Bilal Philips – My Writings Tafseer Soorah Al-Hujurat

			so that when I come to LA here, we're going to cattle during the 80s.
		

			I did a number of writings, perhaps publications didn't take place at the time that things were
written. But they're, nonetheless, the writings of the 80s. Among them, is tafsir Surah anhydrite.
		

			And this design of the cover is the original design, this is how I designed it. Currently, it's
available with this by International Islamic publishing house in Riyadh, it has also been widely
received very positively, and has affected many people in that. I tried to include in it as much
knowledge as I could from all the various fields. Actually, there was a conference held in Trinidad
in 1980 8081.
		

			And I was invited
		

			by the cough to accompany Some chefs from Riyadh, from Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, who were going to
teach in a conference. It was for one week or two weeks, preparing to add those who would be
carrying the message of Islam in the region. So students, and others were invited from the region
whether from Belize, from Jamaica,
		

			from Barbados, Grenada, from Guyana, South America, as well as Trinidad and Tobago, and other
islands. As I said, I was invited there for two purposes. One that I would translate for the chef
who is teaching Tajweed who will be teaching the Quran Arabic
		

			proper pronunciation of the Quran, since this were for the leading figures in the Dawa of the
region, and also the assigned me Surah gerat. To teach while I was there, at first, I didn't
understand why saw for gerat in particular, you know, it was chosen out of
		

			the Quran many chapters, why several 100 I've never come across any special mention of Surah gerat
You know, from the Dawa perspective etc. Anyway, as I went about preparing the tafsir probably been
cut here and I'll go to B and other MUFA serene as I began putting the Tafseer together and then
looking at the situation of Muslims in the Caribbean, the West Indies and how these verses and
concepts were relevant to them beneficial etc etc. I came to understand why they chose the tafsir of
Surah gerat Because it does zero sir I will draw it is connected up with community building, it
deals with so many issues that are related to community, whether it is establishing the province of
		

			Salem as being the one to be followed by all
		

			or it was treating people
		

			equally, that there is no differences of consequence among us, except by Taqwa or it was you know,
dealing with other issues of character, you know, backbiting and all these other kinds of things.
So, the sewer is very, very comprehensive Alhamdulillah I prepared the tafsir and taught it at the
conference, and the notes which I had prepared for it were re copied and circulated amongst those
who attended. And from there, other copies were made and for this year
		

			collected later on, in the early 90s, as I was starting to publish my own books myself, since I
couldn't find publishers, this was among one of the early publications tafsir Surah, Allah gerat
Perhaps among the
		

			points which were raised in the tafsir, which was a benefit to Muslims of the region, in general,
and globally for Muslims, on one hand, I went into rebar in depth, and, you know, stress the
importance of avoiding it, the great penalties and Islamic view on rebar as being very harsh,
because of the harm that comes from it. But at the same time, you know, I had discussed with
brothers, they're from Trinidad, about alternative means of putting their money together and using
it and benefiting from it, you know, which was cooperative banking became a form of cooperative
banking. And from it the setup a cooperative for Muslims particular, and which lasted for many years
		

			and benefited many people saved them from the grave sin of dealing in Riba. The other thing that
came out of the book, The tafsir, Surah, gerat, was that the naming systems, which a lot of Muslims
were confused about, and were wiping out their names, their family names, etc, I clarified for them
the importance of keeping their family names, you know, and only changing their given names. So, for
myself, my name was Dennis Phillips, okay, my given name Dennis, I wish I could change, I changed it
to be Lau, you know, but the family name that I came from that should be maintained, it's my
father's name, Bradley Phillips. So
		

			the proper naming system, which the province of Salem approved, you know, was, the first name is
your given name, the next name after your father's name. So,
		

			you know, I tried to clarify for them because people were wiping out their names altogether. And
they would look down and those people who didn't, who kept any part of their, you know, pre Islamic
name.
		

			So, I clarified that for a lot of Muslims around the world, new Muslims, etc, and save them from the
negative impact which came from wiping out their family names, where their families look, look at
them as having abandoned them altogether. Of course, there are many other points. So 100 has so much
in it, you know, that this could be a
		

			one to three hour lecture easily. But just suffice to say these two points stood out in my mind.
		

			And also, you know, warning people from that time of not declaring other people to be kafirs, or
disbelievers simply because they did something which this Believers do. You know, that disbelief in
an act does make a person a disbeliever. You know, unless the person in terms of their faith they're
a man, they're their souls, they hold disbelief
		

			spiritually