Shia Islamic Belief System 6/46

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.

As-salamu alaykum, wa rahmat Ullahi. My dear brothers and sisters, hope everybody is well. So I'd like to welcome all of you to another session on Shi'a Imamiyyah Doctrine. Last week, we got through three or four articles if I'm not mistaken, from what I remember, if I remember correctly. The 15th article spoke about how man is and man and the human being is a free being. The 16th article spoke about how if man has a pure fitrah, a pure Tawhidi fitrah, we are born with a clean slate and we're born with an inclination towards Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. That and plus we have intellect, plus we have free will. If we have all of that, that there is going to be, that this, this human being and this being has the ability and capability of refining itself, growing, making the right decisions, then growing as a result of those right decisions that it makes.

The 17th article was ok, so now if we have the potential to grow, if we have the potential to refine ourselves, then there are some who won't do that. And because of all of this creation that Allah has done, all of the struggle and hardship that is a result of creation. If someone doesn't fulfil that potential that Allah has made, has created them with, then they can be held accountable. So accountability and responsibility is what article number 17 discussed. And I give the example of these NBA players and how when everything is set up for them, there is an expectation of them to live up to that potential that they have, that's what they're getting paid for.

And finally, the 18th article that we covered last week had to do with equality between, amongst all people, all the children of Prophet Adam. And that if anyone's going to be higher than anyone else, the only way to be higher, the only measuring stick is obedience of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. In other words, how much a person has secured the purpose of creation. Yes, purpose of creation was "Wa ma khalaqtu jinn wa al-ins illa li ya'budun" (51:56). The purpose of creation was that we reach a point of Ubudiyyah and obedience of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, that's the purpose of creation.

So if the purpose of creation in Allah's eyes is that whoever has secured more, this purpose of creation, is higher in Allah's eyes. And I explained last week how a person can gauge that, how a person can gauge that, it's very simple, just see how much you're obedient to Allah when it comes to His wajib and haram commands.

Some people asked about, you know, how we can judge others? I said, who cares about judging others? It's all about how where, how high I get in life when it comes to this, this spiritual growth. Wa 'alaykum as-salaam to all the brothers and sisters that have joined so far, they're all saying salaam alaykum. Yeah, I'm not going to read your names, but yeah, you are regulars, so welcome to the session.

All right. So today or tonight, we have a few more articles that I want to cover before we end this chapter. And then in the end InshaAllah, I want to talk a little bit about Sister Marziya Hashemi also who was Alhamdulillah was released today. I just want to make a few comments about that as well. Ok, so article number 19. Article number 19 is speaking about how morality is an objective reality. Now, I know that there's a lot of books written on this. There's a lot of philosophical discussion and discourse on this topic of, is morality subject, subjective or objective and so on. And if it is objective, how are we supposed to figure it out?

Well, for a Muslim and for a believer, I think it's very clear and obvious. It's very easy, actually. Morality will be objective. Now, I know that there are some schools that might make it a little more subjective, for example, in classical theology. This morality will be subjective to God and what God does. Like, for example, the Ash'ari Theology School of Thought, Theological School of Thought will hold that. Yes, anything God does will be good.

Now, we also believe the same thing, but there's a little twist to it that I don't want to get into in classical theology. So anyway, point being, if you're a Muslim, if you're a believer, usually it's very simple. What Wahi tells you, what revelation tells you, and a few more things that we'll cover in this chapter in this article as well. These are ways to figure out what the objective, what objective morality and goodness is out there. Ok, so for a believer, it's very simple, Wahi is going to be the main measuring stick for whether or not something is morally right, morally wrong and so on.

Wa 'alaikum salam brother Akbar. Ok, so let's get into it. Says, he gives some verses for this, Ayatullah Subhani, he gives a few verses for this and to corroborate this idea. What he says though is that, look, I think it's better if I can just read off of the article, sort of doesn't have to be explained too much. It's pretty simple how these principles and these objective morals that we have, they are something that are rooted within us and they're not, they don't change.

It says Article 19 Ethical Values, which pertain to the very principle of humanity, meaning it has to do with someone's humanity, the humanity within us. In other words, he wants to take it a step higher. Wa as-salamu 'alaikum sister Shermin. He wants to take it a step higher, he wants to say, look, not only does, are we going to rely on revelation, God has instilled it in us as well. So it says all we need to have is humanity, Insaniyyah. If we have Insaniyyah, that's enough to figure out a lot of these morals.

Ethical values which pertain to the very principle of humanity and which are thus rooted in the fitrah are permanent and immutable. They're permanent, permanent and non-changing. Neither the passage of time nor transformations in society can alter them, no matter how much society changes, no matter, quote/unquote how much society progresses, still, these moral principles will hold, these ethical values will be the same, they won't change. Then he gives some examples, fulfilling promises and doing good and all of these things. These are all things that will always be good, it's not like they'll change over time.

Yes. Some people, when they mess with their fitrah, some people who get used to evil and doing evil, that is a different story. For them evil is the standard now. Why? Because they have made themselves used to that. Ok, now let's look at the verses that he gives and then I'm going to have some verses that I want to add, or at least one of the verses that I think he should have brought here, but I don't know why he didn't.

So, for example, he says the Qur'an speaks about this. He says: "Hal jazaaa'u al-ihsaani illa al-ihsaan" (55:60). On the Day of Judgment Allah is doing good to others, yes? When Allah is doing good to others and giving them good, it's only a response and the reward for the good that they did, they did in this life. So there is doing good is rooted in this life and our understanding, I guess he wants to conclude.

"Fa inna Allaha laa yudee'u ajra al-muhsineen" (11:115). Allah doesn't let the reward of those who do righteous deeds and do good, to go in vain, He makes sure to reward. You know, to be honest with you brothers and sisters, I don't know how or why or how he's using these verses to prove his point. He just brings a few verses that bring, that speak of Ihsan and being muhsin and being righteous. I think it would have, there's two more verses that I didn't even say because I don't know how to explain it too well here. I can't figure it out. But it would have been better maybe when he's talking about all of this to say that Surah Ad-Duha, or Surah Ash-Shams, excuse me, the verse where it says, it says: "Wa ash-shamsi wa adh-duhaha" (91:1), "Wa al-qamari idha talaha" (91:2), "Wa an-nahari idha jallaha" (91:3). Allah swears 11 times. Yes. He swears 11 times. He wants to draw a very important conclusion after these 11 times.

And what is that conclusion? "Fa alhamaha fujooraha wa taqwaha" (91:8). The one who, this isn't the conclusion, this is one of the last things He swears by. "Wa nafsin wa ma sawwaha" (91:7). He swears by the soul itself and the spirit itself, and He says that spirit which "Fa alhamaha fujooraha wa taqwaha" (91:8), yeah? The person, the soul that He created, and then what did He do after He created it? Inspired it. Inspired it with what? "Fujoorahaa wa taqwaha," with the good and evil that it can have. Yes. It didn't say He sent prophets to explain it. He didn't say it like that. He said "Fa alhamaha". Ilham means inspiration, it means to inspire, to very subtly let something know something.

So here He says, 'I created the soul and I have inspired to it the fujoor and the taqwa of this soul, the good and the bad that this soul can observe'. In other words, there are some things out there that we as human beings who have a nafs can understand as a result of divine inspiration that Allah has given us. Everyone understands that lying is bad, everyone understands that cheating is bad, everyone understands that stealing is bad. All of these things, these are things that you need a Prophet for to understand, yeah? Even if a Prophet was not to be sent, we would understand these things. Yes, a Prophet has to come for other things. For example, if a Prophet has to come, or a revelation has to come down for us to know that, yes, that Salat ul-Fajr is two rakah, not four rakah and so on.

But there, these things that are there and they are unanimously accepted, to the extent that some of these dictators, when they are oppressed in their own way, in their own, from their own perspective, like sometimes they'll say, some of these dictators who get stuck and now are being brought to justice they'll say, I'm being oppressed. Even he understands who had oppressed a thousand people before or thousands of people before understands that oppression is bad.

That's why if he himself gets oppressed, it's like I'm being oppressed. Yeah, if you understood it, why did you do it yourself? Doing things is one thing, understanding the good and bad in them is another thing. Sometimes a doctor might know the bad in I don't know, smoking, but he'll still smoke, yeah? You'll have doctor friends that will, that will spend two hours doing smoking, you know, and you're like, hey, don't you know it's bad? I know it's bad, but he still does it. Now that's interesting.

So, same thing here, same thing here. Just because some people know it's bad doesn't mean they necessarily act upon it, but what we're talking about right now is that this Ilhaam has taken place. Yes, Brother Sayyid Mahdi Ja'fari. So Allah has endowed us with at least you can say, a simple basic knowledge of good and evil, alright? If that's the case that we've been endowed divinely, that means this is, this won't change, because it was given to us through a Divine Ilhaam by Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. That's exactly what article number 19 that we're on is trying to say, is that there are some things that we know and they won't be changing.

Yeah, the reason why they won't be changing it is because it's divinely inspired, it came from above, it's how we were created. We will always understand certain things, but this doesn't mean that we will understand everything of Islamic Law or Divine Law. No, but there are some basics that we will know.

Ok article number 20 says and wants to get across to us that, and we kind of maybe talked about this a little bit before, but he really opens it up here. He says that there are, we were talking about this chapter talking about man and mankind, right? So now one of those things that belongs to mankind, which is his actions is discussed. He says the actions of mankind have an effect on the world that we live in, the natural world that we live in. He says it very clearly. Article number 20, let me pull it up real quick. He says the actions of man apart from entailing an appropriate reward or punishment in the hereafter are not without their consequences in this world either, in this dunya either, in this natural world. Indeed, some events in the world are direct results of human actions. This pertains to a subtle reality, one which the revelation has alluded to. So, he says that in wahi or through the Imams or through the Ma'sumeen, whoever it is, who has a connection to above, has, this has been disclosed by these individuals to us, and of which man has an inkling. There have been some verses for this as well.

Brothers and sister this is very clear, it's very clear that what we do, at least, at least, at least, will have an effect on our own lives, let alone the natural world. So he brings the verse, verse 96 of Surah A'raf, where he says: "Wa law anna ahla al-qura amanu wa at-taqaw lafatahna 'alayhim barakatim min as-sama'i wa al-ardh, wa lakin kadhdhabu fa akhadhnahum bima kanu yaksiboon" (7:96). Which means if only the people of the Qura, the let's say, villages yeah, aamanu, had believed, embraced faith when the Prophets came to them with faith and religion, wa at-taqaw, and then in addition to embracing the faith, this is important, had practiced the faith, with Taqwa, with Obedience of God and listening to God and God wariness. I explained this Taqwa last week. What would we have done in return if they had done that? "lafatahna 'alayhim barakatim min as-sama'i wa al-ardh" (7:96), We would have opened up to them barakat and blessings from the heaven, from the sky and the earth.

It's interesting how it says 'min as-sama'i wa al-ardh'. It doesn't say 'min as-samawati wa al-ardh' yeah? It could have said min as-samawat, which means the heavens and someone might say that's the metaphysical world. No, it's interesting how it says 'min as-sama'i wa al-ardh,' the sky that's above us and the earth that we're on. He would have opened up doors to these blessings. Wa 'alaikum salam, Brother Nadir.

"Wa lakin". But what did these people do? If they had done that, We would have done this for them. But instead of amanu wa at-taqaw, what did they do? 'Kadhdhabu'. They denied our science, turned away from our science. "Fa akhadhnahum bima kanu yaksiboon" (7:96). So We retaliated with what they were doing themselves. It's interesting once again, the wording of this verse, the end of it, akhadhnahum means We took them. Took them, of course, took them in punishment.

But, what type of punishment? A punishment that's coming from God or is just the natural outcome of what they're doing themselves? It says We took them in punishment, through what? Through that which they themselves were doing. In other words, what they were doing was translating to punishment, yeah? So this is something that we need to get across to our youth as well. Those Sunday school teachers out there who might be listening tonight or later on with the recording, I don't know. We have to instill this in our kids that look, Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, is letting us know, just like a mother and father who tell us that we have to go to school, because if we don't go to school, we'll grow up to be nobodies. They're letting us know the link between not working hard or not studying hard and being a loser in life. They disclose that to us, that's the job of the mother and father, is to encourage their children to do what's right. Now, of course, the schooling system is full of scams as well.

But just saying, just saying, for example, they have their kids, they encourage their kids to make the most of the time they have as youth, to make the most of school, to work hard once they graduate from school, why? Because there's a link between not working hard enough, studying hard and being a loser in the future, yeah? They disclose that link to us.

The same way the parents do that, Allah Subhana wa Ta'la sends down a Prophet, the Qur'an, who discloses to us the link between good deeds and bad deeds here and then equalling hardship on the other side or felicity and happiness and comfort on the other side. Other side meaning in the hereafter, after death. That's their job or else what's happening to me in the other side is just a manifestation of my good or bad deeds here. I am just reaping what I have sown in this life. We have to understand that it's not like we do something bad and then on the other side, God says ok, let me get you back now, let me punish you, no, that's not how it works.

As a matter of fact, it is just our own doing that we're seeing now just translated into something else. That's how the wording of this verse is, "fa akhadhnahum bima kanu yaksiboon" (7:96). Either we can translate it like that or there's another way of translating this verse too. It won't have that same meaning that I just said, it'll have another meaning, but not too far off either. Anyway, well I just explained we have that in other verses as well. "Faman ya'mal mithqala dharratin khairah, yarah" (99:7) . "Wa man y'amal mithqala dharratin sharran yarah" (99:8). For those of you who might know sarf and nahu, it all depends on this maa here, bima kanu yaksiboon. If this is ma mawsula, then it means what I just explained. If it means, if this maa is maa mastariyyah then the meaning will change a little bit.

Ok, Wa 'alaikum salam Sister Sayyida Fatima. Alright. That's one verse that he brings here. Another verse that he brings. Surah Nuh verses ten to twelve: "Fa qultu 'staghfiru Rabbakum innahu [kana] ghaffara" (71:10). "Yursil as-sama'a 'alaykum midrara" (71:11) . "Wa yumdidkum bi amwalin wa baneena wa yaj'allakum Jannaatin wa yaj'allakum anhara" (71:12). Another verse that shows that there's a link between what we do here and the world above, the metaphysical, Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala.

The effect our actions have on this dunya. What is it? These verses, Prophet Nuh says 'I told my people, I told my nation that they should do istighfaar, they should repent from their sins and turn back to Allah Subhana wa Ta'la. Why? Because He is All-Forgiving, 'innahu ghaffara.' And if you do that, what will happen? "Yursil as-sama'a 'alaykum midrara" (71:11) . He'll send down the sky on you, yeah? Meaning what is in the sky of rain, in abundance, 'midhrara,' it'll just flow down on you. So it's not just drizzling, it's not going to drizzle the way, you know, how we get snow in Dallas once a year, and if that happens, it's just for a few seconds, you know. No. "Yursil as-sama'a 'alaykum midrara" (71:11). "Wa yumdidkum bi amwalin" (71:12), and He'll help you and add to that, 'Am waal,' wealth, 'Baneen'', sons and children that can help you. "Wa yaj'allakum anhara" (71:12). And He will give you and He will make for you rivers and streams.

Of course, water is life, water is sustenance and brings about sustenance. So, once again, we see that all of these things are a result of 'Istaghfiru Rabbakum. If these people were to do istighfar, were to turn to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, yes, that would be a result, this would be the result of what they were doing. But now did they do that? Did they not do that? That's another story.

Alright. I want to add a verse here that he has not brought here, and I think I alluded to this a few sessions ago as well, and that is "Dhahara al-fasadu fi 'l-barri wa 'l-bahri bima kasabat aydi an-nas" (30:41), Surah Al-Rum, verse 41. It reveals something here for us, discloses again, again, the link between what we do and the natural world. I'm just going to read off what Allamah Tabataba'i says in Al-Mizan regarding this verse.

I didn't read off of Al-Mizan before, I'll read now. He says 'Wa al-muraad bi 'l-fasad dhahir.' When the Qur'an says: "Dhahara al-fasadu fi 'l-barri wa 'l-bahri bima kasabat aydi an-nas" (30:41) , that it has become, that it has come to existence, corruption has come about, in the land and in sea, as a result of what the peoples are, people are doing, yes? This is not talking about pollution. I don't know why some people think this verse is talking about pollution. I checked all these tafaseer I couldn't find it.

Anyway, Allamah Tabataba'i in Al-Mizan, he says this fasad, this corruption that is coming about. What is it meant by that? Al-masa'ib, wa al-balaya adhdhahira fihima. The masa'ib, the tragedies and bala's that come about in the land and in sea. Sometimes a ship sinks. Now, I don't want to say every ship that sinks is a result of some sins that some people have done. No, no, of course not. But sometimes it might have to do with that, we don't know.

Ash-shamila liman tabatin min manatiq al-ardh. These tragedies that happen in some parts of the world sometimes, he says. Min az-zilzal, of earthquakes, qat' al-antar, it stops raining, sineen - drought and amradh - sicknesses and illnesses and epidemics, you know, al-hurub, battles and wars. Of course, this for sure is going to be a result of man's doing. 'Wa al-gharaat wa al-tirfa al-amni wa bi 'l-jumla, kul ma yufseedun nidhaam as-salih al-jafi.' Every single thing that comes up of those things that will distort the natural flow of things in this natural world, yeah? He says these can all be affected by the doing of men.

Now, sometimes these bad things that come up, they are, they themselves are a result of bad things that people are doing. So for example, some people in a land are sinning. What happens as a result of that? You have an oppressive ruler that is, that comes over them and takes over them. This oppression that this tyrant ruler has over these people, itself is the result of a bad decision by this tyrant ruler.

So sometimes the evil that some people do will bring about another bala that has to do with the evil of someone else and sometimes no. The bala that befalls a people as a result of their wrongdoing, has nothing to do with ill intentions and wrong decisions of others. It's just something natural befallen. 'Allamah Tabataba'i, he says, all of these things fall under this category, ok?

That is article number 20. Yeah, that's all he says in article number 20. He wants to break up, make that link between what we do and the natural world. Article number 21 and of course, if you have questions, don't just sit there and watch, ask. Last week, we had some good questions. InshaAllah, this week, if you have questions, ask as well. Don't be intimidated by me. Some people, they said they tell me we're intimidated and I'm like come on, there's nothing to be worried about when it comes to me.

Alright, article number 21. If this last article that we covered was talking about, was talking about the link between our individual actions and the natural world, here, Ayatullah Subhani wants to talk about the link between the actions of a Ummah, of a nation as an Ummah, as a people and what effects that can have, ok? So this is a little different. For that, let me just read off of the article itself. I think it's pretty clear.

He says, the advance or decline of people is bound up with a complex series of causes, which leaving aside the influence of external factors, is rooted chiefly in the way in which religious beliefs and moral principles are assimilated by the people themselves. So he's saying that the people themselves are the ones who are moulding their futures, are moulding the way things are for them as they live. A people, an ummah, a nation itself is what determines it's future, determines it's circumstances.

It's not like God is sitting up there and He's always just commanding, ok, this has to happen to you now, this happens to you now. No, no, no. The Qur'an even clearly says this. Once again, he doesn't bring this verse, but we've all heard this verse that: "Inna Allaha la yughaiyiru ma biqawmin hatta yughaiyiroo maa bi anfusihim" (13:11), that Allah won't bring change for a people unless they bring about change amongst themselves and do something themselves, for themselves. So he just wants to make this point that, listen, just because Allah is in charge of everything doesn't mean that a people, as a people, in their entirety, as a whole, don't play a role in their circumstances. As a matter of fact, they do, and as a matter of fact, this has to do with Allah's Divine Decree.

Sometimes we think Divine Decree, we think this Qadha and Qadr, Al-Ilahi, this Divine Decree is something we have nothing to do with. And Allah Subhana wa Ta'lah sitting up there and He's dictating everything, no. We are the ones who actually dictate what will happen to us. He's sitting up there and He's doing His part as well. Now we will understand sometimes how much He's intervening, sometimes we won't understand. Sometimes we'll experience that, we'll see that, sometimes we won't.

And as a matter of fact, he says, Ayatullah Subhani, he says, he says that this not only does it not go against Divine Decree, it actually corroborates it and supports it. Now how that is, InshaAllah, sometime later we'll discuss it. So it has to do with our beliefs, one, and two, our actions as well as a whole, he says. So he gives an example, if there is a society who has based its social interactions and relationships and norms and based all of that on the principle of justice. Yeah. Then this society will have, will have tranquillity. It will be a good, calm society, he says. But if there is a society out there that bases it on other things, then they're not going to have a good fate. They're going to have a bitter fate. He says this is what the Qur'an calls Sunna Ilahiyyah. These are those traditions of God. This is what? This is the way of God. These are the ways of God. So he gives an example. He says, in other words this is how God does it, ok? When God wants to do things, when it comes to a nation, He says 'Here you have different paths. Each path that you take dictates what you're going to get.' Very simple.

"Falamma ja'ahum nadhir, ma zadahum illa nufooraa" (35:42). It says, he's giving this verse to just to show that, yes Allah has a Sunnah, Allah has His own way of doing things and His way of doing things has to do with how we deal with things. The decisions that God makes for us is based on our decisions that we make for ourselves, in a sense. That's, that's one way of putting it.

It says: "Falamma ja'ahum nadhir, ma zadahum illa nufooraa" (35:42). "Istikbaran fi 'l-ardhi wa makra as-sayyi' wa la yaheequ al-makru as-sayyi'u illaa bi ahlih fahal yandhuroona illa sunnat al-awwaleen falan tajida lisunnati Allahi tabdeelan wa lan tajida lisunnati Allaahi tahweela" (35:43). 'When a warner came unto them, it aroused in them not, safe, save repugnance,' if I'm, if I'm, if I'm reading that correctly. Man, just translate it normal, what about these hard words? So it didn't, when it says when a Prophet would come to them, when a warner would come to the people, what would they do? All they would do is just more hate. They would just run away from that Prophet more, that's all they would get out of it. You know? Sometimes someone comes to you with something that is to your benefit and all you get out of that thing is what, is the fact that you turned away from it. That means you didn't get anything out of it, really.

So nufooran that, it's just distance, that's all they got from it. They ran away from it. When a Prophet, a warner would come to them, they would run away, run away from it. Why? ""Istikbaran fi 'l-ardh" (30:43). Out of Istikbaar, arrogance, that's why. Behaving arrogantly in the land and plotting evil, the translation says. But "wa la yaheequ al-makru as-sayyi'u illaa bi ahlih" (30:43), they're plotting evil but evil will only encompass them and they'll be subject to that evil now, properly in the akhirah and even in this dunya.

"Fahal yandhuroon" (30:43). This is the part that he wants to bring as support for what he's saying. He says "fahal yandhuroona illa sunnat al-awwaleen" (30:43). 'Then can they expect anything other than the treatment of those who came before them?' Yeah? Those who came first. 'Thou wilt not find for God's way the Sunnat Allah any substitute.' God has one way of dealing with people only, and you will not find a way to change for God's way of dealing people.

It says: "sunnati Allahi tabdeelan wa lan tajida lisunnati Allaahi tahweela"(30:43). Sometimes you want to get in the way of something, sometimes you want to change something. You want to do tabdeel, change something, the word for it is tabdeel. You can't change God's way of doing things when it comes to the people. God has a way of dealing with people. That's how he's going to deal with them. And sometimes you want to not, you don't want to change it, but you want to get in the way of it. You can't. You can't get in the way of it either, if I'm not mistaken.

Alright, so these are, this verse is to show that, ok, God has a way of doing things. What is that way of dealing, doing things when it comes to a people? He says, Ayatullah Subhani says, is if they just make the right decisions, they will get good. If they don't make the right decisions as a people, their society will also go down. And that explains a lot of the problems that different societies out there today have.

Alright. So as you've noticed, this past two articles, all about the relationship between what we do and this dunya, not our akhirah. Yeah. The akhirah we all know for sure that there is a link, he wants to add to that.

Article number 22, there's a dramatic one, let's call it. He says, I mean, very like hope inspiring, dramatic. He says look, things don't look too good in this world that we live in, yeah? And we're not, the more we are progressing materialistically, the more we're progressing technologically, the more you notice that we're not progressing spiritually when it comes to humanity and when it comes to those ethical values that I was, that he was talking about in the beginning of our session. He says that's what we notice. We notice that we're not getting too far when it comes to these things.

But don't lose hope. The history of mankind or the future of mankind looks bright. Well, he's going to have to explain that. He's going have to prove that. Article number 22. Let me read it for you. The destiny of man holds out a bright future, he says. It is true that human life is in large part accompanied by inequality and hardship. But this will not always be the case. Human history is moving towards a better future, one in which a comprehensive system of justice will prevail. Well, what's your reason for this? Ayatullah Subhani, can you see the future? Are you figuring things out? Are you guessing? What's your reasoning for this?

He says because of the Qur'an. So he brings about 3, yes, 3 verses of the Qur'an that highlight this idea and notion of the future is bright. Surat Al-Anbiya verse 105: ""Wa laqad katabna fi 'z-zaboori min ba'di 'dh-dhikr, anna al-ardha yarithuha 'ibaadi as-salihoon" (21:105). That We have written in the Zabur, which is the book of Prophet Dawud 'alayhi as-salam, we have written in there, in there, 'min ba'di 'dh-dhikr' that after the zikr, now zikr means reminder, I haven't looked at tafsir and what it means exactly.

In the Zabur of Dawud, after the zikr and reminder, what have We written? "Anna al-ardha yarithuha 'ibaadi as-salihoon" (21:105). In other words, the Qur'an is saying We wrote this in the Book of Dawud, yeah? We wrote in the book of Dawud, but We are mentioning it here because it is true, so We are reminding you. Or those of you who never saw the Book of the Dawud, which is almost nobody today, or hundred percent nobody today.

That "Anna al-ardh yarithuha 'ibaadi as-salihoon" (21:105). That my righteous servants shall iherit the earth. Well, so that's one verse he cites. I'll have to look at the tafsir of this verse a little bit deeper. Just came across my mind right now, actually, that "anna al-ardha yarithuha 'ibaadi as-salihoon" (21:105). Usually the tafsir that is given is that, you know, during Imam Mahdi's time, those who are righteous will eventually take over. But some might say that no, this, when it says that the earth will be inherited, it is talking about the Yawm ul-Qiyamah.

There are some who believe that Jannah will be on this earth and this earth will of course, expand or change in a way because the Qur'an does say "Yawma tubaddalu al-ardh ghair al-ardh" (14:48), that there will be a day that the earth will change and transform into something else other than the earth, but that they say that the Jannah will be on this earth. Now, some might say that this verse is talking about them. But the majority of what, from what I understand and know, is that this, the verse, the tafsir and interpretation of this verse has to do with the end of Akhir uz-Zaman, or end of times, as they call it. When the righteous people with the help of the Messiah or the Mahdi 'alayhi as-salam, will be the ones who will inherit the earth.

Surat An-Nur verse 55 says: "Wa 'ada Allahu al-ladheena amanoo minkum wa 'amilu as-salihati la yastakhlifannahum fi 'l-ardhi kamastakhlafa al-ladheena min qablihim" (24:55). That God has promised and vowed. Who is vowed? Those who believe of you and 'amilu as-salihat' and are righteous. You see, I like how the Qur'an pairs these two all the time, good faith, proper beliefs, and what? And action, the righteous deeds, "la yastakhlifannahum fi 'l-ardh." He will surely make them to succeed and be the Khulafa and representatives of Allah. Or succeed, meaning to take over those who are evil, to take them over and to be the ones who take their place as rulers of the earth.

The same way He put righteous individuals as His representatives, or as His Khalifas or as the ones who follow the evil tyrants in the past. So this is once again one of those Sunnats of Allah, one of the Sunnat Allah. One of those ways of doing things that Allah, the way He does things is that after a long period of time, those who are enduring and kept on the right path, eventually they're the ones who are victorious.

Yeah. So that's another one. Last verse "Bal naqdhifu bi 'l-haqqi 'ala al-batili fa yadmaghuhoo fa idhaa huwa zaahiq"' (21:18). It says Surah Al-Anbiya verse 18, that We hurled the truth against falsehood and it breaks its head, 'fa yadmaghuhoo', and lo it vanishes, that this batil goes. Or "Wa qul ja'a al-haqqu wa zahaqa al-batil" (17:81), although that verse is talking about a specific, specific thing. But anyway, it can be also generalized as well. Or there's another verse of the Qur'an, there's a couple more that keep coming to my mind and going, let me see if I can remember them.

I can't remember it now. That are clearly talking about a time that will come that the righteous will be the ones who are victorious or the ones who are inheritors of the earth. Last article, oh we still have two more articles left, oh, three more. Ok, we have a lot more left. All right. Excuse me.

So moving on, article number 23. Article number 23 talks about how the Qur'an has put it's finger on the karam, karama of the Insan. Karama means nobility and honour of Insan, of the human being who says, verse number 70 of Surat Al-Isra' "Wa laqad karramna bani Adam, wa hamalnahum fi 'l-barri wa al-bahri, wa razaqnahum min at-taiyibaati, wa fadhdhalnahum 'ala katheerin, mimman khalaqna tafdeela" (17:70). It says Verily, We gave honour, and honoured Bani Adam, the children of Adam.

So it's talking about all mankind here, it's not talking about just the mu'minin. ""wa hamalnahum fi 'l-barri wa al-bahr". We had them cross land and sea and travel over land and sea. "wa razaqnahum ", We sustain them and bless them with the pure things of sustenance. "Wa fadhdhalnahum" and gave them preference over "Katheerin mimman khalaqna," over many of those whom we have created, "Tafdeela", a preference. We preferred them and give them a preference over all, so we've honoured man and mankind, ok.

He says this is a principle, this is a Qur'anic principle, he says. So, anything that's going to go against this honour of mankind, is going to be a problem in Islam and Islam is not going to allow it, yeah? So, right here from the get go, you can tell that Islamically, like it's not about turning the other cheek and getting slapped in the other cheek. If someone slaps, it's not like I'm going to turn my cheek and say 'Slap again.' It goes against the honour of a person in Islam.

He brings a Hadith, 'Wa la takun 'abda ghairik, wa qad ja'aka Allahu hurra'. Yes. He says, Imam Ali 'alayhi as-salam says 'Don't be the slave of another while Allah has created you free. Another Hadith, 'Inna Allah Tabarak wa Ta'la fawadha ila al-mu'min kulla shay'in.' Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala has given, and has given the, put decisions in the hand of mankind, 'Fawadha ila al-mu'min kulla shay'i' Everything has been delegated to us and we are allowed to make decisions regarding everything except, 'illa idhlal nafsihi,' except belittling himself. Yes, this honour is very important, Islamically, he says.

Now that of course, this also is a, it's a topic to talk about, you know, what are the boundaries of that and so on. He doesn't mention it here, he doesn't talk about it. It's just a chapter on the human being and mankind. And that's why he's just bringing these principles in right now. Maybe he'll elaborate later, maybe he won't. But it is the job of Islam to specify, yes? And to draw these boundaries exactly where they're supposed to be or else we can't really always be able to tell. So, for example, he says:'Wa la takun 'abda ghairik, wa qad ja'aka Allahu hurra', for example here, 'Don't be the slave of anyone else while Allah has created you free.' Well, someone might argue that you know well in Islam back then, still we had rulings when it came to how you're supposed to have slaves. So wait a minute. How does that, how does that, even if someone was Muslim, they would still, they might still be the slave of someone else. So how is that go? Where is the, how does the the honour work here and so on?

As I said this, there's a lot more to talk about here but he's just speaking in general right now. Yes, the default, the general rule and law is that this honour and karrama that the Qur'an speaks about, is something that cannot be compromised that easily. Ok, that's that article. Next article, Brother Muhammad Haider asks, can you explain again where the place for Allah's intervention is in the divine decree? Is God really, is God really intervening if it was in His plan to do so?

This, once again, as maybe I've hinted at before, this has to do with the whole topic of pre-destination and free will and all of that. InshaAllah, I hope that he's going to talk about these in the future, when we get to it, when we when we get into the Tawhid section of his book. Right now, it's hard to talk about this qadha and qadr, divine decree and measurement and you know, these things. It's hard to talk about it right now. InshaAllah, when the time comes we'll get to it in detail, there's a lot to talk about there. And Brother Dawud has kind of answered. He says Allah gives us the option to choose between what is right and wrong, we just can't blame everything that happens to us on Him. Yeah, definitely. That's exactly the point. And that's what Ayatullah Subhani was saying as well.

He said look, God decides based on our decisions, this is super important. There are some people who'll take God out of the equation. That's a problem. There are some people who will take us and our decision and, our free will and choice out of the equation. That's also a problem. 'Amrun bayn al-amrain,' the Imams have taught us, it's something in between. I'm pretty sure he's going to get to it in the Tawhid section. If not, we will definitely cover it in our Tawhid course, but that's not something online, that just goes from city to city. So but I'm pretty sure he will cover it as we go on. This qadha and qadr is something that, you know, a lot of people have questions on. He's definitely going to cover it in the Tawhid section. And if he doesn't and if I remember, I'll cover it, InshaAllah, ok?

Article 24 says that, as was explained before, of course, what sets us apart from other creatures and other animals, of course, is the power that Allah has given us to use our intellect, the intellect that we have, which also leads to our free will and so on.

He says, as a result of that, we've always been asked in the Qur'an to reflect, to think and ponder over things. He says to an extent that thinking about the different signs of this world, the nature even of this world, yeah? And those beautiful things of this world, he says thinking about these things, to the extent that, this has even been encouraged. So he says, well, interesting. I have some, something has dripped on the book here, so I can't read off of it.

It says, from the viewpoint of Islam, the intellectual, this is the part that I can't read. All right, but yeah, it's nothing, nothing to, out of, out of what I explained right now, I'm looking at the Farsi right now, the text and yes, that's what he's talking about. He says that to the extent that we've been asked by the Qur'an to reflect when it comes to even our surroundings of the natural world, "Al-ladheena yadhkuruna Allah..." (3:191) This verse of the Qur'an that, you know, is also recited, may Allah give us that tawfiq, is recited, this and it's previous verses are recited when someone wakes up for Salat ul-Layl.

Oh, Brother Muhammad Haider has the book, apparently. All right. So, yeah, the thing that has dripped, Muhammad Haider, the thing that has dripped on my book, it's dripped on a few lines, you know, and so you'll have to type like six lines of it. It's not that important, it's ok. But thanks for, thanks for helping out here.

All right, so let me bring up that verse. Actually, I love these verses of the Qur'an. He's only brought one of them or two of them. I want to bring the whole thing. These verses are verses that people who wake up for Salat ul-Layl, they'll recite sometimes. Surah Ale-Imran, verse 190 till 190, 194, 190 to 194. "Inna fee khalqi as-samawati wa al-ardhi wakhtilafi al-laili wa an-nahar, la ayati li ulil al-baab" (3:190). "Al-ladheena yadhkuruna Allaha qiyaaman, wa qu'udan, wa 'ala junubihim, wa yatafakkaruna fee khalqi as-samawati wa al-ardh. Rabbana ma khalaqta hadha batilan. Subhanaka faqina 'adhaba an-Nar" (3:191). It's beautiful. "Rabbana innaka man tudkhil an-nara, faqad akhdhaitahu wa ma li 'dh-dhalimeena min ansar" (3:192). "Rabbanaa innana sami'na munadiyan, yunadee li 'l-Iman, an aminu bi Rabbikum fa amanna; Rabbanaa fa ghfirlana dhunubana, wa kaffir 'anna saiyiatina, wa tawaffana ma'a al-abrar" (3:193).

Translation. Let me choose one of these translations, ok. It says, 'Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alteration of night and day.' So a person has woken up for Salat ul-Layl, wants to speak to his Lord, he wants to speak to his Lord. These verses that are recited, they have to do with the creation of the heavens and the earth, night and day. It says, 'Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alteration of night and day, there are signs for those who possess intellects.' You see, right there, it's pointing out that look, look around you a little bit and then use your aqil, think a little, think a little bit. Where did all of this come from? The next verse says it "Al-ladheena yadhkuruna Allah" (3:191), those who remember Allah standing, sitting and even lying on their sides. You want to go to sleep or you've woken up, you're remembering Allah. Those who remember Allah standing, sitting, lying on their sides and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth.

What do they say? 'Our Lord, You have not created this in vain.' That's the conclusion they come to? They use their intellects, use what Allah has given them of the five senses, they register the data around them, of all of these signs of God, that's registered, they ponder over it, reflect. All of this is an accident? All of this is in vain? There's a God who created all of this, but there was no purpose for creating all of this? Of course not. 'Oh Lord, you have not created this in vain'.

Subhanak, what a dumb thing to say. You're much higher than this. Immaculate are you. Subhanak. How could you do such a thing? Create all of this in vain. The All-Wise, All-Powerful God create this thing, these things in vain. See, so he's trying to, Ayatullah Subhani's trying to say look, these are the things that we're supposed, these are the conclusions we're supposed to come to, yeah? Not to use these minds to cause havoc to, I don't know, make nuclear bombs, things like that. These minds have been given to us to think about these things so that when we come to certain conclusions, we fix our actions in life. We live and lead righteous lives. We lead lives where society benefits from us. Our communities benefit from us, our families benefit from us. Our own selves benefit from our actions.

Immaculate are you, Subhanak, save us from the punishment of the fire. Our Lord, whoever that you make enter Jahannam will surely have been disgraced by You. It's a disgrace to end up in the Hellfire and the wrongdoers will have no helpers. Our Lord, we have indeed heard a summoner calling to faith. "sami'na munadiyan, yunadee" (3:193), we've heard someone calling us. Now sometimes that person that's calling you is a Prophet of God, sometimes, it's as some Hadiths call it, it's the inner messenger that we have, which is what? Which is our mind, which is our intellect, we look around, our mind tells us, look, all of this can't be batil, can't be in vain, there must be something out there, go look for it.

Something is summoning me. To do what? Declaring, have faith in your Lord. This summoner, this caller, this munaadiy, what's he saying? He says, he's saying 'Have faith in your Lord.' "Aminu bi Rabbikum" (3:193), since this caller is calling us, "Fa amanna" (3:193), and so we accept and we embrace faith, so we believed. Our Lord, Rabbana, forgive us our sins and absolve us of our misdeeds and make us die with the pious.

When we leave this world world, make sure that we leave this world in a pious state and we can be counted amongst the pious. So this is one verse he brings to show that ok, if this is our intellect, if this is what sets us apart from all these animals, this is what this, that which sets us apart is supposed to do. This is the function of it. It's supposed to push us in such a direction. That's what the Qur'an is telling us.

And of course, there's a lot of other verses also that you know, we've all come across, "Afala ya'qiloon" (36:68). Do they not think, do they not ponder. On the Day of Judgment, Allah Subhana Ta'ala can hold many people responsible and accountable just because of the aql that He gave them, the intellect that they enjoyed, although they didn't see a Prophet, although they didn't see an Imam. And it's also because of this, that he says in the end, the last line, he says, and it's also because of this, intellect, that the Qur'an talks about, that Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala tells us that we can't just follow whatever our forefathers did. And this is an important one.

He, of course, he says following in a, in a very, what's the word for it? Let me see what the translation says. Unreasonable, unaccounted for or here is says blind. Ok, that's good. Can't just blindly follow our forefathers. I spoke about this in depth before, that when it comes to God and the Beliefs, Islamic Beliefs, it is ok to follow others, although some might say that's not appropriate. And I explained why I was saying that, not me of course, these Ulema, they say that. In the end it's a conviction that we have to have in God. Here when it says blindly follow, that means when we're not even sure ourselves that this is the right thing or the wrong thing to do, but we're just doing it because our forefathers did it.

And I have to say that even the Shi'a and the Muslims also we are suffering from this problem. We don't like to read anymore, we don't like to listen to or attend classes too much anymore to learn. Now it's all become just, just do it the way it's been, it's been done. No, no. There are things that we are doing this in this day and age, sometimes they're wrong, sometimes they go against Islam. Sometimes the things that are red lines in Islam, sometimes things that are more, other priorities in Islam, they are not being adhered to and more importance is given to things that are more cultural. No one denies the importance of culture. Culture is the glue that keeps everything together, that keeps us stuck to religion. Culture is the way we carry out religion sometimes, yeah? But at the same time, this strong glue, sometimes, will cause problems as well.

And you will find that a wrong practice is out there only as a result of what? Is a result of blindly following and just going with the flow, yeah. So the Qur'an is saying this. Now there's a lot more to talk about here as well. There are some places that you're not supposed to ask questions, you're not supposed to reflect and ponder. Yeah. Usually when it comes to Islamic Law and Islamic Rulings, that's what you'll find. That ok, if God's Law is to pray five times a day, for example, well, you can try to figure out, you can try to figure out why God would say that. But at the same time, if you don't figure out why, if you know God said it, you will do it, yeah. So there's a lot to talk about. I'm going to skip some of that and I'm just going to continue.

So we have two more, we have two more articles left, but we don't have time anymore. So I just want to end with just a few points regarding what's happened recently. Our sister, Marziya Hashemi, who was imprisoned for 10 days, Alhamdulillah, she has been let go now and freed.

The thing is, brothers and sisters, the problem is that now for us living in this part of the world, in America, it's not about being Muslim or not or anything like that. It's about look, if you're a citizen of this country, why is it that the rules you know, are different when it comes to you? When it comes to some of us? Now with Sister Marziya, we find that she was African-American, she is a hijabi, she is a woman, she's a Muslim. All of these things, unfortunately, I don't know what it was that they took her in and Alhamdulillah, brothers and sisters out there, they stood up for their Muslim sister and not just Muslims, even non-Muslims I know, were helping out and were trying their best to you know, do whatever they could. And Alhamdulillah she has been freed.

But the thing is that, this can't continue. And now they had scheduled some protests, I don't know, in different cities across America, and now that she's been freed, you would think that ok, they're not going do, have those protests anymore. But it's interesting, this is what they did, is that they said 'No, we are going to still protest because this is not acceptable as an American citizen. You can't just take somebody in like that, doesn't make sense.' Take them in, and of course, we all heard about how she was she was dealt with and how she was treated, especially those first days that she was taken.

And that's not acceptable, by the laws of this country even. So the brothers and sisters out there in different cities, they have organized, you know, rallies that InshaAllah, the brothers and sisters will show their support so that this stuff stops happening, it's not acceptable. It's interesting, we had Martin Luther King Day just a few days ago as well. The irony really, the irony, the unacceptable irony. What can we say? It's not really a surprise, though.

So InshaAllah next week we'll continue. I was trying to finish these two last articles. Didn't get the chance but InshaAllah next week, we'll finish that and then we'll move into Tawhid, which is, you know, the actual meat of the discussion. Up till here, these were introductory, I would say not introductory, but in conventional theology and in conventional aqaid, usually these aren't covered. These things that we covered so far, it just starts with Tawhid, right?

But in this book, he started with a few, you know, topics that you know, aren't usually covered. So those were nice, I like them. After these two articles that we cover next week, we'll move into Tawhid and it starts with Tawhid and it's different levels and grades. And that's where, InshaAllah, we're going to have to go deep into some things and hopefully you guys will find those beneficial. InshaAllah keep us in your du'a's. This weekend I'm going to Houston, InshaAllah for another Death and Barzakh course there. Alhamdulillah, I think we're going to have a record number there. And we have a few more coming up in following weeks as well. Alhamdulillah, things are going well with these courses. And as I've said before, once we do the rounds with these topics, we are going to move on to new topics as well with these onsite courses that we hold. So InshaAllah till next week. Thank you for tuning in.

Wa as-salamu alaykum, wa Rahmat Ullahi, wa barakatuh.