Suhaib Webb – Uqud alJum’an of Sheikh alIslam, Selim alBishri (Lesson Two) God in Islam
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AI: Transcript ©
Welcome
to our second gathering.
Reading the book
written by Saydna Sheikh Salim al Bishari
Rahim
and he says
when you read in the class of the
book the word Ialam is a order it
means pay attention take this really seriously
Ialam
Arshadaka Allahu wa ayadaka
May
Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala guide you to what's right and
may Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala help you towards
understanding and knowing him.
Imam Al Qushairi
one day we can explain we're
gonna do it at Swiss Insha Allah hopefully
we can share some here at YouTube
alhamdulillah and other places.
He was asked,
what is the first step in a relationship
with Allah from a person?
He said
He says in his Risela that the first
steps
towards drawing near to God occur with faith
and then constant dedication to improving one's character
and worship
and overall life. Right?
Then he says
and that the
sign that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala
and that the sign that Allah Subha Nahuwa
Ta'ala is close to a person in the
dunya
first appears
that they have marifa,
they have an understanding,
that they are able to have perspective. If
you look at a painting, right,
If there's no perspective on the painting sometimes
it's hard to appreciate the depth of what
you see but when there's a perspective you're
able to see through things. So La ilaha
illallah Muhammad Rasoolallah
is that
that entity that
fact
that gives us perspective,
how to see through
the the shallowness of this dunya
into the hereafter.
SubhanAllah.
So he says
that implies it's not easy. May Allah increases
in Marifa in knowledge.
That the first obligation upon a responsible person
is to know Allah subhanAllah. Oftentimes we
see especially Islamophobes
saying that Islam is the mother Lord of
bad ideas, that Islam is anti intellectual.
We see people who have
really
no familiarity
academically
with Islam,
you know,
with these assumptions because it's it's convenient
instead of instead of having to deal with
something, to just assume something bad about it
and then project
your own assumptions,
on that society or on that group of
people.
SubhanAllah.
But the response is, you know, the first
obligation in Islam is marifa,
is to know.
That's why I heard from one of my
teachers, it's called the
El Mukalam, why? Because the science of talking
is one of the terms
that we give for theology
because something we should talk about, something we
should ask questions, something we should engage,
something we should think about constantly.
Faa SubhanAllah.
Here is a
you know an incredible statement that we find
in classical texts the first obligation
is to know
Allah says in Muhammad
you have to know
That's why we say there's no in this
is why we differ the majority of mainstream
of Sunnis with with the Salafi community.
The Salafi community
says that there's Taqlid and Aqidah
and Ish Jihad in the furor.
Whereas mainstream Sunnis, this is inverted.
Allah
That there's no
in
everyone has to believe for themselves.
The foundations of the religion have to be
learned and believed by people.
But in issues where there is
a need for scholarship,
as Sheikh Al Bayjoury talks about, then that's
where we have to ask people and we
follow them and we may not necessarily have
the the raw materials to engage the Dalil.
The neo
kind of salafi school this is inverted.
Right? Everyone's in wujudahid in fiqh and then
akhira you have to agree to
and so on and so forth. If you
disagree with some of the opinions they have
in aqira which are based on
or just wrong,
you'll be,
you know,
designated
as a bad Muslim
or not an orthodox Muslim. Ask Allah
to protect us
So the first obligation is and
that means that there's no taqleed
in the foundations of Islamic belief people have
to learn
and Imam al Ghazari defines this beautifully
in those lectures are recorded here
in
So on and so forth.
He
says the foundations of all good is knowing
Allah.
That's why
the
hour
will not start until the name of Allah
is no longer mentioned. Why? Because the purpose
of creation is Ibad.
So when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is no
longer mentioned the purpose is done.
Then the hour starts
as Ibn Abbas mentions I have not created
human beings and jinn except to know me.
To worship me, even our best accept to
know me.
So the sheikh he says
who's the mukhalaf?
The one that has physical
and,
mental maturation and maturity.
They can understand right and wrong and they
can practice.
We've talked about this before.
And then is the the foundation of all
good.
And and is the objective of creation as
we just talked about.
This hadith is weak
but Imam and
others
Mulla'ali Al Qari mentioned that the meaning is
sound
and it says I was a hidden treasure
and I loved to be known
so I created creation so they could know
me and through me they know me means
through as mentioned by, Sheikh Mulla Ali Alkari
through the signs of Allah in
his creation. We know Allah.
Allah.
And Sheikh Salim Al Bishri, he says me
this means
that what I have
provided them of signs in themselves and in
creation
which are definitive
improving
my existence and my oneness
in an unrestricted way. Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala then
the Shaykh he quotes the verse
that we are going to show them our
signs in the farthest horizons
and in themselves
until it becomes clear
that
Allah or the Prophet or Islam or Iman
or faith
is the truth
And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in Surat
Dariyat
In
yourselves there are signs
So
perceive and think.
And then of course he mentions this famous
poem
in the form of this poem is Bahr
al Mutakarib.
Sheikh Al Asari
used to always make
poems for us in this in this Bahar.
It's nice.
And of course the one who wrote this
is Al
Anazi
which says that in everything there is a
sign
aya that directs you that Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala is 1.
And what does it mean when we say
Marifa to know Allah?
The majority of Sunni scholars say that you
know Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
what that means is to know what you
have to believe, what's impossible to believe, and
what's probable
or
possible to believe.
It's gonna translate it now with not getting
into much of kind of the, you know,
the debates about words,
improbable, unimaginable.
This is just an introductory text, man.
Our goal here is not to make it
complicated.
And of course this is the majority of,
Sunni theologians
throughout history,
from the former Tehib,
from of course in theology
the Mehtoreidis
and of course
the
sadaat al sha'ira
and a large percentage of the hana billah
and then we know Imam Ibn Taymiyyah, Bayoh
Hamu,
comes you know ibn Taymiyyah dies I think
7/21
after hijri if I believe you know comes
and
and really pushes the idea
of
and then the movement of a Sheikh Mohammed
ibn Abdul Waha Alayhi Muhammad,
of course, then
amplifies this and in fact kind of relocates
it in a way where
Muslims
are still considered mushriks
even if they affirm
because
if you ask those people in Mecca,
you know,
who created everything? They will say Allah.
So the argument is that they have but
their problem is in
right this verse has nothing to do with
the believers it should never be used to
describe the Muslims
As Abdulrahman,
as Abdullah ibn Umar said that this is
a sign of the Khawarij
to take the verses that are describing the
mushriks of Mecca and other places and apply
it to the Ummah is Sifaat Al Khawarij
but the point is and we'll talk about
this in the future when we talk about
some of the foundational ideas
of the Ilk Kalam,
in a in a academic way not in
a
you know an aggressive way,
that this creates a problem and this is
what allows
the spilling of people's blood. Who say la
ilaha illallah
who may make tawasul with the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasalam,
who may engage in practices
which certain
filkmaheb
say, like, don't recognize,
and this allows the killing of Muslims. And
we saw this with groups like Daesh
and others
who don't
you can say
and still
you'll be in trouble. We ask Allah Bilafiya.
But according to the mainstream
majority
of Sunni theologians throughout history
most of the great Imams of tafsir,
of hadith,
of fiqh,
Imam Suyuti we mentioned earlier
amongst others
he said that we know Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala what it means to know Allah is
to know number 1 what you have to
believe.
What you have to affirm
in your statement I believe in Allah.
What's impossible, what's improbable, what's unimaginable,
right, in the sense of
you could not accept this,
right, from the point of Sharia
and then also the point of, talk about
in the future fitra but here means.
What if the Sharia said you have to
believe about God? What if the Sharia said
is impossible for you to accept about God?
And what's probable? I could be rich. I
could be poor. I could be sick. I
could be healthy. I could remember. I could
forget. I could get into the graduate school.
I could not get into that graduate school,
get married, not married, have kids. All that
is called.
I'm gonna talk about it later.
Then he makes a very important point. He
says,
that
it is impossible for anyone to know the
true essence of God,
even a prophet. This is
but that's impossible.
As that is not written on our hard
drives so to speak. We don't have the
capacity and the capability
of truly knowing
Allah's
reality.
It's impossible.
So therefore it's not allowed.
The Prophet
in different narrations, right, said you should think
about the creation of Allah not fizhatila,
right, or this is quoted by some of
the ulama right you should think about the
creation
not the essence of the creator and that's
why the Quran says
right the Quran is saying look at these
things
these are the things that will direct you
to what you need to know and what
you're asked to know and to conclude about
the creator.
Then he mentions
he mentions this really interesting statement.
For someone to admit
that they they they in the word weakness
like but are incapable
of knowing
Allah's true essence is knowing.
And for someone to try to seek,
you know, the reality of Allah's essence, right?
This is like shirk man.
And your inability you accept it. There's no
way I can truly know
the reality of god.
It's actually
a sign of knowledge.
As I just said earlier.
So
and there's some subtleties here I need to
just mention in the in this statement.
Right? You admitting, I admitting that we don't
have the ability to comprehend who God is
is actually comprehension.
And trying to find
Allah's essence because in order to do that,
you're going to have to think about something
in a material way that's going to equate
to that essence. So that's Ishrak. You're going
to be associating a partner with him.
And again, admitting, you know what, I don't
know. There's no way I can know Allah's
reality
in in the sense of an essence impossible.
That's actually knowledge.
And seeking
to understand the true essence of God is
gonna lead you to shirk. It's gonna lead
you to a dead end. Lead me to
a dead end.
So this has been established, so therefore you
should know.
That it is an obligation upon
all people whether males or females.
And to
know
to know what are those obligatory
qualities that you have to affirm
as recognized by Sharia to God
and those qualities which are
impossible and we have to deny
in our relationship and faith with Allah
and those attributes and qualities
which perhaps are possible
in our relationship
with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Then he says,
and the same thing applies to the prophets.
We have to know what we have to
believe,
what we have to deny, and what's probable,
what's possible
for us in our belief about the prophets.
Allahu Akbar. He says and also it's an
obligation to know what the prophets informed us
about about the things that will happen after
we die in the grave, day of judgement,
resurrection,
what are called a
so now we see the the context
of the book or the contents excuse me
of the book are going to be
and what
and then he says
and whoever doesn't know these things and it
is feared that this person is going to
spend eternity in
*. And the sheikh, he moves on and
he defines
He said that
Ma'arifah
is
a
a definitive
knowledge,
a definitive
understanding,
which agrees with reality
and is based on evidence.
And in this terminology as we step into
something and this also is going to be
important in other texts,
but here he's talking about the word wajib
not in the fiqh sense
right but in the sense of theology.
Every science, every art has its own terms.
So he's defined Al Marifa
then he says
here what he means is
something exists.
That's the that's the framework of this discussion.
Something that the mind cannot accept it's nonexistence.
That's wajib.
So the mind cannot accept.
For example, if I'm sitting in front of
you and I'm like, I'm in front of
you, your mind and I say, I'm not
here. Your mind can't accept
that. My existence in front of you is
wajib
at that moment.
And
the opposite is
translate is like impossible,
improbable.
You said that and he's in this word
and
this is a different discussion in the future
why he's using this word
not in this course now,
but the mind
cannot affirm
its existence.
So wajib
the mind cannot affirm its non existence.
The mind cannot affirm
its existence. Opposites.
Well,
and here doesn't mean no. Means
while
is
the mind can
affirm its existence or it's not existence. It's
called.
So 3, took 4 important terms.
A
a profound or complete understanding,
which is definitive. Right?
Complete meaning in in the human sense. Right?
Which is definitive,
concrete,
that agrees with reality,
That is what based on evidence.
Means some of the gotta there's a reason
he's saying that we'll talk about in the
future. Very cool.
But not in this class.
Then he talks about
And why did you mean something the mind
cannot affirm its non existence?
Well,
That thing which the mind cannot affirm,
and I heard from doctor Mahmoud, he likes
this word right
that the mind cannot
affirm
it's what its
existence.
That thing which the mind can affirm its
existence
or its non existence.
Then he says,
example of wajib
is that
is the
existence of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala his
being
as of course
beyond creation
beyond any physical descriptions.
Subhanahu wa ta'ala
and his names and attributes.
That there's more than one god
or that there's like gods but
these multiple gods make up one God.
There's no way that the mind can affirm
this.
He's gonna get into this later. And one
of the important packs books that the sheikh
wrote is a book that really tackles atheism.
Excellent text. Maybe one day someone will teach
it.
An example of what's probable in our relationship
with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is someone named
Zayd could be alive or someone
individual
might not exist or exist.
And I gave examples I could get into
this grad school not that grad school
and so on and so forth. Next time
insha'Allah we're going to stop here we went
a little bit over time we're going to
talk about al ilahiat
godhood in Islam
and some of the discussions around that
which is aqaamalahu Khayran, wsalaamalaihi
wa
barakat.