Aqeel Mahmood – Tafseer of Surah alGhashiyah Part 7
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AI: Transcript ©
So today, inshallah, we're going to be concluding
with the tafsir of Surat Al Ushiah.
And before we do the tafsir of, the
remaining ayat of this Surah, Insha'Allah,
I wanted to touch on some,
benefits and some that we didn't mention,
about specific ayat from previous lessons. One of
those ayat which I wanted to talk about
was where Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, says in
the 11th ayah of the Surah Surah Rashia,
Allah
says,
Allah
says, in it, you won't
hear any evil talk or any vain talk.
Now where is
this going to be? Who can tell me?
In Jannah, in paradise. So Allah is saying
in paradise, you won't hear any evil talk,
you won't hear any bad speech. And the
scholars, they talk about this ayah, and they
say this is
a sign
that when a person is in a place,
when he's in the company of people who
are speaking bad or who who they're saying
bad things, they're, you know, they're using bad
language, they're swearing, or they're saying bad things
about other individuals, they're backbiting, they're gossiping,
these places and these types of gatherings are
gatherings which should be avoided.
Why is this the case?
Because gatherings
like this won't exist in Jannah
because Jannah is void of any type of
evil, any type of bad things taking place.
So when somebody is in a gathering where
bad things are taking place, someone's saying bad
things, someone's swearing, using, you know,
wasting their time, vain talk, bad language, evil
speech, then, of course, this is a place
where there's there's not gonna be any benefit
from those gatherings. There's gonna not gonna be
no barakah, no blessing in those types of
gatherings. So this is the lesson that we
can learn from this ayah. Another lesson as
well from the previous ayah which
discuss and talk about paradise. So Allah Azzawal,
he talks about paradise. He talks about the
blessings of Jannah. He talks about what the
people will get in paradise.
There's an, a hadith, an authentic narration
in Sahih Muslim
and also in other books of
a story in which one of the companions,
he came to the messenger of Allah sallam,
asking him some questions about Islam.
And the companion's name, his name was,
Bwiman.
And so this companion, he came to the
messenger of Allah SWS, and the other companions,
they talk about this incident.
And they say that,
during the time of the messenger of Allah
SWS, we were prohibited from asking
anything,
which we thought was maybe
too forward or maybe we thought it was
not appropriate to ask the messenger of Allah
SWALLAM. You know, like, for example, someone has
a teacher, you're afraid to ask some types
of questions because you think it's too personal,
or you think maybe the way in which
you might ask them, he may be offended
by how you're asking those questions because of
the respect you have for them. So here,
the messenger of Allah sallam, he's in this
gathering. The companions are saying, sometimes we were
afraid of asking some types of questions in
specific ways because we didn't want to upset
the messenger of Allah sallam himself. And so
they said that
at certain points now at times with the
messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, we
would like for a person to come from
the from the desert, a Bedouin,
so that he could ask questions. We were
always looking forward to someone coming from the
desert. Why was this the case? So that
he could ask certain questions that then their
companions generally wouldn't normally ask. Okay? So they
would get a different perspective.
So they said one day, a Bedouin came,
and
we would like someone to come from the
Bedouins, not just a Bedouin, but someone who
was intelligent.
Because sometimes a a person would come from
the desert, and he wouldn't be smart, he
wouldn't ask the right questions. So they said,
whenever a Bedouin would come to the messenger,
Raul,ahu alaihi salam, and he was someone who
was smart, someone who was intelligent, we would
always pay attention because he would ask good
questions. And so they said a man came
one day from the desert,
and he came to the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, and he said, yeah,
Muhammad, oh Muhammad sallallam, verily a messenger has
come to us, meaning someone has come to
us from our tribe, and he's claiming that
you claim to be a messenger of Allah.
And
the messenger of Allah, he said, yes. This
is true. And so the companion, he asked
him a series of questions.
And so he said,
He said, who created the sky?
And in Surah Gah, does Allah does Allah
talk about the sky?
Do you not see how the sky has
been, you know, raised up? So he said,
did Allah or who created the heaven? Who
created the sky? And so the messenger of
Raul al Salam, he said, Allah. And so
the man again, he asked,
man who created the earth? And again, the
next ayah in is
about the earth. So he said, who created
the earth? And so the messenger
said, Allah. And so the man asked another
question. He said, who erected
what?
The mountains.
So he's asking another question which came up
in Surah Gashia. So he said, who created
and erected the mountains and placed them wherever
they are placed in this earth? And so
the messenger of Allah, he said,
Allah
or he said, the one who created the
heaven and the earth is the one who
created these these mountains.
And so this man, he said again, he
asked him another question. He said, did Allah
send you? And so he said, yes. And
so the man, he said, your messenger claims
this man who came to us from amongst
you, who you sent to tell us about
his plan. He said that your messenger claims
that we are obligated to pray 5 times
a day in the in the day and
in the night. And so the messenger,
he said, sadaq.
He spoke the truth. And so again, the
man asked him, he said, did Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala command you with this? And he
said, yes. And so he said, your messenger,
this man who we heard telling us about
Islam, he said that
you claim that you have to and you're
obliged to give charity from our wealth.
And again, the messenger of Allah, he said
in the affirmative. And then he asked him
about what else he's been commanded with. For
example, the performing of the Hajj. Have you
been have you been obligated to perform the
Hajj, to perform the pilgrimage? And he said,
yes. This is true as well. And so
he asked him a number of questions. At
the end of this, he said, by Allah,
by the one who has sent you the
truth, I won't add anything to this, and
I won't take away anything from this.
Mean meaning everything you've told me, I'm going
to do just these things. I'm not gonna
do anything else. I'm gonna pray. I'm gonna
give zakah. I'm gonna perform Hajjal. I'm gonna
fast in the month of Ramadan.
And so he said, I'm not gonna do
anything more. I'm not gonna do anything less.
And so the messenger of he
as he left, he said,
in that if he spoken the truth, if
he's going to do what he said he's
going to do, then for sure he's going
to enter into paradise.
So this shows us that the bare minimum
that a person
is required to do are these 5 pillars,
which are mentioned by the messian
Also, at the at the same time, this
hadith, it shows us that should a person
just do these 5 things or these 4
things, these 5 these 4 pillars?
No. You should do more. Why should he
do more?
To increase his chances of going into paradise.
Because, of course, it's better when he's looking
at the questions which he asked. And he's
saying, I'm gonna take whatever you've asked me
to do. I'm not gonna do anything more,
anything less. So this shows us that this
is the bare minimum. And if a person
does this properly,
then, of course, for sure, inshallah, he's going
to be guaranteed paradise, but there's no clear
guarantee a person isn't fully sure. He doesn't
know for sure he's going to enter. You
know, there may be mistakes with regards to
his salawat. His Hajj may not be accepted.
Some fast which he did in the month
of Ramadan may not may not have been
done properly, may not have been correct. He
may have, you know, committed some sins which
caused those
fast, for example, not to have been accepted.
So a person does extra deeds. He does,
deeds, optional,
prayers, for example, reciting Quran, doing other good
deeds so that this individual will have more
chances of entering into paradise.
So this is an interesting hadith where this
individual,
because
he accepted Islam,
it shows us that he mentioned these questions.
He asked these questions about who created the
heaven, who created the earth, who created the
mountains, and Allah
mentions them in this Surah in
Last week, we finished at the 11th or
21st,
ayah, where
Allah,
he says,
Remind because you are nothing except a reminder.
You are nothing but a reminder. And this
ayah comes after specific ayah where Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, he's talking about paradise and he's
talking about hellfire. And also he's talking about
the creation of
the the dunya and also the creation of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in general. Now what's
the link between
this ayah and the previous ayah? So if
you look at the previous ayah, the
he's talking about the creation of the heavens
and the earth. The creation of the sky,
the creation of the earth, the creation of
the mountains, for example.
So straight after Allah talks about the mountain
and how the mountains have been installed, how
they've been fixed, how they've been fixed on
the earth. Allah says,
and the earth, how it spread out, how
it spread out flat on the earth. So
he says after this,
remind because you are only a reminder. What's
the link between this and
the previous where Allah is talking about the
creation? Allah is talking about his creation.
One of the the reasons why Allah says
this after talking about the the creation of
Allah
is because
the previous ayat
before Allah talks about the creation, he's talking
about the heavens and the he's talking about
the the heavens where a person will be
admitted into, meaning paradise, and he's talking about
hellfire.
Before this, he's talking about those who do
good and those who do bad.
Do do you not hear about the overwhelming
news?
1 of the names of the day of
judgement, something which is too much for a
person to bear. And he's talking about the
the the punishments and how the state of
the the disbeliever is going to be on
the day of judgement. So he's talking about
the situation of the non Muslims, and then
he talks about the Muslims. And then he
talks
while he after he talks about the disbelievers,
he talks about hellfire.
After he talks about the believers, he talks
about paradise. And then he talks about the
creation.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
he's reminding the messenger of Allah
after he talks about how fire and the
people in how fire and how the person
is going to be given certain beautiful things
in paradise.
He reminds
the messenger of Allah and also us
about how he's able to create things in
this dunya, which a person doesn't know how
they were created. Meaning the sky, the heavens,
the earth itself. How did the earth come
about? You know, a person will ponder and
he reflect about the things around him. Meaning,
when a when Allah talks about things in
paradise,
a person may question
those things in paradise. He may think about
how would the how is that possible? How
are we going to have couches in paradise?
How are we going to have these homes,
rivers in paradise?
So Allah mentions,
do they not see and look at the
the camel itself, how it was created? Meaning,
you don't have to look and think and
ponder over the over paradise and how paradise
was created and the things in paradise.
All you have to do is look at
the things in this dunya. You know, look
at the camel. Look at the sky. Look
at the earth.
And even then, if they still don't accept
you, if they still don't listen to you,
remind them because you are only a reminder.
You are only someone who's going to remind
them. You can't specifically guide them.
So after Allah talks about the heavens and
the earth, and Allah talks about, for example,
paradise and hellfire. Allah is saying to the
messenger, all
your job is to your all you have
to do, your job is simply to convey
the message. As for whether or not they
accept or whether or not they believe in
you or whether they,
you know, are happy with what you have
to say. That's something which is between them
and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You don't have
to worry about anything that they do or
anything that they believe. Whether they believe in
the paradise and how fire, whether they believe
in the fact that Allah is the one
who created everything that we see around us,
then that's something which is between them and
Allah. You don't have to worry about that.
So
this is why Allah mentions
Remind because you are nothing but a reminder.
All you have to do, all your job
is to is to remind other people. Another
benefit of this ayah is that there's a
similar ayah like this in which we mentioned
at the beginning of the tafsir of this
surah because it's one of the things which
link this surah and the surah which comes
before it, which is Sur al A'la.
So this ayah is linking between,
an ayah which is in Sur al A'la.
Who can tell me what that what that
specific ayah is?
In Surah Alah.
So in this in this Surah Allah says
remind because you are only a a reminder,
someone who reminds.
Allah
says remind
because they benefit from the
reminder. Because the reminder benefits.
So there's this link between and
because of these 2 ayaat which are similar.
Verily the reminder benefits. Remind because the reminder
benefits. So this is one of the links
between these two surahs, and it's why this
surah comes after
because of the similarities
in the message and in the the the
themes and the things which I talked about
in both of these Surahs. Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala, he says,
remind because you are only someone who reminds,
you have no control over them.
And Allah mentions the word.
And the word,
the word in of itself is recited in
2 ways. Normally, we recite it with a.
But if we notice in the Quran, for
example,
the word itself would have a sin also
next to it. The sin will have a
sod. So it'll have both letters on one
on top of the other.
And
another recitation,
they recite it with a sin, not with
a sod. So So they don't say but
they say.
So it is a slight difference between how
you pronounce it. But the general meaning is
similar. So here in this ayah, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, he says, lest the be Musaydir.
Meaning, all your job is to do is
to remind them. And you have no control
over them. Meaning
literally means that you don't have
the ability to be able to force someone
to do something. You can't force someone to
do something specific.
So the messenger of Allah
isn't the one who guides.
He's not the one who is able to
guide someone to the truth. It's simply Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala who guides whomsoever he wishes.
What's the famous thing that we hear in
the?
Who can tell me?
Allah mentions in another ayah.
That whomsoever Allah misguides,
then there is nobody who is going to
be able to guide him. If Allah
decides to misguide somebody, then nobody can guide
that person. Because at the end of the
day, it's Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who guides.
Now what's interesting about this this and
the issue of guidance being from Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala
is in the Quran,
Allah
alludes to the messenger of Allah
being the one who guides.
Allah
for example he says
that verily you, oh Muhammad,
you guide to the straight path.
But we just said that it's only Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala who guides.
And also in another ayah, Allah will say,
you don't guide whomsoever you love. When Abu
Tari passed away. And he he passed away
as a non Muslim. Allah says
you don't guide whomsoever you love but Allah
guides whomsoever
he wishes, whomsoever he wants.
So someone may say this is a contradiction.
In one eye, Allah is saying, verily, you
guide to the straight path. In another eye,
Allah is saying, you don't guide whomsoever you
love. Allah guides whomsoever he wishes. You don't
guide those who you love.
So how do we reconcile between these?
You can tell me
how we can reconcile between these.
One, I Allah is saying, you guide to
the straight path. Another is saying, you don't
guide those whom you love.
Excellent. Good. So because there's a there's different
types of
Hidayah,
there's different types of
guidance.
So for example,
if somebody was lost
and you were walking down the street and
somebody parks up next to you and you
ask for directions to somewhere,
And so you tell him. Okay. You tell
him take a take a right at the
end of this road, take a left at
the roundabout, a right at the traffic lights,
go straight down, and you'll find you what
you're looking for. You'll get to where you
want to go. You've shown him how to
get there.
You've shown him the directions, the way in
which he needs to go where he wants
to go. He he knows now his destination.
Does that mean now he's guaranteed to arrive
where he's going to arrive
or where he wants to go?
It's not guaranteed. You can show him the
way, but at the end of the day,
it's up to him to get to where
he wants to
go. For him to get to the destination,
he has to rely on his own efforts
and also on Allah
guiding him to where he wants to go.
Because if he's not up to Allah, maybe
something might happen on the way. He might
have an accident, something he might turn around.
He might, you know, have a phone call
and the plans might change.
So ultimately, it's up to Allah whether he
arrives at the destination. But the message of
Allah is
the one who shows people the right path.
Someone asks us for directions, we show them
the directions. We tell them the directions. But
as for them arriving and getting there safe
and sound, getting there how they want to
get there in the in the acquired time,
in the in the, you know, in the
best time possible, that's up to them.
And that's up to Allah ultimately. So, likewise,
there's 2 types of guidance. Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is the one who ultimately
guides people
to paradise. Or
if he is misguided, then he'll end up
in in hellfire itself.
But the issue of directing someone, showing someone,
differentiating
between good and bad, you know, someone showing
someone the difference between what's right and what's
wrong, distinguishing between what's right and what's wrong,
someone showing another person good and bad, right
and wrong, evil and good, then that's that's
an responsibility
which we have after the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. So we show people
the right path. It's up to them to
take that path.
And ultimately, it's Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who
is the one who is responsible for guiding
other individuals
to the straight path itself.
So there's a difference between the types of
guidance.
There's the guidance of the messenger to
the straight path, and then there's the guidance
of Allah
Allah to remain on the straight path. That's
why we say
guide us to the straight path because we
continue to be, you know, guided to the
straight path because anytime a person can be
misguided. And, also, a person can be on
the straight path 1 minute, and he can
be off it the next day. He can
end up leaving Islam.
So ultimate guidance is from Allah.
Showing the person the way and the straight
path itself is the messenger of Allah subhanahu
wa sallam's job, and it's our job after
him to show people the correct path. And
also at the same time, this doesn't mean
that a person doesn't give that.
And if we don't say, for example, that,
you know, it's Allah. Allah is the one
who guides. We don't have to tell anybody
about Islam. You know, if Allah guides a
person, then he guides a person. Otherwise, it's
no big deal. You know, that's because at
the end of the day, Allah is the
one who's going to guide whether I say
something or not. Because it's up to us,
and it's our responsibility
to give as much as we can, whatever
is in our ability to do so.
And this is why, you know, there's many
narrations which talk about the importance of calling
people to Islam. Even if it's something small,
even if it's just one aya that we
that we know. Even if it's just one
aya, one hadith that we're aware of, one
hadith that we know, one ayah that we've
learned to call people to Islam through that
specific ayah.
And also what's interesting
about this ayah,
you don't have control over them.
At the same time, it doesn't mean that
an individual can use this now as an
excuse of not being guided to Islam.
He can't say for example, I wasn't guided
because Allah never told me, Allah never guided
me. Because at the end of the day,
every single one of us, we have the
ability to be able to distinguish between right
and wrong. We choose what we want to
do and what we don't want to do.
And that's why today, for example, you'll hear
many people, when we try to advise them,
you'll hear certain people, they'll say they'll say
don't judge
me. This is something common now. You know,
you try to give advice to someone, and
they'll say don't judge me. Now
one of the reasons why a person may
say this
is because it's not necessarily their fault, but
it's our fault in the way we try
to give that award in the first place.
You know, sometimes when we speak in a
harsh way, when we talk to them a
specific way, we may say you're gonna enter
hellfire because of what you're doing. You know,
the way you're behaving,
you're going to be destroyed.
And so, of course, this type of attitude
and the way we talk to a person,
and, of course, it's not permissible for a
person to tell someone they're going to enter
hellfire because this is something which is about
between him and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Only
Allah
has the ability
and the the power to be able to
decide who's going to enter hellfire and who's
going to enter paradise. So in a way,
sometimes we have to be careful about how
we give dawah in the first place. Because
sometimes the way we give dawah, it can
end up being harsh, and a person may
end up leaving Islam, or he may end
up showing animosity towards Islam itself. And he
may have a dislike for Islam even if
he was a Muslim, for example.
So a person needs to have wisdom with
regards to how he gives dawah. Another interesting
thing when a person says this is he
himself
is contradicting his own words.
How is he contradicting his own words?
Because when he's saying don't judge me,
he's the one who's actually judging.
If someone if if you advise someone with
wisdom and you say, brother, you know, you
should pray 5 times a day, you know,
and you and you have good
when you speak to him about this issue,
and then he replies and says, don't judge
me,
Then in fact, he's the one who's judging
you because you're giving sincere advice.
So if it's a Muslim you're giving advice
to and he says something like this, he's
showing insincerity
because he's thinking you have a hidden agenda
or you have the the incorrect intention.
And, of course, the general
rule is that a person has good good
thoughts of another individual.
You know, a person thinks he means well,
he means good. So, likewise, you know, when
a person gives,
a person should always have sincerity.
The right reason for why he's giving, why
he's calling this person to Islam in the
first place. At the same time, this is
a reminder for us as well.
You know, we may not necessarily say don't
judge me, but sometimes we may have that
thought in our minds.
You know, we may say, for example, this
person is only telling me, you know, giving
me certain advice because I said something to
him a few days ago.
You know, I gave him some advice, and
now he's thinking he wants to get his
own back. Because he he saw me not
doing something I should have been doing. I
shouldn't I was doing something that I shouldn't
have been doing or I didn't do something
which I should have been doing. And so
now he's advised me because I said something
to him about doing something which he wasn't
doing a few days ago.
And so sometimes it can backfire.
You know, sometimes we end up being the
ones who judge. Even though we may not
we may not necessarily
say these these words in of themselves, but
we have that same thought in our minds.
You know, we're thinking this person just he's
got ulterior motives. He's saying these things for
the wrong reasons.
Again, we have no we we have no
idea. A person has no idea that that
was actually his intention.
But he's only saying this because, you know,
of the discussion or the conversation he had
with that person
previously. Maybe he has certain bad bad ideas
or bad thoughts of that person.
So a person, he should have good thoughts
of another individual.
And,
you know, for us, when we're talking about
Islam, we should have wisdom when we're given
that one. The word where Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala, he says,
You are not someone who can force another
individual
to do something you have no control over
them. We said that the word
means to force someone to do something. And
how
as I mentioned,
the recitation of
they recited with a sin. Not
But the meaning itself is more or less
the same. And also this shows us another
bit another lesson which is the fact that
true guidance is from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Real guidance is only from Allah. Again, we
go back to
Surah
Fatihah.
Guide us to the straight path, the path
which you have favored upon them.
Meaning, the greatest favor which Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala can give someone
is the favor of being guided to Islam.
This is why Allah says,
you
have blessed them you have blessed them with
this guidance
because the greatest thing a person can have
is guidance to Islam itself.
And so when we're calling to Islam the
only thing we can do is call them
to Islam, give them the give them the
correct impression, the correct image of Islam. As
for them accepting the call and worshiping Allah,
that's between them and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That's something which they have to do, and
that's a decision they have to make. Another
lesson we can learn from this as well
is that a person shouldn't be upset if
people don't understand or if people don't listen.
You know, sometimes we think I've always advised
my family members. I've always tried to tell
them about praying or about not doing this
or doing this. I've always advised my, you
know, friends or relatives to do these certain
types of things which a person has to
do as a Muslim, but they never listen.
They never do it. And so I'm I'm
fed up now, and maybe we end we
end up becoming angry or hostile towards them
because we don't have the patience. And, of
course, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala talks about the
importance of patience when given dawah, you know,
having sabah. You know, we look at, for
example, Nuh alaihi salaam, 950 years, he's calling
people to Islam.
I know sometimes over a few weeks, over
a few months, we don't have that patience.
We stop calling people to Islam. You know,
we we we maybe abandon people because of
the fact that they don't listen.
But you being there, you being in their
company is still good.
It's better than you avoiding them and staying
away from them because there's still some good
influence.
Because at least, you know, when
you're in their presence, they're a bit more
careful.
Maybe not so much, but again, it rubs
it rubs off on them over a long
period of time. Sometimes longer than, you know,
than than others.
And certain people may be stubborn. Certain people
may it may take longer than other individuals.
So a person shouldn't be upset if someone
doesn't listen, if someone doesn't understand something because,
again, even understanding
something to do with Islam.
Even us, for example, if we're studying something,
if we're learning some ayat in the Quran,
if we're learning some ahadith, if we're studying
or something else, and we're having difficulty understanding
something, even this understanding is from Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
Because for example, you know, we may have
a class and we may be learning something,
and there may be 20 people in the
class, but
maybe 10 people passed that exam at the
end of the year.
Or there might be a class, 15 people
in that class from one lesson, they understand
something 5 people don't understand.
Whereas they were in the exact same classroom,
and the teacher was the exact exact same
teacher. The same teacher was teaching them, and
it was the same period of time. And
they were all sitting there listening to the
same words. But some of them understood more
than others. Why is this the case? How
is this the case? Because Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala gives some guidance more than others. He
makes some people understand more than others. And
this is why the messenger of Allah, he
made du'a for one of the companions, and
he said, Allah
gave him understanding of the religion
because it's a blessing from Allah. If Allah
doesn't bless you with something with understanding of
the religion, with you understanding some ayat or
memorizing Quran or understanding hadith or understanding how
to pray or the wisdom behind certain things,
then you'll never be able to understand. Because
at the end of the day, Allah is
the one who gave you that wisdom
or a lack of wisdom. Allah is the
one who gave you that knowledge or he's
the one who prevented you from understanding that
thing. Also, another benefit from this ayah
is
that
we can't force individuals to do certain things.
Allah says,
you have no control over them.
And so, for example, when we're at work
or our friends, for example,
we can't force them to come with us
to the Masjid to pray or for the
Jum'ah prayer. You know, we can't force them
to stop drinking.
It's up to them at the end of
the day. We can't force them to stop
committing zina.
That's something between them and Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. All we can do is advise them.
You know, we can't cause physical harm to
them in order for them to stop doing
these things or to do these things specifically.
At the end of the day, this is
between them and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Lest
the alayim be Musaitir. You want someone who
can force them to do something. You have
no control over them. All you can do
is advise them, give them,
call them to Islam, hope that they will
worship Allah and leave shirk. But at the
end of the day, it's not something that
we have any control over. And this is
a good lesson for us, especially living here.
It's something which we have no control over.
You know, we have only control over our
own actions and what we can do. We
do the best with regards to calling people
to Islam.
Whether they accept, whether they worship Allah, that's
something between them and Allah is something that
they have to deal with in the
is something we can't really force them to
do. Also, as I mentioned, guidance is from
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It's not something that
we can control. And so if Allah blesses
them with this guidance, then
and if Allah doesn't bless them with this
guidance,
then in fact it's not something which should
frustrate us. We shouldn't be upset or angry
because someone doesn't listen to us.
Because at the end of the day, it's
the decree of Allah that Allah decides someone
is going to worship Allah, someone's going to
be a believer, or someone's going to be
a disbeliever.
So when a person becomes upset and he
questions, how is it possible that this person
isn't a Muslim?
You know, sometimes for example, we see people
on TV or we hear about certain people
and they're such good people we think we
can't believe why they aren't Muslim. They have
the etiquettes of a Muslim. They have the
in the manners of a Muslim, the way
they behave, the way they speak. And we
think to ourselves, why isn't he a Muslim?
How is that not possible?
And sometimes we give that our, you know,
everyday to someone and they still haven't accepted
Islam even though we've talked to them, advised
them over and over again for months and
even years. And so we sometimes question, how
is it that they haven't accepted Islam? Because
ultimately, that's from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And
if Allah doesn't guide someone, it shouldn't detract
from our own iman.
You know, it shouldn't detract from our own
Islam
because this is between him and Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. Allah guides whomsoever he wishes, and
a person just carries on doing what he's
doing. And whoever Allah accepts,
and whoever Allah guides, that's something which Allah
blesses that person with. As for us, our
job is to call people to Islam. If
they accept and
if they don't accept, then we've done our
part. And, of course, we still carry on
and we still try. But at the end
of the day, guidance, true guidance is only
from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Then Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala, he says in the 23rd
ayah. He says, except the one who turns
away
and he disbelieves.
Turns away from what?
What is this person turning away from?
Guidance.
He's turning away from
specifically in the previous hour. What does Allah
say?
2 hours before.
Remind him because you are only someone who
reminds. So they're turning away specifically from reminders.
Okay? Which leads to guidance.
So ultimately,
Allah is saying
except for those who turn away and they
disbelieve.
Meaning those who turn away from your reminder
and those who disbelieve in Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala
or
disbelieve in
the message of the messenger of Allah Ahi
Rasoolahu Wa Salam, and eventually, as a result
of this, disbelieving in Allah himself.
And another lesson we can learn from this
from this Surah and specifically from this ayah
and these sets of ayah is the fact
that
when a person turns away,
when a person turns away from
the remembrance of Allah, When a person avoids
the remembrance of Allah or he ignores
guidance itself, he ignores advice which people are
giving him because at the end of the
day, we have
we think a person is guiding us and
he has the right intention when he's giving
us
advice. So when a person avoids this, when
a person ignores this, when a person doesn't
listen to advice,
this turning away from advice can lead to
what?
It can lead to disbelief.
It's a step towards step closer towards someone
leaving Islam itself.
Why? Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
except for the one who turns away and
disbelieves.
Meaning if a person starts rejecting, if a
person starts avoiding reminders which are given to
him, advice which a person gives to him,
what's going to happen eventually?
He's going to start disliking that person.
He's going to start disliking that advice itself.
A person will be giving him sincere advice
about worshiping Allah, about performing their prayers, about
attending Jum'ah prayer, about unwatching things he shouldn't
be watching, about, you know, committing zina, you
know, free mixing, about, for example,
drinking alcohol. And so when he sees that
person, when he hears this advice, he becomes
agitated.
You know, he doesn't wanna hear that advice
anymore.
And so this is a kind of dislike
for Allah and his messenger and for the
message of Islam.
And so this is making a person
further ways, taking a person further away from
Islam and closer and closer to kufr and
disbelief eventually.
So it's one of the first initial steps
where a person may end up further down
the line rejecting Islam itself.
And so again, it's a it's a lesson
for us as well when we give dua
to be soft and be, you know, have
wisdom, be wise when we give dua and
when we call people to Islam.
Then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he says, for
you In the previous ayah, Allah says, except
for those who turn away and disbelieve.
Meaning, you aren't in control over anybody
except for those who turn away and disbelieve.
So does this mean that the messenger of
Allah is in control of those who disbelieve
and turn away?
This doesn't mean that. So what does Allah
say? Make this exception. What does he say
except for those who turn away and they
disbelieve?
Because the next day Allah says, those individuals
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will punish them with
the big punishment.
Meaning Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala here, he's saying
that you have no control. You remind people
and all you are is someone who reminds
and you have no control over them except
for those who disbelieve, meaning those people, they're
the exception. What's going to happen to them?
Allah is singling them out. What's going to
happen to them?
They're going to be punished a big huge
punishment.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this ayah,
he's telling us
the fact that
in fact when a person
leaves the remembrance of Allah, when a person
doesn't remember Allah, when a person doesn't worship
Allah, when a person
isn't doesn't have Allah in his mind throughout
the day on a regular basis with his
which is salawat and so on and so
forth,
remembering Allah
regularly
will protect us from what?
Protect us from his
punishment.
Because in the previous ayat, what does Allah
say?
Remind because you are only someone who reminds.
In the previous, what does Allah say?
Remind because the reminder benefits people,
which shows us that the person who doesn't
remind or or the person who doesn't take
on the reminders, doesn't take on this advice,
doesn't worship Allah,
doesn't keep his tongue moist with the remembrance
of Allah. This person, the opposite is going
to happen. He won't be protected from Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala and from his punishment.
Except for the one who turns away from
the reminder,
and he disbelieves.
This person Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will punish
punish him with a big punishment.
Meaning those who don't turn away from the
reminder, those who take on that advice,
those who take on those, people who give
them sincere advice, and and, you know, the
the and the the benefits that that person
gives them, those people who act upon that
advice, those people they won't be punished by
Allah.
And they'll be safe from the punishment of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Another lesson from this ayah, Allah says
That Allah will punish them with
the big punishment.
And there's 2 ways a person can interpret
this. Al Akbar can mean the greater, the
bigger punishment,
and it can also mean the greatest punishment,
the biggest punishment.
Now the question is if this is the
biggest punishment,
then what's the small what are the smaller
punishments?
What are the smaller punishments which Allah is
talking about?
Because here, Allah is talking about the great
punishment, the big punishment. What is his punishment
in the first place?
Hellfire.
Jahannam.
So if Allah is talking about Jahannam here
as being,
the big punishment, the great punishment,
what are the small punishments then in this
case?
Punishment in this for
example.
Okay. Capital punishment in a Muslim country for
example.
Okay. The life being constricted. So for example,
a person who doesn't live a comfortable life
in this world.
These are lesser punishments from Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. So a person who goes through certain
types of,
you know, financial problems.
Maybe he has health issues.
Maybe he has family, you know, family problems.
Maybe for example, he's suffering from other types
of issues and problems, you know, depression,
you know, mental issues, mental problems.
So a person,
he has lesser punishments in this dunya.
And for the disbeliever, for the non Muslim,
any type of difficulty he goes through, it's
a source of punishment for him.
He's actually being punished,
and those punishments are punishments of this dunya.
And in the he's going to be punished
with a great punishment of hellfire
because of his disbelief in Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
Now what about, for example, the one who
doesn't
suffer from from any problems in this world?
You You know, you have disbelievers who are
living a life of luxury. They're happy. They're
content.
What about those people?
Their their punishment in the hereafter
will be magnified. It's going to be even
greater.
Allah
talks about this in the Quran that those
people, their punishment they're not being punished in
this world. It's not something good for them
when they've been given these good things. In
fact, it's something which is evil for them
because the punishment in the hereafter is going
to be even greater for them, even worse
for them. Allah is saving it for the
hereafter.
What about the believer, for example, who has
trials and difficulties in this dunya? Is it
something good or is it something bad?
So if a person is going through certain
difficulties,
maybe he's going through a hard time, does
he say these are good things for me?
Is it you think that okay. Anybody else?
So it depends.
So for example, if another individual is going
through hardship, if a person is going through
difficult times,
one of your friends, one of your family
members,
something bad is happening to him.
Then in that case, for that person, what
do you say? You say Allah is testing
him.
He's going through certain he's going through certain
tests. Allah is, you know, testing him because
of his strong iman. Allah wants to see
how he's going to deal with those problems
that he's facing.
When certain things are,
happening in our lives, when we're going through
certain problems and certain issues in our lives,
we don't say the same thing. We don't
say my iman is so strong.
Allah is testing me with these problems because
I'm such a good Muslim.
What do we say?
We question our iman. We question the sins
that we committed, which as a result of
those sins, Allah is now sending down these
problems.
So we distinguish.
Because, of course, when we look at others,
what should we think of others?
Muslims,
we should think good of them. And so
when they go through a crisis, when when
they go through a time of difficulty,
we should say Allah is testing them. We
shouldn't say Allah is punishing them because he
did something to me a few days ago.
He said something bad to me. Because this
isn't having good thoughts of your Muslim brother.
When something bad happens to you, what's the
goal? What's the aim? To always be
improving and developing and bettering oneself as a
Muslim.
So when something happens in our lives, when
we go through a trial, we should question
the sins that we've been committing. Think about
the mistakes we've been making, the bad deeds
we've been committing, the things that we say,
you know, our dealings in business,
how we talk to others,
you know, how how we're maybe buying things
we shouldn't be buying. We're involved in certain
haram transactions. We're involved in reba for example.
We're selling things we shouldn't be selling. Lying
on a day to day basis without us
even realizing.
And so we should reflect in our own
sins and we should correct our own, you
know,
attitudes, our own actions, our own speech, our
own behavior, so that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
can relieve these issues for us. And at
the same time,
we still also in the back of our
minds know that these things are going to
be a a a source of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala relieving some sins from our from
our, you know, scale of of deeds on
the day of judgement.
So
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
will punish those who turn away from his
remembrance and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as a
result of this, those who remember him, they'll
be safe and they'll be protected from the
punishment of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he says in the
25th ayah, he says
verily to us is their return.
Meaning, every single creation,
the from mankind and from the jinn, ultimately,
they're going to be how to task for
their actions.
Everything that we see is something which is
temporary.
Nothing is permanent.
You know, things are going to wear out
over time. Even structures and buildings and things
like this. You know, they're not gonna last
forever.
You know, you have wonders of the world
which are which are no more anymore. They
don't exist anymore.
Things will never last forever. Human beings never
last forever. The things that they did, you
know, maybe in this dunya, it won't be
remembered for a long time.
You know, we don't even remember what our
grandfathers or great grandfathers did.
We don't record, even though they're family members.
We don't know what they did. We don't
know the actions that they did for the
most part. We don't know how they live
their life, the good deeds that they did,
things that they passed on,
accomplishments that they maybe did.
So it just goes to show maybe 50
years from now, 100 years from now, no
one's gonna be talking about us. They're going
to be forgotten
unless we really contributed to Islam
and the Muslims.
But other than that, once we die, it's
something which is temporary. These lives that we
have, the things, the possessions that that we
possess, our belongings, our wealth
is something which is temporary. All of these
things are temporary.
The only thing which is for sure is
that on the day of judgment, we're going
to be how to account for our actions,
but nothing is going to last forever. And
so it's a reminder for every single one
of us that ultimately everything that we have,
everything we possess
is just something that we possess for a
temporary period of time.
This wealth that we have, even this wealth
that we have, it's come from the earth
itself.
Once we die, our wealth is going to
be given to to those who, you know,
who are from our family members. They're going
to inherit our wealth. The famous hadith of
the messenger of Allah,
that three things will follow the person to
the grave. 2 of those 3 2 of
those 3 things will return, one of those
things will stay.
His wealth and his family are going to
return.
His family are going to go. His past
maybe they might marry somebody else,
and his wealth is going to be distributed.
He's not gonna take his wealth with him
to the. It's not gonna benefit him. His
family members are gonna take his wealth. It's
going to be distributed.
When they die, that same wealth you had
that you protected so much, that's going to
be given from them when they die, from
your children when they die to their children.
So really, ultimately,
you know,
all these types of things are things which
are temporary. The only thing which will stay
is a person's actions. And this is where
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he said in the
last eye of this Surah,
And then upon us is their reckoning.
We're going to judge over them. We're going
to decide
how they live their life, whether they were
sincere with regards to their actions, and whether
they're going to enter paradise or the hellfire.
Allah is
the final judge, and he's going to, you
know, judge over all of creation.
What they did, how they did it, you
you know, whether they were sincere,
who they who they harmed, who they abused,
who they killed, who they cheated,
who they stole from,
how many acts of worship did a person
do, whether he was steadfast with his salawat.
Because at the end of the day, it's
only a person's actions which are going to
stay with that person.
And this is why a person needs to
ensure
that he has some good deeds which carry
on after him. You know,
ongoing charity.
Because at the end of the day, those
are the only things which are going to
benefit him.
And what's interesting about this also
is the fact that this whole Surah like
other Surah, it's a conversation between Allah and
his messenger
So it's as if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is telling the messenger of Allah sallam,
don't worry.
At the end of the day,
they're going to return to us. All these
people who are questioning you, they're doubting your
message. They're questioning paradise and hellfire, and we
give them examples of this dunya. Example of
the the camel. Look at the camel. Look
at the sky. Look at the earth. Look
at the mountains.
We're giving them all of these examples. If
they still don't believe, then you're just a
reminder.
Just someone who reminds them, you don't have
any control over them. At the end of
the day, they're going to return to us,
and we're going to judge
over
the decisions and the actions that they did
in this dunya.
So subhanallah is like this conversation
between Allah and the messenger of Allah
and this really intimate conversation because it's as
if it's just them 2 who are having
this conversation.
And everybody else is just listening, is overlooking
this conversation.
And so it's a beautiful,
Surah just like other Surah in in in
this in this in Juz in Juz the
Amma where they were revealed in Mecca when
there was a lot of hostility
to the messenger of Allah SWA. A lot
of,
attacks on the message of Islam and the
companions themselves in Mecca.
And so it's encouraging
the messenger of Allah
to continue his call. You can just remind.
Just keep on reminding Allah will guide whomsoever
he wants to guide. And, ultimately, whatever harm
they do or whatever they do in this
dunya,
at the end of the day, they're going
to come back to us, and we're going
to decide their fate. And when we decide
their fate, it's going to be permanent. It's
not going to be temporary like this dunya
that you're living in right now.
So it's a beautiful ending to the Surah
itself. And generally speaking, as we mentioned, many
of these Surah's in this in this jewels,
in the last days of the Quran, they
talk about paradise and hellfire,
and the day of judgment itself.
So this is the end of, the tafsir
of the Surah Surah Gashia.
Inshallah, we'll continue with the tafsir in 2
weeks time. Next week, we're going to be,
as we some as we've done previously,
we're going to be covering the life of
one of the Mufasirun, the famous Mufasirun of
the past. And inshallah, we're going to be
covering the life of Ikhlima Mola Ibn Abbas.
He was the servant of Ibn Abbas, the
famous companion.
In fact, he was one of the main
one of the main interpreters of the of
the Quran. So we'll talk about his life,
lessons we can learn from his life, and,
you know, some interesting things about,
his life itself. He was he was a
servant
of Ibn Abbas.
So it's interesting how, subhanallah, someone who we
would regard as someone lowly
has been given such a high status in
the sight of Allah
You know, lessons we can learn, benefits, incident
which took place, stories from his life, and
maybe something to do maybe something about his,
the first day of the Quran as well.
Some things he said about some ayat if
we have time as well inshallah. So if
you have any questions, then I'll do my
best to answer them inshallah.
Okay.