kind of spiritual, social intellectual context of that person, then you could basically use the most relevant and appropriate strategy. So I think it's an amazing course, there's nothing like it. And it's very empowering. And I really ask every single one of
you watching to attend the course from start to end, because everything will make sense. Right. So is that good enough? Yeah. All right. So I have a question for you. Which is, what are my questions to?
What is this? Okay, the Battle of the questions. Okay, so who might want is, so what did we cover? So I mean, well, we started off with the metaphysical backdrop, and I think that the fact that we started off with it, it highlights its importance not only in this course, but we also repeat that same information. I'll be at not in as much detail as we do in no doubt in other courses like for instance, we can the truth within we do it there and the divine reality has a sexual way. So why is metaphysical backdrop so important? Well, metaphysical backdrop is so important because like you
If we were to just answer every single question, we would be here for years. Yes. And what metaphysical what the metaphysical backdrop does is it empowers the person by having them understand things and concepts like worldviews worldview, yeah, what is the lenses by which people are looking at the world and reality? How do you establish what is what is not? and so on? So we get into some detail about that related to you know, ontology, epistemology, how do we, you know, what is when we think about knowledge, for instance, you know, sources of knowledge, and so, and things like that, and, you know, we do a really nice outline, based on view, which is what I remember when you
delivered it. It was empowering from the point of view that when someone asks you a question that raises a shopper, a doubt, a destructive doubt. Or if you, within yourself have a shopper destructive doubt, empowers the individual, to basically understand that, that is only a shubha. If I adopt the worldview of that person, person, exactly. Why adopt an alien worldview? Right? So what you do is that you give them the kind of conceptual metaphysical lenses to really understand Hold on a second, in order for even this ship had to be valid. And by the way, we know Shibata not valid, and we discussed that in the course. But in order for it to be valid from the point of view, that
would affect me, I have to swim into the ocean of the alien worldview, which is basis anyway. Right? So
it was very empowering. But how does it fit in this whole metaphysical backdrop then, because in in the in the section on metaphysical backdrop, you also talk about the fitrah? So, yeah, so what's with that? Yo, so? So one of the things that we we speak about is that any sort of worldview a person adopts, and of course, everyone has a worldview, as we mentioned, the course. You know, I think I mentioned in the course itself, that it's kind of like language, right? Everyone has a language that they adopt, you're born into it, you, you know, you don't even think about a new speaker light. So it's really important point, isn't it? Right. And so, we want to be so important
brothers and sisters that, you know, if you're not married, and you have a marriage meeting, it should be one of your questions that your world what's your, what's your worldview? Do you know what I mean? No, I think that's, you know what I mean? I Yes, because I actually taught the thing. So yeah, I do know what you mean. But it's
not to the worldview, its connection with the fitrah. We spoke about how everyone has a worldview. Yes. And the thing is that worldviews they are based on assumptions, like any worldview, any you know, when you talk about modernism, post modernism, assumptions are first principles. Yeah, assumptions. first principles. I mean, we get into the details. Yeah, sure. Well, right. And of course, for us our first principle, our you know, assumption we give, we talk about our lens, right, our lens, right, is the fitrah. And then we get into some conversation, we get into some discussion about what do we mean by the fitna? Why is it important that that be the lens by which we look at
reality and how we understand reality. And so we get into details about that. And so that forms the metaphysical backdrop. So before we get into the 10 strategies in earnest, we get into a very deep dive into worldviews and fitrah. And I believe, and I really think it's extremely empowering. Like, I can tell you that when I've had conversations, and as you know, we have lighthouse, where we have one on one mentoring services, people. And you know, I really feel a lot of times when you're speaking to someone, it's not about the specific question they're asking, hmm, a lot of has to do like, wait a minute, where are you? What lens? Are you looking at this question? Absolutely. Oh, we
had a sister on once she had a question about, I don't understand these ions in the Quran from you know, and then when we started to dig down deeper, she had a very clear lens of feminism, which has its own assumptions and its own worldviews tied to an alien worldview and ideology, whether it's feminism or whatever the case may be. She basically used it as a lens to view Islam. Right. And that's why the shoe bohart Rose rose. Yeah. So it's not just dealing with the super hearts actually dealing with that worldview first, and that's changed the way they see things. Yeah. And that's what was so beautiful that once I pointed that out, and I said, Look, let's look at it from a different
person. Let's look at it from a different worldview, right, one that you claimed to have adopted, right, which is Islam. And let's look at it from that worldview. And that was very empowering for her because she at the end, she said, You know, that's actually makes sense. Now, like, I understand it from a worldview perspective, brilliant. So isn't it? You know, I mean, that that part of the course, I think, will really, you know, people are really going to find all the power in so and the thing with the fitrah, which I think you highlighted, which is very important, is that when we understand the fitrah, even the two main opinions in a classical tradition, yeah, the fitrah gets
clouded if you want to use such terminology. And we do use such metaphor. Yep. And the point here is there are different ways to unclouded the fitrah. Yeah, to awaken the truth within or to allow the fitter to direct itself towards the truth. So the clouding could be one of the super hot could be one of the doubts, right? And our strategies could be the way to unclouded The fitrah is to allow the fit of the innate disposition to direct itself.
Towards the truth. Yeah. And that is so important because once you understand the almost the kind of metaphysics or the psychology of the fitrah, you, you make sense of yourself, you make sense of other people's athletes and you become more intellection spiritual and spiritually mature to be able to deal with these issues in a very profound and deep way. So that's brilliant. So often metaphysical backdrop, but your notes, dude. Alright, what's the next one? The
next one nature of the heart, may or the nature of the heart. So if we're speaking about fitrah, we understand you know, as you'll see in the course, is that we speak a lot about shubo heart We speak a lot about etymology, right, the word itself where it comes from this brother, this individual right here, he likes talking about the etymology of etymology, ad infinitum. Yeah, but but he calmed me down. So you, you could have gotten a lot more and put to sleep a lot quicker. No, but
but we speak about the term show power, how it resembles the truth. It doesn't have any sort of substance to itself. In reality, it resembles the truth. It's like a wolf in sheep's clothing. Right. Right. And then we talk about how it attacks the heart. And so that's why the next section that we speak about is the nature of the heart itself. You know, the the bullpen is called called because it overturns the Hello Buffalo Bill, you know, and all and so we get into that we speak a little bit about Eamon and and how to understand that and how to understand it in a way that transcends how sometimes just translated as belief. Yes, right. Because sometimes we have a, you
know, again, going back to worldviews, we have a kind of a Judeo Christian way of looking at the term because from that worldview, the term faith Yeah, the term faith, right belief or faith, that we just assigned to it some sort of pledge that you made, I believe such and such, yes, man has a different dynamic or like a leap of faith. Right, like a leap of faith line jump, exactly. But your mind comes from the root word to feel secure. Exactly. And so so before that, we talked about the fitting of the heart. No, we get to that a little bit low. Do we like the Shah, what Yun the Shu heart? Yes. So, you know, after that, no, put my notes here. So yeah, so we talked about the hearts
main fitness. Yeah, that's actually Yep. Okay, good. So we start with the metaphysical backdrop, yes. Right. That's where we start from the top on the nature of the heart. Yes. Then we move into the fitting of the heart, okay, trials and tribulations of the heart, which are different from the spiritual diseases? Yes, of course, of course. So, you know, these we, you know, we say that scholars categorize them into two main categories. So we speak about the two main
fitting, right one is the sugar hot, which are the destructive doubts, which is what we're going to be talking about in detail. When we talk about Sha what Yes, desires, you know, those things that are laying ready, blameworthy desires, right. And,
you know, speaking about the covering of the heart, as you mentioned, or the clouding of the heart? Yes. You know, one of those is actually stems from desires when a person goes beyond. Right, the bounds, you know, everyone has desires. And as long as you don't go beyond the bounds, then it shouldn't really affect a person but when they do, yes, it puts a strain on the heart. Yes, right. Like the process of them said yes, so there but there is a relationship between shaohua Toshiba heart, although we do say in abstraction, shoe heart are far worse than shaha word because one of the distinctions that we make concerning the shoe bohart to the destructive doubts is that they are
the try to undermine the foundations of Islam and distort the religion Yes. Now why blame with blameworthy desires on their own? Don't do that. And that way, they could. Yeah, so get by abstraction. shuhada, far more dangerous, however, sure. What if you continue them, right? They can lead to super hot because for example, if someone starts drinking and they know it's Haram, then fine. It's not undermining the religion is not undermining the intellectual foundations of Islam. But over time, what can happen? They could start saying, Oh, you know what, maybe it's not too bad maybe is halaal. And maybe it's maybe the Quran was wrong. And every so that's the thing, man that,
you know, they say, like I mentioned this in the course as well. There's a saying in order to Krakow Akilah, right, that the intellect is a hired lawyer. So eventually, what happens is, when you're kind of engaged in a sin for too long, you have kind of this, this instability, right? So we talked about human meaning stability, so your mind, like it knows it's wrong, but if you keep doing it, then it wants to give justifications? Sure, right? And it happens to all of us, right? When, you know, if you think about, okay, you're doing something and eventually I can't make this difference of opinion. Maybe I'll ask shake so and so or shake so and so. And then you start getting and so and
so that's why, you know, no doubt that shubho hot are definitely more dangerous, because they're undermining the foundations, but excessive shallow water long term shower can lead to can lead to super hot which can be you know, have the same effect. Okay, so then we moved on to, then we moved on to Mahmut. We moved on to We are the source of doubts. Okay, good. Yeah. Yeah. So the sources of doubts, the sources of doubts were philosophical, ethical, and trauma. Yes. philosophical, philosophical, scientific, ethical, social trauma, social. So basically, the kind of negative experiences people experience in their life things that that give rise to Chabot heart and These
could include traumatic experiences right? Negative
experiences and we made a distinction between big T and small t traumas. We talked about what we taught them, and how to address those from the point of view of shubo heart. And after we went to, so then, we spoke about, we started the course. Well, we talked about today's crises and challenges. Alright, that was a bit of a summary. So we did a summary and actually we spoke about the fact that if a person is, you know, engaging with the world today, what are some of the modern, you know, say modern in terms of in terms of a time period, what are they? What are people facing and what are the people? What are people's challenges to the ideological dialogue channels, so you have atheism, you
have modernism liberalism, post modernism, feminism, all the isms and schisms, people have to deal with a lot of people and he happens to most folks who become in the words of hijab, archaeologically molested
or ideologically molested intellectually was a sin, Serbian, subservient, mentally enslaved. Anyway, so this course is for.
Hopefully you're not Yeah, of course. Not. You know, we're trying to joke here. But yeah, right. Unfortunately, these ideologies are like a tsunami trying to engulf the hearts and minds of our brothers and sisters of everybody, the hearts of humanity. And, and this goes back to the importance of this course, though. Because remember, it's not just a course about you dealing with yourself. But you could be in a position, let's say, You're the Mom, let's say you're your parent, your point, you know, and you could be in that position. And you might you might understand it from your own, like your own background, your education. Like I don't deny that any Sir, I would not I would not
doubt that what we're in what we're teaching in terms of content, per se, is something new to like someone who's been through an Islamic Studies. Yeah, deepest. But the reality is we want to but the methodology is your methodology mortared together in a unique way in order for the Imams and the Musharraf to be empowered. Yes, exactly. And that's what this is very important for teachers, for parents for imams for Messiah. Absolutely. And remember to bring this back to a practical context. We receive so many questions about people's doubts. We can't address everything. It's like, almost practically impossible. Yeah, limited resources, and so on and so forth. Right. So this course from
a strategic point of view, I think it should be a game changer because once they're empowered with these strategies, insha Allah, by the will of Allah subhanho wa Taala Chola inshallah it should work and Shawn. Absolutely. So, you know, we would want this in different languages as well. Yeah. Turkish, in Urdu, in Malay, Arabic in Arabic. Yeah. In all the languages, whatever language and get it in. So we so now we talked about the 10 strategies? Yeah, yeah. Then we outlined the 10 strategies we get into them. And you know, we start off with speaking about be aware. Okay. So before we get into that, there was a distinction that we made concerning there are some strategies
that you adopt before the shore, huh? Right, right. And in some strategies after the Sherpa in some strategy, or both, yeah. And some strategies to deal with both. So say this is the heart. This is a surprise, like a parasite. And what's to latch on to the heart and drain the mind? So there was one stage where the ship has here? Yep. And that's when you have some strategies are the strategies the Sherpa is just about to get into the heart, you know, strategy and other strategies when it's already infected in the law. Okay, good. So what's be aware? So be aware is the strategy which actually is before the Shobha attacks the heart, right, okay, good. And this has to do with
prevention. Right? So we, you know, we speak about the term prevention rather than cure. So this is now to be aware of the shughart that exists that are dangerous, the fact that they're dangerous, and so on and so forth. So and to be aware of the nature of superhot from the dam exposure tradition that it's touched by who it tries to resemble something that it's not Yes, it's a wolf in sheep's clothing. And as even Timmy said, my life Mason him that a reason shuba heart sometimes people can accept or they take seriously is because they have a tinge of truth. Yeah, that's but they're not truth. They're not. And that's this thing with anything, right? Like anything that you accept around
you has to have some element of truth. That's why some people hear the answer. Yeah. That's why some people fall in love with like post modernism. Yeah. Other thing other thing we won't, right now, because we'll be a bit controversial. You know what I mean? Yes, the point is, there are some ideologies or ideological constructs that there are some, you know, justice, right, it sounds What about justice? So when they see the social justice movement, like yeah, we're about this as well. But right, they are adopting a worldview when they do that, and a set of ideological presuppositions, you know, and they become, that's why
they does the job says, But anyway, so So be aware is to be aware of the the ship ha, but also be aware that they exist, right? And be aware that they're dangerous. Yes. You know, a lot of times it's like, Yeah, what if I just go to his website? What if I just check this out? You check it out. And that's that's how the thing starts. So you know, and again, one of the things we mentioned when we cover this section is that we're not saying that you don't engage with these things once you have the you know, the intellectual emotional, spiritual, psycho spiritual tools so important you said this, like, because it's not just an intellectual issue, because some people think hey, if I'm an
intellectual that could address this, but that's the point if you're not aware of that what should your heart are right shubho heart are also spiritual matter. Yes. I know this personally, bro in my in my own journey.
Yeah, I'm answering someone's question. I think he left Islam. I answered his question he comes back or something like that. Yeah, I'm not convinced with my own answer. But I am later convinced with my own answer when it came from someone else, right. And I saw correlation about with my spiritual state of court and where it was along that journey, of course. So we shouldn't be under the kind of naive and intellectually mature immature position that hey, I have a robust rational answer. No, it doesn't work that way. super hard to have a spiritual, cognitive, emotional reality to them. Right? And this is why with cognitive psychology, you know, yeah, no one is an AI and machine, as we
discussed in awakening the truth within you. And it's not just about abstract rational arguments there are, there's a lot of cycle social, emotional, spiritual, whatever you call it, elements that are going on driving forces going on. And we need to be mature about this. Yeah. I mean, look, I mentioned this in, when we speak about beauty, that we'll talk about that experiment about, you know, how your own your beauty market.
So we even spoke about how even the art say that it was beautiful, but that's fine. I mean, you know, look, I'm kidding, shall you very beautiful.
So no, I'm saying that, in that particular, in that series that we do, or that that talk that I did, you know, I mentioned that even the architecture that you live in, can have an impact on your cognition as long as an architecture and you can actually your your your cognition can be enhanced can be, you know, can be made better, you can have less cognitive biases by having more interaction in the natural world, something as mundane, as most people might think of right now has a profound impact. And so if something like that you taking a walk in nature can have an impact on your cognition. Imagine what you know, when it comes to doubts and things like that. So that's why you
have to be aware of then your beauty section, which you mentioned in this course, as well. I believe so. It reflecting and experiencing natural beauty gives you all and or increases cognition and lowers your ego. Yep. Yeah. Which is very important in the context of spirituality. Exactly. Intellectual arguments should be hard. Because how many people do you know that they won't accept your argument? Not because they're not? They're not sold on your argument? Right? Okay. The quintessential example is when people get into a fight with their spouse. Yeah, that's the one and that's, you know, you're wrong. But you just keep going. Because it's just, it's just ego. Yeah,
right. Sure. So, so, so be away is be with it exist. And that helps you that empowers you from the point of view that, you know, if you're walking down the street, and someone says is a really, there's an arm gang at the end of the street, you're aware of that. So you're not going to walk that path, right? You're going to go somewhere else. Okay, good. So what's the next one? to not pay attention? No attention, no attention. Okay. What would What did you cover on this? So basically, in this section we spoke about, you know, that, and again, this is before the shoe part? Yes, this is before before. And so you know, you're going to have the shoe because you have to basically not paid
any attention. I mean, just as it as the term states, you know, don't give it any attention. Don't give it any, you know, look, what is the Shobha, as we mentioned, and as you'll see in the course, it doesn't have any sort of real value. It's a a wolf in sheep's clothing. Yes. So if it doesn't have any value, you have to proactively not pay any attention to it just don't give it any intention at the stage when it hasn't infected you. Right. Exactly. Exactly. And with the knowledge that you know, it doesn't have a basis. Exactly what Okay, good. So then after that, it's then we get into the the conversation discussion about making a distinction. And this is what I think that
a lot of people don't really may not really may not, they may know it to some extent. But the fact that we outlined it in the course where we say, look, there are there are certain things that are like valid questions, right, and then there are super hot, and then they're there, you know, what was right, what was right. And so and to be able to make the distinction between those through between those three, is extremely important, because a person could have a valid question, and that's fine. But a lot of it has to do with a like, what how are they approaching the question? Right. So for instance, you know, you know, a show how the difference between a Shobha and a valid
question like what would there still be Shobana? valid question? Yes. So you're right, we want to make a distinction between those three, because sometimes when people have watched facade, they think it's a Sherpa. Yeah. And then they get really confused. And then you may end up being a supplier, which is crazy. So the way you've made a distinction is very powerful. So we make a distinction between what you said was was a shoe heart and body questions. And the difference between a shoe and a valid question of the question is literally any question that you don't intend to undermine the foundations of a song and you don't intend to distort the religion? Yep. And by the
way, that attention, you get empowered, but in the duration of this course, when you when you have a good grounding your worldviews and yes, right, so that empowers you when you're at this stage as well. Good. Sorry, go ahead. No, it's fine. Then after so a shoe part is different. It's like it's actually making you undermine the foundations of Islam, and this is driving you towards distorting the religion. Yeah. So, making those distinctions are very powerful, so you don't get confused.
to negotiate down could use that against you because you can't legal distinctions. You think about questions in the shop. Ah, you think what services do you think a valid question is a Wasserstein, you get? Oh, yeah. And it's a nightmare. Exactly. So what's the distinction between a wasa initial part? And the question then? Well, we have to take the course to see that as we get into, you know, so
right now, just just just in probably very quickly, or vice versa is something that you have a secular psychological aversion to, yeah, you don't believe in it? Yep. And the Sahaba had this as well. And the person said that this is a sign of emotion. So if you have a wasp was the son of a man. But as long as you know, it's not true. And you have a psychological aversion to it. And the way to deal with it is not to speak about it not to act upon it. Exactly. Okay. So then we go to, then. So the next next section, is one's environment, your bio? Oh, yes, that's when I did this one, right. Yes, yes. So your advice is extremely important. We, we go into like social psychology. And
we talk about the development of the social norm, we talk about normative information, normative social influence, informational, social influence, informational, social influences our need to for certain normative social influence or need to belong. And that drives us to basically submit to a subgroup of a dominant group. And if the subgroup or dominant group or in this context, the dominant group have alien values or ideas, we adopt them, or we may basically
align ourselves to them, because we have a need to belong, we have a need to feel certain. And that could basically take us away from the tradition from Islam. And we should just be aware of that, we talked about some social psychological experiments to show that, you know, society does affect you. This is like almost
this is this is like, almost like an absolute fact. It's intuitive, right? Because if you it's intuitive as well, yeah, if you if you're a son, or if you're a father or an uncle, or whether the case may be and you know, your niece or nephew or your daughter, your or your son, they say I want to I want to join this group of friends and you know, these group of friends, they have drug issues. Yeah, or look even something Are you gonna let it go? Yeah, you know, just, it doesn't affect anybody, hey, it doesn't have to be that extreme. You could be like, you know, what, you know, a Muhammad over there. Like, he's, you know, he's, he's studying all the time. He's memorizing the
Koran. And, you know, you've got recruits from Harvard that are looking into him. Alright, then you've got whatever, you know, Saleem over there and study him like Yeah, he's doing well. He's getting B's and stuff. And, you know, maybe you go to U of H without reference to everyone's going to U of H, and who are you gonna have your kid be like, you know, what, maybe should make friends with Mohammed over there. All right. It's, it's intuitive. And it's, it's you mentioned, like a cognitive psychology. There's a lot of studies in it that that social psychology, social psychology that bolster the idea that you know, your Environment Matters. Yes. And the thing is, and the Quran
as well, we spoke about, we talked about the Quran, we talk about the Sunnah of the Prophet salallahu it he was talking about the importance of your environment in your friends. And just going back to the point about that, it's like almost an absolute fact, obviously, there are differences of opinion academia about, you know, how norms are developed, and so on and so forth. And what and how influence how social influence actually influences you. But the point is, the underlying theme is, there is an influence of the environment does influence us, of course, and that is extremely important to be aware of that and what the solutions are from a Quranic and Sunnah perspective. We
talk about that bringing the dog. Yeah, the dogs, we love them. We let them work. We let them attend the course. So they understand that all right, we're not going to give them everything. Yanni, of course, of course, they understand this introduction. Yeah. So so the next section we covered was study Islam. Okay, so you repeat that a few times did it? No. Yeah. Because we did. Not that joint was no way. Let's be honest. This course was extremely. I think it was very intense. Yeah. The other course both of them were they were very force intensive, repeated sessions so many times to get it right. Yeah. I don't know how people do it. May Allah bless all the brothers and sisters that do
this type of work? Because it was, it does take a lot out of you. I think, Adrian because you're concerned about the end user, isn't it? So you repeat so many different, you know, and a lot of it may have to do with just how I guess how important we feel the course is, ya know, 100% this is something that because we deal with so often, and we deal with it a lighthouse we deal with people that we speak to, you know, I mean, I just got an email, I think it was like yesterday, you know, someone that I know back home, and you know, she's one of the assignments for teachers that she emailed me and she said, You know, I needed to speak my son. And, and you can really sometimes you
can really tell, even through email, like how much pain a parent might be going through. Yeah. 100% so that adds a, I guess a kind of a level of pressure in the sense that you want to make sure it's right. So people understand the concepts and yes, you know, so so studies also, if I'll be honest, I did it a number of times because of that very. So would you cover and study Islam? What's the main point? Well, the main point is that you know, once a person studies Islam when they study the you know, the studied Islamic tradition, it should empower the person, right and it's annihilate to doubt it.
completely eradicate stouts. You know, and that's an, obviously with the fiscal backdrop understanding worldview, and all of that. But once once you've kind of understood that, and then you start, you know, taking a sincere, you know, you take a sincere journey in the path of seeking knowledge, right. And I'm not talking about going out somewhere abroad and studying in some sort of forum, but just having a sincere, you know, desire to learn the religion, yeah, learn learn, people should stand in the possibility that the more you learn about Islam from Of course, of course, from the spiritual tradition, the classical tradition, I think, one of the most beautiful aspects that we
that I covered in the in the section was the motif of light that
right, yes, no, I don't want to start, you know, because we're gonna be hit with a, but it's a beautiful motif. But the point I'm gonna say is that people should stand in the possibility that learning the Islamic tradition will eradicate the doubts, and it does. So you give two examples. Case Studies. Yes. We talked about the age of consent. Yep. was one of those that's one of the show, because that might come up. Yes. And how the old foodie tradition this annihilates Yeah, yeah, of course. And just, you know, a lot of times, there's so many, you know, aspects to that particular section we talked about, you know, is the concept of age, the first of all, you know, is it
something that's trans, historic, trans, cultural, etc. And the arbitrary nature of arbitrary nature, based on principles. Right, right. Exactly. We don't have to unpack that right now. So the other case study was on inheritance. Okay, good. Yeah. And so we get into some details about that.
You know, I speak about the complexity of the inheritance law itself. Yep. Principles involved, the principles involved, the nuances involved. You know, one of the things that I highlight, and I don't want to get into the course now, is that a lot of people when they, when they are faced with Shu bohart, they want to have a quick, short answer, without any sort of nuance. And the reality is, I mean, you're looking at over 1000 years of a civilization. And you know, that this is a nuanced area. This is legal theories, legal theory, right. So reasoning, you're getting secular law, if you want to find out about a certain ruling, you're not going to be surprised. You're not going to say
like, Well, you know, this is how it is you go to a lawyer. Yeah, I can give my own example, I when I study tax law, you know, I mean, it's, it's complex, man, you have the code, which is like two big volumes and eight volumes of the IRS regulations. And, you know, you have opinions upon opinions, you have case law, you have to study, you know, making it. So, you know, and people kind of say, like, Oh, isn't it true that, you know, women just get more than men? It's such a less
that they get, but the funny thing is, we show that in 16 cases, women get more, maybe that goes up. Yeah, we show that the whole ruling is not about the so called intrinsic value or a particular gender. Yeah. And we talked about the principles, and we show how shallow this accusation is, but it's based on knowing the knowledge of Islam. Yeah, exactly. Okay, good. So after this, what do we do? After we get into study Islam? We look at, we look at Europe section, because that is critical thinking, Oh, yeah, it's a good thing. So like, I think I did study Islam, what like maybe five times in your critical thinking, like, what 25 times, think like four days, you spent a critical
thinking, no, no, no, I spent a few hours on it. So. So critical thinking was important, because we believe that using your critical thinking abilities, your rational faculties, your ability to ponder, think etc. In essence, using the function of the color, which is the outcome, using that in a sound way. And given that all other variables are sound like your heart is, you know, in the right place from a spiritual perspective, that that will be a barrier to shoe heart. Because if you're able to critically think no, then you just annihilate the shoe heart. Now, what's interesting is
now what's interesting is a lot of the shoe heart. They are taken seriously because we don't have the ability to critically think Exactly. So I give I think I gave a scenario about someone. Or if I didn't, let me just give him a very quickly someone asked a question about the Higgs boson. This was many years ago, and the Higgs boson was a particle that they found they found the empirical justification for the Higgs boson, which is a particle the Higgs field was the Higgs field. It was something that switched well that was switched on the early universe that gave particles mass apart from the photon, of course, and you know, they quoted the God Particle in the kind of popular
articles and then someone said, Oh, bro, my Eman, something's wrong with my amount or something like something like that? Because they found the God Particle. And I'm like, What's going on here? So I did a bit of investigation, and then I realized it had nothing to do with God. It was more from the point of view, everything has to do with Allah subhanho wa Taala. But the point is, it doesn't negate his existence. It just found a particle. Yeah. overfilled. Now they call it the God Particle. Because the journalists, journalists were lazy because originally it was called the * particle because it's so hard to find.
Exactly. So you see the point, things like this. I mean, it's a crude example, but you get you have to be able to critically think in actual fact, that example itself proves its existence because any particle, anything physical is contingent. Yeah, right. Exactly. It's possibly existing. It's mumkin elbow, dude, and
Everything that is monkeying around with rude necessitates why'd you but would you have the necessary existing being, which is Allah Subhana? Wa to Allah? And this argument is in all the schools of Crete, right? Anyway, the point here is critically think so we talk about what is critical thinking, what is developing good arguments, generating good arguments. What is that you know, how we had you develop the ability to find out areas and people's reasoning, we're talking about formal fallacies, informal fallacies, we'll give some examples. And we do that in order to empower you to be able to critically think and that if you use your uncle in a sound way, and
obviously, the article is a function of the cult, and given if all the other variables are fine concerning your club. If you use the ugliness in a sound way, it can be a means to to be a barrier against shubo heart, and we unpack that further. So what was next after that? Well, let me ask question before we actually get to the next section.
You know, everything that you learned, everything that you learned up to this point, is that all on your own accord? Or have you learned it from other people like me connecting it to another? Well, I mean, I'm just, you know, cuz a lot of people think like, you know, you're standing on the shoulders of giants. Yes, thank you very much. That's the thing. And that's in actual fact, we have epistemic limitations. We're never going to know everything. It's impossible. Even in western epistemology, testimony, the epistemology of testimony, you have Dr. Elizabeth fricker, she says, given that her that her limitations are parametric, she has to rely on the authority of others, on on on anything
on anything. And that's the next section is finding, especially find a specialist. Right. So would you unpack here? So I have would just basically what you said, right, that we have epistemic limitations. And then, you know, we can't a lot of times we feel that we can, let's say, when it comes to the realm of Chabot hot that we're going to basically study when you study and we got it, but sometimes you you may need help with that, you know, that's part of that's part of like the community you live in, whether it's an if you want to consider an online community, or the local community is that we have people, we have specialists that can deal with certain things that can
deal with your epistemic limitations, right. And the thing is that they should stand in the possibility. Yeah. If you're dealing with yourself or dealing with someone else, that we do have specialists in the community that can answer these questions. And just because we've had no history, yeah, just because you don't know the answer doesn't mean the answer doesn't exist. Exactly. Right. So yeah. So that's what we cover in the next section after that is where we deal with trauma. Oh, so tell me a little bit about, let's say, a trauma that you've been through? Oh, I'm on like, your shrink now. You're you. Yeah. Okay, trauma that I've gone through.
trauma.
Ladies and gentlemen, here's the thing. Every human being goes through trauma. Absolutely. Just because he's thinking about it. No, no, no, no, no, no, of course, absolutely. So
a trauma that I've gone.
A trauma that I've experienced from a kind of shubo heart, adult's point of view.
Guess one, trauma was maybe a self imposed trauma, where, when I became a Muslim, I felt that I had to now break down my hero, that was my father. And because he was a Muslim, I should just basically
look, just basically trying to deconstruct his personality, that he's actually a bad person, he's not worthy to be my hero, because he's not listening, which is a very unknown, it's an anemic position to date. And I spent a lot of time actually relating to my father in a very negative way. And that was an internal trauma that I created myself right because of lack of knowledge, lack of guidance, whatever the case may be not understanding assigned properly. And then that trauma was unpacked when I went on this kind of psychology course 3d course where they just broke me down. It was like, you're just you just they, you know, you just say you know, I'm not gonna say who I am but
you know, you just a piece of you know, excrement right in your ears with ego. It's your, you know, your your need to be right and never be wrong, you need to impose a never be imposed upon your need to always look good and never look back bad to the extent where you give up the truth and to the extent that you give up what is right. So that ego was giving up what was the right way to, to approach and relate to my father and even the truth that, of course, he still has those virtues. Of course, He's my hero. With regards to many things. And there's nothing wrong with that this is part of the Islamic tradition, the person praised
non Muslims. You know, Khalid bin Walid rajala, Han became Muslim because was on something called him a wise person. Yeah, in essence, right. So the point here is, it's that trauma was unpacked for me when I went through that experience, but not everyone has those experiences. But that was a self imposed trauma, the way I was relating to my father, but then after when I picked up the phone, which was part of the homework, once I understood that self imposed trauma and understood that the meaning I'm giving the situation is not the meaning that the mean that was given wasn't the correct meaning. The correct meaning was the mean that Allah wants me to give it right, which was treat your
father with respect. Yeah, love your father, appreciate his hair and so on and so forth. Yeah. Which I didn't do. So. The reason I had that self imposed trauma because I did not stand in the possibility that the meaning I was giving it wasn't the right meaning but the minute I
said, well, actually the meaning I'm giving it is wrong. And it's not powerful, powerful, and it's not empowering. It doesn't mean Islamic. The minute I understood that, and I gave a loss, meaning I gave the correct meaning that totally transformed everything. Right. And it goes down. And this is what we speak about in the in the, in the section on dealing with trauma, is that, you know, standing the possibility that you would give your trauma, a different meaning. Yes, right. And this isn't just from the Islamic framework, we talk about, you know, our cognitive psychologists who actually, you know, advise the same thing stand the possibility that you give it a different
meaning. What was the statement? Who was it? Was a Nietzsche was a Holocaust survivor. Oh, it was Victor Frank, Viktor Frankl. Yes, very powerful, very powerful statement. He said something to the effect of, you know, if your trauma has trauma has meaning, no, if you're suffering as we used to use suffering, if you're suffering as meaning that it's not suffering at all, or sometimes its effect, right, very powerful. Yeah. And that's really, but what we do in this section, we say, stand the possibility that the meaning that Allah gives it is the correct meaning. Absolutely. Right. This is, and this is very empowering. And very, you know, it's also something we mentioned in the other
course to awakening the truth within Yeah, that is a means for doubt. People have trauma, small traumas, big traumas, right? Because we're not going to judge them at this small or big seven has known experiences. But the minute and I'm a strong believer of this, the minute you stand in the possibility that the meaning that you're giving this trauma is not the correct meaning and the meaning. And if you give the mean that Allah and His Messenger wants you to give the trauma sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, then that would be a means to unclog the fitrah to awaken the truth within. And in this case, it's a barrier against Chabot heart. Exactly, exactly. So after this, what
do we do? We focus on on the heart. Oh, yeah. So this is this is your thing, bro. I don't know about my thing. But you know, yeah. So we focus on the heart. And because, you know, we we start with the beginning of the course, you know, we talked about the heart itself, its position, its centrality when we talk about shubo heart and all of those things. So, you know, we would have to have a section where we look at the heart we look at its, you know, basically it's it's, you know, understanding the heart understanding something about, in a sense, the human being as well, and what kind of position and how to strengthen the heart from a spiritual point. And so we get into, like,
how to strengthen the heart, you know, what are the means strengthen the heart. Now, obviously, we're not going to get into an entire course on the heart, right? But again, we're giving you we're giving the the essential, essential elements to how to do that, especially in relation to sugar hot, right? And why is it important? Yes. Because it's imperative imperative that a person has a very strong heart sound heart, right when dealing with shubho hearts, you know, Allah subhanho wa Taala you know, talks about, you know, the fact that on the Day of Judgment, the only thing that would be of any sort of benefit for a person is a sound heart right yo my lion fowl, Milan mula, Bandha,
Illa, Atala, Alden Celine, right, on a day without neither wealth or children will benefit a person except a person that comes with a sound hardness, right. And so we get into a discussion about a man and the heart. And then we talk about, you know, strategies where we can use in strengthening the heart, you know, things like Vicar, things like 100 100, prayer, and quiet and all these things that, you know, some many, many people might already know. But by the time they get to this stage in the course, I think by going through, you know, the metaphysical backdrop by going through some of the other strategies and things that we understand, you know, you get to the point where, okay, now
these things have a different meaning from a certain perspective, right. And when you miss important when you make liquor, for instance, there's a liquor you can make, that's just kind of quick and like, let me just get it done. But then there's a victor where it's like, Okay, so this is going to have an impact on me. Yes. And my position in relation to a ship because the ship I remember is weak. is the basis Yeah. By attaches to the hydrated, drain your Iman, yeah, if your heart is strong, then the Shu heart will bounce away, it will fall off if you're like, yeah, and this is why it's very important to strengthen the spiritual Hi, Neva said even my own experience, you see that
I'll be infected with Shu heart based on my spiritual state. Yeah, less Vicar. Less connection with Allah. more suitable heart. Yes. So the super heart that I was even addressing, and I addressed him Well, for someone else, I wouldn't be convinced. But when my spiritual state changed, it was a different dimension. It's a different reality rather, and then, you know, the thing is that, that there's, you know, you really, it's one of those things that you have to understand maybe experientially, right you know, the statement I think we mentioned this in the course as well that it will pay you mentioned that he that he takes from Shoko sabi potamia Rahim Allah, may Allah have
mercy upon both of them, I mean, where he says that, you know, and I'm just paraphrasing now, like don't let your heart be like a sponge, just soaking in all of the sugar Hot Rod, let it be like a glass so that you know that it's hardened glass so that you're able to see the show hot, but then when they come, they just bounce off just like rain, right, like raindrops, you're able to see the rain. So you can see it from you know, getting wet, but you're not getting wet. Nice, right? And so and by the way, we have an analogy of the heart to be like glass talk right to notice it's, you know, we want some details about that. But so the point is, is that this section, what it's all
about is strengthening the heart making it strong, making it you know, the opposite of being a sponge. And we have, you know a few things and that we really
Related to that, you know, we talked about good sell. So there's one more section of this right. So that is making doth, yes, as you said is the weapon of the believer. Absolutely. And really, this is all about our metaphysics because we realize that Allah subhana wa Taala
we are solely dependent on him. And none of these strategies would work up if it wasn't for Allah subhanho wa Taala he is mad he is the self subsisting, he is the independent his elevation he is the free, he is the independent and everything, including ourselves, of course, we are solely dependent on lots of panels. Even our worship, our purpose in life is to worship Allah. Right. But in sort of tatya the thing we read what 70 at least 17 times a day. Yeah, cannot will do it. Yeah, I can assign you will do we worship and You will always seek help in that worship. Yes.
That's
worship. You totally dependent we need that don't feed from Allah. And so what this section does, it's about dogs, where we are now solely we're, we're casting ourselves before Allah subhanho wa Taala. And you mentioned some of the dogs, of course, and then dogs about strengthen the heart. Yeah, most famous one. Yes. Yeah. Okay, well close up with alternative hearts. Keep my heart firm upon your religion. And we look at the loss from the most oft repeated to us of the Prophet sallallahu, Alayhi, wasallam? Correct. I remember no, I don't know. Okay, not sure about that. But yeah, maybe I'll double check that. Yeah, so brilliant. So this last section, I mean, really just
kind of it hopefully brings the person home to a certain brings the person to a certain state, where they are casting themselves before Allah subhanho wa Taala. And that's really, that's really what, in essence, that's what it comes down to. Right. A lot of times we think, as long as I have the rational answer, you know, this is what we unpack in the fifth runs, limits, rationality, things like that. But one of the things we have to be very aware of is that, you know, we could, you know, you can learn everything there is to learn, like how many people are, you know, very well versed in Islamic Studies, in western, you know, Western, Western Western academia, they could teach most
Muslims Islam, but they don't have the most valuable thing that you're going to need to lead him on as a man. Right? So, you know, this whole concept of just learning information, some sort of getting, you know, abstract knowledge, we speak about that as well, yes. Like, we're not just doing this in a vacuum, but it has to be applicable, you have to be able to analyze, internalize and apply it and, and live it, basically. And what's important from, from the perspective of da as a strategy is to make people realize that the other strategies are only B are only going to be successful because of the will of Allah subhanho wa Taala. Exactly. Don't give them some kind of intrinsic
value. Yeah, La hawla. Wala quwata illa Villa, behind everything is above Allah subhanho wa Taala. So brothers and sisters, those are the 10 strategies. And one last year. Sure, you know, with these strategies, one of the other things we mentioned, the course is that they're not they're not they don't have to use in that order. Yes, we mentioned right beginning we did, okay, yeah, emphasize good emphasis. So I mean, just like, you know, people might think that we have to do one, step one, step two, step three, remember somewhere before somewhere after, you know, and you're gonna, depending on your own personal context, where you are in your journey in relation to Allah subhanaw
taala. And the person that you're addressing the person you're addressing, as well, I mean, you might find strategy two, five, and six to be, you know, the strategy that you need, or, or, you know, some other strategy. And so, they're not in some sort of, you know, there's no sort of hierarchy when because it's all a roadmap. It's like a toolkit. Yeah. So you have your toolbox, and you could pick each of the tools that are relevant to yourself or the other person, the person that you're helping address their own their doubts as well. So what people will find that if they're talking about doubts about themselves that this might be, and this is why it's so important to stand
on the possibility that these strategies will work that it might be a an awakening for a lot of people because it's, it's for if you're dealing with the shubo, hot yourself, you have to have some sort of level of introspection, you have to look inside like peek inside of yourself. Right? You have that bus, Sita, right, that's that insight, right? That goes inside. So or if you're dealing with the Shabaab of another person, you have to kind of you know, investigate what is that person? Where are they coming from? What's their background? And maybe have them have some levels of introspection, you know, something that may they might not have done up to this point. And really
what you will Hotez you know, intellectual, you know, what I one thing we can say that hamdulillah is that these are effective strategies hamdulillah and they've been designed in Sha,
Allah, they've been designed to empower the brothers and sisters, the Imams, the scholars, the teachers, the parents, the individuals, people that they're helping, even if they're helping themselves, this would be extremely effective for them inshallah. So, brothers and sisters, we're going to end it here. That's the introduction. Please complete the whole course. May Allah subhana wa Taala Bless you. And please forgive us for any shortcomings. You know, no one's perfect. We did try and do we, we did this so many times. That you know, there was one day we spent half a day and then we went through some content and then the day after we repeated it
And some of the sessions repeated a few times. And it was, you know, it was it was grueling, but it's not going to be please please overlook and yeah, nothing is perfect and but I think it's the Alhamdulillah we believe it's there and May Allah bless you and please you know make make the offer us as well because we want to repeat this course maybe in a year or two years, because we always want to progress and that's that's the kind of main ethic of Sapiens Institute, nothing is going to stay the same inshallah. And we want to be committed to your service committed to your well being. And that's what loving for others what love for yourself means, you know, and this is based on our
tradition, which is to be committed to the goodness and guidance not only of Muslims, but of all human beings and, and this course is an expression of that and yet we were weak we make we're not perfect, and if there's any mistakes or shortcomings Please forgive us all good is from Allah subhanho wa Taala and any mistakes is from ourselves sheep on our knifes, but I want to thank Farhad specifically because he delivered most of this course hamdulillah he had to go away from his family, you know, 1000s of miles, you know, because the course was delivered in Turkey in the studio in Turkey. So, you know, my lord bless him and his family and Granton the best in this slide and the
best and hereafter and granting you the best in this life and the best in the hereafter. As for me, Salaam monochromator. Allah, I leave the last word with you. Well, no, I just the course itself. You know, just to reiterate what what was that Hamza mentioned, and that is, you know, when you're when you start on this course, you know, again, have a level of sincerity stand in the possibility that these strategies, they'll work, you know, and then cast yourself before Allah subhanho wa Taala it's very important your, your, your, your disposition before you start this course. Other than that, yeah, it was a grueling, I've even lost track of how long I've been here but it's been a grueling,
you know, whatever, a few days or however many days we've been at this. But in the end all success is from Allah subhanho wa Taala if like he said, if there's any mistakes, it was all on on us or from shaitan or from our knifes or from whatever it might be, so please overlook those mistakes, you know, we inshallah, we tried our utmost best, and if there was any sort of, you know, mistakes, please over looked at, ask Allah subhana wa Taala to you know, grant you ease when dealing with with shubho Hadith as yourself, if it's with someone else may Allah grant them is May Allah subhanho wa Taala accept from you know, accept from all of us, you know, whether on this end, you know, putting
the course together and delivering the course or on your end to attend the course to go through it and use it as a means to do away with shubo heart and come You know, and cast yourself for Allah subhanho wa Taala May Allah accept from all of us, Xochimilco hate. That's it, man. So I want to crumble rapala