Moutasem al-Hameedy – The Monumental Tafsir As Sadi – Surah An Najm – Part 74
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In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most
Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of
the worlds.
And peace and blessings be upon the most
honored of the messengers.
Our master Muhammad and upon his family and
all his companions.
And after him, O Allah, teach us what
benefits us and benefit us with what you
have taught us.
And increase us in knowledge.
Indeed, it is You who is the Knowing,
the Wise.
O Allah, grant us the sincerity in speech
and action.
So we started last Friday with Surat An
-Najm.
And I think we spent most of the
time talking about the first few verses.
But we tried to establish something, we said,
that is very crucial, very central in Islam.
And very, very practical.
And by the way, there is a lot
of practicality in the Qur'an and the
Muslim concepts.
But we struggle, at this day and age,
we struggle with them.
We struggle to find the practicality.
Oftentimes, the question would come about that, you
know, I don't find, somebody says, I don't
find the Qur'an relevant to our times.
I don't find the Sunnah relevant to our
times.
I don't find many teachings in Islam or
some, the words of the scholars, I don't
find them relevant to our times.
And we put the brunt on this relevancy
on the scholars.
When in reality, the reason that we don't
sense this relevancy is that we are too
far off.
We are too far off.
And we seem to be entitled.
We are a few generations of entitlement.
We think everything should come to us.
The Qur'an should come to us.
The religion should come to us.
And this is causing a lot of problems.
We don't realize that if the Qur'an
were to come to you, that means it
has to leave its grounds.
And its grounds is the truth.
The grounds is the truth.
So many times, the lack of relevancy is
not because the Qur'an is not relevant.
But because we are operating on a paradigm,
a modern paradigm, that has kidnapped us away
from the truth.
Has kidnapped us away from the truth.
And probably you find, you notice today, in
the dawah scene on social media, on the
online world, a lot of the dawah has
become very relevant.
A lot of the dawah has become very
relevant.
It speaks about contemporary issues.
And it speaks about, and a lot of
it is entertaining.
A lot of it is not only entertaining,
but even very powerful in terms of how
it pulls you in.
But the real test is how truly beneficial
is this content.
Is it bringing you closer to Allah?
Or is it keeping you busy with trivialities?
And my personal observation is that in the
quest of being relevant, a lot of dawah,
a lot of dawah effort, a lot of
dawah content, has actually fallen down to the
level of appealing to the masses.
At the expense of losing true substantial benefit
in terms of your relationship with Allah.
So yes, you're talking about Islamic content.
You're dealing with some details, with some information.
But what is the benefit of that?
At the end of the day, how much
benefit?
How close are you truly to Allah?
In my observation, it's not that great.
You're lost in details.
You're taken into unnecessary conflicts between personalities.
And you will find a lot of what
attracts the viewers of today is the conflicts
and the refutations and the debates between this
and that.
But at the end of the day, how
much benefit has reached your heart in terms
of its tazkiyah?
How much of that?
That's the real question.
That's the real question.
Has your heart improved?
Has the health of your heart been optimized?
That's the question.
It's not whether I'm engaging with something that
seems to be Islamic.
And the Prophet ﷺ sought protection in Allah.
He sought refuge.
He said in one of the adhkar, وَأَعُوذُ
بِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ لَا يَنْفَعُ وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ
عِلْمٍ لَا يَنْفَعُ And I seek refuge in
you, Allah.
I seek your protection from knowledge that is
not beneficial.
That is not beneficial.
Beneficial knowledge is the knowledge that brings you
to Allah.
That makes your heart submit to Allah.
It increases your iman.
Not the knowledge that entertains you.
Not necessarily the one that entertains you.
So when we place a demand on Islam,
on the Qur'an to be relevant, we
might be asking for the impossible.
It's just like, let's take this analogy.
If someone is drowning in a pool of
mud, and they're asking for help.
The only way you can help them is
probably by extending a rope.
Watch out sisters with the binders.
They're quite fragile.
We don't want to lose any brothers here.
And we don't want to lose sisters' brothers.
So yeah, someone is in the mud.
You're not of great help if you jump
in the mud with them.
Instead of having one person in real danger,
we have two people now.
So there is this assumption that if someone
wants to help me, they have to jump
in the same predicament.
That's not true.
That's not true.
A lot of the questions that usually come,
and I sense this from counseling, from the
problems that come, to a lot of imams,
a lot of imams share this concern, is
that oftentimes people want to drag you into
the problems.
Rather than wanting to be open-minded, knowing
that the rut that they got themselves into
doesn't help anyone.
They need to get out of it.
They don't need more people into it.
So just a word before we start, that
there's a lot of practicality in the Qur
'an, and if you find it irrelevant, then
don't question the Qur'an or ask the
Qur'an to come to you.
Maybe it's time for you to start making
your way to the Qur'an, getting closer
to the Qur'an, making some effort.
Because where you are is so dark that
no light can help.
I'm going to recap some of the things,
but I want to highlight this because it's
very powerful and very important.
Allah SWT talks about the Prophet ﷺ, describes
him here by saying, مَا ضَلَّ صَاحِبُكُمْ وَمَا
غَوَى Your companion, meaning Muhammad, Allah is addressing
Quraysh.
Your companion, Muhammad ﷺ, he neither went astray
nor did he follow his desires.
And we have two words here.
We have ضَلَّ from ضَلَال, where we have
الضَّالِّين, and we have غَوَى, غَوَى, which coincides
with المغضوب عليهم, by the way, which is
following the هَوَى, following the هَوَى.
And we said in the Arabic language, هَوَى,
هَوَى, okay, this whole root has this sense
or gives this sense of two things, vacuum
and emptiness and a downfall.
So this is why, it's not like English,
Arabic has the intensity of meaning that you
don't find in the English word desire.
Desire, but هَوَى, it means what?
It takes you down, and it's empty.
It's a delusion, it's not a reality.
It's empty, it's vacuum, so it's a false
promise.
So that's what هَوَى really is.
So the Prophet ﷺ is neither ضَال or
ضَلَال, he has no ضَلَال, no misguidance, and
no غِوَاية, okay, no غِوَاية or غَيَاية.
And غِوَاية is more like transgression.
Linguistically, غِوَاية or غَوَا, it means to be
drawn into something, to be drawn and pulled
into something so strongly, with two characteristics.
First, there is a cover, or there is
an overshadowing, an act of overshadowing.
And there is an act of corruption, there's
a result of corruption.
So when, for example, locusts attack an area,
and eat all of the vegetation, or the
fruits, or the crops, the Arabs use غَوَى
or غِوَاية, meaning the locusts, they have stormed,
they have stormed the area.
And when they storm, there is so much
force, they are drawn into the area.
It's an unstoppable force.
And then, they sort of cloud the area,
they cover the area.
They cover the area completely.
And this is why, usually when locusts attack,
they actually, like the daylight is almost completely
blocked.
Sometimes it's completely blocked, it gets really dark.
So that's the covering.
And thirdly, the end is what?
Corruption.
Which is the destruction of people's food and
crops.
This applies to the self.
غِوَى in the self, which is injustice, transgression,
is the lack of تَزْكِيَة.
The lack of تَزْكِيَة.
Why?
Because your desire, your هَوَى, which takes you
down, and it's a false promise, it's empty,
it takes over.
And it pulls you into things.
It's desire.
It pulls you into things, right, that are
harmful to you, and it covers you.
You don't see properly.
There is darkness.
There is a sense of darkness.
Okay?
There is a sense of darkness.
So it's a sense of darkness.
And also, the end result is corruption.
That's what غِوَى is.
So غِوَى is lack of تَزْكِيَة.
Again, three elements.
We take it from the roots.
From the roots of غَوَى.
Okay?
First, there is a force of pulling, so
you are pulled.
And this is what desire is, right?
It takes over.
It takes over.
We have some popular fathers today.
So we have this force that pulls you
in.
And this is a feature of desire, right?
It's so powerful that you can't even resist
it.
Why?
Because of lack of تَزْكِيَة.
Due to lack of تَزْكِيَة, that's the experience.
It takes over.
Number two, it covers you.
You don't see the truth.
It blinds you to the truth.
This is why the scholars say, حُبُّكَ الشَّيءَ
يُعْمِي وَيُصِمْ Love is blind, right?
Loving something blinds you to the truth of
it.
And this is how people fall for scams.
When they love something, when they have a
desire for something, when their greed is activated
and they're strongly pulled into something, they're blind.
And the third thing is, the result is
what?
Corruption.
Corruption of your heart, corruption of your affairs
and states.
So these are the conditions of humans.
You either follow the guidance and the truth,
or you end up with either ضلالة or
غِواية.
Misguidance or the darkness of desire.
These are the only states.
And this is how Islam assesses humans.
This is how Islam assesses.
These are the three parameters how you judge
a person as good or bad.
Not judge them for the sake of judgment,
but as you deal with people, you judge
them as a good person, bad person, I
can deal with them, I can't deal with
them, right?
You have to make this kind of judgment.
So this is the criteria in Islam.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives the
Prophet ﷺ the best criteria.
He's at the top of these two traits.
The trait of knowledge at the top is
that you have the highest level of knowledge
and يقين.
And at the bottom, what do you have?
Confusion and ignorance.
ضلالة.
And then the other aspect of our humanity
is the concept of تزكية.
When you are at the highest level, you
are guided, and you reach the highest level
of تزكية.
You're cultivated.
This is a تقوى.
This is a رشد.
تقوى.
This is تقوى.
And at the bottom is what?
غواية.
Or ظلم.
Allah says, ظلموا أنفسهم.
They wronged themselves.
Why?
With غواية.
So there is misguidance and lack of تزكية,
complete corruption of the heart at the bottom.
At the top, you have the highest level
of knowledge and certainty, and you have the
highest level of تزكية and purification, cultivation of
the heart.
This is حياة.
In the Quran, you would find them referred
to many times.
Allah would refer to these two aspects of
humans as the mission of the Prophet ﷺ.
Allah says, for example, أَوَمَنْ كَانَ مَيْتًا فَأَحْيَيْنَاهُ
وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ نُورًا يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ كَمَنْ
مَثَلُهُ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ لَيْسَ بِخَارِجٍ مِّنْهَا is the
one who had been dead, but we gave
them life.
And we made for them or we offered
them light with which they walk through the
masses or among the people.
So what are the two aspects?
Life and light.
Life of the heart is تزكية.
Your heart is not sick, it's not ill,
it's not dead.
It's alive.
It's functioning optimally.
When the heart functions optimally, you have the
highest moral standards.
You're selfless.
You have the best morals, naturally.
Your فطرة is activated.
That's life.
And this is what تزكية measures.
So there's different terminology, but we're talking about
the same aspect.
تزكية, life of the heart.
That's life.
And light is the knowledge.
The knowledge.
And it's not the knowledge as we say
today in your head, the knowledge in your
heart that affects you, that impacts your life.
So when you assess a human being for
practical reasons, these are the two aspects.
Their knowledge and their تزكية.
Their light and the life of their hearts.
How do you know the light?
It becomes obvious from what they know and
from how they behave.
It shows.
So it requires observation.
How do you know their تزكية?
When you observe their behavior, especially their mannerism,
their demeanor, their patience.
They are forgiving.
They are selfless.
They have mercy in their hearts.
They have رحمة in their hearts towards others.
They have shyness and bashfulness.
The Prophet ﷺ mentions in a hadith, إِنَّ
الْحَيَاءَ وَالْإِيمَانَ قُرِنَا جَمِيعًۭا فَإِذَا رُفِعَ أَحَدُهُ مَا
تَبِعَهُ الْآخَرُ Shyness, the sense of decency, natural
sense of decency.
And ايمان, which is again, ايمان captures both.
It captures the تزكية, the life of the
heart and it captures what?
The knowledge.
Both.
The Prophet ﷺ said, Shyness, bashfulness, decency and
ايمان have been their twins.
The Prophet ﷺ said they are twins.
When Allah created them, Allah made them twins.
When one of them is lifted, the other
follows.
That's why today, if someone loses their sense
of decency, bashfulness, shyness, right?
They're almost a lost case.
They're almost a lost case.
This is why moral decadence is very serious.
And teaching it to kids from an early
age is not just a random idea.
It's the devilish approach.
And it's very well thought.
And it's designed.
And there is purpose behind it.
Because once you take shyness, bashfulness, a sense
of decency and dignity from the child, you
have killed their heart.
The life of the heart is taken.
Period.
And when the life of the heart is
taken, knowledge doesn't benefit it.
Even trying to do actions outwardly don't benefit
it.
The person turns into a psychopath, a narcissist,
an entitled individual who worships themselves.
All they know is their desire, what's in
it for me.
That's all they know.
That's all they know.
We have been trained to classify human behavior
or try to analyze human behavior based on
psychological parameters, right?
There are different systems.
Some would say, oh, this person is extroverted,
this person is introverted.
This person is more thoughtful, this person is
more intuitive.
This person is more conscientious, this person is
more industrial, this person is less, like in
terms of a dreamer, and so on and
so forth.
So there are different parameters.
In Islam, the core analysis of human beings
is these two things.
The knowledge in their heart, not in their
head.
The knowledge in their heart, that really translates
into lifestyle and into action, how much certainty
they have about it, and also the life
of the heart, which is the tazkiyah.
So when Allah describes the Prophet ﷺ, He
describes him as being at the top of
both by negating the opposite.
مَا ضَلَّ صَاحِبُكُمْ Your companion is not misguided,
so he has the knowledge.
وَمَا غَوَى And there is no desire, he's
not taken over by his desires, he's not
blinded by his desires.
So he is at the top of humanity.
That's what it means.
Where do you score on these two parameters?
Define how good you are in Islam.
And it's a core trait about people's lives,
by the way, about how people behave, and
how their life ends up being.
Yeah, so just keep this
in mind.
You will find throughout the Qur'an, Allah
talks about these two aspects using different words.
Sometimes Allah uses light for knowledge, and He
uses water, because water brings life, Allah uses
it for tazkiyah.
Allah compares the Qur'an to rain.
Why?
Because it brings life to the heart.
It raises tazkiyah.
It removes ghiwayah.
It removes ghiwayah.
This is why if you were to, if
you have to assess someone for practical reasons,
you look at the level of their knowledge,
and their outward actions, right?
You're at a great danger of misjudging them.
Because it has to be at both levels.
At both levels.
The level of tazkiyah, their demeanor has to
be beautiful.
And it doesn't mean kind, because sometimes kindness
comes from weakness.
Kindness must come from the life of the
heart, not from the meekness of character.
Some people are broken, and that's why they're
kind.
Because they're weak.
There's a huge difference where kindness comes from.
Because the person who has, their heart is
alive, they will be kind in situations that
require kindness.
But they will be very firm at times
that require firmness.
You will find, for example, a husband.
They'll be very kind with their spouse, with
their wife.
Very kind, generous, and accommodating.
But when the wife starts to make decisions
that are detrimental, he would be very decisive.
Not abusive, decisive.
Decisive, and he would draw a clear line.
And he would be unforgiving when it comes
to violating the sanctity of Allah's commands, or
the health of the family.
And sometimes it's like, oh, is that a
split personality?
Like, why are you so kind here, but
so stern and decisive here?
Why?
No, it comes from the same root, the
life of the heart.
He's consistent.
But when you look at the surface, it
looks like there's a difference.
But the weak person who's weak in all
situations, that weakness is a flaw.
It's not a virtue in any way.
Why?
Because it comes from being broken.
You'd find the person kind here, but even
when the family is violated, the health of
the family, or the future of the family
is violated, you'd find them also kind.
Unable to be decisive.
They are weak.
And that's not good.
Because that person, even for very obvious and
practical terms, this person won't be able to
defend their family when there's a need for
that.
Because they're weak.
They're weak across the board.
They're broken.
So this is why it's important to see
people through different situations.
Imam Khattab asked about a person, and someone
praised him, and he said, did you deal
with them in business transactions?
He said, no.
He said, did you travel with them?
He said, no.
He said, did you ever anger them, and
see how they act when they are furious?
He said, no.
He said, you don't know the person.
Because what you know is the surface.
Everyone can keep a nice demeanor if they
want to in public.
But it's only when they are tested that
their real colors show.
And that shows you tazkiyah.
That shows you tazkiyah.
So it's important to understand that this is
how we humans are.
This is the reality.
Our reality as humans boils down to these
two traits, or these two aspects.
The tazkiyah, which is the life of the
heart.
And the more you engage with immorality, the
more you engage with sin, the more diseased
your heart becomes to the point that you
can lose, you can lose the life of
the heart, and your heart could die.
Spiritually.
And when a heart is dead, there's no
good in that person.
There's no good in that person.
Any good that is there is pragmatic.
It's pragmatic.
It's not real.
It's just a means to something else.
And these are the people that we call
the narcissists, the psychopaths.
They don't have any empathy.
They don't know how other people feel.
They can easily see someone suffering and they
don't feel anything.
They don't feel anything.
And when the heart is like this, it's
not like left alone.
There's always shaitan in the background.
So when a heart is diseased, just a
small, tiny disease, the shaitan jumps in to
fill that void and win more turf in
the heart.
The more you sin, iman gets less, your
heart gets sicker and sicker, and shaitan wins
more ground.
And eventually what happens with a dead heart,
it is the palace of shaitan.
Shaitan lives in it.
Shaitan dominates it.
And this person becomes a shaitan.
Shaitan al-ins from the people.
Shaitan from the humans.
This person becomes a shaitan.
Yes.
And again, any positive trait that you see
among them, most likely, is not genuine, but
is done for practical or for pragmatic reasons.
They're expecting something from it.
They have hidden agenda all the time.
All the time.
Okay.
I read the...
You know, let's read again.
Let's read again.
I'll read...
I read in Arabic, and I think...
I'm not sure where I stopped.
I think...
Yeah, I think I know where I stopped.
So just read it again in English, so
that we make better use of the time.
Bismillah.
Tafsir Surah Najam.
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.
Here Allah SWT swears by the stars when
they set, that is when they disappear below
the horizon at the end of the night,
when day comes.
That is because there are great signs of
Allah in that, that make it appropriate to
swear thereby.
The correct view is that the word translated
here as stars includes all heavenly bodies.
Allah swears by the stars to the soundness
of what the Messenger ﷺ brought of divine
revelation.
Because there is something amazing in common between
the two.
Allah has made the stars an adornment for
the heaven, and in like manner He has
made the revelation and its effects an adornment
for the earth.
Were it not for the knowledge inherited from
the Prophets, the people would be in darkness,
greater than that of the darkest night.
The point made by this oath is to
declare that the Messenger ﷺ is far above
being misguided in his knowledge and aims.
Which implies that he is guided in his
knowledge and that in guiding others, he has
the best of intentions and is utterly sincere
towards the Ummah.
This is in contrast to the followers of
misguidance, whose knowledge is corrupt and whose aims
are corrupt.
Your companion, he is described as their companion
in order to alert them to what they
already know of his sincerity and guidance, and
the fact that his character is not hidden
from them.
Nor does he speak of his own accord,
that is, what he says does not stem
from his own whims and desires.
It is but divine inspiration, that is, he
is only following what Allah reveals to him
of guidance and righteousness.
He is guided in himself and is guiding
others.
This indicates that the Sunnah is also a
revelation from Allah to his Messenger ﷺ as
he says, حَسْبُكُمْ وَاسْتَغْفِرُكُمْ Okay, so at the
beginning Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala here, and
we said النَّجِم, which is usually translated as
star, but again it was used by the
Arabs to refer to the sun.
Also to other, again, heavenly bodies, stars, even
planets were referred to as النَّجِم.
So any shining object in the skies can
be referred to as النَّجِم.
As النَّجِم.
Why?
Because النَّجِم as we mentioned last week, النَّجِم
means the root نَجَمَا, it means for something
to come up after it was hidden, or
after it was not here.
So it came into the visual field.
It came into this field of vision that
people could see it, but then it disappears.
Then it comes again.
When it comes, this is نَجَمَا.
The Arabs now use it as well to
mean result, something resulted, something came out of
something.
That's نَجَمَا.
Okay, so that's what the word نَجِم means.
And the celestial bodies, they appear during the
night, after in the day they were invisible.
So that's why they're called نَجِم.
And here again it refers to the sun,
but it refers to other heavenly bodies.
And this is a sign.
It's a sign.
Why?
Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying
here, as the sun is so clear and
obvious, no one can doubt it, right?
No one can hide the sun.
It's obvious during the day, and that it
sits when night comes.
As this is obvious to you, Muhammad ﷺ
is just as guided and cultivated.
ما ضل صاحبكم وما غواه There's no misguidance,
and there is no هوا or desire.
On the contrary, he's at the highest level
of تسكية and character that his desire doesn't
take over.
He has تقوى, he controls that.
He's cultivated spiritually at the highest level.
So as the sun is clear in its
rising and its sitting, just as clear as
that is to you, it is clear to
you that Muhammad ﷺ is guided and cultivated.
Period.
وما ينطق عن الهوى And he's not speaking
from الهوى.
And we mentioned what الهوى means, right?
The desire.
But we said it's false promise.
It comes from the self.
It's false promise.
It's empty.
And it takes you down.
That's why it's called هوى.
The root.
This is the sense that the root carries.
وما ينطق عن الهوى إن هو إلا وحي
يوحى The reality, it is revelation.
And revelation means speech from Allah.
Communication from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
the Prophet ﷺ.
Either directly Allah speaks to him or Allah
sends a messenger and that is Jibreel ﷺ
who carries the message from Allah and he
conveys it to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ directly.
Okay, directly.
إن هو إلا وحي يوحى علمه شديد القوى
He was taught by someone who is very
powerful, very strong.
And this is Jibreel.
Jibreel is the messenger.
It doesn't mean Jibreel is the source of
this revelation.
He is the carrier of the revelation.
أَلَّمَهُ شَدِيدُ الْقُوَادُ وَمِرَّةٍ فَاسْتَوَى Oh, we haven't
got to this but okay.
So let's read.
Let me read the Arabic, this part of
this.
وَذَلَّ هَذَا عَلَىٰ أَنَّ السُّنَّةَ وَحْيٌّ مِّنَ اللَّهِ
لَرَسُولِهِ ﷺ كَمَا قَالَ تَعَالَى وَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكَ
الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةِ وَأَنَّهُ مَعْصُومٌ فِي مَا يُخْبِرُ بِهِ
عَنِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى وَعَن شَرْعِهِ لِأَنَّ كَلَامَهُ لَا
يَصْدُرُ عَنْ هَوَةٍ وَإِنَّمَا يَصْدُرُ عَنْ وَحِي يُوحَى
ثُمَّ ذَكَرَ الْمُعَلِّمَ لِلرَّسُولِ ﷺ وَهُوَ جِبْرِيلُ عَلَيْهِ
السَّلَامُ أَفْضَلُ الْمَلَائِكَةِ الْكِرَامُ أَقْوَاهُمْ وَأَكْمَلُهُمْ
فَقَالَ عَلَّمَهُ شَدِيدُ الْقُوَى أَيْنَزَلَ بِالْوَحْيِ عَلَى الرَّسُولِ
ﷺ جِبْرِيلُ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ شَدِيدُ الْقُوَى قَوِيٌّ عَلَى
تَنْفِيرِ مَا أَمَرَهُ اللَّهُ بِتَنْفِيرِهِ قَوِيٌّ عَلَى إِصَالِ
الْوَحْيِ إِلَى الرَّسُولِ ﷺ وَمَنْعِهِ مِنْ اَخْتِلَاسِ الشَّيَاطِينِ
لَهُ أَوْ إِدْخَالِهِمْ فِيهِ مَا لَيْسَ مِنْهُ وَهَذَا
مِنْ حِفْظِ اللَّهِ لِوَحْيِهِ أَنْ أَرْسَلَهُ مَعَ هَذَا
الرَّسُولِ الْقَوِيِّ الْأَمِينِ ذُو مِرَّةٍ أَيْ قُوَّةٍ وَخُلُقٍ
حَسَنٍ وَجَمَالٍ ظَاهِرٍ وَبَاطٍ فَاسْتَوَى جِبْرِيلُ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ
وَهُوَ بِالْأُفُقِ الْأَعْلَىٰ أي أُفُقِ السَّمَاءِ الَّذِي هُوَ
أَعْلَىٰ مِنَ الْأَرْضِ فَهُوَ مِنَ الْأَرْوَاحِ الْعُلْوِيَّةِ الَّتِي
لَا تَنَالُهَا الشَّيَاطِينَ وَلَا يَتَمَكَّنُونَ مِنَ الْوَصُولِ إِلَيْهَا
ثُمَّ دَنَى جِبْرِيلُ مِنَ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ لِإِصَالِ الْوَحْيِ
إِلَيْهِ فَتَدَلَّىٰ عَلَيْهِ مِنَ الْأُفُقِ الْأَعْلَىٰ فَكَانَ فِي
قُرْبِهِ مِنْهُ قَابَ قَوْسَيْنِ أي قَدْرَ قَوْسَيْنِ وَالْقَوْسُ
مَعْرُوفُ أو أَدْنَىٰ أَقْرَبَ مِنْ الْقَوْسَيْنِ وَهَذَا يَدُلُّ
عَلَىٰ كَمَالِ الْمُبَاشَرَةِ لِلرَّسُولِ ﷺ بِذْ رِسَالَةِ وَأَنَّهُ
لَا وَاسِطَةَ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ جِبْرِيلَ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامِ فَأَوْحَى
اللَّهُ بِوَاسِطَةِ جِبْرِيلَ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامِ إِلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ مُحَمَّدٍ
ﷺ مَا أَوْحَى أي أَلَّذِي أَوْحَاهُ إِلَيْهِ مِنَ
الشَّرْعِ الْعَظِيمِ وَالنَّبَأِ الْمُسْتَقِيمِ This indicates that the
sunnah is also revelation from Allah to His
Messenger ﷺ.
As He says, For Allah has sent down
to you the Book and Wisdom.
He is protected and infallible with regard to
what He says about Allah ﷻ and about
religious rulings because these words do not stem
from His own whims and desires, rather they
are based on Divine inspiration.
Then Allah mentions the teacher of the Messenger
ﷺ, namely Jibreel ﷺ, the best, strongest, and
most perfect of the angels.
He was taught by one mighty in power,
that is the revelation was brought down to
the Messenger ﷺ by Jibreel ﷺ.
Mighty in power, that is mighty in power
both visible and invisible.
He has the strength to carry out whatever
Allah commands him to and has the strength
to convey the revelation to the Messenger ﷺ
and to protect it from the eavesdropping of
the devils or their attempts to insert into
it that which is not part of it.
This is part of Allah's guarding His revelation
that He sent it with this powerful and
trustworthy Messenger endowed with immense wisdom, power, good
manners, and inner and outer beauty, namely Jibreel
who manifested himself in his true form when
he was above the horizon, that is the
horizon of the heaven, which is higher than
the earth because he is one of the
beings of the upper realm whom the devils
cannot reach.
Then he, namely Jibreel ﷺ, approached the Prophet
ﷺ to convey the revelation to him and
came down to him from the upper horizon
until he was as close to him as
two bow lengths away or even nearer.
That is, or he was nearer than the
distance of two bow lengths.
This is indicative of the direct nature of
the communication of the message to the Messenger
ﷺ with no intermediary between him and Jibreel
ﷺ.
Then he revealed that this, that is Jibreel
ﷺ revealed by Allah's lead to Allah's slave,
namely Muhammad ﷺ, what he had to reveal
of great religious rulings and the straight path.
Okay.
So Allah here responds to the people of
Quraysh by saying to them not only that
Muhammad ﷺ is guided, the full guidance, the
highest level of guidance, and also he's cultivated
in terms of his tazkiyah, in terms of
the well-being of his heart, the life
of his heart is optimal, and he's at
the best level of humanity ever.
He's the most complete.
The scholars call this, by the way, al
-kamal.
Kamal al-insan.
For those who are interested in the legacy
of Ibn Taymiyyah ibn al-Qayyim, the way
they look at humans, which is the same,
but they use a different language because that's
the language of their time.
That's the language of their time.
They say the reality of the human being,
like Ibn Taymiyyah says, is kamal al-insani
bikamali quwatayhi.
Al-quwat al-ilmiyyah al-nazariyyah wal-quwat
al-iradiyyah al-amaliyyah.
The perfection of a human being is by
perfecting the two aspects that are within the
human being.
The power or the capacity for knowledge and
for learning, al-ilmiyyah, ilm, and the capacity
for will, to have intentions, and to act
on this will, which is the taskiyah.
Again, the knowledge and the taskiyah.
But he just calls it quwa al-ilmiyyah
and quwa iradiyyah al-amaliyyah.
So he defines it in the technical language
of his time.
He says kamal al-insani bikamali quwatayhi.
The perfection of a human being is by
perfecting these two aspects.
Perfecting these two aspects, you're at the highest
level of a human being.
That's what human work is.
This is human development in Islam.
This is self-help in Islam.
This is personal development.
That's it in Islam.
These are the principles.
These are the two aspects.
And then for those who are interested in
Ibn Taymiyyah's speech on tawheed, Ibn Taymiyyah, when
he studies tawheed, he studies it from these
aspects.
So he has al-tawheed al-ilmi, which
is tawheed al-rabubiyyah, tawheed al-asmaa wal
-sifat.
Tawheed of lordship and the tawheed of the
names and attributes of Allah.
Allah's uniqueness in these aspects.
He's the lord, the creator, the nurturer, the
rab, the lord.
And he is the unique and perfect in
his names and attributes.
This is knowledge.
This is what you know about Allah.
This is what you accept as the truth
about Allah.
So it's called the tawheed al-ilmi.
And then the second part of tawheed, which
is how it translates in your life, he's
not like dividing tawheed itself, but he's dividing
how you relate to it.
Al-tawheed al-iradi al-amani, which is
tawheed al-uluhiyyah.
Which is that you worship Allah.
Because how do you worship Allah?
With your intentions and your actions.
So this is tawheed al-uluhiyyah.
With this you have the three aspects of
tawheed.
Tawheed al-rabubiyyah, lordship.
Tawheed al-asmaa wal-sifat, the tawheed of
the names and attributes of Allah.
Tawheed al-ilmi, the knowledge.
That's what you learn, that's the aqeedah that
you absorb.
And that's the light that you get.
And when it comes to Allah's rights upon
you, that you worship Him, that you seek
Him with your heart, with your intentions.
And then you act this out in the
form of actions.
External actions and interactions at the same time.
This is called tawheed al-uluhiyyah.
Tawheed al-qasd, tawheed al-iradi as well.
These are other names.
So this shows you, this is by the
way the central thought of Ibn Taymiyyah himself.
The work of Ibn Taymiyyah goes around this.
You see the huge volumes of Ibn Taymiyyah
wrote?
It all orbits around this.
And it's taken again from the Qur'an.
He's not coming up with stuff, but he
just explained it in the terminology that the
people of his time could understand.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He clarifies
this.
He's telling people of Quraysh, Muhammad is at
the highest level of being a human being.
So there's nothing wrong about him.
There's nothing that can be criticized about him.
He's the most perfect among all humans.
Then he says, not only that in himself,
but what he is communicating with you is
revelation from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Is revelation from Allah?
Is the truth from your creator?
From Allah, the creator of the heavens and
the earth.
And there's no truth except from Allah.
So Allah communicates with the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wa sallam to convey to him this revelation,
so that he conveys it to you and
the message reaches you.
That's the situation you are dealing with.
That's the man you're dealing with.
So make your choices based on this.
So Allah says, what the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wa sallam comes with is revelation.
He's not speaking from himself.
There's nothing from himself.
It's all from Allah.
So he's just a conveyor.
And he is perfect for conveying this message.
He's the right person to convey this message
because of his traits.
Because he's perfect in these two main aspects.
Allamahu shadeedul quwa.
How did he receive this revelation from Allah?
It was mainly conveyed to him through the
messenger Jibreel, who was very powerful and able
to protect the message so it doesn't get
changed, doesn't get distorted.
And he is wise.
It means personal strength and knowledge and wisdom.
So he knows what he's conveying.
And he can protect it.
It doesn't get changed.
He's trustworthy.
He's completely trustworthy.
So it's going to be conveyed as it
is to the Prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa
sallam.
Dhu mirratin fastawa.
This describes the first time he came to
meet the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam.
When he istawa, again, is to rise.
To rise.
So he came from above to the Prophet
Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam to meet him.
And as occurs in the hadith, saddal ufuq.
Jibreel blocked the horizon when he came to
Prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam because his
creation is magnificent.
The way Allah created him and designed him
is magnificent.
Dhu mirratin fastawa.
wa huwa bil ufuq al a'la thumma
dana fatadalla.
Then he came closer to the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wa sallam.
fa kaana qaaba qawsayni aw adnaa.
He came very close to the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wa sallam.
At a bow length.
Like you're talking about an arm's length.
fa awhaa ilaa abidihi ma awhaa.
He conveyed to the servant of Allah, to
Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam, what he was
meant to convey.
ma kadhabal fuqadu ma raa.
We'll come to this next time.
So what's the point here?
Shaykh Sa'd here mentioned something.
He says, wa hadha yadullu ala kamalil mubasharati
lilrasuli salallahu alayhi wa sallam bilrisala.
Kamalil mubashara.
Personal contact.
Direct contact with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa
sallam.
How did Jibreel convey to the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wa sallam?
There were many ways.
Many ways.
But many of them, that Jibreel would actually
enter the mind, the heart of the Prophet
salallahu alayhi wa sallam.
He would sometimes throw the revelation in the
heart.
Sometimes he would get into the heart and
the being of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa
sallam.
And that's why receiving the revelation was difficult.
Aisha radiallahu anha said, that the Prophet's thigh
was above my thigh.
When he received the revelation, my thigh almost
crushed.
My bones crushed under his thigh because of
the weight of the revelation.
So the scholars actually have books.
They've written books on the ways that Jibreel
would give the message to the Prophet salallahu
alayhi wa sallam.
There are different ways.
We're not going to get into the details.
But just to show the way that the
angels come in contact with humans is a
secret.
It's something beyond us.
Sometimes there is direct contact.
Sometimes there is complete intermingling.
How?
We don't know.
Allah knows.
Or with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam,
it would happen sometimes in revelation.
Sometimes he would see it as a dream.
Sometimes, again, the idea would just appear in
his heart.
Or the revelation would appear in his heart.
So these are forms of revelation.
So again, here Allah salallahu alayhi wa sallam
is defending the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam,
establishing his messengership, right?
And removing every doubt about that.
And this is not a speech only for
Quraysh.
It's a speech for us as well.
Even us Muslims.
Because by the way, we might not realize,
but a lot of doubts have seeped into
our hearts.
Especially when there is something that we don't
seem to like or understand about Islam.
And we're facing a difficulty and we're struggling
with accepting the Islamic ruling, or it doesn't
come as we wish.
Sometimes doubts that are lingering in the background
start to activate.
So it's important for us as well.
It's important for us.
Oftentimes we take our faith for granted, but
you know what?
You don't know.
There are a lot of seeds that shaitan
plants in our hearts and our consciousness.
And we have to be careful.
Especially in these times where doubts are spread,
where doubts are fed to us from an
early age.
Under the guise of what?
Education, science, logic, philosophy, history, etc.
A lot of doubts have seeped into our
system.
And they are like dormant viruses.
When the conditions are right, they get activated.
Sometimes they get overwhelming.
So this is why we should always read
the Qur'an.
Always reflect on the Qur'an.
Non-stop.
If you are not doing that, if you're
not engaging proactively with the Qur'an, you
are regressing and you don't realize it.
So it's important for us to read this.
Not saying, oh, it was for Quraysh, but
we're cool with this.
No.
Because as we said, knowledge is levels.
Tazkiyah is levels.
You always want to aspire for a higher
level of knowledge.
You want to aspire for yaqeen.
And how does it happen?
With repetition, exposure, continuous exposure to the Qur
'an, to the truth, to these ideas, thinking
about them.
Reflecting on what Allah is saying here, how
the revelation comes to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
And he received it.
And it illuminated his heart.
And he shared that with humans.
And he had the tazkiyah that enabled him
to handle this with honesty and sincerity and
with complete devotion.
So when you think about that and get
into the details and allow your heart to
absorb that, your iman gets stronger.
So that's the point of reflecting on the
Qur'an.
Inshallah, next Friday we will continue.
We'll go at a faster pace, inshallah.
But we had to set the tone, especially
at the beginning.
Jazakumullah khairan.
Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa
ala alihi wa ashabihi ajma'in.