Divine Parables #13 Legendary Ladies – The Prophets Wives 48-29

Regarding the parables of the Quran,

there is one parable that we just heard

in

that actually

aligns,

dovetails

perfectly

with the theme of the night, which is

community.

Our theme tonight was the cost of community.

What it's gonna make for the community to

be thriving and continue to thrive.

There is a parable,

an extended one at the end of Surah

Al Taherim

that speaks about the power of community.

Albeit somewhat indirectly, but there is benefit in

all of it

In this parable, Allah Azzawajal says,

Allah strikes an example

for those who disbelieve

the wife of Noah

and the wife of Lot, the wife of

the prophet of Allah Anur and the wife

of the prophet of Allah Lut alayhim as

salam.

Their wives were disbelievers.

Allah Azzawajal says, I'll just read it through

and then we'll contextualize.

They were under the leadership. They were married

to 2 righteous servants of ours, respectively, Noor

and Lut alayhim as salam.

And so they betrayed them.

Of course, betrayed them here does not mean

marital infidelity

as Ibn

Abbas

said,

that no wife of any prophet ever committed

fornication

because that would sort of

be a compromise of the lineage of the

prophet and so on and so forth. And

also a charge against their their manhood, that

they're oblivious to what's happening under their roof.

In any case,

they betrayed their husband, meaning they did not

follow them in the faith, and also they

sort of told their whereabouts to their enemies.

These things are possible.

So they betrayed them.

And so these 2 prophets that they were

married to did not benefit

them, these women in the least.

And they were told enter the fire, meaning

on the day of judgment,

along with those who enter.

No different than them.

The next verse says,

And Allah

strikes an example

for those who believe now, not those who

disbelieve, for those who believe

the wife of pharaoh.

Asiya bintu Musahem

When she said, oh my lord,

build for me with you a home in

paradise.

And the scholar said from her great wisdom,

sir, her rightly guided,

mentality,

she mentioned aljar kabladar.

She mentioned,

the neighbor before

the residence. Said, oh, Allah, a house with

you? No. She said, with you a house.

Because being close to Allah is more important

than even Jannah itself, even a house in

paradise.

So she said,

oh my lord, build for me with you

a house in paradise,

when a genie

and save me

from firawn and his deeds, his evil deeds?

That's why it was said that she made

this dua as he was killing her. She

needed to be saved because when she he

found out that she didn't just have a

soft spot for baby Musa alayhis salam, she

has grown to believe unwavering faith in Musa

alayhis salam and his lord.

She categorically rejected this I am the lord

most high,

business that Firaun was trying to peddle.

So she said, save me from Firaun, but

more and his deeds, his evil deeds,

and save me from the oppressive people, the

people of the pharaoh.

The third one is,

and also Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ,

peace be upon him. Maryam, the daughter of

Imran,

the one who kept her chastity,

And so we blew into her womb from

our spirit, a very special spirit that Allah

created. He had it blown into

Mariam alaihis salam.

And she had firm conviction

in the words of her lord and his

scriptures,

and she was of the utmost in devotion.

The scholar said,

Allah did not say

She was not of the

the women who are devoted. It is

the devotees, male and female.

She's at the top of the top of

humanity.

It's like a.

Now what does this have to do with

community?

It is called Surat Tarim. If you rewind,

it's just 2 pages. The page before it,

it begins with saying,

Oh, prophet,

why do you deem prohibited for yourself? Why

do you deprive yourself

of what Allah made lawful for you? And

there's a story behind this. The story is

that the only wife of the prophet sallallahu

alaihi wasallam

that ever, that used to serve him his

favorite snack, which was honey, was Zaynab

because she had a little bit more money

she would earn on her own.

And so the other wives got a little

jealous, and so when they got jealous, they

made a plan that whenever he comes from

Zay Zaynab's house, they're gonna be like, what's

that smell? What's that odor? Of course, his

blessed mouth

never had odor.

But the idea is he's gonna catch the

pattern and say, all I had was honey.

All I had was honey. And so from

his lofty manner, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he

said, you know what? So be it. For

every time I,

I eat honey,

I'm going to sort of bother you with

my odor. I will not have what I

love most ever again.

I'll never have honey again. That's from his

impeccable manner

out of sensitivity and consideration for his wives,

but it continued.

The demands continued. Right?

And so

the verses continue about you also broke his

secrets

not betraying

him in faith or infidelity

was sort of

you're not understanding what it means to be

married to a prophet. That's the whole idea.

And so so the hareem continues and goes,

if Allah wants, he will replace you with

other wives that are better than you. This

is your privilege,

but it requires a lot of you. It's

a very high standard you need to keep,

and then it moves on to the parables.

Now let me tie it all together for

you inshallah.

The parable say what?

Look at this example of women that were

married to a prophet. Yes. It's an extreme

case. It's an edge case. They are disbelieving

women and you are pious women,

but notice them being married to the prophet

didn't help them.

So it's not guaranteed

that you're in a house or a community.

Let me bring it in now. A community,

you're communing with a prophet

doesn't

guarantee

automatically

that you're on the same righteousness as them.

Because we have

Then the next verse says what?

And look at the opposite scenario.

The wife of pharaoh was in the home

of pharaoh,

and it did not guarantee

her wickedness.

Meaning, it's every man for himself and every

woman for themselves.

But these are 2 edge cases. Then, of

course, subhanAllah, the the idea of Maria Malayalam,

she is the greatest of all women of

all time for a reason. Because Mary, she

was alone.

She she she kept herself chased. She didn't

interact with anyone. Didn't interact with men. Didn't

she was alone in her chamber. She lived

alone. She worshiped alone. She had to go

off and have a baby alone, then they

wanted to kill her baby, so she went

off into the wilderness to protect Isa alaihis

salam alone. Right? She never had community.

And all of this speaks to a very

important part, which is that

whether you have the community or you don't,

you still have a duty.

The recurring theme of social support, the recurring

theme of who you're married to or who

you interact with or who you're socializing with

is because what?

Who you socialize with largely determines who you

are.

However, it's not an excuse and it's not

the guarantee. Does the connection make sense now?

The wife of Nuh and the wife of

Lut,

you were supposed to be better and you

didn't.

Why were you supposed to be better? Because

community does that. It helps you be better.

And the wife of Fa'aun, she was supposed

to be worse because community does that, and

tabarak Allah, she was not worse. She stood

her ground.

So this all even in the inverse, even

indirectly reminds you that a huge part of

our faith being anchored for us is for

us to understand the power

against our will

of our surroundings and our environment.

We are not to surrender ourselves to the

environment,

we are to put ourself in the best

environment, but still hold ourself accountable even in

the best of environments.

So I hope this brought it somewhat full

circle. We ask Allah Azza to enable us

to turn this masjid into a beacon of

hope, really, for communities all over the United

States,

and enable us to stand strong

even if it doesn't get there. Say I

mean. Because this is survival mode. That is

the theme of these parables. It is our

survival. Community will help you, but whether you

have it or not, Allah expects

of you to own the pursuit of your

guidance. May Allah perfect his favor upon us

and complete for us our guidance and allow

of states.

of states.