Hating Civility: France, Freedom of Speech & the Defamatory Cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (2020-10-26) #

0:00:01 [Music]
0:00:09 brothers and sisters
0:00:11 and friends i greet you all with the
0:00:14 islamic
0:00:15 greetings of peace my name is hamza
0:00:18 andreas
0:00:19 zarzis from sapience institute
0:00:22 and the main purpose of this video is to
0:00:24 unpack some ideas
0:00:25 concerning freedom of speech freedom to
0:00:28 insult
0:00:29 to unpack what's happening in france at
0:00:31 the moment and to
0:00:32 unpack and discuss the defamatory
0:00:35 cartoons of the prophet muhammad
0:00:36 sallallahu alaihi wasallam but before i
0:00:38 do that
0:00:38 i want to remind you of two key
0:00:41 important prophetic
0:00:43 authentic teachings of the prophet
0:00:46 muhammad
0:00:47 number one love for humanity what you
0:00:49 love for yourself
0:00:50 love for humanity what you love for
0:00:54 yourself now the scottish speak about
0:00:55 this the classical scholars speak about
0:00:57 this and generally speaking
0:00:59 they say that muslims must be committed
0:01:02 to the well-being of others this means
0:01:05 we must want goodness for people and
0:01:07 guidance for people
0:01:09 this what loving for others mean you
0:01:12 want goodness for them
0:01:13 you want them to be in a state of
0:01:14 well-being and you want guidance for
0:01:16 them and we must
0:01:17 act appropriately in order to achieve
0:01:21 the well-being of humanity
0:01:24 the second authentic prophetic teaching
0:01:27 is there is no harming and no
0:01:28 reciprocating of harm
0:01:30 no harm there is no harming and no
0:01:32 reciprocating of harm
0:01:34 these are very important prophetic
0:01:36 teachings and i thought i'd remind
0:01:37 everyone of these profound teachings
0:01:39 these concise and profound teachings
0:01:42 especially in today's context now
0:01:46 i said i'm going to unpack some ideas
0:01:48 concerning freedom of speech freedom to
0:01:50 insult the defamatory cartoons of the
0:01:52 prophet muhammed
0:01:54 and what's been happening in france and
0:01:58 i'm just going to summarize four main
0:01:59 areas
0:02:00 and there's other things i'm going to be
0:02:01 talking about as well but these are the
0:02:03 four main areas
0:02:04 that i'm going to discuss area number
0:02:06 one
0:02:07 i'm going to try and discuss the
0:02:08 philosophy of freedom of speech it's
0:02:10 inevitable implications in society
0:02:12 specifically secular society the harm
0:02:15 principle
0:02:16 and the competition of values area
0:02:18 number two i'm going to talk about the
0:02:20 hypocrisy and double standards displayed
0:02:22 by secular ideologues
0:02:23 area number three i'm going to talk
0:02:25 about the importance of civility and how
0:02:27 freedom to degrade and insult is not
0:02:29 logically necessary to achieve the
0:02:31 objectives
0:02:32 of freedom of speech and the final area
0:02:35 i'm going to talk about intellectual
0:02:37 freedom
0:02:38 progress and dialogue and that these
0:02:39 things are not threatened by being civil
0:02:42 and by being ethical
0:02:44 and by being averse to insults and
0:02:46 degradation
0:02:47 and i'm going to try and show that the
0:02:49 islamic intellectual and spiritual
0:02:51 tradition with its long history
0:02:53 is an example of a cohesive ethical
0:02:57 civilization so let's go straight to the
0:02:59 first point
0:03:01 there are claims made by some liberal
0:03:04 and secular
0:03:05 ideological extremists that the
0:03:07 defamatory cartoons of the prophet
0:03:08 muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam
0:03:10 are about freedom of speech and freedom
0:03:12 to insult
0:03:14 and they generally maintain that we must
0:03:16 allow defamation we must allow
0:03:17 degradation
0:03:18 and we must allow gratuitous insult
0:03:21 because it's all about preserving
0:03:23 the right to express oneself including
0:03:25 liberty
0:03:26 of thought however this is grossly
0:03:29 misleading
0:03:30 and it is simply not true why because
0:03:33 there is no
0:03:34 such thing as absolute freedom of speech
0:03:37 i repeat
0:03:38 there is no such thing as absolute
0:03:41 freedom of speech
0:03:42 every society on this planet has
0:03:44 limitations and restrictions
0:03:46 on speech and these restrictions occur
0:03:48 because of a competition of values
0:03:50 now in the stanford psychopath
0:03:53 philosophy david van mill
0:03:54 an academic he highlights this point he
0:03:57 says
0:03:58 the first thing to note in any sensible
0:04:00 discussion
0:04:01 or freedom of speech is that it will
0:04:03 have to be limited
0:04:04 every society places some limits on the
0:04:07 exercise of speech
0:04:08 because it always takes place within a
0:04:10 context of competing values
0:04:12 which we'll discuss in a moment and
0:04:15 there are many examples in law and
0:04:18 public life that i want to
0:04:22 bring to light in order to show you that
0:04:25 there are restrictions on speech
0:04:27 take france as an example the french
0:04:30 criminal code
0:04:31 punishes outrage grave insult of the
0:04:35 national anthem or tricolor flag
0:04:38 now think about the hypocrisy here you
0:04:40 have the secular and liberal ideologues
0:04:42 claiming that
0:04:43 the defamatory cartoons of the prophet
0:04:44 sallallahu alaihi wasallam
0:04:46 are about freedom of speech and that
0:04:49 includes freedom
0:04:50 to insult but when it comes to insulting
0:04:53 the flag
0:04:54 and the anthem then it's
0:04:57 you know you can't do that you must be
0:04:59 criminally punished it was the outrage
0:05:01 concerning these laws another example is
0:05:04 the political cartoonist
0:05:06 morris cine he worked for the french
0:05:08 satirical magazine
0:05:10 charlie hebdo for 20 years and he was
0:05:12 fired in 2009 why
0:05:13 because he drew some cartoons cartoons
0:05:16 mocking the relationship of the former
0:05:18 french president
0:05:20 sarkozy's son with a wealthy jewish
0:05:22 woman
0:05:24 another example is in law a french court
0:05:26 injunction
0:05:27 banned a genus sorry a jesus based
0:05:30 clothing advert
0:05:31 mimicking da vinci's last supper a
0:05:34 french judge ruled
0:05:35 that the display was a gratuitous and
0:05:38 aggressive
0:05:39 act of intrusion on people's innermost
0:05:43 beliefs
0:05:44 in 2005 danish newspaper jillian's post
0:05:47 and published caricatures
0:05:48 of the prophet muhammed but rejected
0:05:52 the publications of cartoons mocking
0:05:55 jesus
0:05:57 upon him be peace because they would
0:05:58 provoke an uproar
0:06:01 and there are many more other examples
0:06:04 now in many other countries including
0:06:06 france there are defamation laws product
0:06:08 defamation laws
0:06:09 hate speech laws libel laws laws against
0:06:12 the holocaust denial
0:06:13 and so on and so forth so it must be
0:06:17 made very clear
0:06:18 that this has nothing to do with freedom
0:06:20 of speech in an absolute sense this
0:06:22 doesn't even exist in academic discourse
0:06:24 generally speaking it's a
0:06:26 it's not a very robust idea it's an
0:06:28 incoherent idea
0:06:30 and the reason is incoherent because
0:06:32 people appreciate that there are other
0:06:33 values in society that are going to be
0:06:35 used to put restrictions on speech
0:06:38 in a nutshell there's no such thing as
0:06:41 absolute
0:06:42 freedom of speech so the discussion
0:06:45 is not about freedom of speech per se
0:06:47 but it's about other competing values
0:06:50 so there is a key question here what
0:06:53 other competing values
0:06:54 will these ideologues consider in
0:06:57 placing restrictions on speech
0:07:00 clearly as a result of what we've just
0:07:02 discussed so far
0:07:03 clearly the dignity of minorities is not
0:07:07 a value they want to consider so from
0:07:09 this perspective
0:07:10 the problem is not with islam the
0:07:13 problem is with the french
0:07:15 state sanctioned secularism that's the
0:07:18 problem because it doesn't
0:07:19 value its minorities it doesn't want to
0:07:22 dignify
0:07:23 its citizens it doesn't want to dignify
0:07:25 its minorities and he wants to use its
0:07:27 power
0:07:28 to selectively choose which minorities
0:07:32 they're going to dignify more than other
0:07:35 minorities which is a huge
0:07:36 problem so the failure here is french
0:07:39 secularism
0:07:40 it's state-backed secularism the
0:07:43 religion
0:07:45 of of of the french
0:07:48 society from that perspective
0:07:51 now some may argue and we have mentioned
0:07:54 that
0:07:55 absolute freedom is incoherent
0:07:57 philosophically
0:07:58 and to be honest generally speaking
0:08:01 there is a consensus that there is no
0:08:03 such thing as
0:08:03 absolute freedom of speech but you have
0:08:05 some liberal ideologues right that say
0:08:07 no there must be
0:08:08 no there must be no restrictions at all
0:08:11 so some argue that
0:08:13 any form of restrictions to freedom of
0:08:15 speech
0:08:16 can lead to tyranny and can lead to
0:08:18 censorship
0:08:19 and this is why we must have no
0:08:22 restrictions at all but hold on a second
0:08:24 this is a false argument because the
0:08:26 door swings both ways
0:08:28 if you have no restrictions at all that
0:08:30 may lead to
0:08:31 anarchy and the academic david van mil
0:08:35 he highlights his point really really
0:08:37 well
0:08:37 so he says those who support
0:08:40 the slippery slope argument tend to make
0:08:43 the claim
0:08:44 that the inevitable consequence of
0:08:45 limiting speech is a slide into
0:08:48 censorship and tyranny
0:08:49 it is worth noting however that the
0:08:52 slippery slope
0:08:53 argument can be used to make the
0:08:54 opposite point
0:08:56 one could argue that we should not allow
0:08:59 any removal of government interventions
0:09:02 on speech or any other type of freedom
0:09:04 because once we do
0:09:06 we are on the slippery slope to anarchy
0:09:09 and he continues
0:09:10 it is possible that some limits of
0:09:12 speech might over time
0:09:14 lead to further restrictions but they
0:09:16 might not
0:09:17 and if they do those invitations might
0:09:19 also be justified
0:09:21 the main point is that once we abandon
0:09:23 the incoherent position
0:09:25 that there should be no limits on speech
0:09:27 we have to make controversial decisions
0:09:29 about what
0:09:30 can and cannot be expressed this comes
0:09:33 along with the territory
0:09:35 of living together in communities and
0:09:37 this was taken from
0:09:38 the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy
0:09:41 now let's focus on the last
0:09:43 statement here this comes along with the
0:09:45 territory of living together in
0:09:46 communities
0:09:47 so giving the double standards and
0:09:49 hypocrisy of
0:09:51 those in power in france maybe they are
0:09:54 they are showing a sign that they don't
0:09:56 want muslim minorities to be part
0:09:58 of their community
0:10:02 this leads us to another important point
0:10:04 which is the consideration of important
0:10:06 values so i want you to think about
0:10:08 values such as
0:10:09 cooperation civility dialogue
0:10:12 and social cohesion these are
0:10:16 very important values that need to be
0:10:18 considered
0:10:19 they need to be considered those in
0:10:21 power especially in france
0:10:23 in the west in our communities
0:10:26 those who hold power in our communities
0:10:28 at every level they need to consider
0:10:30 these values of
0:10:31 civility dialogue and social
0:10:34 cohesion and once you consider them then
0:10:37 you'll be able to make
0:10:39 appropriate restrictions on speech that
0:10:42 still facilitates the objectives
0:10:44 of freedom of speech and let me just
0:10:46 remind you this has nothing to do with
0:10:48 freedom to insult or some claim
0:10:51 just remember many insults and various
0:10:54 forms of defamation are considered
0:10:56 unlawful in france and other secular
0:10:57 countries so it's nothing to do with
0:11:00 oh we have to be free to install
0:11:01 whatever we want whoever we want it just
0:11:03 doesn't make sense
0:11:04 based on what we've said so far so this
0:11:06 is why it is very clear that
0:11:08 those in power they selectively choose
0:11:11 which insults and speech that offends is
0:11:14 to be made unlawful
0:11:16 so this highlights that freedom to
0:11:17 insult to degrade and to defame is not
0:11:20 an absolute right
0:11:21 which leads us to a very important point
0:11:23 now
0:11:24 classically historically freedom of
0:11:27 speech was understood to be a means to
0:11:29 achieve important virtues
0:11:31 such as truth progress and
0:11:34 accountability
0:11:35 specifically take into account
0:11:39 those in power british philosopher john
0:11:42 stuart mill
0:11:43 he maintained that free speech fosters
0:11:45 authenticity
0:11:47 genius creativity individuality
0:11:50 and human flourishing however
0:11:54 there's something that we have to say
0:11:55 here there isn't a logical connection
0:11:59 between freedom to insult and these
0:12:01 virtues
0:12:03 the minute that we can show that insults
0:12:05 can in many cases
0:12:07 prevent these virtues from manifesting
0:12:09 themselves
0:12:10 is the minute you show that insults are
0:12:12 not necessary
0:12:14 for their manifestation here's a logical
0:12:16 summary
0:12:18 number one to convince someone of the
0:12:20 truth and to promote the truth
0:12:22 in many circumstances requires good
0:12:24 argumentation
0:12:25 persuasion and civility number two
0:12:29 insults in many contexts are a barrier
0:12:31 to good argumentation
0:12:32 persuasion and civility number three
0:12:35 conclusion
0:12:36 therefore insults in many cases prevent
0:12:39 the truth
0:12:40 therefore the objective or one of the
0:12:42 objectives of freedom of speech
0:12:44 is undermined so it goes to show there
0:12:47 is no logical necessary connection
0:12:49 between freedom to insult
0:12:51 and these virtues of truth progress
0:12:54 and accountability so let's give you
0:12:57 some more examples
0:12:58 applied examples take into consideration
0:13:01 the famous scientist stephen hawking
0:13:03 imagine that when he was alive in
0:13:05 wanting to prevent
0:13:06 to present rather one of his theories he
0:13:09 started his presentation by insulting
0:13:11 the audience saying that
0:13:12 they are stupid and that their mothers
0:13:14 should have should have aborted them
0:13:16 now this uncivilized approach would not
0:13:18 have facilitated scientific progress
0:13:21 and the objective of communicating the
0:13:22 truth of his theory
0:13:25 another example take political
0:13:27 accountability
0:13:28 if someone wanted to take to account the
0:13:30 chinese government for the
0:13:32 oppression of the yugas and
0:13:35 the person starts insulting chinese
0:13:37 culture and religious practices
0:13:39 well it just wouldn't facilitate good
0:13:42 accountability
0:13:44 let's also ask let's also ask
0:13:47 if a government continuously publishes
0:13:49 propaganda
0:13:51 that other rises and dehumanizes a
0:13:53 minority
0:13:54 are such expressions conducive to human
0:13:57 flourishing
0:13:59 given the link brothers and sisters and
0:14:01 friends given the link between such
0:14:02 propaganda and violence against
0:14:04 minorities
0:14:05 and even genocide
0:14:08 referred to bosnia referred to nazi
0:14:11 germany
0:14:13 it clearly shows that such
0:14:16 propaganda is not conducive to human
0:14:19 flourishing
0:14:24 and this is something that j smile john
0:14:26 stuart mill articulated quite well with
0:14:28 his harm principle he argued that speech
0:14:30 should be
0:14:30 should be restricted if it leads to harm
0:14:33 and
0:14:34 mill he he he used the 19th century corn
0:14:37 dealers as an example and he argued that
0:14:39 a mob
0:14:40 should incur punishment if they express
0:14:42 that
0:14:43 corn dealers are starvers of the poor
0:14:46 when assembled before the house of a
0:14:48 corn dealer because
0:14:49 that could lead to inevitable harm
0:14:52 so it is important to note here
0:14:56 that freedom of speech emerged as an
0:15:00 idea to empower the weak to take to
0:15:02 account the power
0:15:04 of of the time and this is very
0:15:05 important to to highlight
0:15:07 especially in the french context let me
0:15:08 just repeat that it is important to note
0:15:11 that freedom of speech
0:15:12 emerged as an idea to empower the weak
0:15:15 to take to account the power of the time
0:15:18 remember it was the catholic church in
0:15:19 europe
0:15:20 that was censoring and preventing
0:15:22 intellectual progress and many would
0:15:23 argue
0:15:24 it was a cohesive power freedom of
0:15:27 speech emerged to challenge the power
0:15:29 structures of society
0:15:30 so really what's happening in france is
0:15:33 antithetical to the spirit and
0:15:35 foundation of freedom of speech
0:15:37 because the french government is
0:15:39 basically
0:15:41 using its power in a selective way
0:15:44 to degrade a minority those who are weak
0:15:47 but it should be the other
0:15:48 the other way around the whole rezon
0:15:51 d'etre
0:15:52 using french the whole reason of
0:15:53 existence of freedom of speech was
0:15:55 primarily for those who are weak to take
0:15:58 to account those who have power
0:16:02 so it's quite telling that the
0:16:06 french secularists those in power they
0:16:09 want to use
0:16:09 the so-called banner freedom of speech
0:16:11 to oppress and dehumanize their minority
0:16:14 and their beliefs what are they afraid
0:16:16 of well i know what they're afraid of
0:16:17 they're really afraid of the timeless
0:16:20 universal compassionate values of islam
0:16:23 and the truth of the islamic worldview
0:16:26 that god exists that he's worthy of
0:16:27 worship that the prophet muhammad
0:16:29 sallallahu alaihi wasabi is his final
0:16:32 messenger
0:16:33 this is what they're afraid of they're
0:16:35 afraid of the truth and they don't want
0:16:36 to in text
0:16:38 engage in intellectual dialogue or
0:16:40 discussion they want to degrade
0:16:41 and to defame so this leads to a very
0:16:45 important point of being civil
0:16:47 so civility brothers and sisters and
0:16:50 friends dictates that if one wants to
0:16:51 have a society
0:16:53 that has values of truth and
0:16:57 progress and accountability then one
0:17:00 should contextualize their speech
0:17:02 and utterances to ensure that these
0:17:04 virtues
0:17:05 are achieved so what does civ what is
0:17:07 being civil mean
0:17:09 it basically means that if you want
0:17:10 truth if you want
0:17:12 accountability and you want progress
0:17:15 then when you express yourself
0:17:16 it must be contextualized to ensure that
0:17:19 these virtues we've just mentioned are
0:17:21 actually achieved
0:17:22 which means and implies that they need
0:17:25 to understand their target audience as
0:17:27 much as possible
0:17:29 this brothers and sisters and friends is
0:17:30 basic civility
0:17:32 basic civility what the french
0:17:34 ideologues are trying to tell you is
0:17:36 they don't want to be civilized
0:17:38 they hate civility
0:17:41 they hate civility they want to take you
0:17:44 back to the medieval ages
0:17:46 now this is a very important point by
0:17:48 the way i do appreciate however that
0:17:50 there is a gray area
0:17:52 when it comes to insult and offense the
0:17:54 moment one expresses themselves they
0:17:56 have to risk offending others
0:17:57 and risk being offended however there
0:18:00 are obvious
0:18:01 black and white scenarios it is quite
0:18:03 clear that the defamatory cartoons of
0:18:05 the prophet muhammed
0:18:08 is one of them now expanding this a
0:18:11 little bit more further there is however
0:18:12 a fine line between deliberate and
0:18:14 unintended insults
0:18:15 after all one person's insults can be
0:18:18 another's form of dialogue
0:18:19 so it's not as simple as saying don't
0:18:21 insult or degrade each other
0:18:23 now rather than just allowing ourselves
0:18:26 to be free to hate curse and degrade
0:18:29 thereby not achieving the objectives of
0:18:31 freedom of speech
0:18:32 the onus is for us to try and understand
0:18:35 each other's sensitivities
0:18:36 so that we can better convince educate
0:18:38 and express ourselves
0:18:40 now we've heard it all before with
0:18:42 freedom comes great responsibility
0:18:44 we have a responsibility to engage with
0:18:46 each other in ways that are best
0:18:49 and this leads to another point
0:18:52 intellectual dialogue
0:18:54 is not threatened by being civil and
0:18:56 being averse to insulting others
0:18:58 one can be intellectually robust and
0:19:01 intellectually disagree
0:19:02 while maintaining an intellectual tone
0:19:04 the islamic tradition promotes this and
0:19:06 its history is full of positive examples
0:19:09 take for example the quran itself
0:19:10 concerning reason and argumentation
0:19:14 the associate professor rosaline guin
0:19:16 she says in her book
0:19:17 logic rhetoric and legal reasoning in
0:19:19 the quran god's arguments
0:19:22 reasoning and argument are so integral
0:19:24 to the content of the quran
0:19:26 and so inseparable from its structure
0:19:28 that they in many ways shape the very
0:19:30 consciousness of
0:19:31 quranic scholars so
0:19:34 we need to realize that the values of
0:19:36 islam emanating from the quran
0:19:38 and the words of the prophet muhammad
0:19:40 sallallahu alaihi wasallam
0:19:42 paved the way to progress truth and
0:19:45 accountability
0:19:46 while maintaining civility good
0:19:48 etiquette
0:19:49 and upholding the best manners in
0:19:51 dialogue and discussion
0:19:53 for instance the islamic values evoke
0:19:55 the search for truth as the quran says
0:19:57 in chapter 2 verse 42
0:19:59 and mix not truth with falsehood nor
0:20:01 conceal the truth
0:20:03 while you know it the quran in chapter
0:20:05 103 verse 3 says
0:20:07 and enjoying on each other truth
0:20:10 concerning accountability islam promotes
0:20:12 and
0:20:12 accounting the unjust ruler and
0:20:14 preventing evil
0:20:16 the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
0:20:18 said the best of all struggles is a word
0:20:20 of truth to a tyrant ruler
0:20:22 similarly the quran echoes this type of
0:20:25 value in chapter 3 verse 104 the quran
0:20:28 says
0:20:29 let there be among you people that
0:20:31 command the good
0:20:32 and what is right and forbidding the
0:20:35 wrong
0:20:35 they indeed are the successful and god
0:20:38 commands in the quran his prophets
0:20:41 moses and haroon aaron
0:20:45 upon whom be peace to speak mildly to
0:20:47 the oppressive and unjust pharaoh
0:20:49 while initially discussing with him the
0:20:51 quran says in chapter 20 verse 44
0:20:54 and speak to him pharaoh mildly perhaps
0:20:57 he may accept admonition now what's
0:20:58 interesting the 13th century scholar
0:21:01 imam al-qurtibi he said concerning this
0:21:03 verse
0:21:04 if moses was commanded commanded to
0:21:07 speak mildly to pharaoh the unjust
0:21:09 ruler then it is even more appropriate
0:21:11 for others to follow this command
0:21:13 when speaking to others and when
0:21:14 commanding the good and forbidding the
0:21:17 evil
0:21:18 similarly islamic values promote sincere
0:21:21 debate
0:21:22 dialogue and discussion the quran says
0:21:25 in chapter 49 verse 13
0:21:27 people we created you from a single man
0:21:30 and a single woman
0:21:31 and made you into races and tribes so
0:21:33 that you should know
0:21:34 that you should get to know one another
0:21:36 in god's eyes the most honored of you
0:21:38 are the ones most mindful of him
0:21:40 god is all-knowing all aware the quran
0:21:43 says in chapter 16 verse
0:21:44 1 to 5 invite to the way of your lord
0:21:47 with wisdom
0:21:48 and good instruction and debate with
0:21:50 them in a way that is best
0:21:52 now what's very important that the
0:21:54 default position is that islam does not
0:21:56 allow the wanton
0:21:58 insult of people's religious beliefs
0:22:00 because
0:22:01 it would lead the adherence of other
0:22:03 religions to insult allah to insult god
0:22:06 now this default position this value
0:22:09 promotes social
0:22:10 harmony the quran says in chapter 6
0:22:12 verse 108
0:22:14 all believers do not insult what they
0:22:16 invoke besides god
0:22:18 or they would insult god spitefully out
0:22:20 of ignorance
0:22:21 now i do appreciate just to be nervous
0:22:23 there are other references in islamic
0:22:24 scripture that may seem to stay away
0:22:26 from that
0:22:27 from the above however there are more
0:22:29 variables exergetical context and other
0:22:31 nuances when understood
0:22:33 effectively reconcile any apparent
0:22:35 contradiction
0:22:36 now this needs to be unpacked for
0:22:38 another video but the point here is what
0:22:39 i've mentioned so far
0:22:40 are the default key profound universal
0:22:43 values
0:22:44 in the islamic tradition the next point
0:22:47 i want to make is
0:22:48 it is quite clear that the extremist
0:22:50 secular and liberal ideologues
0:22:53 are preventing social harmony so let's
0:22:56 ask another question
0:22:58 who has the right to draw the line and
0:23:00 the way when it comes to restrictions on
0:23:02 speech
0:23:02 think about this now for me and for
0:23:05 muslims it can be answered by exploring
0:23:07 the islamic teachings as we've just
0:23:09 introduced
0:23:10 and the philosophical foundations of
0:23:12 islam the philosophical
0:23:14 foundations of islam because islam's
0:23:16 intellectual foundations are true
0:23:19 and what they articulate are true
0:23:20 because whatever comes from truth is
0:23:22 true
0:23:23 god exists he is worthy of worship his
0:23:26 prophet muhammad sallallahu
0:23:27 alaihi wasabi is the final prophet and
0:23:29 his revelation the quran
0:23:30 is divine revelation so what they say
0:23:32 about dialogue and speech and cohesion
0:23:35 are from the one who has the totality of
0:23:37 wisdom and knowledge
0:23:38 god has the picture we just have a pixel
0:23:41 so i invite every single one of you to
0:23:42 explore the truth of islam and its
0:23:44 values
0:23:45 by visiting our website for example and
0:23:47 downloading
0:23:48 our literature links will be provided
0:23:50 below
0:23:53 obviously we can't unpack the
0:23:54 philosophical foundations of islam and
0:23:56 to show that they're true
0:23:57 but i invite you to explore them because
0:23:58 whatever comes from truth is true
0:24:02 i want to talk about now islamic
0:24:04 teaching teachings as they were
0:24:06 implemented in society and history
0:24:07 because when you study history you see
0:24:10 that islam was a beacon of light for
0:24:12 europe you know there was
0:24:13 generally speaking compared to what's
0:24:15 happening now there was no gratuitous
0:24:16 degradation
0:24:18 but there was a social political
0:24:19 atmosphere that intellectual progress
0:24:21 was was was actually occurring
0:24:25 and that there was a convention
0:24:27 coexistence there was a harmony
0:24:29 and what's very interesting it's these
0:24:32 islamic values that were implemented in
0:24:34 society that french
0:24:36 secular ideologues are benefiting from
0:24:38 right now
0:24:39 and i'm going to explain this in a
0:24:40 moment now
0:24:42 civility led to the progress we enjoy
0:24:44 today
0:24:45 and disregarding civility is taking us
0:24:48 back to the dark ages
0:24:49 french ideologue politicians have a
0:24:52 self-defeating attitude in some way
0:24:54 think about it because the only reason
0:24:56 they can use their mobile phone and
0:24:58 their laptops to insult
0:24:59 in this uncivilized manner is because of
0:25:02 the islamic civilization it facilitated
0:25:04 the develop
0:25:05 development of the algorithm which is
0:25:07 necessary for modern day computers
0:25:11 now when the islamic values were
0:25:12 implemented in the muslim lands
0:25:14 progress was an inevitable outcome for
0:25:16 instance the historian robert brufo in
0:25:18 the making of humanity
0:25:20 he explains how progress was not only
0:25:22 evident in islamic history
0:25:23 but european growth was facilitated by
0:25:26 the islamic civilization
0:25:28 he says for although there is not a
0:25:31 single aspect of european growth
0:25:33 in which the decisive influence of
0:25:35 islamic culture is not traceable
0:25:38 nowhere is it so clear and momentous as
0:25:40 in the genesis of that power which
0:25:42 constitutes the permanent distinctive
0:25:44 force of the modern world
0:25:45 and the supreme source of its victory
0:25:48 natural science
0:25:49 and scientific spirit similarly
0:25:52 professor thomas arnold in his book the
0:25:53 preaching of islam
0:25:54 he was of the opinion that the european
0:25:56 renaissance was
0:25:58 rooted in islamic spain he says
0:26:01 muslim spain had written one of the
0:26:03 brightest pages in the history of
0:26:05 medieval europe
0:26:06 her influence had passed through
0:26:07 province into other countries of europe
0:26:09 bringing to birth a new poetry
0:26:11 and a new culture and it was from her
0:26:14 that christian scholars received what of
0:26:16 greek philosophy and science
0:26:17 they had to stimulate their mental
0:26:19 activity up to the time of the
0:26:20 renaissance
0:26:23 finally brothers and sisters and friends
0:26:25 a final note
0:26:26 to the muslims the liberal ideologues
0:26:30 have a submental adoration of absolute
0:26:34 freedom
0:26:35 and this submental adoration is illusory
0:26:38 and it's really a cry of their human
0:26:40 souls yearning for allah yearning for
0:26:42 god why
0:26:43 because only allah is absolutely free
0:26:46 absolute freedom be a being a part of
0:26:48 his divinity he is
0:26:50 he is the rich the free he is he is
0:26:53 the self-subsisting he is the
0:26:55 self-sufficient he is the independent
0:26:58 and we need to make them realize that of
0:26:59 wisdom and compassion
0:27:01 that they will never be satisfied unless
0:27:03 they worship and adore the one that
0:27:05 created them and the one that is worthy
0:27:07 of worship
0:27:08 and it's our duty to share the message
0:27:09 of islam defend the religion
0:27:12 and defend the honor of the greatest man
0:27:13 to have walked this earth
0:27:15 the prophet muhammad sallallahu alaihi
0:27:17 wasallam
0:27:18 so i invite you all to become
0:27:20 intellectual and academic activists to
0:27:22 defend and convey islam with wisdom
0:27:24 compassion and reason join and support
0:27:27 sapience institute
0:27:28 that is dedicated in achieving this goal
0:27:31 and i'll
0:27:32 end with the verses of the quran chapter
0:27:34 12
0:27:35 verse 108 say o prophet
0:27:39 this is my way i invite to god with
0:27:42 insight i and those who follow me
0:27:46 glory be to god and am not
0:27:49 and i am not one of the polytheists
0:27:58 oh