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This lecture discusses the historical example of Caliph Harun al-Rashid, who encouraged intellectual freedom and constructive criticism among scholars. It highlights a specific incident where a scholar criticized the caliph harshly, prompting Harun to remind him of the Quranic principle of addressing even tyrants like Pharaoh with kindness and respect. The main lesson emphasizes the necessity of freedom of speech and the importance of constructive dialogue within the Muslim community to foster growth and improvement. The speaker calls for a revival of this spirit of openness and critique in contemporary Muslim societies.
Transcript (English)
0:00 Dear friends, as-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah.
0:03 One incident that occurred in Islamic history mentions Harun al-Rashid,
0:09 that great Muslim
0:10 ruler,
0:13 who was a great lover of knowledge,
0:15 scholars,
0:16 who encouraged science by all possible means, and when Muslims truly made
0:24 huge contributions to global sciences, etc.
0:27 This caliph had the habit of meeting with various scholars
0:32 from different fields, giving them the opportunity to address him,
0:36 to give constructive guidance
0:38 criticisms,
0:39 advice, etc.
0:42 So he specifically set aside time for that. They say that on one occasion, a preacher, a man who often advised others, took that opportunity
0:54 and spoke very harshly and inappropriately
0:58 about such a man, for such a
1:00 gathering and for the caliph of the Muslims,
1:03 thus criticizing
1:04 the ruler,
1:05 and directed very harsh words at him.
1:09 When Haru Nerradi
1:11 heard his words,
1:14 he said, Haru Nerradi, can I ask you two questions?
1:18 The man replied, you can.
1:20 He asked, what do you think, are you better or Musa a.s.?
1:26 The man was momentarily confused and said,
1:29 well, I
1:30 cannot be better than Musa a.s. There is no doubt that Musa a.s. is better than me. And you ask,
1:38 was Pharaoh worse or am I worse?
1:42 The man was again confused and said, there is no doubt that Pharaoh is far worse than you.
1:49 What you are to me.
1:51 He says, do you see how you speak to me harshly,
1:54 and remember the words of Allah, the Exalted,
1:58 He commands Musa and
2:00 his brother Harun, saying, Go to Pharaoh,
2:05 in many places in the Quran, go to Pharaoh, speak to him,
2:13 and say to him with gentle,
2:14 kind words.
2:21 Address him nicely, present the proofs nicely, gently, etc. Calmly
2:22 towards him, act.
2:24 For this, the caliph
2:25 pointed out his mistake and inappropriateness
2:32 of the speech
2:33 that took place then, but at the same time left us a lasting, in a way, advice
2:40 on how we should speak,
2:42 how we should address people,
2:44 how we should encourage ourselves
2:46 in situations where we find ourselves needing to sometimes
2:50 and perhaps more vigorously
2:52 comment on something,
2:54 to argue
2:55 or something similar. This event
2:58 teaches us truly numerous things and many lessons. I will highlight a few things I am really thinking about
3:06 for a few days and I want to share that with you.
3:08 The first thing is
3:11 that
3:13 such a situation
3:14 where someone behaves roughly
3:16 towards such a great person,
3:20 was possible
3:22 only thanks to
3:23 the freedoms
3:24 that Harun al-Rashid advocated and lived during his time.
3:29 This tells us about the importance
3:31 of intellectual,
3:33 academic,
3:33 or if you will, scholarly freedom
3:36 in every time and every place. As we see, Harun al-Rashid advocated this
3:43 and was simply a proponent
3:45 of something we today call academic freedom.
3:48 Thus, the freedom
3:50 of a professor to critique,
3:52 freedom
3:53 of academic
3:54 institutions to disagree with those in leadership,
3:58 people who, I don't know,
4:00 who may be the executive authority or something similar.
4:04 The freedom to somehow express one's opinion apart from the opinion of a
4:09 large number of people who represent something is
4:14 wrong.
4:15 Thus, the importance of freedom
4:17 is, in my opinion, a crucial
4:19 message of this example. And in fact, when we consider the time of Harun al-Rashid,
4:30 who was that man? He was the man who was the strongest,
4:31 the most powerful
4:34 man of the known world at that time.
4:40 He was the man who had the strongest army at that time,
4:41 a man who had the largest
4:47 empire, stretching from India, from the Indian subcontinent down to
4:47 Mauritania.
4:49 Morocco and where the Muslims actually are,
4:52 they have come. So,
4:53 that one caliph, although ruling vast territories,
5:01 represents
5:02 the importance of freedom.
5:04 So, freedom of speech, freedom of action, freedom of expression,
5:08 academic freedom, and so on. Where are those freedoms today among Muslims?
5:13 Where are those freedoms, even here among us? Why don't we have scholars
5:23 who publicly criticize certain
5:25 decisions of the authorities?
5:25 which we can almost see every day, etc.
5:29 To criticize that servitude.
5:32 to others,
5:34 to criticize, therefore, those who have unjustly enriched themselves,
5:40 in their ministerial and other positions.
5:43 Unfortunately, we will not see that. Why? Because it seems to me that we lack enough freedom or perhaps we lack enough courage
5:51 to live in accordance with that freedom.
5:54 Take the Muslim
5:55 world,
5:56 And
5:58 One of the reasons, believe me, why the state of the Muslim world is so miserable,
6:04 so wretched,
6:05 is actually the lack
6:08 of freedom to criticize,
6:10 to express opinions, to oppose the ruler, etc.
6:14 In our case,
6:15 currently,
6:16 opposing
6:18 opinions
6:19 of the ruler or someone in a position, even within the religious hierarchy, is considered blasphemous.
6:27 It is considered
6:28 almost a form of piety.
6:31 What is essentially a thing that develops a culture of submission.
6:38 So it is simply a submissive
6:43 awareness that does not allow us to move forward.
6:45 To progress,
6:52 to criticize, to improve
7:01 things. How will we improve if everything is ideal?
7:04 If everything is great, and if no one dares to criticize anything.
7:05 So, it seems to me this message, which is not given enough attention, should be highlighted more.
7:11 He neither harms them, nor kills them, nor persecutes them, nor anything.
7:15 Jews would come to him wanting to go to war, insulting him,
7:21 wishing for death, etc.
7:23 Yet, the Prophet (s.a.s.) treated them kindly.
7:27 So,
7:28 this is not a sign of weakness, but rather a sign of the breadth of the Prophet (s.a.s.).
7:37 A man comes and grabs him by the collar,
7:39 his garment roughly, yet the Prophet (s.a.s.) did not scold him, but smiled.
7:46 The man comes to him and says,
7:48 O Muhammad, be just.
7:50 O Muhammad, he calls to justice, he calls to the principle of justice.
8:04 You know, it has never happened that a prophet, peace be upon him,
8:10 rebuked someone for this. So, you will see that in all historical periods,
8:11 when freedoms prevailed among Muslims and when Muslim rulers and those
8:16 in positions advocated for freedom of expression,
8:18 academic freedom, and so on, this was actually a direct
8:19 evidence of freedom,
8:20 or rather,
8:22 prosperity of Muslim nations,
8:29 and peoples, etc. In fact, today we see prosperity in those nations that have great freedoms.
8:31 scholars to explore,
8:32 to speak, to criticize, to disagree, where you have more factions,
8:44 which indeed has a positive effect when criticisms of authority are raised,
8:50 as this is the essence of that position.
8:56 that actually improves the social environment for all of us.
9:01 So, to discuss these freedoms could be extensive.
9:04 I think that is the first message. The second message is certainly the importance of scholars,
9:05 it is mentioned that Harun al-Rashid, thus the capital part,
9:23 which emerged in his time,
9:28 certain discoveries.
9:35 And it will give us a social impulse to be better in every way.
9:47 What is it in modern times?
9:48 In modern times, it is actually an investment in science by universities,
9:52 social communities, if you will, and others.
9:54 One comparison I haven't mentioned until now,
9:56 really touched me.
10:02 Recently, I listened to the director of Pfizer, I think, where he said the following,
10:17 the director of one of the largest companies. Without going into what it is, who is behind it, and what they have produced, that's another topic.
10:20 But notice, this man who has enormous capital, enormous responsibility, towards that capital, and a huge number of workers,
10:22 says that five years ago, out of the ten best universities
10:26 One was American.
10:28 Then he says, today the situation is not the same. He says, out of the 10 best universities
10:34 in the world,
10:35 8 are Chinese, one is American, and one is European.
10:40 And indeed, this was something that opened my eyes and shows us why China is advancing so much.
10:56 Because they invest immensely in science. They invest greatly in young scholars, acquiring knowledge
11:02 from around the world and then pay huge funds and provide significant
11:03 grants
11:11 to their young scientists who start their startups, their ideas, and so on. Unfortunately, we do not see this among Muslims,
11:15 that it is even relevant, and we see what was done
11:16 unfortunately, it is no longer like that.
11:19 excuse me, currently
11:20 among Muslims
11:22 today. So this investment in knowledge and its importance
11:26 of scholars who, you see, had the opportunity to present their research
11:31 to the caliph himself,
11:33 to interact with him and so on. And I will conclude with the third advice,
11:37 of this event,
11:39 is actually to be mindful of how we address, to whom we address, in what tone we address,
11:46 in what manner, thus,
11:48 We present this matter, for the Prophet, peace be upon him, said,
11:55 Gentleness will not enter anything without beautifying it.
11:59 So, do we have a gentle approach? This gentle approach does not mean weakness,
12:07 or laziness or something similar. No, on the contrary,
12:10 so yes,
12:12 we argue
12:13 with evidence,
12:14 with
12:16 those factual
12:17 things, and sometimes even when subjectively presenting certain matters,