1 00:00:01,533 --> 00:00:04,043 Meezan - Tadabbur-e Quran (Understanding the Quran) 2 00:00:05,291 --> 00:00:08,971 Topic: Intentionality of words, Muhkam and Mutashaabih. Lecture. 15 B. 26-04-2002 3 00:00:10,215 --> 00:00:12,795 Scholar. Javed Ahmed Ghamidi 4 00:00:15,154 --> 00:00:18,984 [Javed Ahmed Ghamidi] Alhumdulillah All Praise is due to Allah, 5 00:00:18,984 --> 00:00:22,454 Peace and Blessings be upon His Trustworthy Prophet Muhammad. 6 00:00:22,454 --> 00:00:24,584 I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan. 7 00:00:24,584 --> 00:00:27,242 In the name of Allah, Most Beneficent and Ever Merciful. 8 00:00:27,242 --> 00:00:29,032 Ladies and gentlemen, 9 00:00:29,922 --> 00:00:33,532 in the debate about muhkam (clear) and mutashaabih (ambiguous), 10 00:00:33,532 --> 00:00:37,972 where did the issue originate, is what we have just talked about. 11 00:00:39,399 --> 00:00:47,149 Now you can see from which angle our researchers and scholars have studied it. 12 00:00:47,795 --> 00:00:50,875 But to be able to understand their point of view, 13 00:00:50,875 --> 00:00:56,125 it is crucial for you to first understand the difference between two things. 14 00:00:56,125 --> 00:00:58,535 I have used two words here, 'maani' (meaning), 15 00:00:58,535 --> 00:01:00,843 and 'misdaaq' (referent or evidence). 16 00:01:01,601 --> 00:01:04,081 What is the difference between these two? 17 00:01:06,102 --> 00:01:09,842 Let's go back to the past for sometime. 18 00:01:11,013 --> 00:01:14,413 And see how there used to be ancient nomadic tribes, 19 00:01:14,413 --> 00:01:16,963 and they have set up camp at a place. 20 00:01:16,963 --> 00:01:22,753 There they cook food, they dance and play music, 21 00:01:22,753 --> 00:01:25,513 and they also come together and gather in assemblies. 22 00:01:25,513 --> 00:01:28,703 Whatever happens, is done as a collective. 23 00:01:29,312 --> 00:01:35,638 Individual has not become manifest and autonomous in his own personality. 24 00:01:35,638 --> 00:01:40,638 So they felt that since human beings have a stomach and hunger is natural, 25 00:01:40,638 --> 00:01:42,618 food must be prepared to satisfy oneself. 26 00:01:44,062 --> 00:01:46,392 So when they brought meat from hunting, 27 00:01:46,392 --> 00:01:48,802 they would have to cook it in order to eat it. 28 00:01:48,802 --> 00:01:51,642 And in order to cook it, they fashioned a pot. 29 00:01:51,642 --> 00:01:53,872 Imagine all this for a while. 30 00:01:53,872 --> 00:01:57,873 So now since it was a huge pot, 31 00:01:57,873 --> 00:02:02,483 it made it possible to cook the meat for the whole tribe 32 00:02:02,483 --> 00:02:05,793 and then everyone would sit and eat it together. 33 00:02:05,793 --> 00:02:08,883 They called it 'deg'. 34 00:02:10,664 --> 00:02:13,454 They named the huge cauldron or pot as 'deg'. 35 00:02:13,454 --> 00:02:18,464 Human civilization continued its journey, tribal life came to an end. 36 00:02:18,464 --> 00:02:21,414 Individuals became more autonomous from the collective. 37 00:02:21,414 --> 00:02:25,533 Instead of huge cauldrons, smaller pots were now required. 38 00:02:25,533 --> 00:02:28,353 Now that small pot was put on the stove. 39 00:02:28,353 --> 00:02:30,683 Then they needed a name for it. 40 00:02:30,683 --> 00:02:33,913 What human beings do at times like these is that 41 00:02:33,913 --> 00:02:36,623 the name they had given to the similar entity, 42 00:02:36,623 --> 00:02:40,868 they give a name to the new one which shows that influence 43 00:02:40,868 --> 00:02:45,320 by clashing, opposing, contradicting, or drawing similarities between them. 44 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:48,460 Either they see it as distinct from the other entity, 45 00:02:48,460 --> 00:02:54,430 or as separate from it, or he views it in accordance to that thing. 46 00:02:54,430 --> 00:02:58,430 So when they saw the smaller pot, they thought why give it a new name? 47 00:02:58,430 --> 00:03:01,500 This is simply a smaller 'deg'. 48 00:03:03,475 --> 00:03:06,785 And that's how it was called 'degcha' (small pot). 49 00:03:07,968 --> 00:03:13,068 So when we say the word 'degcha', what is its meaning? 50 00:03:13,068 --> 00:03:15,398 It means a small deg (caludron). 51 00:03:17,231 --> 00:03:22,041 We were teaching and learning, and when you were not familiar with Urdu, 52 00:03:22,041 --> 00:03:27,001 and you read the word 'degcha', you were told it means a small cauldron. 53 00:03:27,001 --> 00:03:29,391 Did you imagine a 'degcha' in your mind at all? 54 00:03:29,391 --> 00:03:31,071 No, you didn't visualize it. 55 00:03:31,071 --> 00:03:35,591 You think of 'deg', and you also imagine something smaller. 56 00:03:35,591 --> 00:03:41,631 Now we take you home, and showed you a small pot on the stove. 57 00:03:41,631 --> 00:03:45,631 This 'degcha' is actually a referent which carries the meaning of small cauldron, deg 58 00:03:45,631 --> 00:03:48,851 but now it is lying right in front of us. 59 00:03:48,851 --> 00:03:52,171 So there are numerous words in a language, 60 00:03:52,171 --> 00:03:57,951 which do not make their referent clear with regards to their meaning. 61 00:03:57,951 --> 00:04:04,001 Misdaaq is actually that utensil called degcha, which is put on your stove. 62 00:04:04,001 --> 00:04:06,991 And for that, we did not have a word initially. 63 00:04:06,991 --> 00:04:09,021 There was no separate word that existed a priori. 64 00:04:09,021 --> 00:04:11,211 We only had the word 'deg'. 65 00:04:11,211 --> 00:04:16,031 We picked another concept of smaller and bigger things from our mind, 66 00:04:16,031 --> 00:04:18,811 and affixed the term for 'smaller' with 'deg'. 67 00:04:18,811 --> 00:04:23,661 In Persian 'cha' implies smaller. So 'degcha' means a smaller 'deg'. 68 00:04:23,661 --> 00:04:28,481 So we took that, affixed it with deg, and that created a meaning. 69 00:04:28,481 --> 00:04:34,471 A smaller pot. But whichever way you may use this word degcha, 70 00:04:34,471 --> 00:04:37,761 even now you can see, if someone asks you what is 'degcha'? 71 00:04:37,761 --> 00:04:41,201 You will reply with 'a small deg'. So you will convey the meaning for sure. 72 00:04:41,201 --> 00:04:43,391 But it does not determine that actual referent. 73 00:04:43,391 --> 00:04:46,191 Referent will be when you are shown a degcha and you will know, 74 00:04:46,191 --> 00:04:47,801 this is what it is. 75 00:04:47,801 --> 00:04:50,931 Otherwise it is possible, you would have thought a smaller deg to be 76 00:04:50,931 --> 00:04:53,311 something just marginally smaller than a deg! 77 00:04:53,311 --> 00:04:57,051 You might not be able to imagine that degcha which you use on the stove. 78 00:04:57,051 --> 00:05:00,131 So this is the difference between meaning and referent. 79 00:05:00,131 --> 00:05:04,531 Imagine for a while that one of you went to the planet Mars. 80 00:05:04,531 --> 00:05:08,341 And there he saw a living creature. 81 00:05:08,341 --> 00:05:12,471 Such a creature he had never seen before, either among the birds or the animals, 82 00:05:12,471 --> 00:05:15,611 and certainly not among human beings. 83 00:05:15,611 --> 00:05:20,191 He wants to come back and tell you that he saw a living being on Mars. 84 00:05:20,191 --> 00:05:22,781 What way would he adopt to convey that? 85 00:05:22,781 --> 00:05:27,031 What that person will do is that whatever he saw there, 86 00:05:27,031 --> 00:05:30,441 its referent he had seen with his own eyes. 87 00:05:30,441 --> 00:05:34,131 But he has no word to convey what he witnessed. 88 00:05:34,131 --> 00:05:36,941 Hence the question of a word and its meaning does not arise. 89 00:05:36,941 --> 00:05:39,731 He is standing on Mars and he saw a creature. 90 00:05:39,731 --> 00:05:42,041 But no word exists in our language for that creature. 91 00:05:42,041 --> 00:05:44,825 The reason for that is that the words are created 92 00:05:44,825 --> 00:05:48,341 when a thing comes into existence or an idea comes into our mind. 93 00:05:48,341 --> 00:05:51,641 And after that human beings produce some specific sounds to refer to it, 94 00:05:51,641 --> 00:05:53,951 after that a common consciousness of the thing is born among them. 95 00:05:53,951 --> 00:05:56,141 And then after a few centuries, the word is born. 96 00:05:56,141 --> 00:05:59,331 This is how it happens right? But this process didn't happen in that case. 97 00:05:59,331 --> 00:06:05,441 He was simply picked up at night and then dropped on Mars, 98 00:06:05,441 --> 00:06:08,701 where he saw a creature. When he saw that being, 99 00:06:08,701 --> 00:06:14,191 it did not resemble any animal, nor a bird. 100 00:06:14,191 --> 00:06:16,711 So there is nothing exactly like that creature. 101 00:06:16,711 --> 00:06:20,351 He had seen birds here, he had seen animals, he had seen human beings. 102 00:06:20,351 --> 00:06:23,831 But the creature was like none of them, it was entirely a different being he saw. 103 00:06:23,831 --> 00:06:27,361 So the creature he saw there, there is no word that exists for it. 104 00:06:27,361 --> 00:06:30,051 And since there is no word that exists, hence no meaning exists either. 105 00:06:30,051 --> 00:06:32,831 But the evidence was certainly before his eyes. 106 00:06:32,831 --> 00:06:34,581 So that entity is before his eyes. 107 00:06:34,581 --> 00:06:36,961 He came back from Mars onto the Earth. 108 00:06:36,961 --> 00:06:40,961 After coming back here, he wants to tell you what he saw. 109 00:06:40,961 --> 00:06:44,961 So what would he do? He would actually find some entity 110 00:06:44,961 --> 00:06:47,691 similar to the one he saw in order to convey its likeness. 111 00:06:47,691 --> 00:06:49,841 This is what he would do right? And after that, 112 00:06:49,841 --> 00:06:51,941 when he would find a similar referent for the entity, 113 00:06:51,941 --> 00:06:54,371 then the objects which are found here on Earth, 114 00:06:54,371 --> 00:06:57,551 there are words as well as meanings for them. 115 00:06:57,551 --> 00:07:01,901 So that word and meaning which are available here for a similar entity, 116 00:07:01,901 --> 00:07:06,721 he would use them with some changes, to refer to the creature he saw. 117 00:07:06,721 --> 00:07:10,331 That this is what I had seen. He would say that right? 118 00:07:10,331 --> 00:07:12,341 So now the entity referred to is clear. 119 00:07:12,341 --> 00:07:15,411 Now you understand what is the meaning and what is the referent? 120 00:07:15,411 --> 00:07:20,761 Misdaaq here are some creatures, such as birds, animals, and human beings. 121 00:07:20,761 --> 00:07:23,161 For them, some words have been created. 122 00:07:23,161 --> 00:07:27,051 For instance, 'humans', or 'lion'. These words have meanings. 123 00:07:27,051 --> 00:07:28,681 And we are aware of those meanings. 124 00:07:28,681 --> 00:07:31,351 On the other planet there is a referent, a creature, 125 00:07:31,351 --> 00:07:33,681 for which neither word nor meaning exists. 126 00:07:33,681 --> 00:07:38,471 So to a referent for what it is, and then to interpret it by closest likeness, 127 00:07:38,471 --> 00:07:41,431 is something we have no option but to do. Please understand this. 128 00:07:41,431 --> 00:07:44,681 What a meaning is, what a word is, and what the referent is. 129 00:07:44,681 --> 00:07:48,741 If you have understood this, let us now see what issues this gentleman faced. 130 00:07:48,741 --> 00:07:52,917 This is Imam Razi, he says 'wa ammal muhaqqiq al munsif 131 00:07:52,917 --> 00:07:56,557 fainna hu yahmir ul amar fil ayaat ala aqsaam salaasa.' 132 00:07:57,686 --> 00:08:02,766 That is, the person who is a scholar and a researcher as well, 133 00:08:02,766 --> 00:08:05,766 and is not carrying any particular biases with him, 134 00:08:05,766 --> 00:08:08,749 and is a person who stands with justice. 135 00:08:08,749 --> 00:08:15,809 Imam Razi says that he divides the verses of the Quran into three categories. 136 00:08:15,809 --> 00:08:19,479 So that scholar will divide the verses of the Quran into three categories. 137 00:08:19,479 --> 00:08:23,479 'Ahduha maa yata'aqqadu zahiruha bil dala'il al aqliya'. 138 00:08:23,533 --> 00:08:28,163 Now since according to him, verbal evidence is worth nothing, 139 00:08:28,163 --> 00:08:32,383 therefore the first category of the verses of the Quran is that 140 00:08:32,383 --> 00:08:38,600 whose apparent meaning, i.e. the obvious meaning which comes from the word, 141 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:42,600 that becomes confirmed even through a logical argument. 142 00:08:44,126 --> 00:08:48,708 So a rational argument, and whatever meaning you understand from the word, 143 00:08:48,708 --> 00:08:51,478 even though they had come through isolated report and conjectural. 144 00:08:51,478 --> 00:08:53,738 But now even a rational argument is there in its support. 145 00:08:53,738 --> 00:08:57,118 So that rational argument, along with that conjectural meaning, 146 00:08:57,118 --> 00:09:00,348 what has been done to it? It has made it categorical and clear. 147 00:09:01,206 --> 00:09:03,246 The word itself not going to do anything. 148 00:09:03,246 --> 00:09:06,606 At most, it would have given testimony of its meaning by speculation. 149 00:09:06,606 --> 00:09:10,606 So he says 'maa yata'aqqadu zahiruha bil dala'il al aqliya'. 150 00:09:10,606 --> 00:09:14,366 So the apparent meaning that the words were conveying, 151 00:09:14,366 --> 00:09:17,946 and the moment you read the words, you understood some meaning from it. 152 00:09:17,946 --> 00:09:21,946 Along with that meaning, some rational arguments also stand now. 153 00:09:21,946 --> 00:09:24,626 And what did the both of them do together? 154 00:09:24,626 --> 00:09:26,806 They gave it a clear certainty. 155 00:09:26,806 --> 00:09:30,806 Now this issue, 'fazaakahu al muhkamu haqqa'. 156 00:09:30,806 --> 00:09:34,806 So this is then the 'real' muhkam. 157 00:09:34,806 --> 00:09:39,337 That verse, whose apparent meaning conveyed by the words is understood 158 00:09:39,337 --> 00:09:41,337 as 'wa awal wahla', that is, immediately upon reading it. 159 00:09:41,337 --> 00:09:43,977 If you are familiar with the language, you read the verse, 160 00:09:43,977 --> 00:09:46,747 and from that you understood the apparent subject matter. 161 00:09:46,747 --> 00:09:49,397 You joined that subject matter with a rational argument, 162 00:09:49,397 --> 00:09:52,917 so it is as if it were equivalent. That is, the rational deduction says the same thing 163 00:09:52,917 --> 00:09:54,447 which is being conveyed by the words at first glance. 164 00:09:54,447 --> 00:09:57,107 And the apparent meaning of the words is the same as conveyed by logical reasoning. 165 00:09:57,107 --> 00:10:00,107 So when both of these things become mutually inclusive, what is this then? 166 00:10:00,107 --> 00:10:05,304 'Fazaakahu al muhkumu haqqa'. So this becomes the real muhkam verse. 167 00:10:05,304 --> 00:10:09,883 'Wasaani ha allazee kaamit at-dala'il ul qaate ala imtanaayi zawahir riha.' 168 00:10:09,883 --> 00:10:13,313 Now another category is born. Which was that 169 00:10:13,313 --> 00:10:17,313 you derived an apparent meaning from the words. 170 00:10:17,313 --> 00:10:19,303 It is this same action which was done in the first category. 171 00:10:19,303 --> 00:10:22,363 You understood an apparent meaning from the words. 172 00:10:23,449 --> 00:10:26,469 There is no difference in this first step. What had happened in previous instance? 173 00:10:26,469 --> 00:10:28,959 You had understood an apparent meaning from words. 174 00:10:28,959 --> 00:10:31,211 Rational arguments ratified that deduction. 175 00:10:31,211 --> 00:10:32,911 Here too, the same thing happened. 176 00:10:32,911 --> 00:10:35,051 You understood an apparent meaning from the words. 177 00:10:35,051 --> 00:10:38,481 But then rational arguments stood against your deduction here. 178 00:10:38,481 --> 00:10:43,301 So the rational arguments negated the apparent meanings you were understanding. 179 00:10:45,102 --> 00:10:48,252 'Allazee kamit at-dala'il ul qaate'ala imtanaayi zawahir riha.' 180 00:10:48,252 --> 00:10:50,432 And these rational arguments are absolutely categorical. 181 00:10:50,432 --> 00:10:53,182 So this is absolutely clear that these apparent meanings 182 00:10:53,182 --> 00:10:54,982 cannot be the correct deduction from these words. 183 00:10:54,982 --> 00:10:58,112 He says 'fazzakahu allathii yuhukumu fiihi bi anna muraadillah ta'ala 184 00:10:58,112 --> 00:11:03,562 ghairu zahirahi'. This aspect which is there, 185 00:11:03,562 --> 00:11:07,082 about this too we can say with complete certainty that 186 00:11:07,082 --> 00:11:09,952 the apparent meanings which are drawn from these words here 187 00:11:09,952 --> 00:11:12,322 is absolutely not what Allah intended to convey. 188 00:11:12,322 --> 00:11:15,222 So this too has become clear. 189 00:11:15,222 --> 00:11:17,512 The apparent meanings which one was deriving from the words, 190 00:11:17,512 --> 00:11:19,622 since the rational arguments are standing against it, 191 00:11:19,622 --> 00:11:22,872 therefore, this too has become muhkam. 192 00:11:22,872 --> 00:11:26,872 Because the negation of its apparent meaning has become certain, 193 00:11:26,872 --> 00:11:28,642 based on rational arguments. 194 00:11:28,642 --> 00:11:32,422 'Wa saalisuha allazee laa yujid mislu haazid dala'il alaa tarfa 195 00:11:32,422 --> 00:11:33,912 sabuutihi min tafa'ihi'. 196 00:11:33,912 --> 00:11:38,782 And the third category is when no rational arguments exists 197 00:11:38,782 --> 00:11:42,782 either to ratify the apparent meanings, or to refute them. 198 00:11:42,928 --> 00:11:47,868 So neither do the logical arguments confirm those meaning, nor reject them. 199 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:53,070 'fayakoon min haqqahii tawaqqafi'. What would you do in this case? 200 00:11:53,070 --> 00:11:54,770 Now he says that you just have to make peace with it, 201 00:11:54,770 --> 00:11:56,830 because it is not possible to say anything with certainty about this. 202 00:11:56,830 --> 00:11:58,660 There is no other option but to be patient about it. 203 00:11:58,660 --> 00:12:01,160 'Wa yakoona zalika mutashaabihan.' 204 00:12:02,183 --> 00:12:06,313 Now we would say that this has become mutashaabih. 205 00:12:06,313 --> 00:12:10,883 Actually he has to make clear how do we determine something is mutashaabih. 206 00:12:10,883 --> 00:12:12,963 So see what way he adopted to do that. 207 00:12:12,963 --> 00:12:16,673 The way he chose was that if we read a verse, 208 00:12:16,673 --> 00:12:19,503 an outward and apparent meaning of it was understood by us. 209 00:12:19,503 --> 00:12:21,513 We went to seek rational evidence for it, 210 00:12:21,513 --> 00:12:24,345 which absolutely confirmed the meaning we had understood. 211 00:12:24,345 --> 00:12:26,495 This becomes muhkam then. 212 00:12:26,495 --> 00:12:31,665 Then we read a verse, whose apparent meaning was understood by us. 213 00:12:31,665 --> 00:12:33,915 Rational arguments completely rejected that inference, 214 00:12:33,915 --> 00:12:36,395 making it clear that what we understood cannot be the meaning of the words. 215 00:12:36,395 --> 00:12:38,495 In fact the meaning would be the opposite of what we inferred. 216 00:12:38,495 --> 00:12:40,005 So our understanding was incorrect, and the correct was its opposite. 217 00:12:40,005 --> 00:12:42,522 So this too is muhkam, for it has become clear. 218 00:12:42,522 --> 00:12:46,412 Now if we read a verse, and understand a meaning that was apparent from the words. 219 00:12:46,412 --> 00:12:49,852 But the rational arguments do not prove or determine it, 220 00:12:49,852 --> 00:12:52,842 nor do they reject our inference. Neither of these things can be done. 221 00:12:52,842 --> 00:12:55,552 So what would we do? We would give up and state that 222 00:12:55,552 --> 00:12:58,342 no statement can be made with certainty about its meaning. 223 00:12:58,342 --> 00:13:00,702 So he says 'yakoona zalika mutashaabihan.' 224 00:13:00,702 --> 00:13:02,092 In what sense is this used? 225 00:13:02,092 --> 00:13:04,472 'Bemaana annal amara ishtaba'a fii'. 226 00:13:04,472 --> 00:13:07,446 The case here has become doubtful and ambiguous. 227 00:13:07,446 --> 00:13:10,526 As I had said before, in what sense is he using this term? 228 00:13:10,526 --> 00:13:12,046 So the case here has become doubtful. 229 00:13:12,046 --> 00:13:14,678 'Walam yatamayii' zahdul janabain ilaakhir'. 230 00:13:14,678 --> 00:13:16,968 Now there are actually two paths in this. 231 00:13:16,968 --> 00:13:19,738 One is the apparent one, and the second is the one contrary to it. 232 00:13:19,738 --> 00:13:22,498 In this, it became impossible to distinguish either of them. 233 00:13:22,498 --> 00:13:26,118 So when it is no longer possible to make a distinction between the two paths, 234 00:13:26,118 --> 00:13:30,066 that makes the words mutashaabih. This is the statement by Imam Razi. 235 00:13:30,066 --> 00:13:34,066 Now naturally, since he is a rationalist scholar, thus he has conveyed it 236 00:13:34,066 --> 00:13:36,526 on the basis of a logical deduction. 237 00:13:36,526 --> 00:13:39,296 Saying that whichever verses of the Quran you will be reading, 238 00:13:39,296 --> 00:13:41,056 you must remember that first point, 239 00:13:41,056 --> 00:13:43,056 about which we have already discussed before this. 240 00:13:43,056 --> 00:13:46,666 That the words of the Quran cannot convey their own meanings 241 00:13:46,666 --> 00:13:48,746 with absolutely certainty. 242 00:13:48,746 --> 00:13:53,016 Therefore we only understand the apparent meanings of its words. 243 00:13:53,016 --> 00:13:55,546 If the rational evidence supports it, the meaning becomes muhkam. 244 00:13:55,546 --> 00:13:57,956 If the rational arguments negate that meaning, 245 00:13:57,956 --> 00:14:00,454 if it is pointing to something contrary to its outward meaning, 246 00:14:00,454 --> 00:14:03,016 then again it is muhkam. [Student] But then what is muhkam here, 247 00:14:03,016 --> 00:14:05,296 if the meaning has been negated? [Ghamidi] That which has been negated, 248 00:14:05,296 --> 00:14:06,986 that meaning becomes muhkam or clear. 249 00:14:06,986 --> 00:14:12,376 For instance, you say that lion is the king of the jungle. 250 00:14:12,376 --> 00:14:15,697 Rational argument also says that yes, this refers to that very lion 251 00:14:15,697 --> 00:14:18,647 which is found in the forest. Now this has become muhkam. 252 00:14:18,647 --> 00:14:21,707 You say, 'who is the lion that approaches and makes the battleground shudder?' 253 00:14:21,707 --> 00:14:25,707 Rational inference comes and says no, this is not the lion of the forest. 254 00:14:26,587 --> 00:14:28,887 So the metaphor has become clear, hasn't it? 255 00:14:28,887 --> 00:14:31,367 Since the literal meaning was rejected, it makes the other aspect certain. 256 00:14:31,367 --> 00:14:33,207 This is a simple example I have used to explain this to you. 257 00:14:33,207 --> 00:14:37,007 The example Imam Razi wants to give, that would be a little too complex for you. 258 00:14:37,007 --> 00:14:39,337 There is an entire debate about takleef-e ma laa yutaq (unbearable trouble) 259 00:14:39,337 --> 00:14:40,437 that he has done. 260 00:14:40,437 --> 00:14:42,347 [Student] Has any reference been taken from the Quran? 261 00:14:42,347 --> 00:14:44,637 [Ghamidi] For instance, he borrows a reference from the Quran, 262 00:14:44,637 --> 00:14:46,117 now that you have brought it up, 263 00:14:46,117 --> 00:14:49,037 he says that the Quran says 'ya yukkalifulla nafsan illa wus'aha.' 264 00:14:49,037 --> 00:14:50,867 This is his own argumentation. 265 00:14:50,867 --> 00:14:54,337 That Allah never burdens anyone more than he can bear. 266 00:14:54,337 --> 00:14:56,087 Outwardly, this is what the meaning seems to be. 267 00:14:56,087 --> 00:14:57,547 This is what the verse is saying. 268 00:14:57,547 --> 00:15:01,187 But Imam Razi says that rational arguments are testifying to something contrary. 269 00:15:01,187 --> 00:15:03,827 Rational evidence is refuting this apparent meaning. 270 00:15:03,827 --> 00:15:05,957 The evidence of the Quran itself are pointing to something contrary. 271 00:15:05,957 --> 00:15:07,467 Categorical arguments are also standing against this. 272 00:15:07,467 --> 00:15:10,487 Allah does burden people more than they can bear (takleef-e ma laa yutaq). 273 00:15:10,487 --> 00:15:13,447 Allah did say that Abu Lahab would not become a believer, 274 00:15:13,447 --> 00:15:15,683 and yet commanded him to become one! 275 00:15:15,683 --> 00:15:17,493 I am giving you an example. 276 00:15:17,493 --> 00:15:18,923 So Allah does burden people. 277 00:15:18,923 --> 00:15:21,618 Allah made people stand and stiffened their backs, 278 00:15:21,618 --> 00:15:23,778 and then commanded them to bow! 279 00:15:23,778 --> 00:15:25,748 This is mentioned about the Day of Judgment right? 280 00:15:25,748 --> 00:15:27,408 So Allah does give people unbearable burderns. 281 00:15:27,408 --> 00:15:30,428 When it is proven that he does do that, it means that the meaning of 282 00:15:30,428 --> 00:15:32,788 'la yakullifa nafsan illa wus'aha', 283 00:15:32,788 --> 00:15:34,778 which appears apparent and outwardly, 284 00:15:34,778 --> 00:15:37,408 the intention is to convey the exact opposite meaning. 285 00:15:37,408 --> 00:15:40,429 This is certain, so it becomes muhkam. 286 00:15:40,429 --> 00:15:45,389 So this is his way. Then he says that where either of these situations has come, 287 00:15:45,389 --> 00:15:49,699 that either the apparent meaning which the words are conveying, 288 00:15:49,699 --> 00:15:53,469 rational arguments are also confirming it, then the case is closed, it is muhkam. 289 00:15:53,469 --> 00:15:55,839 But if the rational evidence has negated the meaning inferred, 290 00:15:55,839 --> 00:15:58,289 meaning that he is saying no doubt remains here, 291 00:15:58,289 --> 00:16:00,609 and it is certain that Allah in fact does give takleef-e ma laa yutaq, 292 00:16:00,609 --> 00:16:02,769 then the meaning conveyed outwardly by the words are incorrect, 293 00:16:02,769 --> 00:16:06,049 the intention is actually to convey the exact opposite of it, we are certain of it 294 00:16:06,049 --> 00:16:08,939 When we are sure of that, and Imam Razi of course was certain of it. 295 00:16:08,939 --> 00:16:10,889 I don't know if you are convinced of it or not though. 296 00:16:10,889 --> 00:16:12,909 But when one is convinced and sure, then the case has come to a close. 297 00:16:12,909 --> 00:16:17,131 So this too is muhkam then. But if both of these cases in not certain, 298 00:16:17,131 --> 00:16:20,611 and one is not able to clarify if the rational evidence is affirming 299 00:16:20,611 --> 00:16:23,231 or rejecting it, then it falls under mutashaabih. 300 00:16:23,231 --> 00:16:26,930 Because now the situation is doubtful and unclear, we don't know its meaning. 301 00:16:26,930 --> 00:16:30,690 So the Quran is correct in saying that if a situation of this kind arises, 302 00:16:30,690 --> 00:16:34,770 according to Imam Razi, then that word becomes doubtful, 303 00:16:34,770 --> 00:16:36,370 whose meaning we cannot establish. 304 00:16:36,370 --> 00:16:40,170 This attempt he has made to clarify this, is to be able to tell you 305 00:16:40,170 --> 00:16:43,260 where to draw the line between muhkam and mutashaabih. 306 00:16:44,512 --> 00:16:47,232 So this is how he has drawn a distinguishing line. 307 00:16:47,232 --> 00:16:48,672 The line has been drawn. 308 00:16:54,743 --> 00:16:57,353 [Ghamidi] No I am only telling you about his stance. 309 00:16:57,353 --> 00:17:00,133 I am not passing a judgment on whether his position is right or not. 310 00:17:00,133 --> 00:17:03,883 I am simply telling you that this is his opinion which he states about it. 311 00:17:03,883 --> 00:17:07,793 These are the issues he is facing, and this is his opinion regarding it. 312 00:17:07,793 --> 00:17:10,473 I am not saying whether his position is correct or not. 313 00:17:10,473 --> 00:17:13,793 Nor is it our concern right now. Our purpose is only to understand 314 00:17:13,793 --> 00:17:16,043 what he means by the category of 'mutashaabih'. 315 00:17:16,043 --> 00:17:17,873 That is what I have tried to explain to you, 316 00:17:17,873 --> 00:17:19,833 what exactly is meant by mutashaabih? 317 00:17:19,833 --> 00:17:25,163 Now see that it is not as if this is where the situation ends with Imam Razi. 318 00:17:30,639 --> 00:17:31,649 [Ghamidi] Yes? 319 00:17:32,379 --> 00:17:33,989 [Ghamidi] With rational evidence. 320 00:17:33,989 --> 00:17:37,029 He says that with rational evidence it is absolutely clear for us that 321 00:17:37,029 --> 00:17:41,331 this is not what this means. But in fact it means the exact opposite. 322 00:17:41,331 --> 00:17:43,901 So now we have to accept it. [Student] So it means the opposite. 323 00:17:43,901 --> 00:17:46,591 [Ghamidi] Yes we have to take the opposite of the meaning it conveys. 324 00:17:47,511 --> 00:17:48,291 Yes? 325 00:17:51,601 --> 00:17:54,101 No that is not what rational evidence means. 326 00:17:54,101 --> 00:17:58,011 Rational evidence means that he will deduce from a lot of other sources as well 327 00:17:58,011 --> 00:18:00,541 and then they will also do a logical deduction in that matter, 328 00:18:00,541 --> 00:18:04,471 that God is omnipotent, and Allah does not accept any constraints about Himself. 329 00:18:04,471 --> 00:18:06,581 It is problematic to assume that. 330 00:18:06,581 --> 00:18:09,851 Hence when He burdens people, and since He is capable of everything, 331 00:18:09,851 --> 00:18:12,651 therefore He can give unbearable burdens to people too. 332 00:18:12,651 --> 00:18:15,441 So you would not have the last word even in rational arguments. 333 00:18:15,441 --> 00:18:19,441 [Student] So this is what one can be negated, his opinion can be refuted. 334 00:18:19,441 --> 00:18:22,971 [Ghamidi] Yes of course. [Student] What is the criterion for this? 335 00:18:22,971 --> 00:18:25,231 [Ghamidi] This is something you would have to debate with Imam Razi himself. 336 00:18:25,231 --> 00:18:28,261 I have only told you about what he says about this matter. 337 00:18:28,261 --> 00:18:32,261 If I delve into it further to talk about whether his opinion is correct or not, 338 00:18:32,261 --> 00:18:35,211 then I would actually be deviating from our topic. 339 00:18:35,211 --> 00:18:38,501 See the thing is, Zamakhshari for instance says exactly the same thing. 340 00:18:38,501 --> 00:18:41,732 He says, 'muhkamaat uhkimat ibaaratuha bi an hufizat min al ehtimaal 341 00:18:41,732 --> 00:18:46,162 wal ishtibaah'. That is, what are the muhkam verses? 342 00:18:46,162 --> 00:18:50,342 Those are the verses whose interpretation has been safeguarded in a way 343 00:18:50,342 --> 00:18:53,092 'bi an hufizat min al ehtimaal wal ishtibaah.' 344 00:18:53,092 --> 00:18:55,992 That is, now neither any doubt nor ambiguity remains. 345 00:18:55,992 --> 00:18:58,202 So the opposite of ambiguity. 346 00:18:58,202 --> 00:19:00,512 The text is no longer ambiguous. 347 00:19:00,512 --> 00:19:03,512 The subject matter is no longer doubtful, it has become muhkam. 348 00:19:03,512 --> 00:19:08,082 Mutashaabihaat? Zamakhshari says these are ones which are ambiguous. 349 00:19:08,082 --> 00:19:11,992 This is how he translates it, that it is doubtful, carrying multiple possibilities. 350 00:19:11,992 --> 00:19:16,362 That in which there is uncertainty in determining the meaning, 351 00:19:16,362 --> 00:19:18,952 and in which there is apprehension about the meaning. 352 00:19:18,952 --> 00:19:21,972 So this is how he explains the term. 353 00:19:21,972 --> 00:19:25,642 So this means that in both these scholars, and Zamakhshari was a Mutazilite, 354 00:19:25,642 --> 00:19:27,382 and Imam Razi belonged to the Ash'ari school of thought. 355 00:19:27,382 --> 00:19:28,912 He is an Imam of the Ash'aris. 356 00:19:28,912 --> 00:19:31,242 And despite being an Ash'ari and Mutazilite, 357 00:19:31,242 --> 00:19:33,372 there was no difference in their opinions in this matter. 358 00:19:33,372 --> 00:19:35,112 Because both of them presented their arguments, 359 00:19:35,112 --> 00:19:36,532 and there was no difference in their conclusions. 360 00:19:36,532 --> 00:19:39,142 Now see, there is Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, 361 00:19:39,142 --> 00:19:43,682 and naturally among our esteemed scholars of the contemporary era, 362 00:19:43,682 --> 00:19:47,362 especially those of the classical and traditionalist school of thought, 363 00:19:47,362 --> 00:19:49,192 he is among the great scholars of that worldview. 364 00:19:49,192 --> 00:19:52,405 He too has written a note on this. 365 00:19:52,405 --> 00:19:55,265 He says that you must look at it this way, 366 00:19:55,265 --> 00:19:58,225 that in the Holy Quran, and in fact in all the revealed Books, 367 00:19:58,225 --> 00:20:01,405 there are two kinds of verses which are found. 368 00:20:01,405 --> 00:20:05,405 One is the kind whose intention is known and established. 369 00:20:05,924 --> 00:20:09,424 Whether it is because, with regards to the vocabulary and style, 370 00:20:09,424 --> 00:20:13,124 there is no doubt and ambiguity in the words. 371 00:20:13,124 --> 00:20:16,274 Nor does their interpretation imply multiple meanings. 372 00:20:16,274 --> 00:20:22,524 So if we have a verse, its intention is known and established. 373 00:20:22,524 --> 00:20:26,234 In which aspects? Well, with regards to its vocabulary and linguistic style, 374 00:20:26,234 --> 00:20:27,825 there is no ambiguity in its words. 375 00:20:27,825 --> 00:20:30,235 But since he does not agree with what Imam Razi says, 376 00:20:30,235 --> 00:20:31,975 therefore he has accepted this approach. 377 00:20:31,975 --> 00:20:34,425 That with regards to the vocabulary, style, and grammar, 378 00:20:34,425 --> 00:20:37,305 we are absolutely clear in what its subject matter is. 379 00:20:37,305 --> 00:20:39,315 There is no doubt or ambiguity in its words, 380 00:20:39,315 --> 00:20:41,585 nor does their interpretation imply multiple meanings. 381 00:20:41,585 --> 00:20:44,685 And it is also not the case that out of all the meanings known to us, 382 00:20:44,685 --> 00:20:47,125 it might be said that this verse could also mean something else. 383 00:20:47,125 --> 00:20:49,675 This is also not the case. It can only have one meaning. 384 00:20:49,675 --> 00:20:51,785 Nor is it that that which was considered reasonable, 385 00:20:51,785 --> 00:20:53,725 is actually against the universally accepted rules. 386 00:20:53,725 --> 00:20:55,528 This is that same point. 387 00:20:55,528 --> 00:21:00,948 So the intentionality of the verse, that which was understood from it, 388 00:21:00,948 --> 00:21:03,808 is not against the commonly accepted rules. 389 00:21:03,808 --> 00:21:06,658 Here he has not specifically mentioned reason, but that is his reference. 390 00:21:06,658 --> 00:21:11,738 If the meaning is against the universal rules or reason, 391 00:21:11,738 --> 00:21:15,018 if this is the case, then he says that it becomes muhkam. 392 00:21:15,991 --> 00:21:19,346 Or else because, and this is the other category of muhkam, 393 00:21:19,346 --> 00:21:21,746 or else because in the text and the terms used, 394 00:21:21,746 --> 00:21:24,686 even though many other meanings could have been implied instead, 395 00:21:24,686 --> 00:21:27,416 so with regards to its vocabulary, multiple meanings could have been implied. 396 00:21:27,416 --> 00:21:30,796 But the detailed proofs given by the law giver (the Prophet). 397 00:21:31,940 --> 00:21:36,470 It means the Prophet (pbuh) mentioned it somewhere in the Hadith, 398 00:21:36,470 --> 00:21:38,430 and it gained fame and reputation. 399 00:21:38,430 --> 00:21:41,000 This is a specific terminology, nusuus-e mustafiiza. 400 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:43,350 Or the consensus of the (infallible) Ummah. 401 00:21:45,144 --> 00:21:49,164 Or the Ummah unanimously agreed on it, and the collective Ummah is infallible. 402 00:21:50,552 --> 00:21:54,023 Or the common, universally accepted principles of religion 403 00:21:54,023 --> 00:21:57,841 has categorically established that the intention of the speaker was not that, 404 00:21:57,841 --> 00:22:01,031 but is this. So the apparent meaning which we understood, that is correct. 405 00:22:01,031 --> 00:22:03,821 Such verses are called muhkamaat. 406 00:22:03,821 --> 00:22:10,651 So he has presented that opinion in the contemporary style. 407 00:22:10,651 --> 00:22:13,711 The second kind of verses are called mutashaabihaat, 408 00:22:13,711 --> 00:22:18,619 that is, the intention and meaning of which is not determined 409 00:22:18,619 --> 00:22:20,813 because of some doubts and ambiguities. 410 00:22:20,813 --> 00:22:22,403 See the words have been repeated by him. 411 00:22:22,403 --> 00:22:26,403 Doubtful and ambiguous. This is how he has explained ambiguous verse. 412 00:22:26,403 --> 00:22:31,358 So this is the exact same explanation, except with the rational element. 413 00:22:31,358 --> 00:22:34,508 That part he has conveyed in the end in another way. 414 00:22:34,508 --> 00:22:38,038 But you can see that here too, the meaning has been established 415 00:22:38,038 --> 00:22:40,708 either through the words, or the grammatical style. 416 00:22:40,708 --> 00:22:44,028 And if that has not happened and there was some apprehension in meaning, 417 00:22:44,028 --> 00:22:46,448 and the Quran itself could not establish it, 418 00:22:47,932 --> 00:22:52,312 it was determined by the Prophet's clear proofs, confirming the meaning. 419 00:22:52,312 --> 00:22:55,162 The consensus of the Ummah determined that this is the meaning. 420 00:22:55,162 --> 00:22:57,812 Or it was derived from the generally accepted principles of the religion. 421 00:22:57,812 --> 00:23:00,722 The Quran commanded that the man or woman who commits adultery, 422 00:23:00,722 --> 00:23:02,762 should be punished with a hundred lashes. 423 00:23:02,762 --> 00:23:05,402 Now naturally one understands from it that whoever commits adultery, 424 00:23:05,402 --> 00:23:07,112 should be punished with a hundred lashes. 425 00:23:07,112 --> 00:23:09,712 Then nusuus-e-mustafiiza came from the Prophet (pbuh) 426 00:23:09,712 --> 00:23:12,482 and told us that it only refers to a bachelor. 427 00:23:14,899 --> 00:23:17,439 The Ummah unanimously concurred with this. 428 00:23:19,069 --> 00:23:22,499 So we got nusuus-e-mustafiiza, as well as the consensus of the common people. 429 00:23:22,499 --> 00:23:24,689 Now the apparent meaning which was understood from the words, 430 00:23:24,689 --> 00:23:26,399 would you accept that? 431 00:23:28,021 --> 00:23:30,431 You should not accept it based on this principle. 432 00:23:30,431 --> 00:23:32,591 Is the matter clear from this example? 433 00:23:32,591 --> 00:23:37,341 The Quran said that whichever person commits adultery, man or woman, 434 00:23:37,341 --> 00:23:39,791 should be punished with a hundred lashes. 435 00:23:39,791 --> 00:23:42,991 For when you read this verse, the apparent meaning is of course that 436 00:23:42,991 --> 00:23:45,153 whoever commits adultery should be given a hundred lashes. 437 00:23:45,153 --> 00:23:48,003 There is no mention of an unwed or a married person here. 438 00:23:48,003 --> 00:23:52,833 But what happened then? As soon as we derived this apparent meaning from it, 439 00:23:52,833 --> 00:23:56,173 along with it came some nusuus-e mustafiiza, 440 00:23:56,173 --> 00:23:58,113 that is, some famous narrations came from the Prophet. 441 00:23:58,113 --> 00:24:02,733 They informed us that no, this verse is referring only to an unwed adulterer. 442 00:24:04,435 --> 00:24:07,715 The consensus of the common people, i.e. the Ummah, agreed with it. 443 00:24:07,715 --> 00:24:11,085 And other rules of jurisprudence also came up in its support. 444 00:24:11,085 --> 00:24:14,415 After that, the apparent meaning which was derived from the words, 445 00:24:14,415 --> 00:24:18,295 we did not accept that meaning. This is what he is saying. 446 00:24:18,295 --> 00:24:21,765 Please do not think from this that I am advocating it as correct. 447 00:24:21,765 --> 00:24:24,475 I am only giving you an example that this is how he will take it. 448 00:24:24,475 --> 00:24:26,895 What was the difficulty he was faced with? 449 00:24:26,895 --> 00:24:30,415 The difficulty was that the apparent meaning conveyed by the words of Quran, 450 00:24:30,415 --> 00:24:33,105 naturally there are textual evidences contrary to it. 451 00:24:33,105 --> 00:24:35,065 So this is the way he adopted to deal with it. 452 00:24:35,065 --> 00:24:36,325 That this is how it will become muhkam. 453 00:24:36,325 --> 00:24:38,316 This is the case with Shabbir Ahmad Usmani. 454 00:24:38,316 --> 00:24:42,205 Now you can see, one of our scholars from the previous generation, 455 00:24:42,205 --> 00:24:47,955 Maulana Syed Abul A'la Maududi. He is also saying the exact same thing. 456 00:24:47,955 --> 00:24:51,745 Muhkam verses refer to those verses whose language is completely clear, 457 00:24:51,745 --> 00:24:55,495 in which there is no ambiguity while determining their meaning, 458 00:24:55,495 --> 00:24:59,075 whose words testify their intentionality and meaning clearly and categorically, 459 00:24:59,075 --> 00:25:02,694 and are hardly possible for anyone to make them a practice board 460 00:25:02,694 --> 00:25:04,604 for expansive interpretations. 461 00:25:04,604 --> 00:25:08,254 Since he is a writer, he has presented the matter so simply. 462 00:25:08,254 --> 00:25:11,464 Mutashaabihaat, that is, those verses in whose meaning there is a possibility 463 00:25:11,464 --> 00:25:12,994 of ambiguity and doubt. 464 00:25:12,994 --> 00:25:15,494 This is how he has defined muhkam and mutashaabihaat. 465 00:25:15,494 --> 00:25:18,724 So one can see in this matter that 'muttafiq gar deed raay bu ali bayad 466 00:25:18,724 --> 00:25:20,194 Everyone holds the same opinion. 467 00:25:20,194 --> 00:25:23,924 There is no particular difference in how scholars approach this. 468 00:25:23,924 --> 00:25:30,150 So you can say that in our tradition, this is the position of the classical scholars. 469 00:25:30,150 --> 00:25:33,240 Now about this opinion, recall one thing again in your minds. 470 00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:35,880 What is the issue? There are two words in the Quran, 471 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:40,060 'mutashaabih' and 'taveel'. These are the fundamental words in the verse. 472 00:25:40,060 --> 00:25:44,650 The word 'mutashaabih' has been taken by him in the same sense 473 00:25:44,650 --> 00:25:47,330 as we ascribe to the word 'mushtabeh' (ambiguous). 474 00:25:47,330 --> 00:25:49,890 And he has explained that too. 'Mushtabeh'. 475 00:25:49,890 --> 00:25:52,690 A word which carries the probability of many meanings. 476 00:25:52,690 --> 00:25:56,160 How has this meaning been derived? I have already told that in the previous lecture. 477 00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:59,730 So it is not as if that word does not have those other meanings, it does. 478 00:25:59,730 --> 00:26:02,540 When that word is used, going by its conclusions, 479 00:26:02,540 --> 00:26:06,540 it also has this meaning, and this meaning was derived among linguists, 480 00:26:06,540 --> 00:26:09,510 and they started using this word to imply this particular meaning. 481 00:26:09,510 --> 00:26:12,970 Its example is found in the Quran as well as in our colloquial use as well. 482 00:26:12,970 --> 00:26:15,926 About the word 'taveel' I have already mentioned that 483 00:26:15,926 --> 00:26:22,420 in the ancient vocabulary, it was used to return something to its misdaaq or reality 484 00:26:22,420 --> 00:26:25,170 Now you know the meaning of misdaaq (actual referent). 485 00:26:25,170 --> 00:26:33,270 But in the later eras, it began to be used to imply meaning and explanation. 486 00:26:33,270 --> 00:26:35,680 We use this word quite commonly. 487 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:39,680 So this later (born-again) meaning of this word, and the meaning of mutashaabih, 488 00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:43,422 both of these were taken together and a meaning was derived from the verse. 489 00:26:43,422 --> 00:26:46,002 Now naturally when one understands the subject matter of the verse, 490 00:26:46,002 --> 00:26:48,632 then whether you take the position of Imam Razi, 491 00:26:48,632 --> 00:26:51,882 or you take the stance of Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani, 492 00:26:51,882 --> 00:26:54,032 or whether you decide to go by the opinion of Zamakhshari, 493 00:26:54,032 --> 00:26:58,032 or even if you see Maulana Maududi, all of them convey the same thing 494 00:26:58,032 --> 00:27:02,032 that there are some verses in the Quran, in whose meanings 495 00:27:02,032 --> 00:27:06,032 there is a possibility of ambiguity. This would be the conclusion from it right? 496 00:27:06,032 --> 00:27:09,192 So the subject matter of those verses is ambiguous or vague for us. 497 00:27:09,192 --> 00:27:11,742 We cannot categorically establish it. 498 00:27:11,742 --> 00:27:14,632 I had said that whenever we have to understanding the meaning of something, 499 00:27:14,632 --> 00:27:16,892 we must always go to its source. 500 00:27:16,892 --> 00:27:20,292 So here the mistake which has occurred, 501 00:27:20,292 --> 00:27:25,592 it happened first in determining the meaning of the word 'mutashabeh'. 502 00:27:25,592 --> 00:27:30,434 And the second error was taking the word 'taveel' in its later meaning. 503 00:27:30,434 --> 00:27:32,084 This was the second mistake. 504 00:27:32,084 --> 00:27:35,564 In what sense has the word 'mutashaabeh' been used here actually? 505 00:27:35,564 --> 00:27:38,364 It has been used in its literal sense only. 506 00:27:39,888 --> 00:27:42,752 It means things are similar or indistinguishable. 507 00:27:42,752 --> 00:27:45,732 Similar things means firstly in the sense as used in 508 00:27:45,732 --> 00:27:48,044 'Kitaabam mutashabiham masaani'. 509 00:27:48,044 --> 00:27:51,084 That the verses of the Quran are similar and of a related disposition. 510 00:27:51,084 --> 00:27:53,484 That gives it a second meaning. 511 00:27:53,484 --> 00:27:57,754 But one meaning is that some verses of the Quran are those which have words 512 00:27:57,754 --> 00:28:03,964 which relate the unknown referents to things are well known to all. 513 00:28:05,711 --> 00:28:07,422 Understand this sentence. 514 00:28:07,422 --> 00:28:12,522 The unknown referent of things is related to known ones to explain them. 515 00:28:12,522 --> 00:28:14,822 Why did Allah feel the need to do this? 516 00:28:14,822 --> 00:28:20,870 This need arose because Allah is saying a lot about this world in the Quran 517 00:28:20,870 --> 00:28:24,970 but the most significant things that He is proclaiming are basically only two. 518 00:28:24,970 --> 00:28:30,280 One is that this Universe has a Creator, whose own world is concealed. 519 00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:35,280 We cannot see it, nor can we conceptualize or observe its substance, 520 00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:37,860 nor can we see the actions therein. 521 00:28:37,860 --> 00:28:39,640 I have not used the word 'attributes', 522 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:42,200 because the evidence of those attributes is present in this world. 523 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:45,260 So we cannot see the substance of that Creator or His world, 524 00:28:45,260 --> 00:28:48,050 nor do we see how He brings about any actions. 525 00:28:48,937 --> 00:28:52,937 I will tell you later on that this is that very issue 526 00:28:52,937 --> 00:28:56,357 from where the debates of ontology and epistemology arose in philosophy ... 527 00:28:56,357 --> 00:28:58,147 But this is a topic for a later stage. 528 00:28:58,147 --> 00:29:01,467 So there is no example of the substance of the unseen world before us, 529 00:29:01,467 --> 00:29:04,907 there is nothing we can see. It is an essence of a concealed world. 530 00:29:04,907 --> 00:29:07,267 What is it, of what nature, we don't know anything. 531 00:29:07,267 --> 00:29:09,937 We cannot see it, cannot observe it. 532 00:29:09,937 --> 00:29:13,937 And in a similar way are its actions, how does it bring them about? 533 00:29:13,937 --> 00:29:16,767 A being produces some actions right? 534 00:29:16,767 --> 00:29:18,967 Attributes are simply the properties of that being. 535 00:29:18,967 --> 00:29:20,797 We can conceptualize and imagine those. 536 00:29:20,797 --> 00:29:23,537 But when an act or deed is brought about, 537 00:29:23,537 --> 00:29:27,087 then a need arises that it be observed, or be witnessed, 538 00:29:27,087 --> 00:29:29,687 that others should understand what deed is being done. 539 00:29:29,687 --> 00:29:32,147 So we can see neither of those things. 540 00:29:32,147 --> 00:29:35,227 And yet the Quran has to introduce God. 541 00:29:35,227 --> 00:29:40,417 Because to have faith resting solely on God, the entire religion rests on this. 542 00:29:40,417 --> 00:29:46,337 But He cannot be shown, and nor can His actions be observed. 543 00:29:46,337 --> 00:29:50,167 The second aspect which forms the basis in the Quran 544 00:29:50,167 --> 00:29:52,457 is that one day all of us have to depart this world 545 00:29:52,457 --> 00:29:55,707 and there is another world in which we have to open our eyes. 546 00:29:55,707 --> 00:29:59,707 Which is a concealed world, and it proclaims that there will a Judgement Day. 547 00:29:59,707 --> 00:30:02,837 That Judgment Day which will come, that too will bring forth a world 548 00:30:02,837 --> 00:30:06,837 which we have not seen. We cannot observe it right now. 549 00:30:06,837 --> 00:30:09,167 So this means that the invitation of the Quran 550 00:30:09,167 --> 00:30:13,377 is based on two fundamental premises which it wants to convince us of, 551 00:30:13,377 --> 00:30:16,507 i.e. the existence of God, and the Day of Judgment, 552 00:30:16,507 --> 00:30:20,507 if some idea and conception has to be given to us about both of them, 553 00:30:20,507 --> 00:30:23,277 for both of these conceptions are absolutely clear and established. 554 00:30:23,277 --> 00:30:25,527 One should have faith in Allah who is the Creator of this Universe, 555 00:30:25,527 --> 00:30:27,797 there is no debate about this. This is absolutely muhkam. 556 00:30:27,797 --> 00:30:29,527 Similar is the case with the Day of Judgment. 557 00:30:29,527 --> 00:30:31,487 But what is God like? 558 00:30:31,487 --> 00:30:35,487 And what would Judgment Day be like, what kind of world would it be? 559 00:30:35,487 --> 00:30:38,207 These are the things which belong to the concealed world. 560 00:30:38,207 --> 00:30:42,057 In this unseen world, there would be some material things, right? 561 00:30:42,057 --> 00:30:44,995 And there would be some ideas. This is how it would be right? 562 00:30:44,995 --> 00:30:48,537 At least we cannot imagine or ascertain anything more than that. 563 00:30:48,537 --> 00:30:52,537 And those things and ideas would be in some perceptible form. 564 00:30:52,537 --> 00:30:56,270 There would be a tree. What would it be like? Well it would be like a tree. 565 00:30:56,270 --> 00:30:58,467 There would be fruit. And it would be like a fruit! 566 00:30:58,467 --> 00:31:00,787 There would be some living creatures, probably us only. 567 00:31:00,787 --> 00:31:02,967 So there would be some things there, i.e. referents! 568 00:31:02,967 --> 00:31:06,617 Now those entities which will be there, we have no words for them in our language. 569 00:31:06,617 --> 00:31:08,987 Like I gave you the example of Mars. 570 00:31:10,119 --> 00:31:14,639 Because they have never been seen before, nor has anyone imagined them here. 571 00:31:14,639 --> 00:31:17,469 So how could we have words for them? We don't have any in our language. 572 00:31:17,469 --> 00:31:19,989 If a conception or imagination of them has to be conveyed, 573 00:31:19,989 --> 00:31:21,830 what way would be adopted to do that? 574 00:31:21,830 --> 00:31:25,580 The way can only be that that entity of the concealed world 575 00:31:25,580 --> 00:31:29,820 should be placed in relation to an entity closest to it in this world, 576 00:31:29,820 --> 00:31:32,600 and the word which is being used to refer to the thing here, 577 00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:34,380 should be used for the unseen thing too. 578 00:31:35,257 --> 00:31:38,700 This is the only way one can adopt for it right? There is no other way for it. 579 00:31:38,700 --> 00:31:41,587 So the verses in which Quran has used this approach, 580 00:31:41,587 --> 00:31:43,477 are the mutashaabihaat ones. 581 00:31:43,477 --> 00:31:45,457 It does not mean their meaning is ambiguous, 582 00:31:45,457 --> 00:31:47,657 for their meanings are absolutely clear. 583 00:31:47,657 --> 00:31:50,808 Only the objects they're referring to are not before our eyes. 584 00:31:50,808 --> 00:31:52,878 But there is no doubt in their meanings. 585 00:31:52,878 --> 00:31:56,878 It is absolutely clear. When the Quran says that there would be fruits there, 586 00:31:56,878 --> 00:32:01,388 so this word used by the Quran, or when it is saying there would be streams there, 587 00:32:01,388 --> 00:32:04,648 these words are Arabic words it uses, and their meaning is known to us. 588 00:32:04,648 --> 00:32:06,428 There is no issue in the meanings of these words. 589 00:32:06,428 --> 00:32:08,248 But what kind of a stream would it be? 590 00:32:08,248 --> 00:32:12,248 So it just means that the conception of that stream is not in front of us. 591 00:32:12,248 --> 00:32:16,248 So what has been done? An example has been taken of a stream in this world, 592 00:32:16,248 --> 00:32:19,188 and in the afterlife too there is a stream that runs. What kind is it? 593 00:32:19,188 --> 00:32:21,108 It is possible that it would be completely different from this one. 594 00:32:21,108 --> 00:32:23,880 Like I gave you the example of a 'degcha' (small pot). 595 00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:25,428 'Deg' (cauldron) could be seen lying before people's eyes. 596 00:32:25,428 --> 00:32:27,658 But the 'cha' part had not come into existence back then! 597 00:32:27,658 --> 00:32:31,658 So in light of that 'deg' lying before us, we created the name 'degcha'. 598 00:32:31,658 --> 00:32:34,748 So this approach is adopted by Allah as well. 599 00:32:34,748 --> 00:32:37,980 And apart from this, there is no other way. 600 00:32:37,980 --> 00:32:40,538 There is no other way of presenting an unseen world. 601 00:32:40,538 --> 00:32:43,318 Not just Allah, but we too do the same thing. 602 00:32:43,318 --> 00:32:48,580 If we have to convey such a thing which has not yet come into existence, 603 00:32:48,580 --> 00:32:51,588 what do we do? We use the tool of simile or comparison. 604 00:32:51,588 --> 00:32:54,988 That is what we do right? In fact the things which have come into existence, 605 00:32:54,988 --> 00:32:58,638 about them too we are at times unable to communicate our impressions 606 00:32:58,638 --> 00:33:00,788 without using the simile or comparison. 607 00:33:00,788 --> 00:33:07,698 We have not seen the lips that Mir praises in this poetry. 608 00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:13,810 And he insists that nowhere else can one find such beautiful lips. 609 00:33:13,810 --> 00:33:18,640 So he took us to a garden, and said that you have seen the petals of a flower. 610 00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:23,072 So the exquisiteness of this petal, its loveliness, its beauty, its excellence, 611 00:33:23,072 --> 00:33:29,922 its color, now that you have seen it, I can use it as a simile to tell you 612 00:33:29,922 --> 00:33:33,072 that the lips I am talking about are like this petal. 613 00:33:33,072 --> 00:33:37,772 'Of her delicate lips, what can one say, a blushing petal of a rose are they.' 614 00:33:37,772 --> 00:33:41,862 So here what he has done is, since he could not show us those lips themselves, 615 00:33:41,862 --> 00:33:45,142 he could certainly show us the flower and the petals. 616 00:33:45,142 --> 00:33:48,052 And he could show us the petals in such a way 617 00:33:48,052 --> 00:33:50,912 that it would make clear every aspect of it. 618 00:33:52,531 --> 00:33:54,151 Have you understood this? 619 00:33:54,151 --> 00:33:57,451 So actually the point it that this is a constraint that applies over us too. 620 00:33:57,451 --> 00:34:00,421 At times, when we too cannot show something, 621 00:34:00,421 --> 00:34:02,651 when we cannot produce the proof of something. 622 00:34:02,651 --> 00:34:05,291 One way could have been that Mir had said, I am lifting the veil, 623 00:34:05,291 --> 00:34:09,291 have a look at it yourself. So this veil would be lifted on Judgment Day, 624 00:34:09,291 --> 00:34:11,031 and then you can see for yourself. 625 00:34:11,031 --> 00:34:15,031 But till the veil is lifted, there is no other way except that 626 00:34:15,031 --> 00:34:19,031 the things similar to it which are found in the world, 627 00:34:19,031 --> 00:34:23,031 a comparison should be drawn with them to explain one's point. 628 00:34:23,031 --> 00:34:26,251 So 'mutashaabih' has been used in its very literal meaning. 629 00:34:26,251 --> 00:34:32,501 And its meaning is to describe a thing by reference to its closest example. 630 00:34:32,501 --> 00:34:37,271 This is what it means. The Quran says that there are two kinds of verses in it. 631 00:34:37,271 --> 00:34:41,651 One kind of verses are the ones where the Quran has clearly conveyed the content 632 00:34:41,651 --> 00:34:45,121 and they are muhkam verses. The Quran is saying what it wants to through them. 633 00:34:45,121 --> 00:34:49,701 And in this respect, all the verses of the Quran are actually muhkam verses. 634 00:34:49,701 --> 00:34:54,811 But where a verse has to convey a quality or attribute of Allah, 635 00:34:54,811 --> 00:34:57,281 or give a conception of His actions or deeds, 636 00:34:57,281 --> 00:35:01,281 or the world which Allah has created, that unseen world, 637 00:35:01,281 --> 00:35:02,691 and it includes the past too. 638 00:35:02,691 --> 00:35:05,481 For instance the Quran wants to tell us how Adam was created 639 00:35:05,481 --> 00:35:08,451 and the Spirit was blown into him. That too was an unseen world for us. 640 00:35:08,451 --> 00:35:11,991 One concealed world is the one that is going to come in the afterlife. 641 00:35:11,991 --> 00:35:14,071 So how will this be conveyed? 642 00:35:14,071 --> 00:35:18,781 There is no other way to convey it except to do it through similitude. 643 00:35:18,781 --> 00:35:21,571 Not the way of ambiguity, but the style of similitude. 644 00:35:21,571 --> 00:35:24,633 So what are called the ambiguous verses of the Quran 645 00:35:24,633 --> 00:35:26,891 are not actually ambiguous, but are rather 'mutashaabih' verses. 646 00:35:26,891 --> 00:35:29,841 That is, the way of similitude and resemblance has been adopted in them 647 00:35:29,841 --> 00:35:33,041 and one thing has been drawn parallel with another 648 00:35:33,041 --> 00:35:35,284 to create a conception of it in our minds. 649 00:35:35,284 --> 00:35:38,894 If there was any other way of conveying the truth of unseen things, 650 00:35:38,894 --> 00:35:41,404 then Imam Razi and Zamakhshari would certainly have told us. 651 00:35:41,404 --> 00:35:44,514 But there is no other way. This is the one and only way. 652 00:35:44,514 --> 00:35:47,364 No other approach is found to do it at all. 653 00:35:47,364 --> 00:35:50,584 We are bound to adopt this approach only. 654 00:35:50,584 --> 00:35:55,844 Is this clear? Now see, these verses which are there, 655 00:35:55,844 --> 00:35:59,844 are known to me too, and you know it as well. 656 00:35:59,844 --> 00:36:02,334 Zamakhshari and Imam Razi were also aware of the meaning. 657 00:36:02,334 --> 00:36:04,764 Their meaning is known to all of us. 658 00:36:04,764 --> 00:36:08,054 But their visual evidence is not seen by any of us. 659 00:36:08,054 --> 00:36:09,714 This is the case, isn't it? 660 00:36:09,714 --> 00:36:14,514 So the Quran did not say that their meaning is not known to anyone but Allah. 661 00:36:14,514 --> 00:36:17,504 Quran says that their referent is not known to anyone except Allah. 662 00:36:17,504 --> 00:36:23,624 That is, no one knows other than Allah what paradise really is like. 663 00:36:23,624 --> 00:36:25,924 Allah knows of course, He is looking at His paradise. 664 00:36:25,924 --> 00:36:28,644 He can see the past as well as the future. 665 00:36:28,644 --> 00:36:31,574 But Zamakhshari and Razi don't know what it is like. 666 00:36:31,574 --> 00:36:34,314 Me and you are not aware of it either. We don't know. 667 00:36:34,314 --> 00:36:37,333 So the paradise that Allah has created, or for that matter the Hell He has made, 668 00:36:37,333 --> 00:36:39,113 or whichever unseen world He has created, 669 00:36:39,113 --> 00:36:41,643 or when He talks of His own qualities and attributes, 670 00:36:41,643 --> 00:36:44,877 or when He talks of His deeds. 'Nafakhtu fihi min ruhi.' 671 00:36:44,877 --> 00:36:46,977 I infused from My own Spirit into him. 672 00:36:46,977 --> 00:36:51,229 Allah is narrating an event. Now naturally we have not seen God, 673 00:36:51,229 --> 00:36:54,387 nor do we know what His Spirit means. 674 00:36:54,387 --> 00:36:56,767 Nor do we know what blowing it means. 675 00:36:56,767 --> 00:37:01,787 But whatever occurred, was related somewhat to the blowing of the Spirit. 676 00:37:01,787 --> 00:37:04,267 So those were the words taken from our language, 677 00:37:04,267 --> 00:37:07,867 and Allah has communicated that event to us. 678 00:37:07,867 --> 00:37:12,407 So all such verses are mutashaabih. 679 00:37:12,407 --> 00:37:16,407 And these are not at all ambiguous in their subject matter and content. 680 00:37:16,407 --> 00:37:20,407 They are absolutely clear. We can present their meaning and content. 681 00:37:20,407 --> 00:37:23,457 We can debate about it, and we can determine it. 682 00:37:23,457 --> 00:37:28,137 If this is clear, then there should be no problem understanding what I have written. 683 00:37:28,137 --> 00:37:31,667 Is this clear, where the mistake originated? 684 00:37:31,667 --> 00:37:36,497 The mistake arose in two places. The word 'mutashaabih' has one meaning 685 00:37:36,497 --> 00:37:41,007 according to its conclusion in the Arabic language, which is still in use. 686 00:37:41,007 --> 00:37:44,169 That meaning was taken. This is the first error. 687 00:37:44,169 --> 00:37:48,559 The Muvallad meaning of 'taveel' became dominant in people's minds. 688 00:37:48,559 --> 00:37:52,819 Muvallad latemeaning means that in the ancient times, that word did not have that meaning 689 00:37:52,819 --> 00:37:56,559 but in the later eras the word developed a new meaning. 690 00:37:56,559 --> 00:38:00,019 And it began to be used in that sense. 691 00:38:00,019 --> 00:38:03,229 So like I had told you in the previous debate, 692 00:38:03,229 --> 00:38:05,849 that there too, the mistake which has been made is 693 00:38:05,849 --> 00:38:10,339 that the journey of the word, its reality and the reality of its meaning, 694 00:38:11,296 --> 00:38:14,605 the reality of its style and its subject matter, 695 00:38:14,605 --> 00:38:17,465 has been conflated with an event. 696 00:38:17,465 --> 00:38:23,585 Whereas an event occurs in the past and then comes to an end. 697 00:38:23,585 --> 00:38:27,035 Only its historical narration remains. 698 00:38:27,035 --> 00:38:31,775 A word is born after centuries, and its journey continues. 699 00:38:33,365 --> 00:38:37,148 And this journey, unless the word becomes obsolete, never ends. 700 00:38:37,148 --> 00:38:38,968 A word's journey is always going on. 701 00:38:38,968 --> 00:38:43,608 So a word is actually a continuous practice that is perpetually going on. 702 00:38:43,608 --> 00:38:47,778 It is that which the vocabulary is conveying, which grammar is presenting. 703 00:38:47,778 --> 00:38:49,548 Which rhetoric is explaining. 704 00:38:49,548 --> 00:38:53,816 So the experts of these disciplines are not actually historians. 705 00:38:53,816 --> 00:38:58,016 But rather, whatever exists, they are presenting it and thereby deducing from it 706 00:38:58,016 --> 00:39:00,296 and are telling us what the word actually is. 707 00:39:00,296 --> 00:39:03,686 So there too as I told you, the source of the mistake is that 708 00:39:03,686 --> 00:39:09,936 the journey of the word along with its meaning is conflated as a historical event 709 00:39:09,936 --> 00:39:12,836 But a word is not an event from the past. 710 00:39:12,836 --> 00:39:16,106 Absolutely not. [Student] The word 'taveel' 711 00:39:16,106 --> 00:39:18,896 has been used by people in this sense as well. 712 00:39:18,896 --> 00:39:22,356 Even if it was not spoken in this sense in the time of the Prophet (pbuh). 713 00:39:22,356 --> 00:39:25,886 [Ghamidi] I had said that this word in that era, 714 00:39:25,886 --> 00:39:28,546 the dominant meaning of this word was that of its misdaaq. 715 00:39:28,546 --> 00:39:30,656 In the Quran too, it has been used in that sense. 716 00:39:30,656 --> 00:39:34,226 Its meaning as interpretation and translation came into use a lot later. 717 00:39:37,595 --> 00:39:40,176 So now let us read this. 718 00:39:40,176 --> 00:39:44,176 The answer to the third question is that it is not correct that 719 00:39:44,176 --> 00:39:47,556 we cannot with certainty distinguish the muhkam verses of the Quran 720 00:39:47,556 --> 00:39:51,806 from the mutashabih or that we are unable to determine the meaning of mutashabihaat. 721 00:39:51,806 --> 00:39:54,646 So both of these assumptions are false. 722 00:39:54,646 --> 00:39:57,456 We can determine which verses are mutashaabih. 723 00:39:57,456 --> 00:40:00,836 Those verses are mutashaabih in which there is reference to an unseen world, 724 00:40:00,836 --> 00:40:03,486 whether it is related to our past or our future. 725 00:40:03,486 --> 00:40:07,486 Whether it is related to Allah's first creation, as per human history, 726 00:40:07,486 --> 00:40:10,396 or whether it is related to whatever is going to happen on Judgement Day. 727 00:40:10,396 --> 00:40:13,546 Whether it is related to Allah's own world where there are angels, 728 00:40:13,546 --> 00:40:16,007 and we don't know what else resides there. 729 00:40:16,007 --> 00:40:18,215 So it might be related to any of it. 730 00:40:18,215 --> 00:40:22,025 The verses which talk of those world are mutashaabih. 731 00:40:23,144 --> 00:40:26,724 All verses of the Quran on which its guidance is based are muhkam, 732 00:40:26,724 --> 00:40:31,724 and mutashabih are only those verses which mention certain blessings and torments 733 00:40:31,724 --> 00:40:36,964 one may encounter in the Hereafter, which are stated through parables or similes. 734 00:40:36,964 --> 00:40:40,104 Or the attributes and actions of God, or the mention of something 735 00:40:40,104 --> 00:40:43,014 which is beyond the grasp of our knowledge and observation 736 00:40:43,014 --> 00:40:47,034 has been stated about one of His worlds in an allegorical manner. 737 00:40:47,034 --> 00:40:49,724 So now it has been absolutely established and is known of certain 738 00:40:49,724 --> 00:40:51,864 which verses are mutashaabih. 739 00:40:51,864 --> 00:40:55,454 Either they are the blessings and torments of the Hereafter, 740 00:40:55,454 --> 00:40:58,974 which Allah has to convey to us, about what blessings will be given there. 741 00:40:58,974 --> 00:41:00,784 Or what punishments will be inflicted in Hell. 742 00:41:00,784 --> 00:41:04,004 What would be its nature? Would it be with fire, a tree of Thuhar (Sehund), 743 00:41:04,004 --> 00:41:07,394 there would be pus to drink, Allah says all this about Hereafter, right? 744 00:41:07,394 --> 00:41:09,104 Same is the case with paradise. 745 00:41:09,104 --> 00:41:11,984 Or the mention of the attributes and actions of God. 746 00:41:11,984 --> 00:41:15,984 Naturally we have not seen Allah, and we are unfamiliar 747 00:41:15,984 --> 00:41:18,794 with the nature of his attributes. Although we have some idea of them. 748 00:41:18,794 --> 00:41:21,984 His actions are something we cannot see at all, we cannot observe them. 749 00:41:21,984 --> 00:41:24,994 Allah has to convey them too, like I had given you the example, 750 00:41:24,994 --> 00:41:28,056 when Allah says that I blew My Spirit into Adam. 751 00:41:28,056 --> 00:41:33,736 This is His action. But I cannot show it to you, cannot make you observe it. 752 00:41:33,736 --> 00:41:37,371 Or the mention of something which is beyond our knowledge and observation, 753 00:41:37,371 --> 00:41:39,276 about one of His worlds. 754 00:41:39,276 --> 00:41:44,156 So there is a world of Allah which is beyond our knowledge or observation. 755 00:41:44,156 --> 00:41:46,676 and some element of it has been described in an allegorical way. 756 00:41:46,676 --> 00:41:49,996 For instance, God blowing His spirit into Adam, 757 00:41:49,996 --> 00:41:53,346 the birth of Jesus (AS) without a father, 758 00:41:53,346 --> 00:41:56,686 or the various places and circumstances one may encounter in Paradise and Hell. 759 00:41:56,686 --> 00:42:01,686 These are the things about which only this manner can be used to describe. 760 00:42:01,686 --> 00:42:09,846 All things for which words have not yet been invented, 761 00:42:09,846 --> 00:42:14,686 can only be stated through parables and similes. 762 00:42:14,686 --> 00:42:17,206 This is the point which I have already explained to you. 763 00:42:17,206 --> 00:42:24,036 Two hundred years ago, if a person had foreknowledge of electricity bulbs 764 00:42:24,036 --> 00:42:27,396 when they had not been invented yet, he would perhaps have said, 765 00:42:27,396 --> 00:42:32,166 lanterns which would neither require oil nor fire will one day light up the world. 766 00:42:32,166 --> 00:42:34,386 This is how it would have been described right? 767 00:42:34,386 --> 00:42:36,956 An unseen world which has now become observable. 768 00:42:36,956 --> 00:42:40,606 Now we can see it and words have been created to describe it. 769 00:42:40,606 --> 00:42:44,026 Now there is no difficulty faced in interpreting it. 770 00:42:44,026 --> 00:42:50,116 But if two or three hundred years ago if one had to describe the electricity bulbs 771 00:42:50,116 --> 00:42:54,506 which is an extraordinary thing. It's such a thing human beings have conquered 772 00:42:54,506 --> 00:42:56,706 which has created a drastically new world. 773 00:42:56,706 --> 00:42:59,446 If someone had wanted to convey this two centuries ago, how would he describe it? 774 00:42:59,446 --> 00:43:01,466 He would have done it in these words right? 775 00:43:01,466 --> 00:43:04,246 The nature of mutashaabih verses is no different. 776 00:43:04,246 --> 00:43:07,866 Neither are they unascertainable nor is there any ambiguity in their meaning. 777 00:43:08,691 --> 00:43:12,021 So they are ascertainable, we can tell which verses are mutashaabih 778 00:43:12,021 --> 00:43:14,181 based on this principle which is there. 779 00:43:14,181 --> 00:43:15,821 And nor is there any ambiguity in their meaning. 780 00:43:15,821 --> 00:43:20,111 Their intention is absolutely clear, and there is no issue in understanding them. 781 00:43:20,111 --> 00:43:23,831 Their words are that of an eloquent Arabic, 782 00:43:23,831 --> 00:43:27,551 and we are able to understand their meaning without any difficulty. 783 00:43:27,551 --> 00:43:29,961 So there is no difficulty in understanding their meaning. 784 00:43:29,961 --> 00:43:35,761 The only thing is that we are not able to understand what they imply in this life. 785 00:43:35,761 --> 00:43:41,691 This is the fact of the matter. That we are not meant to know what they imply. 786 00:43:41,691 --> 00:43:44,941 However, since this lack of understanding has nothing to do 787 00:43:44,941 --> 00:43:46,461 with understanding the Quran, 788 00:43:46,461 --> 00:43:50,461 so a believer should not pursue the determination of what they imply. 789 00:43:50,461 --> 00:43:53,061 So when we have understood that Allah's blessings will be given 790 00:43:53,061 --> 00:43:55,781 in the form of Paradise, and this statement is absolutely muhkam, 791 00:43:55,781 --> 00:43:58,481 and in that blessing is a great peace of mind and sight for us. 792 00:43:58,481 --> 00:44:02,121 And all of our instinctive and natural desires will be fulfilled there. 793 00:44:02,121 --> 00:44:04,431 And they will be fulfilled to the utmost extent, we have understood this. 794 00:44:04,431 --> 00:44:08,431 But if a person decides to pursue that the Thuhar tree that will be there in Hell, 795 00:44:08,431 --> 00:44:11,391 what would it really be like? Then Nadeem would become Hyder. 796 00:44:13,711 --> 00:44:15,081 He would be right? 797 00:44:15,414 --> 00:44:18,254 He was laughing so I referred to him. 798 00:44:18,912 --> 00:44:24,612 So to pursue the question of something indeterminate ... what does it entail? 799 00:44:24,612 --> 00:44:26,972 Streams might flow in the Paradise, 800 00:44:26,972 --> 00:44:30,092 but to attempt to conceptualize an image of that stream. 801 00:44:30,092 --> 00:44:33,101 And to argue and fight about it. 802 00:44:33,101 --> 00:44:38,121 What is this? When it is clear that Allah's blessings will be given to us. 803 00:44:38,121 --> 00:44:41,611 While explaining this, Imam Amin Ahsan Islahi writes, 804 00:44:41,611 --> 00:44:48,681 'The reality to which the mutashaabihaat point is itself very clear and obvious.' 805 00:44:48,681 --> 00:44:51,311 So the fundamental reality these revelations relate to 806 00:44:51,311 --> 00:44:54,761 are rewards and punishments. About getting Allah's rewards or punishments 807 00:44:54,761 --> 00:44:58,241 on the Judgment Day. So this is absolutely clear and obvious in the verses. 808 00:44:58,241 --> 00:45:02,961 'The intellect can understand that part of it which is essential for it to understand 809 00:45:02,961 --> 00:45:06,741 However, since it belongs to an unseen world, 810 00:45:06,741 --> 00:45:10,741 the Quran mentions it through parables and similes 811 00:45:10,741 --> 00:45:15,101 so that students of the Quran can understand it as per their capabilities 812 00:45:15,101 --> 00:45:18,871 and consider that only God knows what their real form and shape is.' 813 00:45:18,871 --> 00:45:22,181 So the correct attitude is that people should be grateful 814 00:45:22,181 --> 00:45:25,461 for whatever knowledge Allah has given us about these things. 815 00:45:25,461 --> 00:45:27,931 And instead of quibbling over the reality of those things, 816 00:45:27,931 --> 00:45:31,501 we should leave it up to Allah. Whenever Allah will want to, He will lift the veil, 817 00:45:31,501 --> 00:45:33,061 we will know the truth in the Hereafter. 818 00:45:33,061 --> 00:45:35,411 'These relate to attributes and works of God 819 00:45:35,411 --> 00:45:39,071 or to the reward and punishment of the Hereafter. 820 00:45:39,071 --> 00:45:43,423 We are able to understand them to the extent we need to understand them, 821 00:45:43,423 --> 00:45:46,553 and this increases our knowledge and certainty, 822 00:45:46,553 --> 00:45:53,143 but if we go beyond this and start to seek their real form and shape, 823 00:45:53,143 --> 00:45:55,433 then this will only lead us astray.' 824 00:45:55,433 --> 00:45:58,723 If you open the doors to this kind of debate, 825 00:45:58,723 --> 00:46:01,623 that the tree which will be there in Hell and the fire that would be burning, 826 00:46:01,623 --> 00:46:05,203 then what would that tree be like which would not catch fire? 827 00:46:05,203 --> 00:46:09,203 This creates an issue then, right? This example has been given in the Quran. 828 00:46:09,203 --> 00:46:11,653 That the unbelievers brought up this debate that 829 00:46:11,653 --> 00:46:14,113 look how irrational statements the believers are making. 830 00:46:14,113 --> 00:46:18,113 They say that there would be fire in Hell and a Thuhar tree as well! 831 00:46:18,113 --> 00:46:20,383 But if there would be fire there cannot be a tree surviving in it, 832 00:46:20,383 --> 00:46:22,173 and if the tree is there, then there can't be a fire. 833 00:46:22,173 --> 00:46:25,532 This is actually making a comparison of it with this world. 834 00:46:27,499 --> 00:46:32,459 'But if we try to go beyond our limit and start to seek their real form and shape.' 835 00:46:32,459 --> 00:46:35,209 See he doesn't say meaning or sense, he is talking of the real form and shape. 836 00:46:35,209 --> 00:46:39,209 If we try to capture that, then that leads us astray and causes strife. 837 00:46:39,209 --> 00:46:44,129 'The result of this is that while wanting to remove one thorn of doubt from the mind 838 00:46:44,129 --> 00:46:48,840 a person ends up getting pricked by many more. 839 00:46:48,840 --> 00:46:54,390 So much so, that in this quest to know more he loses what he had gained.' 840 00:46:55,625 --> 00:47:01,865 So the situation becomes such that when one had gone to discover something unknown 841 00:47:01,865 --> 00:47:04,805 when he came back he had lost even himself. 842 00:47:04,805 --> 00:47:06,985 In the words of Ghalib, he even lost himself in the fruitless search. 843 00:47:06,985 --> 00:47:08,735 This is what happens. 844 00:47:08,735 --> 00:47:13,145 'And refutes very clear facts just because he is not able to ascertain 845 00:47:13,145 --> 00:47:16,085 their form and shape.' So something was very clear, 846 00:47:16,085 --> 00:47:20,265 but he negated it only because he could not understand 847 00:47:20,265 --> 00:47:22,405 what the Thuhar tree would be like. 848 00:47:22,405 --> 00:47:24,305 Or what would the stream of Paradise look like? 849 00:47:24,305 --> 00:47:26,933 Or how would honey flow in the rivers? 850 00:47:26,933 --> 00:47:30,103 [Student] But reading these Surahs seems as if 851 00:47:30,103 --> 00:47:32,679 it is necessary for one to have faith first. 852 00:47:32,679 --> 00:47:37,929 So if one wants to understand mutashaabih verses, one would have to have faith first 853 00:47:37,929 --> 00:47:42,329 only then can one reach a conclusion in this debate. 854 00:47:42,329 --> 00:47:44,849 [Ghamidi] No, one can easily understand them. 855 00:47:44,849 --> 00:47:48,849 If it is clear to a person based on rational arguments, 856 00:47:48,849 --> 00:47:53,219 that the Hereafter should exist. Now Allah has presented a picture for us 857 00:47:53,219 --> 00:47:56,963 of the Hereafter. No rational person would have difficulty in understanding this. 858 00:47:56,963 --> 00:47:58,883 There is no need for one to have faith in it first. 859 00:47:58,883 --> 00:48:02,443 It is comprehensible for all, that there would be streams there, 860 00:48:02,443 --> 00:48:04,173 and so and so blessings would be there. 861 00:48:04,173 --> 00:48:07,403 This can be understood. As for faith, that has to be accepted about Paradise. 862 00:48:07,403 --> 00:48:09,943 One would need to have faith about rewards and punishments. 863 00:48:09,943 --> 00:48:13,513 The subject of faith and belief is not that stream which would be flowing there. 864 00:48:13,513 --> 00:48:16,923 The concern for a believer is simply that there would be a reward and punishment. 865 00:48:16,923 --> 00:48:19,093 This is a very rational point, and it can be understood by every person in the world 866 00:48:19,093 --> 00:48:21,913 that this is how it should be. But when you have accepted it, 867 00:48:21,913 --> 00:48:24,453 based on your intellect and reason that there would be a Judgment Day, 868 00:48:24,453 --> 00:48:27,773 then what would be the debate about the particular details of it? 869 00:48:27,773 --> 00:48:30,073 There is no difficulty in even understanding the particulars, 870 00:48:30,073 --> 00:48:33,793 but only its referent is not before us. That is the only thing. 871 00:48:37,259 --> 00:48:41,259 [Ghamidi] So it means that this meaning which we have just used, 872 00:48:41,259 --> 00:48:43,719 what is that entity for which they stand true? 873 00:48:43,719 --> 00:48:46,309 'Degcha' for instance, what is that thing for which its meaning stands? 874 00:48:46,309 --> 00:48:48,559 That pot which is lying in the kitchen in your house. 875 00:48:48,559 --> 00:48:50,499 [Student] So can we convey it in some other words then? 876 00:48:50,499 --> 00:48:51,969 [Ghamidi] Yes you absolutely can convey it in some other words, 877 00:48:51,969 --> 00:48:53,669 to communicate what the reality of that thing is. 878 00:48:55,136 --> 00:48:57,216 Is the time up? [Student] We have two minutes left. 879 00:48:57,216 --> 00:49:03,356 [Ghamidi] So we cannot read the next paragraph right now in two minutes. 880 00:49:06,820 --> 00:49:10,480 [Student] Are the angels and Iblees (Satan) also mutashaabih? 881 00:49:12,122 --> 00:49:14,852 [Ghamidi] Naturally we have not seen Iblees ourselves. 882 00:49:14,852 --> 00:49:17,992 If someone has met him then I cannot speak for that person. 883 00:49:22,640 --> 00:49:25,260 No that is a separate debate, what he is or is not. 884 00:49:25,260 --> 00:49:29,260 We have not seen Iblees, we do not know who Iblees is, or what Djinns are. 885 00:49:29,260 --> 00:49:31,890 Allah has only informed us about them 886 00:49:31,890 --> 00:49:36,540 and has explained it to us in the only possible way. 887 00:49:38,143 --> 00:49:41,493 Anything more than this is simply not possible for us to have observed. 888 00:49:41,493 --> 00:49:43,113 When we have not seen something ourselves, 889 00:49:43,113 --> 00:49:46,613 although if in case it happens that a Djinn appears before us, 890 00:49:47,575 --> 00:49:49,602 then alright, we can see them. 891 00:49:50,709 --> 00:49:52,079 Even right now what is the case? 892 00:49:52,079 --> 00:49:56,503 There was a concept of Djinns created within the minds of human beings. 893 00:49:56,503 --> 00:50:00,993 And they interpreted that concept with a word of their language, 'djinn', 894 00:50:00,993 --> 00:50:03,383 which basically means concealed or hidden. 895 00:50:03,383 --> 00:50:06,963 You see there is no referent conveyed even within the word itself. 896 00:50:06,963 --> 00:50:11,520 A concept has been given a word, but if you go into the meaning of that word, 897 00:50:11,520 --> 00:50:13,800 then even there you will find no testimony of the thing itself. 898 00:50:13,800 --> 00:50:15,660 It simply means concealed. 899 00:50:15,660 --> 00:50:18,260 It means such a creature which is hidden. 900 00:50:18,260 --> 00:50:20,640 Because human beings have never seen a Djinn, 901 00:50:20,640 --> 00:50:24,120 therefore they can only ascribe the word for 'concealed' to that concept. 902 00:50:24,120 --> 00:50:26,170 Otherwise they would have at least used a word in which 903 00:50:26,170 --> 00:50:29,350 there would be a reference or comparison to some thing or another. 904 00:50:29,350 --> 00:50:32,780 For instance, if he had to use a word for it, 905 00:50:32,780 --> 00:50:36,280 he might have used human beings as a reference, or maybe an animal, 906 00:50:36,280 --> 00:50:38,680 and then would have created a word similar to it. 907 00:50:38,680 --> 00:50:41,320 But he had to create a word for a concept, so he said 'djinn', 908 00:50:41,320 --> 00:50:43,370 that which cannot be seen. 909 00:50:43,370 --> 00:50:45,710 What happened here? 910 00:50:45,710 --> 00:50:50,090 We know the meaning of Djinn, but we do not know its evidence. 911 00:50:51,108 --> 00:50:54,808 [Student] You mentioned that the meaning of 'mutashaabih' is 912 00:50:54,808 --> 00:50:58,008 those verses whose meaning is known but evidence is not known. 913 00:50:58,008 --> 00:51:00,788 So the Huruf-e Muqattaat (disjoined letters) which we see in Quran, 914 00:51:00,788 --> 00:51:03,758 how would we know their meanings? 915 00:51:03,758 --> 00:51:05,948 [Ghamidi] Huruf-e Muqattaat is a topic of the Quran, 916 00:51:05,948 --> 00:51:07,588 InshaAllah when I teach you about it, I will explain it all, 917 00:51:07,588 --> 00:51:10,658 its meaning is also absolutely clear and determined. 918 00:51:15,367 --> 00:51:18,437 Alright, so we are now left with a bit more of this topic. 919 00:51:18,437 --> 00:51:21,477 After this we will begin with the next debate on Friday InshaAllah.