Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Qur’anic Reflections The Qur’an Explains the Reality of the World Part 1
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What we have to also remember is that the realities of things don't
necessarily are not necessarily different in this world and in the
hereafter. So if the life of this world is the most important, well,
the life in the hereafter is the most important as well. So the
life can't just be important in this world. It's actually
important in the Hereafter, because it's a reflection of this
life of this world. In fact, it's going to be much more critical in
the hereafter of what we've done in this world, for example, right?
So Allah subhanho wa Taala says, In another verse, gave attack
following a bit Allah he will continue and Wharton that are here
come, how can you deny Allah when you are dead, where you are
nothing, you are non existent, and then he gave you life? He gave you
life. And if you look at this verse, this is the first bounty
Allah subhanaw taala speaks about that the first bounty of the human
being is being given life. That's our first bounty and that's our
first gift. That's why that is the first thing that we've been given.
And that's life.
Salam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh Alhamdulillah wa
salatu salam ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala early he was so
happy as you Marina and my bird go got a low with Darla for the Quran
emoji they will focus on in Hamid are all the villa him in a shape
or any Raji me Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim
Allah mu n ml higher to dunya Allah I boo either who was ina to
whatever homeroom the inner Kamata, Catherine Phil myt will
will
go method employees in Jebel Kufa Rana back to who soon May I hate
you fat raw homos for wrong, my Hakuna Oh, hold on,
or feel Irati either boo Shadi do no fear, I mean of law he worried
or Mel higher to duniya Illa matter will go to. So the color of
Allah we do your brothers and sisters.
Today we are looking at this verse of sortal. Hadith. It's one of the
Jawaharlal Quran, one of the true gems of the Quran. And that really
glitter for us because it really has
an understanding of the reality of this world and this life. And I
think once you read this, regardless of what state we're in,
whether we're abiding and understanding this and abiding by
it, or whether we're not and we are enjoying our life and
indulging in our life.
I think everybody can recognize that what this verse is saying is
the absolute truth because deep down we understand it because it's
given such an example, such a parable, such an explanation that
it's absolutely amazing. This is verse 20, of certain Hadith, this
is what Allah subhanaw taala says, Allah subhanho wa Taala is saying,
Allah more animal hair to dunya that no all of you know that the
life of this world is nothing but a play like LeBron Willa one
amusement or distraction, Xena tune which means adornment
embellishment. And then he says what the far from Boehner come and
pump mutually showing off between one another and ostentation
showing off rivalry almost and MacArthur and decathlon which
means multiple you can say both the Fairholme Boehner comb and the
Catherine is like a mutual kind of boasting and the Catherine is you
can say a multiplying just wanting to get extra just wanting
abundance just wanting to have more than one another I'll her
como taka for the same word is used as well ticker for
Phil unworldly well I will add in, in wealth, in your money in your
assets and in your children. So enriches and in children is mutual
boasting and multiplying among yourselves in rivalry between your
children in terms of your riches and your children. So that's what
Allah subhanaw taala mentions as being the reality of this world
thereafter that Allah subhanaw taala says
commodity lathe and so he provides an example and he says that here
is a similar tool. This is like a similar tool. This is like an
example. Right? How rain how rain and the growth which it brings
forth. So camera 30 lathe in eligible California and Roberto,
how rain and the growth which it brings forth so anytime there's
rain, there's gonna be some kind of greenery some something that
comes because of that, Mashallah. What that does is that that
provides delight to the hearts of the tillers to the farmers to
those who grow the crops grow
hops
but soon it with us and then you will see it grow yellow
for Tara houmas Farah through my Hakuna Matata and then it becomes
dry and then it crumble crumbles, right, it crumbles away, or Phil
are here at either Bucha deep, then Allah says but in the
hereafter there is a penalty severe for the devotees of wrong
as Pickthall says, and but there's also forgiveness from Allah and
His good pleasure for the devotees of Allah. And what is the life of
the world but goods and chattels of deception?
Material rule, that's how pitfall translates it. So we're going to
look at this verse because I think it really seeks to remind us, I
mean, it reminds us and hopefully Insha Allah, we can be reminded by
this so that we can temper down our situation. Those of us who
live in the West, you know, we can say that we actually enjoy
literally
a life of the top 10% lifestyle of the top 10% of the world is all
there's always going to be a few people who are very, very, very
extra wealthy. I mean, you know, we can't compete with them. But
just in terms of a standard life, the lifestyle that we enjoy here
in the West, I mean, this is this is what it is we have, we enjoy
the life of 10% of the top 10% of the world, population, Masha,
Allah hamdulillah and may Allah grant us Apphia with that, and
don't allow us to use it for mischief. So now what Allah
subhanho wa Taala is reminding us of this verse of sorbitol Hadith
verse 22. Put this verse in perspective, the previous verses
of Surah Hadith were we're living in a Kaffir okay, that will be it
now, like I was humbled Yeah, heme, which is actually speaking
about the disbelievers and what's going to happen to them. So now
Allah subhanaw taala wants to warn us that we don't want to go into
the wrong direction, and we don't want to end up in hellfire. So
what Allah subhanaw taala says in this verse, essentially, the whole
purpose of this first is to just, you can say, demote the quality of
this world, demote the value of this world in our eyes so that we
don't give it too much value. Right? That's really the
perspective of this is that it's to demote the focus on this world
to show its reality. And mashallah, the example that Allah
subhanaw taala has given us it's amazing, and hopefully, I mean, it
will drive the point home for all of us. And showing that the real
life is the life of the hereafter. I know we keep saying this, but
this one really puts into perspective for us. So Allah
subhanaw taala describes this as a plaything, an amusement, a
distraction, a point of just showing off any of these things
that you know that these things are things that we should actually
look down upon, rather than actually value things that are
just for playthings. Because the hereafter is what's really going
to matter and if these things don't benefit us in the Hereafter,
and what's the point of all of those things. So now, Allah
subhanaw taala first mentioned it Allah more animal higher dunya
Allah subhanho wa Taala refers to the life of this world. Now that's
very interesting that Allah subhanho wa Taala discusses life
here at Hyatt Hyatt means life and his mentioning of hayati is
actually very, very important. It's actually completely on point.
I mean, I can't say it anymore. The reason for that is I don't
know I don't think we've ever probably even thought about this.
But Allah subhanaw taala has made life the most important thing for
us if we were to say that what's one of the bounties that is
actually the most important bounty for us, you will realize that it's
actually life because without life, you can't enjoy anything.
And you can't even prepare for the hereafter and you can't accumulate
anything for that. So that's why life itself the hieratic dunya is
actually a bounty in itself. That's why Allah subhanaw taala
says, in Niger Ilan, Phil or the Khalifa called the ini, and then
eventually caught me I know my letter, I don't want that I'm
going to create a vice chairman on this earth and then eventually
after the angels, they question him regarding that. They're
wondering why he's creating the human being in this world. Allah
subhanho wa Taala says, I know what you don't know. Now I have to
remember that if it wasn't part of Allah's wisdom, and if it wasn't
the correct thing to do, then Allah subhanaw taala would not
have created life in this world for us. So that goes to show that
life is Allah subhanaw taala is creation. Allah subhanho wa Taala
says in Surah Mulk Allah the Holika Mota will hire Leah will
welcome you can accent or Amira. He is the one who creates death
and he's the one who creates life. Allah subhanho wa Taala if he's
creating something, it can't be for nothing. Okay? It can't be for
nothing. Allah doesn't create things for nothing. Allah credit
doesn't create redundant things that means life can't be
redundant. There's a
value to this life. So we don't just live this life. But there's a
real life in the hereafter let us not follow in this normal idea
that Let's just enjoy our life to the fullest because everything
that's created, especially nowadays the world has just become
like that. It's just about making us enjoy life to the fullest as
they say, of course, there's a proper way to enjoy life to the
fullest, it's just about changing the paradigm. And then you can
actually enjoy life, but it will actually be an investment for the
hereafter. If we don't have that right, then we'll enjoy this life
maybe right? You will enjoy everything that's unavailable.
That's an offer, you'll feel about bad about what you can't get. And
you'll be excited by what you do get. But then after that, there's
nothing left. So this life firstly, let's understand that
it's actually a really, really valuable asset that Allah subhanaw
taala has created and that he's given and chosen us for it among
everybody that he could he could have created. So then Allah
subhanaw taala says, for her symptom, and nama Hakuna calm. I,
Bertha were unknown, Elena to Joan, do you do you? Do you just
think do you do you conceive? Or do you think that we just created
you redundant for no reason whatsoever? Like that just flies
in the face of atheist essentially, who are people who
deny God who deny any kind of reality of the hereafter? Allah
subhanho wa Taala also says, well now hold off on a summer well,
although I've been a homer belt Isla, we have not created the
heavens and the earth, you know, in vain or redundantly or without
purpose. Right. So it shows us an NL Hayato dunya Nerima. This life
is a NEMA. In fact, Bill here. So according to one of them, FSC says
that it's actually our principle, our capital, it's the origin, it's
the foundation of anything that we can do, if you don't have a life,
we can't do anything. So that that point is really, really well made
and very important, right? It is the foundation of every other
bounty that you can receive.
Now, what we have to also remember is that the realities of things
don't necessarily, are not necessarily different in this
world and in the hereafter. So if the life of this world is the most
important, well, the life in the hereafter is the most important as
well. So the life can't just be important in this world. It's
actually important in the Hereafter, because it's a
reflection of this life of this world. In fact, it's going to be
much more critical in the hereafter of what we've done in
this world, for example, right? So Allah subhanho wa Taala says, In
another verse, gave her the Quran a biller, he will continue and
worth and that are here come, how can you deny Allah when you are
dead, where you are nothing, you are non existent. And then he gave
you a life, he gave you life. And if you look at this verse, this is
the first bounty Allah subhanaw taala speaks about that the first
bounty of the human being is being given life. That's our first
bounty. And that's our first gift. That's why that is the first thing
that we've been given. And that's life.
Now, all of this is just to show you that the life of this world is
not necessarily a bad thing at all. In fact, it is not a bad
thing. It is not something which is bad, it is not supposed to be
bad, it's supposed to be good, because it is the stepping stone
for the hereafter. So don't think of this life as a bad thing. Just
change it to be the right thing, because it is a bounty, what we've
done is we've obscured it, we've misunderstood it, that that's why
that's happening. So what it means then, is that anybody who will
turn this life, anybody who is going to turn this life and focus
it for the hereafter, right? In fact, let's talk about the person,
anybody who focuses this life on this world only, and they don't,
there's no hereafter that features into that. And there's no
obedience in that. And it's just obedience of the shaytaan instead,
and just full of fulfilling one's whims and desires and, and
fantasies, then that is what's bad. So there is a way to make it
bad. But it's not intrinsically bad. There is a way to mess this
life up, which is to just indulge yourself, but it's not
intrinsically bad. It's actually extremely huge potential for good.
So now, in order to underscore this, Allah subhanho wa Taala does
the following he explains the different aspects of this life and
this is what really drives the point home.
Firstly, he calls it live. Right? That it's Laban. Right, which
means that it is play. And what is play play is fairly low Sybian.
Right. Play is the activity of children. This is what children
do, and they're completely halal for children to play. Don't
deprive your children are playing. Don't say it's bad, because that's
what children do they play. That's how they learn through play,
right? So they play, right. And what they do is they get tied in
playing, they play, they play, they play, even if they're
fasting, they play, they play they play, and they get tired of they
eventually tie themselves out
But there'll be tired and they'll still be playing, they will be
tired and they'll still be playing. They love to play like
that. They can play football for hours, they can play outside for
hours they can do, they can play on computer, they can play on
games for hours, and hours and hours. And even if they're tired,
they can carry on playing. What a beautiful example that is. Don't
become like children, that the world, You're tiring yourself out,
but you're still after it. It's just like that. What a beautiful
example that is. Right? You know, when I when I read this verse, I
was like, well, subhanAllah I mean, we understand if you look at
it from a children's perspective, as adults, when we look at humans,
like how can they just carry on playing like that? They don't even
get tired? Well, they are getting tired, but they just still enjoy
it so much that they keep going on about it, then what do they have
to show for it? What does the child have to show at the end of
play nothing, but that's fine. That's just his way of growing up.
But for adults to play, and literally, they are playing now,
Allah subhanho wa Taala is talking about doing things and making it
look like play and treating it like play. But literally, I mean,
what a world we're living in today that there are multiple ways as
probably never in history before, that we've got ways for adults to
play. Like, think about that, like 100 years ago, if an adult wanted
to play, you know, you'd have to go outside and do something
physical. But now you can actually literally play what children play,
right, just maybe in a more advanced way, or something like
that, you know, games and Candy Crush, and you know, you just kind
of just play Subhanallah you know, even if you're sitting waiting for
something, there's just multiple ways of playing. Now, children
pass the time in doing that. So we do the same thing humans do you
know, adults do the same thing. And
the question is that, where does all of this get you? So
commentator would say something like, in the typical material,
then Kobe minerais refer either all of these things that you've
just spent your time playing, right? It just finishes and
there's no outcome. There's nothing to show for it. There's no
fruits of that labor. Essentially, that's what he's saying that
there's no
there's no fruits of this labor to show. So don't make your world
like that. Don't make your life like this, that it'd be like a
plaything. So that was the first example I think that's very apt.
Second example A second thing that Allah so a second description,
Allah Subhana Allah says the level now according to some of them are
first series, some people live and lower together. But strictly
speaking, lightly display and low is anything that distracts. It's
anything that occupies from something else, usually from
something more important, but it's anything that will occupy you, and
anything that will distract you. So Lucha is a distraction. You can
say, alright, it'll hurt. We use that word, it'll hurt. So it's
allowed. And then Allah subhanho wa Taala says that it's also Allah
when he, according to some officers, they say that he
mentioned law, because this is what younger people do them.
Right? This is what youth do. So children play and youth they pass
time, right, they just pass time, essentially, you can call that a
pastime or occupation.
Again, the same question that arises is that when you pass your
time, just like that, you just had, you know, you've just gone
out and you've just messed around, and you've just bent it a bit,
you've just had a meal or whatever, at the end of it, what
have you achieved, that is beneficial for you for this world
and the Hereafter, you may have even argued, you may have even had
a problem, you may have even broken up with somebody, but at
the end of the day, Liab, CA, il hestra. Right, and especially if
you're a youth who should be making up, you know, his adult
life and be preparing for that, and be getting serious, to be able
to get married, and to be able to have a home and so on, you're
going to think you've wasted a lot of time, especially if you're
occupying yourself in this multiple times. So essentially,
that's what's happening, there's going to be a hazard and a sense
of loss, that you've just wasted your time in doing that. Right. So
and the reason for that is there anybody who's prudent and
intelligent, after wasting time, they will usually think that my
life is gone, that part of my life has gone. Now we're not saying
that this take a summer recreation time, recreation time is
completely fine. Okay, that's completely fine. This is speaking
about the situation where you literally just keep wasting time
over and over again. So even the pleasures that we're seeking, they
end, eventually, they keep ending, and we feel bad, but we still want
to do it. Again, this is the nature of the world. It's the
challenge that we have, right? It's just the just the way it is.
So the problem with all of that is that it's just becomes a
continuous problem, that you want to do it again, but you feel bad,
but then you want to do it again. And this is for the people who
think if you don't think then you'll just carry on doing this
and you literally wasted years and years of your life. Right? May
Allah protect us from that. The third thing that Allah subhanaw
taala speaks about is that the dunya is Zina, right is adornment.
It's embellishment, it's beautifying something, right. It's
making something beautiful, putting me
Upon putting nice embellishments on to make your house look better
and nice decoration, you know, putting up stuff to make it look
better, right? adornments and everything like that.
He says that well, this is usually what's allowed for women to do,
because they're allowed to do that. And we also do this in order
to cover up anything which is ugly. We also embellish things to
cover up what is simple, plain or maybe ugly. So we try to make it
look better. Right? We try to make it look better. So you look at
structures, you look at buildings, you look at cars, you look at
whatever else there is, right? You try to make something look better,
and you're augmenting it and you're enhancing it. That's the
purpose of it. However, at the end of the day, right, what is the
original state of that thing won't change because this is just an
embellishment, it's just a facelift. It's just a veneer
underneath. It's what it is. I mean, these shells, they just
veneer, they're not real oak, they just veneered oak inside. It's
just, it's just particles, it's not solid wood inside. Right, this
would cost a lot more money if it wasn't a lot heavier, right. But
that's what it is outside. It looks oak finish, but that's what
you call a veneer. It's just an outside venue. So he's saying that
the same thing that dunya does for you when you go after things that
are not functional and not necessary. It's just a veneer.
It's just an embellishment.
It you just do that to basically complete something which is
defective, complete something which is incomplete to make
something look better. That's what you're basically doing with all of
these things. If no Ibis or the Allahu Anhu says that the verse in
this particular point says, and they'll Kaffir yesterday due to
the hayati because they're busy in the dunya. That a disbeliever for
his entire life, he is going to be spending it to seek an
embellishment of the world during the AMA will occur no focus on the
hereafter. Is that what we're doing it for as well. Right? Is
that what we're doing it for as well? Well, we shouldn't be doing
so. But a lot of people are in that. So that's why Allah subhanho
wa Taala describes it as an embellishment. 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 local law here and Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa
barakato.