When Imam Ali Describes God - Sayed Mohammed Baqer Al-Qazwini

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Al-Rasoul Islamic Society || Day 17 - The Holy Month of Ramadan 2019

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[0:12]audhu billahi min as-shaytan ar-rajim bismillah ar-rahman ar-rahim I begin in the

[0:19]name of the Almighty God the compassionate the merciful the one who

[0:24]has created everything in utmost perfection and may the peace and blessings

[0:30]of the Almighty God be upon his pure and beloved messenger the

[0:38]peak of his creation the symbol of humanity the holy prophet muhammad

[0:44]sallallahu alayhi wa ala allah humma salli ala muhammad wadi muhammad and

[0:50]his immaculate progeny of the al-bayt peace be upon them especially the

[0:55]leader of our time the awaited saviour and Imam al manager allahu

[0:58]ta'ala firaga my respected brothers and sisters assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh as we

[1:07]approach the nights in which we commemorate the legacy of the commander

[1:13]of the faithful ally you blow a bugle upsala wa tuula Ali

[1:20]I want to share with you the perspective of Imam Ali bin

[1:26]Abu Talib in natural bilasa towards the Almighty God to get a

[1:32]glimpse of our Creator of allah subhana wa ta'ala in the words

[1:40]of Ameer al-mumineen alehissalaam when you examine the words of Imam Ali

[1:48]describing the Almighty God you fall in love with this creator you

[1:51]fall in love with the knowledge of God with the power of

[1:58]God with the work of the Almighty God in the first sermon

[2:01]of natural Barraza we find that the Imam Hani Salaam opens that

[2:05]sermon and that passage by speaking about the Almighty God our scholars

[2:14]and even critics have examined the first sermon natural Barada and they

[2:19]believe that this is the most powerful sermon of Ameer al-mumineen Allah's

[2:23]Salam that's why a shariff aarathi who compiled Nigel balada he chose

[2:30]this particular sermon to be the first one in Nigel bonaga there

[2:33]are other sources for this sermon as well for example we find

[2:37]that a shade of Sudoku and his book at toe he'd also

[2:42]narrates parts of the sermon and we also find urban sharaba al-quran

[2:47]II in his book traveler pool mentioning parts of this fascinating sermon

[2:53]in this sermon the Imam Ali Salaam speaks about God and his

[2:58]attributes the creation of the universe are you interested in knowing the

[3:03]creation of the universe how the galaxies was were formed the role

[3:10]of water vapor in the creation of the universe read the sermon

[3:12]it's fascinating then the imam ali salam talks about the creation of

[3:18]adam how the human being has been created in perfect form he

[3:24]speaks of the angels he speaks of the role of the prophets

[3:27]then he concludes the sermon by speaking about the philosophy of the

[3:32]hedge indeed it's a fascinating sermon in our discussion this evening i

[3:36]would like to share the words of imam ali ali said i'm

[3:43]with you in highlighting the attributes of the almighty god for us

[3:49]to better understand who our Creator is and for us to better

[3:52]experience the greatness of the almighty god the imam hani salaam opens

[4:00]his fascinating sermon by saying the following amazing words smell r-rahmani r-rahim

[4:06]al-hamdu lillahi level i a blue humid hot ahool car Arun when

[4:15]I do namana hoon what are you Cena a Maya who are

[4:18]Doon the Imam and he said I'm here highlights the gratitude towards

[4:25]Allah Subhanahu WA Ta'ala then he says what are you at the

[4:33]hakka mujtahid hoon no eloquent speaker has the capacity to list the

[4:40]bound and the blessings of Allah no speaker has the capacity to

[4:44]praise God and to do justice to the position of allah subhanahu

[4:49]wa'ta'ala in arabic we have three synonyms that are usually usually used

[4:56]interchangeably but they have different meanings we have hamd we have med

[5:03]and we have shook what's the difference between these three scholars of

[5:11]Arabic language linguistic scholars have said that there is a difference between

[5:18]these words they're not all the same there are fine differences hand

[5:22]is when you praise someone for voluntary actions let's say someone's generous

[5:30]you praise them for their generosity because the act of generosity is

[5:35]a voluntary action when someone does good using their free will we

[5:40]call that hamd however when you use the word med it's more

[5:47]of a general term that encompasses involuntary good actions as well if

[5:54]something is involuntary let's say someone has a high IQ they were

[5:57]born intelligent and you want to praise them for their intelligence which

[6:02]Arabic word is more appropriate med or let's say someone has good

[6:06]looks right they're beautiful they're handsome and you want to praise them

[6:10]for their looks do you use the word hand or med you

[6:14]use the word med because you're referring to something that's involuntary it's

[6:19]not a voluntary action that you're doing and then we have the

[6:22]word shook shook is when you thank someone for a blessing that

[6:30]they gave you for a gift that they gave you over here

[6:33]we use shook because now you're expressing your gratitude the Amman aleihsalaam

[6:38]says no one can reach the praise of allah subhanaw taala no

[6:43]eloquent speaker can do justice to all the Almighty God and what

[6:49]he's given us if you look at the factors the billions of

[6:53]fact that worked together to make life possible for us you will

[6:58]realize how you can never ever thank allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala every cell

[7:02]in your body every atom in your body if you wanted to

[7:07]thank Allah Spano to odda for it could you scientists today are

[7:11]telling us that millions of factors work together so that planet Earth

[7:17]can sustain life have I thanked Allah Spano to Allah for each

[7:21]of those factors if you look at the organs in your body

[7:25]your biggest organ is your liver it's about 1.4 kilograms do you

[7:28]know what your liver does my dear brothers and sisters your liver

[7:32]every single day it's a factory it does more than 500 functions

[7:38]and you're not aware of it you're sleep peacefully your liver is

[7:44]working its detoxifying your blood it is protecting your body from any

[7:51]type of contamination it produces sugar for your brain it's a factory

[7:55]you need huge factories today to do the job of one small

[8:00]liver have I thanked Allah Spano to Allah for each of these

[8:02]functions when the Imam says it's impossible to praise God he's not

[8:06]exaggerating it take it literally it's impossible to thank Allah subhana WA

[8:10]Ta'ala because he's given you billions of factors that help you live

[8:16]in fact my dear brothers and sisters if you examine the food

[8:20]that you have on your table let's consider a pizza I know

[8:26]our youth love the pizza consider a pizza do you know how

[8:29]many thousands of factors work together so you can have a pizza

[8:34]examine the ingredients in the pizza the vegetables the tomatoes the olives

[8:40]the onions the dough have you considered the farmland that was prepared

[8:45]in order for these vegetables to be grown did you consider the

[8:49]thousands of factors that carried the rainwater to that land and the

[8:52]wells that had to be dug up and the irrigation system and

[8:57]thousands of farmers working on the field to produce one small vegetable

[9:01]for you and the wheat that was used to make that dough

[9:04]and the Baker who had to prepare it do you consider all

[9:11]these factors when you eat one bite look at the mercy of

[9:18]allah subhana wa ta'ala and how he's drowned you with all these

[9:22]blessings how can you capture the praise of the almighty god the

[9:26]iman says liable liable Matata Hulka alone it's impossible now today some

[9:32]people pose a question I've heard this from some atheists they say

[9:36]why is God obsessed with being thanked does he need our praise

[9:42]does he need to be thanked so why does he encouraged us

[9:45]to thank him allah subhana wa ta'ala does not need anyone to

[9:51]thank him he is above all Renea nananana mean a less self-sufficient

[9:55]but the Almighty God encourages us to thank him because the act

[10:00]of thanking God allows us to be responsible in using his blessings

[10:05]we human beings we tend to abuse anything we can get our

[10:13]hands on show me one thing we have not abused we abuse

[10:16]every blessing all resources God has given us we abuse them by

[10:23]thanking the almighty God we are reminding ourselves that these resources don't

[10:27]belong to us they are to allah subhana wa ta'ala even your

[10:30]body doesn't belong to you how are you using it Allah has

[10:34]put it at it as a trust in your hand when you

[10:38]thank Allah in your heart on your tongue through your actions this

[10:43]helps you use the resources of God in a just way in

[10:48]an appropriate manner and that's why a believer is constantly thankful to

[10:53]the Almighty God not because Allah needs that thankfulness or praise because

[10:58]I need it for my self betterment for my self progress I

[11:02]need to constantly thank Allah Subhanahu WA Ta'ala we find that this

[11:06]is the opening passage in natural banana you can never do justice

[11:12]to thanking allah subhana wa ta'ala if you realize this Allah says

[11:17]I will accept that and I consider you having done justice to

[11:22]me because once allah subhanho wa taala told prophets moosari said i'm

[11:27]thank me Oh Musa Musa said oh Allah how can I thank

[11:29]you when the act of thanking you itself is a blessing that

[11:34]I need to thank you for you enabled me to thank you

[11:38]I'm using the tongue you have given me the heart that you

[11:41]have given me to thank you that in itself requires another thanks

[11:44]and it will infinitely go like that how can I ever thank

[11:49]you Allah tells it Musa if you've realized that you have thanked

[11:54]me this realization in itself will do justice to the praise and

[11:58]the gratitude of Allah Subhanahu WA Ta'ala then the Imam Mahdi's salaam

[12:03]transitions to a very important discussion in theology about the attributes of

[12:09]the Almighty God the Imam Ali Salaam in this passage makes it

[12:13]very clear that we as great as we can be in our

[12:20]intellectual capacity we can never reach the essence of God and level

[12:25]ru dareka who bordel hmmm well I an Al Hasan fit on

[12:34]the height of intellectual courage cannot come to fully appreciate God and

[12:41]no matter how deep you dive into this infinite sea you can

[12:50]never reach its full depths because allah subhana wa ta'ala his essence

[12:55]is infinite and I am finite my intellectual capacities our capacities are

[13:01]finite how can the finite encompass the infinite can you take a

[13:05]glass of water and fill all of the world's oceans in it

[13:12]it's impossible because that container does not have the capacity for more

[13:17]than that now imagine if this ocean was infinite if it was

[13:20]truly infinite how can you fit the contents of those oceans in

[13:25]a small container so then how can we come to know the

[13:31]Almighty God if his essence is infinite does that mean that we

[13:35]do not have the capacity to know Allah the Imam Mahdi's salam

[13:37]teaches us how to know God he makes it very clear don't

[13:42]think that you will really know God by grasping his essence because

[13:46]his essence is infinite that's impossible but there are pointers that take

[13:50]you to allah subhana wa ta'ala one pointer is about his essence

[13:55]and the second pointer that Imam Ali RA said I'm shares with

[13:58]us is about the actions and the power of God when you

[14:02]examine the essence of God a man relieved Nebulon about islam makes

[14:06]it very clear that the attributes of god like knowledge and power

[14:11]are not divisible historically most people have an incorrect flawed understanding of

[14:21]God throughout peope throughout history you find people thinking of that God

[14:27]based on their own limited imagination some people even think God has

[14:32]a personality he gets angry or like the Romans they would accuse

[14:35]the Jews of Benny Israel they would tell them your God says

[14:42]your God is a jealous God why because he doesn't accept for

[14:44]other idols to be worshipped only he wants to be worship and

[14:49]they really thought that the God of Israel is what as a

[14:52]jealous God because of their ignorance and shallow understanding many people have

[14:57]misunderstood who God is the man - Salam over here makes it

[15:03]very clear they said it's a fact he had done Matt dude

[15:05]there is no limitation on the essence and the attributes of God

[15:11]don't think God as a being and the knowledge is added to

[15:14]him or power is added to him because when you do that

[15:21]what happens you make God and need two parts you divide God

[15:24]in two parts and that makes him in a need to his

[15:28]parts God is not like the human being you the human being

[15:30]you have a human being called Zaid then his knowledge is added

[15:37]to him the attributes are added to him one day's eight did

[15:41]not have knowledge now he acquired knowledge but allah subhanho wa taala

[15:46]his essence his knowledge his essence is power you cannot divide them

[15:51]Allah is power Allah is knowledge that may be difficult for us

[15:56]to fully conceptualize but Allah Soprano to honor by virtue of being

[16:04]the one God has no parts in his essence and if you

[16:06]examine all the names of Allah Subhanahu WA Ta'ala and all the

[16:10]attributes of God you find that they go back to - these

[16:15]two attributes - knowledge and power many people don't realize this let

[16:21]me give you some examples Allah has 99 beautiful names what are

[16:24]these names does God have parts does he have a personality and

[16:31]these names refer to that aspect of his personality know these 99

[16:35]names basically present to you a different angle of his knowledge and

[16:40]his power let me share with you some examples when you say

[16:45]allah is be' see you Samia what does that mean God hears

[16:49]God sees these two attributes of seeing and hearing refer to which

[16:59]essential attributes of God whose knowledge basically we human beings in order

[17:05]for us to feel closer to God and really believe that he

[17:08]is with us Allah uses these names otherwise God doesn't see or

[17:12]hear alas part Allah has knowledge and that's a reflection of his

[17:15]knowledge I'll share with you some other examples we have one of

[17:21]the names of Allah Islam unto him the Avenger yes that's one

[17:24]of the names of allah subhana wa ta'ala what does it mean

[17:28]for a lot to be the avenger that means God uses his

[17:30]power to punish the evildoer that's the meaning of Almonte up in

[17:37]the avenger when you say allies or a team Allah is compassionate

[17:40]to all fat off what does that mean Allah uses his power

[17:46]to your advantage so you benefit we call this mercy you see

[17:48]it goes back to his knowledge it goes back to his power

[17:55]when we say Allah is Hakeem he has wisdom what does that

[17:58]mean that means he you power based on his knowledge where it

[18:05]is appropriate that's the meaning of wisdom all the attributes of Allah

[18:09]Spano to Allah basically go back to these two essential attributes and

[18:14]these two essential agile attributes are indivisible we cannot add them to

[18:21]the essence of God they are the essence of allah subhana wa

[18:24]ta'ala there are two dimensions of one essence inseparable from each other

[18:28]God is power allah subhana wa ta'ala is knowledge now some philosophers

[18:37]throughout history have come to analyze what the knowledge of God is

[18:41]you find them having this discussion some of them say is the

[18:48]knowledge of allah rasool e acquired or his knowledge is hell or

[18:53]e essential acquired knowledge means you go you study you learn obviously

[18:58]Allah Spanos Allah did not acquire his knowledge from anyone else so

[19:02]that is impossible in God is it essential what does essential knowledge

[19:08]mean see sometimes you're told about the properties of fire fire burns

[19:15]that's acquired knowledge someone told you but then if you go and

[19:19]you touch the fire and you feel the heat of the fire

[19:24]what type of knowledge is this this is Faludi it's essential knowledge

[19:28]because you feel that which you know essentially it's present some philosophers

[19:34]in history have claimed that the knowledge of God is like that

[19:38]it's like how you experience fire Allah experiences all of his creation

[19:42]like that but many of our scholars reject that they say the

[19:45]knowledge of Allah is absolute we don't have the capacity to sit

[19:51]here and analyze what kind of knowledge he has or how does

[19:54]he process information this is beyond our intellectual capacity we cannot say

[20:00]his knowledge is acquired or essential we don't know all we know

[20:05]as le Mignot a Dar es Salaam states in one hadith that

[20:07]Allah subhana WA Ta'ala there is no room for ignorant in him

[20:13]he has knowledge that's all we know I'm in a Lhasa parameter

[20:17]and subhanho wa taala means there's no gel there's no ignorance but

[20:20]how is it it's beyond my intellectual capacity to sit here and

[20:23]analyze what kind of knowledge allows panel Tejada has a mom honey

[20:29]makes this very clear in Angela rather now you do recall Bordeaux

[20:31]hmmm as great as you are in your intellectual capacity don't think

[20:36]you will grasp the essence of the almighty god when it comes

[20:41]to simple things my dear brothers and sisters we really cannot grasp

[20:45]them we cannot describe them you think when it comes to allah

[20:47]subhana wa ta'ala if someone is blind and they were born blind

[20:52]can you really describe to them what it means to see what

[20:58]colors are can you describe well that person even if he lives

[21:03]for a hundred years and everyone comes and describes to him what

[21:09]vision means will they understand what vision is if someone is born

[21:14]blind they cannot you can't know really what it is unless you

[21:19]experience it right see these physical five senses we are so limited

[21:23]we cannot describe them to someone who lacks them if someone was

[21:28]born deaf they don't even know what sound is can you describe

[21:31]to them what sound is tell me what kind of words would

[21:33]you use to make them really understand what sound is it's impossible

[21:37]now when it comes to allah subhanaw taala we want to know

[21:42]the essence of the almighty god this is impossible for us to

[21:45]know but we can see the reflection of his attributes in his

[21:52]creation intellectually if you've recognized that allows essence is infinite it's indivisible

[21:57]you've taken a huge step towards truly knowing the last upon Wattana

[22:02]and appreciating the almighty god now when we speak of the essence

[22:09]of allah subhanaw taala and the attributes of allah the imam a

[22:13]nice arab says there is no limitation on his attributes there is

[22:16]no limitation on the power of God today you find some philosophers

[22:24]some teachers they commonly present this object to say that God is

[22:29]not capable of doing anything how many of you have heard this

[22:31]philosophical objection can God create a rock so heavy he cannot lift

[22:41]if you say yes then you've accepted that God cannot lift it

[22:45]so he can't if you say no then you've admitted that God

[22:49]can't put this into existence so either way you're stuck and God's

[22:54]power is limited I remember once my philosophy teacher he presented this

[23:00]challenge he said you Muslims you believe God is the all-powerful he

[23:03]can do anything I said yes he's like okay can God create

[23:06]Iraq that he cannot lift so heavy that he cannot lift what

[23:11]is the answer to this challenge my dear brothers and sisters philosophically

[23:15]when you examine such a supposition you find that the supposition itself

[23:22]is flawed and does not have the capacity to exist not that

[23:26]there's a weakness or shortage and the power of Allah I'll share

[23:31]with you an example who's the greatest mathematician today anyone knows any

[23:38]names of a famous mathematician figure okay let's say you bring the

[23:45]top mathematician today in your society or bring back Einstein and tell

[23:49]him I want you to do the following two plus two equals

[23:54]four I want you as the world's greatest mathematician to make two

[23:59]plus two equals five imagine if you present the mathematic mathematician with

[24:05]this equation now would it be fair for you to say oh

[24:14]you're weak you cannot make two plus two equals five with all

[24:17]your mathematical powers you can't make this equation would this be fair

[24:24]this is not fair why because - by virtue of being -

[24:27]when you add it to two and you keep it as two

[24:32]it does not have the capacity to be five the problem is

[24:37]not with the mathematician the problem is with who they Rajon itself

[24:41]says I don't have the capacity to be fine and you see

[24:46]these philosophers making this fallacy by the way that philosophy professor he

[24:52]was also the head of the swimming team at the school it

[24:54]was a very excellent swimmer so I told him in order to

[24:59]give him another proof of why what he was saying is a

[25:01]fallacy I told him do you know how to swim he kind

[25:04]of found it as a silly question is like of course I'm

[25:06]the coach of the swimming team what do you mean I told

[25:10]him you're a really good swimmer right he's like yes of course

[25:15]I told him to public go and swim right now in the

[25:16]room he's like I can't what do you mean I said Oh

[25:20]hard I'm the guy can't he just admitted that he can't swim

[25:22]I thought you were the coach of the swimming team what happened

[25:26]why can't you swim he's like come on that's absurd there's no

[25:28]water here I told him exactly that's your answer so would it

[25:34]be fair for me to come and say our swimming coach is

[25:39]weak he's deficient he doesn't have the capacity to swim here your

[25:44]response was the room doesn't have the capacity for me to swim

[25:48]in it right apply that same concept to the objection that you

[25:52]made last part Aras the all-powerful and then they asked you questions

[25:56]like well can he create another God like himself and another God

[25:59]doesn't have the capacity to exist there is no shortage in the

[26:05]power of allah subhanahu wata'ala there is no shortage in the knowledge

[26:10]of allah subhanahu wata'ala allah subhanaw taala knows everything and then they

[26:15]present you with another objection they say if God knows everything he

[26:18]knows what I will do till their last day of my life

[26:23]exactly and God's knowledge never gets it wrong so what's the point

[26:26]of me doing good in life when God knows the outcome of

[26:30]my deeds you can see the outcome of my deeds so basically

[26:36]I'm predestined I'm forced to go with the knowledge of God I

[26:38]can't defy the knowledge of God so I'm just like a robot

[26:41]here this is another objection some philosophers have posed what's the answer

[26:45]to that my brothers and sisters without going into the technical philosophical

[26:50]details I'll just share with you an example let's you're a teacher

[26:55]and you have a class in September you have a new class

[27:00]you're getting to know your students you see one student who's sitting

[27:03]in the back usually students who sit all the way in the

[27:05]back they're not that aware and conscious of what goes on in

[27:10]class right they're more into talking with one another you see one

[27:13]of those students so you approach that you student you try to

[27:16]encourage them to be on top of their studies but you see

[27:20]the student is not interested his brain is somewhere else he's distracted

[27:26]he's acting goofy he's not serious with his studies you give that

[27:32]student so many opportunities I'll help you I'll be your private tutor

[27:37]I'll spend time he says no he's not interested so days later

[27:40]you go and you tell your friend look I can put my

[27:45]hand on the Quran and I'll tell you this students will flunk

[27:49]this students will fail in class because I'm giving him opportunities he

[27:54]doesn't want to succeed I know for a fact that he will

[27:59]fail well let's say the end of the year comes and he

[28:01]fails did the knowledge of the teacher in any way influence this

[28:05]outcome that the knowledge of the teacher predestined this child to fail

[28:12]but the teacher had absolute knowledge he would bet his entire life

[28:19]on it he would swear on the Holy Quran and he will

[28:22]tell you I bet you a million dollars he's going to fail

[28:25]I'm certain one hundred percent and you know that he's saying the

[28:28]truth so over here the knowledge is accurate 100 percent but did

[28:31]it have an in fact on the freedom of choice that the

[28:35]student has it does not the knowledge of Allah has no influence

[28:38]on the outcome of our actions because he's given us free will

[28:44]yes God knows how I will use my free will but in

[28:48]the end it's my free will it's not something dictated on me

[28:51]by allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala and his knowledge is truly infinite now when

[28:57]you examine the existence of allah subhanahu wata'ala there is one fundamental

[29:03]discussion over here my dear brothers and sisters that Imam Ali bin

[29:06]Abi a lot about Easter makes a reference to often time when

[29:11]you talk about the existence of God and that this universe needs

[29:15]a creator because when you see motion in this universe every effect

[29:20]needs a cause and so you say that Allah is the first

[29:26]cause what do some atheists come back and argue with they will

[29:29]tell you why don't you take this same discussion and implement it

[29:33]on God himself who caused God who brought him into existence so

[29:40]in the end you're stuck and I'm stuck when you ask me

[29:42]what happened before the Big Bang I say I don't know I

[29:46]don't need a creator somehow it happened and when I asked you

[29:48]about God you say somehow he's all he's always there no one

[29:51]created him no one put him into motion he was always there

[29:55]so what's the difference between you and I right this is something

[29:58]that they usually state here's the fundamental point my dear brothers and

[30:02]sisters this universe as great as it is it's a materialistic universe

[30:06]there is a matter there is motion and the law of logic

[30:13]dictates that whenever there's motion there must be a factor an outside

[30:17]factor putting it into motion there must be a first cause this

[30:20]is by the law of logic now when you examine the existence

[30:28]of Allah Subhanahu WA Ta'ala why is God an exception to this

[30:32]rule everything needs a cause except God he doesn't need a cause

[30:35]why is he an exception to this rule the reason one reason

[30:40]why Allah is an exception to the rule is because Allah subhana

[30:43]WA Ta'ala is not matter he's above time and space he was

[30:50]never absent for him to be in need of some other factor

[30:53]to put it in existence Allah is above time and space if

[30:58]God were matter yes you had the right to ask this question

[31:00]okay who put him into existence Allah subhana WA Ta'ala is above

[31:05]time there is no yesterday for you to ask when was God

[31:11]created a lies above time and space if this is difficult for

[31:14]you to grasp I'll give you the following example because we're bound

[31:18]by time and space we cannot win think of someone who's above

[31:24]time and space right look at this examine this example let's say

[31:28]you're standing here today every year we have the train around this

[31:32]time passing by this year I don't hear the train let's say

[31:37]we have the window it's coming it's coming good sharla imagine if

[31:40]you have a window here and you're looking at this train it's

[31:46]a pretty long train right now when you're looking at the train

[31:49]from this window what do you see you see parts of the

[31:52]train you see the first part then every second you see a

[31:59]new part of the train it passes by you it may take

[32:02]30 seconds or a minute depending on how long the train is

[32:07]for you to see it from beginning to end why does it

[32:09]take time for you to see the entire train because of your

[32:15]limited viewpoint you have a window from which you're examining the train

[32:19]isn't it so okay now imagine if someone goes at the roof

[32:23]of this place and from top from an aerial shot he's looking

[32:30]at the entire train in one instant you can see the entire

[32:34]train from an aerial shot right what's the difference then between the

[32:39]one who's above there and the one who's inside here looking from

[32:43]the window it's the same train but because your view is limited

[32:45]you see it in steps and that's the concept of time you

[32:50]need 30 seconds to see all of it but the one who's

[32:54]above there is seeing it instantaneously there is no concept of time

[32:57]for him in one second he sees the entire train because Allah

[33:00]is above time and space he sees all of its all of

[33:05]his creation all the events since the Big Bang till the day

[33:09]of judgement Allah sees it instantaneously because he's above time and space

[33:13]yes this is difficult for us to fully grasp many things are

[33:19]difficult for us to fully grasp infinity can you picture infinity we

[33:23]know what infinity is right something that continues and never stops but

[33:27]can you picture it you cannot picture infinity we don't have the

[33:31]capacity to picture but we understand that a man I'll even have

[33:35]you thought about Islam says yes you cannot fully grasp the essence

[33:37]of God how is he above time how is the other space

[33:41]but the intellect God has given you recognizes that my lord is

[33:45]above time and space and therefore he needs no factor there is

[33:49]no before and after for him to need an outside factor that's

[33:52]fundamental about the existence of allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala and this is only

[33:57]the surface my dear brothers and sisters it's the tip of the

[34:01]iceberg when you examine the words of amirul mumineen then Imam Ali

[34:04]ibn ABI Talib transitions to give us examples of the fascinating power

[34:11]of the Almighty God do you have doubts about God's power about

[34:15]his attributes look at his magnificent creation the imam ali synopsis Fattah

[34:20]allah arabic authority when a Sharia Jabir Amity what truly may add

[34:28]an out of the powerful amazing words by Amir al-mumineen the imam

[34:33]mentions two examples of God's power number one is the wind the

[34:40]power of the wind when a char array a barometer Allah caused

[34:44]the winds to be in motion out of his mercy now you

[34:50]might be wondering what's so special about the wind that Imam Ali

[34:54]on is Salam out of all these manifestations of God's power he

[34:57]chooses the wind as an example without wind my dear brothers and

[35:01]sisters we could not survive here on earth look at the mechanism

[35:08]that the Almighty God used in order to allow life to be

[35:12]sustained on planet Earth how does water transport on this planet you

[35:20]know water is very heavy have you ever tried carrying or lifting

[35:25]water one gallon of water is about eight pounds one gallon have

[35:30]you seen the milk bottle those containers those gallons that's eight pounds

[35:35]if you have 100 gallons of water which you can use to

[35:43]fill a small bathtub that's 80 pounds if you have ten that's

[35:47]80 if you have a hundred gallons that's 800 pounds can you

[35:50]imagine now how heavy water is how does the Almighty God transport

[35:59]all this ring billions and billions of tons of water every single

[36:04]day are carried just above your head and they travel thousands of

[36:08]miles which aircraft carrier on earth has the capacity to carry this

[36:16]my dear brothers and sisters which tool do we have on earth

[36:19]that can carry large amounts of water sometimes in an average thunderstorm

[36:23]that produces heavy rainfall do you know how much water exists how

[36:27]many trillions of water drops how many millions of tons Allah says

[36:32]look at my power all that water around earth do you know

[36:37]how I circulated through the wind what is the wind my dear

[36:39]brothers and sisters thin air can you see it can you see

[36:44]the wind out of nothing that your eyes can see Allah says

[36:47]I transport billions of tons who can do that other than allah

[36:53]subhanho time its to the wind energy that we can survive how

[36:56]our plants pollinated through wind how is rain carried through wind how

[37:01]do we have temperature variations through wind and today scientists are discovering

[37:06]the powers of the wind and that's why we have wind energy

[37:09]it's truly nothing short of a miracle when you examine the system

[37:17]that allows to ponder who wa ta'ala has created for us now

[37:20]the question is how is when generated where does the wind come

[37:26]from Allah uses the most simple of equations to generate something so

[37:30]powerful do you know how wind is generated on earth yes we

[37:33]have the solar power that creates radiation and that drives the wind

[37:39]but based on what scientific principle does wind move in the planet

[37:45]basically when you have a difference of atmospheric pressure when the pressure

[37:50]drops somewhere all the winds they go towards that pressure to stabilize

[37:54]the pressure Allah says look I use something so simple difference in

[37:57]pressure I generate all these winds who other than a last panel

[38:01]to anima can do that look at the power of the almighty

[38:03]God my dear brothers and sisters and then the imam mahdi salaam

[38:08]as the second example mentions the mountains look at these fixed mountains

[38:12]how Allah stabilized the earth through these vast mountains and the Quran

[38:17]refers to the mountains as altered as the pegs and this verse

[38:20]in itself my dear brothers and sisters is evidence of tectonic plates

[38:24]and how the crust of the earth moves who knew that fourteen

[38:30]centuries ago but Allah revealed it in the Quran how do we

[38:32]deduce that well what do you need a peg for and now

[38:38]or a pin what do you need it for to keep something

[38:43]from moving from falling right if the earth was fixed why does

[38:46]God say the mountains are pegs and they stabilize the crust the

[38:52]fact that mountains are pegs is essentially telling you that the earth

[38:56]is moving the crust is moving and you need to somehow fix

[38:59]it so it's stable enough for you to live on that in

[39:03]itself is evidence that the earth is moving and allah subhanaw taala

[39:06]mentions this fourteen centuries ago and the Imam says this is one

[39:10]of the manifestations of God's power how many more signs do you

[39:15]want Allah says to the human being it's not enough all these

[39:19]signs I've given you then the arrogant human being stands up and

[39:23]he says there is no God what's the proof for the existence

[39:28]of God I would like to share with you the interesting story

[39:31]of an Australian convert it's a very fascinating story I've shared it

[39:37]in other communities but it's something that I really want you to

[39:41]watch and hear from his words because sometimes we also have these

[39:44]ideas in our minds especially when we're struggling when something's going bad

[39:49]when my life is difficult I have a family problem sometimes I

[39:54]ask where is God where is the power of God God just

[39:56]show me one small sign haven't you heard that from your friends

[40:01]I just want one small sign from you send me a sign

[40:02]you can't you're the most powerful you can't send me one small

[40:07]side to help me with this situation to show me that you

[40:09]really are there and you're with me and that you exist and

[40:14]Australian reverts or converts his name is Reuben he says I was

[40:21]struggling with a lot of ideas he was Christian he said I

[40:23]would go to the church I would speak to the pastor they

[40:26]did not give me sufficient answers it's on You Tube look it

[40:29]up Australian convert Ruben I want you to see his clip tonight

[40:34]it's fascinating he speaks for about 15 minutes about why he converted

[40:37]to the religion of Islam he said I had a lot of

[40:38]questions but no one could answer me then I tried to look

[40:44]at Buddhism Hinduism some other religions but I found there were many

[40:48]things unanswered until one day one of my friends told me why

[40:51]don't you go to a mosque and ask these Muslims right that's

[40:56]how they pronounce it go ask these Muslims maybe they have an

[40:59]answer it's like what are you kidding these crazy backwards terrorist Muslims

[41:03]you want me to go what do they have I'm like what

[41:07]do you have to lose aren't you on a journey to find

[41:09]the truth going hear what they have to say what do you

[41:13]have to lose he's like initially I dismissed it but I'm like

[41:15]you know what he's making sense let me go to them maybe

[41:18]they have another perspective that they'll share with me he said I

[41:20]went to a mosque a local mosque I spoke to those Muslims

[41:26]the Imam of that mosque I had those questions and they were

[41:30]able to answer every question I had from the Holy Quran that

[41:36]was revealed 14 centuries ago and this really fascinated me I'm like

[41:40]wow this religion is amazing so I took a copy of the

[41:42]Quran I would study it but I still had doubts in my

[41:47]heart does God really exist I want to see the presence of

[41:51]God he's like one day I was sitting in my room all

[41:53]alone no one else with me and I was this close to

[42:00]finally fully believing in God and accepting Islam so I had this

[42:04]conversation with God I said oh God show me your existence today

[42:09]just send me one sign he's like it was silent and I

[42:11]was waiting for something to happen I waited I waited nothing happened

[42:15]and then I started challenging God I told him God this is

[42:22]your last chance I'm giving you one more chance if you want

[42:25]to prove your existence do it send me a sign anything lightning

[42:30]something something falling from the shelf I just want something to show

[42:34]me that you exist something it's like I was waiting anxiously waiting

[42:38]for something to break that silence nothing happened he said then I

[42:44]got frustrated why is it God if he really exists showing me

[42:50]his presence just aside all I asked him is a small sign

[42:52]I gave him one last chance and this is how he speaks

[42:56]he says I got up I opened the Quran like let me

[43:00]open this book let me see what God has to communicate to

[43:04]me he said I opened the Quran I read the verses allah

[43:06]subhanaw taala says in the holy quran we have shown you so

[43:11]many signs the mountains and the creation of the earth and the

[43:15]winds and the life of a human being life and death that's

[43:19]not enough for you and you still want more science that's not

[43:23]enough I've surrounded you with signs billions of signs and you still

[43:27]have the arrogance and say I still want one more a billion

[43:30]and one those billion signs are not enough for you he's like

[43:36]that immediately transformed my heart and I said oh god you're right

[43:40]you've shown me so many signs but I was not seeing them

[43:42]properly either because of our arrogance or ignorant you have showed me

[43:47]so many signs and I firmly believed in the existence of Allah

[43:50]and he said his Shahada and he became Muslim Allah says have

[43:53]I not shown you enough science what more do you want you

[43:59]want a personal sign that selfish that means God all this existence

[44:02]is not enough for me I still need one little sign here

[44:05]in order to believe in you that's the peak of arrogance that's

[44:08]the peak of arrogance this is the Rhema of allah subhanho to

[44:12]honor and imam ali IBN ABI talib highlights the amazing power of

[44:18]God then the Imam Ali Salaam in this passage he ends with

[44:22]this following statement and we'll conclude with analyzing this statement the Imam

[44:27]says Ben are we attend a jalaja what a tibetan is stefana

[44:32]what's different about the creation of god and the achievements of us

[44:36]human beings we human beings you know what what we are you

[44:41]know sometimes kids you seen them when they're fighting or siblings one

[44:43]copies the other and they accuse each other of being copycats right

[44:47]we're human beings at our core were copycats we observe existence we

[44:53]learned from it we copy it we see how a bird flies

[44:57]we look at the technology of it the dynamics of it we

[45:02]create a plane that's all we do all of our discoveries are

[45:04]basically examining this existence and copying it that's all we've done have

[45:10]we ever invented something out of non-existence show me one example he

[45:14]might not even have you thought about it enough says look at

[45:17]the creation of God you know what's unique about the creation of

[45:20]God Allah subhana WA Ta'ala did not look at a prior example

[45:26]and he copied that example nor did he experiment because many times

[45:31]we experiment and we experiment until we get it right Allah subhana

[45:34]wa ta'ala created the universe and perfect man Allah subhana WA Ta'ala

[45:40]created the conditions that allow for life perfectly and that's what's different

[45:45]about the creation of Allah and our creation all of this is

[45:48]based on a delicate system that was invented out of nothing now

[45:53]there's one objection some modern scientists and atheists are raising what's this

[45:59]objection very briefly they say when we look at the universe it

[46:02]seems God is experimenting if there is a God because out of

[46:07]all these planets there's billions of planets out there right only planet

[46:11]earth so far as we know gives you the right conditions for

[46:15]life that means we don't really know if God knew exactly what

[46:20]he was doing he created all these planets billions of them and

[46:24]then suddenly one of them planet Earth randomly it happened to have

[46:28]all the ingredients for life otherwise all these other planets they don't

[46:32]have life they're useless so God does experiment he creates Jupiter in

[46:37]a certain way he gives it a different magnetic field a different

[46:42]orbit life can't exist there earth has the perfect ingredients out of

[46:46]billions of planets he got it right with earth but with other

[46:48]planets he got it wrong this is what they're saying very briefly

[46:53]what's the answer to that the rebuttal that my dear brothers and

[46:57]sisters when we look at the creation of God everything in existence

[47:01]serves a purpose even the example that they give you like Jupiter

[47:06]today modern scientists are discovering that if it weren't for gas giants

[47:11]like Saturn and Jupiter life may not have existed on earth because

[47:19]of their size jupiter has the gravitational force to protect planet Earth

[47:24]from objects that would have crashed into Earth if there's a big

[47:29]asteroid coming towards Earth which planet is sucking it towards itself it's

[47:33]planets like Jupiter Subhan Allah even these other planets Allah have positioned

[47:37]them in a way that allows us to exist everything has a

[47:40]delicate system everything has a precise equation to it and more and

[47:48]more scientists are discovering all these galaxies out there are necessary for

[47:53]the solar system to exist even black holes which scientists did not

[47:58]understand before today scientists are discovering that black holes have the gravitational

[48:03]power to stabilize the galaxies without them the stroller system could not

[48:12]stay bleah in a stable way revolve and rotate everything has been

[48:15]created by Allah span over to Allah in a delicate way do

[48:18]we not see the signs of allah subhanahu wata'ala it's a beautiful

[48:24]fascinating sermon sermon one of nigel Barraza I invite my dear brothers

[48:28]and sisters to study the sermon the Imam on Islam opens for

[48:33]you windows of knowledge to better understand your Creator to understand allah

[48:38]subhanahu wata'ala we ask Allah subhana WA Ta'ala to illuminate our hearts

[48:43]with the wisdom of the Holy Quran and the wisdom of the

[48:49]elevate peace be upon them [Music]

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