Ahsan Hanif – Quran Tafseer – Page 97 – Is There Good In Secret Talks
AI: Summary ©
The importance of avoiding negative speech in public settings is discussed, along with the need for reconciliation between believers and neighbors. The Sharia and region tell everyone that actions of two people have a dispute among them are not related, and the importance of forgiveness is emphasized. The speaker also discusses the use of Shaitan in responding to idols and worship, and warns against individuals who do not want to admit their true intentions. The importance of following different ways on the same path is emphasized, along with false promises and the need for forgiveness.AI: Transcript ©
Welcome to another episode of our tafsir program.
Page by page. InshaAllah ta'ala today we are
on page number 97
which is in Surat Nisat, the 5th Jews
of the Quran.
Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala
in this verse that we are going to
begin with today which is verse 114.
Allah Azzawajal says,
Allah says there is no good in most
of their secret talk,
only in commanding charity or good or reconciliation
between people.
To anyone who does these things seeking the
pleasure of Allah, we shall give a rich
reward.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala here speaks about the
reality that most of us are familiar with
and that is that in most people's private
gatherings
and najwa is when they sit together with
one another privately indoors
in those gatherings that they have with others,
the vast majority of the conversation and the
speech that takes place is of little to
no benefit.
Not only is there of little to no
benefit, but in some cases
and sometimes,
it is actually speech that is harmful or
speech that is haram, speech that Allah has
forbidden.
How often do we see people gathering together
and they're backbiting
Or gathering together and they're spreading rumors? Or
gathering together and they're lying or they're cheating
or they're doing things which Allah has forbidden?
And that often happens especially when you don't
have a purpose or you're just going to
spend time together, not really necessarily doing something
which is productive or something which is good.
Now no doubt there are times when you
can sit with people and you can relax,
chill and have a conversation
as it is established that the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam would sit with the companions and
the companions would speak about the olden days
of pre Islam of Jahiliyyah,
and they would share their stories and they
would share their experience and sometimes they would
laugh and joke about these things. But that
has a purpose, it is something which is
done from time to time in order to
give people a break, in order to
let off some steam, that is something which
is fine and permissible.
But here Allah is speaking about the vast
majority of gatherings,
where it becomes the norm And it becomes
the usual aspect of those gatherings. Then when
people come together they're going to backbite. They're
going to speak about others. They're going to
ridicule others, they are going to look down
upon others, they are going to mock others.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says there is no
good in the vast majority of this unless
those people order
something which is sadaqa. They give and they
command to give some charity. And charity here
is both with the specific meaning and the
more generic meaning. The specific meaning is the
specific type of charity which is the monetary
type of charity you are asking someone to
help support someone, there is an orphan in
the community, there is a widow, there someone
elderly. They need some financial support. There's the
poor. There's the needy.
There's a a tragic event that's taking place
somewhere in the world. A natural disaster, people
are in need, people are going through a
difficult time and so you're commanding charity. That's
the specific meaning. But the wider meaning of
some of this quality of Tafsir
mentioned also can be applicable here. And that
is that every good deed is a type
of sadaqah as the prophet told us
and that's why in the hadith of Abu
Dharr radiAllahu anil sahih Muslim, the prophet said
to say subhanAllah
to command the good is sadaqa to forbid
the evil is sadaqa and so on and
so forth. And so if you are spreading
knowledge, you are reminding people of Allah
you take a verse of the Quran that
you just give a few benefits from and
that's something which is good that the Majlis
that you have or the sittings and gatherings
that you have, you should leave with some
type of benefit or some type of reminder
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala even if it
is very short. And I remember with a
number of our teachers that they would do
this even if we were gathering over food,
we were having dinner together,
just a couple of minutes at the beginning
they would just choose a verse of the
Quran or maybe at the end choose a
verse of the Quran or a hadith of
the Prophet
or something that they read that day that
they came across, a benefit, a statement of
a scholar, a story that they read and
it just has something that you are at
least reminded of Allah concerning. And that's because
the believer, this is how they should be
geared,
it is something that they should be geared
towards the most of their time. A lot
of their time should be spent in the
remembrance of Allah azza wa Jal,
rather than especially if it is your common
practice to meet with people often and to
go out with them often and to sit
with them often and to eat with them
often for what you're always doing
is dunya dunya or worse because at least
if it's about the dunya it may just
be permissible
you're not earning good deeds but you're not
necessarily sinning
At least that's better than those people who
spend their time sinning because they are engaged
in some type of haram speech or something
which is harmful. So Allah says that the
vast majority of those gatherings is no good
in. Even if you are not doing haram,
you are not benefiting either. So there is
not necessarily any benefit that you have taken
unless you command which is something which is
charity
or anything which is good. Anything which is
good and that includes all forms and all
types of good. So you're looking at something
that will benefit others, help others,
advise others that is something which is good
or the third thing that Allah notes here
or specifies
here
is reconciliation
between people. You know that in your family,
in your community, amongst your friends, there are
2 people who aren't getting along.
For one reason or another, they've broken their
ties and their relationship has been severed or
it has been fractured.
So to reconcile between those two people, that
is something which is beloved in this religion.
And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala encourages this in
a number of places in the Quran. Allah
says for example
Allah
says that indeed the believers are all brothers
so reconcile between your brothers
And that's because it is natural between a
husband and a wife, between family members, between
close friends, relatives, business partners and just brothers,
Muslims, one to another that sometimes they have
disputes,
misunderstandings,
sometimes there's problems between one or the other.
The Sharia and the region tells us that
number 1, they the the 2 of them
should try to reconcile amongst themselves. They should
not hold a grudge to heart longer than
is necessary. And they should forgive and they
should pardon and they should find a way
to reconcile as the prophet told
about the hadith in which Allah causes the
actions
to be raised
or the actions of a person are raised
on Mondays Thursdays.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala all the actions
are raised in the Hadith every
everyday in the morning and the evening at
the times of and
the hadith goes on to say that Allah
says
that all of those actions are raised except
for the actions of the 2 people who
have a dispute amongst themselves, the 2 Muslims.
And Allah says as for their actions leave
them be.
They are suspended until they reconcile amongst themselves.
So that's one aspect that they should actively
make an effort to reconcile and at the
same time we are told that we should
work towards
reconciling between them. If you have a role
that you can play, you're someone who has
the ear of both of those people, you're
someone who can influence them in a good
way, then that is also something which is
a good deed.
And that is what Allah Azzawajal says that
whosoever does this seeking the pleasure of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala they will be given a
great reward and that is because much of
the Sharia is
geared towards
that which is beneficial towards others. Many of
these actions, sadaqa,
any type of charitable deed or rather charitable
deeds are when you help others.
Doing good towards others. Reconciling
between others. So you are actually serving other
people, helping other people, coming to the aid
of others and that is something which is
beloved to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
In verse 115 Allah
says
If anyone opposes the messenger after guidance has
been made clear to him and follows a
path other than that of the believers,
we shall leave him on his chosen path
we shall burn him in * and what
an evil destination.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala here gives a very
stark and clean warning
and that is a warning towards those who
oppose the Messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
Meaning his sunnah, his sharia, his commandments, his
guidance. Whoever knows that the Prophet
commanded something or prohibited something, he legislated something
and then he opposes that knowingly and willingly.
And that is why Allah says,
after clear guidance has come to him. So
he knows the shaliyah, he knows the Hadal
from the Haram, he knows what was commanded
and what was forbidden and yet he chooses
to follow a path other than that. And
he follows the path other than the path
of the believers.
Because the believers at the time of the
Prophet
were the companions
and they were upon that path. And then
those believers who came after them in the
next generation from the righteous people were on
the same path and then their followers and
their followers every single generation. As the prophet
told us
The best of people is my generation,
then those who follow them and then those
who follow them. And that is the path
of the believers. The believers at that time
were united upon Tawhid, united upon following the
sunnah. There were very few innovations that crept
in amongst them. Yes, there were groups
that had innovations and problems but they were
the minority
fringe groups. The majority
were firm upon the way of the Quran
and the Sunnah and the way of guidance.
So if you ignore their path and you
choose the path other than that path you
ignore or you oppose the
teachings and the Sharia of the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam. Allah
says that we will leave you to take
the path that you have chosen
and you will have the punishment that Allah
mentions here and that is Jahannam and what
an evil destination.
And no doubt that is referring therefore
to that particular aspect to number 1, primarily
the disbelievers
because they fully opposed the path of Allah
and his Messenger salallahu alayhi wasalam and they
fully opposed the path of the believers. But
even those who amongst the believers choose a
different path and engage in innovation
and acts which may be kufr and shirk
and so on they are also under the
threat of the punishment of Allah Subhanahu wa
Ta'ala.
In verse 116, Allah Azzawajal says highlighting this
issue of tawhid and shirk
Allah does not forgive the worship of others
besides him, though he does forgive whoever he
wills for lesser sins,
for whoever does this has gone far far
astray.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in this verse
and it is a similar verse to the
one that we mentioned a few episodes ago
and that is Allah
establishes this principle
that is one of the major principles of
our religion in terms of
who will have salvation ultimately and who will
stay in the punishment of the Howfi for
eternity.
The
criteria,
the benchmark
that differentiates
between the people is the issue of Tawhid
and shirk.
Anyone who dies upon Tawhid
and the oneness of the worship of Allah
will
ultimately always go to Jannah,
even if they have sinned and they have
committed major sins and Allah Azza wa Jal
chooses to punish them for those major sins
for a time that is determined by Allah
Azzawajal alone, then Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala will
ultimately once they have been cleansed from their
sins they will be removed and extracted from
the hellfire and they will enter into Jannah.
Whereas the disbeliever who dies upon other than
Tawhid, he dies upon shirk.
That person can never enter into Jannah.
Even if they did much good
in terms of what they did in this
life, they were generous and they were charitable
and they were good and they were kind
and so on. Those things that they did
Allah
gives to them their reward in this life.
As a result of the good that they
did, Allah gives them blessings, Allah opens or
expands for them their lifespan and so on
and so forth. Allah gives to them their
blessings in this life. Allah doesn't oppress them,
they're given the good but it is the
good of this life. But as for the
ultimate reward which is the reward of the
next life and the hereafter, That is something
which isn't given to them. That is the
principle that Allah
mentions here Allah never forgives him. It is
the one sin that Allah has said he
will never ever forgive.
Anything below shirk, less than shirk meaning once
you have taken and
believed in the oneness of Allah
then every other sin he may forgive to
whomsoever he wills. It is up to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. And as we
mentioned before from the other text of the
Quran and the sunnah we know that if
a person repents in seeri then Allah has
promised to forgive them. So this is speaking
here about those people who don't repent to
Allah
they don't make tawba, they don't chant to
Allah seeking forgiveness and they die upon those
sins. Allah
may choose to punish them if he wills
or if he knows the true state of
their heart or something like this, the sincerity
or their situation, Allah may choose to forgive
them from his mercy subhanahu wa ta'ala and
not punish them at all. That is at
the discretion of our Lord.
But the principle that Allah 'azawajal states here
is not something which is discretionary
because Allah has made it to law for
himself that Allah will not forgive the people
of shirk. Allah only forgives the people of
tawhid, even if those people who committed shirk
as we know were close relatives of the
messengers and the prophets of Allah alayhi wa
sallam.
Whether it is the father of Ibrahim
or the son of Noor or the wife
of Lot or the uncle of our Messenger
salallahu alayhi wasalam.
Allah will not forgive those people and that
is the principle that Allah
mentions here. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala then says
in the following verse,
verse 117,
in his place the idolaters, invoke only females
and Shaitan
the rebel.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks about the reality
of shirk then, After mentioning in the previous
verse the principle that Allah will not forgive
the shirk,
here Allah says, what is the reality of
shirk? Amongst the polytheists and amongst the people
of Quraish,
their shirk was essentially calling out to their
idols, many of them to whom they gave
female names.
So they would give to them female names
and thus Allah
says they only invoke females.
So the names that they would often have
Allat, Alruza,
Manat, many of the names of their females
took the of their idols took the female
form And that is why Allah says this
and Allah says this because amongst the Arabs
in their culture they acknowledged
what it was their firm belief that females
are lesser than males. And that's why we
know that amongst the Arabs that were from
them, those who used to bury their daughters
alive
because they felt that they were lesser. And
despite them feeling this for themselves,
in their own culture, in their own society,
when it came to their own families and
their
own situation.
But when it came to ascribing
to Allah Azzawajal partners, they were more than
happy to ascribe females. So they don't want
them for themselves, they don't think that they
are honorable for themselves, they don't think that
they are worthy for themselves, But when it
comes to Allah
they think that they are more than worthy
for him and they would give to them
female names. And that's why Allah says
but the reality is that they are only
calling upon Shaitan because Shaitan is the one
that has made this
appealing to them. He is the one who
has come and beautified this for them. That
they would think that these idols are equals
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or intermediaries between
them and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that they
have the properties of divinity
or some of the powers of the divine
that they should worship them besides Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
Even though they themselves acknowledged and would know
that they can't speak these idols,
they can't address them, they can't move,
they can't respond, they can't physically come and
protect you, they can't physically come and give
you good or take evil away from you.
They acknowledge this because there are statues,
they
are just standing there
and they can't even defend themselves
as Allah
explains to us in the story of Ibrahim
alaihis salam. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says that in reality anyone that worships other
than Allah
is only following
a path of Shaitan.
Shaitan has opened up a store for them,
whether that be worship in the form of
idols besides Allah, or worship of prophets besides
Allah, or worship of nature besides Allah, or
worship of animals or whatever it may be
besides Allah azza wa Jal.
These are all paths
that Shaitaan has opened for them. And that's
why in reality they only call upon Shaitaan.
Because none of those things can respond,
None of them can answer. None of them
can defend or help you or harm you.
None of them can do anything
to benefit you or harm you. But rather
it is shaitan that they call upon and
shaitan cannot respond. Shaitan himself, even if he
hears them, will not respond because he wants
their misguidance
as opposed to
them coming towards Allah
Azza
wa Jal. And that is why Allah says
in verse 1 18,
Allah has cursed Shaitan
and he said meaning Shaitan,
I will certainly take my due share of
your servants.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala curses him meaning that
this one that they are following through all
of these paths of shirk is the one
Allah has removed from his mercy. So if
he is far removed from the mercy of
Allah
then what good and mercy can he bring
towards the others?
So when Allah azza wa Jal commanded Iblis
to prostrate to Adam Alaihi Salaam
and he refused to do so, he asked
Allah
for the ability
or permission to live until yomulqiama
so that he may go and be a
test for people and seek to misguide them.
And Allah
said go and he said I will misguide
all of them except your sincere slaves. And
that's why he knows that he can't misguide
the people of Tawhid,
the people who love Allah azza wa Jal
sincerely through his worship, the people who follow
his Messenger and Prophets, those people he cannot
harm because Allah Azza wa Jal is the
one who is giving them his divine aid
and protection.
Perhaps for others
who don't know the reality of Allah Azza
wa Jal who seek to
remain ignorant about Allah Azza wa Jal they
don't want to learn, they don't want to
believe, they don't want to accept those are
the people that are susceptible
to his ways
and Shaitan finds different ways for each one
of them all of them Some of them
worship other gods, some of them worship no
god, some of them believe in no god.
But all of them are following
different ways on the same path, and
that is the destination that Shaitan wants for
them and that is the Haafai that he
will be with them in. He doesn't want
to be alone there, he wants all of
them to join in with him. And that's
why he says
I will take my due share
from your servants meaning from the creation of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and that is why we know as Allah
says
that the majority of people because of the
temptations of Shaitan
and the whisperings of Shaitan are led astray
by him.
And so the believer is someone who should
be thankful to Allah
that is able to know and be aware
of these traps of Shaitan
and what Shaitan
is trying to do in terms of his
tricks.
In verse 1 19, Allah mentions some of
these traps,
some of these tricks of Shaitan.
He said: I will mislead them and incite
vain desires in them. I will command them
to slit the ears of their cattle and
I will command them to tamper with Allah's
creation.
Whoever chooses Shaitan as a patron instead of
Allah is utterly ruined. What does Shaitan do?
He made this promise. He said that I
will misguide them
from the straight path, find any and every
single way to take them away from the
path of Allah Azza wa Jal, to make
them heedless of Allah, neglectful of Allah. I
will use everything in my power from all
of the temptations of the dunya be that
money,
be that fame,
be that children and family, be that career
and job, be that for some other people
certain interests and hobbies like sports and so
on. Whatever that person is susceptible to, I
will use that means in order to take
them away from Allah
and I will incite within them desires. I
will give to them false promises that actually
what you're doing is fine. It's okay. It's
good. You're a nice person, whatever it may
be, he will give to them these false
desires, these false promises
in order to continue to make themselves feel
good about what they're doing or in order
to cloud their judgement so that they can't
realize that actually they are
not spiritually fulfilled. They are not happy in
their hearts. And so he comes and he
covers that feeling that they feel and that
they acknowledge
and he covers it with all of these
other temptations that instead they will busy themselves
in. And some of those people then realize
and they look for the truth and other
people remain within that sense of heedlessness and
neglect.
And I would command them to slit the
ears of their cattle because this is what
the Arabs and the Quraysh would do They
would use this as a means
of doing certain things that they would then
use in their practices of shirk. They would
use their cattle and their animals and they
would do certain things or they would specify
certain ones and say these cannot be touched,
these cannot be slaughtered, these cannot
be used to
work the fields and so on. As Allah
Azzawajal mentions elsewhere
in the Quran.
And they would do this as a way
of or as one of the practices of
shirk, as something which they consider to be
an omen or a way of showing their
favor towards their gods.
This is one of the other ways that
he has one of his other tricks.
And I will command them so that they
change the creation of Allah.
All of this is to do with them
not being pleased with Allah Azzawajal,
not being pleased with Allah's decree, not being
pleased with Allah's commands and so they begin
to change their creation as the Prophet as
we know he
he cursed a number of people and from
those people
who changed
certain aspects of their appearance,
shaved their eyebrows in certain ways, split their
teeth in certain ways, did certain things that
they would do the Shaitan had made or
beautified for them and that the Sharia
has forbidden.
And so Allah says, Wa minu taqidhi Shaitaan,
waliyan mindooni, lest whoever takes Shaitaan
as a wali,
helper or patron other than Allah then that
is the person who has sincerely
lost.
Allah Azzawajal in verse 120 says that the
reality of all of these things Shaitan is
doing, all of these promises and all of
these desires, all of them are false and
vain.
Allah
says,
He makes them promises and raises false hopes
but Shaitan's promises are nothing but delusion.
This is what Shaitan does. He gives people
promises.
You are upon good. There is no such
thing as an afterlife. There is no such
thing as resurrection. Don't worry about this. Uneven
Muslims he does this with. When a person
is sinning and is neglectful of Allah Subhana
Wa Ta'la, will come and say to them
don't worry you can make toba when you
are older
let enjoy life for now when you are
older and there is not much left to
do then then pray, then make Hajj, then
fast, then give zakah and this is essentially
what he does to people, gives them these
false hopes, these false promises. And Allah
says all of them are false. All of
them are vain.
And the person who doesn't then recognize this,
doesn't turn back to Allah does not worship
Allah
will recognize the falsehood of them when they
die
or on the day of judgement. And the
best of those people, those whom Allah has
favored are those who recognize this and see
this.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in the final
verse that we will cover today
Such people will have high fire for their
home
and they will find no escape from it.
Meaning those people who follow the path of
Shaitan,
follow his tricks and desires
and that's all they do. They essentially immerse
themselves
in all the desires that Shaitan makes appealing
to them neglectful of Allah, not worshipping Allah,
not knowing that Allah Azzawajal alone is worthy
of worship and that he created us for
that very
purpose. And instead they spend their life in
the dunya immersed in its desires those are
the people that have chosen to follow the
path of Shaitan have taken Shaitan as their
wali and as a result Allah will punish
them
by entering them into the high fire in
which they will remain forever with no escape.
May Allah save us and our families, our
parents and our children from that and all
of the Muslims.
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