Ahsan Hanif – Quran Tafseer – Page 129 – The Mercy And Justice Of Allah
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In the 7th juz of the Quran.
In the previous episode we began with the
tafsir of Surah Al Anaim which is the
6th chapter of the Quran
and we began by what Allah mentions of
praising himself subhanahu wa ta'ala of how he
alone is worthy of worship because he is
the one who created the heavens and the
earth
and made darkness and light. He is the
one who created us from clay and gave
us a fixed time upon this earth and
then will resurrect us and yawmul qiyama. He
is the one who knows what we hide
and what we make apparent. And He is
the one who is well aware of that
which we do. Allah tells
us that the people, despite all of these
signs from Allah
still turned away from His worship, Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. And they turned away from Allah
despite seeing
and knowing of those nations that came before
them, those generations that have passed by that
were stronger,
mightier,
more established upon the earth, had greater blessings
and wealth. But when they turned away from
Allah and rejected his prophets and messengers, Allah
destroyed them as a result of their sins.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala in the last verse
that we concluded upon in the last episode,
Allah
speaks about the disbelievers and their demands and
how they say if only
we could see a physical revelation come down
to us, parchments that are inscribed upon that
we can see, that we can touch, that
we can read then we would believe. Allah
says they wouldn't though because even if that
was to come down they would attribute it
to some type of magic and sorcery and
they would continue to believe in Allah ajawajal.
We continue today from verse number 8 and
Allah is still speaking about the rejection of
the disbelievers.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
They say why was no angel sent down
to support him? But had we sent down
an angel, their judgement would have come at
once with no respite given.
That is also one of the claims that
the disbelievers used to make and that is
that they would want to see the angels
or they would want the angels to be
sent as prophets and as messengers and that
is something which Allah ahsaldeen mentions on a
number of occasions.
So they want to see either the angel
itself coming down as the Prophet and Messenger
meaning why didn't Allah
appoint an angel as his prophet to us
as opposed to choosing a human from the
humans or why can we see the angel
come down physically
from the heavens in its original form as
a sign that he is supporting
this Prophet of Allah meaning the Prophet salallahu
alaihi wasallam.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that these are
the signs, the type of signs
that if you were to send down the
angel
then their judgement would have come at once
and no respite would be given. There are
certain signs that if you were to see
them and still disbelieve
then that would be the end of the
affair for you. That would be the end
of of any
any respite that you would be given, any
time that you would be given, any chance
that you would have of them taking belief
later on because we know that there are
people who will see signs of Allah and
deny them and reject them but very small
traces of Imaan have entered into their hearts.
Very small aspects have entered into their minds
and into their hearts and it will take
them sometimes months,
sometimes years of searching
and seeking
and looking and thinking before they come to
the path of Tawhid. Not everyone believes instantly.
Not everyone believes as Abu Bakr radiAllahu an
did. Not everyone immediately accepts Islam. For some
people it is a journey of a number
of years before they reach that point. If
Allah was to send a sign that was
so clear and those people would deny it,
then that would be the end of them.
They wouldn't be given any more chance or
any more time. But in this way Allah
azza wa jal from his mercy gives people
time. Perhaps today this person doesn't believe but
in a year or 2 or 5 or
10 or 20 he will come to Islam
and he will believe in the religion of
Allah azza wa jal. And we all know
that there are amongst us there are people
who accepted Islam, some in their 40s, some
in their 50s, some in their 60s, 70s
and even 80s and later. So people can
come to Islam whenever they please as Allah
chooses to guide them. So Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala doesn't send down such blatant signs.
It is said for example in some narrations
that one of the things that the Quraysh
demanded from the Prophet
is that he makes the city of Mecca
flat because as we know Mecca is in
a valley. It is surrounded by hills and
by mountains
and the Kaaba is at the bottom of
that valley. So they said, oh, Mohammed,
make for us a sign, a miracle that
you make this land flat,
a land of vegetation and produce like Madina,
a land of farming, a land of agriculture,
a land where we can grow and have
day palm trees because Mecca has very little
of that. The city of Mecca itself isn't
a place where you can farm because it's
all hills and it's all valleys and it's
all mountain passes.
But the city of Madinah is flat and
that's why it's known for its date palm
trees, known for its farming and its agriculture.
So, O Muhammad, make for us a place
that is flat, remove these mountains for us
and give to us vegetation and if you
do that and show to us gold and
so on, we will give you, we will
believe in you. The prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
said in that narration asked Allah for this
and Allah said to him that if I
give them this, I can grant it to
them but if they still disbelieve after this,
then they will be destroyed and they will
be punished because that is from the major
signs of Allah azza wa Jal.
Just like we will see in the story
of salih alayhis salam when they demand the
sheikh animal comes out from the mountain salih
alayhis salam says to them be careful because
if you are granted this miracle and you
still disbelieve that is when the punishment of
Allah will come upon you. Because that is
a major sign now. It's not just a
small sign, that is a major sign from
Allah azza wa Jalal, a miracle that you
demanded that you were given.
And so the Prophet
when he was told this by Allah said
no O Allah don't give it to them
because he feared for his people that amongst
them there will be those who will still
deny and they will be destroyed.
But in this way you wait and give
them time and as the time continues to
go from amongst them will be believers
or from their children will be believers like
in the story of Taif when the Prophet
went and stoned him and they repel him
from the city in
the most abhorrent of ways. The Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam then is given or sent
the angel of the of the mountains who
comes and says to Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam if you wish I will destroy these
people between the mountains. The Prophet said sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam no for I hope that
from them or from their descendants will be
those who will say La ilaha illallah.
And Allah fulfilled this dream of the Prophet.
Allah fulfilled this wish of his because in
a few short years from amongst those people
of 5 are those who will become Muslim.
And from those people who died but they
left behind their descendants and their children will
be those who become Muslim until eventually that
city of 5 becomes the city of Islam,
Muslims everywhere.
So that tribe that was so
abhorrent in the way that it rejected the
Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam from them become people
of iman. And that is the blessing of
Allah azza wa ji that he gives to
him soever he pleases. And so Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala from his mercy is that He
gives people time. The people that you are
calling to Islam may not accept Islam, they
may even have enmity towards Islam, they may
even be physically or verbally abusive towards Islam,
but maybe their descendants will become Muslims,
Maybe the descendants of their descendants will become
Muslims. Maybe in 3, 4, 5, 6 generations
from amongst them, there will be those who
will be Muslims. And we see that today,
many of our brothers and sisters who are
rivets into Islam,
their parents are not Muslims, their grandparents are
not Muslims, their ancestors are not Muslims.
Who knew 3, 4, 500 years ago that
person who's a non Muslim that from their
descendants one day will come a person who
will say that Ida Haidullah.
And we don't know, maybe their ancestors were
people who were extremely abusive towards Islam or
were even violent towards it or maybe they
did something harmful towards the Muslims. Allah knows
best. But the point is that Allah gives
guidance as He pleases. And so Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala here is saying to the disbelievers
be careful what you wish for for sometimes
that which you wish for may result in
your own destruction.
And verse number 9 Allah says concerning this
demand of theirs that Allah sends to them
angels
Indeed if We had sent an Angel as
a Messenger, We would still have sent him
in the form of a man, so increasing
their confusion. Meaning that even if he was
to come, he would come in the form
of a man so that people will be
able to see him, relate to him, speak
to him because
the angels in the original forms are massive
creations of Allah azza wa Jal. The prophet
told us salallahu alaihi wasallam that he saw
the angel Jibreel alaihi wasallam in his original
form on a number of occasions
and he said concerning him when he saw
him in his original form said that Ufuk
that he covered the whole of the horizon
because that is how vast the creation of
Jibreel Alaihi Salaam is. So often when Jibreel
Alaihi Salaam would come, he would come in
the form of a man and he would
take the resemblance of one of the companions
by the name of Dihi Al Kalbi radiAllahu
an. He would come in an appearance similar
to Dihyah radiAllahu an. And likewise in the
sunnah, you will see on a number of
occasions that Allah sent angels to people
and they came in the form of humans.
And likewise in the Quran, in the story
of Ibrahim Alaihi Salam when he's given the
glad tidings of a child, in the story
of Mariam alaihis salam when she's given the
glad tidings of Isa alaihis salam, you will
see in the story of Lut Alaihis salam
when those angels come to destroy his people,
you will see often that the form of
the angels is human. That is what Allah
azza wa jal is saying here that even
if we were to send angels,
they would be sent in the form of
humans because otherwise the people will turn around
and say, how can we be expected to
be like the angel? How can we be
expected to worship Allah like these angels? The
angel doesn't need to eat, doesn't need to
drink, doesn't need to sleep, doesn't need to
go to the bathroom, doesn't need to do
all of these human functions that we require
are in need of? So how can we
therefore be like the angels in terms of
their worship, their dedication, their submission to Allah
azza wa Jal, their servitude of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala
and so the people will reject it for
that reason. And so Allah says that he
would only increase them in their confusion. They
would only increase in this and it would
cause them more
difficulty than ease if Allah was to grant
their demands.
Barada all of these are simply ways of
them rejecting Allah rejecting his religion and that
is what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in
verse number 10.
The messengers who came before you were also
mocked, and those who mocked them were engulfed
by the very punishment they had mocked.
Allah says that these are just simply
ways of rejection.
Excuses that are made by the people in
order to reject you and reject your message.
Like in the story that is mentioned in
the Muslim ulama Muhammad, the narration of Abdullah
ibn Abbas radiallahu anhu that the Jews came
to the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam in Madina
and they said, oh Muhammad, we have 4
or 5 questions. These are the signs of
prophethood. If you can answer them, then we
know that you will be a prophet. And
they asked him a number of questions that
the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam answered. Why
did Yaqub alaihi salam make certain things haram
upon himself?
How is the gender of the child determined
whether it's a male or a female? How
is this known or known? And so they
asked a number of questions to the Prophet
salallahu alaihi wa sallam and he answered them
and they agreed that that's what they found
in their scripture, that's what they know of
their religion from the signs of prophethood.
Then the final question that they asked is,
who is the angel that comes to you?
This angel that comes with you with revelation,
who does he come? Who is it? And
the prophet said sallallahu alaihi wasallam is the
angel that Allah sent to every single prophet
and messenger and that is Jibreel alaihi salam.
They turned around and said that is our
enemy. Had you said me
or another angel would have believed in you.
So they turned away. They rejected this based
upon this one answer even though the answer
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was correct.
So likewise, these people don't really want to
believe. They're looking for excuses. They're looking for
something that they can simply use in order
to say that they tested you and now
they don't need to believe in you.
And likewise the prophets and messengers who came
before you were also mocked.
And those who mocked them were engulfed by
the very punishment that they had mocked. Meaning
that which they rejected,
that which they denied, that which they made
fun of, that Allah wouldn't punish them, that
Allah wouldn't hold them to account, that they
wouldn't be destroyed. Allah
caused that very punishment to descend upon them
and they were destroyed by the very thing
that they used to make fun of. So
Allah says in verse number 11,
say travel throughout the earth and see what
fate befell those who rejected the truth. So
travel upon the earth, look at all of
these nations that came before you, all of
these mighty nations that lived but they rejected
their Prophets and their Messengers and the revelation
that Allah gave to them. What was their
end game? What happened to them at the
end? And you will see that Allah Subhanu
wa Ta'ala destroyed them. And when Allah
destroys them, no one came to their aid,
no one came to their help or their
assistance, no one stood by them, no one
protected them from the punishment of Allah Subhanu
wa Ta'ala and so the people of knowledge,
of intelligence, the people of understanding see the
signs of Allah
and it makes them believe in Allah
and turn towards it. And that is why
you must look with Ibra,
with understanding, with contemplation
because everyone can see but the people who
see with understanding are very few,
the people who really observe
and they understand are very few because many
people see and they pass by, many people
look and they don't make a connection with
that which Allah has mentioned within his revelation.
In verse number 12 Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
then says
Say to whom belongs all that is in
the heavens and the earth, say to Allah,
He has taken it upon Himself to be
merciful. He will certainly gather you on the
day of resurrection which is beyond all doubt.
Those who deceive themselves will not believe. Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala then goes back therefore after
mentioning all of these signs.
To go back to the central question of
the worship of Allah Azzawajal.
To whom belongs everything that is in the
heavens and the earth. Say to them, O
Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa sallam, to Allah alone.
He is the one who made and comfort
upon himself that he will be merciful. And
the mercy of Allah is
of 2 types. The mercy that is all
encompassing for all of his creation
and that is the mercy that Allah descended
to this earth by which the people are
able to look after themselves and their children
and their offspring and everything around them. It
is for that reason that even the animals,
the predators
will be kind and merciful towards their own
children and towards their own offspring. It is
the reason why we as humans have mercy
and kindness towards one another. That is something
which is open. Allah provides for everyone and
Allah gives to everyone. And Allah
gives to people blessings. Subhanahu Wa Jal as
He determines in a way that He determines.
And then there is the specific type of
Mercy that Allah has made particular to the
believers, that Allah has made exclusively for them.
These are the people of Iman, the people
of belief, the people who have turned to
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for them. There is
a specific type of Mercy in this life
that mercy is found in the Quran in
the Prophet
in the iman that they have in the
way that Allah allows
them then to benefit in terms of being
able to gain reward, expiration of their sins
and attainment of highest stations in the dunya
and so on and so forth And on
Yomul Qiyama they will be given the mercy
of Allah
through which and by which they will enter
into Jannah by His permission subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And that is why the Prophet told us
that
Allah
divided his mercy into 100 parts.
99 he kept for himself
and that one part
that he left behind
caused to descend upon the earth and it
is through that that we have mutual mercy
and kindness towards one another.
And Allah will gather you on the day
of resurrection which is beyond all doubt. That
day will come and on that day you
will be made to stand before Allah and
you will be held to account for your
deeds, good and bad. And Allah will then
require you accordingly
by either giving you a reward or by
giving you punishment.
So those who disbelieve,
who don't have Iman are the ones who
have truly suffered or lost. They are the
ones who have truly deceived themselves
because they have turned away from that Mercy.
The mercy of Allah is so expansive,
so great, so comprehensive
that those people must be truly wretched that
they turned away from that mercy of Allah
and
they chose other than the path of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So Allah
gives to us the many signs of his
of his worship. The many signs that he
deserves to be worshipped alone. The many signs
that point to his creation
and to point to his existence Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala that he is the one who created
all things. And Allah
continues to mention a number of those signs
in verse 13 onwards.
Allah
says in verse number 13:
All that rests by night or by day
belongs to Allah. He is the All Hearing,
the All Knowing. Allah
says, therefore everything that rests
by day or by night, everything that you
find within the day, within the night and
that is everything,
everything that exists or lives by the day
or by the night. From the humans, from
the jinn, from the angels, from that which
you find of the heavens and the earth,
from the animals,
from the rocks and stones, everything within
the heavens and the earth. Allah
is the one who controls everything and everything
belongs to him. Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Because this shows and it is from the
signs of Allah
that there are those things that rest by
day, those things that rest by night. Had
Allah said only those things that rest by
night, there would have been a number of
creations of Allah that don't rest by night.
They are nocturnal as we know. Certain birds
and animals and insects they only come out
at night. They come out throughout the nightly
hours and during the day they rest and
sleep. Allah
says,
and likewise the moon is what appears and
the stars appear at night whereas the sun
appears during the day. And so Allah
says that to Allah belongs everything
that rests whether in the day or whether
in the night and so therefore that includes
everything.
And He is the one that is All
Hearing, All Knowing Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. He is
the one who hears all of their needs
irrespective of their tongues, of their languages, of
their modes and methods of communication
because the way that the rocks communicate are
different to the way that the animals communicate,
different to the way that the plants communicate,
different to the way that the sun and
the moon communicate. And we know that all
of them have the ability to speak in
the way that Allah
has commanded and has decreed. They replace Allah
and they glorify Allah and they do as
Allah
commands.
And so it is not just
because we can't understand what they say or
their method of communication that they don't necessarily
communicate. But we know throughout the text of
the Quran and the sunnah that the animals
can speak, that the plants can speak, that
the sun and the moon and the heavens
they have their ways of communication. That Allah
Azzawajal alone knows Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Doesn't Allah
Azzawajal tell us in the Quran and Surah
Al Israa
The 7 heavens, the earth and everything within
them.
They glorify Allah
And there is not a single thing except
that it praises its Lord and glorifies him
but you don't understand their praise and their
glorification.
So Allah is the one who is able
to hear all things. He is the one
who has knowledge, intimate knowledge of all things
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
In verse number 14, Allah then says,
Say,
'I am commanded to be the first of
you who devote myself to him. Do not
be the idolaters.
Allah
says, Say to these disbelievers
who associate partners with Allah
are you telling
me to take as a protector,
as a helper, a God besides Allah
when Allah is the One Who created and
originated the heavens and the earth? Why would
I worship other than Allah if Allah is
the One Who is All Powerful, Almighty,
the One Who created and sustains everything and
that which you worship besides Allah you acknowledge
has weakness in it, needs to eat, needs
to drink, needs to sleep, can't speak, can't
talk, can't move, can't defend itself, there is
always some inherent weakness within it. When Allah
is all powerful, why would I worship other
than Allah is a wajal?
And He is the one who feeds but
is not fed. He is the provider and
doesn't need provision. He is the sustainer and
doesn't need sustenance.
He is the one who gives and grants
to everything
and sustains everything while he himself Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala is self sufficient and not need of
anything. Whereas these gods that you worship besides
Allah, you acknowledge that they need provision, they
need sustenance, they need protection, they need caring
for your idols. You must go and tend
to these gods besides Allah, you must you
must give to them some type of sustenance
or food or provision that you give to
them. And so Allah says that your own
is the one who is not in need
of anything. So therefore
tell them that I am the first of
those to submit myself to Allah azza wa
Jal. I will submit to Allah and devote
myself to him to his worship alone and
I will not be from amongst those who
commit shirk with Allah azza wa Jal and
associate partners with him.
In verse 15 Allah then continues and says:
Say I fear the punishment of a dreadful
day if I disobey my Lord. Meaning that
if I do perform shirk, commit shirk, if
I do worship other than Allah, if I
do turn away from Allah and His worship
and He alone is the Sustainer and Creator
and the One worthy of worship alone, then
I will be punished in the gravest and
most painful of ways.
In verse number 16, Allah
says:
Allah will have truly been merciful to whoever
is spared on the day that is the
clearest of triumph.
Meaning that the one who has been saved
from that punishment of Allah on that day
because of their iman, because of their belief
in Allah, those are the ones who have
truly attained the mercy of Allah azza wa
Jal because that is the greatest form of
mercy of Allah Subhanu Wa Ta'ala. That Allah
protected you, that Allah guided you, that Allah
gave you Iman and as a result you
were able to enter into
Jannah. What greater mercy is there than that?
What greater success
is there than that? Allah says
in verse number 17,
If Allah touches you with affliction, no one
can remove it except him, and if he
touches you with God, then he has power
over all things. Again that is from the
ability and power of Allah and the reason
why
he alone is worthy of worship. If harm
comes to you, who can remove it from
you except Allah or by the permission of
Allah? How many people are afflicted by harm
and they don't recover from it, whereas others
will recover from the same harm. 2 people
will have a cold or a flu, one
will survive and the other won't. And we
only need to look recently at covid and
what took place in the years that we
went through that pandemic. How many people died
and how many people survived? How many people
were of a similar age, similar health conditions,
similar
place or hospital that they are admitted to,
some of them lived and some of them
didn't. If harm comes to you, who can
remove it except Allah azza wa Jal? And
if good comes to you, then Allah is
the One who is power over all things.
And so if Allah is the One who
gives good and Allah azza wa Jal is
the One who decrees harm upon you, then
why isn't He alone worthy of worship Subhana
Wa Ta'ala, the one that you would go
to and the one that you would ask
of and the one that you would dedicate
your life to in terms of worship and
servitude. So Allah azza wa Jal is the
one who the believers always turn to because
he is the provider,
the creator, the sustainer,
the one who determines life and death, the
one who gives good and determines harm and
so therefore the believer tends to Allah azza
wa Jal alone in worship, in du'a, in
submission.
In the final verse that we will take
today, Allah azza wa riddin says in verse
number 18:
and He is the supreme master of all
of His creatures. He is the All Wise,
the All Aware.
Is the one who is the master of
everything. Nothing happens except by the knowledge of
Allah. Nothing can move or stop. Nothing can
happen except that Allah has His intimate knowledge
of it. No one can come out of
the kingdom of Allah. No one can escape
the control of Allah azza wa Jal. So
Allah azza wa Jal is the one who
is supreme over all of his creation. Subhanahu
wa ta'ala. He is the one who has
all wisdom and he is the one who
is all aware of everything of that which
is creation does subhanahu wa ta'ala and so
therefore he alone is worthy of worship. And
with that we come to the end of
today's episode.