# Is the pursuit of knowledge a deeper drive than sex?

*Is the pursuit of knowledge above sex? Conscious curiosity and the intelligibility of being*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/8xuhmcz2n3u/s/44/
- Date: 2021-04-13 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #210 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (2:59:31–3:02:08)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XuHMCz2N3U&t=10771s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/8xuhmcz2n3u/

**Topics:** Atheism and the existence of God; Islamic psychology

**Question as asked:** I think increasing in knowledge is above sex.

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Yes for the conscious mind, Mufti Abu Layth says, which is driven by curiosity; and the fact that being is intelligible, as DNA shows, points to a creator.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says the conscious mind is driven by curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge, and that the intelligibility of being, as seen in the coding of DNA, points to an intelligent creator.

**Evidence, his words at 2:59:48:** “the intelligibility of being is a necessary proof to me for intelligent creation” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XuHMCz2N3U&t=10788s)

## Longer summary

A viewer says increasing in knowledge is above sex, and Mufti Abu Layth agrees, explaining that the mind must be compartmentalised: the conscious mind, linked to the prefrontal cortex, has an instinctual need for wonder and curiosity, while the unconscious is linked to survival and instinct. He says this curiosity is also an argument for God, since the intelligibility of being, the fact that it can be understood, demonstrates that someone created it that way, as 'the bit precedes the it'; he gives DNA as coding that dictates the intelligibility of however life arose. He says repressed instincts are pushed into the unconscious and may surface in choices people do not understand.

## Transcript (machine tier, 2:59:31–3:02:08)

[2:59:09] the sax i agree i agree you see because what i was saying is you have to look at the mind from two you have to compartmentalize it you have the unconscious and the conscious so the conscious being our has an instinctual need which is wonder and curiosity and then there's the unconscious being which is more linked with survival and it's not a but it seems to have a kind of like a mind but not it's not the conscious mind

[2:59:48] though which is really our prefrontal cortex and our planning and our thinking and this is driven by a deep profound curiosity to understand things which to me by the way is also an argument for the existence of god the intelligibility as in the intelligibility of being is a necessary proof to me

[3:00:16] for intelligent creation because the intelligibility the fact that it can be understood by default that being has this intelligibility to it and to be grasped demonstrates that somebody has must have created it that way just as the you know the bit precedes the it and and nowadays with dna you see because for life when they say well life just emerged primordial life but it emerges with dna and dna is coding

[3:00:55] and it is coded so you see to code it in an intelligible way for proteins to behave in a in a certain manner dictates the intelligibility of the however it got there so it's it's these arguments the problem is these arguments people can't understand them therefore they don't appreciate them but yes i agree for the uh for the conscious mind it's always about knowledge and before the subconscious mind i feel it is to do with uh certain instincts

[3:01:33] drive um and then what happens is repression so when you repress something you push it into deeper into the unconscious now it may then kind of reactionarily manifest in certain ways it may make you email it may trigger you to make certain conscious choices not knowing why you made them in life so that's let me just see i may have missed some super chats um i responded to that ramadan gift yeah mufti rami you're doing it you're doing it much love

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 8XuHMCz2N3U/s/44. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/8xuhmcz2n3u/s/44/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.