Ahsan Hanif – Quran Tafseer – Page 122 – Qualities Of The Believers
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
We are on
page 122,
which is the beginning of the 7th Jews
of the Quran.
Surah Al Maidah.
In the previous episode, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
mentioned in the verses that we covered,
some of the aspects concerning the people of
the scripture
And how as a result of their disbelief
and their rejection of their of the message
of Tawhid and the what their prophets and
messengers brought and the revelation that was given
to them. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that
they were cursed on the tongue upon the
tongue of their own prophets such as Dawood
alaihi salam alayhi
salaatu wasalam. Allah says one of the main
reasons for that is that they wouldn't forbid
evil when they saw it, when they saw
people doing wrong, when they saw people
doing practices that were legislated.
When they saw people opposing the commands of
Allah and the commands of the prophets and
messengers. They wouldn't say anything. They would remain
silent. And Allah said that that is something
evil which they used to do.
We continue today or at least we begin
today's episode
still on that same theme concerning the people
of the scripture and this time Allah
in verse number 82 will tell us those
from amongst the people of scripture who are
closer to the Muslims and those who are
further away.
Allah
says
You are sure to find that the most
hostile to the believers of the Jews and
those who associate others
with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
from the
you are sure to find that the closest
in affection towards the believers are those who
say we are Christians.
For there are among them people devoted to
learning and aesthetics.
These people are not given to arrogance.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling our prophet
by extension the Muslims
that the people that were closest,
who were the people that were closest from
the people that were around the Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam during that time, the Quraysh,
They were people that were surrounding the Muslims.
You had 3 main groups of people that
lived in that region
and was surrounding the Muslims at that time
of the prophet and after that as well.
The first of them were the the disbelievers
or the polytheists of Arabia.
People like the people of Quresh and the
other Arab tribes used to be idol worshippers.
And so these people are called
and then you had the Jews and the
Jewish tribes and then further afield you had
the Christians that lived also within the Arabian
Peninsula and beyond around that region. Allah
says that from these 3 groups,
2
are more likely to oppose you and one
is more likely to be good and kind
towards you. And That is something which you
will see if you study the Sira of
the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam. It's something that
you see is played out during his lifetime
salallahu alaihi wasallam. As for the 2 that
are more likely to oppose you than the
first of the mushrikeen.
And those as we know were the ardent
enemies of the prophet
throughout the early years of Islam.
And so they are the people like Quresh
before they accept Islam and like the people
of 5, Thakif,
and like all of these other tribes around
Arabia they became enemies
to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Many
of them eventually
accept Islam,
But they were
harsh towards the Muslims. They would persecute them
and torture them and do a great deal
of harm towards them as we know throughout
the life of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam. The second group of people that are
also likely to oppose you and be difficult
upon you. Oh, prophet
is
the Jewish tribes that lived around Medina and
that area. And we know that that's something
which takes place during the lifetime of the
prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam as well. They tried
to poison him, well they did poison him,
but Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala cured him and
kept him safe. And likewise, they,
they broke the pledges and the covenants that
they made, the treaties that they made with
the prophet of Allahu Alaihi wa Salam around
the time of the battle of Hazab, around
the 50th of the Hijra. Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala said and then on the opposing side,
those who are more likely to be affectionate
and kind towards you, good towards you are
those people who claim to be Christians. Those
people who say we are Christians.
And you see this also played out. When
the prophet
in the early days of Mecca when the
Muslims were being persecuted and tortured and there
was a great deal of harm inflicted upon
them. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam told
his companions that whoever wished to and could
make the journey could migrate towards Abyssinia.
And he chose from one of the different
places around Arabia. Abyssinia isn't even in the
Arabian continent. It's in Africa.
So they would have to go and travel
beyond the Arabian Peninsula.
But from all of the places that the
prophet could see, he that's the one that
he chose. And the prophet
chose it because it was a Christian kingdom
and its leader the Najashi was known to
be a man of piety, a man of
justice.
Even as a Christian. And so the prophet
knew that the Muslims who went there migrated
there were likely to be given safety and
asylum And they were likely to be treated
well because of the justice
and the honor that that man had in
the and the as we know later on
becomes Muslim. And Allah in the next number
of verses will speak about those people from
amongst the Christians who then accepted Islam such
as An Najashi,
Radiallahu anwarahimahullah
ta'ala. And so Allah says that they are
more likely to be kinder and more affectionate
to you. Why? Allah says
that it can be
because there are a form amongst them those
people who are devoted to learning.
Devoted to their scriptures, devoted to learning their
and and and
are those people who
who stay away from the dunya, the ascetics,
and
their monks and their people who stay away
from the dunya. They cut themselves off from
everything around this world and they spend their
time in worship. And what that does is
it softens the heart. Even though it's not
something that we have as Muslims, we don't
have the concept of being a monk in
this religion. We don't have that in Islam.
You're told to worship Allah as we did
and you're told to look after your family.
You're told to go and earn a living
and so on and so forth. But in
previous
religions, they have the concept of monkhood.
Someone takes a vow of living in a
monastery and they just spend all of their
time in learning and devoted to worship. And
what that does though, it is it softens
the heart. Makes a person soft because all
they're doing is
all they're doing is worship. All they're doing
is contemplation
of the text and learning and studying. And
so Allah says that that is the reason
why they are more likely to be affectionate
towards you because as we know amongst Christians,
the concept of monks and so on is
something which is very prevalent.
And they are not people who are given
to arrogance.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala then describes these people
in more detail in verse number 83. These
are the people
who many of them became Muslims or accepted
Islam even until today. Many people who are
formerly Christians or come from Christian backgrounds and
families
are people who are drawn towards Islam and
accept the religion of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Allah says in verse number 83
and when they listen to what has been
sent down to the messenger,
you will see their eyes overflowing with tears
because they recognize the truth in it. They
say, our lord, we believe. So count us
amongst the witnesses.
And this is therefore from the traits of
these people. That when they hear what has
been sent down to you, meaning the prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, they hear the revelation of
the Quran being recited, you will see tears
coming from their eyes. Because due to their
study of their scriptures and their intimate knowledge
of them, they recognize that it is the
truth from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We gave
in previous episodes the example of Hirakan, the
leader of Byzantine Rome. When he asked for
Abu Safian to come and be presented before
him and and he asked him a number
of questions concerning the prophet
because the prophet after the treat of had
he
started to write letters and
notes towards the different leaders and kings around
the Arabian Peninsula inviting them to Islam.
And so
the leader of Byzantium receives one of those
letters from the prophet
and when he questions Abu Sifian and Abu
Sifian at the time is it to accept
Islam,
he realizes the truth of what the prophet
brought. But the only reason that he refuses
to accept Islam is because he feared for
his kingdom and his throne. He feared that
his people would depose him and that they
would exile him. And so his attachment to
his dunya,
to his kingdom, to his throne, to his
power, prevented him from accepting the original his
stand. On the opposite side, we have another
example. But the point being here that even
the leader of the Byzantines understood and recognized
the truthfulness
of the message of the prophet
On the other side we have the example
of a when
the Muslims in the early days of Mecca
they go and migrate there and amongst them
with the likes of and a number of
the companions of the prophet when
the persecution of the Meccans became too great
and very severe. Those who had the ability
to migrate migrated. And it's not an easy
journey. It's not like you're going from from
Birmingham to London or from Manchester to Edinburgh.
It's not a short journey. This is a
journey that would have taken days days, if
not weeks, in order to be able to
reach that place and seek asylum.
The Quraysh, when they heard that these Muslims
were going, they sent a couple of people
after them to go to Najashi and demanded
these people be sent back with them. That
the people who escaped from us, the our
people, send them back to us, we will
deal with them. And one of the things
that these representatives of Quresh did in order
to curry favor with the Najashi, who is
the leader of the kingdom, and in order
to try to encourage him and motivate him
and persuade him to send back the the
Muslims to Mecca is that they said that
these people criticize your religion. They criticize your
prophet, Alisa Alaihi Salam. Their belief concerning him
is not what you believe. So beware, be
careful.
So in the from his wisdom and from
his from his from his gentleness,
from his justice.
He called those Muslims to his court and
he said to them that this is the
claim that's been made against you. If you're
going to stay here, we need to know
what it is that you're upon and what
it is that you're preaching. And so they
told him that was
the representative who was speaking for the Muslims,
And then when he came to this issue
of
Islam, he started to recite from the Quran
from Surah Mariam.
And when Najashi heard this tears came to
his eyes. And he said, this is the
belief that we have. This is the true
belief that we should have concerning
Isa alaihis salatu was salam and he accepted
his stamp then and there. And he remained
as king as Mira and he remained upon
his throne until he would eventually pass away
during the lifetime of the prophet
a number of years later. So Allah is
speaking about these people. You see them
you will see their eyes overflowing with tears.
Because they recognize the truth in it.
And they say our Lord we believe so
count us amongst the witnesses
so they accept Islam and they believe
as An Najashi and others did from amongst
them. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
in verse 84 continuing with their statement after
they see that we believe and we should
be from the witnesses.
Allah continues
And why should we not believe in Allah
and the and the truth that has come
down to us when we long for our
Lord to include us in the company of
the righteous?
And This
is an extension of their statement. They say,
O Allah, we believe.
O Allah, make us from amongst the witnesses,
and why would we not believe?
And why would we not believe in Allah?
In the truth that he has sent down
to us? Why
not?
When we long that Allah will make us
from amongst the righteous and keep us in
the company of the righteous. Meaning, why wouldn't
we believe?
When we want to be from amongst the
pious that Allah will reward, that Allah will
honor, that Allah will bless in this life
and the next. Why then when we see
the truth and recognize it, would we turn
away from it? And that is the goal
of every person
to have eternal bliss in this life, in
the next, To have goodness in this life
and the next blessings in this life and
the next. And Allah
gives to whomsoever he wills that bliss
and that happiness and that contentment in this
life and the next. So if you recognize
the truth and you see it and it
comes to you, then for what reason would
you turn away from it and reject it
and go to something else instead. And so
these people believe in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
they believe in the message of the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, they believe in the revelation
of the Quran and they accept it and
become from the believers as we said
as like the example of Najashi
and others who accepted Islam. Najashi by the
way never went to Madina. Never met the
prophet
and so he's one of those people who
we call
we we have like a category of people.
In the lifetime of the prophet
who are not called companions. They're not Sahaba.
And they are not Sahaba because they never
met the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. In
order to be classified or defined as a
companion, someone must have seen or met the
prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam.
And so Allah
had people in that time that accepted Islam
but for one reason or another they never
travelled to Madinah. So they never met the
prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam despite being Muslims,
despite living at that time for various reasons
and for the circumstances that they were in.
And Najash is an example of that. He's
a king and he has a kingdom to
rule and he can't just be going to
Medina and back and so on. It was
a it
was a it wasn't something which was which
was possible for him. And so he remained
in until the end of his days. But
he accepted his name and his imam was
known to the prophet and
that is why when the prophet
heard of his death and the death, the
prophet
prayed his in absentia.
And he told the companions that they should
make dua for their brother who had passed
away. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in verse
85 speaking about these people and their reward,
those people who accepted Islam and their reward,
Allah says,
with the garden with the growing streams and
there they will stay. That is the reward
of those who do good. Allah
will give to them Jannah in their next
life, and in this life he will honor
them and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will make
them from his chosen slaves because Allah Azza
wa Jal gives to whom so ever he
wills this blessing of Jannah
and it is those people who have accepted
their heed and have believed in Allah,
Allah
gives to them Jannah and Allah chooses guidance
for whomsoever he will.
So Allah says that because of their Iman,
because of their faith, because of their acceptance
of Islam, they have the reward of Jannah.
And as for those who turn away, Allah
says in verse number 86,
As for those who reject the truth and
deny our messages, then they will be the
inhabitants of the fire. Because just as you
have those people that accepted the message of
Allah, they accepted Islam and they believed, there
were many from amongst them who refused to
accept Islam. They heard the message and turned
away for one reason or another so they
didn't become Muslim. And so Allah ajazul as
we have seen now throughout the tafsir of
the Quran from the moment we began Surah
Al Baqarah until this moment now and it
will continue throughout the rest of the book
of Allah as well. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
always mentions both sides.
Allah when he praises people and he says
concerning them that they will have the reward
of Jannah, Allah
will most always, always, most always speak about
the other side of people who reject and
turn away. And if Allah focuses on the
disbelievers
and their evil and their rejection and then
their their punishment in the in the in
this life and the next and the how
far that is waiting for them. Allah
almost always
then will mention the believers and their reward
as well even if it is just in
brief. And that is because this balance is
extremely important.
Not everyone is going to believe. Not everyone
is going to disbelieve.
But the law of Allah
is that only the believers will get eternal
reward and the disbelievers will get eternal punishment.
And so therefore Allah
always mentions
both of these groups and therefore we can
see that there are only 2 groups on
that day
only 2 parties will come and stand before
Allah
those of the party of the believers and
the party of those who rejected faith.
In the next verse Allah
speaks about a number of
commandments in the next number of verses.
In verse number 87, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says:
Oh you who believe do not forbid the
good things that Allah has made lawful to
you. And do not exceed the limits. Allah
does not love those who exceed the limits.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says here that Allah
has made
certain things halal.
Certain things that are good and pure. He
has made them halal. It is therefore not
permissible for anyone to come and make them
Haram.
To say for example that something that is
Haram is Haram is something which only Allah
does because He is the law giver, he
is the one who legislates subhanahu ta'ala, it
is his Sharia to decide, he is the
shari'er, he is the one who decides what
is Haram and what is Haram. For me
and you to come and to say that
something which is haram is haram or vice
versa that something that is haram is haram
is something which goes against this religion and
is from the major sins, It is us
trying to oppose the commands of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala and oppose the laws of Allah
aseawajal.
So therefore a person can't come and say
for example, that chocolate is haram. For example,
or meat is haram,
or,
you know, chicken is haram, Or something else
is haram that Allah has made halal. That
the scholars of Islam have told us is
halal in the Sharia of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. You can leave something off if you
don't want to eat it. Like the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam certain foods he didn't
like, certain foods were appetizing to him. So
he would just leave them, remain silent and
leave them. He wouldn't prohibit them from his
companions.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was once presented
with the Dab. The Dab is the desert
lizard that you find in that part of
Saudi Arabia, modern day Saudi Arabia. The the
dawb is like a desert lizard that they
eat. The prophet was presented with the dawb.
He saw this desert lizard and there were
other companions around him. He didn't eat from
it. But other companions ate and he didn't
say anything. He didn't wanna eat, but he
didn't make a haram for others. They ate
and the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam approved
of their eating of it, meaning that it
is haral.
And so therefore you can leave something
if you don't want it. And, you know,
someone wants to give up chocolate, someone wants
to give up meat or less eat less
meat, someone wants to give up something else,
sugar, whatever it may be, you can give
that up as a personal preference for you,
for a health reason, a dietary requirement, whatever
it may be, that's between you and yourself.
But you don't impose that upon other people
and you can't make it haram and nor
can you believe it haram for yourself Then
you say I prohibited this for myself as
an act of worship. You may refrain from
it for a health reason. That's not the
same as making something haram. Because the word
haram means that if you were to eat
from it, you believe that you have sinned
and that you are sinful and that you
are opposing Allah's laws. So therefore it is
allowed for you to
leave something but not make something Haram which
Allah has made halal
and don't go and exceed beyond the limits.
Because even in the Halal you can exceed
the limits. And much of what we do
today is going beyond the limits of the
Halal. Allah makes certain things permissible, but to
go beyond the limits of what is reasonable
in terms of the consumption of what is
permissible can sometimes lead to also evil and
harm as we know as well.
And that is why Allah says in verse
number 88.
In whom you believe subhanahu wa ta'ala. So
if from that which Allah has made halal
for you. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has made
certain things halal. In fact the majority of
things are halal. And Allah specified
certain things that are haram. And it's easier
to be mindful of what is haram. Stay
away from certain animals, stay away from certain
drinks, those things that are haram. Everything else
is haram and it is tayib for you.
And so Allah tells us to eat from
that which Allah has provided for us in
a sensible measured way as is in the
son of the prophet Subhanahu Wa Salam not
to overeat, not to be excessive,
not to waste the food and throw it
away and so on. Those things that are
mentioned in the sun in terms of the
etiquette of eating and drinking, that's something we
should abide by. And to enjoy the blessings
of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is something which
is permissible and Allah says
and be mindful of Allah and fear him
in whom you believe.
In the final verse,
verse number 18, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then
gives to us
a number of instructions concerning the issue of
oaths.
Allah
says
Allah does not take you to task for
that for what is thoughtless in your oaths,
but only for your binding oaths. The atonement
for breaking an oath is to feed 10
poor with food equivalent to what you would
normally give your own families
or to clothe them or to set free
a slave. If a person cannot find the
means, he should fast for 3 days. This
is the atonement for breaking your oaths, keep
your oaths, in this way Allah makes clear
his revelations to you so that you may
be thankful.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this verse speaks
to us about the issue of oaths.
And oaths is when someone invokes the name
of Allah upon
an action,
thereby
obligating it upon themselves.
So someone says, for example, by Allah, I
will come and visit you today.
By Allah, I will go to work today.
By Allah, I need to go and travel
to London today. They take an oath and
it's a firm conviction in their heart that
they are going to do an action. I
can say I'm going to London today or
I'm going to eat today, I'm going to
visit a friend today without making an oath.
That's not a promise anymore. It's just me
wanting to do something, and then I can
change my mind
because it's something which I, you know, realize
later on that I actually don't need to
or don't want to go to London or
I don't need to go and visit my
friend or whatever it may be. But when
you invoke the name of Allah, you have
made something binding upon yourself. And that is
because the name of Allah is
the noblest of names and it holds a
majesty in the name of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. To invoke the name of Allah is
not something that should be done lightly, nor
frivolously,
nor should it be done without any thought
or out of heedlessness.
The name of Allah should be honored and
respected and revered far greater than simply mentioning
it for any reason. However, Allah says that
for those people who do mention the name
of Allah and take an oath by Allah's
name as part of their everyday discourse.
Just part of their normal everyday speech. As
you will find in many Arab cultures that
they often say
by Allah, by Allah, by Allah. They don't
mean an oath by it. It's just the
way that they speak. It's just part of
their conversation.
Those types of oaths, they're not enacted.
The Sharia doesn't consider them because that person
in the heart didn't have the intention to
make an oath. They're just seeing it because
it's part of their discourse. That is also
something which is disliked, should be avoided.
Because when you see Allah's name like that
so much and you don't even have an
intention of doing it or seeing anything, you're
essentially in a way making light of Allah's
name.
You don't give to it the gravitas
that it deserves. You don't give to it
the honor that it deserves. That the name
of
Allah is mentioned in the heart of the
Muslim and upon the tongue of the Muslim,
He should make you think and stop because
you are invoking the name of the Lord
of all the master of the heavens and
the earth and the creator of all subhanahu
wa ta'ala. But if you do make a
firm conviction, by Allah I will do something
or by Allah I will do something, you
have now enacted the oath. What that means
is that so long as what you said
is a haram, there's nothing wrong with the
type of oath that you made in terms
of it going against or opposing certain commands
of the Sharia or whatever it may be.
It's a halal oath. Just for every anything
that you want to do, you must now
go and fulfill that oath. You must go
and do it. If you don't,
If you don't, then you must give an
expiation.
What is the expiation of breaking an oath?
It is to feed 10 poor people with
food equivalent to what you would normally eat
yourselves with your families. So you feed 10
poor people. The meal that you give to
each one of them is what you would
normally have at home. So you can't just
go and give them a bit of bread.
You can't just go and give it to
them as well. What you would normally have
as a meal at home, you have rice,
a rice dish, you have a pasta dish,
you have something that is a normal meal
for you and your family, that's the type
of meal that you would give to each
one of them. 10 of those people, you
must feed. That's the first option that you
have. You don't wanna feed them, the second
option is that you clothe them.
Clothe 10 poor people and you're done. That's
the second option. Or the third option is
the hariru rakaba to free a slave.
These are the 3 options that you have
and it is a choice.
At this level it is a choice. So
someone takes an oath by Allah, I will
go to London today. Then they don't go
to London. They had a firm conviction. The
intention was there that they wanted to go
to London and then they break that oath.
For whatever reason, a valid reason, not a
valid reason. The point is that they broke
the oath. They must not expay. What is
the expiation?
They have to feed 10 poor people or
clothe 10 poor people or free a slave.
And if you're unable to do any of
those, someone's too poor, they can't afford to
feed someone. They're already poor themselves. They can't
afford to clothe someone. They're struggling themselves. And
they can't free a slave. They don't have
the money for that kind of stuff. And
so what do they do? They fast 3
days.
But they only fast those 3 days if
they can't do that first set. That choice
of 3, feeding, clothing, freeing a slave, that's
the first level of expiation. You can't do
that? It's beyond your ability, you don't have
the financial means? Then Allah says if you
can't do that then fast 3 days as
an
expiation
that is the expiation for the breaking of
your oaths.
And then Allah says but preserve your oath.
Because if you make that oath
by the name of Allah
upon something,
then the name of Allah
should make you to fulfill the oath to
the best of your ability. Sometimes
you can't for a valid reason or you
find that something was better to do. You
wanted to do something but you find a
better option. So therefore you expect this oath
and you do what is better as the
prophet told us salallahu alayhi wasalam. But to
the best of your ability,
you should try to fulfil the oaths that
you make in the name of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala because that is from the Iman
that the believers have.
And that is the way Allah makes clear
his revelations to you so that you may
be thankful to Allah
And with that we come to the end
of today's episode.