Mirza Yawar Baig – Study Islam systematically
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
My brothers and sisters
there are 2
very very
wonderful positive things that have happened.
Of late.
Relatively recently
in the world
of Islam.
The first 1 is a heightened interest
in the religion.
Especially among the youth.
People are more interested in Islam. People are
more interested in learning about Islam. People are
more interested in
practicing Islam and
Andulla
they do that confidently
without apology
and
it has
a huge
good effect all around.
The second
big beneficial thing that has happened is that
our classical texts
have become much more accessible because of 2
things, 1 is translation
into different languages, especially now we're here we're
talking about English, and English is 1 of
the major languages
into which the classical texts have been
translated
and their availability
digitization of that so their availability
digitally.
Therefore
the,
this is made it, it has made it
easy
for people
who are interested in Islam to access information
about Islam.
But like all good things
there is a
downside to it.
The downside to it is that
somewhere
we seem to have lost the plot
with regard to the
methodology of blood. Now
this is a very, very
serious matter,
because
methodology
is critical,
absolutely essential and critical
to benefiting from the knowledge. So 1 is
the accessibility of the knowledge.
Is it easily accessible
or is it difficult to access? And the
second 1 is,
once I access it, am I in a
position to use it and benefit from it?
Now the 2
are independent questions and the 2 are
questions which,
are equally important.
And if you ask me which is more
important
of the 2, I would say the second
1, which is
my capability
of taking in and absorbing the knowledge.
Unless I have that capability
even the knowledge when it becomes easily accessible
will not benefit me because I don't know
how to use
it to the methodology.
All the way down to the present day.
There's a huge dearth
and shortage of
people who are
capable
of
preparing
others to receive the knowledge but they are
there.
Now
in the time of Nabi
specifically
the Sahaba but
also all the Sahaba
by definition
went through the school of
before they had access
to the data
knowledge in the form of information which was
the of Allah and the teachings of Rasulullah
so this is 1 big issue that we
need to deal with which is to say
that how can I prepare myself to receive
the knowledge
I always give this example, which is the
easiest example Inshallah to understand? That is example
of,
agriculture.
If
I was given
the best, the most powerful, the most,
most fertile
seeds,
most most productive
seeds
for say corn.
If I take this these seeds and I
just throw them somewhere in my garden
or in a field,
some will germinate,
most will die, they will be eaten by
insects and birds and this and that. And
even though the germinate will be very weak
and they will not be able to give
me a decent crop. Now even though
I had the best seed, so the fault
of that,
the the reason why I'm not getting a
good crop or any crop at all for
that matter is because I did not plant
the seed. I did not prepare the soil
adequately
before planting the seed. So what is required
is for us to, first of all, for
me to
prepare the soils or plow the soil, take
soil samples, check the pH value, acidity, alkalinity
of the soil, check the organic matter content,
check the check the presence of pathogens and
so on and so forth, and deal with
all of that
and prepare the soil to receive the seed.
Second thing is I need to plant the
seed
in the way that seed is to be
planted because there are some seed which have
to be planted deep. There are some seed
which have to be just literally scattered on
the top and then covered with a with
a just a little bit of scattering of
soil and so on. So and then the
and then the spacing, the distancing,
some seeds you can plant them close to
each other. Others, you have to plant make
sure that there is enough space between 2
sheets,
so that they have growing space and so
on.
Then when I start when I when I
fulfill all of these conditions and I plant
the seeds, then I have to water them.
I have to ensure that there is some
kind of irrigation system.
Either there is enough of natural rainfall or
I have to have a irrigation system, which
ensures that those seeds will germinate.
They will grow, and they will have enough
water
at that time
to be able to grow. And also
in that phase of growth, I have to
protect this crop
from all kinds of threats. It might be
threats of of, pathogens,
of insects,
threats of, for example,
wild animals,
cattle, whatnot, eating up my crop. I have
to prepare, I have to
protect my crop from all of this. If
I do all of these things and believe
it is a whole bunch of stuff
then
I will
have a beautiful crop
which will be in keeping
with the potential
of those seeds to give me a better
yield than anybody else's.
Now this is the exact same situation
with the acquisition of knowledge,
especially the knowledge of any practice.
For example, if I was learning Aikido or
Judo then simply reading a book on Judo,
watching a bunch of tips on video tapes
on Judo,
listening to a lecture on judo will not
teach me how to fight.
They will teach me about judo, but if
I go out of that lecture hall and
I am mugged on the street, I will
be dead because I will not know how
to defend myself
because I did not learn to practice judo.
I only learned about judo. Exactly the same
thing with Islam. Islam is the name of
a practice. It is not the name of
a theory, it's not the name of a
of a concept, it's not the name of
a philosophy,
it's the name of an actual practice
and therefore
unless I practice the deem
and when I'm practicing it, it will be
painful because it will be a new thing,
especially
depending on what I at which stage of
my life I start practicing it, depending on
what all I have been doing with my
life until that stage,
that practice will be easy
or difficult.
But if I want to benefit from it,
I have to actually practice the deal. And
then as I am practicing,
like, for example, if I am,
if I am training to become a surgeon
or a physician,
once I finished
the theoretical
part of the of the of my study,
then I go into what is different places.
What is called residency and other was called
house surgeonship and whatnot, meaning that I am
now practicing
medicine or surgery
under the supervision
of a professor, under the vision of it,
a senior doctor, senior physician,
senior surgeon
who watches me,
as I practice,
he or she will then guide me, they
will correct me, they will give me feedback,
they will make sure that I do it
in a way which is safe for myself
as well as for my patients.
Now once they are satisfied
then they give me what is called in
Arabic Ijazah, what is called in English,
a degree and this degree then entitles me
and,
makes it possible and legal
for me to go practice medicine by myself
independently
without being supervised. Now this is exactly the
same process
which used to be for Islam and which
still needs to be that this is what
we need to bring into the system. But
unfortunately,
I'm looping back to my original statement,
and I'm saying unfortunate because
the good side of it, which is that
classical text and so on,
became easily accessible.
What went out of the window is this
whole process of training
under a
person of knowledge.
We somehow assume that this is necessary for
agriculture.
It is necessary for repairing a bicycle. It
is necessary for medicine and surgery. It is
necessary if you want to learn how to
drive a car, but for some funny reason
it is not necessary
if I want to learn
about the only thing in which matters in
life, which is the rida of Allah and
how to benefit my Akhirah. Now it sounds
completely insane, but that that is our,
seems to be our our focus that
training under somebody,
following a process of learning and training under
a senior person is necessary for everything in
life. Nobody ever questions that. If you question
it, people will say you are stupid. If
you say, well, why do I need to
train,
learn to drive under somebody I know about
driving? I can watch videos on driving,
and so on. I'm gonna take my car
and go. You will kill yourself. Even if
you don't kill yourself, you'll go to jail
because you have no license. You have not
practice under somebody. Nobody will ever even question
this. But as far as the Islam is
concerned, everybody is an instant Mufti because you
managed to,
watch a few videos, you went to this
weekend course and that weekend course, or you
picked up this book and that book and
you read on your own. And for a
lot of us, if not most of us,
we are not even reading the the original
text in their original language,
which for all the original fundamental books is
only 1 language and that is Arabic. We
don't know enough Arabic to read them and
understand them
in the exact way and form in which
that text is written, the classical Arabic. We
don't know that.
So we access them in our own languages,
which is, which which are Urdu and this
and that and and and English and whatnot.
No problem with that. By all means, access
them, read them, learn. But
if you consider yourself to be an expert
on that basis that you what you you
watched a few videos, you went to some,
weekend or other courses and then you read
this book and that book as a translation
of that including the Kalam of Allah, including
the Quran and using you are an expert,
believe me or not, you
are like they say
in
the the the the semi
doctor, the quack
is a danger to life and the semi
the semi
Mouli, the semi alim,
is a danger to Iman and Aqira, and
that is where you will be.
So I strongly advise you those of you
who are interested
in Islam, I applaud it, I I praise
it, I thank Allah
that he put this interest in your heart
and I ask you also to thank Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that he put this interest
in your heart and
then I advise you
to study and follow the Deen
methodically,
systematically
as it has been taught and sent and
and taught and as it has come down
to us
to 1400
years of scholarship.
We talk more about this, but think about
this. If somebody is going to trash 1400
years of scholarship and say that I have
read this and therefore I am the expert.
I do not need anybody else. I don't
need any of the and the I
don't need any of the Sahaba.
I I need himself
or not. But I think I am, good
to go with this because I can read
the Quran. I have read a translation in
English or whatnot.
Please believe me save yourself
from the anger of Allah. Save yourself from
hellfire because
if you practice Islam in that way you
are headed for for the wrong place and
I strongly recommend, please don't do that. If
you want to learn the deal,
learn it systematically
otherwise
just follow
your
your your farayd fulfill whatever Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala made further on you and you're good
to go inshallah. But if you don't do
that, if you insist
on,
taking bits and pieces from here and there,
This translation, that translation and then based on
that if you want to pronounce rulings and
then
may Allah help you and may Allah help
those who follow you because on the day
of judgement
you will become answerable to Allah
for playing games and for joking with his
religion. We ask Allah to save us from
this calamity.