Bite-ables from Imam Mokhtar’s halaqah
Discussion and presentation Tuesday 7 pm
Masjid al Hidayah

How do we use reason (dalil aqli) to disqualify the need for bidaah? (question from akh Rahmat)

1. Since people think that they can get closer to Allah through performing bid’ah, this means that they can postulate what is good and what is bad. They may prescribe to the notion that the mind is independent from revelation.

However, this is wrong because every good thing that we know by reason, is actually known from revelation.

Why?

Allah taught Nabi Adam a.s. the names and meanings of things
-> this was then conveyed to his descendants
-> after an amount of time, people still received the definition of things (+ what is good/bad) but they started to disassociate the description from revelation.. they forgot that the knowledge of the originated from the Owner of All Knowledge, Allah subhanaHu wa ta’ala
-> for instance, how do we know that killing is bad? Across cultures, time, etc.. everyone agrees that killing is evil. How did everyone come to subscribe this idea?
-> Conclusion: everything good we know is traceable to Adam a.s, thus it is from revelation that we know what is good and bad (the ultimate definitions)

2. Oftentimes, (or all the time!) human reason is unable to know whether something in the future will be good or not. For example, we try to decide whether to take class A or B which seem on the surface to offer the same benefits.. we do not know if in the near future which one will be more beneficial in the long term.

If man/woman cannot even see what will happen tomorrow, how can he/she know what will be good in the unseen world of akhirah? We only know what is good for us through that which Allah tells us.

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pesanan penting imam Mokhtar..

What I learn is first of all, for me to keep conscious of daily, not for me to use in ridiculing or judging others. Maybe Allah will forgive them, but maybe He will not forgive me because I know and they do not know.
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This is just one of the many things touched upon yesterday, but one of the best things of all is to spend time with our beloved teacher, alhamdulillah :)

*disqualifier: there may be mistakes in my notetaking and understanding. Please correct them inshaAllah.