Moutasem al-Hameedy – The Monumental Tafsir #66 Surah Ar Rahman
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AI: Transcript ©
So we continue with Surat Al Rahman,
and I believe we reached,
the verse, Khalakkal Insane iman Sur Saal al
Khalifa. This is where we reached. Did we
read the commentary or not? We didn't. Okay.
So verse 14,
This is 1 of the blessings that Allah
bestowed upon his slaves, showing them signs of
his might and beautiful creation.
He created the father of humanity, namely Adam
alaihi salaam, from dry clay like pottery, that
is from clay that made a sound like
that of pottery that is fired in the
kiln.
And He created the jinn, that is the
father of the jinn, namely the accursed Iblis,
from smokeless fire, that is from a pure
flame of fire or from that which is
mixed with smoke.
This is indicative of the noble nature of
the essence of the human being who is
created from clay and dust,
which has the characteristics of dignity,
solid character, and benefits.
In contrast to the essence of the jinn,
namely fire, which has the characteristics
of immaturity,
foolishness,
evil, and mischief.
Having described the creation of the 2 prominent
groups
and the substance of each, which is a
blessing from his slaves from him to his
slaves. Allah then says, then which of the
favors of your Lord will you deny?
So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala after
mentioning
a few of his marvels in the creation,
and his blessings and signs
on humans and his great favors
and the meticulous nature of all of this
wonderful creation,
which are again signs as we said signs
that point to Allah to
the
perfect
divine nature,
to the
to
the fact or the truth that Allah is
full of good and
might,
and and power
and grace
and generosity.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala refers to the creation
of in the Arabic language they're called
and in the Arabic language you will find
this
pairing
this pairing. So in the Arabic language you
will find,
2 a month or 2 would pass by
and in the household of the prophet they
would have
for food only the 2 black things the
2 blacks. What are the last word?
We want both. We want them.
Yes, dates and water.
So for months the the prophet the only
food was sometimes would be the only thing
that they could consume was dates and water.
So that's an Aswadhan.
Are 'Al Ins' and 'Jinn'
Humans, Humanity and Jinn. Why are they 'Alaqa'an?'
Because they are huge in number
They're huge in number
and they weigh on the surface of the
earth or whatever plane they live on. Okay?
So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala explained
the origins of the creation of humans
Here Sheikh bin Saad is very clear. He
says, Allah created
the first man,
the father of all of humanity Adam alaihis
salam from clay
from clay. That's the origin of his creation
and this substance is gonna
On human nature.
So the nature of clay is what? It's
heavy, right? It's it's,
it's stable.
It's stable. It's not a thin material.
So that reflects on human nature whereas
is like pottery, you know pottery when it's
still
first when it's still soft and moist
and then as it starts to dry
again
these are the stages of the creation of
Adam alaihis salaam.
Created
the jinn which is the father of jinn
who is the father of jinn just like
Adam is the father of all humanity
Adam is the father of all humanity the
father of all of jinn is who?
Iblis Iblis
is Iblis
he's the father of all jinn.
Are there other like opinions among scholars? Some
scholars had
said this might not be the case etc.
But as far as I know the majority
of Muslim scholars believe that just as Adam
is the father of all humans,
Iblis is the father of the jinn.
What did Allah create Iblis from?
The flame of the fire.
The flame
of the fire. Some again in the Arabic
language
marriage could mean usually means a mixed
something mixed. So this is why Imam al
Sadiq says either pure flame or flame that
is mixed with smoke and it seems to
be the word you know leans more
right? To mix 2 things together
is actually to, or to merge.
Marriage is like merge in the English language,
so that would help you remember that word,
right? Marriage is like merge.
Maraja in the Arabic language is to merge
2 things so good coincidence.
Marriage is
to mix something or to shake it.
So
when he says pure flame it's because the
flame shakes,
right? The flame is not stable.
It's a very
vibrant,
changing entity, right? It moves around. It's not
stable. It doesn't have the same shape all
the time. It keeps changing and moving.
These
or it could be marriage and that's what
it's shaking. But marriage also means to mix
so it could be mixed with smoke.
So that's what jinn are created from and
this reflects on their nature as Imam al
Sadiq here says that
'
is lightness.
Lightness in the sense of there's
no
there's no
what's what would be the word?
It's very light in the sense it moves
around and it's not stable. It's not
What do I say?
A good word in English? It's obnoxious.
Okay? It's not stable.
It's not
well grounded.
It's not well grounded. It It keeps switching
and flipping and changing,
right? 'Alkifa wa Taish'
washerliwalfasad'
an evil and corruption.
So
the humans draw their
basic traits
from
the clay and the djinn
draw their,
their nature, the basic nature from the flame
of the
fire. And
This is why humans are supposed to be
like these and SubhanAllah something very interesting.
So completely different substances,
elements,
clay and the fire completely different elements yet
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala designs them in a
way where humans end up having what consciousness,
a personality.
Like there's a person, there is consciousness,
there is awareness,
there is this person,
right that comes from this.
And the same thing applies
to the jinn.
The jinn also have a person.
They become a person. They have this personality.
They have this consciousness.
They have this awareness.
Although coming from completely different elements,
yet they share the street. The angels as
well have this consciousness, this awareness, this person,
right, and they are created from
from light Allah created them from light and
this reflects on their nature
It reflects on their nature so they are
always enlightened.
They always have the truth, the knowledge and
they have this bright nature
this
this nature of illumination and goodness
in them.
And drawing from this we can say that
this is 1 reason why Allah subhanahu wa'ala
meant for humans
to live their life
and not to mix with the other world,
the jinn.
Not to mix with the jinn and the
believers among the jinn as we took in
Surat Al
Jin Some of the jinn who believed they
said
and there were some humans
some humans they would seek the help and
the protection
of
jinn.
And in return the jinn increased them
in
what? Agony, pain and misery.
And this is the outcome of all of
those
who instead of seeking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
they end up seeking the help of the
jinn which is Haram.
In Islam it's Haram
and why? Because the world of the jinn
as Allah
says 'He and his progeny or his
his group
see you while you can't see them, you
don't see them.
So this is why dealing with the world
of the unseen, dealing with the creation you
don't see, you don't see their reality.
How can you tell what they are doing?
And their nature comes from fire.
And here it's clear that the nature of
fire is not, again,
is not still, is not stable.
And this is why the scholars say in
the jinn there is a lot of lying.
There's a lot of deception.
There's a lot of deception.
Why? As
a consequence of their nature as well.
So how do you deal with a creation
you don't see?
And there are unfortunately some people say, oh
we deal with the believing jinn'.
How do you know that they are believers?
How do you know?
You don't know. You really cannot verify. You
just have to take their word for it
And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala prohibited that we
deal with the jinn. He gave the exception
to Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
to invite them to Islam
on a few occasions and the prophet had
meetings with them. He had meetings with them,
he recited the Quran to them and he
invited them to Islam on a couple of
occasions
and that's it.
So humans, we humans, we are not supposed
to deal with the jinn, they are not
supposed to deal with us.
But this is the plan of Shaitan.
Shaitan said I'm not gonna leave Adam alone,
I'm not going to leave his children alone.
So he's
obsessed
and his followers are obsessed with messing up
humans. This is what Allah says Shaitaan
is an enemy to you.
He's a sworn open clear enemy to you.
So how do you respond to that? How
do you handle this fact? By taking him
as an enemy. When you have an an
enemy you're always on guard.
You're always vigilant.
You are always prepared.
You can't take a nap, you can't take
a break.
He's always lying in wait. And he said,
as Allah mentions in the Quran,
I shall sit and wait for them
on your straight path.
On your straight path. That was before what?
Before everything else.
Right? The moment Allah created Adam alaihis salam,
shaitan knew that there is a straight path.
He knew there was a straight
path. And he said, 'I shall
lie and wait.
I shall ambush them.' And this is why
the prophet said in the hadith,
Shaitaan
is sitting on all of the possible paths
of the son of Adam.
That means whatever you do, all of your
refers, whatever you do, whatever you plan, whatever
you say,
every human activity,
every human activity
there is sheytaan
lying in wait interfering
in what you're doing, in what you're thinking,
in what you are intending,
in what you're planning, in what you're doing,
in what you're saying. There is shaytan that
wants to gear that towards evil.
So that's why you have to be aware
of this fact.
You have to be aware of this fact
and you have to be very careful. This
is why the scholars,
they would not take anything that crosses their
mind
they would not take it seriously and accept
it unless
they expose it or run it through
the inspection of the Quran and the sunnah
of the prophet salallahu alaihi
wasallam.
Because many things sound good.
They might sound good and they might really
be attractive and they seem to be such
a great thing to engage with, such a
great act of worship.
But you know the problem is your mind,
your heart
is contaminated
with the whispers of Shaytan.
The whispers of Shaytan
and the work of Shaytan,
his incessant
work. He plays with your thoughts.
So this is why if you don't govern
your thoughts and your intentions
by the book of Allah, the sunnah of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, you say,
oh this feels good.
It feels good and I've tried it and
it really there's no harm in that. What's
the evil in this?
No.
It has to run through the process or
the inspection
of the Quran, the scanner of the Quran
and the Sunnah, and if it does not
pass, it does not pass.
Simple.
Because you are treading a very treacherous path
and there is an enemy that is ambushing
you from every angle. It's not like there
is 1 shaytan.
You
have armies of shaytan working on you.
There is 1 that
is stuck with you like conscribed,
and he's he's like chained to you. It
doesn't go anywhere.
But this Shaitaan
enlists the help of many other mischievous
devils.
So this is why like you are fighting
an uphill battle.
You have to be vigilant. You can't afford
to take a break.
You can't afford to put your guard down.
You can't. Because the moment you do it,
there is someone waiting for that opportunity
and they're gonna take it.
They're going to take it. So it's important
to know what is the nature because many
people think, oh shaytaan
He just whispers you know that's it and
they quote hadith from the prophet
that they misunderstand and they take it out
of context.
That Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in when
the companions asked the prophet that some thoughts,
we experienced some thoughts go through our minds
like passing thoughts, hadith and nafs called, right?
The speech of the self.
Hadith and nafs.
They said things that
like we'd rather
like kill ourselves rather than think these thoughts
because they are inappropriate when it comes to
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. The prophet eventually in
this hadith he said Alhamdulillah
who
limited shaitan in this case in this case.
This is embedded in the word
to was was. Why? Because
the prophet shaytan told us and Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala told us of many other areas
where Shaitan brings about and conspires against humans.
There is a Sahr.
There is a hasad.
There are other hadith where shayateen
attack humans and the prophet spoke about this,
especially children.
And they try to mess them up.
So what Shaitan does, he does a lot
and people think
Oh Shaitan just throws this word in my
mind.
No, no. Shaitaan has been doing the for
1000 of years with generations.
And this was wasa coming from so many
shayateen and orchestrated, what did it create?
Humans thought that was inspiration.
They thought that was genius.
So they
they structured these collectively, this wasawis, into philosophies,
into ideologies,
into ways of life.
So the waswas of shaitaan
now became more systemized
through these humans.
So was wasa shaytan is not just oh
random shaytan throwing a thought because if you
take it so lightly shaytan is gonna get
to you.
You know, keep that in mind if an
ideology,
or a culture,
or a way of life,
or a principle,
or a cause, does not come from Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Does not come from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And is not governed
by the Quran and the Sunnah, does not
pass through
the scanner of the Quran and the Sunnah,
by definition it's evil.
It cannot be good.
It cannot be good. Are we talking about
pure evil and pure good? No. We're not
talking about this. There's hardly any pure evil
or pure good in this world. They're always
in a state of you always have a
mixture of both.
You always have a cocktail of good and
evil. But it's not a matter of pure
good or pure evil. It's always a matter
of
how does the good outweigh the evil?
Does the good outweigh the evil? So you
will find in these ideologies there's always Sheikh
Asam Tamiyyah he mentions, he says
any false
or
or ideology
or thoughts
or bidah
has elements of truth in it. Otherwise no
1 would subscribe to it.
So when we say it's evil, if it
doesn't come from Allah, by definition it's evil.
There is no good by the way in
this world there is no good except what
comes from Allah.
If something is detached from Allah, its origins
are not from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in
terms of how it was put together,
and it does not
align
with the guidance of Allah by definition
it is intrinsically
evil destructive no matter how good it looks.
What does it what does this leave?
It leaves anything that is outside Islam.
It really leaves anything that is outside of
Islam. So what you will find with Oh
you know but what about al Hikmatullahalatul
mumin? That's true.
Wisdom or benefit, anything that is benefit, is
the lost property of the believer. What does
that mean? That means it aligns with the
Quran and the Sunnah.
It aligns with the Qur'an and the sunnah.
Who decides if something aligns with the Qur'an
and the sunnah?
Who knows?
Who is able to run
anything
through the scanner or the examination
built of the Quran and the Sunnah.
The people of proper knowledge.
The people of proper understanding. It's not like
'I feel it's like this' it looks 'I
don't see anything wrong with it.'
Are you qualified to say this?
So a lot of the stuff that you
see online
especially the comment section on any social media
platform
is a mess.
A mess of self proclaimed
people who just talk about I think, I
see, in my opinion,
it doesn't seem to me or it seems
to me like this.' And this is how
shaitan gets you.
This is how shaitan gets you in this
world. Really, the nature of this world is
either good or evil.
If something is not good,
by definition, it's evil.
And what is good? The definition of good
by the way in Islam, what is the
definition of good? It's what's from Allah.
What Allah
approved of, that's what's good.
If we don't know that Allah approved of
if some we have something that Allah we
don't know if Allah approved of it then
automatically
the default state for it it's evil and
it's false
unless unless proven otherwise.
That's how we guard our faith and this
is how we protect ourselves from shaytan. But
if we just go open our chests in
the world and expose ourselves to all of
this
radiation
and say you know we can or we're
strong, I'm strong with my iman.
Your body is going to get contaminated, your
heart will get contaminated with doubts and evil
and shaytan will build castles, castles in your
heart.
Shaytaan will build colonies in your heart.
And shaytaan will dwell on them and you
will be clueless about them.
You might think I'm exaggerating.
And I don't blame you,
I don't blame you.
But that's the truth.
That's the truth. Does this mean we do
away with all of this technology? No,
Not at all. That's
a wrong conclusion and a misunderstanding
of what we're saying.
Because technology in
the physical world
is just an asset that is available
and whatever good
that utility let's say not sali good utility
because utility can be used for good or
evil.
So any utility that is available that humans
invented is all from Allah's inspiration from Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And yes Allah gives it to believers, Allah
gives it to Kufar. Yeah, what's the big
deal?
We started the surah with what?
Alamir Quran. But also Allah says,
Allah taught humans. Everything humans know Allah taught
them. Humans can't invent even thoughts, you can't
invent thoughts or ideas.
There's no there's no this concept doesn't exist.
In humans you can't create. The only way
you can create something is you can change
something from 1 form to another, 1 shape
to another.
That's all.
Just a very surface kind of change.
You cannot create something from nothing. You cannot
even create a thought from nothing. You can
synthesize,
you can deconstruct,
but you can't create even a thought, even
an idea, what you call inventions, ideas, creative
ideas. All of that is inspired
is inspiration.
Is inspiration. All of that is inspiration. Yes,
I mean you work towards it.
So good is from Allah and you have
this is how you can navigate this world.
And the reason a lot of people have
confusion, a lot of people have problems in
their life, a lot of people
like faith is is like they have
they have this kind of how to say
You can call it faith crisis. They have
a lot of doubts and they have confusion.
It's because we have again, we with our
bare chest, we have walked around exposing ourselves
to so much evil radiation.
And we allowed it to contaminate our system
and we just think, oh, you know, this
looks like it's good. It's just like,
so Islam agrees with good and the prophet
he took part in hilfulfuddul
right when the people of Quraish they got
together to help the weak
and get their rights for them.
So yeah and all of this is just
like that
without examining it, without knowing what these movements
are about, without knowing what these ideologies are
behind and who is pulling the strings of
all of that.
That's naivety.
That's
not naivety is not an excuse, it can
never be an excuse
When you align more with the truth you
start to see through things
This is the basira that Allah gives the
believers.
Those who are guided Allah increases them.
Allah guides them because of their iman more.
Allah guides you, He shows you more. Okay.
So this is human nature and this is
the nature of the jinn. So the jinn,
their father is Iblis
and among
the jinn,
So among the jinn there are believers,
there are believers and righteous
jinn
and there are the disbelievers. The disbelievers who
create trouble are called
'shayadeen'
are called 'shayadeen'
Shayabeen is from in the Arabic language
and
is to leave the path
It's to diverge from the path. This is
shaitaan.
Okay? This is what shaitaan. That means shaitaan,
what he left the straight path.
He left the proper way
and
he sort of derailed himself.
That's the origin of the word shaitaan in
shaitaan. This is why the kafir among the
jinns especially those who create mischief and evil
they are called shaitaan
and when the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam
uses shaitaan and many times in the Quran
when Allah says shaitaan
it doesn't talk about 1. This is in
Arabic in the Arabic called
a type.
That means
the Okay? So,
so when you say
Right? Shaitaan
beautified
their evil actions for them and he pulled
their legs.
Is it 1 Shaitaan?
No. Shaitan has jinns as a
type. It is a type of creature this
this, kuffar, disbelieving
evil jinn that are spreading corruption. This is
a shaitan. It's many, countless.
Just like when you say fish, is it
1?
When you say fish,
fish is in the sea. Does that mean
1 fish?
All of the fish, right? Type, a species.
Same thing. A shaitan here is the jinsu
shayabalin, which is the type of shayabalin.
This type. This group called
a shayabalin.
Alright? So keep that in mind as you're
reading because many people think, oh, it's 1
sheiyan.
No. It's many. It's countless numbers of shayateen.
And it seems that the jinn obviously were
created before humans.
So generally speaking they are far greater in
number.
They outnumber the humans by far,
by far, and they live for
for long for a very very long time.
For a very long time.
Some Jin live 100, some Jin live 1000,
some of them live tens of 1000 of
years.
They live for long.
Okay. So that should be enough with the
with the creation of man and the jinn.
Let's continue.
Yeah.
That is, He is the Lord of everything
on which the sun, moon, and the stars
rise and set, for they are under His
control and care. He mentions these places in
the dual form here as to reflect the
general meaning.
The 2 places where the sun rises in
the winter and the summer and the 2
places where it sets at those 2 times.
Okay. So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
is
Why does Allah say Al Mashriq is
the East
or where the sun rises
and the West
is Al Ghharib
is the West where the sun sits.
So why does Allah use the dual here?
The 2 sunrises
and
the 2 sunsets.
Just because there is 2 different the the
sun rises. There is 2 places where the
sun rises
and 2
so what about
okay so Allah also says
so it changes so it's not only 2
So sometimes Allah refers to
the different spots
where the sun rises
summer versus
winter and things like that. So Allah is
pointing to his creation.
Allah is pointing to his magnificent
beautiful design in this creation.
Okay? Sometimes Allah mentions, the jewel and sometimes
Allah mentions the plural
So again this is an indication of you
know there is a cycle,
right? There is a cycle
and so that's there is measure there is
and it's not like a fixed exactly fixed
there is a range
according to which this whole harmony
functions.
So it's a very powerful and a very
sophisticated kind of orchestration in this existence. Then
Allah
says
we said this,
happens how many times in the surah it's
said?
31, yes. 31 times
to Kediban speaking to the ins and jinn
humans and
the jinn to Kediban
to Kediban here to act in denial too.
Allah is saying they are so obvious
there is there's no denial.
But there's no room for denial. There's no
excuse for denial.
Right?
And that kedib has different meanings but here
it's denial.
It's like purpose. You see something but you
are denying it. It's obvious. And by the
way this is what the atheists of today
do.
This is what it's
it's it's very picky
motivated reasoning.
They build a logic around it, they try
to build, an attractive logic around it which
fools people again
who give them the benefit of the doubt.
But the reality is the very basis and
foundation of their conclusions
is erroneous. But there's just the the the
kind of rash
rationality
they built
in order to make it look good, to
make it look look rational where you lose
your weight because very sophisticated,
very elaborate.
You use you you lose yourself in all
of these arguments that
maybe make logical make sense on the surface.
They are logical on the surface.
But when you dig deep down you realize,
you know, this is all a bluff.
Deep down the very concept is erroneous, is
obviously wrong and erroneous.
And this is why they would love to
drag you to,
into the details
rather than the very concept
of things.
So they try to explain existence and the
variety in existence
by by means of what? Just to give
you an example of how they take you
into the details
where and these details they have invented that
area.
So they are the masters of this
elaborate lie if you like,
Right? So they are the masters, they know
the ins and
outs. For you yourself,
you have to learn it.
So they have built like a battleground
that doesn't exist. They have built it and
they have shifted
they have shifted
you know the whole question or the whole
the whole issue into that fake ground.
They want to pull you there. It's just
as they say, you know,
don't fight I don't remember the exact words
but they say don't,
don't wrestle with a with a pig. It
will pull you into the the the mud
and it loves it. Right?
So they're just pulling you on this mud.
Why? Because they create all of this, you
know,
all of these technical terms
about
transition and evolution
and transitory
creatures
and mutations and and, selection and all of
this stuff. And it just, like, sounds wow.
That sounds very impressive.
Very,
again, very elaborate, very well thought through and
all of this stuff. Right? So you lose
your you lose the vision in the details.
But the reality of the concept itself it
stands on no foundation.
So it's very important to keep this in
mind.
So this is 'Tukkadiban'
this is 'Tukkadiban'
you act in denial and not only
are you acting in denial but you are
building an arsenal of lies
A bunch of lies.
And pretty much a lot of what we
live in today, the culture, most of the
culture that is dominant today in the world,
a lot of it is made of deception
and lies.
A lot of it. It has a lot
of corruption in it.
And unfortunately, we are all contaminated.
So this is why it's important to, again,
align with the truth. You need to make
your stance in this world, in this life
about the truth
and truth and falsehood and about good and
evil you have to make a clear distinction.
And you have to have a strong stance
when it comes to this.
If you do not take a strong stance
with the truth, the truth even as
an independent
thing, right, as a concept if you like,
although it's greater than a concept as it's
a truth in itself.
If you don't align fully with it
you cannot see properly.
You cannot see properly. If you are not
committed to the truth
a 100%,
you will not see the truth properly. You
will not be able to see through the
lies.
So if you don't fix it at that
deep level you can't fix it at the
level of perception.
You become susceptible to deception.
What is meant by the 2 bodies of
flowing water is fresh water and salty water.
They both meet, then the fresh water flows
into the salty water and they mix. But
Allah
has created a barrier of earth between them,
so that the 1 will not encroach upon
the other. And so that benefit may be
derived from each other, from each.
Fresh water is used for drinking and irrigating
trees and crops, and the salty water keeps
the air fresh and provides whales and fish,
pearls and corals, and it is stable and
of service to ships and boats.
Okay. So I I think that's clear, but
just 1 note. In
the eighties,
maybe even before that, in the seventies,
eighties, nineties,
and the 2000s,
there was,
an I would say
an obsession
with what they call scientific
miracles of the Quran.
The concept itself, if it's done sparingly,
there's nothing wrong with it.
There's nothing wrong with it. Allah, yes, Allah
mentions and refers to some facts, some things
that
humans would discover at some point in time
and that would be surprising. So it would
be accurate.
But don't don't forget that human science
is a continuous project.
It's not final.
There are so many things that were considered
to be
scientific facts
40 years ago.
They've been debunked.
They're completely
wrong now, proven wrong. So there were considered
scientific facts at that time and a lot
of literature, technology, and were built on them.
And people all believed in them including scientists.
And they had no doubt.
They spoke about them with absolute certainty and
they were convinced.
But their new discoveries
turned them obsolete
and completely irrational.
So that's always the story of the human
development. It's always the story.
There is way there's so much that we
have to learn and that we haven't learned.
And that once we learn it and attain
it will turn a lot of what we
know now obsolete
and impractical and plain wrong.
So this is why it is important
to treat something
which is constant as constant and what is
variable as variable.
When you turn the variable into a constant
you're gonna go wrong.
You will arrive at very problematic conclusions and
you will have confusion.
When you come to a variable like human
discoveries and science and human rationalization
of natural phenomenon
and treat that as absolute fact indisputable facts,
right?
You're gonna hold it in high esteem and
then you will make it the criterion
or the benchmark against which
you judge everything
else. So anything that doesn't this is why
when in the midst of this obsession with
what they called scientific miracles,
of the Quran, Some people held on to
these scientists so called scientific facts at the
time they were facts,
indisputable facts.
And
there were some verses in the Quran and
some hadith from the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam that they tried to twist their meaning.
Why? Because they ran in complete
contradiction to those called so called scientific facts.
And now decades later we figured out humanity
figured out that these so called scientific facts
you know were some sort of misunderstanding,
miscalculations,
miscalculations.
So what happened to those scholars now? Do
we restore the meaning of these hadith now
that you changed because of that? That's the
problem.
So for us humans what is constant?
What we know for sure
that's from the Quran and the Sunnah
something we have absolute certainty about
them being from the Quran and the Sunnah
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and
about their meaning
clear
cut.
These are the constants.
Other things are variables.
Other things are variables.
So it's important to keep this in mind.
The reason I'm bringing this when we when
the Surah talks about
How did the Arabs generally speaking understand
this? They understood this in the sense as
Ibn Saidi is explaining here.
On earth Allah kept
some
bodies of water
sweet, we call it sweet water, sweet lakes,
sweet rivers, right?
And they have their own
life cycle and they have their own characteristics
and they support a certain,
like spectrum of life and animals and fish
and so on and so forth. And then
there is salty water that you will find
it in the oceans and the big seas.
Allah kept them on earth separate so this
has utility and this has utility.
Because had Allah mixed them together, all of
the water on earth would be salty,
and it won't be palatable.
We won't be able to find water to
drink.
And the variety that we have in terms
of vegetation and the usage of sweet water
versus salty water,
a lot of them would be cancelled and
eliminated.
So that's a blessing from Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala that he kept them in different
geographical
areas.
Now, yes, there is a phenomenon when
2 oceans of different salinity, meaning the the
the the level of of
of saturate of salt saturation with salt, the
the level of salt in the water to
keep it simple. Right? When they come together
they don't mix. There is a barrier. It
seems to be seems to I haven't verified
that but it seems to be like a
scientific fact. Fine.
But there are places in the world when
for example when
sweet water
in the form of rivers
reaches the sea it mixes.
It does mix,
right? Sometimes it mixes, sometimes it doesn't. Again
I don't know why there must be some
reasons
but
the meaning that became our generation were brought
up when we read these verses we understand
them based on what? What these people who
were obsessed with scientific so called scientific miracles
of the Quran, we were obsessed with that
and we thought this is what it means.
And I remember as a child thinking,
you know, how did people of the of
the past even interpret this?
And I thought they missed out on a
lot. I'm telling you as a child this
was my thought process that they didn't know
these scientific facts, they missed out on a
lot of things. Now we are in such
advantageous
position.
So there is danger with being obsessed with
when you approach the Quran coming from the
wrong place, the wrong motives,
you create more troubles and problems even when
apparently your intention is good. You create more
problems, you create a misunderstanding.
And for me, this touches me more. The
fact that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created soft
war. Because
when you when you say, oh, 2 oceans,
they reach or they meet but they don't
merge.
Okay. Scientific fact, what does this help me
with? As a human being what's the utility
of this?
It really doesn't have utility. What does it
tell me about Allah? Okay, Allah is great
in his creation and he creates some wondrous
things.
Okay.
But this, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says he
created
sweet water and salt water.
This has a range of benefits. This has
a range of benefits. They don't cancel each
other. Allah kept a balance there.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala designed everything to
optimize life for you on Earth. That shows
the the blessings of Allah, the favor of
Allah. That shows the wisdom of Allah and
the he how he takes care of the
creation. This is what Allah says.
Shall we get in the word
Shall we get into this? Yeah. Alab.
Do you feel in the mood?
Okay. What does the Lord mean? Let's get
you onto it.
Lord.
Lord. This is how it's usually often translated,
Lord. What else?
Nurturer? Yes. Out of nurturing.
Right? Nurture.
Okay? Lord is correct, but it's way incomplete.
Nurturing is a is a good part good
chunk of the meaning. But still.
Sustainer.
Sustainer.
Yeah. Another
important element. After.
The 1 that looks after The 1 that
looks after. Again, more like nurture
and provide and sustain. Yes. What else?
Any more meanings? Owner.
Owner.
It does have
this in the meaning but not as a
not like the main feature. But it is.
Why? Because
I mean, again, it's there, but it's not
very,
let's say, prominent.
Yeah. It's there. The 1 in control.
Yes. The 1 in control. Yes.
It does. Provides and
Yes. The 1 who provides, the 1 who
nurtures,
the Lord, the 1 who is in control
because it's the Lord, right?
Okay.
Exalted is there but it's again it's not
a prominent
meaning in this root.
So
who is a native Arab here?
Again, like grew up in an Arab country
or lived for a long time in Arab
country and speaks Arabic even if it's
the local language, the slang. Put your hands
up where I can see
because that's gonna
show me the way where to go. Keep
your hands up brothers so I can see.
Okay, okay, fair a fair number. Okay, sisters?
Okay. Okay. Cool.
More among the brothers than among the sisters.
Okay.
Try not to laugh.
I know this is in Bilad al Sham,
like talking about
Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon.
When someone
is tubby, stout,
they have a word for it. They call
it what?
Right?
Yes.
Right?
Who knows who speak Arabic? Who knows this?
Okay. Okay, cool. Okay. So is that in
other areas as well? Where is
Khali is the same thing? Okay, umrabrib, umrabrab.
Okay?
So it comes from the same root as
Rab.
Comes from the same root as Rab.
To give you another 1,
there is something called
Ar Rabab. What is Ar Rabab?
Anyone knows Ar Rabab?
Is there?
Musical instrument?
No, that's a rababa, although that's a new
usage. Yeah. But it has to do with
it, it's it has to do with it.
So the musical instrument called the rubabah the
Bedouins have, it's 1 string,
right?
You know, it's very boring kind of thing,
that kind of thing that's a Rubaba
but it actually
it's in terms of Arabic Derivation and Istika'at
it's correct.
Many people think
is
slang,
right? It's actually
so you can say it confidently
from now on.
It's Fusha.
No 1 knows sisters? Okay.
Which is
the clouds
when they come together
and
they give rain
Okay? When it comes together
or when it comes together and rains, that's
called.
Something else, those who speak Arabic.
We're gonna ask the sisters this time
what do you call jam in the Arabic
language?'
Yes.
Morabba,
jam. Like
again strawberry jam, berry jam,
apricot jam, whatever, any type of jam.
Right? You call it we call it today
the Arabs call it Morabba.
In the older times
the Arabs called it mainly there was 1
and this is still in use.
Grape jam.
Which is today called dips. Okay?
Which is the jam of
dates.
Now still it's correct. 'Muraba' is still Fusha'
but it's more of a modern usage.
But we still say like for example tomato
paste in some Arab countries that call, especially
asham as well, they call tomato
'bendora' right?
'rubulbindora'
which is the jam or the paste.
So what does that mean? What's common in
these words?
Also in the Quran,
What is
Yes, your
stepdaughter.
The step
daughter
is
called
All of them come from the same root
and they hold the same essential meaning
as 'Rab'
and when we understand these words it helps
us understand what 'Rab' really means. So this
is what we understand when Allah says 'Rab'
why Allah says
Allah could have said
right?
Allah could have said this. Why didn't Allah
use Allah here?
He used
your Rabb, why did He use it?
Because nothing fits
the meaning except this
And Allah's talking about Allah. What is Allah?
The meaning of Allah?
What is Allah?
What?
Favors.
Favors that are signs.
Favors that serve as signs
okay?
Favours that serve as signs, as reminders.
These are 'Al Ala' like 'Al Ayaats'
okay?
So what is the connection? Anyone could find
the connection between these different words? Let's put
them together.
Clouds that come together,
right? Clouds that come together.
'mrabrub'
which is
a chubby
kind of
person.
What else we said?
The jam. And also, you know
what do you call in English? You know
the arrows? The back where they put the
arrows the case
what is it called?
Quiver.
Quiver. Quiver. Quiver.
Quiver.
Quiver. That's it. The quiver is called as
well.
It's called Kanana, but it's also called
Rababa.
It's also called
because that musical instrument was actually made originally
from
the
from the quiver, okay, of the arrows.
What's the connection?
Who can sense the connection? Let's see who
can do synthesis.
Synthetic work, yes. Is it all to do
with nourishment?
So the black guy is nourished.
Okay, the chubby
guy is nourished? Okay. The clouds provide nourishment.
Okay. Clouds provide nourishment.
To the body. Jam provides nourishment. Okay.
And then,
Doing you're doing very well, by the way.
I don't know what the
the quiver. I don't know. Okay. The okay.
The quiver, we don't know. What else?
Okay. Anyone who wants to have another try
with something else?
Allah, you deserve a gift.
You deserve a gift to Allahumabarak.
Can you can you say that again so
I repeat it so it's your own words?
A place where blessings
or favors are A place where blessings or
favors are merged or put together. Merged or
put together.
Yes. That's the meaning of this fruit.
That's the meaning of this fruit is when
you bring things together
to optimize the blessings and the benefits.
And this is where nourishment comes about.
When you bring things together, you have them
in control. You have them in 1 so
you are in charge of them. So you
are sort of have a good
have a good sort of mastery over them.
So that's where the lordship comes about.
And look at the jam,
you let these moist or the water evaporate
so
that thickness comes together.
That thickness comes together. The clouds come together.
The quiver,
For an optimal usage.
Again for an opt it has to be
a positive twist.
Arab has to be positive in the Arabic
language,
the father in the house, the the man
in the house
is
called Doesn't mean that he is to be
worshipped. It just means he's
he's meaning he is in charge
of
bringing the affairs of the family members together
to optimize the benefit for everyone.
That's where nurture comes about.
It's where taking care of, providing, sustaining
That's where it comes about. So when Allah
is saying that
everything about you is the favor of your
Lord. He is managing your affairs. He has
all of your affairs
aligned together in His hand
and He is optimizing them for you.
Your existence
is taken care of.
Your circumstances
are taken care of.
Your affairs are run according to the best
plan ever.
That's your Rabb, so he's sustaining you
And He's providing for you and He's optimizing
goodness in your life all the time. You
get the best version of all possibilities.
That's Rabb.
That's Rabb.
So he's saying
with all of these
great favors from Allah and blessings that he's
giving you
Are you denying these obvious evident blessings
of
who?
The 1 who's taking care of you. The
1 who is disposing
of your affairs in the best way.
You're well taken care of.
You are looked after.
Even when you don't sense that, when you
don't sense it you are in denial.
When you are sensitive you are blinded to
it.
And it's by your own works
that you are blind to it.
So this is why
So this is this is the repeat 31
times it's repeated in the Surah to show
what you humans you are your own enemy.
Oh jinn, you are your own enemy.
When you don't know your Lord and you
don't know the extent to which He takes
care of you, He nurtures you, He provides
for you, he has your affairs put together
and aligned and optimized
in his hands.
He's taking care of you even when you
are
when you have the most animosity and disregard
for him.
He's taking care of you.
Optimal care of you.
That's your Lord and you're still acting in
denial.
The fact that you can speak
against
Allah
is by means of Him being your Lord.
He gave you that device.
Your thoughts that you are having
Allah gave you that capacity.
So even in in the way you are
trying to claim to be independent of Allah,
and not reliant on Allah,
and not in need of Allah, you are
using Allah's gifts.
You are using Allah's gifts.
Do you see the the contradiction?
Do you see the the
the falsity of this and
the ridiculous nature of this thought?
SubhanAllah.
So that's why Allah says again let's continue
then with these signs
and inshallah we'll see
where we reach today
I hope with this that it helps us
go maybe a little bit more fast faster
and you would make more sense of the
things that are being said insha'Allah
ta'ala.
Hence, Allah says that is Allah has made
the ships that sail on the sea and
travel through it by his leave
and that are built by humans and may
be huge like mountains to be of service
to his slaves.
Hence, people embark on them and their luggage
and trade goods are carried on them. They
are protected by the protector of the heavens
and the earth, and this is 1 of
the great blessings of Allah.
Hence he says, then which of the favors
of your Lord will you deny?
-Okay, so I think this is clear. Again,
this is a sign or this is an
outcome of Allah being Ararab,
which you have these utilities that we tend
to ascribe to our own intelligence and inventions
and ability and craftsmanship,
all of these all of this technology.
We tend to take credit for that and
we don't realize
that's all from Allah.
That's all from Allah.
The the intelligence that you used
as 1 of the tools to arrive at
this level of technology
is Allah's free gift to you.
You didn't even ask for it, he gave
it to you. The the very thoughts that
you're thinking are from Allah himself. So
what credit are you taking for?
And you're using again his gifts to deny
him.
That's the irony.
You are using his gifts
to deny him.
Let's continue.
That is all those on the face of
the earth, humans, jinn, animals, and all creatures
will perish, die and disappear,
and there will remain the Ever Living who
never dies. But the essence of your Lord
will abide forever in all its majesty and
munificence,
that is, in all its greatness, might and
glory for which he is venerated and honored.
Muneficence refers to immense bounty and generosity
because of which he honors his close friends,
the elite of his creation,
in all ways. He is the 1 whose
close friends honor him, respect him, venerate him,
love him, turn to him and worship him.
Then which of the favors of your Lord
will you deny?
-Okay, so again drawing on Arrab the Lord,
Allah is saying,
Allah is showing us a manifestation of how
this will be.
All the creatures that are on this earth
and anywhere
in this universe, all of them are going
to die.
All of them are going to come to
this end Fana'a
non existence
They will vanish. They will disappear. There will
come a point where they don't exist anymore.
He didn't say again notice how the choice
of words
is Divine
and what remains
The face of your Lord,
of your Rabb. It's more accurate. Rabb. You
are Rabb. That's part of his he's being
the Rabb. He's the 1 being in charge.
He's the 1 who brought you, and he's
the 1 who takes you out.
It's this whole story as we said many
times. It's the story it's his story.
You come into it you get out of
it then you're brought back into it.
He does all of that. He creates all
of that. He has all say
in this.
So I think that's that's clear but a
point here a good point and how to
deal with the text as well when it
comes to Aqidya. Allah says
and what remains is the face of your
Lord or the owner and the master of
all glory and greatness.'
So the tafsir here, the translation is not
incorrect. It says 'Who remains the essence of
your Lord?'
That's the meaning of the verse. Who remains?
Allah
Everything perishes
and Allah remains
but Allah mentions his face here.
So the main we say the main meaning
is that Allah
is saying that everything perishes, but Allah remains
and never
never perishes.
And Allah mentions his face
and that refers to the true face of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala in a way that
befits his majesty. Nothing like the creation.
Nothing like the creation.
And you would find sometimes from the companions
an explanation of similar verses that would say
Allah or His Essence remains
That companion is not denying the face but
he's saying that's what the verse means that
Allah remains,
Allah himself remains.
The mention of the face, this is 1
of the ways the Arabs spoke about a
person,
but they would not speak about something that
doesn't have face and they would not give
it a face. They would not use that
expression with something that doesn't have face.
So there
is this is what we believe the companions
had. This is what the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam believed in. Clear Arabic language when
it attributes something to Allah it attributes something
that befits his majesty. We affirm it. We
don't deny something that Allah attributed to himself.
We don't play around with the words of
Allah. Trying to use some linguistic
tricks
and gymnastics. We don't use that.
And that's what all of the 'Irfan', the
Sahaba, the Tabireen,
the great imams, the 4 imams
they affirm that and you will find statements
from them
Although sometimes people try to interpret their words
or this is what they mean, this is
what they mean. When you bring collectively what
each 1 of them said, you will see
a complete context
of affirming what Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala attributed
to himself. According to the language of the
Arabs at the time of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam. Because you would find and
what happened
after many people flocked into Islam and the
Arabs came in contact with translated texts from,
Greek philosophy.
There is a logic. There is an organic
logic and dynamism in the Arabic language
And it's different from the mathematical nature of
and the logic of,
the mathematical nature of Greek philosophy and logic.
So this is why you can't follow,
for example, in Arabic and it happens with
many languages they say language is arbitrary. This
is a linguistic rule language is arbitrary. What
does that mean? That means
there is a rule.
It applies but there will be exceptions.
So someone who tries to apply the language,
the rules of language mathematically, they would arrive
at some funny conclusions sometimes.
You know in English and they call this,
what's the word for it?
'corollary'
Yeah, corollary.
It means there are words that come together
and there are words that are synonyms to
these that don't come together.
So why? This is the same as this.
Why can't we replace this with another word
that means the same thing?
That's how English speakers speak. They don't use
these 2 words together. They use the other
word with this 1.
But that means the same so I can
use it. Language doesn't work mathematically.
So
that's what happened when when the Muslims tried
to Islamize
Greek logic.
They got affected by it.
And with with logic and philosophy it means
you have to con to be consistent, you
have to carry a logical principle
to all of its implications
infinitely.
You can't make exceptions otherwise there will be
logical
contradiction or dissonance.
So some of those thinkers being
being first trained like their base and their
foundation is logic.
When they came afterwards to Islam,
they tried to apply this logic to Islam
and force it on Islam.
But the Arabic language of the Quran does
not abide by that mathematical logic. There is
a different dynamic
and logic
that the Arabs had which is called
The Arabs at the time of the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam the way they understood
the Arabic language,
the way they used the Arabic language.
So
so this is why when you apply
Greek logic, even if you try to Islamize
it and call it kalam
and then apply it to the Quran, you're
going to arrive at false conclusions. You will
say, Oh, you can't ascribe a face to
Allah because if you ascribe a face to
Allah you mean Allah is made of parts
and something that is made of parts cannot
be God.
And then you already made Allah turned Allah
into a body is made of that is
a composite of parts.
That's not the logic of the Arabs.
That's not the language of the Quran. That's
a borrowed logic.
You can't understand the Quran like this. You
can't understand the language. That's a foreign understanding
and That's where the problem is.
Whereas the all of the companions, the Tabi'een,
the Imams that we venerate and know,
the 4 Imams.
He said clearly we accept it as it
came and does it mean some people say
oh we accept it as it came but
we don't understand its meaning.' No.
That's not an Arab approach to something we
don't understand its meaning.
It's meaning it's obvious.
Does it necessitate
resemblance to the creation? No.
It doesn't. That's in the in the that's
in the mind of the person.
And if any person has this then they
are wrong.
And if you ask someone like a layman
oh what do you mean by this?
You mean Allah has this, Allah has that,
that means Allah is like his creation? You
confuse them They don't know how to navigate
these things but their fitra knows Allah as
he describes himself
They know it but if you take them
into the logic and you try to break
it down you confuse them you put them
in fitna
That's why the early Muslim scholars they said
don't engage in all of this kind of
philosophy and this kind of rhetoric
and,
polemics. Don't get into that. It will poison
your mind. Khalas. Keep it with the original
Arabic language, the language
of the Arabs at the time of the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, they understood what
it meant.
They understood what it meant and that's it,
stay with it, safe.
Okay. Let's take the next verse. I think
we have time.
We should have time, right?
All creature all creatures are in need of
him, asking of him all that they need,
either implicitly or explicitly.
They cannot be with they cannot do without
Him for even the blinking of an eye
or even less than that. Every day Allah
has matters to bring about enriching poor persons,
consoling
brokenhearted people,
giving to some people and withholding from others,
causing death and giving life and raising and
lowering people in status.
He is not distracted by 1 thing from
another and does not make mistakes when dealing
with many issues. He never wearies of the
persistent supplication or ongoing requests of those who
call upon Him.
Glory be to the Most Generous, the Bestower
whose gifts and blessings reach all the inhabitants
of the earth and the heavens.
His kindness encompasses all of creation at all
times. Exalted be the 1 who is not
prevented from giving by the by the disobedience
of the sinners
or the attitude of those who deny their
need for Him and are ignorant of Him
and His generosity.
The matters referred to when Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says that everyday He has matters to
bring about
are His decrees and controls that He willed
and ordained from eternity.
He is still bringing them about at the
ordained time as dictated by His wisdom.
This includes the religious decrees of command and
prohibition
and the universal decrees that apply to His
slaves for the duration of their time in
this earthly realm.
Then when this world ends and Allah causes
them to die, it is his will to
requite them and show them of his justice,
grace and abundant kindness
through which they will come to know Him
and realize that He is 1, and He
will move those who are accountable from the
realm of tests and trials to the realm
of eternal life.
At that time, he will attend to the
to the implementation
of these rulings
whose time has now come. This is what
is referred to in the following verses.
So this is what our tabla means. Allah
is saying, you know, whatever you see in
this world, whatever happens in this world is
intentional
and pre planned.
It is preplanned. It is designed. It's ordained.
It's managed
and is
put in place and produced by Allah
as the creator.
There's no mistakes in this world,
and in a sense, no accidents.
Nothing happens outside the will of Allah and
outside the plan of Allah that was already
put in place before the creation of the
heavens and the earth.
So there's no
malfunction
in this world.
There's no malfunction.
There's nothing
nothing goes,
against the plan or outside of the plan.
Nothing.
Nothing.
So he's the Lord.
All your affairs, these small, the tiny things,
and the major things in your life, all
of them are managed by Allah. Everything is
intentional. Everything is by design in this world.
Nothing happens just like like that a random
thing. Mhmm. This is nothing. Even the smallest
things, the most insignificant things, nothing.
Everything
in this
has
been scripted,
has been executed and still managed meticulously
with intention
and with perfection
to serve the purpose of this life. You
might say, oh, but you know, things could
have been better. It's not not in this
world and the purpose for which this world
is created.
Not.
What you're talking about is the hereafter which
is a different life and it's gonna be
way beyond whatever
like, parameters you can come up with. It's
more perfect because that is designed to be
perfect in Jannah.
And that perfection you have no clue about.
But you're trying to bring some kind of
a pretentious,
you know, perfection into this world,
but what you're trying to do is hijack
the purpose of this life.
Allah created this life for a
purpose
and that's for you to test you. You're
gonna worship him or not. So the test
required for to optimize the test
all of what happens is required including the
things you dislike,
and the things you wish they never were
here.
They're serving a greater purpose and without them
this life would not be
the best.
So what we are getting in this life
is the best script
ever.
The best script for the purpose
for the purpose, because you can't judge something
without a purpose.
You can make a car like a vehicle
very very beautiful, but if it doesn't function,
what's the point? It's not a car anymore,
it's a decoration.
The purpose is not the body of the
car, it's the function of the car and
the body or the design should serve the
function.
Maybe you can have something extra
as a design but that comes secondary.
Same thing, this life, the only way to
judge it whether
it's good quality or not is whether it
serves the purpose or not.
You can't just come up with a purpose
like your own preferred or imaginary purpose and
say you know life could be better.
It couldn't.
It couldn't.
And this is why although
it was mainly coined and formulated by Al
Ghazali
talking about Al Qadr.
It could never be better.
Things could never be better.
Even Tamir
approved of this because some people criticized Al
Ghazali for this. Even Tamir approved of this
and he said it's a brilliant statement it
captures a lot
about the Qadr of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
So for the purpose, this life is running
according to the best plan, the most optimal
plan. Nothing could be better than that.
Okay. So we'll stop here. I can take
1 or 2 quick questions
on on this topic.
Close friend of Allah? Yeah. You mean as
Wali. Right?
The problem is the lack of good translation
for the word Wali.
Why? Because this aspect is missing
in the European languages. It was not in
their religion, it was not in their culture.
So,
we don't have an equivalent. So, they use
the friends of Allah, close friends of Allah.
Some people use saints,
some people
you sort of
reshape the definition and say that's what I
mean by it, that's fine.
That's fine.
Yeah, but again this is why it's important
to actually
take the words of the Quran in their
original context and try to understand what the
Arabic context really means. That would help us
delve into a completely different world of meanings
rather than just translation cannot because it's not
just, oh, that's a meaning let's put a
word on it'. No, that's not how it
works. What time is there, Dhan?
11:30.
Okay, so we can take another question sisters.
Okay. 1 more question, brothers.
Jazakumullah Khairan inshallah we'll see you next Friday