CULTURE OF ISLAM

109 The Phrase Laa Raiyba FeeHi

Imtiaz Muhsin 21-Dec-12

The main objective of these talks (and therefore the scripts of these talks), is to stimulate thinking. Sensible, rational and logical thinking. So, my message, think, think & think! Be sensible, be rational and be logical.

109 The Phrase - Laa Raiyba Fee

Please Note
1. I have had the great privilege, (since Aug 2010), of presenting talks on the weekly Radio Program Culture of Islam [Every Friday 8 to 8.30 pm, Radio Sri Lanka - FM 97.4] 2. Since these are Radio Talks, I refer to, or address the audience as listeners 3. I am well aware that the audience to these talks would consist of people belonging to a variety of faiths. So as to make people of all faiths feel included, I very often use words and names that are common to all religions. 4. For these reasons, I use the name GOD, as well as Abraham, Moses, Jesus etc as well as the names Allah, Ibrahim (Alaihis Salaam), Moosa (Alaihis Salaam), Easa (Alaihis Salaam) etc 5. Muslims by habit usually say Sallallahu Alaihiwasallam, when the name of Prophet Muhammad is mentioned, and Alaihis Salaam' when the name of a Prophet is mentioned. However, in these series of talks I have reduced the use of these prayers & sayings to the bare minimum. 6. Muslims, also by habit, use a number of Arabic prayers or sayings, such as Alhamdulillah, Insha Allah and so on. Again, I have reduced the use of these prayers or sayings to the bare minimum. 7. Sometimes I have to write Arabic words in the English script. I have devised my own way of writing Arabic in English, as follows;

th TH

s Ss SW

DHL DHZ

H h

Gh GH

Information on these talks along with all download links can be found on my on my Blog (http://imtiazm.wordpress.com/) The dates or the schedules of these talks can be viewed on the Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/ImtiazMuhsin786) The Scripts of these talks can be downloaded from www.ScribD.com (www.ScribD.com Author Imtiaz Muhsin) The audio files of these talks can be downloaded from YouTube (YouTube Channel Imtiaz Muhsin) The YouTube Link to this talk is at http://youtu.be/OD-uVzT4uy4

All Praise and Thanks is due to Allah and Allah alone Alhamdulillah!

109 The Phrase - Laa Raiyba Fee

109 The Phrase Laa Raiyba FeeHi

Dear Friends, Assalamu Alaikum, Over the last few talks, I have been discussing the first few Aayaths of the Quran. I began with the Surah Fathiha, and now I have stepped in to the second Surah in the Quran, which is known as the Surah Baqarah. The first five Aayaths of Surah Baqarah can be studied as one lot. The first Aayath begins with the letters Alif Laam Meem and the 5th Aayath reads; (2:5) It is these who are guided by their Rabb; and it is just these who are successful.

So it means that what is described in the preceding Aayaths, would constitute the ingredients of the Hudha(n) mi(n) RabbiHim, those who are guided by their Rabb as well as the Muflihoon, the successful. Interesting isnt it? So last week I read these 5 Aayaths, and explained that these Aayaths could also, for the purposes of study, be read in phrases. I thus identified 11 such phrases very meaningful phrases, and I am now making attempts to discuss these phrases through these talks on radio on the weekly program Culture of Islam Insha Allah! The first Aayath contains just three letters, and reads, Alif, Laam Meem. No one knows what these letters or this arrangement of letters mean or signify, most Muslims attach a mystical significance to this Aayath. I would not be going in to, or discussing this Aayath. So let me now read the next 4 Aayaths, where I would also be pointing out the eleven phrases. Aayath No 2 of Surah Baqarah; (2:2) That Book has no doubt in it - a guidance for the MuththaQeen, Let me now read this Aayath phrase by phrase;

That Book has no doubt in it a guidance for the MuththaQeen (the God-fearing)

109 The Phrase - Laa Raiyba Fee

The next Aayath; Aayath No 3 of Surah Baqarah; (2:3) who believe in the Unseen, and establish Salh (prayer), and spend out of what We have provided them;

This Aayath describes three qualities of the MuththaQi and thus we have another 3 phrases. These phrases are;

who believe in the Unseen and establish Salh (prayer) and spend out of what We have provided them;

Let me now read the next Aayath. Aayath No 4 of Surah Baqarah; (2:4) and who believe in what has been revealed to you and what has been revealed before you; and they have conviction in the Hereafter.

and who believe in what has been revealed to you and what has been revealed before you; and they have conviction in the Hereafter.

So we can see that this Aayath describes another 3 qualities of the MuththaQi Now I will read the 3 phrases that make this Aayath;

Interesting isnt it? Finally I will read Aayath No 5 of Surah Baqarah; (2:5) It is these who are guided by their Rabb; and it is just these who are successful. The 2 important phrases is this Aayath are;

Those who are guided by their Rabb; Those who are successful

109 The Phrase - Laa Raiyba Fee

I will be taking the phrases one by one, but not necessarily in the order that they appear. Today I would be basing my talk on two phrases. First would be the first phrase from Aayath No 3, that is Yuminoona Bil Ghaib or believe in the unseen and the second phrase would be Laa Raiyba FeeHi meaning, there is no doubt in it, which appears as the second phrase in Aayath No 2. Let me begin with the phrase Yuminoona Bil ghaib or translated as believe in the ghaib or the unseen this is one of the diagnostic qualities of a MuththaQi Now, what could Yuminoona bil ghaib or believe in the unseen mean? How can I believe in something I cannot see? Do we not say Seeing is believing? But then there is something very special about human beings. Is it correct to say that we see through our senses? So do animals. The Cat, the Dog, the Zebra, the Lion, and the Monkey even these animals see with their senses. But then, can you instruct these animals with Yuminoona bil ghaib? Now we perceive a difference, dont we? . Animals as well as humans possess what we call physical seeing, the physical stimulation of the senses. But then the human beings have an extra faculty, an enormous advantage over all animals, in fact a huge advantage over the entire animal Kingdom, and what is that? We possess the great faculty, and from amongst the Animal Kingdom this faculty is unique to Human Beings, and that is the amazing faculty of inferring. We see. We hear. We touch. We smell. We store these experiences in our minds and we infer. Animals would recognize. But we have the added advantage of not just recognizing, but inferring. Let me explain. A pet dog would be parted from its owner say for a year or two, maybe even for more. But then when the owner arrives the Dog recognizes him, greets him. We humans may lose contact with someone for some time, but then when we see that person once again we are not only able to recognize him, but we also workout why that person is there. On sight we are able to make many inferences. We can work out the condition of his health for example. We infer many things from just observing what he is wearing. We infer many things from the company he is keeping. He maybe with his wife, or child, or teenage daughter, or a business colleague and so on. We even infer many things from the location where we saw or met him. Do we not say, Today I ran in to or saw so and so, I wonder what he was doing there? Or very often we infer the information. Today I saw so and so at the Bank. He had come to deposit some money or to withdraw money We associate the presence of the person with the activity of the location. If we visited the Courts and saw a Lawyer, we immediately assume that he is there to represent a client. If we saw someone we know, we ask him Why are you here? or we infer that it must be regarding some litigation and then we further infer, by the type of Courts, say the Supreme Court

109 The Phrase - Laa Raiyba Fee

or District Court or Magistrates Court or even Divorce Court, and then we try to connect what we think would be his case with the activity we know he is associated with. This is a simple example of inferring. Animals do not possess the capability of inferring, they can only recognize. I would say that more than 90% of our knowledge is inferred knowledge it may even be more than 99% History, Geography, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, the workings of our own bodies and almost everything else, even knowledge of impeding future events such as the effects of global warming is inferred knowledge. Do you realize that even the knowledge of as to who our own parents are, is inferred knowledge. Just think! Amazing isnt it? This capability of inferring is a very special blessing granted to us by God, a blessing special to humans. (016:078) It is He Who brought you forth from the wombs of your mothers when ye knew nothing; and He gave you hearing and perception and intelligence and affections: that ye may appreciate.

So when we look at the World, look at the many phenomena around us and then think, think, think as to how they must be working. This beautiful perfect synchronized system. System within system. System within system within system within system and so on. Each system stands out on its own as well as seamlessly integrates with all other systems. The many biological systems that work within our bodies are a very good example. We do not even notice what is happening within our own bodies, within our own minds. What are the answers we see? Nobody is running the Universe and all its systems it is just a series of accidents! Well that could be an answer. But could that not be described as a state of denial? Are we not just refusing to accept that there are simply too many factors involved, to be described as a series of random accidents? The Plant Kingdom and the role it plays, the Animal Kingdom and the role it plays, the atmosphere and role it plays, the many forms of orderly energy and the precise meticulous laws they follow, the Solar system and the amazing setting, a very dynamic setting, that gives us energy from a star that is 93 Million miles away in space, the placing of the stars in the night sky and the beautiful night sky that it provides us with. The beautiful placement provides us with an annual calendar, in the sky for all to see, which we call the zodiac constellations and then in the night sky, we also have these guiding stars.

109 The Phrase - Laa Raiyba Fee

So many, so many phenomena. Then the phenomena within us. The workings of our bodies. And the special phenomena of our specialty on earth. We dominate it. We have colonized it. And the great tragedy is that we are slowly but surely destroying it. Do not all these systems and phenomena make us think? Those of us who are humble, sincere and really think, then we would see the signs. These signs are the ghaib or unseen Our inferring is what we could describe as our seeing If we infer correctly then we would believe, not just believe but we would be convinced. Not just convinced, but convinced without any doubt. How? Let me illustrate this with a simple example. Two people enter a Super Market. Both of them observe that there are number of shelves, well stocked with goods and that people are pushing trolleys to these shelves and filling the trolleys. One of them observes the order in the place and realizes that there is a great amount of scrutiny going on even though the means of scrutiny is not visible. He infers this knowledge. The other person cannot see anyone watching, goods are just displayed, free for anyone who wants and he just keeps on filling up his trolley with goods as well eating expensive goods from the shelves and also serving these goods to other customers. Well we all know that he would end up with a big bill when he tries to go out. He did not see the security guards, he did not see the cameras, he did not read the boards displayed within the Super market, he did not pause to think, he let his greed and his desires get the better of him. Similarly with the World. Now you could ask how do we infer? Surely just looking at all these systems and realizing that there must be a power controlling all this does not give us sufficient material. So we need something more, a sort of a guide to this Yuminoona bil ghaib to believe in what is unseen. This something that we need is the Quran. The very first description we get of this book in the Quran itself is; (2:2) That Book has no doubt in it - a guidance for the MuththaQeen,

So what this means to me is, that we look at the world, we use the faculties that God has blessed us humans with, namely the Samgha, the Baswarah and the Afidha and work out that there is an unseen power, working through amazing systems and phenomena to keep this world functioning, and we seek more details of that power. The Quran tells us that through the Aayaths contained in it we would clear all our doubts and be divinely guided in this seeking.

109 The Phrase - Laa Raiyba Fee

So just like the example of the two visitors to the Supermarket, we too could lead our lives in this world in two ways. The first would be the erroneous way, actually the way all of us are now leading our lives. How do we lead our lives? We see all the materials that we own, the materials within our reach and then we get greedy, we want to own all, to possess all, to wield more and more power, to acquire all the trappings and trimmings of wealth and luxury. We spend our lives immersed in materialism, whist constantly seeking the means to materialism. Do we not realize that everything in that material seeking is full of doubts? Our education is doubtful we can never be sure what we would grow to be. Our learnings are doubtful the knowledge changes every few years. A student who would have obtained Gold Medals at his final exams at Medical College a few years ago would now be told that that knowledge he had at that time has now been modernized, we use the words latest findings The returns we anticipate from our business dealings have doubt. We call it speculation. The services or the loyalty we expect from our own staff is doubtful The Market is doubtful. The government is doubtful. We see these doubts we realize the presence of doubts and we feel insecure threatened by these doubts. We spend so much time effort and energy trying to reduce the risks, mitigate the risks. But then we regularly see those things that we thought were solid, those things that we thought we could bank on, suddenly collapsing. Of course we hold post mortems underlying the fact that all our material knowledge and the materialism we pursue is doubtful. God, through the Quran is inviting us to observe all this and then to turn to that which has no doubt The Quran points out to us all the signs, the Aayaths of God, and points out to us that these Aayaths have no doubt. We have to see, observe, think and infer. It is an amazing process an amazing exercise an exercise that only humans are capable of performing. Let me point out some simple examples. Just observe the meticulous movement of the celestial bodies. We can depend on their movements. We can precisely predict times of sunrise and Sunset anywhere in the world for any day in the calendar. There is no doubt. Let us look at all the Laws of Physics, Chemistry and Biology there are so precise, meticulously precise we can predict, without doubt. There are over a billion Mobile Phones on this planet, but if I dial a particular number I know that out of those Billion phones only one will ring. I have no doubt. The technology uses Gods systems. This is predictable and has no doubt. If something goes wrong, then it is not the fault of Gods system, it would be the error of the Mobile Phone Company, or my mistake. We call this human error. In the Aayath or Signs of God, there is no error, no doubt.

109 The Phrase - Laa Raiyba Fee

So by saying Zaalikal Kithaabu Laa Raiyba FeeHi God is informing us or even inviting us, to come to the way where there is no doubt! Just think. Is there such a way? A way, a life style wherein what we follow or seek has no doubt. So if there is no doubt, there would be no insecurity, there would be no cut throat competition, there would be no false show, no living up to the Jones-es as we say. No stress?? WOW!! Is it not worth trying to find out about that way that has no doubt? Now how do we establish that the Quran has no doubt? We look at the World, we observe. Then we read the Quran, at the beginning most Aayaths would just not make sense to us. But then there would be a few that begin to make some sense. Maybe there would be just two or three Aayaths that begin to make a little sense. Select these Aayaths, and try to make out the deeper meanings or see as to what these Aayaths are pointing out to us. We would be indeed surprised that what these Aayaths indicate are the truths of this world. This realization gradually dawns on us, I call it the process of being enlightened. Let me read to you a few Aayaths; These are Aayaths that I have often read during these talks; In Surah Aal E Imraan Aayath Nos 190 to 191 (003:190) Behold! in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, there are indeed Signs for men of understanding,(003:191) Men who do ZIKR of Allah, whilst they are standing, sitting, and lying down, and they do FIKR on the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (With the thought):

In this Aayath GOD is drawing our attention to 4 things. What are they? 1. The Heavens above or the Universe surrounding us and the Earth the Samaawaathi and the Ardhli 2. The phenomena of the alternation of the Night and the Day Wakhthilaafil Laili Wan Nahaari And God also draws our attention to a certain group or a certain category of people. Who are these people? GOD refers to them as the Ulul Albaab or people of understanding or wise people. And what do these Ulul Albaab do?

109 The Phrase - Laa Raiyba Fee

They do two things; 1. They do the ZIKR of Allah whilst standing, whilst being seated and even whilst lying down in other words does this not indicate that the Ulul Albaab do the ZIKR of Allah or the ZIKR of GOD all the time? 2. They do FIKR of the creation of the Universe and of Earth. So in other words they do ZIKR of the Creator and FIKR of His Creation. Now English translators use a number of words when they translate the word ZIKR and it changes with context. The words used are remember, ponder, contemplate, meditate, advise, admonish, warn, learn lessons, and so on. To me Zikr is a deep thinking, learning and teaching process, that is how I think of it as. Now when we read the Quran and ponder on its Aayaths we must have the conviction that all that we read is rational it is logical. God repeats this message to us again and again. I call these Aayaths the Rationalize Aayaths; Let me read just three of them remember there are many such Aayaths in the Quran, maybe running in to the hundreds; YaghQiloon
(013:004)

Surely, in that there are signs for a people who use their AQL (intelligence) Surely, in that there are signs. So, do they not listen? He regulates all affairs, explaining the signs in detail, so that you may convinced (believe with certainty) in the meeting with your Rabb. Surely, in that there is a lesson for those who have eyes to perceive.

Yasmaghoon

(032:026)

Rabbikum ThooQinoon Li' aalil 'AbSWaar

(013:002)

(024:044)

I read just a few Aayaths to impress upon all you listeners, that the Quran informs us that there is no doubt in it, and then tells us that Aayaths in the Quran are logical, rational and can be understood, can be believed and we can be convinced. This is how we can go towards enlightenment, towards divine guidance and towards success the true success without doubt. So let us turn away from the material world the world that is full of doubt and turn to the spiritual world as described to us in the Quran, a world without doubt, a life without doubt. Laa Raiyba FeeHi!! Is it worth it? May Allah Taaala guide us all and accept us all Jazza Kalla Khairan Assalamu Alaikum

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109 The Phrase - Laa Raiyba Fee

Imtiaz Muhsin Colombo Sri Lanka crescent786@hotmail.com

You Tube Channel - HaneefanMusliman

The YouTube Link to this talk is at http://youtu.be/OD-uVzT4uy4

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109 The Phrase - Laa Raiyba Fee