The Qur'anic Method of Building the Muslim Personality

Occasion: A transcription of a lecture delivered at the "Islamic Book Club" gathering on October 8, 2017Source: A transcription of a video lecture by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

O Allah, make this gathering of ours a gathering that is shown mercy, and our parting after it a parting that is protected, and do not place among us or with us anyone wretched or deprived. O Allah, teach us what benefits us, benefit us by what You have taught us, increase us in knowledge, and make us among those who listen to the word and follow the best of it.^[18]

Praise be to Allah, and blessings and peace upon the servant of Allah, His Prophet and Messenger, our master Muhammad, and upon his family and Companions, with abundant peace. First, we praise Allah that He has gathered us at the table of knowledge and its pursuit, and we ask Him not to deprive us of this honor as long as we live, and to take us in death while we are gathered around these circles and these tables. Then I thank you for hosting me at this noble gathering, of which I have long heard and wished to be among those who sit in it and learn. I reckon all your guests to be people of knowledge, generosity, character and virtue, so I ask Allah to grant us the good companionship of the righteous, and to favor us with the continuance of this companionship with people of goodness.

Our topic tonight may be an initiative for speaking about the methodologies of the Qur'an. And academic research sometimes dictates that we begin with a set of preliminary definitions. If we say "the Qur'an's method in building the Muslim personality," we already have five terms: method, Qur'an, building, personality, and Muslim. I chose this topic because whenever topics come up in the world of building, whether it is building, or completing the structure of Islam within our inner selves and souls, or a kind of moral building, all of these axes revolve around the human being.

The human being as the pivot

All the axes of Islam revolve around the human being: his relationship with himself, with his Lord, with those around him, and with the universe in which he lives. He is the pivot of this universe that Allah created for him and subjected to him, making everything in it poured out in his service. And he is the one about whom the Lord of the worlds spoke in His words: ﴿وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِي آدَمَ وَحَمَلْنَاهُمْ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ وَرَزَقْنَاهُم مِّنَ الطَّيِّبَاتِ وَفَضَّلْنَاهُمْ عَلَىٰ كَثِيرٍ مِّمَّنْ خَلَقْنَا تَفْضِيلًا﴾ (And We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them on land and sea and provided for them of the good things and preferred them over many of those We created, with [definite] preference)^[4]. And this honoring has a direct cause, which is that this human being is the one who bore the trust: ﴿إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمَانَةَ عَلَى السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَالْجِبَالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَن يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا الْإِنسَانُ ۖ إِنَّهُ كَانَ ظَلُومًا جَهُولًا﴾ (Indeed, We offered the trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, and they declined to bear it and feared it; but man bore it. Indeed, he was unjust and ignorant). These are some of the aspects the talk could touch on, and the axis of this point is that the human being is the pivot of this universe. And for that reason we began our talk on the Qur'an's method in building the Muslim personality.

What is a method?

A method is defined as a followed way, whether in structuring, founding, or standing upright upon a fixed principle. And what does this mean? If we imagine a method for building houses, it is the spreading and leveling of the ground, then raising the pillars and walls, then the roof, then afterward we do whatever we like inside. And part of the method is that the house, if it is for living in, includes a bathroom, a bedroom and a kitchen for preparing food. So methodology is a followed way of doing something. And some define a method as a plan, and a plan is something arranged in some way, well-made and organized, for several mental operations: we put the basics first, and after the basics we put the pillars, and after the pillars we do such and such; so it is a set of operations built one on top of another.

So when we say "method," we are not talking about two words, nor a lecture, nor two lines in a book, but about a movement of life. When the Noble Qur'an was sent down by the command of the Lord of the worlds, and it is the word of Allah, mighty and majestic, Allah sent it down into life to be the method of life for those who obey it, those to whom that Qur'an was sent down. So we will see how the Noble Qur'an builds the Muslim personality, how it builds family relations, and how it builds diplomatic relations. The Qur'an even set a method for my relationship with the stone I deal with in my house, if I live among a group of stones that are walls around me, and so on for everything that can touch the pillars of life. The Noble Qur'an set a method for dealing with everything. Allah, blessed and exalted, says: ﴿مَّا فَرَّطْنَا فِي الْكِتَابِ مِن شَيْءٍ﴾ (We have not neglected in the Book a thing)^[5]; if we understood that, we would realize that everything that can relate to our lives is included in the Book of Allah, blessed and exalted, so we understand the matter and live with this reassured spirit.

The human method and the divine method

And why did I say "the Qur'anic method"? To make a very simple distinction between human methods and divine methods. The human method: when did we begin to learn the latest foundations upon which houses and buildings are built? And I give an example that I repeat so we do not bring many examples: the people who design cars, and those who talk about spaceships, when did they arrive at a method by which they could do this? After experiments, errors, attempts, failure and so on. And from time to time we discover that the method is deficient, so we look for means by which to complete our methods. So the human method is by origin one of deficiency and error, not perfection and correctness.

And so when we say "Qur'anic method," we are not coming up from below to above, but coming from above to below: descents coming from the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, onto the ground of reality to treat this ground. Imagine, and to Allah belongs the highest example, and exalted is Allah above likening, a farmer, a very simple man, yet with very high experience in farming: it is enough for him to stand with his feet on a plot of land and tell you: this one is good for planting, and as for that one, don't tire yourself in it because it will give you no result. Thus descents, when they are from the higher to the lower, are logical and realistic, so the lower is then on complete correctness; but when the method comes out from below to above, it is not on complete correctness to the extent it ought to be.

So this means that we have a method, that we are walking on a plan, that we are not random, and that we have stages we must pass through if we want to reach what is right. And here we can say: why is the movement of the Islamic community not successful? I do not want to say failed, but why is the movement of Islamic da'wah not at the fullest level of success? Because people have not yet reached the Qur'an's methodology in dealing with issues, so we are still trying, experimenting and exerting effort. And some may imagine that the result is not in the Qur'an, so we say to them: fear Allah, the method exists in the Book of Allah, blessed and exalted.

Why "building"?

And when we said "the Qur'an's method in building" we chose this word specifically so we would understand that building represents for us Muslims a foundation in life. We have no demolition in life except demolition that leads to building. How? If we imagine that I demolish falsehood, why? To establish truth in its place. And I demolish the polytheism that exists, why? To establish tawḥīd. And so the Muslim goes round between building and building, even if the form of the second building is the goal.

And what is "personality"?

Then the word "personality." What does personality mean? A set of integrated attributes, so that I have before me a complete form as a whole. This bottle became a thing with a personality when it was formed from its basic components and was grown into this structure, and when it became this shape it had an entity. And for this the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, says: ﴿الرَّحْمَٰنُ * عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ * خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ﴾ (The Most Merciful, taught the Qur'an, created man)^[6]. Then He teaches us that He did not only create man, but created him in the best of forms. Then He tells us that He did not only create him in the best of forms, but guided him to the two paths. And so, whenever we go along with the Noble Qur'an, we knock on doors that add to our information more information about the fact that I have a "personality."

And this means that the human being is something integrated. And what do I gain from that? I gain that I do not deal with fragments, I do not deal with a part, then a part, then a part, but I deal with a whole. And this benefits me in that I deal with independent personalities, each with landmarks that form this person. So my dealing with Dr. so-and-so is different from my dealing with the shaykh, different from my dealing with "Abu so-and-so," and the matter differs. And my dealing with a boy differs from my dealing with a girl, and my dealing with an elder differs from my dealing with a youngster: personalities. So how did the Noble Qur'an form the personality?

And why "Muslim"?

Then I said "Muslim." Why Muslim specifically? Because Islam bestows upon a person's personality what completes it. And we must understand that the human being is held in regard in the Qur'an even if he is a disbeliever. Did you understand this? The human being in himself is held in regard in the Qur'an even if he is not a Muslim. But when a person moves from being merely a human being to being a Muslim human being, the complements of this personality increase, and we must also note that the burdens upon him will increase according to the position he is in.

Imagine, and I ask Allah to make these faces laughing and joyful before Him on the Day of Resurrection, that I imagine my whole task is to type on the computer, but another man is the one who dictates to me what I write, and then in the end an error in the information appears in the product; this error is with whom? With the one who wrote or the one who dictated? Who bears the greater responsibility: the junior or the senior? The senior. So the greater a person is in his position or station, the more the responsibility entrusted to him increases. And a person's moving from the stage of being merely a human being, who may at times do the work of an animal and imitate livestock, to being a Muslim, the responsibility upon his shoulders is greater than merely being a human being.

How do we proceed? The order of revelation

So how will our methodology proceed? So far we have not said anything. On which path do we walk? It is very simple to trace the verses of the Noble Qur'an from beginning to end, and see all the places in which our Lord spoke about the human being, and determine a set of landmarks, and that's it. So we say, for example: ﴿وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَشْرِي نَفْسَهُ ابْتِغَاءَ مَرْضَاتِ اللَّهِ﴾ (And among the people is he who sells himself seeking the approval of Allah), ﴿وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَشْتَرِي لَهْوَ الْحَدِيثِ﴾ (And among the people is he who buys idle talk), ﴿وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَقُولُ آمَنَّا﴾ (And among the people are some who say, "We believe")^[7], and "among the people," "among the people"... and so on, and likewise "O human being" («يا أيها الإنسان»); every word mentioned in the Noble Qur'an that speaks about the human being, we can gather it and put it in a table and say: this points to such and such. And this is a valid and respectable way, but is it the most complete way or not?

So what do you think if we went to what could be called the comprehensive way, to take in the contents of the Qur'an as it speaks about a subject in a given context? And when we go along with the Qur'an while trying to take it in, do we go along with the order of revelation or the order of the muṣḥaf? What is the difference between them? The order of the muṣḥaf is the one in which we see the Qur'an now: al-Fātiḥah and al-Baqarah and Āl ʿImrān as you go. As for the order of revelation, it is that the first sūrahs were revealed, then those after them, then those after them, and so on.

So do we need to go along with the Qur'an according to the order of the muṣḥaf on the basis that it is the final form on which the matter settled? Anyone who deals with the Qur'an now will begin from al-Fātiḥah: الحمد لله رب العالمين الرحمن الرحيم (Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful), then «الم ذلك الكتاب» (Alif-Lām-Mīm. That is the Book), then «الم الله لا إله إلا هو الحي القيوم» (Alif-Lām-Mīm. Allah, there is no god but He, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer), then sūrah after sūrah as he goes. Anyone will do that. But when I am in the stage of building from zero, do I have the right, and mind the form of the question, to go back again and measure the jāhiliyyah that exists today, if the expression is right, against the jāhiliyyah that existed in the time of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and try to review with myself how the Qur'an, at the start of its affair, was able to establish a community made up of a number of persons? So I can say now: I have a level that is flat on the ground, and in their time there was a level like it; so how did Islam straighten this level and bring it to the stage we saw? Not now, but at the time of the presence of the Prophet ﷺ and the delivery of the call and its spread. Therefore, to shorten time and words, I went back to tracing the pictures according to the order of revelation, to look at which sūrah of the Qur'an was revealed first.

The ground on which we build

And before we set the method, before we work on the matter of method, we must ask: how does the Qur'an see the human being? We agreed that we will build a building here in this place, so before I set the method upon which I will build, I need to look at this ground: is it useful or not? Is it rocky, sandy or clay, is it soil, or what? So how does the Qur'an see the human being?

First: it sees him as created upon the fiṭrah, white and pure. And this saying is in the Qur'an: ﴿فِطْرَتَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي فَطَرَ النَّاسَ عَلَيْهَا ۚ لَا تَبْدِيلَ لِخَلْقِ اللَّهِ﴾ (the fiṭrah of Allah upon which He created people; there is no change in the creation of Allah)^[8]. The fiṭrah of Allah upon which He created people, not Maḥmūd nor Ibrāhīm nor Ismā'īl nor anyone by name, but people. And note that the second sentence came after the first. Why were we not satisfied with «فطرة الله التي فطر الناس عليها» (the fiṭrah of Allah upon which He created people)? So that no one would imagine that he can one day change the origin of the fiṭrah, so the Lord of the worlds followed with His words: ﴿لَا تَبْدِيلَ لِخَلْقِ اللَّهِ﴾. So what do I understand from this? That the child of Adam is like a long, large piece of cloth: we can make from it a beautiful cover for the table we sit at, and we can take it and make from it a good shirt, and we can make from it such and such; a cloth that can be shaped however we wish. So our Lord taught us in the Qur'an that people are a white raw material, and what we will write on this material and how we will shape it is a subject that comes shortly.

Then we move to the second: this human being, though a white raw material, is not resistant to shaping. For example, if I brought a brick and tried to make from it a veil for my daughter to wear, it would not work, because stone is not shapeable in this field. And if I brought a piece of a mountain, a group of rocks, and wanted to build on them a leveled house, I would be told: no, because it is not shapeable. So is the child of Adam shapeable or not? Shapeable. Where is the proof? Listen to the saying of Allah, blessed and exalted: ﴿وَاللَّهُ أَخْرَجَكُم مِّن بُطُونِ أُمَّهَاتِكُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ شَيْئًا﴾ (And Allah brought you out from the wombs of your mothers not knowing anything). As if He had sentenced us to total ignorance throughout life? No, wait and complete: ﴿وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمْعَ … وَالْأَفْئِدَةَ﴾ (and He made for you hearing … and hearts)^[9]. And why did He make them? Because these are the means of acquiring information. So the child of Adam, though he comes out of his mother's womb possessing nothing of knowledge, is able to learn.

And he is subject to behavioral influence; the Prophet ﷺ says: «كل مولود يولد على … فأبواه …» (Every newborn is born upon … and his parents …)^[1], as if he is subject to religious and cognitive influence. Then listen to the saying of Allah, the Exalted: ﴿وَنَفْسٍ وَمَا سَوَّاهَا * فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا * قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن زَكَّاهَا * وَقَدْ خَابَ مَن دَسَّاهَا﴾ (And [by] the soul and He who proportioned it, and inspired it with its wickedness and its righteousness, he has succeeded who purifies it, and he has failed who instills it [with corruption])^[10]. It is as if Allah, the Exalted, is telling me of a human being in whom the origin is such and such, then he strove until he reached this rank; he has succeeded who purifies it and he has failed who instills it. He did not say: the one whose soul was left purified or corrupted, because he worked on his soul. So I am now on the fiṭrah, but I have friends who go to drink unlawful things, so I am the one who went with them; I am the one who acts, and I am the one who is affected, and I am the one who brought this speech upon myself when I allowed myself to learn in these fields.

And this human being is not a rock, and we are not about to cut cloth from him, but he is also a person made up of a set of feelings that are affected by good and evil, joy and happiness, sorrow and grief, and so on. Listen to the saying of Allah, blessed and exalted, to His Messenger ﷺ: ﴿قَدْ نَعْلَمُ إِنَّهُ لَيَحْزُنُكَ الَّذِي يَقُولُونَ ۖ فَإِنَّهُمْ لَا يُكَذِّبُونَكَ…﴾ (We know that you are certainly grieved by what they say; for indeed, they do not deny you…)^[11]. It grieves him, that is, he is distressed ﷺ, he is not pleased that people speak about him in this way. And note: this is the utmost gentleness in dealing with a human soul, as if you pat someone and say to him: sorry, we did not mean it, calm down and be at ease. Then listen to the Lord of the worlds say to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: ﴿فَاصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبِّكَ فَإِنَّكَ بِأَعْيُنِنَا﴾ (So be patient for the decision of your Lord, for indeed, you are in Our eyes), Allahu akbar! This is a human soul, look at how people behave toward the religion of our Lord. Then ﴿فَأَوْجَسَ فِي نَفْسِهِ خِيفَةً مُّوسَىٰ﴾ (and Moses felt within himself apprehension), Moses is afraid. And why? The reasons have another place for discussion, but I am speaking of the origin of the fiṭrah: that the Qur'an sees the child of Adam upon the fiṭrah, able to learn, able to be influenced.

And when we hear the saying of Allah, blessed and exalted, and I picture it like this, exalted is Allah, mighty and majestic, above likening, as if He were patting him: ﴿مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَىٰ * وَلَلْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لَّكَ مِنَ الْأُولَىٰ * وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَىٰ * أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًا فَآوَىٰ * وَوَجَدَكَ ضَالًّا فَهَدَىٰ * وَوَجَدَكَ عَائِلًا فَأَغْنَىٰ﴾ (Your Lord has not taken leave of you, nor has He detested [you]; and the Hereafter is better for you than the first [life]; and your Lord is going to give you, and you will be satisfied. Did He not find you an orphan and give [you] refuge? And find you lost and guide [you]? And find you poor and make [you] self-sufficient?). Do you see the gentleness in the speech? The way He dealt with you, deal likewise with the souls that will pass through the same stage: ﴿فَأَمَّا الْيَتِيمَ فَلَا تَقْهَرْ * وَأَمَّا السَّائِلَ فَلَا تَنْهَرْ * وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثْ﴾ (So as for the orphan, do not oppress; and as for the petitioner, do not repel; and as for the favor of your Lord, speak [of it])^[12]. This is the speech of the Lord of the worlds with our master the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, the utmost gentleness, as He deals with him as a human being who is affected by what is around him and interacts with the givens in his hands ﷺ.

The first building block: "Read," the cognitive building

The first passage revealed of the Qur'an: ﴿اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ * خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ * اقْرَأْ وَرَبُّكَ الْأَكْرَمُ * الَّذِي عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ * عَلَّمَ الْإِنسَانَ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ﴾ (Read in the name of your Lord who created; created man from a clinging clot; read, and your Lord is the most Generous, who taught by the pen, taught man that which he did not know) [al-ʿAlaq: 1-5]. And this is the first stage of the stages of building the Muslim personality. And note: when the Qur'an was revealed, it was revealed to build the child of Adam, to build the human being. Do we differ about this conclusion? We say it again: when the Qur'an was revealed, it was revealed to build the human being, and we were thinking about the Qur'an's way of building the human being. And the first thing revealed: Read.

Read, what does "read" mean? I always ask people this question. The answers of those present were: acquaintance, that you familiarize yourself with what exists before you, and learn from it what you do not know; and research, for knowledge searches for things; and reflection. Excellent. So it is reading in a sense wider than my looking in front of me at written words. And a question came: did the Prophet ﷺ have something in front of him to read at that time? He said "Read," so did he have something in front of him to read? And the questioner said: the reader reads from something that exists, so why did He not give him the whole command? A beautiful question. And I answer this way: when you read this phrase, did you read it correctly or wrongly? Correctly, because you familiarized yourself with it. When you familiarized yourself with it you told me the letters in front of you: you will find a tāʾ, and after it a bāʾ, and after it such and such. Then I say to you: by the way, it is not a tāʾ, this is a sīn. And you say to me: no, this is a tāʾ, it has two dots above it. No, this is a sīn. Man, this is a tāʾ, it has two dots. So it is as if you did not read a letter until you got to know its components, and through getting to know the components of the letter you began to connect with the other letters, then the word forms, then the sentence, then you come out with the overall result, which is the subject. So reading is simply tracking things to know their reality and then coming out with a conclusion.

And I also recall that when a child first comes out into life we begin by feeding him, so how does the child know how to take his mother's breast, and how to suck her milk from which he draws his energy, and all these things? The human being does not know. So the first thing that is accomplished in him is cognitive formation.

And here we answer our brother's question: it is not required that the Prophet ﷺ have something in front of him to read from, because the aim is not reading a line, but the beginning of a method of getting to know what he will encounter, so that he reads correctly. The matter of writing and reading is a simple matter, a particular of the particulars of knowledge. So the first thing Allah, the Exalted, built in the Muslim personality, so that we say: the Qur'an's method in building the Muslim personality, He built in it knowledge, the cognitive structure that lets me work with another method after it. Block number one: reading, and it is not reading a line, but reading a universe together with reading the line. So the people who explore space read too, and the people who go down under the sea read too, and the people who delve into human bodies while treating them read too; each reads from Allah's universe its secrets just as people read the lines in books. And this reading is a command from Allah, the Exalted, to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and Allah's command to the Prophet is a command to whom? To the entire Ummah. So what is demanded of us as an Ummah? Reading. Why? Because the life that our Lord created has no room or place for ignorance or backwardness, and the one who will not read will remain ignorant and backward.

And if you notice, may Allah bless you, the first mention of Adam in the entire Noble Qur'an, when you read al-Fātiḥah then Sūrat al-Baqarah, in the first place where Adam is mentioned, what does the Lord of the worlds say? ﴿إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً﴾ (Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successor) [al-Baqarah: 30], then ﴿وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا﴾ (And He taught Adam the names, all of them) [al-Baqarah: 31]. So the word Adam, when it first appeared in the Qur'an, appeared paired with knowledge, as if Adam has no existence without knowledge, and as if Allah, the Exalted, created them inseparable. So if Adam is separated from knowledge, he is separated from his first mission, which is ﴿إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً﴾. And if he is not a successor, then a successor by what? By his Adam-ness and his knowledge. And if he does not have knowledge, it is as if he will descend from this level to the level below it, and share this level with whom? With livestock, beasts and rocks, a neglected thing existing in the world without this value that Allah, the Exalted, gave him. So Allah, mighty and majestic, preferred Adam and had the angels prostrate to him on the basis that He breathed into him of His spirit, then the second matter is that He taught Adam the names, all of them. Do you know the importance of this? That He did not command them to prostrate to him before he was taught; so when did He command prostration? After the teaching. So teaching was part of forming this personality that deserves such esteem.

And we live in a country that respects knowledge in all its fields. If they discover someone outstanding in some field anywhere in the world, they send for him and bring him for any amount, no problem, the important thing is that he comes to them and benefits them. And therefore they are at the forefront through knowledge: social, economic, technological, nuclear knowledge and all kinds of sciences; they are always trying to reach the summit through knowledge. From the beginning, from the start of the journey, Allah, glorified and exalted, said to the Prophet ﷺ, and it is a command to the Ummah: if you want to be at the level of the message you must be at the level of leadership, and if you want to be at the level of leadership you must be at the level of knowledge, which is the cognitive side.

And a question came about "the names" in His words ﴿وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا﴾: are they names literally or sciences? Everything the word can carry of meaning it encompasses. So He taught Adam the names, all of them: the fundamentals of sciences, the names of knowledge, everything, and Allah, the Exalted, is higher and more knowing; but we have a rule that says that if a word indicates more than one meaning, it is taken in all its meanings if there is no indication that turns it elsewhere, and Allah, the Exalted, knows best.

Read in the name of your Lord

And for that reason the command to read did not come alone, but the command to read came paired with "in the name of your Lord." So are we going to read and choose the nuclear or atomic bomb, then go and destroy with it a piece of the earth? Is our reading a reading of building up or a reading of destruction? Is that the aim of reading? Since the aim of the reading required of the Muslim, as a Qur'anic personality, was a reading of building up, it was not a reading left to myself, because I as a human being may err and do things wrongly. Therefore the command came from Allah: ﴿اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ﴾. Independent reading can lead to right and wrong, but reading tied to the name of the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, will lead only to what is right, to truth, to good, to righteousness, to what is known as good, to the revival of the world.

And if you notice in this place that the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, said: read in the name of your Lord, not in the name of Allah. So why was the word of lordship used instead of the word of divinity? We are accustomed at the start of sūrahs: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, and even when we say "Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds," the word of divinity was put before the word of lordship. So what is the matter here? The answer in great brevity: that the word of lordship requires bringing benefit and warding off harm. We say it again: lordship requires bringing benefit and warding off harm. And therefore the head of the household does not deserve that title unless he wards off harm from the house and brings it benefit: he returns at the end of the day carrying two bags in his hands, and you say: Glory to Allah, his benefit came with him, he did not bring a calamity. If he came with calamities he would not deserve the title. So reading was tied to the name of the Lord, that is, a reading whose source is not neglected. In the name of whom? In the name of the One who brings benefit and wards off harm. So every reading the servant is commanded to do as a cognitive method must pour into the benefit of humanity. Is this clear?

Why was it called "al-ʿAlaq"?

And the amazing thing is that this sūrah is named "al-ʿAlaq." Has anyone thought about this before? What is the story of this clot? They were created from a clot, so what is the relation? Yes: attachment (taʿalluq). And the clot indicates something attached to something else, so if you leave it, it falls. So when the human being was created from a clot, he has no independence of his own with which he stands by himself. And the bulb hanging on the wall, if it were without a nail tying it to the ceiling, you would find it down on the floor, it does not stand by itself, and it must have something to hang upon. And the human being, beware at any moment, and from the beginning as we set the method, of imagining that you are independent. So to whom am I attached, then? To the One who created. So even when you are thinking about reading, and you have ascended to the sky and put your foot on the moon, and dived into the seas, and crossed the oceans, and traversed the world and the universe, beware of imagining that you are independent or that you can make a decision by yourself. Why? Because you are attached, you do not stand by yourself: ﴿خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ﴾ (created man from a clinging clot). And when I read and grow, I will not settle in myself, but I draw more from the One who honored me at the beginning and honors me at the end: ﴿اقْرَأْ وَرَبُّكَ الْأَكْرَمُ﴾ (Read, and your Lord is the most Generous), your Lord, no one else.

So reading is the connecting link between the one attached and that to which he is attached. Reading is the way to know the places of Allah's generosity. Reading is the safety valve against the inner tyranny that erupts within the human soul. Do you know the sūrah by heart? ﴿كَلَّا إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَيَطْغَىٰ﴾ (No! Indeed, man transgresses) [al-ʿAlaq: 6]. Why does he transgress? And why did this word appear here specifically? As when a small child is still weak, not knowing and not able, and you call him: Ahmad, and he says: coming, Dad; come here, coming, Dad. Then the boy grows up and his tone thickens and his voice rises over us: what's the matter? I was with my friends! So the matter of transgression is an internal matter with which a person senses his worth and self and tries to prove his existence. And in the first stages of weakness he is submissive, then when he grows and becomes strong he reads the matter wrongly. He read the situation he is in in this way, as Pharaoh said: ﴿أَلَيْسَ لِي مُلْكُ مِصْرَ وَهَٰذِهِ الْأَنْهَارُ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِي…﴾ (Does not the kingdom of Egypt belong to me, and these rivers flowing beneath me…)^[13]. I am the one standing on the platform, I know more than all these people, I read the matter wrongly. So his wrong reading led him to destruction, not to growth. Did you understand the matter? So reading is the safety valve that protects you from within so that you do not destroy yourself.

And it is likewise the way of protection from all aggressors from outside: ﴿أَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي يَنْهَىٰ * عَبْدًا إِذَا صَلَّىٰ * أَرَأَيْتَ إِن كَانَ عَلَى الْهُدَىٰ﴾ (Have you seen the one who forbids a servant when he prays? Have you seen if he is upon guidance?) [al-ʿAlaq: 9-11], which is the method of reading that we apply from the very beginning. So reading as a cognitive method for the Muslim is the way that preserves them within and without. When we have knowledge, awareness and understanding, we do not quarrel within the field of Islamic work, and thus projects succeed and do not fail. And when we have awareness, understanding, reading and knowledge, we see the path clearly and do not go astray, and do not waste our money or effort or time or funds, and we go straight on. But if awareness is lacking and knowledge is lacking, people lose the way, and are lost and waste, and we ask Allah, blessed and exalted, for safety.

So the first aspect of the Qur'anic method in building the Muslim personality is the cognitive aspect. The Muslim, or the Muslim personality, without knowledge is an ignorant person, and as long as he is ignorant he does not even reach the level of being a complete human being, but is a creature in the form of a human. Agreed?

The second building block: "Nūn. By the pen," the moral building

And the second passage revealed in the Qur'an, which sūrah is it? We have a difference among scholars on this matter, but the preponderant view, at least in my view, is that the second sūrah of the Noble Qur'an in order of revelation is Sūrat al-Qalam: ﴿ن ۚ وَالْقَلَمِ وَمَا يَسْطُرُونَ﴾ (Nūn. By the pen and what they inscribe).

And here a very beautiful question was raised: are the names of these sūrahs fixed by revelation (tawqīfī) or by scholarly judgment (ijtihādī)? And the questioner saw no justification for a sūrah to be given a title that is apparent while its first title is erased, and that the name is fixed, not changed in the words of Allah, glorified and exalted, like the name "al-Isrā'" and "Banī Isrā'īl." So I answered: the matter has a difference among scholars: did the Prophet ﷺ name all the sūrahs of the Noble Qur'an or not? And is there ijtihād among some Companions of the Prophet ﷺ in naming some sūrahs of the Qur'an or not? And the principle, in the Noble Qur'an being miraculous, is that it be miraculous in everything in it, and among what is in it are the names of the sūrahs. And the Prophet ﷺ used to say: put such and such in the sūrah of such and such, at such and such a place. So whatever authentic established texts indicate about the naming of sūrahs is tawqīfī. Agreed? Fine, sir, and we put our trust in Allah.

Then we return to the next passage in revelation. And as we build, we have built the first aspect, and the second aspect remains. Sūrat al-Qalam, and briefly since we have very little time, came after Sūrat al-ʿAlaq in the order of revelation to complete the cognitive aspect with the moral aspect. And why are morals important? So that we come to a complete picture and say that we are working and deriving the speech now. And I will ask you a very simple question: would you be pleased if your son came in school grades with one hundred and nine percent? Does anyone differ about this result? So what do you think of one hundred and eleven? Glory to Allah. Fine, if he were to come with one hundred and thirty percent in the scientific side when he attends school and takes his lesson and everything, but his moral level we give thirty percent, what do you think? We have one hundred and fifty percent in knowledge but thirty percent in morals? Fine, we bring you another: seventy percent in knowledge and seventy percent in morals, better or worse? Better, of course. And if it were one hundred percent knowledge and one hundred percent morals, then this is what we want, and this is what we are trying to understand from the method of the Lord of the worlds. We ask Allah for one hundred percent knowledge and one hundred percent morals.

So the matter is an assignment and a leadership of the whole world, and we must be at the forefront, but it does not work for ethics to be absent. Therefore the scientific side must be completed by the moral side. And for this we find a ministry named "Education and Instruction" (al-tarbiyah wa-l-taʿlīm), so that it has upbringing and it has instruction, and sometimes we take care to make upbringing present, and then the matter of morals comes.

And if you notice you will find: ﴿عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ﴾ (taught by the pen) and Sūrat al-Qalam ﴿ن وَالْقَلَمِ﴾, and there was a close connection between the two sūrahs, as if the knowledge obtained in Sūrat al-ʿAlaq will be recorded with the pen of Sūrat al-Qalam. Did you notice this link? Then the sūrah begins with mention of the Prophet ﷺ: the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, opens this sūrah with talk about the Prophet ﷺ in His words: ﴿وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ﴾ (And indeed, you are of a great moral character) [al-Qalam: 4]. And this was the aim through which we will work on the subject.

Then what do you think of watching the society that was drawn in Sūrat al-Qalam? This society consists of what? The Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, describes to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, saying to him: ﴿فَلَا تُطِعِ الْمُكَذِّبِينَ * وَدُّوا لَوْ تُدْهِنُ فَيُدْهِنُونَ * وَلَا تُطِعْ كُلَّ حَلَّافٍ مَّهِينٍ * هَمَّازٍ مَّشَّاءٍ بِنَمِيمٍ * مَّنَّاعٍ لِّلْخَيْرِ مُعْتَدٍ أَثِيمٍ﴾ (So do not obey the deniers. They wish that you would soften [in your position] so they would soften [toward you]. And do not obey every worthless swearer, scorner, going about with malicious gossip, preventer of good, transgressor, sinful) [al-Qalam: 8-12].

If we imagine denial, or lying, if we imagine that lying exists in society as a general phenomenon. I go to the doctor to be examined by him, and he says to me: you have such and such a disease, and I say: are you sure? No, wait, you must do such and such tests, be patient, then he gives me the prescription. And I do not believe, for the society lies. And the problem is that I took the prescription from the doctor and went with it to the pharmacy and said: give me what the doctor wrote, and he gave me some things, and I do not believe. Then I took these things and went to buy water, and I am not sure it is water. Then I buy food, and I cannot guarantee its soundness. Then I go to so-and-so, then my son's teacher at school tells me: this boy is such and such, and I do not believe him. Imagine if I lived in a lying society, what would life be like? Allahu akbar! The servant cannot close his eyes because he is afraid of everyone, because people's default is lying. And if lying became the basis in society, it collapses.

Then this lying makes me go to the doctor and say to him: you are the best person in the world, our Lord did not create the like of you, you are beautiful, you are the moon, and I sit: ﴿وَدُّوا لَوْ تُدْهِنُ فَيُدْهِنُونَ﴾. Do you know flattery? People sit decorating words for one another; because he is a liar who exaggerates in describing the one in front of him: they wish you would soften so they would soften. Then so that this one believes me, because this swindling is not usual from me, he says to him: no, by Allah the Almighty, by Allah! ﴿وَلَا تُطِعْ كُلَّ حَلَّافٍ﴾. But the more I swear, the lower I fall in his eyes, and I become ﴿مَّهِينٍ﴾. So when the business does not bring a strong result, I go to so-and-so and say to him: have you not heard what he used to say about you? So watch out for this man. What a business! Agreed? So it became: ﴿فَلَا تُطِعِ الْمُكَذِّبِينَ﴾ then «وَدُّوا لَوْ تُدْهِنُ فَيُدْهِنُونَ» then ﴿وَلَا تُطِعْ كُلَّ حَلَّافٍ﴾. Did we connect the speech with one another or is it a little difficult? And note: we reached this stage ﴿مَّهِينٍ * هَمَّازٍ مَّشَّاءٍ بِنَمِيمٍ﴾ why? Because I only obtained what I have after I lied and was hypocritical and flattered and everything, so what I have is very dear, and the first thing that leaves my hand I will lose the world: ﴿مَّنَّاعٍ لِّلْخَيْرِ﴾. And after a stage the method of transgression begins: ﴿مُعْتَدٍ أَثِيمٍ﴾ and so on. This is the shape of the society: everyone laughing at one another, everyone lying to one another, everyone being hypocritical to one another... Allahu akbar!

Well, imagine the opposite face: if the whole society were truthful. So when I went to the doctor to examine me, and he said to me: you have such and such, I say to him: may Allah reward you well, and I leave immediately without thinking, so I do not need to waste mental effort in absorbing everything they say as facts, because they are taken for granted by me. I took the treatment or the medicine, used it while at ease, and went and used such and such while agreeing, and such and such while agreeing. So I am at ease, living at ease. And when I go to have something weighed at the butcher's or the fruit seller's, whoever, and I say: its weight is such and such, I believe him and go on at ease, not going on worried every little while: did he cheat me? Is it weighed properly? What is this man doing? So the state of psychological stability or the state of psychological collapse depends on the truthfulness of society or the lying of society. Agreed? So you can imagine a society that will rise to the summit in sciences, but if the weekend comes at night, you do not drive your car in the street late^[20]. Why? Because of the absence of ethics. This is just an example. So Allah, the Exalted, wanted to complete the cognitive side with its moral side.

The third building block: "O you who wraps himself," the psychological building

And the third sūrah revealed in the Qur'an: Sūrat al-Muzzammil. Allah, the Exalted, said: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الْمُزَّمِّلُ﴾ (O you who wraps himself [in clothing]), a call to the Prophet ﷺ then a direct giving of a means through which he reaches what? What do we want to reach? We agreed that I have knowledge through one sūrah, and we have morals through one sūrah. Beautiful. But as we deal with people with our knowledge, you are aware through your knowledge that this one is lying to you, aware that he is swindling you, aware that he is playing the fool; you are aware because you know, and yet you are patient with him because you have morals. But after a little you cannot be patient. So what do you do? I made this analogy long ago, and I remember it exactly: we have a "full option" car, it seems^[21], and this is knowledge, and in utmost balance and power it sets out on the road. So when does it stop? We need a "gas station." And so the Muslim who has absorbed all this amount of knowledge and been characterized by all this amount of morals, then was at home with the kids, and was no longer able to be patient, the Qur'an says to him: this is the method: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الْمُزَّمِّلُ * قُمِ اللَّيْلَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا * نِّصْفَهُ أَوِ انقُصْ مِنْهُ قَلِيلًا * أَوْ زِدْ عَلَيْهِ وَرَتِّلِ الْقُرْآنَ تَرْتِيلًا * إِنَّا سَنُلْقِي عَلَيْكَ قَوْلًا ثَقِيلًا * إِنَّ نَاشِئَةَ اللَّيْلِ هِيَ أَشَدُّ وَطْئًا وَأَقْوَمُ قِيلًا * إِنَّ لَكَ فِي النَّهَارِ سَبْحًا طَوِيلًا﴾ (O you who wraps himself [in clothing], arise [to pray] the night, except for a little, half of it, or subtract from it a little, or add to it, and recite the Qur'an with measured recitation. Indeed, We will cast upon you a heavy word. Indeed, the rising at night is more effective and more suitable for words. Indeed, you have by day a long occupation) [al-Muzzammil: 1-7].^[19]

So when I dealt with Sūrat al-ʿAlaq I dealt with the brain, and when I dealt with Sūrat al-Qalam I dealt with behavior, and when I dealt with Sūrat al-Muzzammil I dealt with the soul, to reassure it, and so that it draws energy from the true source. And what will this soul do after it connects with Allah? He said to me: ﴿إِنَّ نَاشِئَةَ اللَّيْلِ هِيَ أَشَدُّ وَطْئًا وَأَقْوَمُ قِيلًا﴾, as if it will give you a push, a driving force through which you can complete your journey while keeping the same proportion in knowledge and the same proportion in morals. ﴿إِنَّ لَكَ فِي النَّهَارِ سَبْحًا طَوِيلًا﴾. Imagine that we stopped at the gas station, and exalted is Allah above likening, we stopped at the station and filled up, so the road is open, set out, nothing stops you until the next night comes, so you stand and enter and bring the supply, then set out again to complete your journey. And everyone in the world to whom a problem with people or with creation has proven hard, this is the solution: prostrate to Allah, and bow before the Lord of Glory, glorified and exalted; and behold, the doors are opened from the Lord of gifts. Why are we suffocated? Because the door is closed and the oxygen in the room has run out. Open the door! If you open the door, air will come to you. Imagine that you opened the door of heaven in the direction of the gifts of the Lord of the heavens and the earth, glorified and exalted. Did you get this point? So we have the Qur'an's method in building the Muslim personality: number one, cognitive building; number two, moral building; number three, psychological building: tranquility and stability.

The fourth building block: "O you who covers himself," the media building

And after that Sūrat al-Muddaththir was revealed. The Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, says in it to the Prophet ﷺ: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الْمُدَّثِّرُ * قُمْ فَأَنذِرْ﴾ (O you who covers himself [with a garment], arise and warn) [al-Muddaththir: 1-2]. And He said in Sūrat al-Muzzammil: O you who wraps himself. And in both cases it was not a state of human strength in which it could be said: O you who sits on the throne, O you who addresses the people, O you such and such. Rather "muddaththir" and "muzzammil," as if he were in one of the states, I do not want to say weakness except if it is attributed to the origin of his humanity ﷺ, though the wording has some overstepping, but it is a state of anticipation, a state of precaution, a state of looking toward the future, in terms of humanity; as for the origin of prophethood and support from Allah, glorified and exalted, the matter is greater than our conceptions as ordinary people in life. But in this particular, the Prophet ﷺ was not in a state in which he could be called while in one of the places of strength, but was wrapped, so our Lord calls him, as if giving him the keys to launch from this state to what is higher. So here He says to him: ﴿قُمْ فَأَنذِرْ﴾ (arise and warn).

I just want to arrange the subject so we can finish. If the cognitive side is complete, and the moral side is complete, and the soul is reassured and settled, then whoever has these three can speak among people. As for me, as long as I am frightened and terrified, I will stumble while speaking to people because I am afraid. And if I had no information at all, and my head were empty, I would not speak and would not say anything. And if I were ill-mannered, we ask Allah for well-being and safety, I would speak in a way that makes people turn away from me, so I would not speak. So the matter of Muslims and their ability to express themselves and defend their causes, which is an issue now, needs a comprehensive and complete reformulation in the life of Muslims. Others surpass us in their ability to express themselves and express their causes and defend their issues even if they are in the wrong, and we cannot do that, and I do not know why, though we have all the qualifying capabilities. But glory be to the One in whose hand is the dominion, and we ask Allah, blessed and exalted, for well-being and safety.

The four aspects and the conclusion of the method

And so, to conclude, how many aspects do we have now when we say "the Qur'an's method"? Four, count with me: a cognitive aspect, a moral aspect, a psychological aspect, a media aspect. Did we understand this? So if these four are completed in the child of Adam, he reaches a level at which he can say "Al-ḥamdu lillāh," which is the fifth sūrah revealed of the Qur'an.

Questions from those present

What is the meaning of «قولًا ثقيلًا» ("a heavy word")? I was asked about the meaning of the word "heavy" in the saying of Allah, blessed and exalted: ﴿إِنَّا سَنُلْقِي عَلَيْكَ قَوْلًا ثَقِيلًا﴾ (Indeed, We will cast upon you a heavy word), is the Qur'an heavy on the human soul, and what is the relation of that to what came after its revelation? And some people say that the Qur'an is heavy in its origin, on the basis that something heavy is important and has value, and this view is opposed by the saying of Allah, blessed and exalted: ﴿وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا الْقُرْآنَ لِلذِّكْرِ فَهَلْ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍ﴾ (And We have certainly made the Qur'an easy for remembrance, so is there any who will remember?)^[14]. And the reconciliation between the two sayings is that it is heavy in itself in terms of the solidity of its content: We will cast upon you words that are not empty, not simple, not the talk of newspapers or the press, but words strong and solid in themselves, heavy if they descend in a place, they settle. And this view is supported by the saying of Allah, blessed and exalted: ﴿لَوْ أَنزَلْنَا هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنَ عَلَىٰ جَبَلٍ لَّرَأَيْتَهُ خَاشِعًا مُّتَصَدِّعًا مِّنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ﴾ (If We had sent down this Qur'an upon a mountain, you would have seen it humbled and coming apart from fear of Allah)^[15]. And Imam al-Qurṭubī, may Allah, the Exalted, have mercy on him, in the introduction to his book, speaks of how the heart of the believer is firmer than the mountain, for the mountain, if the Qur'an were sent down upon it, would crack apart, while the heart of the believer holds the whole Qur'an^[2].

And the second view on the saying of Allah, the Exalted: ﴿قَوْلًا ثَقِيلًا﴾ is that it is heavy on those who disbelieve in it, who do not receive it well so that hearing it is heavy on them, but it is light, gentle and easy for those who believe in it and turn to it, and this agrees with ﴿وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا الْقُرْآنَ لِلذِّكْرِ﴾. And the third view is that it is heavy in its application on the souls charged with it, and thus whoever applies it in his life attains great reward with Allah, glorified and exalted; so the people who will respond to this heavy method will be able to reach the highest ranks of Paradise, by the leave of the Lord of the worlds. This is some of what has been said about the meaning of this word.

As for the presence of this saying ﴿إِنَّا سَنُلْقِي عَلَيْكَ قَوْلًا ثَقِيلًا﴾ in comparison with the events that came after it, perhaps I did not understand this part of the question. But why was this verse revealed to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in this situation? My dear brother, we take a group of young men and say to them: come, you will join the army, for example, so we say to them from the start: young men, we do not come here to play, we came here to defend a homeland and a land and a country... and accordingly we make them feel from the start the weight of the task on their shoulders and its greatness. And likewise when I have students who come to seek knowledge, I say to them from the start: my brothers, do not imagine that your being with me is for play and wasting time, but you will give of your time what you give, and of such and such and such and such. So the matter is made to seem formidable, even in some way, in the soul of the recipient, so it increases his strength of endurance and his readiness at the outset; then if the matter turns out easy afterward, it is easier to carry out.

How can this be applied? It was said to me: this is the most important question in this session: how can we apply this? Will we apply it individually or as a society? Do we have an Islamic leadership that imposes methods on people so they follow them, or do we work individually? And even if the form is institutional, it is a simple institutional form; the biggest thing we have is the sign in front of you here, "Youth Center," and we have ten or fifteen or twenty young people and we try to live the environment they are in and understand them.^[22] And I say: but with what I intended tonight, to open people's minds to the fact that we have methods, and that we are not random in our lives, and that we walk in steps drawn for us by the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, so whoever wants to follow them and walk in their footsteps is guided, and whoever wants to turn away from them falls under His saying, the Exalted: ﴿وَمَنْ أَعْرَضَ عَنْ ذِكْرِي فَإِنَّ لَهُ مَعِيشَةً ضَنكًا﴾ (And whoever turns away from My remembrance, indeed he will have a depressed life)^[16], we ask Allah for safety.

So how will you apply this? You have absorbed the idea, you have absorbed the matter, work on it in your home. Try to learn in all fields of knowledge from which you can benefit. Be at the level of morals at which you feel that Allah, the Exalted, is pleased with you. Settle and be reassured through your good attachment to Allah, blessed and exalted, and your much prostration before Him and your drawing from Him, glorified and exalted. Convey, with good expression and beautiful wording, what Allah causes to flow on your tongue of good and truth. If you do that, you have completed the aspects in yourself and set out with them, even if at an individual level. And if you have a friend or wife or children whom you can bring with you to the table of this pursuit, then you are with them and they are with you on the path of goodness, by the leave of the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, and Allah, the Exalted, knows best.

Is the knowledge intended religious knowledge alone? I was asked: you mentioned knowledge, does it include all kinds of knowledge or religious knowledge only? It is of course among the noblest of sciences, but does it suffice? And even if we take material knowledge, is there a certain amount of religious knowledge that we must learn? This is the first part of the question. And the second part: is this a research paper or a book? I wrote these words only today and have not yet proofread them, I wrote a few sentences today, but the idea itself has been in my head, by the leave of the Lord of the worlds, for a long time, I always speak about it.

As for knowledge: when Allah, the Exalted, said: ﴿إِنَّمَا يَخْشَى اللَّهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ الْعُلَمَاءُ﴾ (Only those of His servants who have knowledge fear Allah) [Fāṭir: 28], what kind of scholars is mentioned in this context? This verse is in Sūrat Fāṭir. This verse, when it mentioned this term, mentioned it amid fields of discussion of cosmic sciences and kinds of mountains and ﴿وَغَرَابِيبُ سُودٌ﴾ (and jet-black) and so on, and ﴿سَنُرِيهِمْ آيَاتِنَا فِي الْآفَاقِ وَفِي أَنفُسِهِمْ﴾ (We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves)^[17]. So when the wording «إنما يخشى الله من عباده العلماء» (only those of His servants who have knowledge fear Allah) appeared, it appeared in a sūrah that speaks about cosmic sciences. So that indicates, added to His saying ﴿وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا﴾, and not only what Allah, the Exalted, is worshiped by, but the names, all of them, and if we add to that the Noble Qur'an's talk about mountains, rivers, seas, celestial orbits, waves and so on, we see that what is meant by knowledge is not only religious knowledge.

And we also say something very small: did Allah, the Exalted, want us to be only ascetics in the mosques, and not workers on the earth of life? When Allah, the Exalted, wanted us to be builders of the universe, it was part of the assignment that we learn the sciences of the universe. Therefore we say to our children: whoever studies engineering, intend that you are learning for Allah to build up this universe; and whoever studies medicine, intend for Allah that Allah sets right these bodies through you; and whoever learns teaching, with Allah you are such and such. So the first premise is that the knowledge referred to in the Qur'an is not merely religious knowledge, but is the knowledge of religion and the sciences of the world.

But we have a term that we should take into account: what a Muslim is not excused for being ignorant of from the sciences of religion, the rulings of prayer, fasting, zakāh and ḥajj. Every person charged is required to learn a set of information. So whoever wants to enter the world of buying and selling must learn of the rulings of the sharīʿah what relates to buying and selling. A merchant who will open a shop? No, take it easy, come here, where are you going? You will mix things up soon, you must sit with me for two hours and we explain what ḥalāl and ḥarām mean. And the one who is about to marry we say to him: no, wait, because you must learn the rulings of the sharīʿah relating to marriage and dealing between man and woman, and what divorce may one day come about by, and what a person falls short of, a large system of the subject. So there is what a Muslim is not excused for ignorance of, and this is a matter with no limit at its maximum and no limit at its beginning, I mean I cannot say that its minimum limit is such and such or its end is such and such. So what is its limit? What do you learn so as to worship Allah by it in the place where you are? A merchant? You have this particular. But we have constants, which are the fundamentals of worship and the fundamentals of relations: every Muslim is required to know that he must be dutiful to his parents, and maintain ties of kinship, and so on, we have constants within whose framework we must move, and Allah, the Exalted, knows best.

Do the four aspects produce an inevitable righteousness of society? I was asked: the four stages you mentioned, is their inevitable result the righteousness of society? Their inevitable result theoretically is the righteousness of society. As for practically, it happened in the life of the Prophet ﷺ, when that was the method that was sent down to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ lived it for this period of time, and we saw how the society that the Prophet ﷺ lived with these values was the summit in the world of human societies of life to our day and to the Day of Resurrection. So we realized that if that method is applied it leads to that result. And another questioner said that applying the four stages does not necessarily have an inevitable result, and that environment and societal behavior are what affect the human being; an individual may read and then apply wrongly.

And I say: we must understand, may Allah bless you, are we proceeding as a society or proceeding as individuals? If I proceed as an individual, I am in the midst of an environment surging around me with waves, and I must struggle with them: either they drown me or I survive. If my boat is sound and its structure is correct and I am guided to its direction and path, I reach what I want, and if something of the basic components remains in me, the wave drowns me even if it is weak, or I am lost in the midst of the water because I have no direction to turn toward. Is this clear? If I were speaking about a society with a leadership, like the leadership of the Prophet ﷺ, a society all moving together in one direction, that is one thing; but if we are speaking about individuals, then as our brother asks me: what do we do? I say to him: work alone, work with the people around you. We will find around us an environment that is not righteous, but we treat in it what we can.

And it must not be absent from our minds that there are other descriptions, for I have not covered everything about the Qur'anic method in building the Muslim personality; we have spoken about some aspects. And among the particulars of the method is that Allah, the Exalted, teaches you that there is no resting place in this world, and that you are in continual toil and weariness until the day of meeting: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الْإِنسَانُ إِنَّكَ كَادِحٌ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ كَدْحًا فَمُلَاقِيهِ﴾ (O mankind, indeed you are laboring toward your Lord with [great] exertion and will meet Him). And accordingly the word appears in the verse with "fa-" and not "thumma"; for if it were said «ثم ملاقيه» ("thumma mulāqīhi") there would be a period of rest, but "fa-" indicates sequence and immediacy^[3], so the toil remains until the moment of meeting the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, no matter how much wealth increases, and no matter how high positions rise, and no matter how much a person is deluded by what he has or owns; nothing substitutes for the fixed foundation in life, which is that we are in toil toward the day of meeting the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, and Allah, the Exalted, knows best.

And I ask Allah, the Most High, the Able, to favor us with more knowledge, to guide us to the best of knowledge, to grant us sincerity in what we say and what we do, and to make us among those who follow what their tongues utter. O Allah, we ask You for a path to Paradise. O Allah, make our coming days more beneficial for Your religion than the previous ones, and grant us, our Lord, good speech and good deeds, soundness of heart, soundness of minds, and tranquility of souls and hearts. O Allah, make us firm with the firm word in the life of this world and in the Hereafter and on the day when the witnesses will stand. Our Lord, upon You we rely, and to You we turn, and to You is the destination. O Allah, make this gathering of ours a gathering shown mercy, and make our parting after it a protected parting, leave not among us or from us or between us anyone wretched or deprived. Guide us to our paths, O Lord of the worlds. O Allah, accept us and accept our deeds, and do not reject us nor reject our deeds, and make us among Your servants whom You have chosen for Your pleasure, by Your mercy and good pleasure. And may Allah reward you well, and may Allah reward well those in charge of this work. And the last of our supplication is that praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

--- ^[1]: Narrated by al-Bukhārī and Muslim. Editor's documentation: the lecturer uttered the beginning of the ḥadīth, «كل مولود يولد على … فأبواه …» ("Every newborn is born upon … and his parents …") and did not complete it, and the full wording in the two Ṣaḥīḥs is: «كل مولود يولد على الفطرة فأبواه يهوّدانه وينصّرانه ويمجّسانه» (Every newborn is born upon the fiṭrah, then his parents make him a Jew, or a Christian, or a Magian) (and in one narration «أو», "or"). ^[2]: Editor's documentation: the lecturer mentioned this meaning from al-Qurṭubī in the introduction to his book, and did not cite its text; so it should be checked before being relied upon. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: the wording of the verse in the muṣḥaf is «فَمُلَاقِيهِ» ("fa-mulāqīhi") with "fa-", which is what the lecturer uttered first (and he said «ثم ملاقيه» ("thumma mulāqīhi") in the context of the comparison). His explanation of the "fa-" against "thumma" is somewhat garbled in the transcript, so what was clear of it was set down, and it needs listening to the audio. The verse is in al-Inshiqāq: 6. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: the lecturer did not mention the locations; ﴿وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِي آدَمَ…﴾ is in al-Isrā': 70, and ﴿إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمَانَةَ…﴾ in al-Aḥzāb: 72. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: al-An'ām: 38. ^[6]: Editor's documentation: ﴿الرَّحْمَٰنُ * عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ * خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ﴾ in al-Raḥmān: 1-3. And the phrase "in the best of forms" is a reference to al-Tīn: 4 ﴿لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ فِي أَحْسَنِ تَقْوِيمٍ﴾, and the phrase "guided him to the two paths" to al-Balad: 10 ﴿وَهَدَيْنَاهُ النَّجْدَيْنِ﴾; the lecturer did not recite the two verses in full but referred to them. ^[7]: Editor's documentation: al-Baqarah: 207, and Luqmān: 6, and al-Baqarah: 8 (the lecturer did not mention the locations). ^[8]: Editor's documentation: al-Rūm: 30. ^[9]: Editor's documentation: al-Naḥl: 78, and the completion of the verse in the muṣḥaf is ﴿وَجَعَلَ لَكُمُ السَّمْعَ وَالْأَبْصَارَ وَالْأَفْئِدَةَ﴾; the word «الأبصار» ("al-abṣār") did not appear in the transcript so it was limited to what he uttered. ^[10]: Editor's documentation: al-Shams: 7-10. ^[11]: Editor's documentation: al-An'ām: 33 (and its completion «وَلَٰكِنَّ الظَّالِمِينَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ يَجْحَدُونَ», "but the wrongdoers deny the verses of Allah"), then al-Ṭūr: 48, then Ṭā Hā: 67. ^[12]: Editor's documentation: al-Ḍuḥā: 3-11; and the first verses of it (3-6) came in summary in the transcript. ^[13]: Editor's documentation: al-Zukhruf: 51, and its completion «أَفَلَا تُبْصِرُونَ» ("Then do you not see?") ^[14]: Editor's documentation: al-Qamar: 17. ^[15]: Editor's documentation: al-Ḥashr: 21. ^[16]: Editor's documentation: Ṭā Hā: 124. The text of the verse in the muṣḥaf is «عَن ذِكْرِي» ("'an dhikrī"), and in the transcript «عن الذكر» ("'an al-dhikr"). ^[17]: Editor's documentation: Fuṣṣilat: 53. ^[18]: Editor's documentation: in the transcript it is «فيكتبون أحسنه» ("fa-yaktubūna aḥsanahu") and the more likely is «فيتبعون أحسنه» ("fa-yattabi'ūna aḥsanahu"), and it needs listening to the audio. ^[19]: Editor's documentation: the lecturer recited the verses scattered in the course of his speech; the word «قليلا» ("qalīlan") after «أو انقص منه» ("aw unqiṣ minhu") was not heard in the transcript, and in it is «أقوى مقيلا» ("aqwā maqīlan") and its correct form in the muṣḥaf is «أقوم قيلا» ("aqwam qīlan"). ^[20]: Editor's documentation: the phrase «لا تقود سيارتك…» ("do not drive your car…") is garbled in the transcript (one hears «سردا ما تسوق في الشارع متأخر»); the likelier meaning was set down and it needs listening to the audio. ^[21]: Editor's documentation: the phrase is garbled in the transcript («عربيه ف الابشن»), and it appears to be «فُل أوبشن» ("full option"); and what follows it about the Muslim who returns to his home is confused in its pronouns (the husband or the wife), so it was phrased cautiously. ^[22]: Editor's documentation: from «هذا أهم سؤال» ("this is the most important question") to «ونفهمهم» ("and we understand them") appears to be from the words of the questioner or the host, not from the lecturer (he addresses him with «أمامك» ("in front of you")), so it was attributed to the questioner; and it needs listening to the audio.