Analysis of Mutazilite Arguments Surrounding ‘Divine Justice’ Through an Ash’arite Lens.

I think for sure you have a much more scientific attitude to academia, its a lot more about presenting information as objectively as possible, and I think that has its place, but my method has been developed after observing many things, and basically I know through that nobody is objective, and that humans often deceive themselves into thinking that they are capable of scientific and broad thought, but at the end of the day, they are weak and limited beings and where they attempt to appear enlightened and sophisticated, they are only displaying two attitudes 1) obedience to allah or 2) disobedience.

I could care less about academic method, western knowledge, sophisticated science, etc, all of these are meaningless to me, since i have been through academia and ive seen how artificial this whole charade is, my method is basically designed as a tool for dawa, and then i just go ahead and write whatever comes out in an effort to bring about elevation of the soul and abasement of the ego. its not even something i like to do or i think is necessary, it just helps to analyse the thought trends, come to a conclusion about them and then notice either a) ah yes, this was founded on taqwa or b) this was founded on ego. Humans are simple, and most of all, the unbelievers are extremely simple and shallow, but they pretend to be profound.

At the end of the day, i consider the quran and sunna as the height of possible knowledge, and i want to have as many of the information paradigms of that source in my mind as possible, i relate everything back to its key concepts, like shirk, doomsday, heaven and hell, predestination, and most importantly, the plan of satan and the need to guard against worship of satan, i could care less about anyone elses thought except insofar as it affirms the quranic views or denies them, and in the case of the essay i posted, to me it was basically, "there is a tricky debate between asharites and mutazilites and it seems difficult for me to understand which one is more quranically sound", so i just laid out the facts, meditated on it, and the explanation came out, mutazilism edges towards ego and hubris, and asharism leans towards submission, and hey presto, i found my answer, that was the end of it, i wasnt thinking to be fancy or look academic, as i said, i do not consider western epistemology or academia as anything that is worth aspiring towards, i only care about re-expressing the quranic truths as much as possible because i dont want to insult myself into thinking another potential solution is possible.

essentially the writing is not even necessary, since i know what i believe through basic islamic reflection, i do the whole soul vs ego check on myself thing and then, boom, i have a conclusion, its not really rocket science or anything fancy enough to be revered or commended, nor do i wish it to be. i dont even need to write an essay to find out about a thing, i just do the quranic reflection and im pretty certain about the reliability of my conclusion.

at the end of my general search for knowledge i pretty much learned that humans do not really possess the capacity to contain information in their minds, they try to, but in the moment, everyone acts on his impulse, and nobody really calculates except for the one who follows islamic law and orders his activities into fard, wajib, sunna, mubah, makruh, etc, everyone else just goes with the ego. So at the end, the conclusion of knowledge and its search is that you know nothing, and that you rely on allah for guidance, you cant cheat the test at the end of it, is the general conclusion of all knowledge in this life, for me, and also for everyone else, people are just slow at getting to the conclusion that "allah is the knower" and we are only the recipients of limited and brief information.

so why write the essay? basically its so that the conclusion about subjects that i have reached from just thinking about them with an islamic attitude can be explained to those who excessively use their minds rather than intuition and so that the conclusions of faith can be proven using the tools of reason. Wasnt that what the Asharites were doing in early history? They were proving true the conclusions of the Ashab al Hadith using the dialectic method of the Rationalists?

So thats what is the general motivation, at the end, i could care less whether a person thinks that it is academic or not, or whether it measures up to the standards of western academia, since i do not respect any thought system unless it leans towards spirituality and submission to allah as opposed to the desires of the ego, i give no concern whether people think it is 'fancy' or 'academically sound', because i have seen these professors at work and the only criterion they use to judge whether something is academic or not is whether it affirms their own egoistic conclusions or not, they do not care about the references,

which is why i get angry when people who are sunni students and whose role it is to explain the information of the quran and sunna in writing, forget to realise that they are an extremely small intellectual minority and that they should snap out of their decadent intellectual bubbles and start using their minds in a simple manner to explain the DARURIYAT AD DIN, because nobody else really cares

another reason why i write is to eradicate hubris and procrastination, some people spend ten years over the study of one subject just to act smart and be intellectual, whereas they probably do not even operate in that sphere nor are they obligated to act within it, its just futile academic activity, which has no benefit to anyone. People like Ala Hazrat or Said Nursi wrote things that had meaning and served the needs of people and brought their egoes under submission to Allah.

Academic writing is designed simply to boost an individuals' perception that he is a smartass and has greater knowledge than that which is in the quran and sunna, so when i write an essay, its basically using intellectualism to cut short intellectualism

its a denunciatory message that "all you people who dont really believe in worship of allah, i have surpassed your conclusions and cut short your efforts to procrastinate, now you have no choice but to abandon your intellectual wayfaring and get down on the musalla like everyone else who understands truth"

this is probably why my definition of academic differs from yours, i have eradicated all potential pathways to acceptance of wayward conclusions just because it was something i felt was 'enlightened' or 'illuminating' at the time, and to me, enlightement is to realise you know nothing and allah is the real knower.

Also, if a believer only supports his own conclusions and that of islam, i do not give myself the luxury of time on this earth to consider that biased or 'prejudiced' as you said, this life is short and hypcrites and falsehood is large, so why should a believer to whom allah has communicated the truth waste his time in being 'subjective' or 'academic', he should simply say what allah inspires him to say and what is in accord with the transmitted proofs and be done with it, and go tend to other duties.
 
sorry if you thought that post was a bit long for you to read but im not really concerned with making my posts short as a) im still a student and b) i like to use these things as an opportunity for reflection so whatever came out was generally meant to and allows me to udnerstand my own work better so since it serves a purpose youll have to pardon it for being so lengthy.
 
i agree with Syed Uwaisi's post #21 100%. very well thought out and well-founded, and what he said about the pretensions and fakeness of academia is 100% true. i vouch for it. i've seen it first hand, and anyone who has been through university with his eyes open, can't miss it.

he responded to nawazuddin's hollow criticism quite well and quite holistically although nawaz's post #20 did restore some balance from his initial pointers,

i also wish that the intellectual zindiq nj was here long enough to read it.
 
intellectual zindiq
Click to expand...
a zindiq is a person who outwardly accepts islam and the message of the Prophet and claims to be a muslim. however he also professes such beliefs that are deemed kufr by common agreement. [khazayin al-irfan, in tafsir of verse 13 of surah baqarah].

2_13.png
 
to those unfortunate people who are frustrated that islam (or according to them mullas) doesn't allow individual freedom, and who cannot think a little further. this is my counter argument to all - whether with muslim names or not.

their argument is that: "it is a matter of individual freedom. religion should not interfere in what i do with my body or my choice. i should have the right to dispense with whatever is MINE in howsoever i wish." the atheists among them disbelieve in an all-powerful God; the zanadiqah wish that God acts/permits according to their own desires.

why should Allah ta'ala not dispense, as He Wishes in what He Owns? freedom for you, but not for Him?
why should Allah ta'ala not make something Halal or Haram according to His own Knowledge? freedom for you, but not for Him?
why should Allah ta'ala not destroy you or throw you in hell? who can dare to stop Him from His Will?

---
so, He created you and everything. He is the Absolute Master. He owns you and everything else. He has Absolute Power to dispense as He Wills, and none can stop Him. He does it when He chooses to, not when you want him to.

the reality is that only Allah ta'ala is Absolutely Free, and Absolutely Independent and Absolutely does what He Wills - no one can ask Him.


21_23.png
 
why should Allah ta'ala not dispense, as He Wishes in what He Owns? freedom for you, but not for Him?
Click to expand...
one the best posts, aH! wonderful argument!! wish I could like it more than once!!!
 
from shaykh al-islam sayyid abdullah ibn alawi al-haddad al-Husayni al-HaDrami in his "aqidatu'l islam"

sabil.jpg
 
Last edited:
i do not give myself the luxury of time on this earth to consider that biased or 'prejudiced' as you said, this life is short and hypcrites and falsehood is large, so why should a believer to whom allah has communicated the truth waste his time in being 'subjective' or 'academic', he should simply say what allah inspires him to say and what is in accord with the transmitted proofs and be done with it, and go tend to other duties.
Click to expand...

this bit is pure gold.

specially the highlighted part is something we should all keep in mind

in this age, life is too short and hypocrites and falsehood are simply in abundance

a brother was once telling me that refute the hypocrites we must,

but we must also work smartly and not let them sit in the driver seat dictating to us what we should focus our energies on

often times, a hypocrite might release a new kufr or bid3ah (bid3ahs like- read dante, you need to identify intentions to take someone to task even for sareeh kufr/blasphemy, etc.) and we might lose our calm, not in the sense of going ballistic with rants and shouts, etc., but we might leave what we are doing and maybe focus our energies on countering this bid3ah.

in the past, that might have been feasible because such things might have been fewer, but in these times, bid3ah, kufr and hypocrisy are competing with communications technologies in the speed of advancements! i believe in 2008, a mobile would be outdated in 2 years. (remember the times when your fridge, tv and vcr would easily last 2 decades and still be hip!) now they say a new mobile device is outdated in 6 months. the heresies coming out of keller, hanson, padri, jifry, et al are no different.

just like you might come across the next best app or the next best mobile device 3 times a week, you'll come across the next worst heresy at least 3 times a month, if you follow some of these evil scholars close enough. so in such a case, such evil scholars should simply not be allowed to make Sunnis run aimlessly and directionlessly and be overwhelmed by their evil that they too keep chasing the next worst heresy.

we must do what we can to refute them, but make sure we stay in the driver seat and not them.
 
He is the Absolute Master. He owns you and everything else. He has Absolute Power to dispense as He Wills, and none can stop Him.
Click to expand...

none of us should ever forget that the good deeds that we do are also due to His own Will and His granted capacity.

none of us can thank Him enough until eternity, because even the capacity and desire to thank Him at this instance in time for all previous favors or capacities to do good, is given by Him, so this act of thanking Him itself requires a new thanks to be given to Him as He Alone gave that capacity just now, and when you give Him that new thanks, that too is by His Will and the capacity He granted, so that too requires a new thanks. and this can never stop. every time you do something good and thank Him for a favor or the capacity to do good, that very act of thanking in itself is His new favor!

it is nothing other than absolute mercy that He gives you the capacity to do good, and then rewards you for that same good, which you in reality had no hand in doing!

a shaykh once told me that the greatest of all calamities is for a person to think "what do i need to repent for? my record's clean. no booze, no womanizing, no gambling, my neighbor's happy with me, my wife 'n kids are happy with me, i offer my prayers on time, i fast, i finished hajj etc." he said very rightly indeed, drunks, bank robbers, prostitutes, etc. who consider themselves as bad and feel the need to repent, are better Muslims than them, so much that there isn't even a comparison!

i have seen that that juhalaa infatuated by "tasawwuf" or grown up in "Sunni" homes become the absolute worst of all zanadiq or atheists, even worse than those extremist wahabis who leave Islam. it is because these idiots think that their "tasawwuf" or admiration of Sufis or their supposed understanding of Rumi's poetry is somehow the fruit of their own labor!

i have seen former "admirers" of Sufis say nonsense like "what more does Allah want from me? i pray 5 times a day (which they didn't). i slaughter a lamb every year, i fast, etc."
 
on a lighter note...

Kiyun udas phirte ho sardiyun ke mausam mein
Iss tarha to hota hai, iss tarha ke kaamon mein
 
so this act of thanking Him itself requires a new thanks
Click to expand...
لئن كان شكري نعمةَ الله نعمةً
علي له في مثلها يجب الشكر

my offering of thanks for the favours of Allah, is a favour in itself;
and obligatory upon me tho offer thanks for it likewise.

---
who consider themselves as bad and feel the need to repent, are better Muslims than them
Click to expand...
sayyidi ibn aTayillah said it most beautifully in Hikam:
معصية أورثت ذلاًّ وافتقارا خير من طاعة أورثت عزاًّ واستكبارا

a sin that causes one to be humbled, feel disgraced and in need (of Divine Mercy and Forgiveness) is better than such a good deed which induces a feeling of righteousness, conceit and pride.


elsewhere in the same Hikam he says:
ولأن تصحب جاهلا لا يرضى عن نفسه خير لك من أن تصحب عالما يرضى عن نفسه وأي جهل لجاهل لا يرضى عن نفسه

that you would accompany an ignorant (or illiterate or uncultured) person who is not satisfied or pleased with his own self (nafs) is better than the company of a scholar who is satisfied and pleased with his own nafs.
 
Last edited:
This bit is pure Asharism:

"so, He created you and everything. He is the Absolute Master. He owns you and everything else. He has Absolute Power to dispense as He Wills, and none can stop Him. He does it when He chooses to, not when you want him to." (Sh.Abu Hasan)

In the sense that the Mutazilites, who are insecure about divine justice, restrict it to where they think it should come to pass, and who are insecure about their possession of free will, so they attribute it altogether to themselves, or who are insecure about whether Allah is essentially just or not, and so deny him the ability of changing his promise (khalf al waeed), simply cannot give up and 'submit' as Asharites seem to have done, which was what I mentioned in the final paragraph of the essay.

That was the question I faced: Mutazilism initially seems enlightened, and Asharism seems 'constrictive' or 'backward', but one is founded on Taqwa and groundedness (i.e. Islam/taslim) and another is founded on 'aspiring to Godhood' and 'Manifesting Abundance' like modern New Age groups, and later you realise its based on a lie, i.e. we are something inherently amazing.

In context of Nietche, he suffered from the latter delusion, which was why he stated near to his death, that he wished he had a teacher, or students, i.e. that he wanted to feel benefit from his knowledge, thus if the conclusion of knowledge is that you know nothing, benefiting means to attain humility and submission of your ego to the natural order and accepting your human limitations.

So Asharis, or even later Sunni scholars from the Subcontinent, appear 'backward' or 'unenlightened' compared to Durkheim, Nietzhe (a.k.a. Bietzche), Hegel, etc, undoubtedly attained far more benefit from their knowledge because they attained the reality of life, nafs al mutmainna, and took part in a natural life detached from inhibitions and delusions.

I hope that modern Sunni students realise that there was once a guy called Ghazali you know and he kind of proved all this stuff with his entire life so we should sort of try not to re-invent the wheel and go through his life experiences to realise the simple conclusion that a) academic information is not so important and b) attaining nafs al mutmainna and experiential knowledge/ wisdom is more important.
 
"i have seen that that juhalaa infatuated by "tasawwuf" or grown up in "Sunni" homes become the absolute worst of all zanadiq or atheists, even worse than those extremist wahabis who leave Islam." (Br. Abdul Qadir)

This is definitely the case.

I was thinking to myself during an earlier time frame that, there are many who are in this Sunni community, and others outside also, but specifically these individuals anger me, that they live in a decadent and luxurious parallel universe, allowing them to develop a snooty and arrogant attitude to faith.

I mean this in the sense that they act derisively and pompous when they see faith being expressed beyond a 'certain level', and they consider themselves as 'beyond' sources of Islamic information. They act like 'we've heard it all before', and you can blatantly tell that they consider outside sources of information, such as some Enlightenment period philosopher or a modern thinker as much more appealing.

I place the source of the(ir) problem down to a few things things:

1. No hard work to acquire an Islamic understanding of reality, i.e. they were spoon fed writings of SUnni scholars or other Islamic sources or Pirs came to their house, so what for most people is either a) a blessing or b) rare for them is either a) old news or b) nothing special, so they need excessive excitement in order to feel alive and in order for them to appreciate Islamic practice and belief.

Many of the 'Sufi Admirers' mentioned by Brother Abdul Qadir are those who fit this category, they are essentially egoistic and decadent people, who never risk themselves for any greater attainment, thus they allow themselves to grow lazy and decadent, they do khatm al khwajagan or some other lengthy ritual as their only expression of Islamicity and afterwards go off for group dessert at a speciality dessert restaurant for a healthy dose of bromance and hand-kissing.

We are here talking about extremely decadent Sunni/Sufi-admirers, who live on the borders of Judaism, i.e. if they were not born in Punjab, they would call themselves Learned Elders of Zion/ The New Banu Israeel and that would be the end of it.


2. No first hand encounter with kufr themselves, so they were allowed to develop the understanding that 'Islam is right, kufr is wrong' and say this to people, but were never faced with the situation that they needed to test their faith and have it proven for them (e.g. mujahada in Sufi terms).

They never did research and study to compare their faith with others, thus it has no value because it was not earned, so because of this, they allow themselves to take faith for granted, and when they see people who show more effort towards things of a Prophetic origin, they make fun and laugh because they cannot relate to it themselves because they take faith for granted and the ones they are making fun of had have to work for it.

3. They perform Islamic practice and pretend to carry the doctrine verbally (obviously), but again, their nafs got in the way, and they considered this whole 'programme' to be a 'favour' they are doing towards Islam,

i.e. "I cannot expand my mind or go, or to the dance-club, because God wants me to attain major sainthood and is purposefully keeping me grounded".

So they like to pretend they are better secretly, and continue living the 'simple life' externally because they are too weak to admit that they want something else. Or, like in the case of the extremists mentioned by AQ, they harbour malice and grudge inside themselves, and eventually let it erupt, becoming apostate, or as I see it, 'declaring apostasy', since there is much room to move around in Islam, i.e. you can rehab yourself using a notebook until you are ready for the essential elements of the system, i.e. "dont swear at God", "be nice", "follow the prophet", "pray five times", "go to work", you dont have to say "I have apostated" and be all dramatic about it. Its the drama and apparent radical-ness of apostasy that attracts some of these people to the concept of apostasy/zindiqiyya, such as Naqshbandi Jamati or other people, so they learn how to boost their self esteem by seeing themselves within a radical paradigm, e.g. "Im awesome now cos im different from those guys", but if they saw the wisdom, they'd realise that having self esteem and not sticking out of the crowd is more radical and aesthetically admirable, if that is what they are going after. Theres a lot to be said about the 'subliminally cool' elements of following Islamic thought, but not necessary to.

A parable to understand apostates from Islam is like people who say they have left the human race. Now people within Islam maintain boundaries, and train themselves within those boundaries so that they can attain nafs mutmainna. Now apostates say they 'leave' Islam (I question how far they really have gone with their new life, e.g. you subscribe to Adult fiction and play golf on Sunday) because they find the boundaries that Muslims live inside as restrictive to self expression, so people as complex and amazing as themselves purposefully need to leave in order to show 'this isnt where cool people hang out, not at all'. In the same way, most humans in general, despite not using the ethical and legal boundaries of Islam, still have a sense of morality and decency, perhaps even more strenuous in some cases because they do not have the luxury of moral relativism provided by the akham of Usul al Fiqh, e.g. this is Makruh Tahrimi/Tanzihi/Mubah/Isaah/Khilaf al Awla, etc. they are still taking part in the essential process of training themsleves within set norms so that they attain submission of their souls. So what now, is a person who regards these norms as 'rigid/backward' going to leave humanity, is he going to become a robot? If he turns into a robot, he will eventually find that form of container as 'rigid/backward' (especially if that robot is C-3PO [who was flipped backward in SW Ep. V: ESB]) and need to find another form of container, what is he going to do, become a microchip? This is for transhumanists.

So you cant escape the test, you cant escape reality, you cant escape mujahada and you cant escape Islam, real freedom is when your mind is free from idols, that miniscule physical act of '' /'partying'/'getting high' is all delusion and cycles of misery, they actually feel like a trap to a believer, so hedonists/sensualists (like Harun Yahya) should really think on that, their perceived 'enjoyment' is really misery to a person who is spiritually sound, he tries to re-interpret the hadith like we dont know better, but the truth remains "the dunya, is a prison for the believer, but it appears as a paradise for the one with no faith".

the declaration of apostasy in itself is stupid and baseless because even if you go 'out there' you will eventually need to find yourself a place 'in here'. Also, traditionally, nobody really 'declared their own apostasy', you need to at least act like a believer, someone else is supposed to catch you out for heresy, if you go do it yourself, what are we gonna do then?

My advice to them is "Go, we literally dont need you here, and if you get to the other side and understand what its all about, you may return to Islam, since the Five Pillars still stand".

They hate to see people who genuinely like to restrain their ego and who find living islamically a fresher experience of reality.

They dont understand it, not to depict the situation as an 'Us vs. Them' situation, but simply to just say a couple things more for benefit of the discussion on why Sunni beliefs are practice are seen as 'shallow' or 'unenlightened' by our poor mareeds scattered here and there

. They essentially consider themselves as complicated and godly beings and thus cannot attain salvation within the set paradigm of reality, i.e. "we are created by a higher being, we must live within His own created boundaries, outside which there can be no joy".
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I just remembered, what I want from the decadent people who secretly dont believe in the truth of Sunnism (e.g. the most hardcore interpretation of Islam, combining Hanafi fatawa, Sufi moral aims, and Ashari-style philosophy) is to a) enrol in Uni doing, not law, not medicine, not engineering, but ISLAMIC STUDIES, and to read all the statements of those Orientalists and neo-Orientalists, and at the same time, read all the statements of the deviants within Islamic thought, and not stopping there, statements of aberrant trends in Western thought such as Satanists/ Wiccans, and then read the theories of modern materialist philosophers and atheists, thats really what i wish, they need to read these statements and be in that environment and then really think about themselves and how they act, knowing whats really 'out there', itll give them a nice little reality check. Theyll go straight from 'modern/Pir-loving {but} "my faith is in my heart"/ you people are too extreme straight to just hanging out at the Mazars and wearing long tasbihs making fidgety movements and speaking in tongues.

Aye, that'll take the 'point' out of their turbans (inside joke: Subject: Modern Sufi Dress).
 
Decadence, such as that we have seen from people like Hamza Yusuf, is from Decadence, i.e. you feel fine to academize Islamic thought and remove 'moral zeal' from the discourse in all areas where it is absolutely crucial, just because you were able to nurture your Islamic thought in relative isolation from the real centre of corruption and evil, so when it comes to the real issues, they are 'beneath my attention' or 'part of an older discourse', as if there is something new and fascinating to grab your attention.

They take the sources of information (e.g. elaborate classical Shah Waliallah style literature) for granted, and can point their decadent fingers in the direction of 'Barelvi Tafkir mongers' but I would like to leave them alone, and say to them, "No Quran for you, no Hadith, pretend Islam isnt there, now go address all the thought groups on Earth, and make your own philosophy, lets see how your state is at the end", theyll come back and just be content with readin the Quranic verses listed in 'Noorani Qaida' for spiritual benefit, requests for elaborate Ibn Arabi style awrad will hopefully have left their minds sometime during that test.
 
Typing error: "Decadence, such as that we have seen from people like Hamza Yusuf, is from Decadence,"

Didnt meant to say that, the third noun should be "Laziness", for want of a better phrase.
 
Also, brother AQ's words:

a brother was once telling me that refute the hypocrites we must,

but we must also work smartly and not let them sit in the driver seat dictating to us what we should focus our energies on

This is too true, in the attempt to counter Wahhabism/Deobandis, i.e. acting in reaction to them, a lot of people try to use their own methods, and end up becoming like them.

For example in Fatawa, Deobandi are just as literalist as Wahhabis, despite using the classical Hanafi sources they blindly narrate the fatawa and not in context to the state of the situation, and those who have had a glance at Malfuz Sharif, you can see somewhere in there that AlA Hazrat takes a persons spiritual state into consideration of the fatwa, using the idea that hasanat al abrar sayyi'aat al muqarribeen, so the hukm of an action could change grade according to the effect it has on the haal of a person who is deep in his state of mujahada. Now if a Sunni sets himself in opposition to Deobandi thought, he should make sure he doesnt redesign his whole discourse to mirror and oppose theirs, because that means you have lost yourself, because a Sunni's discourse should be on whatever supports faith, not just opposing those who have none.

in their attempts to act differently, some Sunnis end up just denouncing Wahhabis by name, out of OCD or mild-brainwashing, but do not refute their essential philosophy, i.e. being zealous and extremist. So where the Wahhabis in Makkah throw you in jail for wearing a green turban or not praying in Jamah, a non-educated Sunni, (i.e. one whose attachment to the faith is from his Pir, and not from books of history, fiqh and kalam), will consider you as an apostate since you dont follow his pir, you dont want to read naat, you dont want to go for group zikr, and you wear tracksuit trousers, etc. So your actions are Sunni, but your hal is somehow Wahabi/Deobandi.

Those who remember Shaykh Asrar's thing on 'Fake Pirs' will notice that he was critiquing the same essential mentality in Sufi groups, who insist, quoting out of context, "the one with no pir, his guide is satan". A citation meant for the disbelievers is being applied to the believers, just in the same way it was said regarding the Khawarij/Wahhabis, they apply verses meant for disbelievers (i.e. themselves) to actual believers. Both take different names, their activity is one, both insist on ultimate salvation, and both lead to hell. Both call themselves ahlus sunnah wal jama, their sunnah is that of the Devil, and their Jamah is that of the Devil also.

The hadith states, "You will consider your fasting and night prayers as deficient to them, but know, they are the dogs of hell fire".

Identifying a Sunni from a deviant is no longer a matter of labels, but it is the state of the individual and his essential activity, i.e. is it Prophetic/Sunnaic, and natural, or is it Satanic/unnatural and extreme in nature, such as that of the deviant groups. It is the defining of cult activity done for the ego and the definition of godly activity done for the soul.
 
an excellent collection of posts syed! and the other brothers

You guys have really expressed what I went through in regards to academia.
I suffered from rationalism and severe scepticism, to the point where I left the religion and succumbed to atheism.
I realised that the 'academic' method brings nothing but scepticism and doubt for me, thousands of philosophies/religions and so called 'scientific' truth all eventually lead to kufr without a sound theological backing.

Nietzsche lived a pathetic life, was often chronically depressed, his intelligence did not safe him, rather you look at the sufiyaa they lived beautiful and happy, fulfilled lives too. religion may appear to conflict with modernity and science from experience it is better to trust the classical scholars of the Din then to rely solely on ones intellectual facets. Intellectual progress is good but not at the expense of losing one's imaan.

Over the years I've come to notice that one of the big problems for Muslims is the disparity between religious studies and secular studies, and this is rather detrimental when it comes to that time were you head off to university and face even greater challenges. ask a university student: Between the ages of 12 and 18 how many hours were spent on secular studies—how many on Religious studies?

Many Muslims are utterly disconnected with works of basic theology. I'm not learned myself and have not studied Islam formally beyond the very basics, but I have spoken to many aalims and graduates from 'prestigious Islamic institutes'.

The Islamic education system is substandard. Aside from the Arabic studies (which is usually inadequate ) perhaps, an hour a day is spent on Islamic studies—the rest of the day is spent on secular studies. that one hour spent is not on advanced theology or Islamic polemics, but on elementary matters of Fiqh, going through the Seerah, and some history.

Many Muslims students of knowledge can't even explain our understanding of causation, or even begin to defend basic kalaam arguments and dispel common absurdities. I would not be surprised if you find Muslims studying with the likes of William Lane Craig due to the lack of Muslim theologians and philosophers in the mainstream, If not they do a DIY job and end up solely relying on their own intellectual faculties which is also problematic. That being said I was in a class taught by sidi asrar and we were discussing atheism, the topic of evolution came and and he started discussing evolution, I raised some contentions in regards to generalising and not specifying what parts of evolutionary theory are contradictory to Islam, what parts we accept and what parts we reject. To my surprise I mentioned Micro Evolution and adaption which he rejected, I responded by by talking about the absurdity of the statement, some scientific evidence, and how we see adaption occur even in short periods of times For example, elephants may be observed to have larger tusks on average over time. Or bacteria may gain resistance to antibiotics over time. Or the average size of finches’ beaks may be seen to change over time. I cut it short as I realized the discussion was beyond the scope of the course: aqeedah 101.

Another concern is the quick adoption of secularism, “freedom,” “equality,” “feminism,” “democracy,” without thinking about the islamic hukm on such ideals. When they find out the traditional Islam does not accept such ideals (esp in regards to how they are envisioned in the west) they end up altering and attempting to change what is commonly well established. (as in case with Myriam Francois-Cerrah recent rejection of inheritance law ) This is extremely dangerous for it is kufr.

Science is a means of knowing the truth. if you understand this , understand the nature of uncertainty, and can remain humble and seeking. But once you start to rest your self-identity and life meaning on the fact that you know or ‘do’ science, then just like anything in dunya, it has become your god, and is no longer a tool to you.

It seems to me many Muslims are insecure in their faith, yet do not want to give up what they have brought up with. We need to have confidence and certitude in the Truthfulness of what our Prophet came with (sallallahu `alayhi wa-sallam).


I've lost hope in people, We live in strange times and this hadith comes into mind.

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Soon there will come a time when the best wealth a Muslim will have will be sheep which he will take to the mountaintops and places where rain falls, fleeing for the sake of his religious commitment from tribulation.

Every movement I can think of has a paternalistic, Supercilious autocracy, stripped of intellectual freedom that is allowed within Islam, Whether this be your sub standard sufi group or a political group.

It seems like I've developed a defeatist attitude in regards to Muslims and especially 'Sunni' Islam within the UK. I thank Allah for protecting me from many dangerous situations and influences.
 
Exposition: "Intellectual progress is good but not at the expense of losing one's imaan."

We would say even that intellectual progress should only lead to fortification of faith, if anyone attains an imbalanced perspective on either reality, a) the material world or b) metaphysical entities, this would be classified as intellectual regression and not progress, progress is that which leads to greater submission.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top