Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Qur’anic Reflections The Common Sense Approach
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Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. Welcome back to the
Ramadan reflections. As usual let us begin with our verse for the
day are all the Himalaya shade Lani Raji Mavis Mila Hebrew Manuel
Brahim? What a Selby Ruby
tollbooth and me who work in lb ra many telco What do you mean Abu
Dhabi her what the hula hut I like him to flee Hoan This is a very
prominent verse of Surah Baqarah which is chapter two of the Quran,
verse 189, to be particular, Allah subhanho wa Taala says it is not a
virtue, while it's still better it is not a virtue of virtue is not
that you enter your house is from the back. And that will be with me
whoo hoo ha that you go and literally make an effort not to
you avoid entering from the front of the house, you're gonna enter
from the back of your house. Rather, virtue is that you fear
Allah. Right. Virtue is the one who has Taqwa. And who has God
consciousness. What do you mean Abu Dhabi has. So now enter your
home through the proper doors, and fear Allah so that you may prosper
and be successful.
Now, what's this about entering the houses from the back instead
of the front? And what is that all about? Now those you know who read
Tafseer and who read the Quran and the notes on the Quran, they will
notice that there's a contextual background to this, though it
provides for a huge principle afterwards, right? There's a
there's a background to this verse and it speaks about something very
specific. But the
the message of it is much broader than that. And this goes back to
the time of Joe Hillier, the people in Makkah, they used to go
for Hajj. And until the Hajj was not entirely over, if they came
back to Makkah, or they were in Makkah, they would go to haram,
sorry, they would go to Mina artifacts and you know, most
Delavan, places like that, they would actually go to these places
for the rights but where if they came back home in the midst of all
of this, if they're if their houses were close by and they came
in the midst of this, they would not enter the house from the
front, they thought he was prohibited. They thought it was
strange. It was out of sanctity for the house of God, that they
had to finish all of their rituals and their rights until they could
enter their houses from the front. So they would either climb over a
wall, they would get in from the roof, if there was space there or
they would come in from the back door, they would not go in from
the front. Now remember, this is not something that Allah subhanaw
taala had told them to do, and even recommended or even approved
of for that matter. That's why Allah subhanaw taala prohibits it
here. And that's why Allah subhanaw taala condemns it and
dispels this misconception, right saying that in Islam, none of this
is going to happen. This is completely wrong, what they're
doing, right? Go into your house is the normal way. I mean, what
difference is made that you go the back? Are you still going to your
house, this is just a totally nonsense, smooth superstition or
misconception misunderstanding. So that is the particular message
here. Okay, that is the particular message. That's the context in
which this verse was revealed. However, it provides for a huge
lesson for us, okay, it provides for a huge lesson for us. And
mashallah shaker would have seen that we, for example, he mentions
here on this, that this is providing for a very common sense
approach. This is the verse verse that tells us have common sense,
you know, do things in the normal way, in the natural way. Because
it's natural and normal to enter a house, a place, your domicile,
your place of residence, or your place of work through a proper
entrance. Of course, sometimes maybe the back entrance is closer,
maybe you don't want to be seen. So for particular reasons like
that, it's fine, but otherwise go in from the front door, because
that's what's normal. The Quran, as you know, and Islam is a
complete code of life, encompassing every aspect of our
life, right, and directing basically all classes of people in
every phase of their life. So here Allah subhanaw taala is
instructing men in this basic truth, basic reality about
entering houses. However, the directive as I said, is reflective
of the Quranic stance on life as a whole. Right? The Quran is very
comprehensive, and those who study the Quran will understand that
while there will be certain verses in the Quran about a very
particular scenario about a very particular
event, there's so much that Allah subhanaw taala provides beyond
that when you read between the lines, there are broader messages
more universal guidances that are provided from very specific
encounters very specific messages. That's the beauty of the Quran.
that, it will just keep opening up opening itself up to much more
light and much more guidance. So just the way we're told here, that
people are told here that go to your house in the right way. We're
told that whenever in every aspect of life, if you want to learn
something, if you want to pursue something, do it the correct way.
Do it the proper way. Right? Do it the proper way. Yes, if you can
come up with a more creative way, and it's the proper way, then
that's fine. If it's, you know, it'll give you success. But the
main thing is that don't do things in an incomplete manner, in the
wrong manner, in a half hearted manner. And in a misconstrued
manner. So for example, if you're going to learn a trade, then
you're going to have to go and learn the trade at the
feet of a competent teacher. So there's, for example, some
plumbers, I've met some builders that I've met, and I say, where do
you learn this? I mean, they didn't go to school for it. Right?
They literally didn't go to school for it, what happened, he said
that they actually some of them even tried to get in, but they
couldn't get into the course. So what he did was, he just started
to work with another plumber, work with a builder and basically learn
the trade that way. And then after that, there was you know, insert
certain trades like electric electricity and electrical work
and plumbing, you actually need a certain certification and license,
then you can go and get it in afterwards in a retrospective way,
right. So you're going to have to make that effort to do it in any
particular way that works, right? In a way that works. So
anybody who wants that they're going to have to be at with a
competent teacher, gain familiarity with the tools,
advanced one's knowledge, step by step, see what doesn't work, what
does work. Otherwise, if they tried to do this themselves, it's
gonna take much longer, it's much easier to do it with somebody else
who has the understanding. Now, without thorough grounding in the
subject, one cannot expect to gain any success, right? And, for
example, in certain professions, you know, if it requires a
uniform, a certain way to dress, because to print for prediction,
or for to be in a certain way, then let that be the case. Allah
subhanaw taala is sanctioning that idea that as long as it's halal,
and that's what it's there. That's what it's for. One who thinks, you
know, sometimes you've got people who think you know, who fall foul
of this verse would be maybe a person. One example would be that
a person who may think very high of their mental acumen, mental
ability, and they refuse to follow a system, and then eventually they
don't achieve success, right? Especially at a young age because
you have no experience. Right? Especially at a young age, listen
to your parents. Listen to the people who know. I mean, Allah
says, another verse, verse, Allah Vickery In Kuntum, lotta Allah
moon, as the people of knowledge, as the people have reminded us the
people of the mansion, right? If you do not know, that's a that's a
rule. I call up people. So I've got a plumber friend, I call him
and I say,
you know, so and so I've got a I've got a fatwa to ask you,
right? So like, what are you asking me a fatwa for? Basically
I'm saying a plumbing fatwa. I mean, I don't want to denigrate
the word fatwa here. But basically, I've got a question to
ask you. Right? Regardless of who you are, you know, you go the
right way to get things don't do it in the wrong way.
So
you see, what we have to understand what the Quran is
telling us through this is that divine laws are based on the many
of them are based on human nature and absolute common sense. Right?
If one doesn't follow the laws of nature, one cannot reach one's
goals. Yes, sometimes there is a misunderstanding of what the local
law of nature is. For example, if you take a simple idea of
literacy, right, your children or you've moved to a different
country, or you want to learn a new language, you want to learn
Arabic or you want to learn, you know, you want to learn Turkish or
Spanish or whatever the case is, you know, try as you might, if you
don't learn the alphabet, you're not going to get anywhere with
that language. You have to have the basic building blocks to learn
something, right? You can you can be a genius, but you're not going
to learn a language without first mastering its alphabet in a sense,
right? In you know, whether you do that conventionally
unconventionally, you're going to you're going to need that. So
now, what we have to understand here is that when it comes again,
from a Muslim perspective, while this law is general for Muslims
and non Muslims this principle this way forward, right, this this
way of life,
there are for a Muslim there's always going to be two streams to
everything, right? Which, which eventually, it's going to they're
going to become distinct from one another at a certain level. Right?
So for example, when it comes to religious knowledge, right, that
you when it comes to religious knowledge that you're trying to
acquire because mashallah lots of people have a dream of learning
more
about their faith to an advanced level, intermediate to advanced
level. And, you know, this is a time when people feel good about
it and feel that they can start so they should do but one thing we
have to remember is that with worldly knowledge, sincerity is
not as important you know, because you you know,
as a plumber, you know, you could be insincere but you'd probably
learn the trade right an electrician, you'd learn the trade
a builder you learn the trade, a graphic designer, a
would you call it a an IT person, you know, you'd learn this kind of
stuff, but when it comes to religious knowledge, there are the
proper way is to actually have sincerity to do it for the sake of
Allah subhanaw taala to do it for some very praiseworthy purpose.
Otherwise, you're gonna have a problem with it. There's the
famous statement of Imam Shafi when he complained to his teacher
about his poor memory. And his his teacher said you need to shun sin,
because this sacred knowledge represent Allah is not light,
right? It is a light from Allah subhanaw taala which is not
granted to those who are disobedient. May Allah subhanaw
taala protect us. And
likewise, another thing that really helps when it comes to
sacred knowledge, the proper way to do it, is that what it should
be coupled with one's commitment to the Sunnah, right, it should
be. It should be with one's commitment to the Sunnah and
revulsion
towards innovations in matters of faith and sin and full devotion to
Allah subhanaw taala. And then if you do this, Allah subhanaw taala
will confer this light upon you. Allah will give you heaps, Allah
subhanaw taala will give you this light, and Allah subhanaw taala
will bestow it upon you. We ask Allah subhana wa Taala to allow us
to
follow the spirit of this verse of doing things in the correct way,
and not to protect us from misunderstanding. And, you know,
there's actually some people have a very lenient approach to things.
And sometimes the absolute linear approach is too debilitating. It's
too limited. Other people have a lateral approach to things. And
the problem with full lateral approach is that sometimes you
just can't get because you're totally taking unconventional
means. All right, so sometimes you're successful, sometimes
you're not the best combination is both a literal and a lateral
approach. The literal approach is essentially where you follow the
steps, like in a literal fashion of something lateral approach is
where you see where you're trying to go. And you try to sometimes
improvise, you sometimes try to be creative in trying to get there,
you need to do both, and when a combination of that makes the most
successful person generally, may Allah subhanaw taala grant us
success may Allah subhanaw taala bless us all, and make this
Ramadan better than any before it. Please, please remember us in your
prayers, and we will remember you in our prayers. Allah bless you
all, as salaam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh.
The point of a lecture is to encourage people to act to get
further an inspiration and encouragement, persuasion. The
next step is to actually start learning seriously to read books
to take on a subject of Islam and to understand all the subjects of
Islam at least at the basic level, so that we can become more aware
of what our deen wants from us. And that's why we started Rayyan
courses so that you can actually take organize lectures on demand
whenever you have free time, especially for example, the
Islamic essentials course that we have on the Islamic essentials
certificate which you take 20 Short modules and at the end of
that inshallah you will have gotten the basics of most of the
most important topics in Islam and you'll feel a lot more confident.
You don't have to leave lectures behind you can continue to live,
you know to listen to lectures, but you need to have this more
sustained study as well. JazakAllah Heron salaam aleikum wa
rahmatullah wa barakato.