(Note: Part 1 of this lecture is also great, but you won’t be lost in this one if you haven’t watched the previous one)

[3:00] Scholars have said to Shaykh Hamza that this is a book that really helped them Islamic, because our tradition is of reading No community has been as committed to reading and language than Islam In the middle ages, fewer could read — but those who could were masterful Much greater than today Today’s mastery is sport’s and entertainment And intellectual athletes are relegated to the hard sciences only

“We must get rid of prejudices and read medieval commentaries and exegeses of scripture. I must admit that I learned much of what I know about reading from a medieval commentary” – author When the Islamic literary sphere was introduced to Europe by translation, it was a game changer In fact, there were no proper scientific dictionaries before the Muslims (7th century) there were Chinese dictionaries but they weren’t nearly as good And the Jews got the idea of making their own dictionary after seeing the Muslims 3 levels of reading were mentioned previously, but the 4th is the isnad — sitting and reading the book with a teacher/shaykh who read it with his teacher This sort of isnad is often called the secret of this ummah Because in Judaism and Chirstianity, they needed a Council (eg. Nicea) to debate what they believe and form a normative tradition But in Islam, there is no evidence of such a council — yet we have a normative tradition And the Isnad is how consistency was preserved Eg. How are there no debates on how to recite the Qur’an? How do Shi’a, or any other group read the Qur’an the same way The same people of each generation taught, and ensured a consistency that was passed on With difficult books, there is room for interpretation Specially what role word play in the sentence Muslims of old exhausted the language, reading and writing commentaries on the Qur’an — a serious book [15:30] Most of what we read is frivolous, and books where we don’t need to think

“Compared to the brilliance of the 12th and 13th Centuries, the present era is more like the dark ages” – author This book was written in the 40’s… what now? The Federalist Papers of the founding fathers are considered a very hard read for American today But back then, it was a normal newspaper piece Looking at the grammar school text books of the 1850’s, they were at an incredibly high level English even had accents so that people learned to pronounce words properly Because poetry was important to the people

[19:00] “People don’t like uniform education, so people are now letting people choose what to study” The difference between an author and a writer The author, is an authority and writes with authority Eg. Accredited cardiac surgeon, rather than unqualified researcher “People are mixing authority with tyranny”, frowning upon docile [hadith] The believer is docile, if he is led he follows The docile person is the teachable person, because they are willing to listen to an authority And they must practise act of learning actively [24:00] Docility is the exact opposite of passivity and guilibility And those people lack ability to read or write and critique what they receive as teaching Removing liberal education has made education illiberal Creating people who think they are free but they are not Eg. If you go to America and Europe and ask people, are there any absolutes? They would respond, not really — I have my truth and you have yours This is in reality a whole school of philosophic thought, daating back to the Greeks (Socrates argued against them) Yet it is the backbone of societies today, and people don’t have a clue where it came from or conscnoius of themselves People aren’t taught to think critically… They can’t form an arguement or spot inconsistencies It’s a hard skill, and to learn it we must learn the tools that make it up They don’t accept reasons as the abritrator of truth and falsehood They thus fall pray to media and politicians And the Qur’an repeatedly challenges us to think and reflect, and not just blindly follow what people of the past were doing

[29:20] Reading Structurally First, determine what type of book you are reading Reading for amusement is a shallow reading And consists of magazines, newspapers, etc. Reading for enjoyment is similar But includes literature And literature has categories, high and low (people don’t like distinctions any more because it’s the age of leveling — but they exist) And Charles Dickens was a pop-writer, and the elite looked down on him And anyone who can read would read ‘high’ literature, unlike today [32:00] And some works of imagination and literature reflect a time and place, and have great things to teach Catcher in the Rye 1st reading was totally relateable 2nd time it felt like about child abuse and pedophilia, protecting children from it Literature can have a lot going on, and not just for amusement — we need to know why we are reading, and categorize the book [38:42] Must read the table of contents, and preface Good writers tell why he wrote the book, and explain its structure

3 Parts of Book Activity of Reading Original THinking – something never written before Copernicus Groundbreaking heliocentric ideas Don Quixote Literature, but nothing like it came before Theres a difference between knowing the rules, and knowing how they operate So we have to practise the rules of reading he tells us And all this is for expository reading, reading to learn something This kind of reading helps remember the book [44:00] Must make it a habit and get good at it — and this is not easy RasulAllah SAS said that to knowledge comes from hard work Abu Hanifa said that if the kings knew the kind of pleasure we were in, they would come with their armies to take it from us First it will be hard, but once you learn it is second-nature Practise makes it permanent And perfect when you learn to do it properly Experts make it look easy after practise To know arts, you need to know rules and follow them — but no need to understand it No need to know how a car works to drive it But with reading, to understand rule you must know more than the rules Must know: Grammar Rhetoric Logic But schools don’t teach this any more Used by Islamic Masters, Uloom al-Alaa — science of instrument We have a basic grammar and logic — as humans and people who can read [52:35] But even knowing those sciences doesn’t guranteee someone to be able to read Must assume author is telling truth, before assuming falsehood Rules of Reading If something is worth reading at all, it is worth reading 3 times A great book is one that is inexhaustible For us, the Qur’an — continually finishing and starting Advice for learning complex skills eg. Tennis, you need to run, and serve properly, run, position yourself, read the opponent And initially you can learn these things one at a time only, but eventually they become one Mastery book 3 categories of people: Dabblers — discover a sport, and get really excited and buy the shiny equipment, take lessons Couple of weeks/months — they give it up BUT, have a new thing they are into Hackers learn to do something to a certain degree of skill, reasonably good at it Masters Not somebody who mastered something; someone committed to continual improvement In salah, have we not settled at plateau? Learning plateau is really hard, you feel like you’re not progressing Dabblers stop there Hackers move through to the next one And masters, they keep going [58:56] Research has shown that the true learning happens in those plateaus It’s the most difficult time, but you’re still learning — this is where the jump comes from! This is a sunan of creation Knowing this will allow you to persevere, through the hard work, and succeed The beauty of the beginner’s mind is that he is conscious of everything You’re gonna make mistakes, just keep going The fact that there are a lot of rules indicates the complexity of the one habit to be formed, and not the plurality of the habits being formed Tennis: learning to serve is separate from learning backhand But the act of playing tennis is one habit The different things are not separate — they are one part of thing And it comes together and works effortlessly, when you begin to master it and it becomes automatic Only then you can think of beating your opponent in tennis [1:04:20] This is the best thing in the whole book — This is like tawheed — it seems like Allah most high has made a world where verything you do appears to be separate But the reality is that there is nothing separate “In everything is a sign indicating divine unity” ~____ The whole thing is held together by a one unified power Society highly respects sports In baseball, when the pitcehr is pitching everyone goes silent He is in the zone, the ‘flow’ And if he pitches a perfect game, everything he does right, he is in that state the whole time The saints are in this state constantly Nothing can disturb them, they are aware and conscious always This is reading at the highest state as well

[1:10:00] “Aquainted with the Night” by robert Frost Robert Frost Most famous American poet Used classic style pentameter, tetrameter Hard to notice, subtle, but its there Poem – Sha’r (hair is tactile and feeling, shara felt, and shi’r is also poem) I have been one acquainted with the night. Aquaintance is not friend, or stranger — ambiguous ‘Been one’ — one out of many, and this is my experience ‘I’ all over the place He has earned this knowledge People normally go out at night for purpose; what’s his? I have walked out in rain—and back in rain. Very melancholic He has gone and been with the night when others wouldn’t I have outwalked the furthest city light. He has gone into the darkness Not content to experience night when there’s still light I have looked down the saddest city lane. Can lanes be sad? They can evoke sadness, but personified here in superlative A horrible desolate place, a ghetto I have passed by the watchman on his beat Meandering late at night, watchman is curious Watchman is a night job Because people need guarding from the things people wouldn’t do in the light And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain. Depressed-like, shameful Watchman might suspect him Watchman usually do that, like at airport Self conscious during interrogation But that’s his job, because people do wrong things Collective guilt, because some people are evil so everyone is suspected I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet When far away an interrupted cry Cries interrupt us, but what’s an interrupted cry? A cry stopped in the middle Spooky Came over houses from another street, But not to call me back or say good-bye; It was a blood curdling cry Murder, robbery all this happens at night And further still at an unearthly height, Now he’s looking up, at a celestial height Left the dark and spoilt earth One luminary clock against the sky Could be the moon, the night sky is a way to tell the time Darkness penetrated by light On earth, there’s nighttime and daytime 2 experiences Proclaimed the time was neither wrong nor right. Moral talk Humans are the moral creatures on the planet eg. Lions if it ate you, wouldn’t be immoral — only hungry. Because no free will [1:26:45] The heavens are proclaiming The night is not good or bad itself There’s tranquility, stillness, calm at night Beauty of the stars What we humans do during it that determines whether it’s good or bad Time is not wrong or right, it’s what you do in it that makes it so I have been one acquainted with the night. Looking higher, the darkness and corruptness of the earth is obliterated by the order of the heavens, which proclaim something higher Aquainted with the celestial side of the night Knows initimately the human side of it

Learning grammar doesn;t only mean it’s rules, but also literature [1:33:05] Ulama’ had to learn Jahili poetry as well It helps learn and understand Revelation as well They both are pregnant in meaning, and you just have to find them Arabic is harder to read without knowing grammar, but English is easier to get into

And logic is foundational, but only lawyers these days learn it (kind of) 3 Acts: Understanding Tasawwar Conceptualize something and understand Like understanding terms Traditionally, people could interrupt speaker at any point ‘distinguo’, and ask a definition of term Democracy? It could be tyranny, because their two separate definitions You could have a democratic tyranny. All men are created equal Terms are men, created, equal created assumes Creator equal is mathematical metaphor Judgement Reasoning It takes time to learn logic, could take a year But worth it.

