سید عبدالله حسینی

سلسله نشست های دوره "فلسفه عقاید؛ نگاهی منطقی و استدلالی به دین" توسط حجت الاسلام و المسلمین دکتر سید عبدالله حسینی با حضور دانشجویان غیر ایرانی و خارجیان مقیم تهران و ایرانیان علاقمند به زبان انگلیسی در روزهای پنجشنبه بعد از اذان مغرب و عشاء (نیمه دوم سال) با اقامه نماز جماعت و قرائت دعای کمیل در تالار اشراق ایوان شمس برگزار می گردد

جلسه اول:

A'udhu Billahi min ash-shaytaan-i'r rajeem. Bismillah-i'r Rahman-i'r Raheem.

The topic of our discussion today is “the process of systematic thinking”. There is a big problem when it comes to thinking about religion. From the 7 billion people which they are living on this planet, 99 percent of the people of the world, they did not play any role in choosing a religion for themselves, so what that means simply that 99 percent of the people of the world are imitators of either their parents, mostly, or the society, or their friends, or the teachers or etc. The people who played role in choosing a religion is very few, the other 1 percent. So simply, you know, you just walk in the streets of Tehran and ask why you are a Shia? They say just because they were born in a Shia family. You go to Vatican, ask anyone in Vatican why you are a catholic? They say because I’ve been born in a catholic state my parents are catholic, so that’s why I am a Christian. The same happens to somebody who is born in India, and in Korea, or Japan, so it depends where you have been born, from which family you have been born. You are born in Japan, you’re automatically a Shinto, or in India you are simply a Hindu person, in Saudi Arabia for example you become a Sunni, or when you come to Iran you become a Shia. That’s the biggest disaster. That is the biggest disaster of the world. The biggest problem in the world is not poverty, it is not discrimination, it is not even oppression, it’s not even occupation of other people’s territory, it is not unemployment, it is not the lack of literacy; the biggest problem of the world is that the people of the world, when it comes to the main questions of their life, which is religion, they don’t know the facts behind the religion; they are just imitators of their parents. And something to laugh about it, because I mean, we are always in the process of choosing… we, human beings, are always in the process of choosing. Between two foods to eat we always choose. You know when you talk to your wife, “ok, we are fed up of this food, so what should we have today?” so I mean you decide, both of you, to have probably, you know, from this food store, from that food store, instead of Ghorme-sabzi you have today Gheyme, or instead of Zereshk-polow you can ask for Chelo-Kabab or something. That’s across every day, you are in process of choosing between food, there is a lot of food on the table, you choose; if there is three-four types of food, you always choose. If there are two-three fruits, you choose. Between two girls to marry, you always choose. Between two boys that have come to ask for marriage, you always choose. You know… between two books, between two subjects, between universities, between two colors, you buy a shirt for yourself, you choose; and when you parents come and want to impose even the color of a shirt, you object her. You say “sorry mom, but it is MY shirt! And I want to choose the color”. Your mother or your father cant’s say “son, you have to have a black one because that’s what I like” they don’t have the right to say so, and you’re not going to listen to that also. You say “Dad, it’s my shirt, it is my food, and it is the one that I’m going to marry, it is not your choice. It is my life” you say it openly, but when it comes to religion you haven’t said so. ‘Thank you very much parents, for choosing a religion for me’. And sometimes the parent says “ how can you betray the religion of your father?” you remember even in Quran also it has Ayaats concerning prophet inviting people to Islam, so, the pagans were coming to their children, they say “how you can betray the religion of your forefathers?” That happens in…you know, whenever you try to convert to any sect, in any religion, if you are a Christian that happens, even if you are a Shia it can happen, even if you’re Muslim or Sunni… whatever sector nomination or group you have that is a normal question that you always face. 

“How you can betray the religion of your fore sisters, your brothers, your uncles, your parents?” so that shows that when it comes to religion 99 percent of the people of the world they are imitators. That’s a big disaster because when your path, your way is not proper and right, that means that everything is problematic… everything is problematic because as those brothers who have been here to the classes, I have told them very clearly “the first question of your life is not the food, is not the job, it is not the employment, it is not which country I’m living in, it is not to whom I’m going to marry. The first question of your life is “what is my direction in life?” that direction of your life, that religion that you have chosen, that will tell you how to eat, how to sleep, how to marry, how to read, how to study, how to serve the humanity… everything is after you choose a religion because 90 percent of the people of the world, when they are doing things, they somehow relate it to a particular religion directly or indirectly. So we have to understand that the first question, the first problem that we have today is this issue that, unfortunately, we have not played any role in choosing a religion. That awareness must come to everybody’s heart that ‘Wow, I was born in this particular religion and if I was born in another religion today I was not going to be this, I was going to be something else’ and you can ask the same question each of you now that you are here, if you who are sitting here and you’re following probably Shia school of thought, if you had been born in Vatican, you were not going to be a Catholic? 90 percent of you were going to… if you were born in a Hindu family in India, what happened? The same… so you have played no role in choosing this particular religion, how you know that is right? How you know that the Shia school of thought is the right religion? Maybe it’s wrong. Maybe you have got access to the wrong side of this religion…How you know this is the right path? So that question has to always be in our heart. Shahid Motahari has got this fine sentence in that book which is called Spiritual Talks by Shahid Motahari, great scholar; he has said in that book that “in one stage in my life, I was a clergy, I was praying and I did not believe in any religion. I had a holy doubt.” That is called ‘holy doubt’. This holy doubt we have to have. Jesus has got a very fine word, which Imam Sadiq AS also confirms, this particular quotation by Jesus Christ. He says you will not reach to the celestial gardens of God or to the Malakoot as we express it, unless you are born again. That means this rebirth to a religion is essential my brothers. Whoever you are, if you are a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Jew, or a Hindu, whoever you are, have that big question in your life once and sort it out. Maybe you are right, thank you very much then you have got proved for being right. Be Christian with reason, be Muslim by reason, be Shia by reason, be a Communist by reason. Whoever you are, have proper reason to that extent that you can convince other people that your path is logical, not that you say I ‘feel’ that the Christianity is the best one for me, I ‘feel’ that this Shia school of thought is the best. I feel… you know, a lot of people you talk to them... you know… why you are follower of Ahlul Bait? He says “Husain moved in my life, I was this, I was that.” You know and then “I went to Imam Husain ceremony, so he cured me, I had a disease..” these are all emotional statements, or the other man says “was like this, I was thief, I was drinking, I was always at nightclubs, I was gambling, I was doing this, I was doing that, so Jesus moved in my life, made me to be a new person, so I’m Christian.. These are all emotional. Whoever you are, in any religion you are, you have some good experience, some metaphysical experience is possible if you are a follower of Sai Baba in India, or a follower of Jesus Christ in Vatican, or a follower of Husain in Iran, or a follower of whoever in this Sufi sects, Sufi… these things can be always experienced with all religions, that doesn’t mean that you are in the right path. [Hujjat al Islam Husseini is and Aleem, a great scholar who is in Japan and knows Japanese language and has been there very effective in spreading Ahlul Bait’s school of thought it Japan.] So that is the first question that you need to sort it out, a doubt in your heart… maybe I’m right. If I’m right then I have to have sound proof, reason, logic… Logic, nothing else, not emotion, no emotion should be involved; logic and pure logic. When you say logic, it means that two plus two is four (2+2=4), it’s not because God says two plus two is four, it doesn’t say because Jesus says two plus two is four, my father says two plus two is four, my parents say, my society says, I’ve got a very good teacher who doesn’t make mistakes, he said two plus two is four…No.. I have to come to conclusion that two plus two is four by logic nothing else, my calculator says! No, that doesn’t work. You have to come for yourself that this is the right religion I’m following for you to be able to convince other people also that this is the right path. If you are able to do so, then you are a proper religious person, otherwise you are a good imitator. No matter whom you are. Maybe accidentally you are in the right path, maybe, but that doesn’t give you any merit. You have to have role in choosing a religion. So that is the first question. Now how we can get to this awareness, which is very important my brothers, the awareness. The first question of your life is awareness. The whole goodness of mankind is that we can be aware. That is the greatest gift that God has given us, that we are aware if I’m in a right or… that awareness when it comes, which is called in Islamic terminology, is called yaqaz̤a, when you wake up. That waking up is something which is very important. As I said, Jesus says, and Imam Sadiq AS also confirms that “you will not be included with the celestial gardens of God if you are not reborn again.” And we have to establish a type of movement, not a sect, a movement in Islam. I’m not talking about a new sect in Islam, a new movement in Islam that everyone in the Islamic faith, whoever they are, if they are Sufis, or a Shia, or a Sunni, or a Wahhabi, whoever you are, you have to have this rebirth. That if you are a Shia, is with reason. If you are a Sunni be with reason, if you are a Sufi be with reason, if you are a Christian also be with reason. That reason is the greatest gift of God that only we can have. The rest of other people, other philosophies, they don’t have this reason. And fortunately, there is between… I have studied something like twenty religions because that was my PhD thesis when I was discussing comparative religion, I had to study Shinto, I had to study Buddhism, I had to study Hinduism, I had to study Christianity, Islam, Judaism, everything. I had to go and my sensor was logic. When I study a religion, it is with the intention that if this religion is better than Islam, if this religion is better than Ahlul Bait’s school of thought, I will follow it definitely for sure, and I will announce publicly that ‘I was this and I become this because of this’. That was my intention; not that I just wanted to go and study for PhD, what you call, purpose. I wanted to have a true investigation of the truth and God helped me. And I have very good teachers which I really enjoyed, the process of systematic thinking, that’s what our topic is, that process of systematic thinking. In process of systematic thinking the first step is that you should wake up, that maybe I am right, maybe I am wrong. If I am right, I have to have reasons for being right to that extent that I should be able to convince other people exactly how I can convince that two plus two is four, not emotionally and things like that… emotions, leave it aside; if you want to follow emotions, there is a lot of other choice just now they are busy doing here, there are a lot of Masjids, there are a lot of Hussainias, there is a lot of crying going on here and there, go there participate and enjoy your life, be up to end of your life good imitators In Shaa Allah, Allah also help you… but this is a place that we want logic to prevail, here we want logic to rule, here we want logic to tell us the story. And that is something that we want to be, logical people, rational people, people of wisdom; that wisdom can come in our heart, our life and this wisdom should tell us what to do, what to be, what is the next step, what is the first… the first step is, wake up. Maybe you’re right, have proof. Maybe you’re wrong, and then you will be guided to the right path, but not by emotion, by pure-100 percent logic.

Brothers, we are starting a philosophy course about Islam. We are going to give you rational and reasons for everything that Islam and the foundation of Islam is we are going to talk about God, the existence, does god exist? If he exists, what is the logical reason, not emotional reasons like ‘how this universe can’t have a God?’ that’s not a reason. This is not a reason, ok? My father says God is, and I know he is a very God fearing person. ‘How God can’t be?’ look at the sky, look at this... moon, and sun. How you can deny the existence?’ these are all emotional reasons, we need sound reason. For existence of God there are sixteen Burhaan by Ahlul Bait’s school of thought, we will talk about few of them. Sixteen arguments for just existence of God. Now the quality of God has other reasons, we will discuss it properly. This God has to be… How many Gods can we have? Can we have two? Can we have three? Or it has to be one, and if it is one, what is the quality of this God? Can we see it? Can we touch it? Can we have access to him? Can we hold, can we kiss him? All of those questions, the quality, the characteristics of God we’ll discuss the attributes of God. And then one of the biggest attributes of God is the oneness, we will talk about the logic, the reasons for oneness of God. Then we go to the justice of God as one of main attribute of God and then we talk about divine justice, we talk about social justice, we talk about justice itself, what it is, what is the meaning of justice? How we can have justice? What is the reason for all of the sending of the prophets and all of that, it will be discussed properly; all of the questions that you have, philosophical questions in your mind will be answered in that section. How it is possible, earthquake comes in Bam, sixty thousand people die in two minutes, where is God! You can ask questions, and there is logical reason for it. We’ll talk about it. I mean, there is this baby, baby was born with a crooked hand, baby was born with disabilities, and the child does not have any sin! Where is God when this child was born? If God exists how can he not prevent birth of such a child? In this world there are four hundred hungry people, where is God, why He cannot provide food for this, why people should die in utopia because of hunger? Where is God? Why there are so many gaps between the poor and the rich? Why the oppressors can do whatever they want and God cannot save the oppressed people? The oppressors are busy doing their atrocities, where is God? When it comes to Palestine, where is God when it comes to (?). These are all logical questions that you have and each of them has got proper logical answers, and we will talk about each of them. And you are welcome to have any questions that you have when it comes to topics because we believe in an answering religion. We believe, a very blueprint, a blueprint verdict, the verdicts says “don’t believe in anything without logic” without reason, that’s what we believe. We believe in a religion which says “کل ما حکم به العقل حکم به الشرع و کل ما حکم به الشرع حکم به العقل” you will not find even one sect of religion in the entire thousand nominations that we have around the world, which can have this one sentence that “Everything which is signed by religion has to be logical, and whatever it is logical has to be religious” which religion can say so? That is something that is what we believe. We belong to a religion which in this religion the first verdict in every Resala of every Marja al-Taqlid is what? In the basic principles of Islam we are not allowed to imitate. Wow, that’s great. The same Marja which says to me, the reference, the jurisprudence who says to me when it comes to pray, when it comes to fast,… small issues, you do imitation, that’s not a problem because I mean these are not so essential in your life, it is Furoo-e-deen_the branches of deen, but when it comes to basic principles of your religion you are not allowed [to imitate]. What does that mean? We are not allowed to imitate but we are imitating. When it comes to pray we are allowed to imitate, this Marja says like in the third Rak’a you read three-time Tasbihat-e-arbaeسبحان الله و الحمدلله و لا إله إلا الله و الله أکبر‏

, one says one is enough, the other one says it has to be three, so you follow, it’s fine; but when it comes to God, the existence of God, oneness of God. Here there is one Marja says God is one, and the other one says it’s three, the other one says two. You can’t say “no, I’m following Marja number two because he says God is three, so God should be three, that.. You are not allowed. When it comes to basic principles of Islam you have to have proper reason.

What’s the time? No, I mean I have to be thirty minutes talking, is it thirty minutes already? Twenty-five. In five minutes I’m going to finish my discussion and then the time will be for question and answers. “Salawat”

The whole purpose of today’s discussion was for me to I wanted to bring this awareness for you that we may be right, we may be wrong. The process of systematic thinking says, first, wake up. Second, leave aside everything which leads to fanaticism. Leave I aside, don’t be so much attached to whatever you believe even if it is the right religion; for a moment have a doubt, maybe this is wrong. Have that doubt, there is no problem. We will help you to go ahead. We will help everyone In Shaa Allah in these sessions to pass this duration and In Shaa Allah we are going to reach to a very sound destination; so the second process of this is that you have to start now the journey, crossing this bridge from doubt to certainty; there is a bridge, you are right at the top of this bridge. This is a place that you have to move, not stay there, not to build your house there. So we have to be in the process of thinking all the time, questions should be answered and questions have come in our brain, and we have to deal with those questions. Leave any type of attachments, leave anything which influence your right decisions, leave it aside whatever it is; so if you don’t, then you will not be able, actually, to reach to anywhere. If you are not leaving what you are now, if you cannot migrate, if you cannot leave aside, if you are still in the attachments that you have, surrounded and influenced by all those attachments, my brother and my sister you will not reach anywhere. Because already you have made your decision, you have already made your decision. You cannot decide again, we are here to make and your decision and that is what we are going to have. The process of systematic thinking says that you should think systematically, not that… when it comes to systematic thinking, another condition is that you start from root, don’t go to a branch. When there is a branch, there is a tree, go outside, there is a tree. You cannot judge this tree by one leave which is yellow. You just pick up one yellow leave on a big tree and say ‘all of this can be wrong, look at the leave it is what? It is not the right color’ you have to go to the foundation. If this tree, first, is in the right place? One. Two, is it the right tree? Is it strong enough? Have all of those criteria that you are looking for or not? Everything will be according to the foundation, not the branches. Branches … don’t discuss about hijab now, don’t discuss about prayer now, don’t discuss about the small issues now, about the beard, about the style of life, about having a little bit of nail polish on your finger and question can I pray with it or not. These are not questions. The question is God exists or not. First question, if this God exists how many Gods we have? What are the attribute of this God? And if He is then, the necessity of religion which will be our next discussion. Next week we are going to wait for you here. Brothers please pay attention we have started immediately after the Allahu Akbar of azan gone off. As soon as they said Allahu Akabar, we also said Allahu Akbar, we stood for prayer; we didn’t wait for you brothers and sisters to come for you to just know this program, this class is different from every single one in Iran. We don’t have Iranian time, we have got international time. Brothers, sisters, we are going to have a proper system here. We start in when we say, as you receive the message, at six or whatever, we started exactly at a quarter to six, No, quarter to six with the prayer, followed by supplication, we didn’t have a good calculation of how much the supplication will take, but immediately after the supplication we started our program. So if you want to learn, if you want to be part of this, I want all of you brothers and sisters to come benefit the goodness of prayer, benefit all of the Sawab of the Duaa Komeil, and be prepared we are gonna start sharp what time we have already announced so please refer to the group that we have established. We are going to announce every time the related time of that week because time will always change with the azan and the maqrib and all of that, so we will announce exactly at what time the prayer starts, what time the Duaa Komeil starts, and what time the class, so be on time, let us be disciplined people, that’s why then we can think logically.

For another half-an-hour we are going to entertain the questions.

 Salawat