Ahsan Hanif – Quran Tafseer – Page 106 – The Divine Decree
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Welcome to another episode of our tafsir. And
today Insha'Allah
we are on page 106 of the Quran,
which is the final portion of the final
verse of Surah Al Nisa and then the
beginning of Surah Al Maidah in the 6th
of the Quran.
In the previous episode, we mentioned those verses
in which Allah Subhanhu Wa Ta'ala speaks about
the people of the book and the scriptures
who went to extremes in their religion.
For example, in aspects of their belief.
For example, when it came to their belief
concerning the prophet Risa alaihi salatu was salam.
And you see those extremes
in views because some of the people of
the scripture denied that Alisa Alaihi Salam was
a prophet or messenger of Allah. They completely
rejected him and refused to believe in him.
And others from amongst them went to the
other extreme, and they placed the prophet Risa
Alaihi Salam where they gave to him a
station above his station and they claimed for
him divinity.
Allah Subhanu Ta'ala says, as we mentioned in
the previous episode,
that neither Isa Alaihi Salam nor the messengers
and prophets of Allah, nor the angels that
are close to Allah
None of them have disdain or are too
arrogant to worship Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. But
each one of them knows their place in
terms of their servitude before him Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. And Allah Azzawajal then mentioned that those
people who have iman and do righteous deeds
Allah will give to them their reward. And
those who are too arrogant, too haughty
to worship Allah
look down upon that, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
will give to them the worst of punishments.
Today we begin with verse 176
which is the final verse of Surah Al
Nisa
and it is going back to a topic
that we have spoken about throughout this surah
and that is the topic of inheritance.
And as we said that that is an
important topic because it is often something
in which people don't follow the laws of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala or certain people are
repressed when it comes to their rights of
inheritance.
So Allah in this final verse of Suratul
Nisa will speak about an aspect of inheritance
and that is found in the statement of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
They ask you meaning the prophet salallahu alaihi
wasallam for a ruling.
Say Allah gives you a ruling about inheritance
from someone
who dies childless with no surviving parents. If
a man leaves a sister, she's entitled to
half of the inheritance.
If she has no child, her brother is
her sole
heir. If there are 2 sisters, they are
entitled to 2 thirds of the inheritance between
them. But if there are surviving brothers and
sisters, the male is entitled to twice the
share of the female. Allah makes this clear
to you so that you do not make
mistakes. He has for knowledge of everything.
Here in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala begins by
mentioning that the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was
asked questions regarding certain elements of inheritance.
And in particular, this issue that in Arabic
is known as Al Kalala. And it is
mentioned, for example, the hadith al Bukhali Muslim
that from the companions who were in this
situation of Al Kalala was the famous companion
Jadr Radiallahu anhu arda. There are a time
came when he was extremely ill and he
was in this situation so he asked the
prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam how the inheritance should
work and Allah
revealed this verse. Al Kalala is when a
person is passes away and they have neither
ascendants nor descendants that survived them. Ascendants meaning
that their parents aren't living or their grandparents
are living. They don't have anyone above them.
So their parents, grandparents, great grandparents, no one
survives them from that direction.
And likewise, they have no children that survived
them. There's no children, no grandchildren, no descendants.
So on both sides, either above or below
them in terms of the family tree, there
is no one that survives them. Who do
they have then that are their closest family
relatives?
It is their siblings, either full siblings
or half siblings that are from your father's
side. Half siblings from the father's side means
that you share the same father, but you
may have different mothers.
So you have the same father or their
full brothers and siblings, full brothers and sisters
meaning that you have the same parents, same
father, same mother.
For these people because the mother, the the
siblings from the mother's side, half brothers and
sisters from the mother's side, that ruling we
already mentioned previously in a verse in Surat
Al Nisa. So this is now speaking about
this group of people. And as we've said
before, usually when it comes to inheritance, the
people that inherit from you are usually from
the male line. So here it's either full
brothers and sisters or half brothers and sisters
from the father's side, meaning that you shared
the same father and you have different mothers.
Allah says that they ask you meaning the
prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
concerning
something. They ask you a question.
Allah
will give to you the warning concerning Al
Kalalah. This is in Arabic Al Kalalah and
it is from the
terms of the Arabic language and the Quran
that is very comprehensive. But when you explain
it into English, then obviously it requires slightly
more detail. Allah goes on to say,
if a person passes away and they have
no child and at the same time it
is understood
that they have neither any parents or grandparents
and so on. So they have no one
that survives them from those directions either above
or below.
But he has a sister that survives him.
Then
she will inherit half of that which he
leaves behind. Why only half? Because as we
said, the women,
when they are by themselves in terms of
that relationship, meaning a sister, without any brothers,
a daughter, without any sentence, so on and
so forth. When it was just women by
themselves, they are given what we call a
fard, a fixed share
and it is only the men, the males
in most cases or or
women alongside those men that share that same
relationship with them like siblings
or children
and those, it is only men in those
cases and women when they are met with
those specific men that become asaba, that take
whatever remains after the fixed shares have been
distributed. And so here Allah is saying that
for the sister, so this person passes away,
no parents, grandparents, no children, no grandchildren. He
has a sister that survives him. She will
take half of his estate, half the inheritance
goes to her and the other half will
go then to his closest male relative. He
may have, for example, a paternal uncle or
that paternal uncle's son, something like this. They
will get the other half of that chair
but for for in terms of his closest
relatives, that sister is only his only surviving
one and so she takes half.
Allah says
and if she has no child then her
brother is her sole heir meaning he takes
everything.
Why does he take everything? Because he is
a
and there's no one with fixtures that's surviving
because there's no parents, no children, there's no
other sisters, there's only a brother that survives
that. So he takes all of the shares
because that's how that is what the meaning
of the is. They take whatever remains behind
after the fixtures have been distributed. Sometimes that
means they get nothing. And sometimes they that
means they only get what's left over, whether
a greater amount or a small amount and
sometimes it means they get everything
depending on that situation.
And so Allah says here because there's no
likewise there's no children, no grandchildren, no parents,
no grandparents and so on,
then she has only one surviving
brother.
That surviving brother is her closest male relative
and so he will take all of that
wealth. For in Canada,
but if there is more than 1 sister,
meaning 2 or more. If there are 2
or more sisters, then they are entitled to
2 thirds between them. So now this person
passes away, he has 4 sisters.
Those 4 sisters,
if it was one sister, she takes Sahaf
as Allah as which I mentioned at the
beginning of the verse. If there's more than
1 sister, 2 or more. So in this
case, for example, there's 4 sisters, they will
have 2 thirds
and they split that equally amongst them and
the other 1 third then will go to
the closest surviving male relative whoever that may
be.
But if there are surviving brothers and sisters,
then the male is entitled to twice the
share of the female.
And that is because the sister, as we
said, by themselves, in and of themselves,
women
are people who have fixed shares. But when
there is a man who is in the
same level, meaning a sister and a brother
are the same level, a daughter and a
son are of the same level in terms
of their relationship to the deceased.
When there are brothers and sisters together, then
what the sharia does is it says that
we put them all together as one group
and the men will get double the share
as the females. This is the only case
and scenario in which this happens, that the
male gets double the share and that is
because they're on the same level. On the
same level means therefore
that they have to now split this in
a different way and that is that the
male gets doubled the share
over the female. If there was no one
on the same level, like we said before,
it's just one sister or there's a group
of sisters, they have a surviving uncle,
so their father passed away or or or
sorry, the the man passes away and there's
a surviving uncle.
He becomes He doesn't get the majority of
the shares. He doesn't come and he doesn't
fix with their shares or mix with their
shares. No. Because he's of a further relationship.
The distance of an uncle is further away
than from a sister,
in terms of the deceased. So here Allah
is saying but now there are people who
are both brothers and sisters to the deceased,
both of them. Again, there's no parents, grandparents,
no children, no grandchildren. Now there's a group
of brothers and sisters. How do we distribute
it? They will get the shares between them
but the male will get double the share
of the females meaning they get 2 shares
for 1 share to the female.
Allah says Allah
has made this clear to you so that
you do not make any mistakes All Allah
will be called and he asked for knowledge
of everything. And as we said before, this
was something which the,
Arabs when it came to these issues of
inheritance and even today, unfortunately, in in amongst
the Muslims and and even today in the
Ummah, you will find people when it comes
to issues of inheritance are not very fair.
They're not very just, they don't distribute that
inheritance according to the shaliya of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala and the laws of Allah and
and so Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala mentioned as
we've seen throughout this Surah Surah Many
of these issues concerning inheritance and this is
the final verse of this Surah. So we
see that this Surah is a Surah that
really focuses on
dealings and interactions when it comes to things
like inheritance and marriage and divorce and the
way that people should be and the mindfulness
that they should have of Allah Subhanu Wa
Ta'ala when it comes to all of these
issues. Because if a person has iman and
belief in Allah and they love and follow
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, then that should
manifest itself in terms of their interactions, their
dealings, the way that they have, that their
interactions with people, their dealings and the justice
that they show when it comes to these
types of issues, especially when there are things
like wealth
involved
or things where there is a personal benefit
to be gained, that is often where people
will
fudge between the lines and often go and
look for the gray areas because they benefit
in terms of money or in terms of
marriage or in terms of something else. And
so many of these rulings speak to the
person who or speaks to us in the
sense of those people who are conscious of
Allah and mindful have him of him and
have taqwa of Allah
So we now move on to the next
Surah which is the 5th chapter of the
Quran and
it is Surah
and Al Maida literally means the table spread
or the feast and that is something which
will be mentioned towards the very end of
the Surah in a story related to or
relating to the prophet of Allah, Isa Alaihi
Sala to was Salam. Surah to my that
is a Madani surah and it's from the
the final Surah that will reveal to our
messenger and prophet
and it is a Surah that begins and
mentions
a number of important issues but one of
those issues that will be stressed throughout the
Surah is the issue of pledges and oaths
and covenants.
So when a person believes in Allah
the prophet
and they then manifest that in terms of
their in their actions, they're essentially taking a
pledge with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, a promise
that they're making with Allah A binding covenant
of worshiping Allah following his Sharia, following his
commandments,
doing that which is pleasing to Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala and so Allah Azzawajal as we
will see begins the surah by telling people
to stick to their oaths and their covenants
and fulfill their pledges and throughout Allah, Azzawajal
will mention different forms of this including how
certain nations that came before us, certain people
of certain prophets
broke their pledges and they broke the covenants
that they made with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
So Allah
says at the beginning of this Surah
in verse number 1
O you who believe, fulfill your obligations,
or fulfill your covenants and pledges.
Livestock animals are lawful as food for you
with the exception of what is about to
be announced to you. You are forbidden to
kill game whilst you are on pilgrimage. Allah
commands that which he wills.
Allah Azzawajal
begins by this very important issue
and that is because our iman and Allah
is a covenant
as the prophet
mentioned that hadith of Mu'adhi Abu Jabal radiAllahu
an when he asked him, oh, what is
Allah's rights upon his creation? And what are
the rights of the creation upon Allah? Mu'adhi
said Allah his messenger know best. The prophet
said, salallahu alaihi wasallam Allah's rights upon his
creation is that they worship him alone. Don't
associate anyone in worship with him. And their
rights over him is that if they do
that, he won't punish them. So we have
made this covenant and pact with Allah Subhanu
Ta'ala. It is a pledge that if we
fulfill,
we will receive our reward insha Allah ta'ala
in this life and the next. But if
you break it, then you will receive the
punishment of Allah
and so Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala speaks about
this in terms of,
the greatest of covenants and pledges. And that
is what Allah mentions as we will, we
come to that verse when Allah
says that he took a covenant from all
of the children and offspring of Adam Alaihi
Salam when they were in his loins. So
Allah has made this covenant
impact with all of us that we should
worship him alone That is the greatest of
covenants impact.
And then every single covenant that you make
and pledge, it is something which is extremely
serious in this religion. The prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam told us that from the signs of
the hypocrites is that they break their pledges
and their covenants. They make a promise, they
break it. They take a pledge, they break
it. They sign a contract, they break it.
So
therefore from the,
from the attributes and the characteristics of the
Muslim, the believer in Allah is that they
fulfill their pledges.
And those pledges don't just have to be
the contracts that you sign
or the business dealings that you have or
the money and the loans that you take
but everything is a covenant that is from
Allah your iman is a covenant with Allah
the way that you should behave or interact
with the book of Allah
Prophet or your parents
or your children and your family. These are
all types of covenants that you take. The
marriage
contract is a covenant that you've made with
your spouse. All of these are different types
of contracts even though they may not necessarily
be in the traditional form of a contract
that we understand, but there are pledges
and there are promises
and there are packs that are made with
1 or another
or packs that are made with Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala and all of them should be
fulfilled.
Allah therefore says, oh you who believe, fulfill
these covenants, meaning fulfill all of your obligations
that you've agreed to. All of these things
and therefore the Muslim is the one who
fulfills their conditions and the covenants that have
been placed upon them. You agree to something,
then you should fulfill it. You entered into
an agreement that you signed willingly of your
own free accord, then you should be someone
who fulfills that agreement, fulfils that covenant because
that is what Allah commands
you to do and that is how the
believer should be. Allah Subhanahu Wa'ala then mentions
to us some of the laws of Allah
because the laws of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
his commandments are covenants upon us. Allah
binds upon us certain things that you must
do and tells us to stay away from
certain things because they are prohibitions.
That is a covenant and a pact that
we made with Allah sought.
Allah
says in verse number 1,
livestock animals are lawful as food for you.
So animals that we can consume that are
halal from amongst them are the livestock animals
and they are the vast vast majority of
what is halal for us. So
sheep, goats, cows, camels, all of these are
considered to be livestock animals. Allah says that
they are all halal for you.
Except with or the exception being
that which will be recited upon you and
that will come inshallah in verse number 3
of the surah that Allah will list certain
things that make those animals haram and that
is because livestock animals are
halal
if they are sorted in the name of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala ritually.
So the ritual slaughter is done in the
manner that it was prescribed, they become halal.
But there are exceptions to that certain animals
even from amongst those livestock animals are not
to be sorted for one reason or another.
And also,
there are certain exceptions
from consuming them and usually that is because
they have not been sorted in the correct
way. They die of their own accord or
they're injured and they die from the injury
or they fall off a cliff and they
die as Allah mentioned
in verse number 3. So Allah
says
everything is halal
except for that which Allah has made haram
upon you and also,
the other exception being is that whilst you
are in the state of haram because when
you're in the state of e Haram, you
cannot hunt. In the state of e Haram,
it is not permissible for you to kill
game. It is not allowed for you to
hunt because that is from the restrictions of
being in the state of the Haram. So
that's another exception
because from those animals that you can, for
example, hunt would be, for example, like a
gazelle,
my or wild deer. All of these are
animals that are halal to consume. The halal,
you hunt them when you eat them, or
like for example a rabbit and so on.
However, when it comes to being in the
state of Haram, the one in the Haram
is forbidden from hunting.
May you read, indeed Allah commands what he
wills and look at the eloquence of this
verse as some of the scholars of Tafseer
mentioned that Allah
begins by addressing the believers. So in this
verse you find an address, a call to
the believers. Then Allah
gives us a command, fulfill your obligations, your
covenants. Then Allah makes something halal in the
same verse and that is livestock animals. Then
Allah makes an exception to that And that
is accept that which will be an will
be announced to you or recited to you
in a forthcoming verse. And then Allah
gives to us
AA restriction
within that exception as well or within that
general
within that general commandment and that is that
if you're in the state of haram then
also it is something which you must avoid
in terms of hunting and then Allah
concludes this verse by saying that he does
as he pleases. And so this is a
verse that contains so many different things within
a few short words and that is from
the and the beauty of the book of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. In verse number 2,
Allah Azza wa Jalal then says,
Allah says, oh, you who believe do not
violate the sanctity of Allah's rights, the sacred
month, the offerings, the garlands, know those going
to the sacred house to seek the bounty
and pleasure of their lord. But when you
have completed the rights of pilgrimage, you may
hunt. Do not let your hatred for the
people who barred you from the sacred mosque
induce you to break the law. Help one
another to do what is right and good.
Do not help one another towards sin and
hostility.
Be mindful of Allah for his punishment is
severe. Allah mentions to us a number of
guidelines or a number of commandments within this
verse. Allah again begins by addressing the people
of iman and as we said when Allah
addresses the people of iman it is always
followed by commands from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Allah says do not violate the
of Allah.
The of Allah, the symbols and the rights
of the region of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Like for example, the
Haram and the Hajj
and for example, the massage, the mosques and
the Quran and the Adhan. All of these
are symbols of Allah, azza wa jay. Do
not violate
them because to respect them and to honor
them as Allah mentioned in the forthcoming Surah
in it
is from piety of the hearts and it
is from the good of the Muslim that
they understand that these are symbols of their
religion. And so to mock them, to make
light of them, to ridicule them or ridicule
the people who are practicing them is a
sign of weak iman and you may even
need a person too falling into a major
sin. And so a person has to understand
that these are from the the sites of
Allah, aza wa jal. When you see people
in the state of Haram performing Hajj, that
state of being disheveled, that state of being
unkempt, that is something which is beloved to
Allah aasawajal.
To make fun of that person
because they may not look very well groomed
or they may look slightly shabby or whatever.
That is something beloved to Allah ajazhu. To
make fun of that is to say that
you're making fun of the original Allah ajazhu
or the person who's fasting, who from their
mouth emanates a odor because they haven't had
any food or drink, that scent is beloved
to Allah
to make fun of that person and you
know that they're fasting, You know that they're
worshipping Allah
These are things that a person should be
mindful of. Nor should you violate the sacred
months that Allah has placed as we've mentioned
before and as will be mentioned further on
in the Quran. Allah
has told us there are certain verse of
certain months that are sacred. The months of
the and
of the 12 lunar months, those 4 of
the Islamic months are sacred. Meaning that in
those months, you should be more mindful concerning,
oppression and harming others and doing that which
is Haram.
Nor should you violate al hadi. Al hadi
is the sacrificial animal. The offerings that people
give towards the haram and the hadi specifically
is that which is given during Hajj or
during the pilgrimage.
So when a person makes pilgrimage, what they
sacrifice, in Arabic that is called hadith because
there are different types of sacrifices in Islam.
A person can sacrifice because they want to
feed their family or guests.
They can give a sacrifice for when they
have a newborn child. They can give a
sacrifice on the big Eid, Eid al Adha,
that's called
and then there is a sacrifice for the
people that are making pilgrimage and that is
called Al Hadi. Don't violate
those animals those animals
are earmarked
for
the rights of Hajj and for the sake
of Allah
to violate them, steal them, harm them, kill
them, it is not something which is
nor the gardens, It was the practice of
the Arabs that what they used to do
is that they would have these animals for
sacrifice, for the ritual sacrifice for pilgrimage and
they would place upon it a garland.
They would make something out of out of
out of some type of of of of
day farm pipe, day farm fibers and they
would make a garland which goes around the
neck of the animal.
And when people would see they would know
that animal, they will recognize instantly that is
meant to be for Mecca. It's going to
Mecca and it's going to be sacrificed there
and that's to differentiate it from other animals
because there's many animals. Some people may want
to eat some or some may want to
sell some but if it's garlanded
and you can see it, then you know
that's an animal that is beyond your reach.
And so that is something which then Islam
also established as the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
used to used to do himself as is
in the hadith of Aisha, Radi Allahu Anish,
he says that I would make these garments
with my own hand for the hadi and
for these animals that the prophet
would send to Mecca in order to be
slaughtered there.
Nor should you violate the sanctity
of those people who are going to the
sacred house.
They're going for the hub, they're going for
Hajj, they're going for Umrah, they're going to
worship Allah
In the olden days, people used to travel
by land and sometimes they'd come across bandits
or they're coming across people who may harm
them or to take their money or see
them as as as as an opportunity to
rob and steal from. Those people are going
for this worship of Allah to violate them
is from the violation of
of the rights of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and the symbols of this religion.
Says they're only going to the house to
seek the bounty and pleasure of their lord.
So be careful when it comes to them.
All of this shows us therefore that the
Muslims should be mindful.
These are all aspects of the region of
Allah
clear symbols of the signs
of the region of Allah subhanahu ta'ala to
honor them, to respect them, to know their
place in this religion. It is something which
is beloved to Allah.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
but when you have completed the rights of
Hajj, then there is not permissible for you
to hunt. Meaning once you've come out of
the state of Haram.
And the previous verse, Allah said, you can
eat the animals but not in the state
of Haram. Don't hunt. Don't hunt animals in
the state of haram. And now Allah is
saying that once you're out of the state
of haram, then there is something which is
once again permissible for you.
And don't let the hatred that you have
for the people who barred you from the
sacred mosque induce you to break the law.
And those are the people of Quraish, for
example, that used to prevent the Muslims from
coming and performing pilgrimage or if they came,
they would ridicule and mock them. Allah is
saying, just because that's what they did, doesn't
mean that you should harm them and break
the laws of Allah
concerning them. And that shows that the Muslim,
even if they are oppressed and harmed, if
they're going to seek retribution and revenge and
justice, it is done within the confines of
the sharia, within the laws of Allah
Vigilante
justice,
taking matters into your own hands, doing double
or triple harm to someone who may have
harmed you, that is not allowed in this
religion. And so some of the things that
we hear are unfortunately in parts of the
world where someone did something with someone's wife
or daughter or something, so then they go
and do worse to them. That's not from
this religion. That's not from our religion. And
so Allah is saying, if you have hatred
for someone that shouldn't need you to break
the laws of Allah, if they did sin
and haram, Allah will judge them and Allah
will hold them to account subhanahu wa ta'ala.
But you shouldn't go and fall into a
greater haram than the one that they did
because you think that that in some way
gives you justice or rights the scales.
Allah says, but rather help one another upon
good and upon taqwa, upon righteousness and piety
and don't help one another to do evil
and to do sin and that's a call
therefore that if that person is trying to
do harm, more harm than what was done
upon them or seeking some type of revenge
that is not allowed, then you shouldn't be
helping them just because they're your family member
or your friend or they come to you
and they say, look, our tribe has been
dishonored or our family has been dishonored, our
name has been dishonored, let's go and do
something. No, that's not the way the religion
works. If it is something which that is
good, reconciliation,
piety, pleasing to Allah
then go ahead. But if it is something
which there is sin or evil or corruption,
then you should stay away from that and
fear Allah for Allah is severe and his
punishment. And that is that Allah will hold
everyone to account. Those who do haram and
those who seek revenge also with haram. May
Allah Azza Wa Jal keep us safe from
his punishment and with that we come to
the end of today's episode.