Ahsan Hanif – Quran Tafseer – Page 102 – Divine Mercy And The Consequences Of Disobedience
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the use of negative language in Muslim culture, including "will" and "will" causing harm. They stress the importance of speaking out against evil speech and forgiveness in public settings, as it is considered a violation of Islam's rule. The distinction between the first and second groups is not a reflection of reality, and the church has broken laws and broken laws of the holy land. The speaker concludes that forgiveness is a way to show mercy and that people are not going to accept all of them.AI: Transcript ©
We're on page 102
which is the first page of the 6
juz Surat Nisa.
Allah Subhanu Ta'ala in the previous couple of
episodes gave to us a number of
instructions or guidelines concerning the hypocrites
and the way that they behave and some
of the characteristics and attributes that they possess.
And how from amongst those attributes is that
when they stand to worship Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala they do so out of laziness, they
do so
in a very lackadaisical
method and with a lackadaisical approach and that
they only do so for the benefit of
others in order to show off and to
impress others and that they remember Allah
very little and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has
mentioned that as a result of their actions
and their lack of belief,
Allah will give to them the worst of
punishments that they will be in the lowest
depths of the Haw fire.
Today we continue from verse 140
8 and that is the statement of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Allah does not like bad words to be
made public unless someone has been wronged and
he is all hearing and all knowing.
This verse
comes after the instructions concerning the, hypocrites.
And one of the things that the hypocrites
would do is that they would speak with
very evil words. They would disparage the prophet
salallahu alayhi wasallam. They would disparage
and,
and mock the Muslims and the believers and
they would disparage Islam and everything to do
with the religion of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and Allah
here is mentioning to us that it is
not befitting for the believer
to be of that type of of characteristic
or to have that type of characteristic.
And that is that the words that come
out from their mouth are often words that
are not becoming for the believer. Their words
are either words that are words of speech,
words of cursing, words of swearing, words in
which they are lying or cheating, words that
often amount to some type of harm or
oppression or evil. Allah
says
Allah does not like bad words to be
made public, meaning that they are done openly,
that you see them in open conversation,
that it is something that you say to
people publicly
and that is because when people become accustomed
to this type of speech, you yourself become
accustomed to it. So you're a person who,
for example, often when you speak, you'll swear,
you'll curse, you'll you'll you'll backbite, you'll you'll
you'll the words that you use are not
becoming a befitting of a Muslim. That then
becomes your personality. It becomes something which you
are known for. It becomes something which people
recognize you by. Not only that, but then
the people that you do this with often
also start to do this or they maybe
themselves have already had this habit and it
becomes something which then becomes a common trait
amongst a group of people. So sometimes, you
find within a family that people swear and
they don't think anything of it and if
someone was to come and say to them,
look, you often use bad language or your
words aren't very good, then actually consider them
to be the person that's the odd one.
They'll consider their approach to be, you know,
it's just a swear word, we don't mean
it, it's just we're just having a banter,
we're just speaking, we're just having a bit
of fun and that's the way people will
approach this issue. And then when that comes
out of a family, it's a number of
families, it's in a neighborhood, it's within a
group of people,
the community then becomes accustomed to this and
that's why it's something which a person has
to be aware of because the prophet was
someone as he said that never said anything
which is fairish, never said anything which is
vain speech or evil speech or anything which
is not becoming to come out of the
word or the mouth of a Muslim And
that is because Allah
will hold us to account for the words
that we say as the prophet told us
in the hadith of Abu Adibujabil
radiAllahu an when he explained to him a
number of evil deeds and then he said
shall I tell you what controls all of
this? What is behind all of it? And
then Mu'aal said yes oh messenger
Allah the prophet held his tongue. And he
said it is this. Said oh Messenger will
we be held to account for the words
that we utter? The prophet replied
and will the people be dragged upon their
faces and thrown into the fire
except as a result of the words that
they utter? How much of what we do
and what we what the way that we
interact with people and deal with them is
as a result of the words that we
use, the speech that comes out of our
mouths. And one of the things about that
speech, those words, is because they come out
so fast, because they come out in a
great number, it is often very difficult to
remember what we said and when we said
it. Very difficult to remember. We said this
at that time and that's maybe the way
that it that that it came across. Very
difficult to remember and account for all of
those words. You don't know what you're saying
and you don't know how you're saying it
and also because words can hurt. Words can
have an effect on people. Words sometimes can
cause more harm than physical actions.
And so you say a word and you
say in one spirit or you say with
one intention, but the person that you said
it to becomes very offended. They become upset.
It it harms them in a way that
you perhaps don't understand.
And then that leads to other problems within
within the community.
And that is generally why the Muslim is
someone who is modest. Modest in their actions,
modest in their character, modest in the words
that they use. Careful
and and and people who use their words
use their words very very sparingly. And that
is why the prophet said
whosoever believes in Allah in the last day
either speak good or just remain quiet. If
you don't have anything to say, you don't
have anything productive to say or you can't
find the words to say it in a
way that is good and beneficial, then remain
quiet because if you remain quiet as the
Arab sayman,
whoever remains quiet is successful
because no one can come and hold anything
against you either in this life or on
your mumqiama.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then gives us an
exception to this rule and he says,
except
for those that have been wronged and oppressed.
They have a right to speak.
Someone who wrongs someone else and then the
person who is the oppressed comes and speaks
out against that oppression and wrong or they
complain to a person in a position of
authority or they take it up with the
relevant authorities and they say so and so
harm me, that's not considered to be evil
speech. That's not considered to be backbiting because
those people have a right and their rights
have been taken or trampled upon and so
therefore their recourse
is to go to those people that Allah
has placed them in those positions of authority
that they may right that wrong for them.
And this is from the beauty and the
justice of Islam that Allah
makes this exception knowing that there are groups
of people that need to speak at certain
times and similar
situations
to this as is mentioned in the books
of text. So for example, if someone comes
and seeks sincere advice, they want their daughter,
for example, to get married to someone or
their son is looking for a spouse and
you are close to the individual that they're
looking into and you can give them sincere
advice for you to give sincere advice is
from good speech. And it's not considered to
be from evil speech even if you have
to say something which may not be entirely
positive about that individual. You're being honest in
the way that you're giving that feedback. And
so these are exceptions to that rule, but
the general
the general principle in Islam is that your
words are words of good. Your words are
words of of benefit. And that is why
as we mentioned before in the verse that
we already covered in
what Allah said that there is no good
in the vast majority of their gatherings
except those who command some good or some
sadaqa or reconciliation between people and that's because
many of those gatherings end up having vain
speech where people will say things that are
not befitting and that shouldn't be said.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then continues in verse
number 149 and he says
If you do good openly or in secret
or if you pardon something bad then Allah
is Most Forgiving
and Most Powerful.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says whatever you do
of good or bad your speech or actions
whether it is open or in secret Allah
that knows and has knowledge of that which
you have done. So sometimes people
have these moments where they will speak evil
but it's in a small gathering or it's
within another with just another individual.
And so they're having this conversation with 1
person and because it's not in public
then they think that it's okay. Allah in
the previous verse said don't do this publicly,
don't have evil speech because that is worse
in terms of the impact that it has
upon the community
but that doesn't mean that if you don't
do it in public, you do it in
a private setting, you do it in your
home, you do it in the house of
someone else, you do it with just a
few people, that that doesn't mean that it
becomes permissible.
It just means that the one that does
it openly and in public is worse because
the harm and the impact of that is
far greater
and wider than the person who does it
in a private setting. But doing it in
a private setting, speaking evil about people's backbiting
slander and so on is still haram and
it is still considered to be something which
a person
should stay away from and that is why
Allah makes this distinction Allah knows what you
do whether you do it openly or whether
you do it in secret.
And
if you forgive or pardon something which is
bad for
then Allah
is most forgiving and most powerful and Allah
throughout the Quran
encourages people to forgive,
encourages people to pardon with the intention that
by forgiving someone who has harmed you and
done wrong to you, Allah will give you
his forgiveness. Allah
will shower upon you his mercy.
He will pardon you just as you pardon
someone else and you pardon someone in the
dunya
for one of the rights of the dunya.
They harmed you in terms of your wealth,
in terms of your honor, in terms of
something else. That's a worldly right of yours.
But when Allah pardons, he pardons for you
in the akhirah. He pardons you in terms
of the sins that you've committed and he
pardons you from the punishment of the fire
And so to forgive and to forego and
to pardon and to show mercy, it is
from the best of characteristics
and Allah
places upon it a great reward because it
is something difficult to do. Someone who harms
you, to turn around and to forgive them,
and to forgive and to pardon by the
way means that you don't hold it over
them, You don't come back and keep reminding
them. It's not something which you're constantly going
to keep bringing up in conversation, oh but
don't you remember that I forgave you or
remember this That's not considered forgiveness, that's not
considered pardoning. The prophet
didn't do this with those muslims who accepted
islam and prior to that they harmed the
muslims, they killed the Muslims, they fought the
Muslims. He never used to say to them,
but don't you remember what you did last
year? Don't you remember what you did on
the day of Badr or Uhad? Don't you
remember what you did when we were in
Mecca?
This wasn't the way of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam. And that's because when a person
does that, it's a sign that they didn't
truly forgive.
They didn't truly pardon but if you forgive
someone and you pardon them genuinely
then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will pardon you
in return and that is something which Allah
shows us in the Quran in various verses
under the prophet
showed us practically within his sunnah.
In verse 150 Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then
says,
As for those who ignore Allah and his
messengers
and want to make a distinction between them
saying we believe in some but not in
others seeking a middle way.
Allah
says that there are a group of people.
There are 3 groups of people. The first
are those who believe in Allah
and believe in all of his messengers
And those are the believers.
They believe in Allah. They believe in all
of the prophets and messengers of Allah sallallahu
alaihi wasallam.
And they don't make a distinction between them.
They won't accept some and reject others and
that is why from the cornerstones of our
iman is that pillar of the faith in
the Messenger and that means you believe in
all of them generally
even if you don't know their names,
their stories,
even if they are not mentioned in the
Quran, you believe that Allah sent prophets and
messengers and we accept all of them as
Allah's prophets and messengers.
And then where there are additional details, names,
stories, information either in the Quran or the
Sunnah that is something we should believe in
extra.
We believe that there was a prophet called
Ibrahim
that he was thrown into the fire, that
he had a son call Ismael, that he
left that son in the barren desert of
Mecca and so on and so forth. We
believe in all of those leaders as they
came
from the Prophet of Allah azza wa jal,
that is the believers.
And then there are those people who don't
believe in Allah and they don't believe in
the prophets and messengers, they reject them all.
They don't believe that Allah sent messengers to
mankind. They don't believe in any of the
prophets, whether it's Adam or Nuh or Ibrahim
or Musa or Isa or our messenger Alayhi
Musa Allah. They don't believe in any of
them. And those are the disbelievers.
And then from amongst them the disbelievers there
are those who want to make a distinction
and that is those people that Allah is
referring to here because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
will then go on to speak about in
the end of today's episode and tomorrow's and
the next episode, Allah will go on to
speak about in the passage
about the people of the book and the
people of the scripture.
So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala here speaks about
a third group of people amongst the disbelievers.
Now
These people amongst the disbelievers
want to make a distinction.
Allah says they disbelieve in Allah and his
messengers but the way that they disbelieve
is because they want to make a distinction
between some as opposed to others. We will
accept some but we won't accept all of
them. We believe in these but we don't
believe in those. And those are the people
for example that say that we believe in
all of the prophets of Allah except our
messenger Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
So for example, the Christians, they believe in
all of the prophets of God because they
mentioned in the in the bible, they mentioned
in the Torah, in the gospels and so
on, but they won't believe in the prophets
of Allah.
They don't consider him to be a messenger
of Allah. Or like the Jews who likewise
believe in the prophets and messengers of Allah
up until
Moses and Aaron and so on. But they
won't believe in Jesus.
They won't believe in the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam. They're essentially making a distinction or anyone
else that does this. That says for example
that I believe in all of the prophets
but Ibrahim,
Lord, Noah, these 3, 4, 5, I won't
believe in them. That is essentially kufr. It
is disbelief in Allah azza wa jal. Why?
Because they have rejected what Allah azza wa
jal has told them.
They have rejected part of it and to
reject part of what Allah has said is
like rejecting
the complete,
the complete or the whole of what Allah
has said and that is what Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala says that these people want to
take a middle path, they want to take
a path in which they can pick and
choose what they want to accept. I will
believe in that prophet but I won't believe
in that prophet. Why? Because if they believed
in the messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam, Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, then they would have to believe
in his sharia. They would have to believe
in his laws, they would have to believe
in his in his teachings sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
But in this way they can choose,
they can reject this, they don't like it
or they won't accept it for whatever reason
and so they can choose what to believe
and what not to believe. Allah
says in verse 151 speaking about these people.
They are really disbelievers.
We have prepared a humiliating punishment for those
who disbelieve. Allah says these people are still
disbelievers.
Allah says they are truly
really disbelievers
because they have
more than what those people who disbelieve in
everything do. Those people who reject all prophets
and messengers don't even believe in the concept
that Allah would send people and give them
revelation and make them prophets and messengers. They
don't believe in the concept at all but
these people believe in the concept. They accept
that Allah sent prophets and messengers. So then
why are you making a distinction? Why are
you choosing some over others
When all of them have bought those same
messages, same signs from Allah Azzurajal, miracles from
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. All of them have
the signs of truthfulness
in their statement that they are prophets and
messengers of Allah, why are you making a
distinction between them? That is in some ways
worse than the other group who just rejects
the concept, they don't even believe that it
happens. These people understand the concept, they accept
it, they believe in it, they know how
it works but still they will reject certain
prophets of Allah namely our messenger Muhammad
and that is what
Allah says that for them is the worst
of punishment.
In verse 152 Allah speaks then about the
believers who is the 3rd group.
So these are the or the first group
if you like the people who believe in
Allah and all of his messengers.
Allah
says
But Allah will give rewards to those who
believe in him and his messengers and make
no distinction between any of them. Allah is
Most forgiving and Most Merciful.
So Allah
says, as for those people of true Iman,
they believe in all the pillars of faith,
they believe in Allah
They believe in all of the prophets and
messengers of Allah,
and
they don't make a distinction between them. They're
not cherry picking and choosing which ones to
accept and not to accept. They don't say
that we believe in these and we don't
believe in those. They accept all of them
that they are the prophets and messengers of
Allah as Allah
has related to us their stories in the
Quran and likewise the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
in his sunnah. Allah says concerning those people
who have that level of faith.
Allah will give to them
their full reward.
And Allah is Most Forgiving,
Most Merciful.
In the next verse 153
and the next passage
and more, it is now dedicated to the
people of the book and the people of
the scripture and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will
speak about them and we will have to
divide this over a number of episodes because
it is more than just a couple of
verses.
So we begin with verse 153 and that
is the statement of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
The people of the book demand that you
meaning the prophet
make a book physically come down to them
from heaven. But they demanded even more than
that of Musa when they said, show us
Allah face to face. And they were struck
by the thunderbolt for their presumption.
Even after clear revelations had come down to
them, they took the kaf as an object
of worship yet we pardoned this and gave
Musa clear authority.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this verse is
speaking about the situation of the people of
the book and Allah is making a a
comparison
between the way that the prophet was
having to deal with the people of the
scripture of his time and how those people
even in the time of their own prophets
that they did believe in, that they did
accept as prophets and messengers of Allah, how
difficult they were with
them and how much difficulty their prophets had
to endure from them. Allah
says that the people of the scripture asked
from you
that you cause a book to descend from
the heavens. So the Quran as we know
is the book of Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala
but it was revealed
over time
verses here verses that over a 23
year period the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
received revelation of the Quran in stages, in
small amounts, a verse here, a verse there,
a few verses here, a passage here, a
passage there or sometimes a full surah but
it was done over 23
years. And So the Quran didn't come down
as a physical book
but rather it was an oral transmission.
Jibreel would come and recite the verses to
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. The prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam would memorize the Quran and he
would recite it to the companions radiallahu anhu
jibaihi.
These people of the book are saying we
don't accept this Quran as the word of
Allah, as the revelation of Allah, as the
book of Allah. We want to see a
physical book come down before our eyes and
this is something which Allah doesn't do for
the prophets even the prophet Musa alaihis salam
when Allah gave to him the tablets of
the Torah
it wasn't something which one of the many
Israel witnessed, but rather Musa alaihi salam was
told to go and meet Allah
himself.
And he was the one who received the
Torah. They said we want to see now
a physical book coming down. Allah is saying,
oh Muhammad
if they ask
this of you then don't be surprised
because they ask of their own messenger that
they did believe in, that they did accept,
that they did acknowledge was the messenger of
Allah. They asked from him something which was
even far greater,
far far more than what they have asked
from you.
They demanded from Musa something more than this.
What did they demand from Musa?
They said let us see Allah face to
face.
What remains then of belief of Iman,
of the unseen? If you see Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, if Allah was to come down
to earth now, no one would disbelieve,
everyone would believe Allah and believe in Allah
and believe in in salam and so everyone
would accept faith if Allah was to show
himself in front of all of creation.
So where then is the test? Where then
are those people who are true in faith
because they believe in the signs of Allah,
they believe in the revelation of Allah as
opposed to those people who are not believing
because they have no other choice. It is
as as pain as everything.
So Allah
says that they demanded something even more. They
demanded that Allah should come to them face
to face. Look at the arrogance of this
claim as the qurish used to do as
Allah will mention when we come to those
verses in surah al isra that they had
a number of demands from the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam the and the Arabs and they
wanted him to have palaces and they wanted
him to fly in the sky and they
wanted so many things. These demands are signs
of arrogance and disbelief
that a person would have the audacity to
say to Allah, if you want me to
believe in you, this is the sign that
I demand.
If you don't give me this sign, I
won't believe.
The signs that Allah has given are not
enough in the heavens and the earth and
the universe and the revelation and the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. No. I don't want
those signs. I want the sign that I
want. You give me my sign and look
at the audacity that it takes and the
arrogance of that person who makes such a
demand from Allah
and that is what Allah
says
Allah
took them
or struck them with a thunderbolt
because of
the the audacity of that claim that they
made or that demand that they made of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Allah
says and then after this
and even after this they worshipped the Qaf,
they made shirk with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and Allah
forgave them for this as well.
And we gave to Musa Alaihi Salam the
clear authority.
And the final verse that we will take
today, Allah says in verse 154,
We made the mountain tower high above them
at their pledge. We said to them enter
the gate humbly and do not break the
Sabbath and take a solemn pledge from them.
Allah
says that Allah took from amongst them this
pledge. The pledge and their belief
was taken
because they were refusing to accept and believe
when Allah
raised the mountain of door above their heads
Meaning, it became like a canopy as Allah
will mention in one of the forthcoming verses
and and that
we will come to. Allah raised it above
them as if it was like an umbrella
or a canopy that was going to fall
upon them. Imagine a mountain being raised upon
you looking like it's going to fall upon
you and they were told
accept the revelation of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
accept the commands of Allah
and then they did so. To show the
level of difficulty that they had and the
level of obstinance that they had
until they came to this point where they
had to accept. And they were told as
we said before in the tafsir of Surah
Al Baqarah that when they were going to
enter into the holy land they should enter
in a state of sejda enter with humility
with humbleness
as we said and again they changed that
word that they were told to say as
we mentioned before in the tafsirah Surat Al
Baqarah and they were told don't fish on
the Sabbath and that's something which we will
also or don't break the Sabbath and that's
also something which Allah will speak about in
more detail in the forthcoming Surah, how Allah
gave them the command
not to do anything upon the Sabbath which
is the Saturday and they twisted the rules
around so that they could
benefit and still in their mind keep to
that ruling and Allah said that that was
there playing with the Sharia and the rules
of Allah
and Allah
took a solemn pledge from them. And InshaAllah
Ta'ala in the next episode, Allah will then
go on to mention how they broke that
pledge that the covenant that Allah
took from them. But inshallah we will leave
that for the next episode.
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