Ahsan Hanif – Quran Tafseer – Page 133 – The Trials Of Faith
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Welcome to another episode of outafsir page by
page InshaAllah Ta'ala. Today we are on page
133
which is in Surah Al Araim, the 7th
Jews of the Quran.
In the previous episode we mentioned those verses
in which Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
gave to us a number of signs.
From the signs that he has given to
mankind in order for them to believe in
him and worship him alone. And from the
greatest of those signs is that which Allah
has created
from the many species that we find upon
the earth.
The birds, the animals, the fish in the
sea, all of these are communities. Each one
of those species is like a community in
and of itself. It's like a nation unto
itself. The way that they live, the way
that they communicate, the hierarchy that they have,
the way that they hunt or seek provision
and food, the way that they have their
young and they rear their young, all of
this is something which Allah has placed for
each and every single one of them. And
that in Navud
itself is a sign from the signs of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, something which we today
can appreciate because of the way that people
have studied animals and the way that they
live and their habitat and so on and
so forth. Allah says all of this is
recorded
in the lawhul malafu. Allah this is something
which He decreed from the beginning of time.
So Allah
tells the people to believe in the signs
that Allah
has sent to them and as a result
of those signs to believe in him alone
and worship him alone.
But Allah tells us that people turned away,
they rejected those signs of Allah Subhanu wa
Ta'ala. They became heedless of them. They became
negligent of them. And Allah Azzawajal tests people
with trials, hardship,
difficulties. Perhaps they will see some humility or
humbleness. Perhaps they will be reminded of Allah
Azzawajal.
Perhaps they will turn back to Allah Subhanu
wa Ta'ala. But instead what happens
is that they turn away. They continue to
be heedless. Their hearts become hard. They allow
Shaitaan to overcome them and as a result
Allah Azza wa Jal destroys them over time.
Whether that destruction comes in this life,
the punishment of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala or
whether it is the destruction that they will
see on Yomul Qiyam and the punishment that
they will see on that day. May Allah
see us from that.
We continue today from verse number 46
which Allah is still speaking about the people
of disbelief and how they turn away from
Allah and
how Allah
punishes them and sends to them reminders in
the form of hardship.
Allah says in verse number 46,
Say to them think
if Allah would you take away your hearing
and your sight and to seal up your
hearts. What God what God other than he
could restore them. See how we explain our
revelations in various ways
yet still they turn away. Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala
gives to us this
sign or reminder from his signs from the
blessings of Allah azza wa Jal is that
is bestowed upon every single person the ability
to hear and the ability to speak or
or to hear and to see in the
most part. Allah says that if Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala was to take away this ability
that you were not able to now see,
not able to now hear, not able to
now understand or to comprehend or to use
your intelligence
and to use your heart in order to
be able to contemplate and reflect and ponder.
Then which God other than Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala
would be able to restore them for you?
Who has the power to create?
And who has the power to give blessings
and to give to the creation
that which he sees fit subhanahu wa ta'ala
of the many things that he bestows them
with of their abilities and skills and so
on? It is Allah alone. And if Allah
willed and wished He could remove that from
you. And that's something which we see around
us because there are people who are blind,
there are people who are deaf, there are
people who are unable to communicate for one
reason or another
and Allah
sends this as a reminder
so that those of us that are able
to see, that are able to hear, that
are able to comprehend,
that we use those blessings of Allah
in a way that is beneficial,
in a way that is pleasing to him.
We use those blessings of Allah in order
to be able to come closer to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because the person who can't
hear and therefore can't receive the message of
Allah azza wa Jal or the person who
doesn't have the ability to understand and to
contemplate because of some illness that they are
suffering from or some disability that they have,
those people Allah will judge them separately.
Because they don't have the ability to understand
and comprehend the message of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. But what is our excuse?
If Allah
was to take away our hearing, take away
our sight, take away our ability to understand
and
to rationalize and to use our logic and
so on and so forth then which card
besides Allah could restore that for us?
And so the problem is that we use
these blessings of Allah
in a way that is not good. Even
amongst the Muslims there are people
who will use these blessings of Allah not
to worship Allah or to increase in Imaniast
they are Muslims,
but they use them or these blessings in
ways that are haram,
in ways that are displeasing to Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala, in ways that are harmful to
themselves and others.
They use them to do evil. Allah says,
see how we explain our revelations.
In various ways yet they still turn away
from the message of Allah and from the
signs of Allah
and they turn away from belief in Allah
In verse number 47 Allah then gives us
a further example to think upon and to
reflect
upon.
Say, think, if the punishment of Allah should
come to you by surprise or openly,
would anyone but the evildoers be destroyed?
Allah says that if Allah's punishment were to
come to you If
it was to come to you suddenly meaning
that it's therefore hidden, something which is sudden
is something which is unexpected.
So you weren't aware that the punishment of
Allah was going to come then all of
a sudden it strikes you when it comes
upon you or jahratan.
It comes upon you open meaning that you
see clearly its signs. It's coming. It's approaching.
It's coming closer and closer. Either way, whichever
one of those two methods of destruction Allah
chooses or punishment that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
chooses.
Are the people who are or would anyone
except the people of evil be truly destroyed?
That is because Allah is speaking here about
the destruction that is the destruction
of infinity,
not the destruction that is limited to the
dunya because sometimes a punishment of Allah may
come or a calamity may be for people
and the people that are destroyed within that
calamity
or that fall as a result of that
calamity may be righteous and unrighteous,
may be Muslim and non Muslim, may be
people who are pure and good and people
who are evil, all of them may be
included within that. And that is why the
Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was asked by one
of his wives or messenger of Allah if
the punishment of Allah comes upon a people
and amongst them there are people who are
righteous and good, then what about them? They
believed in Allah and they worshipped Allah and
they did good deeds, but now because maybe
they are in the same area, or the
same location or because they happen to be
within that group of people that Allah chooses
to destroy or to send calamity upon them.
What about those people of righteousness?
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala said, the Prophet
replied, the punishment of Allah comes, then each
one will be resurrected according to their intention.
Allah knows what is in their hearts. So
when Allah says, will any except the evildoers
be truly destroyed? Meaning destroyed in this life
and the next. Because as for the believers
even if they come to
a death here because of a result of
some calamity or some hardship,
then Allah
may make that as a means of their
elevation,
May make that as a means of their
increasing in good deeds and reward. May make
that as a means of their expression of
sin. Allah
will resurrect them according to their remand, according
to the tuhhid, their worship of Allah
and on Noomul Qiyamah they will be honored.
And they will be blessed and they will
be rewarded and they will be forgiven and
Allah's mercy will be showered upon them and
they will enter into Jannah as opposed to
the people who are truly evildoers.
They will be destroyed in this life and
they are destroyed in the next life and
so therefore
there is no salvation for them and there
is
no hope for them in terms
of having any type of respite from the
punishment of Allah
in their next life if they die upon
other than Iman.
And so Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says that
if the punishment of Allah were to come
upon you, whichever way comes upon you, then
you will be destroyed unless you are people
of Iman and people who turn to Allah
These are the signs that Allah
sends. These are the questions that Allah asks
us and commands us to ponder over and
reflect. And even though yes there are questions
that are
in the first instance and primarily
being directed towards the disbelievers and the people
who don't believe in Allah azza wa Jal,
there are questions that we as Muslims should
also reflect upon Because many of us are
weak in Iman, many of us are negligent
of our deeds and obligations to Allah azza
wa Jal, many of us are negligent of
the commands of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. These
are questions that we should reflect upon because
we also are falling short in many different
ways.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in verse number
48:
We send messengers only to give good news
into 1.
So for those
who believe and do good deeds, there will
be no fear nor will they grieve. This
is the role of the messengers of Allah
as we have mentioned before. The prophets and
messengers of Allah
were only sent by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
with these 2 duties and responsibilities.
Number 1 was to give good news and
glad tidings to the believers. Those who believe
in Allah, those who live a life of
worship and righteousness,
Allah will give to them the reward.
And the second is the warning, the threat
of punishment from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that
if you disbelieve or do evil and you
sin and you disobey Allah
then the threat of punishment is upon you.
And Allah Azza wa Jal may punish you
if he so chooses and wishes to do
so. Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So if you are from the people of
Iman, and the people who do good deeds,
then upon you there will be there
will be no fear nor will they grieve.
This is essentially the message of the prophets
of Allah including our Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
Their only role was to convey the message.
The message includes both of these elements.
The glad tidings of reward and the threat
of punishment from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This
is what the prophets did including
our prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam And that
is why in the Fairwul Hajj, the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam gathered all of the believers
together, all of the companions together, all of
the pilgrims and he asked them this question.
Halbalaq,
have I not fulfilled
my message? Have I not conveyed to you
the message that Allah
has entrusted me with? As Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala says elsewhere in the Quran.
O Messenger, convey the message that you were
given to by your Lord. And if you
don't do so, then you haven't conveyed the
message. O people have I not conveyed this
message? And they all testified, yes you have
O Messenger of Allah. And so the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam raised his finger to
the heavens then pointed towards the people in
front of him and he said:
O Allah now bear witness, these people are
saying that I did my duty, I conveyed
my message. And because the message had been
conveyed, because the religion had been completed,
because the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam fulfilled his
responsibility,
then the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam lived for
a few months after that farewell Hajj. He
lived only for a few short months before
Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam took the life of
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and took his
soul to him subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so
those people who believe,
those people who accept the glad tidings that
the prophets and messengers bring by having iman
and by doing righteous deeds, Allah will reward
them.
They will not fear, meaning that which comes
in the next life. They have nothing to
fear of the punishment of Allah or the
standing of yawmul qiyama.
Nor will they grieve about that which they
left behind in this life. Whether it's the
deeds that they did,
or the misdeeds
because Allah will forgive them. Or the family
they leave behind because Allah will protect them
and Allah will be
their protector
and helper.
As for those people
who reject those signs,
who don't believe in the message, who don't
take the reminder that was given to the
prophets of Allah, Allah tells us in verse
49
As for those who rejected our signs, then
Talmud will afflict them as a result of
their defiance.
These are the 2nd group of people, and
they are the majority,
those who rejected the prophets and messengers,
those who didn't take heed of the messages
they brought, those who didn't take
the threat of punishment seriously
and so they denied the signs of Allah
and they denied tawheed of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. Allah says concerning them
they will be afflicted by punishment and torment
because of their defiance and
evil.
Allah
says in verse number 50:
Say,
I do not have the treasures of Allah
nor do I know the unseen,
nor do I tell you that I am
an angel. I only follow what is revealed
to me. Say, is a blind person like
the one who can see? Why will you
not then reflect?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commands here the Prophet
to say to the people that I am
only a messenger of Allah and a prophet
of Allah. I do not control the treasures
of Allah So
when those people would demand
that the Prophet bring to them wealth, bring
to them the treasures of the heavens and
the earth, bring to them the treasures of
the universe. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
is being commanded here to say to them
that I don't control the treasures of Allah
I can ask, I can request, I can
make dua, I can supplicate, I can intercede,
but the decision is the decision of Allah
He
is the one who chooses what sign to
reveal and when to reveal it and how
to reveal it and to whom to reveal
it. And if Allah wishes, he doesn't have
to send any signs.
Allah gives wealth to him soever he pleases,
and health to him soever he pleases, and
children to him soever he pleases, and he
gives knowledge and iman and guidance to him
soever he pleases. As for me, I do
not control the treasures of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
Nor do I know the unseen. So I
can't tell you what you are demanding of
when exactly the hour will come or what
will happen or when a person will die
or how they will die. Those are the
signs that Allah
and the knowledge that Allah
has kept to himself.
Even the greatest of the Prophets and Messengers
of Allah, our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, was
not given unlimited access to the knowledge of
the unseen. Allah gave him some of that
knowledge, gave him some of that information, some
of that knowledge that he could then tell
people as signs of his truthfulness and as
a sign for those people and a reminder
for them. But exclusive or all inclusive knowledge
of the unseen that is not given to
any of the creation of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala as Allah mentions elsewhere in the Quran
towards the end of Surah 3jinn.
Nor do I cling to be an angel,
that I can do
as angels do and have the ability of
angels and have the power and the strength
of the angels.
In the Tabiru,
As for me, I simply do as I
was commanded. I do as Allah revealed to
me. Allah commands me to do something, I
do it. Allah gives to me revelation, I
convey it. Allah gives me a message, I
spread it and teach it to people. That
is the role of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
But
even that is enough.
For the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasall conveyed the
message of Allah
for the people to be able to understand
that message and to take it and to
adopt it and to understand it and to
follow it and believe in it, that is
sufficient and it is enough. And that is
why Allah Subhanahu Ta'ala says
Say, is the blind person like the one
who can see? Are they equal?
Is the one who can walk unaided? Does
it require or isn't dependent upon anyone else,
can see and read for themselves like the
one who is blind, who is dependent, who
requires help, who requires a guide, who requires
someone to be with them. Are they equal?
No. They are not equal in every way
and in every regard. And so Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala
says that these 2 are not equal. So
likewise the one who has and we are
speaking here more
about the spiritual
blindness and the spiritual sight as opposed to
the physical sight and blindness because there are
people who are blind physically
but they are honored by Iman and Allah
has elevated them with knowledge. Many of the
companions or a number of the companions of
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam were blind such
as Abdullah ibn Ummi Maktoum radiAllahu anhu and
other companions who later became
blind towards the end of their life and
they were still major companions of the Prophet
such as the famous companion his cousin Abdullah
ibn Abbas radiAllahu anhu lost his eyesight towards
the end of his life. And there were
many scholars throughout the ages
until our time today
who are blind. But Allah honors them with
imanal knowledge and some of those scholars of
Islam who have the most knowledge were people
who are blind.
And so they weren't able to see. So
Allah isn't speaking about those particular people, the
people who are blind in terms of their
eyesight, their physical eyesight, but it is the
spiritual
eyesight,
the eyesight of the heart, the ability to
be able to comprehend.
Are those 2 equal? The one who sees
the revelation of Allah and is able to
accept it and believe in it? As he
equal or she equal to the one who
is blind to it. Even though they may
have the physical ability to see they
don't have the ability to
understand or to believe and that is why
Allah says
why would you not reflect upon this because
this is again an issue of reflection, an
issue of pondering, an issue of the heart
of Allah is
referring to.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala then says in the
next verse, verse number 51.
Use the Quran to warn those who fear
being gathered before their Lord. They will have
no one but him to protect them and
no one to intercede so that they may
be aware.
Allah says,
use this Quran as a reminder for them.
Give to them the signs of Allah
through it. The book of Allah is amazing.
It contains guidance, it contains light, it contains
everything that humans need in order for their
salvation. Allah
says: Use the Qur'an to warn those
who does it benefit the most? It benefits
those people who turn to Allah azza wa
Jal, who believe in Allah, who fear Allah,
who fear the standing before Allah azza wa
Jal and the fact that they will be
gathered
before him.
Use the Quran
to warn those who fear being gathered before
their Lord.
They know and understand that they will have
no one who will be their protector and
no one who will intercede
except by the permission of Allah Azza wa
Jal. No protector except Allah. No intercision except
by the permission of Allah
so that they may be people of
Taqwa, people of piety, people of consciousness of
Allah Azza wa Jal. And so this is
the difference between these two groups of people.
In the previous verses Allah Aja Jall speaks
about those people who see the signs of
Allah reject them and turn away. They are
not reminded by the Qur'an, it is recited,
it doesn't affect them, it doesn't improve them,
it doesn't
soften their hearts. Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala then
says, 'But as for the people who fear
Allah, who believe in Allah, who believe in
your mumqiama,
the Quran will benefit them. And so if
your heart is pure and you turn to
Allah and
you turn to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and
you have Iman and belief in Allah
the Quran will soften your heart. The Quran
will bring you closer to Allah
The Quran will increase you in Iman and
in good deeds and it will show you
the path that is most pleasing to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that is why the
companions of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam
were the best of generations
because they were the people who most benefited
from the Quran and their hearts became soft
through the Quran
or by the Quran. And they were people
of Iman and people of righteous deeds.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala then says in verse
number 52,
Do not drive away those who call upon
the Lord morning evening seeking nothing but His
face. You are in no way accountable for
them nor they for you. If you drove
the believers away you would become one of
the disbelievers.
It is said in the books of tafsir
that the reason or cause of revelation of
this verse is that the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam at the beginning of his time
will be surrounded by his companions and amongst
his companions were those who as we know
were poor, those who were not from noble
families, those who were free slaves The likes
of for example Amal,
An Yasir,
Bilal,
Salman al Farisi, Abdullah ibn Mus'ud radiAllahu anhu
and Sa'ad. Many of these companions were from
not major or major
or noble families and many of them were
poor and some of them were free slaves
and so on and so forth. And they
would often sit with the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam.
The nobility of Quraysh
would
consider themselves or they were too arrogant. They
would consider themselves to be too good to
sit alongside these poor Muslims
in the company of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. So they would say: O Muhammad,
we will only sit with you if you
exclude these people from our sitting. Tell them
to go away, give to us a special
sitting and then once we have left and
finished, you can go back and sit with
them or call them back to you. And
so the Prophet
wanted to do this, not because he disliked
these companions or he thought less of them,
but because he wanted to convey the message
to the people of Quraysh. He wanted them
to believe. And if this is their condition,
in order for them to listen to the
Quran and the message of Islam then so
be it. Allah Subhanahu Ta'ala corrected the Prophet
in
this regard and he said:
Do not drive away those who call upon
the Lord by morning evening seeking nothing but
his face. Meaning these are the people that
you should be concentrating upon. Don't drive them
away. These are the people who remember Allah
in morning by morning evening. They worship Allah,
they are iman and Allah. All that you
want to do is please Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
These are the people of iman, of humility,
of humbleness, of good deeds. As for these
people of Quraysh, these are people of disbelief
and arrogance. They don't really want to believe
because if they truly wanted to believe they
wouldn't care who was with you, they wouldn't
care who was listening or who was they'd
be sincere enough to want to receive the
message to see if it is the truth.
But they only want to show their own
power, their own station, their own influence
by
exiling these poor people or by
distancing these poor people and these poor companions
away from you. And that is why Allah
says
that you are in no way accountable for
them nor are they for you. If you
drove the believers away you would become from
the evil doers. Meaning that these people and
their rights is greater than that which they
demand from you. There is a similar verse
to this also in Surat Al Kahf that
some of the scholars said
has the
same reason or cause of revelation. And so
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is being told
that these people who are the rich, the
arrogant, the powerful of Quraysh,
if they want true iman, they will find
true iman. But as for these other conditions
that they have and these other things that
they simply want from you, these demands that
they make upon you, it is as a
result of their arrogance and a result of
their disbelief. Not because they truly want to
hear
from you the Qur'an or truly want to
hear from you the message that Allah has
sent from you. Rather this is one of
the ways that they show their arrogance and
that is why Allah says in verse 53,
the final verse that we will take today.
We have made some of them a test
for others to make the disbelievers say, is
it these men that Allah has favoured amongst
us? Does Allah not know best who are
the grateful ones? And so Allah says that
this is a test for them, for the
disbelievers and the arrogant people from the disbelievers
from the Quraysh because they would see these
poor people and there would be a fitna
for them. How are these people the ones
that have become close to the Prophet of
Allah and the Messenger of Allah SWA.
Surely if this religion was the origin of
truth, then we, the nobility of Quraysh, the
powerful and wealthy of Quraysh, we would be
the ones to believe,
the ones to have that accolade of Iman,
guidance would have come to us because of
our wealth and power and our station and
our nobility.
And so it's a fitna for them.
How can Allah choose them over us? How
could Allah favour them over us? Allah says
in response:
Does Allah not know best who are the
grateful ones? Who is most deserving of Iman?
Who is most deserving of turning to Allah
in faith? Doesn't Allah know the purity and
nobility of a person's heart better than anyone
else? And so when Allah gives Iman and
guidance, it's not because
a person has wealth or because of their
family name or because of their station or
their state or their intelligence, Allah gives Iman
to those people who are pure, those people
who are noble in their hearts, those people
who are sincere and they seek the truth
and they seek the path to Allah azza
wa Jal and Allah azza wa Jal therefore
bases it upon this and not upon any
other worldly type of standard. And with that,
insha'Allah, we come to the end of today's
episode.