Mohammad Ali Hazratji – Reflect on the Quran #38 Surah Al Asr P1
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Salam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh Bismillah
Alhamdulillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah while Allah He was
happy woman wala
Allahumma Zinnia Halima
la Mata haircolor, Obinna, Masha sudo Rena or Hussen Marlena
llamada not healthcare How come what is the question? What are in
a battle about and was crushed in AB
allow Mustang Mustang Maasai Mara alumina lithic. Rick.
We begin this session with the praise of Allah subhanaw taala
and sending Peace and blessings on his Noble Messenger, our beloved
prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa salam, we ask Allah subhanaw
taala to increase us in useful knowledge, knowledge that brings
us closer to Him. We ask Allah subhanaw taala to open the hearing
channels of our hearts to his remembrance and words that remind
us of him. We ask Allah subhana dialer to show us truth as the
truth and falsehood as falsehood and help us to follow the truth
and stay away from falsehood.
We begin our session today with a short Tafseer of Surah Al Astra.
And, as always, I remind you
that we studied these sources together, we are studying the
Quran together. And in fact, any gathering for
the elements of our deen for gaining knowledge
is only useful if it helps us to action.
It's only considered a good deed. If it propels us in our journey to
Allah subhanaw taala. It makes us internalize what we learn, and
help us to
climb that ladder to try and reach
that we don't study these things
as academic academic subjects,
to show how much we know. Because frequently I've heard that it's
interesting to read the Quran, or to listen to these talks. These
are not for interest. They are four hammer for actions.
Anyone who learns and studies and opines, because in social
gatherings, they look good, that they know and they're not
ignorant.
This is a deception of shaytaan. So we have to be very, very clear
that everything that we study is meant for us to internalize it and
translate it into action. And this is a reminder first for myself,
because sometimes we get into the details of this and we forget the
most fundamental principle of why we are doing this, which is to
become more aware and more conscious of Allah subhanaw taala
to be a more obedient act of Allah subhanaw taala to worship Allah
subhanaw taala in the best possible way, that all of this
accumulation of knowledge should make us a better human being a
better abd of Allah subhanaw taala the purpose for which we were
created.
So with that reminder, we come to this McCann Surah Surah alacer
which is one of the very brief Surah of the Quran with only three
Iots in it, only three periods. But as the Quran itself is a great
miracle.
The miracle of this surah is that in these three ayat, Allah
subhanaw taala has encompassed the essence of the entire Deen of
Islam. The entire deal of Islam is encompassed in Surah Al
which makes this transformational Surah that if somebody didn't
study any of the Quran, except this surah and
studied it well and internalized it they would be successful.
In fact one of our from the I am one of our great which the head
Imams Imam, a Shafi or the Allah one said is reported to have said
he said, or the hola Han If people only reflected on this Surah it
would be enough it would be sufficient for them. It
encompasses everything so if they just reflected properly on the
Surah it would be enough for them. He is also reported to have said
Had there been nothing else of the Quran that was revealed except
this Surah it would be enough for people. This is how comprehensive
this surah is, as we said it is the summary of the Quran and the
summary of our deen because it talks about Eman it talks about
Amal Salah it reminds us of our journey. It reminds us of our
struggle, the struggle of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi salam
and all the MBR before him, of of calling people towards truth and
going through all the the trials that come with that all the
persecution, the difficulties, the challenges with patience and
perseverance. So all of our then in essence is here.
And among the father of this surah is reported by Imam by Halki he
said that the Sahaba the companions of the Prophet
salallahu Alaihe Salam are the Allah on whom they whenever they
met with each other they would not part from each other without
saying to each other, while us in Berlin Santa Luffy acoustic Illa
leadin Avenue wahama la sala hat whatever so will help pay with our
service.
What does that mean that it's just Salam aleikum Wa alaykum wa salam
at the end, they always said this to each other, because they
thought of how important the surah was, and how important the
reminder was because we are forgetful of these four essential
ingredients that Allah subhanaw taala has given us in the Surah
the four essentials for our salvation to save us.
So, this is essentially the background of the surah in brief.
So, as all of you have memorized it and you know the surah again
starts is one of those sources that we have gone through which
starts with an oath with a person and in this surah Allah subhanaw
taala takes the person of Astra
one Astra This is iron number one. And as we say when it starts with
a wall, and the what comes after has a cursor in the end, that is
an oath and the meaning of an oath as we have said before, number one
to give special status and importance to what is being
taken an oath one
of something that's great ennobled, it's a creation of Allah
and only Allah can take an oath on his creation.
So Allah is taking an oath. And after every oath, there comes a
gerbil Castle, which is the subject what Allah smart Allah
wants us to focus on. So after we have an oath, we anxiously wait to
see what is coming next, because what is coming next is the main
message. And it's always very impactful. It's something very,
very important, so important that to stress the importance of that,
and to call our attention to that Allah subhanaw taala, who does not
need to take any oath, the most truthful of all truths, the truth,
the creator of truth, takes an oath.
The law takes the court to tell us what's coming after that in two to
two, so that we may focus and that we understand that what is coming
is very, very, very critically important. And sometimes taking
the oath is also a manifestation of a warning of anger. means now
you are being warned you will have no excuse that you did not know
that. So in this surah Allah subhanaw taala takes an oath of a
portion of time Astra and as we know, we have salata, Lazar, and
when does that salata, Laaser come at the end
Have the day. salata last
tells us something.
What does it tell us? That the day is coming to an end,
the time specifically is running out.
So sometimes this is translated as Allah subhanaw taala says,
I swear by time,
this is more specific than that, because Allah has used the word
there as time in this in the Quran, Allah subhanaw taala has
taken oats by various times, Allah has
when now hurry that agenda. By the midday Allah smart Allah has taken
an oath of Fajr, the dawn time, Allah subhanaw taala has taken
oath on what the HA of the morning time when the sun has risen. So
Allah Samantha has taken an oath, about time, in multiple places and
multiple
portions of time. That also tells us in a way of how important this
creation of Allah Subhana Allah in time is a creation of Allah
subhanaw taala and there is actually a hadith which Allah and
the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam says Don't curse time.
Because Allah smart Allah says, I'm not there I am time, what does
that mean? That I created time.
So don't curse time means don't say, you know, 2020 has been a
terrible year because of what has happened.
Because it is in a way an insult to Allah subhanaw taala because he
says another I am time.
So whatever happens what we consider time is Allah's will.
Don't say we are having a bad day.
Be careful with use of those things.
Every moment of time that has been given to you.
what you make of it
is what matters.
People could reach Jannah in the year of 2020, if they did what
they were supposed to do,
or any other time.
So while I sorted by the declining time, by the time that's going
away, the time that's running out.
So it's not just the dawn, it's not the mid day. This also gives
us a sense of urgency when something is running out.
I can take it for my own life.
If I'm in the assertive time of my life, which I am, that means most
of my life is gone, I need to
pick up my pace as to what I want to do.
I may have wasted 60 years. But if I have five left or one left or
six months, I need to make up for all the last time we say we lost
time. Because what is the meaning of last time time is a blessing of
Allah subhanaw taala that is given equally to everybody. Everybody
gets 24 hours in a day.
How we use it, or how we lose it.
You know if your time is running out, you take the example of a
drowning person.
What sense of urgency does that person have?
This is the same thing Allah subhanaw taala is taking an oath
on his creation time that is running out no matter what you
have, what possessions you have, what power you have, you do not
have the power to stop time.
You don't have the power to delay time. You do not have the power to
buy time.
Even at Basara, the Allahu Anhu uma
one of the greatest commentators of the Quran, said what is meant
by acid here is
the ages that have gone by
time of the ages, in other words, periods of time, the rise and fall
of nations to give us an example of how time let's be Allah smart
Allah allows people to come up as individuals as nations and the
decline whatever comes into being whatever is created
It is created for a finite period, it will have its rise, it will
have its fall and it will have its end. So this is a reminder that
nothing is permanent. So, he says this is an OT by the ages, which
you could then sort of extend to say, this is an oath taken for us
to take lessons from the history of previous nations, the great
nations that have come and gone, the powerful that have come and
gone, all things that have happened to remind us that our
time will also pass our nation our civilization will also pass.
Other commentators have said that this is
an oath on all time.
Others have said that this is oath as we said before, on a part of
the time, the last part of the time, or the late day between us
and Maghrib, Allah has given specifying that time
to remind us that the sunset, the end of the day is approaching.
And some have said that this is an OT on salatu Lhasa itself.
And some have said that this asset is an OT, on the Prophet salallahu
Salam because Allah smart Allah swears on his life. And if we look
at it in another way,
his coming,
his finality
of prophethood, being cotterman Nabhi. If you take all of the
history of mankind, He comes at the acid time of humanity, no
more. After this, there is no more time to waste. After him comes the
Day of Judgment. As he said, Me and the day of judgment are like
this. So in another way of looking at it, this is how they reflect
that this is also an oath taken by the messenger ship of Rasulullah
sallallahu alayhi salam, last message has come, like the last
salah of the day has been done. Now it's just a matter of when the
end is coming. All of which is to give us a sense of urgency greater
than any other road as to what is coming next.
While us
now, some of the surahs that we have covered have to do with the
afterlife. This is a Surah of the worldly life. And what is the
proof of that? Because Allah is saying, talk to taking an oath on
something that is passing.
That's going away, that's finite, never to come back. Whereas in the
Adhara, there is no concept of time. It's eternal.
So finite time is the dunya. So Allah subhanaw taala has giving us
a focus that we need to focus here for what we are going to reap in
the hereafter which is eternal. And there we should not have
regrets that I should have used my time in a wiser way.
And again, when Allah subhanaw taala takes an oath on time, we
must remember that this is one of the greatest blessings that we
have time. Because what is time, whether it's in nanoseconds,
whether it's in seconds, whether it's in minutes, hours, days,
months, years, decades, this is what our life is, when you talk
about life, life is time, life is equal to so many days, so many
years, we say he lived 60 years, he lived so many days, so many
seconds, so many months. So another way of talking about life
is talking about time. And this is such a blessing that Allah has
given us. And this is as the Hadith says one of the blessings
that people frequently ignore as the Prophet sallallaahu Salam said
that one of the blessings that they ignored is Ferrara, the time
that Allah gives us that we choose to waste in in things that are not
useful things that are wasteful of our time, not making the best use
of our time. And as we know, in another Hadith, that when the
questions are asked on the day of judgment from each one of us,
Allah subhanaw taala will question these things. Two things will be
asked which are related to time. How did you spend your life and
then more specifically, how did you spend your youth, which is
your prime time to questions about time
So that's the importance. So now that Allah subhanaw taala, has
taken the oath, on this declining time, the passage of time, the
critical time that's left, what is the job? What was the subject that
he wanted to do stress to us?
It comes in Iowa, number two.
First Iowa, two words, what? Alaska,
second Iowa, in null in Santa laffy hawser. That's it. In the
word in is
superfluous in a way it is extra here because when Allah has
already taken an oath, he doesn't need to stress something, because
the OT itself is a stress. But the word enough is used to stress that
if you still have some doubts about this in
there is no doubt this is for Turkey to remove doubt
to stress the seriousness of what's coming. What is that? In
INSEAD? Luffy has an insane
which is
the individual. It's singular yet it covers all human beings.
In this form Insan is singular one. But when it is used like
this, it means all human beings NASS.
Why is the word insaan that may have been chosen here. Because as
the scholars tell us, one of the roots of the word inside is Nasir,
which means to forget. Because one of the characteristics of inside
of human being is forgetfulness. We are reminded, and we sort of
think and we said yes, we are going to act we're going to do
something here Joomla hotbar with agenda does, I'm going to do I'm
going to change and five minutes later, we forget you get in the
car you forget, you go for you go eat your dinner, you forget. You
see your children, you forget.
One phone call comes you forget, we are so forgetful, and we forget
over and over and over again we are insane.
Yet Allah smart Allah is saying in Al Insana, laffy hosel. And this
lamb is also another tack eat another emphasis, he is indeed fee
in immersed in emphasizing it what Heusser
and what is hostile, an immense loss, a great loss, a terrible
loss,
loss that should not have happened.
A loss that should not necessarily happen, a loss that was
preventable. Allah subhanaw taala did not send us here as losers.
And we will talk about the various forms that are used in the Quran.
Allah subhanaw taala uses the word hustle Allah subhanaw taala uses
the word Hazara.
And Allah subhanaw taala uses the word Hassan and we'll talk briefly
about it just to to clarify those.
But in a few Surahs before this, which is which has many
similarities to this, which is Surah 13.
The similarities are in that also Allah smart Allah starts with the
earth.
But Tina was a tune, what do they say Nene? Allah subhanaw taala
were heard that Bella did Amin,
La Casa La canal in Santa Fe x Anita when Allah subhanaw taala
talks about positive that indeed we created I swear by all of
these, we created in San in the best of malls, the best of form, I
summed it up when the best of creation in a way.
So best of creation should not be a loser.
So we didn't come into this world as losers. And therefore, if we
come as the best of creation, and we end up as losers, that's a
terrible loss. It did not have to be that way. So it's even worse.
Somebody who was capable of getting an A plus gets an F.
And somebody who was so challenged that he would could only get an F
gets an F there is a huge difference.
So Allah subhanaw taala is telling us
verily indeed surely certainly without a doubt man in general and
individually is in a state of loss.
Take a break here to talk about the other words that I use that a
similar Cassara
when the word fissara is used in the Quran,
it is usually used for a loss on top of a loss, the person was
losing and you got even a greater loss for example, Allah subhanaw
taala says in the Quran
Wallah you see the volley Mina Illa fissara
and the volley mean the unjust
do not increase in anything except Cassara. Because the volume is
already in a state of loss, he's already going to be punished for
his volume and the actions is doing cumulating adding up on top
of that loss so loss on top of loss. Elsewhere Allah subhanaw
taala says while I use the dual Catherine Khufu home in fissara.
And the cafe Cafe is obviously in a state of loss, his gopher and
all the actions that come off of his cofrac On top of that
increases him in nothing except Cassara except loss upon loss. So
this is how in some of the places word Kasara is used. Now there is
another word which is Hassan. And anything that ends with Ron in
Arabic is a hyper hyperbole it's it's something that's magnified,
like rash man
of God the ban, severe in anger, Hassan means the ultimate loss
hyperbolized loss incredible unimaginable. This is also used in
the Quran. Allah subhanaw taala because Allah subhanaw taala in
this dunya is talking about loss here.
Now Allah Samantha talks about, he says in the Quran when Mina NASCI
Mejia Abdullah Allah health and among mankind are those who
worship Allah, Allah have fallen have means they are like on a
Cliff's edge. They are like border on the border. When you're on the
border, you're walking on the border, you have a tendency
sometimes to fall off. In other words, they're just practicing
Islam on the fence as we would say in today's so on the fence,
sometimes you go this way, sometimes you go this way.
And Allah subhanaw taala gives the example for in ASABE who Chiron
Pharaoh NIT and Nebby so if Allah subhanaw taala if they if they're
affected by something that's good to their liking. They are in a
state of tranquility with Allah Subhana Allah they are pleased
with Allah subhanaw taala they are satisfied with Allah subhanaw
taala when we're in Assam but who fits an atom fit and fits now
Tonin Kala, Allah YG but if Allah subhanaw taala challenges them
with a fitna or trial something that's not
sits well with them that they don't like.
In Colaba, they turn on their faces they turn away from Allah
Subhana Allah means they were not firmly grounded in their Deen that
any challenge comes they follow. Now what is the story of these
people? Allah subhanaw taala says Costiera dunya while
they are in Cassatt in, in loss in the dunya because of this action,
and in the Hereafter, there Lika who will who's around who will
mean and that is the ultimate Hassan costra
ultimate loss because it's a loss in the dunya lost the dunya last
year
Subhana Allah Muhammad the Hemric mission to Allah Allah Allah
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