Mirza Yawar Baig – The reality of rationality
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My brothers and sisters, we hear many times
that Islam is a reasonable, logical and rational
religion and that Allah has
encouraged us to think and reflect
for example Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala said
don't you think don't you remember
Don't you reflect? Don't you make figure?
Don't you see and so on.
Allah addressed us by terms such as
or
people of intelligence.
Oh, people
who can see and so on. So the
Quran encourages rational thought.
Now all is well until this time. However,
some people take this to mean that we
are free to take any eye of the
Quran
and or any hadith of Rasool Allah Subhanahu
Wa Salam and come to our own come
to our own conclusions about it and legislate
according to those conclusions
without any reference to and indeed even denying,
denigrating, and discounting the 14th centuries of scholarship
that is behind the interpretation of the Quran
and the laws of our Sharia.
The pope the proponents
of this what is really irrational,
illogical, and dangerous philosophy are the ones that
I want to address here. Let us begin
with defining logic and rationality
because that is the foundation of the argument.
The basic statement we make when we study
logic or state talk about logic is
that if an argument is valid, then every
argument with the same form is also valid.
Similarly,
if an argument is invalid,
then every argument with the same form is
also invalid.
So the first thing to ask is, what
is the basis of my logic?
What is the basis of my logic? That
is the first question
that we need to ask.
Those those who talk about logic and rationality,
that is the first question that they need
to ask.
Let me,
for those who may not know
or may not have studied logic,
logic is not just some thought that comes
into your mind. There is a discipline
called logic.
It used to
be once upon a time a whole subject
in our,
duros, in our syllabus,
in our.
There are 3 fundamental
laws of logic as defined by Aristotle.
The first one is called the law of
identity,
and that is if something is identified as
as one thing, then that is what it
is. If something is milk, it is milk.
It is not water. It is not wine.
It is not ink. It is milk.
The law of identity basically states
that anything that has been determined to be
true must be identical to itself and different
from other things.
As I I give you the example of
milk,
compared to other things. Similarly,
for example, if a snake is venomous,
then it is not non venomous.
So it is not
harmless. It is venomous.
And someone who knows the difference between the
two
but is afraid of all snakes
is irrational.
Because he knows the difference between a venomous
snake and a non venomous snake. And obviously,
he knows that a venomous snake is harmful
and a non venomous snake is not harmful,
but he fears all snakes. So you have
to say that this person is being irrational.
The second law is called the law of
non contradiction
which says that if something is one thing
it cannot be its opposite at the same
time. If something is black, it can't be
white at the same time and vice versa,
and that's the law of non contradiction.
Non con this is
so the law of non contradiction,
for example,
it would state that
if something,
is true,
it cannot be
it cannot not be true. It cannot be
false at the same time. If something is
true,
it
cannot
not be true or cannot be false at
the same time.
One way to look at it is to
see 2 opposing
religious beliefs
and use the law of non contradiction
to evaluate them. One belief is that there
is a heaven
that people go to when they die. The
other belief is that there is no heaven
at all. Now each belief seems legitimate on
its own but when compared to each other,
one of them must be false. So if
there is a heaven then you cannot have
a situation where there's no heaven and vice
versa. So if heaven is real for 1
person, for example, then it must be real
for everyone. It's not a heaven that is
made only for 1 individual.
The third one is called the law of
the excluded
middle.
The law of the excluded middle,
which means that everything is one or the
other and not something in the middle of
those two things.
A way to think about this law is,
for example, regarding death.
Being is either alive or dead. There isn't
another state that a living being can be
in which is neither living nor dead. An
unconscious person for example is still alive.
He's not dead. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala challenged
the disbelievers
with respect to their belief in the creator.
For example in this, to to to, emphasize
this. And he said,
He said ask them oh prophet Muhammad,
to whom
belong the earth and all those on it.
If you really know, they will say to
Allah.
Say to them, why are you not then
mindful?
Ask them, who is the rub of the
7 heavens and the rub of the mighty
throne?
They will say, Allah,
say, will you not then fear him? Ask
them also in whose hands is the authority
over all things protecting all while none can
protect him
If you really know,
and they will say the same thing. They
will say,
They will say they will reply, Allah,
say, how are you then so deluded?
In another place, Suratul and Kabut, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala
said,
If you ask them, oh, prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam,
who created the heavens and the earth and
subjected the sun and the moon for your
benefit, they will certainly say Allah. How can
they then be deluded from the truth?
The question to ask
those who claim to believe in Allah
as the creator,
we are looking at all of this from
a rational perspective
so the question to ask those who claim
to believe in Allah as the creator is
why do you believe this
When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying all
of these things,
why do you believe this? Because think about
this because the atheists
have an answer to all the above
all these questions, which is that it is
all accident
and does not point to a creator.
If you say that you believe that there
is a creator,
it means that by the fundamental laws of
logic, you can't at the same time believe
that there is no creator. So what is
your belief? Is there a creator or not?
And if there is a creator, is it
Allah?
If you say yes to both these questions,
then the next question is, why do you
believe this?
What is your logic
or rationale?
Now if you say no, then obviously you
are not a Muslim because if you say
that the creator that there is no creator
or the creator is not Allah, then you
are not a Muslim and we have no
further,
nothing more to say. But if you say
yes, there is a creator and yes, that
creator is not some way creator creator, but
it's Allah
which is you're saying yes to both these
questions. Next question then for it therefore is
why do you say that? Why do you
believe this? What is your logic?
Because we are talking about logic. What is
your logic? What is your rationale?
The only possible answer to that can can
be
because Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Salam told us so
because Rasulullah Sallallahu
said so. The question is, why do you
believe what he told you?
Answer because
we believe in him
that he was the messenger of Allah and
we believe him
that he never lied and always spoke the
truth. I want to define these two things,
believing in him is the meaning of
that you believe he was the rasul of
Allah, believing him is to believe that he
was truthful.
Even the Quraish who did not believe in
him,
who did not accept him as the messenger
of Allah, they believe that he was truthful.
They gave him the title asaduqal Amin before
they came to Islam. Many of them never
came to Islam, but they did not say
that Muhammad sallallahu alaihi was a liar.
But, they said he was deluded. They said
he was, you
know,
and so on. They said he had he
was, affected by a jinn,
but they did not say he is a
liar. Nobody ever accused him of lying. So
they believe that he he spoke the truth.
Here, the issue is not that here, the
issue is for a Muslim. We have to
believe in him as the messenger of Allah
salallahu alaihi salam, and we believe that he
never lied. So the question is because
I believe Allah is the creator
because Mohammed
said so, and I believe what Mohammed said
because I believe in him, and I believe
that he spoke the truth.
Question is, if that is your logic that
we believe what Rasulullah
told us with respect to Allah,
then that applies
to
the entire Quran.
Right? It cannot apply only to the issue
of creation.
Not only to creation, but to the entire
Quran. If you agree, then what is the
logic about saying? We believe in what Rasoolah
told us about the Quran, but
when it comes to the laws of the
sharia,
which we all which he also told us
about and commanded us to follow, we will
do whatever
within quotes makes sense to us, which is
appeals to our
rationality
and logic.
Now that would be
the most irrational
and illogical statement that you can make. And
that's why I began with the fundamentals of
logic. If you don't get this point, go
back and listen to this thing from the
beginning.
I repeat here that if you agree,
then what is the logic about saying we
believe in what
told us about the creation,
but when it comes to other things in
the Quran, the laws of the Sharia, which
he also told us about and commanded us
to follow the same person. We will do
whatever makes sense to us. We will not
obey him. We will not do what he
tells us.
Whatever makes sense, meaning, whatever appeals to what
we call logic,
our logic,
that would be and is the most irrational
and illogical statement that you can make. That
is why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala called the
behavior shirk and the worship, the ibadah of
Hawa,
of desires. Allah Subhanahu wa'ala
said,
Have you seen, oh, Muhammad, the
one who has who has taken
his own desires
as their god. Have you seen those
who have taken
their own
desire
as
their god, will you then be a keeper
or advocate over them? Allah is telling them,
mister Salam, do not make intercession for them.
Who? For those who
give their desires, precedence over the orders of
Allah. Please note that according to the fundamental
laws of logic, you can neither believe that
the Quran. You can do around 2 things.
You can either believe that the Quran is
divine revelation and that Muhammad is the messenger
of Allah
and is divinely
inspired
and receives
and received revelation
and so we believe everything he told us
not because we necessarily understand it all, but
because we believe in him and trust him
and believe him. Three things, believe in him,
trust him, and believe him.
Or the opposite that is, we will only
believe what makes sense to our reason, which
is subject to the individual's knowledge base.
Obviously, the reason of a 5 year old
cannot be the reason of a 30 year
old with a PhD.
Then we must ask why they believe such
people
who say I only believe what is
what appeals to my reason,
ask them why do they believe
in MRIs and medical,
diagnostic technology,
mobile phone technology,
curvature of space,
quarks, subatomic particles,
genetic code, and a million other things which
we take for granted as being true, though
we have no clue and cannot even describe
them. Nobody can even define them. Yet we
believe them to be true. Why do we
believe that? The answer can only be because
we know that someone somewhere,
though we don't even know who that person
is, knows about them. We believe them because
we believe that someone who knows them spoke
the truth. In that case,
the last question,
what is your real belief
about Rasoolallahu alaihi
sallam? What is your real belief about Rasoolallahu
alaihi wa sallam? Think very carefully because we
will be asked this question in our graves.
I remind myself my brothers and sisters
about what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said about
those who pick and choose what they want
to believe and obey
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
said about them,
Allah said, do you believe in some of
the scripture
and reject the rest? Is there any reward
for those who do so among you other
than disgrace in this worldly life and being
subjected to the harshest punishment on the day
of judgment. For Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
never unaware
of what you do.
I remind myself and you, selective obedience
is disobedience.
Selective obedience
is arrogance. That is why Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala warned us of such severe punishment
in this life and the next. For the
believer,
there is only one option
after having believed.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala said,
Allah
said,
The only response of the true believers
when they are called to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala and his messenger
so that he may judge between them is
to say we hear and we obey. It
is they who will truly succeed.
I remind myself when you let us be
logical.
Let us be reasonable.
Let us be rational.
Let us be very clear
about all of these things and be sure
that we are,
rational
in a way
which is
correct
that we are rational in a rational way
and not,
you become irrational
when it comes to using rationality
to understand the kitab of Allah and the
Sunnah of Rasoolallahu
Alaihi Wasallam.