Ahsan Hanif – Quran Tafseer – Page 111 – Lessons From The Story Of Musa
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of Islam, including its message of love and peace, its reputation as a God beyond Allah, and its potential for expansion. They stress the importance of fulfilling the covenant and not turning back until the end of the time, and warn against accepting predictions and risked being in danger of punishment. The importance of trusting Allah's guidance and showing faith is emphasized, as it is designed to provide rewarded actions. The episode ends with a promise to open up the rest of the story and discuss the response of people of Musa Alaihi removed from the city.
AI: Summary ©
Welcome to another episode of our tafsir page
by page. Insha Allahu Ta'ala. Today we're on
page
111 which is in the 6th juz. Surah
Al Mahida. In the previous episode, we mentioned
those verses concerning
Allah subhanahu ta'ala statements of of how the
Quran
is a guide and how the Quran is
light and how the Quran takes people and
guides them to the paths that are pleasing
to Allah
the ways of peace that lead to the
abode of peace. How the Quran is something
which will take you from the depths of
darkness, the darkness of shirk and kufr and
disbelief,
and it will place you into the light
of Iman, the light of Tawhid, the light
of knowing Allah subhanahu ta'ala and your purpose
in this life. And then Allah mentioned to
us in the final verse that we took
in the previous episode, Allah mentioned to us
the disbelief of the people who claim that
Risa Alaihi Salam was the son of Allah
and that he is therefore a God besides
Allah Subhanahu Ta'ala. Allah says
that the prophet Risa alaihi salam is from
the prophets of Allah. Allah can create as
he will
And just because he was created
without a father, doesn't mean that his father
is Allah,
may Allah be removed from that. Rather Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala does as he pleases. And
if Allah willed,
he could destroy Risa and his mother Mariam
and everyone upon earth and neither Risa or
anyone else could withstand the decree of Allah
azza wa Jal or his punishment if he
so pleased. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so therefore
Isa Alaihi Salam
as we believe as Muslims is a messenger
of Allah and 1 of the greatest of
Allah's messenger and Allah gave him a miracle
birth that his mother gave birth to him
without the intervention of a male. But he
is not a God besides Allah nor is
he the son of Allah
He is from Allah's messengers and from Allah's
slaves
and servants.
In today's episode, we continue with verse number
18 and we are still speaking about this
issue of the belief of the Christians
and the Jews. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
in verse number 18,
The Jews and the Christians say we are
the children of Allah and his beloved ones.
Say, then why does he punish you for
your sins? You are merely human beings, part
of his creation.
He forgives whoever he wills and punishes whoever
he wills. Control of the heavens and earth
and all that is between them belongs to
Allah or journeys lead to him. Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala
is saying here
and giving to
us a recounting of the belief of the
Jews and the Christians
that they are the chosen
beloved
children of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala And then
Allah
says, They say that we are the children
of Allah and His beloved ones meaning that
therefore we are upon the correct path. The
Jews say it about their religion, the Christians
say it about their religion as every member
of every religion will claim that their religion
is the correct 1. But these people, Allah
mentions the Jews and the Christians because they
are from the what we call the Abrahamic
faiths. They will send prophets prophets was sent
to them, revelation was given to them and
so on and so forth. So therefore,
Allah highlights
them. And they say that we are the
sons of Allah or the children of Allah
and we are the beloved ones to Allah
azza wa jal. Meaning that therefore what we
are upon is the truth. And only our
path will lead to success and to salvation.
And therefore if you are not upon our
path, our religion, our belief then you will
not be from the successful ones. That is
their claim and that is their belief.
And Allah is saying in this verse,
If that is the case and that is
the truth, then why does Allah punish
you for your sins? Does Allah
punish the people that he loves?
Does Allah punish the ones that he has
chosen? That's what he means. We are the
children of Allah, not literal children. Meaning that
Allah has chosen us, Allah has favoured us,
Allah has selected us, Allah has preferred us
above all others.
And so Allah is saying
then why would he punish you? Does Allah
punish the people that he loves, that he
prefers, that he chooses? Does Allah punish the
ones who are his beloved?
And so Allah says
you are from the creation of Allah from
the humans that Allah created.
Many have been created besides you. Rather Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala can place
preference, virtue, Allah can choose and select whomsoever
he will subhanahu wa ta'ala. And yes, Allah
did give to Badi Israel certain virtues, sent
to them many prophets, sent to them many
messengers, gave to them many revelations and scriptures.
Allah honored and favored them. But when they
continuously turned away from the path of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, then Allah
took away those honors and took away those
virtues from them. And instead Allah gave it
to the ummah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam. And therefore the people who come after
the time of the messenger of Allah sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, they have no recourse, no choice
except to believe him and to accept him
as the messenger of Allah and to follow
his path, his sharia, his religion.
And that is what Allah says.
Allah can forgive whomsoever he wills, punish whomsoever
he wills because their claim is that only
we will be forgiven. Their claim is that
everyone else will be punished. Allah is saying
that they're not the ones who dictate this.
They're not the ones who get to choose
where punishment befalls or forgiveness
befalls. They don't get to choose and select
who gets to go into Jannah or doesn't.
That is up to Allah azza wa jannah.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the 1
who gives us
the the the the standard if you like
or the guide guideline
as to those people who will enter to
Jannah. And that is that it is those
people who are upon Tawhid who worship Allah
alone without associating anyone in partnership with him
and from that Tawhid also therefore is to
believe in Muhammad
as the final messenger of Allah.
Allah
says in the conclusion of
this verse verse 18,
control of the heavens and the earth and
all that is between them belong to Allah
alone and to him is your return. To
him is your return and Allah will judge
you for that which you said and Allah
will require you for your deeds.
In verse 19 Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then
says
Oh, people of the book, our messenger comes
to you now after a break in the
sequence of messengers
to make things clear for you in case
you should say, no 1 has come to
us to give us good news or to
warn us. So someone has come to you
to give you good news and to warn
you for Allah has power to do all
things. Allah
is saying here
concerning those people who if they were to
claim on the day of judgment and to
complain that, oh Allah, you didn't send us
anyone. We received no messenger, no prophet came
to us, no warner came to us, We
didn't get your glad tidings or your threat
of punishment. Allah Azzawajal is saying that to
the people of the book or people of
the scripture,
our messenger has now come to you meaning
the messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam Muhammad.
He has now come to you after a
break in the sequence of messengers
because after the time of Isa Alaihi Salam,
there was no prophet of Allah that was
sent until the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam. And
there was a period of a number of
centuries between those 2 prophets of Allah
or for the Jews because they claim and
they don't believe in Harissa Alaihi Salam, then
they will say that after Musa Alaihi Salam,
no prophet or messenger was sent because they
don't believe in Isa Alaihi Sala to us
Salam. And so therefore they will say that
our prophets of many Israel came, but after
them up until the time of Risa,
no 1 came.
So Isa and what happened after him, we
don't believe it. Either way, there was a
break in the sequence of messengers meaning that
there was a gap and Allah does as
he pleases subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah
can send prophets if he wishes at whatever
time he pleases subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so
those people were told to uphold
the scriptures that they were given and the
message that the prophets brought to them of
the heed. But now Allah is saying that
we have sent you a messenger from us,
Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasallam, even though there has
been a break in the sequence of time.
Lest
you say
no 1 came to us.
No 1 came to us to give us
glad glad tidings or to warn us. So
no 1 can have that excuse on the
day of judgement. No 1 can stand before
Allah
and say that oh Allah no 1 came
to us. Oh Allah we received no Prophet
or Messenger. Oh Allah we didn't know what
was pleasing to you or the path that
would lead to you because Allah sent the
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and the Messenger of
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is number 1
for all of humankind
and number 2 it is continuous until yomul
qiyama.
So even though now we are some 1400
years after the time of the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam, Allah from his mercy has allowed
that message to continue. And that is why
the Quran has been preserved.
And the sunnah of the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam has been preserved. And the Muslims still
know the path of Tawhid to Allah and
they know the commandments of Allah and they
know the hadal from the haram. That is
still something which is widely known and widely
studied and easily available. And so therefore, that
message continues. So therefore, the excuse
of not knowing what the message is has
been lifted as it will continue to be
lifted until
That is what Allah says. So someone has
come to you to give you that good
news and to warn you. Whether that be
the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam during his lifetime
himself or after him those people who continue
to convey the message of the prophet salallahu
alaihi wasalam and the message of Tawhid in
Islam and indeed Allah has power to do
all things.
The next passage was 20 onwards
is the story of Musa alaihis salaam which
is split over 2 pages, so Insha'Allah we
will take about half of it today and
half of it the conclusion we will take
Insha'Allah
in the next episode.
In verse number 20, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says,
Musa Alaihi Salam said to his people, my
people,
remember Allah's blessings on you how he raised
prophets amongst you and appointed kings for you
and gave you what he had not given
to any other people.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is speaking about the
prophet
Musa Alaihi Salaam
and recounting an event that took place towards
the end of his life. We know that
the story of Musa Alaihi Salam is dispersed
throughout the Quran and Allah gives to us
many of the events that took place in
the life of this amazing prophet and messenger
of Allah alaihi wasalaatu wasalaam. The prophet Musa
alaihi wasalaam as we know was sent to
pharaoh and his people
so that they would worship Allah
and also that they would stop oppressing
and enslaving Bani Israel.
And that is a long story and it's
been mentioned
slightly in certain places already but inshallah we'll
come on to it in more detail as
we progress in the Quran.
Surah for example, Hud, Surah Al Aha, Surah
Al Kasas. There are many Surahs in the
Quran which Allah Azzawajal expands upon the story
of Musa Alaihi Salatu Wasallam. Here Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala has given to us a specific
incident
that is also to do with the central
theme of the surah that is the covenant
and pledge. And that is that Allah has
taken a pledge upon Bani Israel to do
something in the time of Musa Alaihi Salam
and they won't fulfill it.
Allah
after saving Bani Israel from pharaoh, drowning pharaoh
and his armies in the sea, Musa and
his people are now going towards the Promised
Land. What is the promised land? The holy
land is the land of Baytul Maqdis. Masjid
Al Aqsa, the surrounding area, that is the
holy land and the blessed land.
So Musa Alaihi Salam is now speaking to
his people as they're approaching that land and
they're close to it, but they've yet to
enter it.
He's speaking to his people and he's addressing
them and he's saying, oh my people,
remember Allah's many blessings upon you. Allah has
favored you. Allah has blessed you. Allah has
given you so much. And chief amongst those
blessings, greatest amongst them is
is that Allah raised amongst you prophets. How
many prophets were sent to Bani Israel?
Prophets all the way from the time of
Yaqub alaihis salatu wa sallam. Prophets after prophets
after prophets to Bani Israel.
And it is said in some of the
works of tafsir, they would have so many
prophets that it was only that 1 would
die and Allah would send the next 1.
1 would go and the next 1 would
come. So in succession, they would come to
them. And the number of them we know
about in the Quran. So prophets like Dawood
and Suleiman and Zakaria and Yahia and Risa,
all of these are are prophets of many
Israel. But Musa Alaihi Salam is speaking about
from his time and he's saying remember that
Allah raised amongst you many prophets.
And he also made you kings. Meaning there
are times in your history you had kingdom,
you had power,
and so therefore you could do as you
please and you had the power to worship
Allah and do what Allah wants from you.
And even though now they've been enslaved
for many years and generations by pharaoh, now
Allah once again has saved them. Now they
can return
to those 2 things. Allah has given them
prophets because Musa is there, Harun is there,
alihi mas salaam and if they enter to
Baytul Maqdis in the way that Allah commands
them, then they will also have kingdom, they
will also have power, they will also be
able to continue
in establishing the region of Allah
and Allah has given to you that which
he never gave to any other people meaning
up until that point of time because obviously
afterwards
Allah gives to the ummah of this of
our our ummah the prophet
something which is far greater but he's speaking
about his time up until this time you
are the best of people, up until this
time Allah has given you so many blessings.
So therefore what must you do?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala continues in verse 21
and says
Oh my people go into the holy land
which Allah has ordained for you. Do not
turn back or you will be from amongst
the losers.
Allah
says that Allah
has given to
you this commandment
that you enter into the holy land and
remember that the people of Musa
Prophetised his coming
and they prophesied that he would come
that he would save them from pharaoh and
his tyranny, that he would take them out
of bondage and slavery and that he would
lead them to the promised land. This is
the prophecy that they were waiting for and
Allah fulfilled every single step of it for
them and this is now the final stage.
Now here we are, towards the border of
the holy land. We are close by. All
you need to do is enter it in
the way that Allah has commanded.
And don't turn back now. Now is not
the time for you to turn back on
your heels, to turn back and be from
amongst the losers. Now you must go forth
and do what Allah
commands of you. Fulfill the covenant and pledge
of Allah Subhanahu wa'ala. Because Allah has favored
you. Allah saved you. Allah helped you. Allah
has blessed you. Now you must go and
fulfill the covenant and the pledge of Allah
Azzawajal. And that is as we said before
in the previous episodes, when Allah takes the
covenant from someone, it is not just the
covenant that you can say I believe, I
am a Muslim
and then you will get Jannah automatically like
that. Yes, you will get Jannah eventually if
you die upon Iman, but there must be
action as well. And especially if you want
to enter into jannah immediately
without any punishment by Allah's mercy, then you
must be from the people who enact or
act upon all of the commandments of Allah
Azza wa Jal to the best of your
ability. You must be people who uphold the
Sharia of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. You can't
just say I believe
and hope that is enough. Because if you
say that you believe but you don't fulfil
any of the obligations, you don't stay away
from the Haram, you don't fulfil your duties,
then you are under the threat of punishment
from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the scholars,
some of them even went to the extent
to say that some of those pillars of
Islam, if you reject them, you say you're
a Muslim but you reject them, that is
a form of kufr. And if you don't
reject them, but out of laziness, you don't
laziness, you don't fulfill them. Like the salah,
you don't pray out of laziness. There were
a great number of scholars of the Salaf
who used to say that such people also
fall outside of the fold of Islam. Because
what Islam is there left then from you
if you don't pray, you don't give zakai,
you don't do anything that the Muslims should
do other than the fact that you just
claim to be a Muslim.
And so this is something which is extremely
dangerous,
something which you should be mindful of. And
even though there is discussion amongst the scholars
of Islam concerning do those people come out
of Islam or not, The point is why
even place yourself in that in that danger
zone
where it may well be that you're outside
of the fold of Islam? Why would you
even take that risk
of being in that circle, of being in
that zone where there is discussion concerning you?
Is he a Muslim? Not a Muslim? Maybe
maybe not. Why even place yourself in that
place?
So Musa Alaihi Salam is saying, you have
the covenant of Allah. You must now fulfill
it and don't turn back at this time.
However, there is a problem. That problem in
verse number 22 Allah mentions to us the
response of the people of Musa Alaihi Salam.
They said, oh, Musa,
there is a fearsome people in this land.
We will not go there till they leave.
If they leave, then we will enter.
The people of Musa Alaihi Salam understand the
covenant.
They know what Allah
wants from them. They know what Musa Alaihi
Salam is commanding and Musa Alaihi Salam is
now encouraging them
and motivating them to fulfill the pledge of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to fulfill the command
of Allah
to enter into the land of Baytul Maqdis.
However, there is a problem.
In Baytul Maqdis, it's not empty. It's not
a land in which there is no 1
living. It's not a land free of people.
There is already a group of people living
there and these people are Jabarin,
people who are fierce, people who are tyrannical,
people who are known for their strength and
their power and these are people to be
feared.
And so Allah sent this as a test
for the people of Musa alaihi salaam and
look at how these 2 tests as we
will see also in the Quran, how these
2 tests are so similar.
Allah
just saved them from the greatest of tyrants
and from the worst of despots
and from the worst of the armies that
you could face and that is the army
of pharaoh.
And Allah
saved them from all of them, pharaoh and
his people and his armies without bad Israeli
even having to lift a finger. They didn't
have to draw a sword, lift a finger,
fight a single battle. Nothing.
Allah destroyed pharaoh and all of his armies
and he drowned them in the sea without
any effort upon the part of Ben Israel,
and he was the worst of people. Pharaoh
is the worst of disbelievers, the most tyrannical
of people, And Allah showed to Ben Israel
this amazing miracle, gave to them this amazing
blessing, gave to them this sign from him,
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Now they're on the outskirts of Baytul Maqdis.
And in Baytul Maqdis, there are people also
that are known for their for for being
ferocious and fearsome and and difficult to fight
and so on, but they're not like pharaoh.
They're not as vast as pharaoh. They don't
have a kingdom like pharaohs. They don't have
the wealth of pharaoh or the armies of
pharaoh. Nothing like pharaoh.
And
Allah saved Musa and his people from pharaoh
with all of his tyranny and wealth and
armies.
So then why wouldn't you go and fight
these people now in Baytul Maqdis and trust
in Allah
That if Allah helped you there with someone
that is more ferocious,
more fearsome,
worse,
that Allah will help you here as well.
But all you need to do is take
the action to trust in Allah and let
your iman give you the courage to go
and do as Allah commands. And if Allah
has commanded you to do something, because this
is a command, enter into this land now
by the command of your messenger, your prophet
Musa Alaihi Salam. If you're given this command,
then know that Allah only gives a command
to the believers,
and he will help them to fulfill it.
Only Allah Allah only gives commands to the
believers when he's going to help them fulfill
it. And so Allah will give to you
your your his divine aid, his divine protection,
his help
but they're afraid.
And instead of seeing these signs of Allah,
trusting in Allah and going ahead, what do
they say instead?
They say that we don't wanna go.
We're afraid of these people.
If they leave, we'll enter.
Okay. But you have to take them out.
But they don't wanna do that part. Someone
make them leave. You go and fight someone,
whoever, get them to leave. Once it's empty,
then we will enter. But for us to
go and physically take it and overpower them
and fight them, that's not something which we
are prepared to do.
Allah mentions in the last verse that we'll
take and as I said the conclusion of
this story inshallah will be in the next
episode. Allah
says in verse number 23.
Yet 2 men whom Allah had blessed amongst
those who were afraid
said go into them through the gate and
when you go in you will overcome them.
If you are true believers, put your trust
in Allah azza wa jal. 2 from amongst
them, and the scholars of tafsir differ as
to who they are, but 2 from amongst
the believers of the people of Musa Alaihi
Salam stood up and they said to their
people,
who are you fearing besides Allah?
Why are you afraid of anything other than
Allah
After all that Allah has given to you
of Iman and of blessings and of help
and aid,
what reason do you have to fear anything
besides them? Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Look at these
statements from these 2 believers. These 2 men
are not prophets of Allah or messengers. They
are not Musa or Haroon They
are just ordinary men, but they have iman.
And that is what Allah says that Allah
bless them. And am Allah, Allah favoured
them because that favour, which is the favour
of the strength of iman and the courage
of iman is from the greatest blessings of
Allah
They say to them, all you have to
do
just go and enter into the gate of
the city.
Because if that's what you do, then you
will be victorious. Because Allah promises to you,
all you have to do is take the
first step. Show your sincerity.
Show your conviction, your certainty in the promise
of Allah, your iman. Trust in Allah and
Allah will do the rest. Then the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasalam the day of Badr, fight
the mushrikeen of Quresh and all they had
to do was be there and show Allah
the sincerity and Allah sent for them thousands
of angels to assist them. That's what these
people are saying. All you have to do
is take those first steps and Allah will
help you with the rest. And that is
a general principle for the believer. Trust in
Allah, do that which is good and halal,
and take those first steps and Allah will
bless your efforts. Allah will open up the
door and the path for you and make
it easy for you. And so trust in
Allah if indeed you are believers.
And then we will see insha Allah ta'ala
in the next episode what takes place in
the conclusion of this story and how they
respond and and what will ultimately happen to
the people of Musa.
But with that, inshallah, we come to the
conclusion of today's episode.