Aqeel Mahmood – Tafseer of Surah Abasa Part 1
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AI: Transcript ©
Today, InshaAllah, we're going to be starting with
the tafsir of
Surah Abasa.
And Surah Abasa
is
the
18th Surah of the Quran
and it's a Maqi Surah,
which means it was revealed before the hijrah
of the messenger of Allah
to the city of Madinah.
And it's called Abasa because the word Abasa
is in the Surah. And we mentioned before,
sometimes
the Surah is named after a specific word
which comes in the Surah.
Also, there are other names which are given
to this Surah like,
which is also in this Surah where where
Allah says
when the comes.
And is actually one of the names, and
when when we get to this ayah, we'll
talk about this ayah. It's one of the
names of the day of judgment.
Also, it's known as Surat al Safra,
and Safra means the ambassadors.
And inshallah, we'll talk about why it's called,
this specific name,
today. It's based on the ayah in this
surah, where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
he says,
that it's in the hands of
messengers or angels.
So they're called saffara or ambassadors
because of the responsibility
they have of carrying the Quran
and sending the Quran to the messenger of
Allah
Specifically the angel Jibril alaihis salam. And this
surah
consists altogether
of 42 ayat,
and the surah it starts
with
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
reminding
the messenger of Allah
about
the importance of spreading
the
message of Islam
equally
to all groups and to all members of
society.
No matter if if if they're from the
rich or from the poor, if they're from
the strong or from the weak, the male
or the female,
It's about
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
telling and advising the messenger of Allah sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam that this message is for
all, not just for one specific group of
people. And when we look today,
we'll look at for example,
certain cults or certain religions,
certain
practices, certain beliefs
where the aim and the goal is to
attract the elite.
You know, certain religions for example,
they only survive because of,
funds
from wealthy members.
You look at, for example,
a religion which is very famous amongst,
you know
the the wealthy and the rich, especially in
America.
There's one specific religion
which
is very popular amongst,
for example, celebrities in America, specifically like actors
for example,
and because of this,
they become very prominent,
and
because of the funding they receive,
they
they're able to basically stay afloat, and they're
able to spread their message of their specific
beliefs. Anyone know which reason I'm talking about?
Specifically,
Scientology.
Scientology, this whole religion based on,
science with some,
you know,
crazy ideas and crazy
crazy suggestions.
So
these types of religions,
they depend on the elite.
They depend on the rich and the wealthy,
so that they can survive.
And what's interesting as we'll get into this,
surah
is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this
surah, he actually advises the opposite.
He advises
and reprimands the messenger of Allah
because he's not paying attention to the poor
and to the weak and to the needy,
and not to pay attention all the time
to the rich and the wealthy and those
who have status. So it's the opposite.
And we'll talk about how this is actually
a sign from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. A
proof of the prophethood of the messenger of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in of itself.
This specific, just the first eye in of
itself, it shows the prophethood of the messenger
of Allah alayhi salarahu alayhi salarahu alayhi salaram.
So this surah talks about
how each and every single individual
from the Muslim Ummah has its value, has
its importance.
And it doesn't matter if a person is
from a rich country, or a poor country,
or he's, you know, famous, or he's, you
know, not somebody who's famous. He's, you know,
strong or he's weak. He's male or female
or from a specific background or from a
specific, you know, group of people, a specific
race or nationality.
You know every single Muslim has his place
in the Muslim Ummah, and he has his
importance.
And one of
the the the ways in which we see
that every single person is exactly the same
in the sight of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
There's no differentiation,
between one and the other
by the color of his skin or by
his nationality,
is in the salah itself.
Because
a person may be
the wealthiest person in the world
and he'll be praying next to, for example,
the cleaner
of the streets
of his local city.
And there's no dis you don't distinguish between
the 2.
The same is the case when it comes
to for example,
the the pilgrimage hajj.
You know, the the the the ihram
is donned
and people are in the same outfit, people
are in the same clothes,
the iazar,
the the white robes,
and is to show equality
amongst the slaves of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
You know, one doesn't get specific special treatment
because of where he comes from. So it's
this idea of the fact that Muslims
are the same in the sight of Allah.
There's no
difference between the arab and the foreigner except
with taqwa.
This is what makes a person better than
another. This is what differentiates
one with the other.
So a person for example may be rich,
he may be famous, but that doesn't make
him better in the sight of Allah Subhanahu
wa ta'ala. And there's many examples of this.
From the most beautiful examples of this is
a story of Umar radhiallahu an.
And Umar radhiallahu an when he was a
leader of the Muslims,
every single time
the season of Hajj would come, he will
stand on a mountain and he would call
he would look at the people who are
coming from Yemen,
and he would call out to them, and
he would say, is
from amongst you?
Has come with you?
And he would do this every single year
until
the year in which he died and it
was his last hajj.
He called out and he said the same
thing. And they said to him, You Amir
al mumineen, we don't know of anybody by
this name. Every single year you come and
you stand and you try to find this
person called away.
We've never heard of a person
by this name except for one man who's
come with us this year, and all he's
doing is looking after our camels. It's meaning
he's not nobody special. He's not even performing
hajj. He's just looking after our camels. He's
come but he's not even looking he's not
even performing hajj.
So they directed him towards,
and
when he went,
he found him, confirmed it was
and
is sitting, who are you? What do you
want? Why are you asking me these questions?
So he said, I am, and I was
told and I heard the messenger of Allah
say
that the greatest
who ever lived is a man by the
name of.
He was somebody who was afflicted with a
skin disease and
Allah
cured him except for the size of a
dinar on his on his back.
And he was somebody who was obedient to
his parents.
Note how obedience to his parents,
obedience to his parents
caused him
to be cured after he supplicated to Allah.
One of the reasons why his supplication was
answered is because of his obedience to his
parents.
And he said I heard the messenger of
Allah
say whoever meets him
ask him to ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to forgive him.
So this man he wasn't even a Sahabi.
He never ever met the messenger of Allah
And Umar radhiallahu an is a leader of
the Muslims, and he's asking always for,
for his specific dua
to Allah that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgives
him. Umar ibn Khattab, the famous companion.
So this is an example brothers and sisters
of how
an individual
and we all know the status of Umar
radhiallahu an. We all know that he was
one of the greatest men who ever lived,
but it's a tiny example of how
sometimes a person may not be known among
society.
He may not even be known by the
by the people.
Like in ma'ruf and fisama,
as the hadith mentions, a person may be
unknown
on the earth, but he may be famous
in the heavens.
The angels may know this person.
Word goes around amongst the angels that this
person is a worshipper of Allah. The angels
know him, he's famous,
and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows him.
And so sometimes this can be the case.
And so in this surah specifically, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala talks about the Muslims and how
emphasis shouldn't be specifically to one group of
the Muslim ummah, but on all groups and
nobody should be sidelined. And we see today
for example,
how sometimes,
when certain groups
are oppressed,
Muslim groups,
from specific places,
we tend to remember them. We tend to
take note of them. We tend to do
things for them. We tend to, you know,
donate,
on those causes.
For example, things which are happening in Palestine,
things which happen in Syria, because these types
of, of incidents which are taking place are
famous.
You know, they're big incidents.
The things we hear about in the news,
and then you may have other types of
Muslims in other parts of the world
who are sidelined. Maybe
they're not given as much attention. They're forgotten.
For example, like the Rohingya Muslims,
where really there's not much that's they're not
talked about they're not talked about on BBC,
You know? There's nothing about it.
Things aren't mentioned about the people there and
what's happening to them and, you know, the
things that that the Muslims that they are
going through, how they're being you know, the
women are being raped and the men are
being massacred and, you know, all kinds of
horror stories you hear. But people either, you
know, shut their eyes away from, you know,
these specific,
places around, you know, around the world where,
these atrocities are taking place,
or it may be because of the media
itself. But the point being that sometimes
certain pockets of Muslims tend to be sidelined.
And
as a result of this, the whole of
the Muslim ummah suffers.
Because when when when the Muslim ummah neglects
a part of the ummah, then
it the whole Ummah itself suffers. The famous
hadith
of how the Ummah is like one body.
When one part of the body feels pain,
the whole body feels pain. The whole body
suffers.
So when we don't take care of one
pocket of the society, one pocket of the
Muslim Ummah, then it's going to have an
effect on the rest of the Ummah.
This is why Umar radhiallahu an, he would
be afraid and he would say I'm afraid
that there would be, for example,
a donkey on the other side of the
Muslim world in Iraq
that would stumble
and I would be the one responsible for
it because I'm the leader of the Muslims.
Maybe the path wasn't laid down properly. The
donkey stumbles because of me, because of, you
know, my, you know, neglectfulness.
I was neglectful when it came to taking
care of the needs of the people in
the other part of the Muslim world.
Also in this surah brothers and sisters,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
talks about
his blessings upon the Muslims,
and,
how
the Muslims should be thankful to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala with regards to these blessings which
he has given them,
and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala in this surah,
also
talks about
paradise and the rewards of paradise.
So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala at the beginning
of this surah,
he says,
He
says,
he frowned
and he turned away.
Meaning the messenger of Allah
frowned and he turned away, and
the Mufassirun, they say the reason for
these
ayat at the beginning of the surah being
revealed
is because of an incident which took place
in Mecca, because the surah is a Makki
surah.
An incident which took place
where
the messenger of Allah was
with a group of the elite of Quresh.
The senior
men of Quresh,
and the leaders of tribes,
and so he was calling them to Islam,
and he was hopeful
that maybe they were close to accepting Islam.
And so he was trying hard to try
to win them over, so that they would
accept Islam.
Now
there was benefit
for those specific individuals to accept Islam,
because if they accepted Islam and they were
the leaders of their tribes, then 99%
of their tribes would accept Islam.
And even today, that's how it that's how
it is in some parts of the world.
I know a a brother that I knew
when I was in Madinah, he used to
give lots of dawah in Africa. And he
said that there were some there were some
places in Africa where they went to give
dawah,
where
they would give Dawah to the tribal leader,
the chief.
And if the chief accepted Islam,
the whole tribe would accept Islam,
maybe a 100 or more.
And, you know, this isn't something we should
be surprised about because we tend to do
similar things in the West.
It may not be a tribal leader, but
it may be, for example, people we look
up to as role models today in society,
even though we shouldn't.
Celebrities,
you know, a specific celebrity likes a specific
type of food, or a specific type of
clothing, or a specific, you know, whatever it
may be, a car a car or something.
You know, we tend to follow them. The
way they dress, the way they speak even,
sometimes we speak like them.
I was I was in a store and
I was reading a book about this.
I just happened to come across a book
about a singer,
and there was like
an
unofficial biography, autobiography.
So I, you know, I just opened it
out of interest. I thought, you know, why
do people why do people, you know, read
these types of books?
And so I opened it
and
the information in there was, subhanallah, it was
just things
that people would read and when they idolize
somebody, literally.
It would say things like, for example, he
enjoys eating this type of food,
and in the morning he likes to eat
these types of food. Sometimes he likes to
eat this type of fruit and these vegetables
and likes to go here.
And it's just strange, subhanAllah, like, you know,
the emphasis we put on our messenger
is it was it was something similar. It
was something to that effect. It was scary.
How far people would go into
learning about what people do today, as if
they're as if every single thing that they
do is blessed.
Whereas it's not the case.
The point being that
we also are influenced by, you know, things
that we see, people that we see, especially
the youth, where they're looking for some type
of role model. They'll take singers or actors
or, you know, other other people with, you
know,
immoral professions. They'll take them as role models.
And so they'll they'll do whatever those people
do, and,
you know, they're influenced by them.
So the messenger of Allah,
he was calling the elders of Quraysh to
Islam,
and at that moment in time,
a companion by the name of Abdullah
ibn Maktoum,
he came
to
the messenger of Allah alaihis salatu wa sallam,
and he was somebody who was blind. He
wasn't able to see,
and he came to the messenger of Allah
sallam
and he said,
teach me what Allah has taught you oh
messenger of Allah.
And the messenger of Allah was talking to
the elders and the elite of Quraish,
and
of course he's blind so he doesn't know
what's happening. He doesn't know who he's talking
to. So he repeats a number of times,
can you teach me what,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
has taught you?
And as a result of this and as
a result of him asking continuously
the messenger of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
teach him,
whatever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has taught him.
The messenger of Allah
saw him asking him these questions
and those who are with him were from
the elite.
And so Ablabin al Maktoum wasn't from the
elite,
And as a result of this, they saw
this individual
from the Muslims,
and
these individuals who were from the elite,
they would say,
in this case, this is an example, and
another case are also examples.
They would say we would accept Islam, but
we're not going to accept Islam if you
have these types of people in your in
your gathering, in your crowd,
in from your followers.
But only accept islam
if you have, you know, more
honorable people in their eyes. People who have
more status,
not the the the old and the weak
and the poor. We don't want to be
associated with those types of people,
you know. It's similar to sometimes
how people are today.
They don't like to specifically
socialize with maybe people who are poorer than
them,
you know, who are maybe not as well
off as them.
Maybe sometimes a person
is uncomfortable going to a specific house,
because maybe that house belongs to somebody who's
poorer, maybe he's not as well off, maybe
he won't have the type of food that
we prefer. We don't go to some part
of, you know,
Birmingham or, you know, wherever we come from
because maybe that place isn't
is, you know, is people from the lower
class live there.
We don't even like to go and visit
that place. Maybe because it's dirty. Even though
there may be individuals who are in need,
there's people there who need help.
The point
being that they wouldn't like to be in
a specific religion
that had people from all backgrounds and all
societies. They said if if you don't have
these people then we'll go there. And this
is one of those examples where they saw
Abdullah bin Umaktoum and he wasn't like them,
and they said that, you know, we don't
we're not interested. We're gonna we're gonna stay.
We're gonna, you know, we're gonna leave now.
We're not gonna continue this conversation.
And as a result of this, that opportunity
to, you know,
get them close to Islam, soften their hearts
to Islam, maybe even have them accept Islam,
that opportunity now had gone.
And so when he saw
he frowned, and he turned away.
And as a result of this,
Allah
revealed, these at the beginning of
Reminding the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam.
He was
the son
of
the uncle of Khadija
So he was the cousin of Khadija
and,
he was somebody
who in fact after this surah
was
very loved and respected by the messenger of
allahi because
he recognized his error and his mistake of
neglecting
Abdulayb ibn Maktoum and giving priority to a
specific group as opposed to others.
And a side note here that
the messenger of Allah
was somebody who was prone to making mistakes
just like every single human being makes mistakes.
But the difference between his mistakes and our
mistakes was first of all, he would acknowledge
those mistakes.
Secondly, he would ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's
forgiveness
from those mistakes. Thirdly, he would rectify himself
and he would worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and he will go back on track once
he had made those errors and those mistakes.
So there's a difference between the errors and
the mistakes of the messenger of Allah
and our shortcomings and our mistakes.
He would always strive to please Allah after
he made those errors and those mistakes and
those shortcomings. Of course, this is the way
it's supposed to be. Whenever we commit an
error, whenever we make a mistake, we should
never belittle sins or or or errors that
we make, but rather instead we should use
them as
platforms, launchpads to do even more good
as opposed to ignoring them or trying to
justify them, which is,
what tends to happen,
these days.
Him he ended up respecting him so much
and showing so much love to him
that he would appoint him as the leader
of Madinah. He was one of the first
to perform the hijrah also, even though he
was blind.
Ibn Umaktum.
When he was in Madinah, whenever the messenger
of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam would travel,
you know, to fight or whatever the case
may be, he would appoint Abdullah ibn al
Maktoum as the leader of Madinah while he
was away.
So this shows you the status of Abdullah
ibn al Maktoum. Even though he wasn't somebody
who was rich or wealthy or had status,
you know, he was somebody who was blind.
He was somebody who wasn't from the, you
know, the elite of Quraish, but he gave
him this position because of his in because
of his intention, because of his character.
And,
historians mentioned that he died as shaheed in
one of the
later battles in the time of.
So he was somebody who lived on after
the death of the messenger of Allah alaihis
salatu wa sallam. Now this specific ayah brothers
and sisters,
as I mentioned before, it's a proof
of the miracle of the Quran, and that
it's actually from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Because many of us,
we wouldn't want
anything bad
to be said about our family members,
And we wouldn't criticize
our own family members in front of others.
It's not something which is good, and at
the same time, we wouldn't feel comfortable doing
it.
And
a lot of the times, if somebody criticizes
something we possess,
the first thing we'll do, and maybe it's
a natural thing, is we'll try to defend
whatever they're criticizing.
If it's our house, if it's our car,
if it's something else, sometimes a person feels
a sense of pride.
Even more so when they talk about yourself,
and they talk about your shortcomings.
And what's interesting about this Surah brothers and
sisters
is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is criticizing
the messenger of Allah alaihisrat wa sallam. And
if he was
a book which he authored himself, if it
wasn't a book from Allah, then
the messenger of Allah alaihis salam
wouldn't
waste
his time and energy
in a message where he ends up criticizing
himself.
He would mention things about his own praise.
You know, you have to think about the
context.
He's in Mecca
where people are criticizing him, calling him somebody
who is insane,
saying he's a madman, saying he's possessed,
saying he's somebody who is a poet,
he's a magician.
These words are like magic.
And so the last thing he would do
is to criticize himself.
Why would you criticize yourself in this type
of circumstance?
What you'd what you need is actually the
opposite.
You need somebody to justify your claims. That's
why I mentioned it right at the beginning.
You know we have, you know, crazy cults
like Scientology,
where they depend on celebrities. They say look,
these famous people are part of this this
cult.
So that means it must be something there
must be something to it. They're not gonna
criticize themselves.
Whereas subhanallah here, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
criticizing the messenger of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
This in and of itself shows the miracle
of the Quran and the fact that it
is from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Because whether
the Muslims, whether the non muslims are happy
or not happy with the message, Allah will
reveal whatever he wants to reveal.
Allah is just
where wherever
the mistake comes from, wherever this injustice comes
from, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will show his
justice.
Whether it's from the Muslim or the non
Muslim, the rich or the poor, the male
or the female.
If it's the messenger of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala himself making the error and the mistake,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will rectify him and
correct him. It doesn't make any difference to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And this shows the
beauty of the Quran. And this is in
more than one place where Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala will criticize
the shortcomings of the messenger of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. Mistakes that he made, and he'll
reprimand him.
And this shows the fact that
an individual who's seeking to find
sympathy
or seeking to find allies,
seeking to find loyalty and supporters who will
help him and support him to the death,
he wouldn't mention these types of things.
He would mention good things.
He'll praise the quraysh in his book
to get some kind of sympathy, to get
some kind of support, but that's not the
case when it comes to the Quran. Even
though that wasn't the case,
he he was still successful
and he was still victorious.
So this shows us that indeed the Quran,
the book of Allah was for sure from
the messenger of alaihis salat wa sallam. So
the messenger of allahu alaihis salam was told
by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
He frowned and he turned away.
You know he was disappointed
because he hoped that they would accept Islam.
As a result of them accepting Islam, maybe
100 would accept Islam
because of them.
And he frowned and he turned away because
a blind man came to him
and basically interrupted him as he was calling
others to Islam.
But what would make you think of Muhammad
that maybe
he might be purified.
Meaning,
how do you know that
maybe
this one specific individual
would have been better than the group of
people you were talking to?
What made you choose between 1 and the
other?
What was your motive? What was the intention?
Why specifically
did you turn away from him and call
the others to Islam?
And this shows brothers and sisters that no
matter what a background an individual may have,
he may be somebody who becomes
a Muslim
and even maybe somebody who,
you know, further the cause of the Muslims.
He may be somebody who's a scholar of
Islam.
Somebody who helps Muslims worldwide.
Ibn Ummaktoum became the governor of Madinah
whenever the prophet shalallahu alaihi wa sallam wouldn't
be there, whenever he would travel.
Meaning we don't know
whether a person has the potential to accept
to accept Islam and become a Muslim or
not. This is in the hands of Islam.
This is the hands of Allah. You know,
even in the Quran, what does Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala in the hudbit of Hajj, every
single Friday, what do we say? What does
the khateep say?
Whomsoever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Guys, nobody can
misguide.
And I read I heard a story once
about this man
who was given dawah, you know, in in
in in in city center. He was calling
people to Islam, and he was giving flyers
out, giving leaflets out. So he's trying to
find people and, you know, he's trying to
ascertain whether a person may accept Islam or
not by, you know, the way they are,
you know, with their background, who they are,
so and so forth. And he he said,
I saw a man walk past,
and this man,
he had
a mohawk.
He had earrings and piercings all over his
face,
and he had
wide contact lenses
on his eyes.
He was like one of those gothic,
you know, punk
sort of freak people.
And he said, I saw this person, I
thought is I'm not gonna waste a leaflet
on this guy.
Look at the guy, you know, it's just
pointless.
And so he said, I turned around,
was giving leaflets out and I and I
felt a tap on the shoulder.
And I turned around and it was this
person. And this man, he said, I'm interested
in Islam. I wanna know about Islam.
And he accepted Islam.
The point being,
because a person doesn't know where guidance is
going to come from and who Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala will guide. When the messenger of
Allah sallallahu wa ta'ala,
made du'a, said, oh, Allah, guide 1 of
the 2
Umr's.
Both of them were enemies of Islam.
Both of them at the time were enemies
of Islam. There were different types of enemies
because Omar radhiallahu an was somebody who was
a very harsh critic of Islam and the
Muslims,
but primarily because they were the prophet was
disuniting the Quraish, causing divisions amongst Quraish. And
he never stooped to the level of Abu
Jahl, where Abu Jahl was somebody
who physically,
you know, harmed
and was responsible for boycotting his own people,
the Quraysh, those who are from the Muslims.
Umri bin Khattab was somebody who was opposed
to Islam and the Muslims, but not to
that level where he stooped that law.
And he caused that much harm, physical
harm to,
the the Muslims as much as somebody like
Abu Jahl. There were different kind of opponents.
So he said, oh, Allah guide the
guide the best of the 2 Umar's, whichever
one is the best. And so Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala guide.
The point being brothers and sisters, we don't
know,
who is going to be somebody who's going
to help Islam and the Muslims,
and who is going to be a Muslim
and who isn't going to be a Muslim.
But the only thing we do is represent
Islam in the correct way to whoever
is interested and even if they're not interested,
even if somebody doesn't show any interest, maybe
he shows opposition,
we still show the best character and the
best of manners and the best of akhlaq.
Just like the messenger of Allah will do
during the time when he was in Makkah.
Just like for example,
as a result of his akhlaq and his
character, people would accept Islam.
Even though they may have been stoned to
enemies.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
how do you know that maybe he would
have been purified?
He would have improved himself.
He would have been better if you had
just paid attention to him and you had
not
frowned and turned away.
Or
maybe he would be reminded.
He would be reminded of the truth,
And as a result of this, that reminder
would benefit him.
As opposed to you talking to those people
constantly non stop and it's not benefiting them,
and on top of this you may be
neglecting somebody who if you did speak to,
that remembrance, that reminder that you give him
would benefit him, would take him a long
way.
And this also shows brothers and sisters
that reminders, simple reminders to muslims can go
a long way.
You know, a person shouldn't think that this
small reminder,
you know, a small hadith that I know,
an ayah that I learned and memorized, if
I say to somebody maybe it's not gonna
benefit him. It's just a small hadith. It's
a small ayah. Every single
hadith and ayah
can have
a huge impact
on an individual.
Sometimes, subhanAllah, you read a ayah or a
surah or or a hadith, maybe you've heard
it before, but you you hear a new
benefit that you never heard before, and you
benefit from it.
Likewise brothers and sisters,
we may be in a situation, a circumstance
where with where we're with our
family members or we're with, you know, our
friends or we're with people at work who
may be Muslim
or even non Muslim.
And
a specific reminder may benefit them at that
moment in time.
And it may benefit those people and it's
gonna benefit you as well.
But yet we refrain, we don't we don't
wanna mention those things for whatever reason and
we lose out on the ajer and the
reward from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And of course any type of good and
any type of,
benefit that we pass on to somebody else
or to other people, then we'll always get
the reward coming back to us.
You know the famous hadith, whoever directs somebody
to good,
then he'll get the reward as if he
did it himself,
if that person acts upon it. So this
shows us the importance of benefiting others when
it comes to
reminders because that reminder may be a turning
point in his life.
A single word, a single statement,
may be a turning point in his life.
And there's a story of 1 of the
one of the duas who was a Christian,
and,
he had a friend who was an Egyptian,
and he was older than him. He was
like from a wealthy family,
and this this this man that he knew
was like
somebody who used to help his family.
Like,
you could call him like a servant or
something.
And they were talking about Islam and Christianity
and this he was a Christian.
So he would talk about Christianity and his
beliefs, and this Egyptian man, the Muslim, he
said to him after they talked about
and God and the, you know, the the
crucifixion and so on and so forth, Christian
beliefs. He said, so you're telling me
that your belief is that Jesus base God
basically died on the cross.
Is that what you believe?
And the day he said, as soon as
he said this, he wasn't being critical. He
was just trying to understand
this concept and this belief that Christians have.
He said as soon as he said this,
it hit home straight away
that hang on a minute, this doesn't make
any sense.
Even though there was this was something which
he he believed in from a young age.
And he said, as soon as I heard
it from somebody else saying it in that
specific way, I realized it's something which doesn't
make any sense. As a result as a
result of this, he studied Islam and eventually
he became a Muslim. But the point being,
sometimes a small piece of advice
can actually go a long way. It can
change a person's life. It can change the
course of, you know, a person's life and
where he's going to go, how he's going
to end up, and what his future may
even be. Just because of one small statement
which he said. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
he says maybe that reminder will benefit him.
As for the one who thinks that he's
self sufficient,
he doesn't need anything.
From the word
which means somebody who's wealthy. So he thinks
he's self sufficient. Doesn't need anything. Doesn't need
no nothing from anybody else.
Then to him you give your attention.
You're giving your attention to somebody
who feels like he doesn't need anybody's help.
He feels like he's self sufficient.
Remember, adlib ibn Ummaktoum
came to the prophet as salam asking
for help,
asking for knowledge, asking for benefit.
Those people weren't asking. They were just listening.
And the prophet felt like maybe they were
close to accepting Islam.
So there's a difference here. When somebody comes
to you asking you for help, asking you
for benefit,
then a person should help him as much
as he can. And subhanahu wa ta'ala, this
is one of those rare occasions
in the time in the life of the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Whenever somebody would
come to the messenger of allahu alaihi wa
sallam for help, he would always help them.
Anytime somebody asked him a question,
he would turn to them, give them all
his attention, and he would talk to them
with his whole body, not just with his
head, but he would talk to them with
his whole body, and he would show complete,
you know, focus and attention to that individual
as if he was the only person that
mattered at that time.
And he would answer them, talk to them
until they were happy and they were satisfied
with the with with the answer and, you
know, with the conversation,
and then the prophet would leave. He would
never be the one to cut off the
conversation.
This is from the etiquette of the messenger
of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. So he
would always give people that time. He would
always respond to people how people. When somebody
the famous story of the one who came
to the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam asking for wealth. He said give me
your messenger of Allah from what's from what
Allah has given you. And so he would
give him wealth
until he had enough.
He would carry on and continue giving him.
The point being that the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
was somebody who would always help those who
needed that help. Anybody who came to him
asking for help, he was always there to
help them.
And
it's not upon you, it's not your responsibility
if they don't purify themselves.
Those people you spend so much time with,
if they don't accept islam, that's not your
responsibility.
You do what you can, you try your
best, you call them to islam, but if
there's others who maybe there's more benefit in
helping them, because don't forget the actual end,
result
and the end goal is pleasure from Allah,
reward from Allah, not specifically reward from the
people.
So if somebody asks for asks for help
and there's an opportunity there
that you can help somebody,
then
that person should be helped because you want
the reward from Allah and from the people.
Regardless of who that person may be, if
people know him or they don't know him.
Now sometimes we we may help somebody
because other people know him.
And if people find out that I never
helped him, maybe they'll say something.
And if somebody's unknown come comes to us
asking for help, maybe we will help them.
Because nobody will know anyway. It's fine. It's
no big deal.
You know? But again it's about our intention.
Why do we help people?
Why do we, you know, help those who
are in need?
And we talked about the Rohingya Muslims. We
talked about those who are suffering.
You
know, sometimes,
it's something which a person has to seriously
think about
and, you know, ponder and reflect
about his intention.
Why is that we help maybe, you know,
certain groups of Muslims, but then we may
end up neglecting others?
What's the reason behind this?
Is it because certain Muslims are better than
others?
They're all suffering.
Muslims from certain parts of the world may
be suffering just as much or maybe even
worse than other Muslims that maybe we continuously
give charity to.
And so it's a scary thing when sometimes
subconsciously
maybe we're helping others more than others.
And we have to think about the reasons
why.
Why are we doing this? It's like as
if we've been programmed because of the things
we hear, the things we see, the media
and so on and so forth. You know,
as certain people get more exposure,
maybe they're gonna be helped more.
SubhanAllah is something we really have to ponder
and reflect and think about, and may Allah
help all of those who are suffering around
the world from the Muslims.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala continues
and he says, it's not your responsibility,
and it's not you're not to blame
if certain people aren't purified.
As for the one who came to you,
rushing.
Yes, from the word.
You know when we perform Umrah or Hajj.
And after the tawaf, we perform.
And the the circuits we do between and
there's a portion of those circuits where we
run or we do as a a quick
a quick walk or a jog.
It's called because you're you're walking quickly.
So this man,
he
came rushing.
You know, he's he was thirsty for knowledge.
He was striving. He wanted to learn.
He wanted to understand. He wanted to be
taught from whatever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala had
given the messenger of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So
Allah is saying,
as for the one who came to you
striving, rushing,
while he's fearing Allah.
He's in the state where he's asking these
questions.
Because he has this fear of Allah, He
wants to learn.
Then you distracted from him.
SubhanAllah,
you know, this is the 10th ayah.
Still Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is reprimanding and
telling the messenger of
for what he
did.
You know, if this wasn't from Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, maybe a person could say make
an argument, okay, maybe an ayah or 2.
It wouldn't be so harsh.
If it wasn't from Allah, if it was
authored and doctored by the prophet
himself, and he he wrote this book himself,
then maybe, you know, he would write an
an ayah or 2,
and maybe he wouldn't be so harsh.
You know? But even logically, that even doesn't
make sense. He would more you know, he
would
really, he would talk about how everyone
should be helped and people should be looked
after.
For somebody to to criticize himself is something
which goes against,
you know, the the nature of a human
being. You know, people don't like to be
criticized,
and this is why it's such a good
quality to have when somebody accepts criticism.
That's why scholars would say, don't become angry
or upset or annoyed when someone criticizes you,
even though that's the first thing a person
would think.
You know, he'd maybe become a bit annoyed
or be upset. Somebody's, you know, saying bad
things about you. Mentioning specifically your shortcomings. What's
his intention? Why is he doing it? But
a person should show the opposite. So Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala he says, from him you
were distracted.
You were distracted from him.
No indeed these verses are reminder.
These are reminder from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Whoever wills
will remember it.
If Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants this ayat,
to remind people of Allah,
then there'll be reminders for those people.
And for those Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't
want them to be a reminder for those
for another group of individuals,
then it won't benefit them, it won't remind
them of anything.
So for some people the Quran will have
an effect.
Ayaat will have an effect. For others, the
Quran in the book of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala won't have an effect.
It's recorded
in honored sheets, honored scriptures.
Allah is talking about the Quran now. The
status of the Quran.
Raised,
exalted in status.
Scripture which is purified,
because this is a speech of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. And the greatest speech is a
speech of Allah.
The most honored speech is the speech of
Allah. It's the speech of our creator.
So
when Allah talks about the the greatness of
his speech,
a person has to understand whenever we recite
the Quran,
then we recite in the speech of Allah,
the greatest speech, and it has the greatest
power.
It has the power to protect.
It has the power to cure somebody from
illness.
It has the power
to calm a person's nerves.
It has the power to, you know, cure
a person from the worst types of illnesses
and diseases, physical and mental.
Because it's a speech of Allah, it's gonna
have this effect.
It's it's the power of the speech of
Allah. That's why when somebody is possessed, somebody
has other types of issues,
we recite the Quran. It shows the power
of the Quran. The messenger of allahu alaihi
wa sallam, he said when a person goes
out of his house,
shaitan follows him.
When he comes home,
if he enters his house without saying, the
the
the shaitan says, you Allah, I'm gonna come
into your house. Your house is my house.
You know, he'll make himself comfortable.
He'll enter your house. He's a he's a
he's a guest who wasn't invited.
He'll eat with you. He'll stay with you.
Imagine having somebody who you didn't invite coming
into your house. He'll eat with you. He'll
stay with you. He'll live in your house,
and you're not even aware of it. When
somebody says
before he enters the house, just saying
will stop the shaitan from entering into your
house.
And that shows us just the power of
saying
in the name of Allah.
Let alone, you know, reciting
ayaat
from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala himself. So these
are words which are exalted. These are words
which are purified.
Carried by
the messengers, by the angels.
And the word safara
refers to ambassadors
because they're representing the speech of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. They're representing
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala himself
because they're one of the greatest creations of
Allah azza wa jal.
Noble and dutiful, they never disobey Allah. Allah
says They never disobey Allah and they do
whatever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala orders them to
do.
So the initial beginning of this surah, brothers
and sisters,
shows us
the fact that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
reprimands
and gives justice no matter who that individual
is who commits a commits a mistake or
makes a sin commits a sin.
And how every single person is prone to
making errors and mistakes, but the best of
those who make mistakes are those who seek
Allah's forgiveness.
So inshallah to,
for today, we'll conclude
and we'll continue with Surah Abasa next week,
inshallah.
If there's any questions, then I'll do my
best to answer them.
Guidance.
Yeah. So if you're making du'a to that
Allah
guides a family member or a friend who's
a who's who's not a Muslim,
then that's permissible.
So scholars have differed with regards to,
rizma, the issue of him being free of
sin.
So they say he never some scholars say
he never ever committed a sin
intentionally.
So he would make errors, he would make
mistakes, and he'll be correct as a result
of that. This is the opinion of Ibn
Taymiyyah.
So he was forgiven for his sins, because
he would repent straight after.