Hamza Yusuf – Sacred Text Messages S01 E10 – The Wise Person Knows All Things

			Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim, masala Lucha aniseed you know Mohammed and while it will save you will
send them to steamer a Samadhi calm rahmatullahi wa barakatuh Al Hamdulillah. We're here again for
another sacred text message. So this is an age of text messages and people forget that Allah
subhanho wa Taala actually has texted us with his message and it's in the book of Allah subhanho wa
Taala. He has sent constantly guidance to this species. And there are those who follow it and those
who reject it. And then there are those poor souls that have never even heard of it. And those of us
who have heard of it, may Allah Subhana Allah forgive us for not conveying that message to the
		

			people around us. When I was I brought a beautiful Mauritanian scholar to the United States. Many
years ago, she had hoped that he would wave a really, really beautiful man, very learned who is what
they call a deep, he was a beautiful grammarian from a grammatical family and he he knew all the
poetry of the Arabs, he actually memorized a book called
		

			that's, it's like the Norton's anthology of Arabic literature. And he memorized the whole book by
rote It was really quite stunning. And he could just recite from any of the great poets and I was
once in a taxi with him in Arabia in the hijas. And the taxi driver quoted something from from one
of the while apart, and then she had happily just quoted the whole more alaka to him, is really
quite remarkable. But he was also somebody who knew quite a bit of fare and other things he loved
the Quran is he still teaches the Quran to children in Mauritania. So he was somebody, I think,
		

			who we would call a wise man. But one of the things that he did while he was here, if we ever
introduced him to a non Muslim, he would immediately say,
		

			he's not a Muslim. And I'd say he's not a Muslim, we'd speak in Arabic. He said, tell him that I
have a word for him, that if he will say it, and believe it, that it will remove all of his
difficulties, it will remove his grief, it'll he'll be able to sleep at night peacefully. And it's a
shadow a la ilaha illallah wa shadow Muhammad Rasul Allah. And that's what he was saying, I would
translate and nobody ever took offense, it was really quite stunning. And they always saw it as
something just because he was so sincere. But I asked him about it later. He said, I don't want
these people on Yom Okayama to come up to me and say, I met you and you never told me about this
		

			religion. And he did it consistent with every single non Muslim that he met. It was really quite
remarkable. I would not recommend doing it like that. Because he for some reason, just by the
blessing of Allah, he could get away with it. But I think we would be remiss if we did not at least
try to let people know that we're Muslims, and if they were interested, that that we could, because
not everybody's interested, but some people genuinely are. So wisdom. It's such an interesting
concept. One of the things that the Quran tells us is Lapa, demesne Allah, Allah Allah and more
meaning if batha Fie him Rasulullah
		

			Allah has blessed the believers by sending from them a messenger, but at the VM rasuna minim fusi
him yet through him, yet he will use a key him. Will you allow Mohamed keytab or will matter what in
cattlemen? babalola feel Buhari mobian so that's in Surah embrun but there's a similar iteration in
sorta to Joomla in the chapter called the Friday congregation. But basically, Allah sent this
messenger minim fusi him there's a
		

			shadow Gara that says man I'm fesi him from from their souls but also from the most precious amongst
them. And yet to do it him is he he recites to them these signs, we use a key him and he he purifies
them use a key him to Ischia. We will eliminate them and he teaches them and key taba will hikma,
the book and the Wisdom. So one of the things it's not enough to know simply the book, you have to
have the wisdom that accompanies the book. There's a lot of people
		

			that have no wisdom in their behavior. They might be very devout Muslims, but they don't. act
wisely. One of the things that share havdalah bimby I've heard him say this many times. He says our
scholars many of them know ma Allah.
		

			Well, I can lay out for Lima palala many scholars know what God has said but they don't know why he
said it. And the Why is very interesting because in Western tradition, traditional wisdom is about
causes the why it really is about why scientists today what they call empirical science is all about
how
		

			or what, but it's not about why they can't tell you why they can explain things but they don't know
why. And so in this we're told that the Prophet was sent to teach solar I didn't send him the book,
and the wisdom the Hikmah, waiting cannibal Kabbalah fuel but Adam mobian even if they had been in
manifest error before this book, and then Allah subhanaw taala in Surah Baqarah says what guru Namah
tala here at a comb, woman's Medical Minute kitabi will ACMA you're able to convey? So, remind with
Kuru be reminded of the blessings of God upon you and what he has revealed to you from the book and
the Wisdom you're able to convey. He is exhorting you with with it. And so,
		

			wisdom here, according to mom, Chef, in his famous book called the reseller, which is really the
foundational book of all solid, or the, the fundamentals of jurisprudence, he said, The hikma here
means the Sunnah of the Prophet. So the the wisdom is how the Prophet acted. And one of the things
about the prophets applies to them is that he did in every situation, he understood it to be a
unique situation. He was not somebody who simply applied the same thing to every situation. So I'll
give an example. Some people came to the Prophet slicin. And they said, they said, they doubted this
meat that they had, and the Prophet said some Miller, what could be semi latha macoun, just say,
		

			Bismillah and then eat it. When they left. I shut up and I asked him, Why did you say that? He said,
they're new in Islam. And then also he understood that they hunger was a real serious problem in the
Arabian Peninsula, he was making it easy for them to say, say Bismillah and then eat it. Because
they were at one level. And this is how he understood things. And a lot of us, people become new
Muslims. And suddenly they're expected to be like the Sahaba even though the people that are
teaching them certainly aren't like the Sahaba I mean, I had a situation many years ago, it really
broke my heart, but I had a situation where this woman became Muslim.
		

			And the first thing she asked me about was makeup. And and there was other women in the room. You
know, it was because I was teaching a class and then and and it just struck me as odd why she would
ask. And so I said, No, don't make us not, don't worry about makeups no problem. Well, the other one
got really angry because apparently told her that makeup was haraam.
		

			Whereas I would never like a new Muslim. You know, that's just not what you want to focus on. They
have to get established in their religion. A little bit later, she actually said Shahada with me a
little bit later, I asked about her and they said, Oh, she left Islam and I said, Why? And they
said, Oh, they said she had to divorce her husband. So these are the type problems that we have in
our community of just not having hikmah. hikma is such an important thing, that Allah subhanaw taala
again in Surah Baqarah says you Attila hickmott, amania woman you have to or you tell haik mata
pocket udia hieron kathira or Maya Kuru ill, Ola Al Bab. So he gives wisdom to whomever he pleases.
		

			And whoever has been given wisdom has been given a great thing. A great good, but
		

			only those who have deep inner understanding l BB lube is like the inner core people of innermost
core. They're the ones that recollect this truth. And so it's really, really important for us to
recognize that wisdom is very important. So what is wisdom? Well, I'm just want to look at what
		

			in traditional Western tradition because hikma was very important in, in Greece, in fact, the
philosophy the philosophy is the love of Sophia of wisdom. And, and so, and that came from
Pythagoras because originally this the the Sophos, called themselves wise, but Pythagoras thought it
was arrogant, so he said, I'm not wise but I'm a lover of wisdom, out of his humility and
		

			And so, wisdom Sophia in Greek is, is, according to Aristotle, it's the highest level of the
intellect. So Aristotle defines and our Muslim tradition took this taxonomy of the intellect from
Aristotle. So we'll find this in our books. Aristotle defined five intellectual virtues. So two were
practical, what he called techny. And fro nesis. This is what we would call, like, thin. And then
practical wisdom. hikma amellia. So it'd be like, craftsmanship, or artisanship. So knowing how to
do something, like a carpenter has a kind of techni, like an teknon, in in Greek meant an artisan,
right? That's where we get technology is the study of craft, right? And so, an architect is the
		

			master craftsman. So rk means ruler, and technique is his craft. So it's the ruling craft. So the
architect is the rule. He's the ruler of the craftsman, because he's the one that has the whole
picture. So that the carpenters are down there building the building, but it's the architect who has
the building in his mind. And in his blueprint, he's the one that sees the whole picture. So he's
the master. So that technique is a type of intellectual virtue of knowing how to do something. And
then for nice, this is practical wisdom. So for instance, in medicine, when when a physician
		

			is is taken to court, they will all have these expert witnesses to determine whether it was
malpractice or not. And what they'll say is, would a prudent doctor have done this in other words,
somebody who had practical wisdom, who had what we call prudence Prudential from the Latin
Prudential, which is Sophia, or fournisseurs, in Greek is Prudential in Latin, which is where we get
our word prudence, which is different from wisdom. So it's practical wisdom there, it's called them
both hikma and then you move into the higher order of the intellect, which is in Arabic, it's the
news. I mean, sorry, in Greek, it's called news. And then the pista, me, and then the, the Sofia, in
		

			archers, it was heads, which is the intuitive power. In other words, it's, it's knowing things, like
for instance, we know that the whole is greater than the part, we just know that you can't prove
that there's no proof for it. It's, it's simply a self evident truth. Like you either get it or you
don't, if you don't, then most people would consider Microsoft Alec, it's just something, you know,
you're, for whatever reasons, your intellect never matured enough to grasp those. And there are
people like that, unfortunately. So the next is a pista MI, which is CNC and Latin. So this, the
cncf in Latin, is, is basically what we would call in its its knowledge. And so that type of
		

			knowledge, you know, science is basically certain knowledge through causes. So it's knowing
something through causes. And so, that means, you know, the why. So, for instance, science is
basically knowing why So for instance, if I say, in zaidan barraba Omron if you know why zayde is
monsoon,
		

			and I'm his mom, sobe then you know, the why of grammar that in and her sisters make the subject,
monsoon and the predicate metaphor, that that's the why and so you will know that and, and Aristotle
said, That's why a wise man can teach because he knows the wise.
		

			WHY s he knows the wise so his wisdom is in knowing the wise he's wise, because he knows the wise.
And so that when, when, when, when the Quran says where whoever is given wisdom, well, what are the
attributes of a wise human being? In the Western tradition, Aristotle actually gives a specific
definition of a wise human being. He says, a man is said to be wise, who knows all things, even
difficult things with certitude and knowledge of the cause who seek science for its own sake, and
orders and persuades others so those are six attributes that he's defined a wise person. The first
is he must know all things well, how you know all things because you know God, if you know God, you
		

			know all things, because everything is contained in God. And so that's the highest knowledge and
that's the prophetic knowledge. So if you know God, you know all things.
		

			What is it Eunice Ma, that famous Turkish poet says that kulu mata wellhow mozillian fee that is
everything that you desire exists with God. So everything. So once you know God every you know the
why of all things because
		

			Allah created everything. So if you know that you know the why of all things.
		

			So that is the first thing, and then he must know difficult things not easily attainable by all. So,
the most difficult things are the most abstract things. And this is why we tend to recognize
intelligence, the more people can grasp, abstract things, difficult things, the higher level of
intelligence we see in them, but the most abstract thing in the world is understanding what we
cannot understand, which is God. So our knowledge of God has a negative knowledge we we know that
you hate law, but we don't know God's essence we can never know God's essence. So it's a negative
knowledge is called the via negative in the Western tradition. And in in our tradition, it's the
		

			salvia operetta salvia. It's what God is not is what we know. They said committee he shared, the
highest thing that you can know about God is God is one, but even his oneness because he's infinite.
So we cannot know or understand that we can only grasp some portion of it through our knowledge of
the nature of one, that one and Allah loves with her in the law with Rui hibbett Witter. He's odd
and he loves the art. And one of the things that Protagoras said about the odd he said the odd is
form, and, and delineation or demarcation, it gives meanings to things, the odd, so meaning comes
through the art. And he said that the event is formless, that and non delimit delimiting. And, and,
		

			and his proof for that is very interesting proof. He said, If you take square numbers, there's a
clear pattern in square numbers. So if you take like, the first square root is one, right and then
you add it to the next odd number, you get the first square number which is four, which is the
square number of two squared. And then if you add the next odd number to that, so you add
		

			three to five, note, if you add four to five, you get nine which is the square number of three
squared. And then if you add the next square number, that seven to nine, you get 16, which is the
square of of a four square to square number four, next one's 25. Next one's 3649. It goes on. So
there's an incredible pattern because Allah loves the art. So he put that pattern in the odd out of
Where's even doesn't have that pattern is really amazing. These are some of the mysteries of, of
numbers, but and then he must have certitude concerning what he knows. So a wise man does not have
opinion, he has certainty. And the most important thing to be certain about is Allah subhana wa
		

			Tada. So if you're certain about Allah, you are wise, and and a real certainty. It's not the
fanatic. You know, the fanatic has a certitude that is more about his own fear. Because he's so
frightened of having to think. So he just stops thinking, that's not real certitude. That's just
fanaticism. That's why fanatics hate anything that challenges their faith. Whereas a truly wise man
is never taken aback by anything that would, quote unquote, challenge his faith, because he's open
to listening to the atheist, give his proofs because he knows that the atheist is lost in his own
darkness, but not out of fanaticism, out of his own certitude of the existence of God. And then he
		

			must be able to give the causes of what is investigated and so able to teach. So in any science that
the wise man knows, he can teach it, or she can teach it, because he or she knows the causes. They
know why the these are multiple ads. They know why these are so bad in grammar, we know why this is
in the subjective case, we know why it's subjective mood, we know why this is optative we know why
this is a predicate as opposed to a subject, and on and on those wise enable you to teach. And then
his science must be desirable for itself, not wished for some practical purpose such as that of
providing the necessities of life or for entertainment. So what's interesting, there's three basic
		

			types of Sciences in the world. One of them are the utilitarian sciences.
		

			utilitarian sciences are the sciences that we need just to survive as a species or to make our life
more comfortable. So for instance, agriculture is utilitarian science.
		

			Nobody knows the name of the planet.
		

			A fellow that worked out about phosphates and potassium and, and how to enhance agricultural growth,
because he was a utilitarian scientists. So nobody knows. Nobody knows the name of the poor man that
invented the air conditioner. Even though like in many countries now the air condition is like one
of their greatest blessings, yet they don't know the name of the man who invented the aircon, just
because it's a utilitarian art. Nobody knows the name, I actually know his name. And because I feel
like we should honor this man all over the world. Cylon in the first century invented paper. And yet
very few people know that he invented paper. Nobody knows a man who invented the washing machine.
		

			Why? Because these are all utilitarian arts. Whereas we know the fine artists and the speculative
artists and we honor them, the fine artists give us pleasure in their art. And so we honor actors
and musicians and, and and and people that can do all these wonderful things. And we know their
names and people why because they give people pleasure. It's not it's there's nothing useful in what
they're doing. Other than maybe recreation, but we honor them because it's above the utilitarian
arts, but the highest is the specular of arts, those things that are studied solely for their own
sake. And the highest of these things are things that that that like theology, like just knowledge
		

			of God.
		

			And then the liberal arts, which are, those are the arts that are studied to enable you to think
deeply about the speculative arts. So they in themselves, are considered studied for their own sake,
but they're a ladder to the highest, which is things like theology and metaphysics, and these are
the these are the high Arts in our tradition, and also in the, in the Western tradition, which is
where they dovetail And surprisingly, our scholars gave so much to the Western tradition. It's
really quite stunning when it's, it's it and it's sad that they don't know how much that our
tradition has given them. But these are all came from the Quran, from the wisdom of the Quran. The
		

			entire Islamic civilization is predicated on the book and the hikma on on the Quran, and on the
hikma they're all just, they're just they're all just extra from from from from that and I mean
that's quite stunning when you think about that they all just came from without without the Quran
there is no because Ali there's no even Sina there's no none of these people would have ever had
what they did, they might have done other things and but not what they gave the world. And, and so
it's it's just it's remarkable. So wisdom is a great thing. And we have an entire chapter
		

			named after one of the wisest men that ever lived who is locked man. And Allah subhana wa tada says
about him. Wanaka Tina lock man and hikma and ash goodly,
		

			we gave Lockman wisdom that you should be grateful to God. And that's the highest wisdom is just
gratitude for the blessing of being alive. What a gift from Allah subhanho wa Taala to be grateful
for our lives. This is such a great wisdom. So if you're in a state of gratitude, the Prophet
sallallahu Sallam said, if you're able, be grateful for whatever Allah sends you, but if you're not
able, at least be patient,
		

			but if you're able, be grateful for whatever Allah sends you,
		

			because if it's from Allah is for wisdom, it's for a hikma and he's Hakeem Alhamdulillah