A Tale Of The Tail With No Tail To The Tale

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 Here is a video of the American Hamza Yusuf (the YouTube preacher) talking to our local 'adab' expert Syed Naquib al Attas. The video is 11 years old (so it says) and it was posted by Wan Fayhsal (our lets-print-money advocate). I believe it is going around again.
I would rather put down some comments before you watch the video. (Err . . by the way non Muslims need not see this. You will not understand what they are talking about but trust me you will not lack for anything).  
First of all may I congratulate the professor because his hearing is good. He seems to hear Hamza Yusuf speaking quite well. 
Also it is "wa ulil amri minkum". May I just share with the professor that both eagles and sparrows are of the bird kingdom. Or bird species. Regardless of how high or how low they fly both are still 'bird brained' creatures.  
The human being on the other hand has aql (akal). Akal includes using common sense, logic, observation, evidence, proof, science.  This is the highest form of consciousness. And conscience.

The neglect of using akal can bring disastrous consequences. Please refer Surah 10:100.



Anyway Hamza Yusuf begins by mentioning the  'essential crisis taking place right now in the Muslim world'.  
But just before saying that, Hamza Yusuf says he has read all of Syed Naquib's published works. 
So despite all the publishing, all the reading, despite the 'adab' and all the "eagles" the "essential crisis taking place right now in the Muslim world"  is still like a stubborn piece of gum sticking to your shoe. And it has been like that for a 1000 years or more. Remember this video is 11 years old. Since then the Arab Spring has destroyed the Arab countries, Pakistan is now out of roti and disco-dancing "born again" Saudi Arabia is just one bullet away from total annihilation. 

I could not fathom much from this conversation. I have also heard Hamza Yusuf on his YouTube channel. They are just words and more words. Verbiage, which rhymes with another word.  A Tale Of The Tail With No Tail To The Tale.
Here is the video and then a final word from me. 
(You can go to Settings, that gear-wheel icon at the bottom of the YouTube video and set the 'Playback' speed to 2.0. This will speed up the video to twice the speed (but you can still hear all the words) and you save half the time).

Link :   https://youtu.be/L5pyXqZq4E0



 
Conclusion :  
The basic problem that both Hamza Yusuf and the professor cannot overcome are their sources. What are their sources of information? (To be safe lets take it as information first. Whether it is knowledge or not can be determined later).  Hearing that "so and so floated through the air" is information. Whether it is true or not has not yet been proven (knowledge).

Hama Yusuf's 'essential crisis' persists because no one can bring forth their sources with absolute certainty. There are none. Each person, group, sect and denomination has his own sources which can be disputed by the other fellow.
There is however one single source that  precedes ALL their other sources and which is agreed upon by all parties. That is the Quran. And that is the one book that I read closely - in the Arabic. And in translation. Yet neither speaker quoted even one full verse from the Quran.

The Quran is the oldest known book written in the Arabic language. There is no other complete book (of anything) written in Arabic that precedes the Quran. And it is EXTANT.
What does that mean? EXTANT means still existing in written form from its earliest date of writing. The earliest known Quranic writing is written in stone - some of those verses inscribed in stone in that mosque in Jerusalem (Al Aqsa). Then you have Quran written on paper, papyrus etc that have been found which go back perhaps 1400 years.  
Then from around 1100 years ago (approx) you have towns, cities, villages, mosques, palaces etc in the Muslim world with their own copies of a written Quran.  I have seen these very old Quran in Baghdad and in Cairo.

So the full, written copy of the Arabic Quran is extant. It still exists from the earliest days. In exactly 114 chapters.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
By Syed Akbar Ali 

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