Submitting and surrendering our intellect before the Deen:

Submitting and surrendering our intellect before the Deen:

"The Prophet (ﷺ) then asked us, "Which month is this?" We said, "Allah and His Apostle know (it) better." He kept quiet so long that we thought he might call it by another name. Then he said, "Isn't it Dhul-Hijja?" We said, "Yes." He asked "What town is this?" We said, "Allah and His Apostle know (it) better.' Then he kept quiet so long that we thought he might call it by another name. He then said, "Isn't it the (forbidden) town (Mecca)?" We said, "Yes." He asked, "What is the day today?" We said, "Allah and His Apostle know (it) better. Then he kept quiet so long that we thought that he might call it by another name. Then he said, "Isn't it the Day of An-Nahr (slaughtering of sacrifices)?" We said, "Yes." ...- Sahih Al-Bukhari 7447

This incident is from the Hajjatul wida and has a very profound message for us. How we have to surrender ourselves totally to the teachings and the message of the Prophet ﷺ. 

The sahabah in this hadith surrender their very sense of time and place to the will of the prophet though they all knew that it was the month of ZilHaj and city of Makkah as they all had come to perform Haj! 

But none from the 120000 sahabah present there dared to answer any of the even basic questions of the prophet. Apart from their tremendous Adab for the prophet ﷺ, it shows that the Sahabah did not consider their knowledge and information as worthy of any consideration at all and they waited for the Prophet ﷺ to teach them and enlighten them in every matter. 

Unfortunately, our attitude today is of arrogance and resistance to Islamic teachings instead of willing submission. We try to judge the Shariah and Sunnah from our own limited knowledge and experience and try to raise objections, doubts and contentions when they appear to be against our ideas and desires and our understanding which is shaped by modern culture, western ideologies, media, our family and society and the dominant baatil discourse. 

The more "educated" we are, the more we show this behaviour. Instead of submitting ourselves to the Shariah, we try to submit the Shariah to our whims and fancies. How can we attain true Imaan if we continue this behaviour? May Allah guide us.