# Have nuclear weapons made the world more peaceful?

*Modernity, nuclear deterrence and the leaders who hold the buttons*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/wce73zqci_i/s/16/
- Date: 2020-07-10 · Kind: discussion · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Shaykh Omar Baloch | Cynicism, Consumerism & the Catch 22 of Riba | Mindtrap with Mufti #30 (58:31–1:02:24)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCe73zqCi_I&t=3511s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/wce73zqci_i/

**Topics:** Islam and modernity; Current events commentary

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth argues that nuclear deterrence has ironically kept the peace; the guest fears what the people holding the weapons might do.

## Longer summary

The guest defines modernity as the premise that today is necessarily better than yesterday and tomorrow better than today, and doubts that nations will get along better, joking that if someone has muscles they will use them. Mufti Abu Layth replies that the principle of Chekhov's gun has been defied by nuclear powers, saying it is ironic, as Yuval Noah Harari also notes, that weapons of mass destruction have become the basis for peace, as when India and Pakistan stepped back from war the previous year. The guest invokes structuralism, arguing that what matters is the people within the structures, and that with leaders such as Trump in power someone may act stupidly or by accident. The guest concludes that nobody knows the future but God does.

## Sources and names cited

- Shaykh Omar Baloch
- Yuval Noah Harari
- Anton Chekhov (Chekhov's gun)
- Donald Trump

## Transcript (machine tier, 58:31–1:02:24)

[57:52] we've pretty much like you know we've got cannons we've got these things we've got this is like we're at the top like this isn't it isn't gonna really get any significantly better basically nobody did but it but nobody it massively got better no but what I mean is human beings are not the Ottomans per se but as a species it goes man are exponentially better I mean that you had a whole Industrial Revolution you're a technological revolution a scientific revolution human beings have gone you know like light-years from where they were right what I'd like to share with you is something is some studies in

[58:30] mark is is the very definition of modernity okay the premises of the idea of modernity is that what is today is necessarily better than what was yesterday and the premises of modernity is that what will be tomorrow is necessarily better than what is today okay this is the very idea of meaning of the word modern modern means I'm skeptical of the past and I hold that we are in a better place today than previously and I hold that we will be in a better place tomorrow than we are today this is like if you take if you study

[59:10] modernity in a philosophy department this is basically the but but just to be clear when they're saying today I mean they mean like free modernity they don't mean will go to its peaks I have no doubt about that but will the human condition be better will nations get along better or you know it's I mean little nations even exist what if we work towards a global kind of please you know close your ears for a second but I'm gonna save this so you understand what I'm trying to say it's cuz it you know if if you have muscles like you do

[59:48] in Hungary lie right then you can't expect somebody with muscles not to use their muscles right sighs much as apparently if you have muscles and if somebody says don't use your muscles it's not gonna happen it's not natural you know the country that our is you know this this thing this thing what is referred to sometimes as the law you know Chekhov's law where he you know in his novels where he says that well if you speak of a gun in a scene in a particular scene then that gun has to be used some way in the novel otherwise it's you know you can't have something in a script and it not be and it be

[1:00:25] useless this has actually been defied by the modern world when it comes to nuclear powers in fact it's ironic and you know you'll see people like you Val Harare as well speak that it's an ironic that how such powerful weapons of mass destruction have become the basis for peace like a country like Pakistan and India now they just last year they were going to go to war I mean it was pretty much gonna kick off the thing that really stops them apart from them thinking you know because apart from the

[1:01:04] thinking this is no good for our economy but there's not hot hot Headz on both sides the thing that stops them is that if we escalate this will escalate to complete destruction of us and them so nuclear did this this this concept of death that we have a psychopath in power no no because in again I'm sorry to say this in philosophy there's this concept called structuralism yes is the question is the structures we have is that important or the people in it important and if you say the structure is

[1:01:43] important then your argument is fine and well but if you argue that no the structure it doesn't matter can be communism democracy or whatever the structures of the world are but it's the people in it that matter now when you have low the on one side and Trump on another side and in it and Yahoo on another side somebody's gonna act stupid and if they feel and it could be by accident but if somebody feels okay now they press the buttons they're gonna kill us now you know I I can see what you're saying but like let's take a real life example ideas completed Rachel it seems because we don't know the future but I believe that

[1:02:23] you know God seems to know the future [Laughter] and that is that that well then you do now Elena right either at Leyland una hora so it seems like it'll be the same day if something will happen one side of the day one side of the world will be night the other side will be day so John never see them no one ever comes and then we'll all be just you know also to the bonnie is right a min korea teen nanu maliku her oh why the boo have

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment wCe73zqCi_I/s/16. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/wce73zqci_i/s/16/

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