Hamza Yusuf – Vision Of Islam CD6 #04

			He did something wrong. And that's what the soul knows the soul knows what is wrong. And that's why
the soul is troubled by it. So the first is a knowledge of right and wrong. Now, there are two ways
that comes about there is a natural law, which is called fitrah, which is the inherent nature that
human beings generally no right and wrong inherently in the same way that a cat, if you give it
food, it'll eat it in front of you. But if it sneaks it, it'll grab it and run away. It's something
that can you can say, Well, that's because it got hit the last time it did it. But even dogs and
cats know when they're taking something legitimately and when they're not. So that's the idea that
		

			human beings have this understanding. Now, the other is that revelation introduces this
understanding. So the prophets bring this understanding of good and evil of hair and shower. It's an
old problem that philosophers talk about the idea are things good because God says so? Or did God
tell us to do those things? Because they're good, the idea of is something good in and of itself? Or
is it good, because God says, so the dominant opinion amongst Muslim scholars, because they split on
this issue? The dominant opinion is that things are good, because God says they are. In other words,
that the intellect cannot always arrive at what is good, that you need this revelation to come in
		

			and tell you so there are things that we cannot know. And there are things we know. So that's the
first one and this is why in the Quran about the mood, which is a people that rejected the signs of
God and went astray that it said about them what a Matha Moodle for her Dana home. First, the Hubble
Amma Alan Huda, as for the mood we guided them, but they preferred blindness over their guidance. So
they prefer to continue in their error. And then it becomes a choice, which is very interesting. One
of my boys saw this person smoking and he looked up at the person like, you know, perplexed. The
person said to him, don't ever do this. Do you see? And then he asked us, why are they doing it? In
		

			other words, if they know it's wrong, why are they doing that this is where human beings become very
complicated, because despite the fact that they know something, they will often go against their
best knowledge. And this is because of an imbalance in the soul. When the rational soul is paramount
than these lesser souls, the beastial souls, the irascible and the concupiscence soul, the appetite
of soul, the lowest soul are in a harmony. So this rational soul is controlling factor. And this is
what Allah calls the alcohol and tells us to use it. If people capitulate to that then they
surrender to the worst qualities of their self, and they end up dragging themselves down into the
		

			depths of despair. I mean, worst case scenario is terrible. But a lot of people kind of survive in
this middle ground. And there's a lot of humanity is there surviving in this middle ground, there's
some that just have completely surrendered, and they end up crack cocaine addicts or whatever, just
completely devastated by their advertiser alcoholics, these type things, addicted to all of these
attempts, at getting them in a state of distraction from questions of ultimate concern. The second
type of guidance is that which the servant is given this method or this help this divine help in
stages, based on his knowledge or her knowledge and action, right actions. And this is what it meant
		

			in the Quran, when it says when Latina todos at home who don't want at home taqwa home, those who
took this guidance were increased in the guidance and we gave them this piety, this taqwa. So the
idea and this comes from a hadith articulated very clearly, in which the prophets Allah is that I'm
said that if you move towards God, a shiver, which is a hand span, God moves towards you, a there
are an arm's length and if you move towards God and arm's length, God moves towards you, like hands
out spread, and if you move towards God walking, God moves towards you running, which is not to be
understood anthropomorphic Lee or that God runs but the idea is that if you do a little bit, all of
		

			this help comes to increase you and this is the second stage of guidance. And then the third stage
is neural wilaya. And this is the guidance of a person who has achieved a level of obedience and a
state of submission with God.
		

			That they are in an illuminated state. And so their actions are actions that radiate the light of
prophecy. And this is why the prophets Allah sent him said, no matter what occurred to me, that
pious scholars are inheritors of prophets, what they inherit is the light of Nobu wa. And, and so
these are these three levels. And this is found in the Quran. Yeah, you have Latina amaroo, in a la
ha, you're looking for Karna, if you have piety, God will give you true discrimination. So you will
be able to discriminate in your lives. So that's an example of this houda that emerges out of a
recognition of these signs, and then the appropriate response that the signs have given. And then on
		

			page 55, they give it an interesting analogy of the natural world, and how Muslims and also
Christians and Jews would have looked at it traditionally like this, as well, and probably the
eastern traditions. But this idea of how the modern world is looked at the way the ancients looked
at the world was it it was indicating an implicit order. In other words, everything that you saw on
the surface indicated something underneath, so they saw it as indeed signs indicating something
else. Just as you see a tree, if you understand anything about trees, you realize that the only
reason the tree exists, is because it has this massive root structure underneath the ground that you
		

			can't see. Now, once that restructure becomes seen, the tree dies,
		

			you see the tree dies. So the unseen world is really the source of the scene world, the unseen world
cannot come into the scene world, because if it did, the scene world has to disappear. And so when
you look at the scene world, what you're really supposed to be recognizing is what are the roots of
the scene world, the roots of the scene world, or the unseen world? That's the real meaning behind
the world. And the thing about trees, people don't realize this, but the root structure is actually
more important than the tree. Because what trees do is they keep the earth they actually hold down
soil, like mountains, you know, the Quran says the mountains are pegged. Mountains actually prevent
		

			the world from shaking. And this is something known in modern geology. So what you see of the
mountain, what's more important is not the scene part of the mountain is the unseen part of the
mountain, the fact that it's a watershed deep into the earth, but you're only seeing the outward and
you think that's amazing. Well, you haven't even seen the root. And that's why the province Isom
said that the tree that was most like the believer was the palm tree, because it didn't have any
roots. In other words, it wasn't deeply planted in the material world. And yet, it's this
extraordinary tree that does all this wonderful. While it's here, it does all these wonderful
		

			things. So the two of them say that the modern world see, what they say is if you went to a museum
and saw a painting by Michelangelo, the question that most people going there will ask themselves is
what is the painter trying to tell me? What's the meaning of this painting? Or if you heard a poem,
you could say the same thing? What is the poet trying to tell me? He just didn't make up this stuff?
There's something he's trying to convey a message? Well, what the modern analysis is, is not
meaning. What's the painting made up? Well, it's made out of Canvas. What's that material? Well,
it's made out of fibers. What's that material? Well, it's made out of these molecules. And what's
		

			the actual colors from? Well, those are light reflections. And this one's at a certain frequency.
And that's why the yellow is showing up and the blues at a certain frequency. And so they analyze
the painting not for its meaning, but just to explain what it's made up of. And that is the same way
that they look at the modern world. They look out there, and they want to just analyze everything,
but they never tell you what it means. They break it down. It's to reduce things to their
components. And then we feel like we've achieved an understanding of the thing. Well, if you take a
human being and take out their eyes, take off their ears, take off their hair, dissect them open up
		

			their interior, examine their kidneys and their liver and all these things. Do you understand what a
human being is? Has that given you knowledge of what a human being is? Well, it's given you a
certain knowledge about something about human beings that they're composed of flesh and blood and
they have hair and they have liver and kidneys, and, and the kidney does this and the liver does
that. That's a certain type. But does that tell you about a human being that can think that can
speak they can write poetry, they can paint pictures, they can play an instrument that can do all
these extraordinary things. It doesn't tell you
		

			Anything about that human being? Why does he need to do those things? Why do human beings even
pursue such pursuits? So that is the idea of trying to understand signs is to look beyond this
superficial realm. And then he gives this Hadith of the prophets, Allah I sent him walking through a
town with some companions, and he met an old and decrepit woman from one of the tribes who was
making wool into thread with a spinning wheel. He greeted her and began speaking to her, he asked
her if she had faith in God, she replied that she did. The Prophet asked her why, she said, that the
spinning wheel does not turn unless there is a hand to turn it.
		

			And the heavens cannot turn unless someone is turning them. The Prophet looked at his companions and
said, You should have the religion of old women. You see, that's called a man and a jet is.
		

			That's faith. And it's there's another story of foster Dena Razi, who was walking with some of the
students and an old woman saw him and she was amazed at how all these students were fluttering
around him. And she said, Who's that and one of the students said, you don't know who that is, he
has 1000 proofs for the existence of God. And she laughed and said, if he didn't have 1000 doubts
for his non existence, she wouldn't need 1000 proofs for his existence. And when famotidine or Raja
heard that, he said, You should have the faith of old women.
		

			You know, it's interesting, because the whole, the ancients looked at all of the world. And they
said, this all indicates God. And what the moderns have done, what they have said is that we
invented God, God is an invention of man, which is an amazing feat, I mean, that human beings
created God in their own image, instead of seeing that this whole thing was created to celebrate
these attributes of God, it's seen as an illusion, that needs to be given up.
		

			Now, the next section goes into the domain names. And this is actually somewhat of a difficult
section in that, if you look at Hinduism, which has this concept of all of these deities, what they
do, they have, like Cali and Vishnu, they have a deity that represents the creative force in the
universe, and then they have a deity that represents the destructive force in the universe. The
reason for that is that people have a difficult time holding opposites in their in their mind, at
the same time. So the idea that God is Maki and meat that he is bringing to life, and he is taking
away life, that the same God is doing these two acts, giving life and taking it away, and that
		

			there's not some type of contradiction in that. So the idea of the Divine Names is to understand all
of the attributes of God as being and I don't want to use any analogies. But if I was forced to it
would be like seeing a diamond that has all of these facets to it. And whatever facet you have to be
looking at, that is the attribute that you're looking at. So there are times when you witness the
mercy of God. And there are other times when you're witnessing the wrath of God. And there are other
times when you're witnessing the overpowering nature of God. There's other times when you're
witnessing the fact that God has moved in. He is one the that are basis, people. And he's also more
		

			is he's the one that dignifies people. So God has all of these attributes, and that's what the 99
names are. There are ways of understanding the different facets of how the divine is working in the
world. That is at the essence of this. And so he talks about and she talks about that when we say
that God is merciful, that what we're saying is like La ilaha illAllah there is no god but the
merciful