Hussain Kamani – The Prophet Muhammad – The Teacher #01
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Bismillahirrahmanirrahim
Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah wa kufr was Ramadan a by the end of the Mustapha hustle social send Allah say you did a study of Hotmail and via the hill Ischia was how to be healthier. And that that
for the biller administrators regime Sri Lanka Rahmani Raheem
cannot be smear of because lady
called Clinical in Santa
Clara Bukal Ekrem
Olivia Alhama Bill column allemaal in Santa Maria cervical long lobby
Today we start a new series a new class
once again focusing on a book written by Shahab de Fattah Abu Dhabi, Allahu taala.
This book of his is titled A rasool Allah, Allah,
the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, The Teacher.
In this book of Shaykh, Khalid Fatah, alibaba.com, Allahu Allah, He examines how Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was as an educator,
Inshallah, we will try to cover it in as much detail as we can. And we make dua that Allah subhanho wa Taala gives us the fifth to understand the message that she called the Fatah is delivering to us through the example of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And even greater than that, we make dua to Allah subhanho wa taala, that he allows us to live that example, and be prophetic role models of what teachers and mentors should be Allah Allah fifth 19 months of Hebrew.
Today, I wanted to spend some moments discussing some introductory discussions related to the subject.
When we speak of education,
the first discussion we need to have is of knowledge.
This is a conversation that I've had with students multiple times before, even in this gathering and outside. But for the sake of those who are joining us, now and are a part of this journey at this point.
In Islam, we make a distinction between information and knowledge.
We live in a world post printing, where knowledge is abundantly available.
When the printing press came into existence, and books were now being printed in the 1000s and hundreds of 1000s and being shipped across the world. Muslim scholars were very reluctant to this whole new concept of printing books. Before that, before the printing press press, when it came to accessing knowledge, most books were hand written. And you can imagine, because that's a very inefficient way of copying a book compared to the technology we have these days, there were fewer books available, and that therefore not everyone had access to knowledge. They were a group of people who really gave everything and those who wanted access to knowledge rather than relying on
written documents, they would rely on the oral tradition or they would sit at the feet of a scholar and hear it and write
for them, and learn and observe. So now there's wasn't as easily accessible.
Something easily accessible. You are required to sacrifice for it and therefore there's an appreciation for that thing in your life. The problem with making anything easily accessible is its value goes out the window. People don't appreciate it anymore. This applies to clothing. It applies to electronics. It applies to anything. You have high supply supply, you're going to have
low demand, you have live what's going to happen.
High demand economics one on one, and the same thing applies with knowledge. One of the greatest concerns
Pete Alama had about knowledge becoming abundantly available is that people would lose value for it. It's the same concern that exists in today is real when we talk about streaming content online. Should you stream lectures online or not? Or should you do everything in person requiring students to come and sit? No matter what the challenge is, no matter what the sacrifices, you make the sacrifice and come and sit in front of the teacher, you may not gain as much as knowledge, but will that whatever little you do gain, you will value it a lot.
When we were students and Mother Teresa, one of our teachers, she asked me, Allah subhanaw taala, preserve them and prolong his life.
He taught me he would give a dust in his masjid, which is probably the closest message to the madrasa. The mothers, I was in a small English town called rams bottom.
What a name man.
It's very British. Hassan.
She's British.
Yes.
And then secondly, next to the city, was this town bigger. It wasn't a town or we were more like in the village, this was a more of a town like viable city like vibe, not city, but town like it was a place called burry.
So there was a masjid there, which is another really British name, Buddha
was British people would say.
So sure, Malala had a mess there. And he would give us there every evening, every evening, he had us all year, every day, he had a minus the two aids he had done the evening every day. And the amazing thing is he never repeated content, it was just these different subjects. I remember once he covered the idea. Yeah, you went into La Jolla looking for a corner. And he spoke on this word for Tom for 12 weeks, just that one word for
so much depth and so much, definitely a lot protect him.
As students, we weren't able to go during the weekdays because we didn't have cars and going from one part new ones one, one place to another place required buses. And then for those of you who've traveled on buses, the whole commitment of walking to a bus waiting for one getting on one, getting off at walking the hole going and coming takes a few hours, even if you try to be efficient with it. So we would wait for Saturdays to come. And on Saturdays, we would go to those gatherings of knowledge because Saturday was our day off. So we'd go out to burry and spend time there and just enjoy the company of the shift.
There was a sacrifice involved in seeking that knowledge.
Because there were days that you would go to the bus stop and it would be raining. And by the time you made it to the bus stop, you were soaked.
And you have to keep going.
And there were days that it would be very cold and you would get on a bus and you would go anyway. And there'd be days that you'd be on the bus and there was some drunk dude sitting next to you who's like about to vomit on you, but you would go anyway. And there were times where you would make that journey and then you would get off the bus. And when you got off the bus, you had to walk for another 10 minutes across the town center before you made it to the actual machine. And when you got there on rare occasion, shift without wouldn't be there to deliver the does. And on top of all of that for a student, you guys will appreciate this. There was a cost for all of this. It was a
minimal cost. But it was there was definitely a cost involved because you had to pay for everything you had to pay for your bus ticket and pay for the return and everything.
The beauty of all of that was that the knowledge that I was able to learn from my shifts and my teacher in those gatherings was profound because it was based on a sacrifice.
The knowledge could be basic and simple. But if it's based on sacrifice, Allah subhanahu wa Tada will open up the meaning of that knowledge to the student, possibly even a step beyond what the teacher may be actually trying to convey.
Allah will open up that into them because it's based off of a sacrifice.
And this is why the story of submodel Pharmaceut or the Allahu Han is so important. A companion to be said aloud is someone who made tremendous sacrifice. Without the Allahu Ansary is so important, a companion of Rasulullah sallallahu. It was so him that made tremendous sacrifice. And then add to that all of the Mahajan, the natural that all of the unsought these people made sacrifice everyday they had to work hard.
In today's world knowledge has become readily available. And it's now at our fingertips. If someone wants to learn a subject in Islam, you can do so without having to even leave
in the comfort of your home, without having to leave the comfort of your own chair, your own sofa, because it's all available to us to see what language do you want it in Hadith? What do you want to study tell us, it's all available. But as we know, when the supply goes up, what happens to the demand? It takes. So a community that has so much information, unfortunately, has no real knowledge. Knowledge is no longer transformative. There was a time where someone reposts an inspirational quote, and you would save it right away, and you would maybe print it and put it on your wall next to your desk because it was so valuable. It was so rare, inspirational quotes today, what do they
mean?
Right? I mean, you go on social media, and that's all it is, is never ending inspirational quotes, whether they make sense or not, but they're just, you know, they're just reverse sentences. That's what it is. If you're too smart to do this, and you're too smart, then you're too that to be smart. You guys get the idea. This is reverse sentences. It's the world's full of that.
Wisdom, Mashallah. Now know,
what we're looking for in Islam is, is knowledge, knowledge in Islam. We had this discussion last night. Well, sure Hamza was visiting us, there was a discussion that I briefly started, and I didn't get a chance to explore it. But today, I wanted to spend a little bit more time talking about this.
When we define him,
historically, philosophers have used the term a surah.
They say a surah, to a hustler to angle modric.
They refer to knowledge as an idea. It's a concept, it's an image. So for example, when I walk into the room, and I look at an apple on a table, the moment I look at it, there's an image that comes into my mind and that image represents information. Right? There is a, there's there's an understanding that I develop in that moment. That in itself, that's not addressed. They're
Muslim scholars, when they define it.
They use the word sliver,
they describe it as a CIFA. Syntha means a characteristic a trait, an adjective.
A CFI is only good if it is attached to someone or something tall than itself doesn't mean anything. I can say, a tall man. Now there's an image that comes to your mind. This information has some functionality to it tall, that itself doesn't mean anything. Red doesn't mean much, I can see a red shawl. Now that means something. So what we're saying is that the reason why they described it as a sci fi is because my Lumos information, stand alone doesn't mean anything. It means nothing. The world is full of useless information. You can go on YouTube, and they have these videos and channels dedicated to just people sharing knowledge of the obscure, random stuff. Did you know why? You know,
pen caps have a hole on one end of them? Like random stuff like that? Do you know why ridges exists at the bottom of your bottle? Right? It's for stability, by the way.
That's me.
I was telling my students the other day
that
you know, Bluetooth,
you guys know Bluetooth.
It's a
it's in reference to
the there was this man who
he played a very important role in providing a truce between two European nations. So the people who found the
poem, the technology, they were so inspired by him that they actually
named the technology after him.
And if you actually look at that weird Bluetooth symbol, you know, that thing that we're looking to triangle with a bow and arrow, kind of vibe, logo they have. It's actually a combination of his of his initials. It's an it's a Nordic language, if you take both of his initials, and you place them over one another. That's your Bluetooth sign in reference to this.
This person who was an inspiration to them, like this, there's another just so much obscure and random stuff out there. But that's not what we're looking at. And this time we're looking for knowledge.
Being a sift, how does it connect with someone? How does it bring change to someone? What value does it add to you?
Another thing
Some Olimar while defining others, they refer to it as a path, a Sita, a tool that connects you to something
either connects you to earning a living, it connects you to providing safety for other people it prevents, it leads you to it provides for you an opportunity to maybe provide medical attention towards another person. Or maybe it gives you knowledge to provide food for someone else that you are now a chef and you know how to cook. So it always leads to something if the knowledge doesn't lead to anything. They didn't even consider it to be knowledge. Then you have Malala Tati, Allahu Taala famous commentator, muskrats and wasabia when he defined him, he defined it as a real Moon Moon Mukti bassoon, Min Masabi image Scott in Nevada.
He says true knowledge is that which is derived from October soon it is derived and taken from min Masabi, Michigan to Nagoya, from the lanterns of Nevada profitable, right from the source of light, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, because nobody said Allahu Allah, He was certain he was given knowledge by Allah subhanho wa taala.
So the first thing I wanted to start off this, this, this this class with was this message,
whether it's you as an individual going to seek knowledge, or whether it's you as a teacher providing that knowledge, we need to differentiate between random information and actual knowledge. Random information will clutter the mind and it really doesn't have much value. Let it be.
Focus on gaining knowledge that benefits you. There's this thought in our mind that oh, if I, if I learned this one day, it'll be useful to me.
You have to ask yourself that what you're learning? Is it something that you interact with? Is it something that benefits you? Can something benefit you anything could benefit you? But you want to prioritize in life? In your limited life? What do you want to learn? And where do you want to be? Therefore, before you even start seeking knowledge, the first thing you need to do is identify where you want to be.
This is something we'll discuss in the class in the weeks ahead. But if someone were to ask me this question that what's the first thing a teacher should do for a student? I would say, show them a dream.
They have to see a dream of where they're going in life, what they want to do what they're contributing towards, because none of that is a path that leads somewhere. If they don't know where that somewhere is, what's the point of going on this path?
If we were to go on a road trip and say that we're going to a state park that has beautiful white sand,
and you're going to enjoy it, the kid will say, Okay, let's do it. Right there. I know where I'm going. So we have children that are going through school everyday, they're going to school waking up, and you know, adults and even, you know, the elderly in our in our community that are going to call theirs they're going to school, they're going to first grade second grade, elementary and all these years. But if you ask that child, what's the purpose behind this? They don't know.
Many children assume that this is just another form of daycare. Maybe my parents want me out of the house. I'm just going, but I don't know what where I'm going and why I'm going where I'm going. See a dream first. Figure out what your dream is. And that's where the mentor actually comes in. I think there's a teacher whose goal is to teach you how to get to your dream. But the mentor helps you recognize your potential and see the dream in the first place. That's what I'm what he does. That's what a real mentor does. They help you see the dream. Nabi SallAllahu, alayhi wa sallam the dream he showed the Companions was agendize waiting for you. That's your dream. That's where you're gonna go.
How do you get there? Let me be your teacher as well. You Alima Makita Well, heck, Martha is a key, maybe some offered so many roles at any one given time. Okay.
So, knowledge is a tool that will help you reach somewhere.
In Islam,
we have to identify where we're going.
What is our goal? What's our objective?
I feel like there isn't a single answer to this. It's not like there's one objective in life. The truth is that you have multiple objection objectives in life depending on where you are in life, what's going on in your life.
The ultimate objective hopefully in all of our lives is to gain the pleasure of Allah subhana wa Tada to build a relationship with Allah.
Allah subhana wa Tada says, Well, I'm a woman who in law Leah, the law her meclizine and Dena Hannah thought that they were not commanded will not only do they were not commanded in Valley Abdullah but they worship Allah subhanho wa Taala mostly seen it with Deen making their affair sincere when I thought cutting away from all distractions, just focusing on one Allah, the ultimate goal.
Aside from that, people have other goals and objectives, someone needs to provide for their family, another person wants to be a builder, someone wants to be a physician.
So now, there are different goals that you have in your life that are all objectives and goals that need to be set in place to ensure that you can live your life in a harmonious fashion in an appropriate way. Now,
now,
when you know what your objective is, you can carefully choose what knowledge you bring into your life, more selective, more careful
about Azadi, like more Allahu taala, while addressing this issue,
in his beginning of guidance, he has this beautiful passage in which he defines it, and I love it. When I have opportunity to teach this book years ago.
I recall reading this passage and thought to myself that it's such a beautiful way of presenting what acknowledges he said, knowledge is that which allows a person to see their own defects.
Knowledge is that which creates in you an interest for the hereafter. True Knowledge is that which turns your heart away from worldly pleasures. True Knowledge is what is that which allows you to see the traps have shaped on what is true knowledge. He says true knowledge is that which allows you to see and understand how shaytaan use knowledge against people and through them in the in the fit of the part in the pit of the fire of
the Hadith. Sahih Muslim is known very well. Well, Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told us of the first three people to go to the fire apart. Who are these three people?
It's a terrifying narration. The truth is because when you read it scares you at your core, you're worried that oh my god, because these three people when you read it, what you see is that these people were such that their actions outwardly are virtuous.
But in the back end, when it came to their goals, their objectives, their purpose behind doing it, it was flawed.
And therefore their good deed did not bring them any benefit. Who are the three people? Anyone know?
Number one, we have a scholar, the second
the one that was charitable, and number three, the Shahid, the one that was martyred in the path of Allah subhana wa Tada. Imagine the one who gave their life to Allah subhana wa Tada became a shahid was murdered, but they did it why? Just to get praised by people. That's what it was. I was speaking about this with some of the students earlier today, that I see this as a big flaw even in a lot of parenting. Some parents They dedicate their lives to their children. Why? So people in the community will say that so and so Mother and so and so Father gave their life to their child.
They are at the risk of losing the reward of being a mother or father. Why? Just for some props, just to show off, to get your praise from people
are so the lesson Allahu alayhi wa sallam tells us that on the Day of Judgment, Allah subhanahu wa Tada will say to people who did deeds for other than Allah, that go to those people and get your reward from them. There's nothing here for Allah, nothing here with Allah for you because you didn't do it for the sake of Allah subhanho wa taala.
Remember, those are his definition. It draws out an internal understanding of what knowledge is because
in his Yama Dean
Imam Muhammad, he talks about knowledge and while talking about it, he divides knowledge into various categories. Okay, he divides knowledge into various categories. For example, he first starts off by saying that knowledge is either father iron or TIFIA. Again, as an educator, you have to make this distinction. What is the ruling of the knowledge that I'm offering the student? How important is this in their life? Is it fun to aim for an AI in an RV means
It's a term that scholars use that refers to this being no others that is mandatory upon every individual. Simple example, how to clean yourself after using the bathroom symbol example, praying salah, doing although this is necessary for every person to know, because we all have to do it. Then on the other hand, there is a second type of knowledge, which is
phunki FAIA. Further alakija, which means not every individual in society needs to have this knowledge, rather a group of people need to know, so they can solve everyone's
everyone's situation or everyone else's problems or queries, answer them for them. So, you know, I was saying earlier that you have the you have this random information, everyone's like, Oh, but I should know this one day, It'll come in handy. I should know this one day, It'll come in handy. It's not a sustainable way to live life, and neither should people be prepared for that. We need to create specialists. Your job is to be a physician. Your job is to be a financial advisor. Your job is to be a builder. The builder doesn't need to know medicine. The person doing medicine doesn't need to know, the one doing Islamic law doesn't need to worry about math. When you come to that
crossroad, and you need math as a fee as a jurist, and that day will come when you come to for example, rulings related to Islamic inheritance law, then go and go and reference that person. I am no therapist, as an imam. I'm not a therapist. I could be a soundboard for people. But if someone needs therapy, there's a young person who might be suicidal and Allah protect our Shabbat. We take them to a therapist. So this person right here is an actual qualified therapist.
In order that we have saying that she has a reference yesterday to we say name Hakeem Saturdaya. John named moolah sutra Eman which means if you're half a doctor, your patients life is in danger.
Because it's going to be a half a diagnosis, half a prescription and half a cure. You're going to kill people.
A great example of this is when you go to
this event now it's you know, this weekend parties and all the uncles get together and they all talk about their prescriptions and their solutions for diabetes.
Yeah, Minister Nike a chai pillow diabetes sales ag I've heard that if you drink this tea or diabetes will be okay. And then someone to say I mentioned I get bubbly. A lot of Corona Krishna says that if you take a steam bath, and if you allow that steam to really go into you, corona can do anything at all.
And then there was one head of state that went as far as telling people to use detergent to wash out Corona.
So you guys remember that?
And I don't know what do we say mean Hakeem
Fatah. John, they have a similar statement like this anatomy. And this will tell you when it's for him. Right. So
what is it he said? How about you see the aberdein will have you seen?
Like there's there's a similar statement like this anatomy as well. So name Hakeem hydrogen, half a doctor, your life is in danger. And the second was named Mullah Cateura, a man named means half cooked something that's not ready yet. Right? Something that's still not fully ripe, named Mullah haka doctor have a scholar cut that in mind your mind is in danger now.
So, we have to be we have to differentiate and understand that there are areas of specialty this area, this sort of knowledge, this division of knowledge is what we refer to as thought of as key fire. So Imam Mohammed Al Ghazali says that
my father in law who are part of the key fire
now he says, though that my different opinion on what is fun about it is there is a there is a difference of opinion amongst others. what is fun about light,
instead of innocence, anybody who follows Him, I call him Muslim,
for photography at Furman shoot in Africa. And they've divided into over how many opinions over 20 opinions
what they'll do with manipulative sin, well, I can house into an Akula for eating natural wood you Milady who will be Saturday? He says a summary of it is Everyone claims thought of the iron was their subject.
You guys understand? I let whoever you saw did the what did everyone say? The subject that I specialize in? The mathematician said what? Maths is forgotten. The physician said what medicine is founded on nine. So he said for automata Kalamoon, who is also pa who
was sooner? So the jurists said that what is mandatory for everyone to know is Islamic law. Right? When it came to Hadith, the scholars of Hadith said that you need to know Hadith that's one of our lives.
He said however, the truth of the matter is
that knowledge Imam Ghazali then says can further before you even go to further iron fortified, there is another
division, another perspective of others that needs to be understood. He said, All mothers falls into two categories. Well wonder, Am I in customer, Ada ilmi, Mohammed Ah, well, Mamuka, Shiva, there is that knowledge wishes to deal with things that are tangible and physical than their apparent in front of you, then there is that knowledge, a second type of knowledge, which has to do with the unseen
knowledge of things that are not visible to you, and we'll come to this stuff later on. Okay.
As for things that are tangible,
he says, Now that knowledge is in three categories.
For more, I'm gonna let equally fella Abdullah Hakim, valuable ferocity. So when we talk about knowledge of things that are physical, intangible, and that are that every human being is obligated to learn of, there are three things three categories here. Yeah, Chuck Alden was a little Matakohe. There is another of that, which is to do with a person's belief, then there is a knowledge of that which has to do with a person's actions. And then there's a knowledge of that, which has to do with things that you need to avoid and things you need to leave. So that to do's, Andy,
and the not to do's and the don'ts. Okay.
He points out that in each of these, there are elements of further knowledge. When it comes to create, there are things that are far behind, when there are things to do, there are things that are to do with, there's there's aspects of thought of that a knowledge there, and things that you need to avoid. There are also also aspects of fun about a knowledge, they're things that must be learned. And without them, you are deficient, you are incomplete.
Now, when it comes to the second part, he then says, when it comes to foreign key Theia
when it comes to funky fire, knowledge, which is not mandatory upon every individual, rather, it's open ended. Some people learn it, it'll do a lot some kind of without it says, What old enough that I'm equally forgotten minimum thought if only I thought COVID Dean, well, you
know, me, that's my from every group of people that should be a smaller group that goes and studies the beam. And then their, their task will be to come back to their people and educate them, guide them, warn them accordingly. We don't want everyone going to study because in the community will be abandoned a small group of people who need to go, who will gain this key fire knowledge, and then they will come back and they will serve everyone and they will educate them.
Now,
when we talk about the second tier of knowledge, now there is that a group of people need to have and that will suffice. Imam Mohammed Mohammed Al passatti says that it breaks out into two categories. There is that which a shadowy and there's that which is laid a shadow.
Some knowledge is to do with religion.
Right, this is not to do with religion.
And then there there a second aspects of it, which is not to do with religion. Now, he says, I need to shed a year, Mr. fee, the minute MBA, or a masala dosa, when I say now that you do with religion, because Allah Himself defines that and says, here I'm referring to knowledge, which is derived directly from the prophets of Allah, Allah Himself was set up
and when we talk about when Illuminati lays that mission area
when we're talking about now that is not shadow, not religious, again, air quotes here. We're talking about knowledge which is derived from human experience. That's a result of human beings studying certain subjects and ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada opening their hearts because ultimately the truth is all knowledge comes from Allah, whether it's math cooking, or otherwise, it's all from Allah subhanahu wa Tada. So how to color in the Mallanna
llama alimta we do not have knowledge except for that which You have given us. Yeah, Allah.
Okay.
By any chance Do any of you guys have a charter
you have one on one 4% Is that
connector
you have other fuses?
Okay,
Now when we're speaking of knowledge that isn't religious in its nature that's not revealed from Allah subhanho wa Taala
Imam Ghazali says Now, this further breaks down into two categories, there is that which is mood and then there is that which is Moon.
And he said if you want you can also create a third category, and it is that which is
that which is a MOBA.
So, my mood refers to that knowledge which is praiseworthy, a person should learn it, they should study it
they exactly example that he gives He says, My yo Toby to be
my youtuber to be here masala Omona dunya that that which allows you to connect with with bettering society or contributing towards people in a positive way, even though it may not be religious knowledge, but there's benefit to it because you can offer value to someone else or something else got to be well ASAP. For example, He says medicine or a math
then the second is that which is disliked. This is knowledge of evil things. For example, He says, Fine, we'll set the example of that is learning magic is not a praiseworthy things evil thing, don't learn it.
And then there he says the third is MOBA. There is that knowledge, which in itself doesn't necessarily add value to society or people directly, but in an auxiliary way it does.
So it's primitive, it's just, it's not praiseworthy. It's not like you get extra reward for doing it. And neither is there a sin for doing it, but it's okay. And the example that he gives us for a little bit Ashati lots of what we have, right?
What that is, what I want is about learning history, for example, or, for example, he gives it he talks about learning poetry. But the truth is, each of these things could easily become praiseworthy, or blameworthy depending on how you learn it, and what you're learning and how you use it. You guys follow what I'm saying? Like one person can learn poetry purely as a literary art for that person. It's mobile. That's it. It's a good thing. I mean, it's permissible, go ahead and do it. Another person learns poetry, but they're learning it with a valid very positive intention that I'm going to use it for good messaging. That's clearly my mood at this point, it's praiseworthy. And
then another person learns it with an ill intent. I think the same thing would go for example, if someone asked me, What's what's Islam's understanding on learning, graphic designing or learning art, or learning how to use learning, videography, photography, same thing, these are all different modes of art and communication, it boils down to what are you gonna use it for? What are you planning to use it for you tell us and then we can give you your routing your ruling accordingly.
Now, another thing that Imam Abu Mohammed Al Ghazali, Allahu Taala says
that when it comes to knowledge, so this whole breakdown of knowledge, the purpose behind it is so you understand that there's so much here that needs to be understood. And when you're building a curriculum, when you're creating a system, for education to exist in this diagram, or this division, this whole categorization needs to exist before you so you can pick and choose things accordingly, and ensure that your curriculum that's being offered is exhaustive in the sense that it covers
enough for the student to grow and develop and be of substance. Right? They can be of substance and positive contributors to society and have an idea of how to walk their way to agenda as opposed to just having a part of it. And I'll be honest with you here, my chef, Allah subhanaw taala shower has mercy upon him. He was very big on this. He is to say that teaching children just uhm shudder Yeah, just teaching them Islam. He said it was wrong. You were doing them wrong.
You were doing them wrong just by teaching them Quran, Hadith. Why? He said, Because you're not educating them with the knowledge they need to live in the world.
How are they going to interact with people? How are they going to live in society? How are they going to contribute back? Those very same children then feel guilty deep inside because they feel like they're at a disadvantage when it comes to looking eye to eye or engaging with the world outside of their circle of people who are religious, or who fit that same mold that they're
so he would adamantly encourage us?
All students, Mother Teresa, take classes we did our
GCSE acquired everyone I mean by state you were required to but he mandated everyone do GCSE isn't is like the
you know, we go into 12th grade in America, I think in England go to the 10th grade, right? They have 10th grade, then 11th and 12th. Grade is a levels. And then after that there's college if I'm correct, something like that.
So we would do our GCSE is first and when it came to that he ensured the teachers that we had and the curriculum standards that were offered. Were top tier, top tier, I mean, the students in our Mother Teresa, what would perform the top percentile of Hamidullah making sure that these people were competent, they were confident, you're offering them a broad understanding of the theme.
Just as a child education should not purely an only be Islamic. In a world that's so complicated and sophisticated, you want to make sure they understand the world they're going into, you don't want the opposite to exist, either. We're all there learning is in the dunya, and how to be in the world and how to get yourself through this life. But when you ask them, What do you know about Allah? What do you know about the asset, they don't know anything. Now, the last part of this discussion that I want to have today, about knowledge, there's two more points that I want to discuss. Each of them is detailed, and there's a lot of
depth in each of these conversations, I'm going to try to be as brief as I can.
The first thing is,
Muslim scholars have a very lengthy discussion on what we view to be valid sources of knowledge.
And on top of that,
what
weight
is given to knowledge based off of which of its which of these sources it comes from?
Okay, let me explain.
So they say establish a suitor. Let me elaborate on
that. Overall, there are three main mediums through which knowledge is acquired.
The first one, anyone know?
Look, that's gonna be the last one. We'll make that one last. How was Samsung? Right? Or just how was that? How about really the comes out? How was your senses? Okay, a person learns by searing, seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, by interacting with the world, what happens is your knowledge increases, it grows, you learn.
However, one thing you must keep in mind
is that knowledge that you gain from your senses,
in Islam is viewed as one of the weaker sources of knowledge. Because knowledge that is acquired through your senses, is partial.
You guys understand?
Max here may touch this bottle that it's cold. So now his knowledge is that this is cold. Two hours later, he touches it, it's hot.
Are you guys following me? His senses led him to two different conclusions on the same model that it was warm, it was cold. You can rely on information simply because it's been delivered to you through your senses. The second thing that you have to understand is that the human senses are limited. And that's masala that's accepted. Right? There's so much that's happening around us right now. I mean, in matter wise, that we don't see. There are sounds that we don't hear.
The human senses are limited.
So the second tier of knowledge, and this is where the sense is him touching the bottle.
Once he has this knowledge of touching the bottle gets cold or touching the bottle, okay, it's hot. He needs to fit it into the second tier, or the second path through which we acquire knowledge which is aka intellect.
He has to take this information, feed it into his intellect.
What does my intellect Tell me? He might say, well, it was called a little while ago because that's when I pulled it out of the fridge. It's hot right now because I left it in the sun for the last two hours. Makes sense. His alcohol helps him rationalize and make sense out of the world. Allah subhanho wa Taala has given the human being awesome.
And this article is so profound this intellect of the human being is so profound.
Therefore,
one thing that I always highlight to students is that any gathering or any circle of knowledge that stimulates you intellectually, makes you reconsider your perspective is another way of gathering that it's a gathering of knowledge you need to be in
because your alcohol is developing. Just like when you go to a gym, you build your muscles, right?
When you go to gather
Another Jockle should develop. Some folks when they teach, they teach you to lean on them, they don't teach you to walk.
Are you guys following me here?
Your job is to lean on me, you don't have a path of knowledge without me. So their job is to make people connected to them.
I would argue the better approach is to equip people with the right tools so that way they can see the world
in proper context of ethical morality that this is right. And this is wrong. Understanding things as intended by ALLAH SubhanA wa, tada, you're empowering them with knowledge, because that's what knowledge does, it empowers people, it gives them strength, it builds them, it develops them. Okay?
The intellect, but just with the senses. Now, this is the hard part. This is the part where the West takes a left turn and they go, you know, that meme where like, take a turn, and you're going,
this is where the West goes, they go like, take a turn.
And what is that it's this.
They believe the aka the intellect of the human being is foolproof and cannot be faulty.
So that's where the journey of knowledge ends. Prove it to me, make sure I can rationally understand it. If I do great if I don't, it's not happening.
And it's time we point out that the human output is powerful. But at the end of the day, like any other gift from Allah subhana wa, tada any other component of the human being, it's in a constant state of decline.
What else would it entail inserting a few hosts a time is in decline, the human being is in decline. You're over a llama as Allah subhana wa Tada tells us, and the human often is also It's incomplete. And there's a point where it just starts to decline and starts making its way down. There are things that you don't understand. And then there are things you do understand. And this is a lengthier discussion of the role of intellect, in religion.
Muslims are under this false notion that Islam discourages the usage of human intellect when it comes to rationalizing their religion. This is faulty, this is not true. This is not true at all.
Muslim scholars really emphasize the importance of understanding the deen through a rational, intellectual perspective. And that's because once that happens, once your mind is convinced of something, it's so much easier to do it. But if it hasn't, if it hasn't been rationalized to you, if your mind hasn't made sense out of something, you're going to be burdened with that thing. Someone tells you that you need to pray Salah and if you don't rationally understand why you're praying Salah it's gonna be hard for you.
Right? If you don't know why you're learning math, or why you're why you're learning science, when you're at a young age, it's going to be so hard for you, you're not going to get it why am I doing this? It's kind of like, you know, the story of every kid that ever went to Kumon in their life.
mom hates me, dad hates me, this is the closest thing to jam them in the dunya. So sad, they signed me up for Kumaon
this goes back to what I was saying earlier, when the when the objective is defined, the path to it becomes that much easier. So the second thing that often there are limitations to it. This must be understood.
The third tier
of knowledge. This is what they refer to as a Hubbard saga.
truthful information.
Right.
And when we're talking about truthful information here, I'm going to just jump right to the top of the ladder revelation.
It is them review revelation to be the highest source of knowledge. There is nothing above that.
This framework I offered right now.
It's something that Alama vata and Calum discuss thoroughly.
If there was a one that I have that I can wave, and have this embedded in the mind of every young Muslim, I would do it right now.
The whole formula skewed
people have revelation at the bottom of the list their senses on top of that, and their intellect above that. Revelation doesn't stand a chance to convince these people because they don't view they don't understand the priority that revelation has in their life. What does it actually mean?
So their politics Trump revelation. beats out of the Quran is like this miskeen kid that standing in the room that's trying to say, Don't do this. Don't do this.
And the people are saying, You stay quiet. But you talk when I talk to you, otherwise you look down to the corner. Don't speak too loud. No one's asking for your opinion Quran
that's what happens if this discussion doesn't exist. If this mindset doesn't exist, we teach Quran like this miskeen that standing in the corner of the room and timeout, that's how the Quran is treated. And then, when all the adults are done talking, at the end, when all the important decisions are done, and people have discussed, you know, how they're going to run their politics and what their worldview is, at the end of the gathering, they call the miskeen child Oh, put on come here. Why don't you do a little performance for us and read some Quran for us? And that miskeen stanza and reads a few verses and does a little performance they say you're done their performance
now go back to your corner.
This is our relationship with the Quran
we'll read it as an art
trashing story with you guys.
You guys know Jamal of the NASA
I didn't know
he was a ruler in Egypt who had strong communist leanings.
lightly put
so
well, I'm I'm trying to share the story with him. And he said that he heard this directly from the shift that was there.
So it's one of the nostrils once going for a meeting with a calmness.
He went there.
And when he went there, at the end of the meeting, they had some arts or someone came and they danced and didn't music and it was like a whole performance. After that was done. Job done awesome. Since the next meeting is in our on our home ground when you guys come, we're gonna have entertainment for you guys, too.
We'll show you what we can do.
So they had their meeting. And in the side room waiting was valuable posit, the famous reciter of the
party, the boss it was called in. And he was asked to read the Quran.
And when he read it out of the bus, it said himself and he shared the story with a scholar who shared it with me. I did the bus it said that I was reading the Quran in front of these Russian dudes
and ended that's and he said,
in the middle of my recitation, I looked up and they were all in tears.
Right? That's the effect of Quran has. That was his side of the story. Now that you hear my side of the story. Jimana. Wolfensohn,
he's talking about communism, and he brings brought in as our performance is just how you treat the Quran.
But your Quran isn't needed. The Quran isn't Welcome to the main discussion. The adults will talk about that you stand on the corner in the meantime, right, quietly timeout. And then when the big boys are done talking, we'll call you in for a little performance. That's what Revelation has become in the eyes of Muslims. You want to convince them now quoting the Quran and Sunnah is useless. You have to appeal to their rationality. And this is almost a tragedy
actually scrapped almost. This is a tragedy where we are. And it's because our priorities and understanding how knowledge is received and what weight should be given to each of these sources is skewed.
The last discussion we're going to have is knowledge, the LMR they say that there are three major tiers to seeking knowledge, the first before you even start seeking it, be sincere,
be sincere, for the sake of Allah subhanaw taala. And this is a great moment for us to renew our intentions. As we start this new series and new class. We ask Allah that He gives us pure intentions, because pure attentions cannot be acquired, but through him gifting it to us.
We don't know what pure intentions feel like we don't know what they look like. Yeah, Allah, so we asked you to give them to us. We asked you to open our mind and open our hearts and remove any distractions that we have.
Number two,
when you gain knowledge, with sincerity, the second thing is to do ama act upon it. Therefore, if you go back to the definition that Imam was it gave of knowledge. He talked about how knowledge is transformative and allows you to see your own flaws. So now that isn't gain for a tweet, or to share. First and foremost, it's 400.
Otherwise your knowledge won't bring any change. And the last thing
is now Tao NW. Once you have that knowledge, go and convey
To the world, right? People want to do our interviews. No, this is wrong. You're going to cause a big problem. They say we're only going to focus on the basics. We all know how that goes, right? Yes or no? Anyone that says I'm only going to focus on the basics, what happens 2010 minutes into the conversation.
They're getting fatigued.
That's what they're doing. Everyone within 10 minutes.
I was yesterday when we're having lunch with Hamza, he brought up this issue where
he's a Muslim scholars have historically agreed that abortion is haram in Islam, minus a few cases, minus a few scenarios where the mother's life is at risk. Or if there's * involved. There are some discussions there. But the general rule regarding abortion in Islam is what guys, it's not permitted. They don't allow it. He's these days, we have people out there who never read any true text with a scholar don't have any true mentorship, right? And they're out there giving fatwa that it's Gize because so and so said, it's so and so said it, you know, that, you know, so and so scholars said it and therefore it's jives, well you'll find fine opinions for everything. Right?
What credibility do you have to speak on behalf of the beam? So when it goes to activism in Dawa, first humble yourself and study the deen, every movement is going to be mean what I'm saying right now, but it's a real observation. It's a hard observation, every movement that has tried to gather the masses, to get them involved with that law, on the promise that we will only work off of the bare minimum.
In the long run, there's a lot of harm that comes out of it.
Do you guys understand, in the long run, there is a lot of harm that comes out of it, immediately, you get good results. Because small scope small knowledge, get everyone involved, let's get people going. And we're going to have results. The problem is two things I've seen. Number one, many of these folks forget to realize that their knowledge was limited. And when it comes to discussions outside of their scope, they don't hold back. They cause a lot of harm. And they speak with authority, even though they have zero.
Number two,
they end up belittling knowledge because they read they see that little law that has given me so much in terms of results. What's the point learning at all? It's like some dude who watched your YouTube videos and figured out how to lift a letter. And it's like, you know, guys, I already know this. Calm down, buddy. Right? They watched one video on how to do a crossover and do a fade away and then I go, I know how to play and I'm ready for the NBA. Slow down. I'll show you. Right, you're not ready for it right now. But they're arrogant. They're delusional. Right? And this is what they refer to as compound ignorance. They're unaware of their ignorance.
Now amplify that into a movement
Can you can you see this picture?
turned this one person into a whole movement. It becomes problematic. If you look at
Tao and W, Ws Gemma across the world, in the fundamental tenants are the fundamental CIFAR that a person is developing themselves to say.
Everyone needs to have been emphasized everyone needs to have him. There need to be circles of knowledge. Everyone needs to be constantly growing in their Deen because if that stops
because you can't get around, there's no good view. There's no good for you anymore. You can't you can't contribute here anymore. Okay, folks, with that we're gonna stop here. This is our first discussion. It was an introductory discussion to the subject. Since we are talking about education I wanted to spend this night speaking of knowledge, because that is the subject of education with Allah subhanahu with Allah's guidance, next week, inshallah we'll start the class. We pray that Allah subhanahu wa Tada accepts. And granted, Sophia was going along with that and I sent him home and said, I want even more light autoboca