Musleh Khan – Al-Ahzaab Unveiled – Class 6
AI: Summary ©
The Battle of Uhud has caused the aftermath of expansion, territory, and wealth, with the Prophet's opinion limiting their ability to take over their lands and the need for individuals to study and learn from others to achieve their goals. acceptance and loyalty are paramount, along with finding a steady life and finding a standard for women in relationships. A woman is married to another man, "naught," and "naught," in Arabic, emphasizing acceptance and loyalty, finding comfort and a strong life in relationships, setting a steady life, and finding a standard for women in the face of divorce and sexual abuse.
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 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, Inshallah.
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 Salaam Alaikum 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.
Let's continue with our study of the magnificent
Surah Al-Ahzab.
Okay, there's a couple things that we want
to look at before we start today.
I believe this is where we paused, right?
Yeah.
Verse number 27.
Yeah.
We did look at this, we looked at
this word, and then that brings us to
this verse, where I believe we paused.
Okay.
This is the last verse about Surah Al
-Ahzab.
Okay.
When I say the last verse, this 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.
So, these verses from 25 to 27, these
verses are more focused on the aftermath of
Surah 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.
And Allah is most capable, and He has
the Qadr over all things.
وَلَمْ تَطَأُوهَا See this last part of the
ayah?
Which is, lands you have not set foot
on, that's لَمْ تَطَأُوهَا.
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'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 Al-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?
Sixth 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?
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 that 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, right, 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 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.
Like, 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, you know,
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.
You know, some people find that feeling or
that sense of confidence and contentment.
They find it in like material things.
You know, as long as I look around
me and I'm like, man, I've got this
house now.
I worked hard for it.
So it's mine.
I know I got to, you know, my
wife needed a car.
My husband needed a 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 gets 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 Salaatu Wasalaam
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 Salaatu Wasalaam said, let's go and perform
hajj.
Why?
Yeah, they're like, again?
He's gonna set you guys up?
Now you're gonna go there?
You're not even gonna wait for the Quraysh
to come here?
Now you guys are gonna 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 Salaatu Wasalaam 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, you know, 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, you know, identify a hypocrite
from 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 very, it's almost impossible.
That's why the ulema, they teach us that
you and I as average laymen 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.
You know, 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 he said, oh, I think I
missed.
So number one, he has caused you to
take over lands.
Is number two.
So is you inherited.
So you are now in a position to
inherit something, to receive some.
That's number one.
Number two, what is it that they're getting
is they're getting land.
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 going to, 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 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, dot, dot, dot.
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 ayat, 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, okay?
The Prophet ﷺ, one of the, see this
verse here?
Yeah, verse number 28.
Once we come to it, we come to
it.
I just want you to know it's verse
number 28, okay?
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're 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's a surplus of wealth.
This never happened.
Now they actually have areas where they store
this excess of material, food, and wealth.
This 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?
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,
you know, we've always had a Toyota.
And you know, I mean, I like Mercedes.
We got our businesses 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 just, I don't want like any air,
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, you know, things
that, you know, you're in the situation that
it can be provided for, that's your haq.
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 ﷺ 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 ﷺ and wives of husbands, like
Muslim wives to Muslim husbands, like in our
day and age.
The wives of the Prophet ﷺ, 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?
No one knows.
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 ﷺ 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.
You know, we all can relate to this.
I'm not saying that we say it, but
we've all heard these kinds of allegations and,
you know, 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.
Umar, he says to the wives of the
Prophet ﷺ, 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 ﷺ, 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 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?
The man who was closest to being a
Prophet after the Prophet ﷺ, if there ever
was one.
If there ever was a Prophet after him,
it would have been Umar.
So the perfect, the right man is going
to go do this.
So he goes to the Prophet ﷺ and
he says, Ya Rasulullah, did you divorce all
of them?
He doesn't say, Ya Rasulullah, 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?
Shaykhs get this, a lot of it.
You know, there is like this sort of
image that is, you know, 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 Shaykhs, 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 Shaykh 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 Shaykh 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, okay?
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, I
was like, yeah, 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.
I got, you know, a long time ago
and I got married again.
This is my new wife, 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.
Yeah, a speaker was asked, 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, Umar 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, he goes like, 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?
There'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 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.
He says, yeah, 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 hypocrite 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.
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 in Tahajjud.
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, peace
be upon him.
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, peace be upon him, says,
if you want, go ahead.
So Umar, peace be upon him, 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,
peace be upon him, 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.
You know 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.
Right?
It's so real when you think about propaganda,
when you think a lot of things that
the media do and take people who are
very normal and innocent and turn them into
enemies and shaitan, 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 like 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 Omar 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
like 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 alayhi salatu wasalam become
examples for women that the prophet alayhi salatu
wasalam 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 salallahu
alayhi wasalam and asked him, Ya Rasulullah, my
monthly cycle is complete.
How do I prepare myself to go and
pray?
So the prophet alayhi salatu wasalam 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,
right?
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,
O Prophet, Allah tells him, say to your
wives, if you desire the life of this
world and its luxury, then come.
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.
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, peace be upon him,
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 ta'ala,
okay?
It's very nice, I tell you, it's very,
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very nice, it's right, very nice, it's right,
very nice, it's right,
very nice, it's right, very
nice, it's and the earth and all that
is between them, so
be patient for what they say.
So glorify the Name of your Lord before
the rising of the sun and before the
setting of the moon, and from the night
glorify the Name of your Lord.
And listen on the Day when We will
call you to a place near.
On the Day when we will hear the
cry of truth.
That is the Day of Resurrection.
For it is We who give life and
cause death.
And to the Day when the earth and
all that is between them, so be patient
for what they
say.
And you are not against Me.
Allah is the Greatest.
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord
of Mercy and Mercy.
To Him we worship and to Him is
the straight path, the path of those who
fear Him.
O you who have believed, when the prayer
is called on the Day of Resurrection, seek
refuge in Allah.
That is best for all of you.
And when the prayer is called on the
Day of Resurrection, disperse in the land and
seek refuge.
And remember Allah much that you may succeed.
And when you see a business or entertainment,
remember
Allah much that
you
may succeed.
In the name of Allah, let's go on
for about another 20 minutes or so inshallah.
In the name of Allah, all praise is
due to Allah, and peace and blessings be
upon the Messenger of Allah.
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.
Yeah, 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 wise of the 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 A and
just using it to their advantage.
So, the first thing that I want to
highlight is how this ayah begins.
See this?
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيِّ 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, يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيِّ O Prophet, pay attention
to what comes after it.
It's just like يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا Like
the famous companion, Abdullah ibn Mas'ud radiallahu
anhu, once said, anytime you hear يَا أَيُّهَا
الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا prepare yourself to receive a command
or instructions from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Every time يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا happens, Allah
tells us to do something or not do
something.
The Prophet ﷺ, you can think of يَا
أَيُّهَا النَّبِيِّ as his version of يَا أَيُّهَا
الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا.
This is explicit, it's directed to him.
So, that's the first thing when it comes
to يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيِّ O Prophet.
Second point, why not just talk directly to
his wives?
يَا أَزْوَاجُ النَّبِيِّ O wives of the Prophet.
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?
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.
وَقُلْ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَغُضُّوا مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِمْ وَيَحْفَظُوا فُرُوجَهُمْ
Allah says to the believing men, O Prophet,
قُلْ Prophet, go say to them that they
need to cover their eyes and protect their
honor and their privates.
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 ﷺ.
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 wives.
And 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, 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.
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
we can still do things, we can still
live and survive.
And inshallah, bismillah.
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 the ulema 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 ulema 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.
Okay?
Now let's talk about the instruction.
So go and say to them, if you
desire the life of this world and its
luxury, first of all, is that haram for
a wife to be like, you know, 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 Times, they
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 ayah 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 almost his entire life, alayhi salatu
wasalam.
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, alayhi salatu wasalam.
Now it's his wife's turn to do the
same.
So 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, alayhi
salatu wasalam.
So when you say, when we look at
this ayah now, that if this is what
your priority is, wazinataha, fatAAalayn.
The Prophet, alayhi salatu wasalam, says fatAAalayn.
Did I write the name?
Okay, I didn't write the meaning.
Okay.
fatAAalayn is a really, 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 and 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.
Ah, no big deal.
You don't even have to ask me, just
order a large, it's all good.
That's called fatAAalayn.
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.
fatAAalayn 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 fatAAalayn.
It's a really remarkable verb to use to
describe how He allows them.
fatAAalayn also is, you gotta do it, I'm
giving you nothing.
Okay?
fatAAalayn, 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, umattiAAkunna, this
is the word that's used to divorce here.
wa-usarrihkun, from saraaha, let it go.
saraaha 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 khulaa, 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 fasaq, talaq, right?
That's the most generic term.
wa-usarrihkunna, saraaha, 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.
wa-usarrihkun, 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 is 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 radiallahu
anha.
After that she was given, just imagine this,
okay?
You are given, Aisha radiallahu anha, 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 radiallahu anha 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 am
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.
Anybody could be attached.
Can one of them make the claim to
him and say, Ya Rasulullah, I'm with you
100%.
But you know, 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.
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 tafseer
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 ayah.
Sure, they might be really religious and devoted
to him and still have comfortable things, but
that's not the point.
The point 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 Maimunah 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 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.
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 ﷺ 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 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?
So, This is the last part that I
leave you with.
See this part here?
Is the same word.
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, MashaAllah.
It's amazing how they got divorced.
Allahu Akbar.
So beautiful.
When was the last time you heard that?
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?
This is not the only verses that talk
like this about separation and divorce.
There are 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, or it should be, 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
go through word by word in every verse.
I really want you to take the message
of each of these ayat.
So inshallah, we'll continue with verse 29 next
week, inshallah.
Does anybody have any questions?
Okie dokie.
Students, there is something here for you that
one of the students has brought.
So please help yourself to it as you
read.
Yeah, 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 people
of Thailand to honor them always and forever.
As-salamu alaykum.