 Dear viewers, thank you for joining us on this show back to the basics in which you are joining me live from the holy city of Karbala Just to get right into the topic There has been Unfortunately a few delays we're going to have to just jump straight into it So I begin in the name of Allah and I ask Allah to send his blessings upon the holy prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi and of course upon the Ahlul Bayt Dear respected viewers, we're continuing of our New Year's special This is now part three in which we were continuing to analyze just some of the gems from the Ahlul Bayt particularly in reference to our brief analysis of the non-theistic atheistic position and Where it leads to in regards to the human intellect For those of you who have not been tuning in There is way too much for me to cover in a very short two-minute summary but There's good news. You can go back to the previous episodes and just understand the train of thought that I am utilizing I Have previously argued that those who deny the existence of God deny the existence of a deity an all-powerful all-knowing Creator who in his wisdom created this universe and indeed placed us upon the face of the earth in the face of denial of such a concept We're not merely denying a superstitious belief, but rather we are denying a very phenomenal concept which provides explanatory scope for many of the phenomenon that we observe around us and of course one of the main phenomenon that we observe and Are even able to observe or even think about our observation for indeed observation is nothing more than our eyes Taking in certain sensory data and our minds process that data But of course, what would you do if you didn't have a mind that could process that data? In our previous episodes, we've been looking at how some of the modern atheist thinkers Some of their greatest proponents some of their greatest philosophers of science Have put forward the claim that if there is no God then we have no ability to use our mental reasoning That is to say we are incapable of understanding anything Because indeed the whole process of thought is nothing but a mere illusion Of course, this was the main contention and the main argument put forward by the great Professor of the philosophy of science at Duke University Entitled who's name who goes by the name of Alex Rosenberg in his book the atheist guide to reality in which he himself puts forward the atheism is not merely the denial and Outright rejection of the concept of God, but rather it comes of a whole as he calls it liberating worldview and a breath taking Look at reality He describes it as something which is really quite breathtaking and something which according to him has been quite liberating in coming to understand So what were the consequences of Alex Rosenberg's atheistic worldview? Alex Rosenberg argues that because the only the only facts The only methodology by which we can understand truth that goes back to the word epistemology Which we've used in previous episodes epistemology being a theory of knowledge and where we gain knowledge from Alex Rosenberg states that the only valid means of knowledge the only real facts are Physical facts and what does he mean about physical facts? He means What physics claims are facts so an analysis of everything from the perspective of the science of physics This is what Alex Rosenberg proposes as our research method and The only way in order to understand truth Now of course Where this leads is quite interesting Rosenberg's consequences of this are that human history has no meaning or any significance concepts such as love are Merely evolutionary processes designed with a certain intended goal namely to find this spouse and to procreate But more importantly Where is no such thing as free will? Whereas no such thing is Rationality because at the end of the day thought is merely an illusion now am I making this up? Not at all. I'll quote once more. He states on page 167 and page 190 since there are no thoughts about things notions of purpose plan or design in the mind are illusory Welcome to the matrix All of this is but an illusion why he continues since the brain can't have thoughts about stuff It cannot make have or act on plans projects and per or purposes that it gives itself so really again, I'm going to keep Batting on the head here with this particular quotes and this particular concept because I need you to understand But I'm not misrepresenting Alex Rosenberg. I know that many viewers out there will be saying Oh, you're caricaturing it Of course you are because you want to misrepresent what the atheistic position is no This is legitimately Alex Rosenberg's position. Is Alex Rosenberg a quack theorist out there? That's not taken seriously by anyone No, he was quite specifically asked to write a book as an introduction To what the atheist thinks about reality and he's got a very prestigious job This is not a modern-day polemicist that sits on a keyboard and writes on the internet in online debates with theists This is someone taking quite seriously in his profession. And so we need to Accordingly understand that This is not an argument from authority. Alex Rosenberg has quite clearly laid out the framework The premises and the conclusions and why he believes what he does He argues that since we live in a physical universe where everything is material There is no room for the concepts which we call thought and He argues that like movies are played back to us from show reels Which are a set of recorded images played back in sequence. So it looks like action is actually going on in front of us our notion of thoughts are likewise a similar Delusion and illusion which our minds have interpreted that way What does this tell you about What the brain is for the atheist and what does it tell you when we state that they don't believe in free will either What it tells me is that for those of you who engage in online debates with them We should really just take the principle of the imams. God does the Ilzan Which the imams of Ahlul Bayt have given us may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon them and we should say look According to your worldview, I don't even have a free will in what I believe because there's no such thing as free will According to your worldview, I don't even think about anything because there's no such thing as thought Therefore instead of arguing with me about what I believe How about you just accept that according to you? I'm pre-programmed by the series of events that came before my life and where I am today to act in the way I do Me being a believer is just a series of previously cost-physical events and likewise you being an atheist It's not a rational choice either because there's no such thing as thought so you know what there's probably no point in having this dialogue and If you get angry with me for saying this then I'm saying this because that's just the way the previous events before That led to what I'm doing now have led me down this is The appropriate way to deal with such arguments as I've mentioned before it's funny for me because anyone who has Generally looked at these issues before They would understand that yes if we were to look at the world from a purely physical perspective There are no good reasons To assume that there's free will there's no good reasons to assume that we have consciousness there's no good reasons to assume that there's such a thing as Morality in a godless physical universe. There's no such thing as again Well, those things will suffice for now But the fact that I do have free will the fact that I clearly can think and I'm engaging in a thought process By speaking at the moment and thinking about what I'm saying before I speak Should go on to show That clearly we don't live in a purely physical world, which is godless But instead of doing that instead of saying that wow if this universe were purely a godless physical universe These things wouldn't exist Therefore there's a God These individuals start off with the other assumption which goes like this well because there's no God Therefore, I don't have the ability to think I don't have a free will. There's no such thing as morality great We can really see what that's doing for you And we can really see how if you tune into yesterday's episode we discussed the livability of such a worldview If such a thing could ever be possible, could we really govern the world with such assumptions? Now of course the atheists will get very angry when they hear me saying these things and they'll say that I'm straw manning them But again, I have quoted in several episodes now that this is not merely Alex Rosenberg saying that we can't trust the intellect These are prominent atheist thinkers and none of them are schoolboys in their particular fields In fact, I would say that these individuals would likely be cited more by the individuals I debate with online as an authority in the field of academia and in the field of the uniqueness of human thoughts and in the field of recognition of Individual thinkers more than the average person I debate on the internet and so I throw that challenge out right now In fact, I would say they're far more qualified to discuss the implications of modern-day Scientific theories and the implications of our understanding of effects than the individuals I debate with online But at the same time I can understand their frustration because human experience in its entirety Points out that we do have free will it points out that we do have the ability to think and it points out that there is such a thing as morality as I've said livability and the Modernization between our worldview and human innate nature is something very very important But if you want to bite the bullet and if you want to take the blue pill tonight and argue that there is no God Then really if you're willing to believe that you can't trust your mind for anything. I Don't know what else some quack doctor Used car salesmen would be able to sell to you Because if you're willing to sell if you're willing to buy a product which attend which essentially tells you you're with all due respect Deficient in your mental faculties for buying this product Then why would you buy the product and degrade yourself? Now some people would argue that this is me appealing to emotion But I believe I'm appealing to human experience and reason dear viewers Please let's go for a short break and we'll come back shortly after that was salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh Dear viewers, we were saying before of a break that you have this trend of Honest atheist philosophers of science who are stating that yes Let's look at the consequences of what a world would look like If it was purely physical and it had no creator who Endowed beings with the faculties they have and they've stated that look we'd have difficulty explaining morality In fact, we wouldn't be able to explain consciousness We wouldn't be able to explain the process of thought because thought is not something physical We wouldn't be able to explain the process of free will Now the average person would hear this and say wow, okay. Well, that's interesting That that's what a universe would look like if it was no God Well fair enough there must be a God because clearly I have more I believe morality exists. I do have free will I do have rationality and I do have consciousness But instead these individuals choose to play Russian roulette and argue Well, but we're starting off with the assumption that there's no God Therefore my thought process is just an illusion my belief that I have free will is likewise an illusion Morality is likewise just something we made up as human beings to make ourselves feel better Really this is what you want to offer the world and you can see why many of us Think that there's a lot of intelligent people out there who are willing to believe in something Which is quite frankly Absurd and their own very human nature and decency tells them that it's all wrong And that is why I wanted to refer this back to veneration of the a hellel bait, alaykum as-salam Which goes Along the following lines. It's very famous and it's cited in numerous different ways the most prominent of course is Man Arafa Nafsuhu faqad Arafa Rabbuhu whoever knows himself knows his Lord this is of course a narration attributed to Amir Mu'mineen alayhi salatu was-salam and There are some who have reservations about it But at the end of the day, it's in line with the Quran and as long as it is interpreted in the right manner It is a very sound narration It is affirmed by a narration found in Sheikha Tulsi's book al-iqtasad Narrated from the holy prophet sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi, who states A'arafakum bi nafsihi a'arafakum bi rabbihi whoever knows the most about himself Would of course be in more of a position to know about his Lord now. I Will distinguish That there are two different types of Ma'rafa here and We mean Ma'rafa in a more general sense We mean in the sense that we know we have a Creator we know we have someone who oversees our affairs We know that there is a standard of this universe someone that brought us about into existence Of course, one of the reasons that many people have objections to this narration Just to point out is the fact that it has been heavily Utilized by schools of thought which are not in line with the pure tawheed of the Quran Nor are they in line with a pure understanding of the Quran given to us by the ahl al-bayt alayhim as-salam This work which I have between my hands here. It's a very important work It's called the Rosalat al-Khurasaniya fi sharh Man Arafa nafsahu faqad Arafa Rabbuhu of Simhat al-Sheikh Muhammad Alabi 50 al-Ahsaih Rahmatullahi He cites in his book all the different explanations and just so I'm not misunderstood Let us talk about the understanding which we want to ensure the viewers do not hold about this narration Firstly our understanding is that the understanding which I wish to extract for the purpose of this episode and engaging with atheist thoughts Is that everyone else who knows about the limitations of human beings and about the limitations of a physical universe? Through knowing more about these limitations would understand that there is a creator God Who fashioned us and without this creature God then everything would be absurd and we would be lacking any Explanatory power to explain in a way the phenomenon we see before us essentially going down the route of Philosophers of science like Alex Rosenberg who would rather deny that we have the ability to think have free will and have things like morality But the deviated understanding of this is something put forward by someone called Ibn al-A'rabi Or the one who brought death to the religion will meet with him. He states the following in one of his prominent books Al-Fasus Ibn al-A'abid Haqqan And Allah is our Lord and I am his eyes and his eyes If a person does not say So I am a worshipper truly and God is my master So I am his eye and no And if it is not said as human being Fala tahadjab be insaan faqad ataqa borhana So don't be veiled by this reality of human beings and you've been given a clear-cut proof Fakun Haqqan wa kun Khalqan So be truth and be creation to come with a lot of Rahmana and be by God Rahman of course one of the names of Allah as a virgin In this poem he goes on to describe how he is both in the position of the servant and God at the same time Now Such words we could normally try and find a decent Explanation for them to prove why they are Deviated why they are misunderstood, but in such a case we're not able to now My point here is not to bash any historical individuals Truly, I think we're beyond that point. I think that For me to bash the thoughts of one individual is really not going to do much help on this show and Indeed, we're trying to find truth. We're not trying to find people that have missed the truth Rather all I wanted to do in conveying this particular point of information Is to state that this understanding of the narration is not the understanding of the narration that we are going for in tonight's discussion of course another one of the great Olamah of today Said Muhammad Taqi al-Mudarrasi. He states in his book Mabada al-Hikmah That there are two different types of Ma'rafa What are the two different types of Ma'rafa? The first type of Ma'rafa is the one I pointed out That Allah Azawajal is our creator and that Allah Azawajal Has created this universe and that we have a mudabbar. We have someone who oversees and controls this universe We have someone that brought it about into existence and someone that provides us with Rizq Someone that has essentially brought this universe into Existence from non existence that we are limited and there is a creator for us This type of Ma'rafa is of course something we can attain through the Aqil So again, this would be very true But whoever knows himself in this sense and knows about himself by utilizing his Aqil and understanding that he is limited Would of course know his Lord But there's a second type of Ma'rafa Which I don't wish to convey that we can have an understanding of Without the grace of Allah Azawajal and that type of Ma'rafa is not something which we gain through the Aqil alone As I've stated the Aqil, the intellect can give us that more general type of Ma'rafa But the most specific type of Ma'rafa is of course The Ma'rafa which comes from Allah Azawajal himself and this is of course in reference to the great supplications Given to us by the Ahl al-Bayt Which states about Allah Azawajal that he is he who indicated to himself By himself That Allah Azawajal he is the one who made himself known to us I want to be mean by this we mean that Allah Azawajal in his infinite Knowledge and in his infinite wisdom has given us the faculty known as the fitrah The fitrah is that faculty which Allah Azawajal has given us in order to make us more and more aware of his existence in addition to Giving us the ability To understand truth when it comes to us and that is why the Quran is referred to as a vikr The reminder the Quran is not merely an abstract book which is here to teach us a Series of entirely new facts which we were completely oblivious to before Rather the Quran is a book which talks about the signs of Allah and we find that the Quran is a book Resonates with our human innate nature this nature known as the fitrah, especially When the Quran is interpreted by the interpreters of the Quran and by them I mean the Ahl al-Bayt If one is to interpret the Quran using the Hawa of the first generation of Muslims Who betrayed the prophets or Some of them betrayed the prophet that's not to say all of them Great number of them stayed with the prophets then of course it's a different case But dear viewers, we're gonna have to come back to this topic at a slightly later point I thank you for joining me once more on this show show back to the basics Please don't forget us in your dua wassalaamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh