Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Qur’anic Reflections The Man Who Slept for 100 Years
![Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera](https://artwork.muslimcentral.com/abdur-rahman-ibn-yusuf-mangera-150x150.jpg)
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
So firstly This is most likely according to the mafia city and
according to the strongest dependencies talking about rose
aid or Ezra was a rally he said I'm one of the
prophets of the Bani Israel. Now he's passing by Jerusalem. So the
this hamlet, as translated here at least, right is a speaking about
Jerusalem after Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed it. So this was a
longing statement, a kind of a
statement of memory, right to say that how is Allah gonna bring this
back?
Salam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh so dear brothers and
sisters, Ramadan Mubarak to you. And we ask Allah subhanaw taala to
benefit us through these verses of the Quran today. I've got a verse
from Surah Baqarah I'll just read it first. All the way below him in
a shaytani R rajim Bismillah Al Rahman Al Rahim. Ocula the Murata
Korea Do you hear how we are two neither are Roshi her color and
you he had the Hill who buried them ot her for America hula hula
me at
some
color Kamla bass de cada la vista women Oh battledome color Bella
Vista me at ilmu
Isla Tomic Tamika Sharabi Callum yes and whoa Isla he Marika 100
yada yada Lin se wo wo L A wall AMI cave and who she is her thumb
my neck su la
for the matter Debian Allah who called Learn more and Allah either
colletion
Cody.
So the Kola hula VM, so there you go, we have verse 259, of sortal
Bacara. It's a rather long verse and it's one with an anecdote. It
has a narrative. It has a story, a historic historical account, a
very, very pertinent historical account miraculous, extraordinary,
totally out of the norms of the usual happenings of this world
that Allah subhanho wa Taala presents, so that he can, Allah
subhanaw taala shows his power and Allah subhanho wa Taala provides a
number of lessons from this. So let's look at the historical
account. First, I'll read the translation for you. I'll
translate the IFRS. So and then we'll we'll discuss it.
Allah subhana wa Tada says, take the parable of the one who passed
by a hamlet.
Hamlet here means a city, a town, an area right, a bustling, you
know, inhabitation of some sort, all in ruins, to its roofs, as
they've completely become desolate. And it all fallen down,
like really, really ruined. So this person said, Oh, how shall
Allah bring it to life after its death? That was a remark he passed
by. And he made this reflection, right? He had this reflection, how
is Allah going to be able to bring this back to life? Or how will he
not be able to but how will he bring this back to life? You know,
what kind of, there was some kind of a reflection in that that he
was doing? So it then says, but Allah caused him to die instead
for 100 years. So Allah put Him to death for 100 years, put him to
sleep essentially for like 100 years. And then He raised Him up
again. And then Allah asked him, How long did you sleep for? How
long did you Terry like this? He said, he looked and he thought,
Oh, the sun is not even gone yet. So perhaps a day or even part of a
day. That's what he kind of said. Allah said, No, you have been away
for 100 years.
Subhanallah
you have stayed like this for 100 years. But look at your food and
drink. So now there are two examples he gave him. Look at your
food and drink. They showed no sign of age, they were totally
fresh, right? Absolutely fresh. And look at your donkey. Now the
donkey was in a different state become bones, and that we and that
we may make of you a sign unto the people. So we want to we did this
to you so that you could become a sign for the people after you and
you're going to be an example. Look further at its bones, how we
bring them together and clothed them with flesh. This is the bones
of the donkey. When this was shown clearly to him, he said, I know
that Allah has power over everything. He just had to declare
that. Now that was quite a extraordinary event totally
against the norm. So let's just look at the historical aspect of
it first before we understood
and how we can benefit from this through our readable right through
our reflection on the Quran and how because remember everything in
the Quran is while it may have very specific origin or specific
source or cause, the benefit of it is has to be general because the
Quran is a timeless book. So firstly, this is most likely
according to the mafia city and according to the strongest opinion
this is talking about Rosaire or Ezra it was eight it he said I'm
one of the
prophets of the Bani Israel. Now he's passing by Jerusalem so the
this hamlet as translated here at least, right is a speaking about
Jerusalem after Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed it. So this was a
longing statement, a kind of a
statement of memory, right to say that how is Allah gonna bring this
back so as it was a Ali Salam passbands says Subhanallah you
know, what a city this was, and look what the state it was like,
if you go to remnants of these huge cities and towns of the
historical times and you look at there's just some walls left and
parapet walls and you know, some towers left here and there and
some some chambers and so on. He likes ohana, what it used to be
like if you go to Marrakech, there's lots of these places, you
go to Rome, it's an open air museum, you go to Athens, you see
all of this. And there's there's a number of places where you see
this Subhanallah so he just remarked how is Allah subhanho wa
Taala going to bring this back to life after its desolation. So
Allah subhanaw taala wanted to do something different. He said,
okay, because this doesn't usually happen. But he puts him to sleep
for 100 years. When he when he gets up, it doesn't even feel like
he slept that long. That's the thing. He thought that he just had
a nap during the day because the sun is still out. So he thinks
it's the same sun.
He thinks it's the same sun of that same day. So then well, Allah
subhanaw taala asks him, how long did you rest for? How long have
you been lying here for and he thinks is just a day or a part of
a day? And then Allah subhanaw taala tells him No, no, it's been
100 years. And then he gives him really amazing two signs right one
is he's got his food with him that he had brought along with him
fresh food. It's absolutely fresh even after 100 years. But then his
donkey Subhanallah I mean, again, this juxtaposition here, this
opposite thing just occurs to us right? That Allah has one thing
which would have died, which would have perished would have become
worn out and probably decomposed by now and I don't know multiple
times recycled, that's all fresh and then a donkey which also is a
perishable object at the end of the day, it's alive that dies.
That's totally gone in his bones now, but then Allah subhanaw taala
says to the bones cave, and he says, I'm going to show you how
you're going to bring this together. So he has the bones
literally come and like a set like totally get constructed again,
they fit into one another and form into the donkey. And then he says,
I'm going to show you how we close this with flesh. So he puts the
flesh on and then after that the life is blown back into this
donkey and the donkey is bringing again Subhanallah so this double
example he provides with totally to things about the food remaining
fresh.
And he had just had to declare that Allah subhanaw taala has
power over all things.
Right? So that's an example of to show Allah subhanho wa Taala is
power in its multiple, multiple ways. Now, mashallah, that's
essentially the historical account of it. However, for us how this
benefits us is just to show how there's the ups and downs of this
world.
A whole city that's gone. And also the other thing I forgot to
mention is that this city after he woke up after 100 years, was back
to its hustle bustle full fledge city of Jerusalem, back to his
hustle bustle activity going on everywhere. And somehow he came
and you know, he wakes up in that so Allah subhanaw taala shows him
in reality what he can do. It was a it was a profit, right? So
that's why he you know, his his question was Allah subhanaw taala
showed him realistically just like with Ibrahim out Islam in another
verse that's going to adapt in certain Bukhara as well. He asks
how Allah subhanaw taala brings back how Allah resurrect the dead.
So he shows him how to do that, right? Subhan Allah Subhan Allah
so we really need to reflect over the Quran. There's just so many
parables that we can take from this right. So generally speaking,
food would rot in a few hours, at least a few days. In this
particular case, Allah subhanaw taala keeps it totally fresh for
100 years. That in itself is amazing because, you know, you can
keep certain things fresh in the fridge, and then in the freezer,
but everything eventually deteriorates, even in the freezer.
Like it just can't the bacteria and the whole motions of it.
the way Allah subhanaw taala has
designed everything to eventually perish like we perish. Eventually
we become our we perish, everything perishes, things
crumble, things die, things rot things decomposed. That's just the
various different natures of what happens in this world. But in this
case, this is what Allah subhanaw taala kept it totally fresh, keep
food fresh for, for a what kind of refrigeration, that was what kind
of preservatives are added there. Subhan Allah, right
100 years.
This gives us an idea, obviously, it definitely tells us about the
life to come the next life. So that's one thing that we
understand from this, how Allah subhanaw taala will bring
everything back to the total vitality and back to their life
even after being decomposed into graves. So that's one
understanding we get from this of the Hereafter, there is no escape,
we will be back standing in front of Allah subhanaw taala and
hopefully, that will be in a good state. That's one thing. Another
thing is the spiritual regeneration that Allah subhanaw
taala hints at here, the spiritual Regeneration which is that if
people are struggling with darkness in their life, and
difficulties, and essentially indulgence with the shaytaan,
having befriended the shaytaan, totally away from the remembrance
of Allah, Allah subhanaw taala was just like a minor thought in the
heart that used to bother them sometimes yes, I'm a Muslim, or
somebody was not even Muslim at all, had no faith whatsoever,
right? In fact, was against Allah was an atheist or whatever. And
out of that darkness, they have a discontentment and they want to
find light. Allah subhanaw taala if he can keep food fresh for 100
years and have somebody sleep for 100 years, and then bring them
back to life bring back a town or city totally destroyed and dis
distracted. How can Allah subhanaw taala not just enlivened a
spiritual heart to back to its spirituality or to spirituality.
So that's another benefit that we get that Allah subhanaw taala has
capability, Don't think, don't underestimate Allah subhanaw taala
squadra and his, his ability, essentially, I think that's why
that's why we aren't able to prosper, and to enhance ourselves.
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 there, 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 will 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 as aka la halen. Salaam aleikum wa
rahmatullah wa barakato.