Moutasem al-Hameedy – The Monumental Tafsir #93 Surah Qaf
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The transcript describes various speakers discussing the confusion surrounding the concept of Islam and its use in shaping behavior. It highlights the importance of the first creation and the rejection of various people and cultures, as well as the need for proper psychological health and avoiding weapons in life. The speaker emphasizes the importance of fulfilling a mission and using information for personal fulfillment, avoiding confusion, and avoiding addiction to drugs.
AI: Summary ©
As-salamu ala ala ashraf al mursaleen, nabiyyina
muhammad, wa ala alihi wa ashabihi ajma'iin,
wa ba'duhu.
We continue with surat Qaf, bi-idhnillahi ta
'ala.
We reached verse 12.
Qal al-Imam al-Sa'di, ya rahma allahu
ta'ala, qal Allah ta'ala, audhu billahi
min ash-shaytani ar-rajim, kathabat qabalahum qawmu
nuhin, wa ashabu al-rasi wa thamud, wa
aadun wa fir'aun wa ikhwanu lut, wa
ashabu al-aykati wa qawmu tubba' kullum kathab
al-rusula fa haqqa wa'id, afa'ayina
bil-khalq al-awwal, bal hum fi labsin
min khalqin jadeed.
Ay kathab allatheena min qablihim min al-ummami,
wa rusulahumul kiram, wa anbiya'ahumul idham, ka
nuhin kathabahum qawmuh, wa thamud kathabu salihan, wa
aadun kathabu huda, wa ikhwanu lut kathabu luta,
wa ashabu al-aykati kathabu shu'ayba, wa
qawmu tubba'un kullu manakin min maliki al
-yaman, fi al-zaman al-sabiqi qabla al
-islam.
Fa qawmu tubba' kathabu al-rusula althi arsalahu
Allahu ilayhim, wa lam yukhbidna Allahu man huma
dhalika al-rasul.
Wa ay tubba' min al-tababi'a, li
annahum wa Allahu a'alam kana mashhuran inda
al-arab, li kawnihim min al-arab al
-arba, alladhina la takhfa ma jarayatuhum al-al
-arabi khususan mithla hadhihi al-hadithati al-adheema.
Fa ha'ulahi kulluhum kaddhabu al-rusula alladhina
arsalahumu Allahu ilayhim, fa haqqa alihim wa eidullahi
wa aqoobatuhu.
Wa lastum ayyuhal-mukaddibuna limuhammadin salallahu alihi wa
sallama khayran minhum, wala rusuluhum akramu ala Allahi
min rasulikum.
Fa ahzaru jurmahum lialla yusibakum ma asabahum.
Thumma istadalla ta'ala bil-khalqi al-awwal,
wahuwa al-mansha'u al-awwal ala al
-khalqi al-akhir, wahuwa al-nash'atu al
-akhirah.
Fakama anna allathi awjadahum ba'da al-adam, kadhalika
yu'iduhum ba'da mawtihim wa sayuratihim ila al
-rufati wa al-rimam.
Fa qala afa'ayina bil-khalqi al-awwal.
Afa'ayina, ayy, afa'ajizna wa da'ifat
qudratuna bil-khalqi al-awwal.
Laysa al-amru kadhalik.
Falamu na'ajaz wa na'iya an-dhalik.
Walaysu fi-shakkin min-dhalik.
Wa innama hum fi-labsim min-khalqin jadeed.
Hatha allathi shakku fihi.
Walqala sahih al-amruhu ma'a annahu la
mahalla bil-labsi fihi.
Lianna al-i'adata ahwanu min al-ibtida
'a.
Kama qala ta'ala wahuwa allathi yabda'u
al-khalqa thumma yu'iduhu.
Wahuwa ahwanu alayhi.
Bismillah.
Before them, the people of Nuh, the people
of the world, and Thamud also disbelieved.
As did Ad, Pharaoh, and the brethren of
Lut, and the dwellers of the wood, and
the people of Tubba.
All of them rejected the messengers, and my
warning was duly fulfilled.
Did we fail in the first creation, so
that they think that we are unable to
recreate them on the day of resurrection?
Rather, they are in doubt about the resurrection.
That is, those nations who came before them,
rejected their noble messengers and prophets, such as
Nuh, whose people rejected him.
Thamud rejected Salih, Ad rejected Hud, and the
people of Lut rejected Lut.
The dwellers of the wood rejected Shu'ayb,
and the people of Tubba, Tubba was the
title of every king of Yemen in ancient
times, before Islam, rejected the messenger whom Allah
sent to them.
Allah does not tell us who that messenger
was, or which of the kings who bore
the title of Tubba is referred to here,
because that, and Allah knows best, was well
known to the Arabs.
For the people of Yemen were the original
Arabs, whose stories were not unknown to the
Arabs, especially stories such as this significant event.
All of these people rejected the messengers whom
Allah sent to them, so they deserved the
warning and punishment of Allah.
And you who disbelieve in Muhammad, are not
better than them, and their messengers are not
dearer to Allah than your messengers.
So beware of committing their sin, lest the
same fate befall you as befell them.
Then Allah, Almighty, cites the first creation as
proof for the second creation, which is the
resurrection.
Just as it is He who created them
from nothing, in like matter, He will recreate
them after they have died, and turned into
dust and bones.
Therefore, He says, did we fail?
That is, were we incapable, or did our
strength falter in the first creation?
That is not the case.
It was not beyond us, and we did
not fail in that.
They, the disbelievers, do not doubt that.
Rather, they are in doubt about the resurrection.
This is what they are in doubt and
confused about.
Even though there is no room for confusion,
because recreating is easier than the initial creation,
as Allah, Almighty, says elsewhere, it is He
who originates creation, then repeats it.
And that is even easier for Him.
Okay.
So again, Surah Qaf, Allah started this Surah,
first with the Quran as a powerful miracle,
but then Allah shows or demonstrates and highlights
that the rejection or the opposition from the
disbelievers, their denial of the truth, in reality,
is just a choice.
And all of these reasons that they are
giving for their lack of faith are more
of a distraction from the truth.
It's a distraction from the truth.
So it's not.
Their denial boils down to what?
Their attitude, their rejection of the truth.
Everything else is more of a rationalization, is
more of a justification.
And this applies across the board, by the
way.
This applies across the board.
A lot of Muslims get lost, so if
we were to apply this today, a lot
of Muslims get taken for a ride with
the apparent arguments that are given against Islam
and the Muslims.
The reality is, the majority of those who
use these arguments against Islam, they're not using
them for their own sake.
They're using them as a distraction, they're using
them as a bluff, as an easier way
to deny Islam.
But the reality is, what really forms their
attitude of rejection and denial is a decision
that they have taken, that we don't want
to believe in this.
We don't want to believe in this, we
don't want to embrace this.
They have more reasons to believe than reasons
to not believe, inside of them.
Their human nature calls them to believe.
Their fitrah calls them to believe, calls them
to iman.
The power of iman, subhanAllah, the power of
the truth, when it meets human nature, is
insurmountable.
There's nothing else that can defeat it.
It's so compelling.
But what really holds people from responding to
it, or complying with it, is their attachment
to this world, their desire for this world,
and their arrogance as well.
Their arrogance.
Their arrogance.
How does their arrogance play out?
It plays out as pride in their nation,
and their heritage, and their ancestry.
So oftentimes you will find a lot of,
by the way, the western intellectuals, a lot
of them see the truth in Islam, when
they study Islam.
But they have an attitude against Islam.
Why?
Because they have defined themselves deep down as
the west.
And who is the typical enemy for them,
historical enemy of the west, that the west
could never truly conquer until today, is Islam.
So they have already adopted this identity of
being the west.
How are they going to give Islam a
real chance?
They're not.
They're not going to.
They have to be very humble to do
this.
They have to be very humble to do
this.
This is why the Muslim scholars, they said,
the source of all evil are three traits,
three things.
First one of them is kibr, arrogance.
Arrogance is the biggest of them, is the
biggest source of evil.
What holds people away from faith, for the
most part, is arrogance.
Number two is al-hirs, which is the
love of the dunya.
This very keen desire to get the dunya,
to get the pleasures of this dunya.
This keenness, this covetousness, this desire, this attachment
for things, wanting to possess things, that compels
people, or if they succumb to it, it
compels people away from, you know, responding to
their heart, to the call of their heart,
which recognizes the truth.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, don't
be disillusioned by these rationalizations and these surface
arguments.
They are not the real question.
They have already decided not to believe.
And this is what Allah says, and this
is something we elaborated on last week, when
Allah says, تَبْصِرَةً وَذِكْرَى لِكُلِّ عَبْدٍ مُنِيبٍ These
signs, they are tabsira, they are inside, they
give clear, clear vision, for whom?
And they give a dhikra, a reminder, a
real reminder, that awakens fitra for whom?
لِكُلِّ عَبْدٍ مُنِيبٍ And we explained what inaba
is.
And Allah in many places in the Quran
says, for example, إِنَّمَا يَسْتَجِيبُوا الَّذِينَ يَسْمَعُونَ Indeed,
the ones who positively respond to the da
'wah, to the call, are the ones whose
heart are receptive.
Right?
Allah says about the disbelievers, إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا
سَوَاءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ أَأَنذَرْتَهُمْ أَمْ لَمْ تُنذِرْهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
They don't believe, why?
It's not they have a good reason, they
have decided, I don't want to believe in
this.
I don't want to believe in this.
But then they're gonna come up, that's human
nature, to come up with rationalizations.
You did this, Muslims did this, Islamic history
is this, Islam spread by the sword.
The Prophet ﷺ married Aisha at this age,
that age, he married this, this, that.
All Muslim men can marry poor women.
All the laws of inheritance.
All the Islamic law has this and has
that.
None of that is a reason not to
believe.
And a very clear indication that these are
rationalizations is most of the people who convert
to Islam, they themselves, they have no response
to any of these questions.
They didn't come to Islam through the answer
to these questions.
How did they come to Islam?
They saw good Muslims who really were a
good example of Islam.
They read the Qur'an, or they saw
the truth.
They read the life of the Prophet ﷺ.
They came in contact with Islam, and the
natural response of their fitrah was to come
to Islam.
That shows you that this is the mechanism
for becoming a Muslim.
I mean there is a minority, there is
a minority of sincere people who are so
brainwashed with these doubts.
They have consumed these doubts, and they have
confused them.
Maybe if you clarify these doubts to these
people, yes, they will open the way, but
it still will take them some time to
bring their fitrah forward, and it will take
them courage in order to really allow their
fitrah to manifest and accept Islam.
So generally speaking, as a Muslim you should
be mindful.
Allah says in many places in the Qur
'an that basically these people, all of these
arguments are mainly a distraction.
They are not the real question.
They're not the real question.
So Allah here says the same thing.
So after Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we
just went back to the beginning of the
surah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, look
at all the creation, the heavens, the earth,
the vegetation, the trees and all of that,
the rain that falls, all of this magnificent
creation shows that there is a creator, and
there is Allah, and there is purpose behind
this life.
Then Allah says there is a clear reminder
and a clear vision here for every heart
that really seeks, the munib.
We said munib always returns back to Allah,
returns to his natural state of believing Allah,
believing in Allah and loving Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
Then Allah brings again previous nations.
Allah says, okay, previous nations said the same
thing as you said.
They disbelieved in their messengers.
And you know their stories.
The Arabs knew those stories.
They received them.
They received them.
They knew that they were punished.
And they saw their ruins.
The Arabs knew, for example, about Mada'in
Salih.
And they knew that they were destroyed.
They knew about the people of Lut.
And they knew about the, which is most
likely the Dead Sea.
They knew that this was the place where
they were punished.
And these are the remains of their punishment.
They knew about all of this.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying,
remember these stories that you know?
Who?
The people of Noah.
The Ark of Noah.
These are stories that were carried over from
one generation to the other.
They knew about this.
They had news about this.
And Thamud.
Ashab al-Ras.
Ashab al-Ras, scholars say, are one clan
from the tribe of Thamud.
Aad and Fir'aun.
All of these stories, you heard about them.
And these were people who rejected their prophets
and messengers.
And they were destroyed.
And this was history.
This was human history for them.
Today, when you study human history, like you
study Middle Ages, or you study the, whatever,
like world history, or you study history of
the Far East, the history of Africa, the
history of Europe, etc.
For them, this was history.
And it was well documented, and it was
accepted.
So Allah says, this history is clear.
That these were people who received messengers with
rejection and denial, and they were punished.
Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, do
you think it's going to be difficult for
us?
It's going to challenge us to bring the
creation again?
We created you the first time.
What makes it hard for us to create
you a second time?
If you think you are speaking logic, what
makes it hard for the one who created
you the first time to create you a
second time?
Then Allah says, بَنْهُمْ فِي لَبْسٍ مِنْ خَلْقٍ
جَدِيدٍ The reality is that they are confused
because they are not happy with the concept
of resurrection and accountability.
That's what they are trying to reject.
And this happens a lot with humans.
Humans, by the way, if you deal with
questions, you will see this a lot.
People ask questions on the surface.
And if you really pay attention, people ask
the wrong questions.
They have another question, but they are not
confident asking.
So they try to work it out.
They try to get the pieces of the
puzzle individually and work it out in the
privacy of their own mind.
But they don't feel comfortable revealing to you
the main question.
It might be embarrassing.
They might not be comfortable revealing it.
So what they will do, they'll figure out
a way in their mind, in their confused
mind, okay, if I answer this question, and
they will ask you these simple questions or
these small questions which are a sign of
confusion.
So they will come and ask you, like
someone who's struggling, I'm telling you, someone, for
example, struggles with a sin, and they are
addicted to it and they can't break from
it.
And then they will come and ask you
a question about, for example, Prophet Muhammad sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam, did he have to struggle
against his own desires or did Allah make
it easy for him because he's a prophet?
Okay, sorry, how does this even benefit you?
If you are struggling with your Islam, how
does that even benefit you?
But it tells me, hey, you have a
process, a confused process, and you try to
figure out some of the pieces, right?
But you're not asking the question outright.
You're not confident asking someone the question, you
know, the main question.
But you're just going to want to go
in circles and then you want to sort
of dictate the answer.
You're looking for the answer you want.
So you're getting bits and pieces from here
and there.
You're confused.
So that's what humans usually do.
A lot of what humans ask, a lot
of what humans say, it's not really the
real thing.
It's more of a distraction or a bluff.
All right.
Let's get now to the, this is a
very beautiful part of the surah.
And as I said, this is the part
of the surah.
When we were young, like if we wanted
to cry, we would listen to a reciter
who would recite this, this side.
Okay.
He said, وَمَا
يُوَسْوِسُ فِي صَدْرِهِ وَأَنَّهُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ
الْوَرِيدِ الَّذِهُ أَقْرَبُ شَيْءٍ إِلَى الْإِنسَانِ وَهُوَ الْعِرْقُ
الْمُكْتَنِفُ لِثَغْرَةِ النَّحْرِ وَهُوَ مِمَّا يَدْعُ الْإِنسَانَ إِلَى
مُرَاقَبَةِ خَالِقِهِ المطلع على ضميره وباطنه القريب منه
في جميع أحواله فيستحيه منه أن يراه حيث
نهاه أو يفقده حيث أمره وكذلك ينبغي له
أن يجعل الملائكة الكرام الكاتبين منه على بال
فيجلهم ويوقرهم ويحذر أن يفعل أو يقول ما
يكتب عنه مما لا يرضي رب العالمين ولهذا
قال إِذْ يَتَلَقَّ الْمُتَلَقِّيَانِ يَتَلَقِّيَانِ عَنِ الْعَبْدِ أَعْمَالَهُ
كُلَّهَا وَاحِدٌ عَنِ الْيَمِينِ يَكْتُبُ الْحَسَنَاتِ وَالْآخَرُ عَنِ
الْشِّمَالِ يَكْتُبُ السِّيِّئَاتِ وَكُلُّ مِنْهُمَا قَعِيدٌ بِذَلِكَ
مُتَهَيِّعٌ لِعَمَلِهِ الَّذِي أُعِدَّ لَهُ مُلَازِمٌ لَهُ مَا
يَلْفِظُ مِنْ قَوْلٍ خَيْرٍ أَوْ شَرٍ إِلَّا لَدَيْهِ
رَقِيبٌ عَتِيدٌ أَيْ مُرَاقِمٌ لَهُ حَاظِرٌ لِحَالِهِ كَمَا
قَالَ تَعَالَى وَإِنَّ عَلَيْكُمْ لَحَافِظِينَ كِرَامًا كَاتِبِينَ يَعْلَمُونَ
مَا تَفْعَلُونَ We have created man, and we
know what his soul whispers within him.
For we are closer to him than his
jugular vein.
When the two recording angels record his deeds,
constantly accompanying him, one on his right and
the other on his left.
Not a word does he utter, but there
is with him a watcher, ready to record
it.
Here Allah tells us that he is the
only creator of humankind, male and female, and
that he knows man's circumstances, what he keeps
in his heart and his thoughts.
He is closer to him than his jugular
vein, which is the closest thing to a
person.
The jugular veins are the veins on both
sides of the neck.
This is a reminder to man to remember
that his creator is watching him.
He sees what is in his heart and
mind and is close to him in all
situations.
So he should feel shy, lest Allah see
him where He forbade him to be, or
He not see him where He commanded him
to be.
Similarly, he should bear in mind the angels,
the noble scribes.
He should respect them and beware of doing
or saying anything that may be written down
of things that are displeasing to the Lord
of the worlds.
Hence he says, when the two recording angels
record his deeds, constantly accompanying him, that is,
they record all of the person's deeds.
One on his right, who records his good
deeds, and the other on his left, who
records his bad deeds.
Each of them is constantly accompanying him, ready
to do the work that is assigned to
him.
Not a word does he utter, good or
bad, but there is with him a watcher,
ready to record it.
That is, he is watching him and is
always present with him.
This is like the verses in which Allah
says, while indeed there are watchers appointed over
you, honorable scribes, who know all that you
do.
Okay, so to put this in context, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, from the beginning of
the surah up until this point, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala says, we will create you,
we will resurrect you, we will bring you
again to life.
We will hold you accountable, and He is
going to mention this in the rest of
the surah.
Allah is going to mention a scene, a
typical scene of what happens on the Day
of Judgment.
Since the disbelievers are in denial, and they
are presenting their so-called arguments, which are
literally just desperate rationalizations, they are more of
a distraction.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala proves to them,
through His signs in the creation, also through
His previous stories of the previous nations and
their destruction.
And then, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala finally
tells humans, not only are we able to
bring you back to life again, but Allah
knows what happens inside of you, inside, in
your mind, in your heart.
What happens, you know, the inner dialogue that
you have, the desires that you have, at
different levels, the intentions that you have, the
thoughts, the ideas you entertain, the fantasies, everything,
Allah knows all of that.
Even some of the things that you are
not aware of, as they call them today,
in your subconscious mind, Allah knows about all
of that.
And Allah sees all of that in every
human being.
As it happens, and how it affects you,
and how it's processed inside of you, Allah
knows all of that, because He designed you,
and all of that is His creation.
What is inside you, your thoughts, are the
creation of Allah.
Your desires, your intentions, are the creation of
Allah.
So there's nothing missed.
For you, it might be a mystery, but
it doesn't mean it is the same for
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
For Allah, everything is laid out, everything is
clear.
He knows it before it happens.
So not only are we able to create
you once again, bring you back to life,
but Allah even knows what happens inside of
you.
And do you know, in psychology, so they
made, I don't know how they made this
research, but they made this research, they tried,
had their ways, they're not necessarily 100%
accurate, but they could be close to that.
They tried to figure out how many notions
pass your mind on a day.
Every single day.
So one of the estimates, which is one
of the most accepted estimates in the study
of psychology, is that every day at least
60,000 ideas or notions go through your
mind.
A lot, 60,000, right?
Every day.
Allah knows all of that, and these are
the ones that you can count, probably it
was self-reports, this is how they probably
got this from.
But I'm assuming that they got people to
report over like 10 minutes or 15 minutes
how many passing thoughts or notions they had
went through their mind, and then they multiplied
that by the hour with a big sample.
Probably, I'm assuming that's a typical way to
do it.
But that's self-report, and self-reports have
their limitations, right?
Because there are so many things that happen
inside of you that you are not even
aware of.
And until they come into your awareness, full
awareness, it's a journey.
So most likely what you are not aware
of about what happens inside of you is
much more than what you are aware of,
because you have limited capacity for attention.
Allah knows all of this.
Allah knows all of this.
So Allah says, وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانُ What created
man?
Humans.
وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوِسُوا بِهِ نَفْسُهُ And we know
what is your nafs whispering in you.
SubhanAllah, Allah uses the same word to waswis
and nafs, and nafs here does waswasa.
In Surah An-Nas, Allah refers to shaitan,
يُوَسْوِسُوا فِي صُدُورِ النَّاسِ What is waswasa?
We call them whispers.
No, but waswasa is not whispers.
But that's the closest English word.
What is waswasa?
Waswas, first, by the word, there is repetition.
Like was, was, right?
وَاوْسِينْ وَاوْسِينْ That shows it's repetitive.
Okay, number one.
سِينْ is from أحرف الهمس.
Okay, it's very subtle.
It's very sort of stealthy.
الوَسْوَسَ is basically a notion, a thought, an
intention, an idea that is born into your
mind in a subtle way.
In a subtle way.
That's why they say whisper.
They whisper into you.
Whisper, you can hear it.
But basically, it's an injection.
It's a very seamless, subtle injection in your
mind.
In your heart.
In your heart.
And your heart is the playground for shaytan.
That's where shaytan focuses.
This is what Allah says, وَسْوِسُوا فِي صُدُورِ
النَّاسِ Where does shaytan inject all of these
ideas?
60,000, I mean, there's much more, but
let's say 60,000.
To be honest, I'm sure if someone can
look it up, I'm sure you'll find it.
Is it 60,000 an hour or 60
,000 a day?
It's just a very remote memory.
But anyways, the thing is, do you think
these ideas are from you?
Well, most of them are from shaytan.
This is why it's وَسْوَسَ.
Like, he doesn't leave you alone.
He keeps injecting ideas.
Smuggling.
That would be a good word.
He smuggles ideas, notions, intentions into your heart.
And this is how he keeps you disturbed.
Okay, 60%?
Okay, 60,000 a day and 90%
are repetitive.
Okay, right?
A day, so a day, not an hour.
Okay, cool.
Okay, so not only shaytan, but also your
nafs.
Your nafs.
Now, your nafs.
What is your nafs?
Can you give me an idea what you
think when we say nafs?
Your inner self.
The soul without the body?
Well, that's the opposite of the Arabic use,
by the way.
Okay.
Desire.
Okay.
Do we have anything else from the sisters?
What is nafs?
How do we translate it into English?
Nafs in the sense, in this verse.
Sister at the back.
Sorry?
The self, right?
Do you mean the self as we study
it in psychology, like the sense of self?
Is that what we're talking about?
Okay.
So the self, nafs, nafs, in the Arabic
language, in the usage of the Quran and
the hadith.
Okay?
And the companions and the early Muslim scholars,
up until we'd say century 4 after hijrah.
Nafs has these meanings.
The soul when it's in the body.
So it's the soul.
But when it's in the body, we refer
to it as nafs rather than ruh.
Sometimes we still refer to it as ruh.
But in the Quran, when Allah says, وَنَفْسٍ
وَمَا سَوَّاهَا Allah is talking about ruh in
the body.
Alright?
That's meaning number one.
Meaning number two is when your soul is
in the body, there are desires.
Because you have basic needs.
There are desires within you.
These desires originally are not bad.
These desires, desire for food, desire for drink,
desire for intimacy, desire for socialization, desire for
defending yourself.
Okay?
These are originally good, but the problem is
they are blind forces.
They can't be left on their own.
They need regulation.
They need regulation.
If you let them run your life, they
will lead you to destruction.
This is the desire.
This is النفس الأمارة بالسوء النفس الأمارة بالسوء
It's not an entity.
It's not an entity, but it's a feature.
It is a feature that, what is it?
There is desires.
There are blind desires in you.
They need satisfaction, but there is a right
way, a moderate way to satisfy them, a
legitimate way to satisfy them.
Okay?
They are not essentially evil.
But if they are not regulated, they can
become evil.
And that's when the negative connotation of نفس
comes about.
The desires.
When Allah says, وَنَهَى النَّفْسَ عَنِ الْهَوَى Right?
The ones who will enter Jannah.
The ones who deny the نفس, which are
the desires.
You know, they are called.
They don't give the نفس all of its
call.
They are regulated.
It's regulated by proper Islamic teachings, by morality,
etc.
That's the second meaning.
The third meaning of النفس is blood, which
is not a very common use.
Not a very common use.
But you will find, if you study books
of fiqh, you will find, for example, at
the beginning, طهارة النجاسة This is intermediate level
fiqh.
You will find, for example, they will say
about insects.
They will say, مَا لَنَفْسَ لَهُ سَائِلَ Those
creatures that don't have flowing blood.
نفس.
Blood.
It's not a very common use, but it's
there.
Okay?
So these are the three meanings of النفس.
Today, in modern times, So, in modern times,
they came up.
Okay?
And it was there.
But it was used by philosophers, and thus
Muslims who were affected by philosophy, they also
adopted this, نفس, as self.
But it's mainly, it was popularized among the
Muslim masses only in recent times.
In the early Islamic tradition, there is nothing
called sense of the self.
Sorry, there is a fourth meaning that is
used, which is linguistic.
When you say herself, himself, itself, a reference
to a person.
That's it.
A reference to a person.
More like a pronoun.
That's it.
But it doesn't mean to a sense of
self, which we today call a sense of
identity.
The sense of I, the person, the personality.
Early Muslims didn't have this.
Didn't have this sense of self.
Where today, we have drawn a lot of
stuff from this.
We say, for example, self-esteem.
Right?
Self-esteem.
Do you have a healthy sense of self?
Or an unhealthy sense of self?
Muslims didn't have this in the early stages.
Didn't have this concept at all.
They were not lacking, by the way.
They were not lacking.
But just let me clarify the difference.
A concept of confidence, which is trusting yourself.
They didn't have this.
Because there was no entity called the self.
Like as a sense of self.
A sense of who I am.
My personality.
My identity.
My sense of self.
They didn't have this.
So what did they have?
So the problem is when we bring a
modern, which was in the past a philosophical
concept.
But it became more modern now.
It was popularized in modern times.
We bring this modern time.
Then we go to the Qur'an.
And then we say, oh, Allah talks about
a sense of self here.
Allah knows what happens within your sense of
self.
No.
Allah says, تُوَسْوِسُ بِهِ نَفْسُهُ These are your
desires.
These are just your desires.
There's no entity called self here.
So how did they refer to the inner
experience of the human being?
What we call today a sense of self.
They had one main concept for that.
And it was the heart.
It was the heart.
The human experience.
The inner experience of the human.
The inner experience.
What we call thoughts.
Feelings.
Intentions.
Or motivations.
Everything happens inside of you.
In the Muslim tradition, all boiled down or
was studied within the framework of the heart.
So the entirety of what we call today
the study of psychology.
Do you find it in the early Muslim
tradition?
No.
Was it missing?
No.
They had a different paradigm.
Which was driven from the Qur'an.
What was that paradigm?
It was the heart.
So all concepts of early childhood.
How it affected you.
Your trauma.
How people treated you.
Experiences.
How did that affect you?
What goes on in your mind?
How do you process the world?
How do you process yourself in the world?
All of that was understood through the framework
of the heart.
But when we today were indoctrinated in this
whole concept of the self.
The whole tradition of the heart was relegated
to the background.
We lost connection with it.
It's a very rich tradition.
It's very practical.
And it's very empowering.
It's more empowering than modern science.
Way more empowering.
And it brings about proper health.
A healthy state of being.
But you know what?
You have no access to it.
Because for the last two, three hundred years,
we've been just fed all of this foreign
paradigm.
Which came to replace that old paradigm.
So when you read anything about the heart,
always say this is spiritual.
We are talking about psychological.
I want psychological health.
This talks about spiritual things.
So the heart has become a very tiny
bit.
That doesn't have any practicality.
Nice thing to have.
Talk about the heart.
Sweetness of Iman and things like that.
Yeah, we can talk about that sometimes.
But you know, let's get to the real
thing.
Our psychological health.
We were taken for a ride.
We were taken away from our tradition.
Which is very practical.
And very powerful.
So this was a digression.
But a necessary one nonetheless.
So, وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ وَنَعْلَمُ مَاتُهُ Allah says,
We know what happens inside of you.
Allah is closer to you in His knowledge
than even you are to yourself.
وَنَعْلَمُ مَاتُهُ وَسْوِسُوا بِهِ نَفْسُهُ وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ
مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِ You see your jugular veins?
We are closer to you than they are
to you.
Is that a physical proximity?
No.
We don't refer to Allah in a physical
sense.
We don't envision Allah in a physical way.
We don't.
Because we don't know the nature of Allah.
But what Allah describes Himself with, we believe
in it.
We accept it as true.
Do we try to understand the details or
the modality?
Which is how is that?
No, you don't.
Because then you'll be projecting your physical nature
on Allah.
And that's extremely problematic and will lead you
to false conclusions.
That's why we don't ask about Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala about the names and attributes
of Allah with the question of how.
Allah rose above the throne.
Khalas.
We accept it as true.
But how?
Because if He rose above the throne, that
means He depends on it, carries His weight.
This is what Allah prohibited us from.
You don't ask.
You are assuming that Allah is a physical
entity just like you.
And you're trying to apply the laws of
physics to Allah.
That's a huge infringement on the rights of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That's speaking without knowledge because divine nature is
something else.
It's categorically different.
So we can't apply the logic that we
have learned from this world, that we process
the world with.
We can't apply that to divine, to divine
attributes.
And that's the problem of some Muslim sects
when they again adopted the philosophical principles of
rationality.
They tried to apply them to human nature
and that's why they fell into what?
They're saying, Oh, no, no.
Some of the descriptions of Allah are not
figures of speech.
They're not literal.
You can't take them on their literal sense
since that would mean, like that would lead
to wrong conclusions.
No, no.
The wrong conclusions you have because you used
physical logic, you applied it to Allah.
That's your problem.
Whereas the heart knows if Allah describes Himself
in a way, it applies to Allah in
a way that befits His Majesty.
Once your mind asks, how?
You need to know this is Shaytan doing
That's Shaytan getting you, you know, giving you
these obsessive thoughts.
I want to know how.
And some companions came to the Prophet ﷺ
complained about this.
This is why the Prophet ﷺ says, Shaytan
will come to one of you and say,
Who created the heavens?
Who created the earth?
Who created the tree?
Then Shaytan will take you in this series
of steps.
He will say, Who created Allah then?
Because everything, again, came from an origin.
So what about Allah?
What's the word?
Like let them stop reasoning.
Because your mind is not equipped to go
at that point.
And the question itself is wrong.
The question itself is wrong.
So Allah knows what happens within us and
Allah is closer to us than anything else
in His knowledge, in His hearing, and His
seeing.
So Allah appointed two angels.
Each one of us has two angels.
There's an angel on your right shoulder and
an angel on your left shoulder.
The one on the right, he writes in
a record, in a document, your good deeds.
And the one on the left, they write
your sins, evil deeds, your violations.
But if Allah knows everything and everything is
recorded with Allah, why does Allah employ these
angels?
That's how Allah does things.
He said Allah creates, many times Allah creates
through His creation, right?
How does Allah create water?
Through the water cycle.
Evaporation, the condensation of the clouds, and then
it falls down.
And that's how Allah creates water.
How does Allah create you?
Through the process of reproduction.
So Allah creates through His creation and there
are instances when Allah creates directly.
It's up to Him.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also appoints
some of His creation to do some of
the things, some of the tasks.
Not because He needs them, but because it
is better this way, for you.
So, and these are the two levels of
Ihsan.
The Prophet ﷺ, when Jibreel asked him about
Ihsan, he says, انت عبد الله كأنك تراه
That you worship Allah as if you see
Him.
This is a high level.
You are so connected with Allah, you are
aware as if you see Allah.
Because your heart actually perceives Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
So there's no moment in your life where
Allah is not in front of you, in
front of your heart.
But if you don't reach level, there's a
second level.
فَإِنَّمْ تَكُنْتَ رَاه فَهُوَ يَرَاكَ أَوْ فَعَلَمْ أَنَّهُ
يَرَاكَ But if you can't get to this
level, then He sees you.
So you are aware that He watches me.
So this is a lesser degree.
It's not like you sort of perceive Allah
with your heart, but you keep reminding yourself
that Allah sees me, Allah sees me, Allah
sees me.
So you behave accordingly.
And these are the two levels.
With some people, the fact that Allah knows
everything and He sees everything, that's enough for
them.
This fact dominates their mind, and they're always
acting based on that.
That's how they live their life.
But there are people who don't reach that
level.
So more concrete information is more compelling to
these people.
How?
It's easier for them to be more mindful
of the two angels on their shoulders writing
their deeds.
Wow.
Now this registers with them.
This keeps them in check.
So if the higher level doesn't work with
you, at least this level works with you.
So Allah gives everyone what works with them.
Or at least the level that they are
at.
So there are two angels writing those, writing
your deeds.
And this is something you need to remind
yourself of all the time.
وَلَا قَدْ خَلَقَ مَا يَلْفِظُونَ قَوْلًا إِلَّا لَدَيْهِ
أَقِيبٌ أَتِيدٌ So what are the consequences of
this?
Oh.
Okay, let's pave the way for next week
inshallah ta'ala.
So what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
saying here, and this is, these verses call
for tafakkur, reflection.
Wallahi they invite for reflection.
So Allah is saying, I have created you
and I know what happens inside of you,
everything.
Even the things that are so subtle you
don't know about, you're not aware of.
So I know you inside out.
I know about you what you don't know
about yourself.
I know about you everything.
And I'm closer to you than you are
to yourself.
I'm closer to you.
And this is the meaning of the name
of Allah.
Al-Qarib, but there's another one.
Al-Batin, Al-Batin, Ahsan.
Two of the names of Allah, some names
of Allah come in pairs like Al-Zahir,
Al-Batin.
Al-Zahir, is what?
The uppermost.
And, Al-Batin, the innermost.
Al-Batin, Allah is closer to you than
yourself.
How?
We don't know.
Through His knowledge, and in seeing you and
hearing you, right?
But Allah is closer to you than yourself.
He is Al-Badr.
He is closer to everything than itself.
Right?
So, this should get you to think about
your human nature.
You are not by yourself.
When you are in private moments, you are
not by yourself.
And subhanAllah, we are more fearful or more
aware, I would say, of human surveillance, hidden
cameras, or some spying, hidden spying equipment.
We become more aware of that.
Like if you check into an...
I don't want to mention names of brands
or apps or services, but whatever, like you
check into a hotel or an accommodation, it's
actually good to check if there are hidden
cameras, right?
But you don't feel comfortable, especially if you
are this cautious kind of person.
And there are countries, a lot of Muslim
countries, you are aware of what you say
in every conversation, right?
You're always mindful.
There are informants and things like that.
So, you are conscious.
SubhanAllah, we're so conscious of humans, but what
about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and His
angels?
Because you belong to Allah.
You belong to Allah.
And the faculties you have to think, to
feel, to will, to desire, and to act,
and to speak, and to be, and to
live, is given to you by Allah to
use them in the way Allah wants.
So, Allah watches you.
And on the Day of Judgment, Allah gave
you the discretion to use those, but He
placed a responsibility on you.
You have to use them the right way,
for the right reason.
And then, I'm going to hold you accountable.
All of these things that you have, I
gave them to you, including yourself.
But that comes with a responsibility.
You're here on a mission.
You have to use whatever I gave you
for the fulfillment of this mission.
And I'm going to hold you accountable.
And everything is recorded.
Everything is documented.
And nothing will go missing.
You'll have to answer for everything.
For everything.
You'll have to answer for everything.
Prepare yourself for that.
It's for a short period of time.
There is an eternal life that's decided by
how you fulfill this responsibility.
Well, that's a very good deal.
It's a very good deal.
And then Allah says, I know you're going
to slip.
I know you're going to make mistakes.
So this is why I keep the window
of forgiveness, repentance, open.
You can always make amends.
You can always fix things up.
You can always make it up for many
flaws, faults, mistakes, transgressions.
You can always come back.
That's the way it is.
But I have everything recorded.
And I see you.
I know you.
I don't need anything.
But I'm keeping that for you.
On the Day of Judgment, it's going to
play out in front of you.
You're going to see it.
You can't deny it.
When you see your book, people say on
the Day of Judgment, مَا لِهَذَا الْكِتَابِ لَا
يُغَادِرُ صَغِيرَةً وَلَا كَبِيرَةً إِلَّا أَحْصَعَةً What do
you say about this book?
It leaves nothing big, small, minute, tiny.
It has it recorded.
And since we're talking, the verse here talks
about, because we don't have enough time so
I can bring this up.
وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوِسُوا بِهِ نَفْسُهُ We know what
your self tells you, meaning what your desires,
what ideas, what notions, your desires throw into
your mind.
There is a hadith, one hadith from the
Prophet, and that's misunderstood.
The Messenger of Allah said, إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَجَاوَزَ
لِي أُمَّتِهِ أَمَّا حَدَّتَ بِهِ أَنفُسَهَا مَا لَمْ
تَتَكَلَّمْ بِهِ أَوْ تَعْمَلْ بِهِ That Allah has
forgiven for my ummah, you know what their
nafs, again these are their desires, throw inside
of you, in your mind, the dialogue of
yourself, of your desires here.
As long as you don't act on it
or speak it out.
So many people think, well that means whatever
I entertain in my heart, in my mind,
I can entertain some fantasies, some evil things,
I can play out scenarios of me committing
this and that, and doing this and doing
that, right?
As long as I don't act on it
or I don't verbalize it, I'm safe.
You're not.
You're not.
That's a different thing.
حَدِيثِ النَّفْسِ is what is in this verse,
is these notions, which is الخواطر in the
Arabic language, called الخواطر.
These are the passing thoughts that shaitan throws
at you, or your desires throw at you.
As long as they come in and you
don't engage with them, okay, you're safe.
Why?
Because you don't have control over them.
That's why Allah forgave them for you.
But if you hold on to that, and
play out a whole movie, 18 plus, in
your mind, you're destroying your heart.
And you are getting so many sins.
Because these are the actions of your heart.
The Prophet ﷺ is not talking about the
actions of, he said حَدِيثِ النَّفْسِ حَدِيثِ النَّفْسِ
is the passing thoughts.
It's not these intentions that you entertain, and
these fantasies that you play out in your
inner screen.
Don't do that.
This ruins your heart.
These are actions of the heart.
Honestly, these are actions of the heart.
And what Allah looks at is your heart.
This is why the scholars say the actions
of the heart are greater than the actions
of the limbs.
You see this confusion has really led many
people to allow their hearts to rotten with
evil.
Some people have, you know, envy towards another
person.
And they entertain it.
They flame, you know, they increase the flames
of envy and jealousy towards this person, and
they hate on them.
But they don't express it in terms of
words and actions.
That's gonna ruin your heart.
These are actions.
These are sins Allah gonna hold you accountable
for.
Increasing and entertaining that envy is one of
the major sins in Islam.
So be careful of this confusion, guys.
Be careful of this confusion.
You know, this reminds me of a funny
story.
There's this guy who got a job after
like five years looking for a job.
And he works in a food factory.
And you know, first day he works, and
he works well, and he's very careful to
learn the job and do everything right.
And then eventually, you know, the food items
are passing in front of him on the
production belt.
And one day, like, it appeals to him,
so he takes a bite.
He finds it tasty.
No one says anything to him.
Then he takes a second bite.
Then the following days he starts to eat
more.
And he thinks, oh man, I don't need
to eat at home.
I can just eat from this stuff.
My food is for free.
So at the end of the month, he
gets his paycheck.
And basically, he gets like, what, maybe 20
% of his pay.
And he says, where's my pay?
He says, well, all the food you ate,
that counts.
It counts on you.
It was deducted.
So you don't want to do this with
Allah, entertaining all of this evil in your
heart.
Then you think you understand the hadith of
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam on the
Day of Judgment.
When you come before Allah, full of sins,
be careful.
Alright?
Okay.
We can entertain two questions.
And by the way, questions, I had a
strict policy in the past.
But you know, obviously, we fall into leniency.
If you have a question, ask it now.
Don't approach me after the halaqa with any
questions.
Don't approach me after the halaqa with any
questions.
You have a question, ask it here.
Cool?
After the halaqa, I'm not taking questions.
Don't ask me if I can speak with
me for five minutes, which ends up being
two hours.
Done.
Okay?
Questions.
One for the brothers, one for the sisters.
InshaAllah ta'ala.
Yalla, bismillah.
Ameer.
The sources of all evil, al-kibr, al
-hirs.
I'm not sure.
I think the third one is al-ghadab,
anger.
I think.
I'm not sure.
Yeah.
But, okay, this is not exactly a question.
Someone else?
Yeah.
So, you know how you talked about how
if you don't tolerate your nafs, it can
lead to destruction?
So, if someone is...
I didn't say if you don't tolerate yourself,
it leads to destruction.
No, sorry.
If your nafs fully consumes you, then it
leads to destruction.
Okay.
So, if someone is, for example, addicted to
stealing, and he becomes closer to Allah, and
he becomes more pious, does those passionate thoughts
of stealing, is it still there, or does
it get weaker, or is the ability to
fight that stronger?
The more you love Allah, any addiction to
any evil, like stealing or whatever, starts to
fade away.
And as long as the person does not
engage in them, all of us have these,
everyone has their weakness, and they have these
temptations coming to them.
As long as you don't engage.
Alhamdulillah.
When you engage with them, they become, you
know...
And this is, subhanAllah, Ibn al-Qayyim says,
the secret to tazkiyah and self-discipline is
to watch your passing thoughts and don't allow
into your heart except the good ones.
حراسة الخواطر That's why he says, guarding your
heart from the passing thoughts.
He says, if you do this, everything becomes
easy.
Why?
Because a passing thought, if you entertain it,
it develops into a desire.
Passing thought develops into a desire.
Then you fight this desire.
It grows stronger as you entertain it, but
then you fight it.
Then it grows stronger, then you fight it.
But it grows stronger and stronger until it
grows to a point where it starts taking
over.
It becomes a desire, and a desire can
grow into a critical mass where it eventually
becomes an action.
And you can't stop it then.
You get carried away with it.
So you might say, I just got carried
away.
No, the reason you entertained it, that's when
you were defeated.
So you are accountable for all of this.
Sisters, questions?
Okay, no questions.
Back to the brothers.
Yes, Yusuf?
On the self.
How do we go back to that?
Make du'a.
This is a big project.
Make du'a.
Allah makes it easy.
I don't have a plan for that, Inshallah.
Allah will make it happen, bi-idhnillah ta
'ala.