Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Qur’anic Reflections The Common Sense Approach

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.