The Parables of Surah al-Nur

As to imagine, all of these things are referred to as normal. And so this metaphor, we can say it refers to all of these things. So when we say so when you see this word normal coming in the Quran, Allah talks about light.

It normally means guidance. And the same applies to Hadith. Right when you see the word newer or light mentioned in a hadith, it normally means guidance. So the famous Hadith about the day of Juma where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that reciting Surah Al Kahf on a Friday is a new rule from one Friday to the next. It is a light from one Friday to the next. So what is newly been in this hadith is source of guidance. If you resize to our golf every Friday, it is a source of guidance one Friday to the next. So this is a common theme and metaphor throughout the Quran and Sunnah Allah refers to His guidance as light. But in this verse, Allah gives us a detailed

descriptive metaphor of this guidance. And the descriptive metaphor he gives us is He tells us to imagine that there is a niche there is a corner and in that corner, there is a lamp and that lamp is so powerful that it lights up the entire whatever is around you lights up the entire room. Allah Samantha is saying that is the power of the guidance of Allah subhanho wa Taala on the hearts of people. That is the power of the Quran and Sunnah when you allow it to enter your heart and to change and transform your life, that it lights up your life, it lights up your heart, it lights up your interactions with other people, it lights up the world. This is the power of transformation of

the Quran and the Sunnah wa Subhana. Allah describes there's no room for other New Light upon light. Right? These are levels of light. And many of the scholars say what is this Light upon light to some seeds, the Quran and the Sunnah are the seeds, the fifth round your natural goodness, and your image your feet, right? So there's different meanings to this. But all of this is connected. The multiple layers of guidance, we get our guidance from the Quran, from the Sunnah our human is, is a is a way of writing our hearts. But having a good nature is also a way of writing in your hearts. So there are multiple layers of goodness, Allah says that he guides through this light, whomever he wills,

meaning that guidance is in Allah's hands. But if Allah sees goodness in you, He will light up your heart with the light of Eman just like the lamp in this example, lights up the world.

What's interesting about this metaphor is that Allah subhanho wa Taala then follows it up with two metaphors of the opposite. Two metaphors of misguidance. So surah. And Nora gives us one metaphor of guidance, a very powerful metaphor that are the only one you really need. And then two metaphors about misguidance. So the first metaphor almost kind of goes to the handover to Allah, He compares it to a mirage in the desert. So what do you think mirage in the desert, when someone is lost in the desert, and they are really hungry and they are really thirsty, they begin to hallucinate, you begin to imagine in the distance and the water, so they get excited and they run towards the water. When

they get there. There's nothing there. So Allah subhanaw taala, in this surah he says, Those who reject Allah and they follow, they follow a wrong path. That is how they live. They think they're going towards paradise. They think that the deeds are worth something, they think that they're moving in the right direction. And then suddenly, they come to the day of judgment, and they realize that they wasted their life on the wrong path. They wasted life chasing down the wrong understanding of how are we supposed to live our lives. So Allah Subhana Allah tells us what Xena kappa ro Amal whom Casa Robin,

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of anima. Jaya who? Well then we are doing who shouted Allahu Allahu wa who says that the disbelievers their actions are like a mirage in the desert, that you chase after it. Until when you get to it hoping to find water, you just find Allah waiting to hold you to account. So this is a metaphor for those who don't take the guidance of Allah seriously. We don't want to know of Allah, they don't want the light of Allah Subhana Allah in the house. So they chase down other passing, they look for other understandings and they look for other ways to interpret the world. Allah says when someone takes one of those parts, their good deeds are like a mirage in the desert. They think

they're building up good deeds, they think that they're going somewhere. But when they actually get there, they're not going to find water at the end of the desert. They're going to find Allah ready to hold them accountable for what they believed and what they did. And then the other metaphor that comes in the other metaphor for misguidance is a direct contrast to the metaphor for guidance. So the metaphor for guidance is no rule Allah rule Light upon light. The metaphor from West guidance when it comes to the next verse, Lulu was bound to have four layers upon layers of darkness, layers upon layers of darkness for Allah subhanho wa Taala compares them

was Skydance being deprived of the news of Allah the guidance of Allah to layers upon layers of, of darkness. And he says that the darkness is of, of misguidance is like the darkness of the ocean on a dark night when it is cloudy. So imagine someone is drowning in the ocean at night, and you deep down into the ocean, you can't see anything. The ocean is the darkest part of God. Right? The deeper you go, the darker it gets. So imagine being in the depths of the ocean, on a dark night where it is cloudy, there is so much darkness, that the verse goes on to say he's an awful Raja Yoga who loved me according Allahu, if he puts his hand in front of his face, he won't be able to see it. Right? So

this is the metaphor that Allah is it building up to us. That if you want to understand what misguidance in me is what it means to be away from Allah to be misguided from Allah to be heading in the wrong direction in life. It is as if you are deep down in an ocean drowning in misguidance. And it is so dark you can't even see your hand in front of your face, wash your hands, the Godzilla ma too bad to have all covered layers upon layers of Skydance layers upon layers of darkness.

And then Allah says, well, MALAMI was who didn't go who that will run from Allah who may know whoever Allah does not give a light to they will never find the light. Whoever Allah does not give guidance to they will not find guidance. So what is the purpose of these metaphors? Number one, it is to remind us that guidance is from Allah subhanho wa taala. So we should always seek guidance from our Creator, we should always ask Allah to guide us and this is why we recite Fatiha every day. What is Surah Awatea except into our guidance every day in every rock of every Salah we are commanded to recite it had been asked we are all called bootstrapping, guide us to the straight part

because guidance is only from Allah. So we seek guidance every single day. Number two, we are warned about how dangerous it is to go astray. Because anyone can go astray at any time. This is something that many of us take for granted. Many of us think that you know I'm a Muslim, I'm guaranteed Jannah but that's not true. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said some people will spend their lives during the deeds of the people of paradise. And just before they pass away, they will start doing the deeds of the people hellfire. And they end up in the house. And he said likewise, some people spend their life during deeds of the people of hellfire. And just before he passed away, he started

doing the deeds of the people of paradise and ended up in paradise. And how often have we seen that someone spends their life converting the worst of sins. And then one day they convert to Islam and they become the most righteous of Muslims. And a few weeks or a few months later, they pass away in a state of demand. But we've also seen the opposite with some people spend a huge worshipping Allah. But as you get older, they start drifting away from the masjid is drifting away from the guidance of Allah subhanho wa taala. And they die in a state of humiliation. So we should never take guidance for granted we should always be seeking Allah's guidance. The next benefit we get from these

metaphors is to understand the effect that guidance guidance has on the heart. So the effect of misguidance is darkness, to have a dead heart. When you have darkness you can't see. Right and that's, that's what happens when someone's heart is misguided. No matter what you explain to them, no matter how you explain it, no matter what details go into, they cannot see the truth, just like they cannot see the hand in front of their face, because their heart is in total darkness. Or when a person's heart illuminated with the light of Eman that they can see the truth from borrowing. And not only can we see the truth, but they themselves become beacons of light. That when a person of

righteousness walks into a room, they light up the room. They presence affects the hearts of other people, because they themselves become a Light upon light, they themselves become a source of guidance for other people. So this surah, which begins and ends with various details about how to live your life and how to have good character and how to deal with your social dealings. Allah subhanaw taala in the middle of all these laws of how to be a good person, he gives us these metaphors to remind us that If Allah doesn't guide us, we could end up in the depths of darkness. So take this guidance seriously. There are certain laws in the sutra that some people think are trivial

that some people think are not important. But Allah is saying everything is important. It is all from the light of Allah or whatever Allah reveals they must be important to it. So take every single one of the rules mentioned in the Surah seriously you ask Allah to make us from those who are rightly guided to make us on those who have this Light upon light and to protect us from darkness and from any layer of darkness and to be able to keep us guide you on the right part for the rest of our lives. Subhana rhombic Robin is a DMARC rune was salam ala moana saline with hamdulillah

Under the law there was Santa was salam ala manana Baba arbitrariness cerca de que tabula Well hey yo howdy howdy Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was shadow more than what as to how kulambu intensity and bid what could be the ideal Dolla dolla up now,

going back to the social lessons from Surah unknown, we learned in the previous football, that the surah teaches us to value people's privacy, to knock and seek permission before entering people's homes. It teaches us to guard our modesty to dress in a way that is pleasing to Allah Subhana Allah to lower our gaze to avoid the patch of Xena and to avoid slandering people to avoid gossiping about people.

The sutra goes on to give more social laws that we should apply. And what's interesting is in the verse after the description of the light of Allah Subhana Allah, Allah didn't gives us a description of manliness of what is a real man. And he says, Regina would love to hear him the gyro done while being on Agricola he won't call me sadati we're into is

that real men are those who the business and trade does not distracted from remembering Allah or praying the salah or giving Sokka the one of the qualities of a man, we know that one of the roles of a man in Islam is to provide so men have to work. But Allah is being a real man. His work and business and money does not distract him from remembering Allah and praying his Salah that Allah always comes first. And that money is secondary to the obedience of Allah. And business is secondary to the obedience of Allah. And he doesn't forget his priorities. No matter how wealthy he gets, no matter how. how busy he gets, he always crazy Salah and Tiger and you never forget Allah subhanho wa

Taala Allah shahada brings this forward as the example of the role model man, that the real man Yes, he provides for his family, but he does not get so caught up in money and world and business that he forgets Allah, Allah is still his number one priority. And then Allah subhanho wa taala.

He gives us multiple signs of the existence of Allah subhanho wa taala. And multiple reminders, to believe in Allah and to obey His Messenger, that the concept of obeying the messenger is repeated multiple times in the Surah are reminded to us not just to follow the Quran, but to follow the Sunnah, the hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So we have multiple reminders in the Surah to obey the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and then towards the end of the Surah, it goes back to social advice. And he mentioned something that

may seem trivial. But in the long run, it is very important for raising your children well. And Allah subhanaw taala reveals a verse in the Quran, in the Surah, telling us to teach our children to knock on their parents door before entering the parents bedroom.

It sounds like something trivial, right? That get your parents permission before entering the bedroom.

And it's mentioned in multiple layers. Allah says, Tell Your servants and your young children who are very, very young, that at certain times of the day, they should seek permission before entering the parents bedroom. And the Quran mentioned three times of the day before Fajr after Asia and at midday, why does he mention birthday? Because in the time of the Prophet sallallaahu, Salam in our in Arabia, at Monday, everyone had to have an afternoon nap. Right? So those times of the day where the husband and wife are in the bedroom, and where to put it mildly, they'll be enjoying their marriage. They don't want the children walking in on them. Right? Of course, you know, they didn't

have locks or bedroom doors. He just had a curtain. So you want your child walking in and seeing something that's going to embarrass them. So Allah reveals his very important rule. It's a rule that we don't many of us don't take seriously when he was when you think about we don't even realize in the Quran. Allah says at those times of the day when you are in your bedroom, teach your children to knock and seek permission before entering the bedroom. But this is the how detail of the laws of Allah. And then Allah says, But when your child reaches puberty, they should behave like any other adult, and they should seek permission to enter the parents bedroom at any time of the day or night.

They should never enter their parents bedroom without permission. Now, there are two lessons we get from this verse number one is that if you have older children, they should always knock and seek permission before entering your bedroom. Always right, because in our older the more aware of things, the more likely to remember if they see something they're not supposed to see. And number two, this is the verse that is the proof that puberty is adulthood in Islam. Nowadays, we have this word in movements.

like to see that you only become an adult when you're 18 or 21. But in Islam, there is consensus that when you hit puberty, you are an adult. And this verse is one of the many proofs of that. Because Allah subhanho wa Taala says in this verse, What is our biological advantage? I mean, come on Hello, fall yesterday is capacitors Latina mean, copy, copy him, that when your child reaches puberty, then they should seek permission the way other adults do. So now Allah is saying when your child with puberty, treat them like adults. So this is one of the clearest verses in the Quran, they when someone reaches puberty, they are adults in the sight of Allah, and they must be treated like

adults, and is the study of one of the sahaba.

First, correct, Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, who he was sitting in his lounge with his children and talking, and he got up to go to his bedroom, and one of his sons got up to go with him. So he asked his son, where you going and see I'm coming with you to see mom. And he told him don't ever enter your mother's bedroom without permission, because you may see are in a state of imbalance point of view.

And so he then quoted this verse of the Quran and taught this stuff seem to his son. So these are things that you know, many of us take for granted. Yet, again, Islam is laying down for us the many layers of hierarchy of modesty, that even in our own homes with our own children, there should be a level of modesty, it should be a level of privacy, that the husband and wife should have privacy in the bedroom, where, you know, they don't have to worry about the children just walking in on them anytime of the day or night. And that the children should have that level of modesty and consciousness that I'm not just going to walk into my mother's room at any time of the day or night.

So this is a really comprehensive sunnah, that gives us many layers of how to behave at home, and with our friends or with others. And interestingly, it ends with a very beautiful verse, where Allah subhanaw taala says that, after all these laws about privacy and docking and seeking permission, Allah says, there's nothing wrong with having visiting your friends, visiting your family and having meals together, as long as you don't overstay your welcome, as long as you have permission, and you don't overstay your welcome. So Allah Samantha is telling us it's not I'm not telling you to just be isolated, isolated from each other. Allah is telling us to maintain modesty, but still be friends

with each other, maintain good relations, but do it in a modest way. And don't do it in a way where you overstep the boundaries. So these are some of the lessons from Surah Noor. And what we get from the surah and from Surah hoogenraad is a comprehensive idea of how to behave as a Muslim with other people. We learn our manners, our character, our modesty from these two students. And again, I repeat, that every single family should take the time to explain the surah in details to the children, especially when they are around the age of puberty. When they around that age, when they begin to understand these topics and be aware of these topics. Take the time to sit them down.

Explain to them what is enough and why it is haram. Explain to them what is hijab and why we are observing. Explain to them what is lowering the gaze and why they need to do it. Explain to them about seeking permission about not entering people's homes or rooms without permission. Explain to them all of these laws when they are at that age, because this is guidance that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. We ask Allah to make us from those who benefit from the Quran and who live by it. Shahana Rebecca Robin is at the embassy Fong was salam ala mousseline Welcome to The Lab.