Ahsan Hanif – Quran Tafseer – Page 71 – Deal Gently With Others
AI: Summary ©
The importance of forgiveness and balancing personal behavior with others is emphasized in Allah's actions and actions of his followers. The speaker emphasizes the need for individuals to be gentle and kind in responding to others' actions. The importance of forgiveness and sharing experiences is also emphasized. The use of trust and guidance in difficult situations is also emphasized. The use of the messenger of Allah salallahu alaihi wa sallam is also discussed, and the importance of pursuing one's values is emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
Welcome to another episode of seal page by
page and inshallah today we are on page
number 71
of the Quran which is Surah Alir Imran
the 4th Jews.
We are coming towards the end of the
passage of the surah that speaks about the
battle of Uhuds over the last number of
episodes, we have been going through the pages
and passages of the surah that I've dealt
with the lessons
and the principles that we deduce and derive
from the battle of Uhag, the 2nd major
battle that was fought, in the life of
the prophet salallahu alayhi wasallam.
And there are many principles and lessons that
Allah has given to us, many principles and
lessons that we can benefit from,
even today in our time in in in
the way that we should behave and in
the way that we should have in terms
of our iman and in terms of our
trust upon Allah
All of those issues that we've discussed over
the past few episodes.
We're now coming towards end of this,
particular
subject if you like this topic that Allah
has mentioned in great detail in Surah to
earlier Imran.
So today we begin from verse number 159
of Surah to earlier Imran. And that is
the distinct of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
By an act of mercy from Allah,
you meaning the prophet
were gentle in your dealings with them. Had
you been harsh
or hard hearted they would have dispersed and
left you. So pardon them and ask forgiveness
for them, consult with them about matters then
when you have decided on a course of
action, put your trust in Allah.
Indeed Allah loves those who put their trust
in him.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the previous number
of
episodes or in the previous episode or so
mentioned to us the verses of the way
that the people who,
who spoke out against the believers. They went
to fight alongside the prophet
the way that they acted. So as we
mentioned in the battle of Uhud, a great
number of the hypocrites
essentially pulled themselves away from the army of
the Muslims. They left the prophet salallahu alaihi
wasallam with the Muslims to fight, and they
returned to the city of Madinah. And they
were under the leadership of the leader of
the hypocrites, Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Sarun.
Those people would then come and say, you
know, had you listened to us, had you
obeyed us, those people, 70 odd of the
companions who were martyred, wouldn't have died. Had
you been alongside us, you wouldn't have been
defeated. Had you stayed with us and listened
to us, you know, you wouldn't have been
injured, you wouldn't have been harmed, there wouldn't
have been any blood spilt and so on
and so forth. And Allah tells
us as we mentioned in the previous episode
and 2 or 2 that Allah says that
death would have come to you wherever you
are even if you had been lying down
upon your beds in your homes in the
safety or with the safety of your family
or the relative safety of your family, death
can still come to you. It can still
strike you And so therefore what Allah has
decreed will always come to you. Here Allah
subhanhu wa ta'ala says that from the mercy
of Allah
from his favor, from his grace and bounty
upon the prophet, salallahu alaihi wa sallam, is
that he allowed and made the prophet, salallahu
alaihi wa sallam, a person of and gentle
disposition.
He had a gentle character. And we know
from studying the life of the prophet
that he was extremely gentle and kind and
forbearing.
He would be kind towards the poor, kind
towards the needy, kind towards the orphans and
the weak, and he was someone who was
generally gentle sallallahu alaihi wasallam in easygoing
with the way that he dealt with people.
So the Bedouin person that comes and as
we know, urinates in the masjid of the
prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam. And the prophet salallahu
alaihi wasallam is gentle with him or the
other Bedouin who comes and pulls the cloak
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam with
such force that he leaves a mark upon
the neck of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam and then asks for sadaqa and charity
and the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam is gentle
with us. One example that we have of
the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam with his own
companions
in the errors that they made and the
mistakes that they made and sometimes the sins
that they committed and the prophet salallahu alaihi
wasallam is gentle with them. And here likewise
is an example because essentially what happens as
we know in the battle of Uhud
is that the group of archers that was
placed upon that mountain by the
prophet a good number of
them disobey the direct order of the prophet
And as a direct result of that, the
Qurayshah are able to come and route the
Muslim army. The prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam
is gentle with those people.
He's gentle with them, salallahu alaihi wasalam, because
there's 2 ways that you can respond in
that situation.
1 is to is to attach blame.
It is to be harsh. It is to
be stern and strict. It is to be
forceful with them. And the other way is
to understand that they made a genuine mistake.
It wasn't done out of malice
or ill feelings or hatred for Islam or
the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam. It was a
genuine mistake that they made. It was a
lapse of judgement on their part, but it
was a genuine one. And so the prophet
salallahu alaihi wasallam is gentle with them. He
is easy with them. He pardons and forgives
them, and Allah
praises this. And this is therefore something which
every Muslim should have, especially when it comes
to those relationships that you are part of
each and every single day with your close
fam with your closest family members, the people
that are around you, your close friends, the
people that you work with. If you're, for
example, in a position of responsibility
or your students, if you're a teacher, these
relationships and these dynamics are something which require
you, generally speaking, to be easy going and
to be gentle and to be kind.
Because if you're constantly strict and harsh, you
will find that people don't generally respond to
you in a very good way.
So it is by the mercy of your
lord of Allah
that you were gentle in your dealings with
them. The prophet was
always gentle. So now, the father or the
mother with their children, especially as those children
enter into their teenage years and they become
older and they have more independence and they
want to assert their own dominance and their
own authority and their own character into those
issues and and and and and situations that
they're part of and they will make mistakes
and they will do wrong and they will
sin and they will have lapses of judgment,
the way that we respond as parents is
extremely important.
Yes, there is a moment to be harsh
and strict,
but also generally speaking, the overall
disposition towards them should be one of gentleness
and likewise the employer with his employees, the
teacher with his students
and all of those people.
Allah says
Because if you were someone who was always
harsh,
hard hearted, they
would have dispersed and left you. They would
have gone away from you because the nature
of humans is
that if you're constantly harsh with them, they
feel like or their response will be, I
don't need you.
There's no reason why I should why I
should suffer in this way. What is it
that you're providing for me? Or they will
suffer in silence.
They will continue to bear it but inside
they're seething.
Inside they have problems or they have this
type of malice that is building up towards
you because of the way that you are
treating them. Allah ajazu jal was saying to
the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam, had you been
harsh,
had you been hard hearted, they would have
dispersed and left you. Now the beauty of
Islam is that it is a religion that
is banned.
On the one hand, we're told that generally
speaking, you should be gentle. But we also
know from the example of the prophet salallahu
alaihi wa sallam that there were moments in
which the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam used
to be stern and used to be harsh
and he used to be strict, especially when
it came to the commands and the laws
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
So therefore, you have to be balanced in
in the way that you deal with this
and in the way that you, hold yourself
in terms of your character.
So the prophet salallahu alaihi was telling him,
he's praised for his character. Allah ajawajal then
says,
So pardon them, forgive them or ask forgiveness
for them and consult them in your affairs.
Three things that the prophet salallahu alaihi wa
sallam was instructed to do that are part
of the gentleness and the kindness of his
character and his position. The first
is to pardon.
Pardon them for the mistakes that they make.
In any relationship that you are part of,
husband and wife, parents and children, siblings amongst
themselves, friends, neighbors,
employees, business partners,
there will always be mistakes.
And as long as those mistakes are genuine
mistakes, they're not done out of malice or
hatred or something in which that person is
genuinely trying to harm you, the the default
ruling is that you pardon and you forgive.
So Allah is instructing the prophet
to pardon those companions and the people around
him that made mistakes. And we know for
anyone that reads the seerah, studies the sunnah
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
as is human nature. On a number of
occasions,
companions said things that maybe they shouldn't have
said or did things that maybe they shouldn't
have done out of a simple
ignorance or lack of understanding or lapse of
judgment or whatever it may be. That's human
nature. People always say things and make mistakes.
When you're in a close relationship with someone,
they will sometimes say things that they don't
necessarily mean
in a hurtful way, but it can be
offensive.
They may do things that are offensive, but
they don't mean it to be something which
is hurtful to you in that way. It's
just the way that people are sometimes.
And so the default is that you pardon.
Because if you constantly hold each one of
those people to account for everything that they
do, then that relationship
will have a very short span. It will
have a very short term effects. And that's
because human nature is that we make mistakes.
So just as they make mistakes and I
must pardon them, then I acknowledge also that
I make mistakes as well and that they're
pardoning me. It's not just a one way
thing that I'm always the one pardoning and
forgiving. They're the ones always making mistakes. I
equally make as many mistakes if there are
more. I equally do as much harm or
offend people in certain ways as they do
to me. And so therefore I forgive I
I pardon them. Wastaghfirullahhum
and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is
saying is being told and seek forgiveness for
them. This is a beautiful characteristic that we
don't do enough of especially when it comes
with our family members and the people that
are close to us and that is that
we don't ask Allah's forgiveness for them someone
does something wrong and we say may Allah
forgive you may Allah pardon you may Allah
guide you May Allah rectify your affairs. These
are duas
that are good, noble duas that should be
made that shows the love that we have
for one another as Muslims. That we want
not only us, like we don't just pardon
them ourselves, but we seek Allah's forgiveness for
them. So someone comes and they do you
harmonies, say may Allah forgive you. What a
beautiful dua. What a beautiful way of reconciling
between 2 people,
of dissolving the situation that could possibly become
difficult.
Seek forgiveness for them. And the third thing
is
and that is consult them in your affairs.
The prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam is told
to consult the companions
around him, the people around and this is
what the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam would
do.
Now this is important because as we said
before, one of the reasons that the Baqt
Uhl takes place in the way that it
does is because of this very issue and
that is the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam
consulting the companions. He consults them, He asks
them, should we fight
and protect Medina from within or should we
go out and fight? And the companions respond
and they say, oh, messenger of Allah, we
should go out and fight. And then obviously,
as a result of that, what happens takes
place. Now someone could turn around and say
the prophet, salallahu alaihi wasallam, is a messenger
of Allah, receives revelation from Allah, is inspired
by Allah. He doesn't need salallahu alaihi wasallam
the advice of the companions of the people
around him. But likewise, at the same time
the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam is a leader
and a role model and an example for
others who will come and follow after him.
People who don't have revelation
or inspiration from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. People
who are not prophets and messengers of Allah.
And so for them, the prophet salallahu alaihi
wasallam is being told this is the way
that you should act. That, yes, what you
did was correct and that shows you that
making consultation,
and there is a Surah that is that
is obviously named after Surah Ashura which means
to consult and Allah says in
the Surah from the attributes of the believers
is that they consult one another.
So therefore, it is something which is beloved
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Not only that, but it also is something
which which allows a person then to make,
decisions
that are more rounded,
more grounded
based on more shared experience.
Because I, despite my knowledge or experience that
I may have, it is still limited because
I don't know everything. I haven't experienced everything.
I haven't been in every scenario situation. So
when I consult my brother,
my sister, my parents, my friends, the people
in my community,
depending on what that situation is and and
and the circumstances that demand, you know, because
you can't consult everyone for everything. There are
certain people that you will go to for
certain things because you consider them to have
experience in that affair or to have wisdom
that they can share with you. You go
to them and they give you your their
position. They give you their nasihah and that
is from the rights of the Muslim over
another Muslim as the prophet told us
that when you ask for sincere advice, it
is given to you.
So here, likewise, it is something which allows
the person then to leave with a greater
understanding
of,
of of 1
or a greater understanding of what is the
best outcome or solution. Likewise, from the benefits
of shura
is that usually,
because it is something which has been consulted
upon by many people, the end result is
usually something which is greater or better than
if a person was just to make their
own individual,
individual efforts and and make their own individual
judgments. And that is why it is something
which is,
which is good. And it is also one
of the greatest ways of increasing the bonds
of brotherhood and sisterhood, increasing the bonds of
relationships
that you have with those people. Because when
you come to someone and seek their advice,
especially in issues that are important, issues that
are pivotal, issues that are fundamental,
that person feels honored that you chose them
from what other people that you could have
approached. They came to you and it shows
that they trust you. It shows that they
value your advice. It shows that they honor
you because they put you in that position
of giving them that advice.
And it shows, therefore, that they,
they value your input. And that is something
which then increases the bonds of relationships and
increases the bonds of brotherhood. And this is
exactly what the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam used
to do throughout his life salallahu alaihi wasallam
he would go and he would consult. Sometimes
from his family members, from his wives, and
sometimes from his close companions like Abu Bakr
and Amar radiAllahu anhu. And sometimes he would
gather the Muslims altogether
and he would seek the, he would seek
the advice.
And then Allah says for either ashamd and
once you have made that
decision, now that you've consulted,
you sought advice, now you make that decision,
fatawakar ara Allah, then place your trust in
Allah because sooner or later, you must make
that decision. And from that decision making process
also as we know in the sunnah is
to pray istighar and to ask Allah
for his divine guidance. Indeed Allah loves those
who place their trust upon him.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the next verse
160 then continues and says,
If Allah helps you, then no one can
overcome you. And if he forsakes you, then
who can help you? Indeed, the believers should
put their trust in Allah azza wa Jal
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, therefore, is saying that
Allah azza wa Jal when you trust in
Allah, you seek advice, you turn to Allah
azza wa jal, then if Allah azza wa
jal comes to your aid, then no one
can overcome you. If Allah is by your
side and with you, giving you his divine
help and guidance and assistance, then no one,
no other possible force in the universe can
overcome you.
But if he forsakes you, if Allah leaves
you and abandons you, if Allah does not
help you and assist you and aid you,
then Allah azza wa Jal says who can
possibly come to help you. There is no
force in the heavens and the earth that
can stand by you and guide you and
help you if Allah
has forsaken you. Indeed Allah
loves those who let the believers put their
trust in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So these are important issues because the prophet
salallahu alaihi wa sallam in the battle of
Uhud is going through a major event that
affects affects the whole community. It's not a
personal issue or a family issue. It is
something which the whole society
will have to be involved in. And so
the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam is being told
the way in which he should behave and
conduct himself and a great deal and part
of that is number 1, trust in Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and having said to Allah's promise and at
the same time taking those steps and means
of preparation,
seeking advice, consultation and so on so that
a person can make
the decisions that they need to make.
Allah ajna in verse 161
he says
It is inconceivable
that a prophet would ever dishonestly
dishonestly
take something from the battle gains. Anyone who
does so will carry it with him on
the day of resurrection
when each soul will be fully repaid for
what it has done and no one will
be wronged.
Allah is saying in this verse that it's
not it's not befitting
for a prophet of Allah
to come and do what is called.
Is when someone comes and before the battle
or war booty, the spoils of war are
distributed,
they come and they take something for themselves.
Right? And some of the scholars said, in
fact, it's not just the war booty or
the spoils of war, but any type of
financial
responsibility that a person is given. Someone is
the treasurer of their local masjid, someone is
in charge of their local community
family fund that they put together. Someone's in
charge of some type of cooperative scheme where
people come and they give their money on
a trust basis. It's not befitting for a
person to come and do take money from
that. So the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam
is being absolved
by Allah from
that type of behavior, that he would take
money from the treasury of the Muslims or
from the spoils of war before it has
been distributed. And in fact, to do so,
to take from that way is considered to
be from the major sins in Islam because
of this verse and because of other texts
that we find in the Quran and the
sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. And
that is why the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
said about 1 and one of the battles
when a a man had died and the
people praised him, the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam
said rather what he took, what he stole
from
the war booty before that had been distributed,
that is something that is punishing him in
his grave, meaning in the fire.
And so they went and they seduced him
and they found certain positions that he had
taken from the spoils of war before they
had been distributed. That is called an Arabic
and it is, as we said, from the
major, major sins.
These are accusations that used to be made
or that the hypocrites and others will make
about the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. That
he takes any benefits. And this is always
something that you will find when people are
in positions of power and responsibility.
People often have this assertion.
Sometimes it's true and there's evidence and there's,
you know, proof to show that these people
are stealing from the wealth of the Muslims
and from the general fund of the Muslims
in the communities or their countries and whatever
it may be. And at other times, it's
people just using their whisperings of Shaitan, using
their suspicion, using their evil thoughts to
to if you like project this onto those
people that are innocent of those accusations.
And so a person has to be very
careful,
very careful in what they assert, very careful
in what they say. Because Because it may
be that that person Allah has blessed them
with their own wealth, their business people, their
people that Allah has given to them wealth.
And so they drive nice cars and they
live in nice houses. And at the same
time they're also for example on the board
of the local masjid or part of the
local charity or part of a fund that
has been gathered And so people start saying,
oh, look at this man. He has or
this brother or this sister now. They they
have a nice car and they're also in
charge. I don't know what they're doing with
the money. These types of suspicions are not
befitting.
And it is therefore, especially not befitting when
it comes to the messenger of Allah salallahu
alaihi wasallam. For
Allah chose him based upon his truthfulness
and his honesty and his integrity
salallahu alaihi wasallam. Allah says that whoever steals
in this way, he will bring it forth
in the day of judgement. Allah will use
it to punish them.
As the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said
about that man who died in battle and
he had done so.
And then every soul will be fully repaid
for that which you used to do
and
no one will be wronged.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in verse 162 then
continues and says,
Can the man who pursues Allah's good pleasure
be like the man who has brought Allah's
wrath upon himself
and whose home will be * a foul
destination.
Allah azza wa Jal is comparing making this
comparison between
these two people
One person who all of their actions,
all of their intentions
are to seek Allah's pleasure.
So everything that they do, it is to
seek Allah's pleasure and his reward. Subhanu wa
Ta'ala
is he equal or like the man who
spends his life incurring Allah's wrath and anger.
So these 2 people, Allah azzawajal says cannot
be equal.
They cannot be upon or they cannot be
1 and the same. And that is because
Allah azza wa Jal praises the one who
uses their life and uses the skills and
abilities and blessings that Allah azza wa Jal
has given to them to pursue Allah's pleasure
and Allah's reward.
They are not like the one who takes
all of those blessings and uses those skills
and talents that Allah gave to them and
they use it to incur the wrath of
Allah, the anger of Allah, the curse of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. That second one, Allah
says, because
that person's destination
will be the how fire,
and what an evil destination that is. So
Allah
is comparing these two people because likewise you
have in life as we know the believer
and the disbeliever
and the one who works for Allah's reward
and his pleasure and the one who doesn't
work for Allah's reward and pleasure therefore incurring
Allah's wrath. And that is what Allah goes
on to say in verse 163.
They are in a different class in Allah's
eyes. And Allah sees exactly what they do.
And so therefore you have these different classes
and different levels of people. You have those
people that come closer to Allah
and they amongst themselves
are of different levels. It's a result just
one level of seeking nearness or drawing closer
to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, but there are
of different levels and then there are those
people who turn away from Allah
and they too are of levels that too
is a spectrum and Allah
knows best that which they do. In verse
164, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then says,
Allah has truly been gracious to the believers
in sending them a messenger from amongst themselves
to recite his revelations to them to make
them grow in purity and to teach them
the scripture and wisdom before that they were
clearly astray.
From the greatest blessings of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is that he sent to us a
messenger from amongst our sons.
That messenger whose name we know whose lineage
we know whose family we know we know
his background, we know everything about him salallahu
alaihi wasalam. This messenger was sent by Allah
azzawajal
from amongst the people. He spoke their language.
He understood their circumstances and their situations.
He, therefore, outlined a way for them to
turn to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and come
close to him.
This is from the greatest blessings of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. That Allah doesn't leave you
without guidance, doesn't leave you without a role
model, without someone that you can emulate, someone
that you can take as a leader, someone
that you can follow in their footsteps
and it is from the mercy of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala that he sent you a
messenger that you can relate to because as
we know one of the things that the
disbelievers would ask is that they would say
surely if Allah was going to send prophet
or messengers, he should have sent angels down
to
us. We want angels to become and Allah
says that if upon the earth there were
angels walking
then the prophets and messengers would have been
angels as well.
But for humans,
humans are what is needed because had the
angels come then people would have turned around
and said but that's an angel. I can't
worship the way that angel is worshiping. I
can't pray or fast or or do all
of those things. That's an angel. Doesn't need
to do what I need to do. Doesn't
have free choice to commit Allah anyway. How
can that possibly
be a good role model for me? And
so Allah aasawajal sent for the believers a
messenger from amongst themselves.
And that is from the duas as we
know
of Ibrahim alayhis salat wa sallam alibrahiem asked
Allah ajawajal
to send out from amongst the Arabs a
messenger from his progeny
from those people that are settled in Mecca,
a messenger that would come from amongst themselves,
that messenger being our Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam.
And the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam
says he recites the revelations of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. The verses of Allah
that come from Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And
he purifies them
from shirk, from kufr, from disbelief and also
purifies them physically
in terms of telling them how to cleanse
themselves, the hygiene that they need and the
way that they should,
in terms of their character and the character
that they should have in staying away from
evil characteristics.
And he teaches them about Iman, about the
Quran,
about the Sunnah, about the religion, about that
which brings them closer to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala and gives them understanding of the Sharia
and that which brings them the pleasure of
Allah a sahu wa jal.
And before all of this, before the coming
of this messenger and this revelation and the
purification
and the teaching of the book and wisdom,
before all of this, they were indeed
clearly astray. And that is the end of
verse number 160 4. There is one verse
left on this page, but Insha Allah Ta'ala,
we will take that with the next episode
because it is linked to the verses that
will come Insha Allah Ta'ala on the next
page. So with that insha Allah ta'ala, we
bring it, we begin or we bring today's
episode to a close.