You Can't Logic Your Way to God (Reason Reveals Limits)

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[00:00:00]Why do you believe in the Quran? Because God has guided me. He's shown me. That kind of a belief, it cannot be justified. It can't be logically explained. None of those things that can be explained are the strongest reason why somebody believes. The strongest reason why somebody believes can't be explained. It's simply the Lord has opened my heart and shown me the truth.

[00:00:18]That's it. He has made me of the submitters. In the name of God, the entirely merciful, and the especially merciful. Peace be upon you, ladies and gentlemen. How are you? Now, today's sermon is titled, "Reason reveals limits." Reason reveals limits. Now, I know this might sound crazy to a lot of you. It might sound insane because the Quran tells us to reason, does it not?

[00:00:41]But I'm going to go into this a little more as we get into the sermon that the kind of reasoning that God calls us towards is not a headbased reasoning.

[00:00:51]It's not purely mathematical. It isn't syllogistic and propositional reasoning.

[00:00:56]It's a reasoning of the heart which we'll get into. And there's so many things that God in the Quran wants us to believe in or requires us to believe in or shows examples of other believing men, prophets and messengers of the past believing in these things which on a logical head basis on a statistical analysis basis makes absolutely no sense. So the first example we have of this is of Moses. So Moses, he left his society as a criminal and as a fugitive and he angered and agitated the most prolific and ruthless wicked tyrant in all of human history. Now on a probability logical rational head statistics basis because again this is the way our head thinks in terms of statistics and analysis. Moses is screwed. There's no helping him. He literally left out into the middle of nowhere a place he's never been after angering the worst tyrant in human history and being a criminal fugitive of the law. So on a on a statistics basis, head reasoning, he's screwed. But he chose to go beyond reasoning. His uh faith transcended the reasoning. He still believed that God would take care of him no matter what. Another example we have that of that is Abraham. Abraham gets a vision to sacrifice his son and he makes no haste with it either. Now imagine that. Does that make sense to you on a head basis? You get a dream or a vision, some kind of intuition that God is requiring you now or wanting you to sacrifice your son. Now obviously we know God eventually ended up intervening and telling him not to do that. It was a test of his faith to see if he would give up his most prized possession, his heir for the name of the Lord. And then he did that of course and God stopped him from finishing the act. But the point is imagine that you get a vision now and of sacrificing your son. Now reasoning and logic and headbased thinking would tell you don't do that.

[00:02:53]That's crazy. You're out of your mind.

[00:02:55]But his faith transcended above his reason. He trusted the vision that God gave him. It makes no sense to just have this vision and to do something crazy like that. But he was guided by his faith. Another example of that to believe in angels that there are angels out there. I've never seen an angel. I can't give an account for an angel that there's angels praying for me that they're interceding for me by the will of God. Obviously, I'm not talking about the Christian thing of intercession by Jesus's power. They intercede by the will of God. They're praying for me.

[00:03:26]They come down into my realm and they're protecting me. They're helping me along the way as agents of the Lord coming into my realm. I cannot give an account for that. There's no amount of reasoning, syilogistic, heads-based thinking that can lead me to that conclusion. But nevertheless, I believe it. And God counts believing in angels and having faith that God sends them down in our realm and having faith that God helps the believers with the angels.

[00:03:52]He sends them in the armies in ranks. We have this to the example of the prophet Muhammad. Prophet Muhammad, he was told that he would be assisted by thousands of angels. So to believe in these things it doesn't make sense on a rational head basis but we have faith in them anyways.

[00:04:07]Again our faith must go beyond reason.

[00:04:10]Reason reveals limits. And another thing I believe that God shows me signs each and every single day in the heavens in the earth in the clouds in the trees in the blowing of the wind in the movement of the animals everything. I believe that God is communicating with me intimately and closely through signs and symbols each and every single day. He is showing me the path that does not make sense on a rational basis. The mind in statistics and probabilities will say, "Oh, it's a coincidence here. Oh, it's a coincidence there." But the impression I get of God in the Quran is he speaks to the believers every single day in these signs. So again, the reasoning, the headle thinking is going to reveal limits. Our faith must transcend beyond that. And when you have that ultimate level of trust in God, you believe that God is speaking to you, showing you every single day. Then I mean that is powerful faith. You don't just believe there's a God out there who may be watching you, who may be not, who may care for you, who may not. It's directly tied to your level of faith.

[00:05:14]You being able to see and intuit it God's signs in your day-to-day life. Cuz not only do you believe he's there, you believe he's intimately close and he cares for you. So the level of faith you have is directly tied to how sensitive you are in receiving God's signs. And again, this does not make sense on a reasonable rational head basis. The the head wants to tell you no, but the heart wants to tell you yes, this is a sign from God. Now, Joseph was able to interpret that dream of the seven lean cows eating the seven fat cows. Now, on a head basis, that makes no sense at all. Why are seven cows don't eat cows, let alone lean cows eating seven cows?

[00:05:52]this but like most people would say this is coincidence and even it's interesting in the Quran the people said it was a confused medley of dreams the dream that the king had but Joseph knew that it had meaning from his lord so he went beyond reasoning again the head reasoning would say that that makes no sense but the heart reasoning will tell you that there's more than meets the eye that would be trust in the unseen and he was able to interpret these dreams successfully even we have the example of Zachchariah in the Quran Zachchariah his sign was that he would not speak to men for 3 days. Three days except only using gestures. Now all these things they don't make sense to the head but they require trust and faith in the unseen.

[00:06:34]Now some way or some people they may exclaim that the Quran tells us to reason. How could you say that reason reveals limits will the Quran tells us to reason? But what you're not understanding is the kind of reasoning God is calling us towards is very different than the kind of reasoning you're thinking about. So the Quran it isn't talking about a head or a brain kind of reasoning. The as God says to use your those who are using their reasoning.

[00:07:03]He's talking about a reasoning that is latent within the heart. Now our head our brain it thinks in terms of probabilities, statistics, rigorous analysis. Our brain is inherently skeptical. It wants to initially doubt things. That's just how our brain is wired. And there's a good reason for that. But it gets in the way of our spiritual progress and our development with God. So again, our brain thinks in terms of probabilities, statistics, rigorous analysis, skepticism. But our heart, if God has not sealed it off, it thinks in terms of trust. It thinks in terms of faith. It has intuition. It believes in the unseen. The heart just knows.

[00:07:45]Our head it thinks in terms of algorithms and mathematical syllogistic propositions and boolean logic. But our heart it thinks in terms of moral reasoning, existential reasoning. And I would go on to say that our head if we don't keep it in check, it does get in the way. Our brain is wired to be skeptical. And it's for a good reason.

[00:08:11]This world is naturally filled with lies. We can't just go with blind trust into everything in the world. There's scammers out there. There's dodgers.

[00:08:18]There's fraudsters. God has given us this skeptical processing unit known as our brain to be able to survive this world. But we have to quell that skeptical processing unit when it comes to God. We have to just be able to trust what he's showing us. And you can't apply the reasoning that you would use for this world with the reasoning you would use for the heavenly things of God. The reasoning of this world requires the head to be skeptical and and analyzing every little thing. But the reasoning of the heart, it requires you to just trust in what God is showing you, having deep faith. Our brain, it wants us to doubt always. Our heart though wants us to be sure. Our brain, it wants us to question everything. Our heart already knows the answers. Our brain says, "But what if it's not true?

[00:09:06]What if it's not correct?" But our heart says, "This is it. I know it to be a fact." Our brain brings in doubt, but our heart already knows the answers deep within. And I want you to specifically turn to chapter 19:58. So, we seek refuge in God from the devil. And we read in chapter 19:58, these are some of the prophets God has blessed from the descendants of Adam and from those whom we carried with Noah and from the descendants of Abraham and Israel and from those we guided and selected.

[00:09:38]Whenever the revelations of the most gracious are recited to them, they would fall down prostrating and weeping. Now think about that. God mentions this throughout the Quran of people who when they heard the revelations recited to them, they fell on their knees prostrating and weeping right away. Just a few verses and immediately the tears start flowing and they fall down in sjud in prostration. Now think about that for a second. Those people and God is highlighting this for us to take an example of. He's highlighting this as a virtue as something good these people did. The softness in their heart. They heard the revelations they started weeping. Now think about it. These people, they didn't rigorously analyze the Quran. They didn't do a massive pantextual analysis. They did not test the Quran, the revelations that was coming to them being recited. They didn't test its archaeological claims or its historical claims if it corroborates with the scholarly data. They didn't look at dating and manuscripts. They simply heard a few verses and then immediately the tears started flowing and they knew it was from God. That right there, the faith that God is mentioning in that instance is a faith that transcends reason. If you were to ask those people, why do you believe in the Quran? Why do you believe it's the word of God? Why do you believe the prophet Muhammad is a true prophet? Why do you believe in this mission and this presentation which is being given to you? What would they say? Would they say, "Oh, I did a pantextual analysis and oh, you know, I corroborated with corroborated it with archaeological or scholarly historical data. Oh, I did I made sure to go through every single verse to make sure there's no contradiction." No. If you ask them, why do you believe in all of this? They would simply say they know it's the truth from their Lord that God has guided them. God has shown them it's the truth. That kind of faith transcends reason. Reason reveals limits. Now that kind of faith as well of so if you were to imagine trying to defend that before somebody I heard the Quran and somebody asked me why do you believe in the Quran? What was it like when you first accepted the Quran as the word of God?

[00:11:45]And I were say I were to say to them that uh yeah I I heard the Quran being recited to me and immediately it brought me to tears and I started weeping and I knew it was the word from the Lord. God had revealed it to me that it was a word from him. Now imagine trying to defend that. You could never defend that because that kind of faith on a rational logical head level is not justified one bit. But it transcends the logic. And nevertheless, even though it's not you, you couldn't logically defend that.

[00:12:15]These people could not logically defend it. If I went and questioned them, why do you believe? They just knew it was from God. But nevertheless, God extols that kind of faith as the highest virtue within the Quran. So again, reason reveals limits. Our faith must transcend even head-based reasoning. And it gets down to the heart. And the heart either knows or it does not. It doesn't question and doubt. Either it knows or it doesn't. That's the state of the heart. Now, obviously there's that is not to say there aren't empirical evidences one could bring forth to strengthen the case of the Quran.

[00:12:49]Empirical and even dare I say scientific evidences. Of course, there is. the unique level of preservation of the Quran, the logical consistency, the clearly single and untampered authorship. I mean, look at every other major book in the world that people hold as holy and sacred. There's all different versions, redactions, uh overhauls, books thrown out, verses thrown out, things put in. We don't have that with the Quran. every single sect in the world, no matter where they come from, they believe in the exact same text of the Quran, but what they differ on is hadith and what they differ on is interpretation and scholarly tradition.

[00:13:31]But the text that they're dealing with is foundationally the same. So these are real empirical and scientific evidences you could bring for the Quran sanctity to show that it's the word of God. The fact that all the Muslims around the world, they have the same core text of the Quran. I mean, a book as significant as the Quran as world changing. You would think that different sects and factions would edit and tamper that book to fit their own theological prerequisites. As is the case with the Bible. Each different group has their own Bible that fits their theology, which is tampered to cater into their theology. I mean, you have uh what's it called?

[00:14:12]The Samaritan Bible, the Samaritan Bible supports the Samaritan religion and it takes out and redacts all the parts of the Bible that show Jerusalem as the main place of worship and instead show Mount Garazim as the main place of worship. So you see the Bible is edited to fit each sex theological cases. But the Quran is not that way. These are amazing evidences you could bring forth, but nevertheless people like, how should I put it? You you can present those evidences. The Quran certainly stands unique amongst the books of the world claiming to be a scripture. And you know what? There are many people engaged in that effort to try to prove the Quran through logical head-based reasoning.

[00:14:53]And I do believe there's fruit in that and there is a reward in that. But we're not getting to the heart of what it means to believe. the heart, you know, no pun intended, the the foundation of what it means to believe is to trust in spite of evidence. To trust even though you don't know in the sense that I know my shirt is a checked white and blue color right now, to still trust it anyways. That is what it means to have real faith and belief. And you have to understand as well the Quran, it tells you to believe in so many things that you can't account for. Therefore, when I see these Muslims out there, a lot of Sunnis are doing this. They're trying to present the Quran as a scientific, empirical book, purely scientific and empirical to the Western academics and scholars and secularists so that hopefully they can accept it. I see people trying to do this and again there is an empirical basis for the Quran, but it isn't purely empirical.

[00:15:58]It isn't what these guys are looking for. And how should I put it?

[00:16:04]Trying to present the Quran as scientific in the sense that these people are looking for, it's never going to work. Because I mean, we have all kinds of stuff in the Quran like virgins giving birth. We have uh faith that angels are with us in the most dire circumstances that I mentioned to you.

[00:16:23]We have faith that God communicates to us every single day through signs and symbols. You cannot justify these things on a scientific basis. Now you can entice somebody to maybe look into the Quran through those logical evidences I mentioned of preservation, textual preservation, the stability of the text.

[00:16:41]These are things you can point to to entice somebody, but it cannot and will not make anybody have faith or believe in the Quran. And again, I think the efforts of these people, although there's fruit in it, to try to show the Quran on a heading, logical, empirical basis to these scientists, it is a misguided effort. Sometimes they're being dishonest. Other times they're misguided because in order for these people to have faith, they have to eventually leave the sciences and believe and trust in miracles, which they're not able to do. So those things that you show them of textual preservation, the empirical evidences, it'll only take these people so far. You can entice them to look in, but it won't take them to the finish line. And in order for somebody to truly accept the Quran in its entirety, including all of those unseen things, they must, dare I say, leave logic behind at some point and adopt faith even in things that they cannot fully account for. So these scientists or they are inherently skeptical. They are skeptics and again their skepticism only goes so far.

[00:17:53]Obviously they believe in all kinds of things that they can't prove. They believe there's a tin can on Mars. They believe that Alpha Centauri is 2200 light years away.

[00:18:05]They believe in all kinds of things they can't prove. But you know in the way the Quran shows they don't have faith in the unseen. They can't just believe. They are full of doubt and cowardice. Their head is always getting in the way of just trusting and believing what God is showing them. And you can't present to these people the Quran as being scientific. They will see that your presentation is disingenuous because if you're going to say the Quran is scientific. And by scientific, we mean fully comprehensible to empirical and logical and rational means. It just isn't. They're going to be interested by the evidences you show them, but eventually they're going to see, "Hold on a second. You Muslims believe in virgins giving birth. You Muslims believe that a guy blew into a bird and it became a clay bird and became a living bird by God's. You believe that fire was made cool for Abraham. You believe in all these things that are not scientific. So why are you trying to present to me the Quran as scientific?

[00:19:01]And the truth is for these sciencyminded people and again I'm not talking about science in its true sense of investigating causes in the natural world attributing them to God. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm saying these kinds of people who don't believe in the unseen. They will not have faith in these things. They will see that the the Quran is not what they're looking for. The Quran is not fully understandable and comprehensible. It relates to the unseen. There's so much trust we have to have. So trying to present these people the Quran as scientific. You're leading them in the wrong direction. They're going to see it's disingenuous. The Quran is not what these people are looking for. So basically what these Muslims try to do is again they'll show the empirical evidence for the Quran. Again what I was telling you of the textual preservation, the stability of the text, but then they'll try to sneak in the back door.

[00:19:51]And this is not fully forthright. Either it could be dishonesty or it's misguidance. But they'll try to sneak in the back door all the other stuff. The virgin births, which you have to believe, the uh again the the clay bird becoming a life by God's leave, the fire becoming cool, a species splitting. They try to sneak that all in the back door without actually being fully forthright with what what it means to be a Muslim and what we actually believe. There is one difference between you the believer and the scientist atheist skeptic. And again I'm not saying that all scientists have to be atheists but the kinds of people who let's be real are deeply attracted to the modern sciences we cannot deny that the majority of them are atheists. They it the modern sciences do appeal to a certain philosophical, mental and spiritual demeanor. And maybe it wasn't that case at one point, but that certainly is the case now. You'll find some exceptions, but most of the people who are deeply into modern sciences, they are atheist and agnostic leaning. And agnostic is basically just an atheist. And these people will never believe because you know as a Muslim the Quran is true. Why?

[00:21:02]Because God has shown you that truth.

[00:21:05]And simply God has not shown them that truth in their hearts. Their hearts are sealed off. That's why they will never believe in it. Now one might proclaim and say that everybody says that Christians say that God showed them the truth that the Christian religion is true that Jesus is the son of God that the trinity is real and Hindus will claim that they met Krishna and they've been shown in this divine experience that the Krishna Hindu religion is true and they might even say that you should just have faith in the trinity. the Trinity transcends reason. And you know what my response to all that stuff is?

[00:21:38]So they basically they'll say, "Well, everybody says that. Everybody says God shows them the truth. Everybody says, you know, if you allow your faith to transcend reason, then everybody can claim that. Nothing has to make sense anymore." And do you want to know what my response is to that?

[00:21:54]Nothing at all. Other than we'll go back to God on the day of judgment and he will show us that which we differed in.

[00:22:00]I am not responsible for you. Just cuz that person may sincerely and utterly believe that the Trinity is real. It transcends reason and even though we can't fully comprehend the Trinity, we must have faith in it anyways. I am not responsible for that person. I do not have a window into their heart. I It's not my business. It's irrelevant. I just have to be confident in what the Lord is showing me. And the Lord has shown me that he is one and the Trinity is not proper. It is not a proper description of who he is. The God is one singular being and he doesn't have any partners.

[00:22:36]This is what God has shown me and I have to follow that truth to its end and I have to completely ignore if anybody else is saying they've been cho they've been shown this thing. I have to follow what the Lord has shown me. Now for those asking me that question but everybody claims it. Everybody says their faith transcends reason. How do we really know what's the truth in the end?

[00:22:55]Those Muslims who would ask me that thing I would simply return a question back to you. Do you then do you believe that God has shown you that the Quran is true? And I'm sure that every Muslim would say, "Yes, of course, God has shown you that it's true." Then do you really believe that though? How confident are you that God has shown you the Quran is the truth? If hearing other people's faith in different things, they're saying that God has shown them these things. If that trips you up or causes you problems, maybe you don't really believe that strongly that God has shown you that truth. Maybe your faith is a little shaky. It's a little wishwashy. Me, I know for 100% my Lord has directly shown me that the Quran is his true word of God. I know that to be an absolute fact. So whatever somebody's saying that they met Jesus in a vision or they that the trinity transcends reason and we should have faith in it, it doesn't mean anything to me. Why? Cuz I know what God has already shown me.

[00:23:56]Only if you were a little shaky and you weren't sure in what God is showing you, then you might be troubled by the other claims of faith people are making in different religious demographics. So I'd like to give you an example. Let's say I have a uh a special baseball card, like a oneofone baseball card. I'm not a collector of baseball cards, but let's say I have one. And there's only one copy of this signed baseball card.

[00:24:22]There's none other in the world. Now, I know I possess it. I know I possess it because I've seen it. The card store owner sold that card directly to me. I saw it and analyzed it and then I ended up putting that in my pocket. Now, if I knew as a 100% fact that there was only one of those baseball cards, it's confirmed. And I saw the baseball card right before me. I saw the store owner give it to me. I gave him the money. He put it in my pocket. Now, should it bother me if other people in the world also claim to have that card? Let's say somebody else across the street, they said that I have that baseball card. I know it's in my pocket. Would that bother me in the slightest? No. Why?

[00:25:09]Because I know I saw the store owner give me the card. I paid for it. I analyzed it and I put it in my pocket.

[00:25:15]The only time that may bother me if somebody was claiming, "Yeah, I have that baseball card." is if I if I wasn't really sure that the store owner gave me that card. Let's say I didn't analyze it properly. It could be another card.

[00:25:28]Let's say I was hallucinating. Let's say the store owner was not trustworthy or whatever it was. I didn't examine it properly. If I was not sure of that fact, then it might trip me up if other people are claiming that they have that baseball card. I might look in my pocket to make sure, oh, do I really have it?

[00:25:44]Do I not? I don't know. Only if I wasn't sure. But if I was absolutely certain that the card is in my pocket, it wouldn't bother me one bit if everybody else was claiming that they had that card. Yeah. So maybe if I was looking elsewhere, if my eyes were diverted and I didn't really analyze the card, then I'd start to worry. So this same analogy can be applied to the Lord of the heavens and the earth. God is in a sense the baseball card store owner or the owner of the store of the heavens and the earth so to speak. So he's the card store owner and he's giving me this one of one card of truth. This baseball card there's no other truth in the world.

[00:26:21]There's only one truth that we do know.

[00:26:23]So he gave me that card. Now I analyzed it clearly. I saw that the Lord gave it to me and I put it in my pocket. So why should I be I basically I know that God has shown me this is the truth. I trust in what my Lord has shown me. Now would should I be bothered if other people are making that same claim? No. I have the one of one card of truth right here as a Christian. No. I have the one of one card of truth here as a Muslim. Should it bother me at all? No. Why? Because I know the card store owner. In this case, God Almighty gave me the truth. I analyzed it. I saw it. And I put it into my pocket. And I have full confidence in what I saw. It shouldn't trip me up just like it should not trip me up other people claiming to own that baseball card because I know the store owner put it in my pocket. You're seeing the analogy here. Only if you were flaky on your faith, you were doubtful. You were either doubtful that the store owner lied to you in the case of the card or you're doubtful that God really showed you. Was he really communicating with you or were you just imagining things?

[00:27:25]Only if doubt started to creep in then you would be bothered. But if you had full faith in the signs of your Lord, you would not be bothered by people making these claims. Just like I would say the same thing. If somebody said that they had that baseball card, I would say, "Listen, I'm not responsible for what they're saying. This guy is claiming they have the baseball card.

[00:27:43]They're lying. I don't know why they believe that. I don't know where they came to that conclusion cuz I know I haven't. I'm not responsible for them making that claim." It's the same thing with matters of religion. That oneofone card of truth. And that is what it means to have ultimate faith and unwavering trust in God. what he shows you, you know it to be a fact. And you're not worried about other people. Now, I don't have to even prove it to anybody. I don't have to prove it to somebody in the case of the card, the baseball card, that I own that baseball card in my pocket. I don't have to. I can give evidence to you if I want. I can tell you the day and time I was at the store.

[00:28:18]I can tell you how much I paid for the card. I can tell you the exact conversation I had with the store owner.

[00:28:25]I can tell you all these things. I can give you evidence. But you don't have to believe that I own that baseball card and I don't have to prove it to you because I know it. It's the same thing with our religion and with the Quran. I can give you all the evidence for the Quran why it stands unique amongst the scriptures of the world, but I don't have to prove it to you. You can either believe it or you don't. It doesn't change the fact of what my Lord has shown me. He's given me this card of truth. And that right there is called having faith, confidence in the unseen.

[00:28:54]having unwavering faith and trust which God holds as the highest virtue in the Quran to believe and trust in what he's showing you no matter what have no doubt and full confidence that is what it means to be a Muslim man so I think for many of us if we're on the straight path our I should say our faith ends up maturing over time it starts out as empirical and syllogistic but then it starts to transcend that if we mature in our faith so a lot of us we began and investigating the Quran and the reason we believed in it in the beginning. The kind of anchors that held our faith down was the textual preservation or the you know lack of contradictions and all these kinds of things. But eventually our faith must mature past that to a higher point where we just know because the Lord has shown us directly. So you can think of it like this. How do I put it? If the only reason I believe the Quran is the word of God is because it contains no contradictions. This is something the Quran says. It contains no contradiction. If the only reason I believe it is because it contains no contradiction, what if I come across a verse in the Quran? Let's say I don't understand it and my false perceived assumptions are imposing a contradiction on it. Obviously, there's no contradiction in the Quran, but maybe I'm perceiving a contradiction that isn't really there. Should I start doubting? Should I start growing weak in my faith? Should I begin to cast doubt into the Quran? No, you cannot just believe in the Quran because it has no contradiction. You must have faith in the Quran and because God has told you, therefore it has no contradiction. Do you see what I'm trying to get at? You can't just I've rigorously and empirically and logically analyzed it, therefore now I know. Because if you in your reasoning somewhere, you see a contradiction which isn't there, then you're going to start to doubt. your faith is on shaky grounds. We don't understand the whole Quran. There's certain verses that we don't get that elite us that relate to the unseen. You may impose a contradiction, but if you have faith because God has guided you and now you trust it when God says there is no contradiction, now your faith is on unshaky grounds because you believe because the Lord has already shown you.

[00:31:13]where let's say uh the the initial reason why I came to the Quran was because I saw some historical evidence.

[00:31:22]Let's say certain historical claims the Quran was making about Jesus or Abraham or Moses. I haven't looked into these things. I'm not really that interested in them because it doesn't change my faith in the slightest. I know the Quran is the word of God because God has shown it to me. That's it. But let's say that was the angle in which you approached the Quran and developed an interest historical. you found that certain historical evidences were lining up with the Quran's statements. Now, what if those same scholars which were showing you that interesting historical evidence, they started to say that the Quran actually contradicts what we're seeing in history, the Quran contradicts the dating, the Quran contradicts the archaeology, the Quran contradicts the evidence that's being presented to us.

[00:32:02]That would if if the reason you believed was only because of the historical evidence, that would start to make you doubt. Your faith would go weak. It would go shaky. you would start to get a little crazy. But if you just have faith in what the Lord is showing you, then you trust it on whatever it says on history. So you see, if our faith is only relying on empirical syllogistic headlogical stuff, then it can only get us so far and it's very shaky. But if our faith is transcendent, it comes from heaven of what God has shown us, not in our head, in our heart, then nothing can take that away from you. Your faith is unbreaking. And ultimately, if we're on the right path, our faith should enter that point from the point of reasoning to the point, and I mean like head logical syllogistic reasoning to the point of transcendent faith, of direct divine truth of what your Lord has shown you. That nobody can take away from you.

[00:32:56]And such a belief, why do you believe in the Quran? Because God has guided me.

[00:33:00]He's shown me. That kind of a belief, it cannot be justified. It can't be logically explained. All the other points I was telling you, preservation, history, archaeological, those can be explained. Lack of contradictions, historical testimony, internal evidence, but none of those things that can be explained are the strongest reason why somebody believes. The strongest reason why somebody believes can't be explained. It's simply the Lord has opened my heart and shown me the truth.

[00:33:25]That's it. He has made me of the submitters. Chapter 49:14 reads, "The desert Arabs say we have believed. Say you have not believed, but say we have submitted for the faith has not yet entered into your hearts. But if you obey God and his messenger, he will not diminish you of any of your deeds. God is forgiving and merciful. So here we're dealing with people, and it's interesting. God says, "Don't say you've believed yet, but say you've submitted, for the faith has not entered your heart." So we're dealing with people who they have on an intellectual level surrendered their will to God. They have intellectually asented to the idea that the Quran is the book of God. That the day of judgment is true. That the prophet Muhammad is a real prophet of God. All these things we believe in the prophets, the books, the angels. They have intellectually asented and surrendered to it. But the faith has not yet entered into their hearts. They are not sure yet. They are not 100% certain, but they believe it up here, but it's not fully in there yet. Their faith is still weak. It's still shaky. They must cultivate it more in order for it to grow. And this is what I was talking about. It starts on an empirical basis, but then it goes to a point which even transcends reason. That's when the faith enters your heart. Now, people might ask me the question or the question, prove to me the Quran is the word of God.

[00:34:46]Prove it to me. Show me this. Show me that. And my response is, I can't.

[00:34:51]Either you trust me or you don't. You hear the word and if the word falls upon a clean heart that word that heart will yield to the holy words of God. And if your heart is diseased then you won't be able to see it. I cannot prove to you the Quran is the word of God. Never can.

[00:35:05]Nobody can and nobody will. I mean if everything is proofbased if everything can be proven like again I can prove to you I'm wearing a white and blue checkered shirt. You can see that right now. If everything would be proven like that, where would faith begin? When would we have to trust in the unseen?

[00:35:22]When would we have to show courage? When would we have to make a leap of faith for the sake of the Lord? It would never come in if everything was proven. So many things of our fa our belief are based on faith with no evidence other than the Quran has told us. And God has shown us it's the word of God. So we trust its testimony. So prove to me the Quran's the word of God. You rely on proof too much. Let me repeat that again. You rely on proof too much. I can show you the unique virtues of the Quran, but I cannot prove to you it's the word of God. You are not ready to accept and understand it's the word of God until you are ready to have faith in and believe in the unseen. You are ready to believe and trust in things you can't even account for, things that transcend reason. When you're ready to believe and accept something truly incredible and amazing, then perhaps by the will of God, I can prove to you it's the word of God. And these skeptical types of people, they need proof for everything.

[00:36:18]And they're not consistent with it anyways. I told you, they believe there's a tin can on Mars. They believe in all this monkey man stuff. All this stuff that they can't prove. They believe in these things anyway. So, they're not consistent. But at least on an operational level, they think they need proof for everything. And why? It's because they have no faith, no trust, no courage. They see the world in terms of statistics and probabilities and coincidences. I don't view the world like that. There is no statistics. You know that guy uh uh big shock, he's like, "Show me the statistic." There is no statistics. There is no probability.

[00:36:56]There is no coincidence. Everything is directed by the divine will of God. We are all caught up in an amazing grandiose plan that we cannot resist. We are within the order of God. There is no coincidence. But they don't view the world from that metaphysic. They view it from the metaphysic of statistics, probability, and chance. These people don't believe in the unseen. So they're relying on proof too much. But believers, we don't need that kind of proof. Now, the word that is often translated as proof in the Quran, ayah, it really means sign and indication. But it isn't proof like 2 + 2 is four. It's a sign or an indication pointing you in the right direction. But you must trust in what the sign is showing. There's a level of trust. Ayah really means sign or indication. So these people they see the world world in terms of statistics, probability and coincidence. But we as believers the metaphysic by which we view the world is through design, plan, order, heavenly guidance, divine destiny and fate. That's how we view it. So we're able to have courage even in the most unreasonable way. Look at the example of the early messenger. the prophet. He's completely outnumbered.

[00:38:10]But God is telling the believers, "Have faith and trust. I will send you my army of angels and you'll be taken care. Even though you're 200, you'll be 400. You'll be a thousand. Don't worry. The statistics and probability looks bad, but have faith in the unseen. Your faith, if it transcends reason, I will show you that you can defeat them. Even though it doesn't make any sense how you'll defeat them, I'll show you you can. Just trust me." And let me tell you something. It's the human ego and human weakness that constantly needs proof and by proof empirical proof all the time.

[00:38:42]It's constantly needs you to be able to show everything that constantly doubts it. But like the human ego, it wants to comprehend everything, feel like it has everything within its control, everything within its grasp.

[00:38:59]And God humbles people like that. People think they've understood all the variables of what could go wrong with their business or what could go wrong with their health. I work out. I go to the gym. I eat right. How the heck did this cancer pop up in me? Or how the heck did this thing pop up in me? We think we understand everything. We want to understand. It's the human ego. But we have to recognize there's so many things that are beyond our understanding. And we just have to have faith in what the Lord is showing us.

[00:39:26]And the human ego wants to feel like it's controlling its destiny. But it's the Lord who's controlling your destiny.

[00:39:33]So that's the human ego that wants to understand and feel like it grasps and controls everything. But it's the destruction of the human ego to just simply trust to say, "I don't know. I don't have all the answers, but I'm going to trust in something that I can't explain or I can't even prove it to you.

[00:39:52]And that's okay with me. I trust it because God has guided me to it." That's a very, very, very humble answer. You're not showing yourself or trying to show people how smart and deep and intellectual you are. I trust it because the Lord has shown me. I can show you certain evidences, but I can't prove it to you. I don't have the proof. And tell me what's more humble than that. I don't need to demonstrate to you how I know everything. I don't know everything, but I trust anyways. And let me tell you something. To be a skeptic is very easy.

[00:40:26]It's not difficult at all. To doubt is easy. To handwave dismiss everything is not difficult. Oh, the Bible's not true.

[00:40:34]The Quran's not true. Bhagabad Gita is not true. All these religions not true.

[00:40:37]Not true. Not true. No evidence. Bring me the evidence. That's very easy to do.

[00:40:41]Being a skeptic is a simple job. All you do is break things down. You can never build anything up. There is no stand because nothing can be proven to be true. There's no standard to hold you accountable for and accountable towards and you can live your life like a complete coward. It's easy to handwave, dismiss everything without looking in, without pondering, without asking for God's guidance. But you know what's difficult? Trusting, having faith in the unseen, believing in spite of evidence or in spite of a lack of evidence. Not I should say evidence to the contrary, but a lack of evidence to certain things.

[00:41:17]Trusting and having faith and courage and standards you can hold yourself accountable to. That is difficult. Being an armchair skeptic and just saying wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, no evidence, no evidence is very, very simple and easy to do. But to have faith and courage is difficult and it's only for the few. Therefore, in order for our faith to really last and to be truly potent, it cannot be based in scientific and empirical evidences. It just can't.

[00:41:42]It must be based in trust. Our faith in order for it to last, it cannot be of this world in the studies of this world, the sciences and the empiricism. It must be of heaven. It must transcend. It must come from a world beyond our faith in order to be able to survive the tests of time. And a faith that comes from a world beyond cannot be fully explained.

[00:42:08]And if that faith comes upon you, a faith from the world beyond that you cannot fully explain. I tell you, if you possess such a faith, there is no telling what you can do in the name of your Lord. So let's end this sermon off in words of prayer. All praise be to our God, the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the worthy of worship, the worthy of respect, the worthy of glorification, the worthy of exaltation, the one in front of whom I and all believers and all life and all creation pales in comparison. Praise be to our God, the perfect. My Lord, I pray to you for the believers that you would increase us and strengthen us in faith every single day.

[00:42:46]That our faith would not be of this world and the things and the sciences and the studies of this world, but our faith should come directly from you into our life. I pray to you my God that you give us that kind of faith, that kind of holy faith, which is a true gift. If somebody has it, they will never break, they will never fall down. My God, I pray to you that you guide the believers. You show us a straight path every single day and you keep us sensitive towards your signs. The little ways it's not even subtle. The dramatic ways in which you communicate to us every single day, but our head starts to get in the way. It starts to say, "Oh, coincidence. Oh, doubt, doubt, doubt, doubt, doubt." But the heart wants to tell us that it's true. This is real.

[00:43:26]May you allow us to when the head and the heart are in conflict to follow our heart, my God, and to be led by faith and not by the things of this world. All praise be to our God, the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the worthy of worship. I surrender my will to you and my God, I pray that you do with me whatever you will. I just hope in your mercy and that you would do with me good. Praise be to you, the Lord of the worlds. Amen.