Sadullah Khan – 7th Post Witr Talk Ramadaan 1444 2023
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the origins of Iblis's hesitation to follow Allah's command, which was related to his belief that he was better than Adam. The speaker suggests that Iblis's assumption about the physical makeup of fire is a mistake, and that it is a matter for managers and leaders to consider. The speaker warns that false assumptions and incorrect premise can lead to inaccurate outcomes and harm.
AI: Summary ©
We continue our theme
moral guidance
from everyday experiences.
There is a specific verse in the holy
Quran
that literally brings us down to earth,
and it pertains to Iblis's refusal
to follow Allah's command.
And the command was for Iblis
to humble himself to Nabi Adam, a.
Iblis is questioned as to why he refused
to obey the command of Allah,
and Iblis rationalized
his response.
He rationalized
his response,
and he framed it in a seemingly logical
manner.
Quran says,
he was asked,
what has kept you from humbling
yourself according to Allah's command?
So he said,
I am better than Adam.
Thou has created me, oh, Allah, from fire,
whereas you have created him, from soil or
clay or dust.
So the reason for Iblis' disobeying the command
of Allah
was because he considered himself better than Adam,
alaihis salaam,
and the reason for that was
Adam alaihi salaam was created from dust or
from soil,
and Iblis was created from fire.
The question that arises,
is
Iblis' argument valid?
The basis for his disobedience to Allah
was the difference between the physical makeup
of the 2.
1 of fire,
that's Iblis,
and
the other is of Nabi Adam made of
sand or clay or soil.
Now if we examine the basis of Iblis'
claim,
it clearly reveals the erroneous nature of his
assumption. This is very important for people of
us when key positions or managerial positions
or positions of authority.
Because sometimes
we presume something and we make a decision,
And it may be a good intention,
but sometimes that good decision or seemingly good
decision can block other good things. For example,
I may suggest, let's start an Arabic class
tomorrow.
Of course, the 1st week, you'll have a
100 people, but the 4th week, you won't
have so many because why? Arabic is not
a class you can do in 4, 5
weeks. It takes years, and after years, you
learn some stuff. Whereas, do Tajweed class in
6 weeks, you can do it. So the
idea that people who come for will be
greater than they will come for Arabic for
that matter. So my suggestion of Arabic, it's
a very good suggestion,
but is it practical?
Is it what people want? And by my
suggestion,
a better suggestion maybe,
denied or shelved.
Now if we examine Iblis' claim,
it clearly reveals the erroneous nature of his
assumption.
Of course, fire has great value.
Fire
is a source of heat
and heat is a source of energy.
I think Eskom needs that.
But it's also the main component of *.
As for soil or clay or dust,
among the primary components of soil and clay
are water,
which is the liquid of life,
organic matter,
gases,
air,
microorganisms,
but the largest component of soil is the
mineral portion, about 45
to 50%
of the volume of soil
is
mineral mineral.
Humans and soil
contain minerals
and both are chemical systems
sharing a common composition,
comprising of main major and minor traces of
chemical elements.
Both human being and soil has oxygen,
hydrogen,
carbon,
sulfur,
phosphor,
calcium,
magnesium,
sodium,
potassium,
iron, silicon,
zinc, selenium,
copper, manganese,
fluorine,
all found in soil, also found in the
human body.
Oh, may you from dust.
All these are essential to human life.
By the way, for argument's sake, besides faulting
Adam,
besides faulting Iblis for his arrogant refusal to
obey Allah's command,
he should realize that soil holds an advantage
over fire
because
you can blot out fire
with sand,
but nonetheless.
So we have to be cognizant of the
fact
that if the start of your argument,
if the premise of your argument is wrong,
and very often we continue debates and arguments,
even in religious circles.
The premise is already wrong, so you bolt
on your premise and you get emotional about
it, and you quote the verse from here
and quote from verse from there, but the
premise is faulty.
So the conclusion can never be right.
So we have to be cognizant of the
fact,
if we start a discussion on argument
and the
beginning of it is wrong, if the premise
is false, the conclusion will always be incorrect.
So
fire is not necessarily better than soil in
our discussion here,
but Iblis
rationalized
his decision to disobey Allah.
And the basis of his argument was flawed,
and the basis of his argument, despite seemingly
logical, was unsound.
So be cautious
how we rationalize
things.
If our assumptions are incorrect,
our understanding of things will be defective.
Because if the premise of our reasoning is
mistaken,
then the conclusion
we make
could then also be
wrong. We could potentially harm ourselves
and even maybe misguide others even with good
intention.
And that's why
I conclude
Oh, Allah, make us of those who are
rightly guided
and make us a source of guiding other
people.
And Allah, let us not lead other people
astray
nor allow us ourselves
to become astray.