 The respected viewers, thank you for joining us once more to this, your show, live from the holy city of Karbala. I'm your host Yahya Seymour and of course we are back on your show back to the basics in which we will be continuing to analyze some of the more basic qualities of our dialogue and discussion with others. Of course we are taking a short break for what I called a New Year special in which we wanted to look at some of the advice of Imamul Qawm. But before we do so allow me to continue from where we left off, we have not yet started the advice. InshaAllah ta'ala tonight we may very well begin, if not then there's always tomorrow night and alhamdulillah in any case. We had began by tying this into the intra-connected theme of where we left off our discussion with the proponents of the worldview of atheism. Atheism is of course the worldview that there is no God. Now of course when you mix that in with radical empiricism, namely the view that we can only know that which is discovered by the five senses, in addition to a radical view that science is the only key to discovering truth, then what you end up with is the worldview of someone like Dr. Alex Rosenberg, a man who we've been citing over the past few sessions from his book, a book which I recommend that every believer gets hold of because in reality it shows you just how I don't want to be offensive but from my personal vantage point, absurd and unique, his individual worldview happens to be. And we saw how he came up with the conclusion that if there is no supernatural metaphysical dimension to this universe, then everything we have is merely physical. And therefore if we understand this universe physically and with the assumption that only physical objects exist and the only reality or physical facts about what we can observe, then indeed things such as thought are impossible because the concept of a thought is a material thing. Therefore for someone like Dr. Alex Rosenberg, we saw that not only has he removed morality from the picture by stating that upon his worldview, there is no good reason to do anything right or wrong other than the fact it makes you feel better, a very light form of nihilism and the worldview of Nietzsche, which we shall look more into when we get to the discussion of morality inshallah to Allah. But the main thing we have concerned ourselves with is that he has essentially beheaded the ability for any human being to claim to be a thinker, to claim to have thoughts about anything because indeed for Dr. Alex Rosenberg, the only realities or physical realities and because thoughts are not physical realities, they are but an illusion, an illusion caused by the mind and one which human beings have been duped by until the discovery of modern-day scientific methods. In light of this, we pointed out quite distinctly the error that we believe occurred in the thinking of such intelligent-minded people as Dr. Alex Rosenberg. Now, I want to make very, very clear again, if people are looking at who's more intelligent, you see more Dr. Alex Rosenberg, when it comes to worldly qualifications, when it comes to knowledge of science, I can see it hands down. Dr. Alex Rosenberg, the likes of Lawrence Krause, the likes of Richard Dawkins are all far more qualified than the average believer in the field of the physical sciences. They're not dumb people. They're not people who are a jalaqumullah to use a very harsh word, stupid. They're not people who would be prone to being ridiculed for their lack of intelligence. No, these are people who have done very, very well in the field of academic study. So what has the question, what exactly has gone wrong? And I've argued that it is when you begin with that assumption, where you refuse to accept that there's a concept of a God and that concept of a God has the best explanatory scope for much of a phenomenon we see around us today in the world, then you would end up with this absurdity. And I believe that this rings entirely with the statement of Imam Ali, alaihi s-salatu wa s-salam, the statement of the Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi, in the case of the Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alaihi, he states, I rafaqum bi nafsahi, I rafaqum bi rabbi, he's the one that knows more about himself would be in a position where he knows the more about his Lord. Imam Ali, alaihi s-salatu wa s-salam, it is of course attributed to him that he stated, man arafa nafsahi faqad arafa rabbi, whoever knows himself would know his Lord. Now I know, I'm more than aware that there are some people out there that take issue with me citing such a narration. I pointed out in last night's episode, there are some who take an interpretation of this narration, which is far-fetched, completely absurd, completely heretical, and of course does not follow in light or in line with the light of the words of the Ahlul-Bait, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon them. But it is not my duty to sit here and be held accountable for the words of others. Insha'Allah to Allah I will be held accountable for my deeds and my sayings by Allah Azawajal. And it is my loyalty and commitment to the Ahlul-Bait that will be judged. Of course, those who have said other things, what they have said, maybe something they will be held accountable for. But it is not my job nor my duty nor my intended goal to discuss such things in light of this program. Coming back to this particular expression, I pointed out that this is not merely the absent whims of myself. I'm not merely citing a narration which none of the scholars have ever believed in, and allow me to continue to demonstrate that tonight. Last night, we had left off by looking at the book Resalat al-Khursaniya fi sharah man arafa nafsahi faqad arafa rabbihi of ayat Allah al-Mu'azzam, al-Sheikh Muhammad Ali abhi khamsin al-Ahsai. And of course, within this book, he goes through the vast majority of the different positions of the ulama vis-a-vis this narration. But the fact he wrote a whole treatise on this narration should suffice us in understanding that this narration was one which was accepted by the ulama and was one which the ulama had understood to be particularly authentic in light of the fact that they wrote commentaries upon the tradition. Of course, that is not to say that this tradition was not confusing to many. And we understand entirely why, because at the end of the day, we have some more heretical-minded individuals interpreting this narration in light of their desires and in light of, or rather, not to use the word in light, but in the darkness of shirk by essentially saying that this was an unveiling of the self, which we realized that we are no different from God on a small level. Now, of course, we completely repudiate this concept as being completely antifetical to the Ahl al-Bait, alaym al-Salam, who stated that there is a complete tabayin, there is a complete distinction between Allah Az-Zawajal and His creation. Just to continue elaborating on how different ulama had accepted this narration, I have in front of me the book, Mechazin, Jawahr al-Asrara Tanzeel of Mirza Hassan al-Gawhar. And this book, again, is the number one in which the offer in his text on Aqidah actually builds upon this narration, and that can be found on page 124, in which he talks about Jawahr al-Thani, Jawahr al-Thani, of course. The meaning of man Arafa nafsihi, arafa rabbihi. Lama arafta ma haqaqnahu, arafta ma'na qawlihi alayhi salam, man arafa nafsihi, faqad arafa rabbihi. Wa qawlihi, arafakum bi nafsihi, arafakum bi rabbihi. Fa'inna nafsihi a'aita tawheed walrubububiyya, alatihi hiya, kunha al-Ubudiyya, kama qaal al-Sadiq alayhi salam, al-Ubudiyya, Jawahra, al-Ubudiyya, Jawahra, al-Ful. Kunha ha'a al-Rububiyya. So he says, after you have understood what I have researched in this book, you would also understand the expression man arafa nafsihi, faqad arafa rabbihi. And the expression of a prophet, arafakum bi nafsihi, arafakum bi rabbihi. Of course, I've translated both of these already. For verily, the nafs is a sign of tawheed and a sign of lordship, which lordship, and he says, and lordship, its essence is servitude. As Imam al-Sadiq, alayhi salatu wa sallam, says, al-Ubudiyya, Jawahra. Kunha ha'a al-Rububiyya. He says that servitude, its essence, servitude is an essence or a jewel, and its essence is a rububiyya, lordship. So we see the alama have taken this narration quite distinctly. It's also being explained by many other great alama. Another example of a very mainstream alam who has gained a degree of fame in the world today due to the fact that his books are still heavily studied in scholarly circles is Sayyid Abdullah Shubbar. Now, he's not a contemporary. He's indeed a classical scholar. He lived in the holy city of Karbala. He states in his commentary of this narration, man arafa nafsihi, faqad arafa rabbihi, he states that the first meaning of this is just as the nafs was something which moved the body or gave movement to the body, something which gave the body movement essentially like a like a battery gives movement to a phone. He says and the ruh is that which moves the body as well. Then it is required for us to know that just as we have a soul which gives movement and life to the body or gives us this ability to have free will, then in the same way this universe would have someone that controls it and gives life to the universe. He says the second meaning is just as the concept of the self is one and had there been more than one self then basically there would have been facade in the body with these different spirits in the concept of ghost possession trying to control the body at once rather there is one nafs in control of the body and just like that we know that Allah Azza wa Jalla is one and there is one deity who is in charge and overseeing this great and vast universe. And he cites the ayah of the Quran which is of course Surah Anbiya verse 22 which states had there been more than one deity you would have found within the universe much facade you would have found within the universe much chaos it would have been anarchy it would have been no system no harmony no order the third meaning is that just as we know that the nafs is what moves the body by its choice and free will we know that Allah Azza wa Jalla is someone who in his power and will has chosen to give system to this universe he's not someone that was forced to do so and he says fourthly just as we know that the it just as we know that the soul is dependent the body is dependent upon the soul and we know that this universe is never separate from Allah Azza wa Jalla in the sense that we could never do without the will and the desire of Allah if Allah did leave this universe we would not have a universe intact a sound refutation of the concept known as dayism where people believe that there was a powerful force which created the universe but then abandoned the universe that's essentially what's being refuted here the fifth concept is just as we know that the nafs is not something independent dear viewers i want to continue with this short explanation after a short break inshallah to Allah join us shortly after the break in which we continue was salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh salamu alaikum dear viewers thank you so much for tuning in for bearing with us during that very short break and i pray that none of you have fallen asleep of course we were discussing the commentary on the tradition of emir mu'mineen alay salatu as-salam which states whoever knows his self knows his lord and we were stating the different opinions given by the great scholar Sayyid Abdullah Shubbar in regards to this tradition which he has mentioned in one of his great works a very great work for those of us who know arabic so the meaning of that would be the bright lamps of guidance in solving the apparent issues of the traditions so what he discusses in this book are some of the traditions which seem to be misunderstood heavily or have seemingly problematic meanings and of course i've mentioned that this tradition has been very heavily utilized by heretical sects so it's not surprising for us that he would have to engage with such traditions and discuss them appropriately the fourth meaning i believe we were discussing was that just as it is not sufficient uh sorry the fifth meaning rather was just as the nefs is not uh just as the nefs is not something which is independent we would understand that this universe is not something independent as well the sixth meaning is just as there was a soul a nefs which was available and present or existent rather prior to the creation of the body then we would also understand that Allah Azza wa Jalla was prior to the existence of anything other than Allah Azza wa Jalla and he goes through approximately 12 different meanings but it would be beyond the scope of this show to go through all of them and so we will continue discussing until we reach the wasi of Imam Kavim if not in this episode then definitely within the next but very important to get through these issues so i mentioned in last night's episode that there are two different distinct types of Ma'arafa because i don't want to confuse any of the viewers whatsoever there is that Ma'arafa which allows us to understand more about Allah Azza wa Jalla and have this insight about Allah Azza wa Jalla and what he wishes from us and this is the more elaborate form of Ma'arafa and there is the general Ma'arafa which allows us to understand that there is a creator and that we have been placed here by that creator and that creator is not dependent and that every dependent is not is a created being whereas the creator himself would not have the physical limitations of a created being so the two different types of Ma'arafa it is not the latter type of Ma'arafa it is sort of rather the type of Ma'arafa that we gain by knowing about our nefs is of course the latter type we would understand that we as human beings are very limited that we have certain limitations that we cannot choose to bring about into existence that which we wish we would understand that we have been created that we have physical limitations and that we are very very distinct from the creator but we would understand that physical limited beings do not bring themselves into existence as well and we would understand that there are either free options either we have always existed or we brought ourselves into existence or there was something which brought us into existence now of course breaking the cycle of infinite regress we will understand that there must have been something which is not limited not finite not dependent in any way which brought everything else into existence and that is the type of Ma'arafa which of course we would gain for understanding the nefs is this just something arbitrary which i'm stating not at all i believe i tried to cite this yesterday but i might know i've had a chance this is the book Ma Baad Al-Hikmah Bain Al-Huda Al-Wahi Al-Filsafah of Muhammad Taqi of Sayyid Muhammad Taqi Al-Mudarrasi one of the great alamah he states the servant know his lord especially since we know that the five senses are completely incapable and are frustrated i say frustrated in the meaning of being incapable at producing or understanding our creator are we intellect or is science a means of understanding our lord or is there another means he asks and he says that before we answer this question it's necessary for us to divide Ma'arafa into two different categories and it is this first type of Ma'arafa that he discussed which he says is understanding that for this universe for this physical existence which we see around us there is a mudir a mudabbar and someone that brought it out about into existence and someone who is muhaiman upon it as well and it is this understanding that we say one can gain through understanding that we have a nafs so when Imam Ali alaihi salatu wa s-salam states he is essentially stating what he is stating that through understanding more about ourselves through understanding what we are we would understand that there is for us a creator and of course this narration itself is a beautiful narration which can be taken in multiple different facets the amount of commentary one would have to write if they were to write a commentary on all the different applicable accurate meanings of this narration alone would exhaust the libraries of the universe because Allah has given us so much value in the words of the ahl al-bayt may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon them for indeed we find in light of the explanation given to this narration by one of the great alama sheikh ahmed bin zayn al-deen al-ahsa'i he states what he states in understanding this narration that we would understand what our true nature is and in understanding what our true nature is we strip ourselves of the accidentals and the one common denominator we have is that we are all servants of Allah and that is the true identity of the muslim the true identity of a muslim is not that whether he supports ex-football club whether or not he's male or female whether or not he's from new york or california whether or not he's from london or from scotland whether or not he's from caraballa or from tabriz these are not the original identity of a muslim the original hawi of a muslim is that he is a servant of his lord and so whoever knows himself knows his lord because whoever knows what he truly is knows that the only thing which actually gives him true identity is the fact that he is a servant of Allah as-zawajal now in understanding this we understand that there is a necessary facet of our religion which is for us to be in sync with a knowledge of ourselves as i've stated when looking at a world view it is necessary to look at our concept of human beings or concept of knowledge and how we gain knowledge and of course that was the first type of ma'rafah the second type of ma'rafah is a ma'rafah of Allah where we have a more in-depth ma'rafah but how does that come about that comes about through the fitrah which Allah as-zawajal gave us dear viewers thank you for tuning in once more and insha'Allah ta'ala within the next episode we will go into the wasiha of Imam al-Kawam in describing the intellect thank you and join us next episode wassalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh