Shia Islamic Belief System 5/46

'A'udhu bil-Lahi, min al-Shaytan, al-rajim. Bismillah, Al-Rahman, Al-Rahim. Al-hamdulil-Lahi Rabbi 'l-Alameen, wa as-salatu wa as-salam 'ala Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina, Abul Qasim al-Mustafa, Muhammad, wa 'ala Ahli Baytihi, at-tayyibin, at-tahirin.

Alhamdulillah, we are having another Mizan live session on the topic of Shi'a Imamiyyah Doctrine. I don't know about you guys, I'm pretty excited about this. And this past week we were in the City of New York. Alhamdulillah, everything went well there as well. Once again, a wonderful course was held, a wonderful audience, wonderful brothers and sisters, and wonderful questions that were asked. Alhamdulillah, step by step and community by community, we are enlightening and InshaAllah educating ourselves as much as possible. This month of January and February, they've been a little busy for me travelling, and after that I'm going to take a little break. Just letting my own community know this, that it's just this one or two months that are a little busy with Mizan work, but then it'll be back to normal again and InshaAllah we'll go for another round of courses in the future.

So having said all of that, we are covering or we have been covering the Shi'a Imamiyyah Doctrine based on the book of Ayatollah Ja'far Subhani and the articles therein. 150 articles that he has in his book about what the Shi'a believe in and I've discussed before what is exactly meant by what the Shi'a believe in, what the mainstream Shi'a views are. He has, of course, a lot of different things here, that he brings that are sometimes not found in conventional aqaid books. But at the same time he does discuss them. So that's a brief explanation. I'm just saying all of this so people as they log on, they don't miss out. Oh, look at that. Lots and lots of salaams from everyone. Wa 'alaikum salaam, four or five brothers and sisters who have tuned in. And I won't mention your names separately.

Last week we got to article number 15 of this book, which, by the way, can be found online. I didn't know. One of my good friends and colleagues brought it to my attention that a digital version is available online, so you just need to Google the title and maybe find it. But even if you don't have the book I'm just explaining and going on with these articles we talked about last week, talked about existence and how existence isn't equal to necessarily the natural world, it's more than that. Talked about how the natural world enjoys hidaya takwiniyya.

Takwini guidance, which we call it, which means that everything is moving in a certain direction and perfecting in a sense, or a completing, moving towards completion and perfection. For example, a tree or a plant that is born, planted excuse me, grows to become that adult plant or that mature plant or a tree or whatever it's supposed to grow into. An elephant, a baby elephant grows to become an adult elephant. A baby elephant doesn't grow to become a human being, for example. A tree doesn't grow to become a human being. Everything is moving in a certain direction.

Another thing that was discussed last week was that this universe or this material realm of existence that Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala has created, it is the best you can get from a material world. You can't get a material, excuse me, material universe or material realm, you can't get anything better than that, really. If any if anyone was to create or if God excuse me, was to create the best possible material realm, this is what you would get.

You can't get any better, anything better than this. And of course, these are all discussed concisely. Each of these has its own major discussion that we have. As I said, that's beyond the scope of this book, that we're covering. We talked about how Allah Subhana wa Ta'la, when He creates the universe, there is a purpose behind it and is not abath. Abath, meaning He didn't create it in vain. And we moved on to the next chapter where, talked about the human being, how the human being is a combination of soul and body, which is also very clear Islamically. This is something that is widely accepted and the Qur'an points to that as well, directly, indirectly.

The final article that we covered was that the human being, when the human being is born, they are born, but and they're created in a certain way. When a baby is born, it has an inclination towards God. Of course right from the start, it might not feel it, but as it grows older, it has that inclination towards God, a Divine Being. Now, sometimes, as time passes, as the environments that we're in change, as the environments become more secular or become more anti, anti-theos, anti-God, that kind of thing.

This person who was created with that inclination towards that Divine Being might eventually, that might fizzle in them, or become very, very weak. You can't really say it will die out. Very seldom can one say that the fitrah that God has created us with, the way He has created us, the inclination that we have towards Divine, towards the Divine, towards morality, these things, it's hard. Only seldom does it really die out, usually it's very, very weak, but it can come back to life again. That's how strong it is. Wa 'alaikum salam Sister Hiba. So having said all of that, now we're moving on to our discussion tonight InshaAllah. And that is that continuing with the articles regarding the human being.

Article number 15, talks about how man and mankind and human beings are created with free will. In other words, man enjoys free will. In other words, he says, with the power of the mind and the intellect that this person has, a person can look at an action, look at something and figure and weigh out the good and bad in it, and then can either perform that act if they find that, you know, that what for whatever reason, whatever reason, they decide or not perform that act. Now, 50/50, you think about it, you do it or you don't do it. Yeah, very simple.

So now here there's a few things I want to talk about. I don't think I need to explain free will any more than that. I think it's pretty clear. One thing that comes up right here, man has free will. OK. Question, there's a question that comes up. If man has free will, first of all, we didn't have a choice to come into this life right? Second of all, we don't have a choice leaving this life. Third of all, there are a bunch of things out there that happened to us in the natural world. Those are not our choice either. And fourth of all, there are a lot of things that others do to us. So we've got the natural world and we've got people, that people do to us as well that have nothing to do with our choice and our decision.

So what do you mean when you say a man has free will? I don't see any free will, someone will say. I don't see, I see free will 10 percent of the time. Yeah, not more. The answer to that is that you are right when it is said that man has free will. It doesn't mean that man can make a decision regarding everything in every aspect of life in the sense of whatever is going to happen to them and so on and so forth. Wa as-salamu 'alaikum Kishwar Zaidi. Yeah. We don't have that choice, yeah, we don't have that luxury. Yeah. Out of a million things that happened to us, maybe 10 percent of them we have a direct or indirect say regarding that thing that happens to us. No more than that. So that's something to understand. If it is said that man has free will, the human being has free will, it means when it comes to and you can get this from what the Ayatullah Subhani's wording as well.

When it comes to his own actions or her own actions, they have free will. Yeah. Even there are lots of times, they won't have free will, they'll be forced into something. Yeah. And that's why over there, there is no accountability on God's part. God doesn't hold us accountable for those times that we don't we don't have free will. Right. So he says, look at the wording again, he says, man has free will, which means that in light of and owing to the faculty of the intellect that he possesses or she possesses, after weighing a situation out, weighing an act out, this person can make the decision to do that or not do that, refrain from it. You see, it has to do with our action.

If you look at the wording, the wording itself, the wording itself says it all. It's not that we have free will and we have decision, we can make decisions regarding everything about us. No. If that was the case, then the tests wouldn't be too hard. Yeah. I'm going to make sure that no hardship befalls me and I'm going to make sure no sickness comes to me, I'm going to make sure I'm never poor. I'm going to make sure this, I'm going to make sure that. There's no test there. The whole test is that we come to a material world like this, things that happen to us, things that come up in life. We make the right decisions, making the decisions part free will we have. Other than that, I'm sorry you get hungry and thirsty, that's not your choice to the extent that even coming into this world and leaving this world is not in our hands either.

Wa 'alaikum salam Brother Mohammad Haidar and Brother Sadiq Hussein, all the way from Australia. OK, so it's good to have you brothers. That's one point that needs to be discussed that I just discussed. So we shouldn't see it like that. People, lots of times ask that question right? When the story or the whole concept of a free will comes into the picture, the first question that they'll ask is or the first comment that is made is that who says we have free will?

I didn't choose this to happen to me. I didn't choose that to happen to me. No, no, no, what it's meant is now that we have been placed in a material world like this, we can make decisions regarding how we react to things. And it's super important because Imam Ali 'alayhi as-salam, in a hadith, he says that it is your reaction, your reaction to things that defines whether they are a ne'ma or a niqma, a blessing or a punishment or a bala. If a person has wealth but reacts to it and uses that wealth in the wrong way, it's not a blessing anymore. It's actually a punishment from Allah.

And if a person reacts to a tragedy that befalls them with patience and, you know, it's not going to be easy, they're upset, of course, but they exhibit patience instead of questioning everything out there. Then this person, although it seemed like a tragedy, but that tragedy was a blessing because everything that person is getting out of this tragedy is jannah and rewards. So really, it's our reaction. So it has to do with our actions, this free will, and that's all that matters, and that's where only accountability will lie. Anything outside of that, there will be no accountability because it's not in our hands anymore.

The way, for example, if I fall down and I lose a limb, if something like falls from the sky and hits me hard and I lose a limb, will God hold me accountable? No, because that wasn't in my hands. But if, for example, I don't know, for some weird reason, I dismember myself and I cut off a limb of my own, then yeah, that was my own action, through my own decision, and so, yes, I will be held accountable. So as you see, as you can see, wherever there is free will, there will be accountability, which we'll talk about that actually as we go on.

There's one of those articles talks about accountability, wa 'alaikum as-salam, Brother Akbar. All right, so he brings two verses here to illustrate this, this free world that we have. Surah Insan, verse three three. Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim. "Inna hadaynahu as-sabil" (76:3). After Allah speaks about how He brought us to this world, how He brought us to life. He says, "inna hadaynahu as-sabil" - We have guided him to the path or We have shown him the path. So this hidaya is different than that taqwini hidaya I spoke about last week, and I pointed to in the beginning of our discussion here tonight. This hidaya is not that, that same hidayah that, you know, a plant grows to become a tree, a baby elephant grows to become an adult elephant and a baby grows to become an adult man or woman. No.

This is a hidayah that has to do with or is called hidayat tashri'i, has to do with our free will and us making the right choices. So it says here "inna hadaynahu as-sabil" - We showed him guidance to the straight, to the right path. "Imma shaakiran, wa imma kafura" (76:3), he can take it or leave it, but it doesn't word it like that. The verse words it by saying imma shaakirun. This person can either be grateful or a kafur or ungrateful. In other words, they embrace this path, they traverse this path or they don't. So that's illustrating free will, he says, which is, I also agree.

Verse 29 of Surah Kahf also: "wa qul il-Haqqu min Rabbikum" (18:29), 'say that the Haqq is from your Lord, the Haqq is coming from Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala'. OK, what should we do with this Haqq? "Fa man sha'a filyu'min wa man sha'a filyakfur" (18:29). Whoever wants, whoever desires, then they should embrace and have Iman, and whoever doesn't want, doesn't wish, it's up to them. Falyakfur, then they can go ahead and just, you know, be kafir or turn away from it, cover this truth and not take this truth. Wa 'alaykum salam Brother Tahir, may Allah accept your 'umra as well.

All right, let's move on, there's one more point here I have to make, by the way. So free will, one point I made about it was, that we have free will regarding our own actions, we have nothing almost, almost, I'm not going to say not at all, but almost no say when it comes to other things that can happen to us, other things that can befall us, the different circumstances that come upon us and so on. That's one point.

Another point is that free will sometimes might be misunderstood with acting freely. That's what I'll call it. OK, acting freely and free will. Free will, if you paid attention once again into the wording Ayatullah Subhani used, he says, he linked it to what? He linked it to "al-quwah al-'aqeela", or in other words, the intellectual faculty that we have. Right. That's what he linked it to. So right here, based on this, the conclusion one can draw is that animals, they can act freely, but they don't enjoy free will in this sense because they don't even have that intellectual capacity. Yeah, they don't have it. Ayatullah Shaheed Mutahhari, who says this is one of his books, he says, animals don't have free will. And as a matter of fact, when I saw that, I was like, what they can they can do whatever they like. An animal can choose to move to go to the left or go to the right. They can choose to do these things, they can choose not to do these things, so they have free will. That's what I was thinking.

Apparently, when it comes to theology and there's a difference here between acting freely and free will because free will has to do with intellect, animals don't have it, so in other words, they don't have, they don't have free will. Shaheed Mutahhari, he says animals are influenced by their instincts only and by whatever they want to do because of their desires only. In other words, their decision making is based on these things. True, some animals might be a little intellectually more capable than other animals, but at the end of the day, the best you can say if what they're doing is not based on, and desires or their desire or whatever they want, it is based on what, it is based on instinct at best. For example, that mother animal that protects its baby, it's out of instinct.

Allah has given it to this mother animal. The bee which builds or makes the beehive same thin. The beehive is is made by the bee. There is so much going on, there's so much architecture happening, and when it comes to making beehives. The Qur'an says we taught it, we gave it this instinct. How to do this. So yeah, there they will have instinct, they will have desires and they will act freely based on those, but you can't say that they act based on their intellect. This is, I'm just speaking, surely theologically here right now. So, in other words, in other words, animals do not enjoy free will, and the reason why this is even discussed, by the way, is because this is going to have a lot of implications.

Free will is one of those very, very important foundational pillars, of not just Islamic theology, other theologies, as well as Christian theology as well as Catholic theology. You take free will out of the picture, brothers and sisters, the whole universe might cease to exist, will probably cease to exist, because all of this was created so that man can make the right decisions and go up the ladder of spiritual growth, but when they don't have free will, those decisions don't have any, there's no point to them. So if there's no free will, brothers and sisters, this is one of those super important things that can never be undermined. You take free will out, if you take free will out, it's all over. We can't even continue our conversation anymore.

Yeah, Brother Shuja, 'If God knows everything, then how do we have free will'? There is no contradiction here, he's asking, Brother Shuja asks. The answer that I can give in a nutshell, although this is something to discuss, InshaAllah. InshaAllah, do dua's brothers and sisters that we put together our Tawhid course from Mizan and it does the rounds as well. In our cities, there are a lot of questions that need to be asked and answered. One of them is this one the Brother Shuja just asked. How does free will read with God's knowledge? And it's one of those famous fallacies that we have and that if God knows what I'm going to do in the future, then, then I have to do that because if I don't do it, that means God's knowledge is flawed. Either God's knowledge is going to be flawed or I don't have free will. Yeah. Or I have to not have free will. God knows that I'm going to do it in the future. Since He knows I have no choice but to do it or else His knowledge will be flawed. And since I have no choice, there goes free will out the window.

That's the argument that is presented, which I mean, this has been there forever really. This is one of those older fallacies, one of those older challenges that is put in the face of theists. The answer? There's a longer answer. I'm just going to give you the short answer and leave the longer ones for Tawhid InshaAllah, for the Tawhid course that'll be going around InshaAllah. The short answer is there is no logical or philosophical link and necessitation, between God's knowledge of something and that thing actually happening. Yeah, there isn't. As a matter of fact, God knows it's going to happen because it already happened in His eyes because He doesn't have time. That's that's the more deeper answer, I'm not going to open that up anymore.

The easier, simpler answer just to illustrate that knowing something has nothing to do with that actual thing happening. Knowledge of it from someone else has nothing to do with it actually happening. I'll give you an example, someone jumps off the 200th floor of a building, and they're coming down fast. Yeah, 200 floors up, I mean, there's no way for survival unless you're Spider-Man or something. So as you're coming down, as this guy is coming down, you're watching from on the ground.

You're watching this guy come down fast and you're telling your friend like, hey, when he hits the ground, then his brains are going to splatter. His brains are going to splatter and he's going to die. So think about it. Once this guy actually hits the ground and dies, think about it. What are some police come and arrest you because, you know, you caused the death of somebody you're like, what are you talking about?

They're like, you knew, you had knowledge of it. You like my knowledge of it has nothing to do with the thing itself. As a matter of fact, the act, because I know it's going to happen, I have knowledge of it, not that I have knowledge of it, so it's going to happen. The same thing applies to knowledge of God, of things, it's not different in a sense, in this sense.

Of course, God's knowledge is different than ours, but it has to do with the act itself has taken place because God has no time, and since it's already taken place, God has knowledge of it. So it's not that God has knowledge of it, so it takes place. It has, in a sense, already taken place or God knows it's going to take place, then it takes place, on its own. Anyway, I don't want to get into that any more. InshaAllah we'll leave that.

Sister Sarah says 'In terms of religious pluralism, prevail in Allah All Knowing. Yeah. So in the next comment she said that, this is the question the brother already asked, so the same answers are given here. Once again, as I said, I didn't do justice to the answer. Just, you know, just giving a concise answer for now and more detailed answer later, InshaAllah. Brother Mohammed Haider says, can Allah give other creations free will or will they have to be either human or jinn?

Meaning will He have to change their previous creation to that of an Insan or jinn/man? That is an awesome answer, good question, and that is an awesome question. For now, all I can say is that, if a creature, a creature reaches a capacity where it can have the intellect that is necessary to make the right decisions, then yes, Allah can give, Allah will give it free will right away there. That is its free will, by the way. The fact that it has intellectual capacity enough to make the right decisions and wrong decisions, that itself equals free will. So right now, the Qur'an is telling us, the Qur'an is telling us that the only two creatures that have that, are jinn and man.

And that's why the Qur'an says, "wa ma khalaqtu al-jinna wa al-ins illa li-ya'buduni"(51:56), "I created only jinn and man to be My servants, to serve Me", in other words, obey Me, you know, because other animal, other creatures, they don't have that capacity. They're not going to be held accountable. But these two, because they bear that capacity and they have that capability, then they will be held accountable for, in other words, they have free will. Yeah. So it's not impossible for God to give free will to other creatures as well. But for now, all we know about, based on what the Qur'an reveals to us, is that the jinn and the men have it. I hope that answers your question to an extent. Wa 'alaikum salam, Teearnagis or Nargis. Thanks for joining us, OK.

That's Article 15. He wraps it up in like two short paragraphs. As I said, this free will one is something that there will be a lot of follow up questions regarding it. And once again, as I've said before, again and again, we're keeping it concise. But, yeah, keep the questions coming. Don't hold back if you have a question, we'll go into details as much as the time allows us, and as much as you know as the scope of this book and what we're after.

OK, article number 16. Article number 16 says that since, based on the last few articles, we learned that man is born pure with a Tawhidi fitrah. He is born with that inclination towards God and Tawhid, one. Two, enjoys 'aqil and three 'aqil meaning intellect. Three has free will, as a result of that 'aqil that Allah has given him. Because of all of these, man has the capability to grow and refine himself or herself.

Yeah. Now, I don't like, I mean, the book, the English, I'm just going to read off of it this first, the first couple lines. I don't know, I think it's a little over-complicated the English, but just listen to it. It says, ''insofar as an individual benefits from his wholesome, innate nature, you know, that Allah had given him. Wholesome here, meaning once again, it's pure, it has a Tawhidi inclination. From his capacity to discriminate between good and evil, in other words, 'aqil and intellect and from his ability to exercise free will. On these foundations, his ethical and spiritual development becomes a real possibility". All right, so this is what we're supposed to get out of all of these things that God has endowed us with. Allah has endowed us with all of these things. So what? What do we get out of it? That spiritual refinement. In the Farsi it says, tarbeeyat azeeri. We are able to, we are receptive to tarbiya and spiritual growth. Other creatures will not have that.

So the result of free will and all those other things is that we can, we can grow, we can grow spiritually. But then he goes on, he says we can grow spiritually, but it's not like unlimited, in the sense of something we have all the time in the world. He says, until the time where repentance can no longer be accepted. Yeah, and those of you who've withheld the death and barzakh course in their cities know exactly what I'm talking about right now. Yeah, this part we've discussed in our course. Where and why or excuse me when and why one cannot, excuse me, when one cannot repent to Allah anymore, although they're still alive, and why that is so, yeah.

The door is closed then. When it's time to leave this world, the Qur'an, our hadiths, Nahjul Balagha, tell us that slowly some veils go aside and we see reality the way it is. We see things in their reality. Waja'at sakratu ul-mawti bil Haqq" (50:19). It says, the Qur'an says that death comes and it comes with truth. Till now, you had truth and falsehood in this world. Some things were real or some things weren't real. But no, no, not when death comes, truth comes with it. So when you're seeing everything, repentance makes no sense anymore, because it doesn't contribute to your growth anymore. If, till before that moment, because you have free will, he says, you have the choice and you have the opportunity to grow spiritually. Now, since you have the opportunity to grow spiritually, you also have the opportunity to go down as well.

The Qur'an says: "ulayka kal 'an'am balhum adhal" (7:179). The Qur'an says there are some people there like cattle. Now, the Qur'an here, of course, is not speaking, it's not trying to be offensive. It's talking about the essence of these people. Some people, they have the potential. We all as human beings have the potential to grow. But if we don't use that potential, then what? Then we are lower than cattle it says, the Qur'an. Why? Because cattle didn't have the potential to turn into something great spiritually, but you did, and at the same time, what? You wasted it, you wasted that opportunity.

All right. But having said all that in the end and he brings that famous verse, Ayatullah Subhani, he says, we have that, we have that opportunity to grow, but if we mess up in life, we shouldn't give up on God's Mercy either. "La taqnatu min rahmat Illah, inna Allaha yaghfir udh-dhunub jamee'a" (39:53). Allah forgives all sins. You've been doing something wrong all your life, for example. And you knew it, you were, I don't know, you weren't taking your salaat seriously. In other words, you were missing some salaat or you know, some people might struggle with hijab, if they believe that it's wajib, but they still don't do it. Now, some people might not believe it's wajib. That's a different story. But, you know, some people might struggle with it. 20, 30, 40 years, they might not observe it. But in the end, it doesn't mean that they're supposed to lose hope, there's still a chance for them. The Qur'an says, don't lose hope in Allah, just get back up on your feet. Forty years have passed, it's OK.

You know, of course, there are some sins that we have to, in addition to asking for forgiveness from Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, we also have to do something as well. For example, if I missed my salaats, I can just say, oh Allah, I'm sorry. You say, Oh Allah, I'm sorry, plus you make those missed salaats up. Anyway. So that's article number 16. Article number 17 says that and this is, I don't know if you're noticing this, brothers and sisters, but each of these articles is the logical result of the of the previous one. So we went through fitra, we went through intellect and free will and the outcome of that was that we can grow spiritually. OK, now, if that's the case, those who don't grow will be be held accountable or not, that's something that is going to be covered in the next article.

Before I'm go to the next article, Brother Akbar asks, does Ithale thawaab from dunya help deceased grow spiritually in the barzakh. Yeah. So that's usually also we discuss that in our barzakh course, I'll give you the answer. And that is that there are exceptions to that law that I just mentioned. There are exceptions to the law that you can't do anything for yourself anymore after the final moments have arrived. There are some exceptions, one of them, even if we're after we're buried in the grave, there's still a chance there are a few things that can happen. You've heard all you've all heard the concept of sadaqa jariyah.

We've all heard the caoncept of Ithale thawaab. For example, Ithale thawaab means to make some thawaab reach a certain person. Ithal comes from wasal, awsala, usulu eesal. Yeah. So ithale thawaab can have an effect but it won't do all the work either, brothers and sisters. This is so important. Some people, all they're worried about is taking care of a sadaqa jariyah before they leave this dunya.

That's good, but first build yourself as well and then leave sadaqa jariyyah or else sadaqa jariyah on its own might not take care of you in the barzakh. For example, someone opens up a masjid and everyone's praying there. But this person throughout their life didn't care too much or they were neglectful of their salaats and now they leave this dunya. They can't expect the masjid and how people are continuously praying and benefiting from the masjid. This person can't expect for that to do everything for them in the barzakh. But, yes, it definitely does help. So this is an exception to the law that I said.

OK. Article 17 says that since mankind enjoys free will, there will also be something by the name of accountability. This person is mas'ul, they can be held responsible as well, you know. If you want the good, if you want the good stuff to come, bad stuff might come with it as well. What does he say here? Let me see what the wording he uses. "Insofar as man benefits from the light of wisdom or 'aqil and the gift of his free will, he, as a being endowed with responsibility". Yes, can be held accountable. I like to word it this way, since mankind, he said, because mankind has free will, he will be held accountable. I like to word it like this, since we said due to his free will, he has the opportunity and she has the opportunity to grow spiritually, yes, this person will can be held accountable if they don't grow spiritually.

Now let's talk about a little bit. Now here he says, this person has a responsibility before God, before the Prophets and the saints and sages of God, divine leaders. Is responsible before his own, the humanity, this gem that he bears within him and before other human beings and also before the universe, you have a responsibility before the whole universe. You can be held responsible and held accountable by the universe, not that the universe is going to, is going to come and question you, right, in a court of law or anything. What is meant is that there is these, these all have a right over you now. In other words, you can't just slack off. Right. I'd like to say it like this. This is how I like to say it. Look at this brothers and sisters.

God created the whole universe, right, and then let's forget about the universe has come to Earth now, the parts that we can see. All these mothers that are bearing children, they go through all this pain and suffering. The parent, the father has to go through all the pain and suffering as of making a livelihood, earning a livelihood. All of this, all of the animals out there. I don't know if you've watched these wildlife documentaries and stuff. It's not, it's not very pleasant what's going on in them. These, these animals that hunt each other, yeah, these predators, they tear up their prey while it's alive. OK. The only semi, semi nice animal out there might be the lion and these big cats because they'll suffocate the animal first before they tear it up, but lots of times even then, while this animal is dying but still hasn't died, there are other lions already opening up its belly. All this hardship. All right, all of this has to happen. Sheep have to come, cattle have to come, cows and goats, and they all have to be slaughtered. Right. Why? So that they can serve mankind. They're at our disposal, they have to carry us.

The fish in the sea. Why we have to eat them? You know all of this trouble, all of this creation, and I just pointed out a few of these, the suffering that we have in this life for some of the creatures out there that have nothing to do with growing spiritually, and they're just there to serve us. All of this, all of this, so that man can accomplish something, but then he just slacks off. Of course, it's going to bring accountability. You know what it's like. Think about it, think about it. There's like a NCAA basketball player that is like so great and so he gets drafted into the NBA. Right. Let's just say, like this guy, what's his name? Zion, something, his name is, this big guy and Duke right now, Duke University playing for Duke. But everyone's hyped over this guy and they drafted him into the NBA and they spent so much money on him.

And here's your house, here's your gym, here's your everything, here's your pay, here's your car, here's your plane, here's everything for you. Everything. They set everything up. Here's your personal trainer or personal trainers, not just one trainer. All of this stuff because of what? Because you have a potential in you, for what? To win championships, let's say. So they bring this guy in and so this person, what does he do? He just slacks off. They're going to they're going to skin the guy. They're going to skin him. God knows how many NBA players, I'm just giving this example, have have lost their, they've lost relationships due to how much work they have to do and how much travel they have to do as a result of, because they want to make it big. Right. They want to make big money. They're always practicing, always traveling. Their wives give up on them, even after having kids, sometimes. Some of them, that's what happens to them. Right.

That's how serious take it, because they know there's accountability and you're going to end up being a loser, no one's going to care about you. Yeah. I'll give you another example. Like if you, I don't know, like I think it was in the beginning of the NBA season, I don't watch basketball, by the way. Every now and then, I'll watch some highlights, that's about it, really. But I remember there was this John Wall. People were calling him out why? Why are you partying so much? Why are you why are you not working out so much? Why are you gaining weight? You're like a superstar. You're supposed to, you're supposed to make some accomplishments for your Washington Wizards team, you know, that kind of thing. But he was being called out. Well, someone might say, why are you calling him out? He can do whatever he likes. Yeah, but there's so much that has been put at his disposal, so he better make the most of it or else he will get called out he will be held accountable, he will lose everything.

Something like that, brothers and sisters, applies to mankind, even more, even more than just a mere NBA example that I'm giving. The NBA is like, you know, these players are in their prime for like maybe 10 years at best. After that, it's all over. We're talking about, we're not talking about security, ten years here. We're talking about securing eternity through this dunya. The person has, the Insan has the potential to secure eternity and yet he lived his life like cattle. So, of course, Allah, in the Qur'an, is going to say you are lower than cattle because cattle didn't even have the opportunity. You did, you did. Now, yeah, there are a lot of people out there who don't know the true path, who are mustdh'af as the Qur'an labels them. Those people will be excused.

Yeah, but if they're if for any reason it was them, it was them slacking off, it was their shortcoming, yes, they will be held accountable because God gave free will, God put everything at their disposal. The Qur'an says, "khalaka lakum ma fi al-ardhee jamee'a" (2:29), I created everything on this Earth for you so that you can you can live your lives, survive, accomplish the goals that I sent you, therefore, which is, "wa ma khalaqtu al-jinna wa al-ins illa li-ya'buduni"(51:56), to become obedient servants of mine. That was the goal. You didn't achieve it? Of course it's reprehensible.

OK, Brother Shuja, he says' Do angels have free will or is it just humans and jinns-nuf? The angels do not have free will. Yeah, they do not have free will. Free will, will come with intellect plus material world. Once you leave material world there is no intellect and there is no free will. Free will, there's no point in free will. Free will was there to make decisions. Yes. To make decisions. To decide between truth and falsehood, good and bad.

When the angels are immaterial beings, immaterial realms are only truth. There is no false that you can choose between truth and false or anything like that. Yeah. So that's a good question. And that kind of lets me, lets us know that there's more to it for free will than just intellect, intellect plus material world. So thanks for pointing that out. I don't know if you had that in mind, but what you asked brought this point to our attention.

OK. Oh. He brings a couple of verses here. He says, Surah Isra' verse 34, "Awfu bil ahd, inna ahda kana mas'ula" (17:34). When you make oaths and you make promises, you better live up to them. Why? Because inna ahda kana mas'ula. Mas'ul means it's going to be asked about, it's going to be accounted for. Yes. Fulfill your 'ahads, fulfill your vows for the vow, it will be accounted for. Will be asked about. Another verse just this, just illustrating how yes, we are going to be asked about different things.

So Isra' verse 36, "inna as-sama'a wa al-basara wa al-fu'ad kullu ulaa'ika kana 'anhum mas'ula" (17:36). That the ear, the eye and the heart, all of these are going to be asked about. Mas'ul comes from su'al, su'al means to ask. They will be asked about on the Day of Judgment. What did you do with these? How did you use them? "Ayahsabu al-insan an yutraka suda"(75:36) , verse 36 of Surah Qiyamah. Does man think that he will just be left just on his own and will not be held accountable? No, no, no. You're not just left alone and not be held, you will be held accountable.

OK, so free will, intellect, all of these things, what they bring about for us is this sense of accountability and responsibility as well. Can't just be like, oh, God brought us into this world so that we can live a good life, fall in love with them and go, no, no, no, there's accountability as well.

All right, article number 18. Let's see if we can make it to article number 20 tonight. It says, article number 18 is talking about equality. He says that no human being, and if you remember, the chapter we're in right now is the chapter on human being, mankind and human being. So this is continuing to discuss another attribute here of man, and that is that we are all equal as children of Adam. We are all equal. The only thing he says that gives us real preference over others, that takes us higher than others, the only thing that really has value in God's eyes and the Qur'an's eyes is one thing, and that's what the Qur'an tells us. Now, I'm going to read the verse, before then, just explain a little bit. If God created us, it's common sense, really. If God created us for a purpose and that purpose only, and that's why He said it in the Qur'an and worded it the way He worded it.

Yeah. Very exclusive wording there. It says, I did not create man and jinn except that they are, they are my 'abds, they are obedient servants of mine. An obedient servant worships God, obedient servant listens to God. If that is the purpose of creation and God is the one behind all of this, then you tell me, brothers and sisters, who is higher in the eyes of God, right? It's very simple. Just like if you know, if all that matters to my mom and my parents are for me to be successful in school. And if we're three brothers, one of the brothers slacks off. One of them is just, you know, normal and one of them super successful in school. And that is all that matters in my mom and dad's eyes. For example, just saying, for example, sake, then of course I'll be higher in their eyes versus my other two brothers. Let's just say, you know, just just give me an example here.

Same thing with Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, it seems. Yeah. That if Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala has a purpose in mind, then whoever is securing that purpose more and more, yeah, especially since that purpose is infinite there is no limit to how high we can go in getting close to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, if that's the case, whoever is closer to him is going to be higher and anything else that people might have just won't matter. Who cares if one a person is uglier and a person another person is better looking? You know, sometimes people, you know, they have this issue where they're like, but how is God just if, like, that person is uglier than me or good looking, more good looking than I am?

But these things don't matter. These things are like 50, 60 years, it's over, it's over, 50, 60 years versus infinity is I'm not I shouldn't even talk about it, you know. Infinity in that life, eternal life is what matters, and if that's going to get us, what's going to get us anywhere in that life is obedience of God, and then, of course, that's going to be the measuring stick for whoever, who is higher and who is lower, in God's eyes. This obedience of God sometimes is referred to as a ubudiyah, yeah, servitude and being a servant. Sometimes it's referred to as taqwa, being wary of God, being diligent and careful and aware of God and his commands and his satisfaction.

Yeah. So all of this in a nutshell, is the wajib and haraam of Allah. Whoever has more taqwa, whoever has more obedience, whoever observes the wajib and haraam of Allah more, they're higher. Or else from any other perspective people are equal. Who cares if he's black, he's yellow, he's white, he's red, whatever? Whatever these colours they use these days, these don't matter at all. This has nothing to do with people being higher or lower, and I think we know that.

Having said all of that, that now let's look at the verse. Bismallah al-Rahman, al-Rahim, Surah al-Hujurat verse 13, "Ya auyha an-naas" (49:13). Oh people. It doesn't say, "ya ayuha alladheena aamanu", it doesn't say anything like that, oh people who believe, oh those, oh, oh you who believe. It says, oh people, anyone who is a person is being addressed here. "Inna khalaqnakum" (49:13), we created you, verily, we created you, "min dhakarin wa untha" (49:13), from male and female. "Wa ja 'alnakum shuhuban wa kaba'il" (49:13). We, you know, divided you into different groups, different tribes and clans and all of that. So it's the Qur'an is pointing out the multiplicity here. So there's multiplicity, there's diversity. What is the key? Why? Why did God bring diversity? Because li ta'arafu, you can identify each other, you can get to know each other. If everyone looked the same that would be a problem wouldn't it.

There was this movie, remember all these robots that looked like I forgot the name was anyway. I think it was called I Am Bot something like that, I don't know what it was called. Anyway, I don't even see it, I didn't see the whole thing. So who watches movies huh? So, I created you, We created you with all this multiplicity and diversity, so that you can identify each other, but I want you to know that when all this multiplicity, there's only one thing that matters to Me and all of you are equal in that, how much you can obey Me. "Inna akramakum innda Allahi atkakum" (49:13).

The most virtuous, the most noble of you in My, in Allah's eyes is who? The most obedient of you, the most Godwary of you, the one who is, you know, more aware of God's presence. So that affects their actions and they don't sin, they don't disobey God. That's, what sets people apart or else other than that, we're all at the same level. Yeah. We're all equal in the fact that we can be obedient servants of God, disobedient, yeah, we all have that opportunity. Whoever uses it more will go higher. But whoever combs their hair better, whoever can ball better, whoever is better looking, these won't take you higher or lower.

Yeah. Now, having said all of that, it's unfortunate and I will point this out, that it's unfortunate that in our communities, apparently we still haven't, although we talk about this and while we're all equal this and that, you know. But in the end the problem is that in practice, we still feel like some are better than others. We feel like and people suffer or people complain from inequality. We, we even have sometimes subtle forms of racism in our in our centres as well.

This jamaat, that jamaat, I don't know, things like that. And what can I say? I mean, this is something that Islam came to put aside during the Prophet's time, but the people kept their jahiliyah. Till today we still have cases where you feel you're disappointed really, and you feel like, wow, look at this. This is this goes against the Prophet's saying, this goes against the Prophet's teachings. How the Prophet will make sure that among his companions, no one would turn away, turn their back to like someone else just because that person wasn't very well off. Yeah? But nowadays things like this might happen. Skin colour might play a role in that sometimes. It's very, it's very upset, upsetting and sad. And that's why we have these, these classes and sessions so that, InshaAllah, affect our actions, it's not just theory.

Brother Shuja asks 'In the Qur'an, the angels questioned God, when God was creating Adam, is that free will'? OK, we have to, we look at the wording and be very precise with our wording. Did the Qur'an say they questioned God or they asked Him a question? It's very different, these two are very different. When you question God, that is kind of you kind of like, you know, going against His command, questioning His wisdom, things like that.

Sometimes no, you know, in the end that God knows what He's doing, like, hey, can you reveal, oh Allah, can you reveal to me the reason why You're doing this? Even if you don't, I'm still in total submission. So that angels, they're able to ask that question, yeah, because at the end of the day, they are intellect, they are and they are intellects, they're essence, they're uqul it's called, they are intellects, that's all they are, they don't have anything else.

And they are in that realm of uqul, 'alaam al-uqul. Anyway, them asking a question doesn't necessarily mean they have free will. They are let's say they might act freely, they might ask a question if they like, yeah, but as I said before, if our definition of free will and ikhtiyaar was what we had above discussed in the beginning of the session. That it is to make a decision between like doing something and not doing something, yeah, based on our intellect, weighing it out and seeing if it's better for us or not better for us, then if that's the definition of it, the angels don't do that.

The angels do as they're told. The angels might ask questions based on that verse the Qur'an. Although some 'uleama, they say that this verse is a figurative, these verses are figurative and they're telling us a story that we just, Allah wants us to get a lesson from. Yeah, but theologically, you won't say that angels have free will. The Qur'an kind of says that as well. It says, the Qur'an says, if I can put it off real quick. I just want to have the context, the whole whole context.

It says, it's talking about the angels that are in jahanam, yeah, and it says "man 'alaiha mala'iktun ghiladhun shidadun la ya'suna Allaha ma amarahum wa yaf'aluna ma yu'marun" (66:6). It says there are angels there, they la yu'sun, they don't do ma'seeya, they don't disobey God when He tells them to do something. "Wa yaf'aluna ma yu'marun", and they do as they are told. And I think we have other verses to that talk about how angels listen. It's not the angels ever disobey God.

And then philosophically speaking, philosophically speaking, it's like set in stone that angels, they cannot disobey God. OK, so if they cannot, not like the ma'soomeen in this dunya. Ma'sumeen in this dunya can disobey, but they will never disobey. Angels, they're just designed in a way and programmed in a way, let's say that they can't even disobey God, it's impossible. Their essence can't even do that because they're not in a material world, they are not in material world as I said before. So theologically speaking and philosophically speaking, angels do not have free will in that sense.

Brother Mohammed Haidar, good question, it looks. Is it wrong to compare ourselves with each other on a spiritual level? I always hear you can't judge others in matters of their piety. First, is this true? Second, what is the appropriate way of doing this then? Okay, man, this is awesome. I like it. I like it. Let's go back. Let's break down the questions like two or three questions and then we'll end after this question. Um, is it wrong to compare ourselves with each other on a spiritual level?

There's a hadith, I think, by Imam Ali, where he says that: "min husnee Islam il-mar'ee tarkuhu ma la ya'ani". That a sign that a person has proper Islam, has understood Islam properly, is practicing it properly, is the fact that he stays away from that which has nothing to do with them. Yeah. Who cares what spiritual level others are at? If everyone in the world is at the highest spiritual level, it won't make a difference, it with them being at the lowest spiritual level because it has nothing to do with me. Right? Think about it. If everyone in the world is the best basketball player ever or if everyone in the world is the worst basketball player ever. Still, that doesn't make me the best. That doesn't contribute to my basketball skills in any way.

At the end of the day I can either shoot the ball or I can't shoot the ball, I can dribble the ball or I can't dribble the ball. Same thing with the akhirah. It doesn't matter what others are going to get in the akhirah, what spiritual level they are at. I have to make sure that I reach the levels that I want to so the rest is all irrelevant to me. So when you ask is it wrong to compare, I'm not going to say it's wrong, but I will say it's totally irrelevant and there's no point. This seems to be no point to it what others have been able to achieve unless it's going to be motivation for us and so on, you know.

In that sense, yeah, motivation. But other than that, really, it's not going to really contribute to our growth, you know. It's not that active ingredient for growth. So that's something that we're going to really spend time and lose sleep over. You said I always hear you can't judge others in matters of their piety. I can't judge others because I don't know what the end is going to look like for them. But we can say, is this, is that what I can judge or I can tell is that if someone is doing a sin, I can say, OK, this is something that God is upset with. And I have to, I might have to tell them if it's if there's a chance that it'll have an effect on them. I have to do amr ma'ruf and nahi anil munkar and tell them, hey, this is something that's wrong, and because I care for you, I think you should refrain from this act. Yeah.

So in that sense, it might be seen as judging, but we're not judging. This is just a sin, God said it's a sin. Yeah. But if I'm going to think to myself that, oh, look at this guy, such a bad person because they're sinning. There are some hadith that say if you call someone out like that or look down on someone like that, then you'll probably fall into that same sin sometime in the future as well. Yeah.

So in that, in one sense, we're not going to judge, God knows best. God might forgive that person, might not forgive me for less, something less that I've done wrong. Yeah. We're not going to judge them in that sense, we're not going to say they're worse than us or better than us or anything like that. But in the sense of, hey, you're doing something wrong right now, and I need to tell you, I mean, that's something that God has ordered, you know.

The least is that we know that, ok, what they're doing is a wrong act. Right. But is that going to make them go to jahannam, necessarily? Does that make them a bad person, necessarily? No, the act is bad, the act is bad, I'm not going to, I'm not going to judge the person themselves and the person is wrong right now and doing what they're doing. That's, that's like the, that's like the most we can do really, or we can come to. OK, so I hope that answers your question to an extent.

Brother Bilal says, Sheikh you talk today about accountability on our short time here, how does accountability work with the Allah's Mercy as in, we are fallible, but if we spent our lives trying to improve and seek piety and slip along the way, how do the two qualities of Allah work? Look, He has two qualities, He has His wrath and He has His ercy. In a nutshell, though, the Qur'an tells 'sabaqat rahmatuhu ghadhaba'. Let me pull it up. Aw rahmati. That's the verse, actually "wasi'at kulla shayin"(7:156) . Surah 'Araf, verse 156 says look, I have a lot of qualities, there are a lot of things out there. But I want you to know one thing. After he talks about adhab, let me read the translation to you, it's interesting. It says And appoint goodness for us for people who are doing dua. It says 'And appoint goodness for us in this world and in the hereafter, for indeed we have come back to you'. Allah says' I give my punishment to whoever I wish'.

OK, so He talks about his wrath and punishment, but My Mercy embraces all things. All right. So, yes, Bilal, Allah has two qualities, but one of the qualities overrides the other. If there is the slightest excuse and capacity for his Rahma and Mercy to take over, it will. That's what He's saying. Or in one of these duas, I forgot which one it was. Allah says, or the du'a says, Ya man sabaqat rahmatu ghadhaba. Let me pull that up real quick, too. I'm loving this session by the way, and your comments on you guys are saying that to., thanks for the kind words. This is what it's all about, in my opinion. Yeah. So this is, and a lot of dua books actually. For example, Iqbal al-'amal, yeah, so, this dua 'Arafa, apparently. Yeah, one of the duas of 'Arafa, I don't know if it's Imam Husayn's dua or Imam Sajjad's dua, I'm not sure, but we have there: ya man sabaqat Rahmatu ghadaba, oh the one who, oh the one who His mercy precedes, or supersedes His wrath.

So, yeah, He has two qualities, He just might not use one of them Bilal, so thanks for bringing that up. Slipping along the way, everyone slips along the way. So don't worry about it, don't worry about it at all. I say this all the time. You guys have heard me say this before, probably as well, that God doesn't want you to lay down on your back when you hit the ground. He wants you to get back up and start and start running again. You hit the ground again, get back up again, ten times, 100 times, it don't matter, get back up, make a decision, try your best again.

InshaAllah, He will eventually take your hand. Versus the one who just falls and lies down or falls gets back up, but they're like 'you know what, I know I'm going to fall down again'. And they keep telling themselves that again until they fall again. So, yeah, I hope that answers your question. So we have some kind words here. Thanks everybody, for your kind words and how you're praising the session and stuff. It means a lot to me.

Sister says, I remember once Sheikh Liqa'i saying that we cannot measure spirituality among others, but only among ourselves, and that we shouldn't compare ourselves but try to reach higher stations. Yeah, that's exactly what I was trying to say. Who cares about others? Not who cares about others, but whatever others are doing is not going to help me anyway. So why lose sleep over it? But what is the way to measure if our spirituality is truly increasing.

Yes. So we're on the right, we're on the right track here right now, Sister. So we've gone this far that, OK, we're not going to worry too much about other spirituality. Yeah, sometimes it's a family member, sometimes it's a person, I'm responsible for their guidance and Islamic guidance and upbringing. OK, that's a different story. But usually the people out there that God has not put me in charge of their spiritual growth, I'm not going to worry about them too much.

So we're on the right track here. But how can I engage my own spirituality? Very simple. We have to understand what spirituality means first. What is our definition of spirituality? If our definition of spirituality is how much of a religious experience I get? How much of a spiritual experience I have when I pray? Then yeah, sometimes I feel like we're not very spiritual people. But is that the definition of spirituality? I disagree. I don't think that is the definition of spirituality.

If the definition of, some people have ups and downs in their lives. Yeah, people sometimes feel really good, they'll be paying more attention. Sometimes there's a million things on your mind, you're not paying too much attention and your salaat.

But there's another way to gauge it, in my opinion. Once again, going back to the purpose of our creation, God created us for our obedience of Him, to obey Him, because that is going to, that is what is going to eventually contribute to our spiritual growth right? In this dunya and the hereafter.

So if I can somehow gauge how much I am obeying God, that's how spiritual I am. If I am listening to God throughout my daily life, 80 percent, I'm an 80 percent spiritual person. Some people, they listen to God, 20 percent, right? The person might pray once a week instead of five times a day, but that one prayer that they do, they feel very spiritual in it.

This person is not a spiritual individual by the measuring stick of God in the Qur'an, not 20 percent. Obedience is 20 percent spirituality, not 100 percent, not 90 percent. OK, I'm feeling good in my saalat, that's good, but that's just a spiritual high. No more than that. You can't call it spirituality. You can call it a spiritual high, a good feeling, but it's not spirituality.

Brothers and sisters, and this is something that greats are saying that me, if you want to gauge how spiritual you are, see how much you are listening to God when it comes to His wajibat and is muharamat. When it comes to his wajib commands and his haram commands. How much are you observing them?

Well, where do I get this wajib and haram commands from? Well you can go become a mujtahid yourself, which usually we're not going to be able to do that, or you go and find a mujtahid, a marj'a in taqleed who has done the work and he tells you, OK, this is what God wants from you. This is what Ahl al-Bayt have taught. Yeah. And so we take it from that. So a person who goes by the book of their marj'a, listens to these commands of God, the wajibat, muharamat, that is the measuring stick for spirituality or not.

That's the measuring stick for a closeness to God or not. As we said, we're all equal. The only thing that sets us apart and takes some of us higher is how much taqwa we have, a.k.a. how much obedience we have. OK. Hopefully that answers your question. Alhamdulillah we had a wonderful session and we made it to article number 18.

InshaAllah from next week, article 19 and onwards are going to talk about some objective morality. The relationship between our acts in this dunya and the natural world and cool stuff like that. So InshaAllah, tune in for that. Once again if you can spread the message. I know there are a lot of people out there who could benefit more from these sessions that we're having. If you could be our media, let people know, share, even if the videos are uploaded later, share it so they can also benefit. That'll be wonderful. InshaAllah, Allah rewards you as well.

Keep us in your du'a and have a very, very good night and a good week ahead of you. Salam 'alaikum wa rahmat Ullah.