Mohammad Ali Hazratji – Reflect On The QurAn – Surah Al Kahaf – Ayah 9 To 11
AI: Summary ©
The Surah on Friday provides protection and blessings, with a retelling of the story and a discussion of its significance. The story is about a woman who experienced persecution and was warned by the Prophet about being a false false person. The story also touches on the importance of not giving up on one's deeds and the use of the word "back" for reference. The segment also discusses the history of Islam, including Facebook's "three shorts" and a brief summary of the story.
AI: Summary ©
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.
Bismillah wa alhamdulillah, hamdan kafiran tayyiban mubarakan fi,
hamdan yaleeku bi jalali wajihi wa bi azeem
al-sultani wa sallallahu ala khayri khalqihi Muhammadin
al-sadiq al-ameen, al-mab'uthi rahmatan
lil'alameen wa ala alihi al-tayyibin al
-tahireen wa ala ashabihi al-ghurri al-mayameen
wa man tabi'ahum bi ahsanin ila yawm
al-deen, Allahumma aqtubna minhum.
Allahumma aftah masamiya qulubina li dhikrik, Allahumma arina
al-haqqa haqqa murzuqna ittiba'a wa arina
al-baatila baatila murzuqna ishtinaba.
We praise Allah as He deserves and we
send peace and blessings on His Messenger, sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam, the best of his creation
and his noble family.
And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to open our hearts to his remembrance and
to make us understand the significance of his
words and to benefit from them as we
should and to implement what we learn in
our lives because ultimately it's the practice, the
amal, that counts, not just the knowledge and
the information.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
show us truth as the truth and falsehood
as falsehood and help us to follow the
truth and stay firm on it and not
to change our values, not to make them
fluid like they are in today's world and
to hold on fast to his rope, the
Qur'an.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
help us benefit from Surah al-Kahf to
the full extent that he intends for us.
Just a two-minute recap, if you remember.
This is the middle of the Qur'an.
This is a surah that has many virtues.
It is a surah that we recite on
Friday, even Thursday night or Friday during the
day.
And this is a surah which grants protection
from the Dajjal.
Whoever memorizes the first ten ayahs will have
protection against the greatest fitna of all times,
which is the Dajjal who will come in
the end of times.
The recitation of the surah on Fridays gives
us light from one Friday to the next
and also gives us a light that extends
from us to the heavens and to the
Ka'bah.
And this is one of those surahs for
which the angels came to listen and they
descended in that case where the horse became
very disturbed and the Prophet ﷺ described to
that Sahabi that they had come to listen
to his recitation.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala witnesses this,
the angels witness this.
And then we talked about some of the
narrations of the occasion of revelation that the
Quraysh of Mecca had sent two of their
leaders to the rabbis in Medina to ask
certain questions of how we can determine if
this man who claims to be a prophet
is true.
And the rabbis suggested asking him three questions.
The first one was tell us about the
young men who ran away and about the
man who traveled from the whole earth from
the east to the west.
And the third question about the ruh, what
is the ruh?
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala answered these
three questions when they were presented to the
Prophet ﷺ.
The question about the ruh was answered in
surah Bani Israel in that ayah that only
Allah knows what the ruh is and it's
not known.
The ilm of it is not given to
you.
And then the other two about the youth
which is the story of Ashab al-Kahf
and the man who traveled from the east
to the west which is the story of
Dhul Qarnayn.
So that's the first and the last of
the four main stories in here.
And as we know that the Prophet ﷺ
used to frequently be visited by Jibreel ﷺ
so when they asked these questions he said
come back tomorrow and I'll give you the
answers.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala taught
us through him this lesson that whenever you
say you're going to do something tomorrow say
inshallah.
So it was a hiatus of 15 days.
The Rasulullah ﷺ did not get wahi and
answers and he was feeling very uncomfortable about
it.
And of course the Quraysh were talking that
you know we've stumped him.
He has no answers and then the wahi
came.
And then we talked about the construct of
Surah Kahf that it's divided into a khutbah,
a story, a khutbah, two stories and a
khutbah.
So eight parts and they're all connected to
each other that this is a story.
The four stories are all trials of different
kind.
First is a trial of faith.
Second is a trial of wealth.
Third is a trial of knowledge and the
fourth is a trial of power.
And we'll deal with them when we come
to them.
And then we talked about the start of
the Surah that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
starts by that Allah is the one who's
deserving of all hamd as he's revealed the
Quran.
So he talks about the tawhid of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, the revelation and the
messengership of Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
And then it gives us the story of,
it gives us a warning and a glad
tiding.
You know Nadir and Bashir.
Warning for people who don't accept this message
and the Bashara for those who accept this
message.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala warns
people not to say things about him of
which they have no knowledge such as Allah
has taken a child.
That you cannot say, Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala says, it is great sin to say
things about Allah of which you have not
been given authority.
So we always for us, what that means
is whenever we talk about our deen, especially
referring something to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
the Quran or to Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam, we have to be absolutely certain that
that is so.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells
us that he has made everything on this
earth.
He has decorated, beautified it so that it
be a test to see who is the
best in their deeds.
Ahsanu amala.
Not just who knows the most.
So it's about amal.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
that everything here is temporary.
All the beautification that Allah has created is
for a test.
It's all temporary.
The real life is to come in the
akhira.
And then we come to the beginning of
this story.
And we gave you a little background that
there are stories about this in the Christian
and Syriac and obviously the Yahud knew about
it.
And we said that what we know about
these youth is that they were believers in
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
They were true people of tawhid.
Whether they were Yahud, whether they were Christians,
it's not certain and it's not important.
It's present in the Christian texts because they
call it the seven sleepers of Ephesus, which
is in Turkey near Izmir.
Ephesus is now called Seljuk.
And there is a cave there, which may
fit, but we don't know for sure.
That cave does face the correct direction.
There is a structure built there.
The ruins are still there.
So this is what they claim is the
place.
But there is a place in Jordan where
they claim there is.
And almost every culture says we have.
I'm sure in Kashmir there's a cave also.
Who knows?
So then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and
that's not important.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in his stories,
as we said last time, does not give
details of these things.
He only puts things that are important to
teach us a lesson, where we learn certain
things, to derive certain moral values, and to
tell us a certain principle.
And I was reflecting about it, how little
details Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala puts in
there, but what he puts in there is
critical.
Now, one of the most critical stories, the
most amazing story, more than this, is the
story of Ibrahim a.s. having to sacrifice
his son.
I mean, I don't think there's anything greater
than that.
Running away for your life is fine, but
for a person to sacrifice their son.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions that in
the Quran, but what does he not mention?
The name of the son.
And he had two sons, and therefore there
is a debate.
Was it Ishaq a.s., or was it
Ismail a.s.? It doesn't matter.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not
put it there.
But isn't that amazing?
That just to live, Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala, and he sacrificed Ishaq, or he sacrificed
Ismail, his son.
He doesn't mention it.
Ghulamun Haleem.
That's it.
Describes him by his character.
The son that was gentle.
The character is gentleness, not the name.
Okay, so the sifat is what's important.
So, now we come to the story, and
we will start with verse number nine.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Do
you think, O Prophet ﷺ, and this is
through the Prophet ﷺ telling the Quraish, that
the story about the Ashab al-Kahf, Raqeem,
we said, is two interpretations.
One, it's an inscription, something carved, which described
their story, on the mouth of the cave
that may have been put later.
Or Raqeem, some scholars have said, was the
name of the valley where this cave was.
Whatever it was, doesn't matter.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Do you
think, it's one of our greatest wonders?
Telling the Prophet ﷺ, who already knows this
is not one of the greatest wonders, but
telling those people that you are challenging me
and my messenger by thinking this is the
greatest thing you can ask.
In other words, look around.
There is so much evidence of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
And look, listen to the words of the
messenger, the Qur'an that he's revealing.
That's much more wonderful than somebody who hid
in a cave, for whatever will come to
that story, even though it's a very strange
story.
But the one who created all of this,
for him to put somebody to sleep for
300 some odd years, nine years, and to
bring them back is nothing.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is putting
this amazing story in true reference.
If you look at this in the big
picture, this is no big deal for Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
He could have put them for 3,000
years and brought them up.
And they were still in that position.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling us
that I can make you disintegrate into nothing
for 50,000 years and I will still
bring you back.
That's Allah's power.
So don't be so amazed, even though this
is amazing.
Now the story starts and Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala answers these people who asked with
three short versions, the summary, three ayats.
And then after that comes the details.
Each part of that is mentioned in more
detail.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, that
when these young men, late teens, 20s, somewhere
in that range, they withdrew into a cave
and Allah doesn't say why, but it will
become apparent.
He does again, doesn't give you that the
king was persecuting them and they wanted them
to work.
None of that is mentioned, that they withdrew.
And that once they got there, What is
the first thing?
Well, the story, as you know, is these
were believing young men.
And the scholars have said there's evidence that
they were from the elite.
They were from the important, rich, wealthy.
They had mansions and palaces, but they had
Iman.
And at that time, the dominant force, the
king, the ruler, was an idol worshipper on
Greek mythology.
So there were statues of Zeus and Apollo
and others.
And they wanted these people to worship.
And they said, we are not going to
worship because we will be destroyed forever.
So they were going to be persecuted and
killed because if you reject the religion of
the king, that's your punishment.
They don't want rebellion.
So these people ran away for their safety
and for their Iman.
And then they found a cave.
They must have known about the cave in
the mountain.
And what is the first thing they do
over there?
Dua.
Dua.
So it teaches us that when you are
in trouble, you have to take your precautions.
It's not like Allah will take care of
me.
That's not Tawakkul.
We have to do physically what you are
required to do, which makes sense.
I mean, who could have more Tawakkul than
Rasulullah ﷺ, right?
In the battle of Uhud, he put on
two layers of armor.
Is that lack of Tawakkul?
No.
That's preparation for the army, taking extra precautions.
So what did they do?
They did what common sense said, run away
from here.
Otherwise, either they'll force you or torture you
or kill you to change your religion.
So they ran away.
And when they got there, they turned first
to Allah ﷻ.
Oh Allah, our Lord.
Bestow on us from you, your mercy and
guide us, make our affairs in this matter,
in this ordeal, things that are right.
Show us the right way of what to
do in a situation like this.
So this is the job that they did.
They ran away and they turned to Allah.
Now, the question comes, the question is, when
should people run away from their place in
matters of faith?
The majority of scholars have said that you
must stay where you are as long as
you can benefit the people there.
But if it becomes that you can no
longer practice your deen or there is a
threat to your life and you know you're
going to be killed, then it is better
for you to run away, to leave.
And this is what Rasulullah ﷺ said.
For 13 years, he tried.
He tried.
He stayed there.
He didn't abandon the Meccans.
He stayed there till the time when the
plot came to assassinate him and then he
left.
So this is for us to remember.
And of course, Allah ﷻ in previous surahs
that we have said tells us that Allah's
earth is wasi'ah.
So there's no excuse that I couldn't practice
my deen because I was in a place
where we were a minority and you know,
they didn't allow us.
That's the time where you got to leave.
So next Allah ﷻ tells us that this
is what they did.
He says, Means therefore in response to what
they had done, which is they took their
action.
They did their dua.
Then Allah ﷻ says, Literally what this means
is we hit them on the ears.
That's a figure of speech.
It means Allah ﷻ put barriers on the
ears that they could hear nothing.
Because when you hear a lot of noise
and what happens, you wake up.
Allah ﷻ was putting them to sleep.
And this is one way of saying that
we put them to sleep.
He doesn't say that I put them to
sleep.
In the cave, That's many years.
Now again, here Allah is only giving summary.
He will come later and explain the details
of how long or you know, what people
have said about it.
So and then the third now, so first
is what they did, what Allah didn't return.
And now the third part Allah ﷻ says,
Then we brought them back to life.
This word is usually used for bringing back
to life.
Okay, so Allah is using this term because
they were put, it was not an ordinary
sleep for 309 years they were sleeping.
So Allah ﷻ has used that term that
we brought them back.
So that we may know who of these
people, these groups, who are arguing about how
long they were, where they were, all of
these.
And these Quraysh and Yahud and the Christians,
they had debates among themselves.
As to how many were there, which Allah
will mention.
How long were they there?
What happened?
What didn't happen?
All those debates Allah ﷻ says, we did
this, we brought them back so they can
debate and see.
And there will be conjecture.
And yet they ask you, they are not
sure themselves.
But they are asking the Messenger ﷺ, you
tell us.
So Allah ﷻ says, I'll tell you.