Who Speaks for God? Pt. 1

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Sayed Mahdi Modarresi
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In Lectures

Transcript

[0:00]for the hastening of the reappearance of the master the Savior the

[0:07]Avenger recite aloud mam my dear brothers and sisters since time IM

[0:26]Memorial humans have grappled with questions about Divinity morality and the nature

[0:38]of existence and Central to this discourse was the topic of Revelation

[0:48]specifically who has the authority to interpret the will of the Divine

[0:57]and impart it upon the masses since belief in God is almost

[1:08]Universal there have been pockets of people who have rejected the very

[1:14]notion of a Divine deity worthy of worship and there are many

[1:24]people like this today but the vast overwhelming majority of people have

[1:29]believed in God in one way or another and once that question

[1:39]is established that God does exist despite the fact that there were

[1:44]many differences as to who God actually is what are his attributes

[1:51]and so these differences have existed but the principle itself of whether

[2:01]God exists has been a somewhat universal one since the very beginning

[2:08]and once you establish that you move on to the next step

[2:14]which is that if God does exist then how do we know

[2:19]him does he communicate with us or not and if so how

[2:25]does he do that and so some might say that God if

[2:33]indeed he exists would try to communicate with us in a direct

[2:42]fashion the problem with this hypothesis with this proposal is that God

[2:52]is ineffable he's incomprehensible he is not a physical being that we

[3:00]can see or interact with in a tangible Manner and if God

[3:08]is ineffable and Indescribable and incomprehensible and beyond our perceptions how do

[3:17]you communicate with someone like that the interesting thing is that Allah

[3:23]subhanahu wa ta'ala has communicated with us directly how he done that

[3:32]is beyond our comprehension just as God himself is beyond our comprehension

[3:37]but the Quran provides the description of an event in which Allah

[3:47]subhanahu wa taal established his existence and Unicity directly to human beings

[3:54]where you might say Allah subhah wa ta'ala says in the Holy

[4:01]Quran [Music] Allah subahu waala at some point in a previous life

[4:13]before we came into this world in the realm of the atom

[4:21]or the realm of ghosts and spirits because we have been through

[4:25]other Realms and other worlds prior coming into this one Allah subhanahu

[4:31]wa taala says Allah subhah wa ta'ala took a vow he took

[4:43]a vow from people everyone who was destined to come into this

[4:54]world was presented with unequivocal proof of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not

[5:02]just his existence not just his Unicity and his Divine attributes but

[5:09]a vow of worship and obedience was taken from the people from

[5:14]every single one of us and Allah subhah wa ta'ala then elaborates

[5:20]and says and he made us all witness upon ourselves in other

[5:32]words we acknowledged Allah subhanahu wa taala and his divinity and his

[5:40]authority and we became Witnesses upon this scene then Allah subhana wa

[5:45]tala [Music] says beware of saying on the day of judgment that

[5:55]we didn't know this we don't remember this you should not only

[6:01]acknowledge this pact this vow this Covenant you have made with Allah

[6:05]subhana wa ta'ala but you should constantly be mindful of it now

[6:11]some might say well I don't remember doing this and this to

[6:20]me seems like a strange thing some kind of a Deja Vu

[6:27]I don't recall this incident whatsoever number one there are many things

[6:32]that we experience in our lives and we end up forgetting do

[6:37]you remember what you had for breakfast 3 days ago unless it

[6:39]was the same breakfast you have every single day you probably don't

[6:42]remember do you remember what you did just two weeks ago do

[6:47]you remember and recall your childhood a lot of things your parents

[6:52]often tell you that when you were young you came back from

[6:57]school on the first day and you said such and such and

[7:01]you did such and such and you don't remember that so just

[7:04]because you don't remember something doesn't mean that it didn't happen it

[7:09]means that our memory is limited and fading memories disappear they are

[7:20]erased and there is a benefit in that there is a blessing

[7:27]in the fact that we tend to forget bitter me memories as

[7:31]well as sweet ones but imagine if you didn't forget anything a

[7:35]lot of the terrible things that happened to us scientists and doctors

[7:42]and Physicians even say that there is a mechanism within the brain

[7:48]that blocks out terrible memories a lot of people who go through

[7:52]extreme trauma like for instance getting into a car accident they might

[8:00]go into to a coma after a couple of weeks they come

[8:07]back and they ask them about what happened not only do they

[8:10]not remember the incident itself but they might even erase the memory

[8:14]of that entire day from the very beginning even prior to the

[8:18]accident taking place so our memories tend to fade and so just

[8:26]because you forget something doesn't mean that it didn't happen that's number

[8:32]one number two we find this innate understanding and recognition of Allah

[8:40]subhanahu wa ta'ala within us so while we may not remember the

[8:43]incident in which Allah subhah waala brought us before him and presented

[8:50]himself to us not in a physical sense but allowed us to

[8:57]see to truly see not with our eyes but to truly acknowledge

[8:59]and accept and feel the presence of Allah subhah wa ta'ala such

[9:04]that we gave him a covenant and made a vow to worship

[9:09]him and to obey him if we don't remember the details of

[9:13]that incident that doesn't mean that we don't feel the the consequences

[9:24]the repercussions of that incident a lot of times people feel that

[9:28]they have an intrinsic familiarity with Allah subhanahu wa taala when does

[9:35]that become most palpable when you're in trouble when people go through

[9:43]trying times they immediately turn to Allah subhah wa ta'ala why turn

[9:47]to someone that you don't recognize why turn to someone that you've

[9:52]never seen you turn to him because you already know him there

[9:59]is something inside of you that we call F which is the

[10:03]intrinsic primordial nature that's probably one of the least worst interpretations and

[10:10]translations of the term F there is an innate acceptance of Allah

[10:15]subhah wa taala not just acceptance of him on a theoretical level

[10:19]but recognition of Allah that is deep and visceral this is as

[10:27]a result of that encounter that that we had with Allah subhana

[10:31]tala and the world of the Adams as our Traditions call it

[10:37]and our Scholars so Allah exists that's already established does Allah communicate

[10:47]with us he already has the problem is that because a lot

[10:51]of people tend to forget or they have a tendency of marginalizing

[10:59]and and pushing aside that recognition they have toward Allah subhah wa

[11:06]ta'ala in favor of their carnal Pleasures in favor of their personal

[11:12]interest in this world in favor of biases and prejudices how you

[11:20]have people who now worship rats and cows and trees and the

[11:29]seasons and I Made of Stone and all manner of different deities

[11:35]a lot of the times those people do so because their family

[11:42]their tribe their parents their country their Community happens to do the

[11:48]same thing in other words this poor guy who worships a rat

[11:54]on the streets of India does so not because they actually believe

[12:01]this rat to be their creator this makes absolutely no sense but

[12:08]because my parents used to worship rats if I choose to diverge

[12:17]from them and worship God then it'll reflect badly on my parents

[12:22]it'll make my tribe look like Savages and primitive individuals even though

[12:29]I don't use the word primitive in a negative sense sometimes being

[12:35]primitive means that you uphold that intrinsic primordial nature the F that

[12:41]you have you're not contaminating it with other things and other ideologies

[12:45]so I don't mean it in a negative way but my point

[12:50]is a lot of times these biases these prejudices are what push

[12:54]us towards doing these sorts of things which is why makes two

[13:02]critical points number one he says that because people forgot the Covenant

[13:08]they made with Allah subhanahu wa taala and instead worshiped Idols whether

[13:16]it be physical Idols intellectual Idols now most people worship intellectual Idols

[13:25]ideas thoughts ideologies that they have built for themselves in their minds

[13:30]and they feel that this this is something that supersedes religion right

[13:35]they follow that instead of divine revelation says Allah subhah wa taala

[13:42]recognized that people forgot the Covenant they made with him which is

[13:50]why he sent prophets to them in other words the purpose of

[13:54]prophets according to this Hadith was to Simply remind people that is

[13:58]why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks to the holy prophet in the

[14:06]Quran and says to him that you are but a reminder what

[14:10]would he remind us of if we didn't already have that notion

[14:16]built right inside of us the prophet didn't come to teach us

[14:21]that God exists which was an idea that we weren't familiar with

[14:28]we were deep down however the prophets came to remind us the

[14:34]second critical statement that makes is about the role of prophets Allah

[14:45]subhah wa ta'ala out of his divine mercy and compassion he didn't

[14:52]just s say that I warned you I told you so I

[14:59]allowed you allowed you to recognize me directly and you forgot so

[15:03]you're all going to hell no Allah wants to test us but

[15:10]he wants us to pass he wants us to succeed and so

[15:12]he kept giving us cheat codes instead of just sufficing to the

[15:19]original recognition he kept coming back with more information more reminders and

[15:27]so why did he send successive prophets as says not just one

[15:39]but multiple prophets 124,000 According to some other narrations in the 300,000

[15:47]figure that's how many prophets Allah sent to us [Music] why Allah

[15:59]subhana T sent the prophets so as to reclaim the pledge The

[16:06]Vow the Covenant the promise to come to us and say you

[16:09]made a promise you recognized Allah subhah wa ta'ala so now fulfill

[16:16]that pledge that you made to him you have a debt you

[16:23]need to repay and to remind them of all the blessings that

[16:33]people forget about people become neglectful towards the blessings that they have

[16:37]you know how in English they say count your blessings it pays

[16:41]to count our blessings to constantly remember the blessings the gifts the

[16:46]things that Allah subhana wa tala has given to us the prophets

[16:52]come to do that as [Music] well and to resurrect and unearth

[16:59]and excavate the intellects that have been buried deep down to turn

[17:06]us back into human beings not just animals who roam the fields

[17:11]eating grass or praying on each other no you're better than this

[17:17]you're a human being Allah gave you the intellect he gave you

[17:20]the is what allows you to see the difference between right and

[17:24]wrong good and evil you're better than this so that was the

[17:33]mission of prophets now the question is who are these prophets who

[17:38]speaks for Allah subhah wa ta'ala how do we tell a true

[17:41]Prophet a genuine Prophet from a false one if you look at

[17:51]other Divine Revelations that have been tampered with other scriptures other religions

[17:58]because they have been subject to tampering and Distortion you end up

[18:06]with a very distorted image of prophets and their character I won't

[18:13]even get into what the Old Testament says about the prophet lot

[18:18]and Noah and Jacob and other Israelites Messengers because it is so

[18:27]grotesque it is so disgusting it probably shouldn't be mentioned on this

[18:34]blessed Pulpit what lot did with his two daughters for example because

[18:40]they were afraid that humanity is becoming extinct how they got him

[18:45]drunk and so on and so forth what Noah did what Jacob

[18:51]did what Jo job did all of these Prophet I won't even

[18:53]get into that I'll simply look at something that's perhaps seldom discussed

[19:00]about Jesus because the common perception of Jesus is what number one

[19:05]he is the epitome of morality he is the icon of goodness

[19:15]ethics wisdom intellect am I right the other representation of Jesus is

[19:23]peace he's a very peaceful man right unlike our Prophet or so

[19:31]they claim unlike other Messengers they say to us constantly Jesus was

[19:38]a man of Peace even though Jesus himself says I came not

[19:43]by the peace but by the sword it's right there in the

[19:46]Bible but I want to mention a verse to you that you

[19:50]probably haven't heard before two verses actually about the character and the

[19:55]false description of isaam I once said this to a Christian Missionary

[19:59]he encountered me I don't want to mention the whole story but

[20:03]he saw me in a train station and he said I'd like

[20:07]to talk to you about our Lord Jesus Christ I said sure

[20:09]I'd love to hear about Jesus Christ but before you talk to

[20:14]me I want to begin by saying that as a Muslim as

[20:18]a follower of the religion of the holy prophet Muhammad s alai

[20:27]wasam I refuse to hear Jesus being insulted and the Bible insults

[20:35]Jesus the poor guy's jaw dropped to the ground he's there to

[20:41]talk to this non-believer about Jesus and there is the non-believer defending

[20:47]Jesus against the book that he's carrying in his hand so I

[20:50]mentioned a couple of points to him one of which was this

[20:54]I said to him look as a Muslim if I curse any

[20:59]of God's prophets any of them not just their own but the

[21:04]124,000 if I disavow any of them curse any of them disrespect

[21:11]any of them that is one of the grounds of execution under

[21:16]Islamic law right and I'm applying this law on myself so don't

[21:21]be afraid I'm not preaching that people should be killed or executed

[21:26]I'm just saying that if I did this then I would be

[21:30]liable to being executed and so that's why I refuse to see

[21:36]the Bible disrespecting and even cursing Jesus he said how where I

[21:42]said look at the book of Galatians by what they call the

[21:49]Apostle Paul Paul of tarus right the founder of Christianity the Imam

[21:52]says the one who created Christianity in its modern Incarnation I said

[22:00]look at letter to the Galatians he said to them whoever is

[22:04]raised on a cross is cursed I said was Jesus raised on

[22:09]a cross or not he said yes I said so Jesus was

[22:13]cursed I said do you understand what being cursed means it means

[22:21]being cast out of the mercy of God that's what you believe

[22:23]about Jesus I'm sorry as a Muslim I can't accept that the

[22:29]poor guy was super confused that's number one number two I said

[22:34]to him Jesus you say that he was a man of peace

[22:36]right and yet Luke 19 look it up Luke 19 Jesus is

[22:43]speaking to his disciples he mentions a story and he says that

[22:49]if anyone refuses to accept my rule he should be brought before

[22:55]me and slain anyone who refuses to accept my rule over him

[23:02]should be brought and slain right in front of me slain meaning

[23:05]killed right how do you explain that Christians have twisted and turned

[23:13]and tried to come up with interpretations for this right and so

[23:17]some of them I was reading about this some of them have

[23:22]said that this is Jesus speaking about the end of days he's

[23:25]not speaking about his time because he didn't kill anyone but he

[23:28]speaking about the time of the Rapture when he comes back to

[23:34]Earth and uh he will establish his kingdom and so forth that's

[23:37]when he says anyone who refuses to acknowledge my rule should be

[23:42]killed but what difference does it make in other words he's executing

[23:46]People based on their beliefs that's basically what he's saying by the

[23:50]way we believe that the top lieutenant and the most Superior General

[23:56]in the army of Imam will be Jesus he will be the

[24:03]one fighting the enemies of God so we don't have a problem

[24:06]with that it's just there's a contradiction here between your portrayal of

[24:11]Jesus and what Luke 19 says about him that's one example the

[24:18]other example Jesus is the epitome of wisdom knowledge goodness obedience to

[24:25]God and yet right there Matthew 27 look it up says that

[24:29]when Jesus was being crucified he was being nailed to the cross

[24:35]he was in a lot of pain he looked at a particular

[24:38]direction he saw a vessel he asked what's inside that vessel they

[24:44]told him there is sour wine Matthew actually says some some have

[24:51]said sour vinegar but Matthew says there is sour wine in it

[24:55]so he says bring it to me so I can drink it

[24:59]so because he's nailed to the cross and he can't exactly hold

[25:04]the cup to drink from it so they bring a sponge they

[25:06]put it inside the vessel and once the sponge is full of

[25:12]that sour wine they bring it to him to drink so that

[25:14]he gets intoxicated he gets drunk and he doesn't feel the pain

[25:20]of crucifixion how does that make any sense on the one hand

[25:24]John and others have said Mark perhaps they've said that Jesus when

[25:28]when he was on the cross he says that I'm dying for

[25:33]your sins this is the will of God he fully surrenders to

[25:36]the Lord And yet on the other hand he's like I'm in

[25:41]too much pain give me a shot of morphine or what's worse

[25:44]than morphine give me some wine to drink from so I get

[25:51]drunk and inebriated so my point is that people have provided some

[25:57]incredibly disturbing descriptions for the prophets of God whereas we believe that

[26:03]God's Messengers were the purest of the people they were the best

[26:07]of the best they were the creme DEA creme they were obedient

[26:13]to Allah subhanahu wa taala in every aspect of their lives and

[26:18]well there may be examples where certain prophets might have slipped or

[26:24]they might have done something that was better not done for instance

[26:28]praying to God to bring down his wrath and chastisement upon the

[26:33]people too early right like the story of this great prophet of

[26:43]Allah subhana TAA preached to his people for 40 years after 40

[26:46]years he's sick and tired anyone in his position would have given

[26:49]up in the third week not 40 days 40 years and yet

[26:55]after 40 Years of grappling and struggling and wrestling with [Music] subana

[27:59]wa ta'ala exists and his Unicity is established he must or he

[28:09]according according to his mercy and compassion he would communicate with us

[28:15]he doesn't have any obligation to do that but he Allah subhana

[28:19]wa tala because he wants to bestow his Mercy he communicates he's

[28:23]done so directly as well as indirectly through prophets and through Messengers

[28:29]who are these Messengers we've said that some people depict these Messengers

[28:36]as being immoral we refuse to accept that in any way shape

[28:39]or form why the intellectual argument is this and once I said

[28:42]this to a priest I said if a prophet of God is

[28:47]immoral even one once in his lifetime what do you expect from

[28:51]his flock and his followers if a prophet is a deviant then

[28:57]how is he supposed to to be a guide for Humanity he

[29:03]has to be morally pristine he has to be perfect he has

[29:05]to be inherent infallible is different the word infallible means he cannot

[29:11]make any mistakes which is technically inaccurate inherent is more accurate so

[29:18]now that we established all of this the question is um ultimately

[29:28]who defines the specific individual who is capable of or has the

[29:35]authority to interpret the will of God and communicate his message to

[29:43]us who some might say if you refuse to accept the prophets

[29:46]you might say well we should have philosophers philosophers are people owed

[29:53]with intellectual prowess the ability to rationalize things they observe the world

[30:03]around them and they reach conclusions so the pro the philosophers most

[30:08]notably classical Greek philosophers are people that we could potentially at least

[30:15]no one has claimed that they were prophets although some people lately

[30:20]have been observed saying that uh Plato and Aristotle in particular were

[30:26]prophets of God someone has even made up a concocted Hadith uh

[30:31]attributed to the holy prophet sallallahu alai which says that came from

[30:39]Alexandria in Egypt after conquering Egypt came to the prophet and he

[30:43]said to him that I encountered a group of people who follow

[30:50]uh Aristotle AR in Arabic they follow him and they say that

[30:56]he is our guide he's our leader so the prophet allegedly said

[31:06]to don't say that Aristotle was in fact a prophet it was

[31:15]the people who rejected him they didn't recognize him for the fact

[31:22]that he was a prophet absolute garbage why number one this Hadith

[31:26]is not found in any of our primary sources number two the

[31:31]Hadith itself is inconsistent and contains some historical errors because am's conquest

[31:39]of Alexandria happened during the reign of later cffs not in the

[31:46]time of the Prophet so this is historically inaccurate to say that

[31:51]he came back from Alexandria and said this to the prophet number

[31:56]three Aristotle Plato Socrates other ancient Greek philosophers these were either pagans

[32:07]polytheistic individuals or atheists they either rejected the very idea of God

[32:13]and you can see this in their Works their books exist to

[32:19]this day it's very easy to discern whether they believed in God

[32:22]or not simply by reading their works because they talk about Divinity

[32:25]they talk about the nature of existence they talk about all these

[32:28]things they were either pagans or polytheists worshiping and believing in multiple

[32:34]gods or they rejected God in principle they also believed that the

[32:39]world is eternal the world we live in is eternal it has

[32:45]no beginning it has no end which clearly tells you they didn't

[32:49]believe in God or his creation and so how do you say

[32:51]that these people were prophets so it's absolute garbage to say that

[32:55]individuals like these or even Buddha or Krishna or others that other

[33:05]religions happen to venerate and idolized that they were somehow prophets as

[33:09]a matter of fact as I said at the beginning of The

[33:11]Talk The Perennial struggle between those who adhere to divine revelation and

[33:21]the rest of humanity has been over this specific question who speaks

[33:26]for God who who is a prophet that's been the major point

[33:34]of struggle between us and them we can't just take this matter

[33:39]lightly and label certain individuals because they're venerated as prophets of God

[33:46]unless we have concrete evidence unless we have evidence of that in

[33:50]the Holy Quran or the traditions of the otherwise we would be

[33:58]falling right into the Trap of our counterparts our adversaries So Pro

[34:04]philosophers as I said cannot be representatives and vice jant of God

[34:13]let me add one more proof to this rational argument which is

[34:18]a scriptural reference Allah subhah wa ta'ala says in the in the

[34:22]Holy Quran Allah subhah wa ta'ala [Music] Min is when you give

[34:34]someone colloquially we understand Min as when you when you do someone

[34:38]a favor and then you keep telling them about it right you

[34:41]keep giving them a hard time that hey remember when I did

[34:45]did you this favor but when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the

[34:48]context of God and his relationship with his people means a supremely

[34:57]great blessing from Allah it's not that Allah wants to boast about

[35:03]this it's not that he wants to keep reminding us about it

[35:07]so he can make himself feel better God forbid rather it means

[35:12]this is the greatest blessing Allah subhana wa ta'ala has done Believers

[35:18]a great favor of incalculable proportions what is it when he sent

[35:27]to them a messenger from among themselves because God should have could

[35:32]have sent us a prophet that looked like an alien being right

[35:37]he could have sent us angels and we have Traditions that describe

[35:41]angels and it's not a an easy sight to observe right Angels

[35:48]were great creatures of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala their appearance their physical

[35:54]uh uh posture everything about them is very unfamiliar terrifying in fact

[36:02]scary Allah subhana wa tala instead of doing that chose to send

[36:08]us a prophet who looks like the rest of us someone you

[36:11]could relate to if God has sent us a an angel people

[36:16]also would have said well we can't relate don't you ever hear

[36:19]that oh we can't relate to the imams even though the imams

[36:24]were human beings they were people who Allah subhana wa tala chose

[36:27]to send to us right say to them that I'm a human

[36:36]being like the rest of you but the difference between me and

[36:39]you a primary difference is that I receive Revelation now receiving Revelation

[36:45]also means that the prophet might have to be physically different but

[36:51]at least the outer appearance of the Prophet is that he looks

[36:55]just like the rest of us not only does he look like

[37:05]you he also teaches you guides you teaches you the book as

[37:09]well as [Music] wisdom even though prior to that they were in

[37:22]manifest deviation the the philosophers were already there before all their knowledge

[37:29]all their so-called wisdom was already there why does Allah then say

[37:35]they were a manifest error and deviation it means that what the

[37:39]philosophers brought was useless what the philosophers taught would not allow Humanity

[37:48]to connect with their lord and develop their spirituality and their devotion

[37:53]and connection to Allah subhana wa ta'ala was utter uselessness that's why

[38:00]the prophet was then sent in order to teach people and give

[38:04]them the right set of guidance so philosophers cannot represent Allah subhanahu

[38:12]wa ta'ala who else who else can you think of oh how

[38:15]about people choosing their own leaders which is the predominant position of

[38:22]the vast majority of Muslims they say the prophet gets selected by

[38:26]Allah subh tala again we established that prophets have to exist now

[38:34]after the prophet what happens how we supposed how are people supposed

[38:38]to understand what's right and wrong the prophet came and his Reign

[38:43]lasted for 23 years much of that time was spent in Wars

[38:47]battles defensive conquests right dealing with conspiracies dealing with internal strife handling

[38:57]the HP yit and their schemes and their plots so 23 years

[39:04]most of it spent in putting out fires how is the prophet

[39:06]supposed to teach us everything there is to know about religion how

[39:12]how is the prophet supposed to teach us religion when the Quran

[39:19]is about 600 Pages Quran which is supposed to be the instructions

[39:24]manual it's a common reference made to the Quran let's use it

[39:30]it's okay the instructions manual for life not just life in the

[39:33]Arabian peninsula in the 6th Century but life until the day of

[39:36]judgment how is the Quran supposed to contain all of that how

[39:42]is the prophet supposed to teach us all of that even when

[39:45]the verse was revealed today I have completed your religion that completion

[39:54]was associated with appointing in other words is appointed by Allah subhana

[40:04]wa ta'ala to be the vice gerant and successor to given that

[40:09]his acknowledgment if you acknowledge Him now as the successor of the

[40:13]Prophet your religion is complete because if you acknowledge Him you acknowledge

[40:16]his successor and if you acknowledge IM Hassan you acknowledge IM Hussein

[40:20]and if you acknowledge IM Hussein you acknowledge all the way down

[40:22]to the 12th Imam your religion is complete there is hardly any

[40:30]area in religion that is not covered not just in the lifetime

[40:33]of the 11 imams as well as the 12th Imam which spanned

[40:42]about you know let's say 250 years right 250 years of teaching

[40:46]and preaching and disseminating knowledge as opposed to just 23 years but

[40:51]all the way until today and into the future when the 12th

[40:54]Imam reappears and the tradition says that he will wipe his hand

[41:00]on the heads of Believers and he will complete their intellect for

[41:03]them if there is any area of ambiguity any lack in knowledge

[41:14]any deficiency in understanding one wiping of the Blessed Hands of God's

[41:19]Vice jant and it'll be completed so that's the meaning of so

[41:32]after the holy prophet who becomes his successor to do all of

[41:39]this some have said that we have the four okay question why

[41:45]four why not just one why not 17 why not 3,684 where

[41:53]did you come up with the number four they constantly tell us

[42:00]those are the ones that we follow later successors we can have

[42:07]a legitimate debate about them but the four are established and you

[42:13]have no choice but to accept them if you refuse to accept

[42:16]them somehow you're a cfer I don't know why I have no

[42:20]clue because even though their names are not mentioned in the Quran

[42:24]they always beat us on the head why isn't the name of

[42:26]mentioned in the Quran well what about the name of the four

[42:30]your first three in particular right we have answers as to why

[42:33]the name of is not in the Quran or maybe it is

[42:38]but that's besides the point we have answers for that one scholar

[42:44]has written a book in which he has provided 110 responses as

[42:46]to why the name of is not in the Quran 110 but

[42:52]what about your three what happens to them are their names in

[42:57]the Quran absolutely not why is it four and not all these

[43:03]other random numbers that we could have picked they have no answer

[43:06]why do we have to believe in them and acknowledge them and

[43:10]respect them and love love them again they don't have an answer

[43:14]essentially listen carefully the process of selecting aif after the profit for

[43:23]the majority of Muslims is completely arbitrary and ha in other words

[43:28]it lacks any clear principles or guidance as to how aifa is

[43:36]chosen some have even gone as far as to say that the

[43:38]Khalifa is the one who conquers all the other candidates by his

[43:44]sword in other words who whoever overpowers all the other contenders for

[43:50]this office he becomes Theif and everybody has to follow him and

[43:58]Obey him you have to obey the even if he was an

[44:02]impious immoral and disgusting human being you have to obey him well

[44:10]hi who made him who made him the Khalifa well he conquered

[44:13]everybody else he eliminated all the other candidates he killed them that's

[44:18]it his will is God's will completely arbitrary completely nonsensical right so

[44:28]we say and I'd like to wrap up our firm belief based

[44:36]on clear directives in the Holy Quran and the traditions of the

[44:42]holy prophet that an Imam or a successor to the prophet aifa

[44:47]has to be specifically appointed by God even when the messenger of

[44:55]Allah presents him to the masses he is carrying out in instructions

[44:58]from God he did not pick God did how do we know

[45:05]that in very simple terms I know this lecture is kind of

[45:07]a crash course in how do we know that Allah subhana wa

[45:12]tala says in multiple verses in the Quran I am appointing a

[45:21]successor on the earth which means appointment Allah subh tested prophet ibraim

[45:31]he passed all the tests he went through the process he was

[45:36]a prophet then he became a messenger then after the ultimate test

[45:40]of slaughtering his own son Allah subhana wa tala then says I

[45:47]am appointing you appointing not nominating you I'm not suggesting that people

[45:53]should follow you no no I'm appointing you you're my appointee you're

[45:59]my Ambassador you are an Imam for the people a leader a

[46:09]guide this is our belief that after the prophet the successors of

[46:15]that Prophet are appointed by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

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