Riyad Nadwi – 29. Ikhlas How To Deal With Doubt
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of building confidence and faith in one's mind in order to see the reality of the universe. They emphasize the need for external guidance and the importance of recognizing and following rules of the internet to avoid false assumptions and mistakes. They also discuss the importance of learning and taking control of one's mind to avoid embarrassment and change one's faith. The speakers emphasize the need for certainty and finding one's own way to see the reality of the universe and avoiding unnecessary harm.
AI: Summary ©
Assalamu
alaikum, everyone. Jazakum aloha, for coming. Allah
has, kept us alive over the back and,
has enabled us to,
join again for,
resume our series on,
lessons,
from,
Imam Ghazal Al Zahir.
Alhamdulillah now, all of the lectures from last
term as well have since been uploaded onto
the OUI SOC YouTube channel as well.
So everything's up to date on there. So
if you have missed any of the lectures
either from last year, last academic year, or
last term, indeed, you can, like,
catch up. That's not a problem. Having said
that, even if you are new here, you
should be able to access all the content
that we cover,
this year, Insha Allah.
In the course of the past few lessons,
we've been looking at, you know, intentions. We've
been looking at how you form an intention,
the different motivations behind intentions, and things like
that.
So with that said, obviously, we're just carrying
on from where we left off last time.
So, I'll just hand you over to Sheikhriel
from from here.
Brothers and sisters,
welcome back to
the new term. I hope you've had a
good break.
Today,
as you heard, we are embarking on the
continuation of this series on Ikhlas
based on his earliest treatment of the subject
of Ikhlas, and
based on his.
And today is the lecture number 29th.
Last time, we covered a
wide range of topics,
all relating to, of course, Ikhlas,
and which we can quickly summarize
into 5 paragraphs.
The first is that we
discuss the social stratification
and perceptions of class in society.
The effects of Khubulja,
love of prestige
and position and celebrity.
Ria, love of showing off.
Ostentation.
Humul, the virtue of anonymity.
Hubballah,
the need for the love of the the
divine.
And we also discussed the negative effects of
having a truncated view
of humanity.
And
together with the negative effects of being in
awe of wealth
and of the being in awe of admiration
for wealth and how fixing our gaze on
the wealthy
and their possessions can often foster
envy and covetousness
and an urge
for entering into a competition in ostentation, a
competition
for,
for showing off.
Number 2 was that we discussed the subtle
urges, the schemes
of the nafs, the schemes of the lower
selves,
the schemes that play upon us in order
to put ourselves on display.
And we emphasize there the importance of recognizing
the secret of Ikhlas. What was the secret
of Ikhlas?
The secret of Ikhlas was
that Ikhlas
is dependent is is
dependent on
the eradication of riya, the eradication of show.
Number 3 was that we also looked at
vulnerabilities
in the pursuit of Ikhlas
and
cognitive vulnerability,
physical vulnerability, spiritual
spiritual vulnerability,
especially through our eyes,
and the dire need to control our eyes
because it is the window through which
we learn and interact more with the world
than any other faculty.
And the DIs are prone to both deception
and treachery.
Number 4 is that we delved into the
final workings of the mind and the heart
in relation to nia, in relation to intention.
The true nature of intention,
composition of intention, multiple motives in intention,
gradation in the motives of intention,
and the symbiotic relationship between
the body and the heart, where the heart
controls and affects the body. And the body
also, in turn, affects
the heart.
We spoke about,
the
the. There's a there's a symbiotic
relationship between the heart and the body.
Number 5 was that we concluded with the
discussion
on the need for focus
or for refocusing
the innate sense that Allah has given us.
We are born with an innate sense of
being watched.
And that refocusing that
away from the cacophony of audiences in the
mind. We have audiences of wondering who is
watching and who is going to say what
and what. To refocus that,
that's away from that cacophony of audience to
the one to the audience of 1, which
is Allah
towards Allah alone.
And this, of course, is in line with
the
answer that Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa sallam gave
to the angel Gabriel, to Jibril alaihi salallam
when
he asked him to what
his
son, he said,
To worship Allah as though you see him.
For verily, if you see him not, he
sees you.
So
building yaqeen, building certainty
in the heart of being in the presence
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And
being
a a sense of being watched with sincerity
and with certainty as though you are seeing
him.
Now I also
gave you some homework.
And I'm assuming,
being the
dedicated and diligent students you are, Oxford students,
you've all done it, haven't you? So I
do not, I don't need to test you,
or do I? Should I start asking questions?
Like, could you explain what is, you know?
Where the, people from East London, the in
the Rastafarian
language
is god. Do you know that?
In Rastafarian then you know that in East
London?
Yeah.
In in in in
they say, you know, once my father was
giving dawah to Rastafarian
in South
America, and the lightning flashed.
It's because it's a tropical
place in the and he says to my
dad, you know, look, Jia Jia taking photograph
of I. That, Jia was god was taking
a photograph of him.
This is what happens when you
deviate from divine guidance. And my father said,
you know, he doesn't need photographs. He knows
everything.
But yeah. And so Joe here is
the love of position, love of station.
So,
yeah. So
I'm gonna ask you one question about the
homework. And that is, what was the homework?
If if you're gonna remember that, well, answer
it in your mind and try and bring
that to mind because that's half the job.
If you know what the homework is, then
eventually each other you'll do it.
There were several points. The first was that,
to use your newly acquired knowledge about nature
of intention,
to scrutinize your own intentions for what? 1st
and foremost, for multiplicity in motives.
Because this was the first step towards recognizing
the trick of the mind. The trick of
the mind that tells you that intentions are
always that your intention is always singular and
sincere.
And the reasoning behind that is that we
often,
think of ourselves. We say, you know, oh,
I can articulate what
I why I'm doing, what I'm doing, and
therefore, that is my motive.
And then, of course, the articulation,
the script or the pronouncement that you're doing
is, you say, oh, I'm doing something for
charity or I'm doing it for Allah,
is
invariably more prescriptive than descriptive.
The the it it's it's about describing
your your your your saying the prescription that
what it's supposed to be and not a
description of the condition of the heart.
So we wanted you to start by developing
the skill to identify
multiple motives and decision you you have. So
so that you become comfortable with the idea
of multiplicity
in motive.
Because it's it's easy to, you know,
accept that others have multiple motives. We we
talk about people having ulterior motives.
But in respect to ourselves and recognizing multiplicity
in our heart, it is not that easy.
And we we tend to have a very
high opinion of our own,
our ourselves and our motives. It usually arose
tinted,
view.
The second
was the second step on this skill acquisition
ladder
was to learn
to recognize the strengths and the weights in
these multiple motives. You know, for example, would
I have given the charity had it been
had it not been for the fact that
people were watching me? And those 2 are
are did I feel tasquil? Did I feel
was it was it made much easier for
me to give charity because people were watching?
Just to start paying attention to that. Not
only multiple, but the weights of it.
And then the third was the the third
task was to seek balance
for the deluge of messages in the form
of ad adverts we see, etcetera,
which are all messages.
These are invitations we receive for the betterment
of our life in this world at the
expense of Accra.
And this, of course, these are these are
invitations to use all your energies and focus
for this life. And so the task was
to seek balance through 5 things.
The
the
first was the 5 daily prayers with punctuality,
developing a relationship with Quran. So,
Quran
Salah with punctuality,
Quran daily athkar. Dhikr, athkar daily
recitation of the adzkar is to punctuate your
day regularly. So adzkar regularly, pondering on Allah's
creation with appreciation and gratitude,
thinking of Allah and thanking Allah for his
bounties, for the trees and their leaves, for
the ox of oxygen we breathe, for the
fluffy clouds that bring us rain, the tranquil
lakes and the mountainous terrains.
All of these. In other words, connecting
a niram a
connecting the favors that Allah has given us
with with the giver of the favors. Yeah.
The the this world was created for you,
and you were created for the hereafter.
The third, the homework, was to make an
effort to improve the quality of your salah
towards
that we gave you, we suggested that you
listen to the salah series, which I hope
you have done. Or if you haven't, then
perhaps that's something that you should put on
your list.
It's available on the Daramax tube.
And if you need the link, then brother
Riaz can, provide it to you, inshallah.
Try and make an effort to do this.
So I I hope you've had a, chance
to put, if not all, at least some
of these into practice. And then, and as
I keep saying that this class is not,
it's
not merely an information gathering exercise. It it's
the aim is to help one another, help
us. We we help each other to
improve our relationship with Allah and
to improve
our consciousness for the preparation for meeting Allah.
Now, today,
I I want to continue where we left
off last term, which was in lesson 28,
the final lecture of last term. We elaborated
the,
on the heart body connection,
the heart and body connection,
and the influence of each other with examples
from both Imam Ghazali's IHIA and from research
in embodied cognition.
We looked at examples,
the the effect of posture and movement
on choice and appreciation.
And we also looked at the effect of
holding
the warm objects, influencing one's own sense of
warmth and generosity towards others.
We also read from the chapter, the exposition
of details of actions in relation to the
intention,
in the
Now in the context of the nature of
sin and sinning, we looked at what is
popularly known as the Macbeth effect.
The the overlap between sense of morality and
physical purity.
The name, of course, is a, based on
Shakespeare's
description of the Macbeth, what she did when
when she convinced her husband
to kill the king of Scotland,
as king king of, yes, king of Scotland.
She experienced repeated urges to wash her hands.
So that's why these experiments are,
referred to as the Macbeth effect.
There there are whole host of examples where,
and I gave you the example. We looked
at the example where subjects were told to
lie verbally,
and then they became they were shown to
be prone to seek,
oral hygiene products. And and then similarly, the
people who typed the lie were seeking were
more prone to seek hand sanitizing products.
And this was discussed in the,
in the light of the hadith.
That when you make wudu, your sins are
washed off. Did you have that so that
feeling of washing,
for watching of sins being washed off, that
physical purity is linked into spiritual purity.
Here also, we reflect we reflected on the
fact that despite having an innate sense of
what is sin,
the need for
and we we have this link of moral
purity,
we are susceptible to corruption. And this is
why we also need through,
to to be guided
through external guidance.
Human sense of morality
on its own can be diverted and misguided
and corrupted.
History is full of examples of human beings
assuming,
the moral superiority
of,
of morality and then committing the most heinous
of crimes against humanity.
So although we do have an innate sense
of right and wrong, we have a compass,
an innate one,
we remain in need of external sources of
guidance to keep us on track.
If not, we are often derailed by shaitan,
by the nafs, by the lower self.
And this external guidance
is made available to us from knowledge.
Knowledge is sent to us. Allah sends knowledge
to keep us, to help us to provide.
And here, Imam Ghazali's explanation, which is where
we left off last week,
the last time, which he says,
That the best that the that which can
best
obey that which you can best obey Allah
through is knowledge.
And
and the head of knowledge is the recognition
of knowledge, Just as the,
Just like the head of ignorance is is
to be oblivious of your own ignorance.
And he says that,
for in the for in the in the
in the in the in the in
the
in the
That for the one who is ignorant, the
one who does not recognize the difference between
beneficial knowledge and harmful knowledge,
surely he would engage in those flowery sciences
that occupy the masses
as their worldly means, their only knowledge.
And this is the substance of true ignorance,
madbit al Jahili, and the source of corruption
of the scholars.
Now, we will come back to that, the
source of corruption of scholars,
perhaps, at the latest stage, perhaps next week
inshallah. But today, what I want to delve
into is a bit deeper into
the recognition of knowledge. Alaa'il Mubila'il.
What he talks about. Because you are one
is to have knowledge and the other is
to recognize knowledge as not as true knowledge.
And the need, therefore, is to focus
minds and hearts upon our certainties
away from doubt in the recognition of knowledge.
And living as we do,
at a time when the
dominant philosophical
trend in the modern world is what?
What is the dominant philosophical trend in the
world today?
It's true. Yes.
The dominant philosophical trend
is that
one of incredulity
towards all narratives, incredulity towards all metanarratives.
The post modernist approach to life where suspicion
and doubt is required in respect of everything.
And as Muslims,
we need to be,
we need to have strategies to deal with
this,
because
if you,
if you're not aware of it, then you
can be sucked in,
and be carried away,
and not realize that it's happening. So fortunately,
alhamdulillah,
Allah
through this guidance has sent us
Islam has
the best solutions for this problem of
ubiquitous doubt.
The problem
is addressed in the Quran from the very
beginning. And that's the Ayah I read to
you where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Alif
Lamim zariqal gitabu lalibafi. From the very beginning,
it's stated. It's making it clear that this
book in which there is not there is
no doubt.
So what is doubt?
Doubt
is
in comparison it it's the opposite to Yaqeen.
And I'm gonna give you a few definitions.
A Shekul
Logatan a Tedakul.
It's
saying that a shaq, doubt,
is a tedahul, which is intermingling.
That literally means intermingling in such a way
that when two things become intertwined
in the mind of someone in such a
way that they're no longer able they're no
longer able to, distinguish or to to prioritize
over, either of the 2. That's where you
end up into doubt.
Technically,
the fluctuation between the acceptance of something happening
and and something not happening.
And yakin, which is the opposite,
is.
It is,
stability.
Yakin
is certainty is stability.
And this is
and it is derived from the the Arabic.
In Arabic, it is derived from the statement,
that the water has settled into a pond.
When water settles in the pond and it
becomes calm, that is Yaqeen.
It's become steady and stable.
And that when
when applied to knowledge,
is that which does not fluctuate.
He's saying,
That there is no there's no fluctuation in
it.
Is
saying it,
Tranquility in the heart, that knowledge is established
in the heart with stability
of knowledge where there's unflinching belief that this
is certain.
And
a quote from Imam Junaid is he says,
that you know, Imam Junaid
is saying that the permanent knowledge that Yaqeen
is permanent knowledge that does not vary, does
not fluctuate, and does not change in the
heart.
Now,
how does one
manage doubt? How does one deal with doubt?
Now there's this there are simple and effective
solutions that that are found in Hadith and
Fiqh.
And these solute these solutions are applicable to
more widely into our daily life. And this
is the principle found in Usul. There's a
principle in Usul Al Fiqh.
The fundamental it's a fundamental principle in Islamic
jurisprudence that provide the solution
in an effective and succinct manner. And that
principle is
an, al Yaqinu
lai yazurubishak.
This is the principle. It's succinct, but it's
very powerful
if you can take that on board. Al
yaqinu
lai yazurubishak.
Certainty is not stopped with doubt.
Now you need to memorize the sentence because
it will help you to deal with many
of the issues we face today in our
world. This principle is based, of course, on
the teaching of Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, hadith reported by his grandson. This is
one of the hadith that from a little
boy. The the when he was young, he
was taught this, but then it became on
the basis of that, the whole principle in
the is derived.
And the Hadith is an anil Hassan ibn
Ali
that he the grandson of the prophet saying,
and that the of the things that I've
memorized
from the from my grandfather is
Leave that which causes you doubt for that
which does not cause you doubt.
In other words,
shift the focus of your mind
away from the source of the doubt towards
that which you are certain of and let
your heart rest upon it
in tranquility.
Now how do you apply this? I'm gonna
give you a practical example. A practical example
is that a person
is certain in their mind. They have certainty
in their mind of making wudu. You have
you're certain, okay, I made wudu. But then,
as after a lapse of time,
they began to doubt whether they be well,
you know, you're worrying, oh, did I break
my wudu or not?
Time has lapsed and you're worrying now. So
you have Yaqeen. You have certainty in your
mind that, yes. I did make wudu. And
I remember that very clearly. There is certainty.
But now I'm what? But because of a
lapse of time, there is a,
suspicion or there's a doubt in the mind.
You don't know what happens in that case.
The ruling is that if you follow that
that
one is based on doubt, that I might
have break broken my voodoo, but I have
Yaqeen. I have firm knowledge in my mind
that I did make wudu. So the ruling
that a person has to rule for themselves
at that point is that they are they
do indeed have wudu. That you would rule
that, yes, I have wudu
On the base, and you can pray your
prayer on that. So that's an application
of of the Ama Yuribuka.
So you're required to,
shift the focus of your attention
away from the doubt and towards the certainty
and conclude that, yes, I do have wudu
indeed.
And then doubt is rendered ineffective.
Another scenario would be,
where you remember making Wudu,
but you're not sure
did you,
the scenario is that,
you remember breaking the wudu. You remember breaking
wudu. That you have a firm
memory that that I did break my wudu,
but,
I don't remember. Did I make wudu or
not? Then what happens in that situation? Where's
the akin? Where's the shakk? You follow you
follow what is firmly embedded, what is firmly
established in your heart and that is the
Akim.
Certainty,
here is the knowledge. You decide that you
do have that you don't have wudu, you
need to make wudu.
If you if you have a certainty that
I did break my wudu and I'm not
sure whether I made it or not. So
so certain here Certainty is the knowledge
of what you know to be true, not
what you suspect to be true or false.
That is it. So what you know to
be true, that is certainty.
Now there's another hadith,
that explains this in more
in in another way where was
asked about the person who's praying and then
he suspects that his wudu is broken. Rasulullah
said that suspicion will never well, you should
not follow it. You should move away from
it. And what you should do is and
then he gave them 2 extra things to
think about. He says,
That you're not you're not to leave your
salah unless unless you hear unless you hear
a sound or you detect an odor.
You had that you've broken your wudu.
Now, here again, the principle of Yaqeen, lai
azul l'bishak is applied and you should so
you should not break your Salah based on
doubt when you have certainty of having made
wuduwud. It's about taking hold of the reins
of your thoughts, and this is what it
is. This is the tool. This is the
the strategy. It's taking hold of the reins
of your thoughts
and guiding it towards the certainties and not
allowing yourself to be driven helter skelter by
doubt.
Now let's take this principle
in relation to the verse of Surat Al
Baqarah, the verse. Let's look at it in
that.
The book,
this book in which there is no doubt.
For a Muslim,
the words of Allah has to be differentiated
from the words of all other words as
the most certain in your heart that this
is certain. I have certainty about this because
I believe it is from Allah. It was
revealed to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
And to differentiate that, in the mind, fadlukalam
ilahaala sa ilil karam kafadlullahhi ala khalkahi. The
superiority
of the words of Allah over of all
other words
is exactly like the superiority
of Allah above all other creation. That's what
Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
said. So that is
that is recognizing the validity of the knowledge
where you are and recognizing knowledge as it
deserves to be recognized
with certainty
away from doubt written knowledge.
And and as we read on, the verses
end with
Yukinun, they believe in the akhirah with certainty,
with with Yaqeen.
Right? Of course, there
are three levels of Yaqeen.
There's almul yaqeen, then the knowledge of Yaqeen,
which is,
certainty through knowledge.
And then the second level of yaqeen is
the
aynul yaqeen, which is the certainty through sight.
And then the third one is haqqul yaqeen,
certainty through the experience. And the olema give
a a beautiful example to explain these levels.
He says that,
that if somebody tells you that they they
have honey, then that is knowledge, he's telling
you. So there is certainty a degree of
certainty in that. But if they then,
you're not you you have no reason to
doubt this person who says that I have
honey.
But then the person,
but then the person takes it out and
say, look, I have honey.
So then you see it. When you see
it, then that is that is yakin. An
an additional level of certainty is applied. And
then he opens the bottle and makes you
taste it. And that is
your taste when you taste it, then that's
another level that that bottle was not did
not have something else in it. It had
Yaqeen. So so these are the levels of
Yaqeen that you should know about.
Now there's no doubt that as Muslims, we
are required to cultivate yakin
in our faith, in our Iman. Yakin, faith
and Iman go hand in hand
for in our supplication. So in dua
is Rasool Allah, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam describes
dua as
muhul I Badah. It is the essence of
I Badah.
And how you should make dua? He says,
Call upon Allah in such a way that
you are
in full certainty that Allah will respond.
So and then further reinforcing
the certainty, the word of the word certainty,
the word yaqeen. We are we're told that,
you know, and
the word yaqeen is used
to describe
a fact of life that no human being
can deny.
What is it? The fact of life that
not even an atheist
can deny is that they will die.
So Allah says in the Quran
that,
worship your lord until
yaqeen comes to you. Yaqeen here mean in
the meaning of death. That is the certainty
with which every human being
has to face that. You have to face
that, and you cannot deny it. So there's
no nothing more certain in life than death
itself,
and that is known as Yaqeen.
Now widening the context.
Now
to relate all of this more broadly to
the world in which we live
and to bring
and to bring home the value of this
principle, Yaqeen Lai'azul Abishak,
I want to tell you 2 stories.
1
local and 1 global. I hope you'll have
the time to complete both.
These are stories about the importance of being
at ease with your sincerity.
Yes. At ease with your sincerity.
The need
to have
the strength to ignore your doubts.
And the reason you need to talk about
we need to talk about this. The reason
is that Muslims are often accused of being
too obsessed with sincerity,
with yaqeen, you know. If you're an academic
on Islamic studies, you would most certainly have
had to face it via the receiving ends
of criticism, you know, about Muslim attitudes towards
certainty. You know, why why can't you be
more flexible? Why can't you accept doubt? And
how how can you be so certain? Like
that, etcetera. You you have you have these
sorts of problems.
So the first story is that, in the
late 19 nineties,
I used to visit a bishop here in
Oxford.
He was nearly 90 years old and living
alone in an old age flat old age
flat here here off the Abingdon Road.
Not too not of a short drive away
from my house. So I used to take
food for him.
He he he he was 80 going on
to 90 or in his early nineties.
And,
while he
while we chatted,
while he ate, and I wait for the
Bulls to to take it, I I would
sit and we would chat. And in his
younger days, he had been a,
he had been in the Arab world and,
very,
experienced.
He wrote several books on Islam. And,
so so so he had lots to talk
about. We would talk about Islam. We would
talk about,
his,
ideas. He had some strange ideas. So, lucky
ideas that Islam,
narrowly
escaped becoming a Christian sect,
and that there there is still time to
bring it back.
And,
one of the, and he the way that
he thought this might be possible
was to,
create cells of relationships, you know, small cells
of,
small groups of relationship with Muslims.
And then,
speak to them and get them to change
Islam,
slowly to bring them
and then that will eventually spread.
So,
it
and this
he he formulated this plan in
in the 19 fifties, but,
what he wants is that you is is
that for you to reinterpret
drastically reinterpret
Islam
and bring it closer to Christianity. So so,
we used to have this back and forth.
You know? He he would we talk about
all sorts of things while we, he he
wanted to convert me to Christianity, and I
wanted to convert him to Islam. So we
we we had this back and forth.
Anyway,
he's passed away now. But,
several times, I I I would say to
him, you know, you know, you're already close,
you know, of the you've he's come really
close to become a Muslim,
in the things that he was saying. I
said, all you need to do now is
say Shahad, and then it's then he would
go quiet, you know, and then,
but,
he used to try try out his,
his theories on me,
that he formulated
for these interactions, these cell interact, what he
calls cells. He he calls it experiments, actually,
that you're that, the the great experiment with
Muslims. You you you have to experiment with
Muslims.
So,
yeah. So
the prescriptions used to be presented, and then
I would unravel it, and then he would
go quiet and switch to,
poetry or some some random poet thing.
He he he loved poetry.
Anyway,
as I said, he he passed away now.
He
he he was 99 when he passed away.
But but he has, mind you, he has
lots of, followers of students that are spread
all around the world, and they audibly believe
in his project. They're still doing it, all
around the world. I mean, any interfaith program
that you see that's designed that's aiming to,
change Islam is actually governed by
the his,
you will find his principles that are, are
are are are being adopted
to to to change it.
So,
and there are some here in even in
Oxford, you on the Ifley Road, they they
run an institution. It's called the,
stealth mission to Islam. No. No. That it's
not called that. It's called,
that's what it is, but it's it's called
something else.
Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, a few well, in in
the 19 nineties, some or in the 2000,
I think, some,
students came to me and said, well, we
went to a to a program,
and that the there was a lady there
who was, doing tafsir of this ayah.
And she insinuated that Muslims should not ever
have any doubts about the bible because she
her,
logic was that the word Danica is used
for is used for that and hada is
this. So Danica means the bible and, or
insinuating that it means the bible. And therefore,
it's not the Quran is not talking about,
the
the the Danica doesn't mean the bible.
Then I had to explain to the students
that, yes, you can come to such a
conclusion if your knowledge of Arabic is shallow.
Because
Hazah means this, but it's an indicative pronoun.
But Danica is is
is is Isma'l isharah.
That
Isma'l isharah. Danica is in it's indicating
that something that is near and something that
is far. The Quran is preserved. It is
note. It is firm and doubt, and doubt
free in in
the celestial tablet, and it's also here. So
the use of the word is
It is inimitability.
It is it is the perfect
word to to speak of the to to
use in that position when you are talking
about
the lack of the freedom from doubt.
That is what darika means here because it's
it's means to.
Anyway, yeah. So I don't know. I I
think she's no longer here. She's she's running
a branch in, Houston, Texas now.
But, yeah. Anyway,
one day, the Bishop Craig says to me,
oh, you know the big problem with Islam
is Muslim fixation on the idea of yaqeen,
of certainty. You know, we too much fixation.
In Christianity, we don't. We only hold firm
to Jesus and everything else is up for
debate. This is what he says to me.
So
and then he goes on. He says, look,
if you want to do something useful for
Islam,
then I think you should establish a tradition
of doubt
in Islam.
Because certainty is not good.
Certainty is not and especially in the 20th
century. This was in the last century. I
I feel very old about talking about something
in the last century. But, yeah, it was
20th but he said in the 20th century,
to still be talking about certainty,
certainty is of no use in the modern
world.
It so happened that it was getting late
for Maghreb, so I had to leave. So
I said, look. We're gonna continue this conversation.
So he had finished his meal, so I
took the bowls and I and I left.
And then a few days later,
there was a massive financial crash in the
stock markets.
And it had a knock on effect on
the stock markets all around the world. You
know? The the headline in the newspapers read
massive stock
massive stock,
stock market crash in the in the US
caused by uncertainty.
Massive caused by uncertainty
worldwide panic.
So
I thought, wow. Yes. Very good.
So when I visited the father visited Craig
the following week,
the bishop, I said, oh, you remember we
were talking about Yaqeen? That is not that
is of no use in the modern world.
You remember we said that there is no
use for, for Yaqeen in the modern world?
You you were arguing you were telling me
that. Well,
here is an example of Yaqeen,
certainty of Yaqeen,
being not only good for Islam but also
good for the economy and its,
and and
its missing it is causing
worldwide panic.
So and I explained to him that, you
you know, the the to think that doubt
has a paralyzing effect on the human psyche,
you should understand that. That if you have
doubt, it paralyzes you. The people don't know
whether to invest, not to invest, to invest,
not to invest. So we
as far
as Muslims are concerned,
it when it comes to things of certainty,
you take it with certainty when it really
matters. Things of the things that really matter
to you. And and and the faith of
a Muslim really matters to him. So therefore,
he needs certainty. Certainty
is good for us.
And there's nothing to be shy about it.
So then there was a long pause, and
he said, okay. Point taken.
You know, this is one of those occasions
when he came very close. He would he
would always do that. He could come close,
and then, he would,
it it would go away.
But,
yeah, I don't know whether he, at the
end, accepted Islam or not. But, yeah, the
the the question is that, this this idea,
you know, that we can
manipulate Islam is also
because there are a lot of people out
there who have the, what I what I
like to call the Lawrence fantasy, you know.
It's because, T. E. Lawrence went to the
went to Arabia, convinced the Arabs to
change their loyalty.
And there are lots of people who think
that they can become the modern day T
modern day Lawrence by going into a group
of Muslims and convincing them to change Islam,
turn it into Christianity.
So there's
this sort of thing is
rampant.
Anyway,
now the reason I'm telling you the story
is that you should not let anyone
make you feel awkward about your Yaqeen.
You should never be embarrassed about your certainties
in Islam,
and just as you,
you need to shift the focus of your
mind away from multiple audiences
towards 1,
towards Allah, for Ikhlas,
you also need to shift the focus of
your mind
towards
the
things that are certain.
Shift shifting the mok the focus of your
mind to recognize what you recognize as true.
What you recognize
as certain away from doubt. In other words,
taking control of the reins of your mind
and not allow it. And not leave it
dangling in in the winds and storms of
incredibility and suspicion.
That is it. Now the second story.
If I go over a little bit, I
ask you to excuse me. Now the second
story is a sad story. It's it's it's
a bit man, it has tragic
lessons in it.
But I I I need to tell you
the story because I want you
before I do so, I'm going to ask
you to consider a hypothetical.
The hypothetical is that,
imagine
you found out you
discovered a,
new ingredient for a recipe
and for a recipe for fried chicken. I
know you all like fried chicken.
And that you but this new ingredient makes
it
tasty and addictive.
Right?
And you sold it to a few people.
You sold it to lots of people. You
opened the shop, filled it to lots of
people. And then 50% of the people who
ate your chicken
fell ill
and died. Yes. Died. Okay?
Now what do you think would happen there?
What would happen? Your shop will be closed.
They will close down immediately,
and you'll probably be prosecuted and if at
least, if not, sent to jail.
Now what if I told you that I
found a way to keep your chicken on
the market and sold it all around the
world for decades
and despite the fact that millions of people
are dying,
you continue your market continues to expand.
Now everyone here would want to know how
on earth could you manage
to do that. It would be impossible. Right?
Because especially
in today's world where we have, you know,
public safety guard we have many public health
safety,
regimes in place. We have regulatory systems.
For example, in America, there's the Food and
Drug Administration, and then there's the,
Food Standards Agency.
There's the Food Standards Agency and,
the the food hygiene regulations, the food standards
codes.
Something like this could never happen. Right?
Now there is no way anyone would get
away with selling something that kills millions of
people.
But the sad truth is
that this is not a hypothetical. It's a
real story.
The death toll
is real. The death toll of 6,000,000 people
a year is real.
What am I talking about?
Anyone knows?
Can't see.
No? What? Has the ice? What? Opioids?
No.
Okay.
Cigarettes. Cigarettes. Yes. Yeah. The sisters found it.
Yes.
Yep.
The only difference is that it's not chicken.
I'm talking about cigarettes and the tobacco industry.
This is an industry that has managed to
keep its product on the market despite overwhelming
evidence proving that the fact proving the fact
that it kills 50%, at least 50% of
the people who consume the product.
And according to the surgeon general of the
United States,
mister Everett Coop, is not some wacky,
conspiracy theory statistic.
This is the surgeon general of the United
States. He says, and I quote,
he says
that by the year 2025,
cigarettes would have killed
500,000,000
people.
It's which is like
a Vietnam War every 20
every day ever for 27 years. It's like
a Vietnam War
every day for 27 years. This is direct
quote.
Now how did they do that? How did
it how did they manage to keep the
product
in the market despite the overwhelming incontrovertible
evidence showing that cigarettes caused cancer?
As early as the 19 thirties, the German
scientists has had
conclusively proven that cigarettes were
were harmful to health and that it's caused
cancer. This is 19 thirties.
But in the 19 thirties, no one was
really interested in what German scientists were doing
because of all the other things they were
doing.
So during the World War 2,
cigarettes became
a major
part of the war effort. Yes. The war
effort.
Every soldier was provided with cigarettes because of
the psychological benefits
that it provided in calming the nerves in
war.
So
it's
in in its wartime trade with the United
States, Britain spent more on cigarettes
than it spent on ammunition.
Yes. This is statistics.
More. Every everyone had to have it during
the war.
So so what happened,
when
after the war, 82%
of men in in Britain
were smokers.
And then epidemiologist
noticed something tragic started to happen, which was
that a disease that was
extremely rare, which was lung cancer,
became exponentially
high in the population. Something like 50 times,
I think it was.
And it was professor,
Richard Doll and professor Bradford Hill. They published
their findings in the BMJ, the
the British Medical Journal in 1952.
And in in America, you have doctor Ernest
Wyder,
Ernest Wyder. He took tar out of the,
from the cigarettes, the tar from nicotine,
placed it on the backs of rats, and
showed that nicotine does cause
cancer. So it was conclusive. There's a and
lots of other research showed that it was
that this is a conclusive that,
nicotine causes
cancer.
The leaders of the,
and then eventually, what happened in 1953,
the public, it be be became public news
because the the most famous
magazine and the most well read, the most
widely read magazine in the world was the
Reader's Digest. And they published an article,
in it
saying, cancer by the cotton.
So after that, the agency went into,
fight drive. They
met with somebody called John Hill. You know,
Hill and Norton, you probably heard about Hill
and Norton, the public relations
or,
company. They they do they they're responsible. They
they they were responsible for,
in the run up to the Iraq war.
You know, the video showing that Iraqi soldiers
were taking babies out of incubators
to justify the war. This was all fabricated,
but they they did it. They they were
responsible. Anyway, John Hill met them, and they
the head of the tobacco industry, the the
the the heads, they met in New York
and they decided that they were gonna come
up with a strategy. And eventually, that strategy,
was exposed because of a court case and
lots of,
documents were released, private documents.
And in those documents,
we've had we have
one particular memo
with I'm going to have to summarize what
I said, what I wrote here about it.
Now that the details the the strategy was
built around the core principle and thanks to
a lengthy course, court case. We we have
the the details. They could not say to
people, the evidence was incontrovertible. They cannot say
to people that look, ignore the science because
the evidence was overwhelming. So they decided on
this cunning plan and described in the document,
they had one sentence. And the sentence was,
doubt is our product.
Doubt is our product.
We are producing we are producing cigarettes, but
we're also there. In fact, there's a book
titled, they said, Michael forgot his full name.
But if you if you Google that, the
book, book, you will find that it's a
it's a interesting story to read. That
doubt saying that we will create doubt and
it will be sufficient to keep,
to keep people addicted. So instead of challenging,
you use a a judo tactic. You know,
judo, you use the person's strength against them.
So instead of saying that the the research
is wrong, what do you say? You say
that we need more research. So who doesn't
want more research? Yeah. You you have to
oh, we need more research. And like that,
they they decided to keep the controversy
alive, and it was this principle. It was
this that led
to
the survival and up till today. It's continuing
now even in the so not so much
in in in in the Western world, but
in the 3rd world and in developing world,
cigarettes are sold all over,
despite this. And it's being and the controversy
is being kept alive. I'm gonna read you
just one memo. It says, reviewing the current
state of tobacco in the of the tobacco
industry's relationship and proposing the next step. The
Tobacco Institute, they established institutes
to provide links to cancer, to all all
the anything they could find, The plastic, the
toast, to anything else, to change the subject
in people's minds. So that people don't recognize
that
cigarettes cause cancer. So they said tobacco industry
has probably done, a good job in
the in the area of politics and and
industry,
and we also seem to have done a
very, very well in turning out scientific information,
against the anti smoking claims
yet trends are moving against us. We are
restricted in terms of the ability to sell
in colleges, in in vending machines. Our products
are being branded with warning labels. Our ability
to advertise has been attacked on all fronts
and has consistently
deteriorated.
Doubt is our product since it is the
best means
of competing
with the body of fact
that exists in the mind of the general
public.
So there you go, doubt.
So now why am I telling you the
story? I'm telling you the story because a,
this is one of the most tragic stories
of greed in living memory.
Because it is based on greed. It is
greed that's caused this.
And it is also and
of course, I said as I said, it's
continuing. But the second reason I'm telling you
this is to show you how dangerous
doubt is as a tool in the hands
of people with a sinister agenda. That is
what you have to recognize. That you can
you can use it. So if someone's agenda
happens to be happens to be to put
doubt in your mind about Islam, about your
Quran, about Hadith, about fiqh, about your scholarly
legacy,
then you should have at your fingertips
the tools ready,
and,
to deal with it. And those and that
tool has been provided to us by
1400 years ago. And what is that tool?
That tool
is
Leave that which causes you doubt
for that in favor of that which causes
you certainty, which brings you certainty. And know
in your heart
that certainty is not stopped
through doubt. And on your tongue, you say,
I would
be
This is what the Sahaba did. When they
had, you know, said now
when the verse was revealed,
Said now, Bakar was the the Musherkin came
to him and say, you know, that's
the the verses revealed that the Persians,
that the Persians have defeated the the Romans,
the the Byzantine,
the Byzantium,
and that they will be that they will
reconquer them in
which is in under 9 years.
Said now, Walker said, yes. So we believe
that with full certainty
and and those, at that time,
betting was not haram. So he says, look,
if you want to bet, I will bet.
And he put a 100 horses, a 100
horses down. And he first he said 6
years, and then they came back. And
said, no. Bitter is between is is is
on the 9. So you put from 3
to 9. You you say, you you say,
it's 7 years up to 7. And it
was exactly that. It happened the the Byzantium
conquered,
re won the battle. They they won the
battle against the as as was predicted.
So doubt is something that comes in the
mind. The the Sahaba also had doubt. They
but they learned how to deal with it.
They they were able to deal with their
doubt
and, you know, the the the Hadith were,
once I have it, the Sabbath said to
the people comes to and they will say
we find in ourselves
things,
that it's,
we we can we will we will not
bring on our tongue. And
said, yes, Waqat wanted to move. That, oh,
you found it. That if these doubts, if
Chaitan is putting these doubts in your mind,
then and then he said,
that is clear and manifest, iman. Because why?
It is iman. It's your it's the strength
of your iman that Satan is seeing in
there, and he's he's bringing doubt. You know,
a thief goes to the house that is
rich where where where rich people live. He
doesn't go to a poor papa's house to
steal. Shaitan is coming there and that is
Sarif Al Iman. Iman is there.
Okay. One more story about doubt.
And this is a story, a beautiful story
of
with Ubay ibn Kab, which is one of
the reciters of Quran. You know, 2 people
were reciting one day in, the time of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. And Ubay
had not been told that there were,
most of the qira'at
that yet.
Because he he was young and he was
traveling, and he he didn't he he that
news didn't reach him.
So when these two people read differently,
they came to him and he read differently.
So they all went to the prophet and
said
that, you know, he's reading one way and
so the prophet asked one to read, and
he read.
And Rasulullah
said, Asap Tahir. Yeah. You read correctly. The
other one read, and he read differently, and
he said, you have read correctly. Then he
asked Ubay to read, and he read differently,
and he said, you have read them. And
then Ubay said that doubt came in my
mind
that how could this be? Doubt about the
Quran, about Rasool Allah, sallam.
And when that happened, Rasool Allah, sallam, saw
it in his heart. Sorted out in his
heart,
and then said,
say from the doubt. And then he touched
him in his on his chest here. Hit
him with his hand and it's a hair.
And when he did that, Ubayi Radiallahu Anhu
said,
But but,
I I felt the coolness.
I felt a cool
temperature. Something moved through my heart when he
touched me
between my shoulders. And it was.
And my entire body became profuse with with
perspiration
when he touched me.
And then
I
and and then something opened up. He said,
something opened up in front of me, and
it was as if I was looking at
Allah was before me. That is how how
much my my heart open. And then from
there on, Shaq doubt was eradicated from
my body, from my heart forever, forever. And
then
explained to him that, you know, this Quran
was revealed
in several modes.
And so and Allah revealed it in so
and so and so told me to read
it. But the fact is that the Sahaba
did have doubt, but they were taught they
were taught how to deal with it. Rasool
Allah sallam's hand
touching them, and they were and and and
the heart and and the heart was cleansed
through it. So that is the message for
tonight is to use
your power of the mind. Don't leave it
dangling so that people can drag it all
up because the the the Olamas said that
if you if you allow this to happen,
then your your mind will become like sponge.
Because it will become like a sponge with
full with the things that you cannot get
out. You you've got to be able you
have to be you have to take control
of your mind and focus on that which
you know is true. Once you know it's
true, then just like you know you made
wudu, then you you pray.
Forget about the doubt of wudu being broken.
No. That's not it. You don't you don't
follow the doubt. But then then you end
if you follow the doubt, then you will
end up being paralyzed. That's what it has.
That's the effect it has on you. And
so that's the message for today is to
remember
that is what Imam Azali is saying
is recognizing of true knowledge as knowledge.
And
this is ignorance is ignorance.
Because
ignorance of your own ignorance will shut the
entire door of knowledge.
So may Allah
bless us to get this. Insha'Allah, let's pray.
If
yeah. Inshallah, next week, we will continue,
with with the chapter, Inshallah,
on
dealing with
the
facade to Alem in in this.
Even scholars can be corrupted if you end
up in the wrong,
frame of mind.
So it's it's important to recognize
that
shock and doubt can come.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah. I think, yeah, that's about it for
today.
Oh, Allah.
Oh, Allah. Forgive us. Oh, Allah. Open our
hearts
to the reality,
the truth, and this with sincerity
to your guidance.
Oh, Allah,
make us
have yaqeen. Oh, Allah, fill our hearts with
yaqeen.
Oh, Allah, protect us from doubt.
Oh, Allah, we do not have the hand
of Rasulullah
to touch
your heart. We do not have his hand,
but we have your words.
And we have your guidance.
O Allah. Protect our hearts from doubt, O
Allah.
Oh, Allah, a portion for us
of your fear that which will come between
us and your disobedience.
And
of your obedience that will take us to
your
and of certainties that will make the difficulties
of this world easy.
Will make certainty that will make the trials
of this world easy for us.
I know a few brothers have been missing,
these regular classes over the back as well,
especially. So, Hamdah, it's really good to be
back and and to be hearing from these
classes again, especially this topic popped out as
well. We are at a university where, you
know, we are,
at least
with with my subject, especially history, we're we're
talking about topics like postmodernism
and like doubt and things like that. So
it's important to ground ourselves within our faith
and, you know, have certainty,
especially in these regards,
in order to navigate our way through,
university as a as a Muslim.
So a really important topic.
We pray that Allah accepts it from and
all of us, and we're able to benefit
from it, inshallah.
With that said, yeah, Jazak Mahone again. Inshallah,
we'll be coming again from next Wednesday, same
time.
So Jazak Mahone,