Mirza Yawar Baig – Iman bil Ghayb #02
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AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
We continue with
the yesterday, which is
Emmanuel. Is it rational or not rational?
My submission to you is that Emmanuel
is completely and totally rational
because as I told you, the opposite of
rational is irrational.
So iman Bilhayb cannot possibly be irrational.
And if I believe as a Muslim that
iman Bilhayb
is irrational
then I cease to be a Muslim because
if I'm going to say something which Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
declared to be true
as irrational, then I have to rethink my
iman.
So it is completely rational. How do I
say that? What is my grounds for saying
that iman bilharay
which is iman in the unperceivable
that this is rational. So let me explain
to you.
The thing to do is
to first
ask another question before we go to
is Emmanuel very rational or not. The question
to ask is, what is rational?
When I say something is rational,
what exactly do I mean?
This term rational or something irrational, the opposite
of that. What is the basis of that?
Now the usual basis
of rationality
is
it must be something which within quotes makes
sense to me, meaning which I understand.
So first criterion
of rationality,
which we place for ourselves is something which
I understand.
Number 2, second criterion of rationality,
which we we which we place for ourselves
and which people generally believe in is that
it should be something
which is perceivable
by our senses.
Now take these two things and put it,
let us look at something like,
nanotechnology.
Let us look at something like,
an MRI report.
Right?
If you ask me,
I'm a behavioral scientist. I'm a,
consultant to,
family
owned businesses.
I am a leadership trainer.
I am an author,
many books.
I'm,
an imam,
you know, and so on and so on.
But I'm not a neurologist.
I'm not
somebody
who can understand
an MRI picture.
So as far as I'm concerned,
the MRI
picture is just something, you know, it's like
maybe it's a piece of abstract art or
something. Right? As far as I'm concerned, it
makes no it makes zero sense to me.
So if you ask me, did you understand
this MRI? No. I did not understand MRI
whatsoever.
Did you understand any part of the MRI?
No. I did not understand any part of
the MRI.
But
when I take this MRI
to my doctor
and my doctor gives me certain advice based
on that MRI,
Do I believe the doctor?
Do I follow the advice? Of course.
Why do I do that when I did
not understand the MRI?
So as far as I'm concerned, my belief,
my following the doctor,
if I use this
definition for rationality, which is that I must
understand it,
then my behavior is completely irrational.
Now if I say this to you, you
might say no. No. Hold on a second.
Your behavior is not irrational because your behavior
is based on something else. And what is
that something else? You believe in the doctor.
You believe in the knowledge of the doctor,
and you believe in the good intentions of
your doctor. You believe that this doctor has
the knowledge to understand
what this MRI is reporting and showing,
and
you believe that this doctor wishes well for
you.
So the advice that this doctor is gonna
give you will be for your benefit and
will not harm you. Right?
It we our our
reaction
or our response
to the doctor
is based on these 2,
very important beliefs.
We believe them, we may not articulate these
beliefs, you may not talk about them, but
this is the basis of the belief that
I believe the doctor is
has the knowledge to understand this MRI report,
and I believe that the advice the doctor
is gonna give me will be beneficial for
me. Therefore,
even though I don't understand
the MRI report myself,
I will still do what the doctor is
telling me to do. This is our
rationality which we use in our lives. Now
my question is, that is exactly what Allah
is telling us to do when it comes
to his book and to the teachings of
this book the teachings of Muhammad which
is
believe in it
because
the Rasool, salallahu alaihi salam, said so.
Follow it because the Rasool, sallallahu salam, said
so. And why should I follow it? Because
of the Rasool saying it?
Because
because the Rasul does not speak of his
own volition.
The Rasool only says what he has been
told to say. He only narrates
the revelation that has been sent to him.
So my belief in the,
my belief in
my belief in what happens in the grave,
My belief in all of these things and
more
is entirely
and completely and totally
rational,
even though none of those things are from
my perception.
Let me give you another example.
The example is Allah said the first
Ayat
Allah said, all glory and majesty
and,
all greatness is for the one who took
his slave. In this case, Muhammad
from Masjid Al Haram, which is in Makkah,
to Masjid Al Aqsa, which is in Jerusalem,
in one night.
And from there, he took him into the
heavens
to show
him his signs. But the
the environs of which the surroundings of which
are holy and they are purified.
The around that
is is the blessing of Allah
and
its surroundings are blessed and
Allah said to show him our signs
to show him our signs. And for this
Allah
showed him the signs on the earth and
he showed him the signs in the heavens
in a way that pleases
his majesty and grace. Now
come back to the question of rationality, which
is I'm giving you now an example
of actual fact which happened,
which we know
from the record of the seerah. Rasool
went on this,
wonderful celestial
journey of Isaw al Mirad,
and when he returned,
he announced this to the people.
Now
what was the reaction of the people of
Mecca?
The reaction of the majority of the people
of Mecca was, this is irrational.
This cannot possibly happen.
Why? Because I don't understand how it could
have happened.
So I don't believe you
because this is not part of my experience
in life.
Right?
I don't believe this could have happened to
you because it could not could not have
happened to me. I don't believe this happened
to you because it did not happen to
me. I believe this I do not believe
that this is how you feel. This is
what you saw because I never felt that
and I never saw that.
I'm I'm deliberately saying these things because to
show you how irrational
that kind of an argument
is. You will not say the same thing
to anybody else for anything else about anything
else.
Right? Never. Because
we know that there are many people in
the world who
have all kinds of amazing experiences,
and we believe them because we believe them
because we know they are not lying. We
we know they are not liars and cheats,
so we believe them.
But in this case, we say no. We
say, well, you know, I haven't seen it.
Didn't happen to me, so therefore, I do
not believe it. Now
people came to our work
and they said to him, do you know
what your friend is saying? This is what
he is saying. He said your friend is
saying that in one night he went from
Mecca to Jerusalem and then up in the
heavens
and he saw whatever you saw and so
on so forth and he came back,
do you believe that? Abokar said this, the
response was what he said
If he said that, I believe.
He did not say yes. It happened. No.
It didn't happen. He said if he said
that. So what is the what is the
question
to be verified?
The question to be verified is not whether
what he said makes sense, doesn't make sense,
reasonable, not reasonable,
scientific, not scientific, logical, not logical.
The thing to verify is,
did he say it? If he said it,
I believe it no matter what it looks
like to you or me.
And what is the reason for that?
Exactly the same reason
for which I believe my doctor
because I believe the doctor.
I believe that the doctor's knowledge is superior
to mine. I believe that the doctor can
see things that I can't see not because
he,
he's got some kind of, you know, superior
vision, but because we see with our knowledge.
We don't just see with our eyes.
So the doctor is able to see things
in the report, in the MRI report, which
I cannot see because he has knowledge which
is superior, which is specialized,
which I don't have. So what do I
do? I
believe the doctor because I know the doctor
wishes well for me. So the question for
to ask ourselves is, what do we believe
about Rasulullah SAW WALLAM? Do we believe that
he his knowledge was superior to ours or
not? Do we believe that he wished well
for us or not?
It's as simple as that. If I believe
that the knowledge of the Rasool alayhis salaam
was not just superior, but there is not
even a comparison
between his knowledge and my knowledge, and this
is this is my belief and Allah is
my witness.
And I believe that Rasool, alayhis salatu wa
salam,
wished the best for me and for his
entire ummah
more than my own mother would have wished
for me, my own father would have wished
for me, and this is also my iman
and Yaqeen, my witness, then I believe that
Rasool, alayhis salaam.
I don't ask questions,
not because I am believing blind, but because
I am believing with complete rationality
in the messengership
of Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
So I'm not concerned with, do I understand
this
concept in my mind? Because I know that
with my knowledge, I can only understand that
much. If I can't understand an MRI, MRI,
how the * am I supposed to understand
what happens in the grave or what happens
in the other day of judgment and so
on and so forth? I have to go
by the word of somebody whose knowledge is
superior to mine and in whose good intention,
in whose love for me and concern for
me I have complete and total faith, and
that is Muhammad.
This is the meaning of iman bil rayb