Mustafa Abu Rayyan – 63 Tafseer Surah alBaqarah Verse 257259
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AI: Transcript ©
We're continuing off from where we left off.
I number
257
of Surah Al Baqarah.
Where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
Allah says,
Allah
is the wali
of those who believe.
So those who have iman,
Allah
is their
A wali
is a helper,
a protector,
a guardian.
So who protects
and guards and aids and helps
those who believe? Allah Subhanahu Wa'ala.
May Allah Subhanahu Wa'ala make us among those.
How does Allah
protect and guard and help them?
He brings them out he brings them out
from the
to the Noor.
From the many darknesses
into the one light.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the guardian, the
protector, the helper of those who believe,
and he takes them from the many darknesses
into the one light.
One of the things that's interesting in his
ayah
is Allah
when he was describing darkness,
he made it multiple. He made it plural.
Many darknesses, zulumats.
But when Allah
was describing the light, Allah mentioned only 1,
nur. Not anwar. But what? Noor. One light.
Why is that? Because the truth is 1,
not many.
The Haqq is 1, not many. There's only
one path to Jannah. There's only one path
to paradise. There's only one truth.
Truth is 1, there's not multiple.
This is why we do not believe in
perennialism
or this idea that there are many paths
to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to God. There
are many ways of salvation. No.
In Islam. The only true religion with Allah
is
Islam. Whoever accepts other than Islam as a
deen, as a way of life, Allah will
not accept it from them. The only way
to gain salvation,
the only way to be saved, the only
way to get to Jannah is through Islam.
Which is why Allah
says,
Allah has the willy of the believers, he
takes them from the many different darknesses
to the one true light, to the one
light.
Now those darknesses can be what? It can
be disbelief. It can be many there's many
types of disbelief. It could be idolatry. It
could be atheism.
It could be secularism.
It could be not caring about religion whatsoever.
It could be Christianity. It doesn't matter.
They're all everything that is not Islam is
what? Is a dulomat.
Similarly
similarly, the dulomat
can be referring to sin.
The darknesses can be referring to a life
of sin and desires
and Allah will take the believers from that,
the true believers from that, to the light
of guidance and obedience.
Similarly, it could mean innovation,
from the darknesses of innovations
to the light of the sunnah.
So there are many paths away from the
truth, but there's only one path to the
truth. May Allah make us among those that
live on it and die upon it.
Allahu Allah is the willi of the believers,
and he takes them from the many darkness
into the light.
And what's the opposite of that?
And those who rejected,
those who disbelieved,
those who did not follow Islam or the
truth.
Their supporters
and their helpers are what?
False deities,
idols.
Is a general term
to all that call upon
the worship of themselves.
Right? So it could be
or or or all that are worshipped besides
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala while they are pleased
with it.
Tahuut are all that are worshipped besides Allah
while they are pleased with it.
Why do they add the bit while they
are pleased with it? Because who is worshiped
besides Allah but is not pleased with it?
Prophet Isa alaihis salatu sallam for an example.
And
comes from the root word which is
or which is to transgress.
Those are their helpers and their supporters. So
you have, in other words, 2 camps.
2 camps.
Right? Those who believe, those who reject. Those
who reject, who are the who are the
supporters, who are the helpers?
Right? False deities
and, amongst the iron false leaders.
As for the believers, who is their willy?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
How do you become a willy of Allah?
How do you become a willi of Allah?
A willi
so the word willi
can mean
protector, guard guardian, and helper.
And when Allah when we say Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala is the willy of the believers,
we mean Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the
protector, the guardian, and the helper of the
of the believers.
But can you also be a wili?
Can you also be a wili? Yes.
What does it mean for you to be
a wili? For you to be a wily
means that you are someone that is extremely
close to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And there's 2 defining
characteristics of the awliya,
loosely translated as the saints.
Meaning people that are extremely close to Allah
devout obedient
worshipers.
How do you become a wili?
Indeed the of Allah.
Those are the closest to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
They Allah mentions They
will have no fear.
They will have no fear for that which
is upcoming
because they are guided, they are in light,
they are with light and they will go
to Jannah.
Now will they feel sadness for what came
past because Allah will showered them with mercy
and forgiveness.
So the awliya of Allah,
they're not favorable for the future because they
are from the people of Jannah.
They're not favorable of the past, or worried
about the past because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
will forgive them and show them mercy.
Will you not all want to be among
those here my brothers and sisters? Of course
he would. Allah mentions only 2 things. Who
orders aliyah?
They have no hope and no reason. Who
orders aliyah?
They are
They
are those of true faith, true belief.
And they were people that are pious. Piety.
Be pious
and be a believer and you will be
a wally.
Now to be pious
is easily said,
but not easily what? Done.
Piety is
a journey we all need to be on.
Try to be as pious
as possible.
And like Sayyidina Ali said,
piety can be summarized into 4 things.
Fearing Allah
Acting upon that which has been revealed.
To be pleased with whatever Allah has given
you from this dunya.
And to prepare yourself for the hereafter.
Do those things. Those four things.
Follow the Quran and the sunnah and act
upon it.
Be pleased with the dunya that Allah gave
you
and prepare yourself for the hereafter. You do
those things, you are from the people of
Taqwa. If you are from Taqwa and Iman,
you become a wili. If you are a
wili, there's no hawf and no hussin.
May Allah make us among his aliyah.
So Allah tells us,
as for the disbelievers, their
their protectors
are
the false deities and the false leaders.
Shaytan is number 1 among the tahood.
And what do the tahood do?
They take them away from the light towards
the many darknesses.
So what does the shaitan do? What do
the the objects of worship
besides Allah do? What do idols do? What
do people that devote themselves to people other
than Allah do? They take you away from
the light towards what? Towards the main darknesses.
Those people.
Which people?
Those who'd rejected the truth to disbelievers
as well as the Tawrot,
all of them.
All of those,
the leaders and the followers,
are from the people of the fire.
They will dwell in it and abide in
it forever. May Allah protect us.
You,
meaning the the the the idol worshipers in
the
And what you used to worship and who
you used to worship.
Hasabuja'anam.
You're the fuel of the fire.
You what? The fuel of the fire.
The objects of the worship and the worshippers.
Of course, this means those that were pleased
with it.
Ta'ib, one more time. Allah
has the will of the believers.
He takes them from the many darknesses into
the one true light, one truth.
Asked for those who disbelieve and rejected the
truth,
whom their helpers and their aid and their
leaders are.
They will take them from the light to
the many darknesses.
All of those people,
the leaders and the followers.
People of the fire.
And they will be in there forever. May
Allah
protect us from that.
Then Allah
tells us 3 stories.
Each of these 3 stories is an example
about how Allah is the willy of the
believers.
When we said Allah is the willy of
the believers, Allah protects the believers, Allah guards
the believers, Allah helps the believers.
Among the way Allah guards and protects them
is by strengthening their iman and their faith.
Among the way Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protects
them is when it comes to speaking the
truth, when it comes to calling to Islam,
when it comes to
spreading the message of truth, Allah will aid
them in the in in saying the best
statement possible
or the best argument possible.
And here's an example of Allah aiding prophet
Ibrahim
in his debate with a tyrant king.
Allah is showing us that he is the
wali of Ibrahim alaihis salaam in this regard.
And this is the story that Allah mentioned
about prophet Ibrahim and a king. The king
is not named. The king is not named.
Have you not seen
have you not seen
at the one who disputed,
argued,
debated with
Ibrahim prophet Ibrahim about
his
Why were they discussing Allah
Because Allah had given this particular man the
kingdom.
Allah made him a king, a powerful king.
And that power got to him to the
point where he started to believe
that he was Al Malik Al Jabbar. He
was the king. He was the one worthy
of devotion and worship to the point where
he started claiming to be god.
Prophet Ibrahim's whole life,
if you look at it from the beginning
as a child
until his final days,
from arguing with his for arguing with his
father over who should be worshiped,
to the destroy destruction of the idols,
to being thrown into the fire, to debating
Namrud,
to his whole journey until he builds the
Kaaba,
until he builds, masjid Masjid Al Aqsa. Masjid
Al Aqsa was built by prophet Ibrahim alaihi
sallam.
His whole journey,
to the sacrifice of Ismail
or, and that test.
All of that
was
prophet Ibrahim's journey
in teaching us and proving to himself
that
only Allah is worthy of worship.
That was his whole life mission.
The reason why Ibrahim is held in such
high regard to the point where Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala said about
Ibrahim,
Oh Ibrahim, I will make you a leader
to all of mankind.
One of the beautiful things of Abu Ibrahim
is that all of the major religion in
the world
hold them in the highest regard.
All of the major religion in the world
hold Ibrahim what? In the highest regard. This
is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
keeping the honor of Ibrahim intact
forever. And this is one of the things
that Allah
promised him.
Prophet Ibrahim
whole life was about
fighting
and defeating,
any
way of life that takes you away from
Allah
and getting everyone back to Allah
Here he is debating a tyrant king.
Now the king's name was not mentioned but
the scholars of tafsir say that his name
was Namrut.
Namrut.
And that he was the king of Babylon,
which is in Iraq, I believe. Babel.
Now this king, when he declared himself lord
and made people bow down to him, prophet
Ibrahim alaihis salaam refused.
And when he was asked prophet Ibrahim was
then asked, well who is your lord?
Who is your lord? If I'm not your
lord, who is your lord?
And
prophet
says My lord is the one that gives
life
and causes death.
My lord is the one that gives life
and causes death.
And what did Namrut say?
I
also
give life
and cause death.
I also give
life and cause death.
How?
The scholars of tafsir mentioned
that he
ordered
2 men
that were both imprisoned
and sentenced to death to be brought to
him. 2 men
who were fated to be what? To be
killed.
And he said,
I also give life
and I also take it. Here's an example.
1 of the men, he ordered his execution
to be hastened, and he was killed there
and then.
And the other man, he freed them and
said, you are free to go.
Look, I gave that man life by freeing
him, and I caused this man to die.
Now
what Namro did here is completely change the
discussion.
Prophet Ibrahim alaihis salatu salam was not talking
about killing someone
or freeing someone. He was talking about causing
life
and causing death.
Only Allah can create life
and only Allah can take life because he
because he's the creator.
Now
prophet Ibrahim alaihis salatu sallam could have continued
arguing it with him about that particular point.
Well, he didn't technically
give that man life. You just let him
go. But he was born many years ago,
and it was Allah that gave him life.
It wasn't you. He could've he could've continued
arguing that point, and it would've been a
valid point.
But sometimes wisdom dictates
that you move on from a position
if you can find a stronger position.
Sometimes wisdom dictates that you don't continue on
the same,
trajectory of of of discussion, but you change
it. And that's what Ibrahim alaihis salam did.
When he said,
I also give life and I also take
light to to take it and and cause
death.
Ibrahim
said,
said, verily Allah,
my lord Allah
causes the sun to rise from the east.
Why don't you cause it to rise from
the west?
Why don't you cause it to rise from
the west? Go on then. If you are
truly the lord that deserves worship,
can a man do that?
He can't do that.
Allah then said,
So the disbeliever
was utterly defeated.
Now Allah
said,
and Allah does not guide
the zalimoon, the wrongdoers.
Allah
does not guide the transgressors. And clearly that
man was a transgressor. But the story of
Namrud, there's you can find a lot more
detail about him. When was he? Who was
he? They some of the scholars say that
he was a few generations after Nuhr alaihi
salatu salam, and that he was the king,
he was stationed in Babylon. And there's a
lot of things that's mentioned about him.
But the point is my brothers and sisters
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala only told us
this bit.
In fact, Allah did not even tell us
his name.
Why?
Because if his name is not important, the
lesson is important. And you'll find that in
the Quran. Many stories in Surat Al Baqarah
that we covered.
The details are not said. It happened in
this city, and it was this man, and
this was his name. Because the Quran,
it is not necessarily about the individuals,
more so than it is about the morals
and the lessons.
And the lesson here was
Allah
aiding and guiding Ibrahim
in defeating this man verbally
with discussion
and using a strong argument. And this is
after Allah told us that Allah is the
willy of the believers. So a way among
the way among the ways Allah
is will of the believers is by guiding
them to say the right thing in the
right time.
Then Allah
tells us another story.
And this story
is a very powerful story, and this is
I believe the 3rd or the 4th this
is the 4th story
of resurrection
we have come across in Surat Al Baqarah.
Surat Al Baqarah, there are 5 stories where
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala shows us his power
of resurrection.
And we believe Allah can resurrect and will
resurrect all of mankind,
under the judgment.
The first story was the story
of
the,
the man,
of Banu Israel.
His nephew killed him in the hope of
the inheritance.
And,
the story about the Baqarah where they keep
on coming to prophet Musa alaihi salatu salam
to find out who's the killer
until Allah
ordered them to to find a cow and
slaughter it. And they kept on being very
specific about the cow until they found the
particular cow and then they slaughtered it and
a piece of its meat was hit with
the dead
man, and he woke up and pointed at
his kala.
Allah showed there his
ability and he's able to do all things
of resurrecting the dead. That's the first time.
The second story
was,
so we have,
the story of
the man, so
and then we had the the many men.
Those that fled from the town
fearful of death,
and Allah told them to die
and then he resurrected them. So we mentioned
that in previous lessons, that story of a
whole town of people that fled and those
different views on what they fled from. But
then they were fearful of death, but Allah
caused them to die and then brought them
back to life. Then there was a story
of the that
disobeyed Musa Alaihi Salam
and then Allah
caused them to die and then resurrected them.
So the Benu Israel that disobeyed Musa,
and then you had the ones, about the
1,000 that that fled and then fleeing death,
but Allah caused them to die anyway, and
they respected them. And then you have the
story of this particular man. And then one
more story is a story of the birds
and prophet Ibrahim, which we will cover next
week, inshallah.
So who was this man and what happened
to him? Allah
says,
And have you not seen or heard about
the man
that passed by a town?
He passed, he was walking, traveling and he
passed by a town.
And it had the the this town
was abandoned, was deserted to the point where
even the houses had tumbled over its roofs.
So this is a place some of the
say a massacre took place and many people
died.
And,
it was bones and it was abandoned.
It screamed death all over.
And this particular man is traveling through this
and he sees all this death. He sees
this place as abandoned. He sees this place
as forsaken. He sees these people that have
died. He sees these bones
and he wanders to himself
or says to himself,
Oh, and how how will Allah
bring
this to life after his death?
Now that question,
was it a question of being doubtful of
Allah's ability to resurrect
Or was it set in amazement?
In amazement.
Right?
Not necessarily in what in this belief. And
that's very important to distinguish.
I want you to keep that in mind.
Then what does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala say?
This man was traveling through this town, this
deserted town, and he could see death and
destruction all around it. And then he wondered
how is Allah gonna bring this back?
Allah caused him to die.
For how long?
Mean a 100 years.
So a 100 years,
he laid deceased.
Then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
resurrected them.
And then he was asked,
who asked him? Some of us call it
as a tafsir and say it was an
angel.
Some say it was a prophet. Some say
it was a traveler. Some say it was
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala himself to communicate it
to him. And and it was said to
him,
how long
do you think you remain dead?
And he
said,
Perhaps
a full day
or a part of a day.
And the reason he said this is why
is that,
he was traveling in the morning,
and Allah caused him to die. And when
Allah resurrected him, it was towards the end
of the day.
So
for all he knows
it's the same day.
SubhanAllah.
Then he will
say,
perhaps a day or half a day.
Now look at your food
and look at your drink,
they show no change.
So his food
and his water and whatever he has with
them
did not change for a 100 years.
Now of course, normally
if you have food with you,
forget years, in weeks it will go rotten,
in a few months it will just disappear,
right?
But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala preserved that for
100 years.
Now look at your donkey.
His donkey didn't.
It
the his mule or his donkey or his
ride, his himar,
it died.
It disappeared,
it became bones until it was there was
nothing left.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala preserved his food
and drink,
but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala caused his animal
to what? Wither away in and disappear.
There's a hikma and wisdom in this,
Which is that the withering away of something
and
the remaining of something is in whose hands?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. If Allah wanted to,
everything would stay exactly the same with us.
If Allah chooses to, everything will disappear. The
power
lays
in the hands of Allah the almighty.
Then he was
told, Now look at your donkey and thus
we have made you,
you, this man, a sign for the people.
A story that will always be told,
His his experience.
Look at the bones.
Look at the bones.
How we gather them together.
There's 2 here. There's a says,
how we resurrected
from the. What do we say every morning?
How we
bring it back. Look at this bone. So
he was actually observing the bones, or in
this
how we literally layer it on top of
each other. How we literally what?
Layer it on top of each other. So
he was seeing the bones
re reform
of the animal.
And then we clothe with it or cover
with it flesh.
So literally he observed he observed his own
eyes, Allah
bringing back
his donkey
with its bones
coming back to life, and the flesh and
the skin, everything,
until it was brought back to life.
And when this was clearly shown to him,
he said.
He said.
Now I know for certain with more
indeed
Allah
is able to do all things.
So a few points to consider here.
One of them is who was this man?
Now earlier I just said that
the fact that Allah did not show importance
to who it was
means it's not a priority.
But the fact of the matter is that
the,
many of the and
the all commented
on who this man was, and there are
several views on who he was.
The first view which is narrated for some
of this and there's a way of Abba's
is that this man was.
Uzair
considered one of the,
righteous men of Israel. Some consider him to
be a prophet.
Uzair.
And it was him that was walking.
And if it is Uzair,
then we conclude that the statement,
how will Allah bring this back, was not
one of denial or disbelief but bewilderment and
amazement.
Bewilderment and amazement. And yet, Allah caused him
to die and then resurrected him. Some of
the said no. This is a prophet called
Jeremiah.
Jeremiah or or Jeremiah
as it would be in in in in
in English.
And who was the prophet of Bani Israel.
Some of the ulama like, said it was
actually Khadik.
It was what?
This is very many opinions.
Bahir ibn Assur, a great Tunisian scholar of
tafsir,
that
lived not too long ago.
He held the view that the stronger view
is that it was Ezekiel,
And Allah knows best. In any case, it
doesn't really whoever it was,
Allah showed
his great power and
by causing him to die for so many
years and then resurrecting him.
And
the resurrection
the resurrection
is something that Allah speaks about upon and
often.
And there are many stories of people Allah
caused to die and brought them back to
life.
Who can tell me a prophet of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. A prophet whom Allah gave
the ability with his permission with Allah's permission
to bring back the dead.
Prophet Isa alaihis salatu sallam.
And this was something that was observed by
prophet Isa's companion and his disciples.
They observed this.
There is also a story in the Quran
about a group of people that were asleep,
if you will, for 100 of years. And
who are those?
So this is not an uncommon thing. But
when we read when we hear those stories,
they seem to be something that's very far
away from us, something that is miraculous,
something that is,
but there is
a there is a
bringing back,
of the dead.
There is a a resurrection
that we see every year.
Who can tell me what I'm referring to?
Allah mentioned in the Quran as an example.
There is a resurrection,
plants, jazakalahuhair,
the seasons.
Allah
caused a whole,
land, a whole area to become barren and
to die.
The trees are dead and brittle and there's
no vegetation.
There's nothing there.
Then Allah
brings forth rain and it grows
in the, in the spring.
And Allah in the Quran used that example.
The one who causes the earth
to come back to life after it died
is not able to cause the the bring
back to to life,
the mankind when they when they, when they
pass away? That's a yes.
That's a yes. We see we literally see,
subhanAllah. This is why my brothers and sisters
it is important
that when we look into the world and
we observe, that we observe with ibra, that
we look at it with ibra, subhanAllah.
Like, we experience
because the thing is, you see read the
story and you see this man traveling, all
of a sudden Allah calls him to die.
The interesting stories that I mentioned by some
of the including,
for example, that, he was 60 years old
when he passed away. And When he was
resurrected, technically, how old would he be? A
100 and what? A 150.
And that he came back and no one
recognized him.
And that,
it was,
he came back and his son was 50
years older than him. His son was 50
years older than him in in his 100.
Now,
in any case,
this might this is a very miraculous story,
no doubt about it, But,
if you take a seed
if you take a seed
and you put it into the earth
and you water it and you see it
grow,
you see it grow,
you're not making it grow.
It's Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's work. And then
you see it grow and it bears fruit.
Right? That little seed
now is bearing so many fruits. Who's caused
this to happen?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
This is why we need to
or it's winter and the same tree in
front of your house in the winter, there's
no no leaves, they all fall down and
it looks barren, it looks dead.
In the summer, it's green and lush and
beautiful.
Who's calling this? Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. Not only that,
mothers giving birth
and
all of this life, who's causing it?
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
A couple will be married for 15 years,
and Allah will not give them children.
And then another couple gets married and Allah
will give them children the 1st year. Allah
is the one that causes life.
Allah is the one that causes death.
And this is just an example,
but there are plenty of example for us
to observe in our own life that should
cause us to realize what
this man realized.
I know
Allah is able to do all things. Now
there's another
qira.
It's
Know and have certainty and knowledge
that Allah is able to do all things.
And the question then becomes, if it's
who said it?
Because when we read it as it is
now in the musaf,
in
this
it's
this man himself coming to the realization.
After that experience,
I know for
certain that Allah is able to do all
things. Now this doesn't again mean
that he was doubtful necessarily.
Because Insha'Allah ta'ala, next week when we talk
about the story of of Ibrahim alaihis salatu
sallam, and prophet Ibrahim asks Allah a question.
Oh Allah,
show me.
Show me how you bring
the dead back to life. Who's asking this
question?
Ibrahim
alaihis salam. What does Allah say to him?
Do you not believe?
Do you not believe? What does Ibrahim say?
Yes. Of course I believe.
But so that my heart
becomes more firm and tranquil with this belief,
to be stronger in his faith.
So sometimes
your iman can increase.
So with the case of this man who
was
dead for a 100 years and Allah brought
him back to life, when he says,
I know that Allah is able to do
all things.
We shouldn't be saying, did you not know
that before?
Because of course you knew that before, but
this is an example of someone seeing or
experiencing
the and the power of Allah first
hand. If you go if you read
the have knowledge and know that Allah has,
is able to do all things, then it
would be Allah speaking to him after his
initial question, where there was a question of
amazing.
How will Allah bring the city back to
life? How will Allah brings it back to
life? Well, here you have it. Allah caused
him to die for 100 years and brought
him back to life and saw how his
mule, how his donkey came back to to
life. And then Allah
says,
They know that Allah is able to do
all things.
The moral, my point is this, is whenever
whenever resurrection
is being discussed
is to reflect over
the fact
that we will be resurrected.
We will be resurrected by Allah
And when we are resurrected, it will be
just us in our deeds.
And that we strive
and we,
put the work in as it relates to
our Ibadah.
And we constantly ask our prophet to forgive
our sins and our shortcomings
and that we hasten in repentance.
For for one day we will definitely die
and one day we will definitely be resurrected.
And when we are resurrected,
I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make
us among those that will receive their books
by their right hand,
receive Allah
mercy, will enter into Jannah without hisab,
and will be saved from the difficulties
of the day of judgment.
Will
continue,
the story of Ibrahim and
the,
conversation he had with Allah
and how
Allah showed him,
the power
of Allah
in bringing back the the dead. Then we'll
continue on from there.