Asim Khan – The Steadfast Believer Tafsir of Surah AsSaff #1
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AI: Transcript ©
On behalf of everyone at Darul Umar Redbridge,
I sincerely thank everyone for attending
the first of a series of 3 lectures
entitled
The Stedfast Believer, a tafsir of Surah al
Saf.
So,
over the next 3 weeks,
you'll be hearing, from our sheikh,
what is contained in Surah al Saf, and
you will be hearing what gave it that
title, the course,
the steadfast believer.
But before,
we start, I'd like to remind ourselves that,
the
the tawfiq that Allah has given us to
attend
gathering like these
is a great nirma,
because the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam described
these gatherings in a famous hadith, where he
said that
no people gather in the houses of Allah,
meaning the masajid,
where they are reciting the book of Allah
and studying it amongst themselves.
Except that,
you know, tranquility
will descend upon them, sekinah,
and mercy or rahma will engulf or envelope
them.
And the angels will surround them, surround this
gathering,
and
the greatest honor of all, Allah azza wa
jal will mention all of us by name
amongst his close angels. SubhanAllah.
These are just some of the virtues that
the prophet
has mentioned regarding gatherings like these.
So the fact that Allah
has given us the tawfiq to be sat
here
listening to this dares of the Quran, we
should say
Before I,
kind of briefly introduce the speaker, we're gonna
start inshallah with a short recitation from the
holy Quran.
So I would like to request our imam
Faisal Ahmed to inshallah,
start us off with a few verses of
the Quran.
To Imam Faisal for that beautiful recitation to
start us off.
Insha'Allah,
before handing it over to our speaker, Ustad
Asim Khan, I would just spend 30 seconds
introducing him. I know he wouldn't want me
to spend a long time with an introduction,
but I would just mention that
alongside being, qualified and practicing pharmacist, he has
many roles within the community, and he's well
known to all of us.
You know, as an as a guest, Imam
Al Khatib, in many different masargid across London,
as an author at Islam 21 c, as
an instructor
instructor at Sabeel Institute,
and many other, you know, roles and contributions
to the community. The reason I mention this
every time we have these guest speakers delivering
lessons is just a reminder, especially
to the young brothers and sisters amongst us,
many of you who have,
received a level results today today as well,
that we as Muslims, we should
we can and we should, try to strive
and achieve the best both in our Dunya
w efforts and affairs as well as our
Dini affairs as well.
So without further ado and with that kind
of, brief reminder,
I would like to hand over to Ustad
Asim Khan, to deliver his,
first session of Tafsir.
First and foremost,
to darul umma for allowing
me to spend some time with you guys
to share a short course on a surah
of the Quran,
which I think most people may not have
much knowledge about. Surah Asaf is the 61st
chapter of the Quran.
And I wanna speak about why I chose
that particular surah for this course in a
moment.
But before I do, just a a short
reminder
to get us started.
We've all heard of the famous hadith of
the prophet alaihis salatu wasalam.
The
best of you are those who learn the
Quran and those who teach it.
The context that this hadith is often used
in
is to do with learning how to recite
the Quran properly,
learning the tithread of the Quran.
And so in your mind you're thinking, oh,
the best people are those who learn how
to recite the Quran properly, And then if
they're good enough, they can teach other people.
Though that is true, it is not the
complete meaning of the hadith.
Because what does it mean to learn the
Quran? Does it just mean to learn how
to recite the Quran, full stop, nothing more
than that? Or does it mean no to
learn how to read the Quran and learn
the meanings of the Quran
to the level that you can then teach
your children, your family, your community,
how to recite the Quran and also
what the Quran is talking about, the meanings
of the Quran.
That in fact would make more sense for
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam to say the
best people are those
who know and understand the Quran, how to
read it and what it is saying, and
then they go on to tell other people
and teach other people.
The reason I say that is because we
live in a time where you can actually
find a person
who has maybe memorized the entire Quran
and yet he doesn't know a single thing
the Quran is talking about.
In fact, I I met
an imam once and
it was in Ramadan
and we had just finished a class of
tafsir and he sat with me and he
said, you know, I feel so disappointed in
myself
because, you know, I've been leading Taraweeh for
many years.
And the way I memorize the Quran is
so rote memory
that if you ask me to slow down
my recitation,
I will become lost and I'll forget.
I knew exactly what he meant. You know,
when you're young and the traditional madrasa style
of learning Quran is a very
rhythm based rote memory.
And if you fall out of that template,
that rhythm,
you start to lose track of what you
memorize and you forget.
And then the imam started to cry and
he said, you know,
it's so sad that I can, I have
led Taraweeh for the last 33 years
And everything you said in this class about
the tafsir, I can't remember what surah it
was,
I didn't know any of it?
And I said, subhanallah, you've led Taraweeh for
33 years.
And he's and I said, without a break.
He said, no, without a break every single
year.
And it made me realize that, subhanAllah,
it is very strange that we live in
a time where we may we may have
1,000, if not millions of hifadas of the
Quran and yet many of them do not
understand
even a little bit about what the Quran
is actually saying.
And that is a very sorry state of
affairs. Imam Tabari,
who wrote one of the greatest works in
tafsir, he passed away 3:10 Hijri. He said,
I
am amazed, astonished
by the person
who recites the Quran.
He doesn't understand the meanings.
How will he taste the sweetness of the
Quran?
This is in the 4th century. He's saying,
I'm astonished that there could be a person.
He recites the Quran frequently.
He doesn't understand what he's saying. How are
you going to taste the sweetness of the
Quran?
And today we live in a time where
unfortunately many Muslims
are of this level. Now don't get me
wrong.
The prophet, sassam, told us that if you
recite the one half of the Quran, you
get how many rewards?
Minimum?
10 hasanat.
10 hasanat. So just reciting the Quran
is a noble thing. It's a virtuous thing,
but if it
stops there and never progresses that is a
sad thing
And that is a situation that we do
not want to find ourselves in. That's one
of the reasons why I wanted to do
a course in the tafsir of Quran to
explore the meanings of one particular surah.
So the surah we've chosen is the 61th
surah. It is surah Asaf
and is translated well, the Halim is translation
as the chapter
of the let's have a look here. I
think he said the solid lines.
Others have translated it as the surah of
ranks.
So when you heard the word saf,
we think of the lines in the in
the masjid. Right? Make the saf mean make
the lines.
But this surah is not really about making
lines or people standing together in a straight
line in the masjid.
Rather this is to do with Muslims being
united
together
and committed to the religion of Allah.
And if you think about that, this is
one of the main things missing in the
Ummah today.
That there's a lack of unity, lack of
togetherness and a lack of commitment to stand
for Allah's religion.
And if there was a bigger example,
it would be the case of our brothers
and sisters in Palestine today.
The reaction of many Muslim leaders across the
world is a reflection of the lack of
togetherness,
unity and commitment to the religion.
Some Muslim countries have come forward to support
our brothers and sisters. Many of them, however,
have remained silent. Some of them
complicit in the genocide.
May Allah bring about his justice, Allahumma Ameen.
And so for for this reason and others,
it is very important for us to learn
about this particular surah because
its message is to do with Muslims
rallying around the cause of Allah's religion,
being together and steadfast. And that is depicted
in the symbol of us standing together in
a suf,
arranged,
organized together
as one body.
In fact, one of the verses Allah will
say, the Muslims,
they are like a well cemented
wall. You think of a wall with all
the bricks
cemented
together, that is symbolic of the Muslim community
or what it should be.
Bricks, each one having his own role.
They are stuck together,
each one supporting their fellow brother, their fellow
sister, and together,
they create a structure
that cannot be
brought down, cannot be penetrated.
So this surah contains many messages and I
feel like extremely relevant to our times.
So let's let's go into some of the
details. We'll begin
by talking about the historical context. It's very
important for us to know the situation around
which Surah Asaf was revealed. In fact, any
Surah is always helpful to know when was
this revealed, what was going on at that
time. So Surah Asaf was revealed to the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasalam by
consensus in Madinah and Munawwara.
And if we think about the Muslim situation
there, we find that they move from Makkah,
from a place of weakness, a place of
vulnerability,
always subjected to persecution,
to a position of relative strength. They have
their own community now. They have,
they they have the determination for their own
political will, and
they have a level of togetherness now. They're
living together in one city, the city of
the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
But that transition brought with it some new
challenges.
1st is the external challenge of war.
Now there are open targets. The Quraysh
and their allies can come at them and
wage a war, destroy them, their city and
everything they stand for and what they worked
for.
But there is also a second threat,
an internal one.
In fact, let me ask you, what is
this new internal threat that they've never actually
experienced before in Makkah for those 13 years.
Something that just came about in Medina. Yes.
Very good. It is the
challenge of hypocrites
that there are now people amongst their ranks
that claim to be Muslim, but they're not
really Muslim. They're only saying it so they
can bring about the downfall of the Muslim
community and score favor with the enemies so
that they can come out on top should
the enemies attack and the Muslims collapse.
And the person never had this in Makkah.
Everyone who believed is gonna get persecuted.
And so if you're a believer, you'd really
are a believer. Whereas in Madinah, if you
said that you're a Muslim, get all the
benefits of being a Muslim, maybe you would
never have to risk your faith for anything.
Right? So these are the 2 new threats.
And in that context, Surah Asaf is being
revealed.
That Muslims, you need to rise to your
new challenge.
So there's a a very interesting narration
about Surah Asaf and why it was revealed.
In fact, most of the books of Seeb,
they quote this narration and many others that
are similarly worded. And it really does tell
us
the core message that Surah Asaf came with.
So I'll read the Arabic and then I'll
translate. This is reported by a companion, Ali
ibn Talha,
and he said
So,
the companion said there were some believers amongst
us
before jihad was prescribed
who would say we wish Allah the almighty
would guide us to
the deed he loves the most
so that we could go ahead and perform
that deed.
Then Allah informed them that the most beloved
deed to him are to have faith
and to strive against those who disobey him,
those who oppose the faith and do not
acknowledge it.
So when jihad was revealed, some of the
believers disliked it
and found that some of the believers disliked
it and found that very difficult. So Allah
revealed
this Surah
and in this Surah in particular, Allah says
you will ladheenaamanu
limataquluna
malatifalun
believers.
Why do you say
what you do not
do? So just matching this up with the
narration, what did some of the believers say
they would do?
They wanted to know what did Allah loves
the most so they could do that. That's
what they said.
But then when they found out their reality
that they may have to risk their lives,
some of them
didn't want to do that.
Yes. Didn't want to do that. You know
straight off the bat, it's interesting that
we are hearing about true Muslims here.
We're not hearing about
hypocrites.
These are real Muslims, real companions of the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And our perception of
them is one that's a very sterile. We've
we have very romantic understanding of who they
were. We think that they were like angels.
They never did anything wrong. They were perfect.
The iman was a 100%,
and there was nothing too difficult for them
to do. But this narration is saying, actually,
some of them
were very human
when they were told, you know what, if
you really want to do what Allah loves,
you have to go out there and strive
for his religion and face the enemies on
the battlefield. And then some of them were
like, they had reservation in their heart.
But that's something's power every single person would
have. It's normal.
That's completely normal.
But the companions where they differed to the
regular person is that though they had that
reservation, some of them had that reservation, had
that shortcoming,
they were able to overcome it.
They were able to take that weakness and
say, you know what? I need to overcome
this weakness for the sake of Allah.
And that is how they attained their greatness.
That it wasn't because they had no weakness,
it was because of in spite of their
weaknesses, they were able to rise above that.
And in fact, that is the way everyone
achieves their status in Allah.
It's not by being perfect or being people
that have no weaknesses by being being people
who have weaknesses, but they overcome them for
the sake of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
So why was this Surah revealed? Well, according
to this narration, it was revealed
because of some of the Muslims they lacked
that level of faith and commitment to the
religion required
by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And as you're
hearing that, should we be putting yourself into
that
into
that category?
Because it relates to all of us.
We have all had moments in our life
where we know what Allah wants us to
do. We haven't done it.
Could be do with money.
It could be to the relationships. It could
be a moment of dishonesty.
It could be anything
that has happened to us in our life
where we've had a decision and we know
that this is what Allah wants. So we
decided to do
the other thing.
And if that is the case, then this
surah is really speaking to us
as much as it is to them, maybe
even more so to us. Yes. An interesting
way to read the Quran, to think of
it as being addressed to you.
So with that
context now we move into the first verse.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
Everything in the skies and the earth has
been glorifying
Allah and he is the almighty, the all
wise.
Now many surahs, they start with a similar
kind of, wording that everything in the skies
and everything on the earth is glorifying Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. In fact, there's like 7
Surahs in the Quran called the Musab Bihat
that all begin in a very similar way.
There's subtle differences between them. For example, some
of them will begin whereas
this one begins
there's an extra
word there the ma appears twice
and then some of them they end with
different names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala or
this one ends with Al Azzizul Hakim.
Now what does that mean firstly that everything
glorifies Allah in the heavens and the earth
well it's interesting because in surah al israelah
says who
knows the rest of the verse
Allah
says
every single thing
in the heavens and the earth
glorifies
the praises of Allah
except that you don't understand
how they do that.
Well, that means that all the planets,
all the celestial bodies, all the animals, all
the creatures in the sea, in the sky
and beyond, aliens maybe,
wherever they are, wherever they exist,
the inanimate ones, the ones with souls, without
souls, all of them
are together
in their devotion to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
That is what it means.
And the context of this Surah being revealed,
it takes on a new meaning, which is
the all you Muslims
who lack the courage, the commitment to the
religion,
Don't you realize that everything is already being
the way I wanted wanted it to be?
Everything is already devoted to me. Everything is
already glorifying me, singing my praises.
Why are you the exception to this?
Why are you the only ones not doing
this?
And if you it's inter because the the
the next verse directly talks to the believers
who said what they didn't do.
But this is the backdrop to that. And
it has that added context of
before I talk to you about why you
don't do what you're supposed to do, do
you realize that everything is doing what it's
supposed to do? Everything loves me. Everything fears
me. Everything worships me.
Every single thing.
And some of the scholars they say you
know the word sabbaha is in the past
tense whereas you have other surahs they have
yusab bishu which is the present tense and
the sabbaha they say has the meaning of
continuity
that as far back in the past as
you go you'll always find them to be
like this. There's never been a moment in
history where things have stopped devoting themselves to
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And then you've added
to the verse that surahs that begin with
Yusab Bihoo, present tense, that has the continuity
in the future as if to say they
don't just do that now, but forever far
down the line you go they will continue
to be like that Allahu Akbar.
Every single thing is devoted
celebrating
the greatness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And another meaning that can be added to
this is
you know though Allah is saying the ones
I tell you to strive against,
even though they may outnumber you,
even though they may overpower you in their
military might, the fact is that in the
grand scheme of things, they are the minority.
You are the majority.
Because you are with those
who are already devoted to me, and that
is all of creation.
And even if you think that the way
Allah destroyed certain nations,
did he not destroy them through those other
creation
that glorifies him? How did Allah destroy the
pharaoh? With what?
With
water.
Allah destroyed the pharaoh with water.
How did Allah destroy the people of 'ad?
How did Allah destroy the people of 'ad?
That's right. With wind,
with water, with wind.
Okay. Another question. Who which nation was destroyed
by a piercing sound?
Which nation was destroyed by a piercing sound?
Come on. Somebody must know.
What did you say?
The the. Very good. There's also another one.
The people of the town.
Yes. They're also destroyed by sun. So sound
is a soldier of Allah. Water is a
soldier of Allah. Wind is a soldier of
Allah. Allahu Akbar.
So when you hear everything in the skies
and the earth glorifies Allah, this is the
these are the soldiers of Allah
devoted to to Allah. And when Allah wants,
they can turn against the enemies of the
Muslims.
And when you feel that and you believe
in that,
it does increase your courage a little bit.
It doesn't make you feel, you know, subhanAllah,
why
why do I feel inferior?
When those who disbelieve in Allah, they are
the minority
and everything else is with Allah. I should
be in the camp with those who are
with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and the verse
ends wahu alaaziz al Hakim. He is the
almighty.
As if to say Allah is asking you
to do something and if you do that
do you know who will be with you?
Al Aziz,
the almighty,
whose will is irresistible,
whose might has no limit.
Think about that. When Musa alaihi salaam
was told by Allah,
you know, you've come here to Madyan and
you need to go back to Egypt
and face Firaun. Tell him he's not a
god
and the Israelites must be released.
What did Musa alaihi salaam say to Allah
when he told him to do that?
What did he say?
What did he say? Do you know what
he said?
Yes. He said, well, I've
that place,
I left it in a bad way.
What did he say?
He said, I'm scared.
He said, I'm scared. I'm scared what they're
gonna do to me. I'm scared what Firaun's
gonna do to me.
I'm scared about the fact that I left
there after committing a crime.
What did Allah say? He said,
go
He said go I am with you.
I am hearing and I am seeing everything.
Meaning I am with you. If Allah is
with you,
if Allah is with you can anyone stand
against you?
No.
Really and truly it is just a matter
of faith,
a matter of belief, conviction that Allah is
with the believer. Allahuwaliu
ladheena amru. Allah says Allah is the wali.
The wali
is the protective friend,
the protective. Allah is saying I am the
protective friend of those who believe.
And how many times has a prophet been
outnumbered, outpowered and yet been victorious?
It's there every single time.
So when you read Allahuahuwala
Aziz,
there's some
Sometimes,
you know, when you hear Islam wants you
to do this, you have to do this
as a Muslim.
You have some reservations. You think to yourself,
you know what? Really?
Haven't times changed?
Things people do things differently now. Must I
do that as well? Do you wanna give
me some examples where people might say that?
Interest.
When people hear that they're not allowed to
deal with interest, don't they say? Yeah. But
that was back then. Now the whole economy
is based on interest. How can I avoid
interest? Surely, Islam doesn't want me to become
poor.
Surely, Islam doesn't want me to become
fall behind in my finances. Surely, Islam doesn't
want me to become homeless.
There's so many so many situations people will
say, oh, you know what, Islam is asking
me to do this, but really is that
necessary?
And Allah he says, wahuwalaazizal
Hakim, he is the most wise,
the most wise.
He would never ask you to do something
that does not make sense.
He would never ask you to do something
that does not benefit you. He would never
ask you to do anything
where the harms outweigh
the benefit. Never.
We learn that we learn that more today
than we do before
fasting
1 month. Oh my God. That's like torture.
That's what they would say before. That's like
torture. You do what you tell your kids
to do that.
That's terrible.
And now, oh, yeah. I have to do
intermittent fasting. 2 days 2 days a week.
Oh, really?
Oh, really? It's a good thing. Alcohol. Oh,
you can't drink alcohol. Poor you.
So tough.
And now what does science say? Actually, there's
no responsible amount of alcohol anyone can drink.
In fact, abstinence is the best way forward.
Oh, really?
Oh, we could have told you that.
But the worst thing is that Muslims, they
feel that themselves. That Islam,
they asked me to do certain things, but
is it really the best thing? Wahuwalaazizal
hakeem. Allah is all wise.
Never ever doubt. You can say that you're
weak.
You can say that, you know what?
I know it's the right thing to do,
but I'm struggling. That's fine. But don't be
the person who says, yeah. But is it
is that really right, though? Is that really
what we're supposed to do? I my opinion
on this is aoodu billamindhalik
what is your opinion count for
next to the opinion of Allah and the
messenger of Allah salallahu alaihi wa sallam counts
for nothing
Allah say you're so in Hajarat believers don't
put yourself before Allah and his messenger.
Don't put yourself
admit that you're weak, that you struggle, but
believe that this is the truth. This is
right. And one day, InshaAllah, I want to
do the thing that is very difficult for
me to do today.
May Allah give us understanding.
Then Allah says in the next two verses,
and these are the the critical verse of
the Surah now, really the whole Surah is
revolving around these 2 verses.
Believers,
why do you say what you don't do?
It's such a powerful verse
and it really hits you yourself, isn't it?
As if imagine Allah is saying that to
you directly. Believers, why do you say what
you don't do?
Now in the context of
the history,
what this means is some of the believers,
they were saying, if only we knew Allah,
what you love,
we would definitely do that. And then Allah
said, well, what I really love is that
you strive and struggle for my cause on
the battlefield.
And then some of them are like,
but that's too difficult.
But interestingly, Allah doesn't say
Believers, why don't you strive and struggle for
the sake of Allah? Instead,
Allah says, why do you say what you
don't do?
That's different, isn't it?
This is broader.
As if Allah is saying, why do you
say you're gonna do good things
but then you abandon those good things?
Now that
can be filled with so many examples, so
many scenarios that relate to every single person
in this room.
And at the essence, this question
is a reprimand.
Allah is reprimanding the believers. He's telling them
off. He's saying, don't be this type of
person
who says they're going to do something good
and then they don't do it.
In English, what do we call that? What's
what word is there for that? A person
lacks
commitment,
commitment.
And when you meet people
that lack commitment,
do you like them or do you loathe
them?
Do you like people or do you hate
people who say, you know what?
Yeah. Yeah, bro. I'll do that for you.
No problem. And when the day comes, he's
not picking up my phone call.
Do we like people like that? We don't
like people like that.
Even we we don't like people that say
they're gonna do things and they don't do
them.
What about Allah the Almighty?
Doesn't he deserve more commitment than our friends
and our family?
Of course.
So when Allah says why do you say
what you don't do? It broadens out the
meaning to include this idea that believers
don't have reservations
in listening to Allah.
Whenever Allah asks you to do something, do
it.
If you can't do it,
then admit that to yourself. You know, Allah,
this is difficult for me. I will try.
I'm struggling.
But don't be the person that, yeah, yeah,
yeah. I'm gonna, I'm gonna do that. I'm
gonna do that. And I'm gonna do that.
And then when the time comes,
you're at home sleeping.
Don't that's worse because now you committed 2
crimes.
You committed to what the first crime is
that you
piped up and said, yeah, I'm gonna do
all these good things. And the second crime
is
you didn't do those good deeds.
Had you just made the intention, said, you
know, inshallah, I'll try to do it. And
then you didn't do it. You made, you
made one crime, which is you didn't come
through.
But the first scenario, you made 2 crime,
which is that you
vocalize an intention, a commitment to do something,
and then you backed out. Is that not
worse?
Of course, it is worse.
And that's what the wording captures, 2 sins.
Why do you say
number 1 crime
that you don't do? You don't do the
deeds either.
And this is a lack of commitment. This
is a lack of courage and essentially a
lack of faith in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And that is why the next verse
really raises the stakes.
The next verse Allah says,
How
hateful is it
in the eyes of Allah that you say
what you don't do?
That's deep.
Who is Allah talking to? Remind me again.
Mhmm. Kufar?
Yes.
Allah is not talking to disbelievers. Allah is
not talking to hypocrites. Allah is talking to
Those
who say we believe.
Allah is talking to the ones he loves
and he's
saying, I hate it.
I mean, well, lie. The heart should shudder
thinking that Allah said this. He said, I
hate it when people say what they don't
do.
That's how I today, I went on Google
and I typed in what do people hate
the most?
I just searched it. You know what was
the number one thing that came up on
the list? What do people hate the most?
No. Like, in terms of qualities in people,
what do people hate the most when in
in somebody else's bad quality?
Dishonesty.
Dishonesty.
Number one thing people hate the most, dishonesty.
You know what the number 2 thing is?
Take a guess.
Lie.
Lying is is similar to number 1. No?
Hypocrite,
you're close.
No commitment. No.
Dishonesty is number 1.
Number 2, no. I wasn't.
You're trying to speak to somebody here and,
yes, please.
Yes. You're very close. People people that lack
humility.
People
and strange, isn't it? Now everyone shows off.
Everyone's flexing about something or another on social
media. People hate to see somebody else showing
off.
But what they hate more than anything else
is dishonesty.
What did Allah say here? He hates people
that say what they don't do.
It's not difficult for us to under appreciate
why Allah hates this quality.
That I believe I would say they're gonna
do a good deed and then they abandon
the good deed.
Because
how does that reflect in your relationship with
Allah?
That, you know, you know that Allah wants
you to do something and you say, yeah,
I'm gonna do that.
And then when it comes down to it,
you know where to be seen.
What do they call they call that being
flaky now? Isn't it?
Flaky.
Yeah. And as human beings, we don't like
that. When you see other people being like,
we don't like that.
You know? If you're gonna get married to
someone
and you you find out that the most
beautiful person in the world, the richest person
in the world,
they struggle with commitment.
You're gonna marry that person?
Brothers are like, yeah. Fair enough. I'll make
it work.
Sister's gonna be a no. I want a
committed man.
Someone who says what they're gonna do and
does that thing as well.
Would you like to work for someone
who says one thing and does another thing?
Would you like to work for someone like
that? No. You wouldn't.
Then why should we be slaves of Allah
like that?
Listen. Why should we be Allah's slaves like
that?
That Allah revealed for us a book. He
told us everything he wants us to do.
Told us a reward he'll give us if
we do it, told us what the punishment
we will get if we don't do it.
And then
we have reservations.
We lack commitment.
Now
the meaning of this verse, kabura maqat and
aandallaha,
is made more intense
in a number of ways. Firstly, the word
kabura, it comes from kabir, which means
great,
huge.
So the the word maqt
is being translated as hate here. And in
Arabic,
the meaning of the word maqt
is
to hate someone
because they've done something
that upsets you.
So you know how people can hate another
person for no good reason.
I mean, look at the EDL for example.
Hating a whole community for no good reason.
The very people that
literally keep you alive
through the NHS. You're hating on them. No.
Mukt is when you hate someone because they've
done something despicable. They've done something to offend
you, to annoy you, to harm you.
And they say it is the most
this the highest level of hatred.
So in Arabic, the word
is used for hate.
Is our level above that.
And it is
it is there because
you see something in someone. They've done something
to you, and it sparks that type of
emotion.
So Allah is saying,
and the word, what it adds is a
meaning of astonishment, ta'ajjub. So it says, though
Allah is saying,
how
hateful is it?
How hateful is it
in the Allah,
in the sight of Allah?
And that
amps up the meaning even more because, like,
you know, in whose view does is it
hated?
The view of the one who matters the
most, Allah.
In his eyes,
it is so hated
that a person should say what they don't
do.
And the meaning is what?
That muslims
that they profess to do whatever Allah wants,
but then when the time comes,
they're nowhere to be seen. They lack commitment.
They don't come through. They abandon the good
deeds.
Yeah,
first of all, may Allah purify our hearts
from this bad quality. Allahu ameen.
We all have a share of this, no
doubt.
When we go away today, we should be
thinking, you know what,
How can I get rid of this quality?
What can I do to change myself?
What is it that I can do in
my daily life that will make me more
committed, more devoted,
and
more faithful to Allah subhanahu. That is what
you should take away from this. What you
shouldn't take away from this is I'm a
terrible person. I'm going to the hellfire.
Because that's not the reason why Allah revealed
this verse. It wasn't to put the Muslims
down.
It was to make them rise up.
That was the
reason
why.
So
directly after this,
after telling us what Allah doesn't like,
Allah tells us what he loves.
As though the Muslims listening to this should
be frightened, scared, worried, and they're looking for
direction.
They're looking okay. What what do I do,
Allah? Because I don't wanna be this guy.
What do I do? Allah says,
Truly, Allah loves those
who fight in his cause
as though they are solid ranks.
Like they are a well cemented wall.
Allah is saying that's what I love. I
love to see my worshipers
being together
standing for my religion,
supporting one another.
And this is a simile in English. We
call this a simile.
As though they are
as though they are,
which means a wall or a structure,
marsus, which means
put together
very well,
put together very well.
And there's so many ways
in which this simile
is symbolic.
Like, for instance, firstly,
thinking of the Muslims as though they should
be 1, some well cemented wall, you get
this impression that, you know, we're all different.
Every brick is different.
Every every person has different qualities.
Every brick has a different position.
And then what do those bricks do to
one another?
They support one another.
And if the foundations are
laid down well,
then the building can be erected higher.
And then the cement in between is what
holds them together.
And the better the cement work,
the firmer the structure.
And also if there's a few rotten bricks
amongst the structure, what happens to the whole
wall
becomes weak.
The weakest link as they say,
some parts of it are weak, meaning some
Muslims are very weak. Everyone else is affected.
It's not just you
because we are an Ummah. We are a
community.
And it's interesting if you think about, for
example,
you know,
the situation of marriage in the Muslim community
and how many marriages are going through difficulty,
some marriages unfortunately ending
in divorce,
how that affects not just the 2
husband and wife, but also their children, but
also the community as well. People say, oh,
they got divorced, they got divorced
and then their children go to school and
then they their classmates speak, oh, their mom
and dad got divorced.
Do you not think that affects the mentality
of
the fellow brother and sister community members? It
does. And then when it's time for you,
young brother to get married and you're minding,
oh my God, all these people getting divorced,
man. I don't wanna be that person.
You go into marriage with that fear.
Is it gonna work? Is it not gonna
work? I've seen so many people getting divorced.
Do you see?
We are supposed to be one
well cemented wall united.
What happens in somebody's house over there? It
affects me in my own house and my
own children.
So if the marriages are strong, the families
are strong, then the community becomes strong. If
the communities are strong, then there's unity. If
there's unity in the communities of Muslims, then
there's unity in the Ummah.
It spreads,
it blossoms.
So
this is what Allah loves
and this is the message that we should
take.
Allah, he doesn't like people
that
lack commitment,
are not devoted to him, but what he
does like are those Muslims who come through,
are brave, courageous, steadfast,
and more importantly they see themselves not individuals
but as members of a community,
the best community.
You are the best
community
taken for humanity.
That's what Allah said.
We are the Umar Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa
sallam, the best prophet from all the 124,000
prophets. Allah selected the best one to be
our leader.
We have more reason
to be united,
happy, prosperous than any other believer in history.
And that is why Allah expects us to
be like that.
So going back into this verse, and I
will conclude with this verse.
Context of this verse is to do with
jihad,
and we mentioned this word a number of
times. We're speaking about it historically for the
purpose of this class.
In the begin in Madinah Munawara,
as soon as a person moved to Makkah,
sorry moved from Makkah to Madinah,
the Quraysh took that as a declaration of
war.
You're moving, you're renouncing your citizenship of our
land and you're becoming a citizen of this
other land which was known as Yathrib at
the time and now you're forming an estate
we see as enemy, you're at war with
us.
So the Muslims
now they have this
new role to play which is
defenders of their faith,
physical defenders.
They have to learn how to fight.
They have to learn how to go to
war to protect their religion, their prophet, and
their country.
And so the Quran,
it reveals verses
to guide them in that moment
and moments that will come later on similar
to that.
And so it's understandable that some of the
Quran is talking about warfare
because that is
a part of the reality of life,
especially for the Muslims of that time.
And when you're talking about war and talking
about defending yourself,
the way you're gonna talk about it
is with very direct explicit words
because this is a matter of life and
death.
And Allah is saying what he loves are
those who fight
in his cause.
Now we always use this phrase fee sabillillah.
What does that actually mean? Because in this
verse says they fight fee sabillihi
in his cause. There's a pronoun there referring
back to Allah.
What does that actually mean to do something
fee sabillihi?
Does it mean to do something for free?
Does it?
It could do.
They could do. Not necessarily, but it could
do. What does it actually mean? You know,
someone says, you know what, bro, you should
do that. Fisa be illallah.
Yes. To sacrifice something for sake of Allah.
That's good.
That's good, but I think we can do
better.
Yes. You're closer. He said there your reward
is with Allah. You're getting closer. What does
it mean though when you say do something
for the sake of Allah?
I didn't hear that. What's that?
Yes.
Do something.
Yes.
Where there's no reward?
You mean there's only reward from Allah.
There's no worldly reward.
Yes. You're the closest so far.
For the pleasure of Allah,
even closer.
Means
do it sincerely for the sake of Allah.
That's what it means. Do it sincerely for
the sake of Allah. If you do it
for Allah's sake means sincerely for him, you
expect the reward from Allah and Allah alone.
You're not doing it for an ulterior motive.
You're not doing it for your self interest.
You're not doing it for a worldly gain.
You may gain something,
but that's not your driver. Your driving motivation
is I'm doing it for the sake of
Allah, for his pleasure.
And so Allah is saying what I love
is that if you had to,
you would fight
for my sake.
Meaning that I am the reason
you are risking your life.
Not everyone would do that. Now there was
a man in the time of the process
of salam.
He fought, what time is that, Zaneh?
2:15.
So 8 minutes? Okay. There was a man
who fought valiantly in one of the battles
and the companions were amazed by his courage
until one companion said, you know, I will
follow him the whole battlefield to see what
is this man about. He's so courageous.
And he saw him fighting and killing many
enemies.
But then the man took a wound
which was very painful
and the companion saw him struggling
and then he saw something horrific.
He saw this man turn the spear on
himself
and thrust it into his own chest,
killing himself.
Then
the companion went to the prophet and said,
you Rasoolah, I saw this man. He fought
like no one has fought
and then he became injured and then he
turned the spear on himself and he killed
himself.
The prophet said,
there will be a man
who does the deeds of the people of
paradise until he is one hand span away
from power from death and Allah will make
him do the deeds of the people of
the hellfire
and who will be thrown into the hellfire.
What does that mean?
Some of the scholars, they say what this
means is that it's possible for a person
to be behaving in a way that people
see as pious, as noble,
as sincere,
but they were never doing it for the
sake of Allah and Allah from his justice
made that apparent at the very end.
And so what you saw
was actually a reflection of who he was.
When he was stabbed
and he was injured,
that was too humiliating
for him and his ego,
he decided to take his own life.
Do you see that?
So when you say doing something sincerely, when
Allah says when they fight for my sake,
it means they're not fighting
for
their
rights.
They're not fighting for freedom.
They're not fighting for
an ideology other than Islam. They're not fighting
for their family.
They're not fighting for their countrymen.
They're fighting for something even more noble and
that is
the pleasure of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And then not only that,
but the way they fight, they fight in
soft,
in rows.
And this doesn't mean that on the battlefield
that they line up like they do in
salah,
and then they get mowed down by people.
It means that they fight, ibn al Ashoor
said, in an organized
united manner.
Each person
doing what they're supposed to do.
The vanguard is at the front. The rear
guard is at the rear. You're on this
flank. You're on that flank. This is your
role. You're a horseman. You're a spearman,
whatever.
Everyone
happy to do their role.
There's a I'll end with this. There's a
famous,
incident between
Amr Al Khattab
and Khalid Nwaleed, radiAllahu anhu.
In the reign of Amr, Khalid
was one of probably the most senior general
in the Muslim army, and under him came
many, many victories for many years.
Until one day, Amr wrote to him
and said,
I'm recalling you.
Come back
to the capital
and you are removed from the battlefield.
And this was something very different for difficult
for Khalil Malik to accept
this
when he's in his prime
and victories are coming so easily to be
told, I'm sorry.
You remove from this position, you come back
here, and you be like an
do an admin role.
So many people questioned Amr Al Khattab. Many
people even questioned his motivation
and said, is he doing this because he's
jealous?
Is he doing this because he's jealous? He's
getting all the glory.
Later on, they realized why Amal Khattab did
that.
The reason why
is because the true believer
is happy to serve Allah at the front
or in the rear.
Wherever Allah wants you to
do your role,
whether in a place that you enjoy
or a position that you despise,
Sameh'anaHu
Wa Ta'ana. I hear and I obey. And
our Al Khattab was worried
that Khaled's,
nafs was being ruined by the glory.
So he cared enough
to help him figure things out. Allahu Akbar.
This is what Allah would grant us victory
because we would look out for one another.
Not just the external threats, the internal ones
as well. And that is what Allah loves.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to unite
our hearts. We ask Allah to purify our
hearts from lacking commitment to his religion. We
ask Allah to make us of those who
are always devoted to Allah in good times
and in difficult times.
For that enlightening,
first session. SubhanAllah. We've just covered, you know,
a couple of verses, 3, 4 verses, a
few lines of the must have yet,
in this time, we've managed to extract so
much meaning and, and very profound meaning from
that.
And so we ask Allah as our agenda
for the entire Quran, he grants us this
level of understanding for every single verse, inshallah.
Due to the lack of time, just for
today, we won't do any Q and A,
but Inshallah, for future sessions, we'll try to
have some time at the end, for you
to ask questions, inshallah. And for the sister
side, we will, inshallah, set up a Slido
link,
through which you can submit questions online, inshallah.
But, for today, we'll con conclude here, Insha'Allah.
Our next session will be, this coming Thursday,
next week,
at the same time, after Salatul Nogrib
and before Salatul Reisha. So we hope to
see you then.