Bilal Philips – Tafseer – Surah Al-Kahf 09
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The speakers discuss the history and use of today's language hasn't been utilized in any significant way, but it is still important to understand the context of teachings. They stress the importance of obtaining permission for burials in Islam and the restricted availability of visiting burials. The speakers also emphasize the importance of praying for those who have died in a state of disbelief and finding the right person for a job.
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Hello, mean your little fella howdy Allah,
Allah Allah, Allah Allahu la sharika or shadow Anna Mohammedan Abdul rasuluh indeed all praise due to Allah and as such we should praise Him, seek His help and seek refuge in Allah from the evil which is within ourselves, and the evil which results from our deeds. For whomsoever Allah has guided, none can misguide. And whomsoever Allah has allowed to go astray and can guide and I bear witness that there is no god worthy of worship but Allah, that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is the last messenger of Allah.
We are continuing to look at Surah Al calf the 18th chapter of the Quran. And in the previous session, we completed verses 19 and 20. wherein a last one to Allah described his wakening, the youths who had fallen asleep,
describing it as being miraculous. And we discussed that, how, in fact, it was even more miraculous than putting them to sleep. And
the issues of time spent them being unable, not being aware of the time which was spent, they asked each other. And we talked about the implications of that with regards to our own selves. When we sleep. When we wake, being unconscious of what is passed in time, we compared it to death, when a person dies, until your mo kiama, he is no longer governed by time. So we don't have a problem in dealing with the idea of people dying 10,000 years in the past, and they will be meeting the piano or the resurrection, the same time as the rest of us.
And we talked about
a number of issues, or actually many, many issues in this verse with whether we talked about the food and the types of food that they sought.
We also talked about their situation, their position, that they
had to be careful in trying to get the food that they needed, because they woke hungry. But at the same time, a law had set certain things in place which would expose them, but from their perspective, they would take precaution. And this is a part of Islamic teachings that, you know, we, as they say, prophet SAW, Selim said, tie our camels, you know, with our camels, meaning that we don't just trust in a law without making some effort on our own parts. So they took what efforts they could but of course, in the end, it was with a law.
At the end of that verse,
we mentioned there that
we mentioned a number of different benefits which could have been taken from the verse. But we also mentioned at the end that for them
if they had been caught, and had been forced back to their state of disbelief, as they said,
we would have never been successful.
From this part of the verse,
a number of scholars concluded that in the past, prior to the final revelation of Islam,
there was no excuse for those who were forced meaning if you had a choice of expressing disbelief
or death,
you would express your belief
and die, that there was no choice involved. This is what is implied by the statements of the US, but if they had turned us forced us back, we would never have been successful. Whereas as we know, from the Islamic perspective, we are excused for situations where we have been forced
probably mom is our solemn and self had said in the law had to jar was on Mati alhaja. were nice young woman to curry who la indeed, a law has excused my followers from genuine mistakes.
forgetfulness, and what they have been forced to do. And I gave you the example of Martin, Yasser and his parents, they're these two different levels that are there. That second level of expressing this belief while holding
belief in one's heart that this was an option. For some scholars felt that this was an option presented to Prophet Mohammed Salim for his oma. And that the previous generations, they didn't have this option. Right? We had in Surah, verse 106, Allah says there are laws rockfon great torment is on whoever this believed in Allah after believing, whose hearts are open to disbelief, except the one who is forced while his heart is at rest with faith. So this is the excuse this is the opening for those who are forced into making statements of disbelief.
As I heard this was a position held by some scholars, of course, it is something debatable.
Because, you know, we don't have clear evidence, it is something deduced from the verse. Other scholars don't necessarily agree with it, because in the Hadith of the prophets of Salaam, you know, where it says that you know, the lies, excuse my followers from genuine mistakes. So, I mean, even genuine mistakes if we consider, I mean that a person makes a mistake, which is outside of his control, a lie excuses us. I mean, is it only our own mother who has been excused those in the past who made genuine mistakes were not excused. So the argument is not
you could say, you know, solid 100% it has an element of truth to it, possibly, but it is not something we can say with surety. Anyway, if we carry on to verse 21.
Well, I says what kundalika Arthur Nah, lay him the Alamo and de la Hawk. One nessa de la Eva, is yet another own avena whom, to whom, for Carlos No, la him banyana. Rob boom Allah movie him. Allah Deen of Allah boo, Allah Emery him than a la him Machida, and this way I caused them to be found, so that they would know that a loss promises true. And the hour of resurrection is coming without a doubt. When they were disputing among themselves about their case, some of them said, construct a building over them, their Lord knows best about them. Those who prevailed in their case said Indeed, we will build a place of worship over them.
A lot begins this 21st verse with the same phrase waka Lika, Arthur niaouli him in this way I caused them to be found meaning that he's relating back the way in which he raised them up the way in which he put them to sleep. You know, all of this, the way in which he caused them to be found all of them are a part and parcel of a loss. Great greatness is an expression, you know of his wisdom. He set them up in such a way, though, they thought they would be able to go into the town and buy food and come back quietly without anybody finding them. Allah had already set the stage that they were going to be found.
So
the commentators
spoke about the circumstance, because you're actually no narrations, authentic narrations from the prophet SAW Selim, to actually describe what took place. scholars of Tafseer some of them have relied on texts from Christian sources, which they refer to in general as Israeli art, all of those which things which come from Christian Jewish sources, they're referred to as Israeli art. And they're not really you know, something that we can base solid evidence on, it's not no harm in looking at it, where it agrees with what we have, we can say as this appears to be true, where it contradicts what we have, we say this is obviously false, and where it neither contradicts nor
agrees we say, Allah knows best, you know, so
the commentators, comments, you know, suggested that when the US went to buy food and paid for it in money, which was 309 years old, right, the people of the town
probably, this is their surmising here, suspected that they found some kind of treasure, because there's somebody brought some money from, you know, gold coins or silver coins from 300 years ago from the 17th century. You know, I tried to buy things with it, you know, people would think hey, there must have found some, you know, some treasure buried treasure somewhere and this is the usual conclusion.
People gonna come to. But of course, there was a lot more to them than just that. They spoke in a dialect, which was dead for 300 years. I mean, imagine people speaking to us now in Shakespearean English, right? somebody tried to talk to you and communicate with you in Shakespearean English, how it would sound. So obviously, when they came in to try to, to purchase their food that not only was the money strange, but hear what they were talking in a strange way. And not only that, even their clothing,
because remember, again, you know, styles are changing, styles are changing as time passes, if we look back to the way people dressed 300 years ago, and ours is quite different from today. So we could say that really
all of their whole statement that must have arouse suspicion. And the townspeople, you know, would have questioned What is going on? Why is this? Why, you know, eventually,
they would they have found out now about these people that, in fact, they were from an earlier time because, of course, when they would try to relate to their circumstance, they will be describing incidents of 300 years in the past. And the story about the sleepers was known it was circulating, we call they're referred to as the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, right. So this, this story had been circulating a tad continue to circulate. So once they mentioned that, they were the ones who had, you know, had to flee and so on. So they made the connection. So
in that way, a lot of caused them to be exposed. And in doing so, he, as the law said,
would make it clear that the laws promises true. What is the law referring to here, when he's saying that the Alamo and Nevada law hoc so that they would know that the last promise is true? What promises is the law referring to here? The scholars of tafsir explained that this was the promise that he would save the believers from the disbelievers because the seventh youths escaped from a great nation, which sought to prevent them from worshipping Allah alone. And ultimately, those who stand firm for the truth allows promises that he would protect them in terms of the law encirclement is there in the Quran. If you support the religion of Allah, you stand firm for that religion, then
Allah will give you success, he will support you.
And then Allah goes on to say, and that and the hour of resurrection is coming without a doubt
that they're
being found was on one hand, to affirm the promise of a law to protect the believers. And secondly, that the problem is that the resurrection that our resurrection was coming, without a doubt. And from this second part, scholars have said that this in fact refers to a doubt which existed at that period of time, you know, this now?
We assume that, if it is from the period of this years, that in this time, 300 years later, there was some controversy, controversy about the issue of resurrection itself.
Of course, most Christians, because that area was a Christian area by then believed in resurrection. But the question is, was that resurrection, a bodily resurrection? and spirit? Or was it only in spirit? So what happened is that the idea that it was only in spirit, it became the common idea, there was arguments still going on at that time about it. It is now the standard idea amongst Christianity, that resurrection is the spirit only and not the body. And there are references, which are drawn from the Bible to support this position held by Christian Christianity, the Christian world in general. And this is why when, for example, you know, as my D that, you know, argued that
Jesus was not resurrected.
In the Gospels, Jesus, according to the account of the Gospels, came to his disciples, and they were shocked that he was, you know, still apparently alive. And he showed them his hands and let them put their finger in his hands, you know, to see that they're actually willing, supposedly, I mean, of course, this is a story, right? We don't believe this. But as, as their text presented,
that they touched his hands and
that was
prove that he wasn't resurrected. Because according to their theory, their belief, resurrection is in the spirit. So how are you going to be touching a spirit and putting your hand in the blood? No. Right. So this was among the arguments for dama de that use to prove to Christians that even the story that they have in the Bible does not support their claim for Jesus's resurrection.
Of course, from our perspective, it is both body and spirit. And
because of this belief, we do have Westerners coming from their own tradition of spiritual resurrection, in accusing Muslims of being,
you know, sent to us because we talk about paradise, and the things of Paradise, the fruits and the pleasures of Paradise in a very physical sounding way. And to them, it's like, considered to be unacceptable, because it's not spiritual resurrection is not spiritual. And this is why also, Yusuf Ali, maulana Yusuf Ali, when he did his translation of the Quran, back in the 30s, he did make changes to the text, to in his, in his commentary, he, he talks about resurrection and says that it is not physical, that it is in fact, the resurrection of souls and spirits, you know, and that these references to the pleasures of Paradise, physical pleasures, these are metaphorical expressions. You
know, he tried to explain it the way because, I mean, he, I mean, this was his own, he had, you know, it's not correct, but it was his own, he had, you know, trying to make Islam more acceptable to the Western mentality, you know, he leaned towards this more spiritual interpretation. And it is also a general leaning of Sufism, you know, towards explaining or the physical to spiritual meanings behind it, etc. And, I mean, this is part of his own personal leanings, anyway, a lot of brought those use back to life
as proof that resurrection was not only spiritual, but it was the bodily resurrection. And this was proved for the people of that time.
A lot goes on to say when they were disputing among themselves about their case, because a law had caused their story to be known once, you know, you can imagine, we found some people alive after 300 years, news is going to spread like wildfire. So their case became known all around. So you know, people are now disputing what is going to happen to them, the different stories are generated about, about them after they brought the people back, those that are in the town to the others, the people townspeople to the cave, where they were, and they saw the people that came out saw them, they went back into cave, and they died. I mean, this is what is narrated from Christian and other sources. We
don't know exactly what to place. Only that. Allah said that, while they were disputing about the case, what to do with them.
Because the situation was quite strange, quite unusual, you know, what do we do in their case, some of them said, construct a building over them, their Lord knows best about them. Right. And this was basically the opinion that they should seal the mouth of the cave, and leave them as they are,
and seal the mouth of the cave, and leave them as they are, assuming they're dead. Because, again, the idea of closing the mouth of the cave, if they're alive inside there, that's like killing them. So we assumed that they must have died. And they said, that's the best way to deal with the situation, just seal them out of the cave. However, those who are in authority
as versus those who prevailed in their case, we assume that these are the people of authority. They said, Indeed, we'll build a place of worship over them.
So instead of covering them up, and hiding them, you know, so that no trace about them would be known to later societies for fear that people would come and start maybe worshipping them or whatever. They this, the authorities decided to build a mosque over them for prayer.
And they built it with the intention with a good intention of remembering the situation of these youths and what happened to them, remembering the greatness of Allah Allah.
However,
this was in fact
And error. This was in fact, an error. This was not an instruction from Allah subhanaw taala you know that this should be done. It became a common practice amongst the Christians
and amongst the Jews to certain degree to build places of worship wherever the prophets died or whether wherever saintly people died
and this practice also creeped in amongst Muslims.
And the early generation of course, there was no room for it. Because Prophet Mohammed wa sallam had instructed his companions to go out and level all graves with the ground. Allah The Allahu anhu was instructed by the prophet SAW Selim it's a Muslim to go out and any grave he found more than a palms with above the ground, it should level it to the ground.
And the prophet SAW sallam, he had given a number of instructions, you know, concerning
the graves and graveyards, etc. Whether it is the prohibition of worshipping graveyards, for example of settlement said cool out of the Muskegon water hurun lol Ma Ma kabara. Well, hi mom. All of the Earth is a Masjid, except graveyards and toilets. So prayers in graveyards, although we now find it practicing Muslims amongst Muslims present graveyards is forbidden. We also have the province on Sunday I'm saying some loopy booty comb will attack you do have Cobra praying your houses do not make them graveyards Of course these are these are anti Buhari anti muslim. So pray in your houses don't make them graveyards. What is understood from that?
If you don't pray in your house, your house is like a graveyard where you don't pray.
So prayer in graveyards is without a doubt something not permissible islamically now some people will go there and they will make fatty had the grave make do either read portions of Quran etc. But we can see this is not supported by the text of the Quran and this was not supported by the prophet SAW some of them himself in his own practice
and even to pray in the direction of graves is not permissible. Salam had also said not to salute lol poverty will attach to Allah do not pray towards graves nor sit on them. Even the direction of graves. The graves are seldom forbade praying in their direction. And this is among the things that is something of a fitna you'll find in mustard and nabawi where people will come into the mosque, and they will turn towards the grave of the prophet SAW solemn and pray in his direction.
This is of course not permissible in Islam and the clear instructions from the prophet SAW Selim not to do so.
Furthermore,
the prophet SAW Selim
in terms of even the recitation of Quran,
we have another narration from him from the Rasul Solomon which he said
do not make your houses graveyards For verily Satan flees from the house in which Surah Al Baqarah is read.
So, again, that also implies that even the reading of Quran is not permissible in the graveyards. And he forbade the whitewashing of graves, building structures over them, writing on them, raising them above the ground level.
So, all of this was done, in order to block the path to
worship which was in which involved worshiping the dead or worshiping a law through the dead. You know, these are the two main ways in which people are involved in ancestral worship. Either they pray directly to their ancestors, or are the people of the past who they feel are saintly or whatever or they pray through them. They asked them to carry the prayers on to to God for them, and on both of these acts are considered to be acts of charity.
And even the prophet SAW salams grave. He had said
do not make your houses graveyards not make my grave a place of festivities. Instead ask a loss blessings for me, wherever you may be for they will reach me the term you used
I will attach a new cabri ada don't make my grave an IID ID,
a place of festivity or a time of festivity that occurs regularly every year. So every year, you said that you're going to go to the prophet SAW someone's grave at such and such a time, you know, don't make my grave. And of course, if that's not the case for the prophets of Salaam, then it shouldn't be for anybody else. You know, some people have the practice, for example, the last Friday in Ramadan, they go visit the graves of their ancestors, you know, or they set some day in the year, which they go to the graveyard, you know, whether it's in Ramadan or outside doing that, once you've done that, where you come regularly every year at that time, the whole family, it's a family
tradition, you go and visit, you know, your dead relatives at that time, this becomes a
that becomes a form of aid, because aid means a gathering a festivity, which takes place regularly every year at the same time.
So this is not permissible. islamically and even when people go for Hajj, some people when they're going for Hajj or Umrah they make a part of their intention to visit the prophets asylums grave.
And in fact, there are even some narrations which are fabricated inauthentic, which says whoever comes for Hajj or Umrah and doesn't visit me has treated me badly
for her Giovanni, you know, but this is not authentic is false, but a lot of people believe this and it's in the little books that people get Roger Nomura and so they make a point of coming to Medina to the grave of the Prophet Mohammed Salah. Now visiting the prophets of Salaam mastery This is something recommended because Bravo Solomon said Lata should do rehab in La Ilaha Lhasa t masajid. And Masjid al Haram. warmaster Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Masjid Al Azhar do not travel except to three masjids Masjid al Haram, that is the Kaaba, the masjid of the messenger, and mustard in Uppsala, in Jerusalem. So, it is permissible for one to set out on a religious journey
to only these three mosques, to go to any other mosque, or to go to a grave or to go to you know, any historical monuments etc, to set out believing that you are doing something pleasing to Allah meaning you have made it a religious journey, if you are just sightseeing in an area and something you know is there you go and see it no harm, but for you to make an intention and want to go to Egypt to see the pyramids, no islamically this is not acceptable. You know, even though you can say my intention is not religious, I'm not seeking a lot of pleasure from it, I'm just enjoying, but what are the pyramids, the pyramids are the graves of the pharaohs.
So, to make an intention to go to visit the graves of the pharaohs, this is forbidden islamically much less, you know, of course to go to visit graves of, of Muslims with so called Muslim saints edgemere and all these other places that people you know, gather at, you know, in the 1000s and hundreds of 1000s every year, this is not acceptable. islamically
In fact, there was a narration I will Bushra
had said when he was coming back from a trip
and he met Abu huraira and
he mentioned to him that he had gone to a tour the mount a tour
where he had made some prayer gone there and just made some
now often prayers write volunteer prayers I've heard said If only I'd caught you before you left for I heard the Messenger of Allah said do not travel to other than three mosques and you mentioned the Hadith.
So practices of people, you know today, for example, unfortunately even in Medina, they have this what they call zrs where they take people around to visit comes to massage five masks are sometimes in the past, it used to be seven they reduced it down to five. You know, these fives are supposed to be places where the problem stopped at some time or another. You know, my student mama supposedly where it's covered with a cloud, you know the master fibula 10 where they change the Qibla Masjid, various mustard, you know he he stopped and paused for for a minute for some reason or the other and they've
placed and develop some little mask there.
Which was not from the time of the prophet SAW some of them because of course, from the Sahaba, they were very careful not to do this, in fact, almost ready along I know, after the death of the prophet SAW Selim, in his own time, as the Calif, he ordered that the tree under which people with when the prophet SAW Selim and his companions were going to make aamra and the Hajj and the kurush stop them, and the scent with Manuel de la know, as an emissary to go and negotiate with them, and the word came back, that was mamre de la Hunter was killed. And the prophet SAW Selim and said, well, who would you know, come with me and fight the crush, and they made a vow or Pledge of Allegiance under
a tree, there was a tree there that he sat, and he made the Pledge of Allegiance with all of them to go and fight. In the case of a smile, if not fine, so that tree was a tree where this battle to read one had taken place, it's called bear to read one. And people after time, the process alone would go and see it historically, just as a historical thing, oh, that was the tree. Eventually, people started spending time there. Eventually, some people started making salad there, and eventually became a place where people started a point of gathering because it's the nature of people that that which is physical, which they can deal with, you know, you can see it, you can touch it, you can
whatever, it's easier to relate to worship, you know, having these things. This is why $1 tree comes up, you know, you wonder why so many people are involved in idolatry, or they're worshipping a human being like Christians worship and Jesus, you know, billion of them, or you're worshipping, you know, various idols, with monkeys, heads and elephants heads and everything in India, you know, I got another billion people doing that, you wonder how do people get there? Why do they get there? What causes them to want to do this? What is the nature of people, and also our children, you know, these children they relate well, to, to dolls, the girls and the boys to action figures and so on. There's
you know, they relate to physical, you know, objects which can be seen touched in these kind of things, this is a part of our nature. And this is why the prophet SAW Selim, and there was so much against the idea of
making of pictures, you know, carvings, paintings, etc. Because this attracts worship. It is the basis for the worship of both Christians and Hindus, the idols and the paintings, the icons that the people have. So,
this is why it's in Islam. You know, we have so many barriers placed with regards to the graveyards. You know, some people feel that those who would say, No, the grave should not have these tombstones and all these other type of things, that they're extreme, but they're not extreme. This was the way of Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu wasallam. The graveyard in his time was a very simple thing. You know, it was just like open ground. There are a few rocks here and there to indicate for people on this is the grave where your father's grave is or your son's grave or whatever, you know, it was there, they did have some indicators, which are just rocks, you know, they're put to mark a spot.
But this building of structures, it didn't exist. today. We know that in many Muslim countries, the graveyards are very similar to the graveyards of the Christians and the Jews and others with all the structures over them. In fact, myself, I went to Cairo some years back, you know, and I'd heard about what they call the city of the dead. You know, I was curious to go and see it. And on the way from the airport in Cairo, I had brothers who picked me up, take me there. And the city of the dead wood is the city of the dead. It is a graveyard, huge graveyard, Cairo was ancient huge, but they built structures over the graves, right. And the structures came in the form of wicked, say, three,
two bedroom apartments, as that's basically what you could say there's a, there's a living room that you come into. And there's another room on the side, this was your entrance. And then the other room on the left side, one on the right, one of the Left, left side was where the grave was. Okay, so what would happen is that people would come to visit to the grave, they would camp out inside of the other room, they had an extra room there for camping out, right. So what happened that in time, as the population of Cairo increased, people didn't find places to live, they started coming into the graveyard and occupying these places, right.
They moved in. So when I went there, I mean, you saw people laundry was hanging on the outside, you know, and then the government unable to provide alternatives had even piped in water. So you had water is in there, electricity, you know, and also they became home some people even build second second stories on it, you know, so and even the owners of the graves, you know, felt Okay, you know, they're looking after the grave
So it became homes for people. But
as I said, in terms of Islamic tradition, this is all, you know, as fun as it might seem, really against Islamic tradition, and Islam is quite strong, its position is quite strong against any form of grave worship.
Now, there is an issue to consider. Here, they built the mosque over the grave.
What is the ruling in Islam on this? And because it's important to understand, because in many of our countries, we do have masters waves in them.
You know, what is the ruling about prayer in them? Well, if the Bible says Salam prohibited the building of mosques, over graves, what was the intention behind it? Was it the actual act of building the structures? Or is it the prayer that is going to go on inside the structure?
Is the point to think, isn't it? Because like the prophesied, Solomon said, like Hunan nephew Amati Aquaman is the Luna and Hara Well, harir will hombre almohads, if they will be among my followers, those who will make allowable fornication and adultery, the wearing of silk for men
take taking intoxicants and musical instruments,
talking about the time to come, Muslims will make halaal musical instruments. Now, is it the instrument itself that the process lm is talking about here?
Or is it the music which is coming from the instrument, the instrument is the means for producing the music. So when he says that the even the instrument is haram,
that is cutting the root even to get to the music,
if we follow, so, there are times that you find prohibitions, where objects may be prohibited, but the intent behind it is what is the object is used for what is inside of the object to whatever you know. So similarly, when the promises sell them for bed, the building of masks over over graves, it was it was to prohibit the prayer in that area,
the prayer to a grave or on a grave.
This was the intent here. So where we find a grave in a mosque basically will say that prayer in such a mosque is not acceptable. islamically is haram don't pray in there.
Now, what should the people of that area or town do? If they come to the realization that this is wrong?
They have to look at the situation of that mosque was the mosque there first. And then that person died and they buried the person in the mosque?
Or did the person die and they buried him in a place and they build a mosque over him that these are two different situations. If the origin of the location was a mask, and a grave was added, then you take the grave out, put it in the graveyard and you can carry on with the mask.
But if the place was originally a grave, then the only solution is to destroy the mask
to destroy that mosque because that was an illegal mosque. And the other case the mosque was legal. But the burial of the person in it was illegal.
In the second case, the building of the mosque was illegal, because it was being built on top of a grave. Now some people will say well, but here allow mentioned in the Quran. Those people who were believers built a grave over the Seven Sleepers. Well, if we notice the context of the verse, remember that was not the original opinion, which allowed mentioned the other original people said just seal it. But those who are in authority, they're the ones who insisted and didn't. And we have enough evidence from the prophet SAW Selim
prohibitions to say that for us, it is not permissible even if we said that in the past it may have been definitely in our times it is not. But then again, somebody is going to say what about the mosque of the Prophet sallallahu wasallam.
His grave, isn't it.
We know the green dome, the green dome which is over his grave,
which is inside of his mustard,
Well, one, it is important to know the history of the prophet SAW salams mastered and the grave.
When the prophet SAW Selim came to Medina
he built his Masjid.
Obviously, his grave wasn't in it. Right?
That is obvious common sense logic. Right?
So,
the beginning was a Masjid
when he died, the companions were of different opinions. What should we do? Where should we bury him?
people suggested it'd be barium in the mustard. I was in New Zealand for bed.
They were of different opinions what to do. Then aboubaker he mentioned in aeration it heard from the prophet SAW Selim, in which he said, Allah has not taking the life of any of his profits, except they were buried where they died.
Except they were buried where they died. So, on hearing that, the companions they removed the bed of the prophet SAW sallam. He died in the room of Ayesha, but the law removed the bed and they dug the grave right there and buried him in the room in which he died in his house.
And then they sealed the door.
The room was sealed off.
And that obviously was not inside of the masjid.
But you know that the houses or pubs or salons wives were right next to the masjid he was didn't open the door and leave the house and go straight into the masjid and leave the prayer. So it's right next to the master. Now in the time of Amara de la Han who and with man, an alley with men in time with man and Omar, Abdullah Noma, they expanded the masjid. But they in in both cases, they expanded it
to the right of the Qibla.
Two in front of the Qibla behind behind, they didn't do it to the left, because to do it to the left would have included the house of Ayesha. So it wasn't until the time of Abdul Malik al Walid bin Abdul Malik, the mayor, Calif, was of the eighth century from 705 to 715.
He extended the masjid for the first time in an easterly direction,
extended it for the first time to include the houses of the wives of the Prophet because they already come, the companions had died at the time of Iliad, the companions already died. There were some tabs in or students of the companion who are alive, and they did advise him not to do that.
But he was the ruler and he made that decision. His governor Omar, Abdullah zS had carried out the extension.
So that is how the grave of the prophet SAW Selim ended up inside of the masjid.
And it wasn't really until the 13th century, in 1282,
when Sultan callicoon, Salah he, he built the first dome over
the chamber where the pipes are solid was the dome and it was the Sultan Abdulhamid in the 19th century, who painted it green.
This is where we now have the green dome which is now a symbol of
Medina master the number V which is actually an illegal symbol. Though it has become common for us, it is actually a false symbol. Similar to the misunderstandings people have about mastering outside, you know, where people look at the Dome of the Rock, right, the Dome of the Rock, which is the one with the gold dome and the you know, fancy looking thing, right, which is an illegal structure.
It is an illegal structure where people think this is matching the Luxor.
What it houses is a big rock
where Prophet Muhammad wa sallam was supposed to have
ascended into heaven from there.
And they have a myth. Right?
That when he took off, going up into the heavens, the rock wanted to follow him.
So it raised up and then he told it to stop and he went
So it stayed suspended above the ground. So when you go into the mosque, you can go from under and from above, when you look at the stone, it appears as if it is suspended, but it's a trick. It's not real, not really suspended, but they've done it, you know, through using mirrors and whatever to give that impression, you know, that you will go under, you can see the bottom of the rock, and from the top, it appears that this thing is suspended. But it's a myth. And we don't even know whether that was the rock. So it's false. And so building structures like this, this is Christian tradition. You know, Hindu tradition and other traditions. We don't have this building, you know,
rock domes and things like this over artifacts because we worship without artifacts. There's something unique in Islam, see all of the other systems that have artifacts that they were that they worship with, we don't have what we call what they call religious artifacts, who worship Allah, without without anything we can worship and we have known it the prayer, unfortunate the prayer rug for a lot of people has become a religious artifact. You know, we now have prayer beads, and other religious artifact for many Muslims but in fact, it has nothing to do with Islam.
It has nothing to do with Islam prayer beads, came from the Rosary.
Have no doubt, you can go to the Encyclopedia Britannica. We have it in our library here and read about the Rosary. You will find the rosary described sounding just like what we call the cinnabar. How much bajos different names people give it with the liquid beads.
described in a similar way, just the numbers are slightly different. And if you see watch the Catholics with their beads, you see it's looking the same just as a cross back at the end of it. Some people will stick the other things on the end of it.
And I remember in Medina, we used to see because Hajj people you know would buy all kinds of things in Medina one of the popular things to buy was liquor means so they used to import the best liquor beads came from were from Italy.
And they would be written on the on the box was Mohammedan rosaries.
Mohammedan rosaries.
So this is the origin we have, these are not artifacts, we don't have it people you know, will have all kinds of things about it, you'll see them rubbing their beads and blowing on them and wiping themselves and you know, all kinds of things expecting some kind of Baraka, some kind of blessing to come on them from the use of these beads. And similarly, the prayer rug, you know, people become so you know, caught up in the prayer rug, that time for prayer comes, you don't have a prayer rug or can pray.
The grounds not clean. It's not all here, not for us in Islam. You can pray anywhere. I mean, unless you see.
feces, urine on the ground, blood on the ground, okay, we don't pray in this. But just to say, the grass in a park or a road, somebody has walked by here with feet that step some time in feces, or whatever, you know, the shoes that you were wearing, you know, you stepped on the carpet or whatever you can put No,
this does not make a place impure for prayer. What is impure for prayer is if you see on the ground physically,
urine, feces or blood, if you don't see any of that, then you can pray there.
That is Islam. But as unfortunately for many of us, the prayer rug has become an absolute necessity. We find we can pray without it, you know. And on the prayer rug, we put a picture of the Kaaba. And then we wonder why the Hindus say why do you guys worship the Kaaba?
You know, we give them all the reasons to think that you're worshiping the GABA because we do this you know, but this is really not from Islam at all.
Anyway, so we cannot use the masjid of the prophet SAW Salem as an excuse to support the practice of building mosques over graves or putting graves in mosques. However, the question remains, what do we do about prayer in the profits ourselves Master?
Does it mean we should not pray in his master?
Is the big question.
The point is that we still pray in the process of Salah has mastered.
This was a mistake which took place.
But because the prophet SAW Selim is Masjid is not like any other Masjid
We make that exception.
We make the maskin Mecca an exception, and we make master occupied an exception. Because if they decide to, to bury King Fahad, for example, in
the Kaaba,
as I'm saying, this is just an example, you know, in our ruler of Saudi Arabia decided he wanted to be buried there and they buried him there.
Does it mean now how callous Hodges stopped, we can't break? No, because prayer there has its own special merit rubs on selam had said Salatin famous Judy hada, heroine Minh, Alfie Salatin, FEMA, Siva, lol mustard, dill haraam, a single salon in this Masjid of mine is better than 1000 prayers elsewhere, except Allah Masjid al Haram.
So, this extra reward, which is there for prayer, and the problems are some lasted, if we say because his grave has been included in the master, you can pray there like any other Master, then we have made it not like any other master.
See where we created them, but they're not equal. Professor solemn has put it on another notch, they're three masters are put on another notch, the value of prayer there. So therefore, if anybody does anything there, which is illegal, changes anything that doesn't change the fact that prayer there is still a part of our teachings.
It will consider a narrated that when Omar Abdullah pub,
his his troops had found the grave of prophet Daniel in Iraq.
Right during the time of Omar have no hubbub.
The troops reported back that in Iraq, they had found the grave of prophet Daniel.
His body was still intact,
as if he was just buried.
And there was some inscriptions over it, describing things of his time, etc, which led them to conclude that it was the grave of prophet Daniel.
Bob told them, not to let the people know about it.
Keep it secret, cover it up, the artifacts, bury them, hide it.
So
this was his practice the story that people say about in what they call hedgerow smile. Right? the back part of the Kaaba, that semicircular wall, that so many prophets are buried there is not true. Again, this is false. That was just a part of the Kaaba, which was left out when they rebuilt the Kaaba in the time of the Prophet Moses I love
assadi he pointed out that the story in the story what has taken place with regards to these youths
it contains evidence that whoever flees for the sake of his religion from corruption and temptation will be made safe by Allah. And whoever seeks refuge in Him will be given refuge and be made a source of guidance for others. And whoever patiently bears humiliation in his path, and for his sake, will in the end be elevated and honored in unimaginable ways.
Verse 22,
say coluna thalassa tune Robbie are home Cal boom
boom Cal boom regimen. belaid una sobre, attune salmon home with family home Cal boom, kohlrabi Alamo be added to him. My Allah Mohammed Illa polygon fella tomography him in La Mirada and vorherigen, will add to Steph the fee him in home.
Some people would say that they were three, the dog being the fourth, others will say that they were five, the dog being the sixth.
These are mere irrelevant guesses. There are still others who say that there they were seven, and the dog being the eighth say my lord knows their number, and only a few others besides him know. So do not argue about them except with clear proof nor ask anyone about them.
So sometime after the incident of the revival of the Seven Sleepers,
people began to surmise as to what their numbers were, you know, as it spreads the story spread, the numbers changed. And if you look for example, in the encyclopedia
Britannica today about the seven slippers of emphasis. And it is there, they have a whole article about it. They mentioned in there that there are different opinions from the earlier times as to how many were there. And they mentioned three, five, etc.
And they also mentioned their names, even, you know, the different narrations that they have, indicating the names of the different secrets, etc. Anyway, the point is that they were in doubt, they didn't know really what the numbers were. So a lot confirms their number as being seven.
And this is deduced from the context of the verses because after law said that some people say there are three the dog is the fourth, five, the dog is the sixth. He said, these were mere irrelevant guesses.
There are still others who say they were seven, the dog being the eighth, and he didn't say anything.
I see the fact that that third opinion, he didn't negate or say it was part of the guesswork etc, is the indicator that that was the actual number.
And the rest goes on to say say my lord knows best their number and only a few others besides him know,
indicating that there are some who do know. This indicates that the best thing to do in matters like this is to refer them back to a law, because there is no value in discussing such matters without knowledge. If we are given knowledge of a matter, then we should we may talk about it otherwise we should refrain. It could ama and as Samak narrated that even a boss had said after quoting this verse, I am among the few who know the right number. And they were seven.
He affirms that there were seven if not biases known as the most or the leading commentator of the Quran amongst the companions of the Prophet SAW Selim.
Or the statement, only a few others besides him know meant that only a few knew their number before Allah announced that they were seven, the dog was the eighth as the other way of possibly interpreting the verse at the end of the verse, Allah says, so do not argue about them, except with clear proof, meaning that we should only discuss about the people of the cave, using what has been revealed, which is, which is to live knowledge about the number with a law.
It also means we should avoid discussion about them. Because it is useless to talk about an argue over a subject that is of no benefit, and also because that knowledge is only with the law.
So Allah has advised us not to get into arguments about it, even if Christians get into discussion where we can express to them what we have, what is revealed information for us, you know, they can express their opinions, we can hear them but don't get into arguments, extensive arguments with them about it. We have a basis, they don't.
We'll break for them.
So at the end of the verse, Allah says,
so do not argue about them, except with clear proof, we said that, that clear proof was revelation in the Quran, which indicates that their numbers were seven.
Or if we get into discussion with them with, obviously people of the book, etc, who may hold similar beliefs, or those who may even deny it, then
it's useless to get into extensive and heated discussion and debate. I mean, we give them the information we have we avoid, you know, getting into extensive arguments about it, because it's not really worth it. It's something either you believe, if a person is a disbeliever, say, for example, they feel this is a myth. And they say this is just a Quranic myth that you have, we say, well, there is evidence from Christian sources that something of this nature did take place, you know, and the fact that they may record it, regard it as a myth doesn't change the fact that we have it recorded in two locations. And we believe that the information about it that we have is revelation,
that in fact, it confirms the truth of it.
And
I will say, I mean, he suggested, you know, the same thing that we should avoid letting these type of arguments become deepened and affect our hearts because sometimes we get into arguments about things which are not really that important if a disbeliever denies
The miracle of the Seven Sleepers, this is not that important, what is important is that he believed in a lot. So, if we get all worked up and he did an arguments about the Seven Sleepers and we leave what is most primary what is most important, then we have misunderstood the dollar, we have misunderstood the proper methodology in carrying the message. So, that is a minor point
what we have to get to is what is basic and what is primary. And, you know, he mentioned to that, you know, it is the nature of people historically to get into these kinds various kinds of arguments over things which are of no real value
in Christian tradition, in the Middle Ages, Christian scholars, religious scholars had debated how many angels could fit on the end of a pin,
you know, this is in their books, debate about how many angels could fit on the end of a pin, a pin head right.
Of course, what is the value of it, I mean, this was an example of people involve themselves in useless arguments. And we have Muslims unfortunately, who engage themselves in similar arguments arguments, which were of no real value, you know, I think I pointed out to you once before in the arguments, which have ended up in some books, for example, in the Shafi fit books of the 14th century, which are still looked at, you can find a masala which scholars debated about whether if a person passed wind into a bag, tied the bag, then made Whoo, because after you pass when you need to make wudu So, now, if you pass went into a bag and tied the bag, you made will do and then you
loosen the bag and let the wind out is your window broken or not.
Now, this is an example of argument which is of no value, Who in the world is going to do that.
So, it is a meaningless argument, but unfortunately, we have Muslims of the past who got themselves caught up in you know, in this kind of argumentation, and not to mention, of course, what they call scholastic theology or illman, Kalam, where this people got into, you know, concepts of tawheed and aqeedah, you know, using arguments of Greek logic, etc, you know, where people are describing and discussing issues like the concept of an infinite chain of events into the past and into the future. In other words, things have no beginning, you know, and this became a, you know, an instrument of argumentation, which really for us in Islam, it is of no value and benefit. Because we believe Allah
is the Creator, he is the only one without beginning an end, everything else has a beginning and as an end, you know, and we, we, whatever we discuss, or whatever we debate should be from that premise. You know, we shouldn't accept the premises of other systems, you know, which has no guidance from revelation to show them the way and for them now, anything becomes possible, whatever your mind can think of can be, you know,
nor ask anyone about them.
That's the end of the verse, will lotta stuff defeat him in home,
meaning that the state of the sleepers should not be asked about from the people of the book, because the basis of their discussion is guesswork and speculation. It contains evidence. This phrase contains evidence of the prohibition of seeking rulings from one not suitable to give rulings, either due to his lack of knowledge regarding the issue about which he is asked, or because he does not care about what he says, and has no shame to refrain him.
If he
if a law prohibited this category, then the prohibition of rulings of this type or even more obvious Professor Solomon said,
there are three judges.
Those who make rulings,
Mufti is making fatwas, there are three types to in *, and one in paradise.
One who makes rulings without knowledge is in *.
One who has the knowledge and makes rulings contrary to his knowledge is in *.
And the one who has knowledge and rules according to his knowledge is in paradise.
So this person in seeking though as
being general Muslims, we all have to depend on
On scholarship, we have to turn to others and gain from them, we don't have sufficient knowledge to independently go to sources and take this knowledge all for ourselves. So we have to make what we call tech lead, we all have to follow some scholars, but we do have to make he had in who we make duck leadoff. That's the point, there is a point that he had, and it is in, who do we follow. So we should use principles, we should choose the person based on principles, either because we know they've got gained a certain level of scholarship, and they seem to be practicing it.
Or they're known to be, you know, a well known scholar of
previous era or whatever. And that is the rulings of that scholar we're following, you know, either one or the other. But we should not just follow whoever, you know, the person who happens to be the molana of our town, you know, or the sheriff of our village, or whatever, I mean, we should we do have a responsibility to ensure that this person is in fact,
the best person that we should be seeking our knowledge from. Because if we see that he is doing things contrary to Islam, but still has been given the designation of molana, or shares or whatever, then of course, we should not take our knowledge from this person. If he is practicing what is contrary to Islam is obviously contrary to Islam, as far as you can see, then simply because he has knowledge, or the people say he has knowledge, it doesn't mean automatically, we should follow him No, we have a responsibility to find a person who has knowledge and is practicing that knowledge.
This verse also contains evidence that though it may be prohibited to seek rulings from a person about some things, it may not be about others.
For example, you know, remember, I gave you the example the prophet SAW them, when he told the people about in Medina, about the dead palm trees, right, not to artificially pollinate them, then he explained to them afterwards, that if I tell you something about the religion, and you take whatever I say, but if I tell you about your worldly affairs, and you know, your worldly affairs best that is inside a Muslim, right? So, me this indicating that, yes, you know, there are authorities that you can rely on for some bodies of knowledge, but not necessarily for everything. So though a person may be the leading scholar of that area of that city of that town of the time, it
doesn't mean that every ruling he makes is correct.
Because if he makes a ruling in an area, which is not his specialization,
right, and I gave you the example of the issue of the earth turning and the rising setting of the sun, then this is not that scholars area, he may come to conclusions, which are incorrect. And you shouldn't really, if you want to get knowledge about physics, and you should go to,
you know, a physicist,
don't go to an Islamic scholar, to get knowledge about physics. You know, this is this is proper, the proper way of seeking knowledge, you know that, but
simply because
we are prohibited For example, to seek Islamic knowledge from a physicist doesn't mean that we don't seek any knowledge from that individual.
Okay, we don't have enough time to do the next verse. So we'll leave that until the next session. If there are any questions that you'd like to ask concerning, verses 21 and 22.
Okay, brothers question is it permissible to visit the grave of course, Professor Solomon said, I used to prohibit you from visiting the graves the early days of Islam in Makkah. palmarosa salam forbade the visiting of graves altogether.
But now he said go and visit them because they are reminders to remind you of the hereafter. So it is a record it's recommended to visit the graves.
And there the prophet SAW Selim had
taught, you know, what should be said when one visits the grave? I shoulda asked the prophet SAW solemn, you know, what should we say? If we go to the graveyard? And he said, there's a particular do I taught in a different area?
Have it As salam o Allah, Allah Dr. Mineral momineen? Well muslimeen we are Harmon law who stopped the mean I mean now almost 18 we're in insha Allah who become the law, Hakuna,
peace be upon the believers and the Muslims among the inhabitants of these dwellings. May Allah have mercy on those who have gone ahead of us, and those following us, and we will in sha Allah be joining you.
This is one of the narrations of the DA to be said, When visiting the grave. And one can make you know personal do of course, ask a lot to forgive that person, etc, etc. But as we said, we don't recite in the Quran. And people want to recite the RCN and these type of things in the graveyard. This is not permissible.
Well, by this question, are we restricted to the graves of Muslims? Yes, we're restricted to the graves of Muslims in terms of visiting and paying, you know, and praying for them, etc.
If one has non Muslim family, and you take them there, because they need to see the grave or whatever of their relatives, whatever you do this, or your wife is a non Muslim, she's a Christian, for example, you know, and she wants to visit the grave of her father, you may take her there, but of course, you don't engage yourself in prayer for the dead, because it's probably prohibited for us to pray for those who have died in a state of disbelief.
But this question, is it permissible for us to make dua for your saying non Muslims,
Muslims?
If a person dies as a Muslim, you can pray for them? That's it.
First question. If a person in Medina for example, the women's section was behind the place designated as the grave of the prophet SAW Salam. So the grave now ends up in the in the Qibla. Is that prayer there? Is it meritorious or is it you know, disliked or whatever? Well,
in this case where it is,
I mean, you have no other place to pray, you know, that is the
situation of the mosque itself. It's permissible when one makes one's intentions clear one makes sure you in your heart You're not having in your heart the intention to pray to the profits grave, right, where one is to the side, where in order to pray that way, you'd have to turn and of course, this becomes forbidden for you to turn in the direction of the grave.
The other question concerning the Taj Mahal Of course, the Taj Mahal we all know is a big Muslim structure built over a grave really according to Islamic law it should be leveled
the last question was concerning funeral prayer if one Mr. funeral prayer for somebody can they you know go to the graveyard and do the funeral prayer there are no you cannot Can't Make You know prayer in the graveyard if there is a mosque you know, outside of the graveyard where they people may be hold the tree no prayer there and
you wanted your group of you you want it to do that for them there. It is not from the sun now. Really, you missed the prayer you Mr. Prayer others did it just make dua for them. Really, you know, people have gotten into this and extended it to become prayer for the absent the vibe. Anyway, sounds as though they're making the common I will stop subhanak Allahumma. Ambika shadow Allah Allah Antonin stock Furukawa tulelake