Muhammad West – Islam From Scratch #15
AI: Summary ©
The importance of Islam is highlighted, including the foundation of Islam and the use of the Quran as a source of reference. The holy month of Allaws is highlighted as a recitation net for achieving the holy month. The title of the Quran is the final title and is the only religious scripture that has remained unchanged for over 1500 years. The discussion also touches on the definition of a miracle and its significance in understanding the spiritual cycle, as well as the physical and mental state of the individual. The segment concludes with a reminder of the importance of slowing code man and receiving the reward of sunGeneration to fast every day.
AI: Summary ©
Just on the regime's without manna from the Lyra Alameen wa salatu salam ala chef mousseline, Sayidina Muhammad Allah Allah He was huge mine, my beloved brothers and sisters salam ala libre Gatto.
Hope you guys can hear me
someone from Bronto
the site Can Am I audible? Oh yes
hamdulillah ma
shukran so much you'll say it and the moment we're confirming muffed struggle to get into into the CBD with the low cheating and traffic lights in your Hamdulillah we got the time.
So Hamdulillah, we sort of concluded one section of
the series last week, and we spoke about the, you know, we started off by discussing, you know, what is Islam, and then we went into a bit of a tangent on atheism, and we spoke a little bit about, okay, so we believe in the concept of a Creator, who is that Allah and we spoke about who Allah subhanaw taala is, and then we spoke about the story of NIMBY item, and the purpose of life and why we are here, and what it what Allah subhanaw taala wants from us. And we then moved on to talk about the pillars of Islam and the pillars of iman. And once you go deeper, and this is a way, I would say for those of us who are born Muslims, or those who have studied, almost from this point on his way
your traditional Islamic Studies project of it is from yearning, that you go to Marissa or Islamic Studies classes, the first thing you would study is
how to perform Salah. So it almost says okay, so you're a Muslim, the first thing you need to do is to perform salah, and so we teach you how to take wudu how to clean yourself, how to prepare yourself for Salah, and so then that's your first, your first lecture is really on salah, and we see a lot of pre work that needs to be focused on. Also, what gets Nick neglected sometimes is the discussion around the pillars of iman.
So broadly speaking, people Muslims will know, I understand that. You know, broadly what Allah Spangler is, I know a little bit about the angels, I know some of the stories of the prophets, and the books that are revealed. I know little bits of Qiyamah and codon coder. It's always a very abstract kind of kind of topic. And I think it's important now that if you know as you study your Islamic knowledge, you go forward in Islamic knowledge is to learn both the sciences to learn in what we call Eman of theology, we will focus on the pillars of iman. And at the same time, the ritualistic side. And so I had a wonderful discussion with a sister who, you know, is interested in
embracing Islam. And she had a very good question. She said, you know, where do I start? You know, Islam is so vast and broad. I want to learn about this region, but where do I begin? I took you know, different books and lectures, and you know, it's almost all over the show where you begin. And, you know, my advice to her was, focus on the pillars of, you know,
you need to know what Islam is about. And you need to understand, as a Muslim, how, you know, can I trust? Can I believe in this religion? What? How do I know that this religion is true? It's correct. How can I put faith in the Quran? How can I put faith in the prophets of Salaam? And so those are kind of the questions that as an external person, if I were to embrace Islam, I would want to have to know those questions is going to be so seldom Is he really a prophet, can I prove that I need to know about his biography, and I need to know about the Quran, before we jump into the rituals of how to pray how to fast those things come Secondly, and so now we're getting a bit more into the details
of the pillars of Islam. And the section is going to be focusing on the Quran. Because as Muslims, we one of the things that we say, and which is very different to other religions, we say that our book, our religious texts, our sacred scripture, the Quran, is the verbatim Word of God Almighty. It's very different to what the Christians or the Jews say about the religious texts. The Christians and Jews don't say that this is what God revealed verbatim. They'll say, look, it was inspired by God, and prophets and men and scholars, they compiled, you know, the inspiration of God, and they wrote it down. And therefore it's, it's a work of man, it's a man made a product, but inspired by
God. And that's what the Bible in the Old Testament would be. And therefore it can be subject to error. There could be changes, and that's why you have versions of the Bible versions of the Old Testament, and so forth in all other
religions. From an Islamic perspective, we say that this is the word that Allah subhanaw taala spoke without any change without any alteration without any additional edit. Therefore, it must really stand up. You know, it's a bold claim. It's a powerful claim, and it's the oldest
is on the Muslim, it's the Muslims job to really not only just we say that as a slogan, we need to believe it. And we need to obviously prove it. And so in this next section for the next couple of weeks, we're going to talk about the Quran as a book and as a medical, is it really the, the word of Allah subhanaw taala Almighty, if you were an external person, if you were speaking to a non Muslim, could you prove that the Quran is a book from Allah subhanaw taala. And I think it's a very good series, especially for non Muslims who are interested in understanding the Quran, the Quran, you know, it's not also perhaps the easiest book to, you know, for someone to open the book, and you
know, as a non Muslim, you open the Quran, you read Surah Fatiha, and you get to Surah Baqarah. It's sort of I don't understand what is being discussed here. It doesn't have sort of a, a flow like a once upon a time, and there's a story. It's it has ideas and concepts, and so it requires a bit of study and analysis. Okay, so Inshallah, we'll begin by sharing our slides.
Bear with me, before we actually jump into the lecture or any questions from anybody?
Let's have the slides.
Is there anyone that has a comment, maybe?
Check, we see what questions basis we received a question go into, but it's based on the code
that is permissible to confirm one sheet for more than one time.
Okay, so so it is
hudge Hamdulillah. In fact, we perhaps should, should start off with that in saying that
you're in South Africa, from from this evening from makuleke. Now, it is the first of the hijab,
the first of the 12 month of the Islamic year, which is the month of pilgrimage, one of the coldest months of the year, and it's the month you know, in this month, they would be the pilgrims would perform the rituals and all the millions of people across the world or you know, a converging on Makkah.
And we know that these these days so these beginning days of this month are the holiest days of the year. So and we'll talk more perhaps Perhaps our series for Joomla from next week onwards Hajj, but for for those of us who would like to talk a little bit of Hajj, obviously commemorates the sacrifice, Nabi Rahim, his rituals and his family. And part of that was the sacrifice of Allah strong, artistic and we brought him by asked by commanding him to sacrifice his son is married. And it was as a taste that I will never intended. Of course, in Hebrew, I understood that it was never an intention that Allah would cause any harm to the smile, but it was to taste how far nubby Brian
would go, and in that,
you know, symbolic nature of when you sacrifice a sheep. It is it is it Allah says in the Quran, the blood of the sheep and the meat does not reach Allah, Allah doesn't that Allah doesn't need sustenance of food. But Allah wants to see that we take something that we love. And I mean, this is the symbolism of how much of an Abraham sacrifice he took the thing that he loved the most, the smile, and he said, My love for Allah is primary. And then my love for my son comes second. And if push comes to shove, Allah comes first. And that is sort of the the idea behind curbar that we take something that we love.
And it's basically money and look, it's quite expensive. 3000 Rand or 3200 Yeah, you know, it's some, you know, most people will feel it, but you take that which you love. And you see the taqwa the consciousness of Allah subhanaw taala, you sacrifice that. And the meat gets shared amongst people who are in need of it, people that are hungry. And so that is, of course, the purpose of Corbon. And the more you feel, and the more you share, and the more you feed this, the more you would eat. And Allah subhanaw taala, of course, doesn't need to eat. He's the one that feeds, but it is to see how we sacrifice the things that we love for His sake. So obviously, if you're buying a
sheep to Coliban, you're obviously not buying something else. 3000 Rand could have gone to some other kind of thing, but because you're sacrificing that, and that is your Corbyn. And the question is a lot of
rules around Corbin. So usually when you sacrifice, it is on behalf of yourself or someone else. And
we know that the Prophet Salam when he when he slaughtered he said I slaughter on behalf of myself, Muhammad and my family and my whole Ummah and so he could bond on behalf of a whole bunch of people and so it is permissible that if you want to quit bong and it's good actually to say I could have done this on behalf of my entire family. You could do it specifically for one person. So you think about it that award is shared amongst multiple people that it would it goes to a single person and so that inshallah it is permissible to Corbon the sheep amongst your family and I think this is the time of the year we
everyone if at least maybe one fat every family should try and cut back on one sheep. I think it's improved
didn't mean in Hanafi madhhab. For example, it is required that every single person needs to slaughter every year for themselves, you know, so Shafi mother doesn't say that, but perhaps every household if you can afford to do so, to slaughter a sheep on behalf of the entire family, of course, it's the end of the year you think about it's the end of the day, we've all committed sin. We want Allah subhanaw taala to remove our sin to put Baraka in our life to grant health and sustenance. And so that is our, you know, our sacrifice for ALLAH SubhanA sake, and we know that that symbolizes Mahajan, the beauty of it is that it's the ins that he goes, he goes a sinful person
and he comes computed completely clean and pure. We of course, unfortunately are not been invited to go and hide to the SIOP. But the two aspects of hygiene that we can do, the one is we force on the demographer which is the ninth of the hijab next week, and we get to quarterback. So those are the two aspects which we are not Hodges can do. And so it's important that we keep up this ritual at Burano Islam. We also offer this,
you know, product for those who like to Corbin and Hamdulillah. I think what's beautiful at the Quran, way of doing it is we keep up the tradition of gardening,
we actually cover so in the past what you would do, you would bring your animal from wherever you were to Makkah so you you'd say many, many months before Hajj, this sheep, the special one, this one that is nice and fat and fit and healthy. The nice one, this one, the best one, I think this one, I'm going to sacrifice for Allah Subhana Allah, and that sheep will be decorated. And as you walk through the desert, everyone knew that is the sheep that is going to be sacrificed for Allah Subhana Allah has
given to the poor to Makkah, it's a gift as well to the poor, and you choose the best that you're giving. And so hamdullah we still do that little practice here we call him that we cover the sheep up with the sash, and the way you slot it, of course, many people in the time that we live in, and rightly so we're very conscious about animal rights. And so hamdulillah as we know that all the prophecies have been said that when you slaughter you need to slaughter with a son in the most perfect manner where the sheep has no emotional distress, I mean, literal and physical distress, the sheep shouldn't see another sheep being slaughtered. And the sheep he shouldn't even smell the
blood. So it's the spear, the sheep any kind of distress or discomfort and Hamdulillah I remember listening to, you know, a comment by the SPCA, and they said that if the Muslims practice the slaughtering according to the religion, then we have no concerns, you know, by 200% You mean and So alhamdulillah it's always good that year we try to do the utmost in terms of preserving the honor and the dignity of the sheep. And of course if you can't if you can't say hello to them, we invite you yet Ronald Islam to come in and the sheep outside so when they're out but they they pin when they come in, they bring the children and play with a sheep inshallah. Okay, that's with regards to
Quran any questions on karma before we get into Quran two very different things.
Just have a look.
Go, right. Okay, so let's start with the Quran and the miracles of the Quran. And to go through the miracles of the Quran, we're gonna have to look at the Quran from different dimensions.
From the scientific miracles in the Quran, to the prophecies, the Quran, make certain mentions about the future that came through the Quran from a
preservation how the Quran was preserved, and the only when you can really appreciate the magnificence of the Quran? Is it to compare it to other books and other other scriptures? So compared to other sacred texts, how does the Quran compare to other books? Or is the Quran compared in this
section tonight, we will look at the Quran from a linguistic standpoint, if you took the Quran and you compare it to other books in the Arabic language. Now we say that this book is the book from God Almighty, right? This is his book. Surely anything that Allah speaks or makes should stand out as being very special, is not going to do something mediocre. Obviously, this is from God Almighty, it needs to be a very special book. And it should be clear to anyone that studies it, that this is something beyond human engineering, you know. And so, when we get into the Quran, we as Muslims say that the Quran is the greatest miracle that the Prophet SAW Selim was was gifted, every prophet of
of God is given a miracle to convince his people and sidenote, why do we need miracles? It is, it is part of Allah's mercy to mankind, that not only does he command you to worship him, he also gives you signs to indicate that the message is credit. Certain, you know, Allah has given us a brain and he wants us to use that brain to look at the signs and to get to the right conclusion. He leaves the landmass of Allah in a manner which reports his majesty he leaves like you know at
they'll have bread crumbs that you follow it, you should ensure our reach the destination. And so of all the miracles that Allah has gifted to every prophet, the greatest miracle and a miracle which we still have in our hands that is tangible that you and I can see, we when they when Moses is separated the 80 We will not the when you know nobody Issa was born without a father, but an all those medicals have come and went. This medical is a medical that is tangible for us. And that is why when we talk about the Quran, we all know that when you talk about the verses of the Quran in Arabic We say the ayat the Quran has X amount of verses we don't say verses we say I had an idea
means a sign. So every verse of the Quran, Allah describes it as a miracle. Every verse of the Quran is an iron is a sign it does. Allah doesn't use the word Margie is that Marchesa is medical, but you use the word Ira IRA is
something to be very interesting. When Allah says, I seem to fit around Pharaoh nine ayat.
It literally means I sent him nine signs, not nine medicals, because Allah subhanaw taala medical, the purpose of it is to, you know, to amaze and to cause excitement and to cause you know, something, it's to it's to, it's to inspire, you know,
inspire excite people, whereas an IRA is meant to guide people. And so it's not for entertainment purposes, Allah doesn't send miracles to entertain people, but rather he sends medicals to guide people. And so they'll people will look at the science and understand it and try to follow it and those who reject the science. And so that's what Allah calls them ayat in the Quran.
So the word Quran linguistically, we always, always good to start with the linguistic meaning it means the recitation net, which is recited as very important, I know in Cape Town, for example, and I'm sure in most parts of the world, you will say to your, your child, you know, bring me the Quran, and you mean the book. Now, that's incorrect, technically, linguistically, that's not correct. The Quran is something which is great. It is it is verbal, a Quran recitation, if you say, think of it as a recital. So you can't say I brought the recital to my father, you said, I listened to the recital. I was part of the recital, but you can't touch a recital. Now Quran means a recital,
something which is recited, whereas the word must have is a book from the Quran. The book that we touch, we call this a must have. And
as we said that Muslims believe that the fact that the Quran is from Allah is not something new to mankind, every mean the Abrahamic faiths for example, we believe that Allah did reveal books to interview, Brahim Abraham. Allah has revealed scriptures to download the Psalms of David, the tower automobile, Musa, and then of course, the Gospel, the nglt Anomalisa. So the fact that revelation has come from Allah to Amen, is that something unique and new, rather than is just the final revelation, you have the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Quran is the final Testament, there is no revelation after the Quran. And Muslims, of course, believe
that this is the final book. And of course, as one revelation comes it abrogates it supersedes the previous revelations.
And we as Muslims, we claim this, and obviously, non Muslims may, we'd have different views on this, we say that the previous scriptures, we still believe in them, we believe that they that Allah revealed to the ISA and maybe Musa scriptures. And if they had remained in the original divine form, then we would believe in them and follow them, no doubt. However, the original and I mean, the adherence to those faiths will admit the original book that was revealed to me Musa Moses doesn't exist anymore. And the original book that was revealed in the ESA, Jesus doesn't exist anymore. What we have is a man written scripture, trying to fill in the blanks of what has been lost for many,
many, many 1000s of years. Whereas the Quran we say, is the only one of these sacred scriptures that has not been lost and has not been tampered with. And it's still in its original, its original form. So the Quran was revealed 1500 years ago to the Prophet Salaam. So it's important that we say it was revealed. It was sent down in bits and pieces over a period of 23 years. So the Quran has,
you know, 114 chapters not it didn't all come down in one go and it's I'm sure it's a question that most people will have. Well, why didn't the entire book come down to the Prophet peace be upon him in one go? And how did this thing come down? And I think revelation is important to understand. You know, the companions of the Prophet SAW Salem asked him this very question, how do you get a revelation? When Allah communicates with you? How does this thing happened? And the Prophet peace be upon him basically said that there are a number of ways that Allah communicates with me. One way he
A the angel, Angel Jibreel Gabriel comes, and most of the time he would come in the form of a man,
not in his angelic form, you would come in the form of a you will take the form of a human being, and he will teach the Quran to the Prophet salah. And there are many narrations with a companion. So the strange man, and that will be the video and they will know who is this guy, they wouldn't know who he was. And then he goes, of course, afterwards the property that was the angel who came to me, and he inspires and teaches the words to the Prophet peace be upon him. And the other way in which the Prophet Salam would get revelation is way he would receive the words almost, you know, it would be how would you say downloaded it would, you know, into his heart directly from Allah subhanaw
taala. And he said, this was very difficult to get revelation like this is very, very difficult on him physically, he would say it is like that, like you'd hear the sound would be like the ringing of bells in his in his ear, and he would physically go into a sweat, he would form he would get into some kind of trance. So the Sahaba, the Companions, many of them would see this, they would see that when you get to Revelation is, you know, his, his eyes will almost close. And he would have as if though something was upon him.
Once the province was or was sitting on a camel, and when this happened, the camel buckled under the pressure and the camel had to sit down. Once the problem was holding the hand of a Sahaba, his hand was on the shin of a Sahaba when he received revelation, and it was as if though, the pressure on the leg of the Sahaba things like buckler, the one he said it was as if the my leg was going to break. So the prophecy This is the most difficult form of Revelation. Another form of Revelation which is very unique is where Allah subhanaw taala speaks to the Prophet and this only happened that we know of, in two instances, where the the messenger, a messenger years the voice of Allah in a
manner which we've it's all His Majesty am Allah doesn't have, you know, sound and those kinds of things. But Allah communicates in a way with with the Prophet actually years, Allah subhanaw taala speak, and this only happened in two cases one Nabi Musa on the mountain of Siam, Nabi Musa from the burning bush, they voice emanated, and this was the word of this was the voice of Allah subhanho wa taala. And then of course, the Prophet SAW Selim at the salon the mirage in his ascension, he spoke to Allah subhanaw taala. And Allah, Allah spoke to him. So this is a very unique kind and Allah mentions of the Quran, that never does he speak to a prophet except from behind a type of petition,
that there is a barrier between Allah and His creation. And the closest, you know, any person has come, are these two instances where Allah spoke to Prophet Musa and Nabi Muhammad wa salam through this petition.
So then this the Quran came down, and this is how the Quran was revealed in different ways, either through Gibreel, either through the words coming down, or Allah speaking to the Prophet directly, and it has remained unchanged. And it's the only religious scripture that has remained unchanged in its original format for the last 1500 years. You go to China, you go to America, you go to any mosque, even go to different sects or denominations in Islam. And for those of us we know that there are different groups of Muslims who have different maybe rituals, they have different beliefs even, but the Quran is the same, our Quran and the Quran is the same. And it's amazing that, you know,
Islam is not short of its own internal differences. Yet, when it comes to the Quran, you won't find a different Quran anywhere else on Earth, that is unique to the religion. So that alone tells you something very important. Muslims make a very bold claim that yes, Allah has revealed many scriptures, but this is the final one, and it will remain intact until the end of time, it will not be corrupted, you will not be changed, it will not be lost. And every single scripture that preceded it was changed was last was conducted. The Muslims said no, this is not gonna happen. And 1500 years we are testament to that, that it has remained unchanged.
Right? So we say that the Quran consists of chapters, and these chapters are of varying lengths, you have some chapters that are very, very short, three or two or three verses, and you have some chapters that are very, very long, and they are 114 chapters. And the order in which you find those chapters is not the order in which they will reveal to the important if you go to the Quran, and you read chapter one, it is the Quran was not revealed chapter 1234 and ended with chapter 114. In fact, chapter 98, or 96 was the first chapter to be revealed. The beginning of chapter or so one of the last chapters you find in the Quran was actually the first to be revealed. And we'll talk more about
why was it revealed in that manner? Why was it seen in such you know, almost,
you know, disorganized from our perspective, or why was it revealed like that, and that in itself is a miracle. Right.
Okay,
So we are trying to prove in the series that the Quran is a miracle and therefore it's important for us to understand what is a miracle? What's the definition of a miracle? Does it meet the definition of a miracle. And basically, a miracle is an act, an event, an occurrence, that is not something which can be reproduced, it is extra ordinary, it does not conform with Nat, it defies the laws of nature, it defies any human intervention, it is not something which can be replicated. So this is a definition of a miracle. And so we ask, if the Quran is a miracle, it needs to do that it needs to defy any rational, logical, normal, natural explanation of how it was, it was formula so does the
Quran meet this criteria? Inshallah, that is our discussion. And we begin this evening with looking at the Quran, from a book in the Arabic language. So if we take the Quran, and we put next to it, by book of poetry in Arabic language, a textbook on biology, we take, I mean, the Arabic language has many, many books. The Arabic language is older than English. So it has a vast, rich history of literature. There are many, many books in Arabic. And if we were to compare the Quran with these other books, just from as as a book, you know, if we were Arabic speaking professors, and we are in our library, and Hamdulillah, a library that I'm very, very proud of me to African economic 1000
books, most of them are Arabic. And if we were to say, well, we compare these are the books of Imam Shafi. That's the book of even cathedra. That's the book of some romance author, Rumi's book on poetry. If we take all these books, and we put the Quran on one side, we compare them is the Quran does it stand out is something special. So let's go through some of these points. The Quran is the first and the oldest book in Arabic language. So no person, please see that in writing a book. Now, of course, they were the Arabic language is a language, they were obviously
writings, poetry, contracts, treaties that were put down in written form. And these were parchments all over
Arabia. But there was never a single person in the history of the Arabic Arabic speaking world that compiled a book. The Quran is the oldest book in the Arabic language. And so this in itself is amazing. Because as you would know, and we obviously grow up, we are all products of literature. We know when you write something, you first read, you know, you need to write, in your in laws, any of us wrote, essays or wrote reports, it's always easier to read something, understand ideas and concepts and then put it on paper. And it's sort of, you're informed by something before it, the fact that the Quran had no writing before it means that the author, this was completely novel, just
completely new, it's an it's completely
an initiative that had no precedent. And that is a powerful thing for the Quran to be the first and the oldest Arabic Book, we can almost say that every single book in the Arabic language is a product or is influenced by the Quran. And so without a doubt, this point alone tells you that within the Arabic language, the Quran is the most influential book in the whole language of in Arabic, where as you contrast maybe other scriptures and that it's not it's not meant to to make any other sacred book look lesser, but it's only by way of comparison. If you if you look at English, for example, you wouldn't take the Bible as a book of literature or a book that that the English language we say
the 100 most important books in the English language, the Bible wouldn't necessarily be on that list way as no doubt the Arabic language was formed after it was formalized, and really excelled after the revelation of the Quran.
The Quran, its style is in Haifa, high form of poetry. So it's not if you and because we are non Arabs, we can't fully appreciate the beauty and the majesty of the Quran. But the entire book so when the Quran is talking about, you know how to slaughter a sheep how to take we do it is in prose, it's in a form of poetry, it has arrived as rhythm. And so if you imagine a legal textbook, and because a lot of the Quran is law, you do this and don't do that and how to get married and what fractions must go in terms of inheritance. Now something which is very, very
heavy in terms of law, but it's in the form of poetry, it's that in itself is very special, and that it style is unique. There is no many poets they you try and that they were influenced by some poet before them. The fact of the Quran was not influenced by anything in its own unique style. That makes it very, very special. I mean, even today, if you were to study Arabic as a language, not not the religion of Islam, but you want to study Arabic as the language you go to
University like I know UCT UniSA, you would find that you'd have to have some claws on the Quran because it is such an important book within the law in the Arabic language and its style is so unique and it's
the rhythm in it is so beautiful that it is the most and that we just say because we believe in it, but even non Muslim Arabs, so Arabs that are non Muslim, there are many of them are many, many millions of non Muslim Arabs, they will also tell you the Quran, they will say perhaps was written by Mohammed Salah Salem, but it is beautiful, and it is the highest form of poetry in Arabic language. Yes, it is very easy to understand. So you so you have university professors dissecting and interpreting the Quran, but you'd find very, very small children, reciting memorizing the Quran and understanding what it means understanding at a very basic level. And so that is one of the
beauty of the Quran is that at every stage in your life, many of us we grew up, you know, learning the Quran. And those same sections of the Quran that we memorized, as you know, five year old six years old, later on in our 60s and 70s, those same verses that we've read all our life has meaning it still has guidance for us. And that is one of the beauty of it is that it's accessible to everyone. So you'd know that you can't give a child Shakespeare, they wouldn't be able to understand it. And in fact, you only fully understand Shakespeare by becoming you know, studying deep literature. The Quran is accessible to the old to the young, to the educated to the illiterate, it
has meaning for everyone. And the Quran in its style. As I said, it's a bit it's unique as a book, if you never open the Quran, and as a non Muslim owner and this is my discussion with the system or the guide to Islam. She said I opened the Quran and I find it very difficult to initially I found I didn't understand what is happening the the Quran of course doesn't start off with once upon a time a man you know, Allah did this did that it is filled with stories, parables, character sketches, figures of speech, it's almost wants you to reflect and think about it throws analogies. And so the Quran in its style is unique. It's not like another you can't do in Arabic, you couldn't say there
is a book similar to the Quran. And that is very important to understand. You can't like in the Quran to any other book.
And so if we give examples of how the prose the style of the Quran, where Allah subhanaw taala wants to compete two things, and these are two verses of the Quran that we can we just to show you the the beauty of the Quran so Allah, there's a chapter called Surah Noor, the chapter of light.
In fact, this verse is said to be the most discussed, verse in the Quran, the verse that has the most interpretations, there are so many
things you can derive from this verse. And different scholars have read this verse and come up with many different interpretations. And I'm gonna open it to the floor perhaps when we read it to what is this verse talking about? So Allah envisage, there's a chapter chapter 24, it's called Surah, a node of the chapter of light. And because of this verse, that's where the chapter gets its name. So Allah says, Allah who somehow it will, that Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth method on what he can be shared, that the likeness the symbol tude of his light, is that of a niche and opening in a wall fee hub is in the opening in that niche. There is a lamp ulmus bajo fi Sujatha the
lamp is covered or is encased in a glass as you Georgia Canna Coco Manduria you call them in charge everything Baraka, the gloss, so again, there's a niche in the wall in that niche is a lamp. This lamp is encased in glass. The glass is so sparkly. It looks like it's a bright star. Allah says this glass is so the glass shimmers like it is a stock. You call the women charge everything mobile raka the in which
if the lamp is kindled from an in that class, there is it is kindled the oil inside it mean charge it Mubarak kitten zaytuna tiene la sharqiyah wala whatever it is. It is illuminated with oil from a Blacet three Neva from the east nor the West it is this the oil that comes from this that is inside this lamp is from a very special trip. You can say to her you do Willam Willam the Messiah sooner or that the oil itself
before it is lit it already sparkles so in this glass lamp, there is oil and the oil even before any fire has touched it. It is already bright. It's already illuminating in itself. What I'm Sassou Naira moon and then when when when it does become you know touched with with with a fire when a spark does hit it. It is Light upon light. Allah says your head
Hola julio de Masha Allah guides to whom is to use like to whomever he wishes, where they belong. And thirdly, Nas and Alisson I give you examples in the Quran will love equally Shane Alim that I give people of knowledge and thinking,
examples for you to reflect on. And Allah has knowledge over. He is a way of all things. So again, just to summarize this verse, Allah gives an analogy. He says that the Allah begins by saying he is the Light of the heavens and the earth. And to compare his his light, he compares it to this opening in the wall where there's a lamp, this lamp is made from a very, very sparkly, clean, clear glass, which nothing is there's no distortion in this glass. Inside the glass is this oil, which comes from
a Blissett three, an olive tree that is extremely light, you know, I beautiful pure olive tree, the oil itself is so pure, that it appears as if though it means giving off light, even before any fire has touched it. And when fire does touch, it does come in contact with this olive tree, the illumination is moving along with its many layers of Light upon light. And so Allah says, this is his light, and whoever he guides to the light of Allah is, you know, whatever He wills and he gives us an example for us to understand. Now maybe if I take and I say this is the most amorphous seed of seed i in the Quran. So many hundreds of scholars have derived different meanings to this, this
verse is there anyone who wishes to do venture what this verse actually is talking about what is all talking about in this verse?
Anybody
when will talks about the light the lamp? The oil, the glass Light upon light? What is this actually being? What is the analogy because this is Allah is giving an analogy. What do you think this means?
Anybody nobody? Do you know you just Chai
I used to love English class. One of my one of my most
Go ahead, sister.
I'm gonna I'm gonna be clever. Now I listened to one of your earlier lectures on your earlier lectures, right? That was about the miracles of the okay.
Yeah, so you spoke about the theory. And when you say that Allah speaking about the niche is the person's chest or something? And in the light is the person's or?
You sneaky but Hamdulillah? Yes, we have spoken about this before.
So just due to two dimensions, one one is before we go into that there's actually other interpretations but that interpretation, sort of the standard one, is there anyone else that when you hear about this, obviously the light of Allah and Allah says he's the Light of the heavens and the earth.
Just on that point to what does it mean? Allah is the light of day is the light that you see from the sun, the light that you hope comes out of your bulb, when it's calm isn't causing low cheating. You know, when Allah says He is the light of day, it obviously means he is the one that guides all of His creation, that is watching over all of his creation that sees all of His creation. So Allah is the one that brings, that costs away the darkness, any kind of darkness, both physical and metaphorical darkness is cost away through him and by him, that he removes hardship. And so ALLAH SubhanA, Allah almost says that, you know, you're almost to understand Allah as a light. This
guidance is coming from him, and it goes through the heavens and the earth, and when
to receive that light. What what receives that light, the only thing it's not the light, it's not the physical light. It's not your eyes that received the light of Allah, it is the heart that receives the light of Allah, which is the heart that gets guided to this light, it is the heart that picks up and can understand and can see the light of Allah. And so Allah explains that a pure heart is like this, the chest is this opening in the wall, the lamp is the heart so the chest is the niche, the lamp is the heart and the heart of of a person is like this. A pure heart is like this glass that has no a stain on it. So we also have another Allah says in the Quran, can La Bella Rana
Allah could obey Him that on some people's heart because of the sin that they have done because of the evils they have done. There is a Iran a rust on that heart. And so that rust prevents light coming in and light going out. It prevents goodness from coming in, and goodness from going out. And so that heart becomes sort of clogged up with with sin and with darkness. But Allah says no, the default the way in which a pure person, his heart is completely transparent, to receive the light of Allah that glass has
has no stain on it, that it's, it's in itself it sparkles. And so the light of Allah can permeate that heart. And then inside the innermost part of that art is this beautiful essence, of a tree neither from the east to the west, and many times a tree, in most in most religions and in most cultures, the motif of a tree is life, like the tree symbolizes life, it symbolizes beauty, it symbolizes nature wants natural state. And so Allah says, the, the heart of the innermost part of a person comes from this very natural state and character, untainted, pure, that in itself, it is able to almost give off light of its own that a person without being if you go, you remain in your pure
state, your fitrah, you would you would almost be guided. But of course, without the guidance of Allah, then if the guidance of Allah reaches that hot reaches that pure person, the resultant that the light that comes off from that lamp is noon, afternoon. And if you think about a lamp, so a lamp gives off light. So a person, a true person, whose heart is pure, receives the pure guidance of Allah, when that person is guided by Allah, everything they do, is beautiful everything, then they are able to cost off darkness in the world around them, they are able to make life easier for the people around them, they are able to bring happiness to the family, they are able to bring goodness
wherever they go, because they are shining a they are a reflection of the light of Allah subhanaw taala. So very deep, metaphorical canon, I mean, you can derive so much wisdom and so much
meaning from it, that people and conversely if a person,
you know is is is is cut off from the light of Allah, then his heart is sort of covered in this rust, he's unable to see
the way forward, it will reflect and this darkness will manifest in the way this person talks. The way this person conducts himself, the way the person does business, you almost see that the this person is in complete darkness in the way they live their life because they have not experienced the light of Allah subhanaw taala. Is there anyone else would like to comment on that? I mean, we close to the end of tonight's lecture and just this one verse panel, is there anyone that would like to comment and your thoughts on the verse?
Nobody,
at the very least as we go through these verses, it is for you to ask yourself, you know, the personal person in the comments, the author of this verse, you know, to be able to and of course, you were getting it as a translation, when you actually get the,
the Arabic you know the the rhyme of the verse and the way in which the structure of the ayah tells you again once again what a beautiful, you know, how deep and how the mastery of the Arabic language, the mastery of language, the one who authored this or spoke this verse must come from I mean, if you were to ask if you had a question like this on your on your English examined matric to be able to write something like this. And remember, the only way you can prove on medical is can it be manufactured. So yes, there are many poets have written many beautiful things. This is we take one beautiful verse of the Quran, and you derive so much meaning in terms of your life in terms of
how you live your life, just this one, one verse. So, inshallah we will compare this verse to another verse in the same chapter where Allah speaks about someone who doesn't have the light of Allah, someone who doesn't, hasn't received this this light, what is his situation in life? And how does he conduct himself in one last comments before we conclude,
just a reminder for anyone that as well next from from tomorrow is the first of the holy days of the hijab. It is sunnah to fast every day, for the next nine days until eight. And of course, if you can't do that, then at least the Day of Arafah when the hijab or on Mac are standing at Roku for alpha, that is the reward of that is you get two years of sin forgiven, subscribe Allah.
Not a date to be missed. And of course, the best action to be done in this time is to slow down code man, the greatest deed that we can do is to slaughter a sheep, either on yourself on your family included in the families, even those who have passed away to get the reward. So if you're, if you're keen, you can send me a message or you can respond as well and inshallah will facilitate that for you. Just go ahead, have a blessed week ahead. And Mubarak Fatima was ALLAH Sina Mohammed who it was happy so I'm sitting at home Arab anatomy, Salam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh