Is Your Aqida Just Greek Philosophy? | Dr Shadee Elmasry

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:03]Speaking of Aristotle, just as a point, I was debating a brother and he said, "When you say that location indicates physicality, so nothing can be in a location without it being physical."

[00:00:14]Like that's what we say, right? He said, "That's Aristotle right there. How do we respond to that?" Answer is that uh there's a branch of knowledge called self-evident knowledge. Self-evident knowledge um does not need a senad. And just because someone was the first person to say it or wrote a book about it does not necessitate that everyone who holds that belief got their belief from that is making of that person. So at some point there was someone who wrote the very first book on arithmetic addition subtraction and gave him those words right used the word addition used a plus sign used subtraction used a minus sign put an x for multiple someone was the first person to do it correct so let's hypothetically say matis arithmetitis was the first person to write a book of arithmetic in Athens Greece in which he he tells that 5 + 5 equals 10 10 + 5= 15 and so on And he's the first person to make the multiplication table 1 through 12. 1 through 12. Does that mean that before him the people of Athens didn't know 5 plus 5? Does that mean that only when his book arrived in India did people know that 5 plus 5 equals 10? Because arithmetic is a self-evident knowledge.

[00:01:26]That's a category of that is called self-evident knowledge. And self-evident knowledge does not need an is and it does not necessitate that. That's where the idea came from. There are other ideas that clearly somebody could not have thought of it on his own and therefore wherever we found it written we would attribute it to that. And on top of that that's not even valid either because just because you're the f we have your book on it doesn't mean you're the first person to know it. It could have been orally transmitted in a whole another civilization who never wrote a book on it. It's orally transmitted then it got to that person who wrote the book on it.

[00:02:03]That's if it wasn't self-evident knowledge. What's an example of something that let's say uh a very detailed story about let's say a king named such and such and a prince named such and such. Very detailed with names. So I see a book written here and then far away I see the same story being told centuries later.

[00:02:25]Then I can assume that he must have gotten it from this guy. Like what are the chances? It's not self-evident that you're going to name a king Arthur and you're going to name a a magician Merlin, that's not self-evident. So, if I see Arthur and Merlin and all that and and and that whole story, sword and a stone, why you copied it from the I think the British wrote it, right? Some English guy wrote that you copied it from there. Camelot is not self-evident.

[00:02:51]It was very specific. So, that's the difference. Okay. So that's the idea that um when many people say you're just imitating this is Aristotilian logic to say that location implies physicality the answer is no it is not this is self-evident now but we wouldn't even say it's obligatory to believe because if somebody tells me I don't believe that and that is one of the premises of the is that no it doesn't we say you're free to believe that but you're not free to obligate me to believe that and you can't me if I don't believe that something could be in a location but not physical because and they extracted that from the belief that from the of Allah's the verses indicating a location for the creator and at the same time they believe he does not have a so how do they bring the two together location does not necessitate I say believe that all you want I'm not going to object to you what ground do I have this not location and physicality connection is not a clear-cut text in the Quran. If you cons your conception of that is that location does not indicate physicality.

[00:04:01]Why would I stop you? But you cannot obligate me upon that and and say everyone who doesn't hold that is an innovator. No, we're self-evidently location indicates physicality. If something is in something, on something, next to something, above something, under something, it must be a physical thing. Just like the first reference point, okay? Nobody could say put your im if I was to say you put your imagination on the table. I want your imagination on my desk on Monday morning. You're going to come with a piece of paper with your ideas written on it. Right? Because imagination it's not anything I can it hasn't means yes it exists but mentally only.

[00:04:40]Time I can't put it anywhere. Right? It exists mentally only but locations not exist mentally only. They hold that it does. And I say why would I uh obligate you to believe something that it's not clearly written in the Quran you have to believe that you can believe this and you can believe that and then you can build your the your understanding of verses and theologies from there but uh if you tell me something is above something that thing must something is above the table let's be physical that's my understanding of it that's the understanding of I would say the bulk of people the bulk of people so that's just a point on uh a discussion and you notice the the approach I'm trying to take is the approach of how is it possible for my opponent who is a Muslim to also be correct. That's the right way to do things. Not to let me try to find a way to to to pick the worst possible reading of your idea. And you do this with the intent that that this is what the prophet would have loved. This is what Allah loves. This you have a Muslim in front of you and you have all the Zionist cooking. Why would you want to try to get a gotcha moment on your Muslim brother? That there's disease in your heart. Oh, but he did this to me.

[00:05:45]So have Sabra. That's okay. He calls me this. Have some the and why are you so special? To not be called names. That's a really important lesson in oh he says this about us and he says this and that and who are you right? You are worse than a doormat. A doormat is better than you until now. That's in the skills because if you go to jahannam you wish you a doormat. A doormat someone comes in and rubs his dirty shoes on the doormat and as soon as the thing looks dirty throws it in the garbage. No questions asked. We are we are worse than a doormat if we go to hell. And we wish I was just a doormat. Satan Abu Bakr said, "I wish I was like a blade of grass or a hair on the back of a goat."

[00:06:25]Why? Because a hair on the back of the goat can never enter jennam. Why take the risk? Right? So, okay, they say all of so you're not so special in the world. Who cares? Let them say what they want. That's tough. That's spiritual practice. That's the right there. What is the men of in respect to how does it differ from that of the so I got push back from yesterday believe it or not from themselves no they say that our does not define the terms the way you said that's specifically's way of defining the terms and they said that is defined as we all know it is that's like even closer to the so they recognize is man is location and it's a son of Allah and it came after Allah. Allah created it. What difference does it make if it's or if it's a mental existence or a physical existence? It's still created, right? Time and place whether mental or not are creations.

[00:07:27]Therefore, Allah is not bound by them.

[00:07:29]Never will be bound by his creation.

[00:07:31]Never will have hul inside of his creation.