Mohammad Elshinawy – The QurAn And Intellectual Humility
AI: Summary ©
The importance of learning and being aware of the physical world for becoming more knowledgeable and knowledgeable is emphasized. The "has been revealed" concept used in the title of Islam is discussed, including the depiction of Islam in the century before the Great War and the claims of the mother of a child named Saba. The importance of knowing one's own functions and sharing best practices is also emphasized. The "has been revealed" concept used in the title of Islam is discussed, including the depiction of Islam in the past and the importance of trusting and relying on one's own abilities.
AI: Summary ©
After praising Allah Subhana Allah to Allah and testifying to his unique oneness and to the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam.
And after reminding myself I knew at the Taqwa of Allah, to commit yourself to being conscious of Allah and consistent and dutiful, to him and with him, Subhanahu wata Allah, the glorified and exalted
my brothers and sisters, you know, in the past the wise across civilizations, it's almost like a universal principle. They used to say that the more I learn, the more sure the more certain I become of my ignorance.
And this should make perfect sense. Because if you're learning something new, every brand new day, you're learning yet something else that you didn't know yesterday, you're constantly being reminded of your ignorance.
Of course, had we held on to that golden principle, in this day and age, right? We are in the age of unprecedented know how we are learning so much more, so much faster, we would become more humble than ever had we held on to the principle.
Because we continue to develop more and more of a realization, just how astronomically complex things actually are. Nature actually is, you know, those who specialize nowadays, and whether they talk about the famous butterfly effect, they called Chaos Theory, it's this theory that it will always be to us chaos we can never know and predict weather and 100% accuracy, never. And they give the example of the fact that a butterfly could be flapping its fragile wings somewhere in South America. And then it just continues to build with you know, atmospheric pressure or whatnot. Until two weeks later, you have a tornado somewhere in Texas, how can you ever figure this out? The
variables are just too many.
Or a very good friend of mine is often, you know, sharing with me what we thought were no brainers in medicine, that turned out to be actually very incorrect. He works with, you know, premature babies. And he said to me, when a premature baby is born, you think no brainer, give the baby some oxygen, what could go wrong with oxygen, oxygen is a good thing. Who can ever assume that 100% Oxygen could be you know, even 1% bet, he said, but now we realize it wasn't so smart. Just now we're starting to realize that the limited oxygen that the baby gets, while inside its mother's womb, for those, that full term is actually good for it. Because the pathways of the blood, right,
that bring oxygen to places and pull back, you know, the carbon dioxide from that all those pathways don't finish spinning out, except that they're looking for oxygen, if you will, in simplistic terms, this is not my specialization. And so if you give the baby too much oxygen outside of their mother's womb, you think it's healthy. But you could actually be slowing down the blood getting to its eyes, and they become visually impaired, because their eyes aren't fully wired now, with channels for the oxygen to get there, and so on and so forth.
Or he said to me once that we thought we were improving on mommy's milk, when you give these babies formula, you see formula, they pull the lactose from formula, right. And lactose is basically the, the sugar in the milk. And this will be my last medicine example, because this is not my niche. But he says babies can't break down lactose. So you pull out the lactose, and it's better for the baby. So the baby doesn't get gassy. The baby doesn't get fussy.
But the mommy's milk has lactose. And we thought, let's refine it. Let's be smart here. Now we realize that even though the baby can't break down this sugar, that it's in the mommies milk, the wisdom and it being there is that it's rotting a little bit in the newborns belly triggers the baby's immune system. And that's why we have nowadays due to like intervening, right meddling. We have weaker immune systems in general with babies. It could be remotely related to why there's so many earlier diseases or so many different allergies out there in the later generations or the current generations in the newborns.
And so
nowadays, instead of getting more and more aware of our ignorance with the acceleration of learning, sadly, it's the very opposite. The more we learn nowadays, the more we're certain that there's nothing to know somehow except for
What we've already learned five minutes ago, the ludicrous nature how foolish can we be the missing piece here? Why does one person learn and become humble and another person learn and become intoxicated? Because this second person, all they see is themselves. When you remove God from the equation, this is the tragedy of the mindset, the worldview of a godless world, a godless personality, a godless society.
When you think man, human is at the center, what humans understand is all there is to be understood. What humans can't understand cannot be understood. This is a delusion, right?
What our science and we should always remember so far has told us That's our new god, right? What logic our logic presumed logic delivers us. So that's the ultimate fact. That's the reference point. That's where people are now what is the Quran do the Quran shatters is for a person? The Quranic worldview says Allah is at the center. Allah is the source of all knowledge.
What are you here to be che mineral me he lebih Masha, they don't know anything that is the default in men. He blindfolded, utterly incapable of discovering anything. They do not have anything of his knowledge, except the little bit He permits. That's the Quranic grounding. The Quranic worldview anchors you in that humility, intellectual humility, it guards you from becoming intoxicated with the little tidbits you learn here and there. Wallah who yeah Alam will Entomb letter Allah moon, Allah knows you don't know
except the bit He permits for you to temporarily know.
And the Quran doesn't just state these as facts, the Quran remedies and builds guards for the person that could fall into this. You know,
so many depictions in the Quran. On this issue, you have the story of the wood and Sulaiman Alehissalaam who are prophets and kings right in the Quran, and people come to them as the authorities for judgment right? In one instance in the Quran, Allah says if Yakko man if it healthy, if never shed fee he Ivana will comb, what coonelly Hook me him share hidden.
Recall to them all Mohamed people need to remember these things. It's very important, the incident of Deadwood and Sulaiman when both of them passed their verdict on the crops that were overrun, and we were witnesses to this whole account.
For him now has to lay man, and so we gave the proper understanding, the right verdict, supreme justice, to suit a man meaning not that would, the verse says we're cool and attain a Hoekman or Ilma. But both of them we endowed them with wisdom and knowledge. So no one looks down upon the wood, right? What happened here? What is the overrun crops, be? A man came or a group of people came and said, This guy, his flock of lambs came into my property and ruined my crops ate everything.
So, you know, compensate me,
penalize him. So the word Alehissalaam his verdict was, he ruined your assets, your farm, so you get his assets, Fair's fair. The flock belongs to you now.
Suleiman Alehissalaam disagreed, and said, No, that's not fair. He ruined his assets for one year, he's gonna get a crop next year.
And he gets his assets forever. He gets to keep the flock of sheep for one year, he can sell their wool and make babies out of them, right, whatever, you're gonna get milk. He keeps his flock for one year until his farm grows back the next season. Then he gives him his flock back. So that more pristine, more nuanced version of justice was the understanding Allah gave today, man. Well, Colin attina Akuma Anwar Elma, but we gave them all knowledge and great wisdom, both of them.
There's another incident like this actually inside the body ever heard about the Aloha narrates that an elderly older woman and a younger woman both with their children, or taking care of the lens in the mountains, and a wolf mall, the the older ladies child and killed it.
So the older lady abducts the younger ladies child, and says, This is my kid. So they fight over the child and they bring the fight to the king and the Prophet alayhi salam.
And he says, After hearing from both parties, the evidence seems to suggest that it does belong to the older woman and he gives the older woman who isn't the mother, the child. And so as they're exiting so they might not ASAM is returning home and the younger one come
Lane's to him. Your father gave this lady my kid.
And the older one is saying, That's not her kid. It's my kid. The verdicts been passed. That's it. So Sulaiman Alehissalaam says, It Tony be seeking in a shoe co Hubei nakoma. Just bring me a knife, I'll fix it. Split the kid into between you, you get half and he she gets half.
And so when he said that, the actual mother, the younger woman said, no, please don't do this. May Allah have mercy on you, he belongs to the older woman.
But when the older woman didn't do the same, when the older woman didn't flinch, he realized is not your actual child? And he said, No, he's yours. And he overturn the ruling of his father again, and gave the child to the younger mother, the actual mother.
But then you go further in the Quran, and you find in sort of the Nemo, Sulaiman Alehissalaam, who understand so much, and you know, the languages of the animals, and he controls the domains of the kingdoms, even the animal kingdoms.
He says, you know, this bird, my scouting bird, the Hopi bird, the hood messed up, and I'm gonna punish it severely. And then the bird comes back and says, how to be my lamb to help me I have discovered something that you're oblivious to you know nothing about what to come in Saba in beneva in pain I have just come to you from a kingdom in Yemen called Shiva. I've come to you with certain news
about this kingdom that you know nothing about. What do all these stories have in common?
Allah continues not just to show the most knowledgeable people that he knows best. But he continues to show us because we need this so badly so we don't get intoxicated. He continues to show us that even those beneath us sometimes there would be incorrect it again and again by his son, then sorry, man, I said I'm the wise is being corrected by a bird right? Being educated by a bird regarding with he has no idea about this remedies in us that lack of intellectual humility, that is rampant and will continue to be rampant in a human centric world in a godless personality and mindset. You know, I've said to you before, the number one, suppose it proof for atheism out there is that it is
illogical. It doesn't make sense that there's a God if there's problems in the world, just because you can't see the wisdom through the problems doesn't mean there's no wisdom, your lenses need to get Finnick fix, you're not the reference point. You see chaos, because you're like an ends on the carpet, seeing colorful strands in every direction. You don't have the ability to step back and see the beauty in the tapestry.
Or, as one writer said, You're like the caterpillar that sees the world closing in and thinking this is a disaster. But in the grander scheme of things you're about to turn into a butterfly, you're about to turn into morph into something more profound, more beautiful, right? You just can't see it. Or like others in the godless society, you say, the scientific proof for evolution being these useless organs we have, they call them these vestigial functionless organs. This is proof leftover organs from you know, pre evolutionary days. They were about 180 of them by the way. Now they're down to like the appendix and people are talking about Wait, we might have figured out what the
appendix is 480 vanishing proofs of evolution as we continue to learn each day their functions humbled down and know that knowledge belongs to God a whole a whole you have our stuff for Allah Allah Murray welcome.
Al hamdu Lillahi wa salatu salam ala Nabi about that shadow Allah, Allah illallah wa hola Sharika who shadow and Muhammad and I will do whenever you who are pseudo.
This evening in sha Allah of the reasons why I was reflecting on these stories is because we begin the story of knowledge tonight, we're continue our journey through social KEF after ratio every Friday night and we're at the story of Musa la salmon herder. And that is the story of knowledge. And it follows the same pattern.
Allah sends Musa alayhis salam who is superior and more knowledgeable than 100 Alehissalaam.
But he still has to go learn from him. The fact that there are things I don't know, that I may never be able to know. And you all know in general the story, right? Why did you puncture that ship? They're all going to drown he couldn't see that there was more to the story, even though he Alehissalaam was in a basket as a baby and didn't drown. Notice that the relevance of those three stories
And then they go on and the kid is killed. Like what are you killing a young lad for? And it was more than meets the eye just like you owe Musa. Right. People thought you committed murder and that's why you fled from Egypt, as I suppose it fugitive and there was more to the story. Why didn't you take money these people wouldn't even hostess Why didn't you take money for rebuilding that wall for the two orphans when you we were so desperate for it and he couldn't see that you owe Musa yourself at a different time help those two girls in Medina dwell when you are so desperate and you didn't ask for payments.
Sometimes things can be right under our eyes. And if Allah doesn't permit for us to know them, we will never know them.
You know, very quickly that's like this other incident that is not in the Quran. But it is mentioned in some of the history books that Musa alayhis salam said, Oh Allah,
I want to see your justice play out in this world, because normally the next world is for repayment. More often than not, this world is the exam room. That's the results over there. But he wanted to see it, to increase in faith on top of his faith and certainty on top of his certainty. So Allah said to him, All right, go to this location, and don't get involved. So he goes, and he finds a soldier pull up behind his horse to drink and drop his bag of money doesn't get involved.
And then a young boy comes to drink from that same lake or river finds the money gets happy and walks away, doesn't get involved.
And then an elderly blind man comes making his way to the lake to drink. The soldier comes back, where's my money? He tells him what do you mean money, I'm blind. I can't see anything. I didn't see your money. He gets frustrated and kills the old man. Musa alayhis salam is not allowed to tell the first guy you dropped your money. Or the second that's not your money kid. Or the third one stop, don't kill the innocent man. And he goes back and says y'all, I don't get it.
I asked to see your justice and like our hard earned money dropped. Kid take something not rightfully his innocent man being killed, is it oh Musa, what you cannot know. What you could not have known is that this soldier had killed this young boy's father. So against his will, I'm having him spend on this young kid in place of his father.
And that old man years ago, had killed that soldiers father.
And so he deserved what happened to him today. You know, Allah told Musa alayhis salam with a hadith and in this second story, don't get involved. Right. So don't miss the point. If you see injustice, we were told differently, we were told get involved as best you can. But the idea is when you see the world happening around you, or when you see the world becoming conceited with the little bit of information in the age of know how and technology and science and otherwise, don't ever allow that to rattle your faith. Don't ever allow that to eat away at your certainty that only Allah is that Alim will hack him only he is the most knowing only he is the most wise. Let it never get you to
question the fact as Allah said women who T terminal enemy left kalila you have not been given of knowledge but little all you know and all everyone combined will ever know compared to what we want to know. This is nothingness, a drop in an ocean.
So may Allah azza wa jal give us the intellectual humility that helps us better understand him and always trust and properly rely on him and assume always the best of him subhanho wa Taala and the intellectual humility to earn us His love for submitting ourselves and bowing down in front of his great names and Alim the perfectly knowing al Hakim, the most wise and he gives us that intellectual humility that allows us to love one another and be loved by one another Allahumma Amin Allahumma Filon Ohana Are you the lady that's a kid in Atlanta but them down when I started. I didn't want them to be human. Or Benassi dinner enema or cha cha that's enough even if attic logomania now that
became an argument I infer I will call it Binda when I've seen latestbuy in La Jolla. Salallahu Salam wa barakaatuh Vienna Muhammad Ali, he was so happy Do you mind