Intellectual Man Asks Muslim All The Right Questions (2017-10-03) #

0:00:07 assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wa but I
0:00:10 care - you're here with your brother
0:00:11 Muhammad oh he here at guidance Avenue
0:00:13 and I am joined today with Sebastian and
0:00:15 have it and I'm gonna leave you to it
0:00:16 guys so the question that I was talking
0:00:20 with my friends earlier yeah unlike the
0:00:22 Bible which has got a lot of different a
0:00:24 lot of different versions to it the
0:00:26 Quran has always had the same text
0:00:27 throughout history so we also along with
0:00:30 that bear in mind we were talking about
0:00:32 if you follow let's say 90% of the
0:00:35 teachers we don't follow 10% does that
0:00:36 qualify you to be good in the eyes of
0:00:38 God so we were asking the question every
0:00:41 single person on the planet has a
0:00:42 different language because even though
0:00:44 you can write something in the same
0:00:45 script there's seven billion different
0:00:47 interpretations of a language so if I
0:00:49 say the word water for example to you it
0:00:51 might mean completely different things
0:00:52 to you let's say if you had a like a
0:00:54 terrible accident in water it means
0:00:55 different thing to you as it does to me
0:00:56 and every single word can be like that
0:00:58 in a language so how is it possible to
0:01:00 follow the exact teachings of the Quran
0:01:02 if every single person has a slightly
0:01:04 different interpretation of it and that
0:01:06 means that every single person is a
0:01:07 slightly different interpretation of
0:01:08 their belief thank you very much is a
0:01:10 brilliant question it's actually a
0:01:11 question that a lot of scholars in many
0:01:14 different fields have actually grappled
0:01:15 with but the good thing about the Quran
0:01:18 is that actually gives us a instruction
0:01:19 manual how to deal with this issue so it
0:01:21 says in chapter 3 verse number 7 well
0:01:23 let the ends are like little min who is
0:01:26 and Amazon who normal Khattab he is the
0:01:29 one who sent down the book with with
0:01:31 basically verses in it
0:01:33 that are foundational verses and these
0:01:36 are the mother of the book of the
0:01:38 foundational verses of the book well
0:01:40 o-haru mutashabihat and other verses
0:01:42 which are ambiguous family dina fuqua
0:01:44 Luba him Zion fat tubby I own a master
0:01:46 Shaba Haman who would've our outfit not
0:01:48 really my alma mater will Allah
0:01:50 basically it says that those who want to
0:01:53 follow their own desire oh the kind of
0:01:55 corruptive
0:01:56 elements or try and create some kind of
0:01:58 confusion and they all follow the
0:02:01 ambiguous verses and create them make
0:02:03 them as kind of foundational so because
0:02:05 they're there they are
0:02:06 open to interpretation so it's clear
0:02:08 that you can have more one
0:02:09 interpretation these individuals will
0:02:12 try and use those verses as if
0:02:13 they are foundational verses so let's
0:02:15 give you some live examples right
0:02:17 in the history of Islam there has never
0:02:19 been a controversy surrounding the fact
0:02:22 that God is one
0:02:22 for example there's never been a
0:02:24 theological controversy surrounding that
0:02:26 and the Quran is very clear call Allahu
0:02:28 Ahad say he's God want the one and only
0:02:30 so there has never been a Muslim who has
0:02:33 ever been who has ever claimed to be a
0:02:35 Muslim that has said that the Quran is
0:02:37 anything that sorry that God is anything
0:02:38 but one God same in chapter 40 in the
0:02:42 final verse of the of that chapter says
0:02:45 Muhammad Rasul Allah that Prophet
0:02:46 Muhammad is the final Messenger of Allah
0:02:48 so there's never been a controversy on
0:02:50 that that makes sense so in a nutshell
0:02:53 how do we kind of navigate from
0:02:55 interpretation and that which is clear
0:02:57 is we look at the foundational verses of
0:02:59 the scripture and we we basically try
0:03:03 and make a theology out of that those
0:03:06 ambiguous verses have to fit into the
0:03:08 context of the foundational verses okay
0:03:12 so it's almost as if there's certain
0:03:14 things that you can you don't need to
0:03:16 argue about because they're very
0:03:17 clear-cut and that you can look at for
0:03:20 instruction on the things that are less
0:03:21 clear okay
0:03:25 I can't think of a better answer that
0:03:27 question that's fantastic thank you so
0:03:34 what else we talked okay so we talked
0:03:35 about was the particular the 41
0:03:39 different theologians so we were talking
0:03:46 about so often obviously after the
0:03:49 prophet there was a different
0:03:51 theologians throughout Islamic history
0:03:54 yeah
0:03:57 yes we're essentially talking about
0:03:59 people who are are not of God but they
0:04:03 are obviously they're religious and
0:04:04 they've interpreted it so what I asked
0:04:07 was God is perfect right and do we
0:04:11 believe that human beings are perfect
0:04:14 right so yeah other human beings aren't
0:04:26 perfect and that means that logically
0:04:28 anything that comes from these human
0:04:29 beings also cannot be perfect including
0:04:32 any religious interpretations or
0:04:33 arguments everything from you know
0:04:35 straight theology to jurisprudence so
0:04:38 the question that I have is when you're
0:04:40 not following the hadith or the Koran or
0:04:43 any other or the Word of God or a
0:04:46 prophet for example when it's a
0:04:47 theologian you are allowed to interpret
0:04:51 is that would that be correct so you can
0:04:52 take it you can argue with the
0:04:54 theologian not in the same way that you
0:04:55 would argue with the world of the Quran
0:04:57 yeah exactly so if the erosions
0:05:00 verdict so to speak is not binding on
0:05:02 every individual so you're you're you're
0:05:05 open to kind of challenge the theologian
0:05:07 and ask them why they've come to that
0:05:09 conclusion
0:05:09 because they could have very well
0:05:11 interpreted the the text of the Quran in
0:05:13 the incorrect way so from that
0:05:15 perspective that's where we have
0:05:16 discussion but what from from like a
0:05:18 layman's perspective or someone who's
0:05:20 new to Islam really the way this was
0:05:22 kind of actualize in reality is you
0:05:24 would you would follow that which you
0:05:27 feel is most correct yeah and you would
0:05:29 not be judged for that which you get
0:05:31 wrong because at the end of the day you
0:05:34 have a limited ability to do things in
0:05:37 this world so it's not the if you are
0:05:39 not able to get the correct
0:05:40 interpretation on every single let's say
0:05:43 jurisprudent situation it doesn't mean
0:05:46 to say that now you're going to be
0:05:47 punished for that because that would be
0:05:48 an unfair thing to do and that's why I
0:05:50 got this as you could say an accent in
0:05:53 Islam like you can live Allah who and
0:05:55 I've sent Laos I like God does not
0:05:56 overburden a soul with more than it can
0:05:58 handle you see what I mean but if I were
0:06:02 to ask you now I mean would you accept I
0:06:04 mean what's your position on on God
0:06:06 would you accept that there was a God
0:06:08 actually that created the universe and
0:06:10 is maintaining the universe
0:06:11 or this idea of an entity that's
0:06:13 creating and maintaining the universe
0:06:15 fashioning everything that has been
0:06:16 created etc etcetera you on the side of
0:06:20 there would have to be a creator I
0:06:22 wasn't raised like that it's just the
0:06:24 kind of conclusion to reach I'm not sure
0:06:25 there would be a guy with a beard in the
0:06:26 sky like a painting yeah of course I
0:06:28 would agree with that I mean I don't
0:06:29 think it would be a guy I mean from an
0:06:31 Islamic perspective the Quran says led
0:06:34 to a little absurd or you'll do a
0:06:36 collapse our that vision cannot
0:06:38 encapsulate God and he encapsulates all
0:06:41 vision and it says in chapter 42 verse
0:06:44 number 11 that LASIK admittedly he shake
0:06:46 a horse mei-hua see of that there's
0:06:48 nothing like him at all and he is the
0:06:50 all-seeing all hearing so in other words
0:06:52 any image that we've gotten from let's
0:06:54 say the Western media or any other media
0:06:56 or any image generally speaking that we
0:06:59 got from what what constitutes God would
0:07:02 not be a correct image and if you can
0:07:03 imagine including your imagination so
0:07:06 you can't actually conceive of what God
0:07:07 would physically look like because it's
0:07:08 me yes exactly it's not it's not
0:07:10 possible to conceive what God looks like
0:07:12 based on those verses unless of the
0:07:15 recoil absolute the club star that
0:07:17 vision cannot encapsulate him but he
0:07:19 encapsulate all vision there and the
0:07:22 same thing
0:07:23 LASIK chemistry he shakes so our
0:07:25 perception of God or our idea of God is
0:07:27 not an ant is not a God which has has
0:07:30 basically been made into a human being
0:07:32 or any kind of creation so this is
0:07:35 called anthropomorphism so we don't be
0:07:37 believe in anthropomorphize to God
0:07:39 we don't believe it in a Jesus type God
0:07:41 we would say that Jesus Christ is a
0:07:43 human being right and you'll be it's
0:07:47 interesting to find that throughout
0:07:48 history you'll find that there has been
0:07:50 anthropomorphised
0:07:51 versions of God from Hercules to Zeus to
0:07:54 Jesus all of them have something in
0:07:56 common
0:07:56 in the case of Hercules and Jesus is
0:07:59 that there was son of God or there are
0:08:01 son of a higher God and obviously God
0:08:03 themselves in a sense in the case of
0:08:05 Jesus I mean once again they're all
0:08:08 anthropomorphized or you say that our
0:08:10 conception of God is a non
0:08:12 anthropomorphize God that which cannot
0:08:16 reach human being in terms of
0:08:17 imagination and so from that perspective
0:08:20 we will say that God you cannot imagine
0:08:23 God anything you can imagine is not
0:08:27 there's no there's no way you could get
0:08:29 rounded or like you're not imagining it
0:08:30 right it we just lack the if you like
0:08:32 the processing power of the abilities to
0:08:34 do in the first place exactly exactly so
0:08:36 that's one thing so we can't we can't we
0:08:40 can't imagine god that's one thing God
0:08:43 is all-powerful our conception of God is
0:08:45 as follows God is an all-powerful entity
0:08:46 which is created all that exists
0:08:48 continues to maintain it and creates the
0:08:51 human being allowed him to basically
0:08:55 exist let me ask you guys a question I
0:08:57 mean let's open this up a little bit
0:08:59 never ask I was thinking about this I
0:09:01 tried this with a little bit of with
0:09:03 some people before but let me try it
0:09:04 again yeah I want you to imagine the
0:09:08 following Sebastian okay
0:09:10 imagine when you go to sleep yeah you
0:09:14 wake up in your bed isn't it I wake up I
0:09:17 go to sleep I wake up in my bed where I
0:09:19 slept initially but I want you to
0:09:22 imagine the following example okay I
0:09:24 want you to imagine that you go to sleep
0:09:27 wherever you go to sleep and you wake up
0:09:30 and you find yourself in a in a train on
0:09:32 a train yeah
0:09:34 now I want you to ask answer the
0:09:36 following question what would you ask
0:09:38 what's the first thing you'd ask
0:09:39 yourself how did I get here how did I
0:09:42 get here what else would you ask who put
0:09:43 me here who put you here what else would
0:09:45 you ask where's the train going okay
0:09:49 thank you very much now let me say
0:09:50 something right what would you do if you
0:09:55 woke up on the train and you saw people
0:09:58 you know just living life and you just
0:10:00 started doing what they do and you had
0:10:03 these questions that you want to tell
0:10:05 how did I get here where all these
0:10:06 things but you just suppress them what
0:10:07 would you say what person who suppresses
0:10:08 these questions I'd say they become
0:10:10 unhappy at some point they won't be able
0:10:11 to suppress it any longer that's a good
0:10:13 point would you also say that that
0:10:15 person is critical or uncritical in
0:10:17 their being and the existential being
0:10:19 completely uncritical uncritical is it
0:10:22 justified to be on critical in that way
0:10:24 okay and the parable of the train is the
0:10:27 parable of life
0:10:29 we woke up to a life we woke up to a
0:10:32 being here in this world but we see now
0:10:35 the Western not not to be to kind of
0:10:38 knock Western culture but I'm just
0:10:40 saying that it's promoted nowadays that
0:10:43 we should really think about these
0:10:44 ultimate questions we're on the train of
0:10:46 life we don't know whether that we know
0:10:49 one thing we're gonna die we're on the
0:10:50 train of life we woke up and we're
0:10:53 distracted by everything around us but
0:10:55 the questions which are most fundamental
0:10:57 to exist exist enchi being how did I get
0:11:00 here where am I going Who am I where am
0:11:01 I all of these questions that you asked
0:11:03 yourself these questions are not being
0:11:05 asked and I urge everyone including
0:11:08 yourself to ask these questions so if I
0:11:10 ask you how did I get here that question
0:11:12 if we apply it to the context of
0:11:15 speakers corner London not just weakest
0:11:17 corner London let's just say to the
0:11:19 world that we live in how did you get
0:11:22 the atheistic responses you got here in
0:11:26 a way which we can't really understand
0:11:27 it could be the multiverse it could be
0:11:29 that nothing created something it could
0:11:31 be like Krauss actually says a universe
0:11:34 from nothing that's just for me it's an
0:11:37 unsatisfactory response how did we get
0:11:41 here
0:11:42 well you know don't worry about it too
0:11:44 much don't think about it you know what
0:11:46 are we doing here
0:11:47 you make your own purpose my friend no I
0:11:49 mean it doesn't seem that logical does
0:11:52 it it doesn't follow if you are under
0:11:54 train you would not accept that
0:11:56 particular logic so I will ask you the
0:11:57 question what makes the best does it
0:12:01 make sense to say does it make sense to
0:12:02 say how did you get here you are created
0:12:05 by an all-knowing entity what are you
0:12:08 doing here that all-knowing entity has
0:12:10 assigned and fixed a purpose for you and
0:12:13 where are you going you're gonna die and
0:12:16 there is something that's gonna happen
0:12:18 off to death let me tell you something
0:12:21 you know the human experience a lot of
0:12:24 people say well how can you prove that
0:12:25 it's gonna be something that happens
0:12:26 after death all we can know is that
0:12:28 which we can empirically justify
0:12:31 I say I disagree with that when we go to
0:12:34 sleep and we close our eyes and we dream
0:12:38 yeah dreaming is a it's an experience
0:12:42 that most human beings have experienced
0:12:44 which has no sensual reaction you don't
0:12:47 open your eyes but you still see you
0:12:50 don't need to try and hear someone
0:12:52 physically saying that but you still
0:12:53 here dreaming and this is why Freud by
0:12:56 the way he wrote a book on dreaming it's
0:12:58 a really interesting human experience
0:13:00 the human experience has shown us when
0:13:03 we are in the state of unconsciousness
0:13:05 we can still have realities and dreaming
0:13:09 is an ample example of that reality what
0:13:12 we're saying is this when you lose
0:13:13 overall consciousness when you're dead
0:13:16 and everyone will die
0:13:18 yeah when you lose overall consciousness
0:13:21 it won't be the case that things will
0:13:23 stop we say that there will be a reality
0:13:26 that you will then experience just like
0:13:29 a dream but it's more real than a dream
0:13:31 and will be more prolonged than just a
0:13:33 dream and that reality will be a
0:13:35 metaphysical reality that the entity
0:13:39 that we discussed before that created
0:13:41 you will assign for you will create for
0:13:43 you will allow for you to have and this
0:13:45 is the whole idea of the Day of Judgment
0:13:47 heaven hell all of that is there I'm not
0:13:49 saying these things are dreams I'm
0:13:50 saying these things are realities but
0:13:54 those realities don't depend upon the
0:13:57 existential five senses being of a human
0:14:01 being and five senses these things they
0:14:03 can be rearranged so here does it make
0:14:05 sense for us to say today that the
0:14:09 reason why you here is because you were
0:14:10 created what you're doing here is that
0:14:13 you have a purpose and your purpose is
0:14:16 going to super is gonna extend to your
0:14:20 after death experience does that make
0:14:22 sense
0:14:23 and does it make sense now look I say
0:14:27 for example I'm an unbiased individual
0:14:29 yeah I want to find out which is the
0:14:31 correct religion there are six major
0:14:32 world religions honestly yeah I just
0:14:34 want to find out which one is this is
0:14:35 truth everyone is claiming to be dr I
0:14:38 swear to God
0:14:40 it doesn't take that long to find out
0:14:42 the answer you know why
0:14:43 of the six major world religions only
0:14:46 two are proselytizing only two only one
0:14:49 only two religions actually attempt to
0:14:52 have you as wherever they are and that's
0:14:54 Christianity and Islam Judaism is not a
0:14:56 personal ties in religion Hinduism is
0:14:58 not really a proselytizing religion
0:14:59 Sikhism is not really a personal science
0:15:00 religion and they're all regional
0:15:02 religions yeah and they're all religions
0:15:04 which have backgrounds in some kind of
0:15:07 let's just say some mythology and
0:15:09 sometimes they'll be open about it like
0:15:10 Hindus are very open about their
0:15:12 mythology and the mythology is very
0:15:16 similar to Greek mythology to be honest
0:15:17 with you yeah so here we have two
0:15:20 candidates Islam and Christianity for me
0:15:23 to narrow the gap all I have to do is
0:15:26 look at the basic theology forget about
0:15:27 everything else just look at the basic
0:15:29 theology if I want to look at the basic
0:15:31 theology of Christianity and Islam I see
0:15:33 that Christianity is a religion which
0:15:34 which talks about the Trinity three and
0:15:36 one and one and three that Jesus is God
0:15:38 that the Holy Spirit is God the Father
0:15:40 has got all three are one I would argue
0:15:42 that this is a fundamentally flawed
0:15:44 theology and the idea that God is one is
0:15:48 only really pleasant present in its
0:15:51 purest and truest form in this most
0:15:53 logical form in the religion of Islam
0:15:55 based on that logic if we accept the
0:15:58 premise of revelation through human
0:15:59 beings it does make sense that God is
0:16:02 one and that there were a long line of
0:16:04 prophets which is the Islamic narrative
0:16:06 there were a long line of prophets sign
0:16:08 with Adam up until the final point which
0:16:10 we call Muhammad all of which testified
0:16:13 that there's only one God worthy of
0:16:14 worship does that make sense so here
0:16:18 does it make sense or would you accept
0:16:20 that Islam therefore is from a
0:16:23 theological or philosophical perspective
0:16:25 the most rational recourse I mean you've
0:16:28 given me one example I would yeah I
0:16:30 agree with you on our I think the Holy
0:16:32 Trinity thing is very strange about the
0:16:33 Catholic Church admits it themselves
0:16:35 yeah and as you've mentioned before
0:16:36 another example is in terms of preserved
0:16:38 texts aslam has the only preserved text
0:16:41 let me tell you something I'll defy
0:16:42 anyone and by the way I'm here every
0:16:45 week you know I'm here every week and
0:16:46 people can always challenge me on this
0:16:49 I say the following I say that Islam is
0:16:51 the only religion where there has not
0:16:54 been a controversy among Muslim
0:16:57 theologians on the truthfulness or on
0:17:00 the preservation of the Koran everyone
0:17:03 attests that that the Quran that they
0:17:05 have is the Koran that we have so now in
0:17:08 other words is no controversy in the
0:17:09 Quran the only religion which has a
0:17:11 logical theology the only religion which
0:17:13 has a preserved text the only religion
0:17:15 which makes a series of predictions all
0:17:18 of which actualize you know the Quran
0:17:21 makes a series of predictions about
0:17:24 empires I'm not sure if you've heard of
0:17:26 this for example the Roman Empire in the
0:17:27 Persian Empire we're in a war and the
0:17:29 comics are shockingly precise prediction
0:17:32 that in three to nine years the Roman
0:17:34 Empire will defeat the defeat the
0:17:35 Persian Empire in a nearby closed land
0:17:37 the Prophet makes predictions about the
0:17:40 future about where Islam will spread he
0:17:42 tells us Islamic spread to Egypt he
0:17:44 tells Islam was spread to Syria to
0:17:46 Jordan to Yemen to India to Pakistan to
0:17:50 all of the places where we find Islam
0:17:51 there has been a prediction from the
0:17:54 Prophet or in the Koran that Islam was
0:17:56 spread in these places the Quran makes a
0:17:59 series of predictions about the fact for
0:18:01 example that the Muslims will occupy the
0:18:03 Arabian Peninsula and I will happen
0:18:06 within a period of time these
0:18:09 predictions from a probabilistic
0:18:10 perspective gears another layer of
0:18:12 argument another evidence base which is
0:18:14 really this which is that it cannot be
0:18:18 the case right I would argue it cannot
0:18:20 be the case that all of these
0:18:24 predictions from probabilistic
0:18:25 perspective are are completely accurate
0:18:27 look at all the other religions there
0:18:30 are false predictions in the Bible there
0:18:32 are false predictions in the biblical
0:18:34 text I can tell you some of them but I
0:18:36 don't wanna waste a lot of my time a lot
0:18:38 of a lot of them are very well known
0:18:39 even Jehovah's Witnesses I was making
0:18:40 this point before 1977 they said the end
0:18:43 of the world is going to take place they
0:18:45 cool and then when it didn't happen they
0:18:46 called it the great disappointment the
0:18:48 point is predictions are a reasonable
0:18:50 way for a person to see and decipher
0:18:52 whether the person who claims to have
0:18:54 knowledge from the all-knowing is
0:18:56 telling the truth or not
0:18:57 and I'm saying that Islam has the best
0:19:00 or in fact a blemishless record on this
0:19:02 it has no flaw in its record whenever
0:19:05 Islam tells us something will happen it
0:19:07 happens so if that's the case with every
0:19:09 worldly situation in Scenario why
0:19:12 wouldn't it be the case for something
0:19:13 which is metaphysical and extra worldly
0:19:15 if you like yeah and that's why we say
0:19:17 that we have real rational reason to
0:19:21 believe in Islam not just because of
0:19:23 these things but just because of that
0:19:26 God is one all that but because there's
0:19:28 a real evidence base of it moreover
0:19:30 Islam I would argue as well as LOM makes
0:19:35 challenges to humanity it tells the
0:19:37 Quran says when quantum theory me man as
0:19:40 el mal Abaddon I felt to be so lost in
0:19:42 my misery what I'm sure without coming
0:19:43 to like Otis other kinda if you want any
0:19:45 doubt of what we have revealed to our
0:19:47 slave then print bring something like it
0:19:49 so this constitutes what is referred to
0:19:51 as the inevitability challenge in other
0:19:52 words the Quran claims to be inimitable
0:19:55 and it claims that no one can produce
0:19:57 anything like it in other words and this
0:19:59 challenge is still open now and you'll
0:20:01 say and someone may be a skeptic will
0:20:03 say well I don't see this is I see this
0:20:05 quite subjective challenge this has
0:20:07 clear quantifiable ways of measuring him
0:20:11 Islam is the only religion I mean think
0:20:14 about this if I wanted to make a youtube
0:20:15 video today yep theoretically let's say
0:20:20 we make a youtube video we make it as
0:20:22 clickbait as possible and all that kind
0:20:24 of stuff how many how many Guardians
0:20:26 Avenue OSC Dawa or le in any channel
0:20:29 right now what kind of views am I gonna
0:20:31 get if I'm lucky a hundred thousand one
0:20:33 hundred fifty thousand that kind of
0:20:34 those kind of numbers were talking about
0:20:36 yeah and then after about two three
0:20:39 years it will be forgotten
0:20:40 yeah now imagine this someone has come
0:20:45 with a book which in the case of the
0:20:47 Quran and here we are in West Europe
0:20:52 speakers corner 2017 some 1439 years
0:20:59 after this person has come with this
0:21:01 book still talking about this book
0:21:05 that is a powerful thing someone will
0:21:07 say well the same is true with the Bible
0:21:08 the same is true with the Bible because
0:21:10 we would say the Bible there's parts of
0:21:12 it which are in fact revelation we agree
0:21:15 with that premise okay you're right yeah
0:21:17 some of it is revelation some of it is
0:21:20 from God the same is true with the
0:21:22 bhagavad-gita yeah okay some of it might
0:21:23 be revelation we're not saying it's not
0:21:25 all it's all false there's some bits of
0:21:27 it which are true but it's remained
0:21:29 regional Sikhism remains regional Islam
0:21:31 is the only religion the Abrahamic
0:21:33 religions really are the only religions
0:21:35 which have become international and
0:21:36 Islam is the only religion where that I
0:21:38 promise you guys there's no second that
0:21:41 goes by in any day where there's someone
0:21:44 that's not mentioning the name of
0:21:45 Muhammad or Allah in any part of the
0:21:47 world you know how profound that is in
0:21:49 the Quran it says water Farnell akattak
0:21:51 rock about Prophet Muhammad we have
0:21:52 raised your status and you're mentioning
0:21:55 lick from means mentioning in other
0:21:57 words look at this if I say here now and
0:21:59 it's a challenge let's put it into a let
0:22:01 me relate it to the people of today the
0:22:03 youtubers yeah the YouTube I'm saying to
0:22:06 the youtubers come out make a video I
0:22:09 don't care if your name is I don't know
0:22:11 what yeah make a video that stays
0:22:14 relevant for a thousand four hundred and
0:22:16 thirty nine years make a video make a
0:22:19 video do it do it then also say I'm
0:22:23 going to be mentioned by the by everyone
0:22:26 for that period of time what I find
0:22:28 eloquent a clerk is mentioned in Chapter
0:22:29 number 94 of the Quran we have raised
0:22:31 your status can you imagine the kind of
0:22:34 profound effect this book has had it's
0:22:36 like from a quantifiable perspective
0:22:38 this is not something which is
0:22:39 qualitative which is subjective we're
0:22:42 talking about sociological
0:22:44 transformation people are talking about
0:22:46 now in almost any university you go in
0:22:48 this in this country let's talk about
0:22:49 political Islam any media is talking
0:22:52 about Islam why is it so relevant why
0:22:54 they don't talk about Sikhism why did
0:22:56 not talking about Buddhism talk about
0:22:58 something else it cannot stop pervading
0:23:01 the minds of men Islam is a religion
0:23:03 which cannot stop pervading the minds of
0:23:06 men why because Allah has told us that
0:23:09 that's a prediction what a finale Cathy
0:23:12 correct we have raised your status make
0:23:14 a prediction like that do it
0:23:16 in the immutability challenge we have to
0:23:18 take this challenge seriously because
0:23:20 this challenge is serious it's a make
0:23:21 something like it produce three lines
0:23:23 that change the world produced rewrite
0:23:26 make me say your name make my children
0:23:29 say your name make my grandchildren say
0:23:31 your name make my great-grandchildren
0:23:32 say your name believe me all of your
0:23:34 great-grandchildren
0:23:35 whether you are non-muslim or not or a
0:23:37 Muslim have said the word Mohammed
0:23:38 before all of them have said it all of
0:23:40 them have said it how comes none of you
0:23:42 will ever say none of you can never make
0:23:44 any book that will ever say anything
0:23:46 other than no one will mention you
0:23:48 you're nothing
0:23:48 Plato Aristotle all of these individuals
0:23:52 they are foreign in their in their minds
0:23:54 and tongues of men of many men and they
0:23:58 are by the by by by the consensus of
0:24:00 logicians probably the highest of
0:24:02 logicians and thinkers this is what
0:24:06 we've got to think about do you see what
0:24:09 I'm talking about bro this so we talked
0:24:13 earlier how human beings being imperfect
0:24:15 cannot create anything that's perfect
0:24:17 themselves and naturally the like any
0:24:20 language that we use is as a result of
0:24:23 human societies it evolves and languages
0:24:26 and perfect language has exceptions
0:24:27 English is classic it's not even
0:24:29 phonetically pronounced so it's a real
0:24:31 havoc to try and navigate the English
0:24:33 language yeah
0:24:34 I'm not so sure about Arabic or Farsi or
0:24:36 any of the other Middle East language so
0:24:38 around the time when the Quran was
0:24:41 written there was a language being used
0:24:42 by that society it's naturally imperfect
0:24:45 it's not it doesn't perfectly convey
0:24:47 ideas okay and yet God has the challenge
0:24:49 of creating a perfect text because they
0:24:51 think it comes from God is perfect
0:24:53 necessarily necessarily here so how is
0:24:57 it that God is able to create a perfect
0:24:58 text using an imperfect language how
0:25:01 those two things reconcile okay do you
0:25:02 notice a really interesting question and
0:25:04 this goes into the field of linguistics
0:25:06 and I swear there's lots of interesting
0:25:07 things you can read about this yeah and
0:25:09 I'll refer you to Noam Chomsky's
0:25:11 universal grammar yeah because it is an
0:25:12 interesting thing it's such a deep
0:25:15 discussion that basically what he says
0:25:17 is this there are two schools of thought
0:25:19 and linguists in linguistics yeah
0:25:21 there's called the empirical school of
0:25:22 thought and there's a kind of Chomsky's
0:25:24 universal grammar school of thought the
0:25:26 empirical school of thought is that you
0:25:28 you
0:25:28 suggesting that you can only output that
0:25:30 which you've input so in other words you
0:25:32 see a tree you see this you're told what
0:25:35 that thing is called you can only output
0:25:37 that which is input a lot of people have
0:25:39 written books about this it's called the
0:25:41 empirical school of thought on the other
0:25:43 hand you have Noam Chomsky who argues
0:25:45 and others like him universal grammar
0:25:47 ist's if you work well people that
0:25:48 believe in the universal grammar school
0:25:50 of thought they say that actually human
0:25:53 being has an innate ability to create
0:25:55 something more with the grammatical
0:25:57 constructions that they have so in other
0:25:59 words the input is not as much as the
0:26:01 output and he says that the output is
0:26:02 more than the input language is a really
0:26:05 interesting thing is there is a very
0:26:08 powerful mechanism by which and through
0:26:10 which we communicate with with other
0:26:12 people and obviously that's something
0:26:14 which is specified to the human being
0:26:16 animals don't have language in the same
0:26:18 way that human beings and they have
0:26:19 sounds that they make but it I have
0:26:20 language now you're talking about Arabic
0:26:23 and and all these different imperfect
0:26:26 look I would make up I would make a
0:26:28 point
0:26:28 they're actually Arabic in terms of his
0:26:30 grammar structure is I Arabic and Hebrew
0:26:34 I'll say the Semitic languages and this
0:26:36 is my opinion are the most logical
0:26:39 grounded and mathematical Liang Liang
0:26:41 was in the world I'll tell you why if
0:26:43 now I say look there's a big red bus in
0:26:47 English language I'm saying look it's a
0:26:49 big red bus if I said a red big bus does
0:26:52 that make sense no it doesn't it has
0:26:54 there's a grammatical code there's an
0:26:55 algorithm in English language which
0:26:57 makes it necessary for us a big red bus
0:26:59 size color adjectives or or the thing
0:27:02 being a noun that the common or proper
0:27:04 noun has to be like that why it's an
0:27:06 arbitrary thing because English English
0:27:08 language is a result of different
0:27:11 languages like Old English French you
0:27:13 know when the Normans came in all these
0:27:16 different languages are pretty much
0:27:17 amalgamated into this kind of confusing
0:27:19 language which is now English we know it
0:27:22 but the truth is is grammatical
0:27:24 structures are not perfect and they're
0:27:25 not mathematical in the same way as the
0:27:27 somatic languages are because the
0:27:28 somatic languages have a pure line of
0:27:31 transmission you could say really
0:27:34 the linguist say that there is one when
0:27:37 they call it the mother somatic language
0:27:39 and from it you have Syriana and you
0:27:41 have Hebrew
0:27:41 and you have our make and you have
0:27:43 Arabic and all of these different things
0:27:45 and all of these different things I
0:27:46 thought this guy was talking to me all
0:27:48 of these things are somatic languages
0:27:49 now you'll find that the somatic
0:27:51 languages have often been chosen by God
0:27:53 to communicate the message of whatever
0:27:56 is he's trying to communicate there's a
0:27:58 real reason for that because actually it
0:28:00 has the purest line to the to the star
0:28:03 of civilization in terms of language the
0:28:07 first thing we have written down is
0:28:08 about 8,000 years old 8,000 years old
0:28:11 yeah that's the first thing we have
0:28:12 written down about 8300 whatever it may
0:28:16 be 400 years old the first civilization
0:28:19 ever came into existence was about 8,000
0:28:21 9,000 years old yeah we don't the cradle
0:28:24 of the earth as it was called it's about
0:28:25 8,000 9,000 years old the oldest
0:28:27 civilization it's probably the mass of
0:28:30 Mesopotamian civilization followed by
0:28:32 the Egyptians followed by the Indus
0:28:34 River civilization followed by the
0:28:35 ancient Greeks the Minoans and the
0:28:38 Mycenaeans and they and etc etc yeah and
0:28:41 then you have the Persians coming in and
0:28:42 then all these things afterwards what am
0:28:44 I telling you this because actually if
0:28:46 we assume that the first thing we have
0:28:48 in terms of language is about eight
0:28:50 thousand four hundred years old and in
0:28:53 Mesopotamia they had eight they had an
0:28:56 Oracle at sodium they had am was it a
0:28:59 somatic language which was in their case
0:29:01 the yes yeah they had that was somatic
0:29:06 language of some sorts yeah if that's
0:29:08 the case then we know now that this has
0:29:11 a closer linked to the Islamic with
0:29:13 chronic narrative the Quran says well
0:29:15 let my other melasma could let him out
0:29:17 of the home a little malaika c4 column
0:29:19 but only because not you had all I
0:29:20 include those other things in the Quran
0:29:21 in chapters of the qur'an the beginning
0:29:23 of the chapter
0:29:24 I think verse 23 or something like this
0:29:25 it says that God to Adam they as Matt
0:29:30 the nouns how did he teach them through
0:29:33 the agents of the Angels
0:29:34 language therefore is not something
0:29:36 which is imperfect in his essence is
0:29:40 something which is taught by God to to
0:29:43 the first human being and that's Adam
0:29:45 and then it's transmitted and so we say
0:29:49 the purest of languages are those which
0:29:51 God has chosen
0:29:52 - to narrate the Quran and that's why
0:29:54 one of our scholars asleep he says he
0:29:58 calls it hasta hello hotties with one of
0:30:00 the most purest and clears languages
0:30:03 Arabic for that reason does that make
0:30:06 sense
0:30:06 that's a fantastic answer I had no idea
0:30:09 it was that um complex and delicate
0:30:10 that's brilliant
0:30:11 yeah so now we've talked about why
0:30:15 believing in God is makes sense we've
0:30:17 talked about why believing in the
0:30:18 oneness of God makes sense we've talked
0:30:20 about reasons to believe in revelation I
0:30:22 don't ask you a question Sebastian does
0:30:24 it not make sense now at this stage to
0:30:28 embrace Islam it's a huge question I'll
0:30:33 tell you something what happens when you
0:30:35 embrace Islam is you're literally just
0:30:37 saying two things what happens when
0:30:38 people were coming to us lemon they come
0:30:40 almost every week now into Islam they
0:30:42 say let me just I'll tell you absolutely
0:30:46 about this and what happens is that they
0:30:49 they say that God is one they admit that
0:30:52 God is worthy of worship when we say
0:30:54 worship we're saying that in terms of
0:30:56 ultimate authority that goes to God
0:30:58 ultimate authority should go to God yeah
0:31:01 Rousseau said man is born free but
0:31:04 everywhere in Chains we're saying the
0:31:07 way to undo the chains the shackles of
0:31:10 civilization and to free yourself and
0:31:13 liberate yourself is the free yourself
0:31:15 from the authority of man or the
0:31:17 creation and put yourself into the
0:31:20 authority of the creator so we say that
0:31:23 when the two things you got to admit is
0:31:26 that God is worthy of worship and that
0:31:28 Performa Hamid is his final messenger
0:31:30 that there were a long line of
0:31:31 messengers Adam Moses Jesus all of these
0:31:34 individuals were human beings and that
0:31:38 those human beings were given a message
0:31:39 and that message was the same thing I'm
0:31:41 telling you now they had to transmit it
0:31:43 to their communities people and they had
0:31:44 evidences to show why their message is
0:31:46 true at the end of it people would
0:31:48 accept or reject so my question to you
0:31:50 is does that sound reasonable
0:31:52 it does indeed yes
0:31:56 so I would say that what you do is you
0:31:59 say two short phrases in Arabic this
0:32:02 will initiate you into becoming a Muslim
0:32:04 it's a no baptism required don't worry
0:32:05 about this yeah although if you do want
0:32:08 to have a shower and you go home it's
0:32:09 recommended yes in the I will sorry I
0:32:16 should have told him that yes in the
0:32:18 Quran in chapter 2 verse 256 it says
0:32:20 like Ruffini Katarina Rostova Nell - my
0:32:23 ex Roberta hood when we left um second
0:32:25 blood water loss column for Sam Allah it
0:32:26 says that there's no compulsion of
0:32:28 religion that the truth is made clear
0:32:30 from falsehood yeah and whoever is
0:32:32 disbelieves in the false gods and
0:32:34 believes in the one God then he has hold
0:32:36 on to the to the tight grip and there is
0:32:40 no releasing that grip so that's what
0:32:42 the Quran says about not Iran is not a
0:32:45 Muslim country my friend nothing
0:32:53 happened I should say that half my
0:32:56 family lives in Iran and they're all
0:32:58 pretty much a theist so your case your
0:33:01 conception that they all hang each other
0:33:02 from cranes because they have nothing
0:33:04 better to do is quite it's quite false
0:33:06 to be honest it does have a large
0:33:17 Christian population you talk about the
0:33:18 bastion of civilization as well so I
0:33:21 also don't know you don't try and put me
0:33:23 in a box on the one hand I don't agree
0:33:25 with the media narrative on the other
0:33:26 hand I don't agree with everything that
0:33:27 anyone else says but there is a balance
0:33:30 and I should like okay just just for
0:33:34 example I just have to put it out there
0:33:36 I have a cousin she goes night clubbing
0:33:37 in Iran she's also doing a veterinary
0:33:39 degree and like they have access to yes
0:33:42 they have access to beer if they want to
0:33:43 use it not that they would it's not as
0:33:46 savage as everyone this is a good point
0:33:48 because actually in countries like your
0:33:49 countries like Iran I love people don't
0:33:51 notice well in countries like Iran there
0:33:54 are two there are two kinds of I would
0:33:56 say just oversimplify it there are
0:33:58 people who are completely are not
0:33:59 religious there they don't actually live
0:34:01 a religious life style whatsoever and
0:34:03 they're allowed to exist it's not like
0:34:04 they're all
0:34:05 you stop hanging from printing anyways
0:34:09 they're not killed rather we spoke
0:34:14 earlier we just said the that there
0:34:16 being no compulsion in religion if a
0:34:17 religion exists there to test your
0:34:19 virtues in your faith
0:34:21 then obviously if you compel so if you
0:34:22 make someone follow the rules of any
0:34:24 particular thing then you're not testing
0:34:26 whether they're a virtuous person there
0:34:28 in fact what you're doing is if you say
0:34:29 I'm going to punish you if you don't
0:34:31 follow my rules then the only reason
0:34:33 they're following their rules is for
0:34:34 pure self-interest which is the exact
0:34:36 opposite of the some of the virtues that
0:34:37 religion teaches so any religion any at
0:34:39 all necessarily must say that you have
0:34:42 that there is choice anything do you
0:34:45 know I want to say in addition to that
0:34:46 is that this point is a really
0:34:49 interesting theological point we say
0:34:51 that the the best reason to worship God
0:34:54 is because that is the most appropriate
0:34:57 thing to do there's a beautiful verse in
0:35:01 the Quran chapter 76 verse 1 where it
0:35:06 says about the intent the human being
0:35:09 lemmya could Shaitan Mistura he was not
0:35:12 something which was mentioned the point
0:35:14 being is that whether human being is
0:35:16 there or not
0:35:17 God still deserves praise and that's why
0:35:19 in the first very first chapter in the
0:35:22 very first verse in the Quran it says al
0:35:24 hamdu lillahi rabbil aalameen
0:35:25 praise be to God Lord of the Worlds and
0:35:28 that's not connected to anything or
0:35:30 anyone in other words no human being
0:35:32 needs to praise God in order for him to
0:35:34 have praise belong to him it's the most
0:35:36 appropriate thing it's the most
0:35:39 appropriate thing to describe God in the
0:35:40 first place worthy of praise now going
0:35:43 back to what we were saying before the
0:35:45 initiation process is literally two
0:35:48 statements that would make you a Muslim
0:35:50 then after that you'd learn how to pray
0:35:54 obviously the quicker the better and you
0:35:58 don't need to learn every single mind
0:36:00 you like little detail about it but we
0:36:02 would support you with I'll give you my
0:36:03 number after that sound all right yes of
0:36:06 course so you can follow what I say in
0:36:08 Arabic and then afterwards I'll
0:36:09 translate in English sure a shadow
0:36:12 like wait what's going oh I'll say in
0:36:15 English is the conversion yes yes I
0:36:17 think I'm gonna have to spend a lot more
0:36:19 time talking because I as I said to you
0:36:21 I think I need to talk more about it but
0:36:23 that's no it wouldn't be the right thing
0:36:24 for you to do at the time okay
0:36:25 perhaps after more speakers corner
0:36:26 sessions no problem yes yes take your
0:36:30 time no listen that's one thing we would
0:36:31 like to emphasize now if you're not
0:36:33 ready to do it it's not something you
0:36:35 want to force upon you so just take your
0:36:36 time think about it I'll still give you
0:36:38 my number if you have any questions yeah
0:36:40 yeah that where you form by the way what
0:36:41 comes you and I grew up in the UK but as
0:36:43 I said I'm half British half Iranian oh
0:36:45 interesting yeah okay no I'll give you
0:36:47 my number obviously I will give you the
0:36:49 number as well it's been fantastic
0:36:50 talking to you thank you very much
0:36:53 [Music]