Just about everyone, at one time or another, wonders about life’s big questions: How did we get here? Why are we here? And where are we going? In these five short presentations, Shaykh Surkheel Abu Aaliyah address these Big Questions from the point of view of Islam and the Qur’an.

These short videos address some of the most important questions of religion, and offer straightforward answers and arguments so as to help inform & protect our faith from the current onslaught of atheism and materialism. Given the intensity of the onslaught, every Muslim (from parents, teachers, Muslim youth workers, to young Muslims themselves) should be aware of such issues and how they can be addressed. The reality is that the age of simple faith – of just accepting what one is told about religion – seldom works in our modern age. For the modern age is one which causes the mind to question, critique and be critical; and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Indeed, it is a large part of why God gave us an intellect and reasoning skills in the first place.

Part 1 tackles Islam’s cosmological question: How did the universe get here? It addresses, not just the traditional religious response, but also some of the contemporary objections that science has thrown up in recent times. Watch here.

Part 2 is Islam’s epistemological question: How we know what we know? In other words, what are the sources of human knowledge? Watch here.

Part 3 is the ontological question, which looks at the nature or essence of things; in this case: What is the human being’s essential nature? The video can be seen here.

Part 4 explains Islam’s teleological question: What is our actual purpose of being on Earth? Here’s the video to the fourth part.

Part 5, the final part, of Islam’s Five Big Questions of Life, tackles the eschatological question: Where are we ultimately heading? That is,  what is our final end? Watch here.

These short video presentations are based on a talk given by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf: “The 5 Essential Big Questions”: https://youtu.be/UB9l2ZvqnTs

4 thoughts on “Islam’s Five Big Questions of Life

      1. Salaam brother,
        Jzk for posting such thought provoking and highly knowledgeable reads on your website.
        I am sincerely hoping to read the articles and videos which you have posted regularly.
        Your articles have provided me with intelligent information and insights into certain matters that evolve around our very existence.
        Jzk once again.

        Kind regards
        Sister Aliyah

        1. Barakallahu fikum, Sr Aliyah, for your kind words. may Allah increases you in knowledge and understanding, and cause such knowledge to be a means of us drawing closer to Him – in obedience, awe, love and surrender.

          As for the video links, unfortunately they don’t exist anymore. last year I amalgamated a few of the videos into a more watchable format, creating new videos from them.

          Here are the links to the newer videos, which have different titles now:

          – Islam & Life’s Big Question: https://youtu.be/S6H7NP2oaeo

          – Islam’s Threefold Purpose of Life: https://youtu.be/daqwlIwDsUg

          – Man, Meaning & Modernity: https://youtu.be/CZFDLMJ4wlc

          There are other videos on the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/surkheelfavs/videos

          As well as other material on this actual blog.

          Again, thank you for the comment, and may Allah bless you. I’m glad that Allah has allowed the material here too help you to better understand life’s existential questions and dilemmas.

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