Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Qur’anic Reflections The Special Status of Humans in the World
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Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi wa Salatu was Salam
ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi igmi ina and
welcome to the second reflection of the Quran.
In this Allah subhana wa Tada says in Surah Al Baqarah verse 30 to 33
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This is sort of verses from Surah Baqarah verses 30 to 33. You can
look at them and it'd be nice if you have them in front of you. So
this is a dialogue between Allah subhanaw taala and the angels,
right. And this was their own time in Allah subhanho wa Taala
appoints Adam Ali salaam, the progenitor of man, the first man
right and the human race as he's about to introduce the human race
into the world. And he wants to make him the vice chair of the
Khalifa representative in the world. So Allah subhanaw taala
gives man a number of different tasks. For example, Allah subhanaw
taala interest, men, meaning human beings, that Adamic race,
eventually with authority over the natural resources of this world.
And the purpose of the natural resources of this world is to
actually use them in a constructive way to worship Allah
subhanho wa Taala to get along in the in life, to benefit from them
and use them to continue the human race and to create a link with
Allah subhanaw taala and recognize Allah subhanaw taala through them.
Human beings are also told that you need to have good relationship
with one another. You need to then take up these bounties take from
these bounties and you need to be thankful to Allah subhanaw taala
for these bounty bounties, but you need to use these natural
resources and all of these objects that have been created for you in
this world. You have to understand them and take them and use them,
administrate them according to the Divine commands and teachings that
Allah subhanaw taala. Now this is really, really, really, really
amazing that Allah subhanaw taala creates man from clay, and then
appoints him, gives him some celestial ideas, meaning some
angelic aspects to them, for example, the our spiritual side,
and then makes us the vice gerrant. And
this is the angels when they first saw the form of other mighty
Salaam and Allah subhanaw taala had told them that we're going to
make them we're going to make this human race device turns on the
earth. They had a question they said that nano nuclide this will
work. Right? We already glorify you so much. And we praise you and
we thank you and we sanctified you so why would you need another
creation for this? They obviously didn't understand Allah subhanaw
taala has ultimate purpose for the creation of the human being. So
they were basically asking that are we not fit for purpose? Are we
not fit for what what you are trying to do here Allah, Allah
said that look, you need to see some of these events that will
soon unfold, and then you'll understand your answer. Right,
that could give them an understanding of the rationale
behind Allah subhanaw taala as creation and using man as the vice
chair and so that's why Allah subhanaw taala put both angels and
other mighty salaam the first human being under a test. So what
did Allah subhanaw taala done is that angels are creating a certain
way they can't disobey Allah and they do exactly
What Allah subhanaw taala has told them to do. Whereas with man with
human being Allah subhanaw taala has given them a free will. And
Allah subhanaw taala has given human beings the ability to learn
things, learn the name of things, but names of things means also the
substances of things, the elements of things, the usages of what
things are for and their utility. So, what happened is, Allah
subhanaw taala says, Why limit Esma Akula sama out of the home
island, Muda, Iike falcoda and B only be Esma era in quantum sigh
The team, Allah subhanaw taala teaches other medicine, the names
of everything and many more fascinated that means, obviously,
what the realities of these things are. And then he asks the angels
that Do you know what these things are? They didn't know. But at MIT
salaam knew about these things, he recognized the names and you
recognize their purpose, he understood the feasible link
between these material objects, and how to use them to the
advantage and what the purpose of these things were. So otherwise, I
was first instructed, right in the names of things, right. And then
that the same thing was asked to the angels, but they could not
understand and then eventually, the the good thing about the
angels is that they acknowledged the limitations, right? That okay,
we don't know these things. We have a certain and that's why they
said Subhan Anika, Lorraine Milena Illa Mr. Olympia indica until it
will Hakeem glorified IU we have no knowledge except what You have
taught us. It is you that all knowing the all wise so Allah
subhanaw taala justify to the angels do to their question, why
Allah subhanaw taala created the human beings to be the vice
Gerrans on this earth for Allah subhanho wa Taala to represent
Allah subhanaw taala
now this is really really interested because Allah subhanho
wa Taala says it like this that what is God or Abu Khalil Mala
Ekati in Niger, you don't fill out the Khalifa called a geography
Harmon you've seen if you have a stick with Dima, we're not going
to do some behind the governor called the Solak color in the Adam
Omada 11. And when your Lord said to the angels, I'm going to place
mankind on earth, right? And then Allah subhanaw taala says we're
Allah madam Esma Aquila, He taught Adam all the names. So we learned
from this is that there are certain what we learned from this
is that there is certain knowledge that is absolutely essential for
human beings to have for their survival. And that's what most
people have, they know how to eat, they know how to get food, they
know how to produce certain things, they know how to dig a
well for water, if they have to. These things are taught to us by
Allah subhanaw taala, and thanks to Allah subhanaw taala for them,
because that is what allows us to sustain ourselves and basically
survive in this material world. So Allah subhanaw taala has provided
his vice chairman, the human being
the power and authority to draw on all of these natural resources.
However, this power is not absolute. And this is where people
make a mistake just because Allah subhanaw taala has given us an
ability and a free will. He's given us understanding of what
resources there are and what they're used for, and so on. And
then he's given us a He's given us freewill to decide and choose and
pursue. People go a bit overboard, they take Allah subhanaw taala out
of the picture, they forget who enabled them to do this, who
created this for them in the first place who gave them the guidance
to do this. So that's why what they do is they think they then
have unlimited power. They have absolute power Subhanallah this
virus has been a very humbling experience. If you remember the
rhetoric from many world leaders, right, especially in the West,
we're going to beat this, right? We're going to beat this virus,
it's going to be gone in no time. We're going to deal with this.
We're gonna beat this now. Look, we're gonna deal with it. Yes,
we're told to deal with things, but with humility, not that we're
going to be in some kind of arrogant way And subhanAllah look
at what chaos that is created in this world and it still hasn't
gone away. Right? It'll only go when Allah subhanho wa Taala wants
to defuse it deactivated, then it will be gone Alhamdulillah it's
getting a bit better. And that's the nature of this world. You
know, that's the nature of this world. Punishments don't last
forever. If it's a punishment, punishments don't last forever,
right? There are certain things that happen with them and Allah
subhanho wa Taala then moves on, you know to something else. So we
do not have absolute and unlimited power, because we only draw as
vices and as Muslims we need to understand this that as Vice
Gerrans. We our authority is delegated by Allah so it can only
be as much as Allah has given us and we need to recognize that
that's why Allah subhanho wa Taala says, that spend of that which you
have, we have made you trustees right in certain Hadith verse
seven certain Hadith verse seven, Allah subhanaw taala says spend of
that which you we have made you trustees
were unfaithful, we Magi the CO mustafina fee. Well, I'm fair call
me my gyla Co mustafina fee. So that makes it very clear that
look, you're told to spend $1 of these things and utilize, but it
needs to be done because you're a vice chair and this is a serious
assignment of Allah subhanaw taala
And the way to fulfill this assignment is to be just to be, to
have equity, to have love, to have fairness and not to go overboard
Subhanallah many of the resources of this world are being abused
right now. And especially in the West, because we have so much we
have abundance, we have a lot of disposable income. And Muslims are
doing this as well, there are so many things we buy in, we waste,
we throw away things, we buy big bulk, and then we throw away the
companies do the same, they are only learning now how to deal with
what they call wonky fruits, for example. Otherwise, there are so
many things that are just thrown away, the end slices of bread is
thrown away by sandwich companies, right? There are fruit, which are
just not fit for purpose. Sometimes, if the milk cannot be
sold, they won't transport it anywhere, they'll just, they'll
just throw it, they'll just basically drop it over and give it
to the to feed it to the ground, basically. And this is a massive
issue, people are waking up because on the one hand, you've
got all of these calls for, you know,
not being able to sustain everybody and major issues of
shortages and things of that nature. Like right now there's a
war there's a shortage of, you know, of wheat and things like
that. And we really need to do this for ourselves. The Prophet
sallallahu Sallam spoke about not wasting water, even if you're at a
stream, where there's abundant water flowing is not going to make
any difference, it's probably going to go full fall back into
the stream. But Subhanallah the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam told us not to even waste water there because it's rough is
not a good idea. Allah tells us Kulu was trouble 1234 Eat and
drink but do not be excessive. And it's something that we need to get
into our homes. Muslims do a lot of voodoo, right? That means using
a lot of water. And we need to be careful how much water we use, I
guarantee you most of us probably use 20 times the amount of water
that a province allows us to use, literally 20 times because how
long does it take to fill up a small jug like that a small
would you call it vessel like that, which is called a salt.
Right? We would fill that up as if you leave the tap open. By the
time we've washed our hands in our face, we would probably fill it
up. And we've only washed our mouth actually, we've not even
washed out no nose yet. I've seen people I've seen my children when
they do and I've had to teach them that and that was probably
something I was doing before as well. So the our being a Khalifa
in this world is very, very important. We don't have
unrestricted authority, we need to be submissive and obedient to this
so that Allah subhanho wa Taala can give us more and can can
reward us for this. So we can't be proud and haughty. And we should
not get intoxicated by the power because this is what the world
does. When you have a lot of it, you get intoxicated by a power.
And then you think you can do that. Many, many in the West,
especially in the modern times. Since Christianity has gone down
in the West as well. It's just become this idea of many, many,
many different philosophies are bound as to we can do everything.
Religion is a superstition, religion is a problem. There's
people who nominally maybe even accepting religion, but when it
comes into their daily lives, they don't actually Muslims
Alhamdulillah to a certain degree, we still fulfill our religion and
we still have some adherence to our religion, so that we are
trying to fulfill the vice chair and see that Allah subhanaw taala
has made a study for of this world.
And you know, we can all make mistakes in this regard. But the
main thing is that this dialogue between Allah subhanaw taala, and
the angels really, really and I'll read the entire dialogue. Before
we finish, it's really really important that that's our
position. Man's original position in this world is that he's a vice
chair and a deputy representative of Allah subhanaw taala in this
world, never forget that. Once a man forgets this, once a person
forgets this, they forgotten their nature, they forgotten what that
original principle, reason for being born is and for coming into
this world is once a person, however, recognizes this this
truth, then,
then he will realize that if Allah has made us vice chair and then
he's already set a task out for us and sent a message for us a
guidance for us which is to the Quran. And that's why when we read
the Quran, remember the book of the Quran, the Quran is a book of
guidance, it's a communication. So we can't be devoid of this
guidance and this communication until we die. Right? Even if we're
thinking that we're fulfilling every obligation, because that is
very profound experience to learn directly from the Quran mentioned
realize that Allah subhanaw taala is the Lord of the Worlds he is
the Cherisher of all creatures, he is the most compassionate, right?
He is the Most Merciful. He is the most just right. He is the Most
Forbearing the most affectionate, and he's compassion and he is the
most loving. And Allah subhanaw taala describes believers to be
those who love Allah subhanho wa Taala more than that
Anything else, while livina Ermanno should have been the law,
that's what we want to eventually be.
So, while Allah subhanaw taala is all of these things, but if a man
does abuse, his knowledge for satanic ends, for the wrong
reasons, you know for wicked pursuits, then
he's not fulfilling Allah subhanaw taala is vice chair and see, I
think this is such a humbling factor is such a humbling factor.
This is to know that we are vice Gerrans of Allah. If a person can
wake up in the morning, and sleep at night thinking that you know
what, I'm just a servant of Allah, but I'm a representative of Allah.
Can you imagine the Tao we could do, because when a person
recognizes that they just representing Allah subhanho wa
taala, if Allah subhanaw taala is just merciful, compassionate,
forbearing, affectionate,
merciful and everything else that he is, then we need to imbibe that
as well may Allah subhanaw taala give us that Tofik. So this is the
verse, I'm going to translate the whole verse for you because I read
it at the beginning, just so that we can consolidate our
understanding. So Allah subhanaw taala says in Surah Baqarah, verse
30, to 33. And when your Lord said to the angels, I'm going to place
mankind on earth, they said, Will you place there in those who will
make mischief there in and shed blood? Because the angels had an
experience with the jinn who had been created before who had caused
a lot of mischief. Right? So they thought that another creation is
going to do the same thing. While we glorify you with praise and
thank and sanctify you. So isn't that aren't we befitting for this
position? Allah said, I know that they weren't complaining, they
were just wondering, right? It was a it was a concern that they had,
why are you doing this? So Allah said, Look, I know that which you
do not know. I know that which you do not know. And Allah then
taught, the mighty salaam, all the names of things. Then he showed
them to the angel and said, you told me the names of these, if you
are truthful, they said, glorify that you when they recognize they
said, glorified AU, you we have no knowledge except what You have
taught us. We don't have knowledge of this, this is not something
that you've given us, you've only given it to Adam Arisa it is you
the old knowing. And the old wise, Allah then said, Oh, Adam, you
inform them of their names. So when he informed them have their
names, he said, Allah said, Did I not tell you that I know the
unseen in the heavens and the earth, and I know what you reveal,
and what you conceal. So that's a message there in that dialogue is
amazing. It tells us what we're really here for, I don't know if
something that we've, we must have heard this before. But it's a good
reminder to myself and to everybody else, that whenever we
have that moment, we remember remind ourselves, we remind
ourselves that we are the vice chairman of Allah subhanaw taala.
So the conclusions of this of this reflection is that we remind
ourselves that we are the vice gent of Allah, we're representing
him, we need to be in our best behavior, we need to do that which
is morally correct. We need to use the substances of this world the
elements of this world
everything the material material gains of this world in the right
way we must not be abusive we what some people are doing where you've
got, you've got these extremely rich people who are constantly
trying to
confine as many riches to themselves there's countries which
are doing this there are
organizations which are doing this there are companies which are
doing this there are individual which are doing this, this is just
absolutely selfish. We are here to learn from one another. I was in
Kashmir, masha Allah may Allah subhanho wa Taala relieve the
problems of Kashmir, I was in Kashmir and I was with a family
that deals in rugs. And mashallah, they're big sellers of rugs of
these really nice Kashmiri rugs. So they have a lot of people
working for them and everything. And he took me to a place where
they there's an individual who washes rugs for them. So I just
asked from a business perspective, that look, you can have this
washed at home, you can have this washed at home, meaning in your
own company, you've got enough people to wash it doesn't look
like a complicated way of washing, I probably could have done it
myself. Because he said Oh, it's a very elaborate technique. When I
looked at it, it was I'm sure I could do this myself. So I said,
you can just do this yourself. Why do you have to get somebody
external to do it? He said, Look, we want everybody to eat. We want
everybody to eat, we want everybody to have a piece of the
pie. We could do this at home. But then what about these people? And
mashallah, in a lot of these places, you know, these are old,
old heritage industries. And there's these people are doing
these for hundreds of years. And you have to maintain that but when
these big greedy companies come that are not diversions, they just
try to amass everything. They're doing this to the ocean, they're
* the ocean, taking all the fish out, depleting the stores of
fish and other sea foods and things like that. This is not
something that's used. We're doing this through the cutting of trees
and the disposable the plastic
x and the disposables that we abuse, we need to try in our
little way whatever we can to try to minimize that because we're not
fulfilling the responsibilities of this world. Allah subhanho wa
Taala bless us all and Allah grant us closeness to him through the
Quran and through the month of Ramadan, and may Allah subhanaw
taala make the summit and better for you than any Ramadan before it
does. Aguilar Hara Sudan widecombe rahmatullahi wa barakato. 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 as local
law here and Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.