As-salaa-mu-'alaykum waraHmatullaahi wa barokaatuh.
Just to share my brief comment on an article on website: "ABDUL-SALAM ABDUL-HAMEED" , which may be useful as point of reflection. May Allah SWT grant us to benefit from the knowledge He has given us, and may He increae us with beneficial knowledge :
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THE COMMENT:
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As-salaa-mu ‘alay-kum waraH-matullaah,
Brothers,
AlHamdulillah! Please permit me to offer my comment.
I appreciate Ustaz Abdul Salam’s concern of certain people who may pose questions which for him “are non-answerables”, and thus he is of the opinion that such questions should not be asked.
But please allow me to offer a different perspective from this, because in my experience teaching Islam to non-Muslims (including even proud and cynical atheists and agnostics) I would not stop any of them from posing whatever questions they may have (even such “non-answerable” as categorized by Ustaz Abdul Salam).
This is because I sincerely believe in what Allah SWT says, that our perfected Deen al-Islam has all the answers and it can respond to any questions.
I, may not know or have all the answers though (and this will then motivate me to search for these answers myself), but this is not to say that Islam does not have the answer or cannot respond to any questions. This is how I understand Allah’s promise:
وَلَا يَأۡتُونَكَ بِمَثَلٍ إِلَّا جِئۡنَـٰكَ بِٱلۡحَقِّ وَأَحۡسَنَ تَفۡسِيرًا
“And no question do they bring to thee but We reveal to thee the Truth and the explanation thereof”
(Qur’an : Surah al-Furqan : 25: 33)
Also, how would we know that a question will be “non-answerable” unless it has already been posed to us? And to then censure them for asking such questions would give the wrong impression in their mind that Islam is indeed defective.
Actually, what Ustaz Abdul Salam termed “non-answerable”, I would rather regard them as questions which are illogical, “antithetical – a rational impossibilities – mustahil” , and I would respond by patiently showing them why it is absurd. But I would never curtail or appear to prevent them from asking.
To elaborate:
Applying what we Muslims are taught in our Usuluddeen (Aqeedah), even those examples of the so-called “non-answerable” (A, B & C) can be responded to, inshaAllah.
[A] “Who created Allah?”
My Response:
.
When we speak of Allah (God), we mean the only Being Who is Divine. The term “divine” means that He existed without a beginning i.e. He does not depend on anyone to cause Him to come into existence. In other words, Allah (God) is the only Uncreated being whereas all others are created by Him. So to ask: “Who created Allah?” is making an absurd statement because it is like saying: “Who created the Uncreated?!?” – then I will ask them: isn’t this absurd?
[B] “Why did Allah created me black and not the other?”
My Response:
.
This type of question can be applied to every creation – why does Allah SWT created this and not that?”.
In fact, there has been a response by Allah SWT to such type of questioning (which are posed as though challenging Allah’s wisdom, because one do not understand fully the rationale), when He told the angels:
قَالَ إِنِّىٓ أَعۡلَمُ مَا لَا تَعۡلَمُونَ
He said: “I know what ye know not.”(Q: Baqarah: 2: 30)
And as to the reasoning for making us different, Allah SWT says:
يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقۡنَـٰكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ۬ وَأُنثَىٰ
.
وَجَعَلۡنَـٰكُمۡ شُعُوبً۬ا وَقَبَآٮِٕلَ لِتَعَارَفُوٓاْۚ
.
إِنَّ أَڪۡرَمَكُمۡ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ أَتۡقَٮٰكُمۡۚ
.
إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ۬
“O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, THAT YOU MAY KNOW EACH OTHER (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).”(Q: Hujurat: 49: 13)
[C] “Does Allah really care about me?”
My Response:
.
Yes! Indeed Allah SWT cares and wish us to receive His Mercy. He is Ar-Rahmaan, the Most Compassionate to His creations, especially mankind whom He has created destined for Paradise. But Allah is also just and therefore His Wisdom and justice requires us all to be tested. Thus human beings are endowed with a limited freewill, granted ability to think and reason, provided and shown guidance of what is right or wrong, given a term of live for mankind to come to the right decision, even if man did wrong and commit sins Allah SWT still provide and Sustain him and even promises forgiveness and willing to accept their repentance, etc. :
قُلۡ يَـٰعِبَادِىَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَسۡرَفُواْ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمۡ
.
لَا تَقۡنَطُواْ مِن رَّحۡمَةِ ٱللَّهِۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَغۡفِرُ ٱلذُّنُوبَ
.
جَمِيعًاۚ إِنَّهُ ۥ هُوَ ٱلۡغَفُورُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ
Say: “O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”(Q: az-Zumar: 39: 53)
As to Ustaz Abdul Salam’s concern:
“ … but what if the person wants to challenge those answers” , I would say:
If we are dealing with non-Muslim, we are commanded to deal with them:
وَجَـٰدِلۡهُم بِٱلَّتِى هِىَ أَحۡسَنُۚ
“… and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious:”(Q: Nahlu: 16: 125)
We cannot expect them (especially as they are non-Muslim) to adopt the attitude of “Sami’naa wa-a-to’-naa” (We hear and we obey), unlike Muslims.
I hope my comments here can be of benefit for us all,
waAllaahu a’lam.
Wa-bil-laahi Taufiq wal – Hidaa-ya
Was-salaam.
Your brother,
Zhulkeflee
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Posts
6 comments:
Salaam... Syukran ya Ustaz... Indeed, to me one signs of the lost of the Islamic worldview (this of course, has a lot to do with the lost of Adab) among Muslims is that the Muslim asks the same questions that the non-Muslim asks...
This is indeed beneficial! Perhaps people should first be concerned with the answerable questions and not mess up the mind with such absurd thoughts. I mean, knowledge is so wide and deep, there's so much more to explore. Wallahu'alam..
May Allah swt bless you always ya Mu'allim..
Assalaamu'alaikum wr wb
This is where the asatizah must be made aware that more and more of our Muslims are beginning to ask these questions which perhaps at one time we can just ignore. Today, we can't adopt this attitude anymore. This is not to say that it is something to be condone even in the past.
I cannot but concur with Ustaz Zhulkeflee. I too have had experience dealing with non-Muslims teaching at Darul Arqam's Beginers' Class and lately even to a class of Catholic seminarians. There is no such thing as "questions that cannot be asked". They will ask you questions that maybe we as born Muslims have never thought to ask.
Like Ustaz, I also feel that Islam can answer anything. Only the limitations of my brain prevent me from knowing all. Still I will strive to answer becaus ethe Prophet Muhammad (saaw) has said that Islam is higher.
Again like Ustaz has indicated, too often things get befuddling because we don't analyze the questions carefully. Then we befuddle ourselves. Thsi is partly because we don't pay attention to words carefully and think we can interpret anything, anyway we want. Muslims need to learn to think more clearly. But the confusion of knowledge that Prof. Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas has warned us about, is quite widespread already. That is why there is a need to re-educate Muslims to "unconfuse" them. As part of this, is the need to learn adab as Bro. Abd'al Halim has alluded to.
Assalamualaikum bro and sis, i too agree with ust Zhul.
I was in a course the other day. The presenter was a Muslim and he was covering a subject on cultural differences. When there was a question from a non muslim about the comment he made:"Generally dogs are unclean"; the person continued to ask;'But why?' and the presenter answered:"You think I write the Quran?"
I am giving him the benefit of the doubt that it wasn't a class to ask about such matters but it was definitely not a good answer. And Allah knows best.
I think the asatizah must be aware that evasive answers like that are not going to help. Don't know just say I don't know. But try to find out some reasonable explanation.
If I have my way I would send all asatizah to sessions where they have to face non-Muslims asking about Islam. That will be an eye-opener for them. But of course sending to a course on how to think clearly by a teacher who is used to doing such things is better.
But would they want to attend?
Salaam...
The problem of the presenter who seemingly is an asatizah and so a muslim, even if he is not an ustaz, who cannot anwer such questions from non-muslims and to make matters worse, reply in such an arrogant manner signifies a loss of adab.
This loss of adab is in the sense that many of us put people like them in such a lofty position to be talking about Islam to non-Muslims as if they have the authority to do so.
On top of that, it is a course and the topic is on cultural differences.
The question is why put such a incompetent person in such a position as if he can explain to non-Muslims about Islam?
The people or organisers who get this type of people to speak to non-Muslims about Islam are also at fault and will be responsible for spreading further misconceptions about Islam.
I am sorry, but if I were a non-muslim I would think that this presenter is an idiot and would be turned-off from Islam naudzubillah!!
I think this guy needs more than critical thinking, he needs to stop pretending that he knows enough about Islam and stop thinking that he is in the position to conduct such courses.
And, the organiser needs to get someone who really has knowledge in such matters... Who has done much da'wah work and has the knowledge and experience to be able to effectively present to non-Muslims what Islam is all about and answer their queries? Who has done research across civilisations comparing the religions and philosophies of the different cultures and Islamic thought to be able to delve deeply into such matters and explain to non-Muslims and Muslims alike about cultural and religious differences and similarities?
Actually there are people like that but these "organisers" which are invariably the Muslim organisations here try their best to ignore them!!
May Allah s.w.t protect this ummah from false leaders!
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