With this official launch we would like to lay down both the theoretical and practical aspects of our support group as well as introduce a new phraseology that will allow rapid understanding and quick communication of ideas and concepts to help victims.

Understanding Intoxication

Medically, Intoxication is generally defined as "an abnormal [mental, psychological] state that is essentially poisoning", and this definition is based around "physical intoxication" brought about through drugs, alcohol, serum or any toxic substance.

With that broad definition in mind, we should realize, for our purposes at the AA, that there are four types of intoxication:

Level 1: Physical Intoxication through substances such as drugs, alcohol, toxic substances and the likes. This affects the body as a whole, as well as the mind. Whilst temporarily befogging the mind and affecting the faculties, it also does long-term damage to the body. This is very obvious and the person intoxicated knows that he or she is intoxicated. Bad company, low self-esteem, as well as poor parenting usually push individuals towards this level of Intoxication.
• Level 2: Intoxication through lusts and desires, so a person's heart is poisoned with these lusts and desires which invite it to every vice and evil. The person intoxicated with these lusts and desires again recognizes that he or she is so intoxicated and is certainly aware that there is a problem. Overexposure to unlawful things is usually behind this type of poisoning.

• Level 3: Intoxication through mere thoughts and ideas, so a person's heart and mind are intoxicated with them and they are not necessarily lusts and desires but just thoughts and ideas that consume a person and busy him away from other beneficial and fruitful thoughts. A person may or may not be aware that they are intoxicated with what may only appear to be innocent, non-harmful thoughts. This is usually characteristic of daydreamers and those who think excessively, becoming oblivious to their lives, relationships, responsibilities and surroundings. Notice, how in the first two levels the victim is acutely aware that they have a problem, whereas with level three the tide is turning.

• Level 4: Intoxication through terms, phrases and definitions, or "intellectual poisoning". This is when a person's mental faculties and thinking are poisoned and compromised with terms, definitions of dubious origin. Now, this is the most insidious of all the types and a person is usually oblivious to this foreign influence. Of all the types this is the most dangerous, it is long-lasting, and extremely difficult to detoxify. This is because a person's entire apparatus of thought and conception is compromised through the false belief that these terms, phrases and definitions are the ultimate reference point for determining truth. Whilst compulsive behaviour in the previous types is easily recognized and traced to the actual Intoxication, in this fourth type, a person is usually deluded and blinded from recognizing the compulsive behaviour this type of Intoxication has lead them to. Most victims in this category have usually been "spiked" and forced into the habit almost unawares.

Our Detox and support program will be focusing on Level 4 due to its very insidious nature. It is the most difficult and challenging of levels to treat, but hopefully, if we can break that barrier and overcome the hurdle, we are certain the lives of tens of thousands of victims will be turned around put back on track.

How Are Victims First Introduced to the Bottle?

As we mentioned in our early announcement about the AA (see here), most victims that we have come across have unfortunately been "spiked". And it works something like this:

The predator first convinces the victim that the greatest threat and challenge to a Muslim's belief is Atheism (disbelief in a creator). The victim accepts this premise and thus anticipates a remedy. The predator then presents the idea that the ultimate truth is "rationally proving Allaah exists" and that "rationally proving Allaah exists" is the ultimate foundation of a Muslim's faith. The predator may even go as far as to say that if a person does not know how to rationally demonstrate the existence of a creator, he has no faith at all and is not a Muslim. All of this is part of setting up the victim. Note there is a difference between a person affirming his belief in a Creator by simply uttering the two testimonies of faith (which is the very first thing the Messengers called to) and between a person "rationally proving a creator" (see Ibn Hajr on this here and here). The victim by now will have been disarmed, and it is here that the victim is "spiked" with the terms, definitions and classifications that are used as part of the claimed rational demonstration. Once "spiked" the victim is unable to let go of such foreign terms, definitions and classifications when speaking about Allaah the Most High.

This is the start of a very tiring and wearisome path in which a person has unwittingly set themselves up, after a life-time of abuse, for the condition known as "Ash'ari Burnout". In fact, we have already started treating some cases in our Clinic.

From both the few clinical studies and the many non-clinical observational studies we have done so far, once spiked, the victims' entire thought patterns and conceptual frameworks are essentially reduced what is found in this diagram:

Once, this has taken place, the victim will be subject to a potential lifetime of bondage to the bottle, and the container can only pour what it has been filled with, as the saying goes.

For readers with interest, it is probably appropriate to give a brief account of how the "Maqoolaat" were seeded and matured over the centuries.

The Maqoolaat and hudooth ul-ajsaam (Createdness of Bodies) - A Very Brief and Concise History

The first to sow its seeds was Jahm bin Safwan (ex. 128H). He used the basic language and classification of the Maqoolaat (al-jawhar wal-'arad) to devise an argument against the Indian Materialist Philosophers (the Sumaniyyah) to prove the universe is created and must have a creator. So he argued that the bodies (ajsaam, jawaahir) making up the universe are not free of sifaat (qualities), a'raad (incidental attributes) or events, occurrences (hawaadith, a thing doing something or something being done to a thing), and this proves that these bodies too must be occurrences (hawaadith) and since occurrences and events can't go on for infinity and have no beginning there must be a creator.

So basically a thing can be said to be created, or brought about if it merely has qualities (sifaat) or incidental attributes (a'raad) or events, occurrences (hawaadith) taking place. And included in these three types are such things as color, shape, taste, smell, dimensions, size, borders, place, location, direction, texture, density, movement, rest, motion and so on.

Now the Mut'azilah came along (with the Ash'aris tailing behind them by about 200 years) and they said regarding what was pioneered by the Jahmiyyah:

We want to tighten up this a bit more, and what we are going to do is to introduce the notion of the indivisible particle (al-jawhar al-fard, al-juz alladhee laa yatajazza'), and we are going to say that the entire universe is made up of exactly the same, like, indivisible particles - so that now arguing for the createdness of the universe in its entirety has become a whole lot easier. This way, fire, water, wood, flesh, metal, leaves and so on are all made up of exactly the same particles and what makes them different to each other is only the difference in their incidental attributes. So fire is made of the same particles as water, and what makes either of them what they are is just the change in the incidental attributes of the particles they are both made of. So now instead of messing about with all those different qualities and incidental attributes such as color, taste, smell, breadth, depth, height, location, place, texture and so on which are found in all those different types of bodies that make up the universe, and each of which may not be true of all bodies (ajsaam) - we only need to use the two pairs of either rest (as-sukoon) and motion (al-harakah), or combination (al-ijtimaa') and separation (al-iftiraaq) at the level of this indivisible particle to argue the case that the entire universe is created? Why? As we have now said that the whole universe is made up of the same indivisible particle (a concept called "tamaathul ul-ajsaam", the similarity of bodies), our argument that if two indivisible particles came together, or separated from each other, or one came to rest after motion, or went into motion after rest, that they must have been made to do so by an agent (the creator), then this applies to the entire universe through the two notions a) the entire universe is made up of indivisible particles and b) the similarity of bodies (tamaathul ul-ajsaam), that all bodies are made up of like particles - so what can be said about one body can be said about each and every body in the entire universe - and bingo! We've just simplified the proof and made it easily applicable to the entire universe!

The one who pioneered this for the Mu'tazilah was Abu al-Hudhayl al-Allaaf (d. 235H). Then the Ash'arites came along and particularly al-Baqillani (d. 403H), he formalized it for the Ash'arites, with some subsidiary differences in detail with the Mu'tazilah. Please note that Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari himself considered the use of this proof prohibited, and an innovation, and it was not he but al-Baqillani (d. 403H) who formalized it as part of what became known as the Ash'arite creed.

Now all of this started off with Aristotle's al-Maqoolaat al-Ashar (the Ten Categories) otherwise known as "al-Jawhar al-'Arad" (Substance and Accident) and its associated language and as the whole focus was to argue for the createdness of the bodies (ajsaam) that make up the universe, then it was absolutely necessary that all speech about Allaah is fundamentally and inextricably tied to this same language to ensure this proof was not invalidated.

Thus, Tawheed was simply reduced to negating from Allaah whatever would amount to qualities (sifaat), incidental attributes (a'raad) and events, occurrences (hawaadith). So the Jahmiyyah negated everything they considered to be sifaat, a'raad and hawaadith, and the Mu'tazilah likewise, and the Kullaabiyyah came along and tried to tread a middle ground, accepting everything except the Sifaat Fi'liyyah (Attributes of Allaah tied to His Will and Power) because they still amounted to occurrences, events (hawaadith), and then the Early Ash'aris simply adopted the bulk of the Kullaabi Creed while the Later Ash'aris (from the late fifth century onwards) reverted to many of the positions of the Jahmiyyah and Mu'tazilah.

And so we find the only differences between them all (the Mutakallimoon, the Jahmiyyah, Mu'tazilah, Kullaabiyyah and As'hariyyah) are pertaining to what can and cannot be affirmed or rejected for Allaah without invalidating this intellectual proof. This is the true nature of the dispute between those who came "under the influence". And all of the polemics in this regard became a "fine art", and this is what makes up the "fine art" that is supposedly in the textbooks of the Ash'aris.

We have extensively covered this in many articles on this site and you can refer to them for further information. Our aim here was merely to show how the Vintage 322BC came to be and how it matured over the centuries, and has become very appealing, alluring and of course "intoxicating".

How Can You Tell Someone Is "Speaking Creed Under Influence"

The signs of "speaking creed under influence" are very obvious and apparent to the observer, though the victim, due to the insidious nature of that Vintage 322BC, will not be any the wiser. In fact, upon the false premise that rationally proving Allaah's existence was the ultimate goal of the Prophets and Messengers, the victim in his delusion, will be thinking that he is at the peak of mental agility and intellectual brilliance.

Broadly speaking, when you mention phrases and statements that occur in the revealed texts, (which ought to be left intact, as they have come), you will note the compulsive need to interfere with such revealed texts through the language, terminology, implications and necessities arising from Aristotle's al-Maqoolaat al-Ashar. It is best to demonstrate this with a typical dialogue between a Sunni Muthabbit and Spiked Victim:

Sunni Muthabbit: Allaah is most-knowledgeable of His Self and His Messenger is the most-knowledgeable of all of the creation of Him, as well as the most eloquent in speech, and from what they have stated is Allaah is "above the heaven" and Allaah is "above the Throne".

Spiked Victim: Hey! Hold it right there, are you specifying "where" Allaah is and are you saying that He is confined in a location above the Throne?

Sunni Muthabbit: Hey, I just simply said that Allah and His Messenger said that Allaah is "above the heaven" and "above the Throne", I said nothing besides what is explicitly in the revealed texts and these statements are free of any false meanings that you are presuming, and statements likes these are found in great abundance in the revealed texts.

Spiked Victim: See! You said it again. You just spoke of the "whereabouts" of Allaah (al-ayn), and you said He is confined in a location (makaan) and that's an 'arad (incidental attribute) of a jism (body), dude you are bordering on kufr!

Sunni Muthabbit: Hey, can I smell your breath? I just said that Allah and His Mesenger said that Allaah is "above the heaven" and "above the Throne", I said nothing else and these statements are inherently free of any false meanings you are presuming. This is what the Companions said, and the entirety of the Salaf said, and they transmitted it in clear unambiguous words to the rest of the Ummah, and I don't know what you are saying or where you are bringing these false necessities.

Spiked Victim: I knew it! You said it again, you've just claimed Allaah is a jism (body) because only bodies have the incidental attribute ('arad) of "location" and "whereness" (al-ayn), and that's kufr man because it opposes the very foundation of belief in Allaah, which is proving that He exists, because only bodies (ajsaam) have shapes, sizes, locations, and directions (meaning, al-kam, al-kayf, al-ayn, al-idaafah and so on) and Allaah is free of all of that!

Sunni Muthabbit: Now listen up, you've been on that Vintage 322BC again haven't you?! You need to go home, take a cold shower and just relax. I said no such thing that you are presuming or imagining things. I only know the speech of Allaah and His Messenger, and the speech of Allaah and His Messenger is not in need of explanations from the speech of those heretical atheist Philosophers whose language you are intoxicated by whilst claiming at the same time to oppose them and refute them through it!

You can see from this typical dialogue that "speaking creed under the influence" has obvious and apparent signs, though at times they can be very subtle and hardly discernible. We will be conducting special workshops on some of these specific issues, so if you do know of those who habitually "speak creed under influence", please send them in our direction.

What About Disciplinary Measures at Aristotelians Anonymous?

The ruling for drinking intoxicants is forty lashes as the actual hadd (prescribed punishment), and then a further forty as ta'zeer (disciplining, exemplary punishment) at the discretion of the judge (qaadee), and this is usually done with palm-branches (stripped of their leaves). Al-Bukhari reports in his Sahih in Kitab ul-Hudood (Book of Prescribed Punishments) no. 6391:

From Anas bin Malik (radiallaahu anhu) who said: That the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) in [the hadd punishment] for drinking intoxicants struck [the guilty] with palm-branches and shoes, and Abu Bakr lashed with forty [lashes].

And there are numerous other narrations in the same book in the Sahih in this regard. Based upon the fact that the one who enters into substance abuse inevitably befogs his mind and does not in reality understand or know what he or she is doing, it is hardly surprising that the Salaf stipulated a similar punishment for those who enter into kalaam abuse, befogging their intellects and subsequently not understanding the reality of what they are saying.

It is well-known and narrated from Imaam ash-Shaafi'ee (d. 204H) as occurs in Siyar A'laam in Nubulaa of adh-Dhahabi, (10/29) and Sawn ul-Mantiq of as-Suyuti, (no. 65), also in Manaaqib us-Shaafi'ee (1/462), and in Dhamm ul-Kalaam wa Ahlihi of Abu Isma'il al-Harawi (4/294-295) that he said:

My ruling regarding Ahl ul-Kalam is that they are to be beaten with palm-branches and shoes, carried upon camels and paraded amongst the kinsfolk, it being announced about them, "This is the recompense of the one who abandoned the Book and the Sunnah and turned to kalaam."

And ash-Shaafi'iee was very severe against Ilm ul-Kalaam and its adherents. In fact, he declared Hafs al-Fard a kaafir for his saying that the Qur'an is created. Many victims who are observed "creeding under the influence" these days and who identify themselves as Ash'aris also speak with the same speech as Hafs al-Fard. However, they vehemently deny that they are in reality saying this, which is an indication that they do not realize they are "poisoned". See here for more details on this subject.

Imaam ash-Shaafi'ee (d. 204H) said, as reported by as-Suyuti in Sawn al-Mantiq (1/47-48):

The people did not become ignorant and nor differ (with each other) except due to their abandonment of the language of the Arabs and their inclination to the language of Aristotle.

This statement of ash-Shaafi'ee (rahimahullaah) is true both in the affairs of creed (aqidah) and in jurisprudence (fiqh), for both the Metaphysics and the flawed syllogistic and other forms of logic of Aristotle corrupted both of these disciplines for those who turned to the language, logic and Metaphysics of Aristotle.

Having said all of this, we will not be implementing any of these measures at Aristotelians Anonymous at this point in time, as we believe that effective counseling is always the first step in any correctional facility, and it always tends to pays off in the long term. With extreme and rare cases however, we will keep our options open.

We would also like to make clear the difference between sound reasoning or argument and the kalaam that is al-jawhar wal-'arad (Aristotle's Ten Categories) for many people confuse between the two, and they refer to both as "Kalaam". We do not prohibit the use of sound reasoning and argument in order to refute what opposes the Book and the Sunnah, however, the Kalaam of al-jawhar wal-'arad is the condemned "intoxicant" that the Salaf reprimanded and many victims wrongly think that such Kalaam is permissible and that it is the same as sound reasoning and argument. It's not. This Kalaam is expressly forbidden, and it is the very Kalaam that the creed of the Jahmiyyah, Mu'tazilah, Kullaabiyyah, Ash'ariyyah and Maturidiyyah is based upon. Go and take a look at any standard Ash'arite textbook. The bulk of the opening of the book will always be spent on detailing Aristotle's al-jawhar wal-'arad, and arguing for the createdness of the universe through this terminology. We will be covering this subject in one of our planned Detox workshops inshaa'Allaah.

For now, we will suffice with the saying of Ibn Suraij ash-Shaafi'ee (d. 306H) as narrated from him by Abu Ismaa'eel al-Harawi in "Dhamm ul-Kalaam":

The Tawheed of the people of knowledge and the jamaa'ah of the Muslims is "I testify none is worthy of worship except Allaah (alone) and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah". And the Tawheed of the people of falsehood is disputing about al-a'raad (incidental attributes) and al-ajsaam (bodies) and the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) was sent with the rejection of that.

And an entire treatise could be written just on this statement alone inshaa'Allaah.

What is the Starting Point?

The first step in our Detox protocol is to help victims acknowledge that they do have a problem with the bottle. Most victims pass their lives in denial, and as such, will never receive the appropriate counseling and treatment. While it may be plainly obvious to onlookers, victims are rarely conscious that they are under the influence and actually have a personal problem. So we will be spending the first few sessions on helping victims to come to this realization through a program of self-awareness.

Closing Words

Well that brings this launch to an end! Thanks for attending. We hope that you enjoyed it and that you found it educational. You should by now have grasped the great amount of work that needs to be done to help the countless victims spiked and left in the lurch out on their own in that big, nasty, vicious world.