uh the topic has been entitled The
American Dream and of course the goal of
such a topic is to make people think
about the reality of Life Allah mentions
in the Quran that most of mankind are
content to live without thinking of
Higher Goals Allah mentions in the Quran
that most of mankind are content to live
their lives similar to ways that other
non sensient non-intelligent beings IE
animals live their lives Allah says in
the
Quran most people are like cattle or
even more astray than cattle why because
Allah blessed us with a mind yet many of
us only care about the sensual Pleasures
the pleasures of the stomach and the and
the pleasures of the body and the goal
of Islam is to liberate ourselves from
just the pleasures of the body to The
Higher Goals the noble goals Allah has
created us for a noble
purpose we have only created man and Jin
in order to worship me so the goal that
we have as Muslims is to worship Allah
and to call others to this worship but
it's not that easy most people don't
want to be told that there's a higher
purpose in life so how do we go about
doing that in today's short lecture we
have around 20 minutes or so the way
that I'm going to structure it is
basically over five questions and this
is what in my personal Min you know
little experience in giving dawa and
talking to non-muslims I believe that
these five questions are very logical to
proceed and insh perhaps we can
communally benefit as well maybe
afterwards you can tell me alternative
questions or alternative answers but we
begin by saying what exactly is the
American dream for most people an
American Dream is symbolized in having a
middle to upper middle class job having
your own house owning your house or at
least mortgaging it out having a
successful career uh having a great
marriage these days it doesn't matter to
which gender um having you know two cars
two kids two dogs or maybe a dog and a
cat but the point is that for most
people an American Dream is basically
symbolic of a simple easy materialistic
life and yet most people when prodded
when asked to think will have to agree
that there must be a higher purpose to
life and this is especially true when a
person achieves this quote unquote
American Dream yes it is true when a
person is 18 19 20 22 perhaps their
sensual Powers overcome their
intellectual capabilities perhaps but
eventually middle age older age
eventually no matter how sinful or
lustful you live your younger years
everybody Muslim or non-muslim comes to
the realization there must be more to
life these Pleasures are not the end all
and be all there is a purpose here and
so we need to guide them to think about
that purpose and the way that I have
typically do this is through five
questions and so to get straight to the
point the first question these days we
begin with a question that we wouldn't
have begun with 20 50 100 years ago and
that is is there really a higher power
out there I is there a god frankly this
question would not had to have been
asked 100 years ago or even 50 years ago
as we all know times are changing and
the bulk of Europe and especially Europe
more so than America the bulk of Europe
is now skeptical of a god even here in
America there are around 30 to 35% of
those that are below the age of 35 so
two statistics similar numbers right
younger people around onethird of them
claim that they are not affiliated with
an organized religion that's a huge
statistic and it is something that we
need to think about so is there a
Creator how do Muslims talk about
proving the existence of God well the
fact of the matter is this is a very
long and drawn not topic and the
philosophers love to philosophize but
typically as is always the case
philosophers over complicate that which
is simple typically the simplest answer
is the correct answer and if anybody's
taken an intro to philosophy class you
know what I'm talking about the simplest
answer is typically the correct answer
how do we know there's a God God it's
obvious everything around us screams his
existence you don't need to have a PhD
and philosophy to prove there's a God
you you don't need to study theorems and
maxims you don't need to study complex
Logic the fact that we exist the fact
that there is an existence the fact that
there is creation proves there is a
Creator it's as simple as that the fact
that this creation is so perfect as
Allah says in the Quran look around in
this creation
do you find any crack any crevice any
flaw go ahead and continue looking see
if you find a problem your eyesight will
come back to you tired you won't find a
problem in the creation also there are
other ways of and the the the the fancy
term for this is basically called uh the
the watch makers argument if you like or
the cosmological argument the fact that
there's a watch proves there's a watch
maker the fact there's a creation proves
there's a Creator it is a simple and
water tight proof for the existence of
God but there are other methods that the
Quran also uses of them is the morality
argument where does morality come from
why are we moral why does Humanity
universally acknowledge certain crimes
to be crimes even the criminal who robs
others does not want to be robbed even
the murderer does not want to be
murdered even the one who does evil
knows it's evil and does not want that
evil done unto him the fact that we have
morality where does morality come from
if we truly were animalistic and
descendants of nothing but animals why
do we care about the weak and elderly
why do we want to take care of the
orphan why do we have sympathy and mercy
why do we have higher ideals Justice
truth honor dignity where did this come
from it must come from the one who gave
us all of
these Allah is Al J and he loves Jamal
so he put these characteristics in US of
the evidences that we have as well in
our tradition to prove the existence of
Allah is going back to my question here
and the initial example I gave every
human in his or her nature wants to
deify something whether it is money
whether it is his own ego whether it is
a higher cause look at our times how
many causes are supported so
passionately veganism or animal rights
or whatever people want a higher cause
to live for many are willing to give
their life Lives Many are willing to
donate hundreds of millions of dollars
to causes that will not bring them any
immediate tangible benefit the fact that
every human eventually wants to Champion
something he or she is passionate about
there's some value they want to add to
their lives clearly indicates life has
some value and they're searching they're
grasping at straws for some type of
value and of course Islam offers the
ultimate value and that is the worship
of Allah so is there a god obviously
there is our existence proves it our
morality proves it our own lives proves
this so the second question then if
there is a God how do we know he
actually cares about us how do we know
he is a god that is sensient that is
involved in our lives now the reason I
say this is because there are many uh
and in our times as I said uh up to
one-third of people in America they say
they're not a part of an organized
religion so what are they a part of uh
in Europe especially it's very common
for a person to say I'm spiritual but
not religious what does that mean I'm
spiritual but not religious it basically
means look there might be a higher God
out there but I don't believe that God
actually knows me I don't have to
worship that God now the founding
fathers of this country uh were actually
the best examples of this there was a
movement back in the 1800 1700s it's
called deism and deism is the notion
there is a God he created us and then he
let us be and this is becoming more
invogue but it's not no longer called
deism is called spirituality without
religion it's basically modern version
of deism now so then once you say there
is a God then second question you need
to prove is that this God is a living
caring God a god that is a god that is a
god that is forgiving a God that answers
your
Dua and how do you prove this to the
non-muslim how do you prove that okay
once there is a God this God is actually
sensient and caring and loving and
hearing and seeing again the Quran is
very clear about
this did mankind think that we would
create him and let him be without giving
any commands without caring without
nurturing a God that takes care of your
physical needs must also take care of
your spiritual needs a God that gives
you food and drink a God that takes care
of the air that you're breathing a God
that has made this world so perfectly
physically cannot possibly ignore your
spirituality cannot possibly ignore your
higher motivation in life and
therefore we believe and of course all
religions believe that for a God to
truly be a god it can't just be a God
who created you and then left this world
to be now this is a tangent here but
it's a very important one the number one
reason why people are turning to
agnosticism in our times the number one
reason and the others are all minor
compared to this number one the number
one reason why people are embracing this
NEOS skepticism this rejection of
religion is that they cannot explain the
existence of evil if there were a loving
God why are tsunami waves killing tens
of thousands of people if there was a
loving God why did my nephew or my niece
pass away if there's a loving God why
this is the number one reason the
existence of evil and of course the
existence of evil is an age-old
philosophical problem the fancy spancy
term is theodicy how do you explain the
existence of evil if God is all powerful
and all loving if God is all powerful
and all merciful whence then does evil
exist from again to answer this question
you can give a very long topic but to be
very simple here Islam explains the
existence of evil in a number of
different ways it explains it in a
number of different ways first and
foremost evil is indeed relative in some
instances not all evil is relative what
is harmful to you might be beneficial to
others what is harmful to others might
be beneficial to you and the simplest
example is that of vaccination that a
child receives the pain that the child
receives at the vaccination is harmful
to the child that pain is very difficult
and if the child could only understand
as a child and could choose the child
would say I don't want to be vaccinated
because the child cannot comprehend that
that evil is in fact relative it's a
minor harm and irritation it's a
nuisance it's a pain that will bring
about far much greater good also we can
say that evil brings about that good
evil brings about good you don't know
what good is without evil in other words
Allah tells us to be
generous how could we be generous if
there were no poor people Allah tells us
to be merciful how could we show who is
truly
merciful who takes care of the orphans
if there were no orphans to take care of
there must be some harm or some evil in
order to extract the good as well so the
existence of evil basically brings about
as well the existence of of good to
combat that evil additionally we as
Muslims believe that evil is a trial
evil is a
trial they want me to raise my voice and
I thought I was screaming loud enough
Subhan
Allah I think the microphone should be
made louder rather than my voice can the
text make the mic louder okay you're
working on it okay I thought they would
tell me to lower my voice I'm screaming
as it is okay where were we we're
talking about evil and microphones are
also a problem anyway evil
evil is relative evil brings about the
good as Muslims We Believe evil is also
a trial I.E Allah tests us through
trials and tribulations and it is in
response to that those trials and
tribulations that Allah as Allah
says so that Allah can test the filthy
from the pure as Allah says that do you
think I'm going to leave you alone
without testing you in order to see who
is truthful from those who are lying so
evil harms trials tribulations they
bring about also a test just like the
examiner just like your professors in
college your teachers will give you a
quiz why are they giving you a quiz and
believe me that's torture I was a
student for 22 years now alhamd I'm a
professor right so I have
full knowledge of both sides of the
equation by the way I try to be as
gentle of a profess professor as
possible because I hated taking exams so
now that I'm giving exams I try to be on
the easy side but the point is why why
are exams given because it is through
those exams that you know who is the
good student from who isn't and
therefore this too is one of the wisdoms
of evil and the final point that we'll
mention because we do need to move on to
the other questions is that we believe
Jenna is the next life not this
life the sound came oh the sound came
okay I was like what's going
on you mean the the sound was off this
whole time no no
okay
alhamdulillah we believe Jenna is the
next life not this life now for those
who question the existence of evil if
you look at their mentality they
literally believe Jenna should be in
this earth that's their basic Paradigm
their basic world view this world should
be Jenna why isn't it Jenna there must
be no God for us this world is a
stepping stone to Jenna our actions and
reaction in this world will insh bless
us with jna or deprive others of it so
when you have this philosophy all of a
sudden evil is not viewed the way that
those who don't believe in this world
view would view evil in other words
there is wisdom there is divine wisdom
in understanding the existence of harm
and trials and tribulations so this was
the second question that yes there is a
Creator and this Creator is an active if
you like part of our lives he hears us
he knows us he loves us he cares about
us now this leads to the third question
if there is such a god what does this
mean in terms of religion what does this
mean in terms of
guidance and the response is that if
such a God exists and we have just
proven he does then he must also tell us
how to live our lives he must also
reveal a code of
conduct he must also inform us now how
will he inform us this leads us to the
fourth question why organized religion I
have to go quickly because time is
limited here I have to zoom over here
the fourth question why then organized
religion because again this goes back to
the basic notion there's a growing uh
group of of people that basically want
to believe in a God but not the god of
religion they want to be spiritual but
not religious this perhaps I feel in my
humble opinion within 30 40 years in
this land this will be the number one
demographics when it comes a religion
people that are nomally religious They
Don't Really follow a religion but they
kind of sort of believe in some God out
there now the question therefore is why
are they rejecting organized religion
Muslims I want you to pay attention to
this in particular when an average
person of Europe or of America rejects
religion what they're in essence doing
is rejecting
Christianity and when they criticize
religion what they're doing is
criticizing Christianity and then
they're making they're making analogy
that if Christianity is false then all
other religions ipof facto must also be
false if Christianity dominated Medieval
Europe and it led to backwardness then
all religions that dominate will lead to
backwardness you see from the
perspective of the western mind their
experience with religion and with
Theocratic States has been a very
negative one we all know what happened
in medieval times and we need to
understand that when a person from this
civilization criticizes and critiques
religion what they're really criticizing
is their own experiences with one
religion and that is Christianity and we
as Muslims need to be broadminded enough
to take a step back and say hold on a
sec our religious experiences have been
very different than yours for us we
flourished when Islam was in charge for
us our Glory years was when theaa really
was what it was Once Upon A Time For Us
the age of Technology the age of science
this was also the age of religion our
greatest coincided with our greatest
scientists and so on and so forth so
when we defend our religion and our
history we need to understand that their
experience has been very different and
for us how else will Allah preach and
teach to us the abrahamic Traditions all
agree with one basic premise and that is
Allah communicates through prophets by
and large this is even what mainstream
Christians believe even though with
Jesus Christ they made an exception but
otherwise the general rule they said
that God communicates through prophets
and Messengers and this is also what we
believe and it is really the most
logical how else will Allah communicate
Allah says in the Quran that it is not
befitting that he comes down that he has
a child it's not appropriate for God
this is what the Quran says and
inshallah a person of a pure F of a good
innate nature will acknowledge this what
is the only logical way for that Creator
to communicate with us it is that a
person be chosen a righteous person a
great person and that he be purified and
elevated to the rank of a prophet or a
messenger and then he be sent with a
message and this is the majority of
religions the abrahamic Traditions they
believe this now of course the dharmic
Traditions which is Buddhism and
Confucianism and Hinduism have a
different philosophy and that's if
you're debating with somebody of that
background then you need to go deeper
into this but from the abrahamic
Traditions by and large this is a given
so we say if there is such a god which
we have proven then the only logical and
rational way for him to preach and teach
the message is through a righteous
person I.E a prophet and this then
leaves us with the uh final question and
by the way one of the reasons as well we
say this what is the alternative you're
saying you're spiritual but not
religious you're saying you believe in a
God but you're not going to believe in
organized religion well in essence what
you are saying saying is that each and
every one of you in this demographics of
1 billion people can invent his or her
own religion you can invent your own
morality you can invent your own God
does that make sense do you think such a
God who has made this world so perfectly
and has synchronized everything in
harmony would then allow his own beliefs
and his own Theology and Notions about
him and the day of judgment to be left
open to anybody to interpret as they
wish who gets to decide in the end what
is morality who has to decide in the end
who is the true God and what are his
characteristics surely Allah or the the
Creator would have communicated that and
that is through organized religion so in
this point number four we really need to
know a little bit of medieval Christian
history a little bit of Islamic history
a little bit of the notion of
prophethood and proving that there is a
prophet who has come with a religion and
that the evils of organized religion are
really the evils of medieval
Christianity not the evils of Islam and
that's something that most people of
this it AG don't know and understand the
final question without that I conclude
after we have talked about proving
there's a God proving this God cares
about us proving that he is a an entity
or a being that that sends prophets and
Messengers and reveals books the final
question is okay well then why the
religion of Islam and why not any other
organized religion if it does make sense
that God would send a prophet and have a
message and have a book then there are
at least 15 different religions out
there from Sikhism to Buddhism to
Confucianism to Hinduism to Christianity
to Judaism why then Islam and to answer
that question alhamdulillah we have why
Islam exactly over here to tell us that
but on a more serious note uh this also
and of course by the way obviously each
one of these questions is a very long
topic and I have spoken hours and others
have spoken much more about each of
these I'm just trying to summarize in a
logical manner the final question why
Islam out of all religions how do we
prove the veracity or the truth of Islam
once again there are many mechanisms at
are disposal I'll just list some of them
uh number one is that Islam appeals to
every single aspect of a man uh or a
woman the religious aspect the
psychological aspect the spiritual
aspect uh and and so it is logical the
Theology of Islam is the only rational
theology no other theology we believe is
a rational or fully rational theology
number two we say the proof of the Quran
the proof of the Quran and that I've
given many to talks about you can just
Google my name with the miracle of the
Quran the miracle of the Quran we use
the miracle of the Quran to prove uh the
truth of Islam and then number three the
miracle of the Prophet Muhammad wasam by
that I mean his life his his teachings
his characteristics hisat his s all of
The Life and Times of the Prophet sallam
his message the where he came from being
an uneducated or illiterate person being
coming forth with such a unique teaching
and Theology and eloquence so this is
also Al a unique way to prove the uh
guidance of Islam and the final point I
mention that with that I conclude every
time I speak to a non-muslim I always
say one thing listen there's one there's
one thing both of us can do we're not
going to lose anything by doing it and
that is if there is a God surely he
knows about you and he cares about you
why don't you pray to him without even
mentioning a name don't say Allah don't
say yahwe don't say any name just say
with your heart from your heart oh you
who created me oh you who created me I
appeal to you to guide me to the
straight path and I say to this
non-muslim that don't worry I will also
pray just like you're praying in fact
I'll pray more than 30 times a
day I make this Dua more than 30 times a
day so I tell this non-muslim look let
the both of us make this prayer from the
depths of our heart sincerely that the
Creator will guide us and if there is a
Creator and I believe there is and if
this person is sincere and that's up to
the person in Allah's guidance then we
believe every sincere person will
eventually be guided to Islam Allah Asel
does not misguide the one who is Sincere
our job is to show the road our job is
to show the way and it is up to Allah
subhah wa tala for may Allah subhana wa
make us of those who are rightly guided
and rightly guide others
amay