Ahsan Hanif – Quran Tafseer – Page 171 – Believers Among The People Of Scripture
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The speaker discusses various historical events and their significance in shaping the world and shaping spiritual health and well-being. They touch upon the nation of boasted against the different nations of the United States and its followers, as it is a vast nation of people and not just a handful of people. The speaker also discusses the history of Islam, including challenges faced by individuals in their towns, the importance of water and water delivery, and the practice of everyone being one family. They also touch on the benefits of Islam for individuals, including wealth, wealth, and satisfaction, and the importance of showing gratitude towards Allah's blessings and negativity in increasing one's deeds.
AI: Summary ©
I seek refuge in Allah from Satan the
accursed.
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most
Merciful.
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most
Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of
the worlds.
And the reward is due to the righteous.
And there is no aggression except against the
wrongdoers.
I bear witness that there is no god
but Allah, He is alone and has no
partner.
I bear witness that there is no god
but Allah, He is alone and has no
partner.
I bear witness that there is no god
but Allah, I bear witness that there is
no god but Allah, He is alone and
has no partner.
I bear witness that there is no god
but Allah, He is alone and has no
partner.
I bear witness that there is no god
but Allah, He is alone and has no
partner.
I bear witness that there is no god
but Allah, He is alone and has no
partner.
I bear witness that there is no god
but Allah, He is alone and has no
partner.
I bear witness that there is no god
but Allah, He is alone and has no
partner.
I bear witness that there is no god
but Allah, He is alone and has no
partner.
I bear witness that there is no god
but Allah, I bear witness that there is
no god but Allah, He is alone and
has no partner.
I bear witness that there is no god
but Allah, I
bear witness that there is no god but
Allah, He is alone and has no partner.
He is alone and has no partner.
He is alone and has no partner.
I
bear
witness that there is no god but Allah,
I bear
witness
that there is no god but Allah, He
is alone and has no partner.
I
bear witness that there is no god but
Allah,
I
bear witness that there is no god but
Allah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions this
and points to this.
Allah azawajal says, أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم
There is a group amongst the people of
Musa who were guided to the truth and
who act justly according to it.
and who act justly according to it.
Meaning that there is amongst them those who
were upon good, those who taught and used
guidance to guide others and to help others
and there were people who were calling and
acting according to it.
Meaning they were upright in terms of their
Iman, they were upright in terms of their
actions, they were upright in terms of their
beliefs.
I know that that is an accolade for
those people.
I know that that is an accolade for
those people.
It is an honorific for those people.
It is a status and virtue for those
people who did this in the time of
Musa.
And that is why as we can intimate
from some of the hadith that we have
of our prophet when he saw the different
nations on Yawmul Qiyamah.
The nation of Musa Alayhi Salaam and his
followers is a vast nation, a vast nation
of people.
It is not just a handful of people
that followed him.
Like for example some prophets only came with
two followers or three followers or a single
follower.
Some of them came with no one.
Nuh Alayhi Salaam, the stories of the Quran
seem to show that he or the tellings
of the story of Nuh Alayhi Salaam in
the Quran seem to show that he had
not many followers by the end of his
950 odd years of calling people to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
However, Musa Alayhi Salaam has a vast Ummah.
Has a big nation of people who followed
him and who believed in him Alayhi Salaam
And so Allah speaks about these people that
amongst them there were people who were good
people upon guidance, people who gave that guidance
to others and who wanted good for them.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala now in verse
116 onwards the next few verses now and
into the next episode as well the next
passage that we will inshallah ta'ala cover
in the next episode Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala now speaks about the many blessings that
Allah bestowed upon them and how after seeing
the many signs of Allah azawajal, the many
miracles of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the
many favours and blessings that Allah bestowed upon
them many of them turned away or they
were ungrateful for these blessings they disobeyed the
commands of Allah azawajal or they twisted and
altered and manipulated the commands of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala and this is a warning
to me and you as Muslims, because as
the Prophet told us salallahu alayhi wa sallam,
this ummah will follow hand span by hand
span foot span by foot span, the ways
of those, foot step by foot step, the
path of those who came before, meaning the
Jews and the Christians, the errors that they
made, the mistakes that they made the faults
that they had we will emulate them in
that and so the mu'min, the believer has
to be someone who is aware of this
someone who is cognizant of the fact that
there is things that they did that if
we're not careful we're going to fall into
and do as well and so when you
see the mistakes, the believer knows that's something
which I have to be careful of that's
something which I have to stay away from
and so Allah azawajal as we're going through
these verses, remember this because often we fall
into similar mistakes Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says in verse 160 وَقَطَّعْنَاهُمُ اثْنَتَيْ عَشْرَةَ أَسْبَاقًا
أُمَمًا وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى مُوسَىٰ إِذِ اِسْتَسْقَاهُ قَوْمُهُ أَنِ
اضْلِبْ بِعَصَاكَ الْحَجَرَ فَانْبَجَسَتْ مِنْهُ اثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْنَا
قَدْ عَلِمَ كُلُّ أُنَاسٍ مَّشْرَبَهُمْ وَظَلَّلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الْغَمَامَ
وَأَنْزَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الْمَنَّ وَالسَّلْوَى كُلُوا مِنْ طَيِّبَاتِ مَا
رَزَقَنَاكُمْ وَمَا ظَلَمُونَ وَلَكِنْ كَانُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ We
divided them into twelve tribes as distinct communities.
And when His people asked Him for water,
We inspired Musa to strike the rock with
his staff, so that twelve springs gushed forth.
Each tribe knew its own drinking place.
We gave them the shade of clouds and
sent down upon them menna and quails.
And We said, Eat the good things that
We have provided for you.
They did not wrong Us.
It was themselves that they wronged.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that the
people of Bani Israel were of twelve tribes.
As they left the land of Egypt and
Pharaoh after this time and they're going towards
what is the promised land which is Baitul
Maqdis.
They're traveling in the desert.
And in the desert there, as would happen
in any desert, there are a number of
challenges.
From the greatest of them is a lack
of food and lack of water.
And so when the people of Musa a
.s. came and these blessings and this story
has already been told once in Surah Al
-Baqarah.
We already covered this in some detail there.
However, since it is mentioned again, now we
will go over it again.
وَوْحَيْنَا إِلَىٰ مُوسَىٰ إِذْ اِسْتَسْقَاهُ قَوْمُهُ And Allah
a.s. says that we inspired, we revealed
to Musa a.s. when his people came
to Musa saying, We need water.
They made istisqa, meaning that they're seeking water
to drink, to use to cook, to use
for their living purposes.
Because they're in a desert, there's very little
water that they have access to.
And without water they will die.
They come to Musa a.s. and they
seek help from him.
So he turns to Allah a.s. and
he makes dua.
Allah a.s. reveals to Musa and inspires
him, أَنِضْرِبْ بِعَصَاكَ الْحَجَرِ That he should go
and he should strike a rock.
Whether that's a specific rock or any rock,
Allah a.s. knows best.
But that he should go and he should
strike a rock.
And by doing so, فَمْبَجَسَتْ مِنْهُ ثُلَةَ عَشْرَةَ
عَيْنَا Twelve different springs gushed forth as a
result of that.
And note that that is from the miracles
that Allah a.s. gave to Musa a
.s. And Musa a.s. therefore strikes the
rock, twelve different springs gush forth.
قَدْ عَلِمَ كُلُّ أُنَاسٍ مَشْرَبَهُمْ Allah a.s.
says that each one of those people, each
one of those twelve tribes of Bani Israel,
because Bani Israel is made up of twelve
tribes, they go back to the twelve sons
of Ya'qub a.s. Those are the,
if the family tree is followed back, they
come from those twelve sons of Ya'qub
a.s. And Allah a.s. knows best.
Either way, there are twelve tribes, as Allah
a.s. mentions here in this verse.
And by striking the rock, twelve springs gush
forth.
It would have been a great enough miracle
and a great enough blessing from Allah a
.s. if a single spring had gushed forth.
And all of them have to share and
drink from it.
Because they need water.
And Allah a.s. has given them water
and it's plentiful for them.
But Allah a.s. when He blesses the
believers, blesses the followers of the prophets, He
doesn't just give them a blessing, He gives
them a blessing that is most suited for
them.
That is catered to them.
That is something which will help them the
most.
And that is the beauty of Allah's blessing
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
When He gives you a blessing, it is
not just a blessing that is the same
as everyone else.
It is the blessing that you require most
at that time.
And so even though the name may be
the same, you have a child, someone else
has a child, you have money, they have
money, you have health, they have health.
But the way that it is given to
each person and how it affects them is
individual.
It is something which is targeted to that
person by the permission of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
So Allah a.s. doesn't just give them
a spring or two or five, He gives
each one of them.
Why?
Because therefore each tribe has their own spring.
They don't need to jostle or fight.
And even tribes as we know amongst themselves
often have rivalry.
So my tribe gets to go before your
tribe.
I get to drink first, you drink last.
What is the hierarchy now?
In order to avoid all of this drama,
all of these problems that would ensue, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala gives to each one
their distinct one.
And also because you are more likely to
show kindness and mercy to those people that
are with you.
So if it's you and your tribe, then
you're not going to have so much problem
in terms of who goes first or last.
Because you're all essentially one family.
That's what a tribe is.
You go back to one like ancestor, maybe
four or five generations before.
You all come from the same great-great
grandfather.
And so you're all cousins, you're all third,
second cousins, third cousins, fourth cousins.
And so you know each other relatively well
as opposed to members of the next tribe
who even though they're also related to you
eventually, you all come from the same ancestor
eventually, but they're more distant from you.
And that was a tribal thing.
My name over your name.
And so this is something which is well
known in the caste system that we have
still in many communities in the tribal system
that is still common in many communities in
many nations.
And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives
to each one their own distinct drinking spring
that they can benefit from and that they
can take from.
قَدْ عَلِمَ كُلُّ أُنَاسٍ مِشْرَبَهُمْ Allah azza wa
jal says that each single one of them
knows their own.
They can go to it, take from it.
There's no hostility, there's no drama, there's no
competition or rivalry.
They can take from it and that is
from the blessings of Allah azza wa jal
in a desert type of environment.
وَضَلَّلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الْغَمَامُ And then Allah azza wa
jal says that we gave them clouds to
shade them because the sun and the heat
of the desert is something which is searing.
It is something which is extremely difficult to
bear especially during the daytime.
But if Allah sends upon them cloud, makes
it overcast, it is bearable in terms of
the temperature, it is bearable in terms of
the direct light of the sun and the
heat that bears down upon you as you're
walking because these people have to walk.
They're not seeking shelter, they're not building houses
and staying inside indoors.
They're walking because they're trying to get to
a destination.
So Allah azza wa jal gives to them
clouds and anyone that's lived in that type
of desert environment knows the blessing of those
types of clouds when they come to them.
وَنَزَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمُ الْمَنَّ وَالسَّلْوَى Not only that but
then Allah azza wa jal gave to them
food.
And he gave to them not just any
type of food, but he gave to them
Al-Man and he gave to them As
-Salwa.
Al-Man is as we said and there
is a difference of opinion as we mentioned
when we were speaking about these verses in
Surah Al-Baqarah as to exactly what they
refer to but they are foods from heaven.
And many of the scholars said that Al
-Man is a type of sweet food that
came down either some type of fruit or
some type of dessert that came down to
them.
Was-Salwa and As-Salwa according to many
of the scholars it is a quail or
it is the bird, a small bird that
is soft in its meat, pleasant and delightful
to eat.
Just like today people like to eat pigeon
and quails are eaten still as well in
restaurants.
They are considered to be nice types of
bird meat that you can eat from unlike
chicken which is quite normal or turkey and
so on which is more tough.
These are birds that Allah azza wa jal
gave to them the meat of that they
could enjoy.
Because normally if you are in a desert
environment you are just looking for any type
of food, anything would do.
You are not looking for anything special, you
are looking for the bare minimum that will
give you enough energy, enough provision in order
to be able to keep you going in
order for you to be able to reach
your destination.
But Allah azza wa jal honored them, gave
them good food, gave them things that are
delightful and delicious to eat and all without
any difficulty upon them.
We sent down upon them Allah azza wa
jal says.
They don't have to hunt.
They don't have to go far and wide.
They don't have to travel for days in
order to bring food back for the rest
of the people.
Allah sends it upon them subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
And Allah azza wa jal says and eat
from that which you have provided for you,
the good that we have given to you,
eat from it, it is halal for you.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says this is
for you.
So now you have shade and you have
water and you have food.
All of this is for you.
وَمَا ظَلَمُونَا وَلَكِن كَانُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ And then
Allah says and when they disobeyed, when they
were ungrateful, when they rejected these blessings, it
is not Allah that they wronged.
It is not Allah that they harmed.
But it is themselves that they wronged and
that they harmed.
Why?
Because as we know, they don't want the
blessings of Allah azza wa jal.
They came to Musa alaihi salatu wasalam and
they said as we mentioned in those verses
in surah al-Baqarah لَنَّصْبِرَ عَلَىٰ طَعَامٍ وَاحِدٍ
We can't be patient.
We can't deal with just this one type
of food every day, man and salwa every
day.
Rather we want the herbage of the earth.
We want cucumbers.
We want onions.
That's what we want to eat.
And that is why Musa alaihi salatu wasalam
mentioned in that verse سَتُتَمَا تَسْتَبْدِيرُونَ الَّذِي هُوَ
أَدْنَىٰ بِالَّذِي هُوَ خَيْرٌ Are you taking and
wanting to exchange that which is greater and
better for that which is less?
Allah has honored you with so much and
you're going to be ungrateful and say I
want this instead.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has honored
you with certain things and that shows that
it is halal and permissible to benefit from
the blessings that Allah has bestowed upon you
in a halal way as well.
Allah has given you wealth.
You have a great deal of wealth.
Allah blessed you.
He made you very rich for you to
buy a nice car, to live in a
nice house, to travel, I don't know, in
business class or whatever it may be for
you to enjoy those blessings of Allah in
a way that is halal.
So you're not arrogant.
You're not showing off.
You're not just wasting money.
You're fulfilling your wajibat, your obligations, you're paying
your zakah, you're charitable, you're good.
And so it is permissible then for you
to benefit from that as well.
And so Allah azawajal is saying or rather
these people are being told also Allah has
given to you good, benefit from it.
But they didn't do so.
And as we know, they will continue to
do other things in terms of showing this
lack of gratitude to Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
As Allah azawajal then continues and mentions in
verse 161.
وَإِذْ قِيلَ لَهُ مُسْكُنُ هَذِهِ الْقَرْيَةَ وَكُلُوا مِنْهَا
حَيْثُ شِئْتُمْ مَقُولُوا حِطَّةٌ وَدَخُرُوا الْبَابَ سُجَّدًا وَدُخُرُوا
الْبَابَ سُجَّدًا نَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ خَطِيَاتِكُمْ سَنَزِيدُ الْمُحْسِنِينَ When
they were told, enter this town and eat
freely there as you will, forgive you your
sins and increase the reward of those who
do good.
The people of Bani Israel are told to
go towards Baitul Maqdis.
This is where they're going to enter and
as they enter into that place that will
be the land that Allah azawajal has promised
them by His permission subhanahu wa ta'ala.
They were told that you must go and
enter into this land or into this particular
city.
وَكُلُوا مِنْهَا حَيْثُ شِئْتُمْ And when you go,
you will have the blessings of Allah bestowed
upon you.
You may eat as you please.
Look at all of these blessings after the
difficulties that they suffered.
Years of bondage, years of slavery, years of
oppression and torture and then Allah azawajal blesses
them.
Blessing after blessing.
A prophet of Allah comes to them, Musa
a.s. They're saved from Pharaoh.
They're given the Torah.
Now they're being blessed in terms of their
food and their drink and their provision.
And now they come into this land that
they were promised and they're being told that
once you enter, you will only increase in
provision, only increase in goodness, only increase, have
an increase in the blessings that Allah azawajal
will bestow upon you.
But not only that, if as you enter
into the city, وَقُولُوا حِطَّةً You enter into
the city and you say, Oh Allah, relieve
us.
Meaning, we repent to you.
Relieve us of our sins, Oh Allah.
Relieve us of our burdens, Oh Allah.
Relieve us of our mistakes and our wrongdoings,
Oh Allah azawajal.
So essentially, it's a word of repentance.
Oh Allah, forgive us.
Relieve us of our burdens, our sins and
so on.
Forgive us.
And if you do so, وَدْخُرُوا الْبَابَ سُجَّدًا
And you enter in a manner that is
humble and a manner that shows you're in
need of the forgiveness of Allah azawajal.
You enter in a manner which shows that
you're in need of Allah's blessings, then Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala says, نَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ خَطِيآتِكُمْ
We will forgive you for all of your
sins.
And that is why in tawbah, or when
you're making dua and you want something from
the blessings of Allah, one of the obstacles
in attaining that blessing of Allah is the
sins that you've committed.
So you make tawbah and you seek Allah
azawajal's forgiveness.
And that is why when you seek that
forgiveness also to show it at a level
of humble, with a level of humility.
And your poverty before Allah, your need before
Allah azawajal, that is one of the best
ways to do so.
And that is why Allah azawajal boasts, for
example, about the people who stand on the
plain of Arafah, the day of Arafah, the
hujjaj, the people who make hajj and stand
in Arafah, Allah boasts that they have come
from a destined shovel, that they're there in
a manner which befits that status of them
imploring Allah for His forgiveness, for His mercy,
for His many blessings, subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And so Allah azawajal loves this.
And that is what the people of Bani
Israel are being told, ask Allah for forgiveness.
Enter in a way that shows your humility
and need before Allah azawajal.
What will you receive?
You will receive forgiveness.
And you will receive the blessings of Allah.
And then Allah azawajal says, concluding this verse,
سَنَزِيدُ الْمُحْسِنِينَ And We will increase the reward
of those who do good.
So you will get even more.
And what Allah azawajal has saved for you
in terms of the goodness of the dunya
and the akhirah is more than that which
Allah azawajal has stated for you.
Because as we know, Allah azawajal tells us
about Jannah and tells us about the rewards
of the akhirah.
But what Allah azawajal has told us doesn't
give us the full reality.
It's not something which we can envision or
imagine even in this dunya with our limited
capacity of understanding.
And that is why the Prophet told us,
صلى الله عليه وسلم In Jannah is that
which no eye has seen, no ear has
heard, no mind can or heart can imagine.
That shows to us that even though we
have these descriptions, these names, these rewards that
we are familiar with, it's reality and what
it actually represents is something which we won't
be able to understand until we see it
and inshaAllah ta'ala experience it first hand
and in the next life.
And so these people are being told by
Israel, enter with humility, ask Allah's forgiveness, ask
Allah's mercy and doesn't Allah azawajal deserve that
they should do so after the many blessings
he bestowed upon them, after the hardships that
he relieved from them, after the oppression that
he saved them from, shouldn't we show more
gratitude and gratitude is not just by using
Allah's blessings or speaking about them.
Gratitude first and foremost is by worshipping Allah
more, by turning to Allah more, by asking
Allah for more, by showing your level of
need before Allah azawajal more.
And so the person that Allah blesses and
bestows upon them wealth and children and health,
if it increases them in ibadah and goodness,
then that is the person who has understood
how to thank Allah azawajal.
But if that person hasn't increased them in
ibadah, hasn't increased them in good deeds, hasn't
increased them in seeking goodness to Allah azawajal,
that person has to stop and question what
it is that they are doing in terms
of showing that gratitude.
So what did Bani Israel do?
As we've already mentioned in the verses in
Surah Al-Baqarah, but Allah azawajal repeats it
here in verse 162.
فَبَدَّلَ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا مِنْهُمْ قَوْلًا غَيْرَ الَّذِي قِيلَ
لَهُمْ فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ رِجَزًا مِّنَ
السَّمَاءِ بِمَا كَانُوا يَظْلِمُونَ The wrongdoers amongst them
substituted another saying for that which had been
given to them.
So We sent upon them a punishment from
the heavens for their wrongdoing.
Those people, many of them showed arrogance instead
of showing humility.
And many of them instead of asking Allah
for forgiveness and to repent upon them, they
changed the word and they said instead that
we want a grain of seed or a
grain of barley or of wheat.
And so they changed the word only by
adding a small letter here or there or
changing the word slightly.
And this was one of the ways that
they manipulated the commands of Allah azawajal.
Remember we said that there are lessons for
us as the Ummah of the Prophet ﷺ.
These are two of the greatest lessons.
Number one, be grateful for Allah's blessings.
Be grateful for Allah has sent upon you
by increasing in ibadah, by showing your poverty
before Allah, by being humble before Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
And number two, don't try to manipulate the
commands of Allah azawajal.
Don't try to trick Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala or the religion of Allah azawajal because
you cannot do so like these people did.
And so they didn't enter in the way
that Allah commanded them.
Nor did they, instead of entering in the
position of bowing or prostration and humbleness, it
is said that they entered upon sitting down
and shuffling along upon their rears.
And it is said that rather than saying
the word of Allah forgive us, they changed
that word also.
So because they changed what they were commanded
to do, thinking that it is something which
was insignificant, thinking that they could change these
commands and these rulings of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala, Allah azawajal says, فَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ رِجْزًا
مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ We sent upon them a punishment
from the heavens for their wrongdoing.
And Allah azawajal knows best what type of
punishment it is, but it is mentioned in
some of the narrations and in a number
of the books of tafsir that Allah azawajal
sent upon them a plague.
Just as the people of Pharaoh had a
plague that was sent upon them, then likewise
now Ibn Isra'il is having sent upon
them a plague as well.
Which shows to you that even the believers,
even those who follow the prophets of Allah,
if they turn away from Allah's commands or
they disobey Allah, they can be punished in
one way or another.
And so Allah azawajal tells us that this
is how they were punished.
And we will see inshaAllah ta'ala in
the next episode more of this story of
them being commanded to enter into the city
or into this blessed land of Al-Bayt
Al-Maqdis.
But inshaAllah ta'ala we will leave that
for the next episode.
بارك الله فيكم والسلام علي نبينا محمد وعلي
آله وصحبه أجمعين والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته