Ahsan Hanif – Page 150 – Repent Before ItS Too Late Quran Tafseer Series
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
In the name of Allah, the most beneficent,
the most merciful.
Peace be upon you.
I bear witness that there is no deity
worthy of worship except Allah, the Lord of
the worlds.
I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant
and Messenger.
And I bear witness that Muhammad is His
servant and Messenger.
And I bear witness that Muhammad is His
servant and Messenger.
Welcome to another episode of our Tafsir program,
page by page, Insha'Allah Ta'ala today,
we are on page 150 of the Qur
'an which is the final page of Surah
Al-A'am in the 8th Juz' of
the Qur'an.
In the previous episode we mentioned those verses
in which Allah Subhanu Wa Ta'ala towards
the end of this amazing Surah, Surah Al
-A'am, Allah Azawajal gives to us some
very comprehensive commandments and some very comprehensive pieces
of advice or legislations that Allah Azawajal gives
us in this Surah and from amongst them
is certain things to do with our Aqidah,
our belief, our theology and some of those
things were to do with certain actions that
we may or may not perform or certain
things that we should or should not do
and some of those issues were with regards
to our character and our integrity and the
way that we should behave and uphold ourselves
as Muslims.
Allah Subhanu Wa Ta'ala said in the
Qur'an after mentioning those verses of legislation,
Allah Azawajal mentioned the Qur'an and its
importance and its significance in the life of
the Muslim and the non-Muslim to everyone
that the Qur'an was sent to that
they should hold on to it and believe
in it lest that people should come on
Yawm Al-Qiyamah with the claim that they
didn't receive revelation or the claim that they
didn't know or that Allah Azawajal didn't give
to them any guidance, no message came to
them.
Those are excuses, those are justifications, those are
our reasonings that will not be accepted by
Allah Azawajal on Yawm Al-Qiyamah because Allah
Subhanu Wa Ta'ala has sent to each
and every single one of us the Qur
'an and has given to us the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
So unless someone has a genuine reason as
to why because there must be some people
that have genuine reasons as to why they
were able to believe such as the person
who was insane, unable to comprehend, understand or
maybe the person who is deaf dumb and
blind has no ability to or no senses
that allow him to receive or her to
receive the message.
There are certain exceptions to the rule of
people receiving the message, but for many people
who have heard of Islam, have come across
the Qur'an, have heard of the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, then the message to
them has been reached in one form or
another and Allah Azawajal knows best.
Either way that is for Allah Azawajal to
determine and Allah Subhanu Wa Ta'ala is
the best of judges.
It's not something which we need to overly
preoccupy ourselves with.
But we come today to what will be
the final passage and page of this Surah,
Surah Al-A'am and we continue from
verse number 158 and that is the statement
of Allah Subhanu Wa Ta'ala.
Are they waiting for the very angels to
come to them or your Lord Himself or
maybe some of His signs?
From the day some of your Lord's signs
come, no soul will profit from faith if
it has not had any before or has
not already earned some good through its faith.
Say wait if you wish, we too are
waiting.
Allah Subhanu Wa Ta'ala in this verse
again addressing the disbelievers and the people who
have rejected his message, rejected the Qur'an,
rejected the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Allah
Azawajal asks them and poses this question to
them, are they waiting for a number of
things to take place in order for them
to be able to believe?
Because we know as we mentioned now a
number of times throughout this tafseer that the
mushrikeen and the disbelievers used to demand from
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam a number
of signs and miracles that they wanted to
see in order for them to take Iman,
in order for them to believe, in order
for them to submit to Allah Subhanu Wa
Ta'ala.
Allah Azawajal is saying that because of their
oppression, because of their arrogance, because of their
obstinacy, now they are demanding that they won't
believe until they see these signs, are they
waiting for the angels of Allah Azawajal to
come and appear before them so that they
may come and take their souls and they
may come and remove them from this world
and then they will believe.
They will believe on that day when death
strikes them because they will have no other
option except to understand now what the reality
is.
But that isn't called Iman anymore.
When the angel comes and takes the soul
from the believers, from the person's body, believe
or disbelieve, that is a time when no
more action will be accepted, no Iman that
wasn't there before will be accepted.
Or are they waiting for your Lord to
come, meaning on Yawmul Qiyamah, when he comes
to judge the people and he comes to
hold them to account and he comes to
decide their fate for eternity on that day,
is that what they are waiting for?
Or are they waiting for some of the
signs of your Lord, meaning some of the
signs that show that Yawmul Qiyamah is close
at hand and it is fast approaching.
What are these people waiting for?
What more do they need in addition to
what Allah Azawajal has already given to them
in the Quran of the stories and of
the commandments and of the warnings and of
the reminders, all of the things that they
find in the book of Allah Azawajal, what
more do they need in order for them
to accept Islam and to believe, other than
to see physically those things that Allah Azawajal
is warning them of and that is death
and Yawmul Qiyamah and the accounting before Allah
Azawajal and how far and how far it
is, but by then it is too late
and that is where Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta
'ala then says يَوْمَ يَأْتِي بَعْضُ آيَاتِ رَبِّي
On the day that some of the signs
of your Lord come and the signs of
your Lord that are being referred to here
are being referred to as the final signs
of Yawmul Qiyamah and that is the rising
of the sun from the west.
As we know from a number of hadith
of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, because a
number of hadith of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam mentioned to us that the, as is
for example in Bukhari Muslim, the hadith of
Abu Huraira R.A. that if once, as
the soul leaves the body, so a person
on their deathbed as their soul is leaving
their body, or when the sun rises from
the west, then it will not benefit anyone
to take faith anew or to increase in
the faith that they already may have if
they are believers.
On that moment you can't do more good
deeds, at that moment you can't increase in
Iman if you are already a Muslim or
if you are a non-Muslim to accept
Iman at the time of death.
And Allah Azzawajal shows us in the Qur
'an, in the story of Pharaoh.
Pharaoh, when he is being drowned in the
sea and he sees death before his eyes,
then he takes, as Allah Azzawajal mentions to
us in the Qur'an, that he says,
I now believe in the Lord of Bani
Israel.
He is now willing to take faith.
But that faith, more benefit to him, and
that is what Allah Azzawajal says in those
verses, Do you now wish to take faith
after all that you did before?
Meaning now that you've seen the reality, death
is upon you, and the angel of death
is extracting your soul, and there is no
more scope for you now, there is no
time, there is no delay in this.
Now you come and you believe in Allah
Azzawajal, that is too late, as the Prophet
told us, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, in those hadith.
And so likewise Allah Azzawajal is saying, يَوْمَ
يَأْتِي بَعْضُ آيَاتِ رَبِّكِ On the day that
some of the signs come, what are those
signs, or which signs Allah Azzawajal is referring
to, it is mentioned in the sunnah of
the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and that is
when the sun rises from the west, because
when the sun rises from the west, then
people will know that destruction is upon them,
that the end is upon them.
Once that happens, لَا يَنفَعُ نَفْسًا إِيمَانُهَا لَمْ
تَكُنْ آمَنَةٌ مِنْ قَبْلٍ No soul will then
profit from faith if it had none before.
Meaning on that day, people can't stop taking
Iman.
Or at the time of death, on their
deathbed, as death approaches them, they can't take
Iman now, meaning as the soul is being
extracted from them.
We're not speaking about someone who is sick
for a number of weeks or months or
days, and then eventually they come to Islam,
we're talking now in the final moments of
their life, when they see that now death
has come to them, and it is something
which is inevitable.
And so then they wish to take Iman,
it will be too late.
Then, Oh!
كَسَبَتْ فِي إِيمَانِهَا خَيْرًا Or they have not
already earned some good through its faith.
Meaning that for those people who have believed
or have Iman, it's not possible for them
to then come and say actually I'm going
to do more good now.
I want to do Sadaqah more, I want
to read Qur'an more, I want to
make more Dhikr of Allah Azawajal, I want
to do more good deeds.
You have a whole lifetime, for example, in
the fortunate case of some, they don't pray,
their whole life they didn't give any Zakah,
their whole life they didn't fast Ramadan, their
whole life they had opportunities to perform Hajj
and Umrah, they didn't do so, they did
very little good.
And now at this time, now they want
to make Tawbah, and now they want to
turn to Allah Azawajal, now they want to
pray.
If at that moment that is what takes
place in those final moments of life, it's
not accepted by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
But the time for that is before, right?
And the time for that is when you
have the opportunity to worship Allah Azawajal, the
opportunity to remember and to be reminded.
And that is why even for the believer,
this verse is a very powerful verse.
This verse is something which shows us that
we should never be neglectful of what our
ultimate end is.
How often do we go to a Masjid
or hear of someone, we go to a
Masjid and there is a Janazah prayer that's
being offered.
How often do you hear of someone that
you know, a relative, a friend, a neighbor,
some type of acquaintance of yours that has
passed away, elderly and young, people who are
relatively fit and healthy and people who are
not so much, rich and poor, male and
female, whatever it may be, people are dying
all around us and they die on a
daily basis.
And sometimes those deaths are removed from us.
They take place in a different part of
the world due to some calamity or some
type of man-made issue or they happen
around us because of the people around us
that also pass away.
Those are all reminders from Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
What more are you waiting for?
Are you waiting for it to come to
you and happen to you and then you're
going to believe and you don't even, me
and you don't even have the guarantee that
when death comes to us, it's going to
be on a deathbed.
They're going to be ill for a number
of months beforehand.
Then we're going to have the opportunity to
make Tawbah or to do good deeds or
that we will have that opportunity to even
realize that death may come to us suddenly.
We may die the next day without even
knowing what's going to happen, without being diagnosed
with any type of illness, without being given
any type of warning.
Many people die in that way.
So sometimes we also, shaytan comes and he
also makes us think that we'll live to
a ripe old age and we'll see our
days and we'll see the decline in our
health and we'll see that we're becoming sick
or ill and weak and therefore we'll start
to do more good deeds.
As our health decreases, our good deeds will
increase.
That's not always the equation that you're given.
Some people are given that, but not everyone.
And so Allah azza wa jal is saying
here that you don't have the, just as
the mushrikeen, they don't have that guarantee from
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
وَلِلْتَضِيرُوا۟ إِنَّا مُنْتَضِيرُونَ So say to them, wait
if you wish me to awaiting, meaning if
that's what you're waiting for, then do so
because we already know what the end is
for those people.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then says in
the next verse 159 إِنَّ الَّذِينَ فَرَّقُوا دِينَهُمْ
وَكَانُوا شِيَعًا لَسْتَ مِنْهُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ إِنَّمَا أَمْرُهُمْ
إِلَى اللَّهِ ثُمَّ يُنَبِّيُهُمْ بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْعَلُونَ As
for those who have divided their religion and
broken up into factions, have nothing to do
with them, their case rests with Allah azza
wa jal in time.
He will tell them about their deeds.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying that
those people who split up and caused factions
and divisions in their religion because they didn't
follow the scriptures that the prophets came to
them and they didn't follow the way of
their prophets in their pristine and original way
and they didn't follow then the message that
was given to the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam
either and so they have divided into denominations
and sects and factions and groups.
Oh you prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam, you have
nothing to do with them.
لَسْتَ مِنْهُمْ فِي الشَّيْءِ You have no part
in this.
You have nothing to do with them and
that is why in our religion in Islam
also the prophet told us salallahu alaihi wasalam
that our ummah would also split up.
It would also divide into many groups and
factions into many labels and names and then
the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam was asked by
the companions of messenger of Allah.
So which one of them should we stick
to?
He said that which you find me and
my companions upon this day.
مَا أَنَا عَلَيْهِ الْيَوْمُ أَصْحَابِي What I will
follow my companions upon because that is the
Deen, that is Islam, that is the religion
what the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam understood of
Islam, what he preached of Islam, what he
practiced of Islam and what those companions who
lived with him and sat with him and
walked with him and studied with him and
resided with him and fought alongside him what
they understood of the religion how they understood
what the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam said because
they were there live in person.
They understood and the understanding and the understanding
of anyone that's there on at the time
and the occasion live living it experiencing it
will be better than someone who comes three
four five seven hundred years later.
And so the understanding of the companions and
the way that they understood the religion that
is something which is extremely important for us
as Muslims to hold on and it is
unfortunate today that we see many Muslims their
understanding of Islam isn't necessarily the understanding of
the companions and some of those issues there
is some leeway, there's some differences of opinion
even though the companions differed over some issues,
but they didn't differ on the foundations of
Islam.
They didn't differ on issues of Iman and
Aqeedah.
They didn't differ concerning the names and attributes
of Allah Azza wa Jalla or the Divine
decree of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or
the status of the companions for example and
other things there are certain essentials in our
religion that the ummah agreed upon to take
those essentials and to remove them or to
manipulate them or to distort them or to
ignore them outright and to follow something else
that is problematic in terms of a person's
Iman.
Inna ma amruhum ila Allah, their affair will
be with Allah Azza wa Jalla and he
will tell them in time as to that
which they did.
On Yawmul Qiyamah Allah will resurrect everyone and
that is why the Prophet told us salallahu
alayhi wa sallam, it's mentioned in a number
of hadiths, this is a hadith of Ibn
Mas'ud radiallahu anhu, the Prophet said salallahu
alayhi wa sallam that on Yawmul Qiyamah I
will be brought my people meaning some of
my people from my ummah and then they
will be driven away from me.
So I will call out and I will
say Ashabi, Ashabi, these people are my people,
they're my ummah, meaning the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wa sallam will recognize them as Muslims, as
people from his ummah and then the Prophet
salallahu alayhi wa sallam will be told, innaka
la tadri ma ahdathu ba'da, you don't know
what they did in terms of innovation to
your religion after you.
Now that shows them that even amongst the
Muslims there are people that will be driven
away from the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam
separated from him as a result of their
division into factions and what is the basis
of that division because they strayed from the
message of Islam from the Sunnah of the
Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and so we,
me, you as Muslims, that's our duty, our
responsibility to ensure that when we follow Islam,
it is Islam that Allah azawajal mentioned in
the Quran that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa
sallam gave to us in his Sunnah.
Allah subhanaw taala then says in verse 160
concerning those people who do good and those
who do evil.
Whoever has done a good deed will have
it ten times to his credit, but whoever
has done a bad deed will be repaid
only with its equivalent, they will not be
wronged.
This is from the amazing mercy of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala as the Prophet told
us salallahu alayhi wa sallam in the beautiful
Hadith that Allah azawajal has determined the reward
of good deeds and the punishment of evil
deeds.
If a person has the sincere conviction and
intention to do something good and then they
are unable to do it for whatever reason,
Allah still records it as one good deed,
meaning you intended to do a good deed,
but then for a valid reason you were
able to, you felt sick, something happened to
you an unavoidable circumstance and it prevented you
from doing that good deed, Allah sees your
intention and sincerity gives you a good deed
and if you're able to do it, you
perform the action, Allah multiplies it by ten
to 700 up to many more and Allah
azawajal mentions the minimum amount in this verse
that it will be given ten times in
terms of its credit or in terms of
its multiplication of reward and if someone does
an evil deed, meaning that they do an
evil, they have the intention to do an
evil deed and then they don't do it,
they turn away from it, then Allah azawajal
doesn't hold them to account for anything and
if they do it, then Allah azawajal only
records it as a single evil deed and
that is from the mercy of Allah azawajal,
that is what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says here and whoever has done a bad
deed will be repaid only with its equivalent,
meaning one evil deed equals one evil sin,
one evil deed or two evil deeds equal
to evil sin and so on and so
forth.
But when it comes to good deeds Allah
multiplies, when it comes to good deeds Allah
azawajal increases and gives you far more.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then says in
verse 161 Say, my Lord has guided me
to a straight path,
an
upright religion, the faith of Ibrahim, a man
of pure faith.
He was not a polytheist.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this verse,
he says and commands the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam to say, say meaning O prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, this is my religion.
What my Lord has guided me to is
a straight path, meaning what I am upon
is a path that will lead to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, to his pleasure and
to his reward and it is an upright
religion, a religion that isn't full of contradictions
or weaknesses or oppression or wrongdoing.
It is a religion that only speaks to
good, calls to that which is good, upholds
that which is good and beneficial for the
individual and for all of society.
And so the person who accepts Islam and
believes in Islam and practices Islam is someone
who will uplift themselves and uplift their family
and the people around them who also believe.
And this was the origin of Ibrahim a
.s. Who was upon the way of Tawheed.
And so Allah azawajal is commanding the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam that this is your religion,
the religion of your followers.
It is a religion which is straight and
isn't crooked.
It is a religion which is upright and
not corrupt and is the religion of all
of the prophets including the greatest of them
or from the greatest of them Ibrahim a
.s. And he wasn't a person of shirk
just in case people misunderstand this verse because
many religions as we know claim Ibrahim a
.s. His religion which was upright and straight
wasn't the religion of shirk, but it was
the religion of Tawheed and that is why
in the next verse Allah azawajal entails us
to make a further declaration.
In verse 162, say my prayers and sacrifice
my life and death are all for Allah
Lord of the world.
This is an amazing verse.
It speaks about some of the greatest acts
of worship that you can perform and how
the Muslim is the one who as we
mentioned concerning the previous verse the religion of
Ibrahim a.s. They dedicate all of this
to Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala.
They submit to Allah azawajal and all of
their worship in terms of their physical acts
of worship such as the prayer and in
terms of their financial acts of worship such
as giving money for the sword and sacrifice
some of the on all of the other
acts of worship that they perform.
It is only solely for Allah azawajal not
only that but their whole life and death
meaning that everything about their existence revolves around
Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala.
What is halal?
What is haram?
What is pleasing to Allah?
What is displeasing to Allah azawajal?
How can I gain more reward?
How do I stay away from Allah's wrath
and punishment?
That is their whole life and the way
that it revolves and so the Muslim is
the one who dedicates themselves, submits themselves to
Allah azawajal, sacrifices their own desires and whims
for that which is pleasing to Allah azawajal.
That is the true Muslim.
That is the one who is truly a
believer because they believe in Allah azawajal alone
and submit to Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala alone
and that is the meaning of Islam and
that is what Allah azawajal then says in
the next verse 163 He has no partner.
This is what I am commanded and I
am the first to devote myself to him.
I am the first of the Muslims because
the word Islam means as we know to
be the one who submits to Allah azawajal
and the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is
commanded here to call himself to be the
first of those people.
And he was the greatest of examples in
that regard, but me and you by extension
as Muslims.
We also have to follow in his footsteps
in that way as a Muslim means that
you submit to Allah.
Sometimes we say that the word Islam means
peace.
And yes, that is one of the meanings
of Islam because if you're a Muslim then
Allah azawajal gives to you peace and Allah
azawajal gives you tranquility through your Iman and
through your good deeds, but the word Islam
also has another meaning which is the first
of those meanings before you get that step
of peace and that tranquility in a peace,
Allah azawajal commands you to submit to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
You must submit in order to find the
peace because if you don't submit then you
don't get the Salam which is the peace
either and so Allah azawajal commands you to
submit and istislamunillah, you submit to Allah, you
sacrifice for Allah and you dedicate your life
to Allah azawajal as the prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam did.
Allah azawajal tells us in the penultimate verse
of this surah, verse 164 Say
should I seek a Lord other than Allah
when He is the Lord of all things.
Each soul is responsible for its own actions.
No soul will bear the burden of another.
You will all return to your Lord in
the end and He will tell you the
truth about your differences, an amazing verse.
Allah azawajal is saying here, saying again to
the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Should I seek a Lord other than Allah
when Allah is the Lord of everything, meaning
this path that we've been speaking about in
the previous verses, dedicating yourself to Allah, submitting
to Allah, worshiping Allah alone, that straight path,
the right religion, the example of Ibrahim a
.s. Why would I seek other than that?
Why would I seek a Lord other than
Allah to worship and submit myself to when
Allah controls and owns everything, because anything else
that I will worship will be false and
anything else that I worship will be weak,
anything else that I worship will be dependent
upon Allah, just as me and you are
dependent upon Allah azawajal.
So why would I seek a Lord other
than the Lord of the world, Allah azawajal,
but rather every soul shall bear responsibility for
its own actions and no soul will bear
the burden of another.
Everyone of us is responsible whether of good
or bad for ourselves, Allah will reward you
for what you did and Allah will punish
you for what you did.
You are ultimately responsible for yourself and Allah
does not bear the burden of one soul
for another, meaning that you're not responsible for
the actions of others, you call them, you
invite them, but ultimately they're responsible for what
they did and if you had a role
in what they did, then obviously that's part
of your responsibility because you had a direct
influence upon them.
But otherwise you won't be asked about what
your father did or your grandfather or your
neighbor or your friend or the average Muslim
or non-Muslim on the street.
That's something which Allah azawajal doesn't burden upon
you.
We don't have this concept as they do
in some religions that Adam a.s. Because
of the sin that he committed when he
ate from the forbidden tree that therefore all
of mankind was tainted by sin.
That's not our concept in the religion and
likewise because also when you repent then Allah
azawajal forgives that person.
So why then would Allah azawajal repent and
accept the repentance of the one and forgive
the one who did the original sin, but
yet hold others to account who didn't do
anything, weren't even born, didn't live for like
hundreds of thousands of years until hundreds of
thousands of years later or thousands of years
later and that is not from the justice
and the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala.
And so Allah azawajal says rather each one
of you will return to your Lord.
In the final verse of this surah 165
Allah azawajal then says, It
is He who made you successors of the
earth and raises some of you above others
in rank to test you through that which
He gives you.
Your Lord is swift in punishment yet He
is most forgiving and most merciful.
Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala has said that He
has made you successors upon the earth meaning
one generation after another.
We will die and our children will come
after us and they will die and their
children will come after them.
That is the nature of humans upon this
earth.
No one lives for Eternity and no one
lives for an inordinate amount of time, but
rather each person has their time scale that
Allah azawajal has given to them and then
they pass away and likewise Allah azawajal has
given to people different levels and ranks in
the dunya, some higher and some lower, some
richer and some poorer, some more powerful and
some less powerful.
يَبْلُوَكُمْ فِي مَعَتَكُمْ For each one of you
there is a test.
This is the poor person has to be
tested through their poverty and they have to
display patience.
Then likewise the rich one is also tested
with their wealth and to see how they
behave.
The one who's weak is tested because they're
oppressed and how they will respond, but the
powerful one and their oppression is also tested.
Each one of you is tested irrespective of
your circumstances فِي مَعَتَكُمْ Allah says because Allah
tests you through that which He has given
you whatever it may be and that is
not just restricted to the wealthy and the
powerful, but every person what you're given or
the lack of what you're given.
It is a test for you and therefore
Allah azawajal is swift in punishment for those
who do evil and wrong and He is
Forgiving, Most Merciful for those who do good
and turn to His path and with that
we come to the end of this amazing
surah, surah al-na'am and ask Allah
azawajal that He allows us to benefit from
its many lessons and its many reminders.
بارك الله فيكم وصلى الله على النبي وعلى
آله وصحبه أجمعين والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته