Mohammad Elshinawy – Lessons From Surat Al-Alaq
AI: Summary ©
The importance of beginning a surah and reciting Prophet's words in the beginning is discussed, as it is difficult but necessary. Pranksters and misogynists use the paragon of the beast being a clot of blood to influence people's faith and pray in public. The importance of praying for one's health and blessings in life is emphasized, and caution is given against praying for anyone who is not doing the right thing. The segment also touches on the return of the beast and the use of praying for Islam, as it is important to be mindful of one's words and remember to focus on them.
AI: Summary ©
In the name of Allah, all
praise and glory be to Allah and may
his finest peace and blessings be upon his
messenger Muhammad and his family and his companions
and all those who adhere to his guidance
while asking him to make us among the
best of those who adhere to his guidance.
Allahumma ameen.
The mercy of Allah descends in their midst
and they are enveloped, they are covered in
tranquility from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and
the angels surround them and Allah mentions them
with those that are with him, mentions them
in a higher gathering, in the highest gatherings,
mentions them in the heavens.
And of course we continue to study the
book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because
it is the surest and the truest fuel
for the heart in the journey to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
As we journey through the world, through the
dark world, we draw light in the dark
world through these sit-downs, through these gatherings
where we rehearse the book of Allah azzawajal
that teaches us that which we don't know
and reminds us of that which we've forgotten.
And we've been going surah by surah.
A surah is a chapter, right?
We've said this prior, it's good to rehearse,
yeah, review.
A surah comes from the same root as
the word sur, which is a fence or
a gate.
And so every surah is a set of
verses that Allah fences off from another set
of verses, right?
They're distinguished from each other because they are
self-contained.
They are a set of themes that we
are to explore, to look for.
And this particular surah we're studying tonight, which
is surat al-alaq, which means the clinging
clot or the clot, is the first surah
to ever come down of the Qur'an
as we know.
And this is why the scholars paid special
attention to this surah because beginnings are important.
It is unlikely that you get a good
outcome with a bad beginning.
Not impossible, but unlikely, right?
So beginnings are huge.
If the foundation is not set correctly, it
is hard to build on a crooked or
an unstable Iraqi foundation.
So this surah, as we will see inshallah,
surat al-alaq, sets the most important foundations.
It speaks about the nature of God.
It speaks about the nature of man.
It speaks about the nature of the tension
between good and evil in the world, right?
These foundational concepts.
And the context of this surah descending, as
many of you I'm sure know, is that
the Prophet ﷺ started at the age of
40 seeing true dreams that would unfold as
soon as he awoke, he awakened.
And then he started to separate himself from
the city.
He became averse to many of the vices
of the town of Mecca, right?
Pagan Arabia, pre-Islamic Arabia.
And so he would spend nights and days
at a time in a cave called Hira
until ultimately the angel came to him.
The angel came to him in the dark
and he did not know what an angel
was.
And he said to him, recite.
He said, I cannot recite.
He said, recite, I cannot recite.
And each time he would squeeze him fiercely
until at the third time he began to
feed him the words of the Qur'an,
instill in him the words of the Creator.
He said to him, recite in the name
of your Lord, right?
And he created the human being from a
clinging clot.
So that's the word that the surah is
named after, this clinging clot.
اقرأ وربك الأكرم Recite, and your Lord is
the most generous.
الذي علم بالقلم Who taught the usage of
the pen.
He taught human beings to write, to read
and write.
الذي علم بالقلم علم الإنسان ما لم يعلم
He taught the human being that which he
does not know, meaning all of that which
he does not know.
Okay, so what do we take from the
first verse of the first revelation ever?
اقرأ Recite, بسم ربك in the name of
your Lord.
Well, first of all, the importance of knowledge,
right?
The relationship with Allah must be defined by
what you find in the Qur'an.
You can't assume to know who Allah is
and how to have a meaningful relationship with
Him.
Who Allah is and what He wants of
moral conduct from us.
This must begin.
It is defined for us by Allah.
It must start with the Qur'an.
You must believe that you are in the
dark without it.
Inevitably, without the Qur'an, you're in the
dark.
You know, also the scholars point out that
the very first mention in this surah is
اقرأ Recite.
And the very last mention in this surah,
maybe I should have mentioned this at the
end, but here it is, is وَسْجُد and
prostrate, right?
And there's a lot there that they discussed
of it is that they are both commands.
This surah begins and ends with commands, which
means what?
There's work to be done.
There's instructions.
You know, some people don't like to be
told what to do.
Many people like to be told what to
do, right?
You just wish you can have some Islam
that matches your preferences, your convenience, what you're
used to, your habits, right?
So you got to work.
You got to put in the work.
And, you know, beginnings are hard.
And that's why you need to be told
up front from the beginning that there's work
to be done.
You know, the Prophet ﷺ said that Allah
عز و جل said that whomever takes a
hand span, whomever comes closer to me by
a hand span, I come closer to him
by an arm's length, right?
And whomever comes to me walking, I come
to them running.
However, however, the hand span is harder than
the arm's length.
Why?
Because that's your job.
The arm's length is more distance, but you're
not the one covering it.
And that is why beginnings are hard, because
that hand span is on you.
That walk, beginning the walk is on you.
And so the beginning is difficult, but it
must be done.
It must be embraced.
And, you know, think also of the fact
that the Prophet ﷺ is being commanded to
do something, not just do something.
Do something he does not know how to
do, right?
Think about the notion of, oh, I don't
know how to pray.
I'm not into reading.
I'm not the reading type.
People say this stuff all the time, right?
I'm not into this.
I'm not into that.
I don't do that.
The Prophet ﷺ is told before anything, do
what you can't do.
He's an illiterate man, never taught to read
and write.
The first thing Allah tells him is read.
And so there's no way around.
Also, the importance of reading is because there's
no way around reading.
You know, they say that what are the
three pillars of an upright Muslim?
Were the first three commands given to the
Prophet ﷺ, or the first three surahs given
to the Prophet ﷺ?
Which was iqra, read.
Then the other surah was what?
Qum illayla illa qaleela, pray.
Get up and pray at night.
Then the third surah was what?
Qum fa'andil, get up and warn.
Right?
So if you're not reading this Qur'an,
taking your worldview from it, you're not going
to be able to stand in front of
Allah at night.
Or you might, by the way, but it
won't be proper.
Like, you know, some people stand up at
night to tell themselves they're great people.
But how are you going to be humbled
without first reciting, internalizing the Book of Allah
so that your night prayers are fruitful, so
that your night prayers are useful, right?
And how are you going to call to
Allah عز و جل, invite people to the
faith, be proactive without knowledge?
So these are like the three pillars you
need.
But the first of the three is what?
Is iqra, the importance of knowledge.
And if you are not the reading type,
neither was the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.
And so Allah سبحانه وتعالى made it easy
by telling him, recite in my name.
Just say, Bismillah, and I will facilitate it
for you, right?
As the prophetic du'a and the famous
du'a of the Prophet صلى الله عليه
وسلم that was reported from him, he used
to say, اللهم لا سهل إلا ما جعلته
سهلا و أنت تجعل الحزن صعب إذا ما
شئت سهلا.
Oh Allah, nothing is easy except what you
make easy.
And you are the one that makes the
most difficult things easy.
Who is the one that can make that
possible?
It is Allah سبحانه وتعالى.
And so that is why we begin every
recitation of the Qur'an with what?
With Bismillah, in the name of Allah.
So Allah may facilitate for us our reading,
facilitate for us our understanding of the Qur
'an.
But notice also he doesn't say, اقرأ بسم
الله الرحمن الرحيم.
Recite in the name of Allah.
In this context it's what?
اقرأ بسم ربك.
Recite in the name of your Lord.
Because Lord here or رب here means caretaker.
رب, Lord, also carries the connotation of a
caretaker.
Someone that grows something in a healthy way.
And we covered this in previous weeks as
well.
رب or ربى or ربى, bad connotation with
ربى, interest.
But it's all from the same root.
It means to grow in a healthy way.
So who is the one that raised you?
Who is the one that developed you?
It was Allah سبحانه وتعالى.
You are dependent on Him.
He is the one that grew you.
He is the one that created you in
the first place.
بِرَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ.
He is the one who created everything.
And causes it to expand.
Causes it to evolve.
Causes it to develop.
You know, even the universe.
When Allah سبحانه وتعالى says, The heavens, we
have constructed them.
وَإِنَّا لَمُوسِعُونَ We are the expander of the
heavens, right?
The universe is constantly expanding.
Allah is the رب of the universe that
caused it to expand.
Likewise the human being.
Recite in the name of your رب who
created.
And then He says, خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانِ.
Created man or created the human being من
عَلَق.
From a clinging clot.
You know, just basically in the wall of
the womb.
When the pregnancy begins, right?
The fetus or what will be the fetus
sort of is implanted into the wall of
the womb.
And it clings onto there, right?
Allah عز و جل created.
Recite in the name of your Lord who
created.
He develops everything that needs to be developed.
You rely on Him, not on yourself.
But then He says, He created the human
being.
Which means there was special care for the
human being.
Just like the verses that say, وَنَفَخْتُ فِيهِ
مِنْ رُوحِي.
I blew into it a very special spirit
of mine.
By the way, we don't believe that a
part of God is in us, right?
What does it mean, my spirit?
I'm talking too much.
I gotta start asking questions now.
So you guys don't lose me.
What does my spirit mean?
The soul.
What is my, this attribution to God is
what?
This is sort of an honorific.
Like when you say the Kaaba is Allah's
house.
It doesn't mean, he lives inside, right?
When you say the soul is Allah's soul,
even though He created everything.
It's meaning it has a special connection with
Allah.
It was specially awarded to the human being.
There is something special about the human soul.
It is His trophy creation.
سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى.
And so that's why it says, recite in
the name of your Lord who created, and
especially created the human being.
خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانِ مِنْ عَلَقٍ Created the human being
from this clinging clot of congealed blood.
That's a very verbose, long-winded way to
say, just a clot of blood, right?
خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ اقْرَأْ وَرَبُّكَ الْأَكْرَمُ Recite,
and your Lord is the most generous.
الَّذِي عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ The one who taught by
the pen, taught the usage of the pen.
Why is the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam being
told Allah taught the usage of the pen
when he doesn't use the pen, when he
was illiterate Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam?
What's the meaning here?
What is the relevance of mentioning the pen
here?
The gift of being able to pen things.
Yeah, the one who taught humanity how to
use a pen can teach you without a
pen to recite this book.
It's not like it's an inherent function of
humanity to have knowledge or to have penmanship
or to have the ability to script things.
Can I read this?
Jazakallahu khairan.
And so Allah teaches.
He is the one who teaches.
You know, subhanAllah, you think about the fact
that especially in secular times, Dr. Yaqub Ahmed,
the historian when he was here, he was
talking about this.
We are not permitted, we are not permitted
in sort of the secular norms to insert
God into the domain of knowledge, right?
Like knowledge is material knowledge.
No such thing as any unseen factors.
So the one who taught us how to
think, the one who gave us the ability
to think, you are not allowed to mention
him, right?
You can't say God taught me, right?
God opened my eyes to this.
And that makes it extra important for us
to continue to do that so that we
don't get conditioned into this, right?
You have to constantly say Allah taught me,
what God showed me.
Allah opened my eyes to this.
Allah reminded me, yes?
This has to be part of the vernacular
of the Muslim because how you speak is
a reflection of how you think.
And so removing God from public life is
a challenge for every Muslim.
You have to maintain the presence, the relevance
of God in private life or else He'll
actually be gone.
He won't be part of your life anymore.
What's left?
And so this is our job.
الَّذِي عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ The one who taught the
usage of the pen.
عَلَّمَ الْإِنسَانَ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ Taught al-insan,
the human being, all that he does not
know.
Okay, now, the next verses say what?
These next verses, the second set of verses
in this surah.
These first five verses were from the first
encounter with the Prophet ﷺ and the angel.
The scholars mentioned the rest of the surah
came about regarding the, sort of the abusive,
oppressive nature of people like Abu Jahl.
Abu Jahl is one of the archenemies of
the Prophet ﷺ, one of the leading pagans
of Mecca.
He lived and died a pagan and he
was sort of one of the most hostile
of the opponents of the Prophet ﷺ to
him, Abu Jahl.
So the next verses continue to say, كَلَّ
إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَيَطْغَ كَلَّ is an emphatic no.
Throughout the Qur'an, you should remember.
كَلَّ means no, absolutely not.
It's no exclamation.
That's what it is.
كَلَّ.
لا means no.
كَلَّ is an emphatic no.
إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَيَطْغَ The human being transgresses.
The human being transgresses means he constantly transgresses.
He more often than not transgresses.
يَطْغَ When does a human being transgress?
It says, أَنْ رَآهُ اسْتَغْنَ When he sees
himself unneedy.
استَغْنَ from غِنَ which means sufficiency or like
riches or غِنَ, right?
When he sees himself as independent, sees himself
as sufficient, self-sufficient.
He doesn't have any needs.
He transgresses his bounds.
In other words, when he forgets that he
was created by God and taught by God,
right?
And he's nothing really in reality but a
clinging substance.
He thinks because he has become an adult
now, no longer a fetus, and he has
some strength.
Or he thinks because he has some money
now.
Or he thinks because he has a degree
now.
Or he thinks because he has some sort
of reputation now.
He thinks he's less dependent on his Lord,
and so he violates.
He crosses bounds against his Lord.
This is the meaning.
Allah taught to human beings what they know
not.
He created them, taught them, and all of
this.
No, that's not how most people see it.
No, that's not how most people operate.
They transgress.
Why do they transgress?
اَمْ رَأَاهُ اسْتَغْنَا Because he sees himself as
self-sufficient, right?
He stops recognizing that he is no less
independent than the cloth of blood in the
side of the wall.
You're no different.
You're no different than, you know that sort
of image of a person like stuck in
a flood and everything, and he's just trying
to grab something.
He's trying to cling to something, grabbing a
twig on the side of the river, right?
That's every human being at every moment.
We're all like that.
The more you forget that, the more prone
you are to transgress.
That's the idea.
You know, during the space race, there was
a meme.
I don't know if it's true, but I
mean all memes are true, so there's probably
some truth to it.
During the space race between U.S. and
Russia, who's going to get to outer space
first?
I forget his name.
There's a famous Russian astronaut.
He famously said, I don't see any God
up here, right?
We've sort of broken the bounds of the
whatever it is, right?
The stratosphere and we got out and all
this.
So they had like a meme of him
saying, I don't see any God up here.
And then on the other side was Mufti
Menk.
And Mufti Menk, a famous Muslim scholar.
And he was saying, wait till your oxygen
runs out.
You just wait till your oxygen runs out,
then you'll see God.
But it will be too late at that
point.
But this is sort of the ugliness of
man when he thinks he can do something,
right?
You know, we understand this as like, most
of us here are parents, right?
Like the notion of the parent that feels
stabbed in the back.
It's not the perfect analogy.
There's never a perfect analogy for Allah Azza
wa Jal, right?
But the parent that sort of like stayed
up at night and bought diapers for the
kid and sort of like did these midnight
runs to the emergency rooms and like, you
know, went to work groggy the next day
and spent money and bought you shoes.
And then you kept breaking your glasses and
like you had to go replace their glasses
for them.
And I'm venting here.
I'm venting here, right?
And every time there's a cut or a
bruise or a fever, right?
You're sort of at the service of your
child.
And then all of a sudden your child
doesn't speak to you anymore, right?
Your child sort of like feels independent.
They're arguing with you.
This is sort of the dilemma, the conundrum
of the human being with his Lord Subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
Allah Azza wa Jal says in Surah Yasin,
أَوَلَمْ يَرَى الْإِنسَانُ أَنَّا خَلَقْنَاهُ مِنْ نُطُفَةٍ فَإِذَا
هُوَ خَصِيمٌ مُبِينٌ Has the human being not
seen that We created him from a measly
fluid, this sort of like flimsy drop of
*, right?
This flimsy fluid.
And all of a sudden he is خَصِيمٌ
مُبِينٌ a clear adversary, clear disputant.
I don't know if there's a God.
Why does God say that anyway?
Why does He make us do these things?
Why does He want us to worship Him,
right?
Clear adversary, all of a sudden.
It is because this sense of independence.
And you know, even the mushrik, even the
pagan, the Quran tells us throughout, the polytheist
who like devotes himself to multiple gods, when
he's stuck between a rock and a hard
place, he says, يَا رَبِّ He's sincere and
says, Oh, God, save me, right?
There's no atheist in a foxhole or on
a sinking ship, right?
You just...
The lies incinerate, they evaporate.
And you just say, يَا الله And why
am I saying this?
Because the believer needs to understand that's a
given.
We all go back to Allah, recognize our
dependency on Him when we're stuck.
The believer is expected to do better before
you get stuck.
You're supposed to be a person that is
regularly refining your recognition of your utter dependency
on Him.
You know, مُوَرَّخَ الْعَجْلِ رحمه الله He has
a nice statement where he says, I could
not find a better example for a believer
that a human being holding on to a
log in the middle of the ocean saying,
يَا رَبِّ يَا رَبِّ My Lord, my Lord,
right?
So that perhaps His Lord may save him.
Right?
Feeling the utter dependency at all moments.
Right?
Insecurity without Allah SWT.
Only finding my peace with Him.
And that is through coming to the Quran
over and over and over again.
And it is also taking from the Quran
this treasure of a clue.
Like when do I start going in this
direction, the other direction?
When I start, things start going my way.
Right?
When I start accumulating.
Like think about it.
As one Shaykh was saying that, like forget
once we leave the hospital.
You know, may Allah give cure to all
those who are sick and keep us out
of the hospitals.
But like as soon as you like, you
start sitting up in the hospital bed.
Things start changing.
Right?
Like the promise becomes half a promise.
Because you start, you're getting your breath now.
So the more capable you become, the more
prone you are to transgress.
And so you need the anchor.
Right?
You need the refresh.
That's what the Quran came to do.
So how do you make sure?
How do you offset it?
What's the serum?
What is the cure?
It's in the next verse.
إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَيَتْغَىٰ The human being transgresses.
أَنْ رَآهُ اسْتَغْنَىٰ When he sees himself as
self-sufficient.
إِنَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ الرُّجْعَةِ Certainly to your Lord
is the return.
That's how you stop it.
I came from nothing.
Right?
A clot of blood.
And I will return to nothing.
إِنَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ الرُّجْعَةِ And then my soul
will go back to Allah.
He will ask me about everything.
سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى إِنَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ الرُّجْعَةِ Certainly to
your Lord is the return.
Then the verses proceed to reprimand Abu Jahl.
Abu Jahl was taunting the Prophet ﷺ and
he was threatening the Prophet ﷺ.
And so Allah عز و جل says, أَرَأَيْتَ
الَّذِي يَنْهَى عَبِدًا إِذَا صَلَّ Have you seen
the one who forbids a servant when he
prays?
The one who forbids here is Abu Jahl,
the enemy of the Prophet ﷺ.
The one who prays is the Prophet ﷺ.
Foundational components, right?
Nature of God, nature of man, the nature
of the tension.
Remember we said that?
From the very first surah, Allah is telling
you how it's going to be.
Not even you're doing da'wah, you're calling
to Islam.
You praying is going to bother some people,
right?
You simply praying, it's like you're under a
staircase somewhere, right?
In your cubicle, it's going to bother some
people.
Some people are going to be bothered by
this, right?
From day one, this is captured in this
surah.
People will not even let you pray in
peace.
You know the story of Zayd ibn Daghinnah
when Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, the right hand
man of the Prophet ﷺ and his greatest
companion, when he was leaving Mecca, he was
going to migrate away from Mecca due to
all the persecution.
He said to him, مِثْلُكَ لَا يَخْرُجْ وَلَا
يُخْرَجْ People like you cannot be driven out
of a town, nor can they be permitted
to leave a town.
Meaning like you're too valuable.
Come back and you are under my protection.
So he went out and he declared, and
sort of the tribal culture in Arabia was
one that you do not violate someone's declared
protection, someone's asylum, right?
That they grant someone.
So he had a strong family and he
said, don't mess with Abu Bakr, he's under
my family's protection.
So Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, he used to
pray at night and watching Abu Bakr pray
at night was like an event.
He was sort of like a brittle hearted
man that would not ever read the Quran
and without getting emotional, and he would live
with the verses.
And so it was like a theater at
night.
Every time he would pray in sort of
the outskirts of the property, he would pray
out like under the moon.
The women, the children, people are coming and
they're watching him pray.
Like it's just like, what is this?
And so this was causing a big problem.
This is bad PR for the other side.
And so they said to Zayd ibn Daghinnah,
the man who had granted him this protection,
you either retract or else we are going
to violate the protection.
We're willing to go to war with your
family.
And so he went to Abu Bakr, he
said, Abu Bakr, listen, can you just pray
inside?
Just do me a favor because it's going
to get ugly and it's really not worth
it.
And I thought that they would honor it
and they're not honoring it.
And he said, no, I will not pray
inside.
I will not go underground with my prayers.
You can have your protection back and I
will suffice with the protection of Allah, with
the Jawar of Allah.
And so this also happened to the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam that Uqba ibn Abi Mu
'ayt and Abu Jahl, Abu Jahl came to
the people at the Kaaba.
The Kaaba was there since the time of
Abraham, peace be upon him, but around there
was 360 idols.
But still this is sort of Allah's house.
So the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam used to
pray at the Kaaba, Abu Jahl would come
and say, you guys are letting, you guys
are a bunch of cowards.
You let Muhammad pray at the Kaaba, right?
These are fellow pagans.
He said, if I see him praying one
more time, dirtying his face in the ground,
that's how he put it, one more time
I'll stomp on his neck.
And so he in fact attempted to do
that.
And as he got close to the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, everyone saw him sort of
fall back on the ground.
It was a very weird reaction that happened.
And they said, what's wrong?
He said, you didn't see it?
There was like a huge ditch between me
and Muhammad.
There was like flames and there was wings
and things like this.
I told him, are you crazy?
Like nothing, none of this happened.
And so the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam confirmed.
And he said, لَوْدَنَا مِنِّي لَقْتَطَفَتْهُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ عُضْوًا
عُضْوًا Had he gotten any closer, the angels
would have pulled him apart limb from limb.
Of course, also it's from the great wisdom
of Allah that this didn't happen, subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
Because then we're going to pray in public
and someone might bother us and no angel
is going to sort of defend us for
the most part, right?
And so the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was
actually attacked at times in the prayer.
And he kept praying, right?
When Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayth came and
he dumped the entrails of a camel on
top of the Prophet's back while he was
praying.
So there was a camel off to the
side that was slaughtered.
The blood, the guts are all off the
side.
The meat is being distributed elsewhere, right?
He took all of this and when the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam went into prostration, he
dumped everything on top of his head.
And he remained in prostration.
He completed his sujood, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
And so Allah Azza wa Jalla is telling
us that this comes with the package.
You know, maybe the last thing I'll say
here before proceeding.
There is no prosperity doctrine in Islam.
Sometimes even Muslim preachers do this and they
really shouldn't.
So I guarantee you, you sort of like
start praying your five and your debts will
be repaid in a month.
Like they might, but you have no right
to promise that, right?
You have no right to promise that.
Allah may do that.
But in general, we do what we do
for the hereafter, not for this world to
become paradise, right?
You will have more blessing in your life.
Life will not get easier.
Actually, it would likely get harder, but you
will become stronger.
This is the blessing, the strength, the inspiration,
the inner peace.
You'll get stronger.
Life will not necessarily get easier.
More often than not, it won't get easier.
But you will just be more formidable, more
resilient, more at peace, right?
More fulfilled than those that don't have what
you have.
Okay.
أَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي يَنْهَى عَبْدًا إِذَا صَلَّى Have you
seen the one who prohibits the servant as
he prays?
That's Abu Jahl with the Prophet ﷺ.
أَرَأَيْتَ إِن كَانَ عَلَى الْهُدَى Have you seen,
meaning have you considered, if he is upon
guidance?
Who is this referring to?
This is speaking to Abu Jahl in the
most gentle way, like teaching us how to
sort of give da'wah, invite people to
the faith, give them one final chance.
It's saying to Abu Jahl in the most
gentle terms, have you thought about this?
Like maybe, what if maybe he's right?
This man who's praying that you're bothering.
Maybe he's upon guidance?
Just give it a chance, think about it.
Like what in the world is the matter
with you if you're actually bothering someone who
is just praying?
And what if he's doing the right thing
and you're the one doing the wrong thing?
How much worse does that make you?
How much worse does that make you?
And then the next verse says, أَرَأَيْتَ إِن
كَذَّبَ وَتَوَلَّى Have you seen, meaning what do
you think the case would be, if he
denies and turns away?
If he denies and turns away.
This is about Abu Jahl.
أَلَمْ يَعْلَمْ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَرَى Does he not
know that Allah sees?
Sees all things.
So this is like a final threat for
the tyrannical abusive Abu Jahl.
Does he not know that Allah sees?
You know this statement though is like solace
for every victim, not just a threat for
every abuser.
Allah sees.
وَمَا كَانَ رَبُّكَ نَسِيًّا Your Lord is never
forgetful.
None of this will be forgotten.
And it is not just a threat for
every tyrant.
This is also a mentality.
A God-fearing mentality is so healthy.
You know one of the early Muslims he
used to say, إِن كُنْتَ تَعْتَقِدْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ
لَا يَرَاكْ فَالْخَلُّ فِي إِمَانِكَ If you believe
Allah does not see you, then that is
a void or a defect in your faith.
Like you're basically not even Muslim if you
say like, God doesn't see me, right?
You're not Muslim.
He says, وَإِن كُنْتَ تَعْتَقِدْ أَنَّهُ يَرَاكْ فَكَيْفَ
تَجْعَلُهُ أَهْوَنَ النَّظِرِينَ إِلَيْكَ If you do believe
God sees you, then how could you consider
Him the most insignificant of those who see
you?
Meaning like if there was a kid there,
you would have put the cigarette away.
If there was a surveillance camera there, you
would have taken your boss into consideration.
So you're saying you believe Allah sees you,
why does that not impact your behavior in
any way?
أَلَمْ يَعْلَمْ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَرَىٰ Does he not
know that Allah sees him?
This is sort of a mentality.
The mentality the believer is supposed to lock
in on.
And also a threat for every oppressive person.
Okay, then Allah says to conclude the surah,
كَلَّا لَئِنْ لَمْ يَنْتَهِي لَنَسْفَعَمْ بِالنَّاصِيَةِ كَلَّا لَئِنْ
لَمْ يَنْتَهِي If he does not desist, Abu
Jahl does not stop.
People like him don't stop.
لَنَسْفَعَمْ بِالنَّاصِيَةِ We will grab them.
نَسْفَعَمْ بِالنَّاصِيَةِ We will * them by their
nausea.
The nausea is the forehead, like the front
of the head, right?
This is sort of like, you know, your
most honorable part.
And that's why we lower it in prostration,
right?
And also like when you want to grab
someone by the front of the head, it's
humiliating if they have hair to be grabbed.
But that's the idea, right?
We're going to * him.
You know, some have asked me and sort
of it's a common discussion on this verse.
Maybe there's sort of like a scientific element
here.
Some say like the prefrontal lobe is where
decision-making happens.
And so these liars, like they deliberately mask
the truth and maybe, sure, fine.
But there has to have, there needs to
be like a basic meaning, a fundamental meaning
that still made sense even before neuroscans.
That's always important, right?
Like the ayah was not lacking a meaning
until we x-rayed, right?
We always have to think about it that
way.
So, لَنَسْفَعَنْ بِالنَّاصِيَةِ We will grab him by
his nausea.
نَاصِيَةٍ كَذِبَةٍ خَاطِئَةٍ A lying sinful forelock.
In other words, Allah will come to the
defense of the believers, right?
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُدَافِعَ عَنْ لَذِينَ أَمَانُوا Allah has
sworn to defend those who have believed.
A lying sinful forelock.
فَلْيَدْعُوا نَادِيَةٍ Let him go call his supporters.
Your nadi is like your club.
People used to sit in like fraternities, in
clubs.
The rich with the rich, and the poor
with the poor, and the slave class with
the slave class.
So, he used to brag and say, مَنْ
أَشْرَفُ مِنِّي نَادِيًا Who has a more honorable
sort of class, socioeconomic class than me.
Abu Jahl would say that, right?
And so he said, Allah says, فَلْيَدْعُوا نَادِيَةٍ
Let him go call his supporters.
سَنَدْعُوا الزَّبَانِيَةِ We're gonna call the zabaniya.
We're gonna call the angels of *.
The angels of * await you.
Once again, the angels did not pull him
apart in this world.
Keep that in mind.
Allah says the angels await him.
The angels await him meaning upon the plucking
of his soul.
And so in conclusion, this surah says if
you choose to take the path of Abu
Jahl, you choose to oppose Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam, أَلَمْ يَعْلَمْ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَرَى You need
to know that Allah sees you, and that
no matter how strong you are, how strong
you think you are, you are still what?
You're hanging by a string.
You're a alaq.
Beginning of the surah.
You're just a alaq, right?
You just wait and see.
And on the other hand, if you're taking
the path of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam, then just keep doing what you're doing.
Because it says, سَنَدْعُوا الزَّبَانِيَةِ We will call
the angels of *.
كَلَّا لَا تُطِعْهُ وَاسْجُدْ وَاقْتَرِبْ No, O Muhammad,
don't listen to him.
Don't listen to his threats.
وَاسْجُدْ And continue to prostrate.
That's the final command.
وَاقْتَرِبْ And draw nearness to us.
Of course, the believer knows that the only
way up is down, right?
And the closest the person is to Allah
is in prostration.
The hadith says that.
أَقْرَبُ مَا يَكُونُ الْعَبْدُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ وَهُوَ سَاجِدْ
فَأَكْثِرُ الدُّعَاءِ The closest a servant is to
his Lord is when he's in prostration.
So make plentiful supplication.
Pray a lot in your prostrated state with
your face on the ground.
Say everything that's in your heart in whatever
language, right?
Just speak to Allah Azza wa Jal there.
So if you take the path of Abu
Jahl, here's what you need to know.
He sees you, you think you're independent, that's
why you're crossing bounds.
You need to know that you're just a
alaqa.
You never stop being a alaqa, right?
And if you're taking the path of the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, Allah says to him,
ignore what they're saying and keep prostrating.
Keep praying to us.
Keep focusing on us.
Don't get distracted by a alaqa.
Don't get distracted by some powerless creature that
I created and I can render irrelevant.
That's all.
We're going to stop here inshallah ta'ala.
Are there any questions on the surah?
I know this is a longer surah and
now we're moving into like the medium-sized
surahs and so maybe we should start putting
them up on the screen.
With the shorter ones that we did the
past 12 weeks or so, I knew that
you all memorized them and so I was
working through them under that premise.