Mustafa Abu Rayyan – 48 Tafseer Surah alBaqarah Verses 217218
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AI: Transcript ©
This is a continuation of our,
tafsir class,
the tafsir of Suratul Baqarah.
And we are
at Ayah number
217.
The ayah before that
was speaking about the act of worship, Jihad
fisabilillah,
fighting for the sake of Allah
In previous lessons, we spoke in detail
about what that means, what it entails, when
it is done, and
feel free to go back to our previous
talks to have more detail about that.
But, in the ayah number 2 216,
Allah mentions.
Allah mentions
fighting in the way of Allah has been,
made obligatory upon you while it is something
that you dislike.
When the Sahaba
were told that they need to fight against
Quraysh
and they had to endure
battle, Badar,
Uhud,
Handak,
Hunayn, and many others.
It wasn't an easy task.
This is why,
the prophet
also tabuk for instance. It wasn't an easy
task,
And it isn't something that,
comes naturally to people to put your life
on the line.
It's,
bravery is not something that is
a trait for everyone but
Allah
has obligated it.
This
is why,
if the great imam, the ruler,
drafts
the men
to fight,
they fight. They
it happens even in in non Islamic,
countries. Right? Drafting.
But the difference is here it is Allah
that has made this Ibadah and there's great
reward in it if you have the right
intention,
of course.
But Allah mentions that one may dislike it.
And then Allah gave us a principle
and
it may be that you dislike something.
It is better for you. And this is
a principle for everything.
You may dislike waking up for fajr, but
it is better for you.
You may, dislike
or you or find it difficult and the
the fasting in the heat on a summer,
Ramadan, but then it is better for you.
A lot of things are better for you.
Who tells you what's better for you? Allah.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Why? Why does Allah
tell us what's better for us? Because Allah
knows us better than we know ourselves.
Allah knows what's best for us, for humanity,
for everyone because he is Al Aleem, the
all knowing. He is Al Hakim, the all
wise. He is Ar Rahman, the most merciful.
He is Al Latif, the most gentle.
Allah knows everything.
He knows us better than we know ourselves.
He created us
and then he commands us. And his commands
are best for his creation.
And it may be that you dislike something.
But that is better for you.
Maybe that you enjoy or like or love
something,
it
is bad for you.
Allah knows
and
you do not know.
Trust Allah.
Trust Allah's Commandments.
Believe in Allah.
Believe in Allah statements.
This is what we need to do.
Then
Allah
says, yes,
they will ask you.
Who?
The companions are asking a question.
Who are they asking the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam?
The Sahaba would ask the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam about rulings. And there are about
13 ayats in the Quran where the Sahaba
asked the prophet something.
Many ayaats.
They will ask you.
And these questions were all beneficial like Abdulwa
ibn Aba said,
they would not ask the prophet something. It
was beneficial for them and the people that
came after them.
Here a question came up about Shahru
Haram. The sacred months.
More specifically fighting in them.
They will ask
you concerning
fighting in these sacred months. Why are they
asking the prophet about this? There's a story
or there's a survey of an Azul for
this that the scholars mentioned.
You have to understand the prophet
and this is important that every Muslim reads
the seed of the prophet
The prophet and the Sahaba were in a
very hostile environment.
From the beginning of Islam they were abused,
they were tortured, and they were
suffering
at the hands of the idol worshipping Quraysh.
Many of them were killed. They some of
them fled to Abyssinia.
And then until the prophet
himself had to flee Mecca,
because they were planning on killing him.
And then after that it was a very
hostile environment, wars happened.
And the sahab and the prophet would defend
themselves and sometimes they would do preemptive strikes
as well. Offensive and defensive.
Now
the prophet
was a prophet
but he was also a leader
and a military leader as well.
So he would sometimes send
expeditions,
scouts,
small group of companions
to see what Quraysh is up to.
And there was this one time where he
sent
some companions to Put Nakhla.
Put Nakhla, which is a place between Mecca
and Taif.
And there were many great companions that were
in this expedition.
Abdullahi ibn Jahash,
Aqash ibn ibn Merson, the company who was
promised Jannah.
Among them was Waqid,
Ibra Abdulah Tamimi, and many others.
And many others.
8 of them.
These 8 companions, the prophet gave them particular
instructions.
But the way he did it was he
told them to go there and he gave
them a paper,
and he told them only read it when
you get there.
So they got there, they read it and
it
said, Tarasad
Oraishn o Ta'alam Akbarahum.
Spy on Quraysh
and find out information about their whereabouts, their
planning, their everything.
That was their
role.
This was in the month of Rajab, which
is a sacred month. Who can tell me
the other 3 sacred months? Rajab is in
the middle of the year. The other 3
sacred months are consecutive.
Anyone wanna tell me those because we mentioned
them a few times in this class.
Muharram. Okay. Now you have to go backwards.
Muharram. Okay?
So it wasn't the month of Artur, it
was end of Rajab,
they came upon a caravan
of Quraish
and these companions they attacked them.
And they killed some men, took the caravan,
and,
captured some men as well.
Were not ordered to do that by the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
They did it in a sacred month and
in a sacred month you're not allowed to
fight.
So these sahaba clearly made a error, a
mistake.
They come back to the prophet
and the prophet
admonishes them and said, did I tell you
to do that? Have I commanded you to
do this?
But
Uraish used this as an opportunity
to smear campaign against the believers. Look at
them, there's nothing they respect, they don't respect
sacred months, killing, and all of this.
So it was an opportunity and and and
even the believers, the other believers,
the the Sahaba were chastised
for this.
Now
the sahaba asked the prophet
so what is the ruling of fighting in
this sacred month?
Allah
answers this whole incident
in the Disaya.
Now
They ask you concerning
fighting in the 3rd months.
Say to them,
Fighting therein is a great transgression.
It is a kabira, a major sin.
Thus telling us that what those companions did
was what? Clearly,
wrong.
But then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala talks about
the Quraysh themselves and their double standards.
This is why,
there's a statement. Perhaps
someone else should have said that.
You Quraysh,
you are gonna point fingers
about a killing that happened.
You who banished rasulullah from Makkah, you who
tortured the believers for years on end,
you who killed Somayyah,
you who did this and that, you who
are disbelievers,
you who have rejected the final messenger, you
who worship idols,
you dare to reprimand,
that is not your job.
You don't get to say that.
Na'am,
what a sahaba did was wrong.
Said,
Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala said, but a greater transgression
is to prevent mankind from following the way
of
truth. It is to disbelieve in Allah
It is to banish the people from the
haram.
Because not
only are the months sacred,
Makkah is sacred.
And that sanctity meant nothing to you when
you were spilling blood of the believers.
And that sanctity meant nothing to you when
you were chasing away your Rasulullah salallahu alaihi
wa sallam in order to kill them. And
that sanctity meant nothing to you when you
gave as a a when you put a
bounty on Rasool Allah's head,
a 100 camels for the one who kills
him.
So you are the last person
that get to reprimand
the beloved companions for this error.
And to and to
do,
which some scholars said is the disbelief itself.
Your disbelief
is
your your disbelief
it is greater
than the killing. In other words, what you're
up to is far, far
worse.
Here you learn something.
You learn
that,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is teaching us that
not all sins are equal.
Very important. Not all sins are equal.
And also
that you don't ever let the disbelievers
have a moral high ground
on the believers.
The one
who
is more deserving to be admonished and reprimanded
is the kuffar,
especially those that are killing
Such as the idol worshipping of idol worshippers
of Quraysh
and anyone that follows them. This is something
that they did. Look at Firaun
and Musa.
Allah when he talks about Firaun. The greatest
the biggest criminal on this earth.
He would punish them, torture them.
He would
murder and slaughter their sons.
Every year,
babies being killed by Firaoun and his people.
He enslaved
the while they were free.
He claimed to be the Rabul Al Amin.
Do you think has
would ever have the audacity to claim the
more high ground?
What did he say to Musa?
He said, oh, and remember what you've done
Musa. Remember that thing that you've done. What
was that?
The accidental killing
of the Coptic, of the kibdi.
So he's repre
He was ordering for years on end the
murdering of children.
And when Musa says, When
Musa speaks to him in the most gentleness
of manners because Allah told him,
speak to him in a gentle manner, he
brings up, remember when you killed that one
guy?
Same thing here.
Same thing here.
And you see this
today as well.
See this today as well.
You'll see
countries that will carpet bomb cities out of
existence,
Drop bombs
on Masakin,
Abriya.
But then
they will outrage over,
rainbow's flag are not allowed.
This is wrong and that is wrong.
Do Muslims make mistakes? They do.
Did those sahab and not make a mistake?
They did.
But what is that mistake compare to what
is happening?
And Allah is calling that out.
But
it is important
that when we do call out,
when we do call out the double standard,
that we don't blind ourselves from the error
that some Muslims may be committing.
Look at Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and how
he
spoke about the incident.
Yes.
You
asked about the the fighting in the sacred
months.
It is a major sin. It is a
great transgression.
You mentioned that,
but then
perhaps it wasn't that Quran should not have
said that.
They have absolutely no leg to stand on
as they say. And it's important that we
understand this.
Let's look at 1 by 1 the things
that Allah
mentions that Quraysh did.
Number 1,
Allah mentions
to obstruct
people from the way of Allah.
This can be done in many ways.
It can be done by actually stopping them
from being able to practice.
Closing down their masajid,
refusing them entry. It could be done by,
doing propaganda against the callers of truth like
they did. Calling the prophet Majnoon, calling the
prophet names, preventing people from listening to them.
They used to actually go out and say
to people, put
earplugs. Do not listen to Muhammad no matter
what. This is sadaan sabiillillah.
Because you are preventing people from guidance, you
are preventing people from truth, you are preventing
people from the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
Among that is that
to
spread
doubts within the people,
And because of that, they leave the religion.
All of these are ways.
In other words, everything that you're doing that
is preventing
the truth reaching the people is it
is obstructing in the way of Allah
from the way of Allah
and that is a greater sin than what
Waqid
and all the other companions
did.
And to disbelief in Allah. My brothers and
sisters,
understand this.
Disbelief in Allah has the greatest sin.
To deny Allah
There's no
great There's no greater sin.
This is why these believers are not allowed
to enter into Jannah. Everyone else, no matter
if you're a believer, no matter what sin
you commit,
eventually even if you are punished, you will
end up in Jannah. There's a reason for
that. There's no greater sin than to reject
the truth, than to reject the messengers. Uraish
dared
to claim
the more high ground. How dare you fight
in the in Rajab?
The other thing is, they themselves killed,
murdered,
and maimed
in Rajab
and in all any of these months. They
had no they they they had no sanctity.
The hypocrisy
of Quraysh is clear.
Not only that, Allah then mentions,
And to,
banish
and remove
the people and drive out its inhabitants from
Mecca. Makkah is meant to be safe.
Allah
calls it a safe
sanctuary,
better than Aminan.
And they messed all of that up.
Akhiraju Nabiya.
They kicked out their prophet.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions these things.
These
are all greater in the eyes of Allah
Subhanahu
wa
ta'ala. The disbelief
or the trialing
and the tribulations that you've put the believers
through,
is a greater
transgression.
In
the killing that happened.
Now,
one of the things that happened was
is that
one may assume
that
the transgression that was committed by these companions
resulted in the perpetuating of the fighting.
Now look what you've done now.
Now we are gonna go to war with
Quraysh because you've killed a few of them.
Right?
Allah
said,
They would have never stopped fighting you anyway.
They would have never stopped fighting
and they will never cease fighting you.
They will never cease fighting you. What did
they do? Weather
happened, a year later they were at a
doorstep of Medina, at Uhud.
And then they came back again with a
coalition
at Handak. And again and again and again.
They will never cease fighting you.
Until
you turn back from your religion, if they
can.
So what is the objective
of the disbelievers? What what is the objective?
Allah mentions in the Quran.
They will never be pleased with you. The
yahu and the nasaara will never be pleased
with you until you follow their religion.
They will never be pleased with you. What
did Allah say about the kuffar generally?
They wish that you disbelieved like they disbelieved.
Be like us, then we can be friends.
As long as you stand up for your
own truth, for your own values, for the
deen of Allah, we are not the same
and they will continue attacking you in whatever
way that they can.
Change,
become like us,
then good job.
Anything other this is why you sometimes see,
this is a tragedy.
You sometimes see some
I hope I wish to say well meaning
Muslims,
that will
they will change their whole faith to be
accepted.
There was one such individual.
I think this happened. This is in America.
She
she,
is normalizing all sorts of Faizha.
All sorts of
Faiza. This is this is fine. This is
fine. Parading with,
the worst of the worst calling towards
the abolishment of certain laws that are Islamic
and all of this. Right?
Ticks every box.
And then what? One box you refuse to
tick?
The issue of Palestine.
No.
Palestine, this you know? She stood up for
Palestine. May
Allah guide her and guide us all.
Doesn't matter how many causes you support.
It doesn't matter how many causes you support.
It doesn't matter if you remove your hijab.
It doesn't matter if you shave your bed.
It doesn't matter if you talk like us,
just like us. It doesn't matter if you
insult other Muslims.
Are you fully on board with our project?
The Kufra project? Are you fully on board?
No. No. Allah said that.
You have to follow everything because they will
never be pleased with you. So look at
that. You sold your whole deen and they
still is rejecting you.
You sold your whole deen. You're like, okay,
everything I'm happy with you just Palestine. No.
Not even that.
So we have to be smart.
And they will never cease fighting you Allah
said. So these Sahaba
these sahaba
should not have done what they have done
and they were reprimanded for it, but
it's not like what they did caused the
fighting. It was always going to happen. It
was always going to continue happening.
And until the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam established
himself in Makkah and conquered Makkah, the kuffar
of the Quraysh were always attacking the the
Muslims.
So what is the what was the goal
of Quresh? What is the goal of the
kuffar generally speaking?
To turn you away from your religion, and
then Allah
warns us of the consequences
of leaving your religion.
Allah says,
And whosoever
turns back from his religion,
if you leave Islam.
And dies upon that.
He is rejecting the truth and is a
kafir.
Those people
whom all of their deeds will be lost.
In this life and the hereafter.
And they will be the dwellers of the
fire. May Allah protect us. They'll
abide in there forever. This is the warning
from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. For those that
leave Islam, they will abide in hellfire forever.
So it's a warning, do not let the
pressure get to you and then you leave
Islam. Stay firm upon your religion.
The scholars, they talk about and
what does it mean for your
deeds
to be gone?
For example,
someone apostates
and then dies.
What about their previous good deeds? The Hajj
that they have done, the prayers that they
have prayed, the istighfar they have done. It
won't matter. It will be all be gone.
Your kufr will destroy all of that. Does
that make sense?
But what if the person repents and comes
back?
So someone, let's say, Ali,
was
a believer,
then he left,
and then he came back.
Will his goodness be reinstated or not?
Or do you have to start from scratch?
Fair question. Right?
The scholars differed over this. Some of them
said if the person repents,
his deeds are gone. Because it is at
this earlier this belief that you've committed that
destroys all of your good deeds. Right? So
if you've done Hajj, you need to do
another
Hajj.
The
they say, Al Muham Shafi'i is madhab,
that the person's deeds stay.
The person's deeds stay. Which is interesting. You
know what's interesting is with regards to ridda,
that
when you're reading the chapter of purification or
wudu, they mention among the things that break
your wudu. And they mention, you know,
relieving yourself, and they mention,
so they used to mention rida as well,
relieving Islam. They're like,
how? Why would they mention this?
But
let's say someone falls in the kufr and
repents
and he still has zudu.
Right?
The
the the job of and jurists
is to think of every scenario and give
an answer for it, even if it's very
unlikely. That's their job. Sometimes you're reading a
fiqh book. You're wondering, why are they talking
about this? This doesn't make sense.
But it is their job. That's why all
these volumes of fiqqa you see, they imagine
scenarios
and why we we we today we benefit
from some of this some of the,
the
hypothetical scenarios
that they thought of because now they are
actual realities. This is the benefit of the
fuqa. May Allah
preserve them all.
So
may Allah protect us from from ridda as
well. May Allah protect us from ridda as
well. It is very dangerous. May Allah keep
us firm upon the the faith, and may
Allah forgive our sins. Allah mentioned in the
Quran, speaking
to
our
messenger.
If you commit shirk, your deeds will be
gone. Allah said this to the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
Allah said to many prophets, and this is
very powerful in Surah 2 and Surah Al
Anam. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Surah Al Anam.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
after mentioning many many prophets,
Allah says,
Allah
mentions. Let's read the ayats and let's see
if anyone can keep track of how many
prophets that
it mentions.
How many prophets?
18 prophets. Allah mentions 18 prophets.
And Allah says to Rasool Allah,
That is the guidance of Allah.
With which he guides whomsoever he wills from
his servants.
All those great prophets I mentioned.
And if they had joined in worship others
with Allah and committed kufr,
All that they used to do of good
deeds would have been of no benefit to
them.
Look at that warning.
Those great prophets of Allah is telling us
this. This shows
you and to them it is an impossibility.
It is impossible for those great prophets to
fall into shirk and you Allah's warning if
even if they fell into shirk,
they would have no deed. So what should
we be thinking? May Allah keep us firm.
And Allah mentions, Rasool
All those great prophets,
those are the ones who Allah guided.
And follow them in their guidance, which shows
you even Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa sallam is
following a legacy. And it's important that we
understand that the legacy of Al Islam, it
goes beyond Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
to all those great messengers. Baytul al Qasid,
the point I'm trying to make here is
shirk, kufur,
it destroys all your good deeds. And if
someone repents, what did we say? The scholars
differ over it. Some said that your good
deeds remain, and while others said, they are
gone forever. May Allah protect us from that
eventuality.
These companions
that committed this error and this transgression
and Allah mentioned that they act
They
were worried. What does this mean
about them?
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala then in the following
ayah speaks about them and anyone similar to
them. Because these great companions, they were believers,
they were Muhajids
that made hijrah for the sake of Allah.
Traveled from Makkah to Madinah, left their home
for the sake of Allah. They were mujahids,
they fought for the sake of Allah.
Allah
says,
Very those who have believed
And those who have migrated for the sake
of Allah and his religion.
And those that had fought
and went through difficulty
and exerted themselves in the sake of Allah
All these will hope for Allah's mercy.
And Allah is the Aught Forgiving and Merciful.
In other words, Wajidil was wrong,
but it was a mistake
that is drowning
in an ocean of goodness.
And that's how we should perceive our sahab
and the companions. And there were many that
made some mistakes. And the prophet would be
would reprimand them. Right?
There's a hadith of the prophet said to
Right? A fit person that's causing issues for
and and making the diligent difficult. The prophet
said to Muhammad
when and and and Osama bin Azayd, a
allahome
oh Allah I am bereaved from what Khaled
have done.
When Osama killed a man after he said,
and he was in battle. The prophet
said, did you kill him after he said,
and the prophet reprimanded him as well,
what you see here is
that the sahab are infallible. They will make
mistakes.
But we still hold them in the highest
regards possible
because the actions that they've done, the defending
of this religion, the spreading of it, the
the they went hungry for it, they traveled
for it, they were killed for it. This
is an ocean of goodness and righteousness,
that is more than the mistake that they
have committed. What are some of the lessons
that we learned from the zayah? Number 1,
that the Sahaba would ask the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam questions,
and that the prophet would answer them. He
he was there, Mufti, if you like. We
learn from it that there are sacred months,
and in these sacred months, there are certain
rulings among them that you're not allowed to
fight, live in, and they are they have
sanctity. Although the scholars differ over, is this
an abrogated ayah? Is this an abrogated ayah?
Why?
Because some of the ulama believe that in,
this the restrictions
on,
the fighting,
not the not fighting in the sacred months
has been lifted. Another say this ayah is
not abrogated.
Now we also mentioned how, Allah mentioned that
the fighting and the that those sahaba did
was a kabira. It was transgression. And it
was a great transgression
and that teaches you that not all sins
are the same. Some are major sins, some
are minor sins. Some scholars say the major
sins are only 7. The 7 great destructive
sins mentioned in hadith. Others said it's about
17. Some said up to 70.
But the more correct view is that there's
no limited number. There's no number on it.
Rather you have to have a principle.
And the principle
is every sin
that is promised hellfire,
every sin that Allah curses the people that
do it, every sin that Allah mentioned that
he's angry at those that do it is
a major sin. So when you find those
descriptions, if you had the hadith, cursed are
the one who do such and such, that's
a major
sin. Those who do such and such will
go to the half hour, that is a
major
sin. Those
who do this, Allah is angry with them,
that is a major sin. So those are
the descriptions that you find in an eye
or a hadith
that will tell you that is what? A
major sin and Allah knows best.
A good book to read is The Major
Sins by Al Imam ad Dhabi. Major Sins
by Al Imam ad Dhabi. Another scholar, Ibn
Hajar al Haytami, also has a book.
His book is Zawajir.
Ibn Hajar al Haytami, great Shaafi scholar, he
also has a book where he listed the
major sins. I believe Muhammad al Rahab, also
has one.
And there are plenty others.
Here, we've done a series on the major
sins, as well, a number of years ago.
Several times, actually, with different speakers.
One among the things that we learned from
this aya is that the
crimes
of
the Kufar of Quraysh
far exceed
in number and in severity
than the error and the mistake and the
sinful act that the sahaba fell into.
Those particular sahabas, I should say.
We learn from this ayah that
the goal, objective of the disbelievers
is to turn as many people away from
Islam.
We learned that whoever
leaves
Islam and and and goes turns away from
this religion, that Allah said that their deeds
will be in vain and and they will
be of no use.
And we mentioned the difference of opinion as
it relates to if they come back,
what should happen.
May Allah protect us. And finally, Allah said
that those who believe
and have made hijrah
and have made Jihadis,
they are the ones that are hoping the
mercy of Allah and Allah is the oft
forgiving and the most merciful. We conclude here,
and next week, inshallah,
we'll go through
a a, another question that the Sahaba post
about alcohol.