Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Qur’anic Reflections The Complete Gift of Allah
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Salam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatu Ramadan Mubarak to you
all let us start with the verse of the Quran are all the will him in
a shape on your Raji me Bismillah Hawkman Yama Rafi earlier
committed to locum Deen a coma atma mem to ID equal near Marathi
where all the Tula como Islam Medina,
ALLAH SubhanA, WA Tada says in this verses Surah to verse three
of Surma, ADA,
the chapter five of the Quran this day I have perfected your
religion. This day, I have perfected your religion for you,
completed my favor upon you. And I've chosen for you Islam as your
religion, very, very well known verse. And it was set at a very,
very prominent, memorable time, historical time rather. And I'm
sure many of you have heard of this verse.
We want to provide a bit of an exposition and think about this
verse today.
This verse, firstly, it's very interesting when this verse was
revealed it was revealed during the onset of prayer,
during the answer prayer, on a Friday at our effort,
during the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam his Farewell
Pilgrimage the Hajj,
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam then live for just about
less than three months after its revelation.
And there's some Saheeh narrations, authentic traditions
that tell us that a Jew also told Omar the Allahu anhu, that this
verse
if it was revealed to the Jews, they would have commemorated it
and made it an important day in the life of the community. Like it
is such a landmark verse to complete all the you know, the
older, older, older akhom and all the rulings and Islam as a as a
faith has been, you know, has become complete. That's what's
been declared here. On what are the Alon said, Yes, it has been
sent down on a memorable day. So we already know this. It's been
sent down on a memorable day, Friday day of the pilgrimage. So
that is a verse that we're going to have to celebrate basically
until the last day because it's really really pertinent to our
faith.
What this verse The main thing about these verses and Yama are
committed to the convenor code, which means that today I have
completed your religion for you ECMO, the command of the religion.
And what that means, essentially, is that if Allah subhanaw taala
says, I've completed a religion for you, that means it's completed
in every sense.
That means that there's no additions, there can't be any
additions, and they can't be any deletions. They can't be any
reform in that sense, right.
So there's no alteration needed because Allah subhanaw taala is
completed. Allah is the knower of the creation, because he's the
creator. He knows. So the Quran is a timeless guidance, and it's been
Allah subhanaw taala provides his guidance in Islam is then a
perfect religion. I mean, I know we claim this all the time, Islam
is a perfect religion, all inclusive, it's an all inclusive
faith, for its adherence. And it basically caters for all of our
needs. In other words, Islam is a totalizing religion, there is a
verse like the Quran have been, but the way you nourish the
mineral, hey,
that's in the beginning of the third juice of the Quran Surah
Baqarah. There is no compulsion in faith because and guidance, and
deviants have been made distinct from one another. That basically
refers to people entering into Islam. But once you enter into
Islam, then as Allah subhanaw taala says, and none of us, yeah,
you have Latina and middle hood, or facil mica, or people who
believe enter into Islam wholly and fully. So Islam is a
totalizing. Religion, you can't take parts of it, otherwise, you
don't get the benefit of Islam, you're Muslim, if you just take
parts and you don't miss out on some of the most integral aspects.
If you miss out on an integral aspect to condition and so on,
then, of course, then you don't get anything because then we can't
be Muslims. But if you believe in the main integrals, but then you
don't take it on fully, because you just prefer another system or
whatever the case is, you have issues with it, then you can't
really benefit from Islam fully. This is what a lot of people, they
think they can get a benefit of a bit of Islam, and then they might
it might encourage them to benefit from the rest of Islam. But really
Islam, you know, if you want the true benefit of Islam, you have to
first make your own sacrifice, you have to make an effort. I'll be
discussing that in one of the other reflections in sha Allah
about efforts for our faith that is going to be another discussion
that we have in sha Allah. So Islam has to be a complete entity
because it discusses every aspect of our life. So for example, I
mean, whenever I explain Islam to somebody, I don't start with the
five pin
Because I think that's very reductionist, that's one aspect of
Islam, five pillars is just really, the five pillars are just
one dimension of Islam. And I would say that Islam has at least
five dimensions. And the first dimension of Islam is our belief
system, what to believe what to make of this world, the worldview,
where we came from, where we going, what's the purpose of this
life, all of this, this is discussed. Mostly, it's all
discussed in our ACA and in our aqidah, and theology in our column
in our beliefs, subject. Now, once you recognize what our purpose is
that we're slaves, and God is our Creator, then the second level of
that is, then to worship him, that's when the five pillars come
in, that we worship Allah subhana wa, tada, we show our devotion to
Him through the five pillars, right, that's essentially how that
that's essentially the second dimension. Thereafter, you know,
we're not some kind of hermits, we're not isolated where human
beings were socially, you know, connected with others. So that
means what we have to do then, is that we have dealings with other
people interactions with other people. So these are two
additional dimensions, the none contracts, contractual
interactions that we have like with our neighbors, with the
elderly, with the young, with our family, with the animals, animal
kingdom, with the environment, all of this comes in the third
dimension. The fourth dimension, then is whenever we have something
on a more transactional contractual level, like marriage
and divorce, buying and selling,
trade, renting the judicial system, custody issues, all of
these kinds of things come in, and there's full guidance in that as
well. There's nothing that's left and number five, then what what's
left, number five is you come back to our own selves, our inner
states. So how we need to control our bad urges, any wickedness that
we may hold in our heart, any bad characteristics, any bad feelings
and to essentially replaced them with good feelings with good
sentiments, good emotions, good behavior, good characteristics,
good conduct, that is very important. That then covers
governs many of the other many of the other dimensions. So the
belief dimension, devotion, dimension, con, the dealings and
contracts, contracts, and then the social interactions and then the
inner dimension. This is Islam, it's gives you everything. So
that's why faith obliges a person you know, just as it obliges the
person to pray five times a day, but it also obliges a person to
distribute their inheritance in the correct way not to cheat
others not to take from others. You know, that is, that is not
theirs. Allah subhanaw taala calls this a favor. That's the next part
of this verse. Allah McNulty, luckily, in a kumbaya moment to
Allah a commonality and I've completed my favor upon you he can
This is considered a favor. Right? This is considered a favor. And
that's why there's another verse which makes it very which
highlights this a bit more inserted Hijra verse 17. You
haven't known it and Assalamo Gelert no idea Islam or calm, but
who you know either you come and Heather Camille Imani, you go to
Saudi teen.
Essentially, Allah subhanaw taala says, oh, Muhammad,
they regard as a favor to you that they have embraced Islam. They
take it that they favored you by embracing Islam, that they've done
you a good turn by, by accepting Islam, say that count, not your
Islam as a favor to me. But Allah has confirmed a favor upon you
that He has guided you to faith, if you indeed are true. So if your
faith is true, then you better understand that this is a gift of
Allah. So this is what tells us that if we have Eman today and
you're listening to this and inshallah with iman, this is a
gift of Allah. And I thank you Allah for this. I thank you, Allah
more than you've given me for anything else. I thank you after
my creation, I thank you for the fact that you've given me faith
otherwise, my creation would have been useless if I didn't have
faith in what would have been the point of being in the world for a
shorter in a number of years, and then after having to suffer for
eternity. So thank you, Allah, Allah bless his men, Allah blesses
people, men and women with faith. This is not something that you can
just get by your intelligence, or just by being knowledgeable about
things. You can't attain faith. There's been many, many very
intelligent people. In recent times. There are currently
intelligent people that have been in the past. They did not have
faith, right? They just missed the obvious truth. They focused on too
many other other realities or research. They did not get the
ultimate truth of the next world that requires a certain
perspective.
To get to the next world, right and very few people are focused on
that today. Some of the most glaring examples of this certain
offsprings and or parents even of prophets who were the lamps of
guidance. So for example, you got the son of new highly salami
stories well known that's a glaring example. Another one is
Prophet Ibrahim Ali Salam 's father, we should rejoice about
this favor that has been confirmed conferred upon us. And this has
been a fever that Allah subhanaw taala has been providing. Whenever
you know, every Prophet came and people believed in him and thus,
in our OMA is from the Companions, until every born every most every
Muslim that's born, until last day, Allah subhanaw taala has
given us this. And Subhan Allah may Allah subhanho wa Taala give
it to more people. Allah's favors are obviously numerous. I mean,
not only did he bestow Islam upon us, but that he then helped us
also to discern him and understand him. He then gave us the ability
not to, to bow down before false and worthless gods. Right. He gave
us a purpose in life. We've got a reason to, yes, we have a
struggle. You know, it's difficult sometimes, but at least we've got
a purpose in life. There's a reason why we do things. There's
also a reason why we may undergo some suffering. We've got a
worldview about these things. But then Allah subhanaw taala also
promises with all of these struggles and difficulties and
strictures and rigors. Allah promises us for entitlement of His
bounties, also in the Hereafter, and they're going to be even
greater bounties. That if person has bounties in this world that
have greater bounties in terms of paradise and meeting Allah
subhanaw taala in the hereafter. Now, let me mention a another
verse to you in sort of earlier Imran verse 103, this time, Allah
subhanaw taala says, where it also you will be heavily hegemony and
therefore Rocco with guru namah Allah He either you can go to the
left or been Apollo become the US back to him being Amity he is one
where coutume Allah Shiva 14 Min and river, Casa caminho rica Ubay
in all welcome to heal I like him to do and
what Allah subhanaw taala says here and remember Allah savor on
you. There's a number of plays, Allah mentioned this for you
enemies, one to another, but he joined your hearts together so
that by His grace, you became brethren. Specifically, I mean,
Olson has Raj they were enemies, although they were from the same
families about Allah subhanaw taala reconcile them, and they
became one unit, and you are on the brink of a pit of fire, and he
saved you from it. Thus Allah makes his science clear to you so
that you and to you, that you may be guided. Now that verse is
telling us about bounty, then when the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa
sallam made the same point to the unsolved and mentioned the bounty
Allah had given them the unsalted, undoubtfully. Allah and His
Messenger have done a big favor. And as they recognize the failure,
if you don't recognize the favor, then, you know, you wonder where
the faith is. Right? Because faith is a favor at the end of the day.
Another verse in sort of early Emraan is, yeah, you have Latina
Ave, duckula haka, Ducati he, what are the mutran Illa one two Muslim
one, just one verse before the previous 102 Verse 102 of Saudi
Arabia Imran Allah says, All believers, fear Allah as he should
be feared, not in your way only, but how he should be feared how
he's entitled to it, and die not accepting the state of Islam. Die
not accepting the state of Islam. Now if a person doesn't want to
die, accepting the state of Islam they better be careful. Because
the prophets Allah has mentioned that sometimes the person is a
believer in the morning but by the evening they've lost their faith
because they've indulged themselves in something that's why
we must be careful. May Allah keep us on Islam. This is actually
something that
I mean, the prophets were concerned about. So that's why
even on the deathbed, the Prophet Ibrahim Ali Salam and Iacobelli
Salam, this is what they say to the heirs, their inheritors their
children, right. This is what they say and you learn about this in
verse 132. of Surah Baqarah Allah subhanaw taala says, what was sabe
her Ibrahim will Benny he were aku Yeah, bunny in Allah has Topher
loco with Dean termo tune
to Muslim on
all my sons Allah has chosen for you the true religion, then die
not except in the faith of Islam. May Allah allow us that same thing
for us. And May we also be able to guide our children in that same
regard.
The only way we're going to get this is if we lead our life as
Muslims, then we can die in a state of faith because death can
overtake us at any time. People come back from the gym and they de
Subhanallah so we need to be in a state we can't be procrastinating
we can't be deferring this. We're going to do it. We're going to do
it. We're going to do our
Hajj, you know, we're going to become right. We're going to start
practicing, we're going to start making up for our prayers, we're
going to start praying, we're going to start covering, we need
to start doing it.
So that's why it's essential that our belief system, our beliefs are
correct. Our customs and our social life, and our surroundings
become Islamic. If you've got friends that are not Islamic in
the sense that they're not assisting us. In fact, they're
debilitating us. We've got other brothers sisters who are not
practicing and they're debilitated they're holding us back then we
need to make a move and we need to get ahead we can't wait for people
you know in sha Allah we can take people but we can't be sorry
brought down by people. That's very important. That's why it's
worth it Imran Allah subhanho wa Taala says
whether he ever wa Raul Islami Dena fillet you mean, well, who
are Phil? ferati? Meenal, ha serene. Whoever seeks a religion
other than Islam. If you're trying to find a way other than Islam, it
will never be accepted of him. And in the Hereafter, this person will
be of the losers. That's what verse 85 of Saudi Arabia Imran so
that's why, against the backdrop of all of this, Allah subhanaw
taala declares the verse that we started with insert Wilma ADA.
Earlier we are committed to Allah convenor Kuma atman to RNA
Camilla, Matthew Aldie, to Allah Kumul, Islam, Medina SubhanAllah.
What a beautiful way that stated that this is the day I've
perfected your religion for you. This day, I have perfected a
religion for you. I've completed my favor upon you. And I've chosen
for you Islam as your religion. And it's clear that if somebody
doesn't accept the favors that have been given to them, then
they're being ungrateful, and we don't want to be ungrateful to
Allah subhanho wa taala. Because Cofer is ingratitude of the
highest level, go for literally means ingratitude on a minor
level, on a major level, right. That's why the message is loud and
clear from this verse, in our beliefs, in our morals, in our
manners, in our social lives, in what we eat, in how we dress, in
how we behave, in how we interact, in what we take, even from our
maybe Muslim cultures, or civilizations, we must be guided
by the Quran, not every aspect of our culture is Islamic, even
though it's a Muslim culture, such culture that is followed by
Muslims, there's a lot of foreign things, non Islamic things that
come into our culture. That's why take the best of your culture,
value your the best of your culture, but take away the bad of
your culture. And we must stop imitating, we must stop imitating
that which is incorrect, which is wrong. Right, we must stop
imitating that. The way of the people who do not have God who do
not have faith, we must stop doing that. Islam is totalizing Islam is
there for every place. A lot of the time, we just don't know what
it is and what's required from us. And that's why we're ignorant. We
think Islam doesn't have an answer, and hamdulillah in our
life that we tried to find it we make mistakes as well. Right? We
are weak in many cases, but Hamdulillah you know, we take
pride in Islam, and may Allah subhanaw taala accept that from
us. Oh Allah, thank you for allowing us to be Muslim. And
thanks for this gift that you have bestowed upon us. And may you
never allow us to be ungrateful for this Jazak Allah here Assalamu
alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatu Ramadan Mubarak to everyone. 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 to Zach
Allah here and salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.