Reforming the Self #27

Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen

wa salatu salam

ala Ashraf, an MBA almost Amin, amin, Latina Mohamed salah. Let's get to Sneem a lot on that. I think that'd be really unfair. And in fact that

was in Europe, but I mean

everybody,

welcome to something that's class and Vidya either macadam machete Yeah.

And we have started the second section of a Ragosa honeys book, which is going to focus more on the aka, the intellect.

The title of the chapter, the section is

on intellect, knowledge, and speech, and what's related to those things and what gets in the way of those things, the obstacles to those things.

And we spoke a bit last week about recapping some of the points that the author had made before that he reiterates now, in this section about the importance of the intellect. He says first that human beings are guided by their intellect mean that their intellect is the thing that Allah subhanaw taala created in them in order to recognize and receive the revelation. Right because

the revelation can't just take hold on barren land if we compare the compare the revelation to seeds, right, it has to have fertile ground upon which to grow. And this is evidenced by the Quran

in surah, it's a milk the people of the Hellfire will say, a call to localness smell, oh knock Oh, not fatal. If only we had

if only we had either listened meaning obeyed without thinking or use our reason not to, we would not be in the fire.

And then in sort of harsher treatment.

And then so it'll hash will tell tell me, I don't know. Rebo had a nasty de la Lomita that karoun. And these examples we give to people hoping that they would think hoping that they would reflect hoping that we they would use that gift that Allah's pounds, Allah created in them the intellect in order to

realize that their purpose and higher calling in life is to submit to the revelation. Right? So

you are

battling the allergies.

Some people get afraid, in the Muslim community when you start talking about the intellect, rationality and these sorts of things. And where the caution comes from is that we cannot rely upon the intellect to solve every issue or to give us every pokum ruling on every single thing. And this is a statement of Adi even I will call them where he said that Locanda Dino belacan if if the religion whereby or according to rationale

or reason, then we would not wipe over the top of our socks, we would wipe over the bottoms because the bottoms are that which touched the ground. And then he said and I certainly saw the prophets of Allah Who said I'm wiping over the top of them. Right? But, but the thing that Ali Radi Allahu Anhu was talking about here is the particulars the photo or the conclusions are very bad. Very bad things that are later Mac wouldn't matter. Like they're not understood. What is the law behind them? What's

the ruling? What's the reasoning behind them? Right, it's not.

There's not It's not tied to muscle as to what's in the best interests of people. We're talking about the Dean the bad the acts of worship, the fasting Ramadan, and the five daily prayers and how many raka Iots. And what do you say in the sujood? And all these sorts of things are Toki fie. Yeah. They are inaccessible to reason. Right? The portions of inheritance, right, which Allah Spano Tata spelled out so specifically in the Koran. What are the types of relations that you can and cannot

marry? You know, these sorts of things, that they are determined specifically and explicitly. These are not accessible to reason and they're not amendable by reason

The primary function of reason and rationale is to bring us to submission.

A lost power to Allah appeals to us in the Quran, by virtue of our intellect, he says, Look at this, look at that. Look at that. If you reflect upon all of this, your reason, your faculty of rationale and intellect will lead you to conclude that this is revelation, that there is only one God, and that you should submit to what this Revelation tells you to do. That is the principal function of the intellect, but there are others. Intellect does help with the interpretation of the religion,

right? There are certain things that well, let's put it this way, when I lost pounds either gave us the Koran,

there are certain things that cannot be understood literally. Right? Like, for example, a lost volatile set of Aquila coulomb and Ali Hassan and sort of man he says everything in the creation is going to perish. However, we know that that's not literally true. Why? Because other places in the Revelation Allah is found to have told us that his Arash his throne is not going to be destroyed, Jenna, and now, right heaven and hell are creations, they are not going to be destroyed. Right? And

so on and so forth. And so, yes, there are times and the companions for the Companions, it was seamless, right? It was seamless, this interpretive process in which they were using their reasoning, and they were using their intellect, to read between the lines and to understand what a lost power to Allah actually meant. Right? Sometimes, literally, exactly what he said and sometimes, obviously, not to be taken literally.

This also enables us to apply the rules that allows Allah gave us to any time in the future or any circumstance that happens in the future, right. So for example, we're not simply limited to only what we have explicit revelation for when it comes to Mohammed ads when it comes to our dealings, what's halal and haram. Right, we're allowed to use our reason and our intellect in order to make analogies between things. And to extend the general and specific rules of the Sharia to new

phenomenon. Right? Now, we have all this stuff happening every day, especially in Islamic finance. We have Bitcoin, we have, you know, different types of contracts, we have different types of stock options that didn't exist at the time of the prophets of Allah. Hi, Lisa. How are we going? Do we say that? Oh, Islam has nothing to say about that? No, that's not true. Islam has rules. Some of those rules are specific. Some of those rules are general, there are guiding principles. And they

are used and extended by virtue of our intellect and reason in order to accommodate and account for new phenomenon and arrive to rulings with the best of our ability. Intellect also distinguishes between individuals. So and it doesn't in a couple of different ways. So one of the ways in which it distinguishes between individuals on earth is that some individuals are morally accountable, and others aren't right? If there's a situation where there's a complete lack of intellect, say somebody

who has lost consciousness, or somebody who, you know, has some sort of mental retardation, where they are not fully in control of themselves.

Then the Prophet salallahu Alaihe, Salam said, rufiyaa, on who column right Rufio column on the left, that the pen, meaning the pen that writes down, you know, good deeds and sins, the, you know, pen of moral accountability, we could say, is lifted from that person, it doesn't apply to that person. Right. And then the intellect also distinguishes between individuals in the sense of it sorts out or distinguishes

the good from the better from the best, from the bad from the worse from the worst, right.

And the author, you know, brings an example here, he says, imagine a scholar,

if a scholar kind of loses his mind, right, and his intellect is kind of removed from him.

The honor is removed from him, you know, people, they might finally remember who he used to be. But we would say we have this expression in English, he's a shell of his former self, meaning Yes, the outside is all there, but what was inside is gone. Right? And so the person is not going to be respected or treated as you with as much or esteem within society, as when they were in full

control or they were making, taking full advantage, let's say, of the intellect that Allah subhanaw taala gave them and this is something that is natural, even if people should

continue to treat that person well and with mercy and etc, and appreciate his past deeds, no one's going to come up to that sort of person for fatawa, or for religious advice, because the intellect that made them an amazing scholar has, has gone.

And the connection between the chapter or the section also involves speech and the relationship between intellect and speech should be pretty clear. But he'll get into it later as well. So that he starts to talk about how the intellect works. Okay, what is this thing called the intellect? What are the different he's also going to get into? What are the words that we use in Arabic? To describe it? How are they subtly different from each other like, and Maori for an article, all these sorts of

things. And I will summarize only the points that I think are beneficial to translate, because there's a lot there that I don't think necessarily is

terribly beneficial for the English speaking audience. However, there are some important points

that demonstrate how language shapes our world, right. So when we talk about ideas, categories, concepts, we use words to refer to them and the way that these words are constructed, the other sorts of meanings that come along with them, they can have some important effects into how we feel about a certain concept, and that will become clearer. Inshallah Tada, when we go over the difference between how in Arabic, we talk about the intellect versus the words that we use in

English, we'll see a clear difference in sha Allah Tala. But first, how does the intellect work? He divides it up into two large categories. The first is intellect as potential intellect

by which

people eventually learn like, and he compared it, I think we mentioned last time to a seed, right, the actual tree that's going to grow from that seed is already exists in that seed. However, it has not been realized or actualized or brought about so it is simply potential. And then the second main category is that which is actualized, that which is achieved that which is obtained and developed.

That second category, he divides into two further categories, as we also said last week, that which is gained automatically through just living and experience and that which is kind of more intentional, that which is chosen and studied, it requires techniques to be learned and refined.

Then he talks about what are the different operations that accompany the intellect, right? The intellect, this kind of, if we're looking at it from an internal perspective, it's like this thing that's inside of us. Right? But what are the steps or operations that need to be undergone for something like for us to say that we're actually using this, this

blessing that a lost pounds Allah has given us he hones in on four major ones, he talks about insight. He talks about realisation. He talks about analysis, and he talks about vision. And this categories aren't super important because the main thing that a raga wells for honey is trying to get us to see is that all of these depend upon the will of Allah is peloton. And this is one of the things we were talking last week in the cookbook, about in internal worship and internal idolatry.

Right, external idolatry is obvious you pray to this statue, you bow to this shrine, etc, etc. But internal Tawheed or internal shipwreck in this case, is maybe that you hope you place your hope and something that a degree of hope that should only be exclusively reserved for a lost pounds audit or you're afraid of something, degree of fear that should only be reserved for a loss pound to audit. Well, there's also something that happens here when it comes to our intellect. That's very, very,

very common in our society here in North America. And that is believing that the intellect and intelligence is simply a matter of meritocracy. That is simply

you are completely in control of it. And a lost power data is nowhere in the picture. Right? And so the the

the default assumption or the knee jerk reaction, or what most of society does, they are willing to praise and ready to praise an individual for their academic achievements. And that's fine because as I toggle us behind, he just said, there is an aspect or a dimension, or a degree to which it is the work of the individual and the choice of that individual. But none of it can happen and this is what's lost upon the society that we live in. None of it can happen

without the will of Allah

and he brings some ads to justify his, his claim. Well manlam Yeah jolly law hula who Nora from Allah who may know, ALLAH SubhanA, Allah says, and whoever Allah subhanaw taala has not given light, then that person has no light at all. So Allah subhanaw taala is the source of notice of malattie. Well, he is a nautilus one of His Names, he provides no, both in the physical sense of the light that we use to see. And also in the metaphysical sense of insights, right and guidance. Right, we'll

talk in a second about how light is almost universally used across all languages and cultures as a metaphor for guidance. So Allah subhanaw taala provides that guidance. And if you have it, it's because he willed it for you. Right, there's no sort of way there's no way to get around a loss pounce on autos, hand figuratively speaking in doling out or portioning out or assigning or allocating guidance to his creation, if somebody has guidance than it is because of

the next area that he brings, what are all whom young Verona Eleiko, whom Allah you will see them. So the translation of the eye, and you see them talking to the Prophet Mohammed Salah Salam, looking at you, yet they do not see you. So Allah has power to Allah is showing us that to look and to see are two different things. And this is essential for our understanding of how hate what looking is, it's our action. Right? It's our effort, it's our choice.

So if somebody chooses to look, however, what's going to make that looking actually see, is it automatic? No, it's not. It's dependent upon the will of Allah Subhana Allah. If Allah wills, you can look and look and look and never see.

And if Allah wills you can look once or hardly look or barely glance and maybe not even look at all and yet, you can see exactly what's going on. So the fact that there's a discrepancy between the two shows us and alerts us to the to the concept of the fact that Allah Spano Tata is in control of results happening. Right, which doesn't mean that we're excused from taking the means in causes that Allah subhanaw taala created. But it does mean that we do not rely upon those causes in and of

themselves, a loss of hundreds, Allah is the one who decides whether those causes will actually achieve what we expect them to achieve or not a loss but with all that said in sort of the najem Mac kettlebell Fuad O'Meara, when he's talking about the Prophet salallahu, Alaihe Salam, and him seeing all of what he saw during the assault with Mirage, the night journey, which we've been talking about the hook, but

he says that the heart does not lie about what it has seen. And so now we have another concept here, Allah is alerting us to about how the heart can see as well. And so this is kind of covering that situation that we just mentioned, where, okay, if someone can look and a lot can prevent them from seeing, then somebody might not even necessarily have to look and Allah can make their heart see something.

And finally, the author brings what Karateka, Nori, Ibrahim and Mallacoota, some wealthy will help. And in that manner we displayed or we revealed or we showed, we demonstrated to Ibrahima, he said, I'm not a CUDA Santa allottee, while out. So, again, this is something that allows Pousada chooses to reveal he chooses to allow it to be seen, and a philosopher on the other wanted, he could prevent it from being seen, no matter how much you look. So we depend upon a law and this is a key part of

our theology, a key part of our Tao hate, that we understand that a loss how data is the cause of all causes, and that allows power to Allah is the One who is allowing the means that he has created and the causes that he has created to reach their results and reach their end, and so on, but also honey, after saying all this and showing us how instrumental and essential a laws role is in this process of reaching the results that we want. He points out that to lose one's insight is a far more

severe and troubling scenario than to lose one sight. Right? If Allah Spano Tata can prevent you from seeing something even if you're looking and can make your heart see something even if you're not looking with your eyes. Then it's the worst thing would be to lose your insights and he's referring here to the intellect and thus cut yourself off from Allah's power to other

enabling are willing you to see much, much worse than for you to go blind and lose your physical sight. Because Allah Spano Tata can allow you to see

whenever and however he wants and again he brings an eye for in the letter Tatma Asaro. One I can't tell them that Bluebell Latifi Su, right he's talking about the people who have disbelieved who have

failed to uphold their covenant who have squandered this gift of intellect that lost power to Allah gave them he describes them as blind, not necessarily blind of sights but blind of heart, right, they have chosen, not seeing for so long that Allah then took away their ability to see

what's the intellect good for? What is it trying to achieve? What are the things that we want to gain and by it all, as for HANA, he says two main things. The first is worldly experience. And the second is knowledge of the divine and the afterlife.

He brings a Hadith of the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam, where the prophets like Selim says, The intelligent person calcaneus intelligent person is the one who humbles himself, and works for the afterlife. So the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam drew a connection between humility and working for the afterlife. And that should be fairly clear that

in another Hadith, the prophesy suddenly said that no one with as much as a mustard seed worth of arrogance will enter paradise. And this is why, because arrogance more than anything else, prevents somebody from actually working for their afterlife. Arrogance draws people back into the dunya.

It takes up all of those faculties and gifts and blessings that Allah Spano Tata has given you and basically reroutes their usage for the dunya instead of the afterlife.

The author also points out a nice quote that's fairly well known from Hassanal bacillary, the famous Tabby, right, so the tabby ain were the students of the companions. And so they existed in this very interesting in between stage, they witnessed the Companions, they're very, very close to having seen the prophecy, they said, um, but not quite. And yet, they also see the young generation, the new generation that's coming up. And like everybody in all history, they complain about the younger

generation, right, but listen to what the hustle and bustle he has to say about this kind of feeling of being in between these two generations that are different to him, as night and day, he said that we have seen people and he's talking about the companions that came before them, that if you had seen them, you would have think you would have thought that they were insane.

And if they had seen you,

they would have said that you are doubles.

Right, not a very, not a very complimentary account, right of the up and coming generation.

But it shows you it shows you that the companions were extremely serious, they had seen all of these things with their eyes, they had seen them firsthand. And therefore what the hustle and bustle is getting at is that they were utilizing every single thing that they had, not for the worldly gain, not for these particular, you know, for learning how the world operates, necessarily, whatever, they had to have the dunya but they were putting it all to work for their afterlife. And of hustle and

bustle. He is basically saying that the generation after them has it backwards, the they are using all of their talents for the dunya and not for the afterlife. And so they are people that are similar to devils in the sense that they have lost the plot. They have lost the plot, they've lost their understanding of what exactly we're here for.

And then the author brings another story where

one of the righteous people,

somebody said in their company

that such and such a Christian person was intelligent, they were praising the intelligence of a Christian in front of this righteous Muslim scholar. And he basically responded with like, ma and he said, an intelligent person.

A truly intelligent person would single out Allah subhanaw taala alone for worship and devotion. Right. So this person was not permitting to even allow the description of intelligence of intelligence apply to somebody who might have had worldly knowledge right that first

category of knowledge that the author was talking about wisdom and this world and things like that. He said, All of that is nothing. It's not worth a penny.

What's really worth it is knowledge of the afterlife knowledge of your Creator, and so on and so forth. And so how can we even deign to call someone intelligent? Who thinks that there's three gods that thinks that Allah is a trinity or thinks that isa Imodium Alehissalaam is a god or something of this sort? Right. So this is how strict they were with their priorities and how clearly they saw how clearly they saw the nature or the reality of our creation. Right? They were not deluded and misled

by what actually is going on.

And so, if they were saying this about Christians, and we can even assume that they were pious and righteous Christians, they simply they had a completely bogus understanding of Tawheed. And who will last fall into all that is, even if they were well intended,

how much more would righteous people are, we just say, how much more deserving of this kind of attitude are people who are completely hedonistic and materialistic? Right? If if such a person if the righteous people or the setup, were willing to deny, calling a Christian intelligent because of his violation of telehealth or his lack of understanding, so he, then what would they have to say about people who are completely lost in their desires that are completely dedicated to just success

in the dunya, the dunya we sense that are completely wrapped up in their hedonistic kind of urges and impulses. And their definitions of success are completely materialistic. They would have much harsher words for them.

And all well so honey he brings now peppers it with with more is from the court and to show how important it is to keep this distinction and a fairly black and white distinction between the dunya and the afterlife in your mind when it comes to priorities when it comes to marshaling your talents and your gifts and your blessings and what you're using it for. So he says in the livina y'all lay originally for Anna, what are the will hayati dunya what are my new Biha while living in a home on a

attina offie doing so I lost power to Allah is describing the people who are totally lost, completely gone. hopeless cases, the people who first of all, do not anticipate meeting their Sustainer so they don't believe in the afterlife. What or who will hire the dunya and are pleased with the life of this world. The dunya and we should say here that even an Arabic language donor means to be lonely, right? So even in the in the language the dunya means the lowly world. Right?

Something extra that's in the language that we don't have an English What am i No, no be her.

And you know and are at peace with it, you know, they just like completely at ease and comfortable with it. What are they in a home on a attina off you don't and the people who are heedless of our signs. Right. So all of these three things go together. Allah's Pousada is tying them together.

If you don't find all three of them present in one individual, then there will be a correlation between finding them all three present in in one individual not believing in the afterlife, or at least Allah subhanaw taala doesn't say that, you know, like he does in other places like in sort of dimension. He says lay out a junuh Okay, maybe they believe quote unquote, in an intellectual way, but they're not preparing themselves. Like they're not really anticipating the hour or the judgment

or the resurrection or any of this because their actions do not their actions do not

prove that they are so not truly preparing for the afterlife and our content and to comfortable and to at peace with this life and are

heedless of our science, these three things go together. And then even more impactful in this I was in sort of the room that Sheikh Abdullah used to mention all the time in his lessons in Medina. Why the law he lay your free for law who either work in the Exxon NASCI Leia lemon er Ala Moana law Hera law here on minute hayati, dunya, or whom on Earth Irati, home of off alone.

So, when describing the people who reject Faith, the people who have their priorities backwards the people who

they've got all these talents you know, Allah is bound to Allah gave them intellect gave them intelligence gave them talents and built and abilities and skills, but they've put it

Old towards the wrong thing. They put it all towards something that's going to leave them after just a few decades and they have not dedicated anything of it to something that's going to last. Eternally. He says about them Jada and Mona law hit on minute hayati. Dunya they know that the apparent reality of this dunya right. And again a lot uses this word dunya which is this lowly world, right?

Well home on Alaska that's the home of off Edo and they about everything that has to do with the afterlife, they are completely heedless, and we live in this era, we see it right before our very eyes, you know, people have achieved and have understood things that people from bygone times could not hope to achieve or understand or, or even consider was reality, you know, from particle physics to microbiology to

you know, name your topic, you know, advance advance advance in science and an understanding and knowledge, the human body of knowledge, but what good is it for? And what is it really being put to work for, or put to use for

at the end of the day, all of that knowledge is useless. If it's not intended to please a loss Pousada and if it's not intended by it, to worship Allah and thus, do something for your afterlife. So a lot describes them as yes, they know things from this dunya from this lowly life, they know many things, but about the afterlife, they are completely heedless. And so what good is that knowledge, so Allah has power data. And also he is trying to show us that Allah has power to otter

keeps the strict distinction. And this is exactly what the hustle and bustle he was talking about, that the Companions, so much got the point that they couldn't be bothered, they could not be bothered by things that were strictly dunya way, they didn't care. Right. When the thing was having to do with their afterlife, then they were all for it, they understood completely, whereas later times, and we live in those times, it's the opposite people are, they think, and they plan and they,

they work so hard, and they spend all their time and they you know, stay up at night and lose sleep and, you know, jeopardize their health, all in order to

build up their dunya. And then you're really building it up for somebody else to take it over after you've died. And we neglect our, our after afterlife. So one of the things that we

should reflect upon, especially the parents among us is what are the message? What's the message that we send to our children? Right? Too often, especially in the Muslim community, when we praise achievement, or when we praise intelligence, or when we show pleasure at the action of a child, it has to do with this dunya it has to do with knowledge of the dunya achievement and school achievement and these things, and that's not in and of itself wrong. Right? Because the prophesy

said I've said in a lot of captivity Aksana khalifate, that Allah has prescribed excellence and all things. Yes, we should be the leaders, we should be the best at everything. Muslims should they should be, honestly. Because we believe in a lot. And we believe in His, his color, his destiny, and we believe in hard work, and we believe in this sort of thing. But what's it all for? Is it just to?

A Exactly, exactly? What's it all for? Is it? Is it to be valedictorian? Is it to get a free ride to Harvard or Yale or any of these schools? Is it to be able to put it in your resume and be able to? Or, or for the parents, you know, say Oh, What school did your child get into Oh, my God into this school, you know, and you kind of rub it in their face because your school is a little bit more elite, and a little bit more selective than

ever, right? This happens, right? Or oh, you know, your, your child is going to be a psychologist. Okay, mine is going to be a doctor, right? There's that little bit of pride there because, you know, we love the doctors and the Muslim community and, you know, or the engineers or what have you. We don't like the art majors or the or the history majors as much, right?

Which is fine if it's for Allah but, but ask yourself honestly, the majority of people the majority of the time, is it really for a lot? Or is it have to do with this dunya

we're, we live in a time in an in an epoch or in an era where it's mostly for this dunya

and so we need to check ourselves. When we do that. As parents we communicate to our children and they understand they don't need to have it spelled out for them. They understand where our true priorities like they understand that by intelligence. We're really talking about the vol hit Amina hayati, dunya that Allah blamed. We're talking about the obvious apparent things of this material life. And we're not talking about the Intel

engines that really matters, the intelligence that will free you from the fire and put you into eternal life.

So rerouting our children's kind of senses of what is intelligence? And what is intellect and what is achievement, right? It all has to be tied back to our purpose, our central purpose, and this is why I'll go but also when he brings it up, because he's all about tying everything back to our central purpose, which is paradise, it's worship, it's Khilafah. Right.

And this cannot be done. And we should say this as well, at this juncture before we close out, it's just about time that to depart.

This cannot be done. If Islamic Studies is kind of

cordoned off or quarantined into its own,

you know, 45 minute period of the day.

Right? Whereas the real subjects are math and science and you know, biology and this and that, and that Oh, yeah. Okay, and then we'll take you to the masjid on the weekend, and we'll get you a little bit of religion. You know, that's not the way it should be. The Islam has to be part of each and every subject, right? It has to be breathed into or breathed into the purpose in which you're doing everything and incorporated and integrated into everything that you do. And that is the

Islamic lifestyle.

Okay, that's a good stopping point. Anyone have any questions? Comments, reflections concerns

may Allah prevent us from squandering our intelligence enemy?

Okay, I'll see you all soon in sha Allah enjoy the rest of your weekend, while hotel

Monaco, Morocco wabarakatuh.