 Alhamdulillah, it's very nice to be here with you all and that there's nothing more that I would rather spend my time then that not so much talking to you as just a delving into this whole process of knowledge and reflection and that once someone opens up their heart to intellectual Stimulation and that they find the beauty constant a constant pursuit of seeking of knowledge is that that really what comes to dominate the heart is overwhelming love for what is and that Immanuel has a very interesting Hierarchy of desire that he reports in his book he kept it out of the game the book of 40 and that he says that the human being at Successive stages in his life has various Shahuat desires start to form within them and That he says the very first desire To form within the human being is desire to eat and drink And this is obvious because we see that as soon as a baby enters into the world That the first thing that happens You see there's a manifestation for us as God's name had indeed the guide is that the baby somehow intuitively knows to reach for their mother's breast and This is very significant. You know how to explain that okay instinct. Well, what is instant? What is that phenomenon? How is that taking place? And you have a unique perspective on it, but this is the very first instinct that exists in the very first desire that exists within the human being is to eat and drink a natural Inclination exists within the human being for obvious reasons if we don't have a desire to eat and drink Then how would we be able to preserve our physical health and that we recognize there in That these natural desires Of themselves is that they're not something negative In fact, there's a divine wisdom behind that if the Lord of the heavens and the earth had willed that we eat other types of food like rocks or pebbles or Yeah, leaves or just you know nourishment There's entirely bland or we didn't have taste buds or we didn't have desire That it would be a lot more difficult to be able to preserve our health as humans And that that there's you know in alternate forms of medicine the deal with holistic health is a lot to be said for Desiring particular foods at particular times now that that doesn't mean that you reach for M&M's or Starbursts Mentos and these types of things that's not what it's referring to but at times You do find that you inclined towards some types of food as opposed to others and that some will say that This is an indication that that's actually what you need in that moment Obviously with certain conditions, but he says that the the next desire that develops within the human being After these basic desires of eating and drinking is that the desire for copulation that the desire that the sexes have for the opposite sex and That this is a desire that comes a bit later And in the stage and this is a natural desire in in love itself that it's not a negative thing There's obviously great wisdom behind that were females not attracted to men or men not attracted to females Then that how would we then procure the human race how we preserve the human race and the very fact that There's a desire there that has obvious, you know divine wisdom in it But again like the other desires that it has to be regulated and it has to be channeled and that limits have to be set Proper engagement in that and then he remember that he says is that as that the human years progress that a third type of Desire starts to develop in the mean and what he said calls the desire for status the desire for rank the desire to be known by people and That this is the third level and again also that actually that has wisdom in it of itself And he goes into a detailed discussion of status and when it is desirable when it is praiseworthy when it is blameworthy But the basic level of which clearly according to my most adi is needed That if there's not a type of trust or if you don't have if you're not known by certain people That they perceive you to be a certain way that they're not going to hide They're not going to interact with you. They're not going to give you their business So there's a certain level that has to be there and that there's Mechanisms in the sacred law that preserve this and we have what is called marua Which you know, it's a difficult word to translate like a lot of other words in Arabic But it's broadly defined as legal Right someone's reputation and we have a hadith of our prophet Prophet said that But the believer doesn't humiliate themselves so preserving your Your reputation is a good thing now that we have to clarify in this day and age That when you hear of things like honor killings and these type of things That I was a bill that you seek refuge in God these type of things that are complete extremes You know and that that these things have nothing to do with some of what's over and this is something totally Jahadi ignorant and has nothing to do with the where the prophet or stop and needs to be categorically Spoken out against and condemned But that the basic level though of preserving your reputation right has to be there But you know was that a goal will go into great detail then about how these different types of desires can be balanced and That all of the various aspects or defects that arise when they are in balance in one or two directions But the we're taking We're going down this this this course to get to the fourth type of desire which memo is that he argues is The most fundamental and simultaneously The strongest desire that exists within the human being which is the desire to know But this is something that that is Deeply embedded within the human being a desire to know and That this reverberates the fourth so-called desire in the hierarchy of shahawad desires And again though that like the other three That we have to have a balanced perspective of that the way in which we know and How we seek what we know and what we do with what we know and I think you could argue from a religious perspective That a lot of the problems of the modern world That stem from a number all of these you can see very clearly how they relate to problems in the modern world all of us, you know in the various imbalances respective imbalances, but you know really at the fourth degree Which even though in terms of numbers That there might be less people that that are partisan balance But the repercussions that they reverberate into you know all people and That it's related to how we know and what we do with what we know But that what I'm trying to get out here is is that you know Pay a Muslim should love knowledge and we should love intellectual stimulation and That we should never feel hesitant to Take part in any type of discussion Whether it be with people that are operating from a religious perspective or whether it be people that are operating from a secular and that at the heart of every believer should be a Fervent ardent desire for true And that we happen to believe despite You know postmodern conviction that there is truth with the capital T Now our epistemology three which we affirm that is another topic of discussion We've tried to point to that briefly in the foot bath, but that's that's a more lengthy discussion But the point is here is that that we have clearly defined parameters that relate to how we know but this should be at the very heart of a believer and What is understood in this hierarchy that imam was I saying is that? The higher that you move up the more fine-tuned one's taste is and so that there is a quote That I believe it was El nor Roosevelt from the stake and that she said that There's a different types of people that the lowest degree are people who talk about other people You know when you see people that are like this people that go through the line and the grocery store and they pick up people's magazine or Even worse that they're picking up the national inquire And if people were reading that they wouldn't publish on and if people actually like that title of literature and that the whole life revolves around other people and Lifestyles and mission famous. I know I'm outdated. I don't know what you guys they may have now But I guess they're running out of ideas. So let's just do reality TV But I don't know what the sub your lifestyles and mission famous is old school I haven't had a TV for like 16 years. We figured out last night. So I don't know But whatever it is with the whole idea of living your life through other people's lives That there's a really nice book by the author than by the name of Chris Hedges He's a graduate of Harvard Divinity School. He's a Tense social critic which I would highly recommend, you know, many of his books But in particular that his book that Wars of Force gives us meaning as well as his book titled the Empire of Illusion and that he says that subtitle is that the Triumph of spectacle and The loss of literacy something along that way and if he has five different chapters all of which are interesting The chapter on pornography is very important, but it's very vivid. So you might want to freeze over that He has a very powerful critique of modern universities But the first chapter it relates to the way that people live their lives Through these various programs that are presented to us in media And that he says that a lot of the type of programs now that in my day again He's a human or not dated. It was called the WWF. I guess it's called the WWE. Is that right? That that people live their lives and it's developed such that that people can have a psychological release that when they Start to look at these lives of these people that what they start to do is live through them In various ways You know and and that's what do you know what's the most popular show is the Muslim world in the Arab world? What would you think the most popular show in the Arab world? Arab final no, no, but it's a Western show But who watches Baywatch anyone is anyone watching Baywatch Right Baywatch and if you would look at the number of You know people that you know feeling inclined towards Oprah Winfrey and That follow and we're talking about oftentimes in very conservative societies that are completely segregated segregated lifestyle That there's thousands and thousands of women really without exaggeration That learn to live their lives through Oprah because they feel like that she's speaking And that they learn to live their lives through these characters and so forth that she brings on talk show and so forth and That there's a lot of people that are like this is that that their whole discussion is around people and Then that a higher degree according to Roosevelt is that people whose discussion is around events Then there's other people that they talk about events and interpreting events and you have to have more of a background knowledge To be able to discuss an event Which again that I would argue that you know most people that when they see events on television They don't have the background knowledge to even understand those events Because if you look at a book like Neil postman's how to watch TV news and you see the way that a 30 minute or even hour long Right news segment is presented Right the substance of the topic at hand is you know You know at best minimal You know and oftentimes it's prevent it's presented in a particular frame in order to really develop your own opinion on it Is that you have to do actually a lot of reading a background reading? And that oftentimes you actually have to visit the place And as a person who has a foot literally in two worlds the West and the East I went at home In a controversial country Yemen, which I've only had beautiful experiences there for the most part That you see very clearly that the way that perspectives on both sides if you want me to be fair are skewed and distorted And that you see the pitch in the media compared to what you know on the ground And you start to see that how that if that's a person's only source The information that they're not going to be able to tell them And it's actually for myself really quite annoying that you get these people that are like parents They don't have any idea what they're talking about, but they're just like they hear something on CNN or NBC or some you know Some broadcasters is you know giving them an opinion or some so-called expert or you know political analyst And that they don't think from themselves. They're just presenting what they heard That if you really get down to the nitty-gritty and like how do you develop your opinion in why do you think that right? Well, how can you have that particular opinion if you've never exposed yourself to a different? That how could you develop? so this is the second degree she then says that the Highest level of inquiry intellectual inquiry is where you start to discuss ideas we start to discuss discuss concepts and That is where it really gets interesting it's starting to discuss ideas and concepts and that you know We do have mechanisms in the sacred law that at times you see like for instance in the topic of philosophy Traditional scholars different about what was the legal ruling of philosophy some of them said philosophy is hot that opinion doesn't this and That the way that positions understood if people don't have a philosophical mind That it's better to have them focus on orthoproxy Which is orthoproxy relates to that uprightness of behavior right that you focus is on behavior As opposed as opposed orthodoxy, which is focused more upon that rightness belief You know where in the Christian tradition there was much more focus on or the orthodoxy is opposed to the practice and that this is actually a blessing for us if you look at it from a overarching historical vantage point that that We have in the Fatiha in the last two chapters with its last two verses Not the ways of those who've incurred your wrath know the way of those who've gone astray given us the two basic archetypes for human deviation that one is Having a knowledge of something but having the lower passions overcome you such that you don't act according to the Dictates of dictates of what you know the second archetype are those that actually have skewed knowledge in a skewed perspective and thus are Leave themselves astray and so these are the two basic paradigms But that that if you see that Historically that our scholars have inclined more towards orthoproxy in general than orthodoxy And one of the great proofs of that is is if you go into any traditional library that what are the most that? voluminous books What science do we have that the largest collections of books or what? Yep, I'm on her. Yep. Someone and what else mom, right? Well, that's it I did Whereas if you compare that to Christendom that the quintessential science was theology hands down And if you look at a book like you know two of the most famous scholars of Christian history that st. Thomas Aquinas and that Augustine is that that Aquinas is that summa Theologica that it's primarily a book of theology right, and if you look at Augustine's the city of God or his confessions That it's primarily a work of theology. That was you know the Science that was of most importance Whereas our scholars have a very clear cut develop theology and that we that's a whole topic the way that we Present our theology creed as opposed to some of the more nuanced understandings of experiential theology of how we understand the soul and how it relates to the higher realms and so That that never came became mainstream that was always dealt an entirely different genre Such that the onlookers the first look at the some tradition tradition thought that we had a very basic You know rudimentary theology Which from the standpoint of creed it is basic Which is the power of this in which one of the main five reasons surveys have shown that people actually become because of the simplicity and clarity of Muslim Where you're not required to believe some Obstruced point of theology that even you know the archbishop himself might understand You know except just it's how it is. It's a mystery except But no you actually a lot says on the court that them and no It is a chronic imperative. It's a chronic injunction that you know God Know that there is no God Meaning that the scholars have said that Far from being a voluntary matter that if you have the intellect to come to know God Meaning what we attribute to God on a rational basis, which is the whole science of Discursive or speculative theology that it's an obligation for you to do so and if you don't you're actually sinning That's the dominant position Of our of our theologians and so there's there's an encouragement to that But so we do have a very developed theology But the largest books of ours are in the realm of hip in the realm of Hadith and then after that You could probably say tafsir and then there's a number of other You know aspects of our tradition as well tafsir is commentary on the Quran But this is actually a blessing That we see looking back in retrospect That if we're going to lean to one way or another That there is more of a leaning put more of a lean towards orthodoxy that that's actually a blessing but taking back to the whole point of this discussion is Is that that as people who believe in the stuff? That it's very important for us to have intellectual courage is that is that we should never be afraid to Compare what we believe to what other people believe that we should welcome that And we should welcome people and we should welcome challenges and we should welcome question And that we should welcome crisis And what you'll find is when you do that that when there is intellectual honesty is That it will solidify and this is my own personal experience having you know left the university Gone the traditional road studying those places not as long was exaggerated as he said But that studying in those places and coming back and re-entering the university and to me that the university has been a wonderful experience And I actually have very good relationship with a lot of my professors that some of them are secular Muslims And you know, I'm just I am who I am. I don't try to you know be other than myself I address as I dress at the university outside of the university. This is why I don't care people like it or not but this is who I am and I'm going to be one and that at the same time I have a professor of mine who's complete atheists and Sometimes even makes fun of religious people that we have a very close relationship not closer They have a very good working relationship and that that's You know, and I think that what it is is that he appreciates You know the intellectual honesty is that we have to access our tradition analyze it as it is And we should never be worried about doing whether it's from within our own ranks in scrutinize, you know critically analyzing at a time scrutinizing certain positions of scholars of the past with balance and adab taking into consideration That people didn't always live in the modern world if I can just stop and take a quick tangent before getting to that this is one of the major blinders people in our time is it when you try to look back upon history is that most people cannot And you could argue philosophically that you can never possibly do it But you know having lived literally in a pre-modern society. It doesn't even have runny water and electricity That you know it really is interesting to see the perspective of people that are operating in a pre-modern mentality Because there is a lot of people in the world in general and you might even be able to argue You know, I don't know if you reach a majority, but there's a large percentage of people that's still operating in a pre-modern You know where I don't you know I've seen too many beautiful people overseas to think you know that they're like heathens or they're you know backwards and that I mean, I don't buy that stuff. I mean to me one of the most in certain ways depending upon how you define advanced Civilizations that I've seen are the more advanced Which are some of the simplest people in the world which until 15 20 years ago. They were still literally better No mats moving from place to place wherever the water might be depending upon the season and rainfall and so forth and That despite there's a second forced country in the world So it's a statistic from some time ago But despite that that they were an amazing people that that you know Had traits that I haven't seen in the most civilized And that the people that I you know develop intimate relationship with the man that I converted with his name Shaykh Khutri would be by that his half sister was the wife of Merchant she's passed Rob is still and That key to me was like a father and I remember that when I first want to go to Mauritania. Oh my god Yeah, that's a whole story of the self of my parents you know, you're leaving Pay for education to go to see Berkeley in this future and What my mom always wanted for me is to live in a nice white picket fence and have you know To children and live the American dream and so forth all of a sudden I'm going to Africa Where you know, I'd like to be able to speak to her except to you know every two or three months and she Literally, she didn't think that too well first and that I remember when they first met my teacher That that he was reassuring them that I would be safe He said we're gonna take better care of them than you do And that literally though that it was like a father son type relationship. It's very and that's very it's you know It's very unique. It was the relation to student teacher relationship, which you find that sometimes in the university But you know in the Muslim world much more But there's a very intimate close-knit student teacher relationship and That it's very important to the whole process of learning The realities purpose of knowledge anyhow that You know taking this back to what we were what we were discussing is that you know, so people don't often have times have the ability to divorce themselves from you know judging the past based upon the lives in which we live and I would argue that They don't realize how You know that the majority of you Have not walked this person live like the way that we do If you even look at the remaining people that lived you know Early 20th century and early 1900s You're still What was their realities? What was the reality of life in the United States of America before the raid? before electricity before airplanes let alone Before internment so many of these other things Satellites so-called so-called. What was their lives like? what was the way that they used to live and That let alone you can live a little bit further back to be the majority of human beings that have walked the face of this earth You know we recommend that they be in everything and that the majority of beings live very differently And that in order for you to understand often times the way that that worked you have to understand That the dynamics of that particular joke short history So one example of that is is that if you want to talk about You know we have a breakdown that is not a chronic break, but it's a scholarly breakdown that came later Dividing that the most some Polity and then in relation to non-muslim quality that into categories such as daughter They say I'm the abode of Islam daughter The abode of disbelief doubted how to the abode of war and there's a lot of scholarly difference upon this You also have other abodes as well. Don't a man your boat of security don't Have the abode of treaty you have different abodes and That you know that was very much a part of the female part And that you could see the functional aspect of There's this type of division because the way that society and civilizations that not only survive but prosper It's spread that you have to understand the way that that was or to understand the importance of that breakdown And now, you know the challenges is that as we move into the time where so many things have broken down That that this is the most important time of all that we have nuanced scholarship They can look into you know these details and so forth And I know that this is not what you want me to speak about so I'll try to get to what you said But I wanted to do that Really, I think it's really important, you know that we all learn to love And that we enjoy intellectual stimulation where we think of our people of death and that I would say that you know in response to that You know that this issues of the sort that that that need to be addressed is that that we're living in a time that requires nuance and that one of the tendencies of different people that you find in our time is that as the challenges escalate is That you see certain responses to these various challenges You know one of the great challenges if you want to be honest that we're dealing with is certain people within our communities That their response to You know, I'm calling it modernity. Whatever that means Is that they want to run from it? They don't want to engage in it and they want to create black-and-white dichotomies That there's clarity in their mind and they live in that apartment now if someone's going to do that and that remain within their own realm and To not engage, you know, I personally don't have a problem Because you can't require Everyone to engage and to have calculated integration. If someone wants to do that We have Amish people that you know reject much of modernity. We have, you know, people that go and form Intentional communities and they don't want to have anything to do with the public's rick and that's fine But we shouldn't force everyone to be the same way if someone that that's just their response. I know that I don't have a problem however that if you universalize your approach and then even worse try to Justify religiously That the way that you're viewing things that is the only way to respond and everyone else who doesn't respond that way is wrong In the lidah. He wouldn't make a Roger Right. You are setting yourself up for disaster within your own selves and Within other people as well, you know, and this is the heart That you know one of the major tendencies within our community That there's problem of you know, I don't know what you want to turn it down That but it's created. It's related to creating these false dichotomies is that in a time where things become extremely complex is that you're to the degree of its complexity is to the degree that you're in need of nuance and That what I would say to that is is that that you could you could analyze You know the trial, which will be called ever to fit But the very definition of a fit that is is that you could understand that it's a trial, but there's no easy way out Right. So for instance That you know a leader like sit down per se Everything that he did to his people and so forth and so on that you can understand that all Muslims would say Virtually, you know that he's a tyrant and this and that so forth so But you know, how do you get yourself out of the civility out of that situation? And what is the? Alternative to that civilization. This is something that now is taking place right now as we speak in the Muslim This is right at the surface where you see all of these varying perspectives in relation to the Arab Spring and so forth that this new stage Now of governance in the Muslim world and how that relates to the West and how it relates to democracy and so forth and so on But I'm not going to give any definitive answers all on my point is is that you can understand the trial But oftentimes a very definition of a fitner of a trial is it that there is no easy way out because that is exactly what it is It's a trap, you know, and we have in our lives various types of crimes There's certain relationships that you have That you might have a family member that You know just perks you and is troubling you and it's just thrown in your side constantly And it's a trap You know what you can and can't do on the two extremes But you don't have to subjugate yourself for any type of emotional physical verbal abuse or anything of that sort At the same time their family nor can you completely cut them off Right where it is the fine line of how you deal with that or sometimes is with your parents other times It's a spouse and their husband and the husband and wife the two spouses and they have kids and There's no options to for divorce because it would lead to a disaster I bet you're trapped in the nation, but so you can identify oftentimes with a fit's not with a tribulation the two extremes But determining how you actually navigate, you know the the middle that that oftentimes is something that is that is very difficult and that It's important though that when this is the case is that we have a nuanced help and that one of the things about the slum of tradition that it's extremely extremely And I don't think people realize the contributions the civilizational contributions That that Muslims have made in particular that our scholarly tradition and some of them unique civilization Like the science of Islamic legal theory this will it dip the Islamic legal theory is a unique science a unique contribution and That it developed at a particular juncture and some history and that the primary founder of it was the great Imam from the degrees of Shafiq in his work on lisa and That what he focused on as opposed to many of the other books of fit That focus on the branch rulings that relate to Law as it's understood in light of the Quran and Sunnah meaning the statements practices and tacit approvals of our prophesies that is That he got to the heart of the overarching principles through which that the individual rulings of the laws are derived But if you see someone who was a master of the school of fit That they also generally speaking will be a master of theology They will also be a master of grammar and rhetoric that oftentimes they would have expanded into a knowledge of philosophy and That they have this unique skill set That really what would be somewhat similar as as close you're going to find in the sum of tradition to what would be called a liberal arts education of the West because the Western tradition that That roots of it was based in the Trivium and the Quadruple that the Trivium being that grammar rhetoric and Logic in the quadrillion being geometry arithmetic astronomy and music You know, these were the seven foundational knowledges that was a part of a liberal arts cricket and This is what since you the institution I teach for is a tutor college Is it what they're attempting to do that they're trying to create a Muslim liberal arts college in the United States Where it's trying to attempt, you know, because this is a big claim No one's claiming anything attempt to bridge the gap between the Western tradition Islamic tradition in light of our context here in the United States And to try to contribute unique, you know, Islamic solutions to you know, many of the problems that we face as human beings as humanity And that you know, what exactly that means that it's not concrete and there's no ready answers this is a long public discussion that takes you know years upon years of integration and reassessment to actually come to any level of Solidification of a curriculum and understandings in that anyways that That the is our science of Islamic League appears But which one of us has even studied a basic text or something or even heard about it's important And this to me I would argue is one of the most important sciences that we need to step in light of our time Because that once you understand what are called the maqasad of Sharia Which are the the the principles of law No, it's loosely related to That you start to understand that all of the individual rules of the law relate to these overarching principles and Some scholars say they're five others say they're six But it's related to preservation of religion preservation of life preservation of intellect preparation of property preservation of lineage and What's the sixth? Honor the preservation of honor. Thank you So those are the overall so meaning that every detailed ruling of the sacred law relates to one of these five in one way or another And so then what you have to do is is that that the as our scholars have said that El-Fukum, Far'un and Tasawuri For you to make a judgment on something to give an opinion You know so this whole idea of what's your opinion about what's your opinion system? Everyone's just kind of you know giving their opinion and this type of way that yes Everyone's entitled to their opinion But you know in the end you should have an informed That you should have thought about it and it should be an opinion based upon knowledge and conviction Right now just stop the lead or you heard someone else say it and so that Can't see your side 10 That not just with someone else said and that's it All right, but but what you see is that it was which I just really want to get at and we'll open the door for questions Is is it the way that it's nuanced? Because then is that you have to examine things based upon their moussada and then you fast it that you have certain things that are benefit benefits you didn't have certain things that are harms and That the way that you apply law at any time is that you have individual rulings of the sharia That each relate to one of these five or six overarching Principles which that if we can take attention quickly that everything from this perspective every individual law even if you don't understand it Then it's rational given the aforementioned assumptions Now when you're dealing with secular law has a different set of assumptions that someone might deem what you believe to be Irrational but looking at it from an internal perspective. That's not the case It is rational given that it's related to one of these five or six things but then what happens is is that as You try to analyze and respond to the various challenges in time is that it requires a very in-depth knowledge of these overarching principles and that how it relates to their presence and interpreting that the challenge of your time in light of this tradition and That giving precedence to the benefits as it over over the the harsh and That what you'll find is is that it's it's fairly easy to determine that right from wrong in a very general sense That when something, you know the Quran rejects more relatives We understand what's right. You understand what's wrong with certain things the Hanad being with Hanan being but That at another degree that understanding what is the writer of two rights You could say that or the wrong or two wrongs or that what takes more precedence to focus on in terms of your list of priorities or but how to deal in a situation when that No matter what the outcome. It's not something, you know good But either way that it's not going to be the perfect or desirable outcome how to deal with that situation Which is a good percentage of the situations that we deal with on an individual basis or on a community basis or as such And that this is why that it's so important to be noticed because either way we're all making decisions in our life All making decisions constant And that you're either just making your decisions have hazard Or you're making informed decisions. We're all making decisions and when it gets down to it practically speaking boom We have to make a decision that oftentimes people don't have recourse or even if they do they don't go back to even You know have people that have an informed opinion help them in that and this is one of the challenges Well is that the number of informed people that are grounded in tradition at the same time understand the nuances of the modern world are Few and far between and if they're there they're hard to reach or they might not respond to your emails Anyways That we're saying all this is is that I think it's really important That we develop a nuanced understanding of tradition and that we rise to the intellectual challenge that that in a time of difficulty is that is that the worst thing that you could do is create a false icon is That what you have to do is that further the depths of your knowledge and to understand things from a Very subtle perspective and that when you start to see that the way that a scholar That analyzed what particular ruling in all of the considerations that were there it will leave you in a state of complete awe and That's you know that one example of that not a concrete example, but a general example of that is is that that's When for instance are when our great jurists like him a medic like him I'm a shepherd like like Is that when they are considering? Considering a particular ruling in the sacred law is that they didn't only consider that based upon one source Whether it be a verse of the Quran or hadith of the process Rather they consider that point that individual ruling in light of the entirety of the Quran into the extent of their knowledge of the corpus of hadith Because oftentimes will have different rulings that appear to be contradictory Or that have various levels of authenticity in narration. What do you do in that particular? Scenario and likewise they would also take into consideration That the way that that individual ruling relates to other individual rulings that they've already come to a basic conclusions on And so that this is why that that there's definitely things that missed earlier scholars that later scholars picked up Is because that that previous scholar might not have taken everything into consideration Where the later scholar came and had the privilege to because it was developed to a certain level that they could think about those other so we tend to think at times that you know an example that is you take a quote on a verse and That it's one level to understand. What is the literal meaning of that verse? It's another level to Taking into consideration Why the alum mentioned that in that particular way and didn't mention in other ways And that that was a whole other aspect of knowledge and it requires a greater depth You know, I go mind-blowing. What did you what was the essence of what we know, but what would we talk about when we walk? I wouldn't just touch on it real briefly Matured anyone and so that that's how I wanted to basically approach this topic about You know that maturity You know and that that it never said Has to speak about you know something related to that and and I think it From the focure perspective it relates to what I mentioned is that that the we need to become mature in that sense is that that we need to get beyond You know a lot of this, you know, very simplistic medial type of discourse That is dividing our community and I'm making this address in particular not to be Muslim Is that we all know what is taking place at the mission level at the community level and oftentimes at the MSA though Where that the level of discourse that people are Preoccupying themselves with and arguing over is so petty Given the overall perspective that it's just beyond me actually if you want me to be honest You know and to me that that as a convert to Islam that I refuse to be bogged down by the baggage of our Muslim community No, I don't mean by that. I'm going to divorce myself Some people choose to do Because they think it's just greater than deal all this stuff. I'm just gonna become Muslim and just allow us just you know Remain on the fringes. Maybe you know tend your mind leave and just I don't want people some people don't want to be a part of And that's fine. I don't choose that position You know, I think that we should we need to work within the community while working within the greater community And but at the same time is that we have to look 50 to 100 years down the line and that accessing our tradition understanding how That Islam is really going to become relative in our society In especially for Muslims You know in what are the ways that we're going to navigate that living in a modern Liberal secular democracy and what does that mean? You're getting beyond like Islam's against democracy or This time of thing like to like really like what is democracy? What are the different types of democracy? That do we have anything similar in our tradition to democracy that what is Islamic political theories? Some argue there is no such thing Because that we only have a few books and they're extremely short About political theory, which is very interesting That doesn't some have something to say about politics absolutely But let's just say what we know about it. How relevant is that overall to what we want to be doing here anyway? You know, and we need to get beyond you know, this petty discourse Where we really get down to the heart of certain issues and a lot of that you know is matured and That it requires an intellectual matured and it requires Simultaneous the spiritual because oftentimes peoples that spiritual immature meaning the state that they're in prevents them from that developing this intellectual and to really fairly justly that open-heartedly Accessing that our legacy that our scholars have left behind and that the great Muslims scholars and Olia saints that that preceded the force and that to me that This is something that I live my life by and I have to say that from the standpoint is that the more you delve into it So how the law that the more beautiful it becomes and the more that you realize the vastness of the ocean and How you know the depths of the sea and that in reality, it's a shoreless sea that it's amazing and That that you know, there's just so many ideas that can be flushed out and there's so many historical examples That you know, and I'll end on this last note And it relates particularly one of the main concepts that I would argue we have to understand if we're going to have Intellectual maturity in a sense spiritual maturity that we have to understand the universality of Islam Because Muslims believe that our problem is a universal product Right and that to me it's amazing That you have Geographically speaking the Arabian Peninsula was one of one of the most one of the least universal places in Now one perspective that we call Makkah Omel Korah the mother of cities idiomatic translation in pranax it and if you look at the land mass of You know the the different continents that for the most part even though not You know longitudinally by in terms of the land mass it is in the center With the exception of Antarctica, you know, it is very much in the center You know, but the Arabian Peninsula was an impenetrable sanctuary for much of history And there's that's part of the geographic miracle, you know of you know the Prophet's teachings and Islam Which you know is an incredible topic that some have researched like And that however that you know, this was one of the ways in which the pristine Arabic tongue was preserved Because of the lack of interaction as opposed to a city like Jerusalem and that the multifarious Influences on you know anything in a given moment religious But you know the thing is is that once you understand the universality of us and how it pertains To the entire world and every time from the time of the Prophet and every subsequent generation And all peoples on the face of this world is that theoretically speaking is that Muslims believe that Islam was for all times and for all people But you often times find in individual Muslims Very narrow perspectives that they can't even deal with people in their own mission Let alone with the greater Muslim community But our Prophet this is something you can be certain is that his universal nature would have allowed him to deal With every single human being In his time until you're multiple To people that when you go outside believe I see these people That some of the most Distant people from the fifth time the natural state of the human being That think that they you know this is The way that they should be lived and the way that they pierced themselves more of their own skin You know tattoos and substances that they consume and so forth and so The problem I said would have to have had an ability theoretically speaking to interact with everything And that theory every would have found something in the process and aspect of it I didn't have this person who he was that would attract You know, and then ultimately the higher levels of Spiritual development is to the extent that you hold yourself To the prophetic person is to the extent that you obtain divine guidance But that the universality of some is very important and that if we can understand that That when you understand how it's not spread to the portion how it's not spread to the Indian subcontinent How it's not spread to Egypt. How it's not spread to Africa. How it's not spread to Southern Europe in Spain How it's not spread to the Southeast Asia in the Malay world. How it's not spread to sub-Saharan Africa How it's not spread to China in Central Asia and in China And then that what is the way that those people that integrated some based upon their own cultural heritage and This is incredible topic that requires any immense amount of knowledge and immense amount of research But things are coming out But this is part of its actual challenge that that we need to have the courage to look into and to see what are the Various parallels to our own situation here and what are some ideas, you know that we can draw from You know into some of the challenges that we're facing. So that's about all that I guess it opened up the Student here, you know, you're collecting a thing about my time here at UCLA and the MSA And as a student, there's a lot of things going on in your mind, you're very concerned about your career, doing well in school You know, developing relationships with friends And you know the MSA and the activism and all that you're doing and sometimes the Islamic studies That's almost like it takes a backseat, you know, you're doing Islamic knowledge and the rising for and doing other things It's difficult to fit that in when you're so concentrated on so many other things And that's why I really understood this. It was using time for a lot of students, especially the environment we're in And also there's certain groups to be a certain there's a certain attraction to the simplicity that we see in Islam or the simplicity that is offered in by certain, you know, speakers and that's it makes it very easy for a student Especially to take that simplicity and practice on a daily level, on a daily life level, and that's what the attraction is What you mentioned, I like what you mentioned about the nuance and the priorities A lot of times we look at the nuance and everything else except in Islam We are very concentrated in our classes. We sit in, we can listen to professors speak or on and on Whatever subject we're on, but when it comes to Islam, it's very difficult for us to sit and learn for some reason We want it to be fed to us and we don't want to take that step to pursue it Although we're taking those steps in every area of our life except Islam And I think it's because you have a question Where's the lawyer? So if there was a judge in the room that you would ask him, like, do you have a question? I usually address her on the one hand My question is No, I got your question. So Nyanin, what do we do about that? Exactly, exactly. No, I think it's just very clear that ultimately it's all about balance And that it's very important to simultaneously focus upon our intellectual development in a religious context While simultaneously guarding the horizons of our mind in general ed or postgraduate degree type education And it's saying I'm not forgetting your spiritual knowledge And the key to all of that is to learn how to divide your time wisely Which is very hard to do. And there's a lot of things out there to distract us, especially at the college level And this relates to maturity, in that sense, is that, you know, you have a choice You could go out and party, you could go out and do other things And I'm not saying that you shouldn't have halal fun, you know, lawful fun But what I'm saying is that, you know, people do make choices And that I would say that, you know, the state of the believer is that we're very serious people That we have a very clear-cut perspective on life And that we have to have times where we laugh, we have to have times where we relax and go to the beach And we have to have times where we, you know, have downtime. That's a given But that one of the gold principles I've heard from our teachers is that That you have to be a motif in your jid, and you have to be more jid in your motif Is that you have to be gentle in your times of seriousness And you have to be serious in your times of gentleness Right? And that to the extent that you can do that and live a life of purpose That you would be surprised, among those that he says, that we have 24 hours in our day And that if you're sleeping 8 hours a day, that's a third of your life gone And you have 16 hours left Okay, let's say you've cut back on your sleep a little bit Anyways, that you have a very limited amount of time during the day But if you learn to organize your time wisely And that you learn to place certain things at certain times That you'll learn to get the blessing, you know, of your time And that certain people have a lot of time, they have blessings at their time And again, it always gets back to the golden principle of balance And so by arranging your time correctly And sticking to that to the extent possible That you will find blessings at your time And that you will be open to achieving in a number of ways And, you know, to me in the end that it's hard as school is and as demanding as it is It's not always like that, usually people don't do work anyway until the end of the semester But the point is that, you know, it's about priorities And in a sense you have to have priorities in your life That you set your priorities right And you make sure that there are certain things that you definitely do But again, cater to your, you know, that you have time to study You have time to focus on devotions You have time to exercise You have time to spend with your friends That I think it really gets back to having a high aspiration And arranging your time wisely And also benefiting a lot from your free time But also, you have four months off You have a month off and a birthday And three months off in the summer How do you use that time? And what is it the thing that you do? You find a lot of the complaints get back to a misuse About your time, which again, it's back to this point I don't know if someone else might have any comment I have a question So at the very beginning of your talk You mentioned that Islam teaches to seek truth In the Christian world, the way to seek truth is basically Read the Bible, pray, and the Holy Ghost reveals truth to you So I found that that's not a real good mechanism Because you have a lot of different denominations Jehovah Witness, LDS, Protestant They all believe very different things And I think it's absurd that God would tell one person That there's one truth And another Christian person that there's another truth So how does Islam teach to find truth? How do you know that Muhammad is a prophet That the Qur'an's truthful That sort of thing Well, that's a very good question And I think that it could be answered in a number of ways But what I would say is first of all That truth with the capital T That there's different aspects of truth So if you would hone in on one aspect of truth Let's say the existence of God That the Muslim perspective on that is Is that the belief in God is a divine gift It's something that God gives you or he doesn't give you It's a divine gift And at the same time when we were talking about From the theological point of view Learning proofs, rational proofs That even if you learn a lot of rational proofs Which are very much a part of the Christian tradition as well Aquinas, he had rational proofs There's different types of rational proofs But when was the last time that you offered a rational proof When atheists that then believed it became a believer That's very rare The whole purpose of rational proofs Is to buttress faith that you've been given And so from the Islamic perspective That human beings are born believers Meaning that the natural default state of the human being Is that the human being is a believer And that through entering into the world That there's through various types of exposure to different things That we learn aberrant ideas That take us away from the truth And that the default state however Is that we're used to have a certain society That a child is raised in a particular way That they would naturally believe in certain things And of the top of the list is a basic belief Of cause and effect Which ultimately is one of the great ways to believe To lead you to believe in God So that we would consider it from this perspective That the human being is homo religious Meaning that we are believers by nature And that from a more philosophical perspective Is that in Islam That when we talk about certainty When we talk about truth as opposed to falsehood That truth is defined simply as That which is and necessarily must be Whereas falsehood by definition is That which is not and necessarily must not be And so certainty according to Islam Is a person aligning himself With the very way that things are And so it's that process Of in a sense self discovery That what allows them to align themselves And so what I mean by that is Is that there's mechanisms That assist the human being in that But it requires a desire within the human being To be able to have it become unfolded to them The seed of potentiality to know truth That exists within them And I'm not just using fancy words to confuse you I'm really serious about this That we believe that the human being Has the seed within them to know truth And that what happens is that if Any human being that really wants to come To discover that seed of potentiality And takes the practical steps to do that That's all the human being can do ultimately Is to want to have that desire to come to the truth And then embark on upon a path to seek it And what I would say is that you know A good percentage of the people in our time Don't take the questions of ultimate concern seriously A good percentage of human being especially in our time Where that if we really truly were rational people That we would be preoccupied about the major questions in life Where do we come from? What is the purpose of our life here And where we don't And I would argue the majority of people Don't really take that seriously They might have certain windows where there's a death in the family Or they have a near death experience Or for a period of time they think about it But then because that we also are scared To deal with the unknown The unknowability of what happens after death Is the most terrifying thing that the human being To not exist or to potentially not exist Or this unknown of transferring into another realm This is one of the scariest aspects of the human being So that there is a objective standard though You know to demonstrate truth and to observe truth And it is done in two ways Is that the foundation of it is Is that human desire and the decisions that we make To take that path to attain truth And that there's the second level Which is the realm of the intellect Which where we can objectify and objectively know Whether something is accordance with the intellect Or it's not an accordance with the intellect But the higher levels of knowledge of the truth That it is experiential without doubt But it's experiential but buttressed by the intellect And one of the greatest of the normative theologian of the sound Mamozai This was his great contribution His great contribution this is why he's called a fugitive The proof of the sound Is that he said that in terms of our epistemology The way in which we come to know That there's what is called the lohen mahku And this is a technical term It says that this is known as the preserved tablet And Muslims believe that in the preserved tablet That all of the divine decrees that have been written For everything that happened Everything that will happen exist within the lohen mahku And that epistemology he was very concerned with And what he says is At the level of knowledge ultimately Is that the heart is like a mirror And it has the potential ability to reflect That which is in the lohen mahku The preserved tablet Which is what is and what will be And he mentions five different barriers Through which we will go into those details That the heart because it's like a mirror Might not reflect that which is in the preserved tablet And then on top of that That once that heart is reflected Or once that reality is reflected in the heart That it's through his doctrine Of what he calls experience or though That a human being comes to a higher level Of knowledge and reality So that Muslims would agree from one perspective That there is a super rational element to that But it doesn't neglect as well That the buttressing of intellect So in relation to the question As it pertains to the Prophet Muhammad That there's various ways of ascertaining The proof of his prophets One that we know is that in a historical sense In terms of the historicity of the Quran And the Prophet Muhammad It's an entirely different phenomenon Than the historicity of Jesus Than the historicity of Jesus And then alone The prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures Scriptures It's a very different process And that to lump Muslim Scripture With the New Testament And the Old Testament and the Finnish Jews So we'll say the Hebrew Scriptures Is a big mistake Because it's a different phenomenon And that we have copies of the Quran That were from the earliest time From the different copies That were codified by Earthman It was a famous case The entire Quran was written down on the type of the Quran And that we look at the very Scriptures The New Testament and the Old Testament That we didn't have The oldest version of the Old Testament That we have is 10th century So it's a totally different phenomenon They don't even know That what type of Hebrew That Moses even really spoke Hebrew became a dead language They used Muslim dictionaries To Re-Valize The Hebrew language And the same thing is when you get into Hindu Scripture as well as others And the point is that I think it's very clear That there's certainly historical elements Of Islam that are very different And that we know That there was a historical element Of the prophet There's other ways to approve it From outside the Islamic tradition But in the end What you're saying The veracity of the prophet Is that when you expose yourself to his teachings And his teachings are very clear They're there before us And that using your intellect To understand his teachings For me, one of the main things That did it for me Is that one of the things That I was troubled with Was that again Related to what you're saying There's claims of truth And to me I was growing up There were certain problems that I had There were certain tenets of things Christianity That I didn't believe in Jesus as a son of God I didn't believe in Trinity I had trouble with original sin Others I had troubles with the historicity of the Bible And to me I was A porn vibe Someone claiming that The King James translation Was the literal word of God And not even Jesus Even he might have spoken Greek And known a little Greek But he spoke Aramaic So how do we explain That the early scriptures were Greek When he spoke Aramaic And the earliest of the force In object gospels was Not compiled until the year 70-80 And how do we explain the discrepancies And you know Matthew, Mark, and Luke And then we have the gospel of John Which is the fourth thing How do we explain that Was to me that You know, religion, if it's true It has to be true with the capital T That it has to give you an overarching perspective The way that you're going to understand everything And that was the main thing I did it for this Especially when I learned That Muslims believe In all prophets and messengers To me one of the greatest testimonies Of the veracity of the prophet Is that the names of Jesus and the prophet Of Jesus and Moses Are mentioned in the Quran Much more than the name of the prophet And that there's an acceptance Of human history Collectively That Muslims are required to believe In every single prophet And messengers that were sent to mankind And that there's 25 That the Quran mentioned explicitly And there's certain narrations that indicate There was a total of 100 Total of 4,000 prophets And there's certain narrations that indicate There was 313 or 314 or 15 messengers But it's not definitive Meaning that we believe that every people Was sent a prophet And to me that Was like wow That you need to tell me that I can understand That everything that happened before Based upon that perspective Because you can And now the details of how you fill in the blanks That oftentimes becomes difficult Because the name of America Definitely had prophets But what remained from the prophetic teachings And the various understandings And various trials That might be difficult to ascertain Without revelation But you know these type of things That you know they're clearly things That relate to the realm of intellect But at the same time That they point to another aspect Of the veracity of the Quran On this life center And you combine that to Is teachings that when you Access them And you see the change It works And they see the transformation Now I wouldn't define that only in myself But that is definitely Your consideration And then you add that to the intellectual sphere As well as The super rational Which is based upon experience After that Then I think that there's Clear impetus That leads to a very Objectifiable version of truth That the thing that I will say On top of all of that Is that When you've had experiences With people that are living Links in this chain That go back to the Prophet That this is one of the main reasons Why people come to believe Is their interaction with other people Which might not oftentimes Be the most rational From that perspective This is one of the This is number one of the five Systems And you know this is Could be of an absence But It's kind of a long answer But this is Systems Systems And of course the sisters Concerning history And concerning what you mentioned About seeking Intellectual simulation And discourse Knowledge itself in the past Say in the What many people call The classical golden age of Islam Knowledge whether it was Theology Literature Law, politics Science, medicine, astronomy, etc They were The way I see it They were in one scope And Muslim scholars in the past They were polymaths Or renaissance men Who had mastery People like Islamist values And all these other Scientists and scholars So they were these polymaths And renaissance men So what my question is What caused this Big spirit of knowledge To break down into Religion on one's And you could say metaphysics Philosophy on one side And practical science And other things on the other side And Concerning that There was an astrophysicist Professor Neal Who's an agnostic And he's contemporary of Richard Dawkins But he said this He said that If Muslim Knowledge had not collapsed like this He took the Total population of Muslims And He calculated So he compared the Muslim population To the Jewish population And said the Jewish population is this much Yet this is how many Nobel prizes Or big discoveries they have made Now he took the Muslim population And Which is much larger than the Jewish population And Islamic knowledge had not Broken down in the past How many Nobel prizes do you think Would have won, I guess So my question is How, first What caused the breakdown of this knowledge And second is What can I or anyone else do Pragmatically right now Depending on the long run We're going to be here for two weeks To answer your question I'm nervous That's a whole course And I studied And qualified To answer that question Because that's a huge, huge topic For the long run But I don't know if they would say that Except maybe basically as you could say That You're absolutely right That Muslims had A Very unique perspective To knowledge And I held back the reins today Because I didn't want to say it And it would be quite controversial But you can probably say it That for us That all pursuit of knowledge Is a sacred pursuit Because the name of the law One of the names is So for us All pursuit of knowledge Whether it's related to human being Whether it be related to The cosmos Everything that's in it All of the other breakdown And so forth and so on Whether it be related to The understanding of God All of the spheres of work Could potentially be known That for us it's all a sacred pursuit All of the sacred pursuit And what we mean by that is Is that there's no knowledge That cannot Not be integrated To be the double negative That into That a vision of to be That for us Is a relationship between All types of knowledge Is a relationship between All types of knowledge that pertain to Human being In a physiological sense In a psychological sense And in a multiple sense Overall related to the human being And then there's a relationship Between those knowledges That pertain to the human being And the greater cosmos At the micro level And the macro level Of knowledge Man, cosmos, God And what is the relationship between the three This is the question Of human pursuits Throughout human history And so Muslims Understood that very quickly And even that you mentioned Philosophers scientists Because many of them were Philosophers and scientists That they had different focuses Obviously But they were working From a spiritual perspective That they were working on On a feel-centric perspective And meaning that they were Relating everything overall Ultimately to God And the emanation theory And it clearly shows that So that was definitely the case And that the details Of what exactly happened And how that broke down That's a very complicated story Some of the versions I don't accept And then it was going fine And then that was it Really, there's people that say that I've actually watched readers that say that And that's not true And the proof of it is Is that you remember those Synthesized philosophers And it went on And it still exists to this day And there's still a place That the Muslim world is taught And so that's You can't say that There's a historical precedent for that When we look at the heyday Of what's turned in the west The golden age Which I wouldn't turn to that Where you have the bait to take Come out of the house of wisdom And you have the translation Of all these texts From the Greek tradition From Sanskrit also To Arabic sometimes By other languages Like Syriac and so forth And the center Where various traditions Are being translated Ultimately into Arabic Which Muslims were exposed to In various civilizations People were never scared to do that To embark upon this intellectual quest But what was important for them Is the integration Of that knowledge But based upon certain principles Of integration And that it was What was integrated And how it was integrated Which was important And so that when you have For instance, Caleb's like I'm going to respond to that You know, pass and cease That oftentimes those that came after them Didn't have the same intellectual pursuits So that's definitely a contributing factor And that there's many other Continuing factors as well And it might have been That there was more focus placed upon Certain realms of intellectual pursuit Than others But, you know, I would argue in principle That, you know, it's important You know, that whatever happened Had to happen One thing I will say though Is that I'll get to the last part Of what we do now Is that one thing I will say though Is that in the western sense Is that in the Assaults of what happened then And, you know, during the time With the Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment What you get is a huge top of the table That what you started to see happen Is that, you know, we forget There was what was called natural theology Where most of the first scientific pursuits Were based upon a worldview Of the belief of God And that when That certain findings To contradict, you know, apparently With, you know, traditional Catholic doctrine That this was definitely One of the reasons of the split Of revelation and reason And the way that that's interconnected To the Reformation And the splitting, you know There's the great schism That was, I guess, 1092 Between the Greek Orthodox and the Catholic Church But then later the Reformation Where you had the Protestant Reformation That, you know, a lot of There was several reasons for that One of them was this whole idea of the clergy And that there is a pertain to knowledge Access to that knowledge So you have in the west That what started to develop Was that there was a divorce Between that infant-lential inquiry And revelation Because there were certain things There was no way to reconcile What they came to understand Scientifically And what was a part of doctrine In church And that was definitely one of the reasons And there's much more to understand And there's many more So that one of the important questions We have to ask is Is that there's a particular world view Behind modern science And to me It's a total mistake For Muslims to think That, you know, we have to jump on board With those To me, I don't accept that Because there's certain things That are definitely in conflict That in terms of underlying assumptions And the way that knowledge is viewed That we would never fully agree with You know, then That brings up another question That, you know, what do we do And so I'm very critical Of kind of the modernist Muslim type approach Which thinks that, you know The result is to, you know Just become more scientific And then we forget the condition of the world That one of the reasons The world is in the condition of it Is because of the misuse of science And that if you look at the way That, I mean, why is it in every department You know, why is it You know, there's one of the reasons Why the Islamic studies department are folded There's one of the reasons why That all humanities departments Nationwide That they're starting to weigh Because they can't justify funding For them anymore You know, medicine All of these things where You can have some type of practical result They're getting funded, you know Right And, you know, to me that's a serious That's a serious concern And one of the things that has happened That in this kind of post-lighting type In light type, I think Is that people have come to believe In technology And that once the world itself Has become desacralized Meaning that you no longer look at the world As a creation of God Muslims distinguish between the dunya Which is the world in its lower sense The destruction of God Between the island Which is the cosmos Which, you know The cosmos comes from a Greek word That means ornament And that in Arabic The island comes from alam The world is seen as a sign And we believe that everything Has a type of life And so that once you remove A sacred view of nature And such that it becomes That mechanistic Which is what has happened now And has happened post-lighting That it's all about manipulation And so modern man's approach to science I'm not talking about your Professor who's just into Sometime experiment You know, you might have people That aren't actively taking part But in general That he wouldn't get funding For what he's trying to do Unless there was some way to attach it To this overall objective And that the So what I'm essentially trying to say is Is that modern technology All of its different forms That oftentimes That it's used ultimately To assert man's domination Over earth And that is a very post-enlightenment That should have nothing to do with it And that I would argue Is very destructive To the environment It's very destructive to personal relationships If your whole purpose of Doing science Studies in neuroscience Is to prove that the human being Doesn't have a soul or spirit And that it's just about A bunch of flashing of neurons There's no reality to the spirit To me, that one That you can never prove that Because we have to differentiate There between science and scientism That science, as it's come to Understood is one thing And there's different ways That science could potentially exist Which is another thing that people Never consider Because people are so close-blind But scientism is something else entirely And scientism is drawing Metaphysical or philosophical Implications from the findings of science Which is impossible And it's the most illogical thing That you could possibly do Which is a, you know Even the most acclaimed scientist Do rigor That they develop philosophical conclusions Based on, so to me That no matter how much that you prove That certain aspects of consciousness Are related to the flashing of neurons And so forth That you want to undermine the spirit That you can, it never does prove that What it proves is That there's other physiological realities That relate to something That is beyond the material realm anyway You can't disprove it And to me, science can never disprove God And the whole reason science Can never disprove God Is because God is outside of the realm of science Science is not focused upon That which is not a part of the tangible world So how could it disprove Or prove for that matter It can It's impossible What it can do from a standpoint of belief Is it can point to God Which is, that's what it is It's a signpost That points to the existence of God And that if someone has The divine gift of faith And then looks at the world from that perspective And then that combines The experiential component Which the reality of faith Is a light that God plays in your heart And it makes perfect sense But that science can never disprove God And so that I think as Muslims That we need to be very wary And very critical And that when You step up to the plate Like to deal with these type of topics Right, you're dealing with A hundred and seven mile an hour fastballs You're in the big leagues And you're dealing with heavy winds And this is why you have to educate yourself And that I would love to do Physics, I really would I love physics There's always so much time That we have But I love science I love physics in particular That's my information But there's no time to do that But if you're going to step up to the future I'm just pointing to some very general ideas here But if you step up to the plate You better be ready for A heavy weight battle So we have to educate ourselves And become well informed Like any other physicist Not easy You know, it's going to require a radical departure From the way that things are To set up some type of analogy though Let me say this Is that Everyone's talking about globalism now The way that globalism is manifested In its current form Is one possibility Of its method of awakening There is multiple other ways That the world could have become globalist And understand globalism Globalism and the modernist Is tied to an economic system But you can't separate it from it And that the way that the world's being Globalized, such that if you hop on a plane You find people wearing the same Holy blue jeans Holy not That people are wearing In San Francisco Before you hop on the plane That creates a global monoculture Which is based upon the eclipse of the intellect And such that you have horizontal man I mean in generic sense Human kind Without any vertical dimension That to me is sad First and foremost But secondly That it's not the only way that could have happened That there's a number of other reasons That Islam never created a monoculture And that's why I would argue That the true question That my teachers and what they say Is that can liberals intolerate Islam? That to me is really the question Not the other way Can Islam tolerate liberals? And Siddiah Behakri Maharaj has an article about that If you want to read about that Further Where he brings out some of the glorious aspects Of the Ahl al-Demma The Lemmy system Which now is a great topic of debate But it shows the very difference That the modern liberal society Is one of the most intolerant societies in the world From a certain aspect They're very intolerant If we're going to In one example of that is Is that if we're going to say Everyone has the right to do what they want Why can't our Muslims do what they want? You have the right to do whatever you want Why are you considered to be a Why does that even exist? So anyways These are just some very basic insights The way out of it is Is that You know That we number one educate ourselves And that we take a life of study And we find life-mining people And we have the courage To go back into the depths And learn the necessary languages That you're going to need The most important of which are Arabic and Persian And so people want answers And they're not willing to put in the time to do it And that we go back We have thousands upon thousands of manuscripts That are incredible treatises Of all different types of topics From the science, astronomy, medicine And so forth And that we analyze and we see the way it is done And we start to question some of the underlying Assumptions of modern science And we start to poke holes in that And we start to offer Other ways of doing the world Now That once you start to do that You have a totally sidelined And that No one's going to publish your article And no one for the most part Is going to listen to you And they'll make personal intellectual tax But That's just part of living in the time to do it At the same time We need people to do that That's it That's it