In the Name of Allah, the lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy
All Praise is due to Allah. May Allah’s peace and blessings be upon the Messenger, his family, his Companions and his brothers from the messengers and prophets.
Mr. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, may Allah guide and support him;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
May Allah’s peace, mercy and blessings be upon you.
Celebrating Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Glory when the first revelation was sent down) is in essence acelebration of the revelation of the Ever Glorious Quran upon Prophet Muhammad, the Messenger of humanity. At the same time, it is a celebration of the value of knowledge contained in this sacred Book.
One of Allah’s great bounties upon the believers is that the one who seeks to find out the virtue and position of knowledge in the Quran needs no more than contemplating on the first revealed verses of this Book, it says: “Read in the name of your Lord who created: (1) He created man from a clinging substance. (2) Read! Your Lord is the most Bountiful One (3) Who taught by the pen, (4) Who taught man what he did not know” (Al-Alaq: 1-5). These five short verses contain two commands to read, and three hints of the virtue of knowledge and seeking it. Moreover, the pen, which is the instrument and means of knowledge, is mentioned in the verses. This commencement connotes to what extent the Quran celebrates the value of knowledge, shedding the light on its importance in distinguishing truth from falsehood, and right and wrong.
What makes the one who is well-versed in the knowledge of the Quran wonder is that an unlettered Prophet who does not read or write and who never used a pen throughout his entire life was sent to an ignorant society which had no idea about reading or writing, learning or teaching, and the word “read” is the first divine one to hear and influence his mind and heart. It was the first message of learning and teaching that knocked the door of the ignorant and arrogant people who had nothing to do with teaching or learning. What is astonishing is the position of this unlettered prophet who was commanded to read while he did not know how to do so as mentioned in the Ever Glorious Quran: “And you never recited any scripture before We revealed this one to; you never wrote one down with your right hand. If you had done, those who follow falsehood might have had cause to doubt.” (Al-Ankabut: 48).The miraculous aspect of this verse is that it confirms his knowledge –peace be upon him- and his illiteracy at the same time because knowledge and illiteracy are in contradiction and do not actually occur together. In addition, the existence of one of them surely rejects the other according to the necessity and custom.
Imam Al-Busiri Al-Sakandari mentioned this miracle in his Burda, he said:
It is sufficient for you as a miracle (to have so vast) knowledge in an unlettered person.
In the period of ignorance, and such noble etiquettes in an orphan.
What is meant by knowledge is what included in the Quran like seeking wisdom and knowledge, what leads to happiness in this world and the world to come and informing of the unseen, including the pre-Quran revealed scriptures, the news of the previous prophets and the stories of the earlier centuries and informing the future matters and the ones that took place during his lifetime –peace be upon him- as he said and how he told.
The minds of the people of Quraish were bewildered because of an unlettered man who had been living among them for forty years and who proved making no single knowledge trip to the Persians, the Byzantines or the Jews in Yathrib. And all of a sudden, he brought them a speech which is scientifically meticulous and intellectually accurate, for which they found no justification but bringing accusations of lies and fabrications against him. Thus, they falsely claimed that Muhammad used to receive knowledge from a Roman Christian Blacksmith who was staying at Makkah, and used to read in the Torah and the Gosbel in a non-Arabic language, and thus acquired knowledge from him. The Quran depreciated this calumny and refuted it in an impressive manner, Allah said: “And We certainly know that they say, "It is a man who teaches him,’ but the tongue of the person they maliciously allude to is incapable of expression, while this revelation is in a clear Arabic.” (Al Nahl: 103) which means, in short, how did they dare to say such a thing while the language by which this blacksmith read is different from Muhammad’s language, the clear Arabic.
We note that the Quranic response to this accusation does not achieve consistency unless the mind confesses the historical postulate, i.e., the Torah and the Gospel had not been translated at that time. In fact, this postulate constitutes the cornerstone of the Quranic refutation of this calumny, because if we were to assume that there was an Arabic translation for these two Sacred Scriptures in the Arabian Peninsula at the time of Muhammad, then the deduction would have collapsed altogether and the claim of polytheists would have proven true and reasonable.
I invite all of you to ponder on the absolute confidence the Prophet (PBUH) felt when he met and challenged them on the impossibility of the existence of Arabic translation for these two Books.
No sooner had the twentieth century come to its middle than the deep Arabic research in history of religions and the specialized western scientists decided that the first Arabic translation of the Torah and the Gospel appeared no less than 150 years after Muhammad’s demise; how then this unlettered Prophet had come certainly to know this postulate, which the twentieth century’s research proved true, and how he confronted them with such great issue that would require a meticulous survey and a comprehensive investigation for all that had been written in Arabic in the Arabian Peninsula, especially in the monasteries and temples of the Levant. Had this not been a revelation from Allah from Whom nothing is hidden in the earth nor in the heaven, how then the prophet would have come to know?
Honorable attendants!
It was expected that the first verses of the Quran would be revealed to awaken the fitrah (natural disposition) of belief in Allah, the Exalted, as it is considered the basic and fundamental principle in religions, without which any other principle would not have been established; alternatively, Quran began its message by ringing the bells of knowledge in the ears and minds of people in order to get them fully aware of the fact that doctrine in Islam is intrinsically built upon “knowledge” and intellectual reasoning, and not upon “heart feelings or emotional dictations ” that do not depend on intellectual based evidence and inference.
We learned at Al-Azhar that proving the existence of Allah, the Exalted, depends first and foremost on the intellectual based evidence and what it entails of inference, analogy, and reasoning and not on the textual evidence. We also learned that the reason is the criterion and principle by which people know Allah and upon which the Quran depends in addressing them and enacting the Shar’i obligations, acts of worship or dealings. This may lead us to understand why words like “intellect and knowledge” are frequently found in the Glorious Quran, literally, or derivationally, 865 times, a number that is not found for any other word of the Quran.
Meanwhile, the Quranic injunction to use the intellect in reaching to belief in Allah, the Almighty, does not mean that Quran neglects the use of the fitrah, which is the strong feeling and the powerful instinct that thrust upon man to recognize the existence of God who has created the universe and organized its affairs.
This feeling which is commonly exist in all people, since the beginning of creation until the Day of Judgment, whether they are old or young, scholars or unlettered, civilized or underdeveloped, philosophers or illiterates, etc.; they are all the same in this feeling:
"So stand firm and true in your devotion to the religion. This is the natural disposition Allah instilled in mankind." (Rum: 30)
However, the natural disposition is the closest way for human beings to know and recognize their Lord, abstract problems, incorporeal deficiencies or social and environmental distractions might crop up and keep it away from fulfilling its fundamental role in human beings’ life… One of the most dangerous problems and deficiencies, which comes at top of these distractions, is the Satan’s insinuations and seductions. There come after this other kinds of abstract diseases like the parents being atheists and deviated, the intellectual environment being confusing and perplexing, the tyranny of materialism, adoration of material desires and following its whims, deification of man and putting this worldly life into consideration while forgetting the Hereafter. The Prophet (PBUH) warned us in the Holy hadith (hadith qudsi) in which he reported Allah saying: “I have created My servants as one having a natural inclination to the worship of Allah but it is Satan who turns them away from the right religion and he makes unlawful what has been declared lawful for them and he commands them to ascribe partnership with Me, although he has no justification for that.”That is why the intellect in the Quran is the main criterion upon which human beings are addressed with commandments and prohibitions, and according to which people are rewarded or punished.
Honorable attendants!
I know for certain that I have elaborated on different topics in my speech, but my only excuse is that we are ordered, as recorded in the Quran and the Sunnah, to remind people (with the Divine Way of Guidance), a fact which is crystal clear in the Saying of Allah, the Almighty, “And continue to remind, for surely the reminder profits the believers.” (Dharyat: 55) and “Therefore do remind, surely reminding does profit. (9) Those who stand in awe of God will heed the reminder,” (Al-A'la 87:9-10) Seizing this good opportunity, I would like to remind you that knowledge and intellect upon which all the legislations of Islam, be they of cardinal importance or not, have been based from the very beginning are now replaced with doubts, allusions and imaginations, all of which exerted negative impact upon people’s way of thinking and minds. They even negatively affect people’s stability and cohesion which are viewed as the most important element in achieving the progress, prosperity and flourish of any nation. Not only that, but these doubts, allusions and imaginations unfortunately became the main criterion by means of which people identify what is right and what is wrong, to the extent that confusion resulting from these allusions mistakenly became the only form of truth which accepted nothing besides. As a result, those who firmly adhere to sound jurisdiction and its rules are shocked with these serious mistakes, unjust misconceptions and sweeping generalizations which, if carefully examined in the light of the sound evidence and jurisdiction, will for sure prove futile. In this regard, the statement reading, “Falsehood only exists when the truth is oblivious of it.” In the same connection, in his Faysal al-Tafriqa Bayna al-Islam wa al-Zandaqa (The Decisive Criterion for Distinguishing Islam from Masked Infidelity), Imam Al-Ghazali wrote a very wonderful statement reading “If those who do not know kept silent, disagreement will fade away.”[1]
In this respect, the Noble Quran stresses the fact that people should ask concerning matters they have no idea about and whose essence is only known to those of knowledge, a fact which is clearly stated in the Saying of Allah, the Almighty, “…so you can ask those who have knowledge if you do not know.” (Al-Nahl: 43) Elsewhere in the Quran, Allah, the Almighty, orders us to keep away from suspicion, saying: “You who believe! Avoid most of suspicion, for surely suspicion in some cases is a sin …” (Al-Hujurat: 12) and “And they have no knowledge of it; they do not follow anything but conjecture, and surely conjecture does not avail against the truth at all.” (Al-Najm: 28) In the same vein, Prophet Muhammad (Allah’s Peace and Blessings be upon him) warned his followers not to take suspicion as a criterion to identify the essence of matters and to issue their judgments thereupon; he (PBUH) says: “Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the worst of false tales,” meaning that whoever relies on suspicion as the only means to attaining knowledge is a big liar. In actuality, this wrong methodology will result only in the spread of hatred, enmity and accusing each other of betrayal, stressing meanwhile that the latter is the most harmful nowadays because it fills people’s hearts with hatred toward each other. Besides, it helps disunite the society and weaken its power.
Honorable attendants!
There is no way for us but to unite and hold one approach towards our national issues and all what is relating to our fate and future. We have not way but to exert our utmost so as to cause all the plots against Arabs and Arabhood prove futile. I here stress that we, Arabs and Muslims, today are in a dire need for such a serious stance and reasonable judgment, because we are surrounded by danger which is about, Allah forbids, to afflict us in case those who are oblivious to the serious repercussions of their misjudgment of matters do not put an end to their levity.
His Excellence the President!
On behalf of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif bodies, scholars and the international students coming to it from more than one hundred country all over the world, I express my sincere gratitude and appreciation for your continuous support to Al-Azhar and your keenness to enable it to fulfill its mission of disseminating the true message of Islam, its humane aspects and Law, and the spread of the culture of peace, east and west, locally and internationally.
Honorable attendants,
This is Al-Azhar, the gift of God to Egypt. Egypt in turn, kept it, supported it and enabled it to fulfill its global mission that enabled Al-Azhar to keep the identity, the legacy and the sound scientific methodology of the Ummah until it became the safe haven to which the hearts of all Muslims from all over the world turn.
At the end of my speech, I ask Allah, the Most High, to shower our martyrs from the heroes of the Armed Forces, the Police and all the Egyptian innocent people with His Mercy; to grant patience to their families; to severely punish those criminals who killed them both in this worldly life and the Hereafter; and to help us meet their due duties.
[1] See Al-Ghazali, Faysal al-Tafriqa Bayna al-Islam wa al-Zandaqa, (Jeddah, Dar Al-Minhaj), p. 93.