Ahsan Hanif – Quran Tafseer – Page 170 – The Test Of The Seventy Men
AI: Summary ©
The importance of good deeds and actions in achieving health and wealth is discussed in a series of segments covering the Prophet's vision of happiness and the need for everyone to pursue it. The importance of avoiding punishment and pursuing good deeds is also emphasized. The importance of following the Prophet's teachings and not criticizing anyone is also emphasized. The success of people following the Prophet's commandments and guidance is also highlighted. The importance of following the Prophet's teachings and not ignoring them is also emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
I seek refuge with Allah from Satan the
accursed.
I seek refuge with Allah from Satan the
accursed.
وَاكْتُبَ لَنَا فِي هَٰذِهِ الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ
إِنَّا هُدَنَا إِلَيْكَ قَالَ عَذَابِي أُصِيبُ بِهِ مَنْ
أَشَاءُ وَرَحْمَتِي وَسِعَتْ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ فَسَأَكْتُبُهَا لِلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ
وَيُؤْتُونَ وَلَذِينَ هُمْ بِآيَاتِنَا يُؤْمِنُونَ Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions in this verse
the conclusion of the dua of Musa a
.s. When he says O Allah forgive us,
O Allah have mercy upon us, O Allah
you are our protector, you are the best
of those who forgive وَاكْتُبْ لَنَا فِي هَذِهِ
الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً O Allah and grant us good
in this world and in this life to
come And that means goodness in terms of
knowledge, in terms of good deeds and action,
in terms of provision and rizq from Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala And this is an
important principle therefore that we learn even from
the duas of the Prophet a.s. And
that is that the believer is not commanded
by Allah a.s. to ignore the dunya,
to ignore this life, to be heedless of
their position in this life The religion doesn't
command you to forego education or forego a
career or forego earning a living for yourself
and for your family that is halal, that
is tayyib, that is pure and good But
rather Allah a.s. wants you to do
those things And the prophets of Allah a
.s. would understand this and they would ask
Allah for the best of both worlds And
that is why from the most beautiful comprehensive
duas as we mentioned on multiple occasions in
this tafsir Is the dua that we mention
or that we find in surah al-baqarah,
the dua that all of us know and
have memorized One of the most common duas
of the Prophet a.s. would make رَبَّنَا
آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا
عَذَابَ النَّارِ O Allah grant to us the
good of this life and the next life
and save us from the punishment of the
fire So we want the good of both,
it's not an either or situation However it
is understood in the context that the akhirah
and that life and that goal and that
objective Supersedes the goals of the dunya The
goals of the dunya come under the vision
which is the vision of the akhirah However
we still want goodness for ourselves and our
families and our children For our careers and
our wealth and so on and so forth
And to make dua for those things is
not a bad thing, it's not an evil
thing And to make dua for that is
something which is permissible However you often find
in the Quran that Allah mentions it in
a certain way Like he does in the
verse that I just recited that dua رَبَّنَا
آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً And also in this
one وَاكْتُبْ لَنَا فِي هَذِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً Musa
a.s. says O Allah grant to us
goodness in this life Now that form of
goodness differs then from person to person Because
for some people that wealth can be good
for them They're going to use it in
a good way, they're going to be generous
and kind and charitable But for other people
that wealth is a fitna, it's a problem
And so therefore Allah a.s.w. withholds
it from them So when they ask for
hasana, for them hasana means that they don't
have a great deal of wealth For other
people it's children, that Allah a.s.w.
gives to them children Because they'll do a
good job in their tarbiyah In giving themselves
that legacy, those children will grow up and
they will continue to do good And so
they get a share of those rewards that
their children perform But for other people their
children are going to be a fitna and
a problem And they're going to take them
away and divert them from the path of
Allah a.s.w. So for them maybe
perhaps it's not a hasana And so when
it comes to the dunya, the prophets and
what we find in the Quran It's not
necessarily that you specify the dua even though
it is allowed to do so And there's
no problem in asking Allah for increase in
wealth or health or children Or a good
spouse or a good career or passing your
exams or whatever it may be But we
don't really know where that goodness lies Whereas
in the akhirah it's all goodness If you're
saved from the punishment of the fire, all
of the akhirah is goodness for you However
in the dunya we don't really know what's
good or not Because as we see in
the story of, in the one that we
mentioned in the previous episode Those 70 people
going to perform tawbah Even though they're going
out with a good intention, doing something good
That flips on them, it changes And so
that then becomes a problem for them, becomes
a fitna As Musa a.s. mentions in
that verse It is a trial for us
So all of these stages can be a
trial وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ إِنَّا هُدْنَا إِلَيْكَ Oh Allah
a.s. give us good in this world
and then in the life to come For
we turn to you and we seek guidance
from you And we seek nearness to you
So Allah a.s. grant us goodness in
this life In terms of knowledge and action
and rizq and so on And in the
akhirah in terms of reward And in terms
of the good that comes to the believers
on yawmul qiyamah Allah a.s. responds and
he accepts this dua And he says giving
us a wide ranging principle That doesn't only
cover this dua for Musa a.s. or
for Bani Israel But for all of people
قَالَ عَذَابِي أُصِيبُ بِهِ مَنْ أَشَاءَ Allah a
.s. responded and he said I bring my
punishment on whomsoever he will Meaning that whoever
is misguided, whoever does evil Whoever goes on
the path of shirk and kufr Then that
is the punishment of Allah He can cause
it to descend upon whomsoever he will Whenever
he will subhanahu wa ta'ala And that
is something that we've seen throughout Especially this
surah and the stories of the different prophets
That we have mentioned to date وَرَحْمَتِي وَسِعَتْ
كُلَّ شَيْءٍ And Allah a.s. says and
as for my mercy That encompasses all things
Meaning it encompasses everything Encompasses the earth Meaning
this realm and the realms above us In
the realms of the heavens And encompasses the
believer and even the disbeliever at times And
encompasses the people who do good And even
the people who do evil And there is
not a single creation of Allah a.s.
Except that the mercy of Allah encompasses it
And that is the wider general more encompassing
meaning of The mercy of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala Because there is nothing in existence
Except that it needs and benefits from Some
of that mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala And then obviously as we know there
is a specific mercy Special mercy that Allah
a.s. only gives to the believers In
this life and in the next But Allah
a.s. his mercy is for everyone And
so the punishment of Allah is specific To
only those people who do evil But even
the evil people will benefit from the mercy
of Allah Because without it they couldn't breathe
and live Without it they wouldn't have any
rizq Without it they wouldn't have children Without
it they wouldn't have health And so on
and so forth Even shaitan benefits from that
general Over encompassing mercy of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala Even though he is outcast And
he is taken away from all that is
good Because on yawm al qiyamah he will
be in the fire But until that moment
he still has respite That is a type
of mercy from Allah a.s. That Allah
allowed him respite until yawm al qiyamah That
Allah a.s. that he has the ability
to do certain things These are from the
things that Allah a.s. has granted to
him Subhanahu wa ta'ala So Allah's mercy
encompasses all things فَسَأَكْتُبُهَا لِلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ And then
Allah says that I shall ordain my mercy
And this is the mercy of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala That is specific to the
people of iman In this life and the
next That type of mercy Who is it
for?
Now we're given the descriptions لِلَّذِينَ يَتَّقُونَ It
is for the people of taqwa For those
who are conscious of Allah Who fear Allah
a.s. Who work day and night to
please Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ
And they give the zakah Meaning it's not
just that they have inwardly iman But outwardly
action as well So they're performing the different
obligations upon them They're sacrificing for the sake
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ
بِآيَاتِنَا يُؤْمِنُونَ And they are those who believe
in our revelations Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
in verse 157 He continues and then he
says الَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ الرَّسُولَ النَّبِيَّ الْأُمِّيَّ الَّذِي
يَجِدُونَهُ مَكْتُوبًا عِنْدَهُمْ فِي التَّوْرَاتِ وَالْإِنْجِيلِ يَأْمُرُهُمْ
بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَاهُمْ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَيُحِلُّ لَهُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتِ
وَيُحَرِّمُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْخَبَائِثَ وَيَضَعُ عَنْهُمْ إِصْرَهُمْ وَالْأَغْلَادَ
الَّتِي كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ فَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِهِ وَعَزَّرُوهُ وَنَصَرُوهُ
وَاتَّبَعُوا النُّورَ الَّذِي أُنزِلَ مَعَهُ وَاتَّبَعُوا النُّورَ الَّذِي
أُنزِلَ مَعَهُ أُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ Who are those
people who believe in the revelations of Allah,
who have taqwa, who give the zakah Allah
continues speaking about them in terms of their
iman and their belief and their characteristics and
He says that from their major characteristics is
they are those who follow the messenger, the
little prophet they find described in the Tawra
that is with them and in the gospel,
who commands them to do right and forbids
them to do wrong who makes good things
lawful to them and bad things unlawful and
relieves them of their burdens and the iron
colors that were on them so it is
those who believe him, honor him and help
him and who follow the light which has
been sent down with him, who will succeed
so here Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then
continues and says that they are also those
who don't just do good or have taqwa
or believe in the signs of Allah because
that can apply to the believers of those
or people who believe in the previous religions
but they are those who also then believe
in the Prophet ﷺ meaning after the coming
of Muhammad ﷺ you cannot have iman and
you cannot be a believer and you cannot
be a Muslim until you believe in the
Prophet ﷺ as well الذين يتبعون الرسول they
are those who follow the messenger and just
so that it is known which messenger النبي
الأمي the unlettered prophet meaning our Prophet ﷺ
and Allah describes him therefore as a prophet,
as a messenger as الأمي, the one who
was unlettered meaning that he wasn't someone who
could read and write in the conventional sense
الذين يجدونه مكتوبا عندهم في التوراة والإنجيل and
these people because Allah is speaking about the
context of the people of Musa and Bani
Israel so he says that he is the
one that they find described in what is
in with them in the Torah and in
the Injeel and the Gospel so they find
the description of the Prophet ﷺ the prophesizing
of his coming ﷺ even his name in
certain parts in the scriptures ﷺ they mention
all of these there and that is why
as we've alluded to before if you look
at the time of the Prophet ﷺ you
have those stories such as the story of
Bahira the monk when the Prophet ﷺ is
a young man and he goes with his
uncle Abu Talib to Sham and the monk
sees him and he says this man is
the prophet that we are waiting for the
story of Hiraqal that is in Sahih al
-Bukhari the long narration of Ibn Abbas when
he speaks to Abu Sufyan and he realizes
that the Prophet ﷺ is the one that
is mentioned in their scriptures you see it
also in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad in
the story of Salman al-Farisi his long
story of his conversion to Islam and how
he is being guided in a long winded
way to Medina because of the prophesizing of
this man who will come and that is
the Prophet ﷺ the prophecies that they had
within their scriptures that he would come ﷺ
and then they were also given his description
not only in terms of his physical description
such as the seal of prophethood that was
described about him ﷺ and the place that
he would come which would be the city
of day palm trees which was Medina but
also his description in terms of what he
would do when he arrived upon the earth
what he would bring in terms of his
Sharia the types of things or the principles
that he would call to there are the
principles that all of the Prophets and Messengers
of Allah ﷺ call to what are they?
يَأْمُرُهُم بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَاهُمْ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ he calls them
to all that is good all that is
good, that is modest, that is beneficial and
that is why when Abu Sufyan was asked
by the Roman Byzantine leader what does he
call you to?
that's what he said he calls us to
join the ties of kinship to be modest,
to be good, to be generous these are
the things that all the Prophets call to
وَيَنْهَاهُمْ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ and he tells them to
stay away from all that is evil so
therefore anything that breaks the ties of kinship
disrespecting your parents, shirk, kufr, immodesty anything which
causes oppression or transgression against others all of
these things in terms of characteristics, in terms
of speech, in terms of actions this is
what the Prophet ﷺ was either calling to
or warning against وَيُحَجِّرِمُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْخَبَائِثِ and he
makes haram upon them that which is evil
and that which is khabith khabith is something
which is impure, not good, not befitting in
terms of food, in terms of drink in
terms of who they can and can't marry
in terms of what they can and can't
say in terms of the actions that they
can and cannot perform these are the things
that they are being told to stay away
from وَيَضَعُ عَنْهُمْ إِسْرَهُمْ وَالْأَغْلَالِ الَّتِي كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ
and he will remove from them their burdens
and the iron collars that were upon them
meaning the restrictions that were upon them meaning
that his religion will be easy his religion
will not be burdensome his religion will be
simple to follow it will have concessions where
there is a need for concessions it will
be merciful to the people and so this
is the religion of our Prophet ﷺ and
anyone that studied fiqh or the sharia knows
this in terms of how beautiful the religion
of Islam is and how amazing it is
in terms of its ruling in terms of
its rulings, in terms of its detail but
also in terms of the mercy that is
built within it in every single stage and
in every single place and for every single
situation depending upon your circumstances as and when
it is needed for you the religion is
easy and it is something which is beautiful
so then Allah ﷻ says فَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِهِ
so those who believe in him وَعَزَّرُوهُ وَنَصَرُوهُ
and they honour him and they honour him
and meaning they respect him and they honour
him in terms of his name by saying
ﷺ in terms of his life if he
was alive at that time meaning that they
were the companions who were living at that
time in the way that they would sit
with him and speak to him and address
him the honour and respect that he deserves
ﷺ and after his death in terms of
defending his honour and defending his sunnah وَعَزَّرُوهُ
and they help him in his lifetime by
being with him standing by him supporting him
fighting alongside him and after his death by
supporting his sunnah by reviving his sunnah by
honouring his religion by honouring his teachings ﷺ
وَاتَّبَعُوا النُّورَ الَّذِي أَنزِلَ مَعَهُ and they followed
the light which was sent down with him
meaning the Qur'an and everything that it
contains of light everything that it contains of
guidance everything that it contains of the mercy
that Allah ﷻ has placed within it that
they follow therefore his guidance so look at
all of these descriptions that will be given
now these are people who recognize the Prophet
ﷺ because they know of him, of his
descriptions they know of his characteristics they also
follow him in terms of their Iman in
him and they honour him and they follow
him and they follow what he brought as
well because that is part of Iman how
can you truly love and believe in the
Prophet ﷺ but you ignore his sunnah you
ignore the teachings of the Qur'an you
ignore his commandments and then you claim to
love him it is a hollow claim and
so the people who have true Iman in
the Prophet ﷺ or who strive to have
that perfect level of Iman or complete level
of Iman in the Prophet ﷺ are those
people who try their utmost to follow what
he left us with ﷺ أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ
those are the people that will be successful
in this life and in the Akhirah they
are the ones who will be saved from
evil they are the ones who will be
saved from harm they are the ones who
will be saved from the punishment of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala and they are the
ones who will be given success in the
dunya with regards to their families with regards
to their children and more importantly in the
Akhirah when they stand before Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala on Yawm al Qiyamah and the
final verse that we will take today in
verse 158 Allah azzawajal then says giving a
command to the people قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ
إِنِّي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ إِلَيْكُمْ جَمِيعًا الَّذِي لَهُ مُلْكُ
السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَا إِنَاهَ إِلَّا هُوَ يُحْيِي وَيُمِيتُ
فَآمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ النَّبِيِّ الْأُمِّيِّ الَّذِي يُؤْمِنُ
بِاللَّهِ وَكَلِمَاتِهِ وَاتَّبِعُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْدَدُونَ Say to them,
O Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam, O people I
am the messenger of Allah to you all
from him who has control I am the
messenger of Allah to you all from him
who has control over the heavens and the
earth there is no god worthy of worship
besides him he gives life and death so
believe in Allah and his messenger the unlettered
prophet who believes in Allah and his words
and follow him so that you may find
guidance so after mentioning this command or after
mentioning this description rather in the previous verse
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam now the
command is being given and so the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam is being ordered to say
to the people calling for example the Jews
and the Christians and the people of Bani
Israel and others O people I am the
messenger of Allah to you all I am
Allah's messenger to all of you so the
other prophets as we know were sent each
one to their own people Musa alaihissalam is
sent to his people Isa to his people
Ibrahim to his people Nuh to his people
but I have been sent to all of
you the Arabs and the non-Arabs irrespective
of where you live what your language is
what your ethnicity is your skin color and
so on and so forth I have been
sent to all of you the people of
the scriptures of before and other than them
as well and I have come to you
from Allah the one who controls and has
dominion over the heavens and the earth meaning
he does as he pleases he controls as
he wishes subhanahu wa'ta'ala and therefore from
his dominion and his control is that he
chooses who he sends as his messengers and
where he places them and who they are
sent to and who must follow them and
Allah azawajal is the one who decrees all
of this la ilaha illa huwa yuhyi wa
yumeet he is the one who is alone
worthy of worship none is worthy of worship
besides me subhanahu wa'ta'ala he is the
giver of life and the giver of death
subhanahu wa'ta'ala fa amilu billahi warasulihi nabiyyil
ummi so believe in Allah and in his
messenger the unlettered prophet meaning believe in this
messenger who has come to guide you to
the correct path and the straight path in
terms of your belief in terms of your
deeds in terms of your actions in terms
of your words believe in him alladhi yu'minu
billahi wakalimatihi wattabi'uhu la'allakum tahdadoon the
one who believes in Allah and in his
words and follow him so that you may
find guidance meaning that you will be guided
therefore to what is beloved to Allah azawajal
you will be guided to what is pleasing
to Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala and so in
these verses the people of Bani Israel and
other than the people of Bani Israel are
told that from the path or the only
way to success after the prophet salallahu alayhi
wasalam has come is to follow the prophet
salallahu alayhi wasalam and this is important here
because the context of the wider verses is
that Musa alayhi salatu wasalam commanded his people
with something and then in his absence they
disobeyed him and they turned away from Allah
azawajal the following of the prophet is essential
every messenger to his people it is essential
to follow them because it is only through
their guidance that you understand what Allah azawajal
wants from me and from you we don't
have revelation coming to each of us individually
from Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala the revelation that
comes to mankind is through the prophets and
messengers that Allah azawajal anoints and chooses subhanahu
wa'ta'ala and so therefore after the time
of the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam after his
coming there is no path to Iman there
is no path to Tawheed there is no
path to success or to the love and
pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala except through
following the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and to
do so and by doing so then you
have taken inshallah ta'ala the path that
leads you to guidance the path that leads
you to success the path that will give
to you the mercy of Allah azawajal and
all that is good in this life and
the next and with that inshallah ta'ala
we come to the end of today's episode
may Allah azawajal make us those from amongst
those who sincerely and truly and fully as
much as is humanly possible follow the prophet
salallahu alayhi wasalam who love him who honor
him who support him and who follow his
teachings barakallahu feekum wa sallallahu ala nabiyyina muhammadin
wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in wasalamu
alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh bismillahirrahmanirrahim