Ahsan Hanif – Quran Tafseer – Page 74 – Rejecting The Truth Leads To Punishment
AI: Summary ©
The history and characteristics of the tafsir page are discussed, including references to Quraysh army, the use of wealth and reward, recording actions and statements, and the importance of not believing in any messenger until it brings fire from heaven to Earth. The speaker emphasizes the importance of remembering death and recounts the story of the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam, who used to teach people to remember death and recount the story of the prophet Ali Ali Ali. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of understanding death and patient behavior and self discipline.
AI: Summary ©
Welcome to another episode of our tafsir page
by page.
Today we're upon upon page 74.
The 4th 2 surah to early Imran.
In the previous episode,
we mentioned the statements of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala
concerning some of the things that took place
after the battle of Uhud and in particular
the battle of what we call Hamra Al
Asad. And that is as we said that
after the battle of Uhud, the Quresh
after they were leaving from Medina on their
way back to Mecca decided to regroup because
they realized that they hadn't achieved any of
their objectives
from coming to Medina and attacking the city
of Medina and and the and the people
of Medina.
The the companions of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam himself. And so the messenger of Allah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam gathered a number of his
companions, made an army, and he sent them
to a place called Hamra Al Asad that
they should go and ward off this army
of Quraysh if he was going to come
back to attack Madina once again. The Quraysh
army,
Allah makes them have enough, you know, they've
done enough. They don't they can't they don't
want to go back into another battlefield battlefield
and fight all over again. And so they
return back to Madinah. And Allah Azwajal pleases
the companions of the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
because of the iman that they showed and
the determination and the steadfastness that they showed
despite what had just taken place on the
battlefield of wahad. And then Allah mentions a
number of verses concerning those people who disbelieve,
those people who have nifaq and hypocrisy
and the way that they see things in
their perspective, and Allah
corrects their perspective for us and shows to
us the reality of their
situation.
Today we begin with the therefore verse 181,
and that is the statement of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala
Allah has certainly heard the words of those
who sneer
that Allah is poor while we are rich.
We shall record everything that they say as
well as their prophets in defiance, a world
that is right, and we shall say to
them taste the torment of the scorching fire.
This verse comes after the the last verse
that we took the previous episode and that
was the statement of Allah azza wa jal
concerning those people who are miserly and stingy
and they withhold
from spending in the way of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala thinking that they're doing good because
they're withholding their wealth and keeping it for
themselves. They're keeping their money where they think
it is,
where they think that it's going to continue
to accumulate and increase. And Allah says, but
rather that is evil for you. And that
is because Allah will use that same mouth
to punish them on your mumqiyam. And we
mentioned that even for the Muslims, the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam told us concerning those people
who refused to pay Zakah that Allah will
use the wealth
that Zakah was due upon, that they refuse
to give in the way of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. He will use that same moth
to punish them on yumulquiyama.
Whether that be livestock animals,
whether that be gold and silver or cash,
whatever it may be, Allah will use that
to punish that person on Yomul Qiyam as
is mentioned in the sunnah of the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
This verse 181 is similar
in terms of spending in the way of
Allah
but not from a different angle, and this
is the statement attributed to some of the
people who used to live in Madinah from
the people of the book.
And that is that they say that they
said concerning Allah that your God must be
poor.
As for us, we and our God were
rich.
And that is because it is said in
some of the narrations in the books of
tafsir
that some of them heard the people of
the book in Madinah, they heard the verse
of the Quran which Allah Azzawajal says,
Who is it that will give to Allah
a goodly loan? Or the statement of Allah
and likewise the statement of Allah
and give to Allah a goodly loan. So
obviously as we know in our religion from
the Quran and from its verses that when
you give in sadaqa,
it is as if you are giving a
loan to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. But it
is not a monetary loan. It is not
because Allah needs your money and Allah will
pay you back in money.
Rather it is a goodly loan because
Allah azza wa jal is taking your charity
that you give to the poor and the
needy and is multiplying it in terms of
reward.
That is and blessing and so on. And
that is what Allah aza wa jal is
referring to in that aspect of being alone.
Because when you get a loan, when you
give a loan, you get back what you
give. Someone gives to you something else or
in the conventional loan system which is the
the riba type of loan, you get back
more than what you gave. You borrow someone
10, they give you back something some something
which is more, but they give you back
15 instead of 10. That is haram in
Islam.
But Allah
says in terms of reward, Allah
will give you multiple
rewards. So yes, you gave that £100 in
charity to the poor and needy, Allah accepted
that charity from you and increased it in
reward And he nurtured it in terms of
its reward.
And then Allah will give it back to
you as the prophet said
that when someone gives sadaqah,
Allah accepts it with his right hand and
he nurtures it. Nurtures the Sadaqah and charity
just the way one of you nurtures a
newborn animal. So So just say you have,
for example, a flock of sheep and there's
a newborn lamb or cows and and there's
a newborn calf and so on, you look
after that calf. Right? You will feed it.
You look after that that child that you
need to to look after because it's part
of your livestock, part of your animals that
you want to therefore want it to grow
up and be healthy and so on, you
give extra care and attention. Likewise, Allah does
with sadaqah, he nurtures it in a way
in terms of the reward that a person
will receive.
So when some of the people in the
book, they heard
these verses that Allah is asking for alone
and someone they said as a way of
mocking the religion of sneering of looking down
and humiliating the religion they said, oh, your
God must be poor. In allaha faqeel. As
for us, we're rich. Our God doesn't say
to us give us loans and so on.
So your God must be poor.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala responds and he says
we will record that which they say.
And we will also record the fact that
they killed their prophets in defiance without any
right
and for that they will be told to
taste the torment of the fire. So Allah
says that these statements of theirs plus everything
that they did before Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
would hold them to account for it. Allah
says
in verse
182.
This is on account of what you stored
up for yourselves with your own hands. Indeed,
Allah is never unjust to his servants.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says this is as
a result of what you have done. So
the torment of fire that you will have
is because of the statements that you have
made
and the actions that you have committed and
Allah will record all of that down and
Allah
will hold you to account for it and
this is something which therefore isn't specific
or unique to the people of the book
or the non Muslims but even the Muslims
are included in this That Allah Azza Wa
Jal records everything that we do, that Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will hold us to account
for our deeds and our actions and our
statements and so on. Allah will hold us
to account
and therefore we will also suffer
the repercussions of what we did. If they
are good, we will be rewarded. If they
are evil, then we may be punished. And
so Allah says that this is the reality
also for those people who made these types
of assertions and it is
from
the worst of manners and etiquette with Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala
that a person would say something
in that regard that Allah is poor, that
Allah is in need, that Allah lives in
poverty. These are abhorrent terms to ascribe to
the lord of the creators of the heavens,
the one who owns all of the treasures
of the universe. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah
says in verse 183,
To those who say Allah has commanded us
not to believe in any messenger
unless he brings us an offering that fire
from heaven consumes,
say to them, oh messenger, messengers
before me have come to you with clear
signs including the one that you mentioned. If
you are sincere then why did you kill
them? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying that
these people
who say this concerning Allah that Allah is
poor, that we are rich, that Allah is
in need, that Allah is in poverty. These
are the same people who said that we
were told that we shouldn't believe
in any messenger or prophet
until he brings forth charity or something which
will be consumed by a fire that will
come from
heaven.
And that is a lie because that sign
is one of the signs that Allah sent
his messengers from. It is not the only
or exclusive sign. So for them to say
that we were told that we should only
believe if the prophet, a prophet of Allah
or a messenger of Allah brings this sign,
that is untrue, it is false.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent the prophets and
messengers with many signs. He sent prophets with
signs like Musa alaihi salam with all of
his signs of the staff and splitting the
seas and the locusts and the frogs and
so on. And he sent other prophets with
signs like Risa Alaihi Salam of
curing the blind and the leopard bringing back
the life to dead and so on. And
he sent our messenger Muhammad salallahu alaihi wasallam
with his signs such as the Quran and
the splitting of the moon and all of
the various miracles that he was given salallahu
alaihi wa sallam. Yes. From those signs, for
some of those prophets was that they would
be, that their charity or that their offering
would be consumed by fire. And we know
that the,
in the times of the past or the
prophets of the past, when they would fight
battles and wars and they would have their
spoils of war that they would accumulate, they
wouldn't take from it themselves. But rather what
they would do is they would gather it
together and if the jihad and the fight
or the the fighting in Allah's cause was
accepted by Allah, a fire would come and
it would consume the spoils of war. And
that meant that the jihad was accepted.
And if no fire came, he meant that
their jihad wasn't accepted.
But for this, the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam,
as the prophet told us salallahu alaihi wasallam
from the things that Allah gave to him
as unique to him salallahu alayhi wasalam
that Allah made the spoils of war halal
for me and my ummah.
And so therefore the prophet would distribute that
wealth. No fire would come and take it,
rather he would distribute that wealth and it
would be given to the Muslims. So this
claim of theirs
is false in the in the sense that
it's something which every messenger and prophet must
bring. It is a sign from the many
signs that Allah
sent. It is not the only exclusive sign.
And then Allah refused his assertion anyway by
saying
then say to them that indeed prophets came
before me
with clear signs
and with the very sign that you yourself
are asserting, meaning the sign of the fire
coming to consume the offering.
Then why would you go and kill them
after this?
And so these people, as we've said before,
as Allah has mentioned in in in various
verses
in the passages that we've already mentioned, for
example, in Surah Al Baqarah, Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala mentioned that these people didn't really want
to truly believe in the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam, but rather they were looking just for
excuses and justifications
and ways of being able to
evade having to believe in the prophet,
even though they know clearly from the scriptures
that they should have believed. They know the
signs of a prophet and a messenger. They
know the signs of Allah sends with prophets
and messengers. They know the signs of revelation
that comes from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala but
they chose to ignore everything from those signs
and instead find ways that they could circumvent
or change or find a way to evade
believing in the messenger salallahu alayhi wasallam.
And that is why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
in the next verse, he consoled the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam by saying
If they reject you, then so have other
messengers been rejected before you even though they
came with clear evidence, books of wisdom, and
enlightening scripture. This is verse 184.
So So Allah ajawajal is saying to the
prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, don't be disheartened by
their rejection.
Don't be saddened by their rejection of you
because this is the way that they always
are.
Because if they rejected
you,
then many of the messengers who came before
you were also rejected
We know that the prophet salallahu alaihi wa
sallam
wanted guidance for everyone. That was from the
characteristics of the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam.
And one of the things that you see
from his beautiful character salallahu alayhi wasalam, which
is which shows the character that he had
and the worth and the value of this
man salallahu alayhi wasalam Because it is one
of the hardest things to have and that
is to constantly want good for others. And
not just a small amount of good in
a small
limited way, but rather good that is that
is on a general scale, that is on
a major scale, that is good that is
continuous
over the,
over the period of a person's life and
beyond into the next life. And that is
why the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, despite
all of the personal harm that he suffered,
despite all of the personal attacks that he
suffered salallahu alaihi wa sallam, despite the number
of his close companions that were killed and
martyred by the enemies of Islam. When those
people then came to accept Islam, the prophet
salallahu alaihi wasallam was willing and allowing for
them to come into Islam. And he would
pardon and he would forgive and he would
show forbearance and patience salallahu alaihi wasalam because
imagine that the person who comes to you
today is the very person who killed your
father. He killed your uncle. He killed your
son. He killed your spouse. He took your
wealth. He took your land. He oppressed you.
He injured you. He tortured you. He persecuted
you. All of those things
have raw emotions. They cause a great deal
of harm and pain and that is harm
and pain that lasts for a lifetime. It's
not something that you forget after a day
or a week or a month or a
year. That is something which is raw and
it continues with you because of that type
of harm.
And now some of those people are coming
to accept Islam, and the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam would give them their religion. He would
allow them to be Muslims and he would
accept them as the as his brothers and
he would pardon and forgive and forget and
he would honor them salallahu alaihi wasallam. And
that is why I said that these this
characteristic
shows the quality of the character of the
prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam. Because we all know
that if someone was to harm us in
far lesser ways
than the way in in the ways that
the companions and the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa
sallam will harm, and then that person was
to come and apologize,
ask for forgiveness and pardon, that would be
very difficult to accept at a personal level.
That would be something difficult to do and
even if we say yes and we accept,
for many of us, we would find it
difficult to then re engage with that person,
to make them a friend, to honor them,
to show good towards them. We would just
simply say it's okay, it's fine and then
just kind of try to avoid them, not
really get into any situation with them. But
the companions of the prophet salallahu alaihi wa
sallam and their role model, the prophet salallahu
alaihi wa sallam himself did more than this.
They would go out of their way to
make them feel welcome. They would honor them.
They would assist them. They would be with
them. They were like brothers to them. And
that is how the prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam
wanted this type of guidance for everyone. So
we see when the Quraysh eventually accept Islam,
this is how the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam
is with them. When the people of Taif,
Taqif, when they come and accept Islam, this
is how the prophet is with them salallahu
alayhi wasalam. So this was his character. And
so when people would reject him, when people
would would would mock
him or ridicule him, This is something which
saddened and grieved the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
So now they're saying that the signs that
you bring are not good enough for us.
Rather, we want this specific sign. They are
demanding from Allah to send them a specific
sign. And Allah has the ability to do
so, but it is a test for those
people. Because Allah does not listen to their
commands. They don't hold
sway or authority over Allah that he has
to listen to their commands. Allah gives them
clear signs that if they were sincere,
they would know that this messenger salallahu alayhi
wasalam was a messenger from Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. And if they are insincere,
then they will make these false excuses
as they are making. And that is what
Allah ajazhu jal is saying in this verse
184.
For in Tabuka, if they reject you, then
they rejected those who came before you.
All of those messengers came with clear evidences
as Zubr with books of wisdom scriptures, walkitabil
Munir and enlightening scriptures. They came with all
of this. They came with everything that they
wanted
and even so they still rejected them and
that is because when a person is insincere,
they don't really want to worship Allah ahsawajal,
they don't really want to come closer to
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala then that is going
to be their reality and they're going to
reject irrespective
of what it is
that a person
brings forth to them.
Allah
in the next verse 185 he says
Every day, every soul will taste death, and
he will be paid in full only on.
Whoever is kept away from the fire and
admitted to the garden will have triumphed. The
present world is only
an illusory
pleasure.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says in this verse giving to us the
reality
and that is that each and every single
social to his death,
There is no person that lives upon this
dunya
except that they must take death and they
must die
in this world, in this life of the
Duniya.
Every single human,
prophets,
messengers,
Oliya of Allah, believers,
disbelievers,
everything must die. As Allah ajawajal says elsewhere
in the Quran.
Everything upon it will perish
and only the face of your Lord, full
of nobility and majesty
and honor will remain.
And that is why even the prophet Isa
Alaihi Salam
who has of yet not suffered death, he
will come down towards the end of time
as is as is mentioned to us as
he is from the signs of yomul Qiyamah.
He will come down and he will live
for a period of time and then he
too alayhi salam will die in this dunya.
That is the sunnah of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. And that is what Allah is saying
in verse 185 of Surah 2 earlier Imran.
Every single soul shall taste death. So everyone
dies. And that is why the prophet salallahu
alaihi wasallam used to recommend
that we remember death. He used to say
remember the destroyer of pleasures death because it's
something which helps you to focus,
to reprioritize,
to have greater perspective when you know that
you're going to die. And the trap of
shaitan
is to deceive us about death, that you
will live for 70, 80 years, that you
have plenty of time, that death won't come
upon you suddenly, that you may not die
in your sleep, that you may not be
struck down by terminal illness or disease tomorrow.
All of these different things that Shaitan gives
to us and we think that we have
plenty of time. And even if none of
that stuff happens to you and you do
end up living for 70, 80, 90, a
100 years, look at how fast that time
goes. How much of that time just slips
by without us really accomplishing anything good for
the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Every social taste death. If anyone was to
have been saved from death, it would have
been our prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
If anyone was to have been saved from
that type of difficulty, it would have been
the most beloved of Allah's creation to him
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And Allah says elsewhere in the Quran,
you will die. Meaning your messenger salallahu alayhi
wa sallam and they too will die. That
is the reality of this dunya.
And so the prophet salallahu alayhi was telling
me to recommend
that you go to the graveyard,
that you look there, you listen there, you
spend time there pondering over your own reality.
Today we bury our parents, our loved ones,
the people that are close to us, the
members of our community and tomorrow it will
be our turn and they will be burying
us. Anyone that's been, for example, to Mecca
or Medina to the 2 harams there, more
or less after every single congregational prayer, they
have Janazah prayers because everyone wants their Janazah
to be prayed in Mecca and Medina in
the 2 harams.
And so there you see that reality over
and over again but sometimes it is also
easy
to to to become disconnected from it
or to for it to become the norm
because you're constantly playing those jazzes. You have
to go and you have to understand that
reality.
And every time someone passes away, it should
be a reminder and a lesson for us
in terms of our own fragility of life
and its temporary nature.
Allah
and you will be paid in full
Whatever you earn of good or bad, reward
or punishment you will be given that full
so therefore what is success
what is success and what is failure
from an zukh zeeha alin now. Whosoever is
removed or kept away from the fire. Entered
into paradise, they have been given and granted
success. They have triumphed.
So the opposite meaning therefore is also true
that whoever is turned away from paradise
and enters into the fire, then they have
suffered the ultimate loss.
And indeed the life of this world is
just an illusory pleasure. The dunya and everything
in it from its mouth, from its beautification,
from its adornments, from everything that is contained
therein, it is all.
It is temporary
deception.
And so we gather this wealth and we
spend our lives accumulating all of this money
and trying to build an empire for ourselves
and then we leave and none of it
really matters. It's taken by others. It's used
by others. It benefits others maybe, but does
it really benefit us? Not necessarily.
Especially if it was earned in a way
that is halal and spent in a way
that is pleasing to Allah
And so we have to be mindful of
the dunya and its temporary nature
and the permanency
of the next existence of the hereafter. And
so the intelligent one is the one who
works for what is permanent
and not so much for the one is
temporary
as opposed to working for what you know
is only temporary
and ignoring what you know is permanent.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in verse 186,
the final verse on this page,
You are sure to be tested through your
possessions and your persons.
You are sure to hear much that is
hurtful from those who have given the scripture
before you and from those who associate others
with Allah. If you are steadfast and mindful
of Allah, that is the best course.
Allah
is saying that this is the reality of
the dunya. That Allah will test you in
terms of yourselves, your lives, your bodies, and
in terms of your wealth. And wealth and
life is a test as we know all
of it even when it is good it
is a test to see how you will
respond. If Allah honors you with good health,
honors you with wealth will you use those
blessings in a way that is pleasing to
Allah
or will it make you arrogant and heedless?
And when you have calamity and hardship before
you, will that also make you come closer
to Allah
in your patience, in your ibadah, in your
character? Or will it drive you away from
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? And from that harm
is that which is external.
You will hear harm from the people of
the scripture, from the people of shirk, from
those around you. They will harm you. They
will ridicule your religion. They will mock your
prophet. They will mock your scriptures. They will
mock the way that you look and the
way that you dress and the principles and
morals that you have and that you uphold
the character that you have, as Muslims you
will hear much of this.
So what does Allah
commend us to do?
To have sabr. Be patient, patient upon the
harm, patient upon Allah's decree, patient upon all
of the evil that comes your way, patient
upon the good that comes in remaining steadfast
upon the worship of Allah Subhanahu Ta'ala and
strong in your iman. Patience
is extremely important.
And taqwa, be mindful of Allah in every
single situation
even when it's to do with your wealth
or your life or people are harming you
by the way that they act or what
they say, know that Allah is watching you.
You have to behave in accordance to the
Sharia. So the Muslim is not the one
who's just be just because other people are
doing evil and oppression that they're going to
respond with even greater evil and oppression.
We don't have that concept in our religion,
but rather we know as Muslims, and
the way that we should conduct ourselves.
So even when others transgress
and go beyond the limits that have been
set,
then the Muslim is the one who knows
their position because they have sabr, patience and
they have taqwa of Allah
and if you have those two things, it
is not easy. And that is why Allah
says that that is from the most
asmul umur. It is from the best course
or it is from the issues of high
determination,
high aspiration.
And that is because to be constantly
patient and and constantly mindful of Allah especially
in those times of difficulty is not something
which is easy, but rather requires a great
deal of self discipline of turning to Allah
of dua, of trusting in Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala and Ibadah. May Allah
grant us that. And with that, we come
to the end of today's episode.