Kamil Ahmad – Parables of the Quran

AI: Summary ©
The Kalima of At-Tawheed is a fruit of good deeds and is a fruit of strongare, meaning it is a fruit of good deeds and strongare. It is a fruit of firm foundation and belief in actions and actions with the body. It is a deden of reforming one's values and beliefs, and is a deden of reforming their deeds. The deden of reforming one's values and beliefs is a deden of reforming one's values and beliefs.
AI: Summary ©
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious,
the Most Merciful.
And where does that originate from?
From the heart, right?
And so that's what Allah mentions here.
He compares the Iman being firm in the
heart to the tree being firmly rooted in
the ground.
Allah says, this tree, its roots are firm
in the ground.
That is the Iman that is firm in
the heart of the believer.
But there's something important to understand here.
Who benefits from the Kalima of the Tawheed?
The one who just says it?
No.
Many Muslims, they say the Shahada, but perhaps
they don't even know what it means.
Many Muslims, they say the Shahada, but their
actions go against it.
Right?
They may not be fulfilling the conditions.
There are conditions that make your testimony of
Tawheed to be valid.
And so we have to understand the meaning
of this Kalima, and its reality, and its
conditions.
And then act according to it.
With our heart, and our tongue, and our
actions.
And that's why Allah says, about this Kalima
of the Tawheed, that it is firm in
the heart.
It's not just set on the tongue, but
it's firm in the heart.
And then, Allah compares these good deeds that
we do, that result from the Iman, the
good deeds that we do.
Allah compares them, or compares them being accepted
by Allah.
He compares that to what?
To the branches going up in the sky.
The branches of the tree.
وَفَرَّعُهَا فِى السَّمَاءِ This tree, its roots are
deep in the ground, and its branches are
stretched out in the sky.
Right?
That indicates that the good deeds are being
accepted by Allah, going upwards.
Allah tells us that our deeds go up
to Him.
إِلَيْهِ يَصْعَدُ الْكَلِيمُ الطَيِّبُ وَالْعَمَلُ الصَّالِحُ يَرْفَعُ That,
to Allah ascends good deeds, and good words.
الْكَلِيمُ الطَيِّبُ, good words go up to Allah,
and the good deeds, they raise them up
to Allah.
The good deeds that we do, raise these
good words up to Allah.
So, that is why Allah says that the
branches are sticking up in the sky.
Meaning, your good deeds that you do are
going up to Allah, being accepted.
And finally, what does Allah say at the
very end?
تُؤْتِي أُكُو لَهَا كُلَّ حِيْنٍ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهَا This
tree, it's always producing fruits.
At all times.
A good tree, gives you good fruits at
all times.
And that, is basically the believer, constantly doing
good deeds.
The believer constantly doing good deeds.
And so, as long as Iman is strong
in the heart, then a person is going
to constantly be doing good deeds.
It's like an automatic reflex.
You won't find anyone who has strong Iman
and he's not doing good deeds.
It just doesn't work that way.
If the Iman is strong in the heart,
then it's going to result in good deeds.
And so, strong Iman, it drives you to
do good deeds, and doesn't allow you to
remain idle.
Right?
And that explains weak Iman.
Right?
A person who is suffering from weak Iman,
you find him to be idle.
Not doing good deeds.
And so, Iman goes up and down.
It goes up with good deeds, and it
goes down with, without doing good deeds.
And committing sins.
Right?
And so, this is the parable of the
foundation of the believer, his Iman.
His foundation.
And the Prophet ﷺ mentioned that, you know,
this tree is like the date palm tree.
And we find the resemblance here.
The date palm tree is one of the
firmest in the ground.
You know, even in strong winds, it doesn't
shake.
It doesn't, you know, fall down.
Its roots are firmly rooted in the ground.
And its branches, you see, are sticking out.
Right?
In the sky.
And, it's constantly providing dates throughout the year.
As opposed to other trees that they have
their seasons.
Right?
With date palm trees, yes, dates have a
season when they become fully ripe.
But, you can also eat them before that.
Right?
You have different kinds of dates.
Some that are hard, some that are soft.
Right?
That's because of the time that they were
taken off the tree.
But otherwise, it's providing for you throughout the
year.
Others say, that even if you take it
off at one time of the year, you
store it.
You store these dates, and they last you
throughout the year.
Alright.
So, let's mention some lessons of this parable,
and then we'll go through the next parable.
Which is the opposite of this.
So, first of all, we see the importance
of the Kalima of At-Tawheed.
And its role in keeping one steadfast.
Tawheed, and learning what Tawheed is, is not
mere book knowledge.
Right?
Book knowledge of Tawheed and Iman, it doesn't
benefit a person.
Right?
Just having information, and knowledge of who Allah
is, is worth nothing, unless this knowledge penetrates
your heart, and it becomes firm in your
heart, and then that is going to produce
action.
Right?
And, that is what keeps you firm and
steadfast.
Whereas people who may have knowledge of Tawheed,
but that Iman is not firm in their
heart, they'll easily slip.
You can have all the knowledge of Allah
in the world, but if it's not firm
in your heart, you'll easily slip.
Right?
Into the world of shubuhat and shahawat.
Right?
And that's why there are some non-Muslims
who know about Allah more than some Muslims.
But does that benefit them?
No.
Right?
Number two, just like a date palm tree
remains firm and steadfast in the fiercest of
storms, likewise the believer, he remains firm even
in the storms of shahawat and shubuhat.
Even if the fitna is extremely strong, Right?
You'll be able to stand firm.
Who can give me an example of that?
Okay, Ibrahim, how?
In the fire, even though they threw him
into the fire, yes.
So that's an example of staying firm against
the fitna of shubuhat.
Now give me an example of the fitna
of shahawat.
Yes, Yusuf alayhi salam.
Young.
You know, in the palace of the king.
And he's not going to the woman, but
she's coming after him.
And he's young.
And everything is there for him to fall
for.
But, you know, his iman is what kept
him strong.
He said, I would rather prefer prison over
this.
Right?
So this shows us that this iman, it
keeps you firm just like a tree.
A strong tree.
In the fiercest of storms.
It's going to remain standing.
Why?
Because its roots are firm in the ground.
And for the believer, his iman is strong
in his heart.
On the other hand, one whose iman is
light, then even a small amount of
fitna is going to cause him to fall.
Right?
Right?
Just like a tree that doesn't have a
strong foundation.
If a wind comes, it'll blow it down.
Right?
And so how many of us today, you
know, we fall for shubuhat and shahawat.
And, you know, they're small compared to what
Yusuf, for example, alayhi salam, had to go
through, or Ibrahim alayhi salam.
Right?
All of this shows us that, you know,
the believer is like the date palm tree.
Right?
His roots are firm in the ground.
And so he'll be able to stand in
even the fiercest of storms.
Finally, we learn from this that iman is
not just faith in the heart, not just
belief, but also it includes actions.
The word iman, it includes amal.
It includes amal.
It's not just belief with the heart.
Right?
So it's belief with the heart, a statement
with the tongue, and actions.
So you praying is part of your iman.
Right?
You giving is a part of iman.
And that's why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam said that iman is 60 or 70
odd branches.
The highest of it is saying la ilaha
illallah.
Saying.
So that proves that from iman is what
we do with our tongue.
And he said the lowest level is, what
is the lowest level?
Imatatul adha anil tariq.
To remove something harmful from the road.
That is a physical action.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam referred to
it as iman.
Right?
And so this idea that some Muslims have
that iman is only in the heart.
It's incorrect.
And so iman is belief with the heart,
statement with the tongue, and actions with the
rest of your body parts.
We move on to the next ayah.
The next ayah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says.
Describing the foundation of the kafir.
Allah says.
Allah says.
And the example of the bad word is
like a bad tree.
Uprooted from the surface of the earth.
Not having any stability.
And then Allah says.
Concluding these two parables.
Allah says.
Allah keeps firm those who believe with the
firm word.
In this dunya and in the akhira.
And Allah sends astray the zalimun, the wrongdoers.
And Allah does as He wills.
Allah does what He wills.
Alright.
So here, just like the previous parable.
We have the exact opposite.
Right?
We have the exact opposite.
So Allah tells us that the bad word
is like a bad tree.
What is the bad word here?
If the good word was the kalima of
at-tawhid.
What is the bad word?
Yes.
Shirk.
Or the word of kufr.
A word of kufr or a word of
shirk.
So Allah compares it to a bad tree.
A bad tree that isn't firm in the
ground.
A bad tree that doesn't give you any
fruits.
Right?
It's worthless.
And so the kafir is like a bad
tree.
Right?
The kafir is like a bad tree.
He has no good in him.
Not inward nor outward.
There's no good in his heart.
And outward there's no actions.
He's not doing anything for Allah.
And here Allah tells us that this tree
is uprooted from the surface of the earth.
And so this is telling us there's no
iman in the heart.
Right?
So the tree is not, you know, it's
just uprooted from the ground.
It's lying on the ground.
It's been uprooted.
So there's no iman in the heart.
Right?
There's no strong roots keeping it fixed.
And Allah tells us that there's no...
That basically it has no...
It has no stability.
So obviously a tree that is uprooted from
the ground is its branches going to be
sticking to the sky?
No.
Right?
So we conclude that he has no good
deeds going up to Allah.
Right?
He has no good deeds going up to
Allah.
So even if he does good deeds, they're
not being accepted.
As we mentioned in the previous parable.
And likewise, we can also add here the
same thing from the previous parable.
We can say that this tree is not
producing any fruit.
You know, the previous tree, Allah says, تُؤْتِئُكَ
لَهَا كُلَّ حِيْمًا بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهَا It's always producing
fruit.
But this tree is not producing any fruit.
Right?
So, meaning that whatever this person does, it's
not being accepted by Allah, if he's doing
any good deeds.
Or we can say that he's not doing
any good deeds to begin with.
Right?
There's nothing being produced from this tree.
Now, Allah describes the worlds of the Kuffar
as being the lowest.
What does Allah say?
وَجَعَلَ كَلِمَةَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا السُّفْلَى وَكَلِمَةُ اللَّهِ هِيَ
الْعُلْيَةِ Allah says that He made the word
of the Kuffar to be the lowest.
And the word of Allah is the highest.
Right?
Again referring to كلمةَ التوحيد This is the
highest word.
And the words of the Kuffar, meaning the
words of Kuffar and Shirk, are the lowest.
Abdullah ibn Abbas, he says, the word of
the Kuffar refers to Shirk, and the word
of Allah refers to كلمةَ التوحيد Okay?
And so just like a tree that has
been uprooted from the ground, and cannot produce
any fruits, likewise the state of the Kuffar,
whose foundation is not on anything solid, you
can't expect them to produce any good deeds.
And even if they do, it will be
accepted.
Because it wasn't good in the definition of
Allah.
What is a good deed?
What did we say a good deed is?
One that fulfills two conditions.
So even if they do deeds, they are
not good in the definition of Allah.
Ibn Abbas, he says, the deeds of the
Kafir are never accepted, nor are they raised
to Allah, so he has no firm base
on earth, nor any branch in the sky.
He has no firm base roots in the
ground, nor any branches going up.
Right?
In the end, Allah concludes both of these
parables, by mentioning the end result.
يُثَبِّتُ اللَّهِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِالْقَوْلِ الثَّابِتِ فِي الْحَيَاةِ
الدُّنْيَا وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ Right?
Allah gives steadfastness, ثبات, firmness, to those who
believe.
When does he give them this firmness?
In the dunya and in the akhirah.
Right?
So don't think that I can do it
all on my own.
No.
This ثبات, it comes from Allah.
Remaining firm and steadfast.
Because Allah tells us here that he is
the one who makes the believers firm and
steadfast.
In the dunya we understand it, right?
But what does it mean in the akhirah?
Yes.
The questioning in the grave.
The questioning in the grave.
So, the Prophet ﷺ told us that, when
a person is buried in his grave, two
angels come and ask him three questions.
Once the Prophet ﷺ buried one of the
companions, and then after they were done burying
him, before they were about to leave, the
Prophet ﷺ said, Now make dua for your
brother.
For?
For what?
For ثبات.
Now ask Allah to make him firm.
Because now he is about to be questioned.
Right?
The Prophet ﷺ told us that the believer
will be able to answer the questions correctly.
The disbeliever and the hypocrite, they'll be confused.
They'll be hesitant.
They'll stutter.
Right?
And so at a time like this you
need, you need to be firm and solid.
And that is what Allah is referring to
here.
When he says that he keeps the believers
firm in the dunya and in the akhirah.
And that is all due to what?
Due to what they did.
Right?
الجزاء من جنس العمل That, you know, you
get what you deserve.
You get what you deserve.
Whatever you did, you know, the consequence is
going to be based on that.
And so, if you worked hard, if you
worked hard in this dunya, doing good deeds,
and trying to please Allah, and staying away
from haram, etc.
Then Allah will reward you with that steadfastness.
But if you turned away, then Allah turns
away from you.
And he won't be there for you when
you need him.
Right?
He won't be there for you when you
need him the most.
Yeah, exactly.
Also, Allah says to the Prophet, that if
we had not made you firm, then you
would have slipped.
وَلَوْ لَعَمْ ثَبَّتْنَاكَ لَقَدْ كِتَّ تَرْكَلُ إِلَيْهِمْ شَيْءً
قَلِيلًا You would have slowly, you know, slowly,
step by step, you would have gone their
way.
Right?
The kuffar.
You know, it doesn't happen overnight.
You know, going astray doesn't happen overnight.
It happens slowly, gradually.
Right?
Step by step.
And Allah is telling the Prophet, if we
had not kept you firm, that's what would
have happened.
Like a lot of people.
You go astray.
It doesn't happen overnight.
Right?
It happens gradually.
And it happens because Allah did not keep
them firm.
Right?
So that's how Allah concludes both of these
examples.
Let's quickly mention some lessons that we learned
from this last parable.
Number one.
How Allah describes the kuffar is fair and
just.
Right?
Allah here uses the word khabeeth.
كلمة خبيثة Khabeeth means filthy.
Bad, filthy, dirty.
And Allah also describes the kuffar and the
wicked with a similar term.
الخبيثات للخبيثين والخبيثون للخبيثات The female fornicators are
for the male fornicators.
And the male fornicators are for the female
fornicators.
But Allah doesn't use the word zani here.
Like the fornicator.
Allah uses the word filthy.
Filthy men are for filthy women.
And filthy women are for filthy men.
Also Allah says about the mushrikun that they
are najis.
They are filthy.
Right?
And in fact the people of Lut What
did they say?
They actually admitted that they were filthy.
They were involved in a filthy practice.
And they admitted.
They even admitted.
What did they say about Lut and his
followers?
إِنَّهُمْ أُنَاسٌ يَتَطَحَّرُونَ And this was after they
didn't have anything else to reply with.
What does Allah say?
وَمَا كَانَ جَوَابَ قَوْمِهِ إِلَّا أَن قَالُوا أَخْرِجُوهُم
مِّن قَرْيَتِكُمْ إِنَّهُمْ أُنَاسٌ يَتَطَحَّرُونَ They didn't have
any reply to Lut and the Muslims.
Other than to say, expel them from your
city.
They are a people who like to keep
themselves clean.
They admitted that we are dirty and they
like to keep themselves clean.
Right?
The point here is, the point of mentioning
all of this is that Allah has referred
to people as being filthy.
The Kuffar and anyone who does these practices,
and we shouldn't shy away from that.
Right?
There is no political correctness when it comes
to the terms used in the Quran and
the Sunnah.
Right?
We say it as it is.
We say it as it is.
Obviously when it comes to talking to the
Kuffar, there is something called Hikmah, Wisdom.
But I'm saying in general, you have some
Muslims today who say, no, we shouldn't use
these terms at all.
In fact, they say we shouldn't even call
a Kafir, a Kafir.
Because the word Kafir is derogatory.
It's humiliating.
Right?
I mean, are we Muslims who believe in
the Quran and that these are the words
of Allah or not?
Right?
Number two, we learn from this that Shirk
and Kuffar is never stable.
It is never stable, and it cannot rise
and overpower Iman.
What does Allah say?
ما لها من قرار ما لها من قرار
It has no stability.
The tree is uprooted from the ground.
Right?
That is how Kuffar is.
That is how Kuffar is.
It can never be victorious over Iman.
It can never overpower Iman.
Because it doesn't stand on anything solid.
Right?
It doesn't stand on anything solid.
And that's why if a Muslim ever debates
a Kafir, the Muslim always wins.
In general, a Muslim is always victorious.
Right?
In a fair debate.
Right?
Likewise, the Muslims have always been victorious over
the Kuffar.
Right?
It's only in this era that things have
changed.
That we say, you know what?
The battle between truth and falsehood is not
over.
It's something that is continuous.
Right?
And as they say, الحرب سجال And as
Allah says, وَتِلْكَ الْأَيَّامُ نُدَاوِلُهَا بَيْنَ النَّاسِ That
these are the days.
The days of victory and defeat.
Allah exchanges them.
Sometimes you are victorious, sometimes they are victorious.
But in the end, in the end, Islam
will be victorious.
Right?
This is the promise of Allah.
This is the promise of Allah.
Finally, we learn that the Kafir has no
steadfast base.
But rather, he always changes as the people
and the situation around him changes.
And so he doesn't have any set principles
that he abides by.
But he is only led by his whims
and his desires.
He is only led by his whims and
his desires.
And you see that.
You know, they are always moving from one
ideology to another.
First they had, you know, Christianity that they
started to change.
And then they finally gave up, they gave
it up.
And then they invented these man-made ideologies
of secularism and liberalism and feminism.
And then atheism.
And they are always jumping from one to
another.
Why?
Because they have no, no solid foundation.
They change and they move with the people
and the times.
Right?
Whereas the believer, he doesn't change.
The believer doesn't change.
No matter what.
No matter what situation he is in.
No matter what time he lives in.
Our deen has certain stable principles that do
not change over time.
Yes.
There are some things in our deen that
can change.
Depending on the circumstances that we are living
in, etc.
But then there are certain things of our
deen that are from the foundations that will
never change.
But you see the kuffar today, they want
us to bend.
And they want us to change these set
principles that we have.
Right?
They want us to compromise.
They want us to change some of these
aspects of our deen so that we become
like them.
So that we become just like them.
Right?
Don't think that they are all happy with
us practicing our religion freely.
No.
No, they don't want you to practice Islam
as it is.
They want you to reform your Islam.
Just like they have reformed their religion.
They'll say, pray however you want.
Right?
Pray at home, pray in your masjid however
you want.
But, you know, if your religion tells you
that, for example, homosexuality is a sin, and
something we have to look down on, and
if your religion tells you that there is
no flexibility on this, then we're telling you
no.
You have to reform your religion.
Right?
And that's what this whole campaign was about
in these last couple of years.
To brainwash our children into accepting them.
Into accepting these ideas.
That look, this is something you have to
accept.
And here we are, saying no.
We're not going to accept that.
We're not going to change that.
Right?
Because the believer, he has certain fundamentals that
he stands by.
That are never going to change until the
Day of Judgment.
Right?
Whereas the kafir, they're willing to change.
You know, the only ones who stood up
against this wave of what they were doing,
were the Muslims.
Right?
In these last couple of years, when this
onslaught was taking place, to introduce these things
in the schools, and force it down the
throats of the children, to be accepting of
the LGBT community, the only ones who were
standing against this were the Muslims.
To the point where some conservative Christians, they
were actually praising the Muslims.
They said, you know, we Christians gave up
a long time ago.
And it's sad, but we're proud of you.
Right?
All the other religions, whether it's the Jews,
or the Hindus, or the Sikhs, all of
these religions, where were they?
What does it show you?
It shows you that the kafir does not
have any firm principles that he abides by.
When in pressure, he'll give up.
He'll give up his conservative values, and his
religious principles.
Right?
But the Muslim doesn't.
That's what we learn from this parable.
Because the kafir, his tree is uprooted from
the ground.
مَا لَهَ مِن قَرَار He doesn't have any
stability.
And so these are some of the lessons
that we learn.
And we'll conclude here insha'Allah ta'ala.
Any questions?
So, you know, the heart is in the
one who took his desires as a guide.
Is that because, like, there is compared to
the one that has no root in the
ground?
Is that comparable?
Yeah.
Basically, anyone who follows his whims and his
desires, his hawah, he can be compared to
someone who, you know, his iman is not
strong in his heart.
And for the kafir, because, you know, he
doesn't have anything firm in his heart.
So he's gonna follow his whims and his
desires.
And Allah says, you know, such people, they
have taken their whims and desires as their
God.
Right?
They have taken their whims and their desires
as their God that they worship besides Allah.
Any other questions?
Okay, we'll conclude with that insha'Allah.