Messenger Audio 2

Maybe (unintelligible)

Just that because they are bad Muslims, you have to throw Islam overboard?

Just because there are no (unintelligible)

But you said with the invasion in a certain period of history, of the Mongols, all of the universities

died out except for the ones that just taught the Hadith, the Sunnah, and legal jurisprudence.

And that the, the great expansion of knowledge, the development of algebra,

the, the flowering of Greek philosophy, all of these things that happened in the first three centuries of Islam

were eliminated from the university system, and free thought and all the other things

that are necessary for growth in a society were replaced by repeating these things that were old.

And they became just encrusted. They never developed. And it's part of that matter.

They had to. Then, he, he's arguing against his own argument.

Yeah, I mean, it's funny, he turns himself around

on himself at one point, and he never admits it, he never realizes it.

What would be different if you take this condition of (unintelligible)?

Both are equal.

They are the same?

Yeah.

I looked up condition in the dictionary and it said conditional. Dean Mahmoud: Yeah.

(unintelligible) Dean Mahmoud: Same.

Yeah.

(unintelligible)

But I thought this will attract more attention.

Did you see the passage there, I was referring to Dr. Khalifa: Yeah.

the authority of the... And then, he gives a number of...

They just can't break away from the Sunnah, you know. It's very difficult for them.

But what do you think of this page here that we just read?

Well, he says here,

for 200 years after the death of the prophet, the compilers rejected as untrustworthy 90%. Nobody did...

Why did they say the 10%?

And even those who put the 10%, doubted the 10%, but they did not counter with it.

Because they're compilers.

Nobody knows the whole story.

The same thing has happened in Christianity, where the word of the Pope has become equivalent to the word of God.

They've forgotten the doctrine.

For example, (unintelligible) Church doctrine.

Church doctrine is more important than the teachings of, of Christ.

But one thing is good, at least now, because we have no organized clergy.

You know, you can only keep on doubting the traditions on.

Did you want to read that or...?

Well, I don't really have time right now either. But I'd like to get it later. Maybe, after this, later in the semester, the end of semester.

Sure.

Maybe, I'll have to look at it, because I have...

Maybe I'll never be able to get approved by the Department.

But I would like to...

Right, I have to, you know, in the next four years, I think about writing a Master's thesis.

On?

For engineering. Well, I haven't come up with a topic. I'm only starting in the program. I'm first semester (unintelligible).

And it would be nice to include a numerical analysis of the Quran,

showing that the probabilities that a book could be produced like this would be beyond human capacity.

Yeah, I know that the... A man: There should be

some basis for making your decision.

(unintelligible)

All of the decision making process in engineering, there's not enough probability. Nothing has absolute certainty.

If you're going to make a decision, I think the first thing you study is statistics and probability. That's the first thing you study.

There's no prediction, I think (unintelligible)

It's a matter of how much probability.

Only a part fact of 100% probability.

But that's because (unintelligible), right?

But all predictions are based on probability.

What I'm talking about is a decision making process or the attitude towards a decision making process.

I thought you were talking about prediction (unintelligible)

Yeah, okay, well, I would say so, but I, I'm,

I'm beyond that, okay?

Most of these people do not seem to have in their own, you know, any direction to their own.

Well...

No, I mean, you have to make any, if you talk about engineering, you have to talk about what is your basis for, for

doing some kind of a system to...

Is it gonna be what it normally is considered to be in a society? Is it cost effective?

Is it making money?

That's the normal way, regardless of what it does for human beings.

For cultural development, (unintelligible) Dr. Khalifa: (unintelligible) God alone

The decision making process, whether to go with it or not Dr. Khalifa: They will not (unintelligible). They want (unintelligible)

would be in accordance with its importance, because of the principle of the cost.

Yeah.

And maybe there are, and yeah (unintelligible).

I don't (unintelligible)

Numerical relationships (unintelligible)

(unintelligible) Dr. Khalifa: (unintelligible)

I just have a suggestion. When you do something good for society,

That's what I was told when I (unintelligible)

From the humanistic point of view, that is an end in itself.

But from the Quranic point of view, you do good for society because Allah has said so in (unintelligible)

Therefore, it is not, it's a, it's a duty, yeah, to bring about in each society,

in a progressive society. You know, (unintelligible) Quran (unintelligible).

But the modern man...

That's the mentality now, if you make profit, then that's it by axiomatically, it is just...

There's one in philosophy we call utilitarian ethics, the pragmatic ethics.

In a highly industrialized society, what makes money is equivalent to what is good.

And what makes it good for the most, the greatest number on earth or something.

And he's making a statement here. He makes a lot of, of,

he says, Islamic democracy being idealistic and absolute value-oriented, the inner-directedness of its political, and technical leads

generates the fifth type of that general response. He uses good (unintelligible)

Yeah, he uses, relies a lot everything on this.

Elites are required to look upon power and authority as a trust.

They're motivated through an inner compulsion to anticipate and ratify as far as possible.

(unintelligible)

(unintelligible) by (unintelligible) for effective Dr. Khalifa: (unintelligible)

the needs out of Dr. Khalifa: What do you think of this?

people before Dean Mahmoud: (unintelligible)

these become (unintelligible) Dean Mahmoud: (unintelligible)

He's quoting somebody.

No, that's not...

(unintelligible)

It's a very good example.

Salãmun ‘Alaykum

‘Alaykum Al-Salam

As if, I mean, God has nothing against the prophet, but He's telling us, don't follow his behavior.

Salãmun ‘Alaykum

That proves, that proves (unintelligible) right there.

I was just,

I just, was just telling him about an, an incident my wife with relation about the Quran class

at the MSA, where someone was saying about the Hadith.

Now, apparently, this guy has actually modified his position. The quote is "the Hadith are not divine revelation like the Quran."

He has backed up.

Only they're divine revelation in the sense that,

well, they were the, you know, the prophet's life is grounded in the Quran, so therefore...

You know, what the... Someone was saying, well you,

"when I don't understand the Quran, then I go to the Hadith for interpretation."

Yeah.

And my wife said, my wife said,

"why do you go to the Hadith? Why don't you go to God? God is the only One who we go for guide."

That's it. Yeah. Good. Very good point. That's exactly the point.

I thought that was a good thing for them to say. There is no, you know,...

You look, you will look in one book and you don't understand it, so you look in another one.

Yeah, which is more complicated, actually. It's a lot more difficult.

Books of Hadith were written by people with different (unintelligible), different nationalities.

This is (unintelligible)

And they, and they had complex minds, too.

(unintelligible) A man: (unintelligible)

But we're reducing it all down to the English language, so for one, I mean, one sense, that's not a problem. But the question of...

Yeah, but how do you bring it (unintelligible). They don't understand the original text.

But...

Oh, nice, this one. Dr. Khalifa: It's very difficult.

It's very...

Oh, nice, this... (unintelligible)

Yes.

(unintelligible)

(unintelligible)

Yeah, I'm hearing that, but I was (unintelligible)

He's quoting a lot of... These are all listed quotes from the Quran.

No, he doesn't (unintelligible) a lot of them.

This is where he's making a statement about...

This woman will take a watermelon and, and (unintelligible)

It's probably worth reading.

It's very well (unintelligible) A man: No, I think I (unintelligible)

I think some of the points he makes are quite valid.

I mean, because if you can recognize where he contradicts himself, A man: I know

then we know where (unintelligible) A man: Well, I think some of the points he makes are quite valid, and

And I think what he's trying to do is really present an Islamic basis for system that (unintelligible)

I'm not saying that (unintelligible) is, is

totally wrong

Why (unintelligible) Islamic basis, anybody who has the Islamic basis in their life, whatever they do is quite, you know,

they're free to do whatever (unintelligible) Dean Mahmoud: (unintelligible)

once (unintelligible) Dr. Khalifa: (unintelligible)

I don't have such bad eyesight, but sometimes I do.

Yeah.

(unintelligible)

Yeah, very good.

Cause the engineer's making, you know, if he's got the Islamic basis for himself,

he's going to make decisions from that basis.

He doesn't have to look to the system to judge the problem directly. You know what I'm saying?

No, but his sister is, I mean, his sister (unintelligible) in general.

not the truth in general.

We're gonna celebrate 4 birthdays this weekend. A man: (unintelligible) more and more

integrated unity. A woman: Tonight? A woman: Tonight?

I thought (unintelligible) A man: into thinking process.

Yeah.

Let's just say, you know, and what I'm trying to say is, A woman: (unintelligible)

The chair is part of the room, the room is part of the house Dr. Khalifa: (unintelligible)

the house is part of the community, the community is part of the (unintelligible). Dr. Khalifa: No, no, don't, don't feel like...

That's kind of a mentality. A woman: You know, but I, I (unintelligible)

And if you really look at Islam, it's a very (unintelligible)

Yeah, but I mean, you could have...

He's trying to unify everything because God is (unintelligible).

Ok. It's based on the principle of...

But, you know, a system is made of objects that are simply there, but are they required in there?

That's another level of, you know, in Islam, I mean, to me, basically, the whole scientific thing is

if you don't follow these rules, you know, which this set down on the laws of nature anyways

It's amazing most doctors (unintelligible)

He tried to (unintelligible) in order to make a claim (unintelligible)

You have to work with it and not (unintelligible)

Yeah, but it's not (unintelligible) evident in the realm of ethics and bias.

because most engineering decisions (unintelligible) talk about (unintelligible)

Is it useful? Is it cost-effective?

Or in here, it is actually made on political choices. (unintelligible)

I think he's trying to put it in a more Islamic line. I'm talking about the reality of life in 1982 in America.

If it makes money for a big company, then it's good, regardless of what are, whatever else it may be.

But if it's, if in the long run, it goes against the good of society, then it's,

it's against the good of the big company.

(unintelligible) in a brochure of a

Unfortunately, these people are very short-sighted. Dr. Khalifa: pharmaceutical company, they wouldn't recommend it.

If they weren't so short-sighted, they would have much more respect for (unintelligible).

There would be much more slow, go slow, attitude on development of nuclear energy, which we don't fully understand. Alright.

And there would be much less of an attempt to (unintelligible), what, what, what I object to in, in, in the American culture

that I find vulgar is the instilling in television and the media of the consumer mentality,

which a person from the day he watches television to the day he, to the day he dies, he's encouraged to buy

something, whether you need it or not, whether it has any value in life or not.

Consume and produce, consume and produce, consume and produce. This mentality, which is hyper, super hyper materialism,

which we've never known in the world before to this day, where the mass of people,

the great mass of people are, are now able to consume at a level that was never possible in the past.

I find it very vulgar of myself. I, the only alternative seems to be escaping to the third world, to some place where it isn't...

(unintelligible) IN SHAA ALLAH. A man: IN SHAA ALLAH.

I unfortunately or I, unfortunately, have to work, so Dean Mahmoud: I know.

we will miss you but, another two months this schedule will be over.

Remember work is a part of worship.

Salãmun ‘Alaykum

(unintelligible)

(unintelligible)

(unintelligible)

But if you wanna borrow it, let me know, I have (unintelligible)

All right. Ok. I had to see what my, you know, I got a whole...

I don't have to go to the university or...

Well, I, I'm taking it in three units, but...

(unintelligible)

Yeah, I can sign it out, too. A man: (unintelligible)

Well, I mean, I could take it back and get it out under my name soon, but it would be the same amount of time.

But I wanna take it, Ok. A man: But I don't wanna take the time.

(unintelligible)

Yeah.

Well, I think it's true. I'd like to read it, but I don't think I have time right now.

(unintelligible)

Yes.

(unintelligible) over again. (unintelligible) all over again.

And the verse number where we started was...

(unintelligible)

(unintelligible)

The light is fixed. Yeah, let's start.

But before we get to this,

we really have to thank God for, for enlightening us through Dean Mahmoud.

Because it was actually a tremendous parallelism that we studied, discovered, last week,

between Al-Fãtehah and Al-Baqarah, between the Sura number 1 and Sura number 2.

Bism Allah Arrahman Arraheem

Yeah.

When you read towards the end of Al-Fãtehah, we say

Serata Al-Lazeena An’amta ‘Alayhim ...

7] the path of those whom You blessed ...

... Ghayri Al-Maghdoobi ‘Alayhim ...

... not those who deserved wrath ...

... Wa Laddaalleen

... nor the strayers.

And then, we come to Sura number 2, and we find the three kinds of people.

The first, the righteous.

... Al-Lazeena An’amta ‘Alayhim ...

This is the righteous.

And then, the disbelievers that this is

... Ghayri Al-Maghdoobi ‘Alayhim ...

The ones that incur or deserve wrath.

... Wa Laddaalleen

That's the third group, the, the hypocrites.

So, now when we think, I've been thinking about this the whole week.

And some of the people came to me and said that

now they have a whole new perspective on the reading Al-Fãtehah.

Fatema was one of them.

Because when you're reading

Serata Al-Lazeena An’amta ‘Alayhim ...

you think of the righteous and all their definitions in Sura number 2. And then, when we say,

... Ghayri Al-Maghdoobi ‘Alayhim ...

We're thinking on the people, the disbelievers, who deserve wrath.

... Wa Laddaalleen

The last word in Al-Fãtehah,

when you read it, then you think of the last third group

as detailed in Sura number 2 which is the hypocrites.

Now, when you think about it,

... Al-Lazeena An’amta ‘Alayhim ...

7] ... those whom You blessed; ...

are the righteous.

Yeah, this is easy.

... Ghayri Al-Maghdoobi ‘Alayhim ...

Those who deserved wrath are the disbelievers.

They just, they have only 2 verses describing them in Sura number 2 as you see.

... Wa Laddaalleen

Now, Al-Ddaalleen (ٱلضَّآلِّينَ), who are Al-Ddaalleen (ٱلضَّآلِّينَ)?

The strayers.

The strayers mean somebody who started on the path and then, then got lost,

lost his way. He strayed off.

So, these are the hypocrites. For the, because the hypocrites,

they come to Quran, and they come to Islam, and then somehow they, they deviate.

So, we're praying to God not to make us among those.

... Wa Laddaalleen

And it is an incredible observation that Dean Mahmoud made

last week, in that it, it uses the same words that these,

that the hypocrites are the ones who chose the straying using the same words as we'll see in Al-Fãtehah,

instead of the guidance.

So, the Arabic words are, are quite parallel.

So, now when you read Al-Fãtehah, you have a whole new perspective,

and you can see the connection, even though between Al-Fãtehah and Al-Baqarah

were 13 years and

how many miles between Mecca and Medina, Maya, do you remember?

Is it 200?

300 miles (unintelligible)

between the first Sura and the second Sura

are 13... 13 years and 200 miles.

But you see the connection that is absolutely very watertight.

But it only proves that

(unintelligible)

Exactly.

You see, what I think (unintelligible)

Exactly.

It proves that the Quran was actually written down before the creation of the heavens and the earth.

(unintelligible)

But it, but it was revealed on occasions,

like when the prophet turned away and frowned from the blind poor person.

Now, this was written before Muhammad was ever born.

But it was revealed immediately after he did that. It was released right after that.

The description of the battle of Badr,

it was written before the earth was created. But it was revealed immediately after the battle of Badr,

and so forth.

So, the revelation of Quran over a period of 23 was scattered.

And the verses and the Suras were, were separated in time and place.

But the whole Quran, like Dean Mahmoud said, now was written down before the creation of the heavens and the earth.

So,...

Yes.

I don't want to take our time but

along elaborating what you said with that,

I made some notes in, but cannot depend anymore on my memory.

I'm getting old.

What I'm going to say is just something to think about.

I'm not pushing it because I'm not very sure of it, myself.

But I think if (unintelligible)

we don't go (unintelligible)

I would like to point to 6, verse 6 of Sura 1.

And in Arabic, it is

6)

Just like you have been thinking about this for one week, I've been thinking about for a long week.

It's this word, Mustaqeem (مُسْتَقِيمَ).

All the translations, as you see, are either straight, broad or right.

They mean the same after them.

And that's one thing that's very good in English.

When we say, he's on the right path, he's on the correct path, he's on the

Straight.

straight path.

Now, I think ordinary Arabic also, if I remember right, from my father,

he used to say "Oh, it's the right path." straight path, the correct path.

So, the path that you ought, ought to go, or the true path. So,...

(unintelligible) Dr. Khalifa: ‘Alaykum Al-Salãm.

Now, I was studying the, I was studying the root, the root,

the root, any else where (unintelligible) to help us, but

the root of Mustaqeem (مُسْتَقِيمَ).

And I found out that there are 2 letters,

T (ت), K (ک), N (ن), Q (ق).

So, what entered my mind immediately,

although this is where I'm not sure if I'm correct,

this thing you is also found in Taqwa (تقوا), which is righteousness.

So, I said "welcome Saudi dictionaries."

So, I went to, to the arrangement of Taqwa (تقوا).

Taqwa (تقوا) in (unintelligible) versions.

So, also, Taqwa (تقوا) is righteousness.

And this is the most normal translation, so and so.

But I never found the word Mustaqim (مُسْتَقِيمَ) under the heading of Taqwa (تقوا).

So, I say these are ordinary dictionaries, I'll go to a Quranic dictionary by (unintelligible). The same thing.

Under Taqwa (تقوا), which is righteous, you do not find the word Mustaqim (مُسْتَقِيمَ), as one for the verbs.

So, I went to

straight or the verb Qawama (قوم) or Qama (قم).

It's very interesting for the word Qiyamah (قیامه), as you know, also the day of

Qiyamah (قیامه) or the Day of Resurrection

because that's the day when you will

Stand up.

you will stand up.

Also, when we say Takbir (تکبیر), that's Qiyam (قیام).

And also... and so on.

Qiyamah (قیامه) really also means (unintelligible)

And this dictionary says, but this is what he says, the man,

the Quranic dictionary.

He says Mustaqim (مُسْتَقِيمَ) is based on the root Qawama (قوم), (unintelligible).

But he says in before it is, it means righteous.

So, I was thinking that in development of the, it seems that these roots

in original Arabic meant the same.

(unintelligible) meant straight, righteousness, and so on.

But as Arabic became more and more literary, then it acquired new meanings.

And so maybe

a guide to us is always try to go to the, to the root.

Now, if this dictionary is correct, if it puts Mustaqim (مُسْتَقِيمَ) under straight and so on,

number 6 can be read as follows,

the disappointing, the division that we have.

We're asking Allah, guide us in the path of the righteous,

and support in our (unintelligible).

on the path of righteousness

Yes, or it, yeah, guide us on the path of righteousness

7] the path of those whom You blessed; ...

not those of the hypocrites

Disbelievers

nor, oh, excuse me, not that of the disbelievers, nor of the hypocrites,

which, as you say now, is the deep... Let me go deeper into the understanding and so on.

However, there is something that has bothered me but I think on my own more this way, I would like to share it with you.

Looking at the versions of, which is very good, this Manar, the Tafsir of Al-Manar or these Egyptians,

Ibn Zamakhshari.

They all seem to be a little bit hesitant in making a difference between

those who deserve wrath (unintelligible).

A lot of the discussions has gone on the difference between these.

But none of them has hit what we have been able today. None of them.

As far as I know. Maybe...

(unintelligible) no, no, listen...

None of them.

This is very new, yeah.

Zamakhshari

Baydawi

Ibn Al-Asif

and Manar which is only last, the last century.

None of them said that the answer is on the next page.

But they give us a lot of distinction between those who deserve wrath and those who are astray.

I think the confusion, the confusion of inability

is that we must not look at hypocrites and the Kufar (کفار)

Disbelievers.

as disbeliever as completely separate.

If we think that they are two different groups, we will not be able to understand the Quran.

Now, be patient with me, please. Let us go to chapter 2 verse 8.

These are the hypocrites. But look what Allah says.

(3) The Hypocrites

8] Then there are those who say, We believe in GOD and the Last Day, "while they are not believers.

These are the hypocrites. Therefore, the hypocrites are also disbelievers.

See, what... Dr. Khalifa: They are disbelievers who will say that we are, we believe.

Yes.

Then, let us go to 19.

Verse 19 after talking of the disbelievers and the hypocrites,

Allah says, after summarizing their characteristics, He encompasses the disbelievers.

From this, and I don't want to take so much of your time, arrived at the conclusion that all hypocrites

are disbelievers. But not all disbelievers are necessarily hypocrites.

Because there are some people who say immediately "I do not believe", and they mean it.

Yes.

And so to use the mathematics, language of mathematics,

the hypocrites form a subset of the, of the unbelievers.

If this interpretation is correct, dear brothers and sisters, then let us go to

7 and 8 of Baqarah, again.

Sura 7, Allah

seals their hearts, these are the disbelievers, their hearing, places veils upon their hearts.

They have deserved terrible retribution.

Now 8,

8] Then there are those who say, ...

This must now be interpreted within brackets.

8] Then there are those ...

among the disbelievers

8] ... who say, ...

These are the...

The disbelievers.

Yeah.

Among the disbelievers.

Yeah. Among the disbelievers, there are those who say so and so. These are the hypocrites.

If you will accept this interpretation, the rest of the chapter becomes very clear,

why Allah says that these hypocrites really don't believe, another time He just talks of disbelievers and so on.

So, I put it this way.

All hypocrites are

Disbelievers.

disbelievers, but not all disbelievers are necessarily hypocrites.

And therefore, Allah is angry also, albeit He says,

Then, I should mention (unintelligible).

You cannot be astray from the path unless you were there from the very beginning.

And that's why they have to be in the lowest, or hottest part of Hell.

(unintelligible)

Because they saw (unintelligible) and...

There is no excuse.

They are those who are really ungrateful.