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I gave the khuṭbah at Middle Ground yesterday and it was a continuation of last week’s khuṭbah in which I highlighted the grand purpose of life (وَمَا خَلَقْتُ ٱلْجِنَّ وَٱلْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ) from Sūrah al-Dhāriyāt,
“and I did not create the Jinn nor humans except that they worship Me.”
and also tying to this the two verses from Sūrah al-Baqarah in which Allāh shows that our creation and our fasting in the month of Ramaḍān is for the purpose of practicing taqwa, with both verses (21 and 183) repeating the refrain,
“so that you will become people of taqwa” (لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ).
I utilized these three verses to substantiate a purpose of life as well as a method of living that purpose. Today I continued by highlighting that there is a rhythm to Islām, to taqwa, a rhythm very much absent from modern life (see the two short videos above).
Social media is awash with pundits all warning of a pending artificial intelligence apocalypse with each pundit having their theories. But as Muslims reality is not subject to interpretation outside of one general overarching truth: Allāh is in control of the affairs of His creation and therefore all actions and occurrences in His creation must be understood to be, one, underneath His authority, and two, serving His ultimate agenda. Additionally these two truths will be readily seen in the actions of the world around us if we would only stop to ponder.
Many speculate as to the how of said apocalypse but few ask the why. Why should we humans be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence? Secular pundits, with no few Muslims amongst them, proffer that it is due to a cabal of elites who “run the world” but Allāh decisively states in the Qur’ān that He and He alone “conducts the affairs of the world” (أَيَّامٍۢ ثُمَّ ٱسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى ٱلْعَرْشِ ۖ يُدَبِّرُ ٱلْأَمْرَ ۖ). Another explanation, in my opinion, is far more likely, and is easily supported by the Qur’ān itself. In Sūrah al-Mā’idah, Allāh states,
O believers! Whoever among you abandons their faith, Allah will replace them with others who love Him and are loved by Him. They will be humble with the believers but firm towards the disbelievers, struggling in the Way of Allah; fearing no blame from anyone. This is the favor of Allah. He grants it to whoever He wills. And Allah is All-Bountiful, All-Knowing (يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مَن يَرْتَدَّ مِنكُمْ عَن دِينِهِۦ فَسَوْفَ يَأْتِى ٱللَّهُ بِقَوْمٍۢ يُحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَهُۥٓ أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَعِزَّةٍ عَلَى ٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ يُجَـٰهِدُونَ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ وَلَا يَخَافُونَ لَوْمَةَ لَآئِمٍۢ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ فَضْلُ ٱللَّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَن يَشَآءُ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ وَٰسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ).
Placing the blame for the state of the world on the faults of others is easy to do and it wouldn’t be the first time that a group of believers tried to do so but given the state of the world and the hearts of the people, hearts which are deeply steeped in distraction and doubling down on rejecting their Creator then it is little wonder that we could be replaced, with AI and the “cabal” being little more than a tool by which Allāh the Exalted fulfills His Word.
You can watch the full khuṭbah here:
