Islamic Solution to the Book)

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Islamic Solution To The Worlds Problem 1


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ISLAMIC SOLUTION TOTHE WORLDS PROBLEMS

Khalifah Series No.3

byProf. Dr. Muhammad alMahdi

Toward A Fully and Truly Islamic World



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Published by:

The Khalifah Institute

Lot 298, Jalan 3, Taman Ampang Utama,68000 Ampang, Selangor Darul Ehsan,

Malaysia.

Tel: 03-42566810, Fax: 03-42565423

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: http://www.islamic-world.net

Compiled by Fatima Ebrahim

Copyright 2004 the Khalifah Institute

ISBN

Printed by



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This lecture was delivered

by Prof. Dr. Muhammad alMahdion 14th of February 2004,

at the Khalifah Institute. It is

the first lecture of an 8 lecture

weekend course conducted

for the general public.

Notes in boxes are quotations from Al-Quran,

Al-Hadith and writings of Muslim scholars,inserted by the compiler of this transcript, toelucidate points raised by Prof. Dr. MuhammadalMahdi in his lecture.


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ISLAMIC SOLUTION TO THEWORLDS PROBLEMS

1. WE CAN HAVE A BETTER WORLD!

In this lecture I am going to try to convince youthat there is a real way to make this world the kindof world that Allah wants us to have. I want you toevaluate critically all that I am going to say. I wont

even bother to impress upon you all the variousdegrees and doctorates that I have earned fromseveral prestigious universities, and the studies andresearch I have undertaken because it doesntaccount for anything; it might not be of any value.

What you have to judge my ideas on is whether,they are reasonable, make sense, are consistentwith Islam and most importantly, whether it all fittogether. This lecture is the first segment of thevast body of knowledge that constitutes The UnifiedTheory of Existence where every single bit ofknowledge fits beautifully together.

In ones lifetime Allah, in His Infinite Wisdom and

Grace, sometimes steps in and changes thedirection of ones life. Last year, Allah stepped inand changed drastically the direction of my life. Ihad been diagnosed in June last year (2003) with atype of lung cancer that is always fatal, andactually, quickly fatal also. I was given by thedoctors about 6 months of active life before I

become incapacitated. It is 9 months, since then



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and I feel rather good; by Allahs leave, I may havemany more months of active life.

However, please consider the position that I findmyself in. I had spent almost forty years devotingmy life to one particular area of study, not just theLaws of Learning and how to apply them. But Ihave been devoting my time to find ways to have abetter world.

Forty years ago, I discovered the power of a toolthat I am convinced would make the world a muchbetter place to live in. Forty years ago the worldwas not a nice place either and now it is evenworse than it was then. Even though I was not yetMuslim, I was very socially concerned. So I thoughtthat I will find a way to use this tool that Idiscovered to make the world a better place (this

tool of the knowledge of the Laws of Learning).

I worked forty years on it (and, additionally, onmany other things) and then I was just ready toimplement it. In fact, it was the Malaysiangovernment that engaged me to implement it.However, the government works rather slowly.Then when I found out that I do not have muchtime to live, I realized that I had to changedirection. There will not be enough time to see theimplementation of my ideas to full fruition, nor willI have time to write another book. So I decided toconduct an intensive three-month course that runsfive days a week for 4 hours daily and also thisseries of 8-lecture weekend course and have it all



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video taped. If I were to write a book, it might takeme a year to do so. But these lectures that I amgiving, when transcribed into books, will produce

about 35 booklets. So what I am trying to do in thetime that Allah has left for me is transfer as muchof the knowledge that I gained in those forty yearsto a group of people in general and to have itvideo-taped and transcribed into books. In thisway, I have an opportunity to leave my lifes workafter my death. I think to myself how blessed I amthat I have time to do this rather than if I were tohave been hit by a truck and died, and then fortyyears of work would have just disappeared.

In giving these weekend lectures, it is my hope thatsome of you will be convinced that the ideas I willbe presenting to you are good, workable,consistent with Islam and offer an opportunity to

make the world that Allah really planned for us tohave, not the terrible world that exists now, andthat you will actually do something with theknowledge. The more people who have access tothis knowledge, the more likely it is that it will beperpetuated after my death. That is why I amgiving these lectures. SO LETS BEGIN



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THE 3 SIMPLE KHALIFAH STEPS

The following are the three things youneed to do consistently, every day, toensure that your children successfullybecome good Khalifah of Allah who deeplyin their hearts, love all that Allah hasmade right for us and develop a profounddislike for everything Allah has told us is

wrong.


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STEP 1: Teach your children about theirrole as Khalifah of Allah. Do this in a way

that lets them feel in their hearts how thisis the most exciting, glorious honour thatthey could ever receive. At least severaltimes every day find different positiveways to remind your children that they areKhalifah of Allah.

STEP 2: At least several times every day

find different ways to reward your children(mainly with warm and loving praise) forgood things they do or good characteristics that they show.

STEP 3: Set firm reasonable rules foryour children, and explain the reason for

these rules. Apply these rules consistentlywith kind discipline, which meanswithout harshness. This is the sunnah ofour beloved Prophet Muhammad(sallallahu alaihi wasallam).

(Extract from Khalifah Project Leaflet)


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2. PURPOSE OF THE CREATION OF MAN

The question arises as to why we want to

emphasize the importance of the concept ofKhalifah. It is often forgotten that this is one of themajor concepts in Islam; in fact, today it is one ofthe least talked about concepts in Islam. However,let me recount to you how I came to the realizationof the extreme significance of the role of man asKhalifah of Allah on earth.

Several years ago, I was reading verse 30 ofSurah Al-Baqarah of the Quran, where Allah tellsthe angels He is going to create a being to be HisKhalifah on earth and the angels asked Allah whyHe was going to create as His Khalifah, a being whowill cause mischief and shed blood.


KHALIFAH ON EARTH

Behold, Your Lord said to the angels: I willcreate a Khalifah (Vicegerent) on earth.They said: Will You place therein one whowill make mischief and shed blood?

Whilst we do celebrate Your praises andglorify Your Holy (name)?

He said: I know what you know not.

Al-Baqarah 2:30


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Because I am interested in the nature of thecommunication method and the semantics used inthe Quran, it occurred to me that this was the

most direct statement in the Quran on the purposeof the creation of man. For Allah to say to theangels I am going to create a Khalifah on earth,this is as direct a statement as can be. To behonest, I did not really know exactly whatKhalifah meant, although, like most Muslims, Iknew as an Islamic fact that man was Khalifah ofAllah, but I rarely thought much about it.

When I delved deeper into the meaning ofKhalifah, I found out it is of extreme importanceto our correct understanding of Islam.

In the Quran, Allah tells us He created man forthree purposes, that is, first, to be His Khalifah on

earth; second, to be His Abd (servant); and third,to know Him. In the sequence of the appearance ofthe verses as positioned in the Quran, the firstpurpose Allah tells us He created us for was to beHis Khalifah on earth.


I have only created Jinn and men, that theymay (know and) serve Me.

Adh-Dhariyat 51:56


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Man cannot be Allahs Khalifah without being theAbd (servant) of Allah. By being Allahs Khalifahand serving Him, man comes to know Him

(marifah).


MANS DUAL ROLE: KHALIFAH & ABD OF

ALLAH

To be human is to be aware of the responsibilitywhich the state of vicegerency entails. Evenwhen in the Quran it is stated that God hassubjected (sakhkhara) nature to man as in theverse, Hast thou not seen how God hassubjected to you all that is in the earth (22.65),this does not mean the ordinary conquest ofnature, as claimed by so many modern Muslimsthirsty for the power and riches which modern

science bestows upon man. Rather, it means thedominion over things which man is allowed toexercise only on the condition that it beaccording to Gods laws and precisely becausehe is Gods vicegerent on earth, being thereforegiven a power which ultimately belongs to Godalone and not to man who is merely a creature

born to journey throughcont.


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this earthly life carrying out the Will of Allahand to return to God at the moment ofdeath.

That is also why nothing is more dangerousfor the natural environment than theexercise of the powers of vicegerency by ahumanity which no longer accepts to beGods servant, obedient to His commandsand laws.

There is no more dangerous a creature onearth than a khalifat Allah who no longerconsiders himself to be abd Allah and whotherefore does not see himself as owingallegiance to a being beyond himself. Sucha creature is able to possess a power ofdestruction which is truly Satanic in thesense that Satan is the ape of God; forsuch a human type wields, at least for ashort time, a godlike but destructivedominion over the earth because thisdominion is devoid of the care which Goddisplays towards all His creatures andbereft of that love which runs through the

arteries of the universe.

(from Seyyed Hossein Nasr, The Need for a SacredScience, pg 134-135)


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3. MEANING OF KHALIFAH

When I started to research the concept of

Khalifah, I found that in the English language, theArabic word Khalifah translates into Vicegerent.The word vicegerent turns out to be a reallyaccurate word to describe the relationship man haswith Allah.

Vicegerent means one who acts on behalf ofthe leader or the king. So first the leader or theking tells somebody I want you to act on mybehalf you do not take it upon yourself to act onthe behalf of the leader or the king. In other words,the vicegerent is appointed by the leader or theking.

Then the leader or the king tells the vicegerent

to carry out the leader or kings will, that is, thevicegerent is told what to do. He does not carry outhis own will, but must carry out the leaders will.The vicegerent himself has no power of his own,but as he carries out the leaders will he is allowedthe use of some of leaders power. Thus, the leadergives the vicegerent the use of his power to carryout his will in the leaders place.

I thought to myself, this is really amazing what a tremendously important role it is to bevicegerent or Khalifah of Allah. Essentially, Allah issaying to man I want you to act in My place, and Iam going to give you some of My power to be ableto do so.



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Then everything in mans life from thebeginning of the universe, to his birth, to his final

destiny begins to come together in a perfect plan.



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4. CREATION OF MAN

At a hundred and twenty days (40 days

according to some scholars) in the development ofthe human being in its mothers womb, Allahbreathes into the fetus of His Spirit.

So often in Islam (and also in other religions) whenvital facts are revealed we hardly ever fullycomprehend their meaning. What does it meanwhen it is said that Allah breathes into man of HisSpirit?



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When I look into what that means, it seems tome that Allah breathes certain qualities into Adam(and by extension, into every human being).

These qualities include some small number of

Allahs Attributes in some small portion. Allah Whohas His Attributes expressed infinitely could notimpart His Infinite Attributes into a relative being,man. Allah imparts those attributes into man in justa sufficient amount so that Adam (and throughAdam, all human beings) can successfully carry outhis role as Khalifah of Allah.


RUH

And then He (Allah) forms him (man) in

accordance with what he is meant to be,and breathes into him of His spirit (Ruh) .

As-Sajdah 22:9

Verily the creation of each one of you isbrought together in his mothers belly forforty days in the form of seed, then he is a

clot of blood for a like period, then a morselof flesh for a like a period, then there issent to him an angel who blows the breathof life (Ruh) into him .

Hadith No.4, incomplete,An Nawawis Forty Hadith


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I think to myself: this fits really well into the overallscheme of things and the pattern is continuing to

develop.



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5. MAN AND THE UNIVERSE

It logically appears that the whole universe is

created by Allah to lead toward the final Creation ofAdam. The actual creation by Allah of all that exists(the heavens and the earth and everythingbetween and in them) is for the creation of Adam,and by extension, mankind. Specifically, Allahcreated the entire universe so as to have a placeHe could install man as His Khalifah. After Allahcreated everything in the universe, He then createda Khalifah.

I found that my thoughts on this issue concur withthose of many Islamic scholars. The purpose ofAllahs physical creation is so that Allah can placeHis Khalifah in His Plan and have him carry out hisresponsibilities. In other words, the whole purpose

of the universe is to allow Allahs Khalifah to exist.We can logically deduce that the universe wouldnot have been created if the role of Khalifah hadnot been a very important part of Allahs GrandCosmic Plan.



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ALLAHS GIFTS TO MAN

It is He Who has created for you all thingsthat are on earth .

Al-Baqarah 2:29

Do you not see that Allah has subjected toyour (use) all things in the heavens and onearth and He has made His Bounties flow toyou in exceeding measure, (both) seen andunseen .

Luqman 31:20


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6. ROLE OF KHALIFAH OF ALLAH

If the whole purpose of the creation of the

universe is so that Allahs Khalifah can exist onearth, I wondered what exactly is the Khalifahsupposed to do? Then I find through my researchthat Islamic scholars have from the earliest days ofIslam concluded that the responsibilities of Khalifahare only three:

a. To perfect himselfb. To perfect society, andc. And, to perfect the physical world of space

and time

To restate it more simply, especially forchildren, the three responsibilities of Khalifah ofAllah are:

a. To make yourself good.b. To help others become good.c. And, to make the physical world good

(clean and beautiful so it is pleasing toAllah).

These three responsibilities actually coverabsolutely everything a human being can do. Andso everything a human being is supposed to bedoing as Khalifah of Allah is making goodnessprevail - in himself, in society and in the physicalworld. And that is the totality of mansresponsibility in this life - until he enters thespiritual world (in the next life).



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Thus, we have as our total responsibility theobligation to bring good to ourselves, to others,

and to the physical world.


THE 3 RESPONSIBILITIES AS KHALIFAH OF

ALLAH

In Islam, the following scheme of life

emerges. Mans highest merit nay, hisbasic function is to worship the One TrueGod, Allah (Quran, 51:56). This worship isto be undertaken by man, however, notmerely as a creature among creatures butas the vicegerent of God as a fully-integrated being committed to a cosmicmission. Namely, he has to realize the

principle of integration at its highest,because Gods Personality enshrines thePerfect Ideal of Integration, and man is HisVicegerent.

As such, mans worship of Allah should bedynamic, consequential, and comprehensive in

nature; which means that worship of Allah (asHis Abd or servant) should not be confined onlyto the act of Prayer but also to:

cont.


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I want to point out that of the threeresponsibilities, two of them I have worded to

make, and one of them I worded to help. Thereason why I have said, Help others be goodrather than Make others be good is that while it isfair enough for us to make ourselves good or tomake the physical world good, in Islam, it wouldnot be fair to make others be good. If Allahwanted to make all of us be good He would havedone so. So, since Allah chose not to make us be


1. The development of his personality in

all dimensions (i.e. to make yourselfgood),

2. The development of a godly society inwhich human beings can live in love, justice and wisdom (i.e. help othersbecome good), and

3. The unraveling of the mysteries ofNature for establishing his status ofVicegerency and for comprehendingthe majesty and glory of Allah. (i.e.make the physical world good).

(from Muhammad Fazl-ur-Rahman, The QuranicFoundation and Structure of Muslim Society, Vol I, pg.

117)


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good we should not impose that goodness uponothers.

In Islam, we are told that there is to be nocompulsion in our Deen. Deen should not beinterpreted in a narrow sense; this statement doesnot only mean we must not force anyone tobecome Muslim, but what it really means is that inthe totality of the Islamic way of life there shouldbe no compulsion. Islam should be practiced byfree-will.

This is exactly what being Khalifah of Allah is about,that although Allah could easily make us fulfill our

responsibilities as His Khalifah, He chose not makeus fulfill those responsibilities. Allah tells us, andprovides us with guidance on, how we can be HisKhalifah; but, He wants us to use the free-will Hehas given us to choose to do so.


NO COMPULSION

Let there be no compulsion in religion(deen): Truth stands out clear from Error..

Al-Baqarah 2: 256


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MANS FREE-WILL

.. if it had been His (Allahs) Will, He could

indeed have guided you all.

An-Anam 6:149

This (message) is no less than a reminderto all mankind to every one of you whowills to walk a straight way.

At-Takwir 81:27-28

The truth (has now come) from your Lord:let, then, him who wills, believe in it, andlet him who wills, reject it.

Al-Kahf 18:29

Had Your Lord so willed, all those who liveon earth would surely have believed, all ofthem. Do you then think that you couldcompel mankind against their will to believe?

Yunus 10:99


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7. ON JUDGMENT DAY

It then logically follows that if the whole

purpose of Allah creating the universe is so that HisKhalifah could be placed on earth, the concept ofbeing Khalifah is of utmost importance. Itconstitutes the totality of our responsibility ashuman beings living on this earth in those threeareas over which we can have any influence. Weare to be moving towards total goodness in theconduct of life in this world.

On Judgment Day, how well we fulfill our role asAllahs Khalifah on earth will be very important.Many other Islamic scholars concur on this. Theyconcur that although on the Day of Judgment weare to be judged on our deeds, but we arespecifically to be judged on our deeds as Khalifah of

Allah. And the actual judgment is made on how wellwe have carried out our role as Allahs Khalifah.



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8. ISLAMIC CONCEPTS OF TAWHID ANDKHALIFAH

The most important word and concept in Islam(besides Allah, of course) is Tawhid. Tawhid refersto the totality of the relationship of Allah toexistence. It is about the totality of existence inboth the physical and spiritual realm, and perhapsother dimensions that we do not yet know of.Tawhid is about the totality of whatever exists. InIslam, absolutely everything is covered by theconcept of Tawhid.

However, when only the physical existence isconsidered, the understanding of Khalifah is thekey Islamic concept in the physical realm and issecondary in importance only to the concept ofTawhid in Islam.

To recapitulate, Allah created the universe sothat He can place His Khalifah on earth to fulfill theresponsibilities Allah has set for him. Second, onthe Day of Judgment, Allah will judge man basedon how well he executed his role as His Khalifah onearth. And, third, in Islam the concept of Khalifah issecond in significance only to the concept ofTawhid.

This shows the absolutely immense level ofsignificance behind the concept of Khalifah of Allah.I then realized that although I had been aprofessed Muslim for over two decades, I washardly ever aware of being Allahs Khalifah and that



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I knew virtually nothing about being Khalifah.Moreover, most Muslims that I came into contactwith, despite many possessing a high level of

Islamic consciousness, were equally unaware andunknowledgeable about their specific role asKhalifah of Allah and what this role signifies.



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9. MAN AS KHALIFAH OF ALLAH THEFORGOTTEN CONCEPT

Last year (in 2003), I did a lecture tour thattook me to twelve states of Malaysia. As I wasdelivering those lectures, I took the opportunity toconduct an informal survey among the severalthousand Malaysian Muslims who attended theselectures.

These Muslims were serious enough abouttheir Islamic faith to willingly attend an Islamic talkconducted in the English language.

The informal survey consisted of me asking theaudience three questions. I first asked them Howmany of you know that you are Khalifah of Allah?More than 98% of the attendees answered Yes to

that question. The second question I asked wasHow many of you know what the responsibilitiesare as Allahs Khalifah, according to the Islamicscholars? Less than 5% raised their hands, and myguess is that if that 5% who raised their hands hadbeen asked to write down what theseresponsibilities were, most of them would havebeen unable to do so. I think they were answeringthe question generally rather than specifically.Lastly, when I asked the third question which wasthe cutting-edge question, that is, the real point ofthe survey, How many of you have in the pastmonth in anything you have done or saidconsidered yourself doing so as a Khalifah of



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Allah? The result was one-tenth of one percent,that is, 0.001%.

If it is true, and it certainly appears to be true,that the concept and the role of Khalifah is thewhole purpose of our existence, that human beingsand the universe and everything in it would notexist if we were not to be Khalifah of Allah, andthat on the Day of Judgment we are essentiallyjudged how well we carried out our role as Khalifahof Allah, I think it is clear that something has gonevery wrong with our Ummah in that most Muslimshave virtually no understanding of their role asKhalifah of Allah. I must ask why is that so?

One of the possibilities, to my thinking, is thatShaitan does not want us to succeed in this world.Of course this is obvious. In this case Shaitan

seems to have succeeded in blinding us to our mostimportant role in Creation as Allahs Khalifah.Shaitan has intervened in a way that he hasallowed us to know that we are Allahs Khalifah onearth, but at the same time he has blinded us toKhalifahs true meaning. How pleased Shaitanwould be if he succeeded in his effort to deceiveman and cause Allahs Plan for His Creation to fail.We must all do our utmost to thwart Shaitansefforts to stop us from successfully fulfilling our roleas Khalifah of Allah.

We need to seek Allahs help in this. In His Mercy,Allah tells us everything we need to know, but wehave to truly understand Allahs message by



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delving deeply into the meaning of the words Allahuses in His Message to us.



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10. MAN IS EMPOWERED BY ALLAH TO BE HISKHALIFAH

Why is Adam able to be Khalifah of Allah?Without meaning any disrespect in discussing thismatter, the chimpanzee is the highest of theanimals. Why is the chimpanzee not also Khalifahof Allah? What is the difference between Adam, ahuman being and the chimpanzee, the highestanimal? The answer to this question gives us thekey to why man can be Allahs Khalifah and nothing

else can. The answer lies in the verses of theQuran immediately following verse 30 of Surah Al-Baqarah, already quoted above where Allah tellsthe angels He will create a Khalifah on earth.

Verse 31 of Surah Al-Baqarah appears to benon-sequential to the preceding verse, that is,there appears to be a break or gap in the sequence


NAMES OF ALL THINGS

And He taught Adam the names of allthings; then He placed them before theangels, and said: Tell Me the names ofthese if you are right. They said: Glory beto You! Of knowledge we have none, savewhat You have taught us: in Truth, it is Youare perfect in knowledge and wisdom.

Al-Baqarah 2:31-32


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of the narration, at least until you really understandwhat is being said.

Verse 31 reads And Allah taught Adam thenames of all things I thought to myself why wasthis verse placed there, what could be its truesignificance? Then I realized that this verse isspecifically about the making of Allahs Khalifah.What then does it mean? What it means is that inteaching Adam the names of all things, Allahimparted to Adam the ability to name andunderstand things. The ability to name things isactually how we speak, how we communicate, howwe think thoughts. In essence, it means that Adamwas given symbolic language. This is how Allahgave Adam the ability to be His Khalifah.

An animal does not have symbolic language.

With no symbolic language, we cannot name thingsnor can we understand them. An animal can seethe same things as we see but the animal cannotunderstand what those things mean, nor put aname to them. For example, consider anembarrassing situation at a garden party. A dog,coming into the area of the party, wants to relieveitself. It does not care if there are fifty peoplesitting around who can see it; it will simply answerthe call of nature and relieve itself in theirpresence. The dog does not understand what itmeans to have people around who can see what itis doing. It is unable to feel any shame from doingthis embarrassing act in public. It sees the people



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just as well as we do but it has no grasp of themeaning of what it sees.

This is part of what is given by Allah to Adam both the ability to name things (or to have asymbolic language) and to understand what thingsmean, to understand absolutely everything. This isa very critical p



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11. ALLAH GIVES MAN TWO BOOKS OFREVELATION

Allah has given man essentially two Books ofRevelation. One, the spiritual Book of Revelationrevealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be uponhim), which is the Quran. We are to understandthe contents of the Quran through the Hadith andSunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him)because he was an example to us.

The second Book of Revelation which we are alsotold by Allah to read is Allahs physical creation orthe Book of Nature. The way we are to read Allahsphysical creation is with the symbolic languageAllah has given us. We then describe the things wesee, hear, and sense and then once we candescribe them with our symbolic language, we can

understand them. When we get close to a fullunderstanding of Allahs physical creation, we willknow Him very well indeed. That is one of thepurposes of our creation to know Allah.


SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE QURAN AND

NATURE

As to the world being made for man, one of thethings the Muslim means by this is that it is like avast picture-book through which Godcommunicates with His vicegerent, the

contd.


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observer of the universe, and with him alone.Muslims have no inclination to tear this picture-book to pieces like an unruly child. The Quranand the great phenomena of nature are twinmanifestations of the divine act of Self-revelation. For Islam, the natural world in itstotality is a vast fabric into which the signs ofthe Creator are woven. It is significant that theword meaning signs or symbols, ayat, is thesame word that is used for the verses of the

Quran. Earth and sky, mountains and stars,oceans and forests and the creatures theycontain are, as it were, verses of a sacredbook.

Creation is one, and He who created the Quranis also He who created all the visible phenomenaof nature. Both are a communication from Godto man.

In your creation and in all the beasts scatteredon the earth there are signs forpeople of surefaith. In the alternation of nightand day and in

the provision Allah sendeth down from theheavens whereby He quickeneth the earth after

its death,

contd.


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and in the distribution of the winds, aresigns for people who are intelligent(Quran, 45:4-6). And: Truly in thecreation of the heavens and of the earth,and the succession of night and day, and inthe ships which speed through the sea withwhat is useful to man, and in the waterswhich Allah sendeth down from the heavens. and in the order of the winds, and theclouds that run their appointed courses

between heaven and earth, are signsindeed for people who are intelligent(Quran, 2:164).

Because: He it is who hath spread theearth wide and placed in it firm mountainsand running waters, and created thereintwo sexes of [many kinds of] plant, andcauseth the night to cover the day. Truly inall this are signs for people who reflect.Whether we scan great distances or lookwithin ourselves, the message is the same:We shall show them Our signs on thehorizons and within themselves until theyare assured that this is the truth. Doth not

thy Lord suffice thee, since He is over allthings the Witness? (Quran 41:53).

(from Gai Eaton, Islam and the Destiny of Man, pg. 101)


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12. MAN LEARNS DIFFERENTLY FROM ANANIMAL

This is the distinction between the humanbeing and the animal the human being has asymbolic language which enables him tounderstand all things, and an animal does not havea symbolic language and thus is unable tounderstand all things. An animal can mainly onlyunderstand what its instincts allow it to understand.

This can be illustrated by a model of howlearning takes place in a human being and ananimal. This model typifies very well the distinctionbetween a human being and an animal. Humanbeings and animals learn exactly the same way. Alllearning is based on certain Laws of Learning thatAllah has introduced into His Creation. Simply

stated, all learning is about reward andpunishment. Basically, the most fundamental Lawof Learning states that any response, meaningphysical actions, verbal actions (words) or thoughtactions (what we think in our minds), which isfollowed by something you like (a reward) tends toincrease in rate and magnitude in the future. Ifwhat you do is followed by getting something youlike you are more likely to do that thing again inthe future.

Also, any response followed by something youdo not like (a punishment) tends to decrease inrate and magnitude in the future. If what you do isfollowed by something you dont like you are less



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External Environmental Sources:

External Environmental Sources:

Physical

Social

P

ERCEPTION

TotalPastLearningHistory

(i) The Learning Model of an Animal

Physical

Social

P

ERCEPTION

TotalPastLearningHistory

Inner Speech

(ii) The Learning Model of a Human Being

Diagram 1: The Learning Model of a Human Being

and an Animal


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THE LEARNING MODEL EXPLAINED SIMPLY

1. The primary factor that determines anindividuals character and behaviour is hisenvironment.

2. The environment consists of three sourcesthat will influence an individuals character.

a. Physical source of the environment

which is the material world around us(before it is changed by human actions,after the physical source is changed byhuman actions it also becomes a socialinfluence).

b. Social source of the environment which

comprises both direct (seeing whatothers do and keeping what others say)and indirect human interaction (e.g.from man-made communication mediasuch as TV, internet, music, literature,etc).

c. Inner speech which refers to theinternal communication we have withourselves with our words, thoughts,emotions, feelings, and inspiration.

Inner speech arises from theaccumulated life experience stored



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in our Total Past Learning History(TPLH), and is a big factor in how weperceive all things and in determining

what our actions will be.

3. Additionally, the effect of theenvironmental factors is coloured by theindividuals unique perception of hisenvironment. Perception interprets allinformation received by our senses andacts as a filter. This filter is not objective;it is subjective because it is alwayscoloured in some manner. Muslims mustdevelop an Islamic perception, so that theysee the world from an Islamic point of viewno matter what the circumstances are. Weshould view all things as Allah views them.

4. The Total Past Learning History (TPLH) is thesum total of all interactions an individual hashad with the environment, both external andinternal. Our TPLH determines ourpersonality, character, and behaviour, and isinfluenced by the three environmentalsources, of which the most important areinner speech and social interaction. The TPLHdetermines the path our consciousness takes.



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13. AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE DISTINCTIONBETWEEN THE LEARNING ABILITY OF THEHUMAN BEING AND AN ANIMAL

Let me give an illustration that makes clear thedifference between how an animal learns and how ahuman being learns.

Imagine two chimpanzees walking down a jungle path. One of them is big, strong, andhealthy, and the other is small, weak, and starving.Both see a banana lying in the path. Who will eatthe banana? Undoubtedly, the big, strongchimpanzee will eat the banana. Why? Because thechimpanzee has learned from the physicalenvironment: See food, eat. It has not learned tothink: Oh, I like to eat bananas, they are nice toeat. It has simply learnt: See food, eat. Allah

has taught it thus.

From the social environment, the chimpanzeehas learned that the one who is bigger and strongerthan the other can have what it wants. Thus, thebig, strong chimpanzee gets to eat the banana andthe small, weak chimpanzee does not, although itneeds the banana much more. They have learnedthis from the social environment. Allah has taughtthem thus.

So it is not that chimpanzees are basicallymean and nasty animals that is the reason the big,strong chimpanzee eats the banana. It is that thechimpanzee has absolutely no opportunity to do



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other than what it has been taught by theinfluences of the external environment: see food,eat and if you are bigger and stronger, you get to

take what you want. That is what it has learned,and it lives perfectly according to these laws. Itdoes not have the possibility of saying to itself, Mysmall, weak, starving friend needs the bananamore than me. It cannot say that because it doesnot have a symbolic language. It cannot think ofthe consequences of its actions; it does notunderstand the full nature and dynamics of thecircumstances. It is outside its realm of its abilityfor the chimpanzee to choose by its free-will to givethat banana to its small, weak, starving friend.

Now, imagine two human beings, particularlytwo Muslims walking down the same jungle path.One of them is big, strong, and healthy and the

other is small, weak, and starving. Both see thebanana on the path. Who will eat the banana?Almost certainly, the small, weak, and starvinghuman being will eat it. Why? Because the humanbeing is given free-will through the inner speech, orthrough having been taught the names of things byAllah, and therefore has the ability to understandthe circumstances and the consequences. Thus, itwould be almost inconceivable in a circumstancelike the one presented for a human being not tothink the words with a symbolic language,something like: Oh, Im hungry. I would like toeat the banana, but my friend is starving. If hedoes not get some food, he may die, so I will givehim the banana. This symbolic language can take



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place in the mind of a human being but cannot takeplace in the mind of an animal. Symbolic languageis what separates us from the animals, it is what

gives us free-will, and it is what allows us to beKhalifah of Allah.

In the above illustration, the big, strong,healthy Muslim will be fulfilling the first of hisresponsibilities as Khalifah of Allah. He is makinghimself good by being kind and caring and puttingthe needs of others before his own.

To summarize, with reference to verses 30 and31 of Surah Al-Baqarah, it now becomes very clearand logical that the creation of His Khalifah is byAllah teaching Adam the name of things. Hence,the real key to being Khalifah of Allah is knowledgeof the names of things, that is, being given a

symbolic language which in turn endows the humanbeing with inner speech which is the source of hisfree-will. Possessing symbolic language alsoenables the human being to acquire and utilizeknowledge.



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MAN AND ANIMALS

It is by means of his free-will that man

attains superiority over all other creatures inthe world. He is the only being able to actcounter to his own instinctual nature,something no animal or plant can do. Forexample, you will never encounter ananimal voluntarily engaging in a two-dayfast, or a plant committing suicide out of

grief. Plants and animals can neither rendergreat services nor commit treachery. It isnot possible for them to act in a waydifferent from that in which they have beencreated. It is only man who can rebelagainst the way in which he was created,who can defy even his spiritual or bodilyneeds, and act against the dictates of

goodness and virtue. He can act either inaccordance with his intelligence or inopposition to it. He is free to be good or tobe evil, to resemble mud or to resembleGod. Free-will is, then, the greatestproperty of man, and the affinity betweenGod and man is apparent from this fact.

(from Ali Shariati, On the Sociology of Islam, pg. 76)


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JIHAD

Those who believe (have imaan), and who

have forsaken the domain of evil (donehijraah) and have striven hard (engaged injihad) in Allahs cause with their possessionsand their lives have the highest rank in thesight of Allah; and it is they who shalltriumph (in the end).

At-Taubah 9:20

Oh you who have attained to faith (haveimaan), shall I point out to you a bargainthat will save you from grievous suffering (inthis world and the life to come)?

You are to believe in Allah and His Apostle,and to strive hard (engage in jihad) in Allahs

cause with your possessions and your lives:this is for your own good if you but knewit! (If you do so,) He will forgive you yoursins, and in the life to come will admit youinto goodness through which running watersflow, and into goodly mansions in (those)gardens of perpetual bliss: that (will be) thetriumph supreme!

As-Saff 61:10-13

Do you think you could enter Paradisewithout Allah testing if you have striven hard(in His cause done jihad) and remainedpatient.


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B. COMMANDING THE RIGHT ANDFORBIDDING THE WRONG

To ensure that the holy struggle of Jihadsucceeds, that good always defeats evil, we have toalways command the right and forbid the wrong.This is the totality of the way we execute jihad tocarry out our three responsibilities as Khalifah ofAllah. In each of the three responsibilities as AllahsKhalifah when an opportunity comes up in your lifeto choose between doing the right thing or thewrong thing, you have an obligation to commandthe right thing and forbid the wrong thing, therebyensuring you will act rightly according to the Will ofAllah.

As an example, after school hours, friendsoffer a schoolboy a cigarette to smoke. He has an

opportunity to either accept it or refuse it. Allahhas given the boy free-will, even to do what Hewould not want the boy to do. So, to a goodKhalifah of Allah that moment calls for the holystruggle of jihad to be undertaken. Allah wants thegood (not smoking the cigarette) to prevail overthe evil (smoking it). The true Khalifah of Allah willcommand the right and forbid the wrong to himselfby using his inner speech to direct himself to refusethe cigarette.



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C. BEAUTIFUL WORDS AND WISDOM

We have the responsibility to command theright and forbid the wrong in a way that will be

successful and effective. Islam teaches us that theway to be most successful and effective is tocommand the right and forbid the wrong withbeautiful words and wisdom.

Beautiful words does not mean pretty words; itmeans words we like to hear, or more generallythings that are rewarding to us. Wisdom does notmean merely wise words; it means commandingthe right and forbidding the evil in a way that willsucceed and will achieve the goal of goodness inaccord with the Will of Allah.


COMMAND THE RIGHT, FORBID THE WRONG

You are indeed the best community that hasever been brought forth for (the good of)mankind: You enjoin the doing of what isright and forbid the doing of what is wrong,and you believe in Allah.

Ali Imran 3:110


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So the key to carrying out the role as Khalifahof Allah is commanding the right and forbidding thewrong. Allah, in His Mercy, has given us innerspeech (which is the source of our free-will) as atool by which we can command the right and forbidthe wrong successfully. With our inner speech we

can think absolutely anything we want to think,there is no limit to what we can think in anycircumstance.

Now I will show you how to apply this powerful toolof inner speech to be successful Khalifah of Allah.You should also teach your children this. Aside fromassimilating the concept of Khalifah deeply into our

consciousness, we and our children mustunderstand the purpose of our existence in thisworld, and how Allah has set up certain rules orlaws by which human beings learn and become whowe become. These laws are called the Laws ofLearning.


BEAUTIFUL WORDS AND WISDOM

Invite (all) to the way of your Lord withwisdom and beautiful preaching. And arguewith them in ways that are best and mostgracious.

An-Nahl 16:125


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15. THE PHASES OF THE HUMAN BEINGSEXISTENCE

Allah created every individual as a pure soul inthe spiritual world. This pure soul is in a state offitrah, that is, Islamic purity; but, although the soulis pure it is not yet mature; it is an immature soul.The soul is to become mature through experiencinglife in the physical world.

When a foetus develops in its mother womb,at 120 days into its development, Allah links thesoul to the new, developing human being. The soulremains in the spiritual world but is now linked to adeveloping foetus in the physical world.

The human being developing in its motherswomb is now complete, having a dual nature - both

physical and spiritual. The soul does not interactdirectly with the physical world. Allah links the soulto a physical being through the mind. The mind islinked to the soul but it is also linked to theconsciousness in the brain (refer to Diagram 2). Itis the mind that interacts directly with the physicalworld.

At birth, the new-born baby comes into theworld with a totally pure soul and because the soulinteracts with the physical world through the mind,the new-born baby comes into the world with atotally pure mind also. It is the mind (and thephysical body) that is going to interact directly withthe physical world. The newborn baby has learned



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almost nothing yet and is born pure, in the state offitrah.


Spiritual existence

Physical existence

SOUL

Physical Body

(incl. Brain)

TOTAL

PAST LEARNINGHISTORY

MIND

Diagram 2: The soul, the mind and the physical

existence.

FITRAH

And so, set your face steadfastly towardsthe (one) ever-true Deen, turning awayfrom all that is false, in accordance with thenatural disposition (fitrah) which Allah hasinstilled into man, (for) not to allow any

change to corrupt what Allah has thuscreated this is the purpose of the straightand standard Deen, but most people knowit not.

Ar-Rum 30:30


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Every child is born in this natural disposition(fitrah); it is only his parents that later turnhim into a Jew, a Christian, or a Magian.

Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)

NOTE: The term parents in the above hadithhas the wider meaning of social influence orenvironment. The religions named were theones best known at the time of the Prophet butrefer to any religion or worldview which takes a

person away from his inborn, intuitive ability todiscern between right and wrong, true and false,and thus, form the ability to sense Godsexistence and oneness.


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16. LIFE IN THE WORLD

The life experiences of each unique human

being, from their birth until their death, willdetermine the state of their soul. The physicalworld is going to offer many opportunities to makedecisions in the struggle to ensure good alwaystriumphs over evil. The physical existence, that is,life on this earth for a limited period of time, is likea training ground to allow for the maturing of thesoul. We should ideally leave the physical world atdeath with a pure but matured soul. The ideal is tospend our time in the training ground of thephysical existence, to go through the experiencesof our physical existence, struggling against eviland making good always prevail and thus keepingthe heart clean so that when we return to thespiritual world after death, we return with a pure

soul, and by Allahs Mercy, we will be promptlyadmitted into Paradise.

If the human being leads a life of evil, his soul willbe polluted and after death, he will be put intoHellfire so that his soul may be cleansed andpurified. This cleansing process is carried outthrough the various forms and degrees ofpunishment as described in the Quran and theHadith. Once it is purified, by Allahs Grace andMercy, the soul may then be admitted intoparadise.



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It is very important for all of us to understandthe true purpose of our life in this world and ourfinal true destiny, and to teach this knowledge to

our children. We are here in this physical world inthis life for a limited, temporary period, as aphysical being linked to a spiritual soul. We have tojourney through this life during which we will haveall sorts of experiences, influences, and messageswritten into our minds, which are connected to thesoul. We began our life in this world with pureminds and souls, and we need to keep our mindsand souls pure for the moment when we leave thisphysical world.

Whatever the experiences of life are, we need toend up at death and on the Day of Judgment with aheart that is spotless and a soul that is pure. Andwe are given only one chance to do this - there is

no return to life in this world for a second chance.Paradise is the goal of the Khalifah of Allah. If wefulfill our role successfully, we will attain Paradise -the ultimate success and achievement of life.



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17. INNER SPEECH THE TOOL ALLAH GAVEUS TO FIGHT EVIL

In the past, it had been easier for a humanbeing to retain the purity of his soul. But in todaysworld, it is very difficult because there are so manybad influences bombarding us incessantly, many ofwhich have very powerful negative effects. Everysingle influence that comes into our consciousness(into our minds) is going to have some effect orimpact upon us greater than zero. Some of thoseinfluences are very bad influences and will have avery negative impact upon us.

Allah is not going to leave us with no means to fightagainst these bad influences. If we come into theworld as beings who are going to learn according tothe rules that Allah Himself has applied to this

world, and some of the influences, particularly thesocial influences are going to be very bad, Allahwho loves us will not throw us into such anenvironment and let us be unprotected. Withoutprotection, these bad influences will corrupt ourminds and souls. So how can we keep our minds,hearts, and souls pure to face Judgment Day? Allahin His Mercy, gives us a tool to fight the negativeinfluences, and that tool is our inner speech.



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SUCCESS IN ALLAHS TEST

He Who has created death as well as life, so

that He might put you to a test (and thusshow) which of you is best in conduct

Al-Mulk 67:2

By the soul and the proportion and ordergiven to it; And its enlightenment as to itswrong and its right; - Truly he succeeds

that purifies it, and he fails that corrupts it!

Ash-Shams 91:7-10


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18. FREE-WILL IN THE HUMAN BEING

In my lectures on the creation of the universe,I introduced a concept called envolution whichmeans the natural (God-caused) unfolding of thematerial existence (including characteristics,abilities, attributes, language, etc.) in a series ofprogressive small steps from a simple deterministicbeginning to a perfect transcendental culmination(spiritual end).

All things, whether material or immaterialenvolve, that is, move progressively toward themore perfect expression of the positivecharacteristics of existence. There are numerouscharacteristics that progress from a simplebeginning to a more perfect expression as the

development of the physical universe is unfoldedaccording to the Will of Allah. I want to furtherdiscuss one of those characteristics, free-will.

At the beginning of the physical universe, Allahcreated sub-atomic particles with virtually no free-will at all. Along the way at each new level ofmaterial development from the sub-atomic particlesto the atoms, to the molecules, to the simplebiological life of the amoeba, to the more complexforms of biological life such as the chimpanzee, andfinally, to the special creation of man, the degree offree-will progressively becomes more and moreperfectly expressed. For example, the atoms havemore freedom than the sub-atomic particles, and



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the molecules express more freedom than theatoms, and simple forms of biological life such asthe amoeba have more freedom than the

molecules, and the most complex of the animal lifeforms, the chimpanzee, has a huge amount of free-will compared to an amoeba. Thus, we see thatfree-will progresses or envolves as the physicalexistence envolves.

Before the level of the human being is reachedall of Allahs progressively more complex creations,with their increasing free-will, are still moredetermined (made to act as Allah desires) thanthey are free. At the level of the human being, weare the first of His creation to be granted a greaterdegree of free-will to determine our own path ofdevelopment than the degree to which we mustrely on Allah to determine our path for us. So Allah

takes the responsibility all the way from thebeginning of the material universe (the sub-atomicparticle stage) up until to the highest level ofanimal life (the chimpanzee) for ensuring that Hisphysical creation unfolds rightly according to HisWill. Allah makes them all develop rightlyaccording to His will.

Then Allah says to Adam (and through Adam,to all of us), I have made you My Khalifah. It isnow your responsibility to continue this progressionof the material existence toward all that is goodand right by your free choice. I will not make youcontinue on the path to perfection, you must freelychoose to travel that most wonderful path. And



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one of those characteristics that we must continueto progressively develop is free-will.

I have shown how an animal learns; it learns byjust the two influences of the external environment- the physical and the social. The human being isalso influenced by these two external sources of theenvironment - the physical and the social. But partof our goal is to reduce the power over us of thephysical and social influences, the influences of theexternal environment, so that we can move towardtotal freedom, being able to express more andmore of the free-will that Allah has endowed uswith. And we do that through the use of our innerspeech.



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19. HEART (QALB) MUST BE KEPT SPOTLESS

There are basically two classes in everything

(behaviour, characteristics, actions, beliefs, etc) -what Allah allows (Halal) and what Allah does notallow (Haram). Every time someone doessomething that is not allowed, a black spot appearson his heart (in Arabic, Qalb). The black spotincreases in size if you persist in doing that which isnot allowed. A stained heart pollutes the mind, andthe soul. Thus if you allow evil you can end up withan impure soul.

Heart does not necessarily mean the physicalorgan in the chest, although, I think it may besomehow linked to the physical heart. The opinionof Islamic scholars is that the heart is actually thecore of human being and that there may be some

connection between mind and physical heart, andprobably also to a lesser degree, the whole body.The key to the heart, the core of the human being,can be understood as existing primarily in themind.

Wherever the black spot is written, whetherthe black spot is actually a literal spot or only ametaphor which symbolizes impurity, the nature ofthe black spot is to be a dirtiness or a wrongnessthat exists in the core of the human being - itshould not be there. As you enter the world with aspotless heart, a pure mind and a pure butimmature soul, the human being should leave theworld (at death) with a spotless heart, a pure mind,



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and a still pure, matured soul. Only then can yoube deserving, by Allahs Mercy, of immediate entryinto Paradise.

If the heart has some flaw or dirtiness (or rust)that has stained it in its life, then the humanbeings soul is no longer pure and you should nothave the expectation of immediate entry intoParadise.



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THE HEART THAT IS STAINED

But on their hearts is the stain (coveredwith rust) of all (the evil) that they do!

Al-Mutaffifin 83:14

When a mumin (believer) commits a sin, adark spot appears on his heart. If herepents and seeks forgiveness (of Allah),his heart becomes spotless again. If hepersists in sin, the dark spot increases. Thisis the spot that has been mentioned in theQuranic verse 83:14.

Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)

Truly, in the body there is a morsel of flesh

which, if it be whole, all the body is wholeand which, if it be diseased, all the body isdiseased. Truly it is the heart (qalb).

Hadith No. 6, in part, An Nawawis Forty Hadith


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Repentance entails being truly sorry or remorsefulfor the wrong you have done, asking Allah forforgiveness, resolving sincerely not to repeat the

wrong, and making reparation for the wrong youhave done. Repentance in this form cleanses theheart, but essentially most of the process ofrepentance must be done through the use of innerspeech.

Ideally, we should try not to have black spotsstaining our hearts in the first place. Then therewould be no need for the heart to be cleansed andrepentance is then not required.



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ALLAH IS OFT-FORGIVING

And those who having done something tobe ashamed of, or wronged their own souls,remember Allah and pray for their sins tobe forgiven for who except Allah canforgive sins? and do not knowingly persistin doing whatever wrong they have done.These it is who shall have as their rewardforgiveness from their Lord ..

Ali Imran 3:135-136

Allah the Almighty has said: O son of Adam, solong as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shallforgive you for what you have done, and I shallnot mind. O son of Adam, were your sins toreach the clouds of the sky and were you then

to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. Oson of Adam, were you to come to Me with sinsnearly as great as the earth and were you thento face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I wouldbring you forgiveness nearly as great as it.

Hadith No. 42 An Nawawis Forty Hadith


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21. DOING JIHAD AGAINST EVIL

The physical existence will write bad messages

in our consciousness. Even Prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him) had bad messages from thesocial environment written into his consciousness,but they failed to blacken his heart. Allah has givenus a way to exist in a world that is going to beattempting to write many bad messages in ourconsciousness without blackening our hearts andlosing the purity of our souls. This is the way itappears Allah does allow us to successfully struggleagainst wrong influence.

In Islam, the ideal is to stay away from badinfluences. In a right Islamic society, there wouldbe few bad influences around you, so it would beeasy to stay away from them. But in todays very

imperfect world, it is virtually impossible to avoidbad influences. So what do we do to keep the badinfluences that enter our consciousness fromharming us? We need to learn how to resist thosebad influences and emerge victors in the holystruggle (jihad) against evil and make good prevail.

I want to refer you to Diagram 3. Its shows alearning model which explains concisely how anindividual learns. To explain the dynamics of thislearning model, I will talk about a hypotheticalsituation where a human being has to stuggle forgood to prevail against evil.



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22. ILLUSTRATION OF HOW A TEENAGED BOYLEARNS TO DO EVIL UNDER BAD INFLUENCE.

A teenaged school boy named Ali sees themost popular boy in his school, Saiful, smoking acigarette outside the school after school hours.Saiful is a model of success and achievement inschool, well-respected and liked by everyone. Byseeing Saiful smoking, the image enters into Alisperception through his eyes. From what he saw,Alis perception writes into his consciousness a badinfluence. In this case, the bad influence is theimage of a highly ranked peer doing somethingwrong, that is, smoking a cigarette. So the image(shown in Diagram 3 as bad influence, BI) iswritten in Alis consciousness. Technically, this badinfluence is considered a response because hisbrain actually did carry out a physical activity to

write the bad message into consciousness, so amental response took place writing the badinfluence into consciousness.

Unfortunately, our minds do not work likecomputers. So images that are written in theconsciousness cannot be erased; they areessentially permanently etched.

The important question is; does the bad influenceharm Ali or not. There is no definite answer to thisquestion. In itself, the bad influence just being inAlis consciousness does not harm him, but it giveshim the potential for harm. If Ali never saw Saifulsmoking, that bad influence would not even have



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the potential to harm him at all. But by having seenthe bad influence that influence now has thepotential to harm Ali.

At any given moment, the are only twodirections we can move - we can either move closer

to Allah or further away from Allah (that is, closerto Shaitan. What determines whether the badinfluence actually harms Ali or not is what thoughtshe follows the bad influence with. This is where hisinner speech plays a most crucial role.


Spiritual Existence

Physical Existence

PER

CEPTION

SOUL

(-) BI(Bad Influence)

Total PastLearningHistory

Environment 3sources:

Physical

Social(SaifulSmoking)

Inner Speech

MIND

Diagram 3: A bad influence entering the

consciousness


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Earlier, I had mentioned one of the mostfundamental Laws of Learning: When a response isfollowed by a reward, that is by something we like,

that response will tend to increase in rate andmagnitude in the future.

Let us consider the situation of the schoolboyAli. If Ali uses his inner speech to say or think tohimself the following thoughts after the badinfluence is written in his consciousness,

a. it is so cool to smokeb. my friends will like me more if I smokec. I want to be like Saiful,

his inner speech by thoughts about the desirabilityof smoking, is giving reward or positivereinforcement (represented by R+) to the bad

message just written in his consciousness, asillustrated in Diagram 4.


(-) BI

R+

R+

R+

Diagram 4: A bad influence is positively reinforced

(rewarded) by inner speech

(Reward)


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The reward given by his inner speech, afterthe bad influence is written into his consciousness,

increases the probability of the bad influenceoccurring as his own action in the future; in otherwords, he is more likely to smoke a cigarette in thefuture. This is the most fundamental Law ofLearning at work. Basically, if Ali thinks it is so cool to smoke a cigarette, it will increase thelikelihood of him doing so.

Suppose on the following day after he gave supportto the bad influence with his thoughts, Ali walks bya group of Saifuls friends smoking and they offerhim a cigarette. Since Ali has already reinforced orgiven positive power to the bad influence, he islikely to accept the offer, which will result in Alisfirst bad action (FBA). Ali increased the probability

of the first bad action occurring by the positivethoughts he had by his inner speech about the badinfluence, as illustrated in Diagram 5.



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Then, suppose Ali is with Saiful, smoking with himand his friends and they are all complimenting himon how cool he is and how much they admire himand accept him into their peer group. Thus, the firstbad action is further positively reinforced orrewarded, (as represented again by R+) by the

social environment, and Alis own thoughts aboutthe desirability of smoking. See Diagram 6.


(-) BI

R+

R+

R+

(-) FBA

Diagram 5: Occurrence of the first bad action

(-) BI

R+

R+

R+

(-)FBA

R1+

R1+

R1+

R1+

(-)SBA

R2+

R2+

(-)BAD

HABIT

Diagram 6: Recurrence of a bad action

(First Bad Action)

Second BadAction


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If Ali perceives his new found friends approvalas rewarding, he will again use his inner speech toadd further positive power to the first bad action,

which results in the recurrence of the bad action inthe form of a second bad action (SBA), continuingto smoke cigarettes.

If Ali receives further reward or positivereinforcement for his second bad action from any ofthe three sources of environmental influence physical, social, or his own inner speech, he is verylikely to continually repeat the bad behaviour untilit becomes a habit, a part of his personality andlifestyle. See Diagram 6.

Most bad habits are very difficult to break. Inthe case of smoking, due to its addictive nature, itis extremely difficult Ali, given those

circumstances, will most probably be a smoker allhis life.

In Islam, smoking is often now classedaccording to many fatwah as haram, as well itshould be, and so included in the class of actionsnot allowed by Allah. Hence, each time Ali smokeshe is putting a black spot on his heart (and alsosome terrible spots on his lungs!).

The above illustration shows clearly how aperson can learn a bad behaviour based on thedynamic interplay of the three sources from theenvironment, particularly the social influences and



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inner speech through the workings of the Laws ofLearning.



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23. ILLUSTRATION OF HOW A TEENAGED BOYCAN ENGAGE IN JIHAD AGAINST EVIL WHENFACED WITH A BAD INFLUENCE

With our inner speech, we can think anythought we want. Our free-will allows us to do so.Referring to the same illustration of Ali, theteenaged schoolboy seeing Saiful smoking, anentirely different outcome can arise. If Ali uses hisinner speech to say or think to himself rightlyguided thoughts instead of those harmful thoughtsof the previous example,

a. it is haram to smokeb. smoking is harmful and only losers

smokec. I dont want to do what Allah disallows,

his inner speech, through his thoughts about thewrongness of smoking, can take away the power ofthe bad influence. The bad influence insteadbecomes an opportunity for a positive learningexperience. It has prompted Ali to think rightthoughts (as represented by N-, referring to anegative thought in this case - instead of arewarding thought - about the bad influence, inDiagram 7).

The negative inner speech following the badinfluence will decrease, if not eliminate, theprobability of Ali smoking a cigarette. Again, this isthe most fundamental Law of Learning at work.



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Suppose, the following day after school, Ali walkspast Saiful who offers him a cigarette. Because Alihas already used his inner speech to stamp out the

power of the bad influence, he is not likely toaccept Saifuls offer to smoke with them. So thefirst bad action does not happen; it is blocked bythe correct use of the inner speech. See Diagram 7.

In essence what Ali did was to engage in jihad,the holy struggle of good versus evil, bycommanding the right and forbidding the wrong,through the correct use of his inner speech.

So Allah has given us the ability to overwhelmthe influences from the external environment.Actually, we have the ability to be totally free fromexternal influence if we want to use it. We can be


(-) BI

N-

N-

N-

FBA

isblocked

Diagram 7: The power of a bad influence is cancelled

by negative thoughts about that bad influence from

his inner speech

(NegativeThought)


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totally free of any bad social influence if we use ourinner speech correctly, in accordance with AllahsWill.


FIGHT SHAITANS INFLUENCE

Those who have Taqwa, when a thought ofevil from Shaitan assaults them, bring Allah

to remembrance, when lo! they see(aright).

Al-Araf 7 : 201


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24. ILLUSTRATION OF HOW ALI LEARNS TODO EVIL EVEN HE IS WHEN FACED WITH AGOOD INFLUENCE

Let us consider another alternative scenario.Suppose, Ali and his friend Farid meet Saiful whooffers Farid a cigarette to smoke together with him.Farid declines the offer and remarks that it isharam in Islam to smoke because it harms thebody given to us by Allah. Ali observes Faridrefusing the cigarette and a message of goodinfluence is written into his consciousness.

Suppose Ali, using his inner speech, says orthinks to himself the following thoughts,

a. how silly of Farid not to accept Saifulsoffer of the cigarette

b. Saifuls the coolest boy in school Faridshould want to be like him

c. I dont want to worry about my health 50years from now. I want to enjoy thepresent,

What Ali has done with his inner speech and free-will is follow a good influence with negativethoughts about that good influence, and hastherefore taken away the power of the goodinfluence. As a result, Ali has written new messagesin his consciousness with his inner speech that arebad influences, which can then lead Ali along thewrong path, to becoming a smoker. This isillustrated in Diagram 8. The outcome may now



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result in an increased likelihood of the first badaction (FBA) occurring, meaning that Ali is nowmore likely to smoke a cigarette.


(+) GI

N-

N-

N-

(-) FBA

Diagram 8: A good influence is overwhelmed by

negative inner speech.

(GoodInfluence)


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25. ILLUSTRATION OF HOW ALI LEARNS TODO THE RIGHT THING WHEN FACED WITH AGOOD INFLUENCE

Let us consider yet another scenario in thesame circumstances. On observing Farid rejectingSaifuls offer of a cigarette, Ali could have said orthought to himself, using his inner speech and free-will, the following right thoughts,

a. Farid did the right Islamic thingb. Im proud to have a friend like himc. if I was offered a cigzarette, I would

refuse too.

Thus Ali has followed a good influence by somepositive thoughts about that good influence, andthus increased the power of the good influence

upon his consciousness. This becomes part of Alispersonality and perception, which will lead him tothe first good action (FGA), refusing a cigarettewhen it is offered. This is illustrated in Diagram 9.


(+) GI

R+

R+

R+

(+) FGA

Diagram 9: A good influence is reinforced by positive

inner speech

(First GoodAction)


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The above illustrations show clearly the effectof the environmental influences, especially innerspeech and the social environment, upon our

character and behaviour; and, how the laws oflearning can be used to move continuously awayfrom evil and to move always toward Allahregardless of whether the influences upon us aregood or bad.

To simplify the important information shown inthe four examples above we could say: regardlessof whether an influence written into ourconsciousness is good or bad we have the free-willto make sure that influences effect on us bringsabout spiritual advancement, move us towardAllah. The way to do this is easy to understand, andto remember. Never have good thoughts about anybad thing that you see, hear, or even think about.

Always have negative thoughts showing thewrongness of any bad thing you see, hear, or thinkabout. Never have negative thoughts about anygood thing that you see, hear, or even think about.And, always have positive thoughts showing therightness of any good thing you see, hear, or thinkabout.



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26. TAQWA IS VITAL IN FULFILLING THEROLE OF KHALIFAH

Essentially, every individual will have onlythese two kinds of influence the good and the bad coming into their consciousness. A good influenceis supportive of what Allah allows and a badinfluence is supportive of what Allah does not allow.The nature of influences, whether they be good orbad, is determined by Allah and made clear to us inthe guidance Allah has given us.

We need to be aware of this and also to teachour children that in life we will constantly be facingthese two kinds of influence which will writemessages upon our consciousness. Every influencethat comes in will require us to make a decision.Each time a bad influence comes into our

consciousness it is a moment for jihad a holystruggle of good versus evil. We have to use ourinner speech to ensure good wins. This necessitatesus having a good understanding of what is goodand what is bad according to the knowledge Allahhas revealed to us. Only then can we command theright and forbid the wrong successfully. Tocommand the right and forbid the wrong we mustdo so effectively by using beautiful words andwisdom. Thus, we have to understand what wordspeople like to hear, and how and when to use thoserewarding words that is, the wisdom tounderstand the situation and how it will affect whatis learned.



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To be successful in jihad requires high Taqwa whichmeans God-consciousness. If we want to be AllahsKhalifah and rightly represent Him, we must have a

consciousness that is like Allahs consciousness.Essentially, we have to be committed to lovingeverything Allah loves and disliking everything Hedislikes. In essence, that is what Taqwa means tobe one with the consciousness of Allah, such thatthere is no difference between the way Allah looksat things and the way we look at things. Then weare finally in complete submission to Him, becausethen there is no difference in the way we think fromwhat is the Will of Allah. If Allah thinks something iswrong, we also think it is wrong. If Allah thinks it isright, we also think it is right. This is why we haveto develop high Taqwa to be successful in jihad,and successful in commanding the right andforbidding the wrong, and to successfully use

beautiful words and wisdom to carry out our jihadas Khalifah of Allah.



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SUMMARY

KHALIFAH OF ALLAH

fulfill their 3 responsibilities through

JIHADwhich is the

HOLY STRUGGLEof

GOOD VERSUS EVIL

to be won by

COMMANDING THE RIGHT

&

FORBIDDING THE WRONG

using

BEAUTIFUL WORDS AND WISDOM

which requires

TAQWA

developed by Knowledge of

THE TWO BOOKS OF REVELATION(Quran and Physical Creation)


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How do we develop high Taqwa? We develop a

high level of Taqwa by acquiring knowledge of thetwo Books of Revelation the Quran, the HolyBook that Allah revealed to our Beloved ProphetMuhammad (peace be upon him) which is madeclear to us through his sunnah, and the revealedknowledge that comes from a true understanding ofAllahs physical creation.

Allah has set up His physical creation with certainnatural laws that we are to understand, and learnhow to use these laws so that we can successfullyexecute our role as Khalifah of Allah. Among Allahslaws are the Laws of Learning through which weunderstand how we develop (as shown in the abovediagrams of the learning model) and how reward

and punishment affect our behaviour.



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KNOWLEDGE IS THE SOURCE OF TAQWA

. the Quranic verses 41:37, 25:45, 10:6,30:22 and 3:140 bearing on the phenomenaof Nature which are quite often named inthe Quran as ayat Allah i.e. the apparentsigns of God; that is followed by referenceto verses 25:73 and 17:72 . make it asmuch a religious duty to the true servants

of the Most Gracious God to ponder overthese apparent signs of God as revealed tothe sense-perception of man as to ponderover the Divine Communications (ayat al-Quran) revealed to the Holy Prophet thesetwo paths to God consciousness aloneensure mans physical and spiritualprosperity in this life as well as in the life

hereafter.

(from Allama Muhammad Iqbal, The Reconstruction ofReligious Thought in Islam, notes on Lecture V.)


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27. RAISING A KHALIFAH CHILD

Parents must teach their children from a very

early age that Allah has given them the powerthrough their inner speech to resist negativeinfluences. Children are fond of saying, I couldnthelp it, which is just not true. Of course they canhelp it if they use their free-will to do so. Parentsmust teach their children how to use their innerspeech as an amour against those negativeinfluences.

Many children are also fond of saying, whencaught doing something wrong, My friend got meto do it. Parents should explain to their childrenthat Allah gave them free-will and hence they havepersonal responsibility and accountability, and thattheir friend merely gave them an opportunity to

use their inner speech either to go along with or toresist that bad influence.

Children need to understand that this is thenature of their life. Parents must teach children asthey grow up to know that they have come into thisworld pure (in a state of fitrah) and all throughtheir lives they will have both good and badmessages written onto their consciousness.Children must be taught to use their inner speechcorrectly; every time there is a bad influence uponthem they must use their inner speech to takeaway that bad influences power to harm them, andevery time there is a good influence coming in,they must use their inner speech to increase the



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good influences power so that they have greaterstrength of goodness. Then jihad, which is thestruggle of good versus evil, is always won. Anyone

who does this will become increasingly moreresistant to evil influence and increasingly moreaccepting of good influence.

If a child uses their inner speech correctly, asWilled by Allah, their whole life they will never getany black spot on their heart. Therefore, the childwill have fulfilled the responsibility that Allah hasgiven him which is to come into the world as apure but immature soul, keeping the soul pure as itmatures during life in the physical world, at deathleaving this world with a clean heart and a pure andmatured soul, and on Judgment Day enteringParadise by Allahs Mercy.

Children need to know that this is the true goalof their lives, and the way to attain that goal isboth simple and guaranteed.



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28. RAISING CHILREN WHO ARE RESISTANTTO EVIL

Parents must get children motivated to viewtheir life in the way that has been described and tounderstand that part of the purpose of being AllahsKhalifah on earth is not just to be good but also toprogress. A Muslim is not supposed to remain atthe same point in any aspect of his being -physically, spiritually, or intellectually. Stagnationresults in a drift toward the negative, which isShaitan. This is due to the phenomenon of socialentropy, also called behavioural drift. You cannotdrift toward greater goodness; you can only drifttoward evil. New energy has to be infused into thechild so that they will purposefully move towards allthat is good and positive, that is toward Allah.

In moving toward all things positive, one of thethings we are to move toward is the greaterexercise of free-will. The more a child learns to usethe knowledge of how to exercise their free-will,and the happier they are that they have thisamazing ability, and the more joy they experiencewhen they actually use it, the more likely they willbe (when the time comes to combat bad socialinfluences or harmful inner speech) to be resistantto the bad influences by saying to themselves whenfaced with the bad social influence of negative peerpressure for example;



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I dont care what my friends think.I wont let them influence me to do wrong things.They are external influences. But I haveinternal control over myself. I make my

decisions inside my mind based on whatAllah wants, not what my friends want.Im proud to do that. Im thankful Allahhas given me this power to do that.Allah has shown me how to use that power,And Im going to use it.

If parents start teaching this to their children

when they are very young, they will grow up to beyoung Muslims who are very resistant to thenegative influences of the world. They will also startchanging the world by getting rid of the negativeinfluences that presently exist so that we willeventually live in a world that has virtually nonegative influences.

In a right Islamic society, it is beneficial to letsome of the external influences write messages inour consciousness because they will be rightmessages, but in a corrupt, secular materialisticsociety like we have today, the external messageswill be overwhelmingly bad ones.

Children must be taught to understand thatgrowing up good and helping to bring about a rightworld is definitely possible once they have a goodknowledge of Allahs physical creation logic andreason will support that belief also.



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29. TOWARD

Documents

Islamic Solution to the Book)