Suhaib Webb – Uqud alJum’an of Sheikh alIslam, Selim alBishri (Lesson Five)
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Welcome back to our reading of
And and and what this book is doing
primarily
is introducing
a Sunni
understanding
of Allah,
a Sunni understanding of Tawhid.
For those of you who may not be
Muslim,
you know, this may be a little bit
complex for you, but, inshallah, you can take
something out of it.
But one of the challenges that we've had
in the post 911 world is we've neglected
educating our own to a certain degree. So
it's important that we make these things accessible
for others.
Talking about the different qualities of God. You
know, Abu Hazna Eshari,
his initial approach was 5. Right? Based on
sotel Ikhlas.
Right? So, Qulhula,
Allah exists, Allah is 1. Al Samad,
absolute independence. Lam yaladwalam yalad, no beginning, no
ending. Actually 6. Walam yalakullahu kufuwan ahad, and
that there's
nothing like him and he is not like
creation.
You know, sometimes people ask me about the
background information. Hey, look.
You hear things
that remind you of your responsibility. I hear
things that remind us of our responsibility
to be conduits to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
You know, just few nights ago,
I saw an individual that was shot, Muslim
brother, right after Isha prayer.
So,
things around us are meant to
increase our passion, and the reason that we're
learning this is not just for theoretical stuff.
That we can be, insha'Allah,
routers to guidance.
Say, this is my way. I call to
Allah
upon knowledge.
And from these qualities of Allah is that
Allah
is
means to exist
In this context,
I exist because of a lot of things.
So, for example, when you read like life
in the context of Allah
means that there's no source of Allah's life.
Allah is life, was life.
So,
So
Allah
He exists, he's self
subsisting
Allah is beyond any needs.
But as for us,
the fact that we breathe, the fact that
we blink, the fact that we exist the
way we exist,
we are indicative
of a impoverished
creature that
needs
innumerable amount of things to stay alive and
to exist.
So how can we be arrogant?
As I explained earlier.
And the evidence for this.
Allah has caused all things to exist. He
is
the force that has brought all things into
existence.
Meaning that Allah
is not something that needs something else. Like
my hand needs my arm, my arm needs
my shoulder, my eyes need my brain. Allah
Subhanahu
wa Ta'ala. Walayahta
juliyarihi nor does he need anything else.
So this implies
that he is one who doesn't have other
parts
and that he is the absolute truth, who
is the source of all existence, so he
doesn't need anything else. Allahu Akbar.
So that's why we say, for example, Prophet
Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasallam, when people say to
us, Prophet Muhammad, you guys think he's God.
No, we don't. Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasalam.
The fact that he was in flesh, the
fact that he was in a body, the
fact that he ate, the fact that he
walked, the fact that he
existed in the space on earth means that
he couldn't be God.
Subhanallah. And if you're Christian now, you
think about what I'm saying here.
For Allah
Excuse me. The neshaykh he says,
building on this idea of Allah,
walahyahtajilagirihi.
Chapter called Fatiir,
the originator. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, Oh,
humanity,
you are impoverished
to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, and Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala is the one who is truly
autonomous and the one worthy of praise.
The next, the 6th, is that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala is 1. And our understanding of
God's oneness is different than any other religion.
So when people say, like, I believe God
is 1, and you believe God is 1,
that may be true, but our conceptualization
of Allah's
oneness
is different
as Muslims.
So we apply Allah's
oneness as based on scripture,
the Quran, and the teachings of the Prophet
salallahu alaihi wa sallam
to Allah's existence.
He's not one of 3. The Quran says,
Don't say
trinity. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, Say,
your God is only 1 God.
Then his attributes like mercy, knowledge, power, forgiveness,
those are unique to him. He doesn't share
with anyone else and his actions.
As I just said, Sheikh Salim Al Bishri
says that Allah's
essence is not divided into parts because when
you divide something, it's a measure. In order
to measure something, it has to be material.
So, therefore, it is not the creator, it
is creation. And, therefore, it has a beginning
and an end, so it is hadith. It
is not It
is
Excuse me.
So that's not 2 powers,
or 2 wills
and nothing is like him,
either
in a particular way or in an absolute
way.
If we say that something is like God
particularly, like partially,
that is called tashbih.
And if we say that something is completely
like God,
that's called tamthil.
Allah says,
Allah says, There's nothing partially
or completely like him.
And no one has the ability to do
anything.
Only Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is the one
who causes all things.
All actions are coming from the power and
permission of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
as the Quran says,
This is a form which is used to
show intensity
and abundance. He's not Fa'alu, he's
Fa'alu.
He's Fa'alu. He's Fa'alu.
He
does
whatever he wants.
And Allah says in the Quran,
Allah created you in what you do. And
I know now this brings the idea of
a Jabariyah.
People start to say, oh, so like,
I, you know, I'm being compelled to do
evil. We're gonna have to talk about those
things in the future, the idea of kusp
al abd.
Right? The choice that you and I have
between good and evil.
That if there were more than one god
or if there was, you know, multiple gods
or or, you know, a triune god, there
would be chaos.
Because which one would be the Muathir,
the one that controls all things,
The one that has the final say.
So that's why the Quran says,
If
there was other gods besides Allah, there would
be corruption.
And this is one of the questions I
like to ask sometimes my Christian relatives.
So you believe in a triune God, which
one is the boss?
That kinda throws people
off. Then when they figure out whichever one
they choose is the boss,
I say to them,
why don't you just worship the boss?
Why don't you just worship the one that
has all the power? Because, obviously, that one
is more powerful than the other 2 gods
you worship. And then they start to say,
wait a minute. This sounds like polytheism. And
I'm like,
exactly.
Respectfully,
from the Islamic perspective,
that is shirk
polytheism.
So if you have like non Muslim relatives,
nicely and respectfully,
you can ask these kind of questions.
Especially if they're Christians
who say they worship 1 god.
Push it a little and say, well then,
which god
has full control? Which god has the final
say? And you're walking them into admitting that
this is shirk from our perspective.
And what you can say to them is,
we differ because in Islam, our understanding of
1 God
is much more distilled and pure than yours.
It is 1
God.
And he says, And
if
If Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala was divided into
parts,
like, you know, physical organs,
then each one of those organs would need
something. So then he wouldn't be aqa'imbinafs, he
wouldn't be a'lawid.
So when we say that Allah or
we say that whatever when people say, whatever
they worship is not one, then that implies
that certain parts are going to need other
parts, certain parts are gonna be stronger than
others, certain parts are gonna have things that
others don't have. So, therefore, how is this
one God? It's not one
god.
Then he says,
The next is that Allah is living.
You pay attention to something these theologians are
doing, it's very brilliant. They are preserving
Allah's transcendence,
but also
not leaving us there because, you know, to
get lost in transcendence may cause us to
become depressed and down, to feel inadequate.
But also, Sifat al Ma'anawiya
bring about a sense of nearness and love,
a relationship,
a passion,
a dedication. Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala is there.
Youfadilaha. Youfadil, be mindful of Allah. Allah will
take
care of you, wahuwamaaakum aina manquuntum, He's with
you wherever you are. So there's also this
powerful relationship that comes through affirming the transcendent.
Other religions couldn't do that. They had to
make idols. They had to make statues. They
had to worship nature. They have to worship
other things like money and cars.
But ritualistically,
worshiping idols,
the material, a tribe, a color, a nation,
a state,
in order to justify
the nearness of transcendence.
The Quran beautifully preserves 2 opposing things,
transcendence and nearness.
If they ask you about me or Mohammed,
say I'm close to them.
I am close to them.
Subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
If God was
dead, how would anything be brought into existence?
God died for 3 days, what happened during
those 3 days? And who was God while
God was dead?
If God dies,
then what has stepped in?
And that shirk, now it's not one.
It's partners. Allah
in the Quran says,
in many just different places, as well as
the duaab, the sallallahu
alayum,
And I think we talked about this previously
that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala's life is not
based on
oxygen or breath or any type of needs
or any type of instance.
Qa'in be that.
It exists because Allah hoo Allah.
Next quality of Allah's transcendent knowledge.
Allah's
knowledge
is found in those things what which must
be, what which are impossible, and which are
maybe, maybe not. He knows what is, what
wasn't, what is, what will be, what was,
and what is not to be.
A transcendent,
primordial,
ancient knowledge that has no beginning and no
end and doesn't change.
And the evidence for this,
If Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala did not know
something or something was hidden from him, then
he would need to be informed.
So therefore, he would not be transcendent.
He would not be perfect. He would not
be God. He would need something to complete
him. And
therefore, his existence will be probable.
It says, and if Allah
was to be described with the ignorance, if
God, the creator,
then
that ignorance would be something which is
a must,
and the mind
in relationship to the object of worship, and
no human mind can accept that.
The nature of the mind is to reject
that God God could be ignorant.
Women
In 9th,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has will.
The irad of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is
specifically understood
through what are called al mumkinet.
Could, could not be. I could be rich.
I could be poor. I can be tall.
I could be short. I could live in
the US. I could live in Egypt. I
could live in Kuwait, France, you name it.
Canada, anywhere. Hadam mumkin. Laya la moha illallah.
I married this person, have these kids, get
in this grad school, get this job. All
this is called mumkinet.
Imam al Marzuki says,
which we're working to finish now,
shall the text as well as the the
lessons.
We understand that good is from the fadl
of Allah, and what we perceive as bad
is from the justice of God.
And whatever Allah has decreed, we know in
its
origin is good.
Our perception of it may be good or
bad, but we affirm since it's from Allah,
alhamdulillah,
even though it may be difficult. And this
is not easy, subhanAllah. I'm not claiming that
I have that down perfect. That's a struggle.
But that's what we believe. We affirm it.
What
does he mean?
Also, the Deen teaches us what we have
to believe about God,
what we have to reject about God. So
we have to believe God is 1. We
reject that God is
3 or 4 or 2 or
more.
But what is Je is to Allah, in
my life, are the things my provisions,
my
job, my physical,
attributes,
illness,
health.
All this is jayiz.
Allah can do what he wants
and this falls under rakada and qadr. And
As the Sheikh he says, right? That it
is related to the probabilities.
So say somebody Allah has decreed that that
person exist, halas.
If he's a man in Maqsus, in a
given time,
other than some
other than a different time.
In a certain place
other than a different place.
A certain color,
not another color.
So he talks about all the things that
we find in our lives, from the weather,
from where we are, north, south, east, west,
the place, size, shape, power, all that is
from the jayizat of Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Very simple question is, you can't control your
height.
You can't control
naturally the colors of your eyes and your
pigmentation? Who is the one that has decreed
all that? Where you end up living in
your life? I would have never thought I'd
live in New York City. I'm from Oklahoma.
So that implies that something else is the
director,
and our belief is that it's Allah
and these are the qualities
of that creator, the administrator, the director of
all things
Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Then he quotes a number of verses of
Quran to support. If you notice, he gives
you kind of a logical rational argument, and
then he supports it with Quran
to show you how you can equip yourself
with both. One day I was on the
subway, this man came to me, he was
like, I believe in the ever redeeming blood
of Jesus Christ,
quoting him, my lord and savior.
I said, I believe in the ever redeeming
power of the one who created the blood
that you worship.
Then he said,
I never thought about that before. I said,
well, start thinking.
Allah says,
If we want anything done, we command it.
Be and it is.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, Allah creates what
he wants and chooses what he wants. This
is evidences for Al Momkinat.