Musleh Khan – Al-Ahzab Unveiled Class 1
AI: Summary ©
The importance of learning a surah in Islam is emphasized, along with the need for practice to pronounce and recite the words. The history and cultural references of Surah encouraged by the Prophet peace be upon him are also discussed, including the rise of Islam and the loss of religion. The speaker emphasizes the importance of practicing Islam and finding a partner, as well as the use of tafsir in the process. The speaker also touches on the idea of peace be upon their divorce and the use of negative language to express disbelief and confusion. The speaker promises to stop the presentation of the Prophet's personal life and discusses upcoming events and a promise to stop the presentation of the Prophet's personal life.
AI: Summary ©
Ar-Rahman ar-Raheem, al-hamdulillahi rabbil alameen.
Wa salatu wa salamu ala rasoolihi alayhi afdalu
salat wa atamu taslim.
Amma ba'ad, Allahumma a'allimna bima yanfa
'una wa anfa'una bima a'allamtana wa
zidna a'ilman ya kareem.
Rabbi ishrah li sadri wa yassir li amri
wa ahlul aqadatan min lisani yafqahu qawlii thumma
amma ba'ad.
Welcome students here in class and students joining
us online to a journey of this magnificent
surah, surat al-Ahzab.
This is a surah, a madani surah, that
is very much connected to a surah that
we have taught here in the past, surat
al-Nur.
So this surah and surat al-Nur are
like sister surahs, and much of which you
will study in this surah, you will see
a correlation with surat al-Nur.
Today what I want to do is to
not only introduce the surah, but to share
with you a couple of points of how
to study anything from the Qur'an.
So in this case, whether you're studying one
ayah, whether you're studying a specific subject of
the Qur'an, so you're not really focused
on a surah, you're focused on a subject,
so it would be a collection of different
verses from various surahs.
Or in this case here, you're focused on
one chapter of the Qur'an.
How the scholars have taught us the best
and most effective way to study any surah
of the Qur'an.
The first thing is the scholars tell us
is you should be able to read some
or most or all of the surah.
You should be able to read it.
We're not talking about the translation.
We're talking simply you could recognize Arabic letters,
you can piece them together, and you can
pronounce.
You don't have to sound like an imam
in the haram.
You just have to be able to pronounce
some of these letters.
Why?
Because in our deen, reciting a surah is
blessed.
You are rewarded for that.
And part of your respect to the Qur
'an is that you can pronounce the letters
Allah chose.
You can pronounce his words properly.
And I think that's just common sense.
You don't need to be taught that, hey,
look, this is Allah's words.
Make sure you pronounce it properly.
I mean, we might get offended if somebody
pronounces our name wrong.
But imagine now these are ayat from Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala himself.
So the first thing is you at least
want to be familiar with pronouncing and reciting
this surah.
Secondly, you want to know where the surah
is in the Qur'an.
So whenever you reference it, you don't want
to be the kind of student that's just
like, okay, I think it's before this.
No, no, I think it's after.
Or you do what a lot of students
do, you just kind of like let the
pages fly until you see ahzab and you
stop.
That's all fine.
But you're a student of Allah's deen and
you're a student of Allah's book.
So there's a certain standard that you want
to maintain in your journey with this book.
You're going to look at this book and
interact with it and its knowledge like no
other book.
So you want to be able to at
least read a portion of it, pronounce things
properly.
You can recognize the surah.
And then, of course, you get into what
we will do, the tafsir of the surah.
The second thing that scholars tell us is,
and I think that this is probably the
most important point.
No student will ever fully understand the explanation
and the intent of any surah of the
Qur'an just by coming to class once
a week.
You will never know the surah.
As a matter of fact, some of the
scholars say that if you don't give tafsir
its haq, its right, you will gradually lose
it.
Tafsir is an exercise just like recitation.
If you memorize a surah, you have to
constantly recite it.
That's how tafsir is.
You have to constantly be engaged in studying
and reading what scholars have written.
You look back at classical works, even contemporary
works, and you just constantly refresh and learn
new things about that surah.
That's how tafsir is maintained.
That's how scholars become scholars of tafsir.
So they're constantly, constantly reading about those surahs,
no matter how many times they've studied the
surah.
This particular surah, I've only taught it twice.
So this is my third time going into
it.
Every single time that I've gone through this
surah, it's amazing.
I guess Qur'an is like this.
You'll feel like you're studying this surah for
the first time each and every time you
go through it.
And that's just a miracle of the Qur
'an itself.
No student will ever find that the Qur
'an and its knowledge is boring or it's
constantly redundant in its information.
Everything has context.
We're going to be talking a lot about
that in this class.
This particular surah has verses in it that
have been abused and misused in various platforms
around the world with Muslims as well as
non-Muslims.
So we're going to tackle some of those
subjects and make sure that we understand exactly
what the intent of those ayat are.
This particular surah is also home to perhaps
the most comprehensive verse in the entire Qur
'an.
Does anybody know what verse that is?
Good.
Let's keep it that way until we get
there, inshallah, right?
Most comprehensive.
Literally, you can write volumes on this one
ayah.
And inshallah, once we get to it, you'll
see why.
That's all I want to say about in
terms of tafsir.
The second thing that I want to share
with you, and then we jump right into
the surah, is students, a reminder for me
and you.
You are not here just to study.
You are not here because of surah al
-Ahzab and that's it.
You are first and foremost here because you
want to seek Allah's pleasure.
You want to seek Allah's acceptance.
If you capture the knowledge and you are
able to graduate from this surah confident and
fully understanding the material, alhamdulillah.
But if you kind of understood here and
there or the material was too fast, too
slow, or just couldn't get it the first
time, alhamdulillah.
As long as your heart is in the
right place, then inshallah, Allah will bless you
to always grasp the knowledge of the Qur
'an.
That's why the ayah in Surah al-Baqarah
mentions to us, وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهُ وَيُعَلِّمُكُمُ اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ
بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٍ Allah says a condition.
If you want to learn this deen, what
must you have?
The condition is you need to have taqwa.
What is taqwa?
It's not the fear of Allah.
It's the consciousness and awareness that Allah is
always watching and monitoring you.
If you can live your life like that,
Allah says, once you have taqwa, I will
teach you.
So you are students of Allah first and
foremost.
So you take that for what it means
to you and how you prep yourself each
and every week that you get here inshallah.
Some of the things that we usually see
with students is we start off strong.
And then as the weeks go by, things
come up.
And unfortunately, you know, a lot of the
numbers start to dwindle.
And then it'll, you know, come back again.
We'll have a few students pop in there.
Look, your life is your life.
That's nobody's business.
You do what you have to do.
I just want you to be true and
honest to Allah's deen, okay?
To the surah itself, to the material.
I just want you to know you know
your life better than anyone else.
That you try to do everything that you
can to accommodate the time.
This is Allah's time.
That you've come here to look and study
the surah.
This is Allah's time.
You and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So, I just want to encourage you guys
that if you have a lot going on
in your life.
That you try your best to accommodate time
to be here on a consistent basis.
And inshallah ta'ala, just like the Prophet
ﷺ told us.
That whoever starts something for the sake of
Allah and does not complete it.
That is from Shaytan.
The opposite is the meaning of this hadith.
That once you start something for the sake
of Allah.
And you complete it.
Then that is a barakah and blessing from
Him subhanahu wa ta'ala, okay?
Let's get right into this.
There's lots that we are going to talk
about.
So, why are we studying tafsir?
Why do I put this question here?
Is surah al-ahzab and its tafsir, can
you get it free online somewhere?
And just listen to a bunch of like
YouTube videos or something?
Can you do that?
So, why are we here?
Because I get this all the time.
That like students every now and then will
say.
I can just listen to it on YouTube.
It's free.
Why do I have to be in class?
Do you all agree there's a big difference
when you're sitting in a classroom?
You drive here or walk here or take
the bus, whatever the case is.
Listen, every ounce and step you took from
the moment you left your home to get
here.
There were angels walking and accompanying you.
The hadith mentions that they send down and
they bring down their sakina.
They bring down this sense of peace and
calmness and tranquility.
Because you're going to study Allah's deen.
So, you were protected and guarded by angels
that are specifically sent to you.
Because you left your home for the sake
of Allah to learn His deen.
All of the animals and fishes in the
sea and all of these things are making
dua for you.
Istighfar, let Allah forgive you.
Every footstep you take to come to the
masjid.
Prophet ﷺ told us that every khatwa, every
footstep you take.
Allah removes a sin and a mistake from
your life.
That's why some of the scholars they used
to have this habit that when they park.
And I'm not saying you guys should do
this, right?
But they will find the farthest parking spot
away from the masjid door.
And then they would sort of walk like
in a zigzag form.
It looked like they were just doing back
and forth.
Safa and Marwa and the entire parking lot
till they got to the door.
Just to increase the amount of footsteps till
they get to the door.
Because every footstep equals some sort of forgiveness
and mercy from Allah.
All of that is lost if you're just
going to like, okay, I'll just be on
YouTube.
It's more challenging that way too.
There's no interaction.
You can't ask questions.
So many things that we experience in the
classroom are all missing.
And so you're here because we want to
get the most out of this.
But it's also the experience meeting fellow brothers
and sisters.
Making the connection for the sake of Allah.
All of these things are important.
Now, here are a couple of things.
One last thing I'll mention to you in
terms of a booklet.
We mentioned to some of the students here
before Salah.
There are going to be three different booklets
for this surah.
So the first one, you will find it
accessible online in your accounts.
So when you registered for this class, you
should have gotten some login details.
And this first booklet will be uploaded there
in about two days, inshallah.
So you're welcome to bring those notes however
you want.
Whether you want to print them out or
on your laptop or a tablet or something.
And that's where you will add your additional
notes.
I'm old school when it comes to studying.
So I will definitely encourage all of you
to write and write as much as you
can.
What you see on the screen are just
point form notes just to keep my thoughts
on track.
But there is so much missing.
A lot of these points you'll read on
the screen.
It wouldn't make any sense if you just
read it as is.
Each of them would require some time and
some explanation.
Now let's begin inshallah.
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.
Surah Al-Ahzab.
As you see there, the first point is
that it is a unique madani surah.
And it compliments Surah An-Nur.
Surah An-Nur dealt with all of the
issues internally.
In homes and in businesses.
The rules and the laws of engagement in
the home.
It starts, so that's where you find ayat
about how you visit a friend or a
family member.
How you go to their house.
How many times you should knock the door.
When you should leave.
How you seek permission.
Even Surah An-Nur talks to us about
when you're in the house.
When you should use your own courtesy.
And leave even though the host doesn't tell
you to leave.
Surah An-Nur also towards the end has
a verse.
That teaches us and reminds us that the
host has every right to tell the guests.
Okay it's late now get out of my
house.
That's all part of the etiquettes and respect
and courtesy when you visit someone.
Yeah there were some pretty interesting ayat in
that surah mashallah.
Surah An-Nur also has the laws of
engagement.
So gender interaction.
And some of the limitations behind them.
It also has one of the most powerful
and beautiful verses in the entire Quran.
Surah An-Nur has an ayah that is
referred to as Ayat An-Nur.
Sounds like this.
So Allah describing himself as An-Nur.
What this An-Nur is we went through
in great detail with that.
So not just internally in the home.
It also focuses internally in you.
Your heart.
The aqeedah and creed and belief system of
a believer.
Now when that surah is finished.
Surah Al-Ahzab is the complete opposite.
Now that you've refined yourself from within.
And you've got everything internally.
In your private life.
At work.
At home.
You internally as an individual.
Surah Al-Ahzab now will start helping you
to cope with the obstacles and the challenges
outside of your home.
Social laws.
Laws of engagement.
And generally things you don't have control over.
So when you meet people.
If you meet somebody.
Like if you have like a terrible boss.
Terrible employees or colleagues.
Classmates.
Friends.
How to live life in a way Allah
is pleased with.
And still cope with some of these challenges.
Challenges at the workplace.
Challenges in business.
Challenges in worship.
Challenges in knowledge.
Challenges in developing good akhlaq and etiquettes.
All of that now is captured in this
surah.
So that's why scholars they say this surah
and surah An-Nur must go together.
So surah An-Nur starts off the conversation
of hijab.
Surah Al-Ahzab finishes that conversation.
If you just took one surah and you
read the ayat about hijab in it.
You will never be in full hijab.
If you go now to the other surah
and then you piece it together.
Then the hijab attire will look as you
see it today.
So all of that is captured.
Surah An-Nur.
These two surahs form the laws of haya.
So I wrote this here.
So the third bullet here.
These two surahs form the laws of haya.
Everybody knows what haya is?
What's haya?
Modesty.
Modesty is the most important quality in a
believer.
To have haya is the most important quality
in a believer.
To understand why you must understand what is
haya.
Scholars define haya as somebody who does their
very best to abstain and remove themselves from
attention.
So whether they speak.
Whether the way they dress.
The way they talk.
The way they stand.
The things they do.
The things they are involved in.
The last thing on their mind is to
capture the attention of everyone.
So this is why you may have noticed
that a culture has been going on for
ages in terms of this.
That revolves around this term of haya.
That most of the time when you hear
this term.
Who are we usually talking about?
Brothers or sisters?
Yeah.
And that is just fundamentally wrong.
It created this culture that this was more
of a sister thing.
Maybe in some ways it is.
But for brothers as well as all Muslims.
It's just as important for us.
So haya is when the believer is striving
their very best to please Allah and do
what is right.
Without seeking or gaining the attention from anyone.
They do not look to be the spotlight
in any situation.
So these two surahs address this concept of
haya in its own unique way.
Marriage.
This surah.
Surah Al-Ahzab also has what the hypocrites
and the munafiqun title as a controversy.
Regarding the marriage of Zaynab and the Prophet.
Which we are going to look at in
great detail.
Like I said it's controversial because of the
hypocrites.
They started spreading all sorts of different rumors
about her marriage.
We are going to look at it from
the very beginning inshallah.
And understand why and how it's being addressed
in this surah.
If we are talking about Surah Al-Ahzab
then we certainly have to talk about Ghazwat
Al-Ahzab.
So we need to talk about the battle
of Al-Ahzab.
Surah Al-Ahzab gets its name from this
battle.
Does anybody know when this battle happened?
Was it in Mecca or Medina?
Should be real obvious just looking at the
screen.
Where is this mountain students?
Yeah.
Uhud right?
So it's in Medina.
Okay.
Was it in the beginning of Medina?
Middle of the Medina phase?
At the end before the Prophet peace be
upon him died?
More towards the beginning.
After one significant battle.
What was the first major battle in Medina?
Battle of Uhud.
So battle of Uhud has been complete.
70 plus companions were killed in the battle
of Uhud.
Battle of Uhud was the battle where the
believers especially the companions learned a very hard
and difficult lesson.
Which was the consequence of disobeying or not
following specific instructions from the Prophet peace be
upon him.
And as a result Shaitaan got in the
way.
Shahwa and desire got in the way and
things happened the way they happened.
And 70 plus companions were martyred on that
day.
Some time went by.
Now you have Ghazwat al-Khandaq.
Ghazwat al-Khandaq on one side so the
opposition or the Meccans let's say.
10,000 plus it was the largest army
recorded in Islamic history was this at that
time.
The largest army ever recorded in Islamic history
is from the Quraysh.
And everyone else that participated on the side
of the Quraysh totaled approximately 10,000 men.
And as far as the Muslims are concerned
approximately 3,000.
Now let's try to look at what is
Ghazwat al-Ahzab and how did it start.
So you have a set of tribes that
live in Medina.
Now Prophet peace be upon him is in
Medina.
Ghazwat al-Uhud is done.
Companions are still kind of recovering from the
devastation of Ghazwat al-Uhud.
You can imagine that many companions lost friends,
neighbors, and family members in Ghazwat al-Uhud.
Battle of Uhud.
Prophet peace be upon him lost his uncle
Hamza ibn Abdul Muttalib.
Hamza he loved him so much that the
Prophet peace be upon him prayed Janazah over
Hamza every single day for one week.
Just kept praying Janazah asking Allah to forgive,
forgive, forgive.
That's how devastating it was for him.
The Prophet peace be upon him, was he
injured in the battle of Uhud?
Severely, almost died several times.
But the famous story is he was struck
on the face and it created a laceration
or an opening on his cheek and he
lost a tooth.
So it was devastating for him.
And there were several times Abu Bakr and
other companions narrate that we saw the Prophet
peace be upon him laying on the floor
and we thought he was dead.
Everybody started crying until we got closer to
him and realized he was still breathing and
he was somewhat okay.
Now all of that has passed.
And Medina is slowly starting to pick itself
back on its feet.
You have these tribes, these Jewish tribes that
were living in Medina.
Banu Qurayza, Banu Qaynuqa, and Banu Nadir.
Okay, these are major tribes that are living
there.
Prophet peace be upon him set up a
treaty agreement with these Jewish tribes.
Okay, so after Medina was conquered, now the
government, if you want to say, is the
Prophet peace be upon him and his companions.
So they set up a treaty and they
said to them, no war, no fighting.
Here are the rules.
You sign, you sign, you sign.
It was all good.
There was peace and stability now in Medina.
That went on for some time until the
treaty was broken.
And it was broken by two of these
tribes.
Banu Nadir and Banu Qurayza.
You don't have to memorize these names.
I just want you to listen to it.
These two tribes got into a battle amongst
themselves.
And that was one of the points in
the treaty agreement that they were supposed to
abide to.
No war, no fighting.
Whatever conflict you have amongst yourself, we're going
to deal with it in a peaceful way.
So because they broke this treaty, the Prophet
peace be upon him expelled these two tribes
outside of Medina.
And they went just on the outskirts of
Medina in a place called Khaybar.
And they stayed there for some time.
Time goes on.
Do you think that they were happy about
being expelled from Medina?
No.
Resentment started to build.
Hate started to build.
And now you have the Quraysh, the Meccans
back in Mecca.
They're also pretty angry.
Because the battle of Badr, which they thought
convincingly that victory was on their side.
The battle of Badr, the Muslims won.
They were outnumbered significantly.
But Allah, as mentioned in the Qur'an,
sent an army of angels to assist the
Muslims and the companions in the battle of
Badr.
So the battle of Badr was victorious for
the Muslims.
Battle of Uhud, they learned a hard lesson.
Here's the problem.
The Meccans still had this like grudge and
discomfort in them that they lost this battle
of Badr.
Not Uhud, but Badr.
They still had this thing like, man, we
really got to avenge this battle.
We got to get back.
We got to really finish off these guys.
So that hatred, I don't know what you
want to call it, but it was more
or less like they couldn't accept their loss.
And it had a lot to do with
ego and pride and status.
So all of that now was affected.
And people remembered now the Qurayshis.
Oh, these are the guys that lost battle
of Badr against those few Muslims that they
fought with.
They were just like a handful.
You guys were extremely powerful, all the resources,
and they humiliated you guys.
So that was the memory stuck in everyone's
mind in Mecca.
So the leaders of the Quraysh came up
with an idea.
Those two tribes that are living in Khyber
said to the Meccans, why don't we come
together?
And that is why Ahzab is translated as
the Confederates, meaning that you have a bunch
of different tribes all across Mecca, including these
two Jewish tribes that were kicked out of
Medina.
Now they team up.
And they team up for one goal.
The one goal is to extinguish and finish
off Islam.
Because all this time, the Muslims continue to
grow, not just in numbers, but even politically.
They started to gain more power, more dominance,
more resources, and the list goes on.
So that's where 10,000 came from.
So you have a combination of dozens of
different tribes all came together for one cause.
The Arabic word for this is called Hizbun.
You've heard this word before?
Hizb.
Hizb is usually a term used to describe
like a sect of Islam.
But in this context, Hizbun is explained of
a group of people that come together to
serve one cause.
This group of people could be several from,
in this case, different tribes, could be different
countries, different villages.
But the point is, people that never worked
together came together.
That's called a Hizb.
And in this context, they came together to
finish off Islam, to stop the growth of
Islam.
And of course, the Prophet ﷺ, the goal
was to kill him.
So now the Prophet ﷺ hears about this.
He hears that there's a massive army that's
mobilized itself and it's on its way now,
10,000 plus, to Medina.
So the Prophet ﷺ puts together 3,000
of his own in Medina.
But here's where really things get very interesting.
Amongst them is a great companion, Salman al
-Farisi.
Have you heard this name before?
Salman al-Farisi.
The ahadith that he narrates are some of
the most beautiful and simple ahadith that are
extremely powerful and useful in da'wah.
So let me give you an example.
One member of this Jewish tribe came to
Salman al-Farisi and wanted to make fun
of him.
Wanted to make fun of his leader, the
Prophet ﷺ, make fun of Islam.
So you know what he did?
And this still happens to us till this
day.
He said, your Prophet ﷺ tells you how
to go to the bathroom and how to
squat and do all that.
That's what your Prophet ﷺ teaches you?
So he was trying to just make fun
of him, embarrass him to an extent.
How would you respond to this?
If somebody came to you and be like,
your Islam teaches you how to go to
the can and do your business, really?
Gets that personal?
What, you couldn't figure it out on your
own?
How would you respond to those remarks?
What would you say?
Would you get into like a, well actually,
studies have shown that if you squat a
certain way, it's good for your back and
your shoulders and your digestive system.
No.
You know what Salman al-Farisi ﷺ told
this man?
He said, yes, that's what he teaches us.
Done.
Some things are just left as is.
What Salman al-Farisi, what you learn from
this situation is that you should never, ever,
ever for a moment feel embarrassed or shy
when it comes to Allah's deen.
Because Allah himself tells us in Quran that
this is a deen of honor.
So you should be able to carry that
honor and be proud.
Yeah, I'm very happy and content.
And I'm sure all of you all feel
the same way.
I'm very content that Allah tells me everything
I need to do and not do and
dictates my entire life.
I'm happy with that.
Critics of Islam will be like, oh, you
guys are like puppets, man.
You can't think for yourself, can't do anything
for yourself.
Yeah, we can.
But when it comes to all of this,
I'm very happy that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala is in control of me.
And you take that with honor and pride.
So now Salman al-Farisi, he is the
one that comes up with an idea.
See this red line here?
That's the famous trench.
You know, if you came to Umrah with
me, I would show you exactly where this
trench is.
Because right now there are roads and buildings
that are built on top of this trench
location.
So you would never know.
You would never know that this is the
location.
This trench was massive.
It was so big that eventually when the
Meccans arrived in Medina, before they could launch
their attack, they thought that some spirit came
and dug this massive trench.
Because it was impossible for any human or
group to come together and construct such a
massive trench.
And they filled it with water.
The strategy is very obvious.
If they couldn't cross over, then they couldn't
get to the Muslims.
And that was the end of it.
The Qurayshis, they had a lot of pride
in them.
So you know what they did?
They sat there for 20 days just trying
to figure out, Do you know how to
swim?
You know how to swim?
Okay, go.
Give it a shot.
And they drown.
They get scared.
It was too rough.
The water is this, too deep.
And they come back again.
They're like, listen, you want to build a
boat?
You know how to build a boat?
Let's build.
It'll sink right away.
Then they'll try to like create like this
chain where they would link each other's arms.
And it's like, okay, just see how far
we can get into the water before the
last person falls in.
And hopefully we can support each other.
Every possibility they entertain, all of it failed.
And the Muslims are just kind of standing
on the other side.
So the Qurayshis now come up with another
plan.
They say, why don't you send one of
your guys, Muslims, bring one of you guys
on this side.
We'll take one person from our side.
And we'll let them go and have a
sword fight.
Let them see, this is like a real
battle now.
Let's see who wins who.
So Prophet ﷺ sends one person.
Qurayshis send another.
And the Prophet ﷺ side, of course, is
victorious.
And they win that battle.
When the Qurayshis saw all of this, about
20 plus days, they began to retreat.
That's called Ghazwatul Ahzab.
It sounds pretty simple, but it is said
that from the Qurayshi or the Meccan side,
approximately three or four individuals were killed.
And from the side of the Prophet ﷺ,
approximately five to seven companions were killed.
Okay.
Have you all, those of you who have
gone to Umrah, have you gone to a
masjid that is referred to as the seven
masajid?
Okay, there's one big masjid and then there's
like these tiny little masalas on a mountain.
Oh, you guys got to come to Umrah
with me, man.
Inshallah.
Oh, yeah.
Just going to throw in a quick pitch
there.
But yeah, all of these stations during this
Ghazwah, during this battle, the companions stationed themselves
strategically on top of small mountains, just so
they have a visual of what the Meccans
are up to.
And they were instructed, don't leave those spots
until you're told to.
So when Salat time came, they would end
up praying in those spots.
They would not come together as a jama
'ah.
They couldn't, right?
So in battle or in war, a lot
of the Salah rules are changed.
This was one of them, right?
So what they did is they started building
these small, as time went on during the
Umayyad period, so a few hundred years later,
they started building these tiny little masalas, these
little huts that look like tiny little masjid
domes.
And they're still there.
But you need somebody to point them out
to you.
A teacher that teaches you Surah Al-Ahzab,
I think, is fair.
That could point those things out.
I don't think anybody else could.
So that's Ghazwah Al-Ahzab, okay?
That's Ghazwah Al-Ahzab in a nutshell.
After this was said and done, now the
Muslims still have to figure out how to
remain safe, because it looks like this is
going to be a habit, where the Qurayshis
and the Meccans are going to mobilize.
So now they're thinking about what's to come.
The point is that Surah Al-Ahzab gets
its name because of this particular battle.
And in this Surah, you're going to see
all the instructions and lessons now you're supposed
to extract from this entire experience.
And we'll see how that relates to this
day and age.
So Ghazwah Al-Ahzab, the confederate army, a
group of people united upon one common cause,
which we've already discussed.
They are united externally against Islam.
It's the largest army Islam ever seen up
until that particular time.
10,000 plus came together to extinguish Islam.
Do we still have like a Ghazwah Al
-Ahzab that happens today?
Do we still have a Ghazwah Al-Ahzab?
Well we have many.
With lots.
Happening right now, it's happened in the past.
It will continue to happen.
So Ghazwah Al-Ahzab for the average day
-to-day Muslim, for all Muslims really, it
hasn't stopped.
So we're going to see now when we
extract some of these lessons, how relevant this
Surah is to some of the conflict and
the hardships that Muslims go through today.
The Surah will start with the marriage of
Zayd and Zaynab, as a recommendation from the
Prophet ﷺ.
She didn't want to, so she didn't want
to marry Zayd, but because it was a
recommendation from the Prophet ﷺ, she decided to
marry him.
Quick question.
What do you think about that?
The Prophet ﷺ recommended to Zaynab to marry
Zayd.
Zaynab came from a very high-class, well
-respected family.
This was the family who lived in a
home that they had a door like nobody
else.
They had a home that was beautiful and
it was constructed like no one else.
This was like a high-class, top, well
-respected family that was wealthy.
And everybody, including the government of Medina, everybody
knew who this family was.
Zayd, does anybody know who he is?
What did Zayd do?
Who is Zayd here?
To the Prophet ﷺ.
Was he like a friend or what?
Okay, an adopted son.
Okay.
So he's an adopted son.
Did he have a job?
His duties was more like a helper.
Okay, more of like a helper.
Just kind of to assist the Prophet ﷺ
whenever he needed some help or assistance here
and there.
That was pretty much primarily his job, okay?
You have someone in this well-respected family,
wealthy, rich.
Now you're being encouraged and it's recommended to
you, not from just any average Jew.
The leader of the entire ummah says, I
recommend you marry Zayd.
Do you understand why she would have been
hesitant and reluctant to do this?
She didn't want to.
But she still married because it was a
recommendation from him ﷺ.
What do you think about this in today's
context?
If the dad or the mom recommends to
their child, their son or daughter, look, I
really want you to marry this person.
Now we live in an age where we're
like, no, you can't tell me who to
marry.
I'm going to marry who I feel like
I want to marry.
Regardless of their background, regardless of religion, that's
kind of the culture we live in in
the world today.
So is this something that's just been thrown
out?
Are there any Islamic laws that pertain to
this scenario?
So let me ask it to you in
a very generic way.
Should you consider a marriage to somebody that
is simply encouraged and recommended to you based
on Islamic law?
So somebody, you know, parents say to you,
you know, it's a practicing brother.
Yeah, you might think he's ugly, but he's
a good Muslim.
I want you to marry him.
Should you, the daughter or, switch the tables
around, you know.
Should you, the son, marry her or the
daughter marry him?
Is that like encouraged based on this scenario?
No.
Why?
I thought we're supposed to practice everything the
Prophet ﷺ did and encouraged.
We should try to practice it.
Why is this?
If you studied a chapter of Nikah and
marriage law in Islam, you should know this.
Later on, a hadith came out.
The Prophet ﷺ pretty much, pretty much canceled
out and discouraged this kind of scenario.
By saying that whoever she marries, meaning the
daughter, her silence is her consent.
So if she, if a recommendation comes to
her and she just remains quiet.
Our version of that, by the way, is
you can verbalize and say, no, thank you.
Okay.
But back then the culture is her silence
meant she agreed.
Here you will literally say yes or no.
Her silence meant something that we have to
pay attention to.
That the Prophet ﷺ said her silence is
her consent, meaning pay attention to it.
Don't ignore.
Oh, she's quiet.
She probably wants us to choose for her.
No.
It already has a label or a stamp
or an answer that's put to her silence.
So in other words, how she feels and
what she wants or doesn't want now becomes
Islamic law.
She has the choice to, she makes that
choice, who she wants to marry and who
she doesn't.
Everybody understand?
This practice was eradicated.
You're not allowed to do this anymore.
If you, you can consider a recommendation, but
you should never ever say to yourself, well,
you recommended me for the sake of Islam.
I'm just going to do it.
No.
Prophet ﷺ also told us to look for
four things in a spouse.
So you have to be pleased with these,
you know, wealth, status, background, family, all of
that.
So this scenario here, we're going to see
now why she did this.
Despite she didn't want to marry, she still
went through.
It's fair to say at least one of
the points is that for those of you
that are writing, she did it because of
her love for Islam and for her love
for the Prophet ﷺ.
So her sincerity and devotion to Islam, she
made the choice to say, you know what?
If he recommended him to me, I'm marrying
him.
Was there another story similar to this?
Was there another story similar to this where
the Prophet ﷺ recommended somebody to marry someone
else?
And they didn't want to, but they said,
well, because the Prophet ﷺ recommend, I'm going
to do it.
Have you heard this?
Say it again.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Story of Julaibib.
Which is a little more extreme than this
situation, right?
So it's not new.
Okay.
Eventually now divorce happened.
How did the Sahabas treat divorce at that
time?
You know how they treated it?
Before the laws of divorce came, they treated
it like nothing.
It was just another day.
Oh, divorce?
Okay.
Well, bye.
That's it.
Islam came and started giving us ayat.
Surah Al-Baqarah came and introduced all the
laws of divorce.
That's why there's an ayah that says, اَوْ
سَرِّحُهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ Or you split from her, so
meaning divorce, but you have to do it
سَرِّحُهُنَّ privately with the utmost ease and respect.
And it has to be done in a
way that is considered respectful and acceptable in
whatever culture and society you belong to.
You know, the ayat say one thing, but
it's very different how divorce is practiced these
days, isn't it?
Divorce in Qur'an almost always has taqwa
associated with it.
Allah always talks about taqwa in the ayat
of divorce.
Okay, that's why in Surah At-Talaq, you
have, وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهُ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهُ All throughout the
surah.
Why?
Because in divorce, that is the first thing
the marriage is tested with.
Are you going to have taqwa going through
the process of divorce?
Who is going to lose taqwa first, husband
or the wife?
That's where all those crazy emails go back
and forth.
I'll see you in court.
Yeah.
I don't want to talk to your mom.
I don't want to talk to your in
-laws.
I'll see all of them in court.
Like it's just dirty all around.
So it was something very similar during the
time of this incident, but generally in Medina,
of how the sahabas treated divorce.
So Zaynab is devastated that this had happened.
And it was just, it was meant to
be to an extent.
A lot of things happened, which we'll talk
about once we get to that section.
But here's where the so-called controversy begins.
The Prophet alayhi salatu wasalam marries her.
Anybody know why?
He recommended someone to marry her.
It didn't work out.
So he came along and married her.
I can see it on some of your
faces.
Is it?
Very well, very possible.
Prophet alayhi salatu wasalam does not marry unless
he's instructed to.
He's inspired in some way from Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
Why?
Because his marriage is going to be an
example for the whole ummah.
So he's not going to just marry someone
because like, you know, I like the way
you recite Quran.
No, you look pretty.
No.
All of these qualities are important.
The Prophet alayhi salatu wasalam knows that for
him to marry, Allah will guide him to
who he should marry.
So he's inspired that way.
So it's fair to say that perhaps Allah
had inspired him in some way to marry
her.
Any other reason?
Think more like practically, like why he would
marry somebody who had just gone through a
divorce.
Just focus on that part.
Forget about the Zayd and Zaynab marriage.
That's done with now.
Now she's a divorcee and he marries her.
Think about her state at that time.
Good.
That's number one.
Okay, this is not for me, by the
way, right?
These are all extracted of the tafsir of
some of these ayats.
So the first thing Imam al-Qurtubi and
others mentioned is that one of the reasons
why he married her is to show the
sahabas and Islam and members of this ummah
as a whole that marrying someone who was
divorced is perfectly okay.
Would you agree that in this day and
age in society, we still haven't really learned
this lesson?
You know how many divorced women I meet
who want to get married?
I can't even keep track.
Every conference I go to, every lecture program
I go to, I'll always meet especially a
sister who has kids from a previous marriage,
but nobody wants to marry her.
Society and culture has written them off.
The men go through it as well, but
not as much as the women.
And there are reasons why that happened.
None of them are acceptable.
None of them are okay.
As a matter of fact, most if not
all of them are just terrible.
They've been labeled.
They've been given a certain status in culture,
in society.
A lot of bad habits that people had
were all kind of put on her, and
she carried this burden that she was married
once so that there's no need for her.
We can go somewhere.
That kind of culture developed.
I don't want to spell it out, but
I'm sure all of you understand.
So all of that is going to be
captured in here as well.
A third reason scholars say is because of
Zainab and her devastation.
Some stories that I read mentioned that she
went through what we would call today as
some kind of depression, emotional depression.
She was really upset about her divorce, and
the biggest problem behind that was because she
felt like she let the Prophet, peace be
upon him, down.
So one explanation is he married her to
give the example and to show and to
rebuild her spirit, her confidence.
She becomes optimistic and feel good about herself.
He married her for those reasons as well,
not just that he wanted to, but all
of these other things that in terms of
her past marriage and the experiences she went
through and her state of mind right now,
all of this was part of the reasons
why the Prophet, peace be upon him, wanted
to marry her, which are all reasons that
are encouraged in the Sharia as well.
These are points that someone can definitely consider
when they're choosing or looking for marriage.
Zainab is devastated, so the Prophet, peace be
upon him, marries her.
What did this lead to?
Look at the bottom here.
The Munafiqun said, you can't marry your own
daughter-in-law.
Where did this happen?
What are we talking about here?
Why did they label her a quote-unquote
daughter-in-law?
Married to his adopted son, which you'll see
that this next point here, Arabs then would
say, you're like my son, out of love
and hate.
This phrase is not taken in the literal
sense here.
Like, okay, you married your daughter-in-law.
It's just like how back then, but people
say it as well today.
If you say, you're like my son, it
could be a compliment, but it could also
be what?
You're like my God help us son here,
look at him.
Shaytan's brother, this is my house.
Yeah, so you can use the same phrase
to mean love or something completely the opposite.
So this phrase here was not like, it
was not like in its apparent form.
It wasn't like literally you married your daughter
-in-law because all of these laws you'll
see was not exactly accurate and that the
Prophet alaihissalaatu was like, this was just a
rumor that was spread amongst the Munafiqun because
why?
They saw a situation they didn't know was
allowed, but they just judged from the outside
and spread the rumor immediately, which is how
rumors usually start anyway.
People won't know the story, not know the
background, won't know context, but because there's an
opportunity to make fun or embarrass that person,
that's what we live with in this day
and age.
That's pretty much where every rumor comes from
is because nobody who is involved in those
rumors took the time to say, you know
what, let me find out, let me ask
if this is true or not.
So I just put that there for reference
so you understand that there, even though the
phrase is what it is, it could also
mean two different things that are complete opposite
to one another.
Okay, let's jump into the surah because now
we want to put a lot of this
stuff together.
Okay, first ayah.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us, Bismillah
ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, Ya ayyuhan nabiyyut taqila
wala tut'il kafireena walmunafiqeen innallaha kan aliman
hakeema You know, if a brother or sister
went through a divorce, this is the first
ayah that they should look at to start
to refill and boost their energy and their
confidence back.
This ayah.
Go to ayah number one of surah Al
-Ahzab, take a look at it.
Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam is saying, be
cautious of Allah.
Ya ayyuhan nabiyyut.
First thing is, why did Allah say, Ya
ayyuhan nabiyyut?
Not Ya Rasool.
Ya Muhammad.
Why nabiyyut?
Every time you see the Prophet alayhi salatu
wasalam's title in the Quran, he's the only
prophet out of all 25 that is referred
to by their title.
All the other prophets and messengers in the
Quran are referred to by their name or
they are the son of so and so.
Isa ibn Maryam.
But their names are mentioned.
He's the only prophet that has this.
So the first point to pay attention to
is Allah shows the utmost love and respect
for his Prophet alayhi salatu wasalam.
That is translated in our context that you
have got to start to accept your life,
your divorce now.
You've got to accept that that's the reality
and start to build back confidence that it's
not over.
Your whole life doesn't have to be over.
It doesn't mean that marriage is not in
question for you later on again.
You don't write yourself off.
So Ya ayyuhan nabiyyut.
You can take this approach and apply it,
especially to somebody who's been divorced because that's
the context of the ayah.
But in general, anybody goes through a struggle
in life and they start to lose confidence
in themselves.
Ya ayyuhan nabiyyut is Allah saying, listen, you're
still the prophet.
So you should remind yourself and feel good
about that.
In our context, you're still here.
Malik al mawt hasn't come to you yet.
Allah still woke you up again.
And you still have iman.
You still have Allah and you still have
at least that connection.
So you should utilize that.
wa la tuti'il kafireena wal munafiqeen And
don't even obey.
wa la tuti'il ta'am Don't even
obey, listen, look at, don't even think about
following the disbelievers and the hypocrites.
What is our context?
How do we relate to that?
Don't listen to the foolish ones that are
out there to just spread your name, leak
out all of that juicy information they got
their hands on.
Don't let it bother you.
People are always going to talk about you.
This is Allah saying, as long as you
have taqwa of me, you're confident in that,
just completely do your best and ignore what
people are saying about you.
In this case, the kafiroon and the munafiqoon,
they both came together and that's how the
rumor continued to spread.
It wasn't amongst the believers.
It was just the disbelievers of Medina at
that time that were doing this.
Okay.
So Allah tells the Prophet ﷺ just don't
listen to them.
Ithallaha kana aliman hakeema Allah is always all
knowing and all wise.
Everybody see this?
Students who have studied with me before, you
will remember when I say to you that
one of the most important ways when you're
studying an ayah is pay attention to how
an ayah starts and what it ends with.
Because most of the time what it ends
with is linked to what the subject of
the ayah is.
So in this case, we are talking about,
okay, Prophet, have taqwa, be confident to yourself,
ignore what the disbelievers and munafiqoon are saying.
Because Allah is always, always fully aware of
what they're talking about when they're at home,
when they're not on their phones, when they're
not doing any of that stuff, the conversation
is still happening in their house about you.
Makes sense, right?
Just because you don't hear about the rumors
or what people are saying about you doesn't
mean that they're not having a wild conversation
about how you looked, how you looked at
them, what you were wearing, oh my God,
I can't believe she showed up, she showed
her face here again.
Can you believe him?
He actually had the nerve.
All of those conversations happen behind closed door.
That's Allah saying, Inna Allaha kana aliman.
I have complete knowledge of what's being said
and even what's not being said and what's
being said behind closed doors.
Hakima.
And Allah knows exactly why He allowed this
situation to happen to you at this very
moment.
You see how it's linked to now?
So think of somebody who's divorced.
You know usually when somebody's divorced they say
things like, If only people knew what I
went through.
If only people saw what my marriage was
like.
People are talking about me and they have
no idea what I was dealing with at
home.
So this is just a little bit of
language for you.
See this word here, kana?
Kana is in past tense.
It means literally W-A-S.
So Allah has and was always fully aware
and all wise.
Why is it in past tense?
If the person who's going through the divorce
is happening presently at this moment.
This is Quran.
I love when Quran does this.
This is Allah reminding you during those difficult
times, all those tough moments in your marriage,
I was always fully aware of what you
were going through.
When you thought you had no one to
turn to for help and guidance and counsel,
Allah says, I was always there.
It's amazing.
It's Quran's way and Allah's way in a
subtle way just letting you know, Listen, I
never left you.
Because during all those hardships in your marriage,
you still got up for Fajr.
You still prayed.
You still made dua.
You still held on to your deen.
I never forgot you.
And I know you probably don't, but I
know why I allowed your marriage to break.
You may not see the fruits of it
now, but just wait and you hold on
to me.
You have taqwa and you find that confidence
back in you.
Just wait inshallah.
And you'll see why this happened at this
very moment of your life.
You'll see it.
Okay.
وَاتَّبِعْ مَا يُوحَى إِلَيْكَ مِنْ رَبِّكِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ
كَانَ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرًا Now put yourself, students,
put yourself in the foot or in the
place of the Prophet alayhis salatu wasalam.
Just put yourself in his place now.
Okay.
People are talking about you.
You married somebody.
All this crazy stuff is going on.
وَاتَّبِعْ مَا يُوحَى إِلَيْكَ مِنْ رَبِّكِ Follow what
is revealed to you from your Lord.
Just follow Allah's instructions.
These two ayat, there is a powerful lesson.
The transition from the first message to this
message.
In order for you to receive Allah's guidance,
you know, you can read it, but you're
not paying attention to it.
You can recite it, but your heart isn't
reciting.
Does that make sense?
You could see a lot of this guidance
and information, but it's not doing anything for
you.
To break that cycle, that barrier, and really
connect with what Allah tells you, the first
thing that you find in these two ayat
is you have to put aside what people
say about you.
You have to find a way to ignore
that.
If you can eliminate what people are saying
about you, and focus what Allah is saying
to you, then Allah says, you'll be okay.
Then Allah reminds you, look, Allah is aware.
Every ounce of effort that you're putting forth
to keep your life together, Allah says, إِنَّ
اللَّهَ كَانَ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرًا So in order,
you know, when somebody is divorced, they come
to an imam, like, you know, give me
some nasih advice.
Like, sister, you need to make dua.
I'm making dua every single day.
I still feel horrible.
Brother, you need to fear Allah.
Give her her haq.
Right?
Don't play this game.
Just make this simple, clean, and peaceful.
Okay, stop with this, stop with that.
Stop with the imam.
Stop hating.
Stop talking about him.
A lot of times when you give this
kind of advice, the couple would be there,
the husband or the wife, divorced, and they
were just like, yeah, I tried it, but
nobody's listening.
I don't know if Allah is really there
listening to me.
Nothing's happening.
This ayah is to reinforce to the Prophet
ﷺ.
Listen, just trust.
Trust yourself.
Whatever it is that I'm giving you, just
trust it.
So our version is that just trust Islam
and its guidance through your situation because Allah
has complete knowledge of what you're going through.
Okay.
Why would Allah tell him to follow his
revelation?
Isn't that the purpose of the Prophet ﷺ
to do that?
What's the answer to this?
Why does Allah tell the Prophet ﷺ to
follow revelation when that is his purpose to
begin with?
Why does Allah do this?
To reiterate, okay.
Really important question to think about.
Okay.
Okay, good.
So this is one possibility that the rumors
could get to him.
And you will see that later in the
surah, the rumors do get to him to
an extent.
It does bother him.
This is the nature of the Prophet ﷺ.
He's hurt by what people say about him
because he has the most beautiful and tender
heart of any human being.
Of course, it's going to hurt him what
people say, especially when they say what they
say and it's done wrongfully and it's incorrect.
It's just a lie.
So this here, one of the reasons why
Allah does this is to not just reinforce
the message but to keep his confidence going,
moving.
So sometimes, you know, your parents will say
to you, no, no, no, you keep trying
because I know you can do it.
But mom, I failed 16 times.
Okay, I don't care.
Just keep trying.
You have it in you.
You know, sometimes we need that from our
parents, from our siblings, from friends, from the
community.
We need sometimes just that reminder.
And parents are the best at this.
It's one thing when people say to you,
you're good, don't worry, you'll be okay.
Everything is fine.
As opposed to when your mother or your
dad tells you, you're good, everything's okay, you'll
be fine.
It's the exact same sentence, but it's completely
different when it comes to who's saying it.
The experience is totally different, right?
So Prophet Ali, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, even
though his purpose, our reminder, our lesson from
this is we always need constant, constant reminders.
Okay?
Yeah, Martina, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't know.
So just for students online, you know, so
let's just add a, let's keep it in
general because hopefully nobody from that country is...
So let's just keep it in general that,
you know, there are cultures today that celebrate
divorce.
Some do it for good reasons and some
do it and it's just weird.
Right?
Yeah, yeah.
Let's finish up this last ayah and then
we're done.
Okay, guys?
Have trust in Allah is sufficient.
Allah is as a wakil.
The Quraysh have a military operation.
It's Ghazwat al-Ahzab.
Banu Qaynuqa and Qurayza have been expelled from
Medina.
Now the Prophet's personal life.
Why should anyone care?
Why should anyone care?
Why should anyone care about the Prophet, salallahu
alayhi wa sallam, personal life?
Because that is how backbiting, slander, lies, rumors,
that's what it feeds off of.
Usually, I think all of you will agree,
right?
That 80, 90% of the time when
people talk about somebody in a negative way,
the vast majority of time, it's usually related
to things that are none of their business.
It's none of their business.
Our Muslim culture today, if you see somebody
divorced, I don't know what it is.
I don't know where this comes from.
But some Muslims feel like they are entitled
to some sort of internal intelligence report of
everyone's affairs in their house.
They just need to know what's going on.
Oh my God, look at her.
She looks so sad today.
I wonder what's happened in their house last
night.
Oh my God, he got married again.
Yeah, that's him.
It's a really, really shameful quality to have.
And it's one of the most effective and
quickest way to extinguish Iman.
Almost everyone who does this, who gets involved
and talks about the affairs of others, almost
everybody who does this, I can guarantee you,
inshallah, guarantee you, these people are not gonna
be the people who are praying tahajjud every
night, who are reciting Quran as much as
they can.
And if they do that, they just do
it because it's a habit.
In other words, the sincerity is almost completely
gone.
They're just involved in their routine.
And, you know, that's a whole nother conversation
and it will come up in this surah.
But to answer this last question, why should
anybody care about the Prophet's personal life?
You know, when you're the leader, everything's under
a magnifying glass.
Your life, the way you dress, look, talk,
everything.
Every single thing possible.
You know, one time I was driving, long
time ago, and my sister, my little sister's
beside me.
And a rumor went around that I had
a second wife.
Yeah.
So, you know, just throwing that out there.
Like, this can happen to anyone.
So, yeah.
So, just keep that in mind.
It's just the nature of how gossip works.
So the Prophet ﷺ is definitely not excluded
in terms of being exposed to that.
Okay, let's pause here, inshallah.
سبحانك اللهم وبحمدك أشهد أن لا إله إلا
أنت أستغفرك وأتوب إليك Next week, we will
probably spend almost the entire session on this
one ayah.
We're not going to do it like this
in every ayah.
There are some verses we'll just read it
and zoom over because it'll just be repetitive.
But this ayah is one of the most
important verses in the surah and also one
of the most misunderstood verses.
Okay, you've seen this verse, you've heard people
quote it all the time.
So we're going to understand context, what it
truly means and extract as much as we
can from it, okay?
Jazakum Allah Khayran, Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh Does anybody
have any questions before we leave?
I hope, inshallah, I see every one of
you here next week.
Inshallah, right?
Inshallah.
My next Umrah trip is during the winter
break, December 25th, inshallah.
The group is almost closed.
So if you want to have an Umrah
like never before and see things you never
knew existed, join me, inshallah.