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Published on April 11th, 2020 | by Admin | Views: 408

Root, Branch, And Taboo Questions – How to Answer All Questions About Islam?

Root, Branch, And Taboo Questions – Nouman Ali Khan

The kinds of questions you faced about Islam are of every variety:

 “Why do you guys believe this?”

“Why do you guys do that?”

“Is it true in Islam there is this? Or that? Or the other?”

And there’s no end to these things. The jihad question,

or Islam and it’s relationship with women,

or Islam and pluralism. and our acceptance of other world view, or the exclusivity of Islam and after life, and all kinds of things, right?.

And you get asked about these things, from a humanist point of view, from a moral point of view, “How can you believe these things in the modern world?” And, “How is this supposed to be a tolerant religion?””I mean you call it peace but then you say this, this, and this?” Right? So, you’re bombarded with that kind of stuff all the time.

What Allah (عز وجل) does with question, by the way the Quran does record condescending questions too. It does record people that asked questions for the wrong reasons also, and teaches us how to deal with that as well. Allah does do that as well.

 root questions, branch questions

There are root questions, and there branch questions.That’s obviously the image of a tree, isn’t it?

Let’s say every time you address a branch question you’ve cut off that branch.The thing about a branch is when you cut it off, another one will grow in its place.And maybe two will grow in its place. You cut off and chop off another branch, another two or three will grow in its place. You’ll have a conversation with someone about,

“How Islam mistreat women.” 

You can have that conversation for 4-5 hours, it’s gonna lead to a question about “Slavery”. Which is gonna lead to a question about “Jihad”.Which is gonna lead to a question about “Islam and Politics”. And it’s gonna keep going. And about six hours in, you’re gonna come back to “Islam and Women”. You’re like, “Didn’t we just do that one?” You’re gonna come back in circles, and circles, and circles, and circles, and they’re not gonna end.Somebody thinks. “Well here are the 100 questions that are being asked about Islam, if we can just answer these questions, we’re good.” “Then the problem is solved.” From my own understanding of the Quran, Allah knows best, a lot of these questions are actually branch questions. They address one bit of the problem, but they don’t address the root of the problems Yes these questions do have answers, but answering them before you deal with the root of the problem is pointless. Not that these questions don’t deserve answers. They do. But the thing is, there’s a deeper problem here. The Quran concerns itself primarily with the root questions. And the root questions, most people don’t ask. It’s a long list of questions, some of them maybe the fundamental, core, or root questions, a lot of them are branch questions, and they’re all mixed in together.

What are some of those root questions?

“Is there really a God?” 

“Is this really revelation from God?”

“Is Muhammad really a messenger of God?”

“He speaks on behalf of the Creator of all things?”

“An angel really did descend on him and gave him this message?”

“This is what you actually believe and what  your basis for believing that?”

“You guys actually belief that once you die, that life carries on?”

“Our bodies are decayed, they’re turning into dirt,

the thing that made up our body is now

mixed in with the elements of the earth,

insects, and all kinds of microbes have had their way with us?”

“And we’re deteriorated to a point

this piece of grass right here may have been a grave,

but when you dig it now, a thousand years later,

there’s nothing to be found, nothing but dirt.”

“And you’re saying that we’re gonna come back from all this?”

“Restored entirely?”

“And then on top of that, there’s a new kind of life,

where there’s no aging?”

“There’s eternity?”

“And you get to live forever?”

“And there’s a kind of fire that burn but doesn’t kill?”

“And it’s much hotter than this fire?”

“This is the stuff you guys believe?”

“This is what you actually… you convinced of this,

absolutely convinced of this?”

You know what these are?

These are fundamental questions.

They boil onto three things.

They boil onto question about God, about Allah,

about the message itself, risaalah,

the entire institution of revelation,

and a life after death.

Whether we’re talking about the life in the grave,

or Judgment Day, or hell, or heaven, doesn’t matter.

It’s another life, another life beyond this one.

The Quran concerns itself with these three.

Allah, risalah, akhirah.

When you answer these questions

to the satisfaction of human soul,

someone internalized that these are actual realities.

This is in fact revelation.

I am convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt.

I am content in the dept of my heart,

that this is in fact the word of God.

Then those other questions,

you may still have them,

but when you receive their answers,

you’ll actually be satisfied.

You’ll actually be content.

And another incredible thing will happen.

There are some questions

to which you will never find answers.

Cause He knows everything and you don’t,

and you’ve accepted that already.

So you’ll ask ‘what is alif lam mim’ mean.

You’ll be given the answer, “Allah knows and I don’t.”

You won’t have a problem saying,

“I can’t accept that, that’s not good enough for me,

I need to know everything.”

That’s not gonna be a problem anymore.

Because you’ve accepted a higher authority.

You’ve accepted a divine source.

Allah (عز وجل) in this ayah is saying,

“Are you gonna question your messenger,

in a way that indicates

that you have a problem with the roots?”

What is the root? Iman.

What is iman?

Iman billah, iman birrisaalah, iman bil akhirah.

Look at this ayah again (QS. Baqarah: 108),

“Are you intending to ask your messenger,

the way Musa was asked before?”

(أَمْ تُرِيدُونَ أَن تَسْـَٔلُوا۟ رَسُولَكُمْ كَمَا سُئِلَ مُوسَىٰ مِن قَبْلُ)

(وَمَن يَتَبَدَّلِ ٱلْكُفْرَ بِٱلْإِيمَـٰنِ)

(فَقَدْ ضَلَّ سَوَآءَ ٱلسَّبِيلِ)

Whoever were to replace faith with disbelieve.

So the question go back to what?

Matters of faith.

Actual matters of faith.

Now a lot of times, for example there are Muslims

that really have some deep questions,

maybe they were asked by non Muslims

or they started thinking about them themselves and…

maybe they have question like,

“Allah is way too harsh.”

“The God of the Quran is really really harsh,

why is He gonna punish people forever in hell?”

“Why are hands being chopped and people being stoned?”

“That stuff seems barbaric!”

“How can that stuff be in a modern world?” Etc.

These are questions you might have,

but you’re scared to ask your mom

because she’ll have heart palpitation,

and then she’ll start reciting Quran on you and…

pheeew… force you to go to umrah with her and…

you know… hehehe…

Or if you were to ask your father,

or your cousin, or your brother,

like, “Astaghfirullah, what are you saying Bro?”

“You need to watch this video.”

So that happens, right?

So you don’t actually ask, you keep it inside.

A lot of people actually have questions about their faith.

They haven’t heard satisfactory answers

about the fundamental of their faith.

Why are they believers to begin with.

They have those questions,

but we’ve created a culture in which you cannot ask,

you cannot engage to those questions.

You cannot arrive at the satisfactory answer

because we have made these questions into taboo.

And as a result of that, a lot of people walk around with doubt.

The outside looks like they’re Muslims, they’re praying,

they’re coming to Ied prayer at least.

But on the inside there are these questions

that are just unanswered and sometimes they just come out.

Cause he can only keep this thing inside for so long

and then at some party or some gathering

they just pour out, and then you’re like, “Wwwhat?”

“What did you..?”

“How can you say these things?”

“I never knew you were…

like a closet kafir or something…”

You know… hehehe.

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