Name: Concerns and Pitfalls of Islamic Apologetics
Uploaded: 2020-09-02T21:48:51.000Z
Channel: Dr. Hatem al-Haj
Description: Dr. Hatem al-Haj describes some of the concerns and pitfalls to engaging in apologetics.

<p>Dr. Hatem al-Haj describes some of the concerns and pitfalls to engaging in apologetics. </p>

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The theoretical framework and principles used to derive rulings from the primary sources of Islam. It involves the study of legal theory, textual interpretation, and the rules of deduction.

Methodology (usul)

What is Islamic apologetics?

Why do we call it Islamic apologetics?

Are generic answers to doubts enough?

Can you cross an ocean without getting wet?

How do we navigate between liberalism and conservatism?

Which team of apologists will best connect with people?

Introduction to Islamic Apologetics

Concerns and Pitfalls of Islamic Apologetics

Limitations of Islamic Apologetics

General Guidelines of Islamic Apologetics - Part 1

General Guidelines of Islamic Apologetics - Part 2

FAQs with Islamic Apologetics - Part 1

FAQs with Islamic Apologetics - Part 2

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Guest Contributor

Dr. Hatem al-Haj

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Sharia, or Islamic law, is the divinely ordained path governing ritual devotion and aspects of daily life. This section covers research on Islamic jurisprudence, including worship, commerce, family law, and penal codes.

Sharia

Basic Lessons from Islamic Apologetics

 Bismillah, alhamdulillah, salat, salam, wa rasulullah wa ala aali wa sahbihi wa man wal asr  I'm about to proceed.  So, we are now talking about the concerns and pitfalls of doing apologetics or engaging  foreign discourses, discourses that are foreign to Islam, basically trying to explain Islam  within different paradigms and different discourses.  And the first thing that we talked about is basically reinforcing the centrality of the  human perspective and the referentiality of the human intellect.  And every time we want to address one of those concerns or pitfalls, remind me that I should  talk about some measures to mitigate most of the harm, not all of the harm, but to mitigate  most of the harm that may ensue from doing apologetics.  And when it comes to reinforcing the centrality of the human perspective and the referentiality  of the human intellect, you do want people to understand, you do want to stress the importance  of humbling ourselves, humbling ourselves.  You do want to remind people of the limitations of the human intellect.  You do want to remind people of the essence of Islam, which means what?  Submission.  Submission to God is extremely rational because it is only irrational to exaggerate the office  of the intellect to a point where you are arguing with God about the details of his instructions.  That is pretty irrational.  How much do you know?  How much did Einstein know about biology?  I know Einstein knew a lot about physics, but did he know everything about physics?  Isn't his theory being challenged by physicists nowadays and before?  Certainly, he was a genius.  He knew a lot about physics, but how much did Einstein know about biology?  How much did he know about sociology?  How much did he know about many?  This is one of the most brightest in terms of intelligence.  Very little.  Very little about all of these other disciplines.  Talk to him about the discipline that is not his, and then people will just be very limited.  Even in their area of specialty, they are talking about theories.  The ultimate reality is known to God.  The ultimate reality is only known to God.  How do these things actually work is only known to God.  Otherwise, if human beings know everything about physics, they would be able to control the universe.  هم هم المسيطرون. Are they in control?  We are not in control because we know very little.  وما أتيتم من العلم إلا قليلا. You have only been given little knowledge.  This is something that we want to remind ourselves of and remind the audience of.  Please let us not exaggerate.  Let us not undermine the office of reason, but let us also be reasonable about it  and not exaggerate the place of reason or the office of reason beyond what is reasonable.  Now, let's talk about submission.  Submission, as I said, is very rational because we are not saying to submit to nobody or submit on basically no basis.  No, we're saying that we have come to believe that this book that our Prophet ﷺ conveyed to us came from God.  How did we come to believe in this?  Like I said, you need to build the certainty in the message and the messenger.  And that's a different discussion.  We can talk a little bit about building certainty, but this is work that you will need to do.  Once you have come to that certainty that this book did come from God,  it is only rational that you now listen and obey.  Listen and obey.  And humble yourself, understand the limitations of your intellect, and we will come back to it.  But it is an important mention here when we are talking about reinforcing the centrality of the human perspective  and referentiality of the human intellect.  Whether you're writing or you're speaking, whether you're doing your apologetics and writing a paper or you're speaking,  you do want to insert this in the beginning of the discussion, in the middle of the discussion,  at the end of the discussion, a reminder of our limitations as human beings.  Now the second concern here is causing a left shift in the community.  Causing a left shift in the community.  What do we mean by this?  Left shift in the community. What do we mean by this?  Naturally, if you are trying to speak to people to your left, if you are trying to reach out to people to your left,  let us say the liberal culture that we live in, that we are surrounded by,  and if you are trying to reach the people to your left, will you use your right hand or left hand?  Look, it is the left hand.  If I'm trying to reach the people to my left here, how far can this get?  So if I am trying to reach to them with the right hand, that is overreaching.  But if I try to reach out to them with the left hand,  and I'm not talking about the right and the left in the Islamic sense of the right and the left,  ahl al-yameen, ahl al-jumal, no I'm just talking about your hands.  If you are trying to reach the people to your right, you reach to them with your right hand.  What does that mean?  It means when we talk about Islamic…

Basic Lessons from Islamic Apologetics

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