Islamic Intellectual Theology Lesson 2 - Tawheed

1. Islamic Intellectual TheologyLesson 2 - Tawheed Sources : ELAHIYAAT (Arabic) of Sh. Ja’fer Sobhani , Vol. 1 (summary) Translated Notes from Lectures of Dr. Sayed Fadhil Al-Milani International College of Islamic Studies (ICIS) Edited: May 18, 2009 - BHD

2. Why Do We Study Theology? • To know our creator intellectually and not by imitation • To create a strong bond of love with our creator • To understand the concept of obedience properly • To teach others our experience of knowing Him intellectually • To defend our ideology from attacks

3. Qur'an Condemns Emulation in Knowing God And when it is said to them, Follow what Allah has revealed, they say: Nay! we follow what we found our fathers upon. What! and though their fathers had no at all, nor did they follow the right way [Shakir 2:170] Nay! they say: We found our fathers on a course, and surely we are guided by their footsteps. [Shakir 43:22] وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ اتَّبِعُوا مَا أَنزَلَ اللّهُ قَالُواْ بَلْ نَتَّبِعُ مَا أَلْفَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ آبَاءنَا أَوَلَوْ كَانَ آبَاؤُهُمْ لاَ يَعْقِلُونَ شَيْئاً وَلاَ يَهْتَدُون بَلْقَالُواإِنَّاوَجَدْنَاآبَاءنَاعَلَىأُمَّةٍوَإِنَّاعَلَىآثَارِهِممُّهْتَدُونَ َ

4. Creation of the Universe Reflects the Certainty of His Existence قَالَتْرُسُلُهُمْأَفِياللّهِشَكٌّفَاطِرِالسَّمَاوَاتِوَالأَرْضِيَدْعُوكُمْلِيَغْفِرَلَكُممِّنذُنُوبِكُمْوَيُؤَخِّرَكُمْإِلَىأَجَلٍمُّسَـمًّىقَالُواْإِنْأَنتُمْإِلاَّبَشَرٌمِّثْلُنَاتُرِيدُونَأَنتَصُدُّونَاعَمَّاكَانَيَعْبُدُآبَآؤُنَافَأْتُونَابِسُلْطَانٍمُّبِينٍ Their messengers said: Is there doubt about Allah, the Maker of the heavens and the earth? He invites you to forgive you your faults and to respite you till an appointed term. They said: You are nothing but mortals like us; you wish to turn us away from what our fathers used to worship; bring us therefore some clear authority. [Shakir 14:10]

5. Concept of God in Everyone [FITRAH] • Simple intellectual pondering can lead to the existence of God • Freedom of thoughts from any influences and external factors with performance of free thinking can lead to the existence of God • Those who doubt in the existence of God are lesser than those who believe in His existence, regardless of the denomination of such believer in His existence, or the moral direction of such a person.

6. Simplest Mind can Perceive His Existence • It is enough to say (Amir Al-Mu’mineen (as) when speaking to a simple minded Bedouin or nomad) :“The droppings of camel indicates the presence of a camel, foot print indicates walker; skies with celestial bodies, and an earth with bodies of water exploding from it, do they not signify The All Hearing and Seeing.”

7. Drowning Person Looks for that One Source • A man asked Imam as-Sadiq (as): “Oh son of Allah’s messenger, guide me to Allah, what is He? For those who argue have increased have created confusion.” The Imam (as) said: “Oh servant of Allah, have you ever been on a ship?” • He said: Yes. • Imam (as) said: And did it break in a way that there was no boat to save you nor swimming? • He said: Yes.

8. When No One is there He is Pictured • Imam (as) said: And at that point did your heart grab onto something that is capable of saving you from your predicament? • He said: Yes. • Imam (as) said: That thing [that your heart grabbed onto] was Allah The Capable of saving you when no one else could, and helping you out of distress when no one else can.(Sh. Al-Sadooq: Ma’aanie al-Akhbaar, p.4; Tafseer al-Imam al-Hassan al-’Askari, p. 7; Sh. Al-Faydh al-Kashani: Tafseer al-Saafie)

9. External Influences Block the FITRAH • The tradition of the Holy Prophet (s):“Verily every newborn is born with the innate [instinct to know God], except that his parents make him a Jew or a Christian.” (Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal, vol.12:120:hadith 7181.) • This is manifested more profusely when one feels a void in their depths that can only be filled with knowing Allah (swt). • It is a thirst that is only quenched by Allah (swt)

10. FITRAH as an Internal Guide • Within the soul and heart of man is a bright torch that guides him to faith in God and pulls him towards The Creator of the Universe. • Just as we see a child’s instinctive affinity towards his mother, so too is man’s affinity towards Allah. • Just as the earth’s gravity pulls everything to its center no matter how far they may be on its surface, Allah has the gravity that pulls all hearts towards him.

11. Curiosity To Know the Unknown • The nature of human’s intellect enforces him to ask questions of unknown things. • There is a desire to know the unknown and or the unknown phenomena. • With this constant desire to know the unknown, if focused in pondering the signs which indicate the existence of God, then God can easily be known through His attributes.

12. Imam Al-Baqir (as) Said: He is far greater than the explanation of the wise, and far beyond the reach of discriminative knowledge ('ilm daqiq). Similarly, one who believes that He will be seen by His creatures on the Day of Judgment is an unbeliever even though he does not liken Allah to anyone in appearance. Such pretenders have merely accepted the letter of the Qur'an and the HADEETH without using their intelligence. Indeed, they have chosen to ignore their intelligence, for they have not taken note of the use of figures of speech which the nature of language necessitates. Thus they have misunderstood the true meaning of the Qur'an and the HADEETH.