Divinely Sheltered – Reflections on Surat Al-Hujurat 08

We begin the name of Allah All Praise and Glory be to Allah Who makes finest peace and blessings be upon His messenger Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and his family and his companions and all those who tread his path may Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us in your life upon his path and a death adhering to his guidance and our union around him. Allahumma Amin, we ask Allah azza wa jal to make all of our actions righteous and make them sincerely for his sake and not allow any of his creation the share of our intentions Allahumma Amin.

So we welcome everyone back after a short hiatus to the discussion what will be our second to last discussion on so that what you wrote, We will close out the sutra today, tomorrow.

Tomorrow meaning next Friday.

Clearly I need the team more than anybody tonight.

So just a quick

review sorbitol gerat, we said was a surah that

came down during Imanol food the year of delegations. When Allah subhanho wa Taala allowed the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to liberate Mecca and subdue.

QURAISHI finally, that were warmongering, and treaty breachers. Over and over again. All of the tribes at that point began coming forward and pledging wholesale pledging in unison tribes at a time, allegiance to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and saying yes, we too will be Muslim, we too will be Muslim, because he was the

he was the dominant power at the time. He Salatu was Salam.

And the Arab understood strength.

And so more of them became Muslim, due to the strength of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And his success, then became Muslim due to his good character due to the miracles they saw due to the purity of the message itself. Those were the earliest and the best of them for the most part. Whereas the vast majority of them entered Islam in waves after he succeeded Ali salatu salam.

And so people from all different walks of life flocked to him and became Muslim. And that is why this surah comes down to structure for them the fundamental values of Islam, especially in terms of person to person relations, though the beginning of the surah began with the most important relationship, the foundational relationship, you know, the super Foundation, your relationship with Allah, Allah Azza, WA alayhi wa sorry, and then all of these interpersonal relations

are discussed and spelled out for us. And then now we are in you can call it the closing chapter, the closing scenes of the surah they go back to a person's relationship with Allah. And in that by itself, and that framing is something to think about, that

this sort of begins and ends with your relationship with Allah subhanho wa Taala and couched in between the relationships between people are rectified, because it is only when your relationship with your maker is set. All right, can your relationship with his creation be set? Right? You know, this is like what this is exactly like sort of Illustra Surah Surah, Allah subhanho wa Taala spells out so many of the ethics in Islam, but he begins with the prohibition of

setting partners with Allah and he ends with the prohibition of Chinook and then all of the athletic are spelled out in the middle between them.

Similarly, you find it in total marriage, right, those who established the salah, and then the end of it, or Lavina, whom Allah Salah to him, you have your own the end and between it are all o'clock of Islam. And so here we find that theme being repeated it I would have Allah it could never be redundancy, but this is now a revisit to the super foundation your relationship with Allah subhanho wa Taala and of course with a fresh perspective, it is not the same exact verses.

So what is this, you know, revisit of the primary relationship in the 14th area? Allah subhanahu wata Alice's call Atilla caribou mana we kind of you know made a reference to this

area in in a heartbeat a few months back but who in the world is going to remember that anyway? So Allah says the irob they were groups that were coming to Islam that were our of our of our desert dweller Arabs. They are not the Arab Arabs, Arab speaking peoples. They are our Arab Bedouin Arabs. Okay.

To

call Atilla Arab the Bedouin Arab said Amana we have believed

hold them to me know tell them or Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam you have not believed while I can Kulu Islam now rather what you should say is we have submitted only

just like keeping imagine the out of hearing these

and the Muslims reciting them this is Quran now right permanent Quran recited Quran in them haram Salah Quran, right? The Arab are saying we have believed Whoa, go tell them you have not believed. You have only submitted well am I the holy man who feel called to become an E man has not yet entered your hearts.

We're into theory of law how Rasulullah hula and it's coming family come share and if you are to obey Allah and His Messenger, He will not shortchange you for any of your deeds. In Allah. Allah. Allah follow Rahim. Allah is certainly most forgiving, Most Merciful. Okay, so what can we say about this? If the Arab I told you before the Bedouin Arabs had a very specific climate, that they are a product of, we are all products of our environment, right? So they are a result of the crude desert life. You know, one aspect of this is a dry, arid, rough desert. It's merciless heat, you know, stiff, hard stones. And so their personality is crude and callous, and otherwise, also, you know,

when you live all by yourself, that's actually the easy life, in a sense spoils you. Because when you live in society, you have to conform a little bit, right? Like, I can't make noise at 3am If I want to have neighbors, right? I can't, you know, wear whatever I want. Oh, boy. Nowadays, maybe there are certain norms you have to abide by if you want to be part of a group, the Arab I don't need nobody. I don't have nobody. I don't have to dress the way they like, I don't have to dress it anything, anything at all. I could just do what I want. I'm on top of a mountain somewhere. I got my sort of my neck. I don't owe nobody nothing. I don't need nothing from No, but this is the mentality

the breeds, right? I'm being animated. Purposely. They have this sentiment in them that they are very callous as well callous with people. They're not good at compromising. They're not good at appeasing because they never had to in their life. Right? And of course, that becomes a big problem when Islam by definition is all about being compliant, being submissive, right? Going along with the teachings of the deen and so on and so forth. Right.

And so as a result of this, they became that way.

They had this you know, this particular challenge in their psychology, the psychology, the mindset of the Bedouin. By the way, this is also why no prophet was ever sent among the Bedouins ALLAH SubhanA who was ALLAH said, We never sent the rasool Allah when added Hora except from the people of the towns, you know pura

Should I do it? It's too long. Cora towns comes from the same root as the word Cara to recite because to recite or read is to bundle up words together into a coherent sentence. Cora is where people get bundle up. It's where they have to interface where they have to deal with each other. Right? And he would send his messengers and his prophets in the greatest towns on Quora, for example, right, the mother of all towns Mecca, because this is how you show your good character. This is how you reach the most people and show your good pet character to the widest audience. Right?

And that's why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Al mula, Johan littleness was Raja home, the believer that mixes with the people and puts up with their harm is better than the believer that does not mix with the people and does not put up with their harm, right?

And so the Bedouins didn't have any of this, okay. And so when they came to deal with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, they're talking to him like I don't need anything from you I've done enough for you this like sense of entitlement and mana Listen, we believed, you know, if you read their Hadith, some of them said, like, we will become Muslim. But we're only going to make two prayers a day. And this is Catherine you can forget about it. And this Jihad thing you can forget about it. We're not We're not defending you. We're not fighting with you nothing. And so the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam actually said these were for the people of life to be honest, but this

sentiment was there.

He said, have a let them be just let them go. Let them taste Islam right. Let them just experience it. Say you saw loon was at uj dune right they will pray and they will perform Jihad answer and they will give hints okay, they will they will. And that was from the great one.

of the Prophet SAW Salem. You know, interestingly when when he died salAllahu alayhi wasallam. And so many of the tribes said, okay, the powerful man has gone on in South Sudan we don't need to submit to His power anymore, right. And they left Islam momentarily that one from a thought if was the only one that didn't leave. They actually kept praying and they actually kept, you know, their allegiance to Islam. They said there was a moment when everybody rebelled it Abu Bakr when all of Arabia had no more event except for Mecca, Medina and up life. Right? Anyway, so here's what the is talking about. All Atilla are the Bedouins are saying we have believed. And so Allah says to them,

says to the Prophet SAW Selim, call them to meno say to them You have not believed.

Big stop here theological stop. What does it mean you have not believed?

Is he negating? Brian go for?

No, no, God. It's are you guys awake question. It's a real one.

So they're Muslims. You've seen their believers.

they've submitted, but they haven't necessarily been trying to try Jimmy. So that the scholars have actually said both.

They said the Aslan Iman Yoon for Hoonah. Like Allah saying you don't believe he's negating or denying the fact that they have any sort of Eman at all, meaning they're not even Muslim. They're like apostates, they're

pretending they're not Muslims.

And another group of scholars said, no, what is being negated here is the mandatory amount of email. Because this is the right to theological stop faith. What is faith? There is baseline faith. If you don't have it, you're not Muslim. So every Muslim has some faith, right? You believe in the tenants of the faith, you believe they're true, right? But that is not all that's required of you. Your faith has to now reach a certain reality. Right? It is not the baseline there's a mandatory level beneath which is unacceptable. Baseline beneath it, it's on Muslim you're not Muslim at all. But the mandatory faith beneath it you are you're punishable, you're subject to to Allah Subhanallah without

his anger, right. And to explain this from the opposite side hypocrisy.

There are certain hypocrites that don't have the baseline of Eman, the bare minimum Eman, Aslan Eman Those are called major hypocrites. They're the ones pretending to believe in the tenants of faith. The tenants, tenants are people that live in buildings, tenets of faith, the hypocrites there are those that are called you know, in fact, Akbar major hypocrites, they don't believe in the fate they act like they do. Because you know, I'm gonna get paid, I'm gonna have, you know, a backing, I'm gonna like those little fish that's sitting next to the big sharks, you know, like that it's in my best interest to tag along. Right?

Then there is minor hypocrisy. And that is when you believe in the tenets of faith, you believe in the articles of faith, you believe they're true. But there's like doubt there's weakness to it, there's some shambles. And so you don't practice much of this.

It appears it appears and Allah knows best that these are up in this area were inside of Islam, meaning they had the baseline image and they had the baseline faith.

But they were not living up to its reality. And that's why Allah said to them Kulu Islam now you can say I have submitted I'm a Muslim, you can say that. And also later on in the ayah. He said, What and if you obey Allah and His messenger, he won't shortchange you. If they were disbelievers, the good deeds wouldn't work, they would be invalid, right? That's why that second opinion seems to be and Allah knows best. This was the opinion of the companions of novosco, the Allahumma. That seems to be the stronger opinion. But I just want you to understand what the man is about what faith is about, like you can think of faith.

Like this is faithlessness. This belief stops right here. And this is faith. Right. It's a thermometer. Okay, shall I do it this way?

So this is Eman, right this is faith. And this is called for this is disbelief. Okay.

At the bottom of your iman next to it, that's hypocrisy. Minor hypocrisy. If you have low Eman, it's below the mandatory threshold. That means your faith is compromised there's conflict there's some hypocrisy there. Right there's some weakness there below the man that is wedge is hypocrisy. It is like you know a defect or pollution or contamination, your Eman but there is also HIPAA

accuracy under the line where there's disbelief there's lack of faith there's hypocrisy that's major hypocrisy. That's when someone knows he's a disbeliever does not believe in Islam and it only acting like he is whereas minor hypocrisy is when you're

believing in Islam but you're not living up to it and if you are it's not for the right reasons you don't have enough of a fiery faith inside you to drive your actions consistently. Does that make sense everybody? Schiff problem

Salallahu Salam

so the brother is mentioning a story that is reported about many different Sahaba that they asked the Prophet SAW Selim about the bare minimum that admits me into Jana not met him a little about the Allah Allah gymea. But when he told them if you just keep this bare minimum, you will go to Jana means that is the minimum of the mandatory, not the baseline. It's not going to keep them Muslim. It's going to keep them out of the fire. So it's the baseline of the job. It's just so you can think of forget COFRA. Now think of EMA and faith. There's minimum Eman? There's mandatory Eman. And then there's like maximum there's no maximum there's no ceiling. Rip it off.

My rocker stuff Lila.

I can't get into it. Let me finish the book told the Sheikh Mohammed

Yes.

So they're careless in their prayers. Jimmy, they don't fulfill this description so they won't be known. They're negligent with their sick so on and so forth. They have big problems in their practice. Allah selling them don't say you believe meaning. Don't think you fully believe it doesn't mean don't say you believe like don't Concur about the truth of Islam. We're supposed to say Islam is true. We're supposed to be I believe in Allah and His messenger and the angels and the prophets in the last day. And we're supposed to say these things, right? But it means don't say it in boast. Like, I believe enough. That's what's intended here. You can't take the literal meaning of this ayah

and forget Kulu Amanda Villa humanzee, Lena see I believe in align with has been revealed to me, right? You can't ignore that. So he's telling them stop saying you believe you have only submitted you can say that. But full Iman has not yet entered your heart or enough Iman, I should say enough, Iman has not yet entered your heart.

Yes, sir.

Yes, same thing. This is the same concept of Fela to Zakho and forsaken, don't claim purity of faith, right? Don't claim purity to yourselves, who will and will be managed Sarkar. He knows best, who is pious, he knows best who is pure, who is cognizant of him. So and say, you know,

we have submitted and Eman has not yet entered your hearts meaningfully. The verse ends by saying and if you obey Allah and His Messenger, here's another beautiful lesson. If you obey Allah and His Messenger, He will not shortchange you at all regarding your deeds. Allah is forgiving merciful. In other words, in other words

being transactional, sometimes we say don't be transactional with Allah don't do something just because, you know, Allah is gonna give you it's okay to be transactional. We're like that we're human beings to job. We're tradesmen. That's the way we function, right. But we when we say that what we mean is, it's inappropriate, right? This is like the bare minimum, you should be above that as well. Like, you're not just worshipping Allah, because he's gonna punish you. If you don't, you're not just worshiping Allah, because he promised to give you something. No, you're also worshiping Him because you love him, because he has already given you so much, because he's

deserving of worship, right? And so on and so forth. But here in this area, when Allah is speaking about the baseline, he is confirming that you're allowed to be transactional, it's acceptable, it's not the ideal, saying, Listen, don't think I'm asking you for anything you know, at your own expense. Whatever you do, obeying Allah and His Messenger, I'm gonna pay you don't worry, you're gonna get paid. This is the meaning, right?

Yeah, yeah. And we're all like that even the sahaba. I've learned Mr. Wood said that, you know, we're not for some of these iPads. I would never have thought that any of us cared about this world, but it's natural to do

hear about this world. But here's the issue. If you stay at transactional, why do we say be careful with like, I'm going to do this for the reward and stuff? Because it's not clear. Like what is the reward? And what is the punishment and that is why people lose faith. They say, wait a minute, why are bad things happening to good people? I just finished praying and I became religious and my car broke down. I thought I was gonna become rich the moment I became Muslim. That's why I became Muslim. Right? This is the problem with being transactional. How do you measure the transactions, you're not going to be able to,

you know, even the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam gave people money to stay Muslim. Like forget transactional with Allah, to help them get past their emotionality. When they told me other sort of law, why, why do you give that person so much money? Other people are way more deserving. He's telling them it's not a transaction. He's trying to tell him those people are transactional. He said to them, I'm obviously explaining or paraphrasing. He said to them, I sometimes give people money, while other people are more beloved to me, because I fear that this person will fall into the fire. It's because he needs it. He needs that crutch, you know, social support, emotional support gifts,

until he can become independently a believer, right? And so we're not going to negate the faith of these people, but we're telling them Be careful stop being dependent on this or else you're going to be that type of person that worships Allah on edge and the moment things don't go your way. You're gonna act like these out, Rob, you're gonna be like, I'm out.

This is the problem. But to start there, temporarily and work beyond it to grow beyond it is fine.

Okay, the next idea goes on to say I gotta be done in less than eight minutes.

The next guy goes on to say the description of the believers now the true believers. He says, enamel me known Alladhina amanu biller he also they were also the, the believers are none other than those who believe in Allah and His messenger.

Then what? Thumb MALAMI are terrible. And then after that, they don't doubt. This is also some there's a beautiful nuance here, a lot Leafa here. What is it? Allah didn't say, believers believe in Allah and His Messenger, and don't doubt. He said, believers believe in Allah and His messenger. And then after that,

if he would have said, well, I'm your taboo, and they don't doubt it could have meant they don't doubt at the meaning that at the moment that they're saying, I believe in Allah, His Messenger, makes sense. And if Allah would have put a fat there, believe in Allah and His Messenger fell on your table, and then didn't doubt it would have meant immediately thereafter. But when he said Thumma, film ads distance, so they believe in Allah's Messenger, and then for a distant time after that, they're still not doubting. This is calling our attention to what that word from that faith is expected to remain above the baseline. Right? when life hits you, when your transactional stuff

doesn't show up. When adversities come your way, you get sick, you get tested, you get called to certain duties year in year out, life happens as they say, you're still not doubting God, that's the believer. And that's the beauty of the word filma in that area, and then they don't doubt.

Here comes the next phrase, what gehad will be a moily, Himalayan fusi and FISA Villa and not then and they sacrifice their wealth and their self for the sake of Allah subhanho wa taala. You see, when you don't doubt and meaning at the same time of your non doubt, there has to be some fruits

or else you need to ask yourself Do I doubt

you know, the the sacrifice forget yourself right now just your wealth. Sacrifice is what marks that you actually believe that you actually believe this is true that you're honest when you say you believe it's the truest marker sacrifice. That's why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, I'll sadaqa tuber Han that charity is a clear proof, clear proof of what that you actually believe that you're gonna get your money back that Allah is gonna reward you so on and so forth. Right? That's also why by the way, let me let me throw some marriage in here. That is why the Mahara the bridle dowry in Islam is called a Sadhak. I went from South Africa to Subak it's all the same thing.

Sadhak is the bridle dowry in the Quran. It's not called Maha it is called Ma. It's called sadaqa as well.

Sada comes from certain truthfulness be

Because the bridle dowry is meant to show the truthfulness of the suitor. Like a lot of times we tell people, you know, the Sudan the bridal dowry the MaHA do we want to take it easy and we don't want to debilitate to the suitors, the groom's right from, you know, make it reasonable amount, but it's supposed to be substantial.

So the right way to look at this is that this needs to be an amount that proves that this guy is truthful. He's serious in his commitment, he's truthful in his pursuit of a spouse.

That sacrifice proves his truthfulness. So that's the idea that like the same way in the wedding itself, you're supposed to spend money not on the core and all this stuff and go into debt but like on feeding people feed as many people as you can. Right the Lima is supposed to be a big deal without extravagance without wastefulness.

You know,

hopefully this is linear, even wasting. Just give you an opposite example. What is the problem? Why is wasting money haram in Islam? Why is wasting food is because you couldn't even inconvenience yourself.

To hold back to protect things that weren't even a sacrifice, like you're getting, you're throwing out extra food, right? That means you really don't care about the needy, you really don't care about the orphans. You really are selfish, because this is not even a sacrifice now.

So the point is sacrificing shows your truthfulness. Right? inconveniencing yourself shows your truthfulness, it shows your true colors. And so you don't doubt so you're gonna sacrifice your wealth and yourself to the degree now of how important the man is to you. Like if your religion is valuable to you, you'll spend money on it. And the more valuable your religion is to you, the more money you spend on it, it's very simple equation.

You know, like if your honor was valuable to you, you sacrifice for it right? Like for someone to disrespect you or your loved ones, your parent your child, you don't calculate too much depth before this honor. Right? And you just jump in and you don't think how many guys are there? This is my wife. This is my kid right? You just you dive right in. Because you see it as worth it. And so Allah is calling their attention to something very close to home. The believers are those that don't doubts in the truth in the value of this deen and so they sacrifice for it.

And he says those who do so and with that I close Hola, Iike homos saw the phone. They are the truthful that's how the eye ends.

And so this is a call to everyone to check your email on how truthful your Eman is how truthful my Eman is, and not to be superficial. Like it's not just about how much her shoe or concentration you think you have in your Salah. Right? It's like do I see the fruits of the man? Do I see the sacrifice you know coming about that proves that I have Iman This is the truest marker of your iman.

Otherwise you may just have the baseline Iman you have the bare minimum skin on bones Islam, but the man is not there yet. And that is why in the hadith of

of Abu Bella Rosa Allah tsunami or the Allahu Allah and soon to be the root the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam one time said to them in a speech yeah ma Shara min M and EBD Sani he or lamea to call it Iman or Kalba who OH group of people who have submitted with their tongues said I am Muslim and Iman faith has not yet entered their hearts lots of terrible Muslimeen stop don't backbite the Muslims

while at the Tebbe who our RT him and don't go look for their flaws for many Deborah our RT him yet tabular Allahu our data for whomever go seeking out probing the flaws of the believers.

Yet tabular Allahu our rotta Allah seeks out meaning seeks to expose his flaws, women yet dabir Allah who our data who you have bought who who if he beats it, and whomever Allah seeks out their flaws, he will expose him he will humiliate him in the depths of his home, in his own home in that privacy and that sense of security, he will find himself exposed, find himself humiliated. And so a person has to check their faith and work what is the sign of my faith? Do I restrain myself from evil and indecency. That's what prayer is supposed to do right? And of course against the believers is the most important aspect of this of staying away from abusing others. This is what the surah in

aggregate is pulling us towards. Your belief in Allah is supposed to be bettering.

Your manners otherwise you should question your belief or the strength of your belief because the manners and your relationship your luck are in shambles. So may Allah better our flesh and yours and solidify our Eman and yours and purify us from everything that can contaminate it. And forgive us for what continues to slip past us and give us reasons to be regretful on the Day of Judgement Allahumma Amin was Allah Allah wa salam Baraka, Vienna Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi Jemaine zakah, located on Yes, Jeff Hashem,