Mohammad Elshinawy – Lessons From Surat Al Feel & Quraysh
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AI: Transcript ©
We welcome everyone back to our study of
the concise brief Surah of the Quran and
some of the lessons we are to take,
from them.
And we have Insha'Allah this evening,
we will discuss Surat Al Fil, and Surat
Quraysh, and Surat Al Ma'un.
As for Surat Al Fil,
Al Fil the elephant.
This is obviously,
a recall for the people of
Mecca in particular that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
had
miraculously
saved them and their city from the army
of elephants. And the army of elephants was
well known to them because it was a
historic event.
They had never before or after had seen
an army of elephants in Arabia at least.
They would only hear about them, and this
was sort of the artillery of empires.
And there was a small Christian Kingdom
in Yemen
at the time
led by
a king by the name of Abraha,
al Ashram,
and he had built this
magnificent cathedral
called Al Qulais or Qulais
Qulais or Qulais,
it's pronounced both ways.
And he was trying to essentially divert traffic
away from the Kaaba because the Kaaba was
a central place of worship and also by
extension a place of commerce
since the time of Ibrahim alaihi salaam all
the way down for 2000 years. And so
he said, you know, I can build a
prettier building.
And so the Arab took a great affront
to this. They were very offended by it,
and they tried to burn down Al Khulais.
And they did other creative things
to express their,
their offense. 1 of them went into Al
Khulais and he forgive me, trigger warning.
He sort of, like, took his own stool,
his own defecation, and he plastered it all
over the walls of the cathedral.
This is all in pre Islamic times. Alright?
So when he did all of this,
Abraha said,
I need to flatten the Kaaba.
And so he vowed an oath before departing
Yemen and, you know,
traveling north with his army of elephants. He
said, I
will demolish this Kaaba. I I will dismantle
it stone by stone. I will not leave
2 stones on top of each other at
the Kaaba.
And so, he reached the outskirts of Mecca
and
the
Arab of Mecca, the tribe of Quraysh lives
in Mecca. They ran for the hills literally
because there is not something they could withstand
or contend with. And there's the famous incident
of the uncle of the grandfather of the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, Abdul Mupalib, going
and telling him, you basically abducted, confiscated a
herd of my camels on the way. And
he said to him, this is why you're
coming to talk to me. Like, I used
to have so much respect for you from
what I hear that you're some, you know,
generous chief of the Arabs and I'm coming
to destroy your your honor, your Kaaba. Right?
And your heritage
and the hallmark of your civilization, and you're
coming to talk to me about a bunch
of camels?
He said, listen. These are camels are my
responsibility. This house has a Lord that will
protect it. And he too made his way,
to the hills. And then as the army
attempted to proceed,
the elephants were very reluctant and would not
move in the direction of the Kaaba. That
was the first of the signals.
And then eventually a flock of birds came
that Allah
had unleashed
and they pelted them from the skies with
stones.
SubhanAllah, they tried to use 1 of the
creation of Allah, the elephants against the great
house of Allah, the Kaaba. Allah said that
a small 1 of his, you know,
creations a bird, right?
With tiny stones because he said I'm gonna
tear it apart stone by stone. So here
are your stones. Right? It was a perfectly
suited. This is a common theme in the
Quran always. Always, right? That the repayment comes
in the same nature as the
crime or the virtue. It always comes in
kind. Repayment, reciprocation in kind.
And so Allah azza wa Jal
saved the Kaaba
in this historic way. And this was the
year of the birth of the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam.
And he would be the 1 that would
receive the revelation of Allah that would properly
glorify the Kaaba and reinstate
the creed of Ibrahim alaihis salam, the milah
of Ibrahim alaihis salam.
And that is why the capital is protected.
Number 1, because it would be restored.
Just like Allahkhayran salimatayaminum.
I'm actually very thirsty.
You know, interestingly,
at the end of time when no 1
will be glorifying the Kaaba anymore, that is
when the Kaaba will finally be destroyed,
As the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallahu foretold.
You know some people,
skeptics,
claim that there is no historical proof
that this army of birds destroyed this army
of elephants that was coming to destroy the
Kaaba, right? Coming to tear down the Kaaba.
But this surah
is enough of a response to them because
Allah
is counting His favors that He conferred upon
the people of Quraysh
by referencing them very briefly. It's a short
surah.
To an incident that they were all familiar
with.
Right?
Like, if you want to like make some
tall claims that are bogus that are not
true you would make them difficult
to prove, right?
But Allah
says in the beginning of the surah,
Alam tarakaifa,
Have you not seen? Because you've all seen
it, it happened in your lifetime. You get
it? No 1 ever said, No, that didn't
happen.
Have you not seen
how your Lord,
dealt with Ashabil Fil, the army of the
elephants. This is how the Surah begins, Have
you not seen? And subhanAllah even the word
seen
for later generations now for us we didn't
see it but Allah told us it happened.
Right?
And so, it's as if we saw it
because that is how the believer sees with
his insight, with his certainty that which he
was not able to see with his eyesight
like all things unseen, like all the khiyat.
Alam tarakaifa, have you not seen?
Kaifa, how? Fa'ala rabbuka,
your Lord dealt.
And by the way, your Lord hears in
the singular.
You know, there's no,
second person plural in English. You know, it's
like when you say you, you could be
saying you or you're
about 1 person
or sort of you're about a a group
of people. There's no plural in English. I
mean, there is in the south. If you're
from Texas, it's a y'all.
Right? But you all
and you you works for both in English.
But in Arabic there is. There's rabuka,
your Lord, singular. And there's rabukum,
your Lord, Y'all was Lord
in the plural, if we were doing southern
bible study right now. Okay.
And so this is also an indication,
a hinting at this being a favor to
a singular individual, which was who?
Why did I just go through all of
this
linguistics?
The prophet Muhammad, your Lord, singular.
It was your Lord who did this meaning
for you above all else. Clear? Alam tarakeethaararabukabias
habilfil?
Alam yajaal kaidahum
fitadlil?
Did He not
turn their kaid, their scheme, their plot fee
tablil into something pointless?
You know dal means to be lost, to
be like useless.
Right? They were misguided, it was useless. It
was fruitless.
That's why also the says,
say when we go through dalal in the
earth, they don't mean misguidance in this context.
They mean dalal, meaning we're lost, we're disintegrated
in the earth, we're gonna get resurrected again.
And so, fitadlil
means their efforts were in misguidance but could
also mean bore no fruits.
They were,
they just evaporated, feet of the leel. Wa'arsalalayhim
tayran ababeel
and He sent
upon them
tayr birds. Ababil just means regiments of birds,
like battalions of birds. Ababil
in successive waves. So a whole bunch of
a wave of birds. Each 1 of them
has, like, 3 rocks the narrations mention. 1
hand 1 hand in the beak. Right? Then
just when they think it's over, another 1
would come,
until they finish them off.
Pelting them with stones from, molten
rock, rock that was sort of shaped
perfectly for them. Fajja'alahum
Qasfin Makkul
And it made them, made that army
ka like asf.
Asf is basically the
the the herbage or the crop.
Means that has been eaten,
like eaten crops.
So the scholar said this is either a
reference to the fact that, you know, when
you go through
a field after forest season, after it's been
plucked for the eating, it looks like it
just went through a war zone. Right? It's
just rubble to the ground. That's 1 meaning
that it was sort of like they look
like this. They all just dropped to the
ground and were drying away and decomposing.
The other meaning
is fajaalahum
qasfimakkul
He made them
as if they were eaten
and
released. Maqool means the waste, like the waste
of animals.
Maqool means digested and released.
And Allah, azza wa jal,
knows best. Some of the narrations mentioned
that these are just historical reports, not as,
traceable or verified,
that the stones, when they fell, they burned
through their bodies.
So they they would hit them from 1
side and come out the other and their
bodies began to fall apart. And some historical
reports mentioned that Abruaha did not die immediately.
Allah prolonged his death. It was a longer
more painful death until he got all the
way back to Yemen and they saw him
falling apart in front of their eyes.
And there there are so many lessons here
aside from the fact that it was a
miracle
that happened. They approximate about 50 days before
the birth of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, signaling the advent of his prophethood, the
final prophethood.
They mentioned also that
this reminds us of the
extra sanctity
of Makkah in particular.
Because you know Makkah
has a an extra sanctity that doesn't exist
elsewhere.
The same way the rewards are multiplied in
Makkah,
unlike anywhere else, many fold more, like a
prayer in Mecca, in the Haram,
is worth a 100, 000 prayers in any
other masjid.
So if the prayer in the masjid is
worth 25 or 27,
a prayer in the haram is worth 2,
700, 000.
Right?
You're wondering right now, how's that fair? We're
stuck here in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Not much perks here besides the blue carpet.
Right? That's not getting us too far.
Allah is the most fair, And He knows
that it is easier for some people over
there than it is for us over here,
and that is the equalizer. Right?
He has given us all equal opportunity to
compete.
But also the evil now is compounded in
its evil. And that is why the other
ayah in the Quran
says,
Alim, right? Okay.
And whomever
intends
any sort of mischief
therein,
Bithulmin means wrongfully. Right? It's not sort of
in the course of justice. Right? Whomever
seeks any mischief,
it seeks.
In other words, anywhere else in the world,
the intention
is not a bad deed. Right? But in
the precinct of Makkah, the evil intention is
already held against you.
Right? The evil intention is already held against
you and Allah knows
best. So that's Surah Al Fil. I actually
do want to speed up a little bit
through Surah Quraysh.
Because Surah Al Nah'un is,
where the bulk of our time will probably
be,
spent tonight.
Surat Quraysh is the next surah and it
is almost
inseparable from Surat Al Fil.
Okay? Obviously, Allah honored even if secondarily
Quraysh by the incident of protecting the Kaaba
against the army of elephants.
Primarily, it was to honor the prophet alayhis
salatu was coming, but they got in on
it because they're the people of Quraish. Right?
They are the custodians of that city at
that time.
This Surah now is called Surah Quraish itself,
And it is actually the only tribe in
the entire Quran
that is mentioned by name, Quraysh.
So, that is an honor for the people
of Quraysh.
Your tribe means nothing if your deeds don't
activate
the honor of your tribe. Right?
The prophet said,
whomever is slowed down by their deeds
will not be brought up to,
will not be caught up
by their lineage. It's not gonna help. But
in origin, Allah did choose,
right? Kinana from the children of Ishmael and
chose,
Quraysh from the children of Kinana, and he
did choose
Banu Hashim from Quraysh, and he did choose
Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam from Banu Hashim. So,
they are an honorable lineage in that sense.
And this is of their honorings since they
are mentioned by name in the Quran. Allah
allowed them to be
the people of Makkah. So, if you're wondering
who the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam is from
Quraysh, that's his tribe. Right?
And the people of Quraysh were honored in
many respects. This was 1 of them.
But this is also a threat
because I've done so much for you. Now
get with the program. Right? I'm also gonna
hold you to a much higher standard.
And ultimately, the people of Quraysh in general
did. They learned the lesson in the end.
They learned the lesson in the end but
it took a little bit of time. But
before the prophet's death, at Fath hamakkah, we
cover the Adja'a Rasulahu al Fath, they did
enter into Islam by and large,
the people of Quraysh.
Okay. So, Surat Quraysh.
It begins by saying, li'eela
fi Quraysh
for the security
and prestige. The word ilaf is is useful
in that way that it offers both of
those meanings.
Means to be accustomed to something or to
be also friendly with someone and also to
be honored by someone. Okay? That's why the
hadith says,
That the Mu'min
He makes friends easily
and he is befriended easily.
He allows people to befriend him easily. And
there is no good in a person that
does not make friends easily and is not
befriended easily. The whole point is the word
ya'lef.
Ya'lef means to be there's a word for
it in English, affable. To be affable means
to be easily befriended and a friendly person.
Okay.
So, Allah is saying, li'ilafiquraish.
It was made easy
and prestigious for Quraysh.
What was made easy and prestigious?
What was?
Trade. Because the verses right after it speak
about their trade routes.
Other scholars said, it is referring to the
surah before it, that I protected you against
the army of the elephants that did this,
that, and the third. And so, we responded
in this way, all for what?
Li'ilafiquraysh.
All for the comfort, and security,
and prestige of Quraysh.
Okay?
But let's go back to what our brother
Junaid said, the first interpretation.
Li'ilafi Quraysh.
This this is called takdim and takhir. This
is called sort of, rearranging and this is
very common in in many languages.
Right? That you put the subject in front
of the object to the object in front
of the subject. Right? And says, for the
comfort and prestige of Quraysh
We allowed them the comfort of 2 major
travels every year.
Li'ilafiquraishilafihim
We granted them the comfort, right?
Of rikhlatashita
iwasayf,
in the wintertime, they would travel to Yemen
for business.
Okay?
That wouldn't be possible if there was enemies
en route or enemies there that were hostile
towards them. Right?
And they would only go to Yemen in
the winter. Do you know why?
Because you don't wanna go to Yemen in
the summer.
It would be even hotter than Mecca,
arguably. Right? And they would go to a
sham in the summer. Why would they go
to a sham in the summer?
Because a sham, Syria, Levant, Lebanon,
Jerusalem,
it is nicer
in the summer than Mecca.
Right? And so they would position
their travels. They had other travels, of course,
and they would import and export. Right? It
was center of commerce, but they would have
these 2 major travels
that their livelihoods were utterly dependent on. Allah
allowed them safe passage year in and year
out to make these 2 trips.
Rikhatashita
I was safe.
You know, just to give you
an idea, the Arab, if you read about
their,
their heritage,
it is a barren land. You don't really
grow anything there. There are there's no farms
in Mecca. Right? And there's not much you
can do in Mecca where it's not for
the import and export.
And, also,
they were a people that that worshiped prestige
or at least honor and dignity.
So it is mentioned in their poetry at
times that if a family would run out
of food, they would never ask someone for
food. What would they do?
They would go out in the desert with
their wives, with their kids, and pitch a
tent to die there
and not ask anyone else for food in
the city. Right?
Backwardness, of course. But
this is what life was like in the
desert, in the coarse, barren, heartless desert. And
so Allah
allowed for them these trade routes that made
life possible.
Right? Rikhlata shita'i
was safe.
Faliyahbudu
rabbahaalbayt
And so, since Allah has done all of
this for you,
then they must, they should be worshipping the
Lord of what?
Of the great house. The surah before it,
the house I protected. Faliyahabudurabbahadalbayt.
Let them worship the Lord
of this great house.
Of course, this house doesn't need to be
explained.
Right? It's self explanatory. This house. And it's
part of the greatness of the house that
this house eclipses every other house. So, when
I say this, you shouldn't be confused. That's
part of the way that the house is
being
distinguished.
The 1 Who Gave Them Food to protect
them from hunger,
He fed them minjur to keep them away
from hunger,
from dying from within, from starvation which was
happening.
Wa'amanahuminkhawf,
and He gave them security from their fears.
These are now the external fears, like the
attacks of the
stronger nations around them.
Of course,
now
the safest place on the face of the
earth is what?
Is Mecca.
Right?
You don't even pick up stuff that falls.
Right? Unless you're helping locate its owner, right?
Lost and found even has special rules in
Mecca. It is the safest place on the
planet. Allah azza wa Jal created this safe
haven in the middle of a wilderness, in
the middle of nowhere. You know interestingly people
sometimes,
as Muslims, we may not notice it, we
take the blessing for granted. But they wonder
what in the world are all these Muslims
gonna do, like, in in Hajj. Right? Like,
there's nothing pretty about it. You're going to
a big rocky hot sweltering place, scorching desert.
There's no cathedral. There's no Vatican.
Right? Like, this is you guys call us
a religious vacation, but what about this is
the vacation part. Right?
Allah drew the hearts to it and made
it a place where faith
is in the air.
You're not allowed to hunt there, you don't
pick up the lost and found, all of
these things.
Of course, you know, initially as we said,
the people of Quraysh when the prophet salallahu
alaihi wasalam came with the message, what did
they do?
They struck fear in the believers hearts, they
persecuted them and killed them, they literally boycotted
them and starved them. Right?
Until it got to such a bad like
of all people you guys should never do
this. I'm the 1 who pulled you out
of this. And that's why in Srakh al
Bukhari the Prophet alaihis salatu wa sallam said,
Allahumma,
O Allah
alayhim
b sabrin kasabir Yusuf.
Let them feel 7 years like the 7
years of Joseph.
Meaning what?
Food shortage again. Let them remember what they
were just like.
And in fact, they were subject to that
famine, years of famine,
till they would become delirious.
And they would see smoke in the skies,
and they would say the day of judgement
is starting, but they were just
malnourished
until they realized this was the dua of
the prophet Muhammad. And they would go to
him and say, how can you not ask
your Lord
to save your family from dying in this
humiliating way? Now we're family, right? Now you're
Banu Hashim. Until he would make dua' to
Allah azza wa Jal
to spare them of it and give them
another chance.
Ultimately, Quraysh did learn this lesson, and ultimately
Quraysh did enter Islam
and lead the armies of Islam. And after
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam's death,
when almost everyone said we were giving up,
paying homage to the prophet Muhammad, the prophet
Muhammad is not around, so we're back to
our normal selves, business as usual. Everyone apostated,
except for who?
People of Mecca and the people of Ataif.
And once again, as we said in Surat
Al Kawthar and other sur, this surah is
not just about the people of Quraysh, and
their honor, and their response. This is about
the notion that Allah has taken care of
you, and worship is gratitude. Worship is like
this blend
of feeling humbled because our blessings are from
Allah azza wa Jal and feeling a sense
of adoration and awe because our blessings are
from Allah Azzawajal
and so those 2 feelings love and humility,
right?
Powerlessness and adoration, those 2 come together, that
is the meaning of Ibadah. That is what
drives you. You know, we say Ibadah, we
mean ritual.
But it's not ritual. It's much wider than
that. It's ritual and obedience and commitment of
the heart. If you were to go to
the lexicons and look up the word Ibadah,
the Ibadah means
to
be to have the utmost love and the
utmost
sense of humility.
When those 2 come together, that's called a
state of Ibadah. That's like the inner state.
The experience of Ibadah
is love and humility, the utmost blended together.
And that is why the Surah says, I've
done this and I've done this and I've
done this. So my power and my blessing,
be humble, be,
you know, in
awe, adoration.
That's what brings you to, Fali Abu Dhur
Abbahadalbayt.
Let them worship the great Lord of the
great house. And that applies to every last
human being on the earth. Right?
Similarly,
in the Sayyidul Istighfar, when we come back
to Allah and repent to Him, the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, The chief best way
to make istighfar to seek forgiveness is to
say it's in a lengthier dua
I come back to you recognizing your favor
and recognizing
my crime.
It's the merger of those 2 notions
that gives birth to
the reality of Ibadah, Ibadah at heart, experiencing
the Ibadah of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. As
for the Ibadah, the compliance of the limbs,
this is the fruit.
But they what we're talking about, the inner
state, that is the root of where it
comes from.