Mohammad Elshinawy – Lessons From Surat Al MaUn
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Surah Al Ma'un,
Bismillah.
May Allah help us get through this. Surah
Al Ma'un is 1 of my favorite Suras.
Okay?
Why? Because we live in the secular age.
And Surah Al Ma'un
wages war on
secularism.
It does.
But not just secularism because secularism has only
been around for a short while. Right? Few
centuries.
It is really about
the
bipolar schizophrenic
religiosity. I'm religious in some ways, but not
in other ways. To be selectively religious.
Is all about that, okay? And, you will
see.
So,
Ma'un,
you know guys, anyone know what Ma'un is?
Ma'un is like a pot, you know, like,
Egyptians I'm gonna invoke you for a second
again. When your parents sell you.
It's the pots that you cooked in. Right?
So al Ma'un is basically a pot. We'll
come back to where that comes from. Just
it's a reference to being charitable with small
things like some of your cooking or the
leftovers or the usage of a container or
the likes. Right?
But how does the Surah begin? The Surah
begins by saying,
Araytul lathi yukathibbu
bideen,
have you seen the 1,
Araytul lathi, Ra'itah, have you seen? Al levi,
the 1. Yukavibbu
who denies,
like he doesn't consider it true, denies
ad Din.
Ad Din is not the religion.
The word Din
is often translated as religion,
and it does mean that. But here, it
means the repayment.
Just like Malik yawmid din,
owner of the day of You go to
your translations, it usually says recompense or repayments
or retribution.
Right? Think of dane. Dane is a debt.
Dane is a debt.
And debts you have to repay. Right? So
a dane
is your liability to a debt.
And we all have a liability to show
up on the day of judgment and answer
some questions. May we be of those who
don't have to answer any questions. There is
an express lane. May Allah grant us the
express lane. Bilah Hisaab.
But it is called the day of deen
because it's the day of repayments when you
have to face your deeds. Okay? The day
of liabilities
and repaying your debts. So, Allah azza wa
jal is saying, have you seen the 1
who denies
that there is going to be a resurrection?
Meaning denies
that I am going to pull him from
his grave.
And this existed during the time of the
Prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam.
People that their belief in God was so
weak, was so blurry that by extension
they felt it was far fetched that there
would be a day of complete justice
where all debts would finally get repaid.
Okay? So, there were among them, Munkireel Ba'ath,
those who denied resurrection,
denied day of judgement. And there are many
ayats in the Quran about this. May yuhil
izhamaawahiramim
who will give life to the bones after
they've crumbled. Aidha mitznah waqunna turaba you're saying
that after we've sort of died and become
rubble, we're going to be recreated again, rebuilt
all over again. This was a notion. It
was a common notion even among those who
theoretically said they believed in God. But then
the surah says what?
Have you seen the 1 who doesn't believe
there is a resurrection?
What does he look like? Fathalikal
ladhi, that is the 1 who what? If
you didn't know the rest of the surah,
you would say, it's gonna say something about,
cursing God or prostrating to an idol or
some sort
of like, polytheistic
behavior. Right? Because he doesn't believe in God.
Right? He doesn't believe in the day of
judgement. But it's not what it says. It
says, Fathali kalethi
du'r'uliatim.
This is the 1,
this is the same person that you will
find being rough with the orphan.
Social justice now, Right?
If you don't believe that there is accountability,
you do whatever.
Humanity without believing in a day of accountability,
the man will beat his wife and
the the the parent will not teach their
child. It will become law of the jungle.
It will be.
The the international community will make up terms
called human rights and the likes and use
them selectively for convenience and other without belief
in accountability,
it does it becomes a jungle.
The strong eats the weak.
The powerful beats up
the meager.
Because it is the belief in the day
of judgment that makes you realize that it
is not a 1 to 1 relationship. This
is a 3 way relationship. I have to
answer to Allah for the way I'm treating
you. So, I start feeling conflicted. It's not
just about leverage and what I can get
away with. And if I don't get caught,
that's not wrong. It's a completely different calculation
at that point.
This is also why in Surat Al Qiyamah
Allah says
I swear by the day of judgment
and I swear by the conflicted soul, When
does your soul badger you? It's like, oh,
man.
I'm gonna have to
answer for this. This is not going anywhere.
Right? I gotta sort of make it right.
I gotta repent. I gotta restore people's rights,
and so on and so forth.
That is what is expected of the believer.
You know, when Hanvalah radiAllahu anhu, he came
to the Prophet SAWALAW, and he said to
him, You Rasulullah, you know when I'm with
you,
they have judgment is so close. It's like
I could see paradise and hellfire with my
2 eyes. That was his wording.
But then I go home and I deal
with
the halal. He's not even talking about sins.
I deal with just life. He says, I
deal with my kids and my property. I'm
sort of checking my bank account. Obviously these
are modern translations of what he said. Well,
he says, Nuafi Sura'ooladawudbayat.
We deal with our kids
and our,
our properties.
We forget a lot of what you said.
We forget a lot of meaning the effect
of a lot of what you said. So
what did the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
tell him?
It's okay.
That's a very high station.
Walakin
saaatan wasa'a.
There's an hour for this and there's an
hour for that. Meaning what?
There should be an hour
an hour
where you are sitting
and listening,
rehearsing
ayat about the day of judgment. Right? Reconstructing
your image of the day of judgment.
And then there's another hour where you can,
while mindful of the Day of Judgment, go
on with life, be a human being.
But what happens if you don't have the
first hour, you're gonna mess up in the
second hour.
It's not going to just be
some slight blurring because I'm dealing with the
halal, with the muba'ah, the permissible.
And so what is it that immunizes
you from transgression,
from oppressing others when you proceed in life,
when you deal with the rest of the
world? It is
a deen that I have a re update.
I have to pay back all. That all
receipts will be kept, all dealings will be,
answered for to the end of it.
So this is the 1 that is rough
with the orphan.
Yadur, like
da'a means to push or to be rough
with.
The verse says, The day that they will
be thrust into the fire.
Right?
And so, they deal with the orphans because
why the orphans?
Why does it say orphans here?
Because they don't have a dad and so
there is no accountability. There is no 1
gonna say, Hey, don't touch the kid like
that.
And so if you don't believe in a
higher power and an accountability to that higher
power, then you're gonna look for those that
you have so worldly leverage over, you're gonna
be rough with them as if there's nothing
to answer for. فَدَانِّنِيمُ
Wa la Yahudu'alaqaamal
miskeen,
and He
does not
encourage
the fee. Layahudu
does not encourage
Ta'ala for Tu'aam the feeding of the miskeen,
of the needy.
Notice.
Notice the sort of the spiraling out of
control.
This is free. He's not donating to the
needy. He's someone that doesn't have money, so
we're not asking you for money. Tell the
guy who has money to donate some of
his money. They'll encourage somebody else to do
it.
And this also reminds you that belief in
the day of judgment
gives you loftier ideals that if I can't
do 1 thing I can do another. It
keeps you looking
for ways to better your standing on that
day. It doesn't just say, you know, doesn't
deal with the orphans well and nor the
needy. It says and it doesn't even encourage,
reminding you that if you can't
feed, you can encourage someone else to feed
or to sponsor or to finance.
And then after that it says what?
Fawaylunlilmusaleen.
So, woe to those who pray.
You know, 1 of my teachers, doctor. Haman
Swayl al Qadim, he says, You will never
find
those who pray. A phrase like those who
pray, al Musaleen,
mentioned
in a praiseworthy
context in the Quran unqualified.
You'll always find yukimoonas
salah, they establish the salah. Or, ala salatihim
yuha fidhoon, they safeguard their salah.
But just simply someone who makes salah,
there is a pattern in the Quran this
is something left for the hypocrites. Meaning a
hypocrite might pray. Simply praying however you see
fit
should give you some pause.
Simply praying, don't give yourself a quick pass.
I pray. And here it is again. It
says, woe to those who pray. Then it
tells you
why.
Those who in their prayers they are negligent.
So, this is not people negligent of their
prayer.
They are not praying at all.
This can also include those who are negligent
in their prayer. They hear the Quran, they're
not paying attention. Or they hear the Quran,
they're not making an effort to understand. Or
they hear the Quran and they're not trying
to bring it out to the rest of
the world. Like,
it's almost
as if saying, You've
seen the 1 who denies the religion, denies
the repayment. It's not just the 1 who
says it's not gonna happen. It's the people
who are not paying enough attention to it.
They're not reviving its remembrance in their hearts.
Faaydunlilmusaleen
woe to those who pray alatheenaum
ansalatihim
sahun
Those who are negligent in their prayer
those who pray simply to show off,
show off to others.
Sometimes we pray to show off to ourselves.
I'm sorry to make you OCD if that,
but it could happen. Right?
It could happen,
and I'll come back to that in a
second.
Those who pray to show off,
And they withhold Al Ma'un. They withhold these
small acts of kindness.
And so, in other words, your your belief,
if it doesn't translate into your your day
to day actions,
right, your day to day actions with each
other, with people, there's something wrong with your
beliefs.
And, likewise, the opposite. If your day to
day actions are,
hypothetically speaking, if they are virtuous,
but there is no belief in the day
of judgment, that doesn't work either.
Right?
Abdullah ibn Jadaan
was a very generous man, a philanthropist in
Mecca.
And Aisha
once asked the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and
said, You Rasulullah, Ibn Judaan,
he used to feed people and used to
keep ties with his family like he'd really
spend on his family generously to the end
of it. Will
that benefit him? Meaning on the day of
judgment now because he has died, he had
died. Khala layan Faruhu it will not benefit
him. In Nahulam yaqul yauman
rabbikfirli
khatiatiyaum
addeen
He never once said, Oh, my Lord, forgive
for me my sins on the day of
repayment, on the day of judgment. He didn't
believe in resurrection. So it's not gonna work.
2 points here quickly.
And then the 1 I will circle back
to the theme 1 last time.
Bismillah.
So the first of them is that someone
may say,
but there are people who don't believe in
the day of judgment,
a non Muslim
or an atheist even,
but performs
what we would agree are good deeds.
Right?
How do you make sense of this?
If the ethos of this surah, the spirit
of this surah is those who don't believe
in the day of repayment, don't believe in
accountability on the day of judgment, they will
not be good with the orphan or the
needy, and they will not pray sincerely to
the end of it. But there are people
who are
charitable,
but they don't believe in a God or
a day of judgment.
How can that be?
Let me let me rewind and be extra
controversial here.
Can an atheist be a good person?
Yeah. I said it.
Yes or no?
Who says yes?
Who says no?
And the rest of you believe voting is
haram.
Tayib,
the the best answer is always it depends.
It depends who you ask.
So, oftentimes,
you know, like in in dawah, when we
say, you know,
religion is necessary, Islam is necessary for ethics,
for morality, you say, are you saying an
atheist cannot be a good person?
The truth is, it really depends on who
you ask.
This is how my favorite answer. Okay? So
you'll have to indulge me.
If you ask an atheist, can an atheist
be a good person?
The atheist should say no.
Because according to the atheistic world view, everything
can only be explained in terms of what
the material. Materialistic means. It's all a happy
accident, a cosmic fluke, its gas is combusting,
its hydrogen and nitrogen. There should be no
such thing as good and evil to begin
with.
So according to the atheist,
atheists can't be good people
if he's true to his value system.
According to the Muslim,
yes, an atheist
can on some level be a good person
because we believe that Allah installed within us
all a fitra,
an innate
leaning to purity.
So we have a general semblance, a general
idea of goodness. We have moral principles even
if they are vague.
We know generally that we want to be
good. We may know something about goodness like
justice is good. Right?
And it feels good to do good, right?
And that's why someone who may not believe
in the day of judgement for for the
worldly feel good of doing good, they may
do good. It's pretty simple.
Someone may not believe in Yomul Qiyamah, paradise
to * fire, and still pay pay for
me,
in the drive thru. I got the car
behind me as well. Ever happened to you?
Me too. Don't ask me if it was
Starbucks or not, but I I have boycotted
since then.
So why? Because it feels good to do
good.
But to be
a truly good person, holistically a good person,
no, you have to have your relationship with
Allah
because he gave you every faculty to be
good. Right? To say there's no God, that's
like plagiarism. You don't deserve any credit when
you plagiarize. So God gave you your existence
and your faculties and your wealth and all
that and you say no,
then you're you've disqualified your own good. Yes?
Plus, to know what is good on the
detailed level, you would you would need need
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to teach you. Right?
Otherwise, moral philosophers, the people who had the
sharpest minds, who who gave this more thought
than anybody else, never agreed on the details
of good and evil. No 1 ever agreed.
Okay? Anyway,
so that is why for worldly benefit, whether
my personal benefit or I believe that the
world will be a little less scary if
everyone just does their part, for worldly reasons,
yes.
A person without believing in the day of
judgment may enact may extend certain acts of
kindness, of grace, patience,
virtue.
Absolutely.
The other issue is that you guys gave
me the look when I said you may
show off to yourself.
It is true.
You see, what is it that makes a
good person a good person?
It is more about what you abstain from
of evil than what you do of good.
It's an important principle. Sahih nabdulatul starirahimahullah
he used to say,
amalulbiri
yafaluhaqullubarinwafajir
walayajitanibulmuharramatillah
siddiq
Good deeds,
good acts,
everybody performs good deeds.
Righteous people and wicked people. Meaning every person
is gonna identify a few things that are
easy for them to sedate their conscience with.
To show off to themselves so that they
don't look at themselves in the mirror and
say I'm a horrible human being. Everyone needs
a little bit of something to say, I'm
a great guy. Right? I'm not that bad.
There are people who are worse. Yes?
So these so called good deeds, everyone does
them.
But no 1 respects the boundaries, the Muharramat
of Allah, except someone who actually believes in
Him.
Except someone who
truly believes in Him.
And that once again shows you the importance
of it not being an inconsistent
approach in your deen. The theme of Surat
Al Ma'un, right?
Know you go Surat Al Baqarah, especially the
second juz of Surat Al Baqarah.
It's all about this. The fact that Benu
Israel started picking and choosing and that's how
it all fell apart. And that's why when
it came to us in Surat Al Baqarah
just in that 1 juz in 1 place
it says,
enter into the religion
submissiveness to Allah
entirely.
No foot dragging, no sort of like 1
foot in 1 foot out. And then also
it
says,
Are you gonna believe in some of the
book and reject some of the book? Right?
And then it tells you about
like it embeds the discussion on guarding your
salah or salatullusta in the middle prayer in
the middle of the discussion on divorce.
And then, it speaks about,
kital fighting in the path of Allah in
the middle of a discussion on hajj.
And then it speaks about like al Wasiyyah
or inheritance or kisas retribution
in the middle of a discussion on siyam,
right?
It's inseparable.
Right?
Otherwise,
your belief is not in Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. Your belief is in
the P and L.
Right?
Is it inconvenient or inconvenient? Is it profitable
for me right now or is it not
profitable?
And that is the secular paradigm.
Right? Your religion is awesome. Your religion is
fine. Just make sure it never comes out
to play in public life. Just you
make your salawat, that's fine,
in a masjid somewhere, in the corner somewhere,
it should not inform the rest of your
day.
And so Sultan Ma'aun comes and wages war
on that concept. It's not a concept that
just was born out of, you know, the
the religious conflicts in the European
recent European history where they had to put
religions away because they were fighting. They were
at each other's throats in the name of
religion. And so that they actually had to
do that. They had no way to move
forward because of like the vehement religious intolerance
there. But that notion of separating religion from
life is a satanic notion that takes on
different forms through time and place. And that
is why the Quran
consistently calls our attention to it. May Allah
protect us from it.
To be okay with disobedience
just because you do some active obedience. Right?
That is a virus in the you know,
the normalization
of disobeying Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
This is
what we need to be careful about.