Aqeel Mahmood – Tafseer of Surah alBalad Part 3
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss various meaningings for the headline "has power over" in Surah Beleth, including "has wealth" and "has power." They also discuss the use of "hammer" in Islam, referring to individuals who use wealth or wealth for no benefit. The speakers emphasize the importance of achieving excellence and perfection in one's worship, including the use of "naught" in Islam, and the importance of the eyes and mouth in communication. The speakers also discuss the benefits of the church's guidance and the importance of guidance in communication.
AI: Summary ©
So Inshallah we're going to be continuing with,
the tafsir of Surah Beleth.
And the last session that we had with
regards to the tafsir of this Surah,
we covered
a number of ayaat
and we explained,
those ayaat. The last of those ayaats which
we covered was,
the 5th aya of Surah Barat where Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala he says,
Does he think that no one has power
over him? So we mentioned the previous ayaat
in the beginning of this Surah Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala he's making oaths. So he's swearing
by specific things. He's swearing by Al Balat
which is Mecca itself.
And the fact that you or Muhammad salallahu
alaihi wasallam your blood is now halal for
them, meaning they're willing to kill you even
though you're in the sacred area, even though
you're in the Haram, even though you're in
Makkah.
And the father and what he fathers. So
Allah Azzawajal is swearing and he's making oaths
by all these different things. And then Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala after this,
he mentions the duwal qasim, the answer to
these oaths. And he says,
that we created man,
in in kabad. And we mentioned kabad means,
had we mentioned it has a number of
meanings. So we said first of all, it
means,
something which is upright, something which is
straight, something which has integrity, something which is
righteous, something which has strength.
And also we said that kabbat is something
which, can mean difficulty in the Arabic language.
Meaning the
the human the human being in and of
itself
faces many difficulties in his life.
Meaning he goes through hardships in his life.
And this is the sunnah of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala that every single person will go
through trials and tribulations and difficulties in his
life. And this is the way life is.
And then Allah
says,
Does he not think or does he think
that no one has
power over him? And we said that this,
Ayah,
it's talking about how the individual
may feel like he has power and no
one has power over him, and he basically,
you know, decides his own fate. And he's
in control of his own affairs. And we
mentioned that there are certain things which you're
in control of, and there are certain things
which are outside of your control. And we
also said that this ayah, some of them
of Asirom, they said it refers to one
specific individual.
Who did we say? Who does that who
does it refer to specifically?
Someone
by the name of Abu Asht.
Last, last lesson we did, we said that
this ayah is referring to someone by the
name of Abu Asht. And this individual,
he was from Mecca,
and he was one of the stone chest
enemies of Islam, and he was someone who
was given immense
strength. He was given lots of strength. He
was very strong, and also he was very
wealthy. And the stories which I mentioned in
the books of tafsir where they say,
that he would challenge people to basically take,
strips of leather from under his feet while
he's standing on them, basically to show his
strength. He was someone who was big and
strong. And so they wouldn't they weren't able
to take the leather from, under his feet,
and he would tell them if you take
it from under my feet, I'll give you
lots of wealth.
So basically, you know, this individual
was someone who was he was blessed by
Allah with wealth and Allah gave him,
strength on top of this, but he was
someone who never used it in the correct
way. And so we stopped at this ayah
where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He says,
And that was the 5th ayah. And so
today we're going to continue with the 6th
ayah of Surabhad, where Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala
he says,
So Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala now
he says in this 6th ayah,
Yaqul he says,
I have destroyed an
a huge, an immense amount of money, an
immense amount of wealth. So who is this
person that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is referring
to? Depending on the opinion,
or the view that we take with regards
to the previous ayah, it could either be
referring to
Abu Asht, this specific individual who was an
enemy of Islam, or it can be referring
to generally
the
the individual who is neglectful of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala and of Islam and worshiping Allah
Azzawajal.
And the one who,
has wealth but he doesn't use it for
the sake of Allah and he's neglectful and
he's wasteful with regards to his wealth and
he's arrogant with regards to his wealth. Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala he says,
That he says, I have used up
my money or I have destroyed an immense
amount of money. And the word
means I have destroyed and it comes from
the same root as Halaka. Halaka means to
destroy something.
You know, for example,
there's a famous incident of Aiyyah Radiallahu an
when he asked he asked a judge during
his time
about
certain sciences of the Quran because he was
a judge and he was judging between people.
So he wanted to know whether this judge
was, you know, qualified to judge between individuals.
And so he asked him if he knew
about the abrogated verses of the Quran,
Those verses which are abrogated and what they
were abrogated with. And the man said he
didn't know about An Nasikh and Mansukh. And
so Ali radhulahu an he said,
You are destroyed and you are going to
destroy others. Meaning because of the fact that
you don't have knowledge of this specific science
of the Quran, how can you judge over
people? You're destroying your own self by committing
sins because you're not taking this position seriously.
And also when you judge between people, you
may judge incorrectly
thereby destroying other people's lives as well. So
the point is that he used the word
halakta.
The same a similar word which is mentioned
in this ayah, You'olu a halakta malalubada.
He says I destroyed
my wealth, an an immense amount of wealth,
an abundant amount. Wealth in abundance.
And so the scholars, they say the reason
why the word destroyed here is being used
is because this individual,
he's not taking
this wealth to
be a significant amount. You know, when someone
people say he's burning money,
he's wasting money. This guy is burning money.
It's not something which he considers to be
a lot of money. You know, it's like
he might he might buy some he may
buy something very expensive, but to him he
doesn't think it's expensive.
He thinks it's normal.
Because he has so much wealth, he loves
to flaunt his wealth. So a person, for
example, he'll buy cars which are very, very
expensive, and maybe they'll have certain things in
that car which he doesn't specifically need. Or
he buys things which there's no use in
having them in the 1st place. But he's
flaunting his wealth, he's flaunting his money, flaunting
how much, you know, how wealthy he is.
And so this is why Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala uses the word destroys
because he's basically
using his wealth for for no reason at
all, for no benefit. He's burning base as
if it's as if he's burning money as
they say. You know, he's using his money
for for for things which are of no
significance.
He says I have I'm destroying
an immense amount of wealth.
Is money.
The scholars they say it means a huge
amount, an abundant amount. And also they say
it means one on top of the other.
Means when something is on top of something
else. So signifying a huge amount of something.
So this individual, this man who's been blessed
with this much wealth,
he's he's using this wealth for
means and for purposes
which are of no benefit to him, and
he's using it to show off and to
show people how much wealth he has.
I'm destroying and burning up my money.
You know, the all this, wealth that I
have, all this money that I've been blessed
with. Also the scholars they say
that,
this money that he has, why does Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala say a halaktu?
Why does he say that he's destroying his
wealth? A halaktu manlubada. I am destroying an
immense amount of wealth.
Because the scholars they say spending money
against Islam, spending money against
the messenger of Allah salallahu alaihi wa sallam
and against the Muslims
is money which is not going to be
of any benefit to him. Meaning he's destroying
himself. It's as if he's basically
destroying himself. He's destroying his akhirah. He's destroying
his hereafter.
Because when a person campaigns and has
battles with Allah azza wa jal, then he's
going to fail. He's not going to be
successful.
So when a person is trying to fight
against Islam, when he tries to attack Islam
and the Muslims, this individual, he may as
well consider that he's basically destroying his wealth
because he's not going to benefit from this
campaign which he's partaking in. And we see
this in the time of the companions
when you had certain individuals who had wealth
and they would use their wealth against the
muslims. For example, Abu Jahal, the firaoun of
the ummah, and for example Abu Lahab. And
even Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala talks about Abu
Lahab.
Allah says that his wealth isn't going to
benefit him. Know what he profited from that
wealth, meaning what he made from that wealth.
So again Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala here is
telling us the fact that an individual who
campaigns and uses his wealth against Allah and
his messenger salallahu alaihi wasallam, he's not going
to benefit from that wealth. Instead, it's going
to be wealth which is going to destroy,
him in this life. And if not in
this life, in the hereafter.
Because sometimes you may have individuals
who we see them in this world and
the people who are enemies of Islam, but
they're living comfortable lives. They're living lives of
prosperity.
They're living happily.
And so sometimes we question, we ask why
aren't these people being punished if they're enemies
of Islam?
And we see people for example, maybe leaders
or other people, you know, famous people, rich
people, wealthy people, people who are campaigning and
they they they're against Islam and they're attacking
Muslims and so on and so forth, yet
they're living lives which are lives of comfort.
They're not being, you know, punished by Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so a person may
ask why isn't this happening? Why isn't Allah
punishing them? And
when we see individuals like this, we have
to understand that when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
doesn't punish these individuals in this life, it's
only so that in the hereafter
their punishment will be even worse. Because what's
worse? Punishment in this life or in the
hereafter?
Punishment in the hereafter. When a person is
punished in the hereafter, just the whole fire
is 70 times hotter than the fire of
this world.
So when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala saves or
or prevents and doesn't punish an individual in
this dunya,
he's he's going to punish them in the
hereafter and he's only saving
their punishment for the hereafter because the punishment
of the hereafter is far worse than the
punishment of this world. This is why for
example a person who commits a sin in
Islamic country,
and his how to account and he the
the the punishment is carried out on that
individual,
the reason why he's willing to carry out
that punishment or because we know the famous
story of that woman who committed zina.
She committed, she had relations with a man,
and so she came to the messenger of
Allah, and
she told him about the sin she had
committed. And then later she came again once
she had given birth to a child out
of that illicit relationship. And so she was
punished as a result of that. The punishment
was carried out on her. And so the
messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he
praised her.
He praised her because when a person accepts
the punishment of this world, then the punishment
in the hereafter is lighter.
The punishment of the hereafter is lighter because
you you are willing to be punished in
this dunya because of the sins you committed.
So the point is that when an individual
who isn't a Muslim is an enemy to
Islam, then he will be held to account
and he'll be punished in the akhira. If
he's not punished in this world, he's going
to be punished in the akhira. He's going
to be punished in the hereafter and the
punishment of the hereafter is something which is
greater than the punishment of this world.
Also with regards to this ayah,
the opposite
can be said that when a person spends
not against Islam, when a person spends for
the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then
in this case he's not destroying his wealth.
When a person spends for the sake of
Allah, he gives for the sake of Allah
and for the sake of the Muslims, he's
in fact making a profit.
In this life and also in the hereafter.
The messenger of Allah SWAW he said
that wealth doesn't decrease
due to giving in charity. When a person
gives in charity, your wealth increases, it doesn't
decrease. And also in the hereafter Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala will increase and multiply your good
deeds
because of what you gave in this dunya.
So if a person gives a small amount,
Allah will multiply it as many times as
he wants up to 700 times in the
hereafter.
So a person is rewarded for good deeds
that he does for the wealth which he
spends for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala in this world,
multiple times in the hereafter. So Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala here in this ayah, he's saying
that the individual will say or Abu Asht,
this specific individual he'll say I have wasted.
I'm destroying. I'm burning up my money and
it's nothing to me. This immense amount of
money, this money which I have in abundance
is minor. It's nothing. It's more it's a
small amount of money. It's no big deal.
Me spending out me spending it on this
or this. So,
after this Allah
in the 7th ayah
he says
Allah says does he think that no one
sees him?
Does he think that no one
sees him?
And here Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying
And here of course Allah Azzawajal is referring
to himself.
Meaning Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sees everything
that every single one of us does.
Whether it's in the privacy of our own
homes, whether other people are watching or whether
we're on on our own somewhere. You know
things that we do, things that we say.
You know the things that we even think
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is aware and he
knows everything that we do and think and
say.
And so an individual when he spends his
wealth, Allah knows
what he's spending his wealth for and what
his intentions were.
So here Allah is saying does he think
that no one sees him? Meaning is he
so, you know,
is he so stupid that he thinks no
one is watching his actions. He's not going
to be held to account for the things
that he does with the wealth which he
has been given in this dunya.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is
mentioning this. He's talking about how Allah sees
everything
after he's talk after he was making oaths
at the beginning of the surah with regards
to specific
places and specific issues and specific things.
So in the beginning of the surah Allah
was making an oath with regards to what
was taking place in Makkah.
So it's as if Allah azza wa'al is
saying do people not realize that I know
what's taking place.
Allah says in the beginning of this the
2nd eye of the Surah, and you are
halal for them in this in this land.
Meaning your blood has been made halal. They're
willing to kill you even though you're in
the Haram area, you're in a sacred area.
And normally, no one is harmed in that
area even the worst of enemies to the
Arabs, to the Quraysh. They wouldn't harm them
if they came in that sanctuary, in that
Haram that that Haram area. Things certain things
are forbidden. But for you, they're willing to
make an exception and to kill you. So
it's as if Allah Azzawajal is saying don't
they don't they realize that I can see
them. I know what they're doing. I know
their actions.
It refers to either Adam alaihis salam and
his offspring or Ibrahim alaihis salam and his
other opinions as well. But the point is
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows every single
individual's affairs
and what they're doing, how they're doing it,
what they're saying, you know, and what they're
doing specifically with their wealth. And also this
is part of our,
Islam.
In fact, the highest level of Islam
is Ihsan.
And in the famous hadith of Jibril alaihi
sallam,
when he asked the messenger of Allah sallallahu
alaihi wasallam about Ihsan,
the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he
said
to worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as if
you see him. This is the highest level
of Islam. The highest level of worship is
to worship Allah in such a state that
it's as if you're seeing Allah.
Meaning you have so much, you know, focus
and concentration with regards to your acts of
worship
that it's as if Allah is right in
front of you. You have this focus in
your prayer.
And if you don't see him that know
then know that reverely Allah Azawajal sees you.
And so this ihsan, the highest level of
Islam because you have Islam and then you
have iman and then you have the highest
level which is Ihsan. And Ihsan is divided
into 2. So you have, you know, a
person who worships Allah as if he sees
him. And if he doesn't see him, if
he can't reach that stage, if he can't
reach that stage, then he should worship Allah
knowing that Allah sees him. If you don't
see Allah then
know at least that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
can see you. So Ihsan, part of Ihsan
is worshiping Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knowing and
realizing that Allah sees you when you're performing
those acts of worship.
And simply thinking about this
helps an individual with regards to his acts
of worship. You know, when someone prays for
example, when someone prays and you know that
Allah is watching you. Because sometimes a person
prays and there may be other people around
and he changes his prayer, prolongs his prayer
because other people are watching. Yet when he's
changes his prayer, prolongs his prayer because other
people are watching. Yet when he's on his
own, he won't make that same effort. He
won't prolong his prayer even though Allah is
always watching regardless of how many people are
watching him
from his creation.
Even if you're on your own, Allah Allah
is still watching. And so a person when
he reaches this level,
he prays to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knowing
that Allah azza wa jal is watching him.
And when he's in this state, the quality
of his prayer improves.
Naturally the quality of his prayer improves because
you're in a state where you know Allah
azza wa jal is watching. For example, when
a person
is able to commit a sin, you're able
to do something
or see something or say something which is
haram,
but you deliberately refrain.
You stay away and you stop yourself from
saying or doing or looking at something which
is haram.
Why do you do this? Because you know
Allah a zawajal
will be you'll be held to account for
it. Allah is watching, Allah is listening. And
so you refrain from doing those things. Yet
when it comes to acts of worship, sometimes
a person may be neglectful. He doesn't realize
that when you're worshiping Allah, the same issue
applies. It's the same thing. In fact, even
more so
because
you're worshiping Allah Azza wa Jal.
So here,
Ihsan plays an important part with regards to
a person's
worship because it it improves an individual's
worship itself. And Ihsan in of itself means
excellence. When we talk about ihsan,
linguistically it means to achieve excellence, to achieve
perfection.
So ihsan is like the highest level of
worship. The messenger of Allah alaihi salatu wa
sallam, he mentioned in a hadith
that the feet of the son of Adam
won't move from his lord on the day
of judgment until he's asked about specific matters.
And one of the things he mentioned was
about his wealth and how he earned it.
Where did he earn his wealth from? How
did he make his money? Where did he
get his money from? And how did he
spend that money as well? Where he spent
that money? So a person will be asked
about those things. He'll be asked about where
he spent that money, where he earned that
money from. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in
Suratath
That verily for sure you will be asked
about the blessings which you were given. And
from those blessings is the wealth that you
were given, the the the money that you
made, the money that you earned, and how
you spent that money. And also the the
hadith where the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, he talked about those people who
will be the first to enter into hellfire.
The first people to enter into hellfire. And
one of those the first three people, one
of the three individuals
will be the one who used to give
in charity.
The first to enter hellfire will be the
one who used to give in charity. How
is that how is that the case? Because
when he gave in charity,
on the day of judgement he'll be in
front of Allah. Allah will ask him, what
did you do? And he'll say, an faktufikya
You Allah. He'll he'll say, I gave for
your sake, oh Allah.
I gave charity.
I gave my wealth for your sake. And
so Allah will say you you are lying.
Rather you gave wealth so people will say
this person is is generous, he's kind.
You know, he's someone who's he's wealthy and
he's giving his wealth for the sake of
People did say this. And so this individual,
his intention wasn't sincere. And so he was
using his wealth in the incorrect way. And
so he'll be taken,
face first to be dragged on the floor
face first and thrown face first into the
hellfire.
So this is, you know, the the situation
and the case of an individual
who
doesn't use his wealth for the sake of
Allah
Another,
benefit of this ayah where Allah
says,
is the fact that Allah says that doesn't
he know that does he think that no
one is watching him?
It's proof that Allah
is
a
creator
and he one of his qualities and one
of his
names and attributes is the fact that he
sees.
Does he think that nobody can see him?
Meaning Allah here
is saying that Allah sees
everything
that his slave does. In fact there's nothing
which escapes his knowledge. There's nothing which escapes
his sight.
But obviously when it comes to the sight
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala we don't alikin
the sight of Allah with the sight of
his creation.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he affirms the
fact that he sees.
Allah
says
that there is nothing like him but and
he is the one who hears everything and
the one who sees everything. So we know
that Allah is
a creator that can see. Allah says
does he not know that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala sees? So we know that Allah sees
but we don't go to the extent where
we start to go into detail about how
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sees.
You know, what's the the
the the method in which he actually is
able to see things
because Allah hasn't mentioned those things.
And so when we try to come up
with,
ideas
or answer questions which Allah himself hasn't answered
about himself, we're going to fail because Allah
hasn't elaborated on those things. And of course,
our intellect itself is something which is limited.
You know, when we try to explain how
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is or how he
does things, we don't we can't explain things
about our own selves, about the human being,
about the earth, about the creation of Allah.
Let alone to question and try to explain
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala himself. And this is
why there's the famous story of Imam Malik.
When a man came to Imam Malik when
he was delivering a class and he asked
him about Istiwa, how does Allah rise above
his throne? And so Imam Malik he replied
and he said Istiwa he
said Istiwa the word itself is known in
the Arabic language. Everyone knows what the word
rise means in the Arabic language.
And
how it's done is something which is unknown.
We have no information about how specifically it
happens.
And belief in this
attribute of Allah is something which is obligatory
because Allah mentions it in the Quran.
And asking about this is an innovation
because you're trying to cause issues. You're trying
to, you know, answer questions which there's no
Allah hasn't given detail about them. And so
you try to cause confusion and fitna and
and trials,
and problems amongst amongst the Muslims by asking
these types of questions. And this is a
general principle with regards to the names and
attributes of Allah. You know, we affirm the
attributes of Allah because Allah mentions them in
the Quran himself and in the sunnah.
And we don't go to the extent where
we go into detail which Allah himself hasn't
gone into. So this is another benefit with
regards to this ayah. The fact that Allah
is,
a God who can see. We believe Allah,
azzawajal, is all seeing and his all hearing,
but we don't go into detail about how
specifically
he sees and the mechanism involved with regards
to the way that he sees. Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala then in the next ayah, in
the 8th ayah
he says
did we not give him 2 eyes?
And here Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
he doesn't say did we not give you
2 eyes? And even in the previous ayahs,
he doesn't say did we not give you
for example,
do you not think that no one sees
you? He says, does he think that no
one sees
him? So he's not talking directly to these
individuals.
He's not talking directly
to these individuals, rather he's talking as if
it's somebody else. It's not, like, directly in
front of him, but he's talking as if
he's not there. Or, you know, he's talking
to somebody else about this individual.
Did we not give him 2 eyes? Now
why doesn't he talk directly to those people?
Why is he talking in the second person
in this ayat? The scholars they say because
of his displeasure towards
these people who are asking these types of
questions and committing these types of acts. Where
they're being neglectful of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
They're spending,
you know, their wealth
against Allah Azzawajal and the messenger of Allah
Subhanahu wa Salam. And so he's not talking
directly to them because of his displeasure and
his unhappiness towards them.
And also why does Allah mention the eyes
first?
In this ayah Allah says What's
the next ayah?
And the tongue and the 2 lips. So
Allah mentions the eyes first and then he
mentions the tongue and the 2 lips. Why
does he mention the eyes first? Why does
he
mention the eyes first as opposed to the
the the tongue and then and the and
the two lips first? He mentions those second.
Because in the previous ayah, Allah was talking
about how he knows what people do and
he can see what people are doing.
Does he think that no one sees him?
Meaning he's saying Allah can see.
Allah knows what people are getting up to.
Allah can see everything.
And so it's as if Allah is saying
in this ayah
just as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala can see
everything
likewise Allah has given you the ability to
see.
So the fact that you have the ability
to see, the fact that Allah has given
you the the blessing of eyesight
shows that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala himself
is someone who nothing escapes his sight. There's
nothing which happens which is,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is blind to. So
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this ayah he's
mentioning and in the next couple of ayahs
he mentions the blessings
of
the slave of Allah. He's mentioning the blessings
of the son of Adam and from the
blessings is the eyesight itself.
Did we not give him 2 eyes?
And you know there's so many blessings of
the eyes themselves.
The fact that you know an individual
he can see things which are close and
he can see see things which are far.
And the fact that when there's less light,
when it's dark for example,
a person
his the eyesight, the the light,
that enters into the eye adjusts so that
he can see more in the dark. You
know, for example, when it's dark in in
the room for example and people can't see,
slowly he starts to take things in and
he can see things and make things out
a bit more because the eyes adjust. And
likewise in the morning for example when he
opens his eyes or when they open the
curtains or the blinds,
in the beginning a person can't see properly
but then the eyes adjust.
So it shows us the blessing of the
eyes themselves, even the things surrounding the eyes.
For example, the eyebrows.
You know, a person maybe thinks there's no
benefit of the eyebrows, but they stop water
coming into the eyes. The eyelashes themselves, what's
the benefit of the eyelashes?
The fact that dust and dirt won't enter
into the eyes. And this is why they
say camels in the desert, they have 2
sets of eyelashes
because they're in the desert and they need
extra,
you know, defense and extra protection with regards
to their eyes. So subhanAllah, the eyes themselves
are a blessing from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
A blessing from Allah which many of us
we tend to neglect and we tend to
ignore. And the sight itself is something which
can cause us to enter into hellfire or
to to, or a reason for us to
enter into paradise.
And this is why it said,
Allah aynu tuzni,
wazina hanazr.
That the eyes can commit zina. The eyes
can commit,
illicit relations.
And
the the zina of the eyes is the
sight when they see. When they see certain
things, that's how they end up committing zina.
And the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, he said that the sight is a
poisonous arrow from the arrows of Iblis.
The sight is a is a poisonous arrow
from the arrows of Iblis. Whoever refrains himself
from looking at something which isn't halal for
him, then Allah will will replace that with
a sweetness in his heart until the day
of judgment.
So when a person refrains, when a person
stops himself from looking at things which are
Haram, Allah will replace that with with a
sweetness
until the day of judgment.
He'll reward him for the efforts he makes
in lowering his gaze in this dunya. So
we can see when a person lowers his
gaze and protects his gaze, Allah will reward
him with paradise. When a person looks at
things which are haram, he'll be held to
account, he'll be punished for them. And it
says, sahamin sihami Iblis. It's a poisonous arrow
from the arrows of Iblis. What does that
mean? It means when a person looks at
something,
it's the beginning of him committing more haram.
When a person looks at something, it may
be the beginning of him ending up doing
more and more Haram. Whereas when a person
avoids the gaze, when he lowers the gaze,
when he avoids looking at certain things, it
prevents him and stops him from committing,
certain Haram acts. So it starts with the
eyes. So it shows us the importance of
lowering the gaze. So our sight can be
a cause for us to enter into paradise
or a cause for us to enter into
hellfire. And then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala he
mentions other
blessings which he has given us.
In the 9th ayah. And a tongue and
2 lips.
A tongue and 2 lips. And the blessings
of the tongue are many. From them is
the fact that people from different parts of
of the world have different languages
and different speech. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
And from the miracles and the signs of
the creation of the heavens is the heavens
and the earth and the different languages and
the different colors.
The fact that even in this country itself,
you got different parts of this country and
people will speak in a different type of
accent.
This is a miracle from the miracles of
Allah. You know, a person will speak with
a different type of accent and you can
even recognize where they're from depending on the
way they say certain words. So this is
from the miracles of Allah azza wa jal.
And also the miracle of taste.
A person tastes with his tongue, that is
sad. This is what he uses to taste
certain things, you know, whether something's too sweet
or whether something's too sour or too salty.
And also the lips are mentioned. So Allah
mentions the tongue, what is saying, and then
he mentions the 2 lips,
Why are the lips mentioned? We know the
benefits and the virtues of the tongue. A
person, for example, he speaks with with the
tongue. He pronounces words with the tongue. A
person, he's how to account for his tongue.
Many a hadith which talk about the importance
of safeguarding certain things. The messenger of Allah,
he said the one who guards what's between
his jaws and what's between his legs, Allah
will guarantee him paradise
because he's protecting those things. So when a
person speaks, he
he's control he controls what he's saying. He's
careful about what he says. You know,
the the famous hadith that whoever believes in
Allah and the last day, faliyaqulkhairamliasmuth.
Whoever believes in Allah and the last day,
let him speak good or remain silent
because you'll be held to account for the
things that you say.
So the the tongue in of itself
may be a reason for a person to
enter into paradise or hellfire depending on the
things he says or
or doesn't say.
The lips are also mentioned. What's the benefit
of the lips? Why are the lips specifically
mentioned?
Because
you can't speak properly if you don't use
your lips while talking.
Even the lips, if a person doesn't use
his lips when he's speaking,
then he won't be able to say certain
letters and certain words properly.
So the lips are basically what make a
person speak, in in in in the best
way possible. And even in the Arabic language
and any language, a person, he won't be
able to communicate and express himself properly unless
he uses his his lips.
For example, you know, the the the ba
word or the ba letter, the letter fa,
the letter mim, the letter wow. You know,
these types of letters you can't pronounce them,
you can't say them unless you're using your
lips to pronounce these letters.
So it shows us the the the perfection
of the creation of Allah. You know, the
perfection of how Allah has structured
the mouth. He structured the tongue. He structured
these, these things so that a person when
he speaks is able to use them in
the best way possible. And the one who
guards the tongue, the one who protects the
tongue,
and the one who safeguards his tongue as
we mentioned, this individual he'll enter into
paradise. And the one who doesn't safeguard his
tongue, the one who uses his tongue in
an evil way, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will
give him the punishment of the hellfire. And
also from the benefits of the tongue is
that it helps an individual to eat.
You know, a person rolls around the food
in his mouth and he bites, you know,
different parts of the food, in different parts
of his mouth and he's able to swallow
using his tongue. So all of these benefits
we have of the tongue and benefits of
the lips.
For Dailib ibn Uyad, one of the famous
scholars of the past,
he recited these verses and he started to
cry, he started to weep.
And so when he was asked why he
was crying,
he replied and he said to the people
who were asking him from his students, he
said, have you ever recited
this verse and thanked Allah for giving you
eyes to see with? And have you ever
recited this ayah and thanked Allah for giving
you a tongue to speak with?
And so this is why he was crying
because he was thinking about how,
ungrateful we are with regards to these blessings
which,
you know, we we don't think about on
a day to day basis. We just take
them for granted, and he continued like this.
He kept he kept on mentioning the blessings
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
So it shows us the fact that we're
neglectful.
You know, we're not thankful for the blessings
which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us.
If you were to count the blessings of
Allah, you wouldn't be able to do so
because there's so many blessings which Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala has given us. There's so many
things
he's given us we'll be not able to
count them and enumerate them. And then Allah
he mentions something else.
And then he says
in the 10th ayah.
And we showed him the two ways.
We showed him the two ways.
And comes from the same root as hidayah
which means guidance, to guide someone. So Allah
Azzawajal is saying we guided him to an
najdayin.
And Najdayn
basically means 2 najds.
2 najds. And najd in the Arabic language
literally,
it means a high
piece of land. A land which is high
up. A land which is elevated.
And the scholars they said with regards to
this ayah,
Najdayn here, it's referring to good and
evil.
So the son of Adam
is able to distinguish between what's good and
what's evil, between what's right and what's wrong,
between the straight path and the crooked path,
a path to paradise and a path to
hellfire.
Allah has guided a person. He's able to
distinguish between what's right and what's wrong. So
what's the link between the linguistic meaning and
the the meaning in this specific area? We
said that linguistically
means a high place.
Nejd, for example, when we talk about Saudi
Arabia, it means the the eastern part of
Saudi Arabia.
You know, Riyadh and Dammam and those areas
called Nejd
because those places are higher up.
But why what's the link between the linguistic
meaning, which means elevated,
and good and evil? The scholars, they say
because
when a person sees an a land which
is elevated, it's clear to him.
He's able to see it. He can see
that there's a piece of land which is
high up. It's elevated
higher than other parts of of land.
Likewise,
when the son of Adam sees something which
is right or sees something which is wrong,
he's able to distinguish between the 2. He's
able to differentiate between the 2 just like
he can distinguish and differentiate between
high elevated,
parts of land. Also,
other scholars, they mentioned that
here refers to the * which the child
circles on when he's born. As soon as
he's born, straight away, he's guided and he
knows straight away
that he has to circle in order to
survive, in order to feed himself.
Even though he did he can't speak. He
can't speak. He can barely see. He barely
knows what's going on. But when it comes
to feeding, he's able to circle on on
on the breast of the of of the
mother without him even having any idea what's
happening around him. Without him even being aware
of his surroundings.
So the child Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guides.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has blessed the baby.
You know, as soon as it's born, is
able to feed off the breast of the
mother even though he's not aware of anything
else.
So it shows us the fact that Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
guides whomsoever he wishes and there are certain
signs amongst the creation which some sometimes we
neglectful of. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he says,
Allah says in another ayah that verily we
guided him to the path and either he's
thankful
either he's thankful or he's someone who is
unthankful, he's ungrateful
for the blessings of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
which he has been given. So man has
the ability to be able to distinguish.
You know, a person can distinguish
between that which is good and that which
is bad. This is what makes him different
to animals for example.
Animals can't necessarily distinguish
between what's good and what's bad.
Okay? They do whatever they they they they
they they they are carnal creatures.
You know, they do whatever they desire to
do. They can't distinguish between what's right and
what's wrong. They can't judge between good and
bad necessarily,
not as much as the human being itself.
The human being has been given this intellect.
And at the same time,
they're not human beings aren't like angels because
angels haven't been given this choice.
Angels can't choose whether to do good or
whether to do bad.
Angels obey Allah. They never disobey Allah. Whereas
human beings have the ability to be able
to choose.
And this is why the believer from the
human beings is the best of creation,
Even better than the angels themselves. Because
even though he has a choice, he's choosing
to do good and choosing to worship Allah,
which makes him the best of creation because
even with that choice, he's doing something which
is good. He's doing what he was what
he was born to do. He's doing what,
Allah created him for, which is to worship
Allah
So, InshaAllah, we'll, leave it, here at this
ayah. And the next week, we'll continue the
tafsir,
of this surah, InshaAllah.
If there's any questions, then I'll do my
best to answer them.