Hamza Yusuf – Vision Of Islam CD8 #01

			He's putting it in terms of loss and gain. And that's the real understanding of good and evil is
that it's about loss and gain. So who gains and who loses?
		

			That's what you have to look at when you see the world who gains and who loses. Because you can see
this man who gains all this wealth through his corrupt transactions. But has he really gained even
the New Testament? What does a man gain if he's obtained the whole world and lost his soul? And what
have you really gained? That's a different way of seeing the world of seeing good and evil. And
that's why when you look out, you don't know what's going on. You don't have an idea. I mean, I once
I was on board with that madness, we were in Mauritania. And in West Africa, in Mauritania, in
particular, the people with the least in that country are the blacks. And I asked him once, do you
		

			know about just that situation, because it always bothered me that so so it really bothered me when
I was there. And he said to me one time, he said, you know, if you look in terms of this side of the
world, you only see one thing. But he said, that, if you look in terms of the other side, the people
that have the greatest difficulty in this world, and have the patience in dealing with that have the
least he sat in the next world. And he said, Allah, Allah, Allah, then you have a phantom. That's
literally what he said, he said, maybe that these people are just people of paradise.
		

			So it's a different way. Now, it doesn't justify the condition, you still have to oppose the
condition. But it gives you a different perspective on it. You know, in other words, the way that
that was used in the past is to opiate people and to justify injustice. And Islam never does that.
It says, you still have to oppose the wrong, but don't assume that it's all evil, dizzy, and that's
the point because you just don't have the full picture, you only have a portion of it. And that's at
the essence of what this is about recognizing good and evil as loss and gain. And that's why the
Quran says when I was reading that in Santa leviosa, Allah could have said Luffy shadow by time, the
		

			human being the nature is that he is in loss, he's losing inland, Edina M and why middle sorry, had
except those who believe and do good deeds, what I've also been happy with a while, so the summer
and they enjoy what's right, and they enjoy people to be patient, because it's difficult. There's
many things that are wrong in the world. So you enjoy, right. But you also have to enjoin people to
be patient and bear the difficulties of the world. Because if all you have out there is the demand
for right, and not recognizing that one, not all the wrongs will be righted in this world. And
that's where we believe in the next world, that the wrongs of this world, there's a grave that I
		

			saw, of one of the Muslim slaves that was here in America, I think it's in Mississippi, but it shows
a hand like this, his name was Yusuf. And on the gravestone it wasn't a cross, it was a pan with his
finger pointed up, and it said, on the tombstone, there is justice in the next world, it's gonna
happen, if it didn't happen in this world, it'll happen in the next world. And so that's a different
way, again, of seeing the world is that if you don't believe in that, then you'll go insane by
looking out there, because there's just so much wrong out there, you will go insane. And it doesn't
mean to accept it. And that's what's important. It's not that you accept it, in other words, that
		

			you should do what you can to redress the wrongs of the world. But it doesn't destroy you that
they're there because you know, they're there for a wisdom. That is the point is that there is a
hikma behind that, that there's nothing that happens in the world that does not have a wisdom. Now,
one of the things that the Quran points out is, you know, God did not have the attribute of a wise
parent. And there are studies that indicate that that Allah has that care of a mother, the love of
Allah for his servants is greater than the mother's love. But he said he would give the foolish
children of this world what they want. And this is one of the things about the world is most people
		

			are so spiritually immature, because you can have an adult emotionally you can have an adult
intellectual, you can have an adult sensually. Somebody can go out and find a Kate doll is saying
it's an adult, essentially, a child can't do that, but an adult can. Somebody can go and work in the
world with their mind and acquire wealth and do all the healing as an adult, a child can't do that.
But a spiritual adult, that's a different category, because most people are spiritual children.
They're in the state of the infant in terms of their spirituality, and because of that, if they
		

			were given what they wanted, it would be like giving a child poison. It would be like giving a child
a gun to play with, that's loaded. And this is why the Quran says what is it they who divide up the
mercy of the of your Lord, we have divided among them their livelihood in the life of this world and
raise some of them above others in rank. So some take others in forced labor. And that forced labor
here it says it's the idea of using them not oppressing them, but the mercy of your Lord is better
than what they collect. In other words, don't get diluted by all this dunya and all these categories
and dunya. to strive for the alpha is better the mercy of your Lord is a higher thing would not that
		

			people would be a single community through in gratitude and truth concealing in other words through
Kufa, we would have appointed for those who have Cofer toward the merciful roofs of silver to their
houses, stairs were to mount and doors to their houses and couches were on to recline and ornaments.
Surely all of this is but the enjoyment of the life of this world. And surely the next world with
your Lord belongs to the people of taqwa. So, in other words, it's saying if all the kofod had all
this wealth and luxury, the believers would want to be like the kuffaar.
		

			And that's one of the signs of the end of time, is that people want to be like the non Muslims, as
well, Hades, is it people imitate the non Muslims, when the Muslims had all their wealth, and there
it was the non Muslims that didn't have anything. So the Muslims, they looked at Europe, the
Europeans had nothing to offer the Muslims. So they never got diluted, whereas now the tables have
been turned. And all you have is the Koran, which should be enough. Because if you read those
verses, you would have the guidance to see, that's not the real thing, that there's something
different. And that's why in the end of time, what did the prophets Eliza him say to emomali? When
		

			he said, How do we get out of all the confusion, he said, Kitab Allah, you have to go back to the
book of Allah and understand its core messages, understand the centrality of this book. So one of
the things that they talked about is this idea of good the door of the province, alized system, and
Heroku Pena deck was
		

			all good comes from you, and and evil does not return to you.
		

			And the reason for that is because the essence of Allah Subhana, Allah to Allah is portsea its
purity, and there's no room for evil. There's no room, because evil is absence, it's like darkness,
darkness is the absence of light, evil is the absence of good, and therefore that element does not
exist, but Allah created evil shadow. It's a creation of Allah. So it is not God, but it is a
creation of God. And this is the theodicy in Christianity, the biggest problem that they have, is
what they call the problem of evil because they don't know where it comes from. Because their ideas
if there's, you know, the problem goes, if God was omniscient, all knowing, and all powerful and all
		

			good, then he would know where the evil is, he has the power to remove it. And because he's all
good, he would not want it in the world. And that's called the problem of evil that's philosophy has
always love that one to challenge Christians with. And what Christians tend to fall into is this
Manichaean ism, that freewill the devil, but see if it's freewill, it's against the will of God. In
other words, the fact that it's in the world, where did it come from? Because the world is the
creation of Allah and everything is the creation of Allah. So the fact that he created creatures
that he knew would do evil means that he created evil, and this is on Christianity, they don't want
		

			to really admit that, whereas the Muslims were told that right from the start, and the point, again,
the Quran and the Hadith emphasize is, it's relative to you, you don't really understand it. And
therefore, don't assume that what you think is evil, is evil, or what you think is good is good,
because you just don't know you don't have all the variables and you don't have the complete
picture. So, the mirror image is identical to the real in as much as it reflects the real attribute,
but is other than the real in as much as it is supported by non existence. So this this is in
talking about the world itself, that the world what is good in it is what reflects the divine, and
		

			what is evil in it is absent of divine attributes or qualities. So when you look at the world, if
you look at the world as a mirror that doesn't exist, if you can allow your mind to imagine a mirror
that doesn't exist. And if you could imagine looking into that mirror and seeing your image and then
the mirror has other than your image because you need the mirror to reflect the image. So the image
is not reflected completely in the mirror part of the mirror is there so you see your image
		

			In the mirror, now good is what is reflected. If you look at the universe as a reflection of God, it
is not God. But is it a reflection of God's attributes, that the evil in it is what is demarcating
the good in other words, you couldn't see the image. Without the evil, you could not see the good of
God without knowing the shower. Because if you had no evil in the world, you would not know good,
you wouldn't know what it is because Bolivia had yet they may use that they may use an eyeshadow
like they're upset by opposites things are distinguished.
		

			By opposites, things are distinguished. And so Allah has created a world and then reflected His
attributes. Now the human being is called insan, which means the pupil of the eye. And one of the
meanings that some of the scholars indicated was in a sense, the human being is like the reflected
vision of God. In other words, the human being has been created to witness God in the world, because
God is reflecting on himself in the world. In other words, the world is also because it is a desired
act of God. God brought the world into existence. And there's a purpose for the world, which is that
God is known to gender winter in the Abu Dhabi a lolly adequan, I only created the world that I
		

			might be known, who can know God in the world. It's not the bird. It's not the frog. It's not the
donkey. It's not the rock. They cannot know God with cognizance, they only know God as a state in
which they're in of absolute worship, but they can't cognitively know God. That is the human being.
And that is why he and she has this extraordinary position in creation, which is where we get to the
next section, which is the trial, the idea of a trial that human beings have been brought into the
world, and they are tried. So God measures out good mercy to test people's faith and to allow people
to prove their own nature not to God leave miracle. In other words, when Allah says to do blue comb,
		

			the commentators say when God says He created you to try you to see which of you is the best in
action, he doesn't need to see which of you is the best in action, because he knows that it's to
show you your true nature. And that's why the word for trial in Arabic is to test metal. And the
profits realize that I've said anessa Madden human beings, they are minerals, you have gold, you
have silver, you have copper, you have lead, and then you have toxic metals. And what tribulation
does is it shows people their nature, and that's why when some of the worst calamities happen to
people, what they say when they get through it is I didn't know I had it in me to get through that.