Ahsan Hanif – Quran Tafseer – Page 137 – The Story Of Prophet Ibrahim
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
I seek refuge in Allah from Satan the
accursed.
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most
Merciful.
Welcome to another episode of our Tafseer, page
by page and inshallah ta'ala today we
are on page 137 which is in the
7th juz suratul anaam.
In the previous episode we mentioned those verses
in which Allah spoke about the importance of
not ridiculing the Quran or mocking the Quran
or the words of Allah and that if
you are with those people who do so
then you should leave them and ignore them
until they change that topic and go into
a different topic.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said that the
role of the believers is only to remind
and to admonish and to advise and that
Allah azza wa jal commands the believers that
those people who don't want guidance or they
mock the religion of Allah azza wa jal,
they are not interested, then leave them and
ignore them.
Let them think that this world is only
jest and play, let them be deceived by
the dunya.
But you should continue to advise and admonish
but those people Allah azza wa jal will
hold them to account for that which they
do.
And for the believers however, for them guidance
is the most important thing, the most precious
and valuable thing that you have in your
possession is the guidance that Allah azza wa
jal has given to you.
Because if you have iman and you have
guidance from Allah azza wa jal and nothing
else in the dunya, no money, no property,
no house, no car, nothing, absolutely nothing, but
you have iman and guidance, you are from
the most wealthiest of people.
And if you have everything in the dunya,
all of its wealth and all of its
treasures and all of its beauties, but you
have no iman, then you are in reality
the poorest of people and the most destitute
of them.
And so the believer understands what is precious
from what is not precious.
And if Allah blesses you with both, then
that is from the bounties that Allah azza
wa jal has given to you.
But the believer knows what is most precious
and what is most valuable and therefore what
is most worth fighting over or keeping.
In the verses or the passages that we
are going to take today from verse 74
onwards, Allah azza wa jal now mentions to
us the story of the Prophet Ibrahim a
.s. And this particular telling of this story
or this particular aspect from the life of
Ibrahim a.s. goes and fits very well
with the general theme of the surah, which
is establishing the proofs of Allah's worship alone.
Allah azza wa jal will now give to
us a practical example of this from the
story of Ibrahim a.s. Because the people
of Ibrahim a.s. used to worship many
gods besides Allah azza wa jal.
And Ibrahim a.s. will look at these
idols that they worship besides Allah and he
will see that they can't talk, they can't
move, they can't defend themselves, they can't speak,
they can't do anything.
So how can they protect others if they
can't even protect themselves?
And so Allah azza wa jal tells us
here the story of Ibrahim a.s. And
how he looked at the universe and realized
that there is nothing in the universe that
is all-powerful, all-mighty and therefore deserves
to be worshipped and therefore only Allah azza
wa jal alone has that right to be
worshipped subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Allah azza wa jal says in verse number
74 أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ وَإِذْ قَالَ
إِبَرَاهِمُ لِأَبِيهِ آزَرَ أَتَتَّخِذُ أَصْنَامًا آلِهَا إِنِّي أَرَاكَ
وَقَوْمَكَ فِي ضَلَالٍ مُّبِينٌ Remember when Ibrahim said
to his father Azar, how can you take
idols as gods?
I see that you and your people have
clearly gone astray.
As we said Ibrahim a.s. lived at
a time within a nation that used to
worship gods besides Allah.
And this is one of the resemblances or
similarities between the story of Ibrahim a.s
and the story of our own Prophet s
.a.w. Their people were people of idol
worship.
And so the people of Ibrahim had multiple
gods that they used to worship besides Allah
azza wajal.
And Ibrahim a.s realized the fallacy of
that which they were doing.
And so he's admonishing and he's advising and
he's reminding and he's questioning.
Perhaps they too will reflect.
They too will consider the fallacy of that
which they are doing in terms of worshiping
these gods besides Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Allah azzawajal tells us here and remember when
Ibrahim said to his father Azar because Azar
is his father and it's also on the
way of his people and to his and
to the rest of his nation as well.
But Allah azzawajal tells us here because we
know that Ibrahim a.s father didn't believe.
In fact he became one of his most
ardent enemies which shows you that sometimes when
you have Iman Allah azzawajal tests you in
different ways.
And from the greatest of those tests and
the most difficult is when the people who
are closest to you turn away from that
same guidance.
And there are people whose parents don't believe,
whose children or siblings refuse to believe.
And that's not just in our time today
but Allah azzawajal gives us examples of this
in the Quran from the stories of the
prophets.
Me and you are not greater or more
virtuous than the prophets.
If it can happen to the prophets it
can happen to other than them.
Which shows you truly that Allah the guidance
is in the hands of Allah azzawajal alone.
That a person can be a prophet of
Allah but he can't help his own father.
Prophet of Allah can't help his own wife.
Prophet of Allah can't help his own son.
Prophet of Allah can't help his own uncle
and that is because Allah azzawajal alone is
the one who determines guidance.
So he said to his father Ibrahim azzawajal
sorry Do you take all of these idols
as gods besides Allah?
I see that you and your people have
clearly gone astray.
Allah azzawajal then tells us the way that
Ibrahim a.s arrived at this conclusion.
That all of these gods besides Allah are
false.
And Allah azzawajal tells us that Ibrahim a
.s was a man of reflection.
A man of contemplation.
A man who would use the skills and
abilities that Allah gave to him and the
senses that Allah azzawajal gave to him of
sight of hearing of intelligence and he would
use them in a way that would bring
him closer to Allah azzawajal.
Use them to reflect upon the universe.
Not like many of us today who travel
and see and hear but we don't really
ponder.
We don't really reflect.
We see them and pass by.
We hear things and we pass by.
We are told things and we don't really
reflect or use our intelligence to understand them.
But the believer is the one who uses
the signs of creation in the universe to
bring them closer to Allah azzawajal.
And that is what Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala says in verse 75 concerning Ibrahim a
.s. In this way
we showed Ibrahim a.s Allah's mighty dominion
over the heavens and the earth so that
he might be a firm believer.
We showed Ibrahim a.s the science of
the heavens and the earth.
He looked at the heavens, the skies.
He looked at the sun and the moon
and the stars.
He looked at all of this and he
became familiar or he became certain that only
Allah azzawajal alone can control this.
Only Allah can control this.
It is so perfect the creation of Allah.
So amazing the creation of Allah.
So majestic and so big and massive the
creation of Allah azzawajal that surely the one
who created it must be the one who
is alone worthy of worship subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
How did he look at this?
Allah azzawajal gives us now examples in the
coming verses.
In verse number 76 Allah azzawajal says that
he first started to look at the stars.
When the night grew dark over him he
saw a star and said this is my
Lord.
But when it set he said I do
not like things that are set.
Allah azzawajal says that at night Ibrahim a
.s. saw the stars come out and he
saw them with their beauty, he saw them
with their light, he saw how high they
were and he said and this isn't because
he believed that they were gods besides Allah.
He said this as a way of saying
like we say for the sake of argument.
I will accept your proposition that there are
gods besides Allah.
Surely if they're going to be gods besides
Allah those gods must be big or must
be powerful and mighty and majestic.
So the star the stars are from the
most majestic of things that we find within
the universe.
So I will agree for the sake of
argument that this is a god besides Allah
azzawajal.
So he's saying this is my god not
because he believes in the stars as gods
besides Allah.
This isn't kufr or shirk because the prophets
of Allah can't commit kufr or shirk.
Allah azzawajal has saved them from that but
it is by him by way of him
arguing debating the point.
Just as you say to someone who comes
as a Christian even if for the sake
of argument we accept that Jesus was the
son of God then and then you start
arguing with him based upon his own logic
and his own proofs.
This is exactly what Ibrahim is doing.
But then when the sun the stars set
meaning when the sun rose and now no
longer can you see the stars they're not
visible anymore.
He said I don't like things that set
meaning how can this be a god when
it doesn't control and doesn't determine its own
its own course.
The stars can't be visible during the day
once the sun has risen and there's nothing
that the stars can do in order to
make themselves visible which shows to you that
they don't have full power they don't have
control over everything they can't stop and see
to the sun whoa whoa you stay where
you are we still want to remain during
the day or it's not time for you
to rise or whatever it may be the
stars are also upon a path that has
been determined and that determination of that path
therefore shows that there is one that is
greater than the stars that must have created
it.
He said once he saw the sun the
stars setting that I don't like those things
that set because that shows that they don't
have full and complete power and authority.
In verse number 77 Allah says that he
saw something greater than the stars and that
is that he saw the moon and
when he saw the moon rising he said
this is my lord but when it too
set he said if my lord does not
guide me I shall be of those who
go astray.
Sunnah Ibrahim goes to the next biggest of
Allah's creations and that is the moon and
he says surely this can be a god
again by way of agreeing or by way
of simply for the sake of argument saying
that lets us accept the proposal that this
is a god the moon is bigger than
the star it is brighter than the star
it has more benefits than the stars in
terms of what people use it for and
how they use it in terms of their
daily lives and so therefore this is the
god but the moon also sets the moon
also cannot determine its own path or rather
authority to remove or come out of its
own path or to change its destiny in
that way or its course in that way
so then Ibrahim said when it set meaning
when the sun rose if my lord and
my god does not guide me if Allah
azawajal does not guide me then I will
truly be from the misguided and that shows
that if you are truly seeking guidance you
must turn to Allah azawajal you must turn
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and ask
Allah to show you the path with sincerity
and Allah azawajal will open that path for
you and that is for everything for the
non-muslim who seeks to know the truth
let him call upon Allah azawajal alone whether
he calls him god or calls him Allah
whatever name but Allah azawajal alone and he
says oh Allah show me the path to
you oh god show me the true path
to you and if you do so with
sincerity Allah will open that path to you
Allah will show you the path at least
whether you accept it or not is down
to you and likewise for the muslims if
you don't know what is the true path
to Allah azawajal in terms of your aqeedah
your belief your worship ask Allah azawajal make
dua to Allah oh Allah show me the
path that is truly your path show me
what you consider to be the most beloved
of the religion of Islam to you meaning
that from because there's differences of opinion there's
so many different groups and and sects out
there which one is the one that Allah
azawajal wants you to follow ask Allah and
make dua to Allah azawajal as Ibrahim a
.s. does in this verse Allah azawajal then
says in the next verse number 78 then
he saw the sun rising and cried this
is my lord this is greater but when
the sun set he said my people I
disown all that you worship besides Allah azawajal
Ibrahim a.s. now goes to the sun
so he's dismissed the stars he's dismissed the
moon now let's go to the sun because
the stars and the moon set when the
sun rose so he says this can be
our god this is far greater than anything
else that we've seen the sun with all
of its power with all of its light
with its heat it is the greatest thing
that we have that we can see with
our visible or naked eye so this is
our god this is the greatest of things
that we have seen and again he's saying
this for the sake of argument he's saying
let us accept your premise that there are
gods that are worthy of being worshipped besides
Allah so let us now go to the
sun but the sun also sets the sun
also cannot change its course the sun also
has a limited time that it will appear
for and then it must stop it must
set and it cannot change that except by
the permission of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
so when he realizes or when he sees
this he says to his people i am
free of the shirk that you commit because
every god that you bring you will have
one of these things that you will see
and that is why every god that is
worshipped besides Allah you can use or you
can find within it this type of fallacy
or this type of weakness or this type
of contradiction between what a god should be
and the attributes that they claim that their
gods possess you have a god but he's
a human so that god needs to eat
that god's going to die that god becomes
sick that god forgets so now it's not
all powerful doesn't have the ability can't protect
itself let alone protect others or it's a
inanimate object it's a it's a it's a
tree or it's a stone or it's a
rock or it's idle or whatever it may
be there will always be some weakness in
the argument why because they are not true
gods besides Allah so if someone is sincere
someone just stops and thinks and questions and
reasons using their intelligence they will arrive at
the conclusion that there must be a god
worthy of worship and that is Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala the one who was there
before all of the rest of creation and
he was there from the beginning subhanahu wa
ta'ala and that is why Allah is
the one who mentions that Ibrahim comes to
the one and only possible conclusion and that
is I have
turned my face as a true believer towards
him who created the heavens and the earth
and I am not of the polytheists so
he says so therefore now that we've dismissed
the sun the moon the stars and they
are the greatest of Allah's creation to the
visible eye let alone everything else that people
claim a god besides Allah I instead turn
my face as a true believer towards the
one who created all of this in the
heavens and the earth the one who created
the sun and the moon and the stars
and everything else that you can see and
cannot see he is the one that I
will worship and he alone I will worship
and not associate anyone in worship with him
subhanahu wa ta'ala and so this is
something which therefore Ibrahim tells his people by
process of logic of logic and reason we
have dismissed all of these gods that you
claim exists besides Allah so therefore there is
only one possible alternative left and that is
that there is one god alone worthy of
worship subhanahu wa ta'ala and that is
Allah azza wa jal Allah subhanu wa ta
'ala then in verse 80 tells us how
his people responded the people of Ibrahim and
Allah azza wa jal says wa hajjahu qawmuh
qala atuhajjoonni fillahi waqadahadan
wala akhaafu ma tushrikoon bihi illa an yashaa
rabbihi shai'a wasi'a rabbihi kulla shai
'in ilma afana tatadhakkaroon his people argued with
him and he said how can you argue
with me about Allah when he has guided
me I do not fear anything you associate
with him unless my lord wills nothing can
happen my lord encompasses everything in his knowledge
how can you not take heed so the
people of Ibrahim alayhi salam didn't accept this
even though they realized when he destroyed all
of their idols as we know from elsewhere
in the quran in surah al-anbiya they
thought to themselves because he said to them
when they asked him who destroyed these gods
he left the biggest one alone and he
said that's the idol he's the god you
ask him and why couldn't protect the rest
of the idols so then they said to
one another he's got a point he's like
trapped us now right we can't ask the
idol doesn't speak can't defend can't move can't
do anything but then their arrogance and stubbornness
overcame them the obstinacy overcame them and they
turned around and they said no these are
our gods either way and so likewise here
they're still arguing with Ibrahim alayhi salam they
argue and they're debating and they're still saying
no these gods are worthy of being worshipped
besides Allah so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says that Ibrahim alayhi salam responded and he
said are you arguing with me about Allah
after he has guided me you're telling me
this after I've given you all of these
proofs and you can clearly see that what
I am upon is certainty and guidance and
truth and what you're upon is weakness and
ignorance and I don't fear what your gods
besides Allah I know they can't do anything
unless Allah wills that it will happen to
me so you may call upon your gods
and say oh harm Ibrahim oh my god
our gods destroy Ibrahim oh our gods punish
Ibrahim I know that they have no power
they can do nothing unless Allah allows them
allows it to happen if Allah wants it
to happen it will happen and that is
why when they threw Ibrahim alayhi salam into
the fire as we know Allah azawajal commanded
this great creation of Allah to be cool
and safe for him and Ibrahim left the
fire walked out unscathed unharmed untouched by Allah's
permission subhanahu wa ta'ala my lord encompasses
everything in knowledge how can you not take
heed look at the signs of Allah azawajal
gave to them sometimes the signs of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala are in miracles and
the signs of Allah gives to his messengers
and prophets but me and you we don't
need necessarily to see them because we have
the book of Allah that is the greatest
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala signs if
you were just to stop and to ponder
and to reflect you would see these signs
of Allah azawajal so now for me and
you as muslims we've already accepted this first
stage that foundation of iman that Allah alone
is worthy of worship we accept the tawheed
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala the truthfulness
of the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam the truthfulness
of the quran but what many of us
will now struggle with is the next step
and that is that if Allah created us
and Allah alone is worthy of worship and
Allah told us that he created us therefore
for the purpose of his worship alone subhanahu
wa ta'ala then many of us struggle
with the fact that we now need to
devote ourselves in worship of Allah azawajal we
need to uphold the halal stay away from
the haram we need to do good deeds
stay away from evil deeds and it's very
unfortunate that many of our brothers and sisters
are struggling with this because of their weakness
of iman because they don't spend enough time
reading and studying the because they don't spend
enough time seeking knowledge of islam and learning
about the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam shaitan comes
and he covers them or he he makes
them heedless and forgetful and so we forget
this now we've accepted the most important part
but that is only the first step in
order for us to have Allah's true mercy
or Allah's complete mercy because there will be
from the believers and the muslims those who
will be punished by the fire why because
yes they had but they lived a life
in which they didn't fulfill Allah's obligations and
they committed haram so Allah will punish them
in the fire until they are cleansed and
then eventually they will enter into jannah because
of their tawhid but who would want to
be in that situation of even being a
moment in the fire when the prophet told
us salallahu alayhi wasalam that a single dip
in the fire will make a person forget
every type of blessing that they have experienced
in their life all of the good that
they ever had a single dip in the
fire let alone being in it for as
long as Allah determines so therefore you turn
to Allah worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
leave off those sins fight shaitan and his
temptations because shaitan is fighting everyone shaitan is
misguiding everyone he misguides the muslims by keeping
them away from tawhid and he misguides the
muslims by keeping them away from good deeds
and from good action from fulfilling their obligations
that Allah azza wa jal has placed upon
them so all of us are fighting shaitan
all of us are battling shaitan in our
own different ways so the believer is someone
who knows that if Allah has sent this
down for me why would I choose a
path other than the path of Allah why
would I go and find happiness or try
to find happiness in a path in which
there is no happiness because the only true
happiness is in the path that Allah azza
wa jal has chosen so Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala then tells us that Ibrahim a
.s continued and he said to his people
in verse 81 why
should I fear what you associate with him
why do you not fear to associate with
him things for which he has sent down
or authority tell me if you know the
answer which side has more right to feel
secure they're trying to make Ibrahim a.s
frightened and scared using their gods Ibrahim a
.s is saying why should I fear your
gods when they can't even defend themselves they
can't move they can't speak they can't do
anything and you at the same time don't
fear Allah who controls everything in the heavens
and the earth who is the master of
all things who is all powerful almighty which
one of us has more right to feel
secure the one who turns to Allah and
seeks protection in him and he is the
master of everything or the one who calls
to these gods that can't even help themselves
there on anyone else why are you trying
to make me feel scared when you are
the ones who should of Allah's punishment of
Allah's anger of Allah's wrath you should be
the ones who are in who are fearful
then tell me if you truly know the
answer which one of us has more right
to feel secure we will mention the next
couple of verses from the next page because
they're still speaking about the story of Ibrahim
a.s in verse 82 Allah azzawajal then
says it is those who
have faith and do not mix their faith
with oppression who will be secure and it
is who will be secure and it is
they who are rightly guided these people that
Allah azzawajal will give true security to Allah
azzawajal is saying are those who have iman
and they don't mix their iman with oppression
Aisha r.a the wife of the prophet
s.a.w. she said oh messenger of
Allah which one of us does not mix
iman with oppression all of us oppress all
of us do evil all of us harm
others the prophet s.a.w. said no
oh daughter of Siddiq the meaning of oppression
in this verse is not the oppression of
sin but rather it is the oppression of
a shirk as Allah azzawajal mentions in the
story of Luqman when he said to his
son oh my son don't commit shirk with
Allah because shirk is the worst of all
oppression oppression is to withhold the rights of
others so when you harm someone or when
you sin against someone you're withholding their rights
essentially that is why it's called oppression but
when you withhold the rights of Allah by
not worshipping him alone by not believing in
him alone subhanahu wa ta'ala that is
the worst form of oppression and that is
what Allah azzawajal is saying here that those
who don't mix their iman with idolatry with
shirk they are the ones who will truly
have safety and they are the ones who
are guided and that is why Allah azzawajal
has promised the believers those who die upon
la ilaha illallah muhammadur rasulullah that they will
eventually enter into jannah and remain there for
eternity some of them will enter into jannah
immediately but even if they are some of
them are punished they will all enter into
jannah uh eternally so those people who don't
therefore have that pact of security from Allah
azzawajal are those who mix either their faith
with shirk meaning they believe in Allah but
they believe in other gods besides Allah like
the Quraysh did they believed in Allah but
they worshipped other than Allah or they don't
believe in Allah at all and they believe
in other gods or they believe in no
god at all in the final verse that
we will take verse 83 Allah azzawajal then
says concerning Ibrahim a.s. such
was the argument we gave to Ibrahim against
his people we raise in rank whomsoever we
will your lord is all wise all knowing
these are the abilities of Allah azzawajal gave
to Ibrahim a.s that he would understand
these signs of Allah that he would be
able to use them as proofs for Allah's
existence that he would be able to overcome
his people in their disputation and their argumentation
Allah azzawajal says that we raise whomsoever we
will in rank and from those that Allah
azzawajal raised to one of the highest of
levels that a human can attain are the
prophets and messengers of Allah and from them
the greatest of them is our prophet and
after him are those prophets and messengers that
Allah raised to the ranks of being the
prophets of high determination and from them is
Ibrahim a.s and some of the scholars
were of the position that after our prophet
the greatest of Allah's prophets and messengers is
none other than Ibrahim a.s the Khalil
of Allah his close friend and your lord
is all wise and all knowing and with
that inshallah we come to the end of
today's episode