Quranic Teachings vs Blind Faith

Quranic Teachings vs Blind Faith

By Nouman Ali Khan

Introduction: The Problem with Modern Da'wah Discourse

I was asked to speak to you today about the Qur'an, the call of the Qur'an versus blind faith, and the title in print actually had certain things that I personally have a problem with. It says things like a call to rationalism, and I have a problem with the term rationalism. In the course of my brief talk with you, I will explain that.

But I want to start with something else. I want to start with a disturbing trend, at least to me, that is growing in the rhetoric and in what we think da'wah is, inviting people to Islam, the act of da'wah, it's a common term. Probably many of you have heard khutbahs about the importance of giving da'wah, and how it's the responsibility of the Muslims, that's something the messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم left on our shoulders, and he made sure that we deliver this message to everyone far and wide, and so we as an ummah, and even individually, carry some load of representing and delivering the teachings of Islam to everyone we possibly can.

And in that regard, we have engaged in very many activities in this country, under that umbrella of what we call da'wah. But some of those activities and some lines of reasoning are really, they really are problematic, and I want to address that insha'Allah ta'ala, in the course of this talk.

The First Problem: Da'wah as Debate

What are some of the problems we need to identify, and then address, insha'Allah. The first of them, is that for a lot of us, da'wah is synonymous, inviting people to Islam is synonymous with debate, with going back and forth. A lot of young people here in their college get into it with an atheist, with a Christian, with a Jew, with a Hindu, with an agnostic, and then they send me an email, or see me at a conference and say, if a Christian guy tells you this, what are you supposed to say? Or with an, I have an atheist friend and he said this, this, this, how do I shut him up? Give me one thing that's kind of like, gonna own him, right?

Now this, this line of thought, where you two people are engaged in this debate, and each is trying to outdo the other, is already problematic, and it is, it stands in opposition to the very concept of invitation.

Understanding True Da'wah: The Quranic Perspective

The word da'wah in Arabic means, invitation, you don't invite somebody to your house to argue with them, or make them feel stupid, or to show them how wrong they are, and if you do that when you invite people to your house, please don't invite me to your house. Okay, because that's not what invitation is, it's an act of friendship, it's an act of courtesy, it's an act of warmth.

"Even if between you and him there's animosity, the one making the call, the one talking to you should treat that person, even though there's animosity, and you treat him like your most intimate friend."

Now that's da'wah, that's the style of da'wah.

The Psychology of Debate

And you should know, you and I should know something about debate, nobody enters a debate to be convinced, no one. Everybody goes into a debate, side A and side B, the Muslim and the Christian and the Jew and the Atheist and the Hindu, whoever they are, when they enter a debate there's only one thing on their mind, crushing their opponent, that is all that's on their mind.

And if they hear an argument that they don't have a response to, they will spend their entire mental energies not looking at the validity of what has just been said, but exhausting themselves into thinking, how can I undo what was just said. And even if he doesn't have an answer for you, he'll say, give me a couple of days, let me think about it and come back with an answer. He's not going to accept, because it's become a contest of egos now, not of arguments.

It's not about arguments, it's about making you feel like you've lost or making them feel like they've lost. Islam is not a contest, it's not a debate, it's not a sport, it's not the playoffs. Even though the Mavs have gone pretty far. Okay, I'm from Dallas, I can't help myself.

The Problem with Rational Proofs Alone

The other thing that's happened is, we think that Islam is about proving to people that Islam is the truth through rational discussion. Like we want to hand them a pamphlet that says, hey look, all these scientific miracles, come on, shahada time, let's go. You know, why you still not believing? All these miracles that have been listed in this pamphlet, we even printed it in color man, come on, what's taking you so long? The guy just came to eat pizza at the Islam Awareness Week, okay, he didn't come to convert to Islam. And that's not really da'wah anyway.

The Foundation: Credibility Before Message

I want to spend these last few minutes I have with you, exactly six of them, talking about one fundamental concept. One fundamental concept. And that is that the Prophet of Allah, the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم started opening his mouth about the message of Islam at the age of, at the age of 40. Allah could have made him a messenger much sooner. He could have had a lot more time on this planet delivering Allah's message. Allah knew how long he's going to live.

If he made the span of the mission of Islam 23 years, it could have been 43 years. He could have been a messenger at 20, he could have been a messenger at 18, at 15 even I would argue. Even younger. He had excellent character from the very beginning. But what is it that's important in these 40 years? When we think about da'wah, we think of the 40th year onward. We think of that.

But there's a foundation before you see the building. Those 40 years are foundation and it's something that's, that conversation is not happening in our call to the call of the Qur'an. And you know what that is? In one word, that is credibility. That is credibility.

The Example of Pre-Prophethood Character

I was just having this conversation with some youth in the conference room. Meccans were not nice people. They were cheaters in business, killers, murderers, you know, these were gangsters, thugs, mafia, you name it. They were up to it. These were not nice people.

And for these not nice people to give a compliment is not easy. And for them to call the messenger of Allah, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, as-Sadiq wal-Ameen. Every kid here from Sunday school knows this. He was the honest, the truthful, and the trustworthy. These titles were given to him by who? By disbelievers, by criminals, by vile people, by people who don't appreciate anything. They appreciated his honesty and his truthfulness.

Because they knew if there's anyone we can trust our stuff with, it's him. If there's anybody who's gonna tell us really what happened, if he saw it, it's him. He can be trusted, he can be relied on.

Allah established his credibility in society before he made him an ambassador to his perfect message. We learn from that that da'wah is two things. It is a credible message from a credible person. It's two things.

Modern Application: Our Character as Muslims

Nowadays, imagine this for a moment. All the people working in corporate America, Muslims working in corporate America, all the Muslim physicians, all the Muslim teachers, all the Muslim business owners, all the Muslim business partners, students, whatever capacity you fulfill, can you imagine if we never opened our mouth about Islam and we operated as we operate right now, no change in our behavior.

Do you think the society around us would describe us as truthful and honest before anything else? They wouldn't even know about our religion but they would know one thing about us. We are true and we are honest no matter what. We can be relied upon. Is that the message we give with our character, with how we deal in business, with how we operate? And if not, we shouldn't be opening our mouth until that credibility is there. That is the first thing that was established. That is the first thing that was established.

The Problem of Empty Rhetoric

We just become empty rhetoric. We have people that have no good business practices, that are unethical in their professional life. They show up 40 minutes late to work and then they want to do da'wah to their co-worker who looks at their character and says, man, you're being paid for the full time. You show up 40 minutes late and you want to tell me about the perfect message of justice and accountability. You're not even accountable to the employer you can see. How can you tell me to be accountable to a master I can't even see? How can you talk to me about that? You have no credibility.

This is a serious problem that we have to address. Credibility even within our families. Islam is an amazing message for families but if our families are in turmoil, then what message are we giving to humanity? What is it? What are we talking about? If people over here can't talk to their in-laws, if you're having a problem with your wife, if your conversation with your dad lasts more than five minutes, it gets nasty. What message of Islam are we delivering to anybody else? Let's look inside a little. Let's go back to the fundamentals.

Maintaining Composure in Discussion

Something that, you know, I have to be selective because I had a lot more things to share but I want to pick out a couple of things. And one of them is to the younger folks here that are engaged in some level of discussing Islam in whatever capacity, please, please, please do me a favor.

Never ever lose your cool. No matter how obnoxious, how obscene, how offensive the language of those who you talk to is, you never respond with obscenity or with anger. Don't do it. Don't let them get under your skin. Do not do it. When you allow your emotions to take over in discussion, it is in and of itself proof that you ran out of reason. That what you have to talk about isn't based on anything else. That's what made you mad.

Firaun gets angry at Musa. Musa doesn't get angry at Firaun. Musa (عليه السلام) keeps his cool. Musa (عليه السلام) is calm. Firaun is flipping out. He's going crazy. You dare talk to me like this? I'll put you in prison. You know, he's the one losing his cool. That's one major point I wanted to make before I let you go.

The Balance of Spiritual and Intellectual

And here's the second. And that is our religion is not just a call to reason. It's not. It's an injustice to the book of Allah. The Qur'an is the climax as our beloved Sheikh Abdul Nasser said and also Sheikh Waleed also alluded to this in the discussion of body and soul. The Qur'an is a message or is an infinite fountain of spiritual elevation. It's a very spiritual book.

It cleanses what's in the hearts. And at the same time it is the infinite, it has an infinite source of intellectual wisdom. It is both of those things simultaneously. I don't know of any other book that does that. That is both spiritual and intellectual simultaneously. But this is Allah's book.

On the one hand, those who remember Allah standing, sitting, on all their sides. Remembering Allah, that's happening in the heart.

And they think deeply about the creation of the heavens and the earth. They think about creation around them. That's happening here. Both the heart and the mind. They're both being addressed in this book.

Avoiding Spiritual and Intellectual Bankruptcy

And it is a disservice to Allah's book when we present it in a way that is spiritually bankrupt. It is a disservice to the Qur'an that we present it purely in rational terms and do not respect its spiritual integrity. And at the same time, it is a disservice to Allah's book that we fall short of its intellectual integrity when we present its message. Don't be shallow when you speak about the Qur'an. Know what you're talking about. Ask a scholar. Understand its depth.

The Qur'an's Call to Human Decency

The Qur'an, first and foremost, is a call to human decency. It's not something alien to people. Decency is native to all peoples. It's calling people back to their fitrah. It's something they already have. It's making them go back to the original. It is not something new.

The rhetoric outside right now is Islam is something new. It comes from another place. It is evil. It is strange. It is not from us. And Allah is telling you, this is something of your own. You're being asked to go back to what you originally are to discover your genuine humanity, to become a decent human being once again. This rhetoric has to change.

Conclusion: Becoming People of True Da'wah

We have to bring it back to what it's supposed to be. We can't allow this rhetoric to invade and we can't allow any remnant of it to enter into our own discourse. May Allah عز وجل make us really become people of da'wah. May He make us people of credible character that even if we don't open our mouth about Islam, we speak volumes about Islam from our character. The way we deal with society, with our neighbors, with our families, with our co-workers and business partners, that in and of itself tells the people who these people's teacher is. It is Muhammadun Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم

BarakAllahu li walakum, wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.