Ahsan Hanif – Quran Tafseer – Page 118 – Allahs Response To The People Of Scripture
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AI: Transcript ©
Welcome to another episode of the tafsir page
by page, Insha'Allah,
today
we are covering page 118
which is in the 6th juz of the
Quran,
Surah Al Maidah.
In the previous episode, Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala
gave us a number of
instructions or we mentioned a number of verses
which Allah gave to the Muslims a number
of instructions.
From those instructions are those people that we
as believers should ally ourselves with and those
people that we shouldn't ally ourselves with. Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us that the allies
of the believers are those who
turn to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and they
believe and they have Iman and the people
of Salah and the people of Zakah and
the people who spend their time in the
submission of Allah Azzawajal in his devotion,
in his worship.
Those people are the true allies of Allah
Azzawajal,
and that is why the Muslim is the
one who wants to surround himself or herself
with those people who meet these characteristics.
People of Iman, people of good deeds, people
of Salah and Ibadah,
people who spend their time in the remembrance
of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala because they through
their strength and influence will also InshaAllah Ta'ala
bring you closer to Allah Azza wa Jal.
And that is why it is important to
remember who it is that we surround ourselves
with and the influences that we are allowing
into our lives. Because those things make a
difference. They make a difference to the way
that we behave. They make a difference to
the way that we act. They make a
difference to our in our in our relationship
with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And so a
person who is constantly with people who are
mindful of Allah will be likewise mindful of
Allah
and a person who is constantly in the
company of those who are negligent and heedless
of Allah
is likely to also become negligent and heedless
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
At the same time, Allah tells us to
stay away from those people
who take our religion in mockery, in jest,
they make fun of it, they ridicule it,
they think that it's all a big game
or that it's all a big joke. Those
types of people are not people who are
good
companions or good influences. And even though Allah
is speaking about the disbelievers
in the primary sense, unfortunately in the time
we live in, there are many Muslims who
can fit their description.
Many Muslims who make fun of Islam. They
are Muslims but they make fun of the
religion or aspects of the religion.
They make fun of the way that a
practicing brother or sister is dressed or the
way that they behave or the way that
they do certain things. Just as the Quraysh
used to make fun of the Muslims in
the way that they used to worship, in
the way they used to make Sajdah, in
the way that they used to do certain
things, they would make fun and ridicule that
religion. That trait, that characteristic
is therefore not a characteristic of the believer.
It's not the characteristic of the Muslim that
in any way, shape or form, they ridicule
Islam
or the people who are trying their utmost
to
adhere to the religion of Islam. A common
example of that in our time unfortunately for
example is the niqab,
the face veining that sisters wear.
People who don't like it or don't want
to wear it or think that it is
some type of extremism even though it is
something which was the norm and the default
in the time of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam amongst the mothers of the believers. And
they, the wives of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam, were the best of women. They used
to wear the niqab and the female companions
used to wear the niqab and the early
generations it was the norm to wear the
niqab.
And so now we live in a time
though where people will make fun of the
face veil. They'll call people names that wear
the face veil veil. They'll consider them to
be some type of some backward or or
or some some some types of derogatory terms
that they use in order to describe those
sisters that are striving
and that are trying their utmost to worship
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and to adhere to
his Sharia.
If you don't wanna wear the niqab or
it's not something which is something which you
want to do or you think that it's
the strongest position or you don't think it's
obligatory, whatever it may be, that's fine. But
you don't ridicule those people who may differ
with you, who are trying their utmost. Isn't
it enough that our sisters have to face
the ridicule sometimes of of the other people
that are around us in society, non Muslims
who may look upon that type of thing
as we see sometimes in the media amongst
politicians and others that they're making fun of
the face veil, that they're considering it to
be something which is which is a, a
form of oppression or a symbol of of
regression or whatever it may be. And then
on on top of that, we have Muslims,
sometimes people from their own families, sometimes people
that are considered or they consider would consider
to be their own friends, and they're making
similar statements
and and and showing similar sentiments.
That is something which I think all of
us should be very mindful of.
Going to be a very important part of
the world. And so, as I said, we
are going to be a very important part
of
the world. Of
the people of the people of the people
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people of the people of the people of
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people of the people of the people of
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people of the people of the
Say O Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi wa Salam O
people of the book, do you resent us
for any reason other than the fact that
we believe in Allah and what has been
sent down to us and what was sent
down before us whilst most of you are
disobedient.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the passage that
we are going to be covering today or
the page that we are going to be
covering today and in the next episode, InshaAllah
Ta'ala will give a number of instructions to
the people of the scriptures.
These people who believed or claimed that they
believed in the prophets and messengers of Allah,
that they worship Allah, that they believe in
His Divinely revealed scriptures and texts. Allah is
addressing these people now, and Allah
will highlight to us some of their wrong
that they did and some of the attributes
that they have that were haram
that they did in disobedience to Allah ajawja
and Allah ajawja will also call upon them
to
think
about their situation and come back to Allah
Here Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in verse 59
says or commands the prophet to
say to them, oh people of the scripture,
what is the reason why you resent us?
Other than the fact that we believe in
Allah.
What he sent down to us from the
Quran? What he sent down before us? What
are the revelations? We believe in the Torah.
We believe in the Injeet, we believe in
the zabod, the Psalms that were sent to
Dawud alaihis salam, we believe in all of
the divine scriptures, we believe in the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam and we believe in all
of the messengers that came before him. We
accept Noor and Ibrahim and Musa and Risa
and Dawood and Suleiman and Zakaria and Yahya
and all of those prophets.
We accept them and believe in them that
they were the prophets and messengers of Allah.
Is that the reason why you disagree with
us? And so Allah is saying that what
they should have done is realized and recognized
that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam came with
was an extension of the message that they
all understood. Extension in the sense that it's
the same Tawhid, the same line of messengers
And just as Allah chose to send prophets
and messengers to different nations, this time the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam emerged amongst the Arabs,
but he was sent to all of humankind.
They should have recognized within him the signs
of prophethood,
the signs of truthfulness,
they should have recognized in the revelation of
the Quran the signs of truthfulness and that
it is the Divine speech of Allah
and that it should have made them people
who accepted Islam and who believed in the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
Most of you are disobedient.
Most of you will turn away. Most of
you
will
be the truth that was sent to Allah
for whatever reason.
Sahibul Imam al Bukhari Rahimahullah,
he mentions the narration of Ibn Abbas radiallahu
anhu madam. Abi ibn Abbas narrates from Abu
Sufyan.
Radi Allahu an. Abu Sufyan before he became
a Muslim as we know was one of
the leaders of Quraysh.
And he happened to be in Byzantium
when the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam wrote
a letter to the leader of the Romans.
And so Hirakul, who was the leader,
called the people
in that locality, who were
from the Arabs and from the Meccan, so
that he could ask them more concerning the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Abu Sufyan happened to
be in that region at that time. So
he was called and asked to speak because
he was the one who was related closest
to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam from the
caravan and group of people that happened to
be in that region.
Abu Sufyan was asked a number of questions
which he answered. And Huraqal realized from all
his answers
these were the signs of a Prophet.
Everything that he told him matched with what
they knew the Prophet of Allah would come
with or the attributes and descriptions
that would match the prophethood of a Messenger
of Allah.
But Huraqal refused to accept Islam even though
he knew it was the truth. He said
in as in the harissa bin Abbas he
said that if I was to be with
him I would hasten to meet him and
I would wash his feet
and there will be a time when he
will come and he will conquer the land
that I now sit upon.
But when he realized that all of his
people, his advisors, everyone would reject him, meaning
Herakkal. They would reject him if he became
Muslim, they would dethrone him, they would get
rid of him. He feared for his own
kingdom and he feared for his own position
and he feared for his own rule.
And so therefore he chose to stay upon
the religion of his people as opposed to
accepting Islam.
And that is why Allah ahsawajal is saying
here what is the reason why you turn
away? When you know it is all the
truth, the only reason that people turn away
is because they have
some other type of desire that they want
or something else that prevents them from believing
in Allah
and that is why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says in verse number 60.
Say, shall I tell you who deserves a
worse punishment from Allah than the one you
wish upon us, those that Allah has distanced
from Himself and was angry with and condemned
as apes and pigs and those who worship
idols they are worse in rank and have
strayed further from the right path of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Allah
is saying that this
is worse than that which you fear
the punishment of Allah. Those people who refuse
to accept Islam for for whatever reason, whether
it's hiraqal in that story that Rashid Al
Abbas radiAllahu anhu or the disbelievers of Quraish
or the other people that the message of
Islam came to them and they refused.
Their refusal is usually for a reason.
Either they're following their desires
or they fear the the the repression of
their people or they fear for example the
loss of their wealth or some station or
some status, there is always a reason as
to why they will refuse to believe in
Islam.
Allah Azza wa Jal is saying that shall
I not tell you of something that is
worse
in terms of punishment than the one that
you fear,
worse than what you fear, worse than what
you think will take place, worse than what
you think will happen.
It is something which Allah if
he wishes, he places upon a group of
people when they disbelieve.
And we have seen examples of this and
we will see InshaAllah in more detail because
Allah Azza wa
Jal
will go into detail in the stories of
the Prophets,
the likes of Nuh, Hud, Salih and Sharayba,
Lut alayhi Musa Salaam and others that when
they came to their people they were rejected
and because of their rejection Allah sent upon
them painful punishments to destroy them. And so
Allah
is saying that that which you fear, O
people of the book, or people of Quraish,
or whoever it may be, that which you
fear which then stops you and prevents you
from accepting Islam,
That which Allah
has in terms of punishment is far worse.
Who is worse than what you fear? The
one whom Allah curses.
So he is distant from Allah's mercy,
from his kindness, from his gentleness, from everything
that is good in this life and the
next.
And Allah is angry with him. And the
one that Allah is angry with, his wrath,
the wrath of Allah is upon them, then
they will have the punishment of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
And
Allah
will place
or make some of them turn them into
pigs and apes.
And they are the ones who
are the worshippers of Shaitan, they worship idols
and Tawhut is every false god besides Allah
Subhanahu wa Ta'ala
And so everything which is a false God
is considered to be Tawut. These are the
people who Allah Azzawajal will do worse with.
They fear the punishment of the dunya in
terms of the people and what is around
them and what people will see, the influence
and what they may remove from them of
wealth or status or something else, Allah's punishment
is worse. Allah's curse,
Allah's wrath, Allah's punishment is something far worse.
For those of the people who are worst
or or worse in rank and have strayed
further from the right path of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
Allah says in verse 61
When they come to you as believers they
say we believe' but they come disbelieving
and leave disbelieving.
Allah knows best what they are hiding.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says that some of
them when they come to you saying that
we believe, but they do it
either because they are hypocrites, out of hypocrisy,
or they do it as some type of
scheme as some of the Quraysh said or
some of the people of the scriptures said.
They said, let us go and we mentioned
this verse before that they would say, let
us go and accept the religion at the
beginning of the day
and then we'll pretend we're Muslims and by
the end of the day, we'll apostate
And then we'll say to the people, we
tried it. We went into that religion because
we thought there might be some good in
it. But once we entered and we realized
its reality,
we left.
And then other people will see that and
they will see these people know what they
were doing. They actually went and they tried
and accepted the religion and then they left
because they found that it wasn't anything except
falsehood. That was one of the schemes that
they had and Allah exposes that scheme in
the Quran. So they weren't real believers. It's
either because of hypocrisy
or some type of scheme that they have
in order to deter others away from Allah
Subhanahu Wa Jal. That is why Allah
says
they come disbelieving
and they leave disbelieving. Meaning these people are
not true believers in Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala
and Allah
knows best that which they are hiding. And
Allah
will now speak about the attributes
of the people of disbelief, the attributes of
those people who rejected Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
from the people of the scripture and from
other than them. From them is that they
scheme against the religion and from that is
that they have a level of hypocrisy.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in verse 62
again continuing with their
description:
You will see many of them rushing into
sin and hostility
and consuming what is unlawful.
How evil are their practices.
Allah subhanu wa ta'ala
says that
these are the people who if they hasten
towards something, they hasten towards sin, they hasten
towards Urdwan, which is to be hostile,
to oppress, to transgress,
and and
they devour that which is consumed that which
is unlawful.
Look at these descriptions and then look at
the way that Allah describes
the believers.
These people are also hastening. They are also
rushing towards something. But Allah says when it
comes to the disbelievers
those people they rush towards good.
They race and compete with one another to
find the mercy of Allah and his forgiveness,
they race and compete with one another to
attain the Jannah of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And Allah Azzajal praises the believers for that.
And Allah Azzajal, as we will see in
Surat Al Bia when he describes the prophets,
he says that one of the major attributes
that all of them had,
from the time of Nuh and Ibrahim all
the way down to the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam, one of the major attributes that all
of the messengers that Allah sent to humankind
was that they were people of khairat.
People who used to go towards good and
hasten and rush towards good. If they saw
an opportunity for reward to come closer to
Allah they would do their best to grasp
that opportunity to the best of their ability.
But Allah now says, look at the disbelievers.
They also hasten,
they also rush, but they rush towards sin
and towards haram and towards oppression and transgression.
They rush towards consuming that which Allah Azzawajal
has made unlawful and haram upon them has
prohibited for them. And so the reality is
that everyone is rushing towards something. There is
no such thing as standing neutral in this
life. People who say I don't wanna do
anything. I don't wanna do good. I don't
wanna do bad. I'll just be neutral. There's
no such thing as staying neutral because the
very nature of life is that you're moving
in a direction,
whatever that direction may be. Even if you
think you're doing nothing and that you're in
neutral and that you're just not doing anything,
that you stopped somewhere, the reality is that
you're still doing something.
You're still moving towards something even if you
may be a life of not doing anything
but that's still in itself is doing something.
And so Allah
tells us that there are always people that
are racing towards something. You're always going towards
something. But the choice is those whether you
go towards something which is good and beloved
to Allah
or you go towards something which is evil
and something which is disliked
and is not approved by Allah Subhanahu wa
Ta'ala. So Allah says these are people who
rush towards sin,
they rush towards Uddwaal, which is hostility, harming
others and doing evil towards others and they
consume that which is unlawful, in whichever way
they can, whether
by turning what Allah has generated Haram into
what is Halal
or
by using a scheme in which they change
the terms
and the guise of something that they know
is haram, like devouring interest, and they change
the guise of it and turn it and
to call it something else and frame it
or shape it into something else, cover it
and package it into something else. But in
its reality once you move that packaging and
guise, it is still what Allah made haram.
That is the way that those people in
the scriptures would often
manipulate and distort the rulings of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. Allah
says
how evil are the practices they had. In
verse 63
Allah says,
Why do their Rabbis and their scholars not
forbid them to speak sinfully
and consume what is unlawful?
How evil their deeds are?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying that from
amongst those people of the scriptures there were
people who were learned people, people of scholarship,
people who were worshippers, people who dedicated
their lives to the study of their scriptures.
And they know the reality of what Allah
has enjoyed and what Allah has prohibited. They
know what Allah made halal and what he
made haram and they can see that what
their people are doing is distorting or manipulating
the religion of Allah Azza wa Jal. The
worst form is when the scholars
are manipulating the religion for their people.
And the other form that is just as
evil is that they see their distortion happening
and they remain quiet. Because people are paying
them, because people are giving them a wage,
because people are are doing good to them
and so they don't want to lose people's
favor and their wealth and so on. And
that's something which unfortunately you will find even
amongst the Muslims. Didn't the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam say that we will follow the
foot in the footsteps of those who came
before us? And so you have amongst
Muslims,
people who are so called Imams, scholars and
leaders. And what they will do is they
will also distort the rulings of Allah Azza
wa Jal or they will devour the wealth
of people and then they will see them
doing haram and they won't say anything
towards them or worse they are the ones
manipulating the religion of Allah
and innovating practices into it and then making
that popular amongst the masses and taking money
for that and getting payment for that. All
of this is something Allah sent down no
authority for. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying
to their leaders, their scholars,
their learned people,
why do they not speak out? Why don't
they forbid them? And that is why one
of the major roles of the scholar and
the Muslim learned person
is that they speak out when they see
people doing wrong. When they see the imam
should be the one who speaks out. When
he sees people making mistakes, they are doing
wrong in community and society. There is an
evil that is not prevailing. People should speak
out and they should be very clear in
terms of what it is that is Haram
or what is Haram or Allah
has legislated and what Allah
has forbidden.
And the final verse we will take today
is verse 64.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will speak about the
way the Jewish community or some of them
described our Lord and creator
Allah
says
but it is they who are tight *
and they are rejected for that which they
have said or cursed for that which they
have said. Truly Allah's hands are open wide.
He gives as he pleases. What has been
sent down to you from your Lord is
sure to increase insolence and defiance in many
of them. We have sown enmity and hatred
amongst them till Yomul Qiyam at the day
of resurrection.
Whenever they kindle the war of fire, Allah
will put it out. They try to spread
corruption in their land, but Allah does not
love those who corrupt.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
describes one of the statements that they made
and that is that Allah Azzawajal
may Allah be free from this. Allah is
free from
the description that they ascribe to him. Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. They said that Allah is tight
*, meaning that he doesn't give from his
generosity, doesn't give from his goodness, doesn't give
from his bounty, his grace and his favour.
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Allah Azzawajal responds and he
says,
'may their hands be typhested.' They are the
ones who are stingy and miserly. And that
is what happened then. Those people became stingy
and miserly when it came to doing good
and spending in the way of Allah Azzawajal.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says that because of
the way that they spoke about Allah Azzawajal
and it's not the first time doesn't Allah
Azza wa Jal tell us in the verse
that we took already before that they said
that Allah Azza wa Jal is Fakir and
we are Aqniya. Allah is the poor one.
We are the rich ones. These are different
statements
that shows their audacity
when it comes to their arrogance and disbelief
in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah says that
it is because of statements like this that
Allah curse them
but rather the hands of Allah
are widespread,
outspread.
And He gives to whomsoever He will. Subhanahu
Ta'ala. Doesn't Allah Azza wa Jal give to
us from all the blessings of the dunya?
Doesn't Allah has given to you from wealth,
from children and from health? Doesn't Allah give
to you the blessings of everything that you
need? Not only monetary blessings, because there is
only one type of blessing that Allah gives
to you, but Allah gave you health, and
Allah gave you a family and children, a
safety and security,
and Allah Azzajal placed sovereignty in your heart.
All of them are from the blessings and
treasures of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. He gives
to whomsoever He wills, and He gives by
day and night, and Allah Azzawajal's
treasures are never ending. Allah does not fear
poverty. You only fear poverty if your treasure
is finite, if your wealth is finite, if
you look in your bank account and you
know that you only have £10,000
then that is something which you're going to
fear because if you spend, spend, spend, spend,
and that diminishes, diminishes, diminishes, that's where you
have fear. But if someone came to you
and said that there is no limit to
your wealth, you can have 1,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000,000,
there's nothing that you need to fear in
terms of poverty.
And that's by the way, not only in
terms of physical
money spending, but it's also a mindset because
the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam would give away
as we know in the sunnah to to
the extent that people would say this is
a man who doesn't fear poverty. But the
point is that Allah
treasures are limitless. Allah gives as He pleases
by day and by night to whomsoever He
will Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. But that
which was sent down to you from your
Lord in Revelation
is sure to only increase them in
rejection,
in defiance, in disbelief
and Allah says that we have sown enmity
between them
every single time they try to kindle the
fire of war
land.
But Allah does not love those who corrupt.
So Allah speaks about their reality and the
way that they are. And how they are
always looking as Allah mentioned in the previous
verses to sow sin and hostility and trouble
within the land and Allah
suffices people for much of their harm and
they will be judged by Allah
on the day of judgement. And with that
InshaAllah we come to the end of today's
episode.