Mohammad Qutub – Quran Tafseer al-Baqarah – When Death Approached Jacob
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I praise Allah almighty, and I send prayers
and blessings upon prophet Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa
sallam, his noble family, righteous companions, and all
those that follow them with right guidance until
the day of judgment. Ameen.
Glory be to you, oh Allah. No knowledge
have we except that which you have taught
us. Indeed, you are the all knowing, the
all wise. My dear brothers and sisters, Assalamu
alaikum,
Hope everyone is doing well on this fine
night. And we continue with the tafsir of
Surat Al Baqarah.
And we got to the following verse.
This verse now
comes
after the verse that talks about how
Ibrahim
alayhi salam and Ya'aqub
both
advised
and recommended
to their
children, their sons,
the importance
of being firm on the deen. That Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala chose the deen for them
and that they should not die except in
a state of Islam.
And we said this is something
that they
advised
their children
and sons
during their lives, so that they can live
with Islam,
and possibly also
upon their death, right before death.
And now this ayah is talking specifically about
the wasiyah of Ya'aqob alayhis salam
on his deathbed.
So he says,
Interestingly, the way the ayah is beginning, however,
it is
a criticism
for the Jews and the Christians
saying to them, Or were you witnesses?
In other words, the statement is clearly a
rejection of something that they said.
So that's why it starts out with
or were you witnesses? In other words, were
you witnesses there
when Yaqub alayhis salam was on his deathbed
advising
his sons, you were not there. So let
me tell you. Allah is going to tell
you
what happened
during that fateful moment.
Ya'qub alayhis salaam on his deathbed.
Or were you witnesses? You did not witness
it. Or were you witnesses?
When
death
approached Yaqub.
Yaqub is Jacob alaihis salam.
Habara,
that's why we talk about the person
when they are on their deathbed, we call
it the time of Ihtidar.
Right? When death comes to the person. Habara.
Notice
also for the Arabophiles,
Why? Because death came to
Yaqub.
So death here is the one,
the file
and Yaqub is the object because death came
to him.
So,
this is the time when Yaqub alaihis salam
was giving this very important,
last piece of advice
to his sons.
Okay.
When
you are on your deathbed,
imagine that moment. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
keep us firm on the deen and make
our best moments
during the end of our lives.
At that time,
his last words
to his sons,
subhanAllah, they were not about
his property
or anything worldly.
It was about their religion,
their faith,
their tawhid,
the true
legacy
that he leaves behind
as a prophet of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
This is
the ultimate advice.
Can you see yourself at that point
giving that kind of advice?
SubhanAllah.
We will talk about all kinds of things.
Do this, do that. Right? Concerning the property,
concerning your brothers and your sisters,
and all things that have to do with
the dunya.
Would we advise at that last moment? These
are your last words. That's it.
About the deen?
Not only that,
look at the wording.
To his
sons,
What will you worship after me? SubhanAllah.
Can you imagine yourself saying that? I don't
think anyone would say something like that.
What are you going to worship after me?
In the first one, this is possibly what
we expect more.
Allah chose the religion for you So do
not die except in a state of Islam.
Okay.
We can maybe see ourselves saying something like
that if we have
the firmness of deen
to give that kind of advice
as our last words. Right?
But here,
he's getting into the specifics of worship. What
will you worship after me?
How interesting.
The expression itself.
It seems to indicate, Wallahu Alam,
that Yaqub alayhis salam
wanted to be specific
there. And therefore, it was not just
be good Muslims,
worship Allah alone.
What will you worship? He wants them to
answer.
And he wants the answer
to start with, we will worship
Allah. We will worship
your God, whatever it may be.
He wants a firm affirmative
statement.
Furthermore,
when he says, What will you worship after
me? It seems to indicate, that
possibly he was afraid
of something.
He was afraid.
Again, if we look at ourselves,
if you know
that your sons,
your children
are practicing Muslims, would you ask them, What
are you going to worship after me? No.
You would just say,
Continue, fear Allah, be good Muslims.
But if you fear something
that maybe shirk,
some kind of
worship of someone other than Allah
may seep into them,
then maybe you will ask this question, What
are you gonna worship after me?
Maybe something happened
that made you fear and therefore you would
ask the question that way. Yeah? So you
would say,
What are you going to worship after me?
This is what he is asking them.
Could it be possible that
some of his sons
did something
other than the worship of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala?
Fell into idolatry?
The Quran does not
mention any of anything of that.
The Quran,
just mentions
their
great sin
when they intended to kill their brother Yusuf
alaihis salam.
But he does not mention anything about shirk.
Right?
So it seems if there was something like
that, the Quran would have mentioned
it. And he's saying, What will you worship
after me?
Of course, their answer
is very clear
that they will worship none other than his,
God.
But
the question,
What will you worship after me?
He wants to make sure. He wants to
be comforted, right?
If we look at the Bible,
in the Old Testament, in the book of
Genesis,
it mentions
the advice of Jacob to his sons
but not on his deathbed,
during his life.
And it says that he gathered the people
of his household
and
others as well.
And
he said to them,
put away
the strange gods that you have amongst you.
SubhanAllah.
And then
later on,
the verse mentions
that they gave unto Jacob
the gods which were in
their hands.
So in other words,
the Old Testament is confirming
that
the people Jacob was advising, amongst whom are
his sons, had idols
in their hand
and they gave it
to their father, SubhanAllah.
The Quran does not confirm that.
But again, the indication,
What will you worship after
me? Maybe because he saw something, maybe something
happened.
Or the other answer may be,
if we say that, no, this did not
happen from them,
as is clear
from their reply,
their unequivocal reply that they will only worship
the God of Jacob,
as we will
see,
then we may say that Ya'aqob might have
been afraid because idolatry
was rampant at their time.
There was idol worship at his time.
And there were others who fell into idol
worship. So he wanted to be absolutely clear
and he said it in this way, what
will you worship after me?'
so that he can be absolutely
sure. And there would not be any possibility,
and there would not be any confusion. Their
reply, SubhanAllah,
They said,
We will worship
your God.
Another interesting reply.
They didn't say, We will worship Allah,
the one and only.
They said, We will worship your God, the
God of Jacob,
the God of our father,
and the God of your fathers, Ibrahim and
Ismail and Ishaq. Very interesting.
Here as well,
it seems what they are doing is putting
their father's
heart
at ease.
They are comforting their father
to say, We are gonna worship
your God, the God you taught us
to worship, the one and only God,
the God
that sent you
as a prophet,
the God
that you spent your life
calling to,
we will worship your God.
Not only that and the God of your
forefathers,
Ibrahim
Ismail Ishaq,
emphasizing
the unbreakable
connection
between
what? Between,
those 3
and Yaqub.
This chain
of great people, of prophets
and messengers,
it's an unbreakable connection.
We are going to worship your God and
the God of your fathers,
the same God.
Ibrahim Alaihi Salam gave similar advice.
Ismail seems to have given similar advice.
Ishaq as well,
and now
Yaqub.
So, they are emphasizing that connection. So, they
didn't only say, your God, your God, and
the God of Ibrahim,
Ishmael and Ishaq.
1 God.
We worship only 1 God. This is also
to emphasize
that this is not a reply
that is kind of an excuse
such as, Oh, we will worship your God.
They don't
want to name Him. No, that's not the
case.
1 God, none other. And we are submillers
to Him.
Submission.
This is Islam.
We are Muslims.
To Him, we are submillers
to Him. Subhanahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
They comforted
their father Yaqub
Alaihi Wasallam.
Let the Jews and the Christians learn from
this.
Let them
think about
this moment, this very emotional moment
where Yaqub alaihis salam is looking death in
the eye
and his 12 sons
are all in front of him.
And he's saying to them, what will you
worship after me?
And they're all saying together,
we will worship your God and the God
of your fathers, Ibrahim,
and Ishmael and Ishaq.
One God and we are submitters to Him.
This is the religion, the religion of Islam.
The religion of all of these people, all
of these great
role models is Islam and
Tawhid.
And this is what
Yaqub wants to hear on his deathbed. This
is the most important legacy.
And this is the way of the prophets,
peace be upon them all, because this is
what they were sent with. And this is
what they are worried about.
And we need to learn from them.
This is the legacy, my brothers and sisters.
This is what we leave behind.
The Jews and the Christians,
when they argue,
when they attribute themselves to the patriarchs,
they call them the patriarchs.
Ibrahim,
and Ishaq, and Yaqoob,
here you go. This is their religion. Is
this what you are worshiping? Are you on
their way? Are you on their path?
That's why he tells them or were you
witnesses? You were not.
Now you know.
So if you want to be on the
right path, this is their way.
If you attribute
yourselves to them and you claim you are
their descendants, this is their way.
So we say,
Yaqub alaihis salaam was a Muslim
and his
12 sons were Muslims and submitters.
Yusuf Alaihi Salam, the great prophet,
son of Yaqub,
was a Muslim.
His brother Benjamin was a Muslim.
Their brothers,
Reuben was a Muslim,
Simeon was a Muslim,
Levi was a Muslim,
Judah was a Muslim,
Ishakar was a Muslim,
Zebulun was a Muslim, Gad was a Muslim,
Dan was a Muslim,
Naftali was a Muslim, they were all Muslims.
They're all submitted to Allah SWT,
the one and only.
This is the way.
But here there's a very important question.
They said,
We worship
your God
and the God of your fathers, Ibrahim Ismail
and Ishaq.
When we talk about belief
and the Hakidah,
can we do imitation in this way?
Do we say
we believe in the God of our forefathers?
So many people nowadays
use that excuse.
Who do you follow? Who do you worship?
The God of our ancestors,
SubhanAllah.
Is this what the Quran teaches?
The Quran
categorically
rejects
imitation
of the forefathers
when it comes to belief.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
rebukes
those who said,
They said, we have found
our forefathers
upon a religion,
and we are upon their footsteps,
rightly guided.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala rejected this.
And then
he tells us that in many nations,
the affluent,
mutrafuha,
would say exactly the same. We found our
forefathers upon a religion and we are in
their footsteps
following.
This is unacceptable.
This will not be acceptable.
This is not an acceptable excuse.
So
when they say, we follow
your God,
We worship your God? What do you think?
There's a clear difference, isn't there?
This is a prophet,
peace be upon him,
And everyone else mentioned
are prophets.
They are saying, We are on the way
of the prophets
of the great patriarchs.
We worship their God, the one and only
God.
They are the rightly guided.
This is the difference.
Not
that this is
somehow
permitting
imitation when it comes to belief.
To say, Oh, we are following and worshiping
the God that our forefathers and ancestors followed.
Not at all.
Not in this situation.
So the reason they mention that is just
to
clarify
that we are on your way.
We are following and worshiping the God that
you taught us to worship. They are messengers.
The Prophet alaihis salatu wa sallam wanted to
know at the end of his life,
have I delivered the message?
And they would all say, Yes. And he
would say, O Allah,
bear witness. I have delivered the message.
Yaqub wants to know this alaihis salaam.
And possibly
his fathers
as well on their deathbeds giving a similar
advice and recommendation.
Another interesting question,
they said,
your fathers
Ibrahim and Ishmael and Ishaq.
Yaqub is the son of Ishaq and Ishaq
is the son of
Ibrahim
alayhi wasalam.
But Ishmael
is not the father of Yaqub.
Ishaq is the father of Yaqub.
Ishmael alayhi wasalam is the
uncle of Yaqub alayhi salam.
This is why some scholars,
deduced
from this,
that the uncle is like a father.
And some said the grandfather as well because
Ibrahim
is the grandfather of Yaqub.
The grandfather is like a father.
And some
applied it also in terms of miraath,
in terms of the laws of inheritance.
That the uncle
and
the grandfather is like a father
based on this ayah
and other
evidence.
So they mentioned Ishmael.
They mentioned Ibrahim
as fathers,
alayhim salaam.
And it may also be very interestingly here
the sons of Yaqub,
the 12 tribes
of Israel,
or the leaders of the 12 tribes of
Israel
are mentioning Ishmael alayhi salam.
And we learned before
that Ismael
alaihis salam seems to be an afterthought
in the Bible.
Secondary.
Doesn't seem very important.
Here are
the 12 sons of Yaqub,
and they are
mentioning
Ishmael alaihis salam.
He's very important.
He's a prophet just like all of them.
And he said, Ibrahim
and they mentioned Ishmael before Ishaq as well.
The uncle before the father.
Possibly to emphasize that importance,
possibly because Ishmael is the older son.
Ibrahim
Then he says,
That was a nation that passed.
The ones you are talking about, they have
passed.
Now,
again,
this is an address
to the Jews and the Christians
at the time of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
This is a nation that passed.
To
them
or to it
is what they have earned, what it has
earned.
In other words,
this is a nation of the past.
There is no relationship between you and that
nation.
To it is what it earned,
and
for you is what you have earned.
And you will not be asked
about what they did.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is teaching them and everyone a very important
lesson.
Number 1,
the Jews and the Christians, and especially the
Jews,
consistently
emphasize that they are the descendants
of Ibrahim
and Ishaq and Yaqoob.
And they are on their way.
And they consistently
talk about
their ancestors,
almost as if their ancestors are gonna save
them.
They are Israel.
They are the chosen nation.
They are the sons and daughters of these
great patriarchs.
Will that save them on the Day of
Judgment?
Allah said, no.
There is no connection.
They have earned what they have earned,
and you have earned what you have earned.
And of course, we saw
so many of them did not keep the
advice, did not heed
the wasiya
of Yaqub alaihis salam. They did very differently
than what the sons of Yaqub did.
So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
disconnected
between them.
This is a nation that passed.
To them is what they have done and
what you have done is something separate.
You will not be asked about what they
did on the day of judgment. Stop mentioning
them over and over
as if you are going to be asked
about what they did.
If you are truly their descendants,
then follow in their footsteps
and earn what they have earned
of obedience.
Another possibility, Wallahu 'alam,
the ayah before
seems to indicate
that
those familial connections
are important
and will benefit
on the day of judgment. So they said,
we worship your God and the God of
your fathers.
So someone might say, oh, look. You see
the Quran?
It is emphasizing this.
All you have to do is just
be on the way of your fathers.
Even if you haven't earned the same, I
am the son of Yaqub.
I am the son of Ibrahim.
I am of the descendants
of prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
That's all I need on the day of
judgment.
No.
If this is what you understood from the
previous ayah,
because they said, your God and the God
of your fathers, Allah tells them, no.
This is a nation that passed.
What they have earned
is completely separate
from what you have earned.
And you will not be asked
of what they did.
So stop
consistently
invoking
them
as if they are going to help you
or as if
you are going to be asked about
what they did or they will be asked
about what you
did. Neither is going to be the case.
What have you earned?
And some of them followed in their footsteps,
in the footsteps of their fathers,
and heeded
the advice
and will
of these great
prophets and messengers,
and many did not,
as we saw.
Any questions or