Musleh Khan – Al-Ahzaab Unveiled – Class 6
AI: Summary ©
The speakers emphasize the importance of protecting one's love and acceptance of his partner, particularly in setting boundaries and finding a strong relationship. They stress the need for confidence and strength in companions' minds, as well as learning and identifying individuals. The speakers also touch on the importance of setting high standards for women, particularly in the face of challenges and finding a comfortable life.
AI: Summary ©
As I said, I'll prepare you for a
test.
Okay, I will give you some material to
look over so because I know that your
notes are probably different from one student to
the other.
So I totally I get that.
I will give you exactly what I want
you to know.
And the test will always be multiple choice.
Okay.
We'll make it easy.
From what I've known, as far as I
can remember, nobody has ever failed a test
of mine.
I've never unless a student just didn't show
up or they just put Salam on the
test.
And that was it.
They handed it back to me.
Yeah.
Other than that, I don't think I have
ever failed a student in anything Islamic ever.
So not to worry.
Um, let's let's continue with our study of
the magnificent Surat Al-Ahzab.
Okay, there's a couple of things that we
want to look at before we start today.
I believe this is where we we we
paused, right?
Yeah.
Verse number 27.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We did look at this.
We looked at this word.
And then that brings us to this verse
is where I believe we paused.
Okay.
This is the last verse about Surat Al
-Ahzab.
Okay.
When I say so the last verse is
the last verse of the Surah that's going
to link some sort of lesson from the
battle itself.
As far as what happened in the battle
and how the Muslims navigated through Al-Ahzab,
that conversation is already finished.
Now we are just looking at the aftermath.
Okay, so these verses from 25 to 27,
these verses are more focused on the aftermath
of Surat Al-Ahzab.
So as you can see, Four things came
out of this battle.
Number one, Allah has also caused you to
take over their lands.
So the real estate for the companions and
the Prophet ﷺ has now expanded.
Remember, after each battle, it gave them, especially
the battles that they were victorious in, it
gave them the power and the authority to
control and whatever land was available to them,
nobody claimed that land was also now under
their name or their ownership or their property.
And as part of Al-Uhud, the battle
of Uhud also gave them the opportunity to
expand as well.
So after the battle of Uhud, the landscape
of Medina continued to expand.
More and more land was under control of
the Prophet ﷺ.
Allah is reminding all of them that this
is not because of something you have done
or acquired.
This is something we gave this to you.
So He, meaning Allah ﷻ is reminding them,
He is the one that caused you to
take over their lands, the homes and wealth,
as well as lands that you have not
even set foot in.
There are areas of both Mecca and Medina
and even some of the cities in between
that the Messenger ﷺ and his companions could
never cross through.
They could never visit.
They could never do anything.
Because of, as these battles continued, this is
one of the most important outcomes of all
the battles, is an expansion of landscape, territory,
and things of that nature.
So this ayah is just a reminder to
them.
It was not because you were victorious in
the battle.
It was because that Allah ﷻ allowed and
gave permission for this to take place.
See this last part of the ayah, which
is lands you have not set foot on,
that's لم تطعوها.
This here, one tafsir mentions that it is
in reference to what is to come.
So not necessarily land that they've never seen
or touched before, but perhaps there are more
battles to come that they will be victorious
in as well.
So this last part of the ayah, in
your notes, you just want to note that
it has both of those meanings.
It has, number one, whatever expansion they were
able to receive and get from wealth and
homes and land now, after al-Ahzab.
And number two, it's directly related to the
battles that were to come afterwards, and the
land and wealth that they would get from
the future battles, that is also being promised
to them.
So things are looking up for the believers
now.
There is hope for their future, and it
looks like things are gradually starting to come
together in terms of the Prophet ﷺ's governance
of Medina, and the hopes of him being
able to freely visit Mecca and do Hajj
and Umrah and all of that.
All of these things now are going to
start to manifest.
So Mecca could not have looked worse at
this phase.
The battle of Uhud and Ahzab and others
are taking notice that the Quraysh now cannot
do it themselves.
So you see what also is happening, that
others now are starting to take notice that
the Quraysh are weakening.
They keep losing one battle after another after
another.
The sixth year, the Prophet ﷺ said, let's
go for Hajj.
Anybody know why?
Why did this happen?
Six year after the Hijrah, why did the
Prophet ﷺ say that, keep in mind, Mecca
is still restricted.
It's off limits for them to go and
visit.
Why after al-Ahzab, he tells the companions,
okay, they haven't even figured out how they're
going to get into Mecca, but he says,
let's go.
Why did he do that?
Think, why would he do that?
Things are really tense that just came out
of this battle.
Now they're going to go and confront what
could potentially turn into another battle, and they're
going to have to travel for at least
one month to get there, and they have
no idea what is waiting for them.
Why would the Messenger ﷺ do that?
Yeah.
Okay.
The companions, in terms of just the morale,
the strength and the focus and the confidence
and all of those things, how is everybody
feeling at this point?
So for the most part, it's safe to
say, because remember we talked about a verse
that when the companions saw the Quraysh entering
from all corners, what did they say?
They started praising Allah.
This is what Allah and His Messenger ﷺ
promised, so they were in a good state,
good frame of mind.
Now, after this had happened and the Quraysh
were defeated, they retreated, they couldn't do anything,
they had no choice but to leave.
The confidence is one step higher, stronger, whatever
you want to call it.
The whole morale of the companions and all
of Medina at this time is very high.
So basically, this is sort of a strategy
the Prophet ﷺ is using, that everybody already
now feels that the Quraysh stand no chance
against them.
There's three battles now that happened in a
row where the Quraysh failed.
The battle of Uhud, they first won it,
but then things happened afterwards.
But the point is that they were defeating
the Quraysh.
They brought all of their wealth and muscle
and they still couldn't stop the Muslims who
are a small group, a minority group, and
they had literally next to nothing with them.
So all of that has been done.
Let's go and see if we can sort
of make a path for us to get
to Hajj.
What do you learn from this strategy the
Prophet ﷺ is doing?
What do you learn from that?
We kind of had a sort of mini
example of this in today's class just before
we started.
If I came in here and I said
to you, okay, here's the test.
Here's the question.
Go for it.
Tell me three things that you learned about
Surah Al-Ahzab.
Chances are that all of you already came
with this understanding that the teacher said we
will be tested today.
You all went through your notes.
You sat here, got yourself focused.
You already got yourself into that mode.
That's just what that's exactly what happened here.
What was the benefit of that?
What do you sort of get out of
that small experience of, okay, a test is
going to happen.
Let me get myself in gear.
What's the benefit to go through that whole
process?
Did you benefit?
Okay.
Anything else?
Prepared?
Okay.
When something needs to be accomplished and it
needs to be done, and as long as
you go through all of the steps to
prepare, the sunnah is to go through it.
As long as you do the things you
need to do to prepare, the result of
that is with Allah.
Your job and my job is to just
go through but ensure that you are prepared.
That is a formula and a principle of
life.
Does that make sense?
Your whole life you have to do that.
You have to go through the things Allah
puts in front of you every single day,
including the people you talk to, the conversations
you're involved in, the things that you hear.
You didn't hear those things.
You didn't talk to those people just because
you're in their life or you were at
a particular place at a particular time.
No.
You were chosen to be at that moment
to hear those comments.
You were chosen to be alive right now
in 2024.
At the end of this month, you're chosen
to be here.
So when a believer can take and sort
of internalize life in that way where it's
a constant, I'm prepared.
Let's see where this goes.
And every conversation, you're always focused on what
I can get out of it to make
me a better human being, to make me
a better Muslim.
There's nothing in your life that you will
go through except you will find khair and
benefit out of it.
Nothing.
Even the worst of it, you'll walk away
and say, Alhamdulillah, I still learned something from
that.
That's the goal for all humans.
Some people find that feeling or that sense
of confidence and contentment.
They find it in material things.
As long as I look around me and
I'm like, man, I got this house now.
I worked hard for it, so it's mine.
I got my wife needed a car.
My husband in car.
Everybody kids need tuition fees sorted out.
Anything that people want.
Alhamdulillah, I got us to a good place.
Some people look at that and they sort
of feel like, you know, I prepped, I
went through it and I got the result
that I needed.
Now I can face the world until one
of them get sick.
Then you realize, man, I could pay to
fix my home to fix my car, but
I can't get no matter how much I
pay, I can't fix my health.
The believer doesn't have this problem.
The mu'min, they don't have this problem.
They are always, always, they're always in this
mode, in this gear, like the companions are.
They've gone through something.
They embraced it with Iman and faith in
Allah.
So now gradually the messenger Alayhi Salatu Wasalam
is saying, you know what?
Now it's a good time to go for
Hajj.
Now is the time to do this.
So the hypocrites are thrilled by this decision.
Why?
They're absolutely thrilled and ecstatic that the prophet
Alayhi Salatu Wasalam said, let's go and perform
Hajj.
Why?
Yeah, they're like, again, he's going to set
you guys up.
Now you're going to go there.
You're not even going to wait for the
Quraysh to come here.
Now you guys are going to pack and
go.
Oh, man, they had a party with this
whole situation.
It was said that before this journey or
the attempt for the first Hajj, it was
said that this is where the hypocrites were
at their peak in Medina.
Like there was never a thing that the
prophet Alayhi Salatu Wasalam could say, not even
khutbah he could give, except that hypocrites were
in the jama'ah.
Remember how hypocrites are living amongst them, right?
They go for fajr and they're praying in
the front line.
They're fasting in Ramadan.
They're there at the masjid for every salah.
They got beards, they got niqabs on, they
got everything.
Like you cannot identify a hypocrite for anyone
else.
So they were very good at what they
did.
And hypocrites in general are very good at
what they do.
It's really difficult for you and I to
sort of understand and detect and know who
these people are.
It's almost impossible.
That's why the ulema, they teach us that
you and I as average layman Muslims, we
never take that label and say to anybody,
you are a hypocrite.
We can't do that.
There's a whole process behind it and it
involves more than just one person.
There's a series of different people involved for
something like that.
You're basically saying this person is a person
of the hellfire.
Who's going to say that, right?
So the hypocrites here, they continue to do
exactly what they've been doing it all along.
Muhammad's going to go and set you guys
up just for hajj.
Hajj, you don't even need to do that
right now.
You can do next year or at least
let's wait.
This is what he does to you all.
A prophet's family, his family life, his wives
and the realities of marriage.
This is what is to come now.
Some uncomfortable subjects now are going to happen
and some of them will be really difficult
for us to have.
Do you have a question?
Yeah, go ahead.
Um, so you said that there's 13 people
involved in this battle.
I think I missed this.
Okay, which land is this?
This is a land of that they were
not able to inherit or touch.
Any companion died.
This part, you have to remember, land is
money.
It's wealth.
It's everything to these companions.
Okay, so land is survival.
Land is the insurance that they need to
ensure that those who come after them when
they pass away, there's some wealth and status
that's left behind.
homes, huts, whatever you want to call it.
So homes are singled out as one.
Wealth in general is the next as well
as the last.
So the possibility of land that they've never
known, seen or touched, they can also inherit
as well.
Okay, so here's what's going to happen now.
This is going to be, as we get
to specific verses, there are going to be
subjects that we have to talk about that
it's gonna, I don't know how else to
say it, but it might just get a
little uncomfortable for some students, right?
And Alhamdulillah, from as far as I can
see, we don't have anybody here that's below
the age of 13 or 12, right?
I know that some of you bring your
kids with you, but I don't think any
of them fall into that age bracket.
So we should be fine and we'll discuss
them as we get to those verses.
Okay, now we're going to start to get
into some of the things that are related
to the wives of the Prophet ﷺ.
It is this part of Surah Al-Ahzab
that the ulama of tafsir say every single
practicing Muslim woman must study the surah.
Okay, this is a surah that helps her
speak about and develop this sense of courage
to talk about issues that are so personal,
that are so intimate to her.
But if she mentions anything, it'll just create
trouble.
Perhaps maybe the community, perhaps maybe her husband,
it would just create a huge problem.
So what tends to happen very often is
the wife or the woman would just keep
it to herself.
She'll just stay quiet and take whatever it
is and just deal with that.
That becomes her whole life.
This part of the surah came to break
that cycle and to sort of empower her
now that no matter how personal these issues
are, no matter how you might feel that
or the husband might feel that he's being
degraded and he's being put down in a
certain way, maybe his pride and ego gets
in the way.
How dare you talk to me like that?
I'm your husband.
And you guys know the story.
You don't even have to be married to
know what I'm talking about.
That's where the surah comes in.
It's going to start to really bring some
of those issues out.
And for that sister that struggles with this,
when she reads these ayahs, some of them
might really shock you that the wives of
the Prophet ﷺ, they did not shy if
they had to speak or ask the Prophet
ﷺ anything.
Let me give you an example.
Listen to this narration.
Prophet ﷺ, one of the, see this verse
here?
Verse number 28.
Once we come to it, we come to
it.
I just want you to know it's verse
number 28.
One of the reasons scholars say that that
verse was revealed is an incident that happened.
Some of the wives of the Prophet ﷺ
came to him, not all but a few
of them.
It doesn't say exactly how many, but some.
And they said, Ya Rasulullah, we want you
to give us a little more.
What are they asking for?
They are asking for more wealth, inheritance, just
overall support.
Why are they doing this now?
Why are they doing this now?
After Ahzab, what did the Muslims inherit?
They got some wealth, right?
They got some wealth.
They got additional arms and material and different
things, right?
So now for the first time in the
history of Medina, there is a surplus of
wealth.
This has never happened.
Now they actually have areas where they store
this excess of material, food, and wealth.
This has never happened to them.
Prior to this battle, the Muslims, including the
wives of the Prophet ﷺ, everybody basically, what
we would say, they were penny pinchers, right?
You literally every single penny and dollar that
you spend has to be accounted for, has
to be thought through.
Now they don't have this problem.
So rightfully, it makes sense that these wives
came to him ﷺ and requested for him
to sort of increase what he provides and
he gives to them.
Before I even begin reading this narration, what
do you learn from this?
Especially the mothers and the wives that are
here, you've been married very long.
I think almost all of you that are
married have been married longer than me.
So you would have more experience and you
would have a better understanding of this situation.
You, the wife, request from your husband, listen,
we've always had a Toyota.
I like Mercedes.
Our business is going really well, so I
want to trade in.
That's all.
You think that's appropriate?
Is there something wrong?
She can ask for an Emirates Airbus 380
if she wants.
Like she said, I want an airplane.
I don't want any airplane.
I want the largest commercial airplane in existence.
She can ask for anything she wants.
Asking, there is no problem with.
But asking with wisdom, asking things that you
know you're in the situation that it can
be provided for, that's your haqq.
You have the right to do that.
Like that's not something the husband allows you
to do.
You understand?
Allah already gave you the right to do
that.
You don't need anybody's permission to ask for
if you see that the marriage and life
is in a good place and more has
occurred.
You have no restriction to do that.
So that's what happened with the wives of
the Prophet.
You want to know how he reacted?
Listen to what he reacted.
He reacted and after they asked him this
question, the Prophet did not come to see
any of them for an entire month.
And he did not even, listen to this,
and he didn't even come out and meet
none of the sahabas for one month.
Now I'm going to ask you again, is
that a question you should ask your husband?
Should you ask him that?
Now what you're going to see is that
there is a difference between the wives of
the Prophet and wives of husbands, like Muslim
wives to Muslim husbands, like in our day
and age.
The wives of the Prophet, you're going to
see this massive separation.
The expectations of the wives of the Prophet
of Allah are a totally different level of
expectation than average Muslims like me and you.
You understand?
That's why he pauses for an entire month.
What is he doing?
The narration doesn't mention not even a sentence.
It just says that he didn't go near
them for a month and he didn't even
talk to the companions for a whole month.
He just came in, led Salah, left.
That was it.
So look what happened.
Imagine if, okay, let me just read it,
okay?
So one month goes by.
Listen to what happens.
They start asking, the wives as well as
companions all together start asking.
They said, what's going on with him?
And they were all starting to come to
their own conclusions.
You know, this doesn't even sound like a
hadith.
It sounds like somebody wrote this yesterday about
our Muslim communities today, right?
They said the Prophet, peace be upon him,
divorced his wives.
That's why he never came out for the
whole month and talked to them.
He divorced all of them.
Somebody said this.
Somebody just literally came up with this whole,
oh, you know why?
Because they got divorced.
He let them all go.
We all can relate to this.
I'm not saying that we say it, but
we've all heard these kinds of allegations and
speculation that goes around.
Where people pick something out of something they
seem to think they understand, but they don't.
So they just come up with these assumptions
and they kind of speculate and they put
two and two together, draw a conclusion.
Yeah, this is I think what happened.
Actually, you know what?
I've seen this before.
This is what really happened.
That's what's happening here right now.
Look what happens.
So this rumor goes around that he divorced
them.
He says to the wives of the Prophet,
peace be upon him, I'm going to find
out what happened and then I'm going to
tell it to you guys.
Okay, I'll be that person.
What do you learn from that?
Umar took it upon himself to go and
ask the Prophet, peace be upon him.
What do we get out of that?
What do we learn from that?
If it's important and it involves you somehow,
whatever is being talked about or whatever incident
happens, if it involves you and it involves
me and we genuinely need to need some
answers, then certainly somebody can be that middle
person and say, you know what?
Let me go and figure this out.
But not just anybody, not the one person
who we know has a reputation that when
they get a little bit of news, they
become the headquarters of backbiting for all of
Canada, right?
They become the head office, not that person.
Who is this man?
Umar, the man who was closest to being
a prophet after the Prophet, peace be upon
him, if there ever was one.
If there ever was a prophet after him,
it would have been Umar, peace be upon
him.
So the perfect, the right man is going
to go do this.
So he goes to the Prophet, peace be
upon him, and he says, O Messenger of
Allah, did you divorce all of them?
He doesn't say, O Messenger of Allah, one
month.
What are you doing?
How could you do this to them and
start to scold her?
You can't behave like this.
You can't act this way.
You're this, this and this.
You know who gets a lot of this?
Shuyukh get this, a lot of it.
There is like this sort of image that
is the consequence of anybody who does this
kind of work, the expectation of always being
in a good mood, smile, dress right, look
right, feel right, act right all the time.
And I've seen it where some very well
respected Shuyukh, like I seen one imam years
ago getting out of a parking lot and
somebody was trying to like push their way
in front of him and was doing it
in such a way it was very, very
like obvious.
The person who was doing this didn't care
about anything, just tugged his way, almost like
hit his car.
And so the Shuyukh honked his horn and
just said, what are you doing?
Just wait, wait your turn.
This became an enormous problem in the entire
community in that masjid and it reached the
administration and they put this Shuyukh in a
meeting to reassess his value to the community.
Right.
So this whole like image that's been pasted
and it's permanently stuck, these expectations that they
always have to be on point, they always
have to be on.
That's what's happening here.
But the Umar doesn't get into nothing.
He just focuses on one thing, because he
knows that the Prophet ﷺ could be dealing
with something.
There could have been some problem.
It's none of his business.
So he just asked, Ya Rasulullah, did you
divorce him?
Because that's what people are saying.
So Prophet ﷺ says, what do you think
he said?
You think he gave an explanation?
It's one letter.
He says, no, no.
Anything else?
That's it.
You learn from every letter in this narration
something, especially how to deal with rumors and
scandals and things of that nature.
Umar then says, Ya Rasulullah, I went into
the masjid and the Muslims there are saying
that the Prophet ﷺ divorced his wives.
Has there been an ayah sent to you
that I can tell them you did not
do this or you did do this?
Is there a verse I can just go
and announce it to them?
Now, this is where the exception happens, because
he's the leader of the Ummah.
So what we are starting to see here
that Surah Al-Ahzab opens an area that
is very, very private and personal for the
Prophet ﷺ.
But it still affects the overall atmosphere and
interaction and relationship of all of his followers.
So this is where the exception is.
For an imam, if somebody asked him, Ya,
I saw you with some other woman.
We're so-and-so, your wife for 27
years.
And he could say, well, you know, we
got divorced a long time ago and I
got married again.
This is my new wife, blah, blah, blah,
blah.
That's it.
The imam now could say, it's none of
your business.
That's it.
You know, there's a famous speaker, all of
you know, was asked this in a public
forum.
All of you know.
I won't say, but just what I want
you to understand is that don't think that
these scenarios don't happen.
They're very real in this day and age.
Ya, a speaker was asked, you know, how
many wives do you have or how many
wives you are married?
And his answer in front of like thousands
of people, he just looked at the emcee
and said, listen, in all respect, it's none
of your business.
Done.
It went viral.
I won't say who, but you all know.
Anyhow, so Qala Naam, Umar radiallahu anhu says,
he says, Ya Rasulullah, can I go and
let them know that what they're saying about
you, it didn't happen.
Can I go and say to them, the
rumors is not true.
Listen to the Prophet's answer.
He says, yes, if you want.
He doesn't tell them, yes, you must go.
If this is what they're saying about me,
then go deal with it.
He says, if you want, go and tell
them.
What do you learn from this?
It's a really, really powerful lesson that is
extremely difficult to implement.
What do you learn from his response?
He says, yes, Umar, if you want.
When somebody talks about you and you hear
who it is or what's being said, naturally,
generally, how do people respond to that?
Does it sound like this?
Oh, I know him.
He said that about me.
Watch when I see him at the Masjid
tomorrow.
All right, that's that's how an average person
would respond.
Oh, I see him at work.
I'm going to give it to him.
As a matter of fact, I'm going to
go tell his boss.
I'm going to tell the admin.
Look at the Prophet.
What you learn from this is sometimes you
just have to wait.
People get tired of talking about the same
thing and you will be in the past.
They will find something else to talk about.
Just wait it out.
Most of the times when it comes to
rumors and gossip, that's the best response is
just to ignore it.
See what happened to Aisha in the first
page of Surah An-Nur, the whole rumor
that got spread about her, that she was
with somebody else, all because the hypocrites saw
another companion with Aisha coming into Medina and
they don't see her husband anywhere.
Aisha is up to no good.
And it went all over Medina.
What did Aisha do?
You know what she did?
She went home.
She never spoke to anybody and answered any
of the rumors because every single night she
was just into Hajj.
Just praying to Allah that, oh Allah, you
decide what is the best outcome for all
of this.
The ayah gets sent to the Prophet ﷺ.
He announces it to everyone.
Nobody uttered a sentence about Aisha again after
that.
Sometimes you just have to let the storm
calm down on its own and let it
pass.
So the Prophet ﷺ says, if you want,
go ahead.
So Umar ﷺ, he goes back.
He goes back into the masjid.
He calls everybody in a loud voice and
he announces to all of them, the messenger
ﷺ did not divorce any of his wives.
And an ayah was revealed.
This is another verse or a portion of
it in Surah An-Nisa that if Umar
did not do this, then the ayah in
another surah says that this rumor, that people
would have validated this, they would have confirmed
it and turned it into the truth.
Malcolm X once said that we live in
a time where somebody could repeat a lie
over and over and over, and eventually the
lie becomes the truth.
It's so real when you think about propaganda,
when you think a lot of the things
that the media do and take people who
are very normal and innocent and turn them
into enemies and shaytan, and these are the
worst, just by simply repeating things that are
untrue to the point where the public now
deem it as the truth.
The media doesn't do this alone.
Have you ever listened to comedians?
And you know how sometimes comedians, they would
choose a particular ethnicity, right?
They'll be like all the Spanish people when
they eat, and everybody gets a kick out
of it.
The Indians when they do this, and they'll
do this and they'll go on this like
worldwide tour, have 75 shows repeating the same
thing, and before you know it, you listen
to that enough, you start to be like,
oh my God, I see that every day.
Wow, that is so true.
Yeah, they are so wild.
They're so messy.
Now you start convincing yourself that that's exactly
how whoever he's talking about, that's exactly how
all of them are, and you take this
sort of mindset now without even realizing that
you do it all from something like a
comedian, right?
So that tool is extremely powerful.
So this is why Umar now stands up
and he says this, and an ayah is
revealed that if he didn't do that, the
people would have ran with this, and the
prophet then alayhi salatu wasalam comes back and
after a month or so, and he comes
with another verse.
That's this verse, okay?
When he finally sort of begins to speak
and meet his wives again, he goes directly
to them, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
gives them this verse.
The messenger alayhi salatu wasalam says, women and
perfume have been made dear to me, and
the comfort of my eye has been placed
in prayer.
I put this narration because this is sort
of a precursor to some of the conversations
we're going to be having in this section
of Surah Al-Ahzab.
What is the point that I try to
get at here is the most pious, modest
example, the most perfect of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala's creation, do you see what the
first part of this hadith says?
He says, women and perfume, I love those
the most.
If you didn't know the prophet alayhi salatu
wasalam said this, just listen to that sentence
and what kind of person would you think
would say such a thing?
And wouldn't it kind of sound a bit
offensive?
All you care about is women and perfume?
Really?
What kind of man are you?
That's the conversation we're going to have.
This is the greatest creation of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, and that opening sentence of
the hadith, that's why I put it there.
And then of course, the prayer has become
a comfort to my eyes.
So I put that to sort of just
put your mind into a place where we're
going to now dig deeper.
It's a really uncomfortable thing to bring up,
especially with somebody of that caliber, the prophet
of Allah.
We're going to understand why this happens, what
this actually means.
And the fact that he even says a
statement like that, wasn't he worried or concerned
that at some point somebody's going to take
the statement of him and bring it out
of context and then label him.
He's a this and he's a that.
What kind of man is this that you
follow?
That's what we have to deal with till
now.
So show us how and this we're going
to these ayat will show us how the
wives of the prophet become examples for women
that the prophet cannot be.
Meaning there are certain things he cannot be
that person to either be the example or
to have the conversation.
One time a woman came to him and
asked him, my monthly cycle is complete.
How do I prepare myself to go and
pray?
So the prophet tells this woman, he says
to her, you need to take a shower.
You need to use this material or this
item to cleanse yourself and then you can
go and pray.
And it's actually, it's written out, right?
What she should do.
You know what she says?
Ya Rasulullah, I don't understand.
What do you mean exactly?
So he repeats it a second time.
She still says, Ya Rasulullah, I don't get
it.
Like how exactly do I use those things
to clean myself and be ready?
I just want to make sure I do
it right.
Three times this woman asks him.
The fourth time, you know what his answer
to her was?
You know what, go ask Aisha.
She'll explain it to you, which tells you
there was only so far he could go.
There's only so much he would say.
After this point, it's not appropriate even for
him, alayhi salatu wasalam, to go further, especially
in person.
Imagine if somebody goes up to an imam,
a sister goes and asks a similar question.
Some imams can handle it.
Some simply can't.
So those things as well, we're going to
see it and it's just going to go
deeper and deeper and deeper in some of
the most uncomfortable things, inshallah.
But of course, you know, it will be
beneficial for all of us.
So the Prophet, alayhi salatu wasalam, goes back
to his wives and he basically says to
them, this command, Allah tells him, say to
your wives, I
will give you a suitable compensation for divorce
and let you go graciously.
So you see what happened?
Remember these wives, what did they ask from
him in the beginning?
More money, a little bit more comfort, you
know, ya Rasulullah, we don't have a couch,
you know, let's just get some cushions, like
just something a little nicer.
I bear witness that Muhammad
is the Messenger of Allah.
So just one point and then we break
for salah, is that now that this ayah
is given to him, now we're going to
see for the first time in the entire
Quran, for the first time that the wives
now are going to be given a higher
status and level of expectation from any of
the wives in the ummah from then until
the end of time.
So all of the believing Muslim women, we
are going to see that everybody else is
in one category, but the wives specifically are
in a completely separate category.
The expectations are higher, the laws of their
marriage with the Prophet, alayhi salatu wasalam, are
slightly different, they're altered.
But here's the point, number 28, just make
sure you make a note, this is one
of the abused verses in the Quran.
This verse here, unfortunately, some husbands who don't
take the time to understand the context, who
don't study it, use this and they sort
of use it to their advantage, you know,
to affirm more control and other things with
their marriages.
So we're going to just touch on some
of those things after salah inshallah.
It's right very nice, so it's not a
bad thing.
I think you go around 9.
Maybe around 9, but time
is going to go back, yeah, so it'll
be like that.
So it'll be good to get it out,
like, you know, get it appraised and then
start class, right?
Yeah.
I think that's what we might do next
week.
Yes, yes.
Alright.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
Okay.
Bismillah.
Let's go on for about another 20 minutes
or so inshallah.
Bismillah.
Alhamdulillah.
Assalatu wa salamu a'la rasulillah wa ba'd.
And so last point that we mentioned with
respect to this ayah is that this is
one of the abused verses in the Qur
'an.
The reason why is typically this is a
verse that is used to hijack a scenario
between the husband and wife where the husband
would claim or exaggerate the position he is
put in when his wife will demand for
more, more material things and it could be
anything.
You know, like they have a stove and
she's like, okay, you know what, can we
upgrade the stove?
We'll save electricity or she just wants something
nice.
There is no problem financially for him or
the household to afford things like this.
But if he doesn't want to do it,
what happens occasionally, it's not very often, but
it does happen.
I've met couples who've had this problem where
the husband will come to me, pull me
aside and say things to me like, you
know, just talk to my wife, you know,
all she cares about is everything has to
match in the house.
Everything this has to be perfect, has to
be a grade.
It's got to be top notch technology, blah,
blah, blah.
It's a silly, silly issue to exaggerate, especially
if it's not something that she typically does.
Then once in a while, it's not an
issue.
And the thing is, this is one of
the verses that he would claim, look, the
sunnah of the Prophet.
Why is it a prophet?
Look at this.
If they wanted anything from the dunya, they
were divorced.
Is that what you want?
Over a stove or something like that, right?
It's very silly.
And this is just one of a million
examples of people cherry picking an ayah and
just using it to their advantage.
So the first thing that I want to
highlight is how this ayah begins.
See this?
O Prophet, remember every time Allah calls the
Prophet by his title, every time this happens
in Qur'an, it's such high priority for
him.
This is Qur'an's way of saying, stop
everything you're doing and fulfill this instruction, fulfill
this command.
So pay attention to what comes after it.
It's just like the famous companion Abdullah ibn
Mas'ud said, anytime you hear, prepare yourself
to receive a command or instructions from Allah.
Every time happens, Allah tells us to do
something or not do something.
The Prophet, you can think of, as his
version of, this is explicit, it's directed to
him.
So that's the first thing when it comes
to, second point.
Why not just talk directly to his wives?
Why does Allah speak to the Prophet and
tell him, go tell your wives this?
Why not just talk to them directly?
Why do you think Allah tells the Prophet
to go do this?
Again, this is a pattern all throughout Qur
'an.
What do you think?
Hmm?
Okay.
To ease his worries.
So allowing him to do this is more
to his advantage than it is as if
Allah speaks directly to them.
Okay?
There's a verse, verse 30 and 31 of
Surah An-Nur.
It sounds like this.
وَقُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَغُضُّوا مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِمْ وَيَحْفَظُوا فُرُوجَهُمْ
Allah says to the believing men, O Prophet,
قُل, Prophet, go say to them that they
need to cover their eyes and protect their
honor and their pridence.
Allah could have just said, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا غُضُّوا أَبْصَارَكُمْ O people of Iman, protect
your eyes.
Lower your gaze.
But instead, Allah tells the Prophet to do
that.
Next ayah, verse 31 in Surah An-Nur.
Allah gives the exact same instruction to the
Prophet.
But this time, go say to the believing
women.
Why not just talk to them directly?
Write this down.
Okay?
Say again.
Okay, he's definitely a leader.
But on that note, does everybody else automatically
by default respect him as a leader?
No.
People still question him.
People still doubt him.
People still disrespect him.
This is one of Quran's way to bring
honor and respect to him ﷺ.
You go do this.
Okay, so the first thing is, this is
priority for him.
Drop everything you're doing and go take care
of this.
Number two, this is also to protect the
honor and the dignity of the Prophet.
If you listen to him, you automatically listen
to the Creator.
So to raise his honor, raise the trust,
and protect his reputation.
All of those things for him ﷺ.
Third point.
This ayah, take a look at it.
It says, go speak to your wife.
Say to them, and the message is, if
you desire the life of this world and
its luxury, then come.
Meaning, go ahead and have it.
And if that's all you want and nothing
else, that's priority for you, then the thing
that you get from me is going to
be a divorce.
But we're going to talk about the word
that's used here.
Talaq is the most common word for divorce.
It's not mentioned in this ayah at all.
There's a different word that's used.
Here's the third reason why it's important that
the Prophet does this.
If Allah ﷻ speaks directly to them, or
the Prophet sits with them, they're physically in
his presence, and he's physically in their presence.
And he gives them this ayah.
Now, there's an additional reason or incentive for
them.
They already love and respect Allah.
They already believe in him.
But this is to also, in a very
subtle and beautiful way, to put the wives
in a situation where they also increase their
respect and acceptance of the instructions coming, not
just from the Prophet, from their husband.
You see how different it is?
Usually when the husband says, okay, look, you
know, we're going to change things in this
house.
We have a stove, six burners.
There's only two of us.
We're going to get a single burner.
Okay, because we need to save the electricity,
and we don't want to get too attached
to this dunya thing.
Now, that's a really extreme example.
But the outcome you want to have in
a situation like that is for her to
say, you know what?
If that's all that we can afford, and
I can still, you know, we can still
do things.
We can still live and survive.
And Inshallah, Bismillah, you know, and she does
it, and he does it, and they adjust
their lifestyle.
Now, her respect for him, his respect for
her, her love for him, his love for
her.
The relationship now takes one step forward.
There's an additional layer of acceptance, cooperation, respect.
So one or third reason to say is
that the prophet by him sitting there talking
to them.
They see him, and they're in his presence,
and they hear his voice automatically.
Whatever comes out of his mouth, they still
love him more for talking to them, for
giving them the time and the attention.
Everybody understand?
So it's kind of to build a bit
of that intimate and private relationship of love
and respect to increase that a little bit
more.
Because now they're hearing it directly from his
voice.
So all of these subtleties are extremely important.
Like the ulama write it down in their
tafsir, and they preserve it for this reason.
That these are things, despite how subtle they
are, they're extremely important in maintaining that love
and harmony that a relationship needs.
Now let's talk about the instruction.
So go and say to them, if you
desire the life of this world, and it's
luxury.
First of all, is that haram for a
wife to be like, I just love to
have a nice big home, a comfortable life,
and a beautiful car, and travel the world
with my husband.
Is that haram?
No.
Why not?
So there's one rule then.
If the poor man is working that minimum
wage job at Walmart or Canadian Tire and
say, listen, you know, BMW just released their
new series.
I want it.
If you don't get it for me, it's
over.
That's a different scenario.
So we're not talking about that at all.
This area is the extreme scenario I just
painted for you.
That despite whatever financial situation the husband is
in, when it comes to the wives of
the Prophet, everybody knows and understand the Prophet
is extremely poor.
Okay, he starved more days than all the
companions.
He went on more days living in his
home where the burner was never lit, meaning
there was nothing to cook.
Anytime they had some food, like even just
some extra dates, children and orphans used to
come at their homes begging for something to
eat.
And his wife Aisha radiallahu anha, she would
give them.
They would be left with nothing.
He'd come home later.
Ya Aisha, is there anything for us to
have?
No, Ya Rasulullah.
So and so happened and I gave them
the last of what we had.
He would remain silent.
Done.
That was his almost his entire life.
Struggling, suffering, and when it came to the
status of financial status, it was literally next
to nothing.
Gifts were being poured to him all the
time.
He would accept a lot of those gifts,
but there are narrations of him also giving
those gifts away to other companions.
Those who needed more than him.
He made that ultimate sacrifice.
Now it's his wife's turn to do the
same.
So this is not, this is not about
them wanting to attach themselves to a luxurious
life.
This is the first instruction and command to
the wives.
You are no longer just wives anymore.
Now you are in a separate category because
you are all married to this man.
So when you say, when we look at
this ayah now, that if this is what
your priority is, The Prophet ﷺ says, Did
I write the meaning?
Okay.
I didn't write the meaning.
Okay.
This is one of the verbs in Arabic
to say with ease, without hesitation.
Go ahead.
Just have it.
Go ahead.
Take it.
You know, like if you go to your
favorite coffee shop or a juice store or
something, you usually get a small.
But then one day you go in there,
you're like, man, let's just get a large.
I love this drink.
And whoever's paying, you tell your kids, go
ahead, just take it.
No big deal.
You don't even have to ask me.
Just order a large.
It's all good.
That's called Fata'alayn.
So Allah is saying to the Prophet, tell
them that if this is what all you
care about, then that's okay.
Just go ahead.
Have it.
Fata'alayn gives the impression, and it's indirectly
also highlighting this dunya world is worthless.
You want it?
Go ahead.
Take it.
I don't lose anything.
You're actually not going to gain anything by
taking it, by attaching yourself to it.
That's Fata'alayn.
It's a really remarkable verb to use to
describe how he allows them.
Fata'alayn also is you got to do
it.
I'm giving you nothing.
Okay.
If this is what you want, you take
it.
You're not going to get that from me.
Here's the word that is used.
This is the word that's used to divorce
here.
Let it go.
Saraha is not a word used to divorce
anymore.
Okay.
This is not a word that's used anymore.
Divorce has several terms.
You have talaq.
You have khulaq.
You have fasaq.
You have several different words to describe a
divorce, depending on how the divorce should happen.
The most common term that we all are
used to is talaq, right?
That's the most generic term.
Saraha is more or less like a polite,
easy, no process involved.
If this is what you want, you are
free to go.
That's the divorce.
It's done.
There's no waiting period.
None of that stuff.
Go ahead.
Have it.
We're done.
That's how the Prophet ﷺ gives the option
of separation or divorce to his wives.
It's this word that's used.
Talaq comes later.
Right now.
Now, one more thing you need to know
about this verse.
After the Prophet ﷺ went into, I guess
you could say, isolation for about a month,
he came back to his wives and he
came back to them with this ayah.
After he taught them this verse, there was
about nine women, most of them his wives,
but there were others that were sitting there,
hearing and listening to these instructions.
Who is the first?
Now, what has to happen?
These wives have to respond and affirm and
accept that this is the life they want,
where they give up the dunya.
They make the sacrifice and they stick with
him ﷺ.
See, they basically pledge to him, we will
sacrifice.
It's going to be a tough life.
We will struggle with you.
And this is how, like you have that
pledge from us.
Who's the first wife to do that?
You know why that's important?
That is also the beginning of the great
honor and love and respect.
That is how, this is the first ayah
that also elevates the status of Aisha.
After that she was given, just imagine this,
okay?
You are given, Aisha.
She is given the opportunity from an Nabi
to say, Ya Aisha, you go first.
Do you accept this way of life?
Immediately, without hesitation, Aisha does what she always
does.
Anything for the sake of the deen, for
the sake of her husband, for the sake
of Allah.
She says, absolutely, Ya Rasulullah.
I pledge that this is the way of
life that I will sacrifice and I'm with
you 100%.
You know what happened after that?
All the others followed.
Because why?
Every one of them knew who Aisha radiallahu
anha was.
They respected her so much.
Whoa, if Aisha agreed, that's it, it's done.
We're definitely going to do the same.
So all the wives continued.
They all accepted this.
Now here's the point.
When we say now that they will sacrifice
and struggle, and this is what is needed
from his wives.
We just established that having luxurious things and
comfortable life is not a problem.
What's the problem here?
Why is it that they had to give
this up?
Can't they be pious, devoted wives and still
have comforts to live with?
Can't they have both?
What do you think?
Do you agree?
First of all, can you have both?
Can you still be religiously devoted and live
a comfortable life?
Absolutely.
So why can't you have both here?
Why were they given this ultimatum, either this
or that?
But you're right.
So it's the same then for anybody could
be attached.
Can one of them make the claim to
him and say, Ya Rasulullah, I'm with you
100%.
But my pillow has a hole in it.
My bed is broken.
That's all I'm just saying.
Can I just have a new pillow and
a new bed?
I'm with you 100%.
That's not going to make me now.
I got a new pillow.
Oh my God, I want everything else.
You see why it's important to do this
with verses like this?
One of the things I try my best
to do for 25 years of teaching tafsir
is I always try to figure out how
can a verse talk to me in 2024,
like in this day and age?
How do I make this verse relatable to
this day and age?
This day and age, it's well understood.
You all agreed.
There is nothing wrong with wanting a comfortable
life, and you can still be religiously devoted.
Here's the thing.
You have to think about who these women
are.
They are now going to play the role
of the greatest female example of the entire
world.
And perhaps, as we all know, some of
them will be selected to be the leaders
of women in gender.
The impression that they could leave for other
generations to come is what is also like
you have to consider when you think about
the message of this area.
Sure, they might be really religious and devoted
to him and still have comfortable things.
But that's not the point.
The point is, is that there will come
a time after they are all gone, like
now, where people will look at this.
And if they seen, yeah, Aisha always had
new clothing.
Hafsa always had new furniture.
Umm Maymuna always had the best camels to
ride on and to travel on.
They always had the best foods.
You know, the standard, the bar for living
a quote unquote good Islamic life now reaches
a place where most people won't won't get
to.
You see what I'm saying?
They're going to put out a standard that
is so high.
The vast majority of Muslim families all around
the world, the majority of them may never
reach to that standard.
They mean if they're trying to be like
these wives, they won't reach it.
But here now, the fact that they're going
to sacrifice, that's something, whether you live a
comfortable life or not, you can relate to
that.
Because I'm sure all of us do our
own sacrifices every single day.
We all do it.
So this was about setting the bar, not
high, but setting the bar in a way
that every, you know, the prophet, peace be
upon him, told us that the majority of
his followers would be what?
They will be poor.
So if these wives were living this high
life, then the majority of the ummah would
not be able to like connect, to really
understand and to extract them.
Because there's like, you know, this is for
the rich, you know, the people with high
status in our society.
It's not for all of us.
Now, even the teenage daughter can relate to
this.
Now, even somebody who's not married can relate
to this.
Somebody who is married, but they're all working
paycheck to paycheck, they can all relate to
this now.
Does this make sense?
This is the last part that I leave
you with.
See this part here?
Sarahan jameela is the same word.
Usarrih sarahan jameela.
Sarahan is, okay, I let you go.
And he does it in a beautiful way.
When was the last time you heard of
a divorce?
Where your response to him, mashallah.
It's amazing how they got divorced.
Allahu akbar.
So beautiful.
When was the last time you ever done
that?
Sarahan jameela.
Like, these are the things that really like
draw me into an ayah.
It's when I look at just what the
message is here and then I look at
life around me and I'm like, my God,
what happened?
Sarahan jameela.
This is not the only verses that talk
like this about separation and divorce.
Tons of other verses that give the same
message that it's not a terrible thing.
It doesn't have to be an awful experience.
But unfortunately, the lack of knowledge and a
bunch of other things, other factors contribute and
make the whole process really ugly for anybody
who has to go through that.
Okay, we'll pause there.
The prophet's wives have noticed their budget have
not increased.
So we talked about this.
They came up with a respectful request to
increase their income.
We talked about this surplus of Medina, the
spoils of war.
All of this stuff are now changed and
have increased in Medina.
Okay, this conversation continues, but we need to
like go through word by word in every
verse.
I really want you to take the message
of each of these ayats.
So inshallah, we'll continue with verse 29 next
week, inshallah.
Does anybody have any questions?
Okey dokey.
Students, there is something here for you that
one of the students has brought.
So please help yourself to it as you
read.
There are some good copies of the Qur
'an.
So I'll just leave it right here.
If you need a copy of it, it's
the clear Qur'an by Dr. Mustafa.
So if you need one, all in English
translation, please help yourself to that, inshallah.
It is a great honor for the students
of the University of Thailand to honor them
always and forever.
Allahumma Ameen.
Okay, Assalamu Alaikum.