In The Name of Allaah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy.
Imaam As-Sadi [may Allaah have mercy upon him] stated: Among the people there is a group that claims the (knowledge) of philosophy and metaphysics; then they brought the greatest misguidance and absurdities, denied the Great Lord (Allaah) and His existence, therefore more so that they denied the Messengers, the divine books and matters of the unseen. And they denied Allaah’s Aayaat [lessons, proofs, evidences, revelations] wrongfully, arrogantly and due to self-exaltation, though they were convinced – within their own souls -about them (i.e. that those Aayaat are truth). They denied the knowledge of the Messengers and what was indicated by the divine books, arrogantly turned away from them due to what they were acquainted with of the natural sciences and the affairs attached to them. They denied all realities except what they perceived with their senses and limited narrow experiences in comparison to the knowledge of the Prophets. So, they worshiped nature, made it their greatest concern and the sum of their knowledge- went beyond what their (innate) natural dispositions dictate and did not adhere to any of the divine religious laws or (sound) human morals. Animals became better than them, for indeed they were deprived of (sound) morals and urged towards animalistic desires – neither had a purpose to hope for nor (sound) outcomes to pursue. [Allaah (The Exalted) stated]:
[وقالوا ما هي إلا حياتنا الدنيا نموت ونحيا وما يهلكنا إلا الدهر – And they say: “There is nothing but our life of this world, we die and we live and nothing destroys us except Ad-Dahr (the time).] [Surah Al-Jaathiyah. Aayah 24] The polytheists- with their polytheism and disbelief – became better and much lesser in evil than them.
And what is very amazing is that in recent times this pernicious school of thought has swept away – by its currents – the masses of humankind due to weakness in religion and lack of insight, and when powerful nations laid down for it the ropes and traps through which people perished. [end of quote]
Commentary: These people brought the greatest misguidance and absurdities through philosophy and metaphysics, which led them to deny Allaah’s existence, therefore, their denial of the Messengers, the divine books and matters of the unseen was more expected. However, this willful denial was similar to that of pharaoh and his people. Allaah said: [وَجَحَدُواْ بِہَا وَٱسۡتَيۡقَنَتۡهَآ أَنفُسُہُمۡ ظُلۡمً۬ا وَعُلُوًّ۬اۚ – And they belied them (those Ayat- signs, proofs, evidences, revelations) wrongfully and arrogantly, though their ownselves were convinced thereof [i.e. those (Ayat) are from Allah, and Musa (Moses) is the Messenger of Allah in truth, but they disliked to obey Musa (Moses), and hated to believe in his Message of Monotheism]. [Surah An-Naml. Aayah 14]
The willful denial and arrogance of these people led them to deny the greatest reality that is firmly entrenched in the sound innate natural dispositions and upright intellects. They thought that this (i.e. denial of Allaah’s existence, the Messengers, Divine books and matters of the unseen) is the greatest solution to problems associated with creed. So, after the author mentioned this third corrupt and false solution, he then started to clarify what the religion of Islam brought in this subject matter- the greatest subject matter. [Source: https://www.al-badr.net/detail/UY7sjBcaQE 58mins 50secs to 1hr. 4mins 50secs. paraphrased excerpt]
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