The Quran & Intellectual Humility

My brothers and sisters, you know, in the past the y's across civilizations, it's almost like a universal principle. They used to say that the more I learn the more shore 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 in weather, 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 whether at 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 spending out, except that they're looking for oxygen, if you will, in simplistic terms, because this is not my specialization. And so if you give that 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 mommies 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 mommy's 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 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? Be

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 a smooth, 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 learn about Shea mineral me he Ellerbee 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 alum will Entomb letter Allah moon, Allah knows you don't know

except the bit He permits for you to temporarily No.

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 wooden Sulayman alayhi wa sallam 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 the icommand if it Harvey is never shed fee, he will comb What coonelly Hook me him share hidden

recall to them, oh, Mohammed, people need to remember these things. It's very important. The incident of Deadwood and Suleiman, when both of them pass 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 Deadwood, 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, they had everything.

So, you know, compensate me,

penalize him. So there would Alehissalaam his verdict was he ruined your assets, your farm, so you get his assets Fair's fair. The flock belongs to you now.

Sulaiman 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 us when a man well couldn't attain a hookah men were in but we gave them all knowledge and great wisdom, both of them.

There's another incident like this actually inside the body of 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 mauled 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 Instagram is returning home. And the younger one complaints 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 Dooney BC kini

In a Shaco, who been in a coma, just bring me a knife, I'll fix it. I'll 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 animal, 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 Hood messed up, and I'm gonna punish it severely. And then the bird comes back and says, uh, 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 so the Eman I said I'm the wise is being corrected by a bird right? Being educated by a bird regarding what 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 ant 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 that 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, humble down and know that knowledge belongs to God a whole of how we have our stuff for Allah Allah Medela Co.

Al hamdu Lillahi wa Salatu was Salam ala Nabi about that shadow Allah, Allah illallah wa sallahu la sharika who shadow and Muhammad Abdul who, 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 SAML huddle. 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 will have that Allah has set up.

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 gonna 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 and like what are you killing a young lad for? And it was more than meets the eye just like you Oh 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 host us. 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 were 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 are you? 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 men being killed. He said, 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 soldier's 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, right? Or when you see the world becoming conceited with a 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 Allah Allah will Hakeem 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 Tito minarelli me love kalila you have not been given of knowledge, but little all you know, and all everyone combined will ever know. Compared to what we won't 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 them 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.