Mohammad Ali Hazratji – Reflect On The QurAn – Tafsir Surah Al Kahaf – Part 2
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Benefits of memorizing Surah Al-Kahf.
Now, at this point, before we start this,
I'm going to talk about some general rules
of Tafseer.
So we have the sciences of the Qur
'an, which are called Uloom Al-Qur'an,
of which one of them is Tafseer Al
-Qur'an, which means the explanation of the
Qur'an.
Now, there are two terms used.
One is Tafseer, one is called Taweed.
Originally, in the early generations, the first two
or three generations, up to the time of
Imam At-Tabari, who has the biggest Tafseer,
the earliest Tafseer, the two words were used
interchangeably.
Later on, what started to happen is, Tafseer
means an explanation of what is, okay?
From the word Fassarah, which Allah SWT talks
about, means explanation.
Taweed now became known as interpretation, okay?
And some of those interpretations deviated from what
was there.
And therefore, that becomes now, Taweed is considered
not a very favorable term, because I could
interpret things differently.
So, this is just an aside.
And there are many examples of what the
examples of that Taweed means, specifically.
So, coming back to Tafseer, when we read
an ayah, we never read it in isolation.
You read one ayah, and you come to
a conclusion.
So, the first level of Tafseer is Tafseer
of Quran by the Quran.
So, if you see it somewhere, you need
to have all the ayahs which are relevant
to that.
That is the explanation.
Why is that?
Because there is, Allah SWT may have revealed
something chronologically at different times.
And sometimes you look at it, and it
may seem like there is contradiction.
And all of them have to be reconciled
of what the real meaning is.
And there is also a concept of called
Nasik and Mansukh, that sometimes Allah SWT revealed
things in stages.
And what came last sort of abrogates what
came before, negates what came before.
For example, if you just read the ayah,
the simplest example, Allah SWT says, Khamr, which
is intoxicants, there is good in it, and
there is bad in it.
But the bad outweighs the good.
Now, if you just read this isolation, that
means it's permissible.
They just take it easy with it.
There is good in it, too.
OK.
It's good for the heart.
One wine.
But then there are ayahs that wipe that
out.
So, that's why it's important first that we
understand the Quran by the Quran, putting all
of that together.
How have the scholars reconciled it?
Number one.
Number two is Tafsir of the Quran through
the Sunnah of Rasulullah SAW.
Because the Sahaba, first, as soon as something
came down that wasn't obviously clear, they would
go to Rasulullah SAW.
Ya Rasulullah, what does this mean?
For example, the common example given is, Allah
SWT says that those who believe and do
not mix their belief, with dhulm, will be
in Jannah.
Otherwise, it means you are in Jahannam.
So, dhulm.
Everybody done dhulm?
So, they got very scared.
What does this mean?
So, they went to Rasulullah SAW.
He said, what dhulm means here is shirk.
OK.
Dhulm is used in different.
So, understanding what is meant by that through
the Sunnah.
Then, where these, if there is something that's
not understood, which is not explained by the
Quran or Sunnah, then we have the Sahaba,
because they were from the time who were
experts in the language, as it was used
at that time.
Because with time, word meanings change.
OK?
Different regions, the same word may have different
meanings.
So, they understood the meaning, they understood the
grammar, they understood the context where it was
being revealed.
So, we go back to the Sahaba, which
is called Tafsir of the Quran, by the
athar, by the relics of the Sahaba, how
they understood it.
And thereafter was the Tabi'un, which is
the next generation of the companions of Rasulullah
SAW.
And with them, some of them then started
looking into sources of, from Christianity and Jewish.
That's how this Israeliyat came into the picture
from the Tabi'un.
If they, for example, the story of Al
-Kahf.
So, some of them said, well, let's see
if there are any, because it was asked
by the Jewish rabbis, it was, do we
have something from there?
And see what their narration.
But the whole thing is to keep that
separate.
The Prophet SAW said about the Israeliyat that
do not confirm them and do not deny
them.
That's our attitude because he also knew about
what they were saying because they could be
correct, but we have no confirmation unless it's
confirmed by the Quran.
Then there is Tafsir based on language, understanding
the words, because there are words in the
Quran that have meanings that can change completely.
For example, Uroo, which means period.
The rules of Iddah and you know, how
many months a woman has to wait before
she gets married if she becomes a widow
or if she gets divorced.
So that word is used for the menstrual
period itself and for the period in between.
So what did, and it changes it by
a whole month.
And this is a ruling.
So what was meant by it?
And they only, they knew because they had
verified it.
So by the language.
And then comes the Tafsir by opinion.
Opinion of the scholars of Islam who have
studied all of the Islam and who know
the grammar and who know and their opinion
cannot contradict what is understood.
You cannot just come up with a new
explanation, especially if it clashes or contradicts the
classical explanation.
Now, today we have what we would consider
free interpretation of the Quran.
Me, Mr. Ignoramus, who knows nothing, who's read
a few little books, who doesn't understand the
Arabic language except a few words, who has
philosophical ideas, scientific ideas, sectarian ideas, starts to
speculate this might mean this.
Now that is forbidden because if you start
putting everybody's opinion, what's going to happen?
The Quran is going to essentially disintegrate in
meaning because it will introduce meanings which has
done to previous scriptures all kinds of confusion.
So since this is the foundation of Islam,
it must remain pure and unadulterated by people's
opinion.
So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said,
المراء في القرآن كفر Rendering your opinions,
your opinions means independent of what we've talked
about.
Arguing, مراء means to argue about the Quran
with from your personal opinion.
He said this is كفر, three times.
And then he says, فما أعرفتم منه فأعملوا
So what you understand of the Quran, which
is clear, أعرفت, you know it, act on
it.
وما جهلتم منه فردوه إلى علمه And what
you do not know, refer it to an
alim of the Quran for explanation.
And this is a hadith from Musnad Ahmed.
Now, with that introduction, we come to Surah
Kahf.
So overview of Surah Kahf, the construct of
Surah Kahf for the structure is that it's
not divided, but we can for understanding divide
it into eight portions.
So first, there is an introductory khutbah in
which Allah SWT tells us something, which is
ayahs number one to eight.
Then comes, so this khutbah, this address to
Rasulullah SAW and to us, the believers, it
addresses six fundamental, you know, the three fundamentals
of faith, which is Tawheed of Allah SWT,
which is always part of Makkan Surah.
Number two, Risalah confirming the messengership of Rasulullah
SAW and confirming the Quran.
Number three is Akhirah, Jannah and Nahr.
And then it talks about three aspects of
our connection with Allah SWT, just in the
first three, four, three ayahs.
Hubb of Allah, love of Allah, Raja' and
Khawf, hope and fear, which are our relationship
with Allah SWT.
That abudia or ibadah or worship is essentially
based on that love of Allah, because it's
a loving surrender.
And then for our actions, we have hope
that Allah accepts and we have fear that
we might fail.
This is our relationship with Allah SWT.
That's all in there.
Allah SWT also in those first ayahs talks
about the purpose of life and death.
That we created life
and death to see who is the best
among of actions.
So it tells us that.
Then after the first eight comes the first
story.
So there are four major stories in this.
So from ayah number nine to ayah number
26 is the story of Ashab al-Kahf,
the people of the cave, the youth of
the cave.
And this, as you know, is a special
miraculous thing.
And that's why they asked the Jews, asked
them about the strange thing that happened.
So it's a miraculous story, which is, as
we said, life is full of trials.
Because this is a trial of faith, of
religion, of persecution.
These youth will come to that.
They had fear.
They were being tested for their faith in
Allah SWT.
They were true believers.
They were Muslims of the time before Islam.
And it was that or become kafir and
that was their test.
So it was a fitna or test of
faith, persecution, religion.
After that comes another khutbah from Allah SWT,
addressing the Prophet ﷺ, and addressing us, which
also has lessons from the beginning and lessons
from the first story of Surah Kahf.
And then that goes into the second story,
which is a story of the owner of
the two gardens, about a person who had
a lot of wealth, material and human resources.
And he owned these massive orchards.
He had wealth.
So this was a trial of wealth by
somebody given wealth, the fitna of wealth.
What was his attitude?
And his attitude was not correct.
He thought, you know, this is it.
And the end of that will also.
After that comes another khutbah from Allah SWT,
which has some of those lessons addressed to
Rasulullah ﷺ and the believers.
After that come two stories back to back.
The story of Musa AS and a special
servant of Allah SWT, who we call Al
-Qidr AS.
This is the story fitna of what?
Knowledge.
Because Musa AS, being the prophet of the
time, obviously had more knowledge of the religion
that is practiced externally.
Exoteric religion, if you will.
All the fiqh and all of that.
So in one encounter, somebody said, who is
the most knowledgeable?
And he rightfully said, I am the most
knowledgeable person.
And Allah SWT did not like that.
So he sent him to someone who had
knowledge of other things that are not obvious.
Sort of esoteric knowledge to teach him humility.
So this was the fitna, the trial of
knowledge.
Because sometimes when we learn a little bit,
sometimes it gives us arrogance.
I know and he doesn't know, she doesn't
know.
So that's the next level.
So we have to be careful of all
of these.
Then comes the story that answers again those
questions.
Who was the one which is the story
of Dhul Qarnayn.
Dhul Qarnayn.
The word Qarnayn means two horns.
Two Qarnayn.
Qarn is two horns.
That's one of the things.
The one possessor of truth.
And he was, from the story, a believing
king.
A believing general, whatever he was.
Who conquered from as far as you could
go to the west.
Till he reached there.
And then he traveled all the way to
the east.
As far as he could go where the
sun rises.
So he apparently owned or conquered all of
that.
So the story of Dhul Qarnayn.
What is the fitna or trial there?
The trial of power.
Which is what corrupts, right?
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
He had absolute power from east to west.
Again a fitna of one who is given
that kind of power.
How does he handle it?
Everywhere in the story he always remembers Allah.
He wasn't a saint.
He may have made mistakes.
But he did things according to that.
So the trial of power.
And then Allah concludes the surah with the
last surah.
So eight parts.
Four stories and four khutbas before and after.
So that's how the construct is.
So how many verses are there in this?
110.
71 verses are stories.
Out of 110.
So it should be easy to memorize because
stories are easy to remember.
So a general comment about stories in the
Quran.
Quran has many stories.
Now, narrations, stories, these are not fables.
These are actual events that have happened in
the past.
So what is the objective of bringing in
these stories?
Is to drive home a point.
Make a lesson.
There are morals.
There is wisdom.
Lesson, moral, wisdom to learn from those things.
That's why it's not to just make it
interesting.
But what else does generally a storytelling do?
It catches everybody's attention.
Whether you are a little kid here or
an old man.
One is sleeping.
One is there.
And I'm the third one.
It catches everybody's attention.
And we pay attention.
Yet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the
Quran when he tells a story.
He does not put details.
They are very brief stories.
He doesn't say so and so son of
so and so was related to him.
Move from this place to that place to
that.
Because all of those details for the story.
Then dilute the moral of it.
People forget.
They get sidetracked.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says a few
things.
And that's the lesson.
He skips all the details.
This is the eloquence of the Quran.
And we'll see that even in the longest,
the most detailed story in the Quran.
Is the story of who?
Yusuf a.s. Yusuf a.s. Even in
that.
Do you know the name of the Aziz
or the woman who tempted?
No.
It's not known.
That's people have said that.
Do we know the names of his brothers
who did all of this?
No.
Or just very little but just the important
things.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala drives home
things that are relevant.
That will keep our focus on highlighting the
lessons, the morals.
And the wisdom from the story.
So they're not simply for, you know, academic
theoretical discourse.
Now, in some of the books, if some
of you have read.
The open stories of the Bible.
Pages after pages of who was related to
who after.
By the time you get to the end,
you forget what it's all about.
Really.
And the same thing is true about the
story of the calf.
If you read the version, the Christian version.
Of the seven sleepers of Ephesus, which is
the first narration from the Christians.
Which dates back to it was written by
somebody.
Somebody who put this together from Greek sources
in Syriac.
So this is that story is was written
520.
So about 50 years before Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam was born.
And that was from original sources from before.
Now, if you read the stories, you have
two pages of what the names of the
people were.
And there are differences.
Then there is dispute in that whether they
were there 375 years, 372 years, 195 years.
All different.
Whether there were 3, whether there were 5,
there were 7, there were 9, there were
11.
Does any of that really matter?
No.
And Allah swt condemns that in the story.
That they argue about these things which has
no relevance to it.
But then Allah swt mentions the story just
to correct all of that.
So just remember that stories are brief.
And to the point to drive home a
lesson.
So in general, in the surah, that's how
we construct it.
The surah begins and ends with declaring Allah
swt's Tawheed.
And rejecting any concept of any partners or
associates with Allah swt.
It begins by confirming the revelation, the Quran
and the messengership of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam.
Making a clear distinction between Allah, the creator
and the creation.
And establishing what the correct values are.
So now we go to Alhamdulillah.
All praise, glory, thanks be to the one,
Allah.
Alhamdulillah.
The one who revealed, who sent down.
On his servant.
Al-Kitab.
Which is the Quran.
In which there is no deviation, there is
no crookedness.
So the first is Alhamdulillah.
Alhamdulillah is different than Shukr.
Alhamdulillah has components of Shukr.
When do you do Shukr?
When somebody does you a favor.
Alhamdulillah is above that.
Even if he doesn't do a favor.
He deserves to be praised.
That's Alhamdulillah.
But there are countless favors.
So there is elements of Shukr in it.
So it starts with Alhamdulillah alladhi anzala ala
abdihil kitab.
So this confirms that this book was sent
down by Allah.
On who?
His abd.
Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Allah calling him
his abd.
Now commonly what do we understand the word
abd to mean?
Slave.
If you use that word, what does a
slave do?
Ownership is the master's.
He is the owner.
Does he have any job descriptions?
No.
Whatever the owner says, whenever the owner says.
But what is the other word of abd
meaning from abudia?
The true worshipper of Allah.
We were created for abudia.
We were created as the abd of Allah
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, male and female.
So this also means the ultimate, the abd
of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Which is Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the
best.
Many places in the Quran Allah sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam calls him that.
Now today if you call somebody, oh you're
a slave, you think it's an insult.
This is honorific mention.
Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says he revealed,
you could have said on his Rasul.
But he said on his abd.
When he took him on the journey of
marriage, what did he say?
Subhanalladhi asra bi abdihi.
Again uses the same word.
Fa in kuntum raibim mimma nazala ala abdihi.
Surah Baqarah, many places calls him as abd.
Because he is the ultimate prototype of what
an abd should be.
So this is an honor.
Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said when you
mention my name, say abduhu wa rasuluhu.
Make it clear.
So just remember that.
So Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam here is
confirming Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's messengership.
If somebody says how do you know he
was a messenger?
Allah says he revealed his book on his
abd.
So the Quran is confirming right here in
the beginning.
The tawhid of Allah, that Allah revealed the
Quran, revealed it on messengers sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam.
And what is the distinction of the Quran?
Walam yaj'allahu awaja.
There is no crookedness in this.
There is no deviation.
There is no variation in time and place.
That okay, if you are there, then it
becomes different.
Values change.
If it's 1400 years later, values have changed.
Which happens in cultures and you know, same
thing that were considered terrible.
40 years ago are considered very honorable in
cultures today.
Okay, this is this doesn't change.
Values of Allah are permanent values.