Another episode of focus, you have a 32nd program and our sources of the song, they will be discussing the topic of contents of the crown is a manifestation of its source on your host time of the show. I have Gemini in the program, commodity of Sydney’s University, but the drummer as normally.
Can we begin today’s program, perhaps with a brief comment as to how this program relates to the present series that you can do?
Okay, in the beginning, we said the sources of Islam in the first place really is dependent heavily on the Quran, the word of Allah. And so far, in this last section, one problem, he has been dealing with one single question as to how do we know that the Quran actually is the word of Allah, not written by Prophet Mohammed not copied or adapted from previous teachers or scriptures? And have approach the answer to that question from a number of angles from the historical point of view, logical, we have talked about the scientific challenge in the Quran that shows again, that the Prophet would have not known this information, which was that it came from the creating, we approach
that from the linguistic standpoint, described in the Quran is totally undetectable, meaning there’s absolutely nothing that comes close to it, which again, reflect on its source. And so far really, we had been dealing with something about the Quran rather than the content of the Quran itself. So perhaps it might be useful to examine also the contents of the Quran, as include evidence, academic manifestation, that it actually was different from Allah, that became the concept concepts that you find in the Quran, in the variety of topics that he deals with,
could not have emanated from any single human being and could not be improved upon to start with because, again, perfection can only emanate from the Creator. And this is the scene really, this particular problem
to begin with an examination of some of the issues that that you’ve raised, beginning with the consumption about, about God or Allah, in essence, is the Quran, the ultimate explanation in the real world. To me one reason why I believe the Quran could have not been altered by any human that emanated from the Creator, is the fact that when you look into the Quran as to how it explained the notion or the concept or conception about God, or Allah, you’ll notice that it’s something that really strikes a chord with the approach of human nature and human instinct, if you will,
of humans, regardless of the location where we are born or live, have this instinctive, natural, innate feeling of the existence of the Creator. The Quran makes several references to that and capitalize on them. But not only does the Quran speak about the existence of high or the Supreme Being, it avoids deviations, aberrations or errors that has taken place throughout history in trying to understand that Supreme Being, or to try to answer something about him because you can never understand his essence. On one hand, we find that the Quran rejects the notion of denial of the existence of the Supreme Being, or the claims that everything was created just by chance. And the
Quran makes the appeal even to the skeptic emphasizing over and over again, the unity in the nose and
natural operation of the universe. And that’s something again, that science has been discovering more and more that there’s some central organization and interconnectedness between the various aspects of creation. And of course, if you have this unity equation, then it must have immunity.
Also from the one guy who has no one sharing with him any other one or any other responsibilities. So that’s the concept of monotheism and Islam is stemming is a scientific concept if you would, it’s based on this
human deduction that you can easily relate to. It is also another deviation of another source debate in the
more than one god of polytheism.
Because, again, it’s related to the same issue that if you have one, Gods for God and one Gods for even like in dualism, you can’t really have coordination in the universe. If you have so many gods then you have so many rules, so many ultimate worlds, and this cannot be reconcilable. So in that sense, it’s not just monotheism, it’s you know, monotheism, that anyone, regardless of his level of understanding can relate to and find, sort of,
you know, positive reaction to and again, the Quran constantly emphasized this principle. It avoids the aberration in history and trying to materialize God or perceive of the Creator in some physical form. Whether that form is an animate or inanimate object, the Quran over and over again negates
you know various notions of ideology, or taking icons representing gods or believing in some heavenly bodies, as having any divine power, like the sun, the moon, or the stars, avoiding the belief in God as incarnating in some human or physical or animal form.
avoiding all deviations such as the worship of saints are human beings, even if they were prophets, great as they might have been, the Quran is quite clear and that it leaves no confusion in the mind of the leaders.
On the other hand, we find also the various notion that existed throughout history and maybe still exist until today. I’ll admit admitting monotheism in some form, but not really perfect form, while believing in the same time of some intermediaries who have the authority and power to act between the human and the Creator. And the Quran is very clear. Again, there is nothing called minor gods or demigods or intermediaries between men and God, because it’s either the creators and the creatures but there was nothing really in between.
and generally we can find that the Quran emphasizes also the proper attributes of the Creator. On one hand, there is the emphasis on the transcendence of the creative that cannot be similar to any of these creatures, which is very sensible from the standpoint of even the scientific mind. On the other hand, it does not present Allah or God as some vague, remote concept but as a personal God to him, to whom we relate. The Quran emphasizes frequently the persons or close relationship with the with the Creator, the attributes of mercy and forgiveness as much as the attributes of Might and it’s an absolute win in power. So there is no there is no lack of balance between transcendence and
personality or closeness to the Creator.
The Quran emphasizes the universality of the creators. And again you compare that with other forms that some people believe are also monotheistic, you find there’s a big difference. There is no word in the Quran that you find an analogous to God of Israel, for example, there is nothing called God of Quraysh, or God of the Arabs or Muslims, always speaking about the gods of the universe, the gods are those of the entire mankind from the beginning to the end of the Quran. And that makes the, the code of the Quran a universal, a noble, lofty type of notion that all human beings can unite around in relate to easily.
This is something that makes Islamic monotheism something which is consistent with the human nature and one field that it could have not emanated from any thought of any human being because it touches the person on the spiritual level on the intellectual level. And one can easily establish the relationship with the creator on the basis of both the respect and the fear of displeasing the creators, as well as the as the hope for his forgiveness and his mercy, and ultimately, the relationship of love and submission to the Creator. Again, I don’t think that any human being or any philosophy
can really measure up to that standard and that purest form
monotheism that appears in the Quran which again shows to me.
It’s a divine source,
question of Prophet and Revelation, there’s another related issue. What in your view is distinctive about the Quranic explanation? What to start with the Quran makes it clear that the fundamentals of the faith can never be contradictory between one time and the other, or one generation or the other. Because the source of all revelation is the creator itself. The Quran emphasizes a very northern concept about prophets that all prophets are one Brotherhood in faith, and that the essential message was essentially the same. And that’s what we see today by way of variations or religions in the plural is not really the responsibility of the prophets, taking the responsibility of those
after them, who either deviated from what these prophets thought for that part of our teaching or miss presented or misinterpreted message. In some cases, even some people who have vested interest might have concealed the truth from from the people. In some cases, it might have simply been the notion of
mixing the pristine and pure message of gross profits with the ideas and interpretation of humans even with good intention. The Quran then presents its message message, not really as something competing with what was revealed to Moses or Jesus, not negating the essential truth revealed to them but in fact restoring that essential truth to its original and questioning form, completing it. It teaches that those prophets with were neither
sinners as some people might perceive of them committing their highest crimes and still claim to be prophets. So nor does it go to the other extreme of being fined or worshipping those profits. It provides a clear explanation of what people usually referred to as miracles that these prophets perform in ensuring again, that those miracles will not have the power of those prophets. Each prophet had a different miracle. The Prophet, Prophet Moses had great American similar to the great miracles that God gave to Prophet Jesus. But the notion of the miracle is that it is by the power of the creators of those profits, not in their own individual power, indicating again, that this
mericans standing as it may be, or as they might have been, do not really constitute the core and the essence of the mission of less profits, but to establish an evidence against the skeptics, and we have said that he has from the analysis of the Quran, it is the greatest and permanent miracle that shows the genuineness of the mission of the last prophet, Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.
To put it particular in red in a nutshell, you can see that the Quran invites all mankind to alien, religious unity, unity on the basis of the firm,
Christian,
undistorted
adulterated revelation of the creators,
which is both authoritative and authentic, at the same time invites all mankind to rise above the neuro
concerns and interests of religions in plural, and remind people that there’s only one way of life that God has ordained and has revealed to all of these prophets throughout history as the property that is the rate of submission as perfected through the last prophet, Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.
One of the main issues facing a religion or philosophy for that matter is the the nature of the human and his or her relationship to the universe.
From the Ground Up with respect to that, how does it differ from a different one the most the basic difference between is really struck with when he read the Quran is you can see exactly the kind of parents the kind of reasonable approach it takes about explaining the human nature these are the ideas that existed in previous religions or philosophies are still exists even until today. The Quran does not present the human as an ascending animal or a descending engine, but as a being who combines three elements, the material element which is not neglected, there is no hang up in Islam about satisfying basic human physical needs in the proper way of course, copper chain, so it does
not neglect that or demand from people to, to go to monasteries or to reject or negate a human living
it approaches the human also as an intellectual being, does not require the human to accept any belief or dogma which is impossible. Yes, there are things that exceed our human ability and understanding that even in the most delicate areas like belief in the creator’s will find that the Quran always gives in logical, rational
reasons or evidence to believe in among things of his creations on. So, it does not neglect also the aspiration or regard faith, as blind as ideally something which is observed and can never be understood. It asked people to understand and believe in something which still can, they can relate to, by their
nature, pure nature that Allah has created in them. It deals with the human also as a spiritual being. But karma is all of these three elements together, and that is the secret of the challenge for human living is to combine a combination of these loads
in explaining the nature of the human find that the Quran does not grow, ignore the existence of evil and sin and the world. But, as indicated in previous programs, there is no notion of original sin, there is no notion that we inherit the same that that is brought to this world by women, there is no such notion. It shows again, the way to overcome sin, which is direct repentance and asking for forgiveness from the Creator. It indicates that human existence on this earth is not simply because of that sin, but that we are created in order to fulfill such a responsibility to be the justice of Allah on earth, that we are stewards of justice. It emphasizes knowledge and consumer
seeking of knowledge in all areas, including global scientific aspects as an act of worship. It teaches the human how to utilize the resources available in the universe, and use it wisely It teaches kindness even to animals. It teaches how a person should preserve the environment and not to be wasteful, the Quran always speaks against restfulness. And that’s such, the notions that we see in the Quran, which reflect its divine origin, gives a new meaning a new taste, to human living on this earth. It gives the person a sense of direction as to how one can conduct his or her life in accordance and harmony with the whim of the Creator. It indicates clearly again that the
resurrection and punishment and reward are real, the Quran speaks about the various pictures and scenes in the Day of Judgment, not as mainly a spiritual living, which is vague and unclear, not necessarily considering death as an end in itself. But it makes the individual conception and expectation of life hereafter as a real one, not just an imagination, and as such provides a motive to do the good and to avoid the evil and try to conduct his or her life in accordance with the winner of the creative again, no human being can come up with all these novel concepts together in this delicate balance that strikes a chord with the human heart and that shows the source of the
crank also.
I think it’s generally accepted and known that all revolutions emphasize the moral aspect of life.
What makes the Quranic explanation perfect one word for when the Quran does not present moral teaching as a sort of means of achieving individual improvement or development that considers the doing of good with hybrid hybrid and Docker and put it back in sort of 22 that doing good in itself in the society is actually one aspect of worship as much as the person bows down in humility, to worship the Creator. So that is when you find that the Quran emphasizes or base it’s a neural structure or teaching on the notion of moral consciousness of the human. That is the innate feeling and nature within the human that God has inculcated in him in the first place when the human was
created.
For example, regardless again of the place or time you find all human beings, hate certain virtues, and appreciate certain
virtues, certain hate certain vices and appreciate certain virtues. This is something that again, is not much related, may not even be based on any specific religious teaching, but it’s something
Which is ingredient in in the human nature and that’s what the Quran capitalizes upon. For example, when the Quran uses the term of modern
things which are customer, you know, decent and correct things that are known to be evil, and
improper. The Quran also present this moral virtues. And that’s something also the universality of the teaching of the Quran, with all of these moral virtues,
constituted actually the basic mission of all prophets prior to Prophet Muhammad, the last one, peace be upon them all, like Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Isaiah, Isaiah, Ishmael, Jacob and so on, they sign a prophet.
Furthermore, before that, the Quran ties between the punishment and rewards, and as such, provide for a sense of justice that will be done after all.
So on one hand, it does not say like some say that there is no resurrection and no reward. And that the Hereafter is only, you know, something that will take place in this life during our lifetime, because that leads to greed, a nuisance the more than controlled and more of consciousness of the individual, because after all punishment and reward is here.
On the other hand, it does not consider death, as mentioned before, as as the punishment and it says, that rather, we find there is a connection between moral and social responsibility and the punishment and reward in the hereafter. And that, of course, is consistent with the Divine Law, of not equating good and evil of not equating those who work hard and those who just, you know, do evil and do not fulfill their responsibilities. From the practical standpoint, the Quran renewed what people have misunderstood about the teaching of previous prophets. Just to give one quick example, the notion of justice versus love. On one hand, we find that the Old Testament teaching emphasized
more
in the question of justice and eye for an eye and
on the other hand, if you look into the New Testament, you find a clear message of love and turning the other cheek. The Quran makes it clear that this interpretation have been extended, and there is no contradiction at all between the mission or message given to Moses or Jesus. Because justice is there, and must be done with love, and forgiveness would not work. Again, when love and forgiveness can operate in a given situation, it should be the one to use. It simply means that Jesus and Moses were not really teaching something different occur and put them both in perspective, yes, but currently, there is room for justice, but there is also room for forgiveness and also for assessment
as to which one could be more effective, and beneficial to the person and society at large. So this is a correction, if you will, in the misunderstanding of moral teachings, or previous prophets.
The Quran did not present more than verses, just as a block of less than 123 type of commandments or something like that. But you find that it is presented throughout the entire course and connected with all aspects of human living, to show again that modern teaching is something which is interspersed spirit, throughout all its teaching rather than just one chapter in human life, and you move from God and practice something different and other aspects of life. They’re all interrelated. In fact, you can say that the Quran or the moral teachings, the basic theme in all social economic, political activities and all levels.
What do you mean by by levels? Can you develop that point?
By level, perhaps one way of looking at it, so we can speak about the individual level for example, that is to speak about the person and the moral virtue for example, that could be one aspect.
For example, we found the Quran combined between the reward in this life and the reward in the hereafter as a result or consequence of modern behavior and considered as the main motive to comply or to follow or abide by those principles is the pursuit of the pleasure of Allah and the good intention that one is seeking truth as an absolute truth not necessarily because it serves one particular contingency that the person is stinking about
to do something really for the sake of Allah in the Quran for cells in numerous saurez on the level of relationship between
individuals
will find again, as one scholar put it, that
the Torah, and the injuried, or revelation given to Moses and Jesus represent perhaps like the branches of the tree of virtue, and would the Quran watered with the Quran, that really means the fruit. So there is a complementarity and bringing to fruition, if you will, all this modern teaching that Allah prophets has taught throughout history, in addition to,
to this virtue on the individual liberty, talk also about the social level in general. For example, in the in the past, we find that there have been some kind of barrier between the like, let’s say Jew and Gentile, they have been sort of, you know, like lending with interest to the non Jews, but for the Jewish interests, they have been sort of concerned about protection of one particular group of people. And the same thing applies to other teaching, not only the question of lending, it would be mission of Prophet Jesus peace be upon him, we find that this barrier that people sort of his draft, and the Prophet, Prophet Jesus speaks again about loving the person or being peaceful with
other people, regardless whether they are of your own clan, or not. In other words, you can say that the purpose in the Old Testament was to achieve the social interest.
In general, not just a one group, these are the data, again, you find in the Quran, a balance between these two consideration. On one hand, you find that the Quran addresses mankind in general, and invite them to one universe and gentlemen, brotherhood. On the other hand, within the boundaries of this brotherhood, it also emphasizes the protection of the community of the believers, without necessarily having a barrier between believers in one particular way of life and others. So it combines and balances, those two considerations. And also on the, let’s say, on the international level, if you want to look at it this way, you’ll find again, it organizes the law of morality, as
it deals with this university issues. So what I’m saying basically, that the moral teaching does not only just look at one narrow aspect, but looks at the individual interrelationship into society and relationship between societies in the north universal method.
But we don’t have a lot of time remaining today’s program, but perhaps I could ask you to just re examine the topic from another angle. And that is the Quran is the basis for complete way of life, perhaps commenting on from a social aspect, and maybe economic and other ways of documenting, sure. To say that in a very, very capsulized way, and they give you a reference, and you gotta finish this, from the social standpoint, defined, for example, the program $4 trillion worth in bondage,
the emphasis on the social responsibility of human beings, the emphasis in the Quran about social justice and charity through various means. Some are compulsory, some are optional, the emphasis in the family, on the family as the cornerstone of any healthy society and destroying the beginnings of women. And we have discussed that in some detail in the social system of Islam previous series, in the economic level, the emphasis again, on encouraging people to be productive on one hand, and to satisfy their needs, and instinctive desire to have property on the other hand, to keep that within the boundaries of social concern, in the political side, to emphasize the concept of shooter or
mutual consultation. So there is no theocracy, there is no monarchy, there is no dictatorship, according to what Islam really teaches, not what some people may be doing. And all of that, again, is put in such a way that allows people to participate guarantees basic freedoms, respect the rights of non Muslim minorities, and all of these issues pertaining to politics. As you might recall, it was recovered in the political system in Islam a whole season. But you look at it even from the standpoint of the impact of the Quran, in history, and how it totally transformed the lives not only of the immediate recipients of the message, the herbs that have changed the whole word and
occupied its jubileus as the universal face of Allah, that itself could suffice to indicate and clarify that there is no other book in human history, religious or otherwise. that contains as noble and as perfect principle at that last revelation of Allah. No book in history has ever produced and changed. So many, many
are billions of people so hundreds and hundreds of years as the Quran did. And that itself is also a manifestation that its source transcends any human ability and thinking that it is a divine source. Well, thank you both. I wish we had time to explore the last points a little bit in a little more detail. A little perhaps you might just ask you in the very few seconds that we have left different purposes, give our viewers a little bit of a thumbnail sketch of what we might expect next in our series. In this test in two programs, we have been dealing mainly with the authority of the Quran to prove clearly that it came from Allah not authored by any human. But the next question, how do we
know that it came to us without any change or aberration? So that would be the next
part of the discussion of that series. afford a gardening next week to examine that topic. Thank you for watching. Assalamu alaikum peace be unto you
