There is Always a Choice – talk by Imam Abdul Latif Finch

 • Imam Abdul Latif Finch • There Is Always A Choice •

Watch this insightful talk by Imam Muhammad Abdul Latif Finch speaking about how ‘we always have a choice’ from the perspective of Islam & Philosophy.

Alhamdulillah we had the blessed opportunity of capturing this talk in the mashAllah beautiful house of the 18th century Saint Shaykh Ahmad Tijani (RA) in Fez, Morocco.

Click HERE or on the image below to watch the video now

Imam Abdul Latif Finch Fez

• Filmed & produced in Fez, Morocco 2016 •
• Produced & edited by ISArts

Imam Muhammad Abdul Latif Finch converted to Islam at the age of 20 and has earned ijazas in Islamic Sciences including Quranic Sciences, Hadith, Maliki and Shafi’i Jurisprudence, Usul al-Fiqh, Seerah, Logic, and Arabic Grammar and Morphology under the tutelage of numerous scholars, including Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, Shaykh Salik bin Siddina, Imam Zaid Shakir, Shaykh Abdur Rahman Taahir, Qari Umar Bellahi, Shaykh Abdullah Ali, and Shaykh Yahya Rhodus.

Imam Muhammad Abdul Latif Finch co-founded the Lighthouse Mosque in Oakland, California where he served as the Imam for 3 years until he resigned in 2012 to focus on his graduate studies. In addition, he was a teacher and a program developer for Deen Intensive Foundation, Seekers Guidance and had assisted Zaytuna College’s Summer Arabic Intensive program for three years in a row.

Imam Muhammad Abdul Latif Finch  has recently attained a Master’s degree in Philosophy from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, a member of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.

Many thanks to Imam Muhammad Abdul Latif Finch for contributing to this blog.

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UM Special: Efficient Being – a thought from Imam Abdul Latif

Good opinion of Allah 1

1) Deficient creatures seek benefit for themselves. Seeking benefit, then, is the objective of human action. Efficient beings do not seek benefit for themselves as they are free from deficiency. Likewise seeking benefit for themselves is not the objective of the actions of efficient beings.

2) God is the only efficient Being and thus it follows that whatever He does is not for His own benefit, as He is not in need of it, but rather it is for the advantage of the deficient creatures who seek benefit from His efficiency.

3) As God also knows where the benefit lies for each of His dependents, His acts regarding us are both generous and wise, even if we fail to recognize how or to what extent.

This seems logically sound but is only realized through faith.

Have a good opinion of Allah.

Imam Muhammad Abdul Latif Finch

Dec 2015

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UM Special: How we are here – a Thought from Imam Abdul Latif

Good opinion of Allah 1

The Prophet, peace be upon him, had given dawa to 26 tribes before going to Medina. Why did he not give up after the first few rejections? Why not after being beaten in Ta-if? He kept going because He knew Allah would never abandon Him. This attitude is from the inward sunnahs of the Prophet, peace be upon him. It is so essential that had it not been there we would not be here.

Have a good opinion of Allah. ‪

 

Imam Muhammad Abdul Latif Finch

Dec 2015

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UM Special: God is Greater – a thought from Imam Abdul Latif

Good opinion of Allah 1

When Musa, upon whom be peace, met with Pharaoh’s sorcerers, 72 in number, he had them cast their ropes down first. Musa, upon whom be peace, knew they were dealing with magic, yet he had them go first. A wisdom here is that had he gone first, and the snake appeared, it would have merely scared everyone but they wouldn’t have seen the ropes and staffs of the magicians for what they are. With them going ahead of him their own falsehood was a means to reveal the truth for all to see. Thus, have a good opinion of Allah for at times you will have to see the sorcerers cast their ropes first so that you can see God is Greater in the end.

‪Have a good opinion of Allah.

Imam Muhammad Abdul Latif Finch

Dec 2015

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UM Special: Maintaining a Good Opinion – a thought from Imam Abdul Latif Finch

Good opinion of Allah 1

 

A good opinion of Allah is faith in Him, despite circumstances that come and eventually go. He never rejects faith. Thus, He never rejects a good opinion of Him. If He doesn’t reject it He certainly doesn’t betray it. It follows then that those who maintain a good opinion of their Lord will see it made manifest in one way or another, inshallah.

Have a good opinion of Allah.

Imam Muhammad Abdul Latif Finch

Dec 2015

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UM Special: Hearts Turning to Allah – a Thought from Imam Abdul Latif Finch

Good opinion of Allah 1

I’d rather turn a soft heart toward people than a hard one to Allah as a result of them, inshallah.

Have a good opinion of Allah!

Have a good opinion of the slaves of Allah!

Jumuah Mubarakah!

Imam Muhammad Abdul Latif Finch

Dec 2015

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UM Special: Our difficulties – a Thought from Imam Abdul Latif Finch

Good opinion of Allah 1

The Quran states…

“And Allah wants to lighten for you [your difficulties]; and mankind was created weak.” 4:28

Have a good opinion of Allah!

Imam Muhammad Abdul Latif Finch

Dec 2015

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UM Special: Seeing positivity – a Thought from Imam Abdul Latif Finch

Good opinion of Allah 1

Allah will never betray your good opinion of Him because you will never be able to see anything that could be perceived as negative from Him.

Think about how powerful this is.

Imam Muhammad Abdul Latif Finch

Dec 2015

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UM Special: Belief in His Mercy – a Thought from Imam Abdul Latif Finch

Good opinion of Allah 1

The Quran states,

“O my sons, go and find out about Joseph and his brother and despair not of relief from Allah. Indeed, no one despairs of relief from Allah except the disbelieving people.” (12:87)

As Allah said none despair of the mercy of Allah but the disbelieving folk, they have a bad opinion of Allah in as much as they don’t believe in His mercy. So a good opinion of Allah is believing in His mercy. May we have a good opinion of our Lord and His capacity to relieve us. Amin

Imam Muhammad Abdul Latif Finch

Dec 2015

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Becoming Children Again – a Thought by Imam Abdul Latif Finch

Abū Hurayra said, “I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) the truthful confirmed one, Abu’l-Qāsim, say, ‘Mercy is only removed from the one who is destined for wretchedness.” This wretchedness is evil for [1] in the tradition narrated by ‘Abdullah ibn Mas’ūd, may God be pleased with him, it states,

The evil one is he who is evil in the womb of his mother and the good one is he who takes a lesson from the (fate of) others. The narrator came to a person from amongst the Companions of Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) who was called Hudhaifa b. Usaid Ghifari and said: How can a person be an evil one without (committing an evil) deed? Thereupon the person said to him: You are surprised at this, whereas I have heard Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:

When forty-two nights pass after the semen gets into the womb, Allah sends the angel and gives him shape. Then he creates his sense of hearing, sense of sight, his skin, his flesh, his bones, and then says: My Lord, would he be male or female? And your Lord decides as He desires and the angel then puts down that also and then says: My Lord, what about his age? And your Lord decides as He likes it and the angel puts it down. Then he says: My Lord, what about his livelihood? And then the Lord decides as He likes and the angel writes it down, and then the angel gets out with his scroll of destiny in his hand and nothing is added to it and nothing is subtracted from it. [2]

The opposite of wretchedness or evil, is happiness or goodness. Whoever God has known in His pre-eternal knowledge to be wretched is in truth wretched, even if they appear to be happy, blessed and good. In truth, the truly wretched one is that person who enters into the Fire, a status that will not be known until the next life. As such, we don’t know our actual status with God until then. This is a sobering reality.

However, there are indications about our status in the next life to be found this world. This tradition, it appears, is one of the instructions from the Prophet ﷺ that gives us insight into the reality of our hearts and position with God. In principal, one cannot give another that which they don’t have themselves. So, if a person does not have goodness, mercy, and the like in their own hearts, they are not able to show toward other people. Thus his words, ﷺ , indicate that if we are not goodly to people it is because we can’t give them something that we ourselves do not have, i.e., mercy. In other words, the reason why we are not pleasant to them is because we don’t have that capacity in us ourselves and those who do not have this capacity are not fit for Paradise. In fact, they are suited for the Fire, the abode of wrath for those who hearts are devoid of mercy.

The tradition also indicates that the heart’s basis is in mercy, as he said, (ﷺ),‘Mercy is only removed from the one who is destined for wretchedness.’ This is to say that we are merciful by nature. Children, and overwhelmingly so, and the younger they are, tend to prove this statement to be true, as they are quite merciful and mercified from birth. In fact, when we encounter children that are not merciful we recognize that there is something amiss in their lives. May Allāh restore our child-like natures. Āmīn!

Imam Muhammad Abdul Latif Finch

October 2015


[1] Al-Bukhārī, Kitāb Adab al-Mufrad

[2] Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim

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