His Eminence Sheikh Abdurrahman Al-Sudais ?may Allah protect him? delivered the Friday khutbah titled “The Blessing of Reason and Discernment” in which he talked about the blessing of reason which Allah bestowed on mankind and thereby distinguished them from all His other creatures. The Sheikh also explained the importance of exploiting this faculty in understanding Allah’s Book (the Holy Qur’?n) and the Sunnah of His Prophet Muhammad [May Allah’s Salât and Peace be upon him] and in implementing their teachings. He stressed the need for preserving reason, as recommended by religion itself. The Sheikh eventually urged the youth not to be carried away by tendentious rumours propagated here and there, and he advised them not to behave like yes-men who follow every Tom, Dick and Harry.

All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, seek His succour, and return to Him in repentance. May Allah be extolled and gratified through our thanks. No matter how much we praise Him, we fall short of expressing the gratitude which He deserves. Be He glorified in His divinity and sanctified in His sublime existence and attributes. I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, alone with no associate, declaring total belief in Him and reliance on His guidance. I also bear witness that our Prophet and Master, Muhammad, is Allah’s Servant and Messenger who was literally selected for the mission of prophethood. May Allah’s bounteous and perfect Sal?t (Graces, Honours, Mercy) and Peace be upon him, his pious and immaculate family whose judicious minds and wise judgements are peerless, his Companions whose adherence to rightfulness and good judgement was as brilliant as a lustrous star, his t?bi??n (the contemporaries of the Companions of the Prophet [may Allah’s Salât and Peace be upon him] after his death), and all those who follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgement.

Now then, O Servants of Allah!

The best piece of advice ever to be offered in time of both prosperity and paucity is to observe taqwa vis-à-vis Allah (to Whom belongs Might and Majesty) by way of total compliance and submission. For, taqwa is the clear light for those seeking success and felicity; it is the non-severable bond for those who are in pursuit of total reliance on Allah, and the path trodden by the people of reason who follow the footsteps of glorious predecessors: "…and whosoever fears Allâh and keeps his duty to Him, He will make his matter easy for him." [Al-?al?q: 4]
 
(The Sheikh recites two lines of poetry paraphrased as follows):

Man can never wear a garment more beautiful than taqwa (piety),
No matter how costly and beautiful the clothes he buys.
Taqwa is for man provision and sublimity;
The brightest light, it is, in dark nights.

O Muslims!

Among the confirmed statements which need to be laid as a foundation for one’s creed is that the Creator’s bounteous blessings which He (may He be extolled) bestowed on His creatures are gigantic and multiple, bountiful and successive, perceptible and unseen, and evident in man himself and in the horizons .

These blessings provide ample evidence on the greatness of the All-Wise and the Creator (Blessed be He) who bestowed them upon His servants to assist them in getting closer to Him and to facilitate their access to His Paradise and His satisfaction. In their pursuit of divine contentment, the beneficiaries of blessings follow the most perfect, the wisest, the most enlightening, the best, the purest, and the most splendid religion. Allah’s blessings, whether in their minute details or in their overall nature, are indispensable: "…and if you count the Blessings of Allâh, never will you be able to count them…" [Ibrahim: 34]

One of the bountiful blessings with which we are endowed with ?may Allah protect you? is one for which we all owe infinite gratitude to Allah because we are unable to assess its merits, identify its essence, and discover its limits. It is namely the magnificent blessing of reason, discernment, and intelligence. It is indeed one of the divine blessings and the special characteristics of mankind.
 
Reason is the indispensable essence and the undeniably precious foundation of human existence. In fact, it is thanks to reason that diverse human faculties have generated superb civilisations, highly developed technologies, unfathomable scientific discoveries, and explorations of the too-distant galaxies via navigating space. Even more, it is reason that has orientated hearts and souls towards belief in Allah, the Great and the Sublime. It has guided them to the core of truth and awe, and immunised them against being ensnared in the pitfalls of atheism and misguidance. Allah (may He be extolled) says, "And indeed We have honoured the Children of Adam, and We have carried them on land and sea, and have provided them with At-Taiyibât (lawful good things), and have preferred them above many of those whom We have created with a marked preference." [Al-Isr?: 70]

Sheikh Al-Islam, Ibn Taymiyya ?may Allah have mercy on him? says, “Reason is the most significant meaning and the most useful of human faculties and senses. It is on the basis of reason that humans enter the age of takl?f  (legal capacity). It is a condition for propriety of conduct and performance of religious acts of worship.”
In the same vein, Imam Al-Qur?ubi ?may Allah have mercy on him? says, “The most reliable truth is that distinction between humans in terms of status and rank reposes on reason, which is the rationale of accountability in religious responsibility. It is reason that is deployed to know Allah, comprehend His words, enter His paradise, and believe in His messengers. However, since reason alone cannot be sufficient to assist man in shouldering all that is required of him Allah sent Messengers and revealed books.”

One of the common sayings about reason is, “The best gift someone is ever offered is his reason to direct him to right guidance and prevent him from fatal outcomes.” Imam Al-Sh??ibi ?may Allah have mercy on him? says, “Shari’a (Religion) has stipulated the preservation of reason: its existence and nonexistence.”

O Believers!

Given the privileged status of reason, Allah (may He be extolled) has both venerated and honoured it by according to it an elevated position and a sublime value. He has protected it by means of the true untwisted religion of Islam lest it should deviate, swerve from truth, and be tempted by whims. By the same token, Allah (may He be extolled) has inspired reason to be immunised against tashb?h , tamth?l , and taky?f . This is why religion has interdicted whatsoever undermines, dissipates, impairs, or corrupts reason. Accordingly, if reason relapsed into nonexistence, takl?f would automatically be dropped, for whenever Allah (may He be extolled) regains what He has previously offered, He will annul the obligations He formerly imposed on the individual.
 
(The Sheikh recites two lines of poetry paraphrased as follows):

Eulogise over the Lord of mankind,
Who has given His creatures lessons of wisdom,
Sufficient is He who granted you
Reason, hearing, and eyesight.  
 
People have divided opinion on the status of reason. There are those who excessively believe in the supremacy of reason and those who reject it with harsh criticism. As to the first party, it considers reason as a fundamental and primordial principle which guarantees self-sufficiency vis-à-vis religion. The other party, however, shies away from reason, lists its fallacies, and negates its functionality.  

Both opinions have deviated from truth and their proofs are fallacious. Conversely, those who have aptly chosen the right stance and are therefore endowed with total bliss are the People of Sunnah and Jam?’a (the Sunnites). They are moderate, equitable, reasonable, and judicious. They use reason to produce elaborate proof without falling into absolutism. In addition, they use reason methodologically in order to avoid abusive argumentation and to confine its action to religion. This group of people aims at striking some balance between confirmed rational evidence and authenticated religious texts. Allah (may He be extolled) says: "… Thus do We explain the signs in detail to a people who have sense." [Al-R?m: 28]

As for those who have abandoned their minds and precluded their reasons from recognising truth and experiencing guidance, they have gone far astray and erred in the wasteland of whims and temptation. Allah, our Lord, reported their remorseful degradation when He (may He be extolled) described their condition in the Hereafter: "And they will say: "Had we but listened or used our intelligence, we would not have been among the dwellers of the blazing Fire!"" [Al-Mulk: 10]

(The Sheikh recites two lines of poetry paraphrased as follows):

He whose reason has control over him will be one,
Whose self will never be restrained by avidity,
He who out of utter ignorance looks enticingly at desires,
Will one day fail to discern truth and recoil mortified.
 
Brothers and sisters in faith!

In order to develop distinguished rational minds, foster critical thinking and well-informed opinions, and construct a harmonious and sagacious society, Prophet Muhammad [may Allah’s Salât and Peace be upon him] cautioned Muslims against behaving like worthless yes-men. ?uthaifah ? may Allah be pleased with him? narrated the hadith of Prophet Muhammad [may Allah’s Salât and Peace be upon him] in which he said, “Do not be yes-men who would say: ‘If people behave properly, I would imitate them; and if they misbehave, I will do so.’ Rather, discipline yourselves and learn how to behave properly when other people do so, but when they err, abstain from wrongdoing.” [Reported by Al-Tirmithi via an authenticated chain of narration]. Note that a ‘yes-man’ is someone who a feeble-minded person who agrees with people and says to everybody: “I’m with you.”

What Prophet Muhammad [may Allah’s Salât and Peace be upon him] wanted to say is that the more judicious and commonsensical an individual is, the more likely he or she will succeed and realise significant achievements.

(Again, the Sheikh recites two lines of poetry paraphrased as follows):

The best gift allotted by Allah to every individual
Is reason ?such an unsurpassed gift!
If the Compassionate bestows upon someone perfect reasoning,
The latter will reach loftiest morals, with goals fulfilled.
 
O brothers and sisters in faith!

Let us consider the case of those who surrendered their minds and let them be manipulated by all hurling voices in social networks and high-tech means of communication. We are talking here about those people who lie in ambush for the tiniest twittered piece of news in order to urgently propagate it in the world of blogosphere where erratic opinions, pseudo-analyses, hallucinatory comments, and sheer lies invariably prevail. It is a phenomenon of bizarre mental piracy and lamentable intellectual abduction aggravated by the inflamed and sensational caprices sponsored by social networks and octopus-like websites, which are in turn manipulated by dubious agendas.
 
O servants of Allah! This is really deplorable, since even certain people who are expected to be morally straight and virtuous have relinquished their minds to the endless process of engaging in debate and rebuttal of heretical claims circulating on the net. They keep feeding their immature minds with corrupt theories, irresponsible ideas, and trivial opinions until they have inadvertently ended up as agents mobilised to serve the agenda of pretence, causing their societies to decline, envying great brains, defaming innocent renowned scholars and righteous figures, and staging a series of afflictions which will not discriminate between good and evil while putting everything ablaze. We seek refuge in Allah from all that!
 
Another group of people, however, have resorted to drug addiction and alcoholism; both of which are lethal acts, for they not only annihilate reason but also dissipate wealth. It is worth mentioning here that the brave and pre-emptive security campaign undertaken as usual by our security forces has achieved great results in keeping law and order and testifies to their unrivalled competence and courage. Their purpose is to eradicate the problem of drug abuse and drug dealers whose target is to vitiate our religion, our ummah, youth, and prestigious country. May Allah keep it safe!   

O Muslim Ummah!
 
Where are the reasonable and judicious people? Can good judgement, balanced thinking, and composure survive if they depend on sheer twittering of positions and value judgements? When should we stop seeing generations nurtured to embrace frivolity and triviality in imitation of corrupt felons? Woe be to those masses who blindly imitate others without any reflection or proof!    

O Believers!

There is a vital need for drafting an honorary charter of professional ethics whereby the functioning of modern mass media should be determined before the latter would destroy the remnants of the ummah’s religion, reason, security, unity, stability, solidarity, and private reputations. In this particular respect, it is appropriate to compliment all those who are exploiting social networks to reinforce religion, harmonise positions, unify ranks, enforce security, spread knowledge, enjoin people to follow true faith, consolidate consensual principles of religion, strengthen the constant values of the Sunnites, eradicate fruitless polemics, discard whatever aspects associated with general afflictions, and dispense with all sources of turmoil disturbing public opinion. It is Allah’s assistance that we really beseech!    

(The Sheikh recites another two lines of poetry paraphrased as follows):

Judicious mind protected me against erratic frivolity,
And graceful ornaments beautified my otherwise inert complexion.  
My first and foremost glory emanates from my creed!
Sun rays by forenoon are as radiant as sunset glow.

The current oppression and injustice perpetrated by the tyrants in Palestine, Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Sham region (Syria), and Arakan, alongside the turmoil reigning over certain disintegrating societies, are only the outcome of preoccupied minds and crooked barren reason. They are flawed minds which commit fallacies in their estimations and slow down the process of comprehension.
   
It is indeed strange –O Muslim Ummah– for a Muslim to utterly overlook and disregard his own mind. In other words, it is unbecoming of a Muslim who would show no diligence in stimulating and commanding his mind or otherwise grieve over its subordination and loss, while overstepping the proper bounds of material and physical pleasures without admonishment or reason.

(The Sheikh includes two lines of poetry paraphrased as follows):

    Once a man’s mind is consummate, then
    His courses and endeavours would turn complete
    However, short of reason he would be lacking
    Though wealthy and prodigiously generous.

O Muslim Ummah!

Nations and peoples shall never find their way to pride, glory and sublimity, nor will they be able to free themselves from the fetters of fitnas (temptations), turbidity and the misery of strife unless they revert to those people of sound reason among them; those who possess substantial and rational minds. Such people have set to work their talents and minds in order to build their religion and homelands. They have devoted their senses and bodies to excellence and creativity and their feelings and conscience to truthfulness and purity.

Suffice it for us –O Servants of Allah– to ensure sound faith and reason. We do indeed seek refuge with Allah against the making of any concessions as to the fundamentals of our religion, or the move to blandish anyone, whoever it is, with whatever might bring about our Lord’s wrath or delude our minds and senses into straying from the Sunnah of our Prophet (may Allah’s Salât and Peace be upon him).

(The Sheikh includes two lines of poetry paraphrased as follows):

    Such are the torch men who
  Seem to be born out of genuine stars,
  And their minds impart light all over them;
  From whatever direction it comes, it is shining!

Now, then, O Muslims!

How enchanting it is to listen to a rational human being who is quick-witted and sharp-minded! One who is crowned with agility of perception and insight, good measure, acuity, sound reason, sweet words and style! It is one –blessed be he– who is enlightened with the torch of righteousness and faith!

Thank Allah! Such a human being has been able to resolve the most precarious of problems and help unveil the most hidden of evils. It is indisputably true that judgment matches the degree of nobility, grace in conduct and magnificence of faith. This is the function of a fair and straightforward probe that never fails or lies. Verily, this is referred to the abundance of reason, the soundness of mind, the originality of thought, and the light of sobriety and sagacity: "…and he, to whom Hikmah (wisdom) is granted, is indeed granted abundant good. But none remember (will receive admonition) except men of understanding." [Al Baqarah: 269]

May Allah help all to achieve the marvels of reason! May He Almighty receive our deeds and words with satisfaction and approval, for He is the Best Guardian and the Best Hope!
 
Having said this, I ask Almighty Allah to forgive me, you and all Muslims for all our wrongdoings; so ask Him for forgiveness and repentance. My Lord is indeed Most Forgiving, Most Merciful!