Suhaib Webb – An Introduction to Aqida alAqida alTauhidiya of alDardir (Part One)
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AI: Transcript ©
Send peace and blessings upon our beloved messenger,
Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,
upon his family, his companions, and those who
follow them until the end of time. Alhamdulillah.
During Ramadan,
we were gathering together, a number of people
asked me to teach a basic text
on theology,
on aqidah. So here you can see
this basic text is only 1 page,
only 1 page Alhamdulillahi rabbalalamin
That's why we say aqeedat
al Muslim.
The Aqidah actually is not an overly complex
subject because it's only one page it's very
clear, Alhamdulillah.
And the text that we're going to be
going through is written by Masha'Allah, one of
the great great scholars
of Islam over the last 400 years, Sheikh
Ahmed ad Dardir over the last 250 years.
Well, Sheikh Ahmed ad Dardir, he used to
live behind Gamili al Azhar.
Behind,
Masjid Al Azhar, his name is Abu
Barakat because Masha'Allah he was known for a
lot of blessings, a lot of Barakah.
And I can give you a story about
him. That one time when I heard one
of my teachers that one time
he was sitting in the Masjid with his
students,
and there was,
like lunchtime and they were eating
like what's called tamiya
falafel.
And a cat suddenly jumped up and grabbed
one of the falafel from the hand of
1 of the students of the Sheikh.
So the Sheikh he said
you know, as he's watching then his student
he hit the cat
and then the Shaykh he scolded him for
hitting the cat, he said, SubhanAllah, this cat
is seeking its
provisions from what Allah has given it.
You have no right to even abuse, masha'Allah,
animals.
So the sheikh, he was known especially towards
the later
periods, you know, he died a few years
before the French conquest
for being someone who is very active socially,
someone who is socially conscious, someone who is
involved in education and teaching
and was the Sheikh of Islam of Egypt
in his time
especially the Maliki Madhab,
Radiallahu Anhu and the head of Al Khalwatiya
which is a famous Sufi Tarika,
that existed in his time.
The Shaykh also had a number of students
And from amongst the students of Sidna, Sheikh
Ahmed
Adirdir
Radiallahu Ta'ala An who was Mustafa ibn Ahmad
Al Akbawi.
If you're from Cairo, you know Al Akbawi
is actually in reference to a location
where Uqba ibn Umar is buried.
The companion of the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
And he settled in Egypt and he died
in Egypt. And that area,
Uqbaawiya,
Uqbaawiya
is still known to this day. His grave
is still there. People go, they visit his
grave,
SubhanAllah and they, you know, make dua for
him.
Something interesting that Uqba
he sided with Mu'awiya
in
the
sedition
against Saydna Ali
and the people of Egypt
generally because of the large presence
of the family of the prophet
in Egypt,
they
they were not in agreeance
with Muawiyah
but
when Uqba came to Egypt,
they said, even though we don't like you
because of your opposition to the family of
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
and you're siding with Muawiyah,
we still respect you because you saw the
face of the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
And you spent time with Sayyidina Nabi Sallallahu
Alaihi wasalam. So they welcomed him to,
what was that time known as Fustat.
Al Qahira used to be called Al Fustat.
For Sayyidina Uqba ibn 'Amr,
he lived in Egypt and he died in
Egypt. So Sheikh Mustafa
Ahmed Al Akbayawi is from that neighborhood,
from that area. Masha'Allah. Masha'Allah. Masha'Allah.
So we're going to be reading a brief
introduction, Alhamdulillah,
to Al Aqidah
because so many people,
ask about it. Masha'Allah.
And it's important before we start
to make a few important kind of points.
The first is the Hadith of Sayyidina Nabi
That the best person is the one who
benefits others.
And if we look and this is where
I'm trained, so this is what I know,
Masha'Allah,
The benefit of
certain teachers within
the Azhar and within Egypt. I'm not Egyptian.
I'm from the USA,
but I studied and lived there. So I
can just give a few examples that I
know of from there.
The first is of Sheikh
Saydna
Ahmed,
Al Marzuki,
who was
one of the great scholars of Egypt in
the 19th century. He actually died in Mecca.
He was the Mufti of the Maliki Madhub.
He wrote a poem called
Insha'Allah I teach Aqidatul Awam at my school
Swiss and I'm gonna teach it here Insha'Allah
in a much more abbreviated way.
Sheikh Ahmed al Marzukhi, he used to live
in area of Minya, which was the area
of the Mamalik
dynasty,
so the aristocracy.
And every day, he would take a donkey
from that area to the Azhar. Right? In
those days, your donkey was like your Uber,
So he would take the donkey, Alhamdulillah, to,
Al Azhar.
After a few years,
people begin to notice that the people in
charge of the donkeys,
they saw them talking proper Arabic
Alhamdulillah
and they saw them
speaking
Masha'Allah
like fluent strong Arabic and talking about issues
of deen.
Even though the people that were in charge
of donkeys were, you know, known for being
illiterate.
So they went to them and they said
like, Masha'Allah, like, where did you learn the
knowledge of Aqidah and Hadith and Fiqh? They
said
from Sheikh Ahmed al Marzuki everyday
that one of them would ride to the
Azhar and back with the Sheikh he would
teach them.
So the sheikh was invested in what we
call public education, being a public educator, not
simply sitting behind an ivory tower, but like
being with the people and benefiting the people.
Another example I heard from one of my
teachers was that of Sheikh Ibn Abdulla,
one of the scholars who used to live
in Giza, which is like where the pyramids
are and stuff. And this also is around
a 100 or so years ago, who every
day also he would ride with
his servant, he had a servant, to Masjid
Al Azhar.
And again, you know, at that time the
servants weren't known for being highly educated.
So this happened for around 15 years. He
would go back and forth with the Sheikh.
And one day in the Masjid in in
in Masjid Al Azhar, there was a debate
happening
about an issue of theology.
And suddenly
the servant, he said, I know, I know
this, I know this answer,
and he started to explain the issue that
brought both sides together.
Then he said, man,
how did you
learn this?
How did you learn this knowledge? How are
you quoting this text and this and this
and this and this?
He said I've been riding with the Sheikh
every day for, like, 15 years from Giza
to the Azhar and back to Giza,
and everyday he would review his notes
and share what he reviewed with me.
And SubhanAllah this is how Masha'Allah Masha'Allah
I learned this and this individual
was honored
as an Azhari.
Imagine, he was tested
by the scholars, he was given because
he couldn't read or write. He was given
an oral examination,
the servant of the sheikh, and they gave
him the the dress of the scholars.
They said, you know more than us
because
the best person is the one who benefits
people.
One more example of Sheikha Aisha bin Shalti.
Sheikha Aisha bin Shalti, she died a few
years ago, Rahimahullah
Ta'ala.
Her father around a 100 years ago or
so was considered one of the most preeminent
scholars
in the science of Hadith.
Especially one of the most important books in
the science of Hadith, the Muqaddimah,
B'amr ibn al Salah.
When she was a child,
he used to take her with her
to
all of the gatherings of his colleagues,
whether it was at the university,
whether it was at someone's home, whether there
was a debate happening, this young girl would
always, Masha'Allah, be with her father.
Masha'Allah. Masha'Allah.
And then, you know, she became very well
educated. She went on to what's called Darulullah.
Many people know her story is very famous.
But then her father, he died.
And when her father died, there's a publisher
Darul Ma'arif.
They decided to put together a a great
final copy,
which has, like, been critically edited and academically
approved of the Muqaddimah
of Abi Amr
ibn As Salah.
When they started this work, you know, there
was a number of scholars involved looking at,
you know, the the
the the the the handwritten text and so
on and so forth.
And
when they started this work,
they discovered that there were like mistakes in
the manuscript or these things couldn't be corroborated.
So somebody said to them, I know the
person
who's most knowledgeable
of this text,
on the face of the earth.
They said who? They said, Aishaisha
Bin Shalta.
So they went to her
and they begin to have her examine
and I can bring it for you. One
second. Let me grab it.
The Muqaddimah
of Abi Amr ibn al Salah.
And when she began to look at it,
she said no no no this is wrong
this is wrong this is wrong this word
is wrong this letter is wrong this is
wrong this is wrong this is wrong
And they ask her,
how do you know this?
She said because since my
primary age,
I was with my father.
This is her edition of the book.
This is considered the premier edition
of the Muqaddimah
of Ibn Salah and if you look
here
The point is, and you can look at
her footnotes, man.
Her footnotes are half the page.
The point is
The best person is the one who benefits
people.
I want you to think about something now,
and I'm saying this from the point of
Tarbia. The
education that you've been exposed to,
the arguments
and debates that you've seen,
unfortunately this is not available in English, man.
I don't I don't know how anyone would
be able to translate it.
I mean Sheikh Mustafa
Imara one of our teachers in Hadith
it took him
7 years to explain her book.
7 years it's on YouTube
in Egypt.
But I want you to ask yourself a
very important question.
The things that you're exposed to
are about Islam,
the arguments
that you see amongst Muslims
that you are exposing yourself to. No problem.
Good question.
Do they create more light
or more heat?
Do they create more light for you to
see
or do they create more heat that hurts
you?
I want you to ask yourself this question
because what I'm about to do now is
go with through with you a classical text.
This text here, we're gonna finish it in
probably 45 minutes.
In 45 minutes, you will know everything you
need to know
that makes you,
Alhamdulillah,
settled in your belief as a Muslim,
the foundations of your belief as a Muslim.
After that, halas,
any questions you have, any doubts you have,
ask.
But right now, we need to skip the
heat
and start to generate light.
We need to focus
So we're going to start this text in
in that vein
of benefiting people. Sheikh Ahmed Adardir.
He wrote 1 page
that contains
the entire Akida
of Ahl Sunnah.
And actually I translated this book, you can
find it, it's on Amazon. I wrote it,
I said for parents and teens, but it's
for everybody, it's called Essentials of Islamic Faith.
The explanation as I mentioned earlier is by
Sheikh Mustafa Al Akbayawi RadiAllahu Ta'ala Anhum Faheyabina
Nabda insha'Allah
I also have here notes for you that
you can take advantage of.
Yes. The Shaykh, he begins Bismillahir
Rahmanir Rahim.
Why does he begin Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim? Because
the Quran begins Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim.
And also Sayyidina Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam he
said every important issue,
Every important issue that doesn't begin with the
is amputated.
Right? You can imagine how hard it would
be to function in your life without limbs.
You could function, but it would be difficult.
So the idea here is that any really
important affair that you want to start, if
it doesn't start with the basmala, it's like
it's amputated from barakah.
This hadith is Da'if.
And the hadith, hadith, Da'if.
Then the question is, if this hadith is
Da'if,
how come on every single book of the
Ulama that you find, the Ulama,
you find the Basmala?
I'm sure this book of Sheikh Aisha bin
Shate,
if you look at the beginning of it,
what do you think it's gonna start with?
I'm just gonna grab any book from here.
The first book
Al Kashaaf
Al Sidnaz al Maqshari
Al Ma'atazili.
What does it start with?
I'm sure if we go to the first
page of his book,
what's it gonna start with?
So here we have any book I'm taken
off the shelf,
any book I'm taken off the shelf by
any Adam,
starts Bismillah Al Rahman Al Rahim.
One of the biggest challenges of the contemporary
Muslim community
is that it has been exposed now to
what would only have been considered a 100
years ago
the fringes of Sunni thought,
the the the margins
of Sunni thought.
For example,
that a Hadith Da'if should be treated like
a Hadith mawdur.
That a Hadith Da'if should be completely rejected.
This goes against
the majority
of scholars of hadith in Sunni Islam.
I just proved it to you. Every single
book I'm taken off the shelf whether they're
from Andalus, whether they're from Iraq, whether they're
from the Maliki Madhab, whether it's Imam al
Tabarani. Every
single one of them starts with the Basmala.
So what did this new exposure to this
marginalized
marginalized
thought in Aqidah
and the Ulum
due to the majority of Muslims,
it caused them because they thought that marginalized
thought was mainstream
that the majority of their ulema are off
the deen.
And when they begin to assume that the
majority of their ulema are off the deen,
they begin to swear from Surat al Mustaqim.
And that's why many of us we treat
the Imams and teachers in our community
like Bani Israel treated its prophets as the
prophet said we would.
So I want you to understand something when
you're with me that I am working to
actively
unprogram
the
strange
and often minority
thoughts within certain French Sunni ideas
and bring us back to the centralized mainstream
Sunni thoughts
which we find across the ummah.
Not to vilify those people or to to
say that they're wrong,
but to put them in their right place.
That you are always a fringe idea.
That you are always on the fringe
when it comes to issues,
not the majority,
not the mainstream.
And one of those fringe ideas is that
a weak hadith
equates to a fabricated hadith.
What's the proof? The hadith that everything should
start with the Basmalah is weak. But every
single book I took off the shelf here
by great Ulema,
and some of them even from the Salaf,
starts with the Basmala. What does that mean?
Then that means that the Ulama treated weak
Hadith
different than fabricated hadith.
And that there are darajatulbaaf,
that there are certain levels and different levels
of weakness.
Need to remember this.
It's very important.
Also,
for those of you who are my students,
serious students, there's an important principle
that when we have weak Hadith,
usually when we have something sahi,
something sound,
we say.
That if we have something sound,
usually
what is sound
then the general text is going to be
restricted by a specific text.
For example, Allah says,
That the food of the people of the
book is allowed for you.
This is restricted by something which is sound
which says,
Don't eat from anything
that Allah's name hasn't been pronounced. So
eat any of their food. Now we find
a text later that restricts it. It has
to be slaughtered. So this
is Pay attention.
However, when it comes to weak texts,
we say
the opposite.
That what is specific
is interpreted through the more general text. What
do I mean by that? When you take
all these different ahadith together about starting something,
we find every serious manner issue that doesn't
start with Bismillah or every serious
issue that doesn't start with Alhamdulillah.
Those are specific. The Basmala and Hamdulillah are
specific.
But then we find another hadith that says
every
issue which doesn't start be zikrilah,
zikrilah is general.
Zikrilah is general. So when we interpret this,
we understand it means anything that you want
to start with, which is very serious. If
you don't start with zikr of Allah,
then it's like amputated from blessings. I'm gonna
repeat this again for my students. Number 1,
2 authentic hadi or 2 authentic texts we
say
with 2 weak hadith or 2 texts which
are questionable we say
Now we start to text Insha'Allah,
so get ready, prepare it. You could take
some notes and people who take notes in
the chat box, of course, is super appreciated.
But what we're going to now briefly in
the next 30 minutes or so is go
through the entire aqidah
of Ahlul
Sheikh Ahmad Ad Dardir, he says that it
is obligatory upon the Muqaddaf.
What he means
is that it is an obligation from the
point of Sharia.
And we understand from this that we have
3 type of rulings. We don't have to
talk about it now, but in the future.
Number 1, hukum sharai.
Number 2, hukum ada. Number 3, hukum aqli.
Right? A ruling that comes from sharia. This
is haram, this is halal.
Number 2, a ruling that comes generates from
the mind. For example, half of a 100
is 50. You don't have to ask, you
Sheikh, what's the daleel
ala and nalusulmiakhamseen?
You don't have to ask that question.
The third
was called hukum 'ada, those things related to
norms. Of course the 2nd and third are
going to fall under the umbrella of the
sharia.
So the shaykh he says
who's the mawakalaf?
The mawakalaf
is you,
is the person who is responsible.
What makes someone responsible?
Three things. Number 1, they have the mental
ability to moralize.
They understand the difference between right and wrong,
good and evil.
Number 2, they have the physical ability to
perform
those things which Allah commands them.
And number 3, they know about it. They
have the knowledge what's called
So we say that takleef,
burdening,
has 3 conditions. What makes someone responsible in
Islam is number 1,
the ability to moralize and understand things intellectually.
Number 2, the ability to physically perform those
things. And number 3,
that they know about it. If they don't
know about it then we say there are
cases with Allah. A lot of times Muslims
ask me what about people who never heard
about Islam?
Their cases with Allah
What about people who have not been properly
exposed to Islam? We say there are cases
with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. That's why many
of us who accepted Islam we may have
family members who have were not exposed to
Islam and died. We can ask Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala to make them from those that
He has mercy on amongst Ahlul Fitra. There's
nothing wrong with that, alhamdulillah.
This also hits the question for parents, what
if you have a child who's physically mature
but mentally immature? Or mentally mature but physically
immature, we say this is called taklif naqas.
What does taklif naqas mean? It means a
deficient taklif, a deficient responsibility.
So therefore, maybe your child is physically gone
through puberty but the maturation mentally isn't there,
you should be merciful upon them. You should
not have the same expectation
you would have over someone who has both.
Maybe someone's child is mentally mature but physically,
say for example, unable to fast or pray,
then you should be mercy merciful upon them.
This takes us to a third issue. What
about people with Alzheimer's or depression or even
OCD or ADHD?
In all of these situations,
if there are challenges of challenges
cognitively,
even emotionally,
psychologically,
like trauma
that impact their ability to perform the obligations,
then there's mercy. I'll give you an example.
A woman came to me years ago who
had a history of bulimia,
she had converted to Islam, and she said
that when I fast I can't stop fasting.
When I fast I can't stop fasting.
I said, when was the last time you
ate? She said, 48 hours ago. Say, you
Allah, but it's not allowed. She said, I
can't eat because fasting in the month of
Ramadan
triggers my eating disorders.
In this instance,
this is called Taklif Naqes. This is beyond
her ability. This is something that she can't
control.
And our job is to heal her to
a place where she can come back and
worship Allah. So I told her don't fast,
Alhamdulillah,
and wait and work with your therapist and
work through the things that you're going through
and in the future contact me if you
feel you can start fasting we can work
something out for you.
So now what did we just expand on?
In in in less than 3 words from
the text, look at the lessons you took.
This is the benefit of taking the classical
texts.
So the the first primary obligation
upon a responsible person
is Marifa. What does Marifa team mean?
Right? It means knowledge, sound knowledge.
Imagine what a beautiful religion
that the first obligation upon a responsible person
is to learn.
Allahu Akbar. Do we teach Islam like this?
Do we encourage people to learn? Do we
encourage people to ask questions?
Are our Islamic studies programs those that are
vibrant with profound
and engaged.
If it's the latter, we're in trouble.
The prophet used to say
talk to me.
The first primary obligation
is to learn.
We have a very important axiom in Islam
that says whatever allows you to complete an
obligation becomes obligatory.
Whatever allows you to complete an obligation becomes
an obligatory.
So if knowledge is an obligation,
then anything that leads to that
knowledge is obligatory.
That's why Islamic schools are very important.
That's why we should take it very seriously
about creating colleges to train
Islamic studies teachers. That's why at least in
English speaking countries, we have to have proper
colleges to create proper Imams
and sheikhat
who can teach to people because they are
the entry points into learning. Our text and
resources have to be strong
so that we can make sure people have
access to knowledge. Many Muslims are too intimidated
to go to the mosque,
too scared to go to the mosque. So
there has to be other entry points for
them to engage faith.
So we have to support efforts
to make education
readily accessible,
affordable
and relevant to Muslims. This is Wajib.
That's why you say the Imam he
said that it is a communal obligation to
have a teacher in every city, a teacher
of religious studies.
We may
be upset at other religious groups.
We may not agree with other religious groups,
but are we as passionate
about scaling
and creating institutions
as those people are on falsehood
with the truth.
Are we as passionate with the truth as
as others are with falsehood?
That tells you a lot about where we
are.
So the first obligation, and you wanna remember
this, upon you and upon anyone interested in
Islam is to think and to learn,
to ask questions and be educated.
That the first obligation from the Sharia is
for a person to know what they have
to believe about God, what they have to
believe about the prophets, and what they have
to believe about the Malaika,
the angels.
Mashallah,
what a religion
that the first obligation
is to learn.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says to the prophet
Sallallahu Wa Ta'ala
my Lord increase me in knowledge,
my Lord increase me in knowledge.
So and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
are those who know and those who don't
know the same.
And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says
very beautifully
are those who know and those who don't
know equal
and Allah says
That Allah will raise the people of knowledge.
Are we as passionate
about learning Islam
as in it which we believe to be
the truth
as other religious communities are as passionate about
learning falsehood.
Then who should we blame?
So Sayna Imam Sheikh Ahmed Adirdir he says
The first obligation Sharia
puts on a person
is to learn
and nobody will learn for you. I remember
when I first became Muslim I used to
get upset at the Arabs.
You know, I was a young kid, man,
what do these Arabs teach me Arabic, man?
Because you think Arabs, they all speak like
Arabic and they're all, like, ready to teach
which is not the case. It's not fair
to have that assumption that I was young.
Man, why don't these Arabs teach me man
Arabic blah blah blah blah blah blah
right?
I remember one of the old heads,
Sheikh Abdulrahman,
Basir who I became Muslim with, may Allah
bless him. He said I need to talk
to you.
He said,
Aki, I want to tell you something
very important
and that is
that
nobody is going
to learn
for you.
Nobody.
Nobody is going to learn
for you.
Nobody.
You have to learn for yourself.
So in the first few words the sheikh
locates the importance of religious knowledge. He
says It's an obligation upon you and me
to take ownership of our religion and learn.
And this is the majority of Sunni theologians.
When they taught Aqeedah they taught it from
this perspective. What do you have to believe
about God? What are you forbidden to believe
about God? And what is probable for you
to believe about God? What do you have
to believe about the prophets?
What are you not allowed to believe about
the prophets, and what is probable in your
belief about the prophets? What you have to
believe about angels, what you have to deny
about angels, what is probable in relationship to
angels, and the books and so on and
so forth. This method,
what's obligatory to believe about god, what's obligatory
to deny about god, what is probable in
your relationship with god, this method is the
method of the majority of Sunnis.
A minority of Sunnis, they divide and
This was always a fringe element within Sunni
theology. Doesn't mean it's wrong, I don't agree
with it necessarily, doesn't mean we should fight
over it, but we need to understand that
this way of presenting tawhid
is not the mainstream of Sunnis. It's very
important to know this although it may be
what you're exposed to.
So the sheikh he
introduces
our understanding of how we build a meaningful
relationship with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. He says
And then he continues, Raheemullah and we'll read
this part Insha'Allah Ta'ala and we may have
to to stop because we don't want to
take too much of your time,
but he says
that you have to believe 20 things about
God.
What do I mean about probable?
Allah could make you the most you could
be the next John Singleton,
Singletary,
or you may not be.
You may be the next,
you know what I'm saying, greatest director in
history.
You may not be.
I may,
you know, memorize Sahih Bukhari.
I may not.
So that's probable. I could be rich, I
could be poor, I could be happy, I
could be sad, I could be sick, I
could be healthy.
What we call
and this is where most people we have
challenges in aqidah.
What do we mean by we what do
we have to believe about God? Gonna talk
about it. What do we mean by we
have to deny about God? We're gonna talk
about it. What do we mean by probabilities?
We're gonna talk about it now insha'Allah
very quickly. So the sheikh he says
There
are 20 things you have to know about
God.
Obligatory things you have to affirm about Allah.
Maybe somebody asked why not the 99 names
of Allah? What about Asma and this and
this? Why? Because the ulema knew that this
was hard for people to navigate.
How many people are gonna take the time
to study all of those 99 names of
Allah? Then how many people are gonna go
through all of the different ahadith
traditions
that mention them and even those that they
differ over?
Most people don't have time for that. So
what did they do? They said listen we're
gonna give you 20 concepts,
these 20 concepts encapsulate
everything you need to know about Allah
based on the Quran and authentic hadith.
So the sheikh, he says
The first is existence.
Allah exists.
We have to affirm that He exists. If
we don't affirm that Allah exists then
there's no deen, there's no prophets,
there's no purpose.
But we believe also there's no creation.
And the opposite of Al Wujud is Al
Adam. So in every word he's mentioned, the
opposite of what is is confirmed is what
you have to deny. So in reality, you're
not learning 20 ports parts of aqidah, you're
learning 40.
SubhanAllah.
Because what's inferred is what's forbidden.
So, Al Wujud
Allah exists
the opposite of that is non existence.
How do we know Allah
exists? Number 1 is we look at the
world around us everything is is what's called
matter. It's agreed upon now the law of
thermodynamics
that matter does not create itself
nor does it destroy itself. But we see
in front of us, matter is here. Matter
I'm here. You're here.
We exist. But you and I know that
we didn't create ourselves. We have never seen
matter create itself.
In the purest sense of the word, we
have never seen.
And in fact, I'll give you a small
drill to try. I want everyone who's watching
right now to close your eyes, but you're
gonna be freaked out by this. So be
ready. Close your eyes and imagine nothing.
Close your eyes and imagine
non existence.
Can you do it?
Usually,
when I ask people share with me what
you saw, they say, yeah, I imagine nonexistence.
What did you see? I saw red I
saw black. Well, red and black exist.
So you saw something.
You didn't imagine non existence.
I want you to imagine
nothing in the material world.
You can't.
And I can't.
And the reason you and I can't is
because it's not written in our hard drive.
We are not programmed
to even be able to imagine
Al Adam.
No computer programming
can imagine
nonexistence because in and itself exist. We cannot
escape existence
even
in our imagination
and even in the most complex mathematics.
It cannot happen.
You know why?
Because none of us are
So we affirm this.
We exist,
but we cannot even
imagine
non existence.
So something which is not matter
made matter.
This class actually I teach in detail at
my school suaheebweb.com
but every Sunday Insha Allah we're gonna teach
this till we finish it because it is
far on me to teach this.
I have to teach this.
But if you wanna support my work, the
best thing you can do to help us
grow
is to enroll at my school, and you
see there it's pinned.
It's recorded, I'll repost it Insha'Allah.
Of course, man. Knowledge has to be accessible.
So he says,
I'll let you guys know when it's gonna
start Sunday afternoons
So that's an intellectual
proof,
a textual proof Allah says,
and I am Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
So that's the first what we call Al
Sifat al Nafsiyyah Al Sifat al Wududiyyah
existence.
That's why Allah says in the Quran,
In yourself there's a sign.
Think about it. You can't even imagine. So
you can tell an atheist,
imagine nonexistence.
Another one I like to do with children
is imagine a creation
that has never been seen before.
A different shape, a different color,
a different dimension.
Try.
Watch this. Try it again. We already did
nonexistence.
Now let's try to imagine
something that exists
that is not related to anything we know,
not even the colors that we know.
You can't do it
because you do not have the ability to
imagine
nonexistence,
and you do not have the ability to
imagine creation
because this is not on your hard drive.
That's why Allah
Then He says,
What does kiddim mean?
No beginning,
primordial.
He has no beginning.
What does Al Baqah mean?
He has no ending.
So he said he exists.
And we noted that his existence is beyond
matter because if he was matter,
he would have a beginning and an end.
He wouldn't be creator because matter cannot create
nor destroy itself.
Shur'at Hadid.
Good, masha Allah.
But also if something has a beginning and
an ending,
what's called Huduth. You wanna remember this word,
huduth.
Then that means it's matter.
Something has a start and an end, it
means it's matter. So then it can't be
the creator.
So how do we begin to understand Allah's
existence?
He's beyond the beginning or an end.
Subhan Allah.
This is Tawhid.
This is who you worship. This is who
you pray to. This is who you make
sujood to. This is who you make dua
to. This is who you cry to. This
is who brings happiness to your heart.
La ilaha illallah.
So Al Huduth. What does Huduth mean? Something
has a beginning and an end.
Sayyidina Imam Ahmad in another book he says
that Huduth means that something has a bit
it starts after it didn't exist.
Wasn't there a time you united didn't exist?
Can you imagine what your non existence was
like? Can you describe your non existence?
You can't.
So what is the thing that
What is it that truly brought you
into existence?
So now you see Tawhid
as taught by the majority of Ahlus Sunnah
is impactful. It's not theoretical only. It impacts
you. Because this Tawhid is designed
to create a greater reliance and love
for Allah.
Not to fight the Muslims and to argue
and to split the community
and destroy us.
But to create a love for Allah
and a reverence for Allah and respect for
the sacred.
Tell you, you gotta slow down, man. I'm
about to hire you to do some work
next week. I hope you're in New York.
I need some film work done, insha Allah.
Next week.
So he says,
The Absar of Wujud is non existence.
The Absar of Al Qiddim is birth.
The Absar of Baqah is death. Allah says
Allah has no beginning.
Everything on the earth will perish
except
the only thing left will be Allah.
Then he says,
What is Al Muqhalifa?
Opposition.
Those things that have a beginning and an
end.
I talked about hudus earlier.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is in opposition to
all things that have a beginning or an
end.
Everything that exists.
Because he's the creator.
When we say this though, we mean it
in 3 ways. Number 1, in his essence.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala His essence isn't divided
into parts, 1 of 3.
He's not like fire and ice.
He's not, you know,
a gender Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Even though we
say he that's part of language but Allah
is beyond gender Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
What's the proof for this?
There's nothing like Allah. What's the proof for
Because if he was like matter,
he would be matter. And if he was
matter, he can no longer be the creator.
And this is one of our greatest attacks
on the idea that Jesus is God.
Because when you make God into the vessel
of the physical,
he is no longer transcendent.
He is no longer beyond
mistakes.
He is no longer beyond shortcomings.
He now has embodied the material,
so therefore he has a beginning and an
end, and he cannot be the creator. Therefore
he's not worthy of worship.
How can I stop wasting time on negative
things? Focus in the lesson and learn.
Don't make it about yourself.
Don't come into a gathering and you're so
worried about yourself that it makes you hyper
focused on yourself. That's not a good quality.
Focus on the lesson.
Learn, maybe the learning will have something for
you insha'Allah.
So
means in 3 areas. In His essence, Allah
is not one of 3,
Number 2, in His actions nothing in creation
acts like God.
And number 3, his attributes
and qualities.
Nothing is like him.
After
the 4th Al Qiyam bin Nafs.
What does Al Qiyam bin Nafs mean? Al
Qiyam means to exist.
Means to exist.
The word here
means because of.
Let me explain this to you.
I exist because of oxygen.
I exist
because of sun.
I exist because of health. I exist because
of the people around me who loved me
like my wife and my family. I exist
because of food.
I as a creature,
as a person,
it is written
within the intrinsic
components of my existence
to rely.
I am.
I am in need. Even if I say
I don't need, the fact that I'm breathing,
I need. The fact that I blink is
I need.
Every
every muscle of my existence is reminding me
that I am faqir,
that I.
I am not independent
and existing because of myself.
I am living because of oxygen,
blood, organs, a body,
my family, food, the weather,
the air.
Allah
exists
because he's Allah.
That's what that means.
How do you translate that?
Truly independent.
Truly independent.
That's why when I teach I teach this
class to adults, I'm starting again this class
next week at Swiss with adults. I asked
him, this week, I want you to make
a list.
What are you
with?
What are you
with? And also this is the foundation
of social justice, what we call religious justice,
not social justice in Islam. When we realize
that everything
lives and functions because of other things, then
I have to make sure I'm not an
oppressor.
I'm not this is the foundation of rights
for people because they are not truly independent.
They have to rely on others.
So the idea of Al Qiyam bi nafs
not only has an impact on theology,
it has an impact on religious justice movements.
Look where we just went with that.
The opposite of
is reliance.
The opposite of Al Qiyam Obinafs is Baaf,
weakness.
Then he says
and this is where we're gonna stop today
Insha'Allah.
Walwahdaniyah,
Oneness.
What does it mean oneness? Oneness in 3
areas. In His essence Allah is not one
of 3.
Allah says don't say I'm I'm part of
a trinity.
Number 2 in his actions.
Nothing shares in Allah's actions
because the material world, and this is again
one of our most formidable criticisms of Christianity,
is that when you make a human body
share in the grace and punishment of God,
this is idolatry.
This is idolatry.
The third
and his names and attributes.
He's alone.
The opposite of al Wahdaniyah is shirk.
This is going to completely redefine how you've
been taught shirk, you've been taught shirk by
a marginalized
theology within the Sunni world, which gained a
voice because of oil and American support
and the support of the British 2 300
years ago.
It doesn't mean that the ideology is necessarily
wrong but it means who supported and pushed
and promoted it within the Muslim
world should cause us all to be worried.
But the mainstream
understanding of Sunni Islam
is that shirk
is the opposite of al wahdaniyah.
Is to say that something shares in the
essence of God,
that something shares in the power and attributes
of God,
or to say that something shares in the
actions
related to Allah
On purpose with niya
we say that a Muslim cannot become a
mushrik
unless it's very clear. A Muslim cannot leave
Islam unless they leave Islam like someone enters
Islam. There's no Takfir
of a person based on maybe, maybe not,
I don't know, I'm not sure. La aya
sheikh.
So as we finish,
today Alhamdulillah
we took the first seven
qualities due to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Al
Wujud, the Absar of Al Wujud, existence is
non existence.
The second Al Baqa,
that he has no beginning, the opposite of
that is birth.
The third, the sorry, the second is Al
Qiddim.
The opposite of that is that he has
a that he Al Wila that he was
born,
Al Huduth, that he evolved.
The third we took Al Baqah, that he
has no ending. The opposite of that is
death.
The 4th
The opposite of
is to.
Something says it's partially like God or it's
completely like like God. That's why we say
There's no partial likeness. There's no complete likeness
to Allah.
That's idolatry.
And that means that Allah is beyond time,
beyond space, beyond direction,
beyond anything that's measurable.
The next we talked
about
absolutely independent,
self
existing.
Then finally,
the opposite of
is shirk. Again,
existence, the opposite nonexistence.
No beginning, the opposite of that is birth
or or evolving.
The 3rd, no ending, the opposite of that
is death.
The 4th,
in opposition to creation, creation is not like
him, he's not like creation, partially or impartially.
The 5th, absolute independence.
The
6th,
oneness. The absolute of oneness is shirk.
How can all of these impact our life?
How can this impact our life? When I
know that Allah
exists, it's going to increase
my focus and my discipline and my obedience
to Him. When Allah I know that Allah
has no beginning and ending, this is gonna
create my zuhid,
my discipline with the opulent world. I'm not
gonna be somewhat into opulence because I know
what's with Allah last, not what's with the
dunya doesn't.
The third,
in opposition to all things, this is going
to increase my Ikhlas.
The 4th
is going to increase my
when I know that Allah is the only
true independent
source in creation.
And is
going to increase my sincerity and worship.
If you have any questions, we can take
your questions now. If not,
we're gonna stop here. We only read to
this part here
in the book. Alhamdulillah, it's only 1 page
because the aqeedah of the Muslims is easy.
It's not complicated.
It's not difficult. And for those of you
who join late every Sunday probably later in
the evenings, we're going to read a foundational
text. This is an Ez Hari class textbook,
This is very old Masha'Allah,
in Aqidah so that you can have the
foundations Alhamdulillah
of Aqidah.
What you have to know Masha'Allah as a
Muslim
again,
the best thing you can do, if you
want, enroll in my school at suaheebweb.com.
Your support,
$9.99 a month is nothing.
Helps us grow, helps us to scale, helps
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And again, we continue with
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doesn't matter.
Any questions? So every week, InshaAllah, we'll gather,
go to the foundations of aqidah that you
have to know. It's very important if you're
an MSA, if you're in interfaith. I see
a lot of people making mistakes at interfaith
because we say what we want we think
the non Muslims wanna hear. That's not an
effective strategy.
You have to have principles. You have to
be a say, you know, respectfully, we don't
agree with that. This is what we believe.
That's it. Yeah. Just take a position, man.
If they really love you,
then they're gonna they're gonna be your supporters
regardless of that.
I will post this now on Instagram. Please
share with others. Let other people know every
Sunday we'll be gathering together to go through
this text. Really proud of those who stayed,
and participated. May Allah bless you.
For people who,
gave some badges. Absolutely, we teach Arabic. We
have a class
teaching Arabic the easy way for people learning
to read Arabic that will start next week
part 1 and part 2 again,
learning to read Arabic the easy way, very
good class, I think people will enjoy it.
Right now I gotta take my daughter to
the park or I am you're gonna be
reading about my Janazah
tonight. JazakAllah.
I'm super proud of you guys for participating.
Assalamu alaikum.