Alhamdulillah.
Uh the topic has been entitled the
American dream. And of course the goal
of such a topic is to make people think
about the reality of life. Allah
mentions in the Quran that most of
mankind are content to live without
thinking of higher goals. Allah mentions
in the Quran that most of mankind are
content to live their lives similar to
ways that other nonsensient
non-intelligent beings i.e. animals live
their lives. Allah says in the Quran
most people are like cattle or even more
astray than cattle. Why? Because Allah
blessed us with a mind. Yet many of us
only care about the sensual pleasures,
the pleasures of the stomach and the and
the pleasures of the body. And the goal
of Islam is to liberate ourselves from
just the pleasures of the body to the
higher goals, the noble goals. Allah has
created us for a noble purpose.
We have only created man and jin in
order to worship me. So the goal that we
have as Muslims is to worship Allah and
to call others to this worship. But it's
not that easy. Most people don't want to
be told that there's a higher purpose in
life. So how do we go about doing that?
In today's short lecture, we have around
20 minutes or so. The way that I'm going
to structure it is basically over five
questions. And this is what in my
personal min you know little experience
in giving dawa and talking to
non-Muslims I believe that these five
questions are very logical to proceed
and inshallah perhaps we can communally
benefit as well. Maybe afterwards you
can tell me alternative questions or
alternative answers. But we begin by
saying what exactly is the American
dream? For most people, an American
dream is symbolized in having a middle
to upper middle class job, having your
own house, owning your house, or at
least mortgaging it out, having a
successful career, uh having a great
marriage. These days, it doesn't matter
to which gender, um having, you know,
two cars, two kids, two dogs, or maybe a
dog and a cat. But the point is that for
most people, an American dream is
basically symbolic of a simple, easy,
materialistic life. And yet most people
when prodded, when asked to think, will
have to agree that there must be a
higher purpose to life. And this is
especially true when a person achieves
this quote unquote American dream. Yes,
it is true when a person is 18, 19, 20,
22. Perhaps their sensual powers
overcome their intellectual capabilities
perhaps. But eventually middle age,
older age, eventually no matter how
sinful or lustful you live your younger
years, everybody Muslim or non-Muslim
comes to the realization there must be
more to life. These pleasures are not
the end all and be all. There is a
purpose here. And so we need to guide
them to think about that purpose. And
the way that I have typically do this is
through five questions. And so to get
straight to the point the first question
these days we begin with a question that
we wouldn't have begun with 20 50 100
years ago and that is is there really a
higher power out there i.e. Is there a
god? Frankly, this question would not
had to have been asked a 100 years ago
or even 50 years ago. As we all know,
times are changing and the bulk of
Europe and especially Europe more so
than America. The bulk of Europe is now
skeptical of a god. Even here in
America, there are around 30 to 35% of
those that are below the age of 35. So,
two statistics similar numbers, right?
younger people around onethird of them
claim that they are not affiliated with
an organized religion. That's a huge
statistic and it is something that we
need to think about. So is there a
creator? How do Muslims talk about
proving the existence of God? Well, the
fact of the matter is this is a very
long and drawn out topic and the
philosophers love to philosophize. But
typically, as is always the case,
philosophers over complicate that which
is simple. Typically, the simplest
answer is the correct answer. And if
anybody's taken an intro to philosophy
class, you know what I'm talking about.
The simplest answer is typically the
correct answer. How do we know there's a
God? It's obvious. Everything around us
screams his existence. You don't need to
have a PhD in philosophy to prove
there's a God. You don't need to study
theorems and maxims. You don't need to
study complex logic. The fact that we
exist, the fact that there is an
existence, the fact that there is
creation proves there is a creator. It's
as simple as that. The fact that this
creation is so perfect as Allah says in
the Quran, look around in this creation.
Do you find any crack, any crevice, any
flaw?
Go ahead and continue looking. See if
you find a problem. Your eyesight will
come back to you tired. You won't find a
problem in the creation. Also there are
other ways of and the the the the fancy
term for this is basically called uh the
the watchmakaker's argument if you like
or the cosmological argument. The fact
that there's a watch proves there's a
watch maker. The fact there's a creation
proves there's a creator. It is a simple
and watertight proof for the existence
of God. But there are other methods that
the Quran also uses. Of them is the
morality argument. Where does morality
come from? Why are we moral? Why does
humanity universally acknowledge certain
crimes to be crimes? Even the criminal
who robs others does not want to be
robbed. Even the murderer does not want
to be murdered. Even the one who does
evil knows it's evil and does not want
that evil done unto him. The fact that
we have morality, where does morality
come from? If we truly were animalistic
and descendants of nothing but animals,
why do we care about the weak and
elderly? Why do we want to take care of
the orphan? Why do we have sympathy and
mercy? Why do we have higher ideals,
justice, truth, uh, honor, dignity?
Where did this come from? It must come
from the one who gave us all of these.
Allah is and he loves. So, he put these
characteristics in us. And of the
evidences that we have as well in our
tradition to prove the existence of
Allah is going back to my question here
and the initial example I gave. Every
human in his or her nature wants to
deify something. Whether it is money,
whether it is his own ego, whether it is
a higher cause. Look at our times. How
many causes are supported so
passionately? Veganism or animal rights
or whatever. People want a higher cause
to live for. Many are willing to give
their lives. Many are willing to donate
hundreds of millions of dollars to
causes that will not bring them any
immediate tangible benefit. The fact
that every human eventually wants to
champion something he or she is
passionate about. There's some value
they want to add to their lives clearly
indicates life has some value and
they're searching. They're grasping at
straws for some type of value. And of
course, Islam offers the ultimate value
and that is the worship of Allah. So is
there a god? Obviously there is. Our
existence proves it. Our morality proves
it. Our own lives proves this. So the
second question then if there is a god,
how do we know he actually cares about
us? How do we know he is a god that is
sensient that is involved in our lives?
Now the reason I say this is because
there are many uh and in our times as I
said uh up to onethird of people in
America, they say they're not a part of
an organized religion. So what are they
a part of? Uh in Europe especially it's
very common for a person to say I'm
spiritual but not religious. What does
that mean? I'm spiritual but not
religious. It basically means look there
might be a higher god out there but I
don't believe that god actually knows
me. I don't have to worship that god.
Now the founding fathers of this country
uh were actually the best examples of
this. There is a movement back in the
1800s 1700s. It's called dism and disism
is the notion there is a god. He created
us and then he let us be. And this is
becoming more invogue but it's not no
longer called dism. It's called
spirituality without religion. It's
basically modern version of disism. Now
so then once you say there is a god then
second question you need to prove is
that this god is a living caring god. A
god that is a god that is a god that is
forgiving. A god that answers your dua.
And how do you prove this to the
non-muslim? How do you prove that? Okay,
once there is a God, this God is
actually sensient and caring and loving
and hearing and seeing. Again, the Quran
is very clear about this.
Did mankind think that we would create
him and let him be without giving any
commands, without caring, without
nurturing? A God that takes care of your
physical needs must also take care of
your spiritual needs. A God that gives
you food and drink. A God that takes
care of the air that you're breathing. A
God that has made this world so
perfectly physically cannot possibly
ignore your spirituality. Cannot
possibly ignore your higher motivation
in life. And therefore,
we believe and of course all religions
believe that for a god to truly be a
god, it can't just be a god who created
you and then left this world to be. Now
this is a tangent here, but it's a very
important one. The number one reason why
people are turning to agnosticism in our
times. The number one reason and the
others are all minor compared to this
number one. The number one reason why
people are embracing this neoepticism,
this rejection of religion is that they
cannot explain the existence of evil. If
there were a loving God, why are tsunami
waves killing tens of thousands of
people? If there was a loving God, why
did my nephew or my niece pass away? If
there's a loving God, why? This is the
number one reason. the existence of
evil. And of course, the existence of
evil is an age-old philosophical
problem. The fancy schmancy term is
theodysy. How do you explain the
existence of evil? If God is all
powerful and all loving, if God is all
powerful and all merciful, whence then
does evil exists from again to answer
this question, you can give a very long
topic, but to be very simple here, Islam
explains the existence of evil in a
number of different ways. It explains it
in a a number of different ways. First
and foremost, evil is indeed relative in
some instances, not all. Evil is
relative. What is harmful to you might
be beneficial to others. What is harmful
to others might be beneficial to you.
And the simplest example is that of a
vaccination that a child receives. The
pain that the child receives at the
vaccination is harmful to the child.
That pain is very difficult. And if the
child could only understand as a child
and could choose, the child would say,
"I don't want to be vaccinated." Because
the child cannot comprehend that that
evil is in fact relative. It's a minor
harm and irritation. It's a nuisance.
It's a pain that will bring about far
much greater good. Also, we can say that
evil brings about that good. Evil brings
about good. You don't know what good is
without evil. In other words, Allah
tells us to be generous.
How could we be generous if there were
no poor people? Allah tells us to be
merciful. How could we show who is truly
merciful?
Who takes care of the orphans if there
were no orphans to take care of? There
must be some harm or some evil in order
to extract the good as well. So the
existence of evil basically brings about
as well the existence of good to combat
that evil. Additionally, we as Muslims
believe that evil is a trial. Evil is a
trial.
They want me to raise my voice. And I
thought I was screaming loud enough.
Subhan Allah.
I think the microphone should be made
louder rather than my voice. Can the
text make the mic louder?
Okay, you're working on it. Okay. I
thought they would tell me to lower my
voice. I'm screaming as it is. Okay.
Where were we? We're talking about evil.
And microphones are also a problem.
Anyway, evil.
Evil is relative. Evil brings about the
good. As Muslims, we believe evil is
also a trial. I.e. Allah tests us
through trials and tribulations. And it
is in response to that those trials and
tribulations that allahel as Allah says
so that Allah can test the filthy from
the pure. As Allah says that do you
think I'm going to leave you alone
without testing you in order to see who
is truthful from those who are lying? So
evil harms, trials, tribulations, they
bring about also a test. Just like the
examiner, just like your professors in
college, your teachers will give you a
quiz. Why are they giving you a quiz?
And believe me, that's torture. I was a
student for 22 years. Now,
alhamdulillah, I'm a professor, right?
So I have full
knowledge of both sides of the equation.
By the way, I try to be as gentle of a
profess professor as possible because I
hated taking exams. So now that I'm
giving exams, I try to be on the easy
side. But the point is why why are exams
given? Because it is through those exams
that you know who is the good student
from who isn't. And therefore this too
is one of the wisdoms of evil. And the
final point that we'll mention because
we do need to move on to the other
questions is that we believe Jenna is
the next life not this life.
The sound came.
Oh the sound came. Okay. I was like
what's going on?
You mean that the sound was off this
whole time?
No.
Okay. Alhamdulillah.
We believe Jenna is the next life, not
this life. Now for those who question
the existence of evil, if you look at
their mentality, they literally believe
Jenna should be in this earth. That's
their basic paradigm, their basic world
view. This world should be Jenna. Why
isn't it Jenna? There must be no God for
us. This world is a stepping stone to
Jenna. Our actions and reactions in this
world will inshallah bless us with Jenna
or deprive others of it. So when you
have this philosophy, all of a sudden
evil is not viewed the way that those
who don't believe in this worldview
would view evil. In other words, there
is wisdom. There is divine wisdom in
understanding the existence of harm and
trials and tribulation. So this was the
second question that yes there is a
creator and this creator is an active if
you like part of our lives. He hears us,
he knows us, he loves us, he cares about
us. Now this leads to the third
question. If there is such a god, what
does this mean in terms of religion?
What does this mean in terms of
guidance?
And the response is that if such a god
exists and we have just proven he does
then he must also tell us how to live
our lives. He must also reveal a code of
conduct.
He must also inform us. Now how will he
inform us? This leads us to the fourth
question. Why organized religion? I have
to go quickly because time is limited
here. I have to zoom over here. The
fourth question. Why then organized
religion? Because again this goes back
to the basic notion. There's a growing
uh group of of people that basically
want to believe in a god but not the god
of religion. They want to be spiritual
but not religious. This perhaps I feel
in my humble opinion within 30 40 years
in this land this will be the number one
demographics when it comes to religion.
People that are nomally religious they
don't really follow a religion but they
kind of sort of believe in some god out
there. Now the question therefore is why
are they rejecting organized religion?
Muslims, I want you to pay attention to
this in particular. When an average
person of Europe or of America rejects
religion,
what they're in essence doing is
rejecting Christianity.
And when they criticize religion, what
they're doing is criticizing
Christianity. And then they're making
they're making analogy that if
Christianity is false, then all other
religions factor must also be false. If
Christianity dominated medieval Europe
and it led to backwardness, then all
religions that dominate will lead to
backwardness. You see, from the
perspective of the western mind, their
experience with religion and with
theoccratic states has been a very
negative one. We all know what happened
in medieval times. And we need to
understand that when a person from this
civilization criticizes and critiques
religion, what they're really
criticizing is their own experiences
with one religion, and that is
Christianity. And we as Muslims need to
be broad-minded enough to take a step
back and say, "Hold on a sec. Our
religious experiences have been very
different than yours." For us, we
flourished when Islam was in charge. For
us, our glory years was when the really
was what it was once upon a time. For
us, the age of technology, the age of
science, this was also the age of
religion, our greatest coincided with
our greatest scientists and so on and so
forth. So when we defend our religion
and our history, we need to understand
that their experience has been very
different. And for us, how else will
Allahel preach and teach to us? The
Abrahamic traditions all agree with one
basic premise and that is Allah
communicates through prophets. By and
large, this is even what mainstream
Christians believe even though with
Jesus Christ they made an exception. But
otherwise the general rule they said
that God communicates through prophets
and messengers. And this is also what we
believe and it is really the most
logical. How else will Allah
communicate? Allah says in the Quran
that it is not befitting that he comes
down that he has a child. It's not
appropriate for God. This is what the
Quran says. And inshallah, a person of a
pure fra of a good innate nature will
acknowledge this. What is the only
logical way for that creator to
communicate with us? It is that a person
be chosen, a righteous person, a great
person, and that he be purified and
elevated to the rank of a prophet or a
messenger. And then he be sent with a
message. And this is the majority of
religions. The Abrahamic traditions,
they believe this. Now, of course, the
Dharmic traditions, which is Buddhism
and Confuciousism and Hinduism have a
different philosophy. And that's if
you're debating with somebody of that
background, then you need to go deeper
into this. But from the Abrahamic
traditions, by and large, this is a
given. So, we say if there is such a
God, which we have proven, then the only
logical and rational way for him to
preach and teach the message is through
a righteous person, i.e. a prophet. And
this then leaves us with the uh final
question. And by the way, one of the
reasons as well we say this, what is the
alternative? You're saying you're
spiritual but not religious. You're
saying you believe in a god, but you're
not going to believe in organized
religion. Well, in essence, what you are
saying is that each and every one of you
in this demographics of 1 billion people
can invent his or her own religion. You
can invent your own morality. You can
invent your own god. Does that make
sense? Do you think such a God who has
made this world so perfectly and has
synchronized everything in harmony would
then allow his own beliefs and his own
theology and notions about him and the
day of judgment to be left open to
anybody to interpret as they wish. Who
gets to decide in the end what is
morality? Who gets to decide in the end
who is the true God and what are his
characteristics? Surely allahel or the
the creator would have communicated that
and that is through organized religion.
So in this point number four, we really
need to know a little bit of medieval
Christian history, a little bit of
Islamic history, a little bit of the
notion of prophethood and proving that
there is a prophet who has come with a
religion and that the evils of organized
religion are really the evils of
medieval Christianity, not the evils of
Islam. And that's something that most
people of this heritage don't know and
understand. The final question without I
conclude after we have talked about
proving there's a God proving this God
cares about us proving that he is a an
entity or a being that that sends
prophets and messengers and reveals
books the final question is okay well
then why the religion of Islam and why
not any other organized religion. If it
does make sense that God would send a
prophet and have a message and have a
book, then there are at least 15
different religions out there from
Sikism to Buddhism to Confucianism to
Hinduism to Christianity to Judaism. Why
then Islam? And to answer that question,
alhamdulillah, we have why Islam exactly
over here to tell us that. But on a more
serious note uh this also and of course
by the way obviously each one of these
questions is a very long topic and I
have spoken hours and others have spoken
much more about each of these I'm just
trying to summarize in a logical manner
the final question why Islam out of all
religions how do we prove the veracity
or the truth of Islam once again there
are many mechanisms at our disposal I'll
just list some of them uh number one is
that Islam appeals to every single
aspect of a man uh or a the religious
aspect, the psychological aspect, the
spiritual aspect. Uh and and so it is
logical. The theology of Islam is the
only rational theology. No other
theology we believe is a rational or
fully rational theology. Number two, we
say the proof of the Quran. The proof of
the Quran. And that I've given many talk
talks about. You can just Google my name
with the miracle of the Quran. The
miracle of the Quran. We use the miracle
of the Quran to prove uh the truth of
Islam. And then number three, the
miracle of the prophet Muhammad
wasallam. By that I mean his life, his
his teachings, his characteristics,
hishat his s all of the life and times
of the prophetam his message the where
he came from being an uneducated or
illiterate person being coming forth
with such a unique teaching and theology
and eloquence. So this is also a unique
way to prove the uh guidance of Islam.
And the final point I'll mention that
with that I conclude every time I speak
to a non-Muslim I always say one thing.
Listen there's one there's one thing
both of us can do. We're not going to
lose anything by doing it. And that is
if there is a God surely he knows about
you and he cares about you. Why don't
you pray to him without even mentioning
a name? Don't say Allah. Don't say
Yahweh. Don't say any name. Just say
with your heart from your heart. Oh you
who created me. Oh you who created me. I
appeal to you to guide me to the
straight path. And I say to this
non-Muslim that don't worry, I will also
pray just like you're praying. In fact,
I'll pray more than 30 times a day.
I make this dua more than 30 times a
day. So I tell this non-Muslim, look,
lest the both of us make this prayer
from the depths of our heart sincerely
that the creator will guide us. And if
there is a creator and I believe there
is and if this person is sincere and
that's up to the person in allahel's
guidance then we believe every sincere
person will eventually be guided to
Islam. Allahel does not misguide the one
who is sincere. Our job is to show the
road. Our job is to show the way and it
is up to Allah subhanana wa ta'ala for
may Allah subhana wa ta'ala make us of
those who are rightly guided and rightly
guide others.