Saturday 29 April 2017

The Problem With Atheism

Professor Jordan Peterson explains


Aside from its obvious falsehood, the problem is morality. In the absence of any sort of reckoning after death, what is it that could possibly push human beings towards not oppressing one other? Many atheists in Europe and the Anglosphere make the mistake of assuming that morality and ethics would simply be there and remain even in the absence of religion, while the truth of the matter is that whatever morality they have in such lands is from religion. In other words, if there is no transcendent value, you can do whatever you want.

Rationality does not necessitate morality. As Peterson explains, the tendencies of a psychopath are perfectly rational: pure, naked self-interest. A psychopath's thought processes are no more irrational than those of an altruist. If one is not going to be taken to account in the next life, one's actions simply boil down to what one can get away with.

In a similar vein, Imam Muhammad Saeed Ramadan al-Bouti, may Allah have mercy on him, in his theology book The Greatest Universal Sureties, points out that lack of belief in the Lord and the Hereafter also effects one's approach to knowledge and science. The research methods that Muslim scholars have produced in order to verify reports and narrations, as clearly demonstrated in the hadith sciences, is unparalleled, and that is because the scholars who laid down these methods and applied them believed in Allah and the Last Day. They feared Allah and at the same time anticipated His reward. They firmly believed that checking and double-checking the facts would please their Lord and bring them closer to Him.

As for orientalists and western scholars in general, they have not produced a similar method because the incentive has never been there. Muslim scholars would traverse massive distances and bear significant hardship just to acquire one hadith, even if they already knew the hadith, in which case they would want to get another chain of transmission for it. They expended huge effort in that which had no material gain, because their intention was Allah. For westerners, if there is no material or worldly gain, e.g. money, fame, prestige etc., why bother? Expending such effort is simply not worth it. It's much easier for them to stay within their comfort zones, postulate about life and the universe and then fish around for proofs for their hypotheses.

And with Allah is every success.

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Saturday 22 April 2017

The Foreword: The Lawful and the Unlawful, Parts 1 and 2 (Episodes 17 & 18)

Parts 1 and 2 of our commentary on the sixth hadith of Imam an-Nawawi's collection




The first part of our commentary on the sixth hadith of Imam an-Nawawi's collection. The halal is clear and the haraam is clear, but what about the ambiguous matters in the middle? What is the difference between being careful and falling prey to Satanic whisperings?

Related Posts:
The Book of the Lawful and the Unlawful by Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali
Imam al-Ghazali on Communism



The second part of our commentary on the sixth hadith of Imam an-Nawawi's collection. This episode focuses on what is meant by the Lord's forbidden pasturage.

Related Post:
The Book of the Lawful and the Unlawful

Monday 10 April 2017

Groupthink vs Intelligence

Intelligent people think, unintelligent people have allegiances



In this short video, Stefan Molyneux explains how intelligence works and why unintelligent people tend to be overconfident while intelligent people have self-doubt. This is because intelligence and knowledge lead to humility, i.e. the more you know, learn and understand the more you realise how much you don't know and understand.

Allegiances are an easy substitute for thinking for those who fear an autonomous existence, which is sadly the case for many people who have been through the western mass education system.

Related Posts and Further Reading:

Sunday 2 April 2017

The Foreword: Nullifying Reprehensible Actions and Innovations, Part 2 (Episode 16)

The second and final part of our commentary on the fifth hadith of Imam an-Nawawi's collection



This episode focuses on the distinction between blameworthy and praiseworthy innovations with ample examples of both.
 
Related Posts:
What is the meaning of innovation?