Ahsan Hanif – Tafseer As SaDi #14
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the importance of Islam's principles of justice and forgiveness, including forgiveness and trust in WhatsApp groups. He emphasizes the need for women to lead and advise in their own communities, and for them to be leaders and advisors. He uses the example of the American woman to show how women are not just a reflection of their perception of women and the culture within their organization. He explains that the media tries to portray women as oppressed and portray them as oppressed, but women are also seen as tools for achieving goals.
AI: Summary ©
So today is the 14th day of our
reading and commentary of this book of
Tafsir al Karim al Rahman,
more famously known as the Tafsir of Asadi
by Sheikh Abdul Rahman ibn Nasser Asadi who
died in the year 1,000
376 of the hijrah.
And
today
we are covering the 60th chapter of the
Quran,
which is It can be said and pronounced
with a or
a
With a refers to the woman that is
being tested
and with a to the test that is
administered.
Similar to what we said about the first
surah in the 28th juz, and
And out of the 2 pronunciations with the
fatha or a kasra, for both surahs, the
fatha
is more preferable.
The surah is a surah that speaks as
we will see or the test that is
being referred to is the test that is
administered
to the believing women.
And will speak about that in more detail
as we come to the relevant verses.
This name, Al Mumtahana or Al Mumtahina
is what is what the surah is known
by in many of the early works of
tafsir.
And it is also known by some other
names. From those names is Surah
the surah of love because Allah mentions that
term or that verse
about love at the beginning of the surah.
And from the
names that it is also known by Surat
Ibtihan,
which means the test. So it's a similar
name to or meaning to or
and that was reported from the scholar of
Tafsir Muqatil
And it's also known as Surah Al Mubayah,
the surah of Bayah or giving the pledge
of allegiance because Allah
speak about giving the pledge of allegiance towards
the end of this surah. Surah is known
by more than one name.
It is a Surah according to the vast
majority of the scholars of the firsils, and
it is reported that Ibn Abbas
said something to that effect. And as we
said before, in Al Qurtubi bin Aati and
others said that that is by agreement, by
consensus of the scholars of tafsir, and it
consists of 13 verses.
In the name of Allah, the most gracious,
the most merciful.
Oh, you who believe
do not take my enemies,
do not take my enemies and yours as
allies, offering them friendship even though they have
rejected the truth that has come to you
and have driven out the messenger and yourselves
simply because you believe in Allah, your lord.
If you have come out to strive in
my cause and seek my good pleasure, how
can you offer them friendship in secret when
I know full well all that you conceal
and all that you disclose? Whoever among you
does does that has strayed from the stripped
from the right path.
If they found an any opportune if they
found any opportunity, they would show themselves to
be your enemies and would harm you physically
and verbally, and they wish that you would
disbelieve.
Neither your relatives nor your children will benefit
you on the day of resurrection. He will
separate you on that day and Allah sees
well
sees well all that you do.
Verily you have a good example in Ibrahim
and those who are with him. When they
said to their people, verily we disown
you and whatever you worship besides Allah, we
renounce you and
there has arisen between us
and you enmity and hatred forever until you
believe in Allah alone. But do not emulate
the words of Ibrahim to his father.
I will surely pray for forgiveness for you,
but I have no power to protect you
from the punishment of Allah. Ibrahim and his
followers prayed, our lord, in you we put
our trust and to you return and to
you is the return of all.
Our lord, do not make us subject to
the persecution of the disbelievers and forgive us,
our lord. Verily you are the almighty, the
most wise.
Verily in them, Ibrahim and his followers, you
have an you have a good example for
those who look with hope to Allah in
the last day and whoever turns away, verily
Allah is self sufficient, worthy of our praise.
It may be that Allah will bring about
friendship between you and those of them whom
you currently consider enemies. For Allah has power
over all things and Allah is also forgiving,
most merciful.
Allah does not forbid you to deal kindly
and justly with those who do not fight
you because of your religion or drive you
out of your homes. For verily, Allah loves
those who are just.
Allah only forbids you to take allies as
Allah only forbids you to take as allies
those who fight you because of your religion,
drive you out of your homes or help
others in driving you out. Whoever takes them
as allies, it is they who are the
wrongdoers.
Many of the contempt contemporary
contemporaries, male matatus. Many of the commentators, may
Allah have mercy on them, have stated that
the reason for the revelation of these verses
is the story of Hatib ibn Abi Beltah
when the prophet was making preparations for the
conquest of Mecca.
Hatib wrote a letter to Quraysh informing them
that the prophet
was going to head towards Mecca so that
they would owe him a favor, not because
of any doubt or hypocrisy
on his part. And he sent that letter
with a woman. The prophet was told
about what he had done, so he sent
people to catch up with that woman before
she reached Mecca and take the letter from
her. He he rebuked
who
apologized and the prophet accepted his apology. This
is the one known story of the companion,
Haathim ibn Abi Beltah. When the prophet salallahu
alaihi wasallam decided that he was going to
go in the 8th year to the conquest
of Mecca, the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
kept that hidden. He kept that quiet, and
he didn't want the news
to reach the ears of Quraish because Quraish
wouldn't find out until the prophet
was very close to the city of Mecca,
and it surprised them. They were taken aback.
And that's because
they broke the conditions of the Treaty of
Hudaybiyyah. When they signed the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah
from those conditions, as we mentioned, when we
were discussing Surat Al Fath. Is there anyone
that wants to ally with the Muslims can
do so? Anyone that wants to ally with
the Quraysh can do so? So one of
the allies of Quraysh
attacked one of the allies of the Muslims,
and some of the Quraysh helped them. So
those people who attacked were the allies of
the Muslims. They came to the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam. They said, oh, messenger of Allah.
And some of them weren't even Muslims. They
said, oh, Muhammad. This is what they did
and this is what took place. And so
the prophet
said that we will aid you, we will
come to your support. And when Abu Sufyan
was the leader of Quraysh, heard what some
of these Quraysh youngsters had done, He understood
his gravity. And in some narrations, he rode
to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. And he
wanted to
remake the treaty or to revive the treaty
because they'd broken one of its terms, but
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam refused to listen
to him. And so the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam set out or he intended to set
out to the city of Mecca.
No one was meant to know. The companions
were told, they were told to keep it
quiet. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said one
day to Ali radhiallahu an, and he had
with him some other companions such as Al
Nqdad,
ibn al Aswad radiallahu an. These were companions
that were known to be knights,
horse riders. And so he said to them,
go and ride fast. You will come to
such and such a place, and there you
will find an old woman. She has with
her a letter. Take it from and bring
it back to me. They came to this
woman at that place. They found us. The
prophet said, salallahu alayhi wasalam. They said, give
us the letter. She said, I don't have
any letter.
So they searched her belongings, they searched her
pockets, couldn't find anything. They said Allah's messenger
said, salallahu alaihi wasallam, that you have a
letter. So either we'll strip you naked or
you give it to us, meaning we're not
going to stop because the prophet told us
that you have the letter, so you must
have it somewhere. She had braided it into
her hair. So she unbraided her hair and
she took out the letter and gave it
to them. They came back and the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam opened it and it said,
from Halkud, ibn Abi Balta'a, his companion, to
the people of Mecca,
and then telling them about what the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam was planning. The prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam called,
and this was always his way. Even though
it's a grave issue and it's a major
thing that's taking place. We would call it
in our time, in our common parlance, we
call it treason.
He called his companion and asked him, why
did you do this, oh, happened? That was
always the way of the prophet, sallallahu alaihi
wasallam. Even if someone seemingly made a major
issue, a major mistake, he would always seek
to confer and ask and to substantiate.
So he asked him, oh, how thick, why
did you do this? He said, oh, it's
not because of any dislike of Islam, nor
is it because I hate you or the
Muslims, but it's because I'm weak.
In Makkah I have no one to protect
my belongings.
All of these people of the don't have
family there. They're going to look after their
belongings, their property, their wealth. I have no
one. So I just want you to give
this news to someone that they will protect
my belongings and I knew that it wouldn't
make a difference what Allah decrees will happen.
Wouldn't make a difference to anything. However, maybe
I would benefit.
So the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam forgave him.
Umar radiAllahu an said, oh, messenger of Allah,
should I not strike his neck off because
of what he done? The prophet said, is
he not from the people of Badr? And
perhaps Allah looked upon those people of Badr
and said, do as you please for I
have forgiven you. So hadith
because he was one of those companions that
fought in the battle of Badr. He's from
the major senior companions of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam. And this shows that even though
senior companions sometimes could and they could make
make mistakes, they are humans. But they are
people that Allah has forgiven for their sins
because their sins or their mistakes that they
make are drowned in the ocean of good
that they did. And the ocean of jihad
that they performed with the prophet
and the way that they supported Islam and
the Muslims. So this is the story of
Khatib, and so Allah revealed these verses according
to many of the scholars of
Tafsir concerning him
and what he did on that day.
These verses contain a stern prohibition
against taking the disbelievers, polytheists, and others as
allies and showing friendship towards them. And it
tells us that doing so is contrary to
faith as is contrary to the way of
Ibrahim Al Khalil, alayhis salam, peace be upon
him. It is also contrary to reason, which
dictates that one should be extremely cautious
with the enemy, who would spare no effort
and miss no opportunity to cause harm.
All you who believe, act upon what is
dictated by your faith, which is to take
as friends those who have faith and act
in accordance with it, and to take as
enemies those who oppose faith, for such people
are the enemies of Allah and of the,
and of the believers. So do not take
the enemies of Allah and your enemy
as allies offering them friendship. That is hastening
to show friendship towards them and to strengthen
the bonds of friendship with them. For once
friendship is formed, it will be, it will
be followed by support and taking the friend
as an ally. This puts a person beyond
beyond the pale of faith, and he will
become one of the disbelievers. He will no
longer be part of the community of faith.
Moreover, the one who takes a disbeliever as
a friend is also lacking in dignity. How
could he take as an ally the worst
of his enemies who intends nothing but ill
towards him and go against the teachings of
his lord and true ally who intends good
for him and joins him to do good
and urges him to do it. Another fact
that caused the believer to to regard to
regard the disbelievers as enemy as enemies is
that they have rejected that which has come
to the believers of truth of truth. And
there is nothing greater than this difference and
opposition
for they have rejected your religion altogether and
they claim that you are misguided
and have strayed from the true path. And
Allah
will mention in the verses that are going
to come in the passage that we've already
recited
the way that we deal with different non
believers according to the way that they treat
Islam and the Muslims. So there are those
who are very good and very
kind and very generous and have good relations
and have good etiquette and manners. Allah
tells them tells us to deal with them
in one way. And then there are those
who are enemies of Islam who openly
try to oppress and hurt and persecute the
Muslims. So Allah
tells us to deal with them in a
different way. And so Allah makes that distinction
within the Surah as we will see. In
fact, it is they who have disbelieved in
the truth concerning which there is no doubt.
And if anyone rejects the truth, it is
impossible for him to have any evidence or
proof to support his views. Rather, once one
comes to know the truth, it is easy
to see the falseness and corruption of the
views of the one who rejects it. Because
of their profound enmity,
they have driven out the messenger and yourselves,
all believers, from your
homes and have explode
and have explode you from your land. So
this is that group of the disbelievers, the
non believers who are enemies of Islam, enemies
to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. That's what
Allah says here, that how can you take
those people, meaning people like Hatib who was
trying to curry favor with them, gain some
type of help from them, How can you
take them as allies when all that they
did was oppose Islam? Try to harm the
prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam, the exiled Jew and
the messenger of Allah salallahu alaihi wasallam, and
now you want to go back to them
and be and be allies with them. The
only thing you did wrong in their view
is that you believe in Allah, your lord,
who has enjoined upon all people to worship
him because he cares for them and has
bestowed upon them blessings both visible and invisible.
He is Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And this
is something which is mentioned often in the
Quran about the prophets of
Allah. That their people when they rejected them
and they turned away from them, they only
did so because
they worshiped Allah alone. There was no other
reason. Wasn't because there was some family feud
or some issue over money or something. No.
It's only because of Tawhid,
because of their worship of Allah
as,
is mentioned about that man, the believer from
the family
of pharaoh.
That he said to the people of pharaoh
when they rejected Musa
Do you want to kill this man only
because he says my lord is Allah? So
likewise, Allah is really saying the same thing
here. The only reason they're your enemies and
that they kicked you out and removed you
from Makkah is because you said that you
wanted to worship Allah alone.
What religion and what dignity and reason can
there be left in a person if he
takes as allies to disbelievers who like that
in every time and place?
And nothing is preventing them from harming him
except fear or a strong deterrent.
If you have come out to strive in
my cause and seek my good pleasure, that
is if the intention behind your coming out
is to strive in jihad in Allah's cause,
to make the word of Allah supreme, and
seeking the pleasure of Allah, in that case
you should strive to comply with the with
the principle of taking as friends and allies
the close friends of Allah and opposing his
enemies. For that is Jihad in his case,
in his cause, and it is one of
the greatest means of drawing close to one's
lord, taking thereby his pleasure.
How can you offer them friendship in secret
when I know full well all that you
conceal and all that you disclose? In other
words, how can you show friendship to those
disbelievers
in secret and conceal it? When you know
that Allah knows what you conceal and what
you disclose. Even if it is hidden from
the believers, it cannot be hidden from Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And he will requite people
for what he knows of them, both good
and evil. Whoever among you does that, namely
taking the disbelievers as allies after Allah has
warned against that,
has strayed from the right path because he
has followed the path that is contrary to
Islamic teaching, reason, and human dignity.
Then Allah
explained the extent of their enmity so as
to urge the believers to regard them as
enemies. If they found any opportunity
to catch you out or or to harm
you, they would show themselves to be your
enemies quite openly and would harm you physically
by killing you, striking you, and so on.
And verbally, they and verbally by saying hurtful
words.
And they wish that you would disbelieve. This
is their ultimate aim and is all that
all they want from you. If you argue
and say we only take the disbelievers as
friends because of ties of kinship or financial
interest, you should understand that your wealth and
children will not avail you in the slightest
before Allah. And Allah sees well all that
you do. Hence, he warns hence, he warns
you against taking as friends these believers whose
friendship is harmful to you. And this concept
is known, as we know, in the Sharia
as meaning the allegiance
and meaning enmity.
And Islam has this principle.
Allah as you can see from these verses
is speaking about a certain group of disbelievers
or enemies, meaning that if they had the
ability, they would kill you, they would capture
you, they would imprison you, they would torture
you, they would oppress you as was in
the time of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
Those Muslims that remained behind in Makkah, they
were unable to migrate or they were captured
and prevented from migrating. They were tortured and
they were harmed, and they were in every
different way, they would try to, or they
tried to make them apostate from their religion
and from their faith. So Allah says don't
take those people as as your allies besides
Allah What does it mean besides Allah
Meaning that if they want you to turn
away from the path of Allah, to in
any way diminish your iman or turn away
from your religion or weaken your faith, then
you don't obey them in that. But at
the same time if they don't want to
do that, then as we will see, it's
permissible for you to have business dealings with
them to do so. The prophet used to
interact with the people around him that were
from the non Muslims. He used to do
business transactions with the Jews of Medina and
with the other tribes that were around them
from the non Muslims of that time. So
that distinction is important and it is because
people have not made that distinction,
have confused this line that Allah azzawajal mentions
in the Quran, that people do crazy things
and they just make everyone who just happens
to be non Muslim an enemy of Islam.
No. Not necessarily.
Because if that's your
mentality,
then the prophets of Allah, the messengers of
Allah will never have given dawah. Just simply
by being a non Muslim, everyone's an enemy
of Islam. None of the prophets of Allah
could have given dua because the cornerstone of
dua as we've seen throughout the Quran and
this tafsir is that you have to want
some good for them. You have to hope
for them, care for them, want them to
be guided to the path of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. And so the prophets of Allah
and the messengers of Allah were people of
compassion and kindness. They wanted them to be
guided, But at the same time, there's a
group of them that are going to be
your enemies. They're going to be the people
that are trying to harm you and to
kill you. Those people, It would only be
foolishness to try to make them and take
them as your friends and as your allies
because you know that all that they want
to do is try to harm you. So
this distinction is important. And Allah Azza wa
Jal, as we said, will make this distinction
clear in a verse that is coming, inshaAllah
ta'ala, in a few verses.
All believers, you have a good example which
would be of benefit to you in Ibrahim
and those who are with him, of the
believers because you have you have been commanded
to follow the religion of Ibrahim, the monotheist.
When they said to their people, verily we
disown you and whatever you worship besides Allah,
That is when Ibrahim alayhis salam and the
believers who were with him disavowed their people
who were polytheists
and that which they worship besides him besides
Allah. And Allah, as we've had mentioned, said
the prophet Ibrahim as an amazing example, alayhis
salatu was salam. Why? Because Ibrahim, alayhis salam,
said to his people, I'm not going to
worship what you're upon because they were idolaters.
They used to worship idols. He said, I'm
not going to worship these gods that you
worship besides Allah
But he did so with
with gentleness and in a certain ways. Eticus
that Allah mentions elsewhere in the Quran in
the verses that we have already covered. Allah
praises him
because when that line came between teaching or
reaching or or the line came between taking
his father and his people as allies, besides
Allah, a zawajal, when they said to him
either you will leave your religion
or will stone you, will throw you into
the fire, will burn you. What did he
choose? He chose the path of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. So that is the distinction that
Allah makes in the story of Ibrahim
He chose Allah
over and above
his people, his father, his nation, even though
that could have possibly led to his death.
Then they expressed their enmity in the clearest
terms saying, we renounce you and there has
arisen quite clearly between you between us and
you, enmity and hatred. That is resentment and
removal of feelings of friendship from the heart
and enmity expressed in physical actions.
And there is no time limit for this
enmity and resentment. Rather, is forever so long
as you persist in your disbelief,
until you believe in Allah alone. In other
words, if you believe in Allah alone, this
enmity and resentment will cease and will turn
into love and And one of the things
that we pay and benefit from this part
of the verse is that they say, the
believers, that there is between you and us,
enmity,
until you worship Allah
alone. What does that show? That the basis
of that enmity is what? The issue of
tawhid.
Nothing personal. There's nothing to do with anything
else. It is tawheed of
Allah Meaning what we dislike from you is
that you make shirk with Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. That's what we disapprove of. Of. Your
shirk of Allah because that is the right
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that you have
that you have broken or transgressed,
you haven't fulfilled.
And so it is because of that right
that you haven't fulfilled, that is where we
have issues and problems with you. So long
as that or whenever that right is fulfilled,
then we have no issues with you. And
that's seen clearly in the example of the
companions of Radiallahu anhu. How many of them
at the beginning of Islam were enemies to
the Muslims, Used to kill and torture and
harm the Muslims. But then as soon as
they said,
the Muslims become brothers like them. They love
them, and they care for them. And all
of that's forgotten what they did in the
past. Some of them were major enemies of
Islam. People like Khadid ibn Waleed, Abu Sufyan,
Eklima, the son of Abu Jan. These people
were major enemies of Islam. How many Muslims
did they kill or torture
directly or indirectly?
But as soon as they came and they
took the shahada and they believed in Islam,
the Muslims never said anything to them. No
harm was done to them. No one spoke
ill of them. No one reminded them of
the evil that they did. No. Because Islam
wipes away the sins of that which comes
before it. And so this is the criterion
of making
that is the duaheed of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
Thus, oh believers, you have a good example
in Ibrahim
and those who are with him of upholding
faith and and affirmation of divine oneness and
of acting in accordance with that and of
worshiping Allah alone
in all things. However, there is one ex
exception to that which is mentioned in the
words, but do not emulate the words of
Ibrahim to his father, Azar, who was a
polytheist and stubborn disbeliever, whom Ibrahim called to
believe believe and affirm the oneness of Allah,
but he refused. Hence, Ibrahim said, I will
surely pray for your forgiveness for I will
surely pray for forgiveness for you, although I
have no power to protect you from the
punishment of Allah. But I will call upon
my lord. Perhaps my supplication to my lord
will not remain unanswered.
We should not follow the example of Ibrahim
in this instance when he prayed for one
who associated others with Allah. So as we
mentioned before, at the beginning when Ibrahim, alayhis
salatu, salam, is exiled from his land, he
says to his father, I will ask Allah
to forgive you. I will continue to make
dua for you. And then later on Allah
forbids him from doing so. And that's why
when Allah
mentions this verse, and it's not done as
a story. This isn't a story of Ibrahim.
It is telling us to benefit from the
example of Ibrahim alayhis salatu wasalam. Allah is
really saying take him as an example in
everything that he did in his life. His
submission to Allah, his obedience to Allah, the
way that he had no,
doubt or or confusion in terms of his
resolve of worshiping Allah
in terms of the way that he dealt
with his father and his people. Take everything
from Ibrahim except that one thing because Allah
made a haram. What is that? That you
cannot seek forgiveness for someone who's a disbeliever.
What can you do during their lifetime? You
can make dua that Allah guides them. As
the prophet used to say,
oh Allah guide my people for they don't
know. And when the people came and they
said, oh messenger of Allah, the people of
those are evil, curse them. He said, oh,
Allah, guide the people of Dua and bring
them,
meaning make them Muslims. So he will make
dua for them. So that's permissible. But once
they pass away and they die and they
are apparently disbelievers or unbelievers, then it's not
permissible for you to make any dua for
them in terms of forgiveness and in terms
of mercy and so on. So that is
where the line was drawn because Azar died.
He was a non believer. Allah said to
Ibrahim, you come make dua for him after
he died upon disbelief.
And even in his lifetime, you come make
dua for his forgiveness until he accepts iman,
you make dua for his guidance. And that
is why when the prophet
in the hadith, when he went to visit
the grave of his mother, He said, I
asked my lord for 2 things, that I'd
be able to visit the grave of my
mother and that I should be able to
seek forgiveness for her. He gave me permission
to visit her grave, but he denied me
that I should seek forgiveness for her because
she died upon other than Islam.
And so, therefore,
that distinction is clear in the Sharia between
the rights of the believers and others.
So you should not pray for the polytheists
and say that by doing so you are
following the path of Ibrahim. For Allah has
told us of Ibrahim's excuse for doing that
in the verse in which he says, Ibrahim's
prayer for his father's forgiveness was only because
of a promise he had made to him.
But when it became clear to him that
he was an enemy to Allah, he disavowed
him. Verily, Ibrahim was humble in supplication, forbearing.
You have a good example in Ibrahim and
those who were with him when they called
upon Allah, put their trust in him, turned
to him, and acknowledged their helplessness
and shortcomings.
They said, our lord, in you we put
our trust, that is we rely on you
to bring that which will benefit us and
ward off that which will harm us. And
we trust you, oh our lord, to do
that.
And to you we turn. That is we
turn in obedience to you seeking your pleasure
and all that may bring us closer to
you. For we are striving to do that
and to do the good deeds, and we
know our return
is to you. So we are preparing to
meet you and doing that which will bring
us close to you. Our lord, do not
make us subject to the persecution of the
disbelievers. That is do not give them power
over us for our sins so that they
persecute us and prevent us as much as
they can from practicing our faith, which would
cause
them further confusion. For if they see that
they have the upper hand, they will think
that they are following the right path and
that we are following the wrong path. And
they will increase in disbelief and tyranny.
And forgive us, our lord, for what we
have committed of sins and evil deeds and
for our shortcomings in doing what is enjoined
upon us. Verily, you are the almighty
who subjugates all things, the most wise, who
does all that is appropriate. By your might
and wisdom,
grant us victory over our enemies. Forgive us
our sins and mend our faults. And Allah
says, oh Allah oh Allah, do not make
us fitna for those who disbelieve.
And this is, as the author says, that
they are a fitna for us, meaning that
they overpower us and therefore they persecute us
in terms of our beliefs and in our
religion, and they try to take us away
from the religion of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That's one type of fitna. But another meaning
of this verse also in Al Narno's best
is that don't make us a fitna for
them, meaning through our actions and what we
do and our character,
that we then take them away from the
religion because it works both ways.
Sometimes the disbelievers or non Muslims see the
actions of believers or Muslims rather, and they
see what they get up to and the
stuff that they do and the evil that
they cause and the harm that they do,
and that's a fitna for them. They're like,
we don't wanna be a part of that
religion. We don't want to be like that.
We don't like that character. We don't like
those manners. So now we're a fitna for
them. We've taken them away from the religion
just as they try to sometimes take us
away from our from our religion.
Brother,
if you can ask him just to
no. Then Allah reiterates the encouragement to follow
the example of Ibrahim and his followers. As
he says, verily in them, Ibrahim and his
followers, you have a good example. It is
not made easy for everyone to follow this
example, rather it is only made easy for
those who look with hope to Allah in
the last day. Having faith and seeking reward
makes it easy for a person to face
every difficult thing, makes him think little of
all that he does, and makes him steadfast
in following the example of the righteous slaves
of Allah, the prophets and messengers, for he
sees himself in need of that and compelled
to try to do that. And whoever turns
away from obeying Allah and following the example
of his messengers only harms himself.
He does not harm Allah in the slightest.
Verily Allah is self sufficient and completely independent
of means in all aspects, so
he has no need of anyone among his
creation at all worthy of all praise. In
his essence, his names, his attributes, and his
deeds, he is praiseworthy in all of them.
Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us that
this enmity, enmity
that he has enjoined the believers to have
towards the polytheists
and described the believers as showing enmity towards
them is applicable
so, so long as they persist in their
polytheism and disbelief. But if they become believers,
then the ruling is connected to the to
the reason for it. And in that case,
love that is based on faith should prevail.
So do not despair, oh believers, of their
turning to faith for it may be that
Allah will bring about friendship between you and
those of them whom you currently consider,
enemies,
the cause of which will be their turning
to faith. For Allah has power over all
things, which includes his being able to guide
people's hearts and change them from one condition
to another. And Allah is also forgiving and
most merciful. He does not regard any sin
as being too great to forgive or any
fault as being too big to conceal.
Say say,
say, Allah says, oh my slaves who have
transgressed against themselves by sinning greatly, do not
despair of the mercy of Allah. For verily
Allah forgives all sins. Verily is he who
is oft who is the oft forgiving, the,
the oft forgiving, most merciful. This verse indicates
and offers glad tidings that some of the
polytheists who at the time were enemies of
the believers would become Muslim and that indeed
came to pass. Praise be to Allah. And
there are many examples of this as we
know. Some of the arch enemies of Islam,
as we said, will later on become Muslims.
They would become from the major companions of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. And so Allah
has all wisdom and all knowledge. He chooses
whom to give guidance to and when to
give them that guidance and how to give
them that guidance.
Allah
does as he pleases
If Allah sees in someone's heart a level
of purity and sincerity and a willingness to
accept the truth, Allah opens their heart up
to the truth. Look at Abu Sufyan, spent
the vast majority of his life as an
arch enemy. What makes him different to Abu
Jahl and Abu Lahab? They're all leaders of
Quraish. Abu Jahl and Abu Lahab die upon
their shirk and kufr. But Allah allowed the
wussafian to live and to accept Islam.
So
Allah knows best the hearts of the people
and that which they contain. So
Allah guides those people that other people would
sometimes think arch enemies of Islam, they would
never accept Islam. People were sometimes surprised by
some of the people that became Muslim. Even
Umar
before Islam was known to be very harsh
towards the Muslims. He was a strong man,
and he would punish and he would hit
and he would anyone that came across his
way, he would be extremely angry
until towards the end of his days of
disbelief when he when his heart started to
become soft to towards the Muslims. There was
a female, a male companion, a husband and
wife that were leaving. They were going out
from Makkah. The husband said to his wife,
you stay here, and I'm going to go
and get some stuff. I'm going to come
back and meet you here. Just wait for
me. So as she was waiting, Umar
passed by her, so she became afraid. So
he said to her, where are you going?
You and your husband, you look like you're
leaving. So she said to him, how can
we stay here when we have people like
you? Just became upset with him. People like
you are hitting us torture, and now you
tell me,
where are you going? Where do you think
we're going? We're leaving.
So he just went quiet.
He just went quiet. And that's not normal
for Omar. Normally, he would hit and he
would retaliate and he would become angry. He
just remained quiet and he left and he
walked away.
So she was surprised.
When her husband returned, she said, Omar came
and this is what I said and this
is what he did. And I'm surprised at
the way he reacted.
So he said to her, do you think
Umar is going to accept Islam? My donkey
will be Muslim before he becomes Muslim.
Because that's how far fetched it seemed to
them.
And so Allah guided. Amr
became from the greatest companions of our prophet
So
Allah says here, yes, these people may be
your enemies today,
and that's
true for that time period, but you don't
know what Allah holds in the future. So
the prophet
will make dua for people, And his normal
tongue and his normal speech was not one
of cursing,
one of asking for punishment and destruction,
but rather for guidance. Because many of those
different tribes and many of those different different
groups of people in Arabia would come to
the prophet
in the 9th year towards end of his
life, and they would accept Islam wholesale.
Whole tribes would come and accept Islam.
And so that is the general
principle in this religion. Yes. At the moment,
they may be enemies. Make for them. Maybe
Allah opens their hearts to Islam. And we've
seen that even in our time. People who
at one time are very very ardent
opponents of Islam, Allah opens up their heart
and they accept Islam, they become Muslim.
On these verses, which urge the believers to
regard the disbelievers as enemies, were revealed, the
believers paid complete attention and complied with these
instructions in the most perfect manner. And they
refrained
for fear of sin from upholding ties
of,
ties with some of their polytheist relatives, thinking
that this was included in what Allah had
forbidden. Therefore, Allah told them that this was
not included in the prohibition and said, Allah
does not forbid you to deal kindly and
justly with those who do not fight you
because
of your religion or drive you out of
your homes. For verily, Allah loves those who
are just. That is Allah does not forbid
you to show kindness, uphold ties, and to
be fair and just towards the politics
among your relatives
and others if they are not involved in
waging war against you or driving you out
of your homes? So this is now the
distinction. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes that
distinction.
As is mentioned in the hadith of Umu
Habiba, I believe,
when she said to the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam, well, messenger of Allah, my mother wants
to come and visit me, and she was
a non believer. She wants to come and
visit me in Madinah. Should I allow her
to come?
And so the prophet said, yes. And be
good to her. Don't just allow her to
come, be good to her. She's your mother.
And so in some narrations it is said
Allah revealed these verses
because of that incident. And so the prophet,
salallahu alaihi wasallam, used to tell the people
of what they could do and how they
could and it's it's permissible, therefore, for those
people who don't openly try
to take you away from your religion, to
harm you, to persecute you, to torture you,
that you have good relations with them, that
you're kind with them, that you show them
the good character of Islam as the prophet
often used to do with the Bedouins that
used to come and others. They used to
show them the best of his character
would encourage them to accept Islam, and many
of them would become Muslims as a result.
And so this is a principle of Islam,
the distinction between these two people. Allah doesn't
forbid you. So from those people that are
with you and and they don't have any
enmity towards you or your religion, they don't
try to oppose you and your religion, that
you show good to them and that you're
fair and just with them. For Allah
loves those who are just.
So there's no blame on you if you
uphold tithes with them because there are no
reservations about upholding ties with them in this
case. And doing so will not lead to
bad consequences. This is similar to what Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala says about polytheist parents if
their child is Muslim. But if they endeavor
to make you ascribe partners to me of
which you have no knowledge, then do not
obey them, but keep company with them
in this world kindly. And so, therefore, if
those people who happen to be non Muslims
have further rights over you so there's a
non Muslim who he's just a non Muslim.
You and him have nothing in common, meaning
in terms of any relationship or rights. But
then there are those, no, they have rights
upon you. They're your neighbors. They're your parents.
They're your family members. These people have additional
rights in Islam.
So Allah says fulfill those rights to them.
Be just towards them. That person is your
neighbor, but he's a non Muslim. He has
the rights of the neighbor. That person say
non Muslim is your father, your mother, or
they're your relatives, they're your siblings, the people
that are that are close to you in
one way or another that read it to
you, they have the rights of of that
which Allah has given them rights of in
terms of kinship.
Allah only forbids you to take as allies
those who fight you because of your religion,
out of enmity towards the religion of Allah
and those who follow it. Drive you out
of your homes or help others in driving
you out. Allah forbids you to take them
as allies by showing friendship and support to
them in word and deed.
As for your acts of kindness and generosity
that do not come under the heading of
taking the polytheists as allies, Allah Allah does
not forbid you to do that. Rather, that
comes under the general heading of the command
to show kind kindness to relatives,
other humans, and other creatures.
Whoever takes them as allies is they who
who are the wrongdoers,
and the degree of wrongdoing is connected to
the level of allegiance shown. And so ally
is a better translation
than friend, because the word friend is a
very general word. It can mean many things.
You have an acquaintance that you call a
friend. Friend is a very generic word. But
ally,
Ally means that you give them preference over
Allah and his messenger
That's allegiance.
As opposed to what is just simply friendship,
having an acquaintance, having good relations with people,
that is something which Allah
commands.
If it is complete allegiance, then it is
disbelief that puts one beyond the power of
Islam.
Anything less than that is still a serious
matter.
All you who believe, when believing women come
to you as migrants,
test their sincerity.
Although Allah knows best as to the sincerity
of their faith, Then if you determine that
they are sincere believers, do not send them
back to the disbelievers.
They are not lawful wives for the disbelievers
nor are the dis nor are the disbelievers
lawful husbands for them. But give the disbelieving
husbands what they have spent in their dowries,
and there's no blame on you if you
marry them provided that you give them their
dowries. Do not hold on to marriage ties
with disbelieving women. Ask for the return of
what you have spent on their dowries, and
let the disbelievers ask for the return of
what they have spent on dowries to believing
women. This is the ruling of Allah judging
between you and Allah is all knowing most
wise.
If any of if any of your wife
desert you and go to join the disbelievers
who then refuse to pay the dowries of
those women, then you have your turn to
pay the dowry for Muslim women who come
and join you.
Then give to those believers
whose wives have deserted them the equivalent the
equivalent of what they have spent on their
dowries and fear Allah
in whom you believe. In the treaty of
Al Khudaybiyah, the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
came to an agreement with the Palatist that
if any of if anyone from their side
came
to him as a Muslim,
he would send him back to the Polytheists.
This agreement was in general terms and included
both women and male and men. In the
case of men, Allah did not forbid his
messenger salallahu alaihi wasalam from sending them back
to the 4th policies in fulfillment of the
conditions stipulated in the treaty, which greatly served
the interests of the Muslims. But when it
came to women, because sending them back would
result in many negative consequences, Allah instructed
the believers if believing women
came to them as migrants and they were
uncertain about the sincerity of their faith to
examine and test them in order to verify
their sincerity
by asking them to swear a solemn solemn
oath and by other means. That is because
their faith may be insincere and their motive
for migration may may have been for the
purpose of marrying some men, moving to another
land or some other worldly aim. And this
is the verses of Imtihan. These are the
verses of the test.
When the prophet
signed the treaty of Hudaybiyyah, as we said,
one of the conditions was
that if someone leaves Medina
and comes to Mecca,
then or someone leaves Mecca rather and comes
to Medina, then the Muslims have to send
them back, but not vice versa. If someone
leaves Mecca
and they want to go to,
someone leaves Medina and wants to go to
Mecca, the Muslims don't have to send them
back. But a Muslim escapes from Mecca, goes
to Medina, the Muslims have to send them
back. The treaty that was signed was a
general treaty, meaning that includes both men and
women. Any Muslim man or woman comes from
Mecca and the Quraysh want them back, they
have to be sent back. Allah
in this verse, he makes an exception. What's
the exception?
Don't send the women back.
Don't send the believing women back. Men, you
can send back as we mentioned in the
story of Abu Jendal, the son of Suhayd
ibn Amari, he came on the day of
Hudaybi and said that I've escaped. What did
the prophet send
him back to his father,
sent him back to the Meccans and to
Quraysh. Allah made the exception and said not
the believing women, Because there are negative consequences
for a believing woman to go back there.
She's forced to marry a non Muslim man.
There's issues that can take place. So therefore,
these women, you can keep. Don't send them
back. And instead, what should you do? Pay
the dowries that they were given.
So the man who married her or wanted
or she was his wife and he's not
a Muslim. In Mecca, he paid a dowry.
Give him the dowry back, but don't send
her back.
And so how do you do this?
Test them in their faith. Make sure that
they're believing women. So Allah
mentions this here. Test them in terms of
their faith, ask them to take an oath
by Allah, ask them to uphold certain things,
and if they do so, then don't send
them back. Don't send them back to the
disbelievers of Mecca.
If they were insincere, it became a must
to send them back in accordance with the
terms of the treaty, provided that doing so
would not lead to negative consequences.
If they tested them and found them to
be sincere or if they knew that that
was indeed the case without having to test
them, then they were not they were not
to send them back to the disbelievers.
They are not lawful wives for the disbelievers
nor other disbelievers,
lawful husbands for them. This refers to the
serious negative consequences that would result from sending
them back,
that the law giver took
into account along with the terms of the
treaty. Therefore, it was prescribed
that the disbelieving husbands should be given
what they had spent on their dowries as
compensation for the loss of these women.
In the in that case, there is nothing
wrong with Muslim men marrying them even if
they have husbands
in the polytheist land. But that is on
condition that they give these women their rights
as regards
dowries and as regards dowries and maintenance.
Just as a Muslim woman, it's not permissible
for a disbelieving man to marry. It's not
permissible for a Muslim man to keep a
disbelieving wife so long as she persists in
her disbelief with the exception of women from
the people of the book. And so Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala when he says disbelieving women,
it means those who make with Allah
in terms of idol worship and so on.
But
the exception of this is the people of
the book, the Jews and the Christians. Because
even though they have shirk within them, they're
considered to be from the general,
the general faiths that follow the prophet Ibrahim,
alayhis salatu wasalam. So Allah gives to them
certain rulings as we know within the Quran
such as their food being halal
and permissive being permissible for Muslim men to
marry their women. So when Allah says that
the disbelieving men are not permissible for the
disbelieving women and vice versa, the exception to
this as the author mentions is the people
of the book as is established in the
Quran and the Sunnah. And so Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala says do not hold on to
marriage ties with disbelieving women. It's forbidden to
hold on to marriage ties with them,
then it is more appropriate that it should
be forbidden to marry them in the first
place. From this verse, one of the,
lessons or one of the wisdoms that some
of the scholars deduced is that Allah
speaks about these marriages not being valid because
of negative consequences
negative consequences that will arise. So from the
objectives of a marriage,
even if it's between 2 Muslims or, for
example, a Muslim man and a woman that's
from the people of the book is that
you look at the possible consequences
of that marriage. If they're going to be
negative and harmful,
then it's something which should be avoided because
that is a general principle that is being
mentioned here. Say, for example, a Muslim man
now is a Christian woman, and as a
result of that, there's going to be problems
and negative consequences in terms of their deen
and in terms of his iman and in
terms of the iman of their children, then
you stay away from that. Because Allah this
is the principle that he's giving. If there's
going to be consequences that are negative,
problematic in terms of your deen, your character,
your religion, your worship of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, then that is something which the believer
should always avoid.
Ask for the return of what you have
spent on their dowries. Oh believers, if your
wife go back to the disbelievers as apostates,
if the disbelievers may take back from the
Muslims what they had spent on their wives
who became Muslim, then the Muslims in turn
deserved to take back what they had spent
on their wives who went over to the
disbelievers.
This is the ruling of Allah judging between
you and Allah's All Knowing Most Wise. He
knows what rulings are good for you and
he and he prescribes for you that which
is dictated by his wisdom. If any of
your wives desert you and go to join
the disbelievers
as apostates and the disbelievers, then refuse to
pay the dowries of those women, then you
have your turn to pay the dowry for
Muslim women who came who will come and
join you. Then
then give to those believers
whose wives have deserted them the equivalent the
equivalent of what they had spent on their
dowries.
As we have seen above the
as we have seen above, that the disbelievers
would take some payment in return for what
they had spent on their spouses who joined
the Muslims. By the same token, if the
wife of a Muslim went over to the
disbelievers and deserted her husband, then the Muslims
were required to give him wealth to replace
what he has spent on her. And this
is from the justice of Islam.
The beauty of Islam is justice.
If the woman comes from Mecca, she comes
to Medina as a Muslim, don't send her
back, but rather pay the dowry that she
was given by her Muslim or non Muslim
husband in Mecca, give him his money back.
And if a woman apostates from Islam, she
runs from Medina, she goes to Mecca, and
she has a Muslim husband
in Medina, but she left him and she
ran away and she apostated, then that Muslim
husband, then also the Muslim treasury. From that
treasury, it should be given to the Muslim,
the dowry that he spent on her. And
so Allah
has justice in both ways.
And fear Allah in whom you believe for
your faith in Allah dictates that you should
constantly fear Him.
O Prophet, when believing women come to you
to swear allegiance to you, pledging that they
will not associate anything with Allah,
that they will not steal,
that they that they will not commit adultery
or fornication,
that they will not kill their children, that
they will not fabricate any lie concerning that
which is between their arms and legs,
and that they will not disobey you in
what is right, then accept allegiance
then accept their allegiance and ask Allah to
forgive them. Verily Allah is our forgiving and
most merciful. The conditions mentioned in this verse
are called
The woman's oath of allegiance. Meaning that when
Allah said test them, take an oath from
them in that previous verse, what do you
test them with? What is the oath that
you take? What are the conditions that are
placed? It is what is mentioned here in
verse 12. So this is what Allah
told. The prophet to say to say to
those believing women who came and said we're
believing women. Allah said take from them the
oath and the pledge that they would uphold
these following points.
The woman used to swear
allegiance to the prophet pledging
to uphold at our times the duties that
were shared by both males and females. In
the case of men, what's required of them
varies according to their circumstances and status and
what is to be expected of them. The
prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam used to comply with whatever
Allah instructed him to do. Meaning that when
the prophet took Baya, the pledge of allegiance
from different groups of companions at different times,
the pledge the core issue of the pledge
was tawheed, believing in Allah, believing in the
prophet
But any additional condition then would depend. It
would differ from group to group. And that
doesn't mean that if, for example, the pledge
of allegiance is that you have to pray
and give zakah, that other Muslims don't have
to do so. No. It's just to stress
to them the importance of the issue, the
importance of the issue. Like, for example, the
prophet took the pledge from some of the
companions that they would never ask anyone anything
except Allah.
Now that's a principle. Just because the prophet
didn't take that pledge from someone else with
that wording, doesn't mean that's not something which
they should aspire to. Before the person who
gave that pledge, no. Now it's obligatory.
For everyone else, it's recommended, even for me
and you. Better for you to be independent
than to ask people for help if you
can do so. And that's why one of
those companions
that took that pledge with the prophet, so
it became obligatory upon them. If they were
on their horse and their stick fell down,
they wouldn't ask anyone to give it to
them. But they would get off and they
would take it themselves, as is mentioned in
the,
in the biographies of those companions.
So sometimes the prophet used to take specific
pledges from certain people, like what we mentioned,
the pledge under the tree and the treaty
of Hudaybiyyah,
that if Uthman has been killed and there's
going to be war, we're going to fight.
That's a pledge specific to that circumstance.
So So the prophet used to do this
with different companions at different times, and if
you look throughout the seerah and the narrations
of the companions, because the companions often narrate
the pledges that they gave, the that they
made with the prophet
you will see the differences in wordings after
the core principle of.
When women came to him to swear allegiance
to him, committing themselves to adhering to these
conditions, he would accept their oath their oath
of allegiance,
reassure them and ask Allah to forgive them
for whatever they might do of shortcomings.
And he included them with all of the
believers in requiring them to fulfill
the following conditions, that they will not associate
anything with Allah and they will worship Allah
alone, that they will not commit adultery or
fornication as was widespread at the time with
many women becoming
prostitutes or taking lovers.
That they will not kill their children as
was done by ignorant women of the Jahiliya,
such as burying daughters
alive. That they will not fabricate any lie
concerning that which is between their arms and
legs. That is, they should not fabricate any
lies at all, whether they have to do,
whether they have to do with themselves, their
husbands, or anyone else. And that they will
not disobey you in what is right. That
is, they will not disobey you in any
instruction you give them. Because your command can
only be what is right. That includes obeying
you with regard to the prohibition
on wailing, rending their garments, slapping their faces,
and calling the call of Jahiliyyah. Allah says
that they will not disobey you in what
is right,
and that's a general statement. Anything that Islam
orders is good and right, so therefore they
won't disobey you in it. But the author
gives specific examples,
and that is of wailing, what the women
used to do at the time of death,
wailing, stopping their faces, ripping their clothes. And
he mentions this because in the sunnah, there
are narrations of certain female companions that gave
this pledge that this is how they interpreted
this last part. They said that the prophet
told us that we can't wear, that we
can't,
rip our clothes, that we can't slap our
feet. These were all expressions of grief that
the Arab women used to do at the
time of death. So the prophet because they
go against the pleasure of being pleased with
Allah's decree and being pleased with that which
Allah has will,
Allah has forbid this from or forbid these
women from doing so. And so this is
why the author, Hamza, has mentioned this specifically,
that on relation to the Muslim of Muhammad,
that those women, this is how they understood
that condition to be. And so this is
the meaning of it or one of the
meanings of it.
Then accept their allegiance if they commit themselves
to everything mentioned above. And the prophet salallahu
alaihi wasallam used to take the bay'ah
from the men by holding their hand, by
shaking their hand. And that's what Allah says
as we mentioned in Surat Al Fath.
Those companions who gave the pledge of the
tree, Allah's hand is above their hands because
they would place their hand in the hand
of the prophet and they would give the
bayah. But when he came to the women,
he would just do it verbally. He wouldn't
touch them. And so when one woman came
and she put out her hand, the prophet
said, no. We take your ba'yah verbally. And
that's why Aisha radiAllahu anha said, the hand
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam never touched
the hand of a woman that wasn't his
maharam.
And so he wouldn't take from them a
physical pledge but a verbal one. They wouldn't
shake his hand, but they would just simply
say the words.
And ask Allah to forgive them for their
shortcomings so as to reassure them. Verily Allah
is a forgiving, that is he often forgives
the sinners and is kind to those who
repent. Most merciful,
His mercy encompasses all things and His kindness
encompasses all of creation.
O you who believe, do not take as
allies people with whom Allah is angry. They
have indeed despaired of reward in the Hereafter
just as the disbelievers have despaired of ever
seeing again the occupants of the grave.
That is all believers, if you truly believe
in in your lord and seek his pleasure
and seek to avoid his wrath, do not
take as allies people with whom Allah is
angry for he is only angry with them
because of their disbelief. This includes all kinds
of disbelievers.
They have indeed despaired of reward in the
hereafter, that is they have been deprived of
the goodness of the hereafter so they have
no share of it. So beware of taking
them as allies, lest you go along with
the with their evil and disbelief, and thus
be deprived of the good of the hereafter
just as they have been deprived thereof.
Just as the disbelievers have despaired of ever
seeing again the occupants of the grave. What's
meant by their having despaired of the reward
of the hereafter is that they denied it
and disbelieved in it. In that case, it
is no wonder that they do not that
they that it is no wonder that they
do that which angers Allah and incurs his
punishment and have despaired of the hereafter
as the disbelievers who denied the resurrection in
this world despaired of the inhabitants of the
graves. This is the end of the commentary
of Surah
tul mum Tahana. And praise all praise and
thanks are for Allah. And may the may
the blessings and peace of Allah be upon
the prophet Muhammad, his
family and his companions abundantly until the day
of judgment. And with that, we come to
the end of
and the end of today's lesson.