Hatem al-Haj – Which Teachings to Follow January 13th 2023
AI: Summary ©
The speakers emphasize the importance of building certainty and being aware of one's own culture to avoid confusion and misunderstandings. They stress the need for investment in pursuing guidance and finding one's own success, as well as the importance of learning to be upright and not give up on one's worship. The speakers also touch on the use of pictures and the importance of people not wanting to pray at home due to COVID-19 concerns. They emphasize the need for better policy towards diversity, including better policy towards diversity in education and employment, and for a culture of empowerment for everyone.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.
We are honored tonight to have Chef Dr. Hart him and I feel like we don't need to introduce him but we had a speaker who told us it's a good habit to introduce your guests Alhamdulillah it's such a blessing I used to drive 45 minutes to listen to share heart him so now he's here, so Masha Allah, this is a blessing. Dr. Hatem is has a PhD in comparative folklore. He mashallah has a master's degree and Sharia law, and he is the dean of Islamic Studies college and Mischka University. He is a member of the permanent fatwa committee in the country. Without further ado, I'll give it to Chef Dr. Hatem Giacomo laugher for attending
are so happy
to proceed. So, today's talk will be about confusion,
not to cause confusion, but to address the problem of confusion.
And so although you will not add to it, I hope so.
So, the flyer I you know,
I saw the flyer just like everybody else did. And on the flyer it says
I'm confused, which teachings to follow Formosa have parents, you have Google Google XYZ Institute? What What should we follow? And in order for us to address this a little bit more systematically?
Let's just go from
the beginning and address. These are epistemological issues, these are issues related to the theory of epistemology, or Neferet, thermographer.
It's about knowledge, it's about how do you how do we know
that
our knowledge is true? Or that which we know is true?
And how do we use it? Also? How do you do we use our knowledge in a proper manner to make informed decision and to lead productive good lives that will earn us happiness in this life and the one to come?
So
you are confused?
Are you
like,
because sometimes, like you're maybe speaking to the wrong audience.
So it seems that that's, that's usually our problem. The problem is the people who come to attend those classes, or these classes are usually not the people who are confused.
So you're speaking to the wrong crowd. But we will presume that you guys are confused. And we will presume, also that you're extremely confused.
So many people like if you're extremely confused, let's say that the, the prototype here
is a, like Muslim youth who grew up here.
And because, you know, the flyers that parents and so on, it's I think, presumed that his parents are Muslim. And he's trying to figure out his way through culture, like sort of parents mother had different groups at the masjid different groups, at college, Muslims, non Muslims, different philosophies that he may be exposed to. And honestly also different theistic traditions, different religions.
So
many people will tell you follow this group or follow that group follow this safe or follow that safe. And they will these are sincere people keep a keep in mind that these are not people. Most of the time. These are not people who are trying to scam you or anything. These are really good people that care about you and want the best for you. And since they think that they are guided, they want you to be guided as well. So they think that if you come with them to their safe,
that you will
basically
come out of this confusion and
Find certainty, the certainty they had. And you find that coolness of certainty. So what else could the wish for you that's better than this? the coolness of certainty. So these are good people that are trying to help you. But the thing is, that would be begging the question. Because if you're confused, you don't know what's right and what's wrong. And just the very simple fact that they trusted or say, does not necessarily mean, or they trust XYZ group or XYZ Institute does not necessarily mean that it is trustworthy.
And I don't want you to be too, sort of skeptical about everything, because that is, you know, in a very bad place, we become cynical and cynicism is certainly disastrous. And I don't want you to give up your certainty,
just the look to appear intelligent, because some people do that. And those are the people who may get lost and never come back.
Just to appear different to appear unique to appear, unlike everybody else. So you try to
go against the crowd and
the currents and just be different. And that may entail a complete departure from Islam, to be honest for some people, because like, you want to be really different you want you know, from
the surrounding
your surrounding environment,
and your cultural milieu. And that leads people completely away from Islam.
So, if you are serious, and you really want to be guided, and that is the expectation that you are serious, and you really want to be guided, then
don't
just
be be as sincere as you can, because this is a very serious matter. Because if you get misguided you may never be able to come back. Sometimes if you take the wrong route, you may never be able to come back. So this is a very serious matter. That would require, like three things that are extremely important.
And there are three different verses that we can quote here. One of the one of them is what toquilla or Lima Quran, Allah Allahu be Coolessay in Haleem fear Allah and Allah will teach you be conscious of God, and God will teach you tap Allah, this isn't sort of the bucket
where you are living from Allah.
And Allah will teach you Allah will guide you
while because you say not him, and Allah is all knowing God all things. This ayah tells us that you have to be conscious of God.
We're saying that we're presuming that you're extremely, extremely confused. And we're even presuming, presuming that you are not certain about anything.
You're you may not be that person. We're just presuming because if you're not that person, then we're just starting the discussion a few steps earlier. And if you're not that person, don't worry, you don't have to be that person. And you don't need to go back to be that person and move forward. If you're already here, if you have more certainty. And if you're already comfortable with your DNS here, if you're already comfortable with this Qur'an being the final message, the final communication from the Divine to the final messenger.
That is great. And that's where we want to be. So you don't have to step back so that you can move forward, your your good ear, and keep keep moving. But again, at the same time, try to build more certainty here, because you will need the certainty later. When you come across difficulties. When you come across misconceptions. When you come across disputations between Muslims, you will need to go back and find your rock, your Anchorage, your zone that your fortress. You know, this is what I know for certain to be certain. And I'm comfortable here and then I'll proceed cautiously, and I'll try to manage to sort of
figure out my way
through all of these differences and all of these disputation
isn't all of these arguments like Muslims could really like
be calling each other names over issues that are,
like part of orthodoxy not part of our heritage. But part of our orthodoxy like, remember when this Supreme Court case about abortion, the Supreme Court
decision about abortion, there isn't one and all of the arguments that arose from
that decision between Muslims.
So when you are not certain about what makes a person Muslim,
and then you fight over, basically ideology, you turn Islam into ideology, and you fight over positions that are adopted by our greatest Imams. So Matic is for instance, consider you know, consider contraception like it consider the expulsion of
* from from the *, you consider this to be haram that is haram to them.
So basically, some Muslim can go as far as believing that all of this as as haram,
because he truly believes in that Maliki position. Is he entitled to it? Yes. I mean, if you're a Maliki or if that's the position that you believe in, even if you're not Maliki, but that's the position that you believe and that's fine.
And certainly they would hate for someone to say that most of the handoff isn't Sheriff eyes. Don't believe in that, that the most 100 PS and shafa is or the authorized position in the Hanafi.
Still, okay, but some people are unable to hear me in the back.
You're unable to hear me in the back.
Okay, so if so, if you're if you're Hanafi and Saffy many Hanif is in Java is would consider the authorized position. There are sort of differences within the Messiah. So you go back to your chef, your chef tells you no, that's not true. Come back to me and I also tell you, so many Hanafi shafa is would consider abortion to be permissible. You know, and the depends on like the verbiage they use, some will consider permissible for good reason, mutual consultation, mutual agreement between the husband and wife and certainly you would presume that there is like some good reason to allow abortion but they would consider this to be permissible up to 120 days, up to 120 days on the hunt.
baddies come in the middle for the days for the Hungary's 40 days for the homebodies is the color of so for the Maverick is zero. For the hand, Hanbury is 40. And for for many 100 feet, and Jaffa is certainly that would not like we were saying many hobbies and trophies. Even Amazon, for instance, would not allow abortion at all, he shoved a on my more Sheffy than the Member has said, you know, but again at the same time, the these mega hub are huge. And there are many scholars and there is a process, basically for them to decide what what is the authorized position. And that could also be different between, you know, the different generations within the month. But at least we can say
that a sizable portion of the scholars had argued that it would be allowable all the way up to 120 days. So who's Muslim here?
Who's Muslim, the Hanafi
and Jafari that that is allowing this up to 120 days or the Maliki that's not allowing this at all.
Which one of them is Muslim?
All of them are Muslim. Therefore, that whole discussion does not has nothing to do with whether you're Muslim or not. And when when you don't know what makes a person Muslim, what constitutes being Muslim, then that whole discussion can turn into one
that leads to her vacation and excommunication and, and name calling and all all of these things. Because we're just like we're trying to learn Islam from Facebook posts and from Twitter, Twitter and from these places. So you figure that this is what Islam is. This is Islam Islam, you know is completely against the abortionist.
Um, you know, hasn't made this much room, you know? And then if you have leanings also, if you have political leanings or cultural leanings, they will influence what you accept to be Islam, and so on. And then, like, one day I was at a conference and one of the machete have said
that these people these,
you know, kuffaar
they have an agenda in their underwear.
Okay, why? Because they don't use water
to clean themselves. Well, but, I mean, that's not the proper way to talk about these issues.
Particularly that there were non Muslims in the crowd that came to learn about Islam, perhaps they would be attracted to it.
So, but forget about that. Imam Malik consider this to be, you know,
consider the washing to be something women do. That's the people of Medina, the people of Medina that Imam Malik was reporting from, and that is, within one century from, you know, the departure of our Prophet sallallahu sallam, he was considering this to be what women do, men don't do this, to tell you that it was really not that common.
And but forget about the Maliki position, even according to the others, it is completely fine to use tissue or, you know, to use
rocks or anything, you know, that
could have been used. So that is that is not defined. As ma'am, it seems that this is for us. Defining This is defining, it's not for us. Like if you use water to clean yourself, you are Muslim? And if you're not, then it's, you know, it's doubtful. I don't know what to think about you. And people, people actually have these arguments that people actually who walk like who worked in certain companies,
they would suspect to like, if you don't go into the
you don't take a bottle of water with you, and then throw it in the restroom, somewhere next to the anyway. But if you don't do this, people would suspect that he's not really practicing it. This guy is like a little bit. You know, that's fine. He says he's Muslim, but that's fine.
That's just utterly crazy. Because, you know,
so people, people don't know what Islam is about what makes a person Muslim. And then you read different things, you watch different videos on YouTube, you read different posts, and you get confused. And, and certainly that's, that's a huge confusion. Therefore, you just need to step back and figure out how to build your own face. How to build your own faith, build it, how to make your own fortress, you know, having certainty in your faith is the sweetest, and the greatest, you know, and the most assuring feeling you could ever have. So
let's go back.
If,
if you believe, you know, what are what are the options there? What are the options there?
And I'm telling you what type Allah Allah Muhammad, Allah, Allah because he sent him being be conscious of God, and God will teach you and God is all knowing.
Even if you're if you're,
if you're uncertain about all things, if you're starting from scratch,
you either believe in an all good deity or not.
Because the other option is believing in an Evil Deity. And
I hope that we can exclude this from the discussion. So all the deity or not or nothing.
If there is nothing, then you don't lose anything by being good. Right? You will not lose anything by being good. In fact, if you if you're good.
You know, studies have shown that you would actually fare better than someone who
if you're good and you believe in some deity that rewards for goodness, you will fare better than someone who doesn't. But but these are the options that we have and all good the deity
He or not, if it is an all good deity, wouldn't you want his help and assistance in your pursuit of guidance, wanting to be he wouldn't he be the most capable being of guiding you to him. He's the all capable and all good and compassionate deity, I think we should agree that he would be the one most capable of guiding you. So you would be interested in pleasing Him, you would be interested in drawing closer to him. So being good, being conscious of God is important is extremely important in your pursuit of, of God. The second the idea that I want to quote here, in addition to toquilla, where or where I live in Kula because Shanna Haleem is the last I have sought an uncle who will
Avena to hadoo fina, Linda Deanna home. So Bolena are in Hola, hola, la Mazzini. And those who strive for our cause, we shall guide them to our paths. And Allah is with the good doors, and Allah is with the good doers. And why did I mention this? Although it looks, it seems like the other eye, the same theme, same concept. But because it says what? Lavina Jahad, rufinus chive. So they're there, the investment is worth it.
To answer the existential questions, where did we come from? What are we here for? Where are we going? These are important questions to answer.
And your investment in answering those questions and having certain answers, answers to those questions and being completely confident in your answers to those questions. There is no investment that's too big for attaining the right answers to those questions, pose existential questions. So strive for his for him, strive for his cause. And if you do, and you put the effort and you have the determination, to to attain this guidance, He will grant it to you.
The other verse
is and then I set up a monster team familiar, right? Then a Serato monster game, guide us for the straight path. So why is this very important?
Because it's a direct
supplication, appeal, petition to Allah to guide you. So you're, you're being God conscious. You're trying to do all the good things, you're being truthful, you're being kind to you're being prideful, you're being
dutiful, to your parents, you're being honest, all of these things, you're trying to be God conscious, you're being all of these things, you're putting a lot of investment and a lot of effort into the pursuit of guidance. And it is also important that you directly seek his assistance by asking Him for guidance, and that you do this repeatedly. We do this 17 times a day, right? We ought to do this at least 17 times a day.
So that's, that's why this is important.
And
it is important to also for all of us to be reminded that this idea of I'm I'm confused, is in part a
fabricated, fabricated, because most of the teachings of Islam are not controversial.
And there should be no confusion about them. Yes, they talk a lot about where you place your hands below your navel above your navels next year, sort of legs, or thighs, or where do you place your hands? Did the ever disagree over
praying on time? No, they didn't. Are you praying on time? Forget about your hands. Just put your hands wherever you want. But are you praying on time? Are you praying the five daily prayers? You know, have they ever disagreed over the four hours of work? No. But are you doing any of that? That is important. Don't say I am confused. They keep on arguing about you know the hands and this and that and the size of the beard. But are you doing that which is completely clear?
and completely non controversial. Once you have done that you have the right to say they're confusing me, they're just they keep on arguing about like silly stuff.
So, this is important.
So waste no time arguing what a good man should be.
Be one
who said that Mark is older mark is already us. He was an emperor, he was a Roman emperor and a philosopher. So it's a common wisdom.
It is a common wisdom. It's not something I'm telling you because of my theistic background or my Islamic background. It is a common wisdom most of the people who waste time arguing about what goodness is are not really interested in goodness. Because there is so much goodness out there that you could do without arguing. So waste no more time arguing what should what a good man should be? Be one Marx already is. Okay
the Prophet sallallaahu Salam in you know, and we said that we say in Minnesota Mr. Team so many times every day, but the prophets on Sunday also had an aha that is so beautiful and it is it's just about this.
Muslim reported from Aisha Radi Allahu ohana, that when the Prophet SAW son
started the night prayers, He would make this dua Allah humara bat, Deborah eel Well, mica Eve, what is Rafi? Father SML it will
highly mal Rabia shahada, and that a common vein or a Baddeck a female cannot fee after the phone. It didn't need them actually, for female happy behave neck, for in naka de Mendoza, de la serata Mustafi. So Oh Allah, Lord of Gibreel and mica as an extra fee. Now one of the seen and the unseen, or Creator of the heavens and the earth, now we're of the seen and the unseen, you judge between your servants and that over which they have disputed, guide me to the truth, by your permission about that, which the dispute over
for you guide, whomever you please, to a straight pass
is it's a beautiful guy and if you save as
and while being conscious of God and trying to be good
and being determined and investing the effort that is due to this, to these
questions to to attaining the right answer to these questions. Allah will not let you down. Why would he let you down by a formula? We are very common checker to momento. What would Allah do tormenting you if you are grateful and faithful? Why? Why would he?
So now, the tools that we have in our journey, we want to guidance, we want to clear the confusion. The tools that we have in our journey, are all given to us in certain parts.
Surah number 16 for 60
Allah subhanaw taala says in these two verses,
when Allah Hayabusa Maratea mama amorosa de la Kalam * Berseria will Acrab in Allah Allah aqualisa and Kadir Allahu Akbar Raja cumin Bitonio magical Natalia monitor, what are Luqman somehow absorb all of ADA La La Quinta scroll. So when Allah I was this is the theory of small of the year this is. So what is it that you need? What are the tools? How do I basically attain guidance? I need to figure out how to do this.
And what tools have I been given to in it that will help me in this pursuit in this endeavor? So, Allah subhanaw taala you know that the this has been a question that philosophers have been busy answering for ages. And it culminated into you know, the division between the British empiricists and the continental and Nativists. You know, people who say that we come out with the tabula rasa, that's like an Avison term, meaning blank slate. We come out knowing nothing blank slate and we
It basically inscribe on that blank slate through our empirical experiences of the world, through our senses and empirical experiences of the world. And then the innate is, these are people like who follow Socrates. And they believe that we come in with knowledge that is all programmed into the hardware, the software is there, but it just needs to be sort of brought out. That's why Socrates felt that he is.
He's his job as like a midwife to bring out that which is buried in there, inside you, and the content inators they believed in that. So the Qur'an, you know, and these people, people sometimes like to create those dichotomies and fight over them. And people who want the truth, they don't block off any sensible argument.
So they sometimes come up with sentences that may look a little bit bland, because like, so where is the fight now? Like, how that would end the fight? If we go by these verses? How are we going to continue the fight? Because it's, it just brings in everything together? Because it's what does it say? Well, these verses were alive, I was smarter than to Allah belongs the unseen, which means the knowledge, all the knowledge of the Unseen, you have no access to this. That is why can't talk about the futility of metaphysics, and he didn't like, you know, that branch of philosophy, metaphysics, how could you?
How could you speculate about things that are completely beyond your experience just doesn't make sense. You know, in the Critique of Pure Reason, Khan talked about this.
So Allah is saying, that, that is that knowledge is with me, you know, don't look for it elsewhere. You know, it is with me, when you lay with some RTR to Allah belongs the unseen. Well, ma'am Rosati, Allah Kalam, her bizarre, our Accra, and the commander of the hour is none but like the lens of an eye, or even closer.
In the law, lipidation career Allah is capable over all things, then what about the knowledge that we can acquire?
We know that this knowledge is yours, oh, God, the knowledge of the Unseen is yours. What about the knowledge that we can acquire and he says, Allah brought you out from the wounds or extracted you from the wounds of your mother's brought you out from the wounds of your mother's lat and I'm gonna say and knowing nothing. So someone may say well here tabula rasa empiricist. But wait.
But so he said, Watch out Hola, como somehow Apsara of ADA, and he gave you some hearing. That's called what truthful reports.
Well, ups are vision, that is a reference to the senses, the empirical senses.
Well as either what are ADA,
Ada is more complicated than just intellect, intellect and instinct,
intellect and instinct. Both would be the other, the internal potency, and, and in Islam, and our scholars talked about this, this is not these are like moles. This is not like data that come in the form of like, bytes. Now, these are moles. So whatever it is that you gain, the knowledge that you gain through your experiences,
your brain has those moles, and it fits the knowledge into them. So the brain has a potency, not ready knowledge, but potency. And there are four different important laws that apply to all things. One of them is called the law of identity. The other one is called the law of non contradiction. The third one is called the law of excluded middle. And the fourth one is called the law of sufficient cause. These are laws that that apply to everything. If like many atheists nowadays, you reject one of those laws that leads to complete chaos that leads to basically compromise compromising, the
the intellect, the your ability, your minds ability to read
So, so, anyway, but these are potencies. So Allah told us in this verse, that you could have knowledge through knowledge through truthful reports, how do we know that the reports are truthful?
How do you know? Why did Allah start with some truthful reports?
Most of the knowledge that you have comes through truthful reports. Don't fool yourself, and think that you figured out electricity by your empirical experience? No, you have not. You don't think like, do you know? What are the protons and electrons and nucleus? And what is DNA? And all of this? You heard about all of this? What did Einstein know about biology? Through empirical experience, through his own experience?
Almost nothing.
You know, he was a physicist, not a biologist. So and what did he know about the ontology? What did you know what all the other fields are? Most of what we know, comes to us through through through reports. And most of the time, it's not certain knowledge, but we decide to accept it. Because it's close to certain. It's pretty, it's good enough.
It's good enough, but it's not certain knowledge. But how could you be certain that what you're hearing is true?
Two ways, one of them is concurrence. Concurrency is the water.
So how do people know how do people know forever? For ages? How did they always know that China exists? Concurrent? They haven't seen it. You know, people don't Egypt like 600 years ago. How do they know that China existed? They haven't seen it. They haven't heard it. They haven't touched it. They haven't smelled it. They haven't tasted it.
They heard from many people that China exists for many people, people that are too many, to conspire.
Or to collude
on a lie, too many, you know, I'm coming from two different. Okay. So that's concurrence, the Qur'an reach those through concurrence. And that is why we have that comfort, that confidence, that certainty, that this book, not only that, we have the confidence and the certainty that we should have developed and we should have, like, you know, been extremely, extremely comfortable with that. Allah sent a message to his final messenger.
But we also have the certainty that this message reached us through certain transmission.
What is the other way that you could verify the certainty of the report?
Miracles,
America. So the people who saw the people who saw
Prophet Musa alayhis salam split the Red Sea? Shouldn't that have been enough for them? To believe that the Torah has come from God?
I wouldn't blame you if you say no.
When our production environments rave about Luffy origin, la cara, Winona Sukira Absolon Nakama, Moscato and if we were to open gate for them into the heavens and the continue to ascend, they may say that we were deluded, we were intoxicated. But the reason why this miracle
confers certainty
is because of the message that he came with.
The message that he came with
is a message that would come from God.
It was a message that that tells you about your purpose that tells you about your Creator tells you and it it gives you a solid worldview supported by the miracle.
And so why, when when it came to Islam
so these are the two common come hand you know, hand and glove they come together so
So the veracity, the truth of the message, and the supporting miracle, why when it came to Islam, the prophet had so many physical miracles, or supernatural events, let's let's call them supernatural events, because they were mainly in Medina, they were mainly Kurama, you know, to
increase and strengthen the faith of the believers, not in response to challenges, but as a gift from God, to strengthen the faith of the believers. So because the message of the prophets of salaam was were met, was meant to be the final message.
The emphasis was on the message more than the miracles, the message, the miraculousness of the message, the legislative miracle of the Quran, this Cambrian explosion of a value system out of nothing, you know, the Cambrian explosion in biology, those of you who know biology or paleontology, you know, the fossil record is like, empty, empty, like an all the sudden, not completely empty, but all of a sudden, you see an explosion of variety of different types of life
and expose on a sudden explosion. That's the Cambrian explosion in the fossil record.
There was a Cambrian explosion of values, teachings, wisdoms, in Arabia, in the, you know, end of the sixth century, beginning of the seventh century, of the Common Era. That's the time of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam. So that we along with Americans of the prophets, Allah wa salam confers certainty. So the Sahaba had the certainty. And we should have the certainty as well, because we've received the Quran through concurrence. So that is summer. And then Allah said, empirical census, empirical census. And that's why we as Muslims should be, I should have a greater claim to that. And, and certainly, Francis, bacon, and Roger Bacon, and everybody that they had
clearly indicated that experimental methods have come has come to them, from Muslim scientists. So we should have a greater claim to the scientific method. And we should be more scientific, as a people than we are. We tend to be less scientific, we have to be honest with ourselves, we have to, we have to
re form our minds. So that whatever it is, that we feed our minds with, is good, good stuff. You know, we have to go by this verse. How do you know that what you know is right, just make sure that it is coming from right sources? And if it's coming through right channels?
Is this report is, is this your empirical experience? No, it's not. It's a report, is this certain? Does it have a certain implication? Does it come through certain transmission, and so on, and then use your mind correctly, if either use that potency that Allah gave you correctly, these are extremely important tools, extremely important tools. But we set it up Edda is not only about the intellect it's also about the instinct. And if you ignore your instinct, you're basically dooming yourself, because the intellect sometimes may not be sufficient. Instinct, the internal sense and hustle button is extremely important. Can you imagine the bees given up their instincts?
The ants given up their instinct. Do you know how much do you know how much I love the helicopters? Oh, I love the cut that I've had.
You know, Allah subhanaw taala he created and he apportion this, and he apportion his creations, and he guided them. Do you know how birds travel? You know, from, like, 1000s of miles and come back? What is this intellect, no instinct. You know, do you know how ants work and how they divide the work among themselves? Just read about ants. Just read about ants.
Read about bees. That's it, and you will understand the value of instinct that God gave you. And if you doubt that, why don't you doubt your mind as well? Why don't you
out to your senses as well.
So make sure that the combination, the combination of the intellect and the instinct is the genuine disposition. It's the natural inclination. It is what Imam Tamia in, you know, put a lot of trust, then the federal, the the would call him the federal philosopher. And Henry lost was completely impressed by him because of his emphasis on and federal.
It is extremely important that you hold on to your instincts that Allah has given you and has some button that internal sense of Allah have given you and not give it up.
But again, at the same time, at the same time, he who was who, you know, had a lot of respect for the FERPA know that the federal is corruptible.
And there are seven things that he mentioned that corrupt are federal,
what are they quickly because you have to watch out for them. In your pursuit of guidance in your journey, you have to watch out for those seven
basically Federa destroyers. They are
the RL Hauer bias
while ulterior motives,
and horse conjecture
was Shobha misconception.
I had a habit that lead blind following and my Ruth inherited beliefs, inherited beliefs, all of these seven things, attack your federal
attack your federal, that's why the province of southern Saqqara Motomura all of the traffic with any of your matches any hour you're not running.
So every
every newborn will be born in a state of federal genuine disposition and natural inclination. And it is his parents who will turn him into Christian or as Rastafarian.
So that is basically my Ruth the inherited beliefs. So you watch out for ulterior motives. You watch out for
bias. You watch out for conjecture. You watch out for misconceptions. You watch out for habits, your habits could destroy your Federa. You watch out for blind following you watch out for my Ruth,
how do you how do you rehabilitate your Phaedra if it has been destroyed by rehab, rehab is spiritual rehab, spiritual training, its spiritual refinement. So it is immersion in the knowledge of Anwar, with
worship and spiritual
training, consistently, most importantly, most importantly, to be in the presence of God and to bring
on the presence of God subhanaw taala and remember, Nava is secondary.
He has a beautiful statement where he says, never abandon zyk or remembrance, because you don't feel the presence, your presence with God. Because forgetfulness in remembrance is better than forgetfulness, without remembrance, and perhaps, he will elevate you from remembrance with heedlessness to remembrance with
wakefulness, awareness, and then from awareness to the Divine Presence, and from the divine presence to absence your absence, the absence basically avenues Shahadat, everything about the divine in your shoot not in existence, but in your shoot in your perception that you have now, basically clear their vision completely, and you have a complete focus on the divine and you keep this with you all the time. And that is the best rehabilitation of fitrah to be in a state of remembrance all the time. Okay, now you're ready to build your fortress.
Know that Islam is very, very simple and straightforward, and that's why it is the most solid worldview
The most because it's the simplest in the Lavina Armando hamilo Saudi hottie cannot Nahum Jana Topher though si nos Villa that is a slam,
put a Mantova la Homestuck that is Islam. They are the same. So when a man came to the Prophet salallahu Salam and said to him, you know, teach me something that I would ask no one about after you. What did he say to him? Say I believe in Allah and then be upright. Say I believe in Allah and then be applied. And that's it. Go back home and just try to do this.
Allah subhanaw taala says in Surah five calf in an Athena Manuel mo Salah hottie cannot live on Jonathan for those you know Surah Carradine Have you heard I have gone out of heaven.
So, very those who believed and did righteousness or deeds of righteousness, there's will be
the gardens of Paradise as an abode, a final abode
to dwelling for eternity, seeking or desiring no transfer, no change, the Ultimate Bliss, bliss that you never get bored of. You never get sick off. You never seek any change, or any transfer from it. And Lavina Mattawa Amira, sorry, hug and Eman is very simple. You're going to build here. And if you have any doubt, you figure that out. Now, before you move on to something else, and keep on building here, three pillars of faith. We remember six right and some of us remember five and Iman Villa Yamato Aikidoka, Toby Rosario Yamanaka will cut and Heidi was ready to believe in Allah and His angels in his books and messengers, and the final day and predestination.
Predestination is about The Quadra of Allah, it's about the power of Allah and His preceding knowledge. So now we come, it comes down to five.
The three in the middle are about the message. So you have an angelic
messenger that brought down a divine message to a human messenger. It's all about the message. It's about a nibble wet. It is about prophethood. So God, resurrection, and in the middle prophethood how to hit you came from him, you're going back to him and you know, in the Hereafter, and the roadmap
or, basically the blueprint of the way back has been given to you through two messengers.
Oh.
Oh, questions and answers.
Okay, so
what time is
it? Okay.
So I'll wrap this up quickly, quickly.
And Mohamed Salah has pretty simple, it's pretty straightforward. You have lamina sada has two corners, two types, two conditions.
We all know that exterior and interior, the work of the interior and the work of the exterior, you have to have that balance between the exterior and the interior. And the conditions are a philosophy mutable, and you have to have that balance between a class and metadata. Don't be just the people of a class. Don't be just other people and what about be of the people of both philosophy, classes sincerity, whatever is adherence to this one, a class is devotion metabo is correctness B of the people of both A and B of the people who beautify their interior and exterior. And certainly Mohamed Salah is
towards the Creator, that's a bada and the creation that is Muhammara it by that Muhammad towards the Creator towards the creation, and most of this
is not controversial. Most of this is not controversial. You know, don't gossip don't back by it. You know, don't oppress people. Don't be obscene. Don't be rude. Pray on time, fast the month of Ramadan, you know, be honest, etc, etc. All of this is pretty easy. Now.
The bulk of this talk about the former VA hub, culture parents chef Google XYZ
Institute. I will leave it
For the questions and answers
yes.
You said
mantequilla samasta Yes. Emanuela maloom.
Stalking karma, the guide,
How to how to study?
Okay, what basis?
So the question is we know that Emanuela is easy. But then in the basically we're referring to the Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu sallam, when he wanted to give the shortest advice possible to someone who did not want to ask anyone else about it.
And he told him, say, I believe in Allah and then be upright.
And the question is, we know that we know what believers but how do we how do we, how can we be upright, and the prophets, Allah meant to say, certainly, that does not mean that you don't learn what the knowledge that is necessary to establish your bed and all of that stuff. But the prophets all sudden wanted to say that no matter how much we lie to ourselves,
when we're another upright, we know that we're not upright,
you know,
and we just deceive ourselves.
There is this other prophet Asana is basically indicating by the short advice, that there is an internal compass that you turned off, there is a GPS, and internal one and instinctual one that God has given you, but you turned it off, or you turn it off whenever you want to.
And you turn it back on, you come to demonstrate, turn, turn for a little while, go out, turn it off, and just carry on with your life so that you don't get bothered.
So that's what the prophet meant that you do it, you are the one who is turning off the internal compass, internal GPS.
But certainly, that does not mean that we don't learn to improve, you know, our knowledge, our connection with God, to correct our worship, knowledge is of great importance in Islam. And the Prophet sallallahu sallam said, phenylalanine Allah, nobody can Fabiana Narkom or 200 comma mandated by the Dallas area required by the virtue of the
scholar over the worshipper, like is like the very few, like my virtual over the least among you.
And, but certainly that that's the scatter, who's also a worshiper.
Yes, next, I want to come.
Since Sahaba, were not humbly or Shafi or melki or Hanafi, then what was good for them back then, is good for us now, is that a true statement, especially that we have more access to authentic information, then at the time of Sahaba, through trusted Internet sites, I mean, the time after Prophet death.
Okay, so it was good. So that we got into the meat of the discussion. So, so this is in reference to the form of the and the place of the form of that had been, why the form exam and all of that stuff. So the sahaba.
And I have a position on the form of that, that I believe to be a moderate one. I don't basically geometrically adjust to my positions to be in the middle, in the geometrical middle,
because that doesn't make sense.
But sometimes they just turn out to be somewhere in the geometrical or mathematical metal. But anyway, so the the, the Sahaba is one of them, were able to,
to deduce, or at least the scholars among them, or two or many, many, were able to deduce rulings from the text of the revelation, whether it's Quran and Sunnah, but for later generations,
you see how this process can get can become messed up completely. Like if you allow people if you are allowed the public to just examine the Quran and Sunnah by themselves.
You will come up with like, 2 million mazahub
because people will and you will come up with wild positions as well,
that are completely baseless and that are completely in discord with text of Revelation. Because there is a process, the hermeneutical system of Islam is a very solid one. And the masses don't necessarily have that much knowledge about, you know, the ozone of interpretation, they also have deduction. So we have a solid hermeneutical system. And a scholar needs to have sort of a vast knowledge of the reports
and
deep knowledge of the hermeneutic consistent the process of deduction, therefore,
the mazahub are our greatest, you know, intellectual wonders, if we do away with them, that would be basically suicidal.
However, there are a couple of points here. One is, the truth is not limited to the form of sometimes there may be positions outside the form of the head that are true, and that are worth adopting. I'll give you one position, not because I'm biased, I may be biased, you know, I'm a human being why not, we're all biased. So but
yeah, you just can't not be biased.
But this like three divorces counting as one divorce, for instance, three divorces in one utterance counting as one divorce, this is not a position that this is not the position. This is not the authorized position of any of the formula. This is a position of amendment they may have that has been accepted by
the legislatures in many Muslim countries where, you know, by legislatures that are not particularly sympathetic to Imam or they don't necessarily like him to begin with. But they they basically cite him as the authority in this regard. Why? Because there are certain conditions that need to be met to accept the opposition from outside of the form of a hub. One of them is that the position has to be
upheld by in which the head and he had his own adversaries, you know, acknowledging that he wasn't what's the head. The second is,
is that the position has to have has to be a substantial one that has some basis in the Revelation. That position has basis in, in a hadith reported by Muslim, you know, from the live na bass that three counted as one during the time of the Prophet and the time of Abu Bakr, Allah, the Omaha and Homer.
And the position has to be one that has not been completely abandoned and has been mainstreamed by, you know, a group of Muslim scholars, and certainly with the legislatures in many Muslim countries accepting this, such as you know, because I'm from Egypt, so I know in Egypt, it is there. I know. Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, these countries, I know that this position has been accepted in those countries, by legislatures in those countries. So a position like this can be mainstreamed, can be mainstream. I will give you another example that may look a little bit even weaker, but I believe that it is a position that can be mainstreamed. I have always
advised
pregnant and breastfeeding women who have you know, who miss Ramadan successively
because of their pregnancy and breastfeeding, and then the accumulate six or seven Ramadan's where they couldn't fast because they were either breastfeeding or pregnant, I have always advised them that they may
just give them failure and they don't have to make up for the you know, for 400 days, you know, the the need to make up
when this position is not authorized in any of the farmers and being a homebody myself. That position is now somebody's position. You know, and certainly somebody's would frown at this position. But this position is from a falafel it that we sail can have it mean, meaning that it's reported from higher up reports.
From our lab now, based on Abdullah Muhammad, and some contemporary scholars, like safe, say it's safe use of Qaradawi, safe nasira, Bernie CFRP. Assad, or those who have ASRC, you know, mentioned that as a possibility that not necessarily supported, but the others support that, and others. So these are scholars, and the idea that we now should have no much the heavy in and that he had. And that's suicide that also, because it's like we are going to act like wherever without a brain, it's an almost without a brain that, you know, can basically address new issues and can make it's the hub and can provide guidance for the people, despite the fact that there have been enormous changes
socio economic social changes
in in the last 200 years. So to deprive the unbeliever of its brain, and now allow or not allow it to address the enormous changes in the last 200 years in the world that we live in, and the nature of the world that they live in, would be suicidal, and Sharia will become irrelevant, and we would have done it to ourselves. And then we could come back and cry and say, so why, you know, why is all of this happening? Why is nobody given attention to or carrying on about this area, or any of that stuff. So
the forum, are at the heart of our heritage, we go to them first. And then there may be positions outside the forum, as I have, we go through a process of mainstreaming those positions, because we're not going to allow anybody who just simply has a PhD in FERC, to come up with positions and destroy and start to spread them, and, and so on, and so forth. There has to be a process collective, it's the head and sigma stuff has Zarqa rahamallah
Did mentioned this, that this that we need to invest more in collective, it's the hub as a way out of the problem of chaos, or complete freezing, there has to be an answer in the middle. And I think that we have to have a process and the process is acceptance, widespread acceptance of a position that is adopted by a metalhead, whether from the past or the presence, if there is widespread acceptance,
through the process of collective St. Howard, or even widespread acceptance without, you know, conductive, it's the heart separate, it's the hearts that, you know, agreed on opposition, then that position can be mainstreamed and can be considered a viable position. That's the that's the one contingency here with my emphasis, you know, like, that doesn't detract from my emphasis on the importance and centrality of the form of the second contingency is that
the forms I have are meant people who study for work, are the people who should subscribe to the formula.
there is controversy between the scholars, whether the masses, the public, the lay persons should subscribe to a math hub or not. And the position that I believe in, to be stronger wholeheartedly, is that the masses should not subscribe to a math hub. Because if you ask someone, why do you subscribe to Amazon? And all he can say is, you know, that's, that's our math hub? Well, that's partisanship. That is basically fanaticism add a little bit of, you know, heart bloodedness that we all have to this, and you create all the troubles in the world that we have witnessed, and that we continue to witness. So the public should not, by default, the public may be following your mother
because there's color that they referring to all the time, in the, you know, happen to be Shafi or Hanafy, or humbly, automatically, more, that's fine. That's okay. But they should not subscribe to something they don't they cannot defend their decision, you know, that the decision of subscribing to it, they cannot defend it with any, like rational, we can rationally defend. So anyway, nowadays with the internet, it's a it's a little bit different, because it's not like, you know, people who live in Upper Egypt are more Maliki and people who live in Lower Egypt are more savvy. You know, the world is not divided like this anymore, because everybody goes online.
And everybody would have your photos wherever they are. So I have a lot of people studying and body.
stuff with me. I'm very low with me, and they text me on WhatsApp. And, you know, from Bangladesh and from
different parts of the world that hunt Barisan has never been popular in? Should we be irritated by this? Should their parents be irritated by this? Why? Why don't you leave them? Why don't you respect to their spiritual agency? Why don't you like
the Magna Carta Don't hate me, who is a very, very happy person, very happy, very much happy person. He said, when a father orders his son to follow his madhhab that is not binding on the son, because of there is no purpose in that. It is utter foolishness. That's what he said. So this is this is a. So we're not talking about like contemporary liberal, this. We're just talking about your very, very classic and traditional scholar who is very math heavy. He said that if the father or there's a son to follow his madhhab, and there is no purpose in this, like a good purpose, like a good purpose would be what like what, son? There are no honeyberries here, how are you going to do it? That's a
good purpose. But if the Son figured out a way to do it, that's fine. You know, so when there is no good purpose, then it's other foolishness.
Is that good answer? Okay. Does that?
I have a question. But before I ask the question, if anyone has a question, and we'd like to post it on YouTube, I'm reading the questions from there as well.
And the sisters, if you would like to ask the questions on the YouTube, I'll take them from the live chat. So chef, you explained very well Mashallah.
formada hub as the core and with the outside and between the formada hub if someone to pick a mud hub. And the last question. Now, regardless picking up another job, we see people
choosing motherboard not but like they they are very firm on the on what they know. So what's your advice to these people? I'll give you an example. Like two months ago, someone told me that they cannot come and pray us are with us, because because he's Shafi and we pray on the Hanafi time, so he'd rather to pray at home before we came in the masjid. And he came with me, but he prayed at home before he came to the masjid. So that's the extreme
that he wouldn't to pray at the Hanafi time. And then what is your advice to the organizations and the massage to do to kind of help people mingle or or, you know, do the right thing from from that perspective? I'm not talking about someone to choose the right madhhab just like what they should do? Or what is your advice to them that that should How should they practice the Bible, while they believe in motherboard, or they just believe in their shit, like you said, Zach Aloka
we have to value the importance of unity, the importance of harmony between the Muslims, we have to understand that we live in a different
sort of environment. As minorities in America, we cannot afford to do this anymore, like the one math mastered, may have people from from all the backgrounds.
And like I said, that is why it is preferred for the public not to subscribe to a particular mazahub That's one of the benefits of the public. Because if you're if you're from Indonesia, for instance, and you traveled to Pakistan, you're going to be stuck you're not going to be finding a life shafa is there to ask
or vice versa, you know,
so So for the public I guess it it is
it's better not to to subscribe to something that you don't know why are subscribing to it, because ignorance and z is like mixing
oil and fire.
So then
there are multitudes of examples that we can give and remind people of so the memorable use of the disciple of Imam Abu Hanifa prayed behind Haroon Rashid.
After he did hijama or wet cupping, and you know in their in in the Hanafi madhhab Harun Rashid did not have to do.
So he made it made he did hijama and then he did not make widow and he proceeded to pray because he asked Malik and Malik advised him that he doesn't need to make wudu
Abu Yusuf pride behind.
So are we as of now spraying behind someone who in his book does not have to do?
So they approached the man we use of afterwards and he said, you know, do you pray behind someone who doesn't have although he said, he said that Malik gave him a fatwa. So in a matter give him a fatwa. Do you want? What do you want me to do?
So that is why the Scholars then started to say, if their prayer is correct for them, it's correct for you. It doesn't have to be correct for you to be correct for you. If the Imams prayer is correct for him, it is correct for you. It's good enough for you. So if someone wipes on the socks, for instance, and that is a homebody possession, you know, even shahadi drummer
he has a video on YouTube
advising people that this is a true Hanbury position. This is not a made up position. This is a true humbly wiping on the socks is the authorized position in the Hanbury mother. So
So anyway,
the issue here if someone wipes on the socks, many people would not pray behind them.
Because he doesn't have to do well for Apple use of
this will even worse.
And he prayed that having a receipt if their prayer is good for them is good for you. I'll give you another example that may be even closer to you know your particular scenario. The other example is when they asked me Melbourne and Tamia you know, in the Hanbury
School of Law just like the magic is in Jaffa he's the way we pray which is different from the way Hanafis pray with rezanov is they have the sit down in the middle
to us that is basically prohibited because the prophets of salaam said don't like in with to macro
to hierarchies. They're not like an English with a mega because the last Rakhine Maghreb is silent and they have it the hurry and
you know, in which, so they say no, we're not making it like we say it is no you're still making it look normal. So email me I was asked if a Hanbury imam prays for a Hanafi crowd, what should he do? You know, now, if he prays his way, they're gonna be upset. If he prays their way he will be praying a prayer that he believes to be prohibited by the prophets also. He said that this prayer is this like it is not haram. It is this like,
Well, what a tough word, you know, harmony, bringing harmony between the Muslims is mandatory. And praying like this is disliked. And then when there is a conflict, give preference to harmony. So favor harmony. And he advised this Hanabi Hanbury Imam, to pray the Hanafi way, because that would be more sort of comforting to his crowd to his congregation.
And it was already gracious enough of them to have email for a Hanafi crowd. So he said, Why don't you just sell so compromise?
So that is how things you know. And again, at the same time, it depends on your worldview. And it depends on your perspective, it depends on your attitude, and so on. And we can have these discussions all the time. But at the end of the day, if we're really interested in harmony, and if we're interested in Unity, we have these positions, scholarly positions that we can use. We have other scholarly positions that we can use. The choice is ours.
Yes, JazakAllah hate. A brother is asking you when are you going to visit them in Minnesota? And the other brother is asking how can i lay person find or choose a trusted this color to follow, especially here in the West? And I'm going to pass the mic to the sisters.
Okay, so
So Minnesota
aren't really having
I guess, you know, I can come whenever they want me and Minnesota. You know, they are my people.
I lived in Minnesota for 10 years. So
yes, whenever they want me back, I must go back.
Anyway
The question about the scholar, like I said, so here's the issue, people will tell you, if you come to this color, all the confusion will go away, and we'll be good and you will be well. And that's, that's begging the question, because how do you know that this color is good before you know what good is, is to begin with your honor and coverage and when I offer your regional will hardcore layoff and have to go to jail. So we have to know what is good first, you know what, what a good man is.
Not vice versa. Therefore, you need to diversify your your exposure, diversify your exposure, initially, diversify exposure, and then learn more. And as you learn, you will develop use your instincts that Allah has given you to figure out who's a good man who upholds their preaching, who walks the talk, because that's important. follow someone who walks the talk, and then follow someone, you know, you're also learning you're also learning and you can tell from your learning, who is
walking, the talk is sincere. What is the other condition? Correct. Adhering to the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu sallam. So these are the two conditions. So you're looking for someone who is walking the talk. And again, at the same time, he's preaching things that seem to be adhering to the way of the Prophet sallallahu Sallam and the way of his of the first generation, you know, and they have a lot of emphasis on first lady in first dog.
The first is important, the first is important. But, you know, the most important first for us is called the first generation, that this is the school of the Prophet salallahu Salam, these are the people who directly learned from the Prophet sallallahu wasallam and they have the knowledge they have the sincerity and the habitus came from Allah subhanaw taala to be the best of generations. So, do this. And again, at the same time, you will eventually you will eventually see that they will disagree. And you may be inclined to to a particular type of scholars over another type of scholars. When you become more inclined to a particular type of scholars over another type of scholars, make
sure that you don't cut off your connection to the other less favorable type, because they will have goodness, and they will have hack that you will miss out on if you basically burned the bridges with.
So continue to diversify your exposure. But then you will develop some leanings. Over time you have developed some leanings, while you're developing the leanings, and after you develop the development leanings, continue to diversify your exposure.
Sisters,
yes, salam, O Allah.
Thank you for the lecture, you gave a dua of the Prophet so as a lot earlier, we only caught a little there that you said Oh ALLAH Lord on the angels you mentioned the angel was created with the heaven and earth know of the unseen and seen and that's all I got. Can you give us the rest please? Okay. You judge between your servants and that over which they dispute you judge between your servants in that over which they dispute or regarding that over which they dispute?
Guide me
to the truth concerning that Overwatch they disputed
by your permission,
you guide whomever you please
to our straight pass
Salam aleikum. Shane had another question for you. Going back on the previous answer that you gave, so when you talk about leadings and there might be I'm guessing that each person might lean slightly in a different way. If you are, you know, responsible for a masjid as an board member or something of that nature. Whose leanings Do you? I don't want to say
Follow but whose leanings Do you offer the services for in the masjid? Or when you're picking the religious authority for the Masjid? Are you going with the leanings of the board members? Are you going with the leanings of the community? Are you going with a mix of the both? I would appreciate any guidance.
Okay, so you want to burn my hands now.
But anyway, since you're asked to have to answer.
I mean, you don't have to be very open, if you don't want to,
you know, I'll just say whatever I believe, I guess.
Because if you do this, then doesn't matter what happens. And if you if you don't, then you always blame yourself.
The issue here is, at the end of the day, we will have to choose representatives because you can't have all the people agree on the management of any institution all the time, you can't bring all the people all the time to agree on the decisions. So we will have to have some kind of representation. So the board eventually will have to be that representation. And it is hoped that it does represent the community because it was selected by the community. So the board that has been selected by the community should represent the community and then they should basically follow their leanings. At the same time. I have always advised that Masada is up to the concept of fraternities, and they
would allow people of different leanings to use the facility, the premise for their activities, even if they don't hold them in the name of the masjid of the board of the masjid believes that, you know, this particular activity is not like in harmony or congruent with the direction of the masjid or the vision of the Masjid. Or the leanings of the masjid allow fraternities to have their own time and allow them to use the premise. Certainly, if they're not doing anything that is completely far off the charts completely, you know,
like something that's just too, too far out there. But, but if it is something that's just like a controversy between Muslims and so on, then allow them to conduct their activities.
Under the name of their own fraternity? Can you can call it a collegial group, for instance, and bring in people?
Yeah.
Yes, everyone, yes, question. My question is, we talked about the scientific method, and also some of solid EDA, how do we foster and support that in our children in our families,
to for like, the correct epistemology?
Basically, you always tell them, you know, the source of this information? Where is it coming from? That's a very simple exercise. So how can we know that this is true?
And if we ask ourselves, How do we know that this is true, it's not going to be every time because you're not going to be to like to morbid and paranoid and stuff. Because that could make life also very unpleasant.
But frequently enough, so that the idea itself is established in their mind. That is, we just don't believe everything we hear that there has to be a process of investigation, to verify that what we have heard, what we have come to know, he's actually knowledge that's worth knowing.
That's true. So just ask them How do you know that this is true? And then, you know,
Muslims also because we are we tend to be a little eccentric minorities tend to be eccentric, don't get offended, that's fine. We tend to have more, we tend to ease we were we tend to easily believe in the conspiracy theory. So like this conspiracy theories spread among Muslims a little bit easier. That is fine, because we are different from the mainstream. You know, we believe that the mainstream, we basically subscribe to a different religion. So and we have sort of different value system and many things
from the mainstream, although we share with them because, you know, many of you guys are born here that you're Western. So there is no problem in being Western or Muslim. But you're always, you know, your rock is