Ali Ataie – What the Qur’an Says About Muhammad ()
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Inshallah,
for today's chutba, I'm going to stay on
a general theme that I've been talking about,
for the last month or so,
and that is,
what does the Quran actually say with respect
to the holy prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi alaihi
wasallam?
Many of Muslims
in the west,
that are not familiar with, the Arabic of
the Quran or Muslims who even are familiar
with the Arabic of the Quran,
do not engage
at a very deep level with the words
of Allah
There's a story
from the ulama,
the Hadith,
which we are told that a rabbi one
time came to sayidna Umar
and the the rabbi said
said,
describe to me your beloved.
So the rabbi knew that the Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam was beloved to Sayidna Umar. He
just knew that.
So he didn't say sifli Muhammadan
sallallahu alaihi wasallam or sifli rasulallah,
sifli habibak.
And siddur Omar said: How can I possibly
do that? And the rabbi was taken aback
by that. What do you mean describe it
for me? He said, I can't do it.
He said, sifli huluk habibik.
Just describe to me his huluk,
his character that just describe his character. He
said I can't do that either.
So the rabbi he goes to Imam Ali
He says
describe for me
the
character of your beloved
And even Imam Ali said: I can't do
that, how can I do that? What a
what a tremendous task.
Said why can't you do it? So Imam
Ali, he asked the rabbi, he said: Sifli
a dunya,
describe the dunya to me.
Describe to me the beauty of the dunya,
the beauty this and that of the dunya.
The pleasure of the dunya.
And he said that's gonna take till next
week, how can I sit here and describe
to you
the dunya?
And Imam Ali said, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
says, He said, no, Allah says in the
Quran, the pleasures of the dunya are small,
but about the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he
says, verily you, and we translated this last
time, just to give a sense. Of course
there's no real translation
of the Quran. But just to give a
sense of what the Quran is saying here,
verily, verily,
you dominate
vast character,
magnificent character, the character of the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam. This is extremely important. Let's look
at what Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says about
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in the Quran.
He
said
that when you, if you want to taste
what the Quran actually teaches,
approach the Quran
like the
Sahaba heard the Quran. How did the Sahaba
hear the Quran?
Like the first time
that you hear the Quran. That's how you
should approach the Quran so you can taste
its meanings.
So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
says
It
says
verily verily lakad is a form of major
emphasis in Arabic. So if you go back
to your work after Jum'ah and somebody asks
you: Did you go to Jum'ah? And you
say: I
went to the masjid. He says: I don't
believe you.
So then he said, Yes indeed I went.
And he says, No I still don't believe
you.
And he says, Okay I believe you now.
Take it easy.
Double emphasis. It's a lamb of tokid of
emphasis and this harf is called
for actualization.
And is a verb in Arabic, the verb
to be.
And when it's in reference to Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala and its attributes,
it's it's transcronic,
it's beyond time, it transcends time.
Inna hukana tawaba.
Verily, He was, is and will always be
tawaba.
And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
he can honor a entity
with the verb which means that this entity
is honored by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and is owned by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
So here's the idafa,
the Rasul
is owned by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. This
is idafa
of tashreef or takrim,
annexation of honor,
Rasulullah the messenger of God. Fir Rasulullah
in the messenger of God. Why didn't Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala just said you have the
messenger of God as Uswatul Hasana. What is
the significance
of fee of this preposition you have in
the messenger of God. Firasulillah These are nuances
in the Arabic that do not carry into
the English or into any other language.
The fee here according to the exegetes of
the Quran
denotes exclusivity with the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam only in the messenger and immersion in
the messenger. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
is immersed
in huluqhasan
That he's immersed in uswatulhasana
in a character, a comportment, an example that
is beautiful
and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala oftentimes in the
Quran
again something that's often missed in translation
is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam with indefinite
nouns or adjectives, indefinite nakira. And according to
Ibn Malik
in the Alfiya,
one of the meanings of the indefinite article,
the Tanween
is that
this entity,
is unlimited, is unrestricted,
is beyond comprehension.
It's a way of praising.
So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
And this statement by itself is amazing
and every
Muslim should have this memorized.
When I go to churches I tell them
this is the equivalent of John 3 16.
We see 3 16 everywhere. Go to a
sports watch
a football game you see it written everywhere.
What does it mean? This is the essence
of our belief about the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam. 21107
of the Quran.
So, we have
which is for strong.
You have an affirmation after a negation
like.
The translation, There is no deity worthy of
worship. That's not what it says. It says,
No God, but God. It's very strong. It's
very emphatic.
We did not send you. Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala speaks to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
in the second person in the Quran. He
didn't say,
We did not send you, it's very personal.
Speaking directly to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
An exception
for strong emphasis Rahmatan
nakeda, it's indefinite,
unlimited mercy,
unfathomable mercy,
mercy that is not restricted,
mercy to everything.
Interestingly enough too, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the
ulama point out, he uses a noun here,
he doesn't use a verb. He doesn't say
or something like that.
We didn't send you except that you show
mercy to people. Allah says, You are mercy.
You are Rahmatan.
This is your that, this is your essence
that your mercy
to all of the worlds.
So he uses the indefinite oracle.
The mercy of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
is something that is unrestricted, something that is
unbelievable.
How he showed mercy
and we should study these examples from Seera.
We mentioned this the other day. It's very
important that when we read the Sira sometimes
we have to stop and we have to
smell the roses as it were. We know
the story of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
when he went to
Ta'if and he was rejected from the city
and stoned out of the city Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam He had to pass by these two
lines that were kicking people kicking and punching
him and spitting on him and throwing stones
at him Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and he sat
under the tree and we know the story
that the angel descended
and said, Give the word and this city
is destroyed.
And the Prophet SAW Alaihi Wasallam said,
He said, No, I have hope in their
descendants.
Think about this. Think about this ajeeb mercy
of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. This
vast character, this vast Rahmatan,
this unlimited
undefinable mercy of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam.
The other day a brother brought me his
son make dua for my son. So I
make dua for the son.
But what if I made du'a
for the children of that son who haven't
even seen yet? They're going to come in
the future
And I make Du'a, make supplication for the
children of the children of the children
of my Muslim brother. But what about if
I made Du'a
for the children of the children of the
children
of my enemies
who have just stoned me out of the
city and have just humiliated me?
What kind of character is that? This is
what the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam did: This
is Rahmatan
lil alameen, an unlimited mercy to all the
worlds.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
one time he came into the masjid and
he saw a man and he was brokenhearted
in the masjid, in tears.
And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said: What's
wrong with you?
And he said: Oh, I've done this and
I've done that. He said: I don't want
to hear it. Just come here.
Just come over here.
Let's sit, raise your hands, repeat after me.
Pray this Du'a with me. Oh Allah,
your forgiveness
is more vast than my sins, my transgressions.
He said,
Now stand up your sins have been forgiven.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
had a deep concern
for the Ummah, not just for the Ummah,
a deep concern for all of humanity
When he was repeating that verse all night
long,
all night long.
Our mother Aisha said that he recited this
verse the whole night.
The entire night he's reciting this verse. If
you punish them,
they are your servants. But if you
forgive them, then you are great and wise.
And then she said he collapsed into sajda.
He collapsed.
And she heard him
say Praying for the Ummah. What
does it mean? It's a vakayd of address.
The Ulema say when you say Allahumma it
means you're calling Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala by
all of His names and attributes. The ones
you know and the ones you don't know.
It's very troubling these days. We turn on
the satellite television and we see these anti
Muslim shows.
At Christians, they have Jesus or Mohammed behind
them. Let's talk about both, let's compare the
2. And as a Muslim watching Christians do
this, it's very strange
because that's not an equal comparison.
Isa alaihis salam according to them is God.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, we don't believe
he's God. He's a Messenger of God, he's
the best of creation. They should say Jesus
or Allah,
right? But nonetheless people like to make comparisons.
Obviously, Isa alaihis salam is rahmatan. There's no
doubt about it. But there's a story in
a Christian source the gospel of Matthew chapter
10. Isa alaihis salam tells us
according to a Christian source.
He says when he sends them out on
preaching and healing for dawah, for Khuruj, feezabilellah.
And he tells them
that when you go to a city, if
you should be rejected by that city,
shake the dust of that city off your
heels
for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah
will fare better on the day of judgment
than that city. This is what he says.
That if a city rejects you, shake the
dust, meaning they're going to go to *
forever! The cities of the plains, Sodom and
Gomorrah, the pomelelut
will have a better time on the day
of judgment than those people. You want to
compare? Look at the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
in Ta'if who is not only rejected by
the people, he stoned out of the city,
abused
and reviled.
His blood, his feet are soaking in his
own blood. He loses consciousness.
Know I have hope in their descendants. This
is
There's very interesting, beautiful books
that we need to read about the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
A certain type of literature called Hasa'is
or Khususiat and Nabooah.
The specialities or special properties of the Prophet
SAW.
So book by Imam Isoodine
Ibnu Abd Salam Rahimahuallahu ta'ala
in which
he lists
the tafil of the Prophet enumerating
how the Prophet's greatness is greater than any
other Prophet.
And this is interesting because his son approached
him one day and said, Tell me about
the greatness of the Prophet
And just off the top of his head
he was able to name these 42 things.
How many things can we name? One of
the things he mentioned were the miracles,
the murajizat of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam.
The murajizat which we believe in, no doubt
about it, we believe in them.
And he says, look at the Mu'i jazat
of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
because they are adhar and they are Akbar.
They are more apparent and they are greater
than the miracles of those who came before
him.
So Isa
can raise the dead. And as the poet
said, Yes, Isa Alaihi Wasallam
raised the dead. But the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam, he raised nations.
Nations that were spiritually dead, that did not
have the dhikr of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
in their hearts.
He said Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he said that,
the difference between one who is alive and
dead is like the difference between the one
who remembers his Lord and the one who
doesn't being spiritually dead people walking around in
their own coffins, not remembering Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
And then they're dead and buried and who
remembers them?
Only Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala if they remembered
him.
He raised nations.
Now, there are some hadith.
If you read there is hadith. Imam Beihaki
mentions these are weak, some of them are
weak but there is hadith in these books.
Hassanal Basri relates that
a man came to the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam and he said: My daughter has died
in a certain Wadi.
She's died. She has died. Can you help
her? The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam goes there
and he says and
she comes out. This is mentioned in our
books. It's not a strong Sanat, but these
things are mentioned.
But the real miracle is seeing the transformation
of societies
in 23 years.
This is unparalleled in history
that in 23 years the way people think
is different.
It's not just the way people do business,
the way people interact with each other, the
way the way people think was transformed by
the message of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
The way you eat, the way you sleep,
the way you talk to your neighbor,
the way you deal in politics, economics, all
of these things have been changed in 23
years. Raising the world
from the dark ages into the light. This
is a true Mu'int Jesus that is everlasting
of the Prophet
And he said: Jesus alaihi wasallam, he can
heal the blind.
And Imam Izzudine ibn Abdulsalam he mentions this.
Yes, it's mentioned in the Quran as well.
But he mentions a miracle the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam is more apparent than that. How
is it more apparent?
He says
that Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqqas relates that at
the Battle of Uhud,
a companion named Katada,
his
eye had actually been taken out of its
socket
and was resting on his cheek
and the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam not only
did he restore
the eyesight, but he actually put the eye
back and it worked fine. And he had
2020 vision.
It's mentioned by Al Oqayli
in the in Qadi Iyad
Al Shifa.
Oqayli says: My father, he had grown old
and a whiteness glazed over his eyes so
he couldn't see. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam, he took some of his blessed saliva
and he wiped over my father's eye.
He said, I saw my father at 80
years old threading a needle.
At 80 years old, he was threading a
needle. This is the Marjisa of the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi
wa
sallam. He mentions Musa alaihi wasallam who struck
the rock with his staff and gushes
and springs gushed forth.
And murjiza of Musa alaihi wasallam But the
miracle of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is
adhar. It's even more apparent than that
because somebody might say, Well, sometimes rivers gush
through rocks and so on and so forth.
It's mentioned in the hadith, Anas ibn Malik.
In Bukhari and Muslim
rigorously authenticated
hadith
that once the Sahaba had a shortage of
water, the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said bring
me a vessel.
They brought him a vessel and he put
his hand into the vessel and he removed
his hand. It's full of water. That water
came through his fingers.
So
the the the fukaha they mentioned in the
books of 5th, they say: What is the
greatest water in the universe?
Oh, the Nile river. No, no, no, no.
Zam zam. Zam zam is the greatest. No,
there's fountains and springs in paradise.
These are greater.
The poet said,
He said, The greatest water,
the greatest water, the most exalted, the holiest
type of water is the water that gushed
forth from the fingers of the Obeyed Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi
Wa Salam.
His miracles were Adhar.
Another example:
An indefinite article again. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
doesn't say
or something like that. He doesn't use a
verb. He says you are Noor.
A Noor that is nakeera,
undefined,
unrestricted.
This is how Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala speaks
about the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, the
indefinite article. When you start reading the Quran,
you should notice
these things.
That the Mushrikeen
and the kufar meaning Ahlul Kitab, Jews and
Christians and Mushrikeen, they're not going to break
away from their kufar
until Al Bayinah comes to them. Clear evidence.
Why is there a definite article here according
to the
exegetes?
Al Bayinah. Because this is ahadiyah, meaning that
they were already expecting someone to come. There
was an expectation
for al Bayinah to come. This is why
there's a definite article. But who is Al
Bayinah? Rasooloon,
not Rasoolullah.
Right? Rasooloon min Allah. It's nakirah. It's indefinite.
Meaning such a great Messenger,
undefined, unlimited,
beyond comprehension.
A great Messenger,
an unrestricted Messenger,
a universal Messenger from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
This is the meaning.
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala uses this in the
Quran many, many times in reference to the
Prophet
All of them are
indefinite. We start noticing these things when we
read the Quran, the speech of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. You know sometimes in Dawah and
I've done this myself
when we're speaking to like a Christian audience,
we want to stress the importance of Isa
It's very important for us, for Christians
and non Muslims in general, even Muslims to
know
that we love Isa alaihis
salam. So one time I was on stage
in an interfaith dialogue and I said: You
know the Quran mentions the name of Isa
Alaihi Salam
5 times more than the name of the
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. This is true.
25 times Isa Alaihi wasallam is mentioned
and 5 times the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
is mentioned. Four times as Muhammad and once
as Ahmed sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
We have to remember
that this might put
a a negative effect or a incorrect effect
in the mind of the listener that we
value is a we believe that is a
alaihis salam is greater or 5 times greater
than the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
So that might give the impression to someone
that I can just believe in isa alaihi
wasallam as I do and I'm fine And
they become complacent in their kufr.
No, of course not.
Why is the Prophet
only mentioned a few times in the Quran?
Because the Quran is being revealed to the
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala
is speaking to him directly.
If you take a short surah in the
Quran.
What are these?
There's 11 references in this short surah to
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And how
does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speak to the
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam?
This,
hamza here is hamza of taqrir.
The hamza of a rhetorical question.
A rhetorical question, there's no there's no answer
to be expected. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala wants
to remind you of something. Don't
you remember what happened to them?
Everyone knows it's established, it's to remind the
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
Is plural.
First
common plural is Jam'un.
This is Nunu Ta'adeem
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala uses the plural when
addressing the Prophet Sallallahu Wa Ta'ala uses the
plural when addressing the Prophet Sallallahu Wa Ta'ala
in the second person because this shows that
the object that's being
addressed is also Tawdhir,
is also great. And that is the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam, alam nashraq laka sadrach.
And this lamb is lamutaaleel
that is brought forward
to create tashwiq in anticipation.
What is the maf'ulbihi?
What is the direct object here?
Have we not
expanded
because of you,
your chest?
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala expanded the chest, the
sadr, the heart of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam and the ulama point out Musa Alaihi
Wasallam made du'a.
What did he say?
Oh my Lord expand for me my breast,
my
courage, my heart.
But Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala did this for
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
without even requesting.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala did that. This shows
the greatness of the Prophet SAW.
The magnificence
of the Prophet SAW.
The Musa alaihi wasallam was at the edge
of the Red Sea and the army of
Fir'an was coming.
And Bani Israel said, We're about to be
overwhelmed, we're going to be killed, We're going
to be slaughtered.
No way.
With me is my Lord.
He mentioned himself
first.
Mahya Rabbi then his Lord but when the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
was in the cave of Abu Bakr as
Siddiq and
Abu Bakr as Siddiq had fear.
What did he say?
He mentions Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala first. Allah
is with us. This shows these are subtleties
in the Arabic
that pass by us many times.
Very interesting, very beautiful.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in Surah
Tawbah,
Who? That Allah and His Messenger, it is
more befitting that you please Him.
What is him?
Allah and his Messenger are 2 entities.
Why is there a
Why is there a 3rd person masculine singular,
phenomenal suffix?
Allah mentions 2.
Who? Why who? Why not? It's
a grammatical error. Astaghfirullah.
What does this mean? That means that there's
an intimate relationship
between Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. He's not just a delivery
man. He's not someone who delivers the Risala
and goes away. You never see him again.
You never contact him again. There's an intimate
relationship
between Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and between us and
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. He said
it
himself,
I wish I could have seen my Ikhwan.
I wish I could have seen them. Not
I wish. I would have loved
to have seen them. Loved
I would have loved to have seen them.
They said,
Aren't we your Ikhwan?
The Sahaba said,
he said, No, you're my companions.
Ashabi.
Who are the Ikhwan? Those who come after,
who never saw me but are willing to
sacrifice their wealth and their families just to
lay eyes on me one time.
I wish I would have loved to have
seen them.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala uses a singular pronoun
when speaking about himself and the Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
A singular pronoun because he says,
Whoever obeys the Messenger is obeying Allah. This
is a subtlety that's lost in translation.
This is a subtlety that's lost
by the people of Ahlul Kitab.
Alaihis salam makes a similar statement: The father
and I are 1. They say he's claiming
to be Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. He's
not talking about itihad or hulu, tajasud,
These types of things, mingling or union or
divine incarnation.
No.
He's talking about a relational unity
that
the, the obedience to the Messenger is the
same obedience to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. You
cannot obey Allah and disobey the Messenger. It's
impossible. You cannot obey the Messenger and disobey
Allah. Their obedience is the same. This is
according to Imam al Qurtubi
and his tafsir of this ayah. Why is
there a singular pronoun used in this
verse? This is what he says.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he takes an oath
by the life of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
An oath by the life. There are people
who read the Quran. This is what is
ajeeb to me. There are people who read
the Quran and they say the Quran says
that the Prophet is only a delivery man
and all of these other things you say
about him. This is Al Bida'a and it's
kufr and it's haram and it's developed later.
Do you know what the Quran says about
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam?
Allah says
He takes an oath by the life of
the Prophet in
Ibn Qayyim
said that Allah does not take an oath
by anything except that it's exalted
by your
life. And Ibn Abbas said, I did not
hear Allah
they can oath by the life of any
other person. Allah says
I swear by the Duha
and by the night when it is still.
Imam Tabari said:
is the face of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam.
Is the kalba, the heart of the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
taking an oath by the life, the face,
and the heart of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam.
Because what is the what is the subabun
nuzul of this ayah? There was a fatra
in the Revelation. There was a break in
the Revelation. And the mushrikeen were making fun
of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. They said,
Oh, your your shaitan has left you, Jameer
said, Astaghfirullah.
So the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he he
took all of this abuse.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says takes an oath
by your face, by your heart. Your Lord
has not left you nor is he angry.
Period.
It's very interesting.
This is a transitive verb,
which means it takes an object just like
is a transitive verb. There is an object.
Why? Because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will never
say, will never even suggest that he hates
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Even when he's
negating the statement, Allah needs to hate to
abhor something.
So translations, they don't do it justice. The
Lord has not forsaken you, nor is he
angry with you. There is no you.
Your Lord has not forsaken you nor is
he angry. Period.
He's not even going to suggest
that he hates the prophet
And soon will thy Lord give you something
and immediately you'll be pleased by it.
Immediately you'll be pleased by it.
Soon will thy Lord give you something and
immediately you're you're going to be pleased. But
Imam Sayyuti says when this is revealed to
the prophet
he said,
I will never be pleased
while one person for my ummah is in
the fire. This is someone who has deep
concern for the ummah. He's not someone who
just delivered the message and took off.
This is someone who has a connection with
the ummah. This is someone that we have
to have a connection with.
It's very very important.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says:
What is Asr? There's difference of opinion
if we study tafsir
some say Asr means the time of Asr
because that's when people come home and they
start reflecting about their lives.
Very reflective time of the day. Some say
this is salat al Asr
which is the middle prayer according
to many of the ulama, some say Fajr,
the majority, the Jumbhoo say this is Asr,
the middle prayer. It's reference to Salat Al
Asr. Some say it's Asr in general, time
from the beginning of time, the creation of
Adam alaihis salam till the end of time.
Ibn Abbas says or I'm sorry Fakhruddin al
Razi
he says that this refers to the time
of the Messenger the zaman of Muhammad
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. The best time in the
time thereafter. So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he
takes an oath in the Quran by the
life of the prophet, by the face of
the prophet, by the heart of the prophet,
by the zaman, the time of the prophet
and by the makan of the prophet.
When he says,
So the ulama, they asked a question: Why
does this Surah begin with a negation?
Why?
I don't swear or I do swear.
So the Ulema say Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is saying that this city is so great.
This is a sense of the of the
meaning, just to give a sense of it.
This city is so great I don't even
have to swear by this city.
You Quresh, you already know the greatness of
this city. You know
the
walad and the walad. Ibrahim and Ismail alaihis
salam, you know what they did here?
And this is a hal according to one
opinion of the first verse. Meaning, you know
the greatness of this city. You know the
history of this city. You know Ibrahim, you
know Ismail alaihuma salam, you know their history,
but yet you're trying to kill. You're trying
to make halal the blood of this messenger
who is amongst you. This is the whole
reason why you've been preserved. The ilaf iquresh.
Why do you think that is? You have
security, perennial security.
Why? Because you're so great.
Why do you have this security? Because of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was going to
be raised amongst them. This is why.
There's many other examples we can give, we're
running out of time.
In Suratin Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says:
So what is teen? The fig.
So many of the ulama
Abdullah ibn Abbas who is called the exeget
of the Quran, the founder of exegesis of
the Quran. Since the teen is a reference
to Jabal Judi.
Jabal Judi is the mountain, one of the
lower sis peaks of the Eirarat
mountain system in Turkey,
in Anatolia.
And the Safina of Nuh alaihis salam that's
where it stopped. And apparently there's a lot
of figs in that area. So, ibn Abbas
says this is a reference
to the Sharia of Nuh alaihis salam.
Zaytun, what is Zaytun?
A reference to Ibrahim alaihis salam because in
Jerusalem
and around
that, Palestine,
specifically in Jerusalem, there are a lot of
olives.
There's a mountain just away from the temple
mount called the Mount of Olives, where apparently
Isa alaihis salam used to pray there, Jebedah
Zaytun. What is
Zaytunin? Mount Sinai
where Musa alaihi salam
received the Sharia,
the Torah. So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala again
taking an oath by great things: I swear
by the Sharia
of Nuh alaihis salam, of Ibrahim alaihis salam,
and the Israelite prophets after him, Musa alaihis
salam and those after him.
And by this city.
We have created al insan which most of
the exegetes take as something that's general.
The human being in general has the best
form.
But some of the mufasreen say this is
a direct reference to the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam. Meaning the previous sharia, the
previous sharias
of the messengers,
they all bore witness to the greatness of
the prophet
alaihi wasallam.
These are tafasir that's in our tradition.
Nobody's making these things up.
This is not some weird,
Sufi goofy type of
tafsir.
It's not some weird type of bidaal tafsir.
This is in our tradition, we have to
embrace our tradition.
Our tradition has 3 aspects: Islam, Waiman, Waisan.
This is what we have to implement as
Muslims.
Unfortunately,
there's a polarization
amongst many Muslims that are formalists or those
who are
we have to take lessons from the Quran,
we have to be balanced as the prophet
was balanced.
As Al Fatiha tells us to be a
balanced nation. Balance!
Where is this Ayah? Right in the middle
of Baqarah! Verse 143 out of 286,
right in the middle is not an accident.
We take our tradition, we love our tradition,
and we follow the Prophet
This is called itiba' and I mentioned this
many times in the past. Itiba'
is to follow the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
in his outward and inward manifestations.
To follow him, not just outwardly, not just
inwardly. Both of these are false.
Both of these are balala. We're talking about
outward and inward.
Ittiba'a of the Prophet and I'artisam
Iritisam is the word that's used for a
man who's drowning in the ocean and they
throw him a line and he holds on
to that line, that grip that he's holding
that rope that's called Iritisam.
This is how we should hold on to
the sunnah of the messenger sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam.
The prophet says, Hold on to my sunnah
and the righteous
after me
like you're biting onto it with your molars.
This is a very
interesting It's a metaphor.
This is where you rip
meat when you eat jerky.
You know, it's very strong. Look at the
metaphor he's using: bite onto my sunnah in
its inward and outward manifestations. May Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala give us a tawfiq.