Ihab Saad – Journey the Quran Preface

Assalamu, Alaikum. Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh. Welcome to this

series about our journey with the Quran.

This journey is going to last for Inshallah, the whole month of

Ramadan. So every day we are going to stop at some of the beautiful

ayat of the Quran, especially in the Jews, that would be recited

this particular night in the taraweeh in Ramadan.

This is not by default, a tafsir of the Quran. It's just some

comments, some reminders, some observations about some of the

ayat. So we're gonna stop at some of the significant ayat and all of

the ayat of the Quran, of course, are significant. We're gonna stop

to ponder upon some of the deep meanings of some of these ayat.

The scholars of Quran, by the way, when they look at the Quran in

general, which is a book of life, is not just a book of to to be

recited or to be memorized. It's a book of life. It's it shapes our

way of understanding the life and living that life. So these

scholars, when they talk about the Quran in general and the main

themes in the Quran, they mentioned that the Quran can be

divided into some major themes. One of them would be the dogma or

the Creed, Al aqidah or Al ahqid, and another one would be the

rituals al Ibadat, how to perform our rituals to get closer to Allah

subhana wa Taala and deserve his mercy, subhanAllah, entitling us

to Paradise, beybilla.

The third one is interactions or transactions that take place among

the human beings, so between the Muslims themselves and between the

Muslims and the non Muslims, different types of interactions.

And then the fourth one is the manners and the morals, or Allah

in a different way, another classification of the main themes

of the Quran. And this is my person understanding the way I

personally see it

Quran can also we can look at the main themes in the Quran as

probably four main themes. The first one is telling us about who

Allah subhanahu wa is. Allah subhana wa taala, with His mercy

and His kindness, introduced his great self Subhana wa Taala to us

so that we would recognize why do we worship Allah subhana wa taala?

Why is ALLAH SubhanA wa Taala and ALLAH SubhanA wa Taala alone

worthy of being worshiped, and not any of the idols and not any of

the partners that people associate with ALLAH SubhanA wa taala. So in

this domain, we're gonna find beautiful Ayat like Ayat al qur's

a for example, Allahu nur Allahu, Allahu, or the ayah that's called

Ayat nur Allahu, nursama atiwa, and different other ayat that talk

about Allah subhanahu wa and the unique, infinite, complete and

perfect powers of ALLAH SubhanA wa Taala and the attributes of Allah

subhana wa taala. So this would be our means to recognize who is our

Creator and why does his SubhanaHu wa deserve our love, our devotion

and our allegiance. The second main theme in the Quran is talking

us is telling us about a very old battle, the battle that's an

eternal battle that started with the creation of humankind on this

earth, Sayyidina, Adam Alain Nabi na Ali salatu wa salam, or even

before he was descended to Earth, with the creation of Sayyidina,

Adam Alain Nabi na Ali salat wa salam. And that is an eternal

battle that's going to continue as long as life continues on this

earth, it's the battle between truth and falsehood. Al Haqq Well,

battle and Allah subhanahu wa tells us about the very beginning

of this battle, when the shaytaan refused to prostrate, to

Sayyidina, Adam, Alain, Nabi na Ali salatu wa salam, based on the

Command of Allah subhanahu wa. Later on, we're going to talk

about the false logic of the shaitan and how some people,

unfortunately today, are mimicking that same false logic of the

shaitan. So that's the second main theme of the Quran, telling us

about this eternal battle between the truth and the falsehood. And

in this theme, we're gonna find the different phases, or the

different battles, battles of this big war, continuous war, eternal

war. So we're gonna find the stories of the different prophets

and messengers, Allah Nabi na Ali, Musa Salam, how Allah subhanahu wa

sent them with the truth to their people, how some of the people

followed the truth and the guidance from their prophets, and

many, or most of the people rejected that truth, and they

deserved the Wrath of Allah subhanahu wa.

The third main theme of the Quran is Allah subhanahu wa, again, with

His mercy and His kindness, SubhanAllah.

Gave us the results of that battle. Not only Allah subhanahu

wa told us about the events of these continuous battles forming

that eternal war, but Allah subhanahu wa also told us about

the end of this battle and the results of these battles, or this

war in the form of the Hereafter, the accountability and what Allah

subhanahu wa has prepared for his pious servants, obedient servants,

which is His mercy, subhanAllah and Paradise, and what Allah

subhanahu wa has prepared for the rebellious ones, the ones who

rejected to follow the guidance that the prophets and messengers

came with and they selected to follow the path of falsehood

rather than following the path of the truth. So again, ALLAH SubhanA

wa Taala is giving us the peace of mind to know exactly what would be

the end result if we select to follow the path of righteous

righteousness and obedience to Allah subhanahu wa, and warning

about what would happen if someone selects to follow the other caste.

So that would be the third theme of the Quran, talking about Al

Jannah, when NAR the Paradise and the hellfire and the enjoyment

that Allah subhanahu wa has prepared for his obedient servants

in Paradise, and the punishment that he Subhanallah has prepared

for those who selected not to follow the guidance from Allah

subhana wa taala.

And then the fourth and the last theme of the Quran is, what kind

of provision should the believers take on that journey towards Allah

subhanahu

wa should they do and what should they abstain from? So the do's and

the don'ts, which is the part that deals with the legislation or the

regulations or the commandments of Allah subhanahu wa and usually

we're going to find these commandments coming in two major

forms. The first form is addressed to all of mankind, all of the

creation, yahan Ness,

and another one addressed particularly to those among

mankind who selected voluntarily to obey Allah subhanahu wa, and

this particular specific group, Allah subhanahu wa addresses with

a very beautiful address, yahmanu. So whenever we hear yahan Ness, or

whenever we hear Yahuwah, let's listen carefully, because this is

a commandment from Allah subhanahu wa, an instruction, a piece of

guidance on that path leading to be Illah, the pleasure of Allah

subhanahu wa, what should we do, and what should we abstain from or

stop from doing? And Allah subhanahu wa gave us a summary of

that in the beautiful ayah, what as a word in the taqwa, which

means, take your provision, and the best provision. Provision is

mindfulness of Allah subhanahu wa, observing the Majesty of Allah

subhanahu wa, being mindful of Allah subhanahu wa, and fearing

Allah subhana wa Taala in the proper way that he should Subhana

wa Taala should be feared. So these are the four major themes in

the Quran. So I'm inviting my brothers and sisters, whenever we

are reading the Quran, let's ponder upon the ayat and think

about them. Where does this ayah fall? Is this an ayah that's

talking about the majesty and the greatness of Allah, subhana wa

taala, so that we would contemplate it, and we would fill

our minds and our hearts and our senses with awe and love for Allah

subhanahu wa taala, when ALLAH SubhanA wa Taala is telling us,

for example, in Nafi khalpi, Samaya wakilah, feel when Haile

Albert that in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the

variation of and the alternation of the night and the day, there

are signs to those who are mindful, those who think, those

who ponder, those who do not just pass by these signs without paying

attention to them, those that have been criticized by Allah subhanahu

wa in the air. What I even say, My dear Moon Ali, a

woman? What may you mean? Why may you mean? She couldn't that there

are so many a so many signs that Allah subhanahu wa taala has put

in the creation around us in the heavens and the earth, and indeed,

even in our own selves. As Allah subhanaw taala also says, Senua

himafi and fusim had Alam and Aul Haq, so we're gonna show them Our

signs in the horizons. Wherever they look, they're gonna see the

signs of Allah subhanahu wa and if they are short sighted.

They cannot see that far. They don't have to look too far. Just

look into your own self. Look at my own self. I should look at my

own self and see all the Majesty of Allah subhanahu wa in the

perfection of his creation SubhanAllah. So this is an

invitation for us whenever we pass by an ayah that's talking about

the Majesty of Allah, Subhanahu wa to recognize that he Subhanallah

is worthy of being worshiped. And then when we pass by another ayah

that's talking about the story of a prophet or a messenger, and how

that story keeps repeating itself in different cycles, as we find,

for example, in Surah, one of the very beautiful Surah of the Quran.

And all of the surah of the Quran are beautiful. We find that Allah

subhanahu wa gives us these cycles, one after another, these

waves, one after another, of the different prophets and messengers,

Allah Nabi na Ali, Musa alay wa salam, who have been sent by Allah

subhanahu wa guidance and how the story starts with kadabat, so the

people of this prophet or messenger denied him. They did not

believe in him. And then Allah subhanahu wa gives us the some of

the details. And then Allah subhana wa Taala takes us to the

end of the story. What was the end punishment for that group who

selected not to obey their Prophet and Messenger. So when we pass by

this ayat, we should remember that shaytaan is working relentlessly

to fulfill his promise to Allah subhana wa taala, the promise that

he made to Allah subhana wa Taala that he's gonna try to misguide as

many people as possible. And Allah subhana wa Taala responded to that

nasty challenge by saying Subhana wa Taala in naiba Ali in Sultan

Ilham, and it taba Amin Allah in you do not really have any control

over My servants, those who select to serve Allah. Subhana wa taala,

you do not have any control over them, except for those who select

to follow you on the

stray path, not the straight path. Instead of following the straight

path leading to Allah subhanahu wa they have gone astray to follow

the shaitan and the leaders of misguidance. So whenever we pass

by some of these ayat, let's remember where where is our

allegiance? Where do we select to align ourselves? Do we select to

align ourselves among the party of Allah subhanahu wa, who have been

described by Allah subhanahu wa as the victorious ones Allah in the

Hizballah, yomulo Ali bun, or do we select? Or do some people

select to follow the other party, the party of the shaytan, which

eventually is gonna taste the loss and the punishment for disobeying

Allah subhanahu wa.

And then, whenever we pass by, an ayah that is reminding us of our

future, our eternal future, be Ibn la in the Mercy of Allah subhanahu

wa and in his paradise, let's think about what Allah subhanahu

wa has prepared for us, and let's feel that whatever sacrifices we

do in this life are nothing compared to the reward that Allah

subhanahu wa is going to give us on the Day of Judgment. Anyone who

studied math would know that anything compared to infinity is

equal to zero. So however long we live, 60, 7080, 100 years compared

to eternity, that is nothing. That's just a fraction of a

second, or even less than that, as the non believers are going to

recognize on the Day of Judgment when ALLAH SubhanA wa Taala asks

them, ala come levitum, philadelin, for how long have you

lived on this earth? Kalu lebih naman, O baba, yaw fasalila, Deen,

oh, we have lived for just a day, or even a fraction of a day. Ask

those who have been counting. And Allah subhana wa Taala would tell

them indeed that you have lived for a very short period on the

earth, and now you are paying the price of what you have sent

forward. If you sent forward good deeds with the Mercy of Allah

subhanahu wa and his kindness and generosity, you're going to be

rewarded with paradise. If it is the other way, you will pay dearly

for your rebellion against Allah subhanahu wa. So whenever we pass

by an ayah of Al Jannah or annar Again, let's pay attention to that

and prepare ourselves to be entitled or to be recipients of

the Mercy of Allah subhanho wa taala, which, with the generosity

of Allah subhanahu wa entitles us to paradise. And finally, when, as

I said at the beginning, when we hear yay you and NES or

yahuwahdinah emmanu, let us recognize that this is a call,

direct call from Allah, Subhanahu wa to each and every one of us,

individually and collectively as a group. So whenever we hear that

address from Allah.