Nadim Bashir – Community Ethics Surah Hujurat Tafsir Verse 16-17
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So we are inshallah finishing the the tafsir
today of Surah Al Hujarat.
And the ending of Surah Al Hujarat, if
you have ever read the ending of Surah
Hajarat,
it can cause a person to think about
exactly what's going on in this story.
And this is subhanAllah just 2 days ago,
I have I remember I had a brother
who came to my office,
and he was complaining about the same thing
or sort of like concerned about the same
thing. And he said that, I understand
that the word the Quran is the word
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And it is considered as a timeless guidance.
But he says that whenever I read the
Quran, I The challenge that I find
is that I'm not able to connect the
verses. I'm not able to understand
that if Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is talking
about one thing, he switches up very quickly
and he goes to another diff another matter.
And then from there, he'll go to another
matter. And he's like, I don't understand, you
know, why is this the style of the
Quran and so forth. And I had to
give him some details and so forth that
this is, you know, the way every single
Surah works is that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
is trying to help us understand a certain
theme. You understand? Let me give you an
example. If you study a book of science,
if you study a book of science, you're
gonna find that there's there are different chapters
and each chapter talks about one particular topic.
Okay. And it goes to the next chapter
and goes to the next chapter. And if
it goes to the next chapter and it's
talking about something that has already been passed
or has it already been covered, they will
always say go back to this page.
And this particular matter of regarding, for example,
cells or things inside the body and so
forth has already been covered in the previous
chapter.
The Quran, even though we call the Quran
or refer we refer to the Suras as
chapters. By the way, this idea of referring
to Suras as chapters
is something that is a a new thing
in the sense that it was something that
was you know coined later on you know,
especially, you know, by by people who were
speaking English and they had to come up
with a name regarding Surahs because the challenge
they found was that how do you define
Surah in a English term, hence they came
up with the word chapter. But when you
think about chapter especially like in a book
of social studies or English or science,
then you cannot apply the same concept to
the Quran. You understand?
So for example, when you talk about the
story of Musa Alaihi Islam, someone can think
that why well, why didn't Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala just reveal a surah
called Surah Musa
and the entire story of Musa
from beginning to end should have been mentioned
in that one chapter. Right? But that's not
how Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala He revealed the
Quran. Allah
revealed the Quran different surahs
in a way that Allah is trying to
get across to us one particular message.
Now whatever story
fits that message,
whatever story or whatever advice
fits that theme, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mention
it in that Surah. You understand? This is
how the Quran is. Now some people have
mentioned that it is not appropriate to or
to, you know, it's not appropriate
to assign certain themes to one surah. But
if you read the the books of Tafasir
and especially
not just, you know, one is Tafsir ibn
Kathir, one is Tafsir al Khortubi, and some
of your well known Tafasir in your Islamic
libraries. I'm not talking about those. There are
some scholars who have gone really deep into
the Quran
and studying the Quran
and that is the books that we have
to really get into to really understand exactly
what's going on. Now
coming back to the point here is that
the end of Surah Al Hajarat
can also throw someone off. That's exactly what's
going on here. And let me explain why.
There's one ayah where Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
he mentions
about some Bedouins who that existed in the
time of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says that these
people they made a very bold claim. What
was their claim? Their claim was that we
have iman.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
he pushed back
on that claim and said, no, you don't
have iman, what you have is Islam.
Okay? Now the next ayah
is that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is talking
about that what are the signs of believers.
So so now, okay, we're going on a
trend. We understand what's going on. But then
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala he talks about having
favors and doing favors.
So the question is that how's what's the
connection between all these verses?
Let me explain.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala when he said about
these Bedouins, these Bedouins made not one claim
but they made 2 claims.
The first claim they made was that we
have iman. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala said that
if you claim to have iman, that's a
very loaded word. And if you remember I
talked about this, iman has 70 odd branches.
When you say I have iman, what you're
saying is that I have encompassed all these
branches of faith.
Then in the next ayah, Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala he's actually telling all of us
what is the true definition
of iman.
What is the definition of iman? Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala says
By the way, last time I did not
mention this.
Does not only mean they don't doubt in
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
It means it's actually more powerful than this.
It means that they don't entertain
any kind of doubts in their deen.
Mean that someone can come and say
that, you know what, there's something about your
deen that is that is off. There's something
about the Quran that is off. There's something
about your deen that does not make sense.
And a person logically thinks that, yeah, you
know what? There might be a question there.
But you know what? I put my full
faith in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, I'm not
gonna entertain any doubts.
This is what's what is in his aya.
The sign of believers is they don't even
entertain a doubt when it comes to their
matters of their of their deen. So
these people, they don't entertain any doubts. Now,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says what after that?
He says, See these Bedouins, when they came
and they said, there is almost as if
they're trying to teach people what deen is.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying, you're trying
to teach people what deen is, you're trying
to teach Allah what your deen is. And
the the point here that the Qur'an Mahdi
say is,
the difference between a believer and a person
who is not a true believer, they may
have Islam,
is that a person who's a believer,
they don't go around telling people that I'm
a believer.
See these better ones, what did they do
wrong? They went around saying I have I
have Iman. I have Iman. I have Iman.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala negated it right away.
But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling us
here, a person
who truly is.
So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala here is saying
that the sign of a true believer is
that they don't keep on going around telling
people that I have iman and I have
faith. They continuously
work hard. They continuously ensure
they do the right they do good deeds.
So this is the difference between a person
who has Islam and a person who has
iman. Now, the last verse Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala said,
That they claim that they're doing you a
favor. Now once again a person's thinking Allah
is talking about iman in faith and then
he's going to favors. What is it? What
is the connection here? The connection is
that these Bedouins also said
that we have done a favor
to Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam by becoming
a Muslim.
And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is telling them
that one thing that you'll see often in
the community when you live together Because once
again, so the Hijrat is about community ethics.
You're gonna have people in a community
who are very quiet about their iman. They
keep on coming for salah. They read Quran
and so forth. But you're gonna have some
kind of people who are gonna come. They're
gonna speak a very big game that we
are believers. We are such and such. And
these people, they're not true believers because a
true believer never talks highly about their faith.
But another thing that you will see often
in the community too is that people are
gonna come and they're gonna do some hard
work and they're gonna contribute to the community.
But they will use that
to use that as a favor towards the
community.
Just like these Bedouins, they said, we became
Muslims
because of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. It's
almost as if they're saying, We did a
favor to Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And
Allah is saying
that, They believe that they have done a
favor to you by becoming a Muslim.
You Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa sallam,
You have done You have not done any
favor to me because of your Islam
But rather Allah has done a favor to
you
that he had he has brought you to
Islam.
This is Allah's favor. The fact that we
are today Muslims
is Allah's favor upon us.
And so a person and the ulama they
say a very beautiful point here that this
is a point where a person has to
realize
that when we think that we are something,
we think that this You know how many
people they they contribute to an organization?
And you know what they say afterwards?
If it was not for me, this organization
will not flourish. If it was not for
me, this deen will not flourish. If it
was not for me, then this and such
and such will not happen. Yes. We serve
the deen of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Yes, we serve the deen of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. But to say
that this deen is dependent upon me and
my intellect, in my volunteering,
in my hard work? No. Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is not in need of anyone. This
is one thing that we have to all
keep in mind. Yes, we may serve our
deen and we want to be amongst those
that Allah uses to serve his deen. It's
an honor from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that
Allah is saying that I have used such
and such person
for the cause of my deen. This should
be when we when we when we talk
about
Allah having a favor upon us, this is
the true reality.
Not that we're doing Allah a favor. So
this is the key point here is you're
gonna find people in the community also. They
come and they give donations.
And you know what they do after donations?
Well, I've heard this so many times with
my own ears. I have given a donation.
I have done something for the organization,
hence I should have a say in the
organization
and not only that, but if I see
something wrong because I gave a donation, because
of I gave a donation, and you know
what happens?
You keep on saying I give a donation,
I give a donation and thinking
you, we, we did a favor to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. Nah. That's not the case
here.
Rather Allah gave us the tafik
to give our money for Allah's sake. We
cannot do good things
and say that I did it for such
and such person. We did it first of
all for Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and I'm
not doing a favor to anyone but rather
Allah is doing a favor upon me by
allowing me to spend my money and by
the way when we spend our money for
Allah's sake it's not that Allah benefits from
it who benefits from it We benefit from
this.
So Allah is giving us the opportunity to
spend our money for our benefit. See one
is I can tell you, come and give
me. Khaleda come to you, come and give
me. It benefits me. But Allah is saying
that
give
for Allah's sake. Why? Because you are the
one who's gonna benefit at the end of
the day. So this idea that often happens
in a community
that we think that we're doing good things
just like these Bedouins.
They think that they became a Muslim that
so that it can be a favorite to
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. No. This
was a favorite from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
So this is how the surah then finishes.
You see, Allah talks about the Bedouins,
their claim, they made 2 claims and Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala he clarified
both of their claims in the ending of
Surat Al Hujurat. You just have to sometimes
you really have to sit down with the
Quran and this is why I believe that
people are not able to connect with the
Quran. They are reading the Quran, Allah is
talking about one thing, it goes to the
next thing and goes to the next thing.
But if you just really sit down and
go deeper into the Quran see, one is
the the layer of the ocean.
1 is to go to the depth of
the ocean. You know, one is to go
a little deeper into the ocean,
but then once one is to go so
deep into the ocean, you know, where you
will find Titanic. You know, that's like going
all the way that that that deep down.
You understand?
Going so deep, that is why that is
when you will see the gems of the
Quran. That is where you'll understand the Quran.
You know, subhanallah, even as a child when
I was memorizing my Quran and I began
to read the translation,
it never occurred to me exactly what's going
on here. But that is where you have
to then go a little deeper into the
Quran and you will understand the Quran. So
this is the ending of Surah Khurjat InshaAllah.
Starting next week InshaAllah, we'll start another Surah
InshaAllah. But the point is that first of
all, these Bedouins, they made two claims. One
is about iman and faith. One is about
doing favors. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he
clarified both of them at the fir in
the last two verses or the last two
verses of of the Surah. May Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala grant all of us the tawfiq.
May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala make us from
the true believers and give us the tawfiq
to exhibit the true qualities of believers mentioned
in the Surah. And may Allah
make us amongst those that whatever we do,
we have the utmost amount of in our
work.