1351.    General Comment: The practice of trading criminal guilt for information used in prosecution is an interesting topic to consider, since in the United States at least, it touches on every part of their legal infrastructure.

1352.    General Comment: Modernity has indeed depleted many, many of the Earth’s resources, like say fish, 90% of the big fish are now lost due to post-1953 Conventions on Fishing, whether this fishing was within the legal bounds or not.

1353.    We know that without institutions, religious group identification is not lasting. Perhaps this is why anti-religionists wish to criminalize us Muslims bringing up our children within Islam, since the generational, institution-like aspects would be broken, then it is very easy to further criminalize Islam as being ‘ridiculous laws and ideas’ as they would call it. This is not an unguided set of laws or mindset from the anti-religion secularists, in the bigger view of affairs this is very well planned by the anti-Islam and anti-Muslim sectors.

1354.    General comment: The modern medical viewpoint on matters is often too narrow to account for the full explanation of a given case. Much the same could be said about other modern academic disciplines and how they approach specific cases, not to mention their general approach to reality.

1355.    A general comment: Note that it is possible for Pharmaceutical companies (for example) to redefine illness and health and thus make a land easier for marketing of their drugs. Thus, the mind can be retrained to speak its distress, anxiety, manias, in the language of the culture, and that culture could change wholesale, whether from the inside or due to outside cultural, economic or other pressures.

1356.    It is instructive to look into a society when it is in the midst of political violence, civil or sectarian warfare, and other such similar violent periods. Important clues about the body-politic and the social fabric can be gleaned in such difficult times.

1357.    We Muslims should remember: Most ‘Earth-shattering Laws’ are in fact extensions of previous laws. The secularist seems to be very dogged in how Muslim laws and legal systems should change in a particular way, based on his conception of the incremental pliability of law, and his conviction that we simply haven’t reached the ‘heights’ he attained.

1358.    We as Muslims have to think as to why the current Popes of Catholicism espouse an almost totally secular vocabulary when talking about religious convictions, choice of association in religious groups, etc., even though they have their own Catholic heritage, works, and vocabulary. We Muslims must also consider how to articulate our own positions on these pressing issues using Islamic terminology while also not appearing to intimidate or turn others away. Otherwise, the Da’wah efforts will be ineffective in actually bringing people into Islam, or keeping Muslims within the fold of Islam.

1359.    (As mentioned) With respect to disciplines like Usool al Fiqh, Mantiq, etc., it is said by some that the Mubtadiaa’ (innovators) have written in these matters, thus it is invalid to study these things. We say no this is a false way to look at it; rather, it doesn’t matter who says the truth, we are attached to the principles not to specific persons (i.e. this is the general rule) thus Bid’ah or lack thereof is irrelevant. If the person is well grounded in the principles of the science, he can benefit while not being affected by the innovated beliefs.

1360.    There are a number of places where Thann (non-conclusive evidence) is part of the Sharii rulings, like the two divorced peoples, they can reunite if they have Thann of upholding the laws of Allah. Another example is, the witnessing of witnesses is itself built upon Thann. So anyone who acts shocked if parts of Islam are referencing non-conclusive evidences does not understand Islam very well in the first place.

1361.    An observation: In Da’wah also, one might need to consider the (predominantly business issue) of whether one wishes to take a “smaller piece of a bigger pie”. In here, one has to know their strengths and weaknesses, correct and incorrect Da’wah strategies, knowledge of Fiqh and Aqeedah and how all of these matters play out together. Only then will he know where his talents can best be applied, and for some people they will need to take a backseat until they learn the Deen and the Da’wah methodologies properly. Even if this may take years for them to master, it is still better than lunging into Da’wah unprepared.

1362.    The Makkan pagans were not simply docile people when it came to the message of Islam: nay, they would do their best to argue against it in whichever way they could, and their argumentative nature is mentioned in the Qur’an itself, in addition to some of the wild guesses they took with respect to the origins of the Qur’an. Yet, in spite of the need and their very nature in trying to oppose the Islamic religion, they could not bring up something like the Qur’an. For those who understand personal psychology plus group psychology, all the alleged solely material and naturalistic reasons for the Qur’an’s appearance simply do not add up.

1363.    There may be different definitions used in a particular field for the same term, like ‘Sahabi’ could be seen as the one who accompanied the Prophet (ﷺ) for a good period of time, this is an Usooli based view. It may also be defined as one who was simply in his (ﷺ) presence, and this is the definition of the Muhadith. It is not that one is wrong and the other correct, rather each has its own scope and application, and they should not be confused.

1364.    A general comment: The minority (or the outrageous) opinions do try as much as possible to appropriate the legal political framework of the nation itself, along with the coercive apparatus of state power. Note that in such cases, “tolerance” or “respect for other viewpoints” is thrown out of consideration, for the simple fact that the legal coercive power of the government establishes what will be defended and promoted (through force if necessary), and only then does “tolerance” even start to factor in.

1365.    We must remember: Laws generally work to try and fossilize what they want. Thus, if religious references are expunged or curtailed from textbooks of Public Education, chances are people growing up will see religion as foreign, strange, and disgusting. This in fact will affect not only “secular children raised in secular homes” but even ostensibly religiously brought up children will be greatly affected, since a huge chunk of “normality” has been molded in a certain way and it is difficult to ignore its overriding influence.

1366.    In business and in Da’wah there will be a need to either succeed or learn. In business, one can make mistakes every day and that is perfectly fine as long as they are new mistakes one is making. However as far as Islam and its propagation is concerned, the core beliefs and practices of Islam have to be known without any doubt or confusion, mistakes in this case are not to be tolerated. Likewise, mistakes in understanding the very core of what one is arguing against (Christianity, Atheism, etc.) could be detrimental to the person and to the Da’wah cause if the learning process is incomplete or if one is ‘learning on the job’ – so this aspect has to be kept in mind as well.

1367.    It is objected by some nominal Muslims that the rules concluded from Fiqh are inventions of “old men”. Well, if they believe the Qur’an is true, the truth is that it was revealed in Arabic, and its words were passed down to us by so-called “old men”, the rules of Arabic to know that the Qur’an is cogent Arabic were again passed down by “old men”, the lexicons to know what these words mean were also passed down by “old men”, the same with abstract constructs of how Arabic phraseology used in the Qur’an should be approached, matters of fundamental Aqeedah related to the Qur’an and so forth were all analyzed and passed down to us by “old men”. So taking this (pseudo) “anthropological approach” is a one-way highway to apostasy, whether the proponents of such ideas know this or not.

1368.    If the Deity is claimed to be a Deist type of God as per the framers of modern constitutions, then how did people obtain rights for anything from a “Deistic God” one might ask? It seems the atheists and full materialists caught on to this paradox and have exploited it fully, both philosophically and legally (because obviously the “Deistic” paradigm first assumes that the Divine has no agency in the Universe, but then say yes He does have – this contradiction can easily be picked up and exploited by full-blown atheists).

1369.    A general comment: An important point is that order comes about when force and its use have been monopolized by an army, police, entity, etc. Otherwise the land has not been cleaned of anarchy, as simple as that. It sounds somewhat brutal and perhaps it is, but that is what it is; modernity has not done away with this vital fact, if anything it has reinforced this rule.

1370.    When we say Allah is One not in the context of numbers, this is very important since the context of numbers means it is one of a class; like I am one person, and there are two, three,  four persons like me. Allah is not like this.

1371.    A general observation in the context of the United States: It seems that the Second Amendment for firearms and the First Amendment for free speech have a lot in common: They both suppose or hope for the best to come out of people as they go along, either in speaking or in bearing arms, and has trouble on how to deal with situations where the first objectives are totally overridden or ignored and then something else is sought (like say, outright ridicule without any deeper end, or only a desire to kill innocent people).

1372.    A general comment: An issue for consideration is how culture “evolves” at a glacial pace as compared to technological progress – the interactions are in fact not always positive, as one could potentially be working on deadly technology as a university undergrad for no monetary profit at all, so it seems trivial to him/her (i.e., the inventor); thus the consequences are trivial from one angle yet potentially catastrophic from another angle.

1373.    An important point: We do not say that Jibril (Alayhi as-Salam) heard the uncreated Speech of Allah then composed the Qur’an on this basis and recited it to the Prophet (ﷺ). No we do not say this, because it would mean that the Qur’an is an angel’s composition based on what he understood of the Divine Speech, this is a totally invalid view to hold.

1374.    People talk a lot about the need for Islam to catch up with modernity – well, among many examples to ponder upon, we must remember that for a long time, even today in many places, the image of the invincible leader was or is very important, thus any person wishing to endear himself to the masses would need to play up and even exaggerate what a ruthless military commander, what a ruthless leader he was – so what would our free thinking and intellectual “Muslim friends” say about the need for this image, as it was/is an absolutely necessary component for being taken as a serious leader?

1375.    We have to consider an observation about non-Islamic lands: One change in government or parliament, or a subtle change in legislation, and Islam as a Deen could be outlawed in a given nation-state. That is how modern day geopolitics works. One reason being, the Muslims didn’t try to enter these countries as an Ummah, rather they did it as individuals and of course those lands became the home of Islam-haters, heretics, apostates, etc., because these groups were a large proportion of people who entered the lands at the beginning and helped to crystalize public opinion and legislation. Thus, we Muslims have to move forward while keeping this element in mind at all times.