We begin by praising Allah. We praise
him. We seek his help and we ask for his
forgiveness. And we take refuge with
Allah from the evil of ourselves and
from the evil consequence of our evil
actions. Whomsoever Allah guides, there
is none to misguide. And whomsoever
Allah leaves to go astray, there is none
to guide. And I testify that indeed
Allah alone is worthy of worship and
that Muhammad
may Allah's peace and blessings be upon
him is the servant of Allah and his
final messenger.
Before we actually
answer the question
of today's lecture, is there a god?
It's the question. Is there a god?
it might be useful
to explore the meaning of some words.
So the first thing that we would like to
ask is what is a god?
Actually I'd like to ask you that
question.
What is a god? I I'm not asking you
what is the god.
I'm asking what is a god.
What makes something a god?
So there you go. It's a question.
Question needs an answer. Can sit here
all night. So you can try and answer my
question. What is if you don't answer me
I'll just pick on people and say you
give me something. So either you can
volunteer right and you can put your
hand up and give me Yeah. Go on sister.
Yes.
Okay. I specifically said although for
that and very courageous for you know
being the first person but I did
specifically say I didn't want to know
what is the god.
Yeah. Didn't I say that? I want to know
what is a god. So for example um did um
did
Ganesha create the universe?
Did do Hindus believe that Ganesha
created the universe?
Huh?
No. No. I mean they he didn't. They
don't. Right. Or you know Aphroditi.
Yeah. The goddess of love. Do they
believe that she created the universe?
No. Okay. But she's still a goddess and
he Krishna or whoever or Ganesha is
still a god. So I'm not asking for a
definition of the creator. I'm asking
what is a god, not the god. Yes, sister.
Something you worship.
Okay. Something that you worship or
something that is worshiped.
Okay, that's a good start. That's a very
good start. Still not enough though. We
want something else. What we want to
know okay is why do people worship
things then
it's very important
why do people worship things why do they
worship these gods
come on everyone good first brother
amazing yeah go on themselves
okay
so they believe in a higher being than
themselves right some people may imagine
that David Beckham is a being than
themsself. Actually, some people might
worship David Beckham, but certainly
they might believe he's superior in some
things, but it's still okay. So, okay.
All you've made now is you we've gone
back a bit and we've answered or we've
gone back to uh what is a god? It's
something that people believe is a
higher being. But we've moved on a bit
because the sister, alhamdulillah,
mashallah, she said something which
quite rightly it's something that people
worship. So now we want to explore why
do people worship things? What's worship
all about? What does it involve worship?
Because the people think Lord can do
anything and they give us everything.
Good. That's very good. Okay. Excellent.
People worship these gods because they
think that those gods can give them
something. They think that by worshiping
these things they can get something from
those gods. So they imagine that by
worshiping this thing or they believe
that this god can give them what they
want and what they need. So a god a god
is something that people believe
can give them what they want and what
they need.
That's what a god is.
Right. Okay. Now, often in religions,
people have different gods for different
things. All right. So, in some
religions, you will find that they have
a particular god that if you, you know,
if you're fighting a war and you want to
win, then you worship the god of war,
right? Like Mars, for example,
originally was a god of war, right? Mars
is one of the gods of war of the ancient
Greeks. Okay. And any by the way, could
everyone please turn their mobile phones
off or put them on silent? The brother
forgot to mention that.
Yeah. Um or for example, if you want the
rain to fall, they worship the rain god.
If they, you know, want to someone to
love them, they might worship the the
god or goddess of love, right? So people
often in some religions, they have
different gods for different things.
They worship this god and they think
that by worshiping it they're going to
get what they want and get what they
need. I used to be a Roman Catholic in
the in in the Roman Catholic faith. They
had different saints for different
things. The patron saint of travel, the
patron saint of art.
If you lost something, they used to tell
us if you've lost something, pray to St.
Anthony and he'll help you find it.
He was the saint of lost things. Okay.
So it's the same really. There's no
difference from praying to saints or
praying to because at the end of the day
when they pray whatever you pray to
whatever you worship you think that that
thing by worshiping and praying and
sacrificing and serving that God that's
how you will get what you want and what
you need. And usually there is a set of
rituals, a set of functions. It may be
prayer, it may be sacrifice, it may be
giving offerings, you know, and these
things can reach extremes including for
example human sacrifice. In some
religions, you know, humans were
sacrificed to these gods like the Aztecs
for example, they used to practice human
sacrifice. So this is the religion. This
is the religion. The worship of these
gods is the ritualized behavior. the
things that people do in order to get
what they want from those gods. Yeah.
Okay.
So this is these are the gods and this
is the religion. This is the worship of
those gods, right? Okay. So this is what
a god is. A god is what people believe
is going to give them what they want and
what they need. And so people worship
those gods and they pray to them,
sacrifice to them and so on and so
forth. So if we think now let's go back
and answer our question. Is there a god?
Right. Well, no one could deny that
there's not only a god, there are
actually
probably countless millions of gods
because whatever people put their faith
in and their hope in and their trust in,
whatever people believe is going to give
them what they want and what they need,
that's their god. So everybody has a god
of some degree or another because
everybody puts their faith. And these
gods are not always idols. They're not
always saints. They're not always, you
know, people or things. Often these gods
can also be ideas. They can be concepts
because people put their faith and trust
in many different things.
Not only idols and saints and prophets
and so on and so forth. No, they also
put their faith and trust in ideologies,
communism,
you know, science,
right? So these also can be gods.
Let me give you an example. You see, I
myself I myself, as you've heard, I was
brought up in, you know, although you
might not know that now, but if you met
me 20 years ago, you'd have no doubt
from what sort of background I came
from. So, as the brother mentioned in
the introduction, I was sent to a Roman
Catholic monastic boarding school, a
place called Ampleforth College.
Ampleforth College is like the Catholic
version of Eaton. is the top Roman
Catholic boarding school. My mother had
actually, you know, written me down to
go there even before I was born, you
know. So, she had no doubt about where I
was going to go. Ampleforth College,
okay? And it was a monastic boarding
school, so it's run by monks. Now, um,
my mother, my parents, um, my dad, to
tell you the truth, my my dad's pretty
chilled out, but I mean, you know, my
dad, his family have for generations
been, uh, in the colonial service. So,
my dad himself was a colonial
administrator in Tanzania, which is
where I was born. Um, my grandfather was
a high court judge in Bombay.
Um, and that's as far back as I know,
but uh, so we, you know, my my dad's
family have been in the colonial service
and my mom actually is Polish, but she
was brought up in Kenya and she's more
English than English people and she's
very very uh, you know, concerned with
the etiquette and the manners of being
very correct.
And so I was brought up very strictly,
not just as a Catholic, but you know, my
mom was not very strict about her
Catholicism. I suppose she expected that
I would get that from the school, but
she was very strict about our manners,
how we should behave, that we should use
the right words.
Okay? My dad taught me the etiquets of
how to dress. For example, very specific
rules about dress.
And you know, I I can look at someone
straight away until today and I could
know how well bought up that person is
or badly bought up they are by looking
at the way they're dressed, by looking
at the type of shoes that they wear. You
know, for example, my dad would teach
me, you never wear brown shoes with
black.
Oh dear.
You never wear brown shoes with You
don't. You know, it's just he said, "And
you just don't do that. It's it's just
not done." You know, how do you what's
the correct way to wear your T? What was
the correct way to put your handkerchief
in your pocket? You never fold your
handkerchief in the pocket. Never.
That's that you know that was uh you
well they say they used to say it's non
you. It's just meaning it is not a uh
the right way to do things.
So these are the type of details
and as for eating you know the dinner
was a you know sort of major ritual
you know even down to how do you eat
your bread roll
even to how you eat your bread roll you
know everything had to be correct you
had to take a bit of butter from the
butter dish with the knife that was the
butter dish knife and then put it on
your side plate and then return that
knife to the butter dish and then take
your own personal butter knife, which
is, you know, that's cuz it's the small
one, right? And then you break your
bread roll, not in the air,
but on the plate. And you take a piece
and butter that piece of bread roll on
the plate and then lift it to your mouth
and eat it.
Wo tide, the one who gets a bit of
butter, you know, butter,
you know, and and so this, you know, and
and what is all of this about? It's
because they believe that by following
these rituals
and that's what it is their type of
rituals. It's a type of in fact a type
of religion because they believe that by
following these rituals you will be
identified as being a member of the
upper middle classes. And when people
know that you're a member of the upper
middle classes,
doors open for you that would never open
otherwise.
In other words, they believe that this
is the way and this is the thing that
will get you what you want and what you
need. So therefore, it becomes a a type
of God,
right? Becomes a type of God because
people put their faith in it and their
trust in it and their hope in it and
they imagine that these are the things
that will make them successful in life.
And of course like any god that people
worship, if you ask Hindus or Buddhists
or any people who worship idols, they
will tell you stories about how they
prayed to their god and this thing
happened and how they offered things to
that god and the god drank from the you
know Ganesha drinking milk. Do you
remember that when Ganesha all around
the world started drinking milk? Yeah.
all those miracles and you must have
heard of the Virgin Mary crying and you
know and and the crucified Jesus
dripping with blood you must have heard
about all of these things right so all
of these things you know they say these
are the miracles and these show that our
gods are real and it's the same it's the
same with belonging to the upper middle
class people say well our experience
tells us that you know uh and it's true
in some cases it's true that you will
get a job
just by virtue of what school you went
to. There are certain newspapers in this
country and this is very telling by the
way if you think about the whole idea of
so-called the free press and free speech
that they talk about. No, the people who
write for newspapers are a very
carefully selected bunch of people by
and large who belong to a particular
elite who have most of them studied in a
particular group of schools and who
conform to a particular way of thinking
about how the world should be.
So it's very important to understand
this. People have gods.
Everybody has a god. Most people have
many gods.
So the real question we need to be
asking today is not is there a god but
rather because the answer to that simply
is there are millions of gods, countless
millions of gods.
But actually the real question is out of
all the things that people worship and
put their faith in and put their trust
in, are any of these things truly
worthy of it? In other words, are they
really capable of giving people what
they want and what they need? And so
what I'm going to do today is I am going
to use the Quran
to analyze all the different things that
people worship. Now, you may say, "Okay,
could we have a cup of coffee now?
Because it's going to be quite a long
time to go through the millions and
millions of I'm of course I'm not going
to go through every individual god that
people worship or have worshiped." Of
course not. But what we can do is we can
divide these gods into broad categories.
We can categorize them. And this is what
the Quran, we can see the Quran does.
The Quran uses certain examples. Allah,
God uses certain examples in the Quran
to identify certain types
of religion, certain types of worship,
certain types of gods. And then the
Quran shows us why these things are not
worthy of worship. And what method does
the Quran use?
You know, it's very beautiful.
The Quran really appeals to something
that all human beings have it. Now, not
every human being is a philosopher
or has the capability of being a
philosopher. Not every human being is a
theologian.
And nor are they all capable of being a
theologian.
Not every human being is capable
of becoming a mystic and an aesthetic
in order to become enlightened with
spiritual truths because most human
beings have to just get on with their
life in order to survive.
Buddhism for example, if you look at the
teachings of Buddha
and you look at the life of Buddha,
Buddha teaches that in order to achieve
enlightenment, you have to abandon the
world and live in a monastery.
Now, if everybody abandoned the world
and lived in a monastery, the people
even in the monastery would have no way
to live.
So, it's not a very inclusive type of
religion. Although some Buddhist
countries have sort of worked out a
rotor that everyone spends a couple of
years in the monastery, you know, like
you have military service, they have a
couple of years in the monastery. But uh
it's not really that's not what
enlightenment really is supposed to be
about.
However,
so what we find is that these are not
really practical solutions. If you want
to appeal to someone, how can we know
the truth from the falsehood? You can't
expect everybody
to be a philosopher or a theologian, a
mystic or whatever. So we find that the
Quran which is a book for everybody.
It's a book for the philosopher, the
theologian, the mystic and the ordinary
people.
Because this is a book that we believe
who that is from the creator of ordinary
people which appeals to ordinary people.
And so we're not really concerned
whether these arguments impress the
philosophers or the theologians or the
mystics
because at the end of the day
at the end of the day the Quran appeals
to something that is common to humanity.
And what is common to humanity
actually something we call common sense
not logic because logic is a systemized
way of thinking. So we don't want to
call it logic. We could call it reason
but even reason
is not necessarily what we're talking
about. What we are talking about is
something even more fundamental and that
is common sense. And common sense is
called common sense because it's common.
Every single human being
agrees about those things.
There are certain
there are certain things that every
human being agrees about. The only
people who don't agree with it are
people who are either insane and that's
why we call them insane.
Yeah. Or perhaps philosophers.
I'm not suggesting that philosophers are
insane or some some people might but you
know but they don't agree with these
things because they're just you know
contentious. They think it's their job
to argue about everything but otherwise
no these are things that people all let
me give you an example. Let me give you
an example.
Isn't it a universal truth that every
human being agrees about that part of
something is less than the whole? Yeah.
A part of something is less than the
whole of that thing. True. Isn't that a
universal truth?
So there's an example of a universal
type of truth. Let me give you another
example of a universal truth. You don't
get something coming from nothing.
True or not? Do you get something just
spontaneously coming from nothing? Do we
have you ever in the totality of human
experience
heard of something spontaneously
appearing out of nothing?
No.
That goes against common sense.
I mean, okay, we've all seen a magician
pull rabbits out of hats and stuff like
that, but we know it's a trick. We know
he's not really doing. We go, "Ooh." You
know, because he's made us believe for a
moment that he's done something
impossible because our common sense and
our common experience tells us that
that's not possible. But we do know that
you can't get something from nothing. We
know it's a trick,
right?
Okay. So, we have these types of things
and we could list other ones. You could
argue about something but you know uh
other ones that that you know the
shortest distance between two points is
a straight line
and so on and so forth. There are
collective things that uh that are that
are are common experiences of human
beings that wherever we are as long as
we call ourselves human we experience
these things and we can agree about
these things. Yes.
Now I want to make an important point.
This is very important.
One of the things that human beings
actually don't agree about a lot are
things to do with ethics and morals.
In fact, one of the things that is
extraordinarily diverse amongst human
beings are things to do with ethics and
morality. how we should behave, the
things that we shouldn't and shouldn't
do, the type of punishments that we
should have.
Okay? So for one society to say, "Oh,
this society is backward and primitive
or this religion is wrong because it
practices polygamy, whereas the right
way to behave is monamy." Right?
Actually, this is not a valid means
through which and by which to judge
anyone or anything? Because upon what
basis is monogamy right and polygamy
wrong? Having one wife only became the
normal mode of behavior to tell you the
truth in the northern hemisphere.
And these were only based upon survival
strategies in cold countries. It was
just a lot easier to survive as human
beings in cold countries with one wife
and a few children.
So the idea of just having a few kids
and having one wife and a few kids was
actually something that became
established as part of the culture in
this part of the world mostly due to
geography and climates not to do with
any moral superiority and because it's
more moral. It's just about that it was
easier to survive like that. But due to
the conditions in hot countries,
okay, the survival strategies employed
there were very very different. So it is
facious to say that we should make
judgments about another culture or
another religion based upon some aspects
of their morality. And I'm I'm not
saying this absolutely because actually
there are some things that are very
common. Human beings universally almost
always agree that it's wrong to murder.
It's wrong to steal. It's wrong to
cheat. It's wrong to lie. So on and so
forth. I mean these things are pretty
universally agreed upon. But you know
apart from some basic moral structures
actually human beings have pretty
diverse
ideas about what should be the norms of
a society. And I'm only saying that cuz
you know what? What you will find is
that most people who criticize Islam
don't criticize Islam on the basis of
the fundamentals of what our religion
teaches.
And the reason simply is, as I hope by
the end of today I will show you, is
that the fundamentals of what Islam
teaches are so firmly rooted in reason
and common sense that it is really
virtually impossible to produce any type
of effective argument against it.
So therefore the only manner or means in
which they can try and make some capital
out of criticizing Islam is about some
aspects of its morality. But I it's a
false way to make a criticism
because it's not really a valid means.
It's not based upon universal
principles.
So let's go back. Let's use our common
sense and let's look at some of the
stories and the examples that the Quran
uses and just let's see how very much
based upon common sense these things
are. So let's take the first category of
people. The first category of people are
those people who and these are very few
by the way historically even until today
the amount of people who actually say I
believe there is not a god that there is
not a creator that there is no being
that has brought this universe into
existence that it's just a product of uh
random events or whatever it's just time
that destroys us there were people in
the time of the prophet who made claims
like that.
And there are people today who make
claims like that. But historically
amongst humanity, they have been very
very few.
And societies that have actually made
such claims have either not existed at
all or have lasted such a short time
that they have evaporated in history.
Like for example, Soviet the Soviet
Union.
The Soviet Union was a selfdeclared
atheist society. In other words, the
belief system of the Soviet Union was
that there is not a god.
And this is what they attempted to force
upon people. And you can see how long
that society lasted.
A mere you know what,
you know,
80 years, something like that. That's
not very long in terms of human history,
right? It's barely a bleep.
So similarly, you'll find that all
cultures,
even those most primitive cultures,
so-called primitive cultures, have this
concept of a transcendent
being that has created the universe and
has brought it into existence.
the ab aborigis of Australia, the Zulus.
You can go and look at different
cultures and you will find the idea of
this created, this being that is
different from the creation
that is transcendent.
This idea of this transcendent creator
is universal in human culture. And the
reason is is because it is so
fundamentally rooted in common sense.
It's a common human experience.
And so these things are not difficult to
understand. The Quran, for example,
poses a series of rhetorical questions.
A rhetorical question is a question that
is not supposed to have an answer. When
someone asks a rhetorical question,
they're not expecting you to answer it.
In fact, the question in itself has an
answer. For example, the Quran says
concerning or to those people who claim
that there is not a God, that there is
not a creator being who has brought this
universe into existence. The Quran asks
the rhetorical question, did it come
from nothing? This universe, did the
universe come from nothing? That is a
rhetorical question.
Because it's obvious that you can't get
something coming from nothing. As I've
already stated, there is nothing in the
totality of human experience that leads
us to believe that you get something
coming from nothing or that you get
order spontaneously arising out of
chaos.
Rather, human experience tells us that
where we see things working according to
laws, according to patterns, according
to systems,
laws and patterns and systems have been
imposed upon that thing,
right?
That's why if you were walking in the
desert in Saudi Arabia,
right? and you found a mobile phone.
What are the essential components of a
mobile phone?
The essential components of a mobile
phone are plastic. Does anyone know
what is the base material from which
plastic is made?
Sand.
Huh?
No, it's not sand. It's
petroleum. It's oil. However, there is
something else that comes from sand and
that's the silicon chip. Silicon is in
fact sand.
Silicon chip. It's base material is
sand. So, two important things. A mobile
phone is made out of sand and oil. But
no one picks up a mobile phone in the
desert and says, "Look, a product of
billions of years of chance and
coincidence." Yeah. The oil bubbled.
Yeah. The wind blew, the sun shone, the
lightning struck, the camel trod. Yeah.
And after billions and billions of years
of these things happening, by an amazing
coincidence, this mobile phone formed
itself pl.
And I pressed it and oh, hi mom.
What a chance and coincidence. Let alone
that these all these mobile phones talk
to each other and you can send a signal
and you see how ridiculous it is.
So, common human experience tells us
even something more simple, a piece of
pottery, a piece of pottery,
which is clay.
When an archaeologist finds a little
piece of pottery, he doesn't say, "Oh my
gosh, chance and coincidence." He knows
someone has made this, someone has
heated it, someone has treated it,
someone has painted it. And in fact,
this archaeologist could tell you so
many things about that civilization from
this one piece of pottery.
He could theorize so many things. He
could tell you about their state of
knowledge, their technology, so many
things he could understand from one
piece of pottery.
That is why the Quran
keeps asking us
look at the alternation of the night and
the day.
Look at the sun, the moon, the stars,
the winds, the ships in which you sail,
the animals that you ride and that you
eat.
Look at yourselves. Travel through the
earth. See how Allah brought about the
creation. In all of these things are
signs for those who are wise and for
those who understand. They point us to
one very very obvious conclusion
that this incredibly organized
systemized universe and world in which
we live with so many intricately
coordinated mechanisms.
We find this symbiosis. We find how one
thing relies and depends upon another.
And we can think of so many examples. We
can think of so many examples.
You know, I remember seeing until this
day when I was a little kid, David
Atenburgh
going down a termite mound. Now,
termites are little creatures rather
like ants and they build they build
these incredible mounds of mud. So you
can imagine in the equator in Africa
extremely hot and even in the night time
by the way it gets really cold.
Yet an amazing thing these termites
build at the base of this mound a series
of rings out of mud. They build a series
of rings
and also they have vents. And what this
does is it keeps
the heat. It keeps the temperature of
this mound constant. It only fluctuates
between a few degrees.
And this is also includes the body heat
of the termites. And they actually have
a certain place in the termite mound
where they grow a certain fungus which
they live on. They farm a fungus. These
are termites.
Now these termites are not intelligent
beings. They don't have brains.
From where did they get this knowledge
and this information to build such a
perfectly
amazingly intricately working mechanism
and they cooperate all together in order
to do this.
And we find these type of systems
existing even between anima and
inanimate objects. We look at our earth.
Is it just coincidence that the earth is
at an optimal distance from the sun? If
we were in astronomical terms, and I'm
not talking about three or four miles,
okay? In astronomical terms, by the way,
our our galaxy is 100. The Milky Way,
the galaxy in which we live, is 100,000
light years across. That means if you
lived for a 100,000 years and you
traveled non-stop at the speed of light,
that's how long it would take to cross
our galaxy. And our galaxy is one of
millions in the known universe, which
is, I think, 10 billion light years
across. Right?
So can you imagine
the type of distances involved in the in
the universe
right so therefore understand that our
earth when I say it's in an optimal I'm
not talking about a couple of miles when
something is within a couple of thousand
or hundred thousand miles in terms of
the size of the universe that's precise
try and shrink that down in human terms
Imagine
if you put that into terms how precise I
don't think we could think of a
mechanism in existence built by human
beings that has the precision of the
distance of the earth being from the
sun. If we were much closer to the sun
then
the our planet would be too hot. If it
was much further it would be too cold.
So in terms of the distance from the sun
the s and the earth is at an optimal
distance for life to exist. The size of
the earth also is important. If the
earth was much bigger the gravitational
forces would be too overwhelming. If it
was much smaller there would be not not
enough gravity. This is another point.
How about the combination of gases on
our planet? Not only oxygen vital for
the existence of life but also carbon
dioxide and nitrogen. It is this
combination of gases. Pure oxygen is
poisonous.
If you breathe just pure oxygen for long
enough, it will poison you. You need a
balance of gases.
We need carbon dioxide. Plants need
carbon dioxide. Nitrogen is important
for fertilizing the soil. Ozone, another
gas. The ozone layer actually filters
out the harmful rays of the sun's
radiation. That's why they've been
making a big fuss about the depletion of
the ozone layer and the increase in skin
cancer in Australia and other places
where the ozone layers become depleted
because the sun's rays are not being
blocked anymore and they're starting to
cause cancers. So, does life exist
without an ozone layer? It would not. It
would be radiated out of existence.
Look at these optimal conditions. The
Earth spins on its axis once every 24
hours. Imagine the Earth was going
really, really, really, really slow,
right? Really slow. So, the sun is
shining on one part of the Earth's
surface for say 20 years. That's how
slowly the Earth is spinning. What would
happen? One part of the Earth's surface
would be superheated. Another part of
the Earth's surface would be super
cooled.
And I could go on and on. We could talk
about water, how water has an incredible
quality. If water did not have the
quality that it did, life would not
exist.
So what we find is a super precise
mechanism. I invite anyone to find me an
example made by human beings of such a
precise mechanism. you'll not find it.
How could such if we saw such a precise
mechanism
and we found one, we would automatically
presume that some super intelligent
person or group of people had managed to
make this thing.
It is therefore only common sense that
when we look around us and we see these
things that we conclude there must be
some intelligence, some power behind
this. And this power must be very
powerful, very wise, very intelligent.
And it's also common sense to realize
that this being cannot be like the
creation. This being cannot be like the
creation because if this being was like
the creation then that being would not
be the creator. That being would just be
another creation and that would need
another creator and we only end up with
the same dilemma. We have creators
creating creators forever and that's
actually not possible.
And the reason it's not possible, just
to tell you briefly why it's not
possible. And I'll give you an example.
I'll give you an analogy. If I said to
someone, oh, can you help me lift up
this podium? I can't do it by myself.
And you say, sure, I will help you lift
up the podium, but I need someone else
to help me. And that person says, well,
I'll help you only if you help me. And
so if everyone makes the condition that
I will only help if someone ever helps,
will this podium ever be lifted?
Huh? will never be lifted. Right? So if
you have creators creating creators
creating creators at infinism, you never
get anything created. Right?
Okay.
So it makes sense that the creator is
infinite, eternal, without beginning,
without end. That the creator is
self-sufficient. We we summarize all of
this by saying transcendent. that the
creator is not like anything in this
universe and that how could you have
more than one transcendent being.
And even again, common sense tells us
that the precision
the precision that we find and the unity
that we find in the creational process
makes us understand there could only be
one mastermind behind this. If there
were different creators, in fact, what
we would find would be chaos and
disunityity, not this type of consistent
precision throughout our universe.
And this is why really it makes so much
sense to believe, it's common sense to
believe that there is one God, that
there is one wise, powerful, intelligent
creator that is unique, who has brought
this universe into existence.
This is common sense.
This is reason. This is why human beings
as I said everywhere historically you
will find in every culture there is this
belief in the transcendent creator.
You see the Quran says that in fact the
real problem with the human beings is
not that they don't believe in God. Most
human beings believe in God and they
believe that there is one God. Meaning
they believe that there is one creator.
But what they do is they actually give
to the created things some of the powers
or the knowledge that in fact only
rightly belongs to God. So they
attribute to the creation.
They imagine that some things in the
creation have powers that only God has.
Or sometimes they also attribute to God
some of the deficiencies and the
shortcomings in the creation. And the
reason they do this is because they
speak about God without knowledge. They
invent things because actually the truth
is that what we can know about God
through reason and common sense is in
fact severely limited.
Now some people when they are faced with
that limitation they've come up with
different ideas. If you look at the
philosophical tradition and the western
philosophical tradition okay you have a
group of people who lived and they were
very uh influential in the last last 200
years. They were called deists.
Deists believed that there was a
creator. They believed that it was
extremely logical to believe that this
universe had a creator. But they did not
believe in a personal God. In other
words, they didn't believe that God
actually really cared about human
beings. So is this God created the
universe but about us and and the idea
that we could have some sort of contact
and relationship with this God. They
considered that to be, you know, they
didn't believe that. Okay. They
dismissed this
but philosophically they understood the
power of this belief in this idea that
there was this supreme being. Other many
other people came to this same type of
conclusion. But what they believed is
that no we could communicate with God
but not directly. God is so different
from us that you know you can't have any
direct communication with God. And then
what they obviously did is they began to
imagine and this is where they begin to
start thinking that God has some of the
deficiencies of the creation and they
start to imagine that God is like a
created thing which actually contradicts
their original premise. They end up
contradicting themselves. But for
example, idol worshippers.
Most intelligent idol worshippers
don't actually claim that the idol
itself that they are worshiping actually
has any power.
They believe that somehow these idols
represent spirits or powers or beings
that can be intermediaries or
intercessors between them and God. And
they give an example. They say, for
example,
look, if you want to go and see Tony
Blair, yeah, I'm not saying this is
exactly the example they give, but you
know, if you want to go and see Tony
Blair, you don't just go out and say,
"Hey, Tony, you know, can I have a chat
with you?" So, oh my god, it's one of
those Muslims. Run. Okay. No, I mean,
you know, they will say, "No, you have
to go through Tony's cronies." Yeah, you
have to go through the cronies of Tony,
right? If you want to get to him. So,
you have to go to those people who he
knows or even you have to go through the
cronies of the cronies or the cronies of
the cronies of the cronies depending.
Yeah. You know, if you're really like
just a nobody, but of course, if you're
rich and middle class, you know, you
could probably get to see him straight
away. If you have enough money, he might
even come to visit you. Yeah. But for
you ordinary people, Muslims, yeah,
especially those veiled women, it could
take your veil off, then maybe we'll
talk to you.
Yeah. Okay. No, no, no. You know, you
have to go through special channels. And
they say, well, it's like that with God.
You see, you can't just talk straight to
God. You have to go through those people
who are close to God. You have to go to
the priest who will then talk to, you
know, this super sort of semi-od who
will pass on the message bit by bit. You
have to go through. So they imagine God
is like a king or a prime minister or
something, you know, surrounded by all
these cronies and these sort of demigods
and these things. You have that's how
you have to get to God. That's how they
portray it.
Okay. Of course, the problem with this
is that immediately
these people have pursu presumed that
God suffers from the limitations and the
deficiencies of the human beings,
right?
Because why does Tony need cronies?
Can anyone tell me why does Tony need
cronies?
human cuz he's a human being. He's
afraid of being assassinated.
He's afraid of terrorists.
He's also afraid. He's not also not
afraid. He just simply doesn't have
enough time to deal with the complaint
of every single individual person,
right? He has to eat his dinner. He has
to spend time with Cherry and his
family, right? He has to go on holiday.
usually at the expense of some rich
friend of his, you know. Nothing wrong
with that. Actually, don't think there's
anything wrong. Personally, I think
there's nothing wrong with that at all.
How could I? My parents are always, you
know, helping me go on holiday and visit
them and stuff like that. But anyway,
you know, that aside,
um, you know, so he has to have people
see, is this really worth me dealing
with? If every single person wanted to
personally complain to the prime
minister about every single little
problem that they had, would he be able
to deal with that?
Of course, he wouldn't because he's
human. He has 24 hours in a day. He's
limited, you see. But God
is not limited like that.
Allah, God the creator who has created
this whole universe
can hear the complaint of every single
human being. And not only that, an
incredible thing. If every single human
being complained to God all at the same
time, God could hear every voice of
every human being and God could give
every one of them what they wanted and
that would be easy for God.
Right now, how about the human beings?
If you all start talking to me at the
same time, could I understand what
you're going on about? Could I?
Could I? No, I can't. And the reason I
can't is because I'm human.
Let's think about what that means in
respect to those people who pray to
saints and prophets.
There are even some Muslims who do this.
And now we can see how people start to
make others equal with Allah.
So now let's say that
I am praying to St. Anthony or some
Muslim is praying to Abdul Kard al
Jalani or prophet Muhammad or prophet
Jesus
okay or whatever right sallallahu alaihi
wasallam
are you telling me that not just me by
the way oh let's just say that 1 million
Muslims all at the same time are asking
and calling upon the prophet Muhammad or
1 million Catholics all at the same time
are calling upon St. Anthony. Are you
telling me that St. Anthony can hear 1
million voices all at the same time? If
you're telling me that he can, then
actually you are not describing a human
being anymore. You are saying that he
has powers that are actually divine
powers. You are now beginning to make
that person equal with Allah with God
whether it's the prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wasallam or prophet
Isa or St. Anthony or Abdul Kard Jalani
if you first of all put aside the
argument of whether the dead can even
hear the living.
Okay, let's put that aside.
Although I believe that the dead cannot
hear the living. It's why it's called
barak. Calling upon a dead person is
like calling upon a brick.
But let's put that aside. Let's say they
can hear. Are you saying they can hear
these multiple voices all at the same
time?
You're not really saying they're human
anymore.
And they could deal with all these
prayers and all of these supplications.
M
that's a divine attribute and this is
how people either they imagine that God
Allah is limited
see they've they've given to Allah
limitations and they've given to human
beings exaggerations.
This is how people start to make and
worship things and they put and listen
if I pray to St. Anthony don't I hope
that he's going to hear me? Don't I
trust that he's going to answer my
prayers? Don't I don't I put then faith
and hope and trust and I believe that
he's going to give me what I want and
what I need or if I pray to Prophet
Muhammad or Jesus or whoever it may be.
Isn't that therefore doesn't it
therefore become a god an object of
worship?
It does. Of course it does.
And the Quran deals with this. Actually,
there is something more foolish about
idolatry. And the basic reason why it's
foolish is because of simple common
sense. Any human being who spends some
time thinking about it would realize
this is foolishness. And again, the
Quran appeals to h common sense. A
beautiful story is the story of Abraham.
See, prophet Abraham, he is well known
for smashing idols.
Bit of a radical.
Can you imagine that? These days,
prophet Abraham
tried so hard to convince his people.
You see, from a young age, he was
brought up his father's house. He was
watching his father used to make idols.
So, he used to see his dad get a piece
of wood, chop up the piece of wood and
make an idol, use the, you know, the
chippings to heat the fire to cook their
food. Yeah. And then this idol which he
made, he would see his dad give it to
the people and the people would pray to
it and he realized this is the same
thing we were cooking our dinner with,
right? And now the people are worshiping
it. He's brought up realizing that what
is this? And then he noticed the people,
they're worshiping the sun, the moon,
and the stars. But he's looking, he's
seeing, well, the stars are there, and
then the moon comes out and outshines
the stars. And then the sun comes, and
that outshines everything, and then the
sun sets. Why are we worshiping things
that obviously are controlled by
something else? It doesn't make any
sense to worship them. They don't have
the power. They're under the power of
something else.
And he realizes that these things are
not true gods. They shouldn't be
worshiped. Why should we worship these
things that come and go and temporary?
Because if they can go, that means they
can let us down. The time we really need
them is when they're not there.
So why should I worship that? Why should
I put my faith in that? Why should I put
my trust in that? So one day he's
determined. He says to his people, I'm
going to show you. I'm going to prove to
you that your worship of the idols is
false.
So when his people have gone, you know,
it's their festivity
and it's their religious festival, he
doesn't want to participate in it
because he doesn't want to be involved
in the idol worship at all. So he says
to them, I'm sick.
He says, "I'm sick." Meaning, actually,
he was sick of what they're doing. So,
when they were doing this, he went into
the temple and he smashed all the idols
except the chief idol. He took his ax
and he hung it around the neck of the
chief idol. Now, when the people came
back, they were outraged. Who has
committed this blasphemy? Who has done
this to our gods? And they, some people
said, "Well, you remember that young man
Abraham? He was saying that he was going
to prove our idols are false. So the
king, he brings Abraham in front of the
people. He says,"Abraham, did you do
this to our gods?" So Abraham says, "Ask
the big one.
Ask him."
So then they look at each other and and
they say to Abraham, you know, Abraham,
you know that our gods can't talk to us.
He says, "Why do you worship something
that can bring you no benefit and no
harm. And this this idol can't even
protect itself.
How is it going to protect you? Isn't
that common sense? Isn't that just
common sense? Isn't it our common
everyday experience? You who are
students here in Buckingham Hampshire
and Chilton University. Yeah. When when
you want to study in a university like
these days, you need loans, right? You
need money because you have to pay for
some of it, right? Okay. Where did you
go to get the money? Did you go to the
guy begging on the street sitting
outside the railway station? Excuse me,
mate. You know, I need to go to
university. Could I borrow a couple of
thousand quid?
Did you do that? Did anyone do that? I
don't think so. Because if this guy
can't help himself, how is he going to
help you? When Kuwait was invaded by
Iraq, who did they appeal to for help?
Bangladesh.
Bangladesh with one helicopter. Nothing
against Bangladesh, but you know, if you
want military aid, Bangladesh had one at
the time. I remember reading they had
one helicopter,
right? They couldn't cope with the
floods in their own country. How would
they possibly be able to supply military
aid to Kuwait?
And nothing against Bangladesh, nothing
against the guy begging in the street.
It's just common sense. You don't ask
someone who can't help themsself, right?
Common sense. That's all it is. Common
sense.
So if the idol cannot do anything for
itself, how is it going to be able to do
something for you? I mean, isn't it
extraordinary? You go to the shop.
Excuse me. I'd like that idol over
there.
Okay. He brings the idol down. And this
idol can't you might think it might fly
down itself, right? No, he he brings it
down and he pays money for the idol. He
actually pays money to get the idol and
then he carries it home. Not the the
idol doesn't carry him say that's it.
Now I'm your god. Yeah, I'll carry you.
No, he carries the idol home and he puts
it up on the shelf, you know, and if it
fell down again, he'd have to put it up
again, right? And then he says, "Oh,
such and such, help me. Give me this.
Give me that."
Does that make any sense?
Same thing. Muslims do it. A person
dies, they wash him, he can't wash
himself. They shroud him, he can't
shroud himself. They carry him to the
grave and they bury him in the grave and
they say, "Oh, such and such, do this
and that for us."
Extraordinary.
Does this makes any sense? And Allah is
just appealing to common sense.
So this is one broad category. These are
false gods. These are things that we
should not worship. They cannot give you
what you need and what you want. They
can't even help themselves. Here is the
argument. Whatever things you could say,
oh sometimes my prayers were answered.
It's just coincidence.
And there are many reasons to explain,
okay, why they amazing things could
happen to these idols. But nothing could
go against this common sense.
Okay, let's look at another category.
The other category is the category of
the man god. There are many religions
throughout history who have believed
that some human being is actually God.
Now the example the Quran uses is the
example of Christianity.
There are Christians who claim that
Jesus is Allah.
That he is not just a son of Allah but
he is Allah.
He is one and part and the same as God.
And the Quran appeals to such beautiful
common sensical things. The Quran says,
"Didn't Jesus and his mother
because some people also worship Mary?"
And there were some Christians who used
to believe also Mary was God. Even
Catholics say that Mary is the mother of
God. The mother of God. God had a mommy.
That's a God. Mama. Mama. Right.
Changing God's nappy. Yeah.
cleaning God's bum when he's done a poo.
This is what what's that? Mother of God.
Huh? Feeding God.
What is this?
To say that some human being is equal
with God.
Didn't he walk on the earth and breathe
air and eat food and they went to the
marketplace? You know, they needed to
buy things. They went to the
marketplace. See how Allah makes things
clear.
See how people are deluded away from the
truth.
What is this? Allah asks us in the
Quran, if God wanted to destroy Jesus
and Mary and everything in the whole
earth, who could stop him? Of course, no
one. That means that Allah has power
over Jesus and Mary. If God has power
over them and they are under the
authority of God, they can't be the same
as God, they can't be. And what does
that mean anyway? To say that something
is man and God at the same time. It's an
impossibility to say that something by
definition God is infinite,
self-sufficient,
and eternal. Human beings by definition
are temporary, mortal, and needy. How
can something be eternal and temporary
both at the same time? How can something
be self-sufficient and needy both at the
same time? How can something be eternal
and finite both at the same time?
It's an it's not a paradox. A paradox
means something that seems impossible,
but it's not. No, it is an impossibility
by definition.
Now there are things that Christians
say. God can do anything.
Well, I mean this raises a whole load of
questions.
God can do anything. I always say, well,
do you believe God can do something
evil? Either they will say, "No, God
can't do something evil." Or they'll
say, "Well, he can if he wanted to, but
he would never do something evil."
I say, "Why not?" They say because God
is good. God only does good things. I
say exactly. It is the nature of God.
The nature of God is that God is good.
And a good God does not do evil things.
It is also the nature of God that God is
eternal. So an eternal God doesn't
become temporary. It's the nature of God
that he is self-sufficient, free of any
wants and needs. So God does not become
needy
because that contradicts the nature of
God.
It's that simple.
Doesn't that make sense? Isn't that just
common sense?
Now you know the whole idea that God
becomes a man. Okay. You see the problem
is this. If you have a piece of string
Yeah. And the piece of string is in the
shape of a square.
Yeah. Let's say the square represents
the the the attributes of God.
All right. I'm not saying that God is
like a square. I'm just saying it
represents. So the square we replace
infinite,
eternal, self-sufficient,
and we just instead of all of those
words, we just have a square. Yeah. And
the circle represents
the qualities of a human being. Needy,
temporary, finite, mortal. You know,
we're born, we die, we forget, we need
to eat, we need to breathe. So these are
our and let's say all of these, we
forget those words and we just use it as
a circle. Now, just theoretically, what
we could do perhaps is we could get the
piece of string and change the shape of
the piece of string from a square to a
circle.
So perhaps you could make the square
into a circle and you could make the
circle into a square, but what you can't
do is make the square into a circle and
it's still a square at the same time,
right?
Something can't be blue and red and
still be blue. It can't. You can't make
blue red and it's still blue.
The circle can't be made a square and
still be a circle. But that's what
they're trying to say. God became a man
but was still God.
Doesn't make any sense. This is an
impossibility. And wait a minute. These
Christians are telling everybody in the
world that you're going to go to hell
forever. If you don't believe something
impossible.
If you God is telling us according to
their religion, if we don't believe
something absolutely impossible, you'll
go to hell forever. So I have to believe
something impossible without any proof.
Because by definition you can never
prove an impossibility. How can you
prove something impossible? You can't.
So I have to believe something
impossible without proof.
It's simple. I tell you something. And
this is what I always say to every
Christian. I say, "You're telling me
that on the day of judgment, I stand in
front of God and God says to me, why
didn't you believe that I became a man?
I will say, "How could I believe that
you, Allah, the eternal, self-sufficient
creator of the heavens and the earth,
was a temporary mortal, needy man? How
could I believe such a thing? You are
far above that. If God then puts me in
hell forever, I will never feel for one
moment of eternity that God has treated
me fairly or justly."
But if a Christian is asked by God, how
did you could you say that I was equal?
that this human being was me. This human
being that ate my food. This human being
that breathed my air. This human that
depended upon me for my entire for his
entire existence. You're saying that
this human being was equal to me. If
that person goes to hell forever, they
will know that they deserve to be there.
They will know it. That's justice.
That is justice. There's one other thing
I want us to think about and I like to
give this as an example. Right?
Modern science has made us appreciate
something really remarkable. And that
remarkable thing is exactly how minute
we are. Actually
1,400 years ago, the prophet Muhammad,
okay, was also in reflection of the
words of the Quran reminding us of our
humble origins. The Quran reminds us
that you came from a sperm drop, a
despised fluid. The Quran reminds us of
our base origins. The Prophet Muhammad
even mentioned that the universe
compared to the
And Allah's his pedestal extends over
the heavens and the earth. How the
prophet Muhammad said the universe is
like a ring in the desert compared to
the kuri. A ring in the desert. Think
about that. Think about a ring in the
desert. How big is the desert and how
small is the ring?
And the ki compared to the arsh and the
arsh means the throne of god is also
like a ring in the desert.
Our universe is like a speck
like a speck.
Now
we are on a earth which is a speck in a
ga solar system which is a speck on the
outer spiral of our galaxy which itself
is a speck in the universe which is a
speck before the ky which is a speck
before the ash.
Now if I said to anyone, oi speck,
even if I said it nicely, oh beloved
speck,
oh noble speck, oh good speck,
but if I call you a speck, it doesn't
matter how many nice things I put with
it. Calling a person a speck is not a
nice thing. But you know what?
We are specks. I wouldn't be lying if I
called you a speck, and you wouldn't be
lying if you called me a speck. But
still, we don't like it.
How about then if we said that God
is like a speck
whose kyi extends over the heavens and
the earth
which is like a ring before his throne.
So how about God? You say that God is
like a speck.
In fact, you said God became a speck on
a speck in a speck in a speck. That's
equal with God.
That is insulting God.
Common sense.
That is common sense.
Now, some people say, "No, we don't
believe that Jesus is God. We believe
he's the son of God." But that's not any
better.
That's not any better. Saying that God
has a son is not much better. That's
still insulting God. That's still saying
that the child of God, the son of God is
what? Some insignificant creature, some
speck on the earth. And I don't mean
here to belittle Jesus alisam.
Okay? Of course with Allah, he is an
honored slave, but that's what we are.
We are creatures of God. We are the
creation of God. We are the slaves of
God. The only difference is what sort of
person are you? Do you believe in God?
Do you insult God or do you honor God?
Do you obey God or do you disobey God?
That is the only difference between the
human beings. Not your cast, not your
color, not whether you're middle class,
upper class, lower class.
Okay? None of those things matter to
Allah at all. What matters is are you
faithful? Do you honor God? Do you
praise God? Do you obey God? That's it.
If you do that, God loves you. If you
don't, he doesn't. It's that simple.
It's that simple.
So, you're either one or the other.
All the other things are artificial and
of no concern to God.
So, this is what is important.
So, we are all creatures of God. But
what does it mean son of God? Think
about that.
I mean I remember there was a Anglican
priest who came to the same conclusion.
He was saying what on earth is this
supposed to mean son of God? He he
thought about it himself and he realized
that what is that supposed to mean? You
see when we use the term son what do we
mean by that? My son, right? So first
meaning is the literal meaning begotten
son. The word begotten means born of the
act of sexual intercourse.
Are we saying that God had sex with a
woman and had sons?
Allah does not God does not have sons
and daughters. God does not have
intimate relations with and and this is
why the Quran asks if God had a son who
is God's wife cuz presumably God would
not make fornication and adultery
illegal for us and then practice it
himself
does God. But of course the even the
concept of God having intercourse is
absurd.
So obviously God did not have a literal
son. God did not have begget a son.
All right? Cuz my son is human like me.
By the way, if you have any doubts, you
can study early Christian theology. Some
early Christians, one of the evidences
they actually bought to claim that Jesus
was God is exactly this argument. They
said, "My son is human like me.
Therefore, God's son must be divine like
God. That's exactly the argument they
bought.
Meaning, they actually had this idea
that God must have literally begotten,
literally begotten a son,
which is ascribing a calamity.
Allah refutes this time and time and
time. In fact, one of the reasons that
the Quran has been revealed
is to refute those people who say that
Allah has a son. This is actually
mentioned.
Allah mentions this inah.
The one of the reasons why Allah has
revealed the Quran is to refute those
people. And by the way, this is
something that many pagans had this
idea. Many pagans had this idea. Zeus
for example, Zeus had mistresses and
wives and sun gods and you know so for
example Hercules was the son of Zeus. So
they had this idea that their sons would
marry and you know have mistresses from
amongst women of the earth and these
half gods would be born and so on and so
forth. This was their idea. It's a pagan
idea. It's not a monotheistic idea
which by the way indicates that really
Christianity is so much of it taken from
paganism.
Anyway, I don't want to get I get I
could go quite far into talking about
that but it's another topic. So the son
of God okay so we say most Christians we
actually say no no no we don't believe
that God of course we don't believe God
is you know that Jesus literally is the
actual you know literally begotten son
of God. So we say, well, what do you
mean? Do you mean God adopted Jesus as a
son? Again, it doesn't make any sense.
Let me give you an example, right? If I
brought with me today
a goldfish.
Yeah. I have a little thing and I bring
with me a goldfish and I say,
"Everybody, um, this is Jonah, my son."
So, it's it's a goldfish. Oh, it's it's
my son.
He eats with me at the table. The uh the
he has a bedroom in the house and
according to the new adoption laws that
they've just passed in England, very
liberal. He he the the papers are coming
through next week. He's my son.
Now, you you would say, "Look, that's a
fish. You're a human being. You can't
have a fish as your son because the fish
is not like you.
But let me ask another question then.
How is a human being like God?
The human beings who are specks on an
earth that is a speck. In fact, isn't it
true that I am actually more like a fish
than I'm like God? Isn't it true that
any human being has more similarity to a
fish than they have to God?
You see, the fish is born and the fish
dies. Human beings are born and human
beings die. The fish need to eat and
they need to get rid of what they eat.
Human beings need to eat and they get
rid of what they eat. Right? The limit,
the vision of the fish is limited. My
vision is limited. The fish can only
remember so much. I can only remember so
much.
My knowledge is limited.
My powers are limited. My ability is
limited. This is what I share in common
with the fish. Whereas God, his seeing
is without limit. His knowledge is
perfect. God is never born and God never
ties. God is eternal. How am I like God?
In what way am I like God?
Even a fish, maybe not a fish, but
certainly an animal can even show
compassion to its child. I don't know. I
saw the most remarkable program,
nature program. I can't even remember
where I saw it and I was absolutely
transfixed. It was about the w the
crossing in the Serengeti. You have two
parts. You have Masimara and you have
it's the plains where all the animals
are in Kenya and Tanzania. And there's
this famous place where the wilderbeast
and all in fact not just the wilderbeast
all the animals the zebras the
wilderbeast they cross the river and the
crocodiles get them. You must have seen
that amazing thing. There was one and
they were following this one baby
wilderbeast was crossing with its mother
and we know how the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam said that you know that
Allah has divided his mercy into 100
parts one part he put on this earth now
the one part of Allah's mercy is even so
the the love that the the mother has for
the child right
and and I saw in this thing how This
baby wilderbeast couldn't climb up to
the other side. He couldn't. This baby
wilderbeast could not reach to the other
side of the river. And in fact, climbing
and it fell down and it ended up being
washed down the street. Somehow the
crocodile didn't eat it and it ended up
going right back to the other side. The
mother had made it. Do you know what
this mother did? You know what the
mother wilderbeast did? She went back
across the river. She went back across
the river facing the hippopotamuses,
right? which were attacking them, the
crocodiles which were eating them. Did
she care? No. She went right back across
to go after her little baby.
That is the compassion in an animal, in
a creature. So even animals can have
compassion.
Doesn't make them divine.
So what do we mean son of God? What does
this mean
again? No, we are creatures of God. We
are the creatures of God. We are the
servants of God.
These all of this is to show us, look at
the things that people worship. Look at
the things they put their faith in their
trust. These are the false gods. None of
these things are truly worthy of us
worshiping them. Now,
I've got two more things that I want to
mention. only two more things and I
won't dwell on them for long
but two more categories.
The next category I want to deal with is
race
tribalism.
This is a false god as well.
And the people that are used in the
Quran as an example are not the only
people who have this quality. But the
ones that who are used in example for
this are the Jews
because amongst them are many who think
that they are better purely because of
being a Jew.
It's racism. They think they are God's
chosen favored people purely by virtue
of their ancestry.
And God refused this utterly and
completely in the Quran
and it has been completely and utterly
refuted by the prophet Muhammad. No
human being is better than another human
being based upon who they are descended
from. And of course the Jews are not the
only people who suffer this delusion.
And of course I mean to say by the way
not all the Jews because a true pious
Jew would never believe such a thing.
But in fact, the prophet Muhammad said
that you Muslims, the ones that you
Muslims you resemble mostly, you have
the closest resemblance to are the
children of Israel.
You are most like them. And you find
unfortunately many Muslims have the same
idea. I'm better because my ancestors
were Muslim, not because of me and what
sort of Muslim I am and how I follow my
religion. No, my dis. What do you know?
You're a new Muslim. I mean, this is
what I have seen it myself firsthand. 20
years I've been a Muslim and I
experienced a lot of it from the Muslim
community. What do you know? You're a
new Muslim. My ancestors were Muslims.
My great great great whatever as if. So
what what's that got to do with
anything? Subhan Allah. The prophet
Muhammad sallall.aii Alai wasallam. He
said the first time he publicly called
people to Islam. He called the different
tribes. These tribes who he was related
to he called his own tribe. Even his own
daughter
his own daughter Fatima. He said I
cannot help you at all against Allah.
Meaning you being my daughter will not
help you one single little bit against
Allah.
When you meet Allah, the fact that
you're my daughter, is not going to help
you.
If that's Fatima, the daughter of
Prophet Muhammad, how about everybody
else? Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. But
this is a delusion. Many people suffer
this delusion. Racism. We're better cuz
we're British. Get rid of the Pakis. Get
rid of the Get them out. Yeah,
Britain will be great again. Yeah,
you've heard all of that, haven't you? I
I can just imagine them cutting and
cutting and pasting that one. Yeah.
Racist Muslim, BMP Muslim, you know.
You You heard that? As if what? Being
white makes you better.
Why?
What is better about being white or
being brown or being anything? Why would
a color of your skin have anything to do
with making you a better person? But
there are many people who suffer this
delusion and it is a type of idolatry.
It's a type of shik. It's a type of
false god because that's what they
think. You see these BMP Nazi people
imagine right that when we get rid of
such and such undesirable people,
everyone who's not white, who's not
British,
when we get rid of them, we will be
great and we will be successful. So they
imagine that being British is the way
that you get what you want and get what
you need. It's a god becomes a religion.
Think about that. When they call us
through Britishness
and most of what they say is perfectly
acceptable. Alhamdulillah. you know,
tolerance and, you know, and decency
and, you know, fair play and those are
the things that, you know, the good
qualities we think and queuing, you
know, being polite. No, seriously, those
are good qualities.
You know, there's a few other qualities
though, however, we could say are not
such good qualities. And those the ones
that Muslims tend to have problems with,
you know, emerging at 2 o'clock in the
morning from pubs and nightclubs and
puking up and fighting and uh, you know,
and a whole bunch of other things that
really are not really desirable even
from the point of view of being a
policeman. Those things are not very
desirable
and that's quite widespread.
Unfortunately, even in Europe, British
people have got the reputation of being
yobbs. And it's not me. It's not what I
said. It's what the they said in the
British newspapers even.
So, the point being that your race has
got nothing to do with it. Okay? It's
not only of course the Benny Israel or
the Jews who have that attitude. Lots of
people have it. Okay? And it's a false
god. Now, the final thing is the biggest
false god of all.
the longest running, the biggest one,
the most woripped one, and that is the
god of materialism.
The idea that science, power, wealth,
technology,
these are the things that are going to
make you successful in life. I wonder,
did I I didn't bring it with me. Did
anyone see um the newspaper today? uh
the the London paper or whatever it is
or you know it's Kai Wickham of course
but right the you'll read about it
tomorrow I'm sure um Robbie Williams
yeah how much does that money does that
guy earn30
million a year or a day and he is on
anti-depressants
he's just gone into a clinic and we are
being told every day we need to be
wealthier as this country we need to be
richer money work harder make more
money. What it do for him? His 30
million a year.
Does wealth equal happiness? Put that on
a broad scale. Because we are being
told, you know, we can all live the
American dream. No, we can't. If every
human being on this planet lived the way
an American, the average American, the
average American, if every human being
lived the way an average American lived,
we would need something like three and a
half planets in order to be able to
provide all the resources for that.
That's the footprint of your average
American. They say you he is consuming
that you would need three and a half
planets for every human being to live
the way you live. You need three and a
half planets.
You can't all live the American dream.
To claim that we can all enjoy our lives
materialistically is a lie. And the and
the claim that it is the way to success
is a falsehood. The idea that science
will produce the solutions. Tony Blair
right here. We're confronted with global
warming. The biggest catastrophe. The
chief scientists in this country said,
"Forget terrorism. The worst disaster
that is going to hit the world is global
warming. It's going to make terrorism
look like nothing."
I don't notice any war on global
warming. A few little cries here. Oh, we
need to reduce a few carbon emissions,
but not on my holiday.
Yeah. Right.
Yes.
But we're ready to send soldiers to die
in Iraq to fight terrorism which isn't
even there anyway in the first place.
You know, doesn't that make you think
just a little bit?
The really dangerous things in the
world.
Okay, global warming. Chief scientist,
that's what he's saying.
But how much effort are we ready to
expend upon that? We're ready to spend a
lot of effort fighting a few, let's be
honest, a few crazed individuals because
that's really what they are. I'm not
saying they haven't got reasons to be
mad, but they're not good enough reasons
to go around blowing up women and
children. So, they are crazed. Sorry,
but that's the fact.
Yet all of this effort, all of these
laws being passed,
so many laws restricting our freedoms,
indefinite detention
because you might be suspected somehow
of encouraging somebody in some
particular way of, you know, and so on
and so forth. Stripping away our
freedoms in the name of protecting our
freedoms.
Okay?
You know, we should think about this.
What's it all really about?
But you know what the truth is?
Science is not going to find the answer.
And if you think we're the first people
who thought that, we're not. Believe me,
every civilization, you can look the
Romans, the Greeks, the Babylonians,
the Baantine,
the Chaldans. Have you ever heard of the
Chaldians? By the way, anyone heard of?
Does anyone speak Chaldian today? Do you
know Chaldian used to be spoken
virtually across the world? Did you know
that? Rather like English is today. They
used to have schools
across the world to to to so people
could learn Chaldian. This was in
ancient times. This is how influential
the Chaldanss were. And now you haven't
even heard of them.
You haven't even heard of them.
You know, one day, you know what I
suggest? You don't have to go far. go
up, drive up to the north of England and
go and stand on Hadrien's wall. Still
there, little bits of it. Hadrien's
wall. I used to do that quite often. And
then I would stand on Hadrien's wall. I
wouldn't look north up to Scotland. I'd
look south. And I'd think, you know
what? Once upon a time, a Roman
legionnaire stood right here. And he
probably thought to himself, "As far as
I can travel and as far as I can go is
Rome,
the Empire of Rome. what's left of the
empire of Rome, what's left of Greece,
of Babylon, of ancient Egypt.
Allah says in the Quran, "Travel the
earth and see what happened to those
people. See what happened to those
civilizations."
And believe me, you study, they thought
they had all the answers. They thought
their technology, their science, their
industry, they thought that they were
masters of everything.
But what is left?
That is the pipe dream of materialism.
It is the pipe dream. The false god. The
biggest false god of all. The idea that
in money and wealth and science and
technology
is the true answer
to all of our problems.
In it, we put our faith and our trust.
See, on the dollar bill, in God we
trust. should be in this dollar bill. We
trust this is the god.
Woe be the prophet said to the
worshipper of the dinar and the dham
because you can worship money just like
anything else.
That's really the end of my talk except
for one final and very important thing
that I want you to think about and this
I hope is the conclusion.
Okay. The final thing
is when we talk about knowledge, when we
talk about knowing something,
okay, most of us think and imagine it
means the thinking process. But let me
give you an example. Imagine this is
very hot. Red hot. Yeah. If I pick it,
what do I do? Do do I have to think
about dropping that thing? Do I think
about it or do I just What is it called
when I just go like that? What do we
call it? It's a
instinct. It's an instinct. An
instinctive reaction.
But isn't that a type of knowledge also?
Imagine if we didn't have those
instinctive reactions.
Imagine if we have to actually think,
wait a minute, this is hot. Oh, you know
that by the time we actually thought
about it, there's a reason why it
happens instinctively and it's a type of
knowledge,
an essential type of knowledge for our
survival.
Scientists would say we have evolved it.
But you know there's another very
interesting type of instinctive
knowledge and you only find the people
who really talk about it are Muslims.
It's the same like when you pick up
something very hot. When human beings
are in a condition of extreme distress,
I don't mean like a little bit warm, but
extreme distress. And the Quran gives
the example of a boat that is on the
sea. And imagine the waves are crashing
over this boat like the roof of a tent.
This is how the waves are, this storm.
And the people know that they are about
to be doomed.
So now what you know the captain is not
going to save them. The captain's been
washed overboard. The technology is not
going to save them. The boat itself is
breaking up. Do people think their money
is going to help them now?
Their British passport, is that going to
help them? their cast, the color of
their skin, the tribe they're from,
all those gods, all those things that
they put their faith and they put their
hope and they put their trust in, they
forget them. And what do they do? They
start calling upon that one being that
they know instinctively. They know it is
knowledge from inside themselves that
there is one being. This being is not
anything in this universe. This being
has power over everything in the
universe.
It's not the name here that is important
but the one they are calling to is truly
Allah is truly the creator. The one who
has power over all things and then Allah
asks then you know that that's true.
Every human being they know in their
heart that that is true. Then why
in that moment when you have complete
faith in Allah,
why then do you put your faith and your
trust in your hope in other than Allah?
Why do you worship other than your Lord?
Because ultimately all those things they
are false. Because at that moment the
one that you rely upon and hope in
completely and utterly is Allah the
creator alone. This is the beautiful
simple message of Islam. This is the
beautiful simple message of Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wasallam of Jesus. The
true message of Jesus
of Musa the true message of Moses
of Abraham.
This is the true message of all the
prophets that we should abandon the
worship the false gods and in fact we
should worship the one true god which is
Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala brothers and
sisters
the talk went on really quite long uh
inshallah
for listening I hope we all benefited
from it
may God's peace and blessings be upon
you all and may Allah guide all of us uh
closer to the truth.