Zia Sheikh – AQIDAH Belief of a Muslim 5152017
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the differences between "criber" and "genius" knowledge, with "criber" knowledge being based on five senses and "genius" knowledge being based on the ability to see things, such as flowers or trees. The "genius" knowledge is based on the ability to see things, such as electricity or nitrogen, and the "genius" knowledge is based on the ability to feel things, such as electricity or nitrogen. The "genius" knowledge is also discussed, with the "genius" knowledge being that people cannot be worshiped like the "genius." The "genius" knowledge is a kind of stepping stone for people to come to a conclusion that they are one and there is no one worthy of worship except for them.
AI: Summary ©
Today inshallah we are going to be discussing
the difference between ilm-ul-ghaib and ilm
-ul-shahadah.
Ilm-ul-ghaib and ilm-ul-shahadah, basically
there are two types of knowledge that a
person can have.
And they are loosely distributed into these two
types of knowledge that I have just mentioned,
ilm-ul-ghaib and ilm-ul-shahadah.
So what is, first of all, ilm-ul
-shahadah?
So, ilm-ul-shahadah is that thing, ma
yudraku bil-hawas, that thing that is attained
by the senses.
So, for example, a person sees something with
his eyes, he touches something with his hands,
and he hears something with his ears, he
tastes something with his tongue, and so on.
These are basically the five senses that we
refer to, al-hawas ul-khamsah.
When a person uses these things, then it
is known as ilm-ul-shahadah.
Those things that are attained by using the
senses that a person has.
So, as we know, our senses are very
limited.
And we only can use these senses in
a limited capacity.
So, for example, I cannot find out what's
going on behind this wall.
I cannot hear what's going on behind this
wall.
And when the food is on the table,
I cannot taste it until I actually put
it into my mouth.
So, our senses are limited to a certain
capacity.
So, any person who has any kind of
deficiency in any one of those senses, then
obviously he will have a deficiency in that
particular thing.
For example, a person who, may Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala protect us, is blind.
You can only go so far as to
describe to him, for example, a beautiful garden.
How are you going to describe to him
a beautiful garden?
Until maybe, unless he saw it in the
past, and he has a vivid memory of
what a beautiful garden looks like.
But if you are to try to explain
to this person, that in front of you
there is beautiful green grass, and a stream
which is flowing through this garden, and on
the side of this stream there are beautiful
flowers, and there are palm trees that are
growing out from the sides, you know, this
is something that that person is imagining, but
it's not like a person actually seeing.
So, any deficiency in any of these senses
would result in a person's comprehension or knowledge
of a certain subject to be limited also.
So, the other things are, there are certain
things that are in existence, that we know
they exist.
We know they exist.
We are 100% sure that they exist.
But yet, we cannot comprehend them with the
five senses.
For example, we know that we all have
a ruh in our body, a soul in
our body.
And that soul, it keeps us alive.
It makes us be able to move and
do certain things.
Without that soul, basically, it's not a human
anymore.
You refer to that human without a soul
now as a body.
As soon as a person dies, people immediately
start referring to that person who is known
as Abdullah or Abdurahman or Ziyah as the
body.
When is the body coming?
When are we going to have janaza on
the body?
When is the body going to be buried?
It's not named with a name anymore.
So, the ruh, once it's taken out, then
this is what happens.
But we know there is a ruh, but
we cannot see that ruh, we cannot feel
that ruh, we cannot taste that ruh, but
we know that it exists.
There are some things also, for example, in
existence, that scientifically we know, gravity.
What is gravity?
Something, a force that keeps us on the
ground.
It doesn't allow us to basically float in
the air, like we would do in space.
So, we have gravity, we know gravity exists,
but is there any type of measuring device
or any way that we can see or
feel or hear gravity in any way, shape
or form?
We cannot.
So, again, there are certain types of knowledge
that we rely upon without seeing them and
without having the ability to use our five
senses to see them.
Electricity.
Electricity may be, if you touch the wrong
wires or you touch a live wire, you
may be able to feel it, but you
cannot actually see electricity as it's flowing through
wires.
Only when you touch a naked wire will
you be able to feel that it's there.
But electricity is powering everything that we see
around us.
But we don't see that electricity and we
don't feel it unless there are certain situations
for us to do that.
So, also the fact that oxygen is around
us, hydrogen is around us, nitrogen is around
us.
We cannot see or feel these things even
though they are part of our existence.
So, these things are not known as these
things that do exist.
We know they exist, but our senses cannot
pick them up.
Similar to that, there are certain things in
existence, other things that we were told by
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the Prophet
that they exist.
And those are known as ilm al-ghayb.
Those things are known as ilm al-ghayb.
So, there are, for example, Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says in the Qur'an, وَاللَّهُ
الَّذِي لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّهُ عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةُ وَالرَّحْمَٰنُ
الرَّحِيمُ Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is describing
both.
That he is the knower, he knows everything,
which is unseen, hidden, and he knows the
things which are apparent.
عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةُ Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
also says, وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَحْمِلُ كُلُّ أُنثَى
وَمَا تَغِيظُ الْأَرْحَامُ وَمَا تَزْدَادُ Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala knows every female, and كلُّ أُنثى
is mentioned here, to not just include human
beings, but also include animals.
Every single animal that is a female, that
is carrying a baby, Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala is aware of it.
And whatever is in the arham, from more
or less, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
fully aware of it.
وَكُلُّ شَيْءٍ عِنْدَهُ بِمِقْدَارٍ أَعَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ
الْكَبِيرُ الْمُتَعَالِ Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes
also in this verse, that he is the
knower of the غَيْب, meaning the unseen, and
شَهَادَ, the things which are seen, and he
is الكَبِير, he is the Great, المُتَعَالِ, the
Most High.
سَوَاءٌ مِّنْكُمْ مَنْ أَسَرَّ الْقَوْلِ وَمَنْ جَهْرَ بِهِ
وَمَنْ هُوَ مُسْتَخْفٍ بِاللَّيْلِ وَسَارِفٌ بِالنَّهَارِ Then Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala says, it doesn't matter,
if you secretly say something, or openly say
something, when Allah is described as عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ
وَالشَّهَادَةِ whether you secretly say something, or you
openly say something, He knows it.
سَوَاءٌ مِّنْكُمْ مَنْ أَسَرَّ الْقَوْلِ وَمَنْ جَهْرَ بِهِ
وَمَنْ هُوَ مُسْتَخْفٍ بِاللَّيْلِ وَسَارِفٌ بِالنَّهَارِ And Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is fully aware of
that person who conceals himself at night, and
the one who is clear and open in
the day time.
Allah is fully aware of both situations.
In another verse Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا
فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى عَلَى الْأَرْشِ مَا
لَكُمْ مِنْ دُونِهِ مِنْ وَلِيهِ وَلَا شَفِيعُ أَفَلَا
تَتَذَكَّرُونَ يُدَبِّرُ الْأَمْرَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ الْأَرْضِ ثُمَّ يَعْرَجُ
إِلَيْهِ فِي يَوْمٍ كَانَ مِقْتَارُهُ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ مِّمَّا
تَعُدُّونَ And describing after that he says ذَلِكَ
عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ That is
عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ The Almighty, The Merciful Again
going into detail about عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ What does
it mean?
The scholars say طَرِيقُ الْوَصُولِ إِلَى مَعْرِفَتِهِ مَعْرِفَةٌ
حَقِيقِيَّةٌ هو المعرفة الحقيقية هو الوحي الإلهي الذي
جاء به الرسل عليهم الصلاة والسلام The only
way to find out about the true reality
of عِلْمُ الْغَيْبِ is to rely upon what
the Anbiya' alayhimusallatu wasallam brought from the wahi
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala So it's
not something that you and I can discuss
unless we take it from authentic sources that
were sent to us by Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala himself When we or when humanity
tried to figure out the existence of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala using their own senses,
then obviously they became misguided Many societies, for
example, they saw the power of the sun
and they just started worshipping the sun And
many people saw the power of the water,
they started worshipping the water So the existence
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has to
be given to us and the information about
that has to be given to us by
Anbiya' alayhimusallatu wasallam And that is something that
we cannot as humans find out by ourselves.
Sometimes when a person he has this guidance
or a certain level of guidance, then he
can use his own what's called Ta'ammul
and Hikmah to come to a conclusion that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is one and
there is no one worthy of worship except
for him And that kind of mindset was
described in the story of Ibrahim alayhisallatu wasallam
When Ibrahim alayhisallatu wasallam was trying to guide
his people he first of all, he looked
at the creation around him and he first
of all looked at the stars and when
he saw the stars again to try to
guide the people he said you know, this
is my lord, these stars are my lord
and then when they disappeared, he said falamma
afarat qala laa hubbul aafileen When those stars
disappeared, he said I don't like the things
that disappear How could Allah disappear out of,
it could be we see it at one
minute and now it's disappeared and then falamma
ra'al qamara bazighan qala hadha rabbi and
when he saw the full moon he said
this is my lord falamma afarat qala laa
illam yahdini rabbi laa koonanna minal qawmin dhaaleen
When the full moon disappeared, he said that
if my lord doesn't guide me then I'm
going to be misguided So, then he saw
the sun falamma ra'al shamsa bazighatan qala
hadha rabbi hadha akbar falamma afarat qala falamma
afarat qala yaa qawmi inni bari'un min
maa tushrikoon inni wajahat wajhiya lilladhi tatara samawati
wal arda halifa wa maa ana minal mushrikeen
So, he looked at the sun and the
sun ultimately disappeared too and then he said
to his people that I am free from
the shirk that you are committing and I
have turned myself to the creator of the
heavens and the earth So, this was a
kind of stepping stone for people to understand
where they were going wrong in worshipping the
sun and the moon and the stars Allah
SWT through Ibrahim gave them that power to
think and contemplate and the same power to
contemplate the idol worshippers should use it that
why should I worship an idol that cannot
harm me the similar story of Ibrahim where
his people go out on the day of
the festival and he is left alone with
the idols and he smashes all the idols
except for the biggest one and he hangs
the axe on top of the biggest idol
when his people come back they said who
did this who destroyed our statues they started
thinking and they found out that Ibrahim is
the one who always criticizes the idols he
must have done it so then they approached
him and Ibrahim said the biggest statue destroyed
the rest of the statues this is in
the Quran this story is mentioned in a
couple of places in the Quran so, basically
making them think making them try to contemplate
that how foolish are they that they are
worshipping those idols that cannot defend themselves and
on top of that when they are told
that this big idol destroyed the other idols
they said no, that's not possible that's not
possible if it's not possible that this statue
can destroy the other statues then how is
it possible that it's going to help you
it's not possible so this is the kind
of thinking ta'ammul and some kind of
contemplation can help in a person finding out
and getting to the truth about the existence
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala there are
two types of knowledge again another type of
distribution and one is called al-ilm al
-dhururi and one is called al-ilm al
-nadhuri al-ilm al-dhururi and al-ilm
al-nadhuri al-ilm al-nadhuri means that
type of knowledge that is 100% genuine
and you cannot dispute it if a person
says to you 2 plus 2 you automatically
say 4 you cannot dispute it, this is
al-ilm al-dhururi then there is a
knowledge which is known as al-ilm al
-nadhuri al-ilm al-nadhuri is basically open
to question and open to contemplation, open to
discussion and amongst those things is the fact
the existence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
this is based on al-ilm al-nadhuri
that people would dispute the existence of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala using their mindset and
using their logic so this is inshallah something
that we will discuss next week what is
the difference between al-ilm al-dhururi and
al-ilm al-nadhuri we will discuss that
in detail in the following lessons, I pray
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us
tawfiq to understand and practice what is being
said and heard