Aqeel Mahmood – Tafseer of Surah AlLayl Part 1
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AI: Transcript ©
Inshallah, today we're going to be starting the
tasir
of Suratul Layl. And,
we we discussed last week and finished the
tafsir of Surat Doha. So inshallah, today, we're
going to be starting
the first of a a few, episodes or
lectures on the tafsir of Suratul Layl.
Lectures on the tafsirah of Suratul Lay.
Suratul Layl is the 94th
Surah of the Quran,
and it comes after Suratul Shams
and before Suratul Doha. And
the scholars, they say that the Surah itself
is a Maqi Surah
and it consists of 21 ayahs altogether.
And imam Uthun Tawhid Rahimahullah,
he talks about what this Surah basically covers.
What the general theme of this surah is.
And he says that there's a narration by
Ibn Abbas radhiallahu an who said that this
surah is about a samahatuwalbuql.
It's about
kindness
and stinginess.
It's about being generous and about those who
are stingy and those who are selfish, and
they don't, be generous with regards
to their deeds and their actions towards others.
And Imam al Tawhid, he generally in his
tafsir, he talks about the theme of of
surahs.
So it's a nice,
tafsir in the sense that he he normally
tends to do a overview
of what the surahs, generally talk about. And
he says that
talks about the the the nobility
and the faggle of the believers and the
virtues of their actions. So this surah talks
about the faggle, the nobility, the virtues of
the believers and of their actions, and it
talks about the disgrace of the disbelievers and
the evil of their
actions. Evil of their actions. And he says
that this surah also talks about how Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala
has sent a messenger to remind the people
of the truth and to remind those who
have disbelieved in the truth and to warn
those who disobey
of being afflicted with trials and punishments.
So this is a basic overview
of what the surah,
talks about. And as I said, this surah
comes after Surat Al Shams,
and it comes before Surat Al Doha.
And I want to take a few,
moments just talking about the relationship of this
surah with the surahs,
with the surah before it and also the
surah after it.
Surat Ashams
is a Sura which comes before Surat Al
Lay.
Shams basically means
the sun,
and Al Lay
refers to the night.
So there's that connection between the 2 surahs.
You know, you they're talking about portions or
aspect.
So Surat Ashams is talking about sun. Surat
Al Lay, this surah is talking about the
night when there is basically.
He he he he mentions the shams
and in this Surah, Allah
says And also in Surah,
the
day is also mentioned.
The day,
is also mentioned. And in this surah, the
day is mentioned as well.
So
surah, the day and the night are mentioned.
So in So in so the shams, Allah
Subhanahu wa
ta'ala,
he
says So both,
day
and night, you know, portions of the day
and night are mentioned in both of the
surahs, and they both come together or next
to one another in the Quran. Also,
a layl
signifies
the darkness,
and it also signifies
a metaphorical darkness,
which is what?
Darkness of
knowledge,
meaning ignorance.
Jahiliya.
Okay. So a person who, you know, doesn't
have knowledge or
referencing even the the ignorance of the people
during the time of the messenger of Allah
because this Surah is, as we said, a
surah was revealed in Mecca when there was
no when Islam wasn't as widespread as it
was when,
the messenger of went to Madina. So this
can also signify the darkness of ignorance in
the early days of Mecca. And what's interesting
is
was revealed after
even though it comes in the Quran before
but in terms of the Tartib and how
they were revealed to the messenger of Allah
subhanahu wa sallam. So that the shams was
actually revealed after. And what does shams mean?
The sun, okay, which signifies
light, signifies noor, signifies
knowledge. Okay. So this Hashem's
Leil refers to darkness,
ignorance, and Hashem's can also refer to,
light and knowledge and, you know, good things.
Also from the,
wisdoms of where why the Surah is placed
where it is is that,
in Surat Ashams, the first few ayaat,
they end with the the letters and alif.
So Allah
says,
So the
was the end of the ayat, especially in
the first few aisles of Surat Shems. In
Suratul Layl, there is
no and alif at the end. So Allah
doesn't say walayli either, yaksha
It's walayli either yaksha.
Okay. So there's no and alif at the
end. So what does this mean?
The and the alif is basically referring to
something.
So when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says he's
saying the sun and its rays.
Because we mentioned Surat Dua. What does Dua
mean?
The morning rays, the morning light. So in
Surat Shams, Allah says,
The same word is used.
So it's referring to the rays of
the sun. The rays of Hashem's, which is
mentioned in the beginning of the ayah. So
the and alif is referring to the sun.
Okay. So it's referring to something that's going
back to the sun. Whereas in Surat Alayl,
there's no referencing back to
the night.
And maybe we can say one of the
reasons or one of the wisdoms behind this
is because we said that light here, Hashem's,
can be referring to
reference to something or can be
used to signify ignorance and darkness, you know,
and, you know, a lack of knowledge.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in certain light
he doesn't refer
back
the night in and of itself. Also,
a lay
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the first
eye of the Surah,
means to cover. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
doesn't mention what it covers. It says,
the night and
what it covers, but it doesn't mention specifically
what the the night is actually covering.
And what Allah mentions, what it covers.
So Allah says,
So it covers the nahav and the naharis,
the day. So Allah in Surat Shams, he
said
and the night and what it covers
is present tense,
and
the verb
which is used specifically
for the
day is present is present tense in Suratul
Layl. Okay? And it's and it's, Sorry.
The the verse referring to the night, Walayl,
is present tense. So
means to cover, but it's present tense in
this ayah.
The day,
now this verb here,
is actually past tense. So the tense changes.
So in the first ayah, it's present tense
referring to the night. In the second ayah,
it's past tense referring to
the day, referring to the day. So why
is there this difference with regards to, you
know, how the verbs are used? Why is
why isn't it all present tense? Why isn't
it all past tense? Why specifically is there
a difference between the 2 ayahs? The first
is present tense and the second referring to
the day's past tense.
Because the present tense in Arabic
can signify something which is incomplete,
and the past tense can signify something
which is complete and it's done.
For example, if I said I am finishing,
is that present tense or past tense?
Present tense. So have I finished yet? I
haven't finished yet. Okay. So it's referring to
something which hasn't been completed. If I said
to you I have finished, meaning it's done,
it's complete.
The thing the thing's been completed is finished.
So
likewise here Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is using
the present tense referring to the night because
the scholars of the Arabic language and tafsir,
they say the night isn't completely
pitch black.
When it becomes dark there's
aspect of daylight.
You can still make things out. Even when
it's pitch black you can still make things
out because there is some type of light
from the moon which is the reflection of
the sun.
So there's still that reflection and still that
moonlight
in the nighttime,
so the present tense is used because it's
not completely pitch black. Whereas when it's daylight,
there's no darkness.
The darkness has completely gone. So the the
the daylight is complete
and it erases and covers the rest of
the night. Also,
if you were to look at metaphorically,
if you were to say for example the
darkness is referring to what?
Ignorance, you know, jahiliyah, a lack of knowledge.
It's as if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
saying the darkness won't last forever.
It's never going to overtake everything.
That the the the light of Allah, okay,
or the the the light of Islam.
So it's as if the whole idea is
that there's going to be ease after these
hardships that you are experiencing. This darkness isn't
going to last. There's going to be light
after this darkness. Light at the end of
the tunnel. Also, Allah
he says
the one who purifies himself will be successful.
And in this Surah Surah Lay, Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala goes into detail about how we
can purify ourselves.
What does Allah as
for the one who gives and he fears
Allah and he gives with that which is
best. He gives
in the best possible way. So here Allah
is going into detail about who those people
are who are successful and they purify,
themselves.
Also in Surat Shams, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
he says
that those people are specific specific group of
people are, destroyed. And then Suratulayl, again, Allah
goes into detail about who they are.
As for those people who are stingy.
So it's, you know, Allah goes into more
detail,
in Suratulayl. So it's as if a shams
is the first part and Suratulayl is the
second part going into more detail about what's
mentioned in Suratul Shams. And also in Suratul
Shams, Allah says
the last ayah
of Suratul Shams, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he
says and he is not afraid, meaning Allah
is not afraid of the consequences
of that. Meaning of the consequences of the
actions of those who commit sins. And in
Suratul Layl Allah mentions the consequences
of those who actually sin.
We are going to ease them into hardships.
It's going to things are going to be
difficult for them. You know.
Allah says that we are warning you of
a fire.
Okay. So it's as if Allah is telling
them of the consequences of their actions. What's
going to happen to them if they commit
sins? Also in Surat Shams, Allah says,
Allah mentions the the sky and the earth.
And in this surah Allah mentions the male
and the female. And some of the scholars
they say that there's a connection between these
two pairs.
The sky and the earth and the male
and the female. And they say that the
sky and the earth, they work together to
produce life.
So the sky, what does the sky do?
It sends down
rain. And so it goes to the earth,
the water goes into the earth, and vegetation
and fruits and fruit comes out of the
ground of the earth. And likewise,
the male and the female,
okay, when they, you know, when they procreate,
children are made.
So there's this connection between the sky and
the earth and the man and the woman.
They both work to produce life just like,
one another.
The heavens and the earth and the male
and the female. And also some of the
salafs, they talked about Suratul Suratul Layl,
and they said that Suratul Layl, there are
some ayaat which are referring to Abu Bakr
radhiallahu an, which we'll go to later inshallah
when we talk about those ayaats.
For the one who gives and he gives
and shout and he fears Allah. Okay. Some
of the scholars say this these ayat are
referring
to Abu Bakr radiaallahu
an. And the surah after this is which
surah?
The surah after Surah Alai?
Dua after after. Dua. Okay.
Shams is before. After is Surah Al Dua.
In Surah Dua, who does Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala talk to? Who what's the surah about?
The messenger?
Deal with them accordingly. Have Hikma and have
wisdom with regards to how he deals with
people, even how he talks to people, and
how he
certain things, especially when it comes to the
salah.
So it shouldn't make salawat long if there's
people there who have needs. They have certain
duties. They have responsibilities.
There's people who are old. There's people who
are maybe, you know, weak or sick. You
know? So a person shouldn't
By the night when it covers.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala here he's making
an oath.
He's making an oath
by the night itself.
And again,
we mentioned this many times that when Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala makes an oath,
then it's something which has its virtue. It's
something which has importance, and we should give
it its importance.
Because Allah won't make an oath except by
something which has its value which has a
specific value. It has, you know, a father.
It has a sharaf. It has a nobility
in the sight of Allah and also be
as a result of that we should also
look at it and respect whatever Allah is
making an oath by. Okay. So the night
here Allah azzawajal is making an oath by
which shows us the importance of the night.
And it shows us
also the blessing of the night. And there's
many a hadith which talk about the blessing
of the night
from them that the mess that that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala descends to the to the
heavens of this world in the last part
of the night.
And so if a person is to make
dua and pray, he should supplicate in that
part of the night because Allah responds to
the dua of that individual. And many among
many other, you know,
blessings of the night, the messenger of Allah
himself will pray the whole night. The Hajj
prayer is done during the night. Taraweeh pray
it's in at night time, you know. So
it shows you the virtue
of the night and the blessing
of the night. So Allah azza wa zhal
here, he makes an oath by the night
and he says,
by the night
when it covers. I mean, again we mentioned
that
here Allah doesn't specifically say what the night
is covering, but it's mentioned in the surah
before.
Allah says he swears by the by the
day in tatashams
and then he says and by the night
which covers
it. By the night which covers it. So
it covers the day. So the night basically
covers the day. And also Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala in another ayah he says
He makes the night cover the day.
Is from the same,
root as,
Yawshaha.
So Allah
says,
he makes the night cover the day. And
some of the scholars, they said that this
is Imam Khortabir is one of them.
He says that this covers or he mentioned
a couple of, opinions with regards to what
this ayah means, and he said that
some scholars say it covers
the creation. It means that it's covering what
specifically? It's covering
the creation.
And some said it's covering the land, Al-'ud.
The land. And some said it's covering everything.
Some said it's covering
everything.
And also Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in Surah
he says
Allah azzawajal he says that we have made
the night and the day 2
of the greatest signs of Allah or two
signs of Allah.
So So this shows you that the night
and the day is a miracle from the
miracles of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Day after
day after day after day the sun rises
in the morning.
And then when, you know, at sunset at
the time of Maghrib the sun goes down
and the moon rises at nighttime.
And every single day from the beginning of
time till the day of judgement, everything will
happen. So this really shows you the the
miracle of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And there's no there's no day that the
sun decides I'm not gonna come up today.
You know?
Every single day the sun rises by the
permission of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And every
single night the sun goes down and the
moon comes up.
So it shows you the blessing
of Allah and the the the the the
the signs of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. The
the night and the day and how sometimes
we tend to take these things for granted.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he makes this
oath.
By the night when it covers. By the
night when it covers everything basically.
When it covers everything. And then Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala in the second he makes another
oath.
He makes a second oath and he says,
and the day as it reveals,
as it reveals. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
first of all he swears by the night
and then he swears by the day in
the second ayah. And we mentioned why the
the
present tense is used and why the past
tense is used in the first ayah. So
here
Allah swears by the day
and,
you know, Allah
is talking about how the day
reveals. What does it reveal? It reveals its
light,
and it reveals
its radiance to the creation,
and they benefit from it. And we all
benefit from the sunlight
in so many ways.
You know, it's good for our skin. It's
good for the, you know, the when when
a person, you know, is growing crops and
he's he's growing fruit and vegetables. You know,
a person goes out and he works.
So you have all of these benefits
when it comes to,
the the day and the light that comes
along with the day. And Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala here he says
and the day
when,
it and
literally it comes from the word,
or this it has the same root as
the word
which means,
something
which is glorious.
You know, when you reveal,
when one reveals one's glory or to shine
in brightness.
So it's as if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is saying that
the the day
when it starts,
it's
it's revealing its magnificence.
So the sun when it comes out in
its beauty and its in it, it has
its magnificence.
It has its beauty
that you can't compare with anything else. You
know, when the sun rises
and you have the sunrise
and the the colors that come along with
it and when the sun also, you know,
is setting and generally the beauty that, you
know, comes along with
with the day and with the sun. So
means to reveal one's glory and to shine
in brightness. So here, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is talking about the glory of the day.
You know, how the sun itself, you know,
reveals
the beauty of of the creation of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. So through the sun, okay,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is revealing his glory
to the rest of his creation. At the
end of the day, this is all an
evidence of the existence of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. All of this creation. The sun that
rises in the morning and then it shines
on the whole of the creation, giving light
to the whole of the creation, and we
can see these things. And he adds to
their beauty.
You know, at night time, the mountains and
the trees and the lakes, they don't look
as nice.
But when the sun comes out and you
see the the sun shining off the water
and you see the mountains and all their
details and the trees and so on and
so forth, then it adds to the beauty
of the creation of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And the day as it reveals, reveals its
beauty, reveals its magnificence, and reveals its glory.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
goes on and he makes another oath in
the 3rd aya.
So you have an an oath after an
oath after an oath. In the 3rd ayah
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he says
and he who created the male and the
female.
The wow here is basically a
means it's a continuation of the previous ayahs.
So just like the previous ayahs were oaths
by Allah, likewise, this ayah is also an
oath by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He says
and the
can have two meanings. The Mahia can have
two meanings. The first is
that it means
the one who created
these 2, the one who created the male
and the female. So who is Allah
swearing by then?
He's by swearing by himself.
He's swearing by himself because he's saying,
and by the one who created these 2,
the one who created the male and the
female.
So the first meaning
of the word
or the
first meaning of the word in this ayah
basically signifies that Allah is making an oath
and swearing by himself,
by the one who created the male and
the female. The second meaning of ma'am
is specifically referring to the male and the
female in this ayah.
And what he created of the male
and the female.
So in the first meaning, it's as if
Allah is swearing by himself. In the second
meaning, it's as if Allah azzawajal is swearing
by the male and the female. So he
swears by the night, he swears by the
day, and then he swears by the male
and the female. So Allah azzawajal is either
swearing by himself or by the male and
the female. And either way these are both
signs of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Signs of
the creation of Allah as of Allah azza
wa ta'ala. The night and the day, the
male and the female all of them going
back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So Allah
starts with the the night, wallay, and he
mentions the day. And then he talks about
the people and the creation of Allah. The
male and the female
under the night and the day. Those peep
you know the the male and the female
who benefit from the night and the day
on a day to day basis. Every single
day we benefit from the the night and
the day which is created by Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. And also we talked about the
connection between the male and the female and
the sky and the earth, you know, and
how they both
been worked together to produce things,
to produce, and to carry on,
providing.
So, likewise, just like the the sky,
sends down rain for the earth to to,
come out with its with its,
fruits and and vegetation.
Likewise, the human beings, the male and the
female, the male provides water as a result
of which the woman produces children. So it's
a similar kind of thing. And
all 3 of these ayaats or 3 of
these ayaats are referring to
life.
And they're referring to things which we couldn't
live without.
So Allah
is talking about the night and he's talking
about the day and he's talking about the
male and the female. We can't live without
our spouses.
You know, we can't live without the opposite
gender. We can't live without the daylight in
the day. We can't live without the nighttime.
The night is a time when we rest
as we mentioned the previous surah. The night
time is a blessing because we rest at
in in during the night, you know. And
in in the day, a person goes out
and he works. And this is why
the reward for staying up at night, waking
up in the night time, and praying has
its reward and has its status inside of
Allah.
Because
a person
overcomes,
okay, overcomes that tiredness
to worship Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, recognizing the
blessing of Allah upon him. And this is
why there's so much reward in a person
waking up during the night and praying and
worshiping to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Some said
that
the
here means male and means female. Some said
this is referring to the first man and
woman in history. Adam and
Hawa,
specifically referring to them. And some of the
scholars they said is not just talking about
humans,
but it's also talking about animals
and jinn and anything which has male and
female.
So humans, animals,
jinn, and even plants.
And what's interesting is
plants
have both genders in them.
Plants, they have both,
genders in them so that they can produce
seeds and they can continue the cycle of
life.
So if a person reads up, it is
interesting. Plants, they have this, you know, to
in order to produce seed, in order in
order to carry on, okay, whether it's fruit
or vegetables or any other type of plant.
Okay. They have both genders so that they
can reproduce and make the seeds, and they
can continue having,
reproducing the the plants, in the future. So
all 3 of these ayat
are talking about
things which represent life and things which, you
know,
even the plants themselves, they can't live except
with sunlight.
You know? So it shows you
that these things are representing life. And these
things are things which each and every one
of us should recognize as a blessing from
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. The night and the
day and the male and the female, these
are creations of Allah
blessings that Allah
has bestowed
upon us. And inshallah will
finish the next week we're going to discuss
what Allah
why Allah is making these oaths.
So
the
the
the okay. Why Allah
is mentioning these oaths, what he's going to
say after mentioning these specific oaths,
we'll do that next week. So if there's
any questions about today's class, then I'll do
my best to answer them.
Some scholars, they do mention that it's some
of the scholars, not all of them, some
of them said that it's it's talking is
is a metaphor for for darkness because in
the other ayat Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does
mention
the night referring to darkness. But you're right.
It's better to say that the the oath
he has referred specifically to the night as
between the night and the day as a
sign of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So there
is some some truth to what you're saying.
So there's there's difference between amongst the scholars.
Some of the scholars they say that all
of the Suras,
okay, are divine
divinely,
the messenger of specifically
told the companions
where the Surah's will will be placed in
the Quran
from the beginning to the end. So he
would say, put this Surah
here, put this surah here. So he would
organize the surahs and tell the companions where
to place the surahs.
So, that's what some scholars say. Other scholars,
they say that
it was the istihad of the companions.
And other scholars, they say it was both.
So in some cases, the messenger of would
mention in Hadith, he would mention
in order. So the companies would place those
in order, and he would mention other Suras
together. So they would place those solas together.
And other solas, they the messenger
never recently mentioned.
Okay. So they would use their
own difference.
Yeah. There's always
always a connection between
the Suraj. It might not necessarily be the
fact that there's specifically an oath because obviously,
and there are also oaths, but there's always
a connection.
So, you know, this is one of the
as we mentioned, there's one connection between
these solar
series of solar.
But it doesn't mean that every single solar
which has
is connected because of that. There'll be other
things
about, you know, why those solas are placed
where they are. There's always a connection. There's
always, you know, things, and there's much more
than this that I've mentioned. You know, if
you I mean, if you can mention lots
of connections between the solas. So when we
get there, we'll mention why those solas are
placed where they are as well.
And also this goes back to, like, the,
the the Quran,
you know, the how the Quran basically was
compiled.
You know? So a lot of these questions
are about the how the the Quran was
compiled. And inshallah,
as you may have not known, we're going
to be starting a course, on the panel,
maybe teaching teaching a course.
Foundation
of course. So it's basically going to be
going through the sources of evidences that we
use as Muslims, the Quran, the and that
we're also gonna be talking about the Quran,
the history of the Quran, how it was
about the Quran, the history of the Quran,
how it was compiled and these kinds of
these kinds of about the sunnah. We'll talk
about the the evolution of the sharia,
how sharia will evolve over time from the
time of the messenger of Allah
to
the to the 4 mad hubs.
Okay? But also talk about, for example, you
know, what do we mean when we say
wajib and Mandub and Mubah and Makru and
Haram?
What what all of these things mean, you
know, and many other issues as well, Insha'Allah.
Foundations of Fake is gonna be starting in
January. I think this is on Facebook, and
I think if you wanna get more information,
you get it from the office. So, if
you if you wanna join Insha'Allah, I think
spaces are limited.
So, for those who are listening as well,
inshallah.
It's a week. It's
once a week.
Yeah. Every Monday
from 8:30
till 10.
I think 8:30 till 10. Something around that
time.
Inshallah.
Okay.