Moutasem al-Hameedy – The Monumental Tafsir #58 Surah Al Hadid
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the structure of Islamic teaching, including belief in the heart and actions of the body, the importance of faith and giving for the sake of Allah, the hierarchy of the Prophet's hierarchy, prioritizing one's desire to achieve assaism, and the importance of prioritizing one's desire to achieve success and avoiding promises. They stress the importance of finding one's heart to be at a deeper level and finding one's passion to be at a higher level. The speakers also touch on the importance of understanding the context of the d union and the importance of the "any" meaning in the Arabic language.AI: Transcript ©
And InshaAllah we continue today with Surat Al
Hadid
verse 18.
But before that since we mentioned some of
the examples
of
the past generations of Islam and how they
related to the Quran, right, and how sincere,
hardworking they were when it came to, you
know, reading the Quran, reflecting on it. I
wanna mention a modern story.
And the modern story is
and I heard this
from an imam of our local Masjid previously.
He mentioned that there was a teacher of
the Quran
and he would meet his students
every day after Fajr, 10 students.
They asked him to join his Halakah
so he helps them read the Quran correctly
and learn the Tajweed
His style was
there's 10 of them
and they would sit in the same order.
And we have the the hero of our
story, the protagonist of our story today,
was a man in his
I think he was in his
late forties.
He was a truck
driver.
He was number 1, so he would sit
on the right side of the Sheikh. Then
number 2, 3, 4 and then they would
form a halakah, circle around the Sheikh.
Each one would read a page.
So they would read, let's say from page
1
to page 10.
And the Sheikh fixes, comments, teaches them whatever
there is an issue. He would address it.
So they get to correct their pronunciation,
their tajwid.
The following day
so they started from day 1. They started
from page 1 all the way to page
10.
The following day
because the sheikh wants to make sure that
each one reads every page, and he hears
from
each student, each page, and he corrects them.
They would start
on page number 2.
Day 2, they would start page number 2.
So they would read from page number 2
to page number
11.
10 pages,
starting with the same order.
So this student or friend, the first one,
he would read- 1st day he would read
page 1.
2nd day he would read page number 2.
3rd day he would
read page number 3, and so on and
so forth.
So every day they would move one page
forward as a group.
Understood?
Or is it complicated?
Yeah. So they would read 10 pages, but
each day they move 1 page forward not
10 pages.
So every student gets to read
all the pages in front of the sheikh.
5 days a week.
So things go well for a couple of
months.
And subhanAllah, our friend here, the truck
driver He's one of the best students.
Because his pronunciation is good, his Tajweed is
good, his muharaj are good.
One day he's late.
And they already started. He came in the
middle of the halaqa.
So the Sheikh told him to sit just
in the middle.
His spot was taken.
So obviously the order was a little bit
interrupted.
So the person before him read his page
reading from the Mus'haf, Then his turn came.
Sheikh said, read.
Silent.
He said, read what's wrong with
you? I said, I can't read.
He said, how
come?
Like you've been with us for a few
months. He said, I literally can't read. I
can't read or write.
So sheikh said, come come come here.
So he says, what's going on?
He says, I don't read. I don't write.
I'm illiterate.
So he says, but you were like for
a couple of months you were reading with
us, and you were reading well.
He said, I made
a commitment to memorize the Quran,
so
the day before I come
I listen to this page so many times
from the eye
and I repeat it and repeat it and
repeat it and repeat it until I memorize
it without any mistakes.
And when I sit and I have the
mushaf, I'm not reading from the mushaf, I'm
reading from my memory.
So today, because I came late,
I'm not ready for that page. I haven't
memorized it,
so I can't memorize.
So that shows you what they dedicate this
is a person who can't read or write.
So someone says
for example like I don't have the language,
learn.
Nothing is impossible,
learn.
I don't have the
time. You can make the time.
You can make the time. And if you
literally, like mathematically, you can't
allocate time to the Quran,
there is something in your life
that is not as important that you need
to take out and give that time to
the
Quran.
It might get to that point where you
really have to change something in your life.
Maybe.
Okay. So that's again, this is not something
from the times of the companions. This is
something here,
around our times.
Around our times.
Play. Let's get to Surat Al Hadid.
Verily men and women who give in charity.
The structure of the words translated here as
men and women who give in charity refers
to those who give a great deal of
charity
as prescribed in Islamic teaching
and who spend in ways that earn the
pleasure of Allah and lend to Allah a
goodly loan by giving of their wealth to
charitable causes.
The reward of which will be stored up
for them with their Lord.
It will be multiplied for them because a
good deed earns a 10 fold reward up
to 700
fold up to many times more.
And theirs will be a generous reward, which
is what Allah has prepared for them in
paradise of that which no one knows.
Those who believe in Allah and his messengers.
According to Ahlul Sunnah, faith is that which
is indicated by the Quran and the Sunnah,
namely belief in the heart that is expressed
verbally and sound attitudes in the heart, good
words, and righteous physical actions.
That includes all the teachings of Islam, both
outward and in One second. So we want
you to repeat this, which is iman with
ahlul sunnah.
But, again, I'm not I don't think the
translation does justice, but you remember we spoke
about remember,
an iman.
Remember this? And we explained it. Qaul is
speech.
The speech of the heart.
And is the actions of the heart. We
said the actions of the heart are what?
Love,
fear,
hope,
trust.
Right?
These are actions of the heart.
Then this translates
as speech of the tongue and actions of
the tongue, tongue. Right? So he's gonna talk
about this and the Sheikh explains it beautifully
but the translation doesn't do it justice but
let's just focus.
Pay attention to the translation. We'll comment on
it
later
on. Those who believe in Allah and his
Sunnah, faith is that which is indicated
by the Quran and Sunnah, namely belief in
the heart that is expressed verbally and sound
attitudes in the heart, good words, and righteous
physical actions.
That includes all the teachings of Islam, both
outward and inward.
Those who combine all these things are the
strong and true in faith. In other words,
their status is higher than that of the
ordinary believers and lower than that of the
prophets.
And the martyrs will have their reward and
their light with their Lord. As is mentioned
in the Sahih
hadith
in paradise, there are 100 levels. The distance
between each two levels is like the distance
between heaven and earth.
Allah has prepared them for those who strive
in his cause, Bukhari.
This implies that they will be of a
very high and sublime status and very close
to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
As for those who disbelieve and deny our
revelations, they will be inhabitants of the blazing
fire.
These verses mention all categories of people, those
who give in charity, the strong and true
in faith, the martyrs, and the inhibit inhabitants
of the blazing
fire. Those who give in charity are the
ones whose main focus in righteous deeds is
to show kindness to people and try to
benefit them and help them to the best
of their ability,
especially by helping them financially for the sake
of Allah. The strong and true in faith
are those who have reached the highest levels
of faith, righteous deeds, beneficial knowledge, and certainty
of faith.
The martyrs are those who fought in Allah's
cause to make Allah's word supreme,
offering their lives and with and their wealth
and were killed. The inhabitants of the blazing
fire are the disbelievers who rejected the revelations
of Allah.
There remains one more category, which Allah mentions
in Surat Fatur.
They are the ones who followed a middle
course, who did obligatory duties and refrain from
prohibited matters, but they fell short with regard
to some duties towards Allah and toward other
people.
Their ultimate abode will be paradise even though
they may face punishment for some of their
deeds.
Okay.
So if you notice, again,
as brother Rayyan read the translation, did it
make the same impact as
the explanation before?
Did you feel it was talking exactly about
the same thing? Did it convey the message
or not? So that's a question to
you. Did it convey the meaning? Did you
feel the translation conveyed the meaning?
Anyone else?
Can you read it again?
In just that bit. Yeah.
Which is the the the what does it
say?
The
Those who believe in Allah and his messengers,
according to Ahlul Sunnah, faith is that which
is indicated by the Quran and Sunnah.
Namely, belief in the heart that is expressed
verbally and sound That's sound That's it. Belief
in the heart that is expressed verbally. Continue,
please. And sound attitudes in the heart, good
words, and righteous physical actions. Sound attitudes in
the heart,
randomly, would you think of the aqid of
Hari sunnah wal Jama'ah as explained as what's
in the heart?
That's the problem with a lot of translations.
There are things you can't translate word for
word.
Why? Because you are actually taking from one
system
you're translating from one system to another one
system of thought, like one mindset to a
completely different framework.
So how do you translate word for word?
You can't
And it doesn't work and doesn't convey the
meaning. So that's a big problem with translations,
by the way.
That's a big problem with the tran with
translations
because language is not just a word and
its meaning.
The meanings
you know, there are structures of meanings in
languages, and there are ways of expressing meanings.
And there is a history. There are families
of meanings and words.
So when you translate to another language, you
don't have the same connections. There are similar
connections, but there are many different connections as
well. So that's a problem when you translate
word for word. So this is why sometimes
you need some translators believe in taking more
liberty so they would actually
rephrase
and I think that's more helpful.
So here what he described as 'Amal ul
Qlub' the actions of the heart which we
said are for example love,
hope,
trust in Allah,
fear of Allah,
this humility before Allah,
Right? This love for good things. These are
the actions of the heart. He called them
what? Attitudes.
Good attitudes.
Again, so that's a problem again with this
translation. It doesn't give us convey the strength
and the potency
of the real aqid of Aris Sunnah,
with
Jannah. Okay. So he basically, Allah subhanahu wa
ta'alaheer mentions
and obviously highlights the virtue of giving for
the sake of Allah. Then Allah talks about
the true believers
those who achieve the highest level of faith,
the highest level of faith these are Asiddhiqoon
and Asiddhiqoon
come just a level below the Messengers
as Allah says
These are the levels.
The prophets, the messengers, highest level in Jannah
Who is below them? Nearby? The closest to
them? As Sadiqoon. Who's As Sadiq Al Akbar?
Abu Bakr radiAllahu Anhu No one reached the
level after the Prophets. No one reached the
level of Iman
of Abu Bakr radiAllahu Anha
one of the companions said
If the Iman of Abu Bakr was put
on one side of the scale
and the Iman of the whole Ummah, every
individual in the Ummah was to put on
the other side of the scale
the iman of Abu Bakr would be
much
weightier, heavier
on the scale.
One person.
That's a siddiq,
the highest levels of iman.
The highest levels of iman, a siddiqun.
And there will be a siddiqeen in this
Ummah.
And
then,
there's a shuhada, right?
And then the martyrs.
Are there martyrs who are siddiq own? Yes.
Yes.
Are there martyrs that are muthasiddhihu
that are siddhihu that are siddhihu
sorry and muthasiddhihuun?
Yes.
So these categories are not like
mutually exclusive. They're not separate completely separate. A
person could tick all the boxes. Actually Abu
Bakr
ticks all the boxes
He ticks all the boxes
Yeah, so
Again, these are levels that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala refers to highest is then
Why? Because their hearts are completely in line
with the truth
and that's what humans are meant to have
and be. That's the highest level. And
then a shuhada, why? Because a shuhada
No one would offer their life for the
sake of Allah if they don't have that
level of certainty.
If they don't see beyond the physical, right?
That's
That's If they don't have this level of
they why would someone
even go against survival?
How could someone push against survival
unless they see something more compelling?
So the truth of this life and the
truth of the hereafter has become more compelling
to them
than the impulse of survival,
which is very powerful.
The impulse of survival is very powerful.
It's it's almost irresistible.
The only thing that can help you transcend
that
is what? True faith
or
absolute stupidity.
People would,
you know, do
things to kill themselves, unfortunately.
Okay. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala classifies these
people.
Then Allah talks about the disbelievers.
Those who deny the truth
and
they are the ones who will end up
in the hellfire.
So somebody might ask, how do we get
to the level of a siddiqun?
How do we get to the level of
a siddiqun, the highest level of iman? Again
as we said previously, no secrets.
Everything that Allah told you to do,
qualifies you for that level, pushes you to
that level.
The more you do it,
as prescribed,
you do your
salah.
Obligatory salah as prescribed.
And then you do your sunnah salah as
prescribed. You do fasting as prescribed. You do
Zakah as prescribed. You do Hajj as prescribed.
You do your other obligations as prescribed.
When I say as prescribed meaning in the
state, in the manner and the state, the
heart state as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants
from you because there are people who just
go through the motions and they say I
prayed
But there was a man who went through
the acts of the prayer and the prophet
told him
Go back and pray because you haven't prayed.
But the man prayed,
he performed the acts of prayer.
The prophet said go back and pray because
you haven't prayed. The man goes and does
the same thing again then he comes back
the prophet said
Go and pray because you have not prayed.
The man said
O Messenger of Allah teach me.
By Allah I know nothing other than this.
So the Prophet
told him
describe the prayer and the thing that the
prophet emphasized in this hadith
which is which is just take your time
be there
be there
be there
and the the way prescribed salah is that
you perform it with what does Khushua mean?
Khushua means you feel you are in the
presence of Allah. Your heart is aware of
this. Your heart is busy with this truth
and you are experiencing it firsthand to the
point
that
sense of awe sense of awe takes over
your heart. You're humbled before Allah
Allah So that's how
when you perform these things, what happens? You
find yourself
getting higher and higher at the levels of
what the
prophet
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
That a man or a person
says the truth
and they are
they are so keen
to say nothing but the truth.
They're so careful about what he said, she
said and all of that
stuff. You're not you're not you're not being
keen to say the truth. Or I think
this or it seems to me like this.
You're not so keen on speaking the truth.
So the person is so careful
about saying only the truth and engaging only
with the truth
Until this person is written with Allah as
Siddiq
So what is the Well how do we
get to Sudirk? There's no special track.
It's what the Prophet sAW wasalam prescribed, it's
what the Quran tells us.
Really. It's what Islam tells us to do.
Sadiq is not like special badge. You have
to do some course on the side to
go and get there. That's what Islam leads
to. That's what Islam leads to but we
need to do it right. So we lose
a lot
you know by winging our worship
and you know just getting it off our
shoulders
or doing it only on in spare time.
We lose a lot.
We lose a lot when we choose other
than Allah, when we prioritize other than Allah
we lose a lot and we pay for
it in this life and in the next.
Okay, so that's the way to be from
As Siddi'un.
That's the way to be from those the
most truthful
the most truthful of the servants
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Alright, let's continue
and actually I would like to connect this
to the verse that we closed with last
week where Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala talks about
the hearts, right?
Hasn't the time come for the believers that
their hearts are humbled, their hearts are experiencing
Khushuwa
with the words of Allah
upon engaging
or they're reading, listening, contemplating the words of
Allah and the truth that was sent down
because that's the natural response of the heart
and that's the way to get to be
a Sadiq
to be
a Sadiq
How? Engage with the Quran. Engage correctly.
Open up to the Quran. Read carefully. Read
with,
you know,
with an open heart.
Have
have some interest in the Quran.
Not just read because I have to go
through it like
Ibn Mas'ud
says,
read and don't let your point or your
goal be reaching the end of the surah.
That's not the point of reading.
That's not the point and this is why
when you engage with the Quran some people
say oh, you know, when will I get
to memorize the Quran? If you're thinking in
this mindset it becomes more of you know,
I just want to do this I just
want to do this let me go through
this let me go through this and you
will be impatient The beautiful thing about the
Quran is that you reap the fruits immediately
as You are engaged with the Quran. That's
what you need to do
Eventually if you fall in love with the
Quran and stay consistent with the Quran you're
going to learn it You're going to memorize
it.
Then it doesn't become it it does it's
no longer a tedious task to memorize and
memorize and when will I get to the
end of it? How it's like in your
mind it's a phase that you're going through
then you hit that target and then you
move on to something else and leave it
behind. But the point is not to leave
the Quran behind at all.
And you might say, but it takes a
lot of time for me. Like for some
people says, oh they say it takes 3,
4 hours of me every day.
So what else do you want to do?
What do you think the imams used to
do? What do you think righteous people How
do you think righteous people spend their time?
Other than their again, their
like other pressing obligations. What do you think
they do? The sister of Imam Malik was
asked.
What would Imam Malik do at home? Like
what did he do? Because he did not
socialize a lot, Imam Malik. The only socialization
he would have was when he was teaching.
So somebody asked the sister of Imam Malik,
What's his daily routine?
He was holding the mushaft all the time.
Reading the
Quran all the time. Contemplating the Quran all
the time. That's what Imam Malik did.
So it's not like something you it's a
phase you get over or a target that
you hit then now you have time for
something else.
Now if you want if you get to
spend time with the Quran whatever that is
like it's 20 minutes, half an hour, an
hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, everyone according to
you know what Allah facilitates
for them.
Whatever you have don't think, oh you know,
okay that's for me just to get to
a certain target then you know that would
then eventually
I can I can bring the time down?
Why do you want to bring the time
down? The point is for you to engage
with the Quran. You're winning. You're getting, you're
reaping the fruits as you are engaging with
the Quran now. You want the experience itself
to be pleasant,
to be sweet.
And that's the reality.
People when they start reading the Quran, it's
very difficult. It's difficult. It's difficult. But eventually,
you know what?
It becomes easy. It becomes enjoyable.
It becomes enjoyable. It gets to the point.
It's not like I want to reach the
end of the surah. It gets to the
point where I don't want the surah to
end
I don't want the surah. I want to
continue with this because
the state is pleasant. It's beautiful. You're reading
the words of Allah
You're engaging at a deeper level your heart,
your fiqrah, you know your soul
is getting what it needs
It's thirsty and it's getting what it needs.
That's the the highest level of fulfillment and
satisfaction a human being could get could ever
get to. What else do you need?
What else do you need?
Okay,
so that kind of engagement will give you
a khushoor when you approach the Quran with
this and you pay that attention you will
find that the Quran will heal your heart
It will heal your heart heart and eventually
what the Quran does
is that it
elevates you to a level of a Siddiq
And the natural response of the heart when
you read the Quran is that you are
humble because you start to sense the greatness
of Allah. You sense it firsthand. You feel
it.
It's not like you're trying to conjure it
up. It's not like you're thinking,
you're trying to engineer the thought in your
head. No.
It arises in your heart.
It's awakened by the Quran.
It's the natural response of your heart. It's
It recognizes that glory of Allah and it
and experiences it firsthand
directly.
So that's when the humility which is
is experienced in the heart.
And this is why Amal Khattab, I think
he made
the notion is that he said Khushuah is
not that someone sort of stands up in
a very like
they they sort of fold themselves up
and
to feel the hook that's not what Khushua
is. He says Khushua Al Khalb
cause there there were people
appeared subhanAllah the time of Umar Khattab radiAllahu
anhu some people
they had this more
mystic
tendency.
So they would talk too soft, you know,
because for them spirituality is being
too soft and high
all the time.
Talking about Allah,
you know, this kind of attitude. Right? You
you shake their hands and they shake your
hands, they're so soft.
Right?
Why? Because they are in they are in
this spiritual high all the time. Al Khattab
sees someone like this walking down the street.
He smacks
him with his staff with a dura. Right?
A dura. The dura to Amar. He smacks
him. He says,
Hey, you killed our religion for us.
Man up.
This is not this is not iman. Right?
This is not iman. There are people that
you wanna talk to them like they are
they wanna feel. I don't they're not necessarily
showing Allahu Alem. Allahu Alem. Maybe some of
them are showing but they just wanna feel
they are spiritual. You shake their hands and
they shake your hands. Salam Alaikum. How are
you brother? How are you doing?
Again, this is
not necessarily faith, Amal Khattab. Like you're talking
about the faith of Amal Khattab, yet he
was
again, he was a he was a strong
man.
He was a strong man. So again he
said So he
really hits the man with his stuff and
it's a very well known incident and he
says,
Hey, don't like kill the spirit of our
religion for us.
Toughen up.
What are you doing? Walk like a proper
person.
A
O Allah, I seek protection in you from
the Khushu of the Munafiqin, the hypocrites.
So someone asked him
that you find the body is in a
state of calm and peace and kushua but
the heart is not.
The heart is not experiencing it. So it's
more of what?
Fake,
right? Artificial.
Okay. So this is how we engage with
the Quran and this is what helps us
inshaAllah get to the level of As Siddiq.
And again somebody says oh, when will I
get to the level of As Siddiq? You
know what? The good thing is just
be there. Just be with the Quran and
eventually Allah takes you there.
The problem is that, you know, we live
in a world where where really a lot
of
success
is measured by social and academic
and professional standards,
that we have lost the ability to think
about excellence outside those external parameters.
There are people who think in order like,
the only way to get good
in a subject, master a subject, is to
go through the educational system and get to
the highest level of academic
degrees and achievements.
But you know, you'll find sometimes, and oftentimes
you'll find someone who's probably never went to
school for that subject.
They know far better than a bunch of
experts, top
top experts in the world about this subject.
Why? Because of a genuine and keen interest,
personal interest in the subject. They would read
everything and they would critique everything and they
would cross reference
and do the interdisciplinary
approach and everything. Why? Because it's the passion
that carries them.
And they hold no titles.
So with the iman again, don't So people
have become the people have turned these,
these parameters which help people structure their life
and it helps really
you know sometimes give some some sort of
a structure to what's good. I mean who's
really invested in this, who spent time in
this, who really
studied properly,
as opposed to someone who's just, pretending,
right? These
imposters or charlatans.
It's helpful in that sense.
But again, don't obsess over that that it
becomes the only there are, you know, there
are people with PhDs
or with professorship
and literally
who don't know very well about this subject.
There are.
There are.
So and it doesn't mean that that getting
education is no good. I'm not saying this
but I'm just saying
it it is it is a tool, but
it's it's not a complete thing, and it's
not the only thing. Same thing with iman.
It's not don't don't treat it the same
way. So we carry that over from the
world into religion and say, okay, when will
I get to the level of a siddiqun?
I'm gonna put a plan
9 years.
Year 1 I'm gonna do this. Year 2
That's not how you make it. That's not
how it works.
Why? Because you this is uncharted territory. You
don't know. You really don't know.
There are people who might get to the
level of by
the way in no time.
How? Allah
knows? Allah knows. Maybe there's sincerity in their
heart.
And there are people who might work for
50 years and never get to it. Because
it's not about again, it's about the sincerity
of the heart
and At the end of the day, it's
a blessing from Allah and Allah knows where
to put his blessing
So what should I do focus on just
again giving Allah his rights? That's the point.
It's not about you.
It's about Allah. That's the most important thing
it's not about you achieving that that's
have you heard of selfish
generosity?
Selfish generosity?
It sounds like a contradiction.
But there are actually people who wanna give
you, not for your need,
Because of what it offers them.
How it makes them feel.
And these people would force you to take
their gift even when you don't need it.
And for them, sometimes it's a matter of,
it's a power game.
So they're using such a noble act of
generosity.
But the focus is not you. It's not
generosity.
It's selfishness.
Okay? So it's important again with Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala say, oh when will I get
to that level of asiddiqeen? You're thinking too
much about yourself.
You are here to give Allah his ways.
You are here to obey Allah. You are
here to surrender to Allah.
You are here to fulfill Allah's command. That's
it. So who is important here? Allah, not
you. And when you do this that's the
interesting thing when you do this that's when
Allah elevates you.
But when you are so ambitious
right? Ambitious
or like
our family, we always make it to the
top. So even with religion, I'm gonna make
it to the top. You're
thinking too much of yourself.
That that beats the very purpose of what
righteousness really means or what piety really means,
what Taqwa
means. You're carrying you know that self focused,
self centered approach that we have in the
world. You wanna force it on religion, you
think it works according to the same dynamics.
I hope this,
this helps us understand something.
Let's continue.
Allah
Here Allah tells us about the real nature
of this world and how it actually is,
highlighting that all that may be said of
it and all that its people can get
from it is that it is play and
a distraction for hearts and bodies.
This is confirmed by what you find in
real life of people who focus only on
worldly matters.
You will find them spreading you will find
them spending their lifetimes in distraction,
heedless of the remembrance of Allah and of
what lies ahead of divine promises and warnings,
and you see them taking their religion as
a mere game and mockery.
In contrast, those who are aware and strive
for the hereafter have hearts that constantly remember
Allah, know him and love him. They fill
their time with righteous deeds that will bring
them closer to Allah and may benefit them
or may
benefit them and others.
Adornment.
This refers to adornment in clothing,
food and drink, means of transportation, houses and
palaces,
status and other things, and boasting among yourselves.
That is each one of its people want
wants to boast to others and be the
one who prevails in worldly matters
and the one who is famous in terms
of worldly splendor
and rivalry in wealth and children. That is
each one wants to be the one who
has more than others in terms of wealth
and children.
This is the case with those who love
this world and are content with it.
This is in contrast to those who know
how this world really is and in regard
to it regard it as a place to
pass through, not a place to settle in.
Therefore, they compete in that which will bring
them closer to Allah and take measures to
help them reach him. And if they see
those who compete with them in accumulating wealth
and children, they compete
they compete with them in righteous deeds.
Then Allah compares this world to the rain
that falls on the ground by means of
which all kinds of plants are brought forth
from the earth from which people from which
both people and animals eat. Then when the
land is at its loveliest and takes on
its fairest appearance
and is pleasing to the sowers whose main
focus is worldly gain, there comes to it
the decree of Allah that it should be
destroyed. So it withers and dries up, and
the land returns to its former state as
if nothing green had ever grown there, and
it had never looked elegant and beautiful.
Such is this world. Whilst it is the
flourishing for the one who focuses on it,
and whatever he wants of worldly gains, he
attains it, and whatever he seeks to achieve
of worldly matters, he finds the doors to
it wide open. Suddenly, the divine decree comes
to pass, and it is all taken away
from him. He loses control over worldly matters,
or he is taken from this world in
death. So he departs from it empty handed,
having taken nothing from it in terms of
provisions
except his shroud. How doomed is the one
for whom this world is the sum of
his aspirations? Yes. And it
Yeah.
How doomed is the one for whom this
world is the sum of his aspirations, and
it is all he works and strives for.
As for striving for the hereafter,
that is what is of benefit and is
stored up for a person and will stay
with him forever.
Hence, Allah
says, and in the hereafter, there will be
a severe punishment
or forgiveness from Allah and his good pleasure.
That is in the hereafter, there can only
be one of these two scenarios,
either severe punishment in the fire of *
with its chains, feathers, and horrors for those
whose
only aim and aspiration was worldly gain. So
they had the audacity to disobey Allah, reject
his revelations, and show ingratitude
for his blessings,
or forgiveness from Allah for bad deeds, protection
from punishment, and the good pleasure of Allah.
This is for those who recognize this world
for what it is what it was and
strove hard for the hereafter.
All of this should prompt people to lose
interest in this world and focus on the
hereafter.
Hence, Allah says, for the life of this
world is nothing but a fleeting vanity.
That is it is nothing but something to
be enjoyed briefly and benefited from to meet
one's needs.
No one is deceived by it and content
with it except people of weak reasoning who
are deceived by the
shaitan. Then Allah enjoins people to raise towards
his forgiveness,
good pleasure and paradise, which is done by
striving to take the measures that lead to
forgiveness,
such as sincere repentance, asking Allah for forgiveness,
keeping away from sins and the places where
they may be happen, and competing to to
earn the good pleasure of Allah by doing
righteous deeds and being constantly eager to do
that which pleases Allah, such as worshiping the
creator properly and treating people kindly in all
ways.
Hence, Allah's
hence, Allah mentions the deeds that earn his
pleasure. As he says, and paradise which is
as wide as the heavens and the earth,
prepared for those who believe in Allah and
his messengers.
Belief in Allah and his messengers include the
fundamentals and minor issues of faith.
That is the grace of Allah, which is
which he bestows upon whomever he wills. That
is what what we have explained to you
and mentioned includes
the ways that lead to paradise and the
ways that lead to *.
Allah's grace by bestowing abundant reward is one
of the greatest blessings that he bestows upon
his slaves.
For Allah is the possessor of abundant grace
who cannot be praised enough for it, rather
he he is as he has praised himself
and far above the praise that his slaves
can offer him.
So this is really the probably one of
the most profound statements you can
define life with.
You want to know what life is about
and what our life and our stay in
this world is about? That's the verse.
Allah clearly summarizes what life boils down to.
Allah says
so that's the creator of this dunya, the
creator
of ourselves,
the creator of this life.
He's the one who designed this. He's the
one who crafted
this. He's the one who put it together.
He's telling
us, you know, you don't need experience here.
You don't need
even millions of millions of experiences will not
get you to that point.
That's the creator Allah. He tells you
Know that this life,
this worldly life is merely what?
4 things
What does this life boil down to?
What's the difference between
and
All of them are play
and
being playful, playfulness,
but
is for the body.
And the So the same thing, but when
you talk about the heart you say
Why? Because the heart is created to worship
Allah
The heart is created to worship Allah and
engage with Allah So when the heart is
busy with something else, like what?
Wealth,
status,
reputation,
desires.
Desires. It is in a state of and
has the meaning of distraction, you are distracted
from your mission.
Whereas Le'eb
is playful engagement.
Playful engagement.
So,
So the emphasis is more on the heart
but Allah is saying this is what the
life the worldly life of the people who
pursue it, it ends up, it boils down
to forget about all all of these things
that you see,
all of the
the deception of this world, right?
It boils down to 4 things:
entertainment for the body
with all
all the categories under this.
Enjoyment and entertainment for the heart.
And then what happens?
People are competing.
People are boasting to each other. I have
more about this. I made more money.
My house is bigger than your house.
My car is newer than your car.
In other cultures again we lost this today,
but in previous cultures it was I had
more children than you had.
I had more degrees. I have more degrees
than you have.
My job is better than your job. Tafaghur.
This is the social aspect.
Is direct engagement.
But there is another level of engagement which
is what? The social game.
Right? So there is I am boasting against
you. But then there is
What is
So
is that you're showing to others
in order to demonstrate that you are better
than them. I have more than you.
Right? You either say it or you just
show off
your car or you show off your clothes
or whatever.
Is what? Is more of a competitor. You
see people having more, you want to have
more.
They're having more, you want to have more.
Not necessarily boasting about it but it becomes
a motivation in itself. That's what the life
of these people boils down to.
People who don't worship Allah that's what their
life boils down to.
Okay. Just
zina again is the beautification.
So it's either personal beautification which is the
enjoyment you get from
tasteful things
or tasty things in life. Food,
other engagements because all of these all of
these bring about what? Zina to you.
They beautify you. They make you look better.
They make you look better.
That's it.
That's what this life is about.
The problem is that if you look at
all of those things, what are they?
Temporary.
Temporary.
Next year, they're gone.
The moment of pride you had or boasting
you had in front of others, it's gone.
The moment you go home, it's gone.
The joy of it, it's gone.
Right?
The
heart enjoyment entertainment you got,
The moment you're done with it it's
over. You go on a vacation right? You
enjoy yourself, you enjoy the trip.
You go back home where is all the
beauty and that enjoyment?
It's history.
These are the pleasures of this world.
This is what they boil down to.
And this is why you have to keep
feeding them.
That's why people who chase this dunya, they
never get enough. That's what the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam
said
Son of Adam had one valley full of
gold.
That's because these things don't satisfy you. They
give you the illusion that they will satisfy
you. But the moment you get them,
just like all of these honest and since
honest rich people who hit their targets, they
tell you, like, once we got there, we
said,
is
that is that all? Is there isn't there
anything? We thought it was much more
nicer,
much more much more enjoyable.
But we realized once you once you hit
that target
you're gonna say what's next? It lost its
beauty.
So that's the name. Why? Because there's no
fulfillment.
There's no fulfillment whereas
seeking Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala the enjoyment never
goes away.
It never goes away. It builds up in
your heart and it qualifies you for a
higher level of iman, higher level of enjoyment,
higher level of connection, higher level of blue
beauty, higher level of wisdom and light,
more life in your heart
and then
all of that remains with you on the
day of judgment. You live by virtue of
that. You enjoy the fruits of that
in Jannah
forever.
So the good that you do you prayed
to rakah for the sake of Allah no
one knows about it. You fasted a day
for the sake of Allah. No one knows
about it. You give charity for the sake
of Allah. No one knows about it. You
made dhikr.
No one knows about it. You've done that
for the sake of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
You enjoy it
for an infinite
number of years in in Jannah.
That never expires. There's no expiry date on
that. Whereas the your pursuit, your hard work
to achieve this dunya,
what do you get from it? Wealth is
numbers.
Like if you have let's say you have
a million and you have a 1,000,000,000 what's
the difference really?
It's the enjoyment you have, that's it.
It doesn't have any real substantial difference when
it comes to you. Oh but you make
investment.
What do these investment investments mean to you?
To a lot of these people? Numbers.
Literally they are numbers.
For them they are numbers they don't have
any real impact on their life.
So that's what all of this boils down
to. And the the thing is
the not the moment they are over, the
moment you have them
there's no joy in them. There's no beauty
in them anymore. So that's why these it's
an insatiable
desire.
The wealthy people they don't get enough. If
they're chasing this dunya
for the sake of this dunya they don't
get enough. They can't get enough.
They can't get enough. You know the other
day I was speaking to someone who actually
has to do with a lot of these
big stores. His work
has to do with these big stores
and he was talking about inflation
And
he said the prices went up
especially for the for the necessities for food,
for the staple items
in these stores for for for the society,
the the real inflation is very little.
But these
huge organizations,
corporations,
they have profit
targets
that they have to hit.
They set them for themselves. It's not like
they have to hit, that they are prescribed.
They are the ones who, you know, say
that's what we wanna get. They are very
ambitious.
They wanna get they wanna make like,
insane amounts of profit.
So they always raise the bar for how
much? You know profit,
net profit that they get. So they put
that up. So they realized
after
you know the the lockdown and COVID-nineteen
and all of that stuff and now
this financial crisis that people don't have enough
cash. So people are not spending on luxury
items,
bigger items.
People are not changing, let's say for example,
the furniture of their house every other year
as some of them used to do. Now
they're keeping it for 5, 6 years. We
can't afford a new set, right? So they're
keeping it.
But the stores need to hit their targets.
So what are they gonna do?
They shifted the profit margin to the stable
items.
These guys are making billions.
Literally billions.
And if they don't do this, if they
don't shift this and they still make billions.
They still
make lots of money, they don't know what
to do with it.
But they wanna make that profit. And who
pays for it? The average person.
The average person. They say, oh, it's inflation.
It's supply chain
interruptions. It's this. It's that.
Whatever. It's
all of these are excuses.
So
it's an insatiable desire So when people chase
this dunya and Allah Subhanahu wa'ala is going
to give it Allah is going to put
it in its place now So
So that's what it is
Just like rain that falls from the sky
then it causes vegetation to grow,
right? Vegetation to grow greenery,
whatever like crops grow etcetera.
So now you're so amazed by the
earth or the land coming back to life
and producing all of this. And it seems
to you and subhanallah, this is humans, you
know. When when we get something beautiful, we
we fall into the deception or the assumption
that is gonna stay forever.
Right? When he saw the beauty of his
garden he thought that's gonna last forever. And
we all have this tendency as humans when
we get something beautiful we think it's gonna
be perpetual.
Why? That's a flaw among humans. It's it's
they call it a mental bias.
A mental bias. We assume when we get
something when life gets good as they say,
when life gets good do you think oh
it's always gonna be good? You don't realize
that there are ups and downs.
So when they see this,
when they when when people
see the vegetation grows they think oh that's
that's a beautiful country. It's gonna be wonderful.
You know, we we know this for example
in the I'll give you an example you
probably can relate to. In the last few
years you probably noticed
in Mecca and Madinah
some
unprecedented levels of rain have been falling, right?
And it would get very green.
It would get very green. In the Middle
East you have this. So for example, in
Jordan,
in March,
it's beautiful.
Like it's so green, unbelievably green. Everywhere.
And you really, subhanAllah, you don't realize but
you feel, oh, my country is beautiful. And
you start to feel that,
I think it's unconscious but you start to
feel, oh, this is that's gonna last.
But just give it 3 weeks.
Give it 3 weeks. And I can relate
to this verse very well. Give it 3
weeks and you come back and you can't
even recognize the place.
Because none of that is there at all.
It's gone.
It's all gone. It's all dry.
So the same thing when people saw Actually
I think I think many people thought from
now on, all Makkah is gonna turn green.
The mountains will be green all year long,
right? People thought that's what's gonna be. That's
what Allah is talking about. When it grows
it gives you that excitement,
that high.
And in your naive
human nature you think that's gonna last and
that's gonna be and that's that's the new
norm.
That's the new norm, right? But you don't
realize.
Soon that's gonna dry up and it's gonna
go away. The beauty of that is gonna
go away. This is what this life is
about.
You know, when life gives you that promise,
it's false.
There are many people, even successful, people the
most successful in the standards of the worldly
matters, you know, they would, I made it.
I I made my first million. I made
10,000,000. I made this and I'm making it.
And my dreams are becoming true.
And you know what? You get that initial
excitement, then you you what? You go back
to normal because you get used to that's
the new norm. You get used to it.
So you search for more excitement. Sometimes it
happens, sometimes sometimes it doesn't happen. And you
think life is just gonna be successful, and
before you know it you're already an old
person
who's having diseases, illnesses. You have to treat
this, you have to treat that.
Your hair is falling off, you have to
get health transplant,
You start going to the gym.
Right? You start applying,
oils to your skin because you're getting older.
And,
just again, you you try to catch up
on your youth that was gonna but you
just thought, oh, I thought life was getting
good, like life was getting beautiful.
Yeah. Because the moment you think life deceives
you by getting giving you the impression, things
are
things are,
how
like you're heading in the right you're heading
in the right direction, you're hitting your target.
The moment you reach there, you realize you're
already
on the decline. You're already going down.
And the things you and and it happens
with a lot of successful people. They tell
you, Oh, we're successful now don't didn't realize
I ruined my marriage.
I lost my wife, I lost my husband,
I lost my children,
I lost
my friends, I'm lonely in my life.
SubhanAllah, this is how life is.
You think you're successful? Then you realize, you
know, it's it's not worth that success. You
sacrificed way too much just to achieve that
success that you thought was going to make
you happy than to realize it's not as
beautiful as it looked like before.
It wasn't worth the sacrifice.
And now you're dying.
Now you're probably getting ill, running from one
hospital to the other, one surgery after another,
then you're probably miserable, you find it hard
to walk, you're having joint pains,
you're having issues, you have to get all
of those tests, you have to travel to
get this done and that done and you're
just busy trying to just keep your health
your body together, right?
And then all of a sudden
life is gone.
And you realize it was was it worth
it?
I thought it was because it gave you
a promise, but that was a false promise.
That's how life treats people.
So Allah is saying is that worth it?
It's just like vegetation grows, people get excited
about it and before you know it, it's
gone. It dries up. And it's, it's more
like, you know, straw. It's all dry straw
that is blown by the wind.
What's the end of all of this story
on the day of judgment? 1 of 2
endings.
Punishment from Allah imagine someone lived that
false promise that miserable life that they thought
was the you know, the best life ever,
only to realize, as they say, you climb
the ladder only to know to realize that
it's leaning against the wrong wall.
Right? You're already at the top.
You're already you are already at the top,
and you invested so much to get there
than to realize, oh that's the wrong wall.
That's exactly how what the reality of the
people of the who chase this life are.
They think I'm gonna get this, I'm gonna
get that. The moment you get all of
that, you realize you wasted your life.
Or the moment you die you realize I
made the wrong choices.
I took the wrong path.
I wasted all of these resources. I worked
hard for what? For the hellfire.
For the hellfire.
And they would know it.
For the believers who knew and understood the
reality of this life, that this life
as Allah says
This life is what? What is in the
Arabic language?
Those who speak Arabic there is an element
of enjoyment
but originally that's not the main meaning.
Although this is like, it's present in the
meaning.
Okay. That's more of a thoughtful answer, right?
The minut the the minimum that you need
to survive. Again, right. What's what else? Mata?
Which is?
Mata,
okay.
Luggage,
what does that mean?
Simple word, utility.
Utility.
That's the reality of this life.
This life is a utility.
What does that mean?
It means it has resources to help you
make it to the Hereafter.
That's the reality.
Everything Allah put in this life, everything that
we call goals today
ambitions,
plans, dreams,
right? Achievements all of those things
are what? Utility.
Tools.
Tools that you utilize
for a purpose. They are means to help
you make it to a purpose. When you
travel,
you know, the luggage that you have whatever
you need food, drink,
clothing,
basic tools are called matah. Why are they
called matah?
Because they will hit help you
get by
during the journey to make it to the
to make it to your destination.
That's what this life is.
But SubhanAllah Allah designed humans that the things
originally if your fitrah is correct the things
that are good to you beneficial to you
are enjoyable.
So that the motivation
to take care of yourself
is comes naturally to you.
Imagine we had no desire for food.
Most people would die of starvation,
of hunger.
But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put the desire
for food in you
because
it's it's
So actually everything originally everything you need, everything
that is necessary for you and everything that
is helpful beyond the necessary that is helpful
for you is actually enjoyable.
So your tastes
your taste is not random, originally. If your
fritra is intact, your tastes
will get you to enjoy the things that
are beneficial.
And shaitan plays on your taste. If He
can corrupt your taste He can get you
to enjoy the things that are harmful.
So that's where the word 'matah' which is
'enjoy' enjoyment.
Enjoyment,
Right? And yes, it's the bare minimum.
Because once but not exactly the bare minimum
or what's necessary.
Even beyond that because we humans we don't
only need,
the bare minimum, we need a little bit
more
comfort.
This is why in Maqas ad al Sharia
when the scholars study
the legislation of Islam obviously, they identified
three levels of need or
or four levels of need. Things that are
necessary for your survival without them you don't
survive, you die.
Water,
sleep,
necessary you can't live without it, right?
Hajiyat
are the things that life gets very unbearable
and uncomfortable without.
So you have water and you have bread.
You can probably survive and live for 60,
70 years.
But what kind of life is this?
Very difficult, right?
You will need a little bit of variety
of food, different nourishments.
So that's Hajiyat
that's Hajiyat.
Then you have a tahseen
Things that
optimize the quality of your life and that's
when you have for example
you have vehicles to travel with rather than,
you know, walking on foot. You have vehicles
that you can travel with, right? They're more
comfortable,
they get there faster and so on and
so forth.
Okay. So these are legitimate things and Allah
made them enjoyable in that sense. But again
for the most humans that taste has been
corrupted so we get to enjoy things that
are haram for us, that are harmful to
us.
So those who seek the seek the dunya
as a means to the akhirah as Alib
radiAllahu
anha said
The dunya is like the farm or the
fertile
like land or soil
for you to reach the hereafter. So you
grow it to reach the hereafter.
So it's It's
deceptive in that sense. If you start to
chase it for Itself, seek it for Itself,
you have been deceived.
So is the dunya deceptive? Well the whole
context of is deceptive with Shaitaan.
With Shaitan.
Shaitan is the source of deception, but you
can
attribute that deception to the dunya. You can
attribute it to yourself
which gets deceived by Shaitaan or you can
attribute it to the source of it which
is Shaitaan.
Which is Shaitaan.
Then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says how do
you deal with this fact? How do you
act based now this is an article of
faith knowing the reality of this life How
do you deal with it? Allah gives us
the advice.
Allah gives us?
Now since Allah mentioned competition
in Dunia Allah says now
race with one another
towards Ajannah
So you don't want this temporary life that's
gonna end. That the moment it gives you
promise and you think you got hold
of it,
is the moment it disappears and leaves
you. That's the experience with this dunya.
It gives you that false hope once you
come to grab it, it's gone.
That's what this duniya is. This is what
this analogy leads to
You know rush and race with one another
towards forgiveness from your Lord that's really what
you should pursue. That's the thing that's going
to last with you forever
and a garden
paradise
Whose width is like that of the heavens
and the earth combined You will find in
the Quran
that sometimes it's
bigger than the heavens
and the earth or it's as wide as
them. Again, these are generally, this is in
the Arabic style, this is just
not for
not for the exact measures
not for the exact measures.
Okay? Because in the Arabic language there are
2 things
There is
the indications of numbers and
precise descriptions
2 things.
2 things that scholars
have identified.
The language is not always
exactly to the exact number. In the Western
civilization there is so much emphasis on the
exact number.
On the exact number.
In the Arabic language there is 2 there's
2 styles. There is 1 the exact number
and it applies to certain areas and then
there is the approximation
which is it gives a general idea a
general description
like the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam for
example he said
Iman is 70 plus
branches
another narration authentic narration
is 60 plus
Which one of them?
You don't ask here about the exact numbers.
So if someone comes from the mindset oh
everything has to be exact
you won't understand it. You would think oh
that's a contradiction or maybe one narration is
stronger than the other. No.
No.
There's always been this style. But how do
you understand it? The context.
So how do I know when the context
means approximation
or exact
measure? How do I know?
Well there is a logic behind the language
and the people who master the language know.
They know when this applies and when that
applies
So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says
whose width is just like of the the
width of the heavens and the earth
It was prepared, it was designed,
it was built for those
who have or believe in Allah
and His Messengers.
Believe in Allah and His Messengers At the
time of each Messenger their followers.
When Prophet Muhammad SAW was sent
Okay, they believe in the Messenger Muhammad
Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam after
Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam anyone who says I
don't want to believe in Muhammad but I
want to believe in other Messengers You're already
disbelieving in what Allah says so automatically this
is disbelief.
Okay. Automatically this is disbelief because Allah took
the covenant
from every prophet and the Quran Allah mentions
that The meaning of the verse Allah says
that Allah took the covenant from every Messenger
that when Muhammad SAW
is sent
or when a subsequent Messenger after you are
sent you join them and you believe in
their message and specifically Prophet Muhammad SAW.
So every Messenger, every Messenger as the Prophet
said in an authentic hadith, he informed his
people, prophesized
the sending of prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam. We have this in Islam.
This is the favor, the bounty of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. He gives it to whomever
he wills
and this is why the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam said
None of you will enter Jannah
because of their deeds.
Companions were puzzled.
How come?
Not even myself
unless Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
blesses me showers me with forgiveness and
Favor from Him
himself So your deeds are not enough to
get you into paradise What gets you into
paradise? Allah's acceptance Allah's forgiveness
and Allah's gift He gets you there
He gets you there. Does this mean oh,
I shouldn't be doing? No, you should do
your best That's what you are required to
do, but your best is not enough.
So how do we make it? Allah bridges
that gap for you. Don't worry.
So those who don't
do, they miss out on this chance
They lose it
Someone says okay, so
how is that fair?
How is that fair that Allah just guides
whoever He wills?
Right?
But you here we are applying human terms
to Allah in our understanding
Why? Because we're talking about Allah guides or
Allah fevers whoever He wills.
So there is an action from Allah, Allah's
will here. He wills, He chooses.
And when you say how is that fair?
You are assuming there's an assumption
that Allah chooses randomly.
But Allah is Al Hakim.
Allah is wise. And Allah is Al Adal.
He is fair and just.
And Allah
is He's the merciful.
So the will of Allah
is bound by His mercy,
His knowledge, His wisdom, and His justice.
So He knows who deserves that
blessing. He knows.
So those who deserve it,
Allah gives it to them. It's not like
why did Allah choose this person but didn't
choose
me. No. That's the wrong way to think
about it.
Okay.
See you next week.
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