Suhaib Webb – The Glistening Pearl (PartFour) A Framework of Maturity & The Role of Intellect In Theology
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Welcome back to our 4th session here
on Al Haridah Al Bahiyyah.
And
Now you're going to learn something that you
never learned before,
and it's something very very important. It's it's
really really central for you to know that
the Sunni tradition from its mainstream perspective
married
2 sciences
and gave supremacy to one over the other,
except in very specific situations.
What are those two sciences? Al manqulah. It's
from.
Manqul means things that are related.
What does it mean here narrated? What does
it mean? Quran,
sunnah,
Ijma,
and so on and so forth. The opinions
of the Sahaba, the opinions of the Salaf.
Those are called Almankulat.
So
basically,
religious
sources
of education. Scripture,
hadith,
hadam mankul because it was passed on from
one person to another, alistan.
The second science, and this is where
most people have a lot of problems
because they're not exposed to it. They're not
aware of this great tradition within,
the Islamic academic canon,
is from
from the intellect. What does it mean?
Logic.
Classical Muslim scholars, and even till now,
married the Maqolel
and the Maqolel
when
they
needed to
and would always give superiority
except in few situations
to the Mount Colet. And I'll give an
example.
And not as a source,
but as an interpretive,
if you will, rudder.
Because always the mankul as a source has
given
khalas
its supremacy.
But sometimes
the source needs the aqal
in order to maintain
a foundation of Islam.
And that's why I began the class
talking to you about the word
Rahman
and Raheem
and how it will be impossible
to interpret them literally.
That is why I modeled that for you
in the very beginning.
When I said, like, rahma is a human
emotion,
it involves our psychological,
intellectual, and cognitive states based on
the situations around us. So that's mohadal Allah.
So then we have the text, Allah is
Ar Rahman Ar Raheem.
We cannot interpret literally,
so then we bring in, of course, supported
by other Sharia texts, by the way,
an idea from the that
we
say that this meaning has to be
used in a metaphor.
For what? Transcendent knowledge. I did that. So
I did that in the very beginning to
model that for you. Knowledge.
So if you say Allah knows if you
interpret that literally you're a kafir.
Like our knowledge,
Allah knows
literally as we know, that's kufr because Allah
says
So what I'm saying is very, very important
right now. You gotta pay attention to this
because
this is going to now start to branch
out in ways that help you scale your
learning, man,
and help you think
what it means to think as a Muslim
correctly.
So if we say Allah knows, here's the
text,
but if you interpret that literally that's kufr.
So now you have to bring the Maqul
which is supported by other evidences,
universal evidences. Allah is not like anything else.
So the Maqul says, oh, this has to
be majaz.
This has to be rhetoric, meaning
transcendent knowledge.
Subhanahu wa ta'ala. So us scholars married this
in a very profound way.
And there were three opinions about studying the
Maqolel.
The first opinion is that it's forbidden,
and that's not just the Salafis. Don't go
don't be shallow with it. The shallow the
the Salafis have their tradition.
You can find their opinions rooted in the
tradition. Engage that tradition and argue with it
if you if you're so passionate. Don't just
label people.
The 3rd axiom I'm gonna teach you is
that there's no criticism based on.
So I can't just say, oh, that person's
Hanafi, he's horrible. Oh, that person's Salafi, he's
horrible. No. I have to be able to
unpack
the problem, not just name call. Look at
our deen, man.
Falajarhabil
Madhab. That's why Imam al Bukhari
insahih al jama. He narrates hadith on behalf
of Shia.
Why? Because
they were Shia, but they were solid narrators.
He was able to unpack.
Imam Sha'afii and his musnad narrates on behalf
of shia.
He didn't just say, oh, these people are
shia. They're horrible. No. He understood this person
to be a credible
narrator because he took the time to either
know or investigate the person.
So you need to remember this axiom.
There's no criticism.
By group affiliation.
So we see something here that Islamic scholarship,
if you think about the last two axioms
I taught you, compels us to be deeper
thinkers, man,
and to be patient and to be people
of, like to be layered,
right, to be layered in our thinking.
So imam,
for example, Asiyuti.
Imam
and others. They considered it forbidden.
Abu Amr ibn Salah forbidden to learn
says
Haram.
The second opinion as mentioned by Sayna Abdulrahman
Al Akhdarri, the writer of the famous book
Al Akhdarri has another book called Asulam.
A sulum is a book and
and and teaches us teaches us the foundations
of logic
according to Islam, Sunni, if you will, logic.
He mentions in a sulum, the statement of
Abu Hamad al Pazari, that learning it is
fard, the opposite of those people,
the the complete opposite. When you find complete
opposites within the tradition, understand this is the
issue of. You should take it easy, man.
Don't make it a big issue.
And the third is the opinion of the
majority
of scholars
throughout history,
and that is that logic should be learned
by those who need it if they have
a grounding
in Quran and Sunnah, or they're being guided
through lessons and classes.
So what Sheikh Ahmed ad Dardir is going
to do now is introduce you to a
small,
small drop in the ocean of the Maqulat.
Because the science of the Maqolel deals with
theology, of course,
but also deals with things like alsot alfikr
and interpretation.
And that's why sometimes now Muslims have a
problem
criticizing modernity
and transmodernity
without using it. Like, they have to use
transmodernity to criticize transmodernity. They have to use
modernity to translate to to to criticize modernity.
Why? Because they don't have a system. They
don't have a Maqulat.
So what that is, it's a system
that allows us to look at things intellectually
from the prism of Islamic logic. That's why
it's very important.
That's why some of the criticisms of some
of the earlier philosophers
in in the Muslim world who were enamored
by Greek philosophy to the point that they
became more Greek than Muslim
was that they became overtaken by the epistemological
framework of the
Greeks, where the majority of Sunnis and Shias
were like, no, no, no. Back that horse
up. We're going to criticize this. We're going
to filter it. We're going to cleanse it,
and then we're going to scale our own
system of thinking.
Why do Muslims now in America in particular
where we live, English speaking Muslims,
as well as the Arab world, this ain't
taught no more, man.
Why do they have trouble
making sense
of the chaos
of transmodality?
Because they can't think outside of it.
So they have to use it. It's like
they're in an echo chamber.
So now Sheikh Ahmadardir, as you're gonna see
in a second, is gonna open up a
small window and he's gonna say, here's a
way that Islam looks at the world.
You can compare this to economic theory. You
can compare this to critical race theory, any
theory that's out there now.
Islam has its own approach to how it
creates value
and how it makes us look at things
that leads to value, that leads to action
and devotion.
So he says, Aksamu luhokmilaaqli
la mihala.
The beginning is to talk about is called
Al Hukum Al Aqal.
The word Al Hukum
doesn't mean ruling. The word hukum comes from
a word which means to stop.
I stopped him. I arrested him.
There's a poem,
you know,
The poet says, you know, old tribe of
I'm going to stop your foolish ones.
I'm going to. That's why a judge is
called Hakim because he adjudicates.
He stops
the the fight. That's why it's called Hikma.
Why is it called Hikma? Because Hikma stops
someone from acting a fool.
It's from the same word, hickem.
So the sheikh he says,
He's
talking about.
In the Islamic
tradition,
academic tradition,
there are 3 types of hokkim.
I know you you fiery, you know, you
just hokum shari. Hokum shari. These kind of
people would be blown away as they're about
to learn now. That's only 1 third of
the type of rulings we have. For example,
2 +2 is 4. Do you need a
hook of shariah for that?
Bring
the daleel. 2 +2 is 4
from Quran and Sunnah.
What's wrong with you, man?
Do you need a Dalil to know to
put on a coat with his coat outside?
So the of
those actions is not a hokum sharay.
It's a different hokum.
Those the rulings for those decisions
are not resting on Sharia, and that's the
mercy of Allah. And that's the difference between
Islam and Judaic law, that the prophet salallahu
alaihi wasalam was sent to remove that kind
of burden on people.
The Quran says that he removed the shackles
from people.
So in Islam, we have 3 types of
rulings. The first is.
Any action which requires
or has a sharia ruling, like what can
I eat, how to pray?
For
that have to refer to the sources of
Sharia.
The second is called Hukum Al Aqli. What
does Hukum Al Aqli? It means the mind
the ruling is coming from the mind. For
example, 2 +2 is 4. Half of a
100 is 50.
Khalasi, I mean, the mind Allah has given
the mind the ability to
ascertain
it. The third is called hukum al aada,
a habit.
So to put on a coat when it's
cold outside, don't need to, like, use your
mind. You don't have to think about it.
And
you don't need a delay from the sharia
except maybe,
kill
yourself. There's nothing explicit there. So you need
to remember this within the Sunni canon,
within the academic tradition of Sunnis. And I
know many of you have never heard this
before in your life. Remember, not hearing something
is not is not a cause for fear.
It just means you don't know.
And not knowing something shouldn't go. I never
heard that who are you? You're mister I
never heard it before? Like, you heard your
So
some of the said the worst thing a
person ever said is, I don't know that
in the sense of I never seen it
before. I never heard it before.
That's some straight ratchetness, man. What I should
say is, I don't know.
So 3 types of rulings.
We said.
Number
2,
means repetition teaches us that a habit
this is what you should do.
And then finally, Sharia. I have to learn
the rulings of Sharia.
That's why you have
firk.
That's why Allah send books.
Allah send mbia alayhim us.
Now it's what Sheikh does. We said earlier
about.
He starts with.
He introduces you now to
the ethos
by which Islam
looks at everything.
So, for example, an economist
or a VC, a venture capitalist,
a bad one.
When he looks at a forest, he sees
no value.
When
an ecologist
looks at it,
they see value.
What is the lens by which Islam
places value?
And that's what I meant by emancipating ourselves
from
ideas and systems.
So sheikh he says,
The different types, different parts of the minds
without a doubt. What are the different parts?
The
first
is. The second is
and the and Mustahil are there for emphasis.
So he says,
There's no debating
this.
I'm gonna make this very
quick and clear for you because I know
I gave you a lot to think about,
man.
But the sheikh is touching on something which
is central to how a Muslim lives their
life, and he uses the word wajib,
mustahil, and jais. What does he mean by
this?
Something
has to exist.
Something is impossible to exist.
Is
it may or may not exist. This is
the essence and the foundation
of how the Muslim looks at the forest.
Don't look at it from an economic perspective.
Don't look at it from anything except
how does this play out in my relationship
to what is permanent,
what is not permanent?
And I know this feels uncomfortable because it's
forcing you now, and that's the good thing
of learning. Learning should make us feel a
little bit uncomfortable.
To clean all that stuff out, it doesn't
mean we neglect those things. Those may be
contributing to that. I may be able to
use that force to build a nice neighborhood
or, you know, to leave it alone so
the ecosystem can prosper and benefit the earth
and the air and the seas,
all that implicitly contributes to certain things,
but specifically that's how we look at things.
From
So the sheikh is going to, explain each
of these.
And
in relationship to ourselves, what we wanna think
about is means
that the mind
he's gonna define it in a second,
but that not
intellect
means
my mind cannot accept its absence.
My mind does not accept its absence.
I cannot accept this thing. It doesn't exist.
The second
my my,
sorry,
my mind cannot accept its existence, the opposite.
My mind can accept it exists, it doesn't
exist. I'll give you some examples.
For example, I'm in front
of
you
now.
You see me in front of you. I'm
here.
Imam Khadil Latif is behind the camera. You
don't know that.
So how do you come to a conclusion
that Imam Khadil Latif is here or not?
You have to do
research. So now we see something that Wajib
Aqle has two types. The first Wajib Nadri,
the second Wajib Drori. What does that mean?
The first type I don't need any proof
for it. The sun is above me. I
don't what's what's the evidence bro for the
sun above me bro. How to deal with
bro.
But when I say Imam Khaled Latif is
behind the camera, which he's not, but say
he was,
then that's not very you have to acquire
evidences
to prove or disprove that Khalid is there.
That's called Wajib Aqli.
It has two parts.
Doesn't need evidence.
Like you exist.
Like, you're gonna say, like,
He say that, like, I need evidence to
show I exist. Like, you're here, man.
Years ago there was a concert. They had
a hologram of Tupac.
Coachella. It was Coachella.
I lived in California at that time. I
remember it and people were freaking out because
they were like, was that really him or
not?
That's
Wajib Aqle Naderi. They need to prove he's
there or not there.
Got it? So
needs
evidence.
The same thing. There's
I have 25,000 hands.
You don't need evidence for it.
But Imam Khaled is not here. You need
evidence for that.
Finally, Jah is,
from the point of existence or nonexistence, and
this is what I hope I'm I'm explaining
it to you. This is one of the
first times I ever taught this,
that Islam looks at everything from its existence
and its nonexistence. And then within its existence,
what demands evidence, what doesn't demand evidence. It's
nonexistence, what demands evidence, what doesn't demand evidence.
And the same thing with probability.
My question to you is,
where do you think
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala fits into that
according to the Sunni mainstream academic canon?