Mohammad Elshinawy – Divine Parables #07 The Panting Dog Gutted By Greed 7-176
AI: Summary ©
The concept of "parcel" between knowledge and actions is discussed, including the use of Jesus as a way to get rid of fear and misery. Jesus's use of the term "panning" means he is not a criminal, but rather a way to hold onto the world. Shelling and panting are used to signal fear and desire, and people are more equipped to handle behavior. The use of Jesus as a way to get rid of fear and misery is highlighted as a way to protect listeners and his followers from evil influence.
AI: Summary ©
So we move on now to Suratul Arraf.
In Suratul Arraf, there is another parable to
be reflected on Insha'Allah,
wherein Allah a zawajal he says,
And mention to them, oh prophet,
the great story of the one whom we
granted our verses to,
and he separated
himself from them.
And so as a result,
Satan pursued him, chased after him, and that
man became of the deviant.
And had we wanted, we would have elevated
this man with it,
with the scripture that we gave him.
But
the unfortunate
situation of this man was that he clung
to the earth, meaning he clung to the
worldly life,
and he gave in to his base desires,
his lowly appetites.
And so his example is like the example
of the dog.
If you chase him away he pants
and if you leave him alone he still
pants, tongue out, panting for air, right?
Then Allah defines the parable straight away and
he says, this is the example of those,
not him,
those
who disbelieve in our verses.
So recall these stories to them, oh prophet
so they may continue to reflect on them.
It is very difficult
to to pick what we're going to talk
about in this parable. It is huge. But,
you know, the scholars sometimes mention that this
is the example of a corrupt scholar from
the previous nations.
And of course, that that is,
clearly what it is referring to, but to
limit it to that could render it almost
irrelevant for us.
Like, I'm not a scholar, has nothing to
do with me. Alhamdulillah. I'm not that guy.
Right?
However, this is not just about the scholar.
Of course, the the it's a big deal
if it's a scholar because
the biggest thing he feared for
was Alaim al Mudiloon, corrupt religious leaders.
However, this is less likely among the scholars
than it is among the regular people because
the more ayaat, the more hadith you have
just in terms of ratios, the closer to
guidance you will be. Right?
And so this is about every person that
has knowledge,
and his knowledge separates from his actions.
This is the more operative way to read
this.
The twins of faith are knowledge and actions.
And, of course, you will always have more
knowledge than you act upon because it's easy
just to listen and learn than to actually
live and practice.
But if you allow the gap between your
knowledge and your actions to widen too much,
your faith is broken.
Your certainty is is fractured.
That is the idea.
And he said recall to him the store
to them the story of the one we
gave our verses to,
and they drifted away from them. You know,
it says
means to skin something away from something.
And
remember we said you're not supposed to hold
on to the Quran, you're supposed to tie
yourself to the Quran? Now this picture is
telling you the Quran is supposed to be
your flesh and your blood and flowing through
your veins. It's not even tied to you,
it flows through you even.
And so he skinned himself away, and that
also is a a scary thing because they
said skinning happens slowly.
It's a slow process when you're skinning an
animal. Right?
So, likewise, this person at the end disbelieved
in our verses. It happened slowly.
That that is what, you know, Ibrahim Taymih
Rahimahullah would would refer to when he said,
Every time I measure up my statements, mean
things I know, against my actions, my practice,
I become afraid that maybe I actually don't
believe anymore because, like,
how big does the gap need to be
for you to just be honest with yourself
and say, you don't believe in it or
else you would have practiced it. Right? So
that is the idea. He slowly slowly slowly
drifted
this person,
and then it says Shaitan chased after him
once he did that and this is like
you know your skin protects you right
He skinned himself away it's almost like that
was when the shaitan smelled blood because the
skin is peeled now and so the Shaitan
which is the wolf of the human being,
didn't the Prophet alaihis salatu wa sallam say
stick to the community because the wolf eats
the stray sheep?
He means Shaitan is the wolf of humanity,
right? And so it was when he skinned
himself, when he separated himself, that's when Shaitan
chased after him, and he became deviant deviant.
And then Allah azza wa Jal said, and
if we wished,
we would have elevated him with it, with
what with our scripture.
But it's not favoritism. It's not random. He
explains. He says, but he chose to insist
pretending like he's immortal. He clung to the
earth.
Keep accumulating and piling on and accepting worldly
offers at the expense of your profile with
Allah. That's what he did. And so his
example became what?
Like the helpless dog, like the parched dog.
Right?
Panting and panting and panting, reminding us that
he missed out on this world before the
hereafter.
It's an all or none sale. Right?
You miss out on this world before the
next when you let go of your religious
commitment.
As the
he used to say,
the poor, you know, he feels bad, the
poor these poor people that are attached to
this world, they exit it without knowing the
sweetest thing in it. They said, what's that?
He said it is
knowing Allah ahsawajal,
experiencing nearness to Allah ahsawajal
because you know you collect from this world
with what money can buy but this is
the one thing money can't buy, right? And
so he's panting, panting, panting a lost cause.
You know, there's a a few
quick things I want to mention here in
the last 3 minutes. The first of them,
if we wished we would have elevated him
with it,
He went down, he went from human to
living the life of an animal.
Allah
whenever he gives you fear, he always gives
you hope as well. Right?
He said he could have been above human,
not beneath human. He doesn't say we could
have kept him there. He says, if we
would have we would have elevated him with
it,
He said he can do that to the
human being, and that is the story of
humanity. And I always love striking this sort
of,
hierarchy for people.
Allah
gave the animals desire and no intellect. Right?
And
he gave the angels,
right,
intellect and no desires,
and then he gave you
desires and the intellect.
So if you give in to your desires,
you become like the animal rather worse because
you are more equipped.
And if you reign in your desires, not
remove them but restrain them, you become superior
to the angels in the hereafter.
We would have lifted him with these verses.
This is like revealed reason. Allah gave you
revelation to refine your reason and intellect further.
This is the first thing. The second thing
is the scholars said that
Allah raising you with his verses happens in
this world as well. The prophet alayhis salatu
wasalam when he said,
Allah lifts with this book many people and
demotes others because of it, because of them
neglecting it, The great Indian scholar, Mulla Al
Qari,
he says, and we even saw this in
this world. Look at the early generations of
Islam, the people that did not have religious
knowledge, but they had royal ancestry from big
big name tribes, they were forgotten in their
ignorance.
And the people that committed themselves to Allah's
book,
they became the the
the the light posts, and they became the
the lamps
and the light houses for the ummah.
He said, and that is why you see
the leaders of the ummah, meaning the scholars
in the early periods
were the majority of them were actually from
what he said were freed slaves from the
slave class. Overnight, because of their commitment to
the Quran, Allah put them at the top
of society, subhanAllah.
And the last thing is, in this final
minute that, alhamdulillah, I've kept today,
another hope here.
He peeled himself and that is when Shaitan
chased.
Right? He smelled the blood, if you will.
That's my explanation,
we're extending the metaphor.
Allah is telling you that shaitan will not
always see you, notice you, chase you. You
know, he's invisible, you don't see him. Right?
But if you are close to his book,
even outside of Ramadan,
you will be invisible to him. You will
be immune to him. He only got hopeful
to chase after this man, after this man
drifted. So there is so much hope here.
Allah has set you up to be even
transcending your human capacity in the hereafter greater
than the angels, and Allah has also set
you up to be immune
even beyond this month of Ramadan to your
greatest enemy the shaitan.