Rihla 2013: Introduction to Logic

Transcript Details

Event Name: Rihla 2013: Introduction to Logic
Description: Introduction to Logic - Shaykh Hamza Yusuf 14 Episodes Based on the “Isagoge” of Imam Athir al-Din al-Abhari, this course will introduce students to the science of logic, a prerequisite before serious study of any of the other sciences. In this course students will be introduced to terms, concepts, the five predicables, definitions, propositions, opposition, conversion, syllogisms, and other basic aspects of correct thinking.
Transcription Date:Transcription Modified Date: 4/4/2019
Transcript Version: 1
Original Reference URL: Youtube Video


Transcript Text

people of HT HOD people that are willing

to really struggle hard and work hard

too so that they can understand these

issues and and and provide guidance for

people because a lot of people are

confused we have lots of young Muslims

confused about evolution because they

study it and it's taught us fact you

know and you know like there's a man

here in Turkey that writes all these

books about evolution but they're not

going they're not going to convince

somebody at Cambridge or Harvard or I

mean they might be useful for simple

people that you're trying to protect

there's probably some validity to that

approach but in terms of really

grappling with these problems you need

really trained intellects and logic is

one of the tools that you need to be

fortified with and arguably symbolic

logic as well because that's very much

in the arsenal of the enemy any

questions

so I could can you repeat the Muslim

understanding of transdisciplinary

knowledge and how we understand the

categories as opposed to and how it all

kind of this term that came from Piaget

back in the 70s

I like the IJ he's famous child

psychologist because I tested some of

these things on my own kids at the

appropriate age and they didn't work so

I know not totally convinced but he had

this idea of the holistic nature of

knowledge and transdisciplinary approach

is an approach that transcends the idea

of separateness in these so

interdisciplinary is working within

between disciplines so you

interdisciplinary studies will utilize

the tools of historical methodology you

know a sociological methodology might

bring in some of the hard sciences this

interdisciplinary transdisciplinary is

really recognizing that there is a meta

discipline that involves a holistic

understanding of the relationship of

knowledge --is that knowledge azar

related to each other

and this is this is extremely important

because Muslims really saw all knowledge

as facets on a diamond the diamond was

one and they really understood and

that's why when you get into later

scholastic tradition in Islam a good

example of that is Imam at about Judy

he's he's bringing in logic rhetoric

grammar theology fit it's all in one

book the book is primarily on logic or

or hadith or I mean he wrote on many

subjects he was mostly a wrote glosses

on other works but he's late tradition

so he had all the tools of the entire

tradition and you see that he's using

them all in a holistic approach and he

brings our old Intuit prosody and

amazing and and and so they didn't see

they saw all of these as working

together for enlightenment

that these were all tools for one thing

which is madatha and and and they were

all helpful towards that end is that is

that clear

why they don't believe in cause and

effect in the Ashanti school the reason

is because cause and effect if if we

accept that I can cause something or

that this can cause something that I am

giving this some kind of intrinsic power

and if I give it intrinsic power then

I'm giving something that is God's alone

la haula

well quwata illa billah' I'm giving

something that is intrinsically God's

alone and I'm attributing it to a

created thing and in that way it's a

type of it's sugarless about and so

what they argued was that in every

instant it's a new creation that home

feel absent Malkin jadeed in every

instant it's a new creation so to give

you a modern metaphor to understand this

if you've ever been in a theater when

the projector breaks down has anybody

ever had that experience when the

projector breaks down okay

now you have digital so it just all goes

crazy but in in the old days if you're

old enough to remember when they

actually had film what happens is

suddenly the frames you see the still

frames now between those still frames is

a dark space what happens is the the

projector is going so fast that it

appears to be a linear movement but in

reality their individual frames that are

frozen moving at a very fast speed

was called a magic lantern it was

invented in France and this is the

beginning of cinema and we little kids

if you ever did those little papers

where you draw the little stick men and

and then you flip them real fast and it

makes it kids love that because what

they're seeing is what it's an optical

illusion and the optical illusion is of

sync when Shiell linearity a moves to B

moves to C and it's a succession of

events according to the the dominant

opinion of the a shot ease what happens

is it's actually an on-off cycle and so

Allah is creating and destroying it's an

on/off so the that he's creating it in

each I mean we can't even say nanosecond

because we don't know that whatever time

that is it's some type of time but it's

so fast that it creates the illusion

that we feel like we're moving around

but in reality it's just one creation

and then it stops and then it's again

and then it stops so we're like those

stick men and Allah is making the thing

happen so when when the knife cuts it's

not really cutting Allah is creating an

opening so the knife is just a suburb

it's Allah who's actually recreating the

thing anew but now it's opening and then

blood and then so if you could see it if

if you had a you know what what what

Imam and Junaid called Fenna

you know annihilation if you had that

moment you'd go on to an on-off cycle

and you'd see that nothing exists that's

annihilation where you see that nothing

exists except Allah and that's why he's

a higher volume he's sustaining the

whole thing and that let her loose in

attune when unknown because if he if if

a moment of

of hafla took God the whole thing would

just disappear so his pal Mia you know

in one of the doors you know Hatta

Arafah you me Atticus Arrieta Fiji me

and maracas you know let me see your pal

Mia that's happening in every instant in

creation that Imam Ali said Mara yo

Shannon Laura it's Allah comin over

Wahiawa Bardo who I never saw anything

except I saw God in it before it in and

and after it meaning that he saw that

it's God that's doing all of this in

every instant and and and that's that is

what the position that most of the

scholars took which is arguably from

spiritual experiences that they had I

mean I find that very hard to believe in

a book on the atomic theory in history

which was written by a scholar from

England he argues that the Muslim atomic

theory is unique in the history of

civilization that nobody really came up

with that type of atomic theory before

and it's arguable that there's certain

theories now like string theory they're

very similar to to that type of

understand they're trying to work this

out there trying to get some theory of

everything that's going to explain these

four forces and how they interact and

but they don't have it because the

theory of everything is God you know and

if you're denying him how are you gonna

see him so go ahead

what's your name Cameron uh-huh sorry

come um I reckon yesterday you talked

about to define something you need to

conceptualize it right and I think the

Arabic word you use is the solver so

then how would we define God if we can't

conceptualize him and does everybody's

conceptualization differ yeah that's a

really good question the you know the

definition of God you can't put God in a

genus and you can't put them in a

species and that's why in the end our we

can't define God and and therefore we

use negative things so the argument

about is this called the via negativa in

the Latin tradition scholastic tradition

the Muslims call it the salvia right so

he has she fattest salvia the attributes

that negate the opposite so wushu does a

FIFA Neff SIA and that's why you judo at

wushu dine and mowjood and we'll get

into that when we get into the

categories and I'll explain that but

it's a good question so we don't we

don't we you know we can define God in

terms of our limited understanding of

how God has spoken about himself and

there's also rational definitions like a

Tamil Stephanie on it cool what coolin

moved to Peru aleyhi I mean that's one

definition the 20 attributes that you're

learning in Arpita is is another way of

really defining God but if you really

break it down it's working around what

is undefinable and that's why cool

mahaprabhu Vatika although he left with

Attica everything that occurs to the

mind God is other than that and so we

cannot in reality define Allah other

than how he has described himself so we

use our awesome and not had really the

descriptions that God has given us that

he is that he is fine that he is valued

that he is a party that he's a Lennie

that he's a Jabbar that he's medical

caduceus Raman

Mahima NIM how can we know him well in

the same way that there are things that

that you can grasp right without

definition so there are there are ways

of understanding God and grasping God

but in the end you'll you'll never know

his essence his essence is completely

unknowable and the only way you can know

him is through his see fat and the fat

in the end are our the the our scholars

don't use the term accident for God

because when we get into categories you

understand why but to see fats in

relation to that that are like the

vanilla hand method Ilana

they're like the accidents in relation

to the to their essence mm-hmm so I'm

like following from your previous

differentiation between concepts names

and subjects can a person believe in the

concept of God without using the name of

God or knowing that the subject of the

concept in which they believe in is God

I mean here you have people who say they

don't believe in God and you ask them

yeah do you believe in something and it

pretty much same yeah it's a good again

we get back to what you know what was

just talked about that when you say the

concept of God in reality we don't have

a concept of God we don't have a tussle

water what we have is a type of

understanding right there's a type of

modifier that we have and and that

modify has degrees at the most basic

level it's a man which is toss deal so

we know that that God is rajababu Jude

and and Rajeev is a concept who Jude as

a concept and that's why we know God

analogically like Allah SWA notices

LASIK Amitha t he shade

well who was Samia and bossy oh there

there is nothing like God so don't any

tough so what do you have got as other

than that and then it says and that was

called is Steph and yet and yet he hears

and he sees so how do we know hearing

and seeing

we know hearing and seeing because we

have hearing and seeing well via unfussy

comb after that tops your own in your

own selves don't you see so we can

conceptualize hearing and seeing but

when we relate that hearing and seeing

to God we have to get rid of any

conceptualization that it's like our

hearing and seeing LASIK emitted ishe so

there's no touch be in reality but you

know you have tangia and touch via but

you need to be to approximate this is

called terrible mani to approximate the

meanings alright so if somebody says I

don't believe in God

first you you need to define what they

don't believe in so you can say I don't

believe in this God that came down and

died for our sins you could say well I

don't believe in that God either so

we're both atheists of that God right

and then we can discuss other

understandings right but in the end we

you know alone RC Athena and I can't

accommodate an f ck we can't ever say

what you are we but we can only say what

you said about yourself go to Allah who

I had a low summit let me I did what I'm

you don't want to be kuku fauna had our

scholars say that negates the eight ways

that people fall in to shirk so those

are all negative approaches to God they

negate concepts of God who Allah who I

had that negates the concept that God is

plural or that he's composite right one

is not a number and this is one of

Euclid's in book in one of his books I

think it's book seven he says that that

you

it is that thing which we call one

that's a unit that's a Wagga and then he

said number is a multitude of units so

one is not a number every number is a

multiple of one but one is not a number

so when we talk about God we're saying

that he is one and that's negating Petra

and to add dude it negates the idea that

he's composite that he's made up of

parts so he's a simple reality simple I

mean by that there's no parts it's

infinite simplicity there's it's pure

oneness and then allow some odd that

negates the haja if T as knucks it

negates deficiency and ie so it negates

we can't conceive of God as needing

anything or having any blemishes

he's salam he's perfect sad in one

minute are you and then lemmya did what

amulet that negates Elna when luleå it

negates cause and effect

nothing caused God and God is not the

cause of anything in a cause-and-effect

relationship in other words that cause

and effect cannot be separated right so

we can't one of the things Aristotle his

problem with God he called him the prime

mover because he said that God is the

uncaused cause of all existence so we

say that God is the cause of existence

but we say it Maja's on we say it to say

that he's not not a cause do you see I

mean these are these are you were

getting into advance Kadam and it's you

know you really need a lot of

preparation to get into into these

concepts but God says being it is an

American failure kunu that fight is not

suburbia if it was suburbia it would be

Mizzou

he says kun fea Kuno be and it is so

there's no there's no God is is not

interacting in his creation in a cause

and effectual way in that way that

things are interacting with other things

in a cause-and-effect way Julia and then

when I'm your Kula Hawk of one I had Yin

fee a Shiva one of the year you know

that he could have shabeeha no not via

that he has a likeness or an opposite so

the devil in you know if you get into a

hora Mazda a hairy man and a hora Mazda

and do dual dualistic thinking the devil

is seen as a another of God you know

that there's a dark God and a light god

that's a dualistic Manichaean thinking

that's negated by that

so the pululahua had is the the via

negativa of our tradition it is the it

yes leave oh and you know and what Kufra

samanya it negates those eight types of

Kufa and that's why ever really

understands if Klaus understands so he'd

at least in at that level does that help

yeah it's is that valid though if the

person even believes in God or believes

in the concept in the way that you you

have described it but they don't know

what to be God that I mean is that

designation a lot to judge you know I

can't we can't you know what is doomed

wants them to be Aquabats like one of

the anonymous said you were said to call

people not to judge people only a lot

can judge people you know I can't I mean

if somebody is born into a house and

there's a little kid and they're

molested from the time they're like two

years old or something like that and and

they're so messed up and they end up on

drugs and and you know crack cocaine or

whatever I mean I'm not gonna judge that

person I mean that's for God to judge

that but I'm not gonna judge that person

you know so we're living in a world

where

the Sharia is judges if you're a father

you have to judge but the party should

judge with fear and trepidation and

that's why the Prophet said two parties

in hell one in Jena you should judge

with fear and trepidation so you know we

don't know people say they're atheists I

don't know what that means I don't know

what that means I don't know how what

led them to that point and what how

God's going to judge them one of the

things that I find interesting about

atheists and I think this has to be

appreciated by somehow is that they do

more thicker than God than most

believers and they just think about God

all the time

they write books about God every

conversation you get in with an atheist

within two minutes they're talking about

God it's amazing they just they're just

obsessed with God and in some ways their

opinion of God is so high that they end

up disbelieving in him you know it's

like if their opinion is so high that

they I can't believe in God I can't

believe in a God that will allow

pedophilia I can't believe in a guy you

know this these are the arguments along

to use it and who is it for me to say

that's a that's rubbish you're just

saying that you know there's certain you

know the cheese-and-cracker crowd you

know I mean you know having their wine

and you know I dunno how these people

can believe in God you know

really quite absurd they're imaginary

friends you know you know that kind of

there's a certain arrogance of those

type people but some of them people in

the greatest tribulation are are the

biggest believers I mean that's what's

so amazing about people in really

difficult dire circumstances and yet

they don't give up their faith in God

and they believe in a lots of behind

with data so you know there's there's

it's just not for us to judge people you

know and people can move in and out of

faith you know what you shouldn't feel

so secure about your faith you should

ask Allah for us to know ha tema and be

concerned about that I mean there's

Christians that have lost their faith

that's why these Christians say I asked

a Muslim they always doubt whether

they're going to heaven or not they

don't know but we know we're going to

heaven you don't know where there's

Christians that ended up leaving

Christianity becoming atheists Bart

Ehrman you know writing books why it's

not true and they were devout

fundamentalist Christians so people can

lose their faith Muslims lose their

faith there's people that lose their

faith in Islam you know but why and what

are the reasons and what led up to that

I don't know I mean there's people that

drive people out of Islam to prove its

allies that I'm said that he was the

advocate for the dimi that was

mistreated ano moppy amma like he's

gonna be his lawyer with god to say he

didn't he didn't see the real Islam he

was mistreated by Muslims he said that

on a huh small man other than me and

you'll know qiyama

I'm the advocate of a vim me on the day

of judgment so he's gonna actually say

don't judge him the way you would judge

somebody else cuz what happened to him

was it right so there's going to be

people in Mahmoud Abbas Adi says that if

Islam was presented in a distorted way

and somebody rejects it they're not

rejecting true Islam they're rejecting a

distortion and he says that he didn't

think they'd be taken to account for

that he says that and fights with a

taffeta cloud so

all right so any other questions I

didn't I've been kind of it's not when I

come I'm not sure if I've understood the

negatives but how would you then

reconcile for example what God says

about himself in terms of his

omnipotence and certain negatives for

example he cannot lie well like I said

what you have to what you have to

understand is that you can you can

conceptualize attributes but you can't

conceptualize the essence so we can have

a conceptualization of attributes of God

like we can conceptualize power but then

we have to recognize that that power is

not like our power but but the essence

of God you can't conceptualize it and

you can't define without conceptualizing

in essence and in that way the

definitions of God are all negative

definitions the work I think dr. Cleary

I mean dr. winter one of his contentions

is that theology is the search for the

least silly definition of God 22:22

yeah theology is the quest for the least

silly definition of God so I mean he's

pretty much saying the same thing that

we you know we define God but in the end

we're defining the undefinable so you

just always have to keep that in mind

that the Qaeda is leisa committed he che

that's the foundation of all Islamic

theology there's nothing like God

so his knowledge is not like our

knowledge but we have some approximation

of what that means because we have

knowledge like he put his attributes in

us in a limited temporal way we have

divine attributes speaking Kalam yada

some besar these are these are divine

attributes of God but there are only

approximations to for us to get a hint

at what that means

even the arkarow all the descriptions of

paradise in the Quran even a bath said

they said the Quran in the lace

virginity minute duniya Allah as smell

the only thing in paradise that's the

same as this world is the names so he's

saying the same thing even about the

creation of paradise it's male I know

and rats what are the known seminars

what I hopped on a puppy pusher jenna is

what no eye has seen no ear has heard

and no thought has ever been

conceptualized in the mind of a human if

that's about paradise then what is God

and that's just that's another creation

and we still can't conceive of it I was

guinness sorry kosher so based on this

logic is the tool by which we study all

the other sciences but it doesn't work

for Peter or we don't use it I mean much

about Peter laid our peda is it uses

logic a lot I mean for instance the

there are different bara Hien for the

existence of God the quran uses logic it

uses you know

ronita manor is a proof that God uses in

the Quran Borana topic for instance the

the idea that God is uncreated that you

can't have an infinite regress the

argument from contingency these are all

logical arguments and they're studied in

syllogistic form in the Muslim

scholastic tradition and they're you

know I mean most philosophers in the

West after Conte will argue that to use

a very hackneyed academic statement that

you can't really define you you can't

you can't prove the existence of God I

mean that's pretty much that's one of

Kant's arguments that you can't prove it

and that's even Tamia's argument as well

he argued against using logic with God

he just said it's waste of time and in

that way he's very content or can't it's

very tiny in or something like that so

but for me these are fifth oral

arguments the idea that something can

come from nothing is intuitively so it's

so against our fifth nature and so even

though quantum physics is trying to make

this argument now and there's people

like Stephen Hawking that are obsessed

with this and there's a recent slew of

books that have been written on this

subject that we've finally proven that

the universe can come from nothing you

know I don't know Allah says in surah

that calf that we didn't show you the

creation the beginning of it we need

even show the beginning of your own

creation you know so I that argument for

me is very you know but you know kundo

hadith and mahalo lucano hadith he then

had Kohima look you know that's the

argument in a really simplistic form but

the the argument for the cosmological

Kalam cosmological argument is arguably

the last argument Stan

I mean even most philosophers will have

to admit that all the arguments have

pretty much fallen by the wayside except

for the clam I mean there's some that

will argue the ontological argument is

still an argument but like the

teleological most philosophers will not

take that argument seriously

I personally teleological is very

convincing to me it certainly was a

traditional Muslim argument but the the

Kannamma cosmological argument which is

a very sophisticated argument that you

cannot have an actual infinity and by

that it means an infinity of discrete

number so you can't have an infinity of

discrete things and that if we say that

the universe is infinite then it's an

it's it's an infinity of discrete things

and that's impossible the alternative to

that is obviously pantheism or

panentheism which some people will argue

for that but the Muslims were not

pantheous if an auto b was not a

pantheist even though western scholars

don't worry antlerless scholars not not

even out of these scholars of late but

the earlier scholars people like

Nicholson and others they'll say that he

was a pantheist and that's only because

they don't have any other term in their

limited mind to describe some of his

articulations but he was