Transcription
History is not shaped by noise or numbers. It is shaped by systems of meaning. There was a moment when one civilization reorganized law, knowledge, trade, and faith into a single coherent force. If you want to understand how Islam outpaced empires that seemed invincible, you must understand the structure beneath the story.
The problem though is it's too simple and clear. We forget that Islam really built the basis for modernity. Let's feel as though we can influence the world. That's the power of paganism. But Islam is doing the same thing by making God concrete. You can feel God. God is everywhere. He knows everything. But what Islam is also doing is he's thinking of simplicity, clarity, and absoluteness of monotheism. Moral theism is nice because with monotheism everything becomes clear to you. Okay, there's one god. Therefore, I just have to follow him. I just have to believe in him. There's like a million gods in paganism. So, it's unclear what you should do or how you should relate to this million gods. But here in monotheism, the relationship between God and you is very very clear. So in other words, Islam is a major intellectual revolution in human history. And we have forgotten this because Islam the idea has embedded itself into modernity itself. When we say that modernity began in Europe, we forget that Islam really built the basis for modernity. Okay? All right.
So fulfillment of the law of prophets, it's completing the story in the Bible. It's bringing God to the people. You can now touch God. You can now know God. That's the beginning of the idea of Protestantism. Okay? And create heaven on earth. And this is the idea of science. Why do we use science? To make the world better because God wants us to make the world better. All right. So a lot of ideas that will underpin modernity that God can be in us and that God expects us to make the world better, it's already there in the beginnings of Islam. And that's why we will have this golden age because they are propelled by their devoted to the one true God. Discover more water bottle. Water. Water.
A lot of ideas in Christianity is just counterintuitive. The Holy Trinity must be the strangest idea in religion where God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus are separate but equal. It makes no intuitive sense to anyone. And the third is distant divinity. Okay, God is out there somewhere. You don't know where. You can't talk to him. You can't see him. You have absolutely no idea where he is. It's a very distant divinity. And so these are the disadvantages of Christianity. And so Islam now makes sense because it's trying to remedy and rectify these failings of Christianity. The first is that it takes the Jewish tradition and the Christian tradition and makes it part of itself. So it is really the continuation and the perfection of the Jewish Christian tradition. Second is the absolutess of God. This is now true monotheism where God is everywhere. and you can see him. But if God is everywhere, then what's amazing is that you can now that God can come inside you through your faith, through your devotion, and through your practice. And so what this means is you now know how to behave in the world. There's a clarity of purpose and action. You know that as long as you do those five things, those five pillars of Islam, your life will be good. God is in you and that gives you strength and purpose and power. And these ideas is what will start Islamic golden age and allow Islam to propel itself past everyone.
The problem though is it's too simple and clear. The advantage of being contradictory is you allow for different belief systems which come into conflict with each other. And with this contradiction and conflict, it allows for innovation. That's why Catholicism will eventually give way to Protestantism. Okay? Which is a reinterpretation of the Bible. But it's because the Bible is so contradictory that this innovation is allowed to happen. The Bible was extremely clear. The Quran is extremely clear. But if that's the case, then you cannot allow for a radical rejection of the past and embrace of the future. Okay? Judaism is to be inside of history. Christianity is inside of history as well. But Islam is eternal. When you read the Quran, it's meant to be the eternal words. These words are always true. But then the problem then is how do you go about and interpret your actions through the lens of history and how do you improve society based on this interpretation. Pleasure.